Nathan sat across from Haley in the small booth of the pizza café in town. Haley had just finished her pizza and was talking to Nathan as he finished when his cell phone rang. He looked at her apologetically as he picked up the small phone.

"Hello?" Nathan asked.

Haley looked away and watched as cars passed out the window. Nathan was silent as he listened to the other person on the phone. She looked at him quizzically and watched as he silently nodded to himself. She watched as Nathan's expression changed. He looked to her and suddenly, fear filled his eyes. He said nothing but hung up the phone and slammed a twenty dollar bill on the table, taking Haley's hand.

"We have to go, Hales." He said quickly.

"Wait, wait, what happened?" she asked, somewhat panicked.

"Lucas…" Nathan said quietly, turning to her, his voice quivering.

"C'mon" he whispered, taking her hand.

---

Nathan and Haley went arm in arm through the bright hallway.

Haley looked down the hall and let go of Nathan, taking off towards the petite brunette near the reception desk.

The girl turned around and Haley embraced her. The girl cried into her shoulder as Nathan came up behind them and ran his hand up and down the girl's back, waiting for someone at the desk to help them.

"Brooke! Wha-What happened? How are they?"

As if just on cue, a tall blonde doctor walked up and tapped Haley on the shoulder.

"Are you all here for Lucas Roe and Alexandra Davis?"

"Yes, sir. What happened? How are they?" Nathan asked, putting his arms around the two teary girls.

"We're still not sure what happened. Miss Davis, we did everything we could. Alexandra is gone." The doctor told them softly.

Brooke's face fell as fresh tears fell from her eyes. She swayed back and forth and felt her head lighten. Nathan wrapped his arms around Brooke strongly and scooped her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his chest as Haley held tightly to his shoulder. Nathan looked at the doctor, his eyes filled with fear. Speaking for his girlfriend and himself, he cleared his throat.

"L-Lucas?" he managed to ask quietly.

"Lucas was very badly injured in the incident. He broke four ribs and his right ankle. Under the broken ribs his lung was punctured and had to be repaired. He also had internal bleeding and we had to take out his spleen and a small part of his large intestine. He had a mild concussion and of course a lot of scrapes and bruises. He is in a coma now but you're welcome to go see him whenever you want."

"He…He's going to wake up…right?" Haley asked softly.

"We're confident that Lucas will wake up. We just don't know when that will be. It's up to him."

Haley let the tears fall down her cheeks as she latched onto Nathan's arm. Nathan took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to be strong for the girls.

"Thank you." He told the doctor, taking the papers from him.

"I'll talk to you all again soon. And again, I'm very sorry for your loss." The doctor told them.

The man walked away and Nathan walked to the parking lot carrying Brooke with Haley around his arm. They reached the car and he opened the top of the convertible, laying Brooke across the backseat.

Nathan stood up and wrapped his arms around Haley. He felt her tears soak through his shirt and sighed deeply, reflecting on the night. She had just come close to losing her brother and he needed to be strong for her. He stroked Haley's head and glanced towards Brooke. She slept on her side but her tear stained cheeks shone in the moonlight. Nathan guessed that she must be in shock. Losing her sister, her only companion, she was falling apart. It had taken every bit of strength he had to listen to the doctor while Brooke cried in his arms. He needed to be strong, for Haley and Brooke. He pulled away as Brooke stirred. He looked down at Haley who wiped tears from her eyes and sighed, breathing deeply. He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled slightly.

"We…I…Lucas" Nathan tried to say.

Haley understood. She wiped away her tears once more and nodded her head.

"We should um…go before Brooke wakes up." Haley said, convincing herself more than she was Nathan.

He nodded and put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder and they headed into the hospital.

Nathan opened the door to the room and gave Haley a slight nudge inside. He followed her and closed the door quietly. Haley rounded the corner and stopped abruptly at the foot of the bed. She felt fresh tears stinging her eyes as she stared at Lucas lying in the small metal framed bed. He looked so helpless. His ankle was elevated in a hard, white cast with a metal ring around the joint. He had a tube coming from his chest and too many tubes of fluid running into his arms to count. His head was bandaged and his face was cut up and swollen. She jumped slightly as she felt Nathan's hand on her back. The tears slid down her face and she turned, running out the door to the room. She leaned back against the wall outside the room and slid down to the floor, cradling her head in her hands. Nathan took one last look at his friend before racing after Haley. He stopped short as he spotted her sitting outside on the floor. He knelt down and lifted her face with one hand, stroking her hair away from her face with the other. He smiled slightly at her.

