A.N Wow to be honest I was expecting more of a reaction to that last chapter but for those of you who did review it was very much appreciated and with all the angst in those reviews I figured I had better not keep you waiting any longer for an update. So I'm risking my life (if the Internet Nazi catches me I'm a dead woman) to give you a new chapter. This chapter is dedicated to Rose. Ordinarily having someone calling me a loser and telling me I suck would not exactly be appreciated shall we say but in this case it definitely bought a smile to my face. And Jess if you have any ideas how to get the nazi off my back I'm all ears. Now normally I wouldn't update when I have recieved less than ten reviews for a chapter but I'm making an exception this time so I expect you to all make it worth my while and leave me lots of reviews this chapter. It would be great to get some in depth reviews too so I know just what it is about this story that keeps you guys reading or what it is you like about the chapter you have just read. Enjoy the chapter I'm looking forward to reading those reviews.

Chapter Thirty-four

Haley sat at her desk glad to be finally on a break. The morning had not been a good one and she was enjoying the chance to sit down and have a coffee before her next class began. As she sat she flicked through the newspaper in front of her. Someone had left it on her desk and although she had no real interest in the world's events at that particular time she nevertheless continued to skim the pages. As she scanned the page a headline caught her attention.

Tree Hill Road Horror.

But it was the pictures next to the paragraphs of text that caused her heart to leap into her mouth. Staring back at her plain as day was Lucas and Brooke. She could feel her heart pounding as the words began to swim in front of her. Forcing herself to focus she began to read the story.

The cup in her hand fell to the floor as she took in the enormity of the words printed before her. Three of the other staff see this and rush over including Cathy.

"Are you ok? Haley talk to me. Is it the baby?"

Haley remained silent in the face of their questions her pale face portraying no emotions.

"Perhaps we should call an ambulance," one of the staff said.

Finally the words of concern from her colleagues registered and turning to look at them she responded.

"No I don't need an ambulance. The baby's fine." Looking around her as if unsure of where she was or how she got there she stood up heading to where her purse was. "I have to go. I have to go now." Grabbing her bag she rushed out of the room leaving her colleagues bemused behind her.

"What on earth was that about?" one asked but Cathy made a shushing motion with her hand as she picked up the newspaper. One of the male staff members began to laugh "It's probably just hormones I remember when my wife was pregnant she was an absolute nutcase. I almost thought I was going to have to have her committed. Luckily she snapped out of it once our daughter was born."

The female members of staff around him glared balefully.

Cathy placed down the paper and looked around her at the other members of staff. "Isn't she from Tree Hill?" she asked. One nodded "Yeah I think so I was talking to her one day about how I had family in Charlotte."

"Well I hope she doesn't know the people they're talking about in this article because by the sounds of it they are in pretty bad shape."

Haley drove as quickly as she could back to her house throwing the bare essentials into a bag before once again rushing out the door. Jumping in her car she turned it in the direction of Tree Hill.

By the time she arrived back in Tree Hill it was almost 10pm. She didn't pause before heading to the hospital. Pulling into the parking lot she went straight to the main desk. "I'm here to see Brooke Davis-Scott," she told the woman behind the desk.

"I'm sorry dear it's well past visiting hours you'll have to come back tomorrow."

"No," Haley said slamming her fist down onto the desk. "I have to see her now."

"Are you a family member because at the moment they're only allowing family in to see her," the woman said looking up from her computer screen.

"Yes I'm family my name is Haley Scott," she said with the barest of hesitations. "I'm her sister in law."

"Ok Mrs Scott she's on the third floor take the lift at the end of the hall and go to ICU."

"Thank you" Haley said with genuine relief. "Wait," she said pausing and turning back to the desk "she's going to be ok isn't she?"

The woman looked down unable to meet Haley's eyes. "That's something you will need to discuss with her doctor." She said quietly.

As she approached Brooke's room minutes later she had to pause to gather herself. All these months Brooke had been trying to get her to return to Tree Hill and Haley had blatantly refused and now Brooke was lying in a hospital bed completely helpless. Haley didn't even know if Brooke would be aware that she had finally returned.

