Mother Nature did not seem to be on the side of the brokenhearted, Haley rose out of bed when she did not see the sun shining through the window. She pulled back the curtains and saw raindrops making puddles on the sidewalk. And as if the raindrops were her own, teardrops fell from her eyes. When Haley turned back around she was not expecting to see Brooke staring back at her, she quickly brushed away her tears, "I am sorry, I did not mean to wake you," was all that she could say.

"You didn't," she said with a sad smile. Brooke silently had wished the night before that when Haley woke up the next morning, it would be tearless, but as Haley knew as well, you cannot always get what you want. Brooke lifted her sheets up, "Come here," she motioned for Haley to come.

At first Haley was hesitant, she did not really want someone to comfort her every time something went wrong, but this time she gladly went to Brooke's bed and got in. Brooke comforted Haley by playing with her hair, and Haley silently let her morning tears fall. Then out of the blue Haley spoke back to Brooke, "Last night before I went to sleep, I told myself that today would be a new day, and I could start all over if I wanted to. And I told myself that when I wake up and the sun is shining that everything is going to be okay. Brooke, why is every sign I get telling me that Nathan does not love me anymore, and to just give up?"

"Because you cannot really start over, you must keep living the life that you have been given. A life with all the mistakes and hardships, the tears, and sorrows. But you see Haley; it does not always stay that way, just look at all the good memories that you have to go with the sorrows. It is going to get better, do not let a rainy day alter that."

"It is hard not to. That was the only thing that I had going for me when I went to sleep. And if when I woke up this morning and the sun was shining in my eyes, it was some sort of sign telling me that it was a new day and wake up and greet it. But all I get is clouds to block my only glimpse of hope. It was my only hope," Haley rose after she spoke and got out of Brooke's bed and wiped her tears away. "Maybe I will just have to wait for another sign."

"Do not give up Haley. A little storm never ruined a person's day."

"How about at sea? It kills people sometimes."

"Only you would think of that. Fine, how about this one: a little rain never hurt anyone," Brooke looked at Haley and saw that she was going to retort once more, "Neither did a lot of rain, okay?"

"Fine, I am going to go take a shower, I have a shift at 12."

"Sounds like a plan Haley," as she was walking away, Brooke stopped her as she spoke again, "Accept that there are rainy days and there are sunny days, bad and good if you may. It cannot rain forever Hale, don't give up, maybe if you are lucky you will even get a rainbow."

Haley took what Brooke said to heart, she was a lot smarter then she let other see, Haley was grateful that their paths met and Brooke was there for her. She took what Brooke said a little to literal though, she opened the door and ran outside and accepted that it was a rainy day by throwing her arms up in the sky, "Bring it on, you cannot rain forever, I dare you to try," she yelled up to the sky.

Brooke heard noise outside and went to the window and saw who was making all the racket, she saw Haley embracing the rain falling from the sky, that was the first step, Brooke thought. She went to the bathroom closet and got a towel to greet Haley when she was done embracing the rain.

Haley closed her eyes and remembered her first kiss, her wedding, and the first time that she made love to Nathan, she closed her eyes tighter, never wanting to have that scene disappear. She was forced to open her eyes when she heard Brooke call her name, it was getting late and Haley had a shift to work.

Haley turned around and saw that Brooke had a towel awaiting her, she had to smile at Brooke, she was surprised when Brooke did not respond with one, but a concerned look, what could she possibly be concerned about now, she thought. Then she spoke and she wished she never went into the rain, "What happened to your neck, Haley?"

Haley completely forgot she had put makeup on her neck when she returned from Tric the night before. As she stood there embracing the rain, the makeup had began to wash away. When Brooke said neck she immediately put her hand to it, to some how try to cover it up. "Nothing, nothing happened," she said rushing pass an awaiting Brooke.

"Haley," she called out after her, but she gave up because she did not want to intrude any further, and she knew her to well to actually tell her.

Haley rushed into the bathroom and looked into the mirror; she put her hand to her neck to feel the damage that Gavin had done the night before. She was in a little disbelief with the extent of the marking on her neck. She decided that she could no longer stare at it without having flashbacks of what happened the night before.

Peyton was beginning to wake up and her head was killing her, she immediately put a hand to her head to some how stop the pain. With all the pain that she was feeling it took her a few minutes to realize that she did not have any pants on. She looked around the room for her pants, hoping that they had some how fallen off when she was restlessly sleeping. However, it was her body and it failed her, she knew that she had had sex the night before with the pain she was feeling now. She moved slightly and felt pain, she cried out a little bit. But there was something that was worse then the pain, it was the fact that she did not know who she had had sex with and if it was consensual. Peyton had changed from the person that she used to be but pain was still pain, and it was something that she was so used to feeling. Cocaine had taken the pain away, but as soon as she was done from the high she was feeling, she crashed far and hard, and the pain remained until she used something else to cover it.

