It's been forever, hasn't it! I know, and I'm sorry. I ran into possibly the worst case of writers block EVER and didn't know where I wanted to take the story exactly. Now, finally, a new chapter. It's not very eventful, but it's got stuff in it I needed y'all to know before I go on with the rest of the story. Anyway, HUGE THANKS to Hana for being an awesome beta for the story! You guys probably wouldn't have gotten an update without her! Okay, so, feedback is appreciated, as always! Enjoy:) -justine

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Look over there!" Haley said, pointing straight out the windshield. Nathan pulled the car over and all three of them sighed in relief. Sitting on a picnic table with her elbows resting on her knees and her head cradled in her hands was Brooke.

"I should probably—"

Haley cut off her brother and smiled. "No, wait. Let me try first, okay?"

Lucas nodded and Nathan leaned back, kissing Haley's forehead before she opened her door and slid out, walking slowly towards her friend. When she reached the bench, she sat down silently beside her best friend. She put a hand on Brooke's knee, but Brooke quickly sat up and pulled away, scooting further away from her friend and staring straight ahead.

"Brooke..."

Brooke's face showed no emotion. She stared straight ahead put her hands behind her, sliding from where she sat on the bench to the grass underneath the table. She sat with her back against the wood and pulled her knees up. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked back and forth, staring straight ahead.

"Brooke, please talk to me…"

---

Lucas watched as his sister did her best to comfort her best friend. Lucas took a deep breath, willing the tears in his own eyes not to fall as the guilt he felt made his stomach sick. He felt Nathan put a hand on his shoulder. Lucas watched Brooke and tried to think of anything except what had happened, but he couldn't.

Flashback

"It was your dad, Brooke," Lucas whispered.

Silence fell upon the room and Brooke heard ringing in her ears. Suddenly, the walls grew closer and her throat tightened. Her breathing was shallow and her entire body broke out in a cold sweat. Lucas reached out for her hand and she quickly pulled away, standing from the bed and backing towards the door.

"Brooke…" Lucas started.

"No…no…you're wrong…" Brooke said.

"Broo—"

"No! You're wrong!" she yelled before turning around and running out the door, down the stairs and out of the house.

Lucas leaned his head back against the bed frame and sighed. He looked to the side and watched as tears streamed down his little sister's face. He held out his arm and Haley stood up, sitting down next to him and burying her face in her brother's chest.
"What are we going to do, Luke?" she asked softly.

"I have to find her…"

Nathan stood up. "C'mon, Lucas. Let's go."

End Flashback

Lucas was pulled from his thoughts as his sister knocked on his window. He opened the door to find her face tear stained. He leaned out, pulling her into his embrace and rubbing her back.

"She-she won't talk, Luke. What are we going to do?" she cried.

"Shhh…its okay, Hales," he whispered.

Haley pulled away and nodded. She handed Lucas his crutches and he stood next to Haley as she climbed in the car beside Nathan.

"I'll be back, Hales," he said quietly.

Lucas looked over to where Brooke sat and sighed. As he made his way over to her, he felt as if his heart was going to fly out of his chest. His head was pounding and his ankle was throbbing. Breathing heavily, he slid himself down to where she sat on the grass and leaned back against the table. He opened his mouth to say something when she shifted on the ground. She dug her chin into her knees and took a deep breath, still staring straight ahead. He turned to look at her, his back still against the table. She felt him staring at her and felt the tears pricking her eyes. She didn't want to cry. They were wrong, all of them. It was all a lie. Lucas shifted again and cleared his throat.

"B-Brooke…?"

She didn't move. She didn't breathe. Her eyes never shifted from their fixed point ahead of her. She felt her hands shaking and gripped her legs harder. Lucas put a hesitant hand on her back, rubbing it slightly.

"Broo—"

He was cut off when Brooke turned and leaned into his chest, letting herself break down. Lucas was taken aback and stoked her hair and her tears penetrated his thin shirt. She sobbed uncontrollably and let Lucas rub her back gently. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew it was true, every word of it. Brooke cried for seconds, minutes, hours; it didn't matter to her. All that mattered was that when she cried into Lucas's chest that night, she felt relieved. She cried until she had no tears left and her whole body ached from the sobs. Hesitantly, she sat up, expecting the worst. Unexpectedly, all she saw when she sat up were tears streaming down Lucas's own face. She reached out and put a hand to the side of his face, stroking his hair.

"I'm so sorry, Luke…" she managed to say.

He shook his head and took her hand from his face and squeezing it. "Not your fault. It's my fault," he whispered.

"But he's my dad!"

"That doesn't make it your fault! Brooke, he was drunk and he was angry. He was sick, okay? He may be your dad, but he's not your responsibility. He did what he did, and it has nothing to do with you," Lucas said with tears in his eyes.

Brooke sat in silence, letting Lucas hold her hand as she cried.

"It can't be your fault, Brooke…it's mine."

"No! Lucas, it is not your fault! You tried to protect her."

"But I also caused it!"

Brooke was taken aback.

"Wh-what do you mean, you caused it?"

Lucas took a deep breath as he remembered, the story slowly spilling out as Brooke listened intently.

Flashback

"And why are we here again?" Lucas asked, staring up at the dingy apartment building.

"You don't have to come in. I just…I don't like coming to this part of town alone and it was nice to have you on the bus ride up here, Luke." Alex said, taking her sister's hand.

"Wait, okay, better question: what are you doing here?"

"Once a year, Brooke and I have to visit someone. It's not usually a nice visit and we don't look forward to it. In fact, we dread it. We have to ride all the way up here on the bus alone to this part of town and it's to talk with, well, not our favorite person in the world."