Entering the room she could no longer hold back the tears that had been threatening ever since she had read the newspaper article that morning. Walking to the bed she sat down taking Brooke's hand into her own. She couldn't remember a time in her life where she had felt so terrified and helpless except for but no she didn't want to think about him now. Brooke lay on the bed her face pale and a bandage covering the majority of her head. There were several machines beside the bed and each beeped as it monitored its own individual statistic. Haley could almost feel her heart breaking as she looked at her best friend normally so full of life lying on that bed looking so deathly still. "Oh Brooke I'm so sorry. I've been so selfish, so caught up in my own misery and now I come back to you like this."

A voice from the door halted Haley's torrent of self blame. "Mrs Scott I was told you want to see me," came the voice. Haley turned to the woman at the door.

"Are you Brooke's doctor?" she asked.

"Yes I am," came the response "and I'm sure you must have a lot of questions for me but I think it would be best if we went back to my office to talk properly."

Haley looked down at Brooke doubtfully unsure about leaving her again so soon after finally returning.

"It won't take long Mrs Scott. You can come straight back."

"Haley," she said "please call me Haley."

"Ok Haley why don't you come with me and we can have a chat and I'll tell you whatever you need to know."

Squeezing her hand Haley stood up from her position at Brooke's bedside. "I'll be right back Tigger," she promised. Regretfully she loosened her grip on Brooke's hand and followed the doctor out of the room and down a hallway to her office.

"Why don't you take a seat Haley?" the doctor told her. Haley read her nametag and did as Dr Monroe requested. "Now Haley I'm sure you have a great deal of questions for me but perhaps it would be better if I gave you a brief run down on Mrs Davis-Scott's condition and then you can ask me any questions you have after that." Haley nodded in silent assent and the doctor took this as her cue to continue.

"Well firstly I guess you need to know that Mrs Davis-Scott is in a coma. We don't know how long it will last nor will we know the full extent of her injuries until she wakes up. At the moment we know she has suffered internal haemorrhaging inside her frontal lobe which was causing fluid on her brain. We have operated to correct this and now to be honest it's just a matter of waiting to see. Everything possible has been done to ensure that she is comfortable and I don't believe she is in any pain at the moment."

Haley smiled grimly. If there were anything that she could gain any sort of comfort out of in this situation then at least there was the fact that she wasn't in any pain. Feeling a sharp jab in her stomach she looked down for a moment placing a hand over her baby bump before suddenly jerking her head up in dismay. What on earth had she been thinking how could she not have asked about Brooke's baby? She opened her mouth to speak but was so terrified of what the doctor's answer might be that for a moment she could not force the words that would bring her answers.

Finally inhaling deeply she leant across the desk gripping the doctor's arm desperately. "Wait," she said hoarsely, "what about the baby? What about Brooke's baby?"

Doctor Monroe looked down at the hand still clasping her sleeve. Gently she put her own over it removing it from her arm. "He's fine. We did an emergency Caesarean but although he was slightly early he seems to be doing just fine. He is a very lucky little boy."

Tears of relief flowed down Haley's face but they soon turned once more to ones of despair. "It's a boy," she whispered to herself. "Tigger was right. She was so convinced that she was having a boy and she was right." Noticing the doctor's sympathetic gaze remaining on her she stood up abruptly. "Can I see him? I need to see Brooke's baby."

"Of course," the doctor said "I will arrange to have someone take you to the nursery to see him as soon as you would like but there is one more thing that we need to discuss. Mr Scott, he…"

"Oh God Lucas," Haley gasped "I completely forgot about him. How is he?"

"He has a lot of external injuries but other than a few fractured ribs he seems to have escaped with practically no internal injuries. He was very lucky not to puncture a lung. We currently have him sedated on some fairly heavy pain medication but you should go up there he has been floating in and out of consciousness most of the day but I'm sure he would be very relieved to see another familiar face when he wakes up again."

"Another?" Haley questioned cautiously. "Has Nathan, my uh husband been with him?"

The doctor gave her a quizzical look obviously wondering why she would feel the need to be seeking this information from a virtual stranger.

Haley hurried to come up with an explanation that she hoped would satisfy the other woman. "I've been away on an extended trip and his cell phone has been switched off all day so I assumed he was here during that time."

Seemingly satisfied with her explanation the other woman smiled reassuringly at Haley. "He has been here ever since it happened but we finally convinced him to go home and rest. He was mentally and physically exhausted."