Gavin came in the room and saw Peyton wrapped up in a ball a little more distraught then he normal saw her. He was used to seeing no emotions in the girl in front of him, "What happened to you?"

Peyton looked up at him, not knowing what to say, but she had to know, "Did we…did we…"

"Did we what Peyton, spit it out, I am not going to stand here all day guessing what you are going to say next."

"Did we have sex last night?"

"What? Why would you ask something like that?"

"Because I think I did."

"What do you mean you think you had sex last night? That is something that maybe you should be able to tell someone. You did or you didn't."

"I don't remember anything from last night Gavin," she looked around, confused to her whereabouts, "I couldn't even tell you where we are right now. Where the hell are we, Gavin?"

"Noah's. You were pretty out of it last night, so I brought you here so you could sleep it off. He was having a party, so I hung out with some of my friends."

"So you just left me in here, alone?"

"What did you want me to do? Watch you sleep?"

"You could have at least watched the door and made sure someone did not come in here and have sex with me. Yeah, you could have done that, that would have been nice Gavin," he did not like her attitude and he slapped her across her face. She brought her hand to her check and realized what she had actually been saying, she did not consent to having sex, and though she wasn't completely positive, she was a girl and it was her body, she knew that she had had sex, she was raped. "Did anything else happen last night, Gavin?"

"What do you mean other then you being a slut?"

"How dare you call me that? It was your fault that I was in the state that I was in. You should have been watching me and making sure I was not taking too much. You did not have to bring me here, if you did not then nothing would have happened last night. So don't try and put this on me Gavin."

"Fine, if you need to blame someone for your behaviors then sure blame me, but I was as much under the influence as you and I did not screw a stranger."

"You bastard," Peyton could not believe that he was really saying this to her, it was the most painful thing that anyone had ever said to her, and she had heard some pretty bad ones. She got up from the bed and found her pants and put them on.

Peyton tried to walk past Gavin, put he grabbed onto her arm stopping her right there, "Where do you think you are going?"

"Away from you, that is for sure. Now let go of my arm."

"After everything that I have done for you, you are not walking away from me."

"What are you going to do to me, Gavin? Or should I ask you what you could possibly do to me; I have been through enough in my life, that I no longer feel pain, so I will take you on."

Gavin let go, there was nothing that he could do to her, at least at the moment so he just let go of her, and moved on, "Do you remember anything from last night?"

"All I remember is we were at Tric, I also remember arguing with Brooke, she thinks that we are still friends," she laughed whole-heartedly.

"Is that all you remember?"

"Gavin, it sounds like you are trying to save your own ass. Did you do something last night that you do not want me to know about?"

"Nothing bad happened. I was just seeing if you remembered my run in with that James girl."

"What did you do now?"

"Wait; are you mad that I went after her? She came into the back room looking for me and I had to make sure that she didn't tell anyone what was going on."

"No, I am not mad. She hurt Nathan, she deserves to hurt."

"Wait, why do you care so much that Nathan has been hurt? Do you still have feelings for him?"

"No, he and I are just friends, and if someone messes with my friend, I have a problem with that. What did you do to her by the way?"

"Let's just say that she couldn't perform last night."

"Wait a second there was no show last night?" Peyton asked not really concerned about what Gavin did to Haley but rather that there was no performance at Tric last night, Karen was going to be mad when she found out.

"No, that is what I said. She just rushed out of the building, saying that she couldn't perform because something happened. Yeah something happened, my hand connected with her neck, ha."

Peyton was a little taken back with what she just heard; Gavin had his hand around her neck? Maybe that was a little more then she thought of, he could have seriously hurt her; Peyton just wanted Haley to be scared. "You didn't hurt her too bad, did you? You just scared her right?"

"What side are you on here, one second you are glad that I did something and then the next you are concerned that I hurt her. What is it that you want me to do?"

"I want her to hurt, but not necessarily physical pain."

"Well you seem to be a little picky in the subject, who says that you really have to right to choose?"

"I never said that Gavin, I want her to feel pain that is all, and whatever way she feels it, it will be okay with me. You happy now?" She saw him nod his head, "Okay, good, I am going to go to Karen's café and grab some food and then I am going to head home. You want to come with?"

"I will meet you at Tric later; I am going to stay with my brother for awhile."

"Okay, see you later then," she kissed him on the check and was out of there.

Haley emerged from the bathroom with makeup freshly applied to her war wounds, it you may. She went back into her room and saw that Brooke was back in bed. She quickly grabbed her things and left to go to Karen's.

Brooke was not really sleeping, but she did not know what else to do, Haley did not feel like talking and Brooke did not want to intrude another aspect of her life.

Haley had been working for only twenty minutes when she heard the bell ring and looked up to see who it was, and it looked like the cat dragged her in, it was Peyton in the same clothes she wore the night before. It was her job to be a waitress so she went over to Peyton as if they were strangers, at the point in both their lives now, one could say there were, "Can I help you?"

"Nope, I am just going to grab a seat at the counter."