"He's okay, Hales. Everything's going to be okay." He whispered.

"He's so…scary, Nate. How could this have happened. Neither of them deserved this. How could something like this happen?" she cried softly.

"They don't know, baby. They need Lucas to wake up. All they know is that someone called from the highway. They said they found Lucas's truck on the interstate and both bodies about a hundred yards off. The truck had been in a crash but they couldn't have been hurt this badly. Something else happened but they need Lucas to wake up to find out."

"Wh-what if he doesn't, Nate? What if he never does?" Haley asked, tears sliding down her face.

"He will. Lucas won't give up. He loves you, Hales. He won't leave us." He whispered as he took her into his arms and they stood. He hugged her once more and sighed, trying once more to fight off the emotion he felt sweeping over him.

"Why don't you take Brooke back to your place. I'll take a cab and meet you both there. We'll take care of her until her dad can get home from his trip. I have some…stuff to do first." He told her.

He kissed her and embraced her once more, smiling slightly.

"Everything's going to be okay, Hales. I promise." He told her. She squeezed his hand and took off towards the parking lot.

He watched her leave and then silently turned the knob to the room once more, walking inside. This time he didn't stop at the foot of the bed, rather taking a seat beside him. Nathan sat and put his elbows onto the bed staring at the boy he'd grown to love.

"Hey, man…it's me…it's Nathan. I don't know if you can hear me but I need someone to talk to. I don't know what to do, man. Alex is gone, I know you know. You have to know. Well, even if you didn't, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Luke. Brooke is going out of her mind. She needs to know what really happened, man. She needs to know how her sister died. And Haley's a mess too. She loves you so much Lucas. She needs you. I honestly don't know how she'd survive without you. She needs her brother, Luke. You gotta come back to us. Please, Lucas…please, we need you…I need you. Ya know…I always thought I was an only child, but I was wrong. Lucas, you're my brother. You were always there when I needed you, you were always there. I need you now, man."

Nathan laid his head in his hands and let the tears fall for the first time that night. He cried onto Lucas's bed into his hands and finally everything sank in. Alex was gone. Lucas was here, but he wasn't really here. He jumped slightly as he felt something brush his shoulder. He sat up and watched Lucas's hand move across his arm. He picked up Lucas's hand in the first position if their secret handshake and waited. He closed his eyes and faintly felt Lucas squeeze his hand. He let go and stood up.

"Come back to us soon, my brother." Nathan told him, leaving the room.

Outside, he ran into the doctor from before.

"Mr. Scott? Right?" the doctor inquired.

"Yeah…"

"He's going to be fine." The doctor told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"He um…he squeezed my hand…" Nathan told him.

The doctor smiled and scribbled something onto the clipboard in front of him.

"See…that's one of the earliest signs of a patient's struggle to wake up from a coma. If I had to guess, he'll be awake within the next two days if he's already doing what you claim he's doing." The doctor told him.

Nathan smiled and nodded.

"I needed to give you some things, Mr. Scott, before you left for the night."

Nathan nodded and accepted the box from the man. He opened the lid and looked inside.

"Those are the personal belongings that were found among Alexandra and Lucas and the paperwork so far. Injury statements, billing information, accident report documents, things like that. You may look through them and give them to the parental figures. I noticed that they weren't here."

"Mr. Davis is on a business trip and Ms. Roe is in Italy at school." Nathan informed him.

"So you'll be um, looking after Miss Davis for the next few days?"

Nathan nodded.

"Here, then." The doctor handed Nathan a small plastic baggie and he closed it in his fist.

"Those are mild sleeping pills. Miss Davis is obviously going through a rough time right now. I talked to the psychologist that she will be referred to and he suggested these to get her through the next couple of days." He explained.

"Thank you. I have to go but we'll be back tomorrow to see Lucas." Nathan told him.

The doctor nodded.

Nathan turned and walked off towards the parking lot, calling a cab from his cell.