"Ok," Haley replied "well I guess I'll just see him when I go home then." Inwardly she was heaving a huge sigh of relief. During the drive she had been dreading the inevitable confrontation with Nathan and while she knew that it would have to happen eventually she was more than content to postpone it as long as humanly possible. "Well I'll make sure I go up to see Lucas too before I go."

"If there's nothing else you need from me then I'll let you get back to Mrs Davis-Scott. I'm sure you're anxious to spend some time with her. If there's anything else at all I can do for you Mrs Davis-Scott don't hesitate to contact me. Just let one of the nurses know if you need to speak to me."

"I will thank-you doctor." Standing up Haley left the office in search of a nurse that would take her up to see Brooke and Lucas' son.

Ten minutes later she was standing at the window of the nursery looking in at the tiny baby who looked so much like his mother already. He was sleeping peacefully and Haley was relieved to see that just as the doctor had promised he appeared to be in perfect health.

"Mrs Scott," Haley turned at the sound of the voice inwardly grimacing at the title she was being given. Nathan would most likely be furious if he were to find out that she was walking around claiming to be his wife but surely he would understand if she explained that it was the only way she could get in to see Brooke.

Looking at the nurse standing in front of her she waited for her to speak.

"Mrs Scott," she said again "Dr Monroe asked me to tell you that the baby can be released tomorrow and she wanted to know what time you would be collecting him."

"Me?" Haley asked incredulously.

"Yes," the nurse responded "that's what it says on these forms. Apparently with Mrs Davis-Scott's parents abroad and Mr Scott being unable to take on the care of the baby they had to look into any arrangements Mrs Davis-Scott had made in case anything happened to her or Mr Scott. She named you and a Mr Nathan Scott as the baby's legal guardians.

"Can I see that please?" Haley asked holding out her hand for the piece of paper the nurse was reading from.

"Um I guess that would be ok," the nurse said uncertainly glancing around to ensure that no-one else was watching her do something that she was fairly certain went against hospital protocol. She handed Haley the piece of paper and watched as the pretty brunette scanned the words.

Sure enough printed in bold black print were Brooke and Lucas' express wishes that should anything happen to them the baby should be cared for by Mr Nathan Scott and Mrs Haley Scott. For a moment Haley was able to forget about the gravity of the situation surrounding her and allowed a smile to cross her face. It was such a Brooke thing to do. She had obviously not given up on Haley and Nathan reuniting and getting married in the future and had gone ahead as if it were a foregone conclusion.

As far as Haley was concerned there was no question in her mind that she would do just as Brooke had wanted and care for her baby while she was unable to. Turning back to the nurse she handed her back the piece of paper. "Tell Dr Monroe I'll be here to collect him at 9am."

She peered in through the window once more. "Goodnight baby I'll be back to get you in the morning but right now I need to go check on your mommy and daddy. You be a good boy for the nurses." Kissing her fingertips she pressed them against the glass pane.

Walking purposefully back to the nurses station she stood waiting impatiently for the woman to get off the phone. Finally seeing her place it back on the receiver she told her. "I need you to find out for me which room Lucas Scott is in."

Entering his room minutes later she had a renewed purpose she was going to care for that little baby just like his own mother would until the two parents were well enough to do it themselves. She didn't allow herself to consider the what ifs because at that moment she needed to believe that they would somehow both be fine and coming home to the baby they had been so anxiously looking forward to.

She paused in shock as she took in Lucas' broken body lying on the bed. Although according to the doctor his injuries were not as serious as Brooke's he looked so much worse. His head too was bandaged and his arm in a sling as well as a leg being in traction. Gingerly she approached the bed running a hand gently over his forehead. "Hey Lucas I don't know whether you can hear me," she said to his sleeping form "but I just want to let you know that everything is going to be fine. I'm going to take such good care of that little baby and I'm sure before you know it you and Brooke will be home caring for him yourselves."

As Haley watched Lucas opened his eyes groggily. "Cory," he whispered.

"What?" Haley asked not having heard him.

"The baby, his name is Cory."

Haley could feel tears brimming in her eyes as Lucas once again slipped out of consciousness.

"Cory," she repeated quietly. "Cory Davis-Scott. It's perfect."

Spoilers:- Nathan gets an unpleasant surprise when he goes to visit his nephew. A nurse cops his wrath.