"Who is it, Allie?"

"Eric, our father…"

All three of them stared up at the apartment building and Alex sighed.

"Why don't you want me to come in?"

"Because he's really…unpredictable. We never know if it's a good day or a bad day."

"Is he sick?"

"Sort of. He's got problems…alcohol, anger management, violence; all that stuff."

"Is that why he and your mom are divorced?"

"Yeah, she took me and Brooke and left him, saying she never wanted to see him again. After all the abuse, I don't blame her."

"Well, I don't want you to go in there alone."

"No, really. Just wait here, okay?"

"No, Allie, please, let me come. I won't stay if you don't want me to."

Alex sighed in defeat and let go of Lucas's hand, linking her arm with Brooke's. "You ready?" she asked.

"Let's do this…again," Brooke sighed.

Lucas walked behind them and put a hand on both their shoulders, following them closely as they climbed the stairs to the apartment. When they reached the door, Brooke took a deep breath and hesitantly knocked on the door. They heard yelling inside and knocked again, only for the door swing open.

Lucas was taken aback. The man leaning against the doorframe was wearing only his boxers and a t-shirt. He was holding a can of beer in his hand and his face was unshaven.

"Hi, Dad," Alex said quietly.

Eric moved from the doorway and the three teens went inside and sat hesitantly on the couch. He took a seat in the armchair across from them and sighed, downing the rest of the beer and tossing the can aside.

"Who's this one?" he drawled, pointing to Lucas.

"Um, Daddy, this is Alex's boyfriend, Lucas," Brooke said hesitantly.

"Boyfriend! Aren't you supposed to get the father's permission?" he directed at Lucas angrily.

"Well, sir, I would have—"

"No! Alex! I don't believe you! You would bring this boy here?"

Eric stood up unsteadily and Lucas felt both sisters brace themselves from where they sat on the couch.

"You have no right to bring that jackass here!" he shouted unexpectedly.

Alex jumped up from where she sat to face her dad. Brooke stood up instinctively to back up her sister. Lucas also took a step up, standing beside Alex defensively.

"Daddy! He's a nice boy! You didn't even give him a chance! Don't you trust me?"

"No! I don't! You're a stupid bitchy girl, just like your mother!"

With that, he swung his fist, missing Alex's jaw but hitting her shoulder; sending her falling backwards. Lucas instantly sent his own fist flying and hit the man squarely in the jaw. Eric fell back into the armchair and stood back up again, punching Lucas in the stomach. Lucas bent over, and kicked his knee, both of them falling to the ground. Brooke and Alex took Lucas's arms and pulled him off the ground, holding him back as he went to hit him again.

"Luke! Lucas, please. Just leave him. Let's just go…" Alex pleaded.

Lucas harshly pulled his arms from the girls' grasps and took once last look at the man.

"I'm not done with you, blondie!" Eric shouted at Lucas as the two girls followed him out and down to the street.

Once they were out of the building, Alex put both hands on Lucas's shoulders, turning him around.

"Luke, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" he said, lifting her sleeve to inspect her shoulder.

She pushed his hand away and put her arms around his waist. "I'm so sorry, Lucas…I am, really. He didn't mean that. He just…gets that way sometimes. He didn't mean that he wasn't done with us. He'll forget all about it, okay?"

Lucas nodded and forced a smile.

Later, as the three of them walked back to the bus, he couldn't shake that feeling. Something wasn't right about the man, he just didn't know what. He looked into his girlfriend's eyes and saw something he hadn't seen before: fear.

"Everything's fine, Allie. Nothing's going to happen," he said quietly.

End Flashback

Brooke watched as tears spilled out of Lucas's eyes and scooted closer to him, letting him wrap his arms around her. "Lucas, it's not your fault. It could've happened anytime. Meeting you had nothing to do with it!"

"Yes it did! If I hadn't gone with her to see him, he wouldn't have been so angry with her!" Lucas said loudly.

"If he wasn't mad about her bringing you, he would have been mad at something else by the time the afternoon was over! He always is! He never loved us!"

Lucas looked up to see tears streaming down Brooke's face again and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, resting his chin in her hair as she cried into his chest. "No, no, Brooke. Shhh, I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to make you upset, I'm sorry," he whispered.

She cried into his chest until she felt like no more tears could possibly run down her cheeks. She pulled back and smiled at Lucas as best she could.

"You okay?"

She didn't respond. She rose to her feet and slowly pulled him up beside her, handing his crutches to him and standing in front of him.

"Brooke, I just…I want you to know that I'm here, okay? It's okay that you're upset. You just need to talk to someone. And I want you to know that if you need me, I'll be here," he said softly.

She bit her lip and nodded. As he went to turn around, she grabbed him and he turned to face her again. "Luke? I, um, it goes both ways, you know. I'm here, too," she confessed quietly.

He nodded slightly and pulled her into his embrace, kissing her forehead.

They made their way slowly back to the car and Brooke slid in right next to Lucas in the backseat. No one said a word. When they reached the house, Brooke silently slid out of the car and went into the house. Nathan helped Lucas out of the car and put a strong arm around his best friend's waist and he swayed back and forth on his feet. "C'mon, Luke. We've got to get you back inside before my parents kill me for letting you go out. How you feeling?" he asked as Lucas leaned heavily on him.

"It'll be okay," Lucas mumbled, growing more tired and weak by the second.
When they got into the house, Haley stepped in front of him.

"Luke? How are you and Brooke?" she asked softly.

He bit his lip and pulled Haley into his embrace. "It'll be okay…" he whispered quietly to his sister as they gently rocked back and forth.