"Suit yourself."

Peyton looked around, and then she spoke again asking Haley a question, "Is Karen around, I need to talk to her?"

"Yeah she is in the back, she will be right out. And what do you need to talk to her about anyways? How you were so wasted that you did not book a Friday night show again, and how I was forced to fill the time. Oh and then how I, Haley your only act ran out of there because her guitarist tried to kill her, wait I forgot you were not conscious to know anything that I am talking about. Karen will be right out, wait here."

"Wait Haley, Gavin told me that it was just a joke, no harm, no foul."

"Oh and you are going to listen to him the one who had his hand around my neck threatening my life if I told anyone what you were doing in the back room? That Gavin? Yeah, he seems really trustworthy." With that Haley walked away.

Peyton watched her walk away and saw her eyes sadden ever so slightly. Peyton just stared at her, finally seeing that Haley had a bruise to match her own. He must have really hurt her, she thought. She deserved it, right? Peyton conflicting thoughts were interrupted by Karen's voice, "Hi Peyton, Haley told me that you wanted to talk to me. I am glad to see that you were able to walk in here on your own two feet and not have to be dragged, like you were last night."

It took Peyton a few seconds to grasp what Karen had just said. She must have known that there was no show last night and she must have seen Peyton under the influence of cocaine. Peyton really didn't know where to go from there. "Umm…Karen I just wanted to apologize for last night."

"Do you know what you are apologizing for Peyton?" Karen asked looking at the girl in front of her, she was a mess, same clothes as she wore the night before, and knew nothing about the events in it. Karen did not want to be mean to Peyton, or harsh with her, but she also was not willing to just forget everything that happened the night before. Karen had been more of a mother figure to Peyton then anyone in the previous years and she never felt like it was a burden, but sometimes she just did not know what to do with her. Especially after last night, this was not the girl that missed her mother sometimes it caused her to cry or felt so alone in the world because her only family member was at sea. This was a completely different girl, and she was turning to things way worse then Karen could or would ever like to imagine.

"There was no show at Tric last night, I am sorry that I let you down."

"We did have an act though at one point, but one minute she goes looking for you and Gavin and the next she is on the verge of tears telling me that she cannot go on. I can't tell you what caused this to happen and I am pretty confident that you do not know either. I care about Haley and this is not like her, I am a little concerned," with the mention of Haley's name Peyton turned to look over at Haley and Karen saw this. "I care about you too Peyton, I care about you way too damn much to watch you ruin your life. You are so talented, and you have a good head on those shoulders of yours, but right now you are not making the best decisions, and I don't know why."

"There is just a lot going on right now, I am fine though, don't worry about me, you have other parents' kids to worry about."

"I am concerned for you Peyton, I have never in my 36 years of living seen someone in as bad of shape as you last night," with each event that Karen spoke of Peyton was becoming more and more embarrassed and confused and aware of what her last night consisted of.

"I…I…I do not remember anything from last night Karen, I really don't."

"Lucas said that your eyes were glazed, he thinks that you were high. I thought that the cocaine was a one time mistake, Peyton."

"It makes the pain go away Karen."

"So you don't have to think about it or deal with it, you can now just wake up the next morning having no idea what the last day consisted of?"

"Pretty much. Everything I ever used to feel was pain, now I feel nothing, and I like it a whole lot better."

"That isn't good Peyton, not at all. And if you don't do something quick, you are not going to have another tomorrow to wake up to trying to determine the events of the previous day. You do realize that, right?"

"It is a risk that I am willing to take."

"Well that risk that you are taking, is your life. I can only warn you so many times Peyton, there is only so much that I can do. Like I said, I care about you, but if you are not willing to listen or at least take in some of what I am saying, it is a lost cause. And I really hate to say that about someone of some much potential."

"With all the mother troubles and fiascos that I have had in my lifetime, you are the only one that has remained constant, and as much as I appreciate it, I think you have done your job already. You can just stop now; I am going to be okay."

"If that is what you believe then I am concerned for you."

Peyton completely changed subjects; she did not want to talk about herself any longer, "So what happened last night because there was no show?"

"I see you are avoiding the subject. So, we couldn't go on, those who wanted to drink or dance were allowed in at a lower price, but we did not say open as long as we normally do."

"Did you lose money?"

"Of course we lost money, you tell people that there is going to be a band and there isn't, a lot of people turn away."

"I will make it up to you Karen; you will get all the money that you lost back."

"Peyton, I do not want your money, I just want you to be more responsible and aware, you are lucky that Haley plays on such short notice or we would rarely have a Friday night act. You owe her a lot and Gavin or you did something to hurt her last night, and I do not know how that could happen after she has done so much for you. Maybe that is just me, but you have to look at her situation right now, she is going through a lot, the music is the only thing that keeps her going from time to time. Please do not take that away from her."

"I won't Karen."

"Well I hope that you stay true to your word, I have to get back to work, I will see you at Tric later night. And Peyton, