"Brooke…" She can hear someone speaking to her in the distance. "Brooke…"
The voice is growing louder as she opens her eyes and lifts her head from the seat and looks over at him.
"Are you okay?" Her husband asks with a smile.
She yawns and then says, "Yeah…I think that movie tired me out."
"On top of your busy day?" Mouth chuckles.
She smiles and rubs her pregnant stomach and replies, "Yeah, it's not easy to handle a business, a house, two teenagers, a husband and be pregnant at the same time. I am exhausted."
"Well, I would be too." Mouth says, keeping his focus on the road ahead of him while she stares at him admiringly, still smiling.
Mouth glances at her, laughs and says, "What?"
"I love you so much." She responds.
"I love you too." He says and takes her hand in his and lifts it and kisses it.
They both return their attention ahead of them, but when they do, Brooke's smile fades. For at this stoplight, she notices a familiar, but unfriendly face in the car on the opposite side of the road. But she realizes who the person is behind that evil grin too late, for at the very instant of her realization, the light turns green and Mouth presses on the gas. At the very same time as Mouth presses on the gas, Dan forces his car through a red light and directly aims for the driver's side of their car.
"Mouth, no!" She hears herself scream before she is forced forward in her seat belt as the car crashes into something.
Her head is pounding…she is in so much pain. She wants to open her eyes, but they feel glued to her face by the moisture around her eyes. Finally, they flicker open. There is a bright light above her and she can see her friends all around her. Peyton and Jake are on her left and Haley and Nathan are on her right. Karen is standing directly across from her at the end of the bed. They all look so sad. What has happened? How did she get here?
She moves her hands slowly to her stomach and is suddenly aware of what is not there that should be. Her friends notice she is awake as she remembers the accident.
"The baby," she says and Karen moves up closer to Nathan and Haley, "where's the baby?"
She tries to sit up, but Peyton and Haley force her back down. She begins to panic.
"No, the baby! Where is she? And Mouth…oh God, where's Mouth? Is he okay?"
"Brooke, Brooke," Peyton says, trying to calm her, "relax, sweetie, it's okay."
She looks from Peyton and Jake to Nathan, Hale and Karen and lets herself calm down only slightly and she repeats herself.
"Where's the baby? Is she okay?"
"She's okay, Brooke." Haley answers. "She's in the NICU."
She lets out a sigh of relief before asking, "Okay, good. Now, where's Mouth?"
Her friends glance at each other again. They are frowning. Haley and Peyton have tears leaking now.
"Sweetie," Haley says through barely a whisper, "Mouth…"
Haley's tears become sobs and Nathan hugs her. She is growing even more scared now. Peyton speaks again.
"Brooke," she says as she takes her hand, "the driver who caused the accident hit the driver's side of your car and Mouth was hurt really, really bad."
"He's okay, right?" She can feel her own tears start to build up.
Peyton shakes her head and answers, "No, Brooke. His injuries were too severe. He didn't make it."
"No!" She screams." God, no! Not again…this can't be happening again…please no…
Startled and sweating, Brooke shot up in her bed. Not that nightmare…not again. That dream was the same dream she'd had five years ago…only then, it had been Lucas in the driver's seat and now it was Mouth. What did that mean exactly? How could this dream be haunting her again? Why was this dream haunting her again?
"Not again. I can't lose Mouth like that too. I love him. I can't lose him. Never."
She moved her hands to her face and let herself cry.
Brooke moved her fork back and forth across her plate like a child refusing to eat. She was still being haunted by that dream and it had depressed her all day.
"Brooke, are you okay?" Mouth asked, placing his hand on hers.
She looked up at him, gave a small smile and said, "I'm just not very hungry tonight. But this is all really beautiful. I can't believe you went to so much trouble for me."
"Yeah, well you are very special to me." Mouth said with a wide smile. "And tonight is supposed to be special, not just because it's our anniversary, but also because there is something I want to tell you."
Uh, oh, Brooke thought. She hoped he wasn't going to say something too nice to her when she had been thinking about letting him go ever since that dream.
"Mouth, you—
"Wait, please, just let me say what I want to say first. I've wanted to tell you for weeks, but decided to wait for a special night like this."
He took a deep breath, and then said, "I-I love you, Brooke."
All she could do was stare at him. I love you. Those were the three most feared words to her right now. Mostly because of that dream, but also because she felt the same for him. But she could not admit that to him. She had to keep herself from feeling it. She had to keep herself from loving him because she couldn't lose him."
"Brooke," Mouth said when he noticed her tears, "What's wrong?"
She moved her hand from underneath his, wiped her cheeks and said, ""I'm sorry, Mouth, but I, um, I have to go."
"Brooke, wait, I—
"I'm sorry," she repeated as she stood up and grabbed her purse, "I really am."
And she left through his front door; leaving Mouth alone by the candlelight dinner he'd set up for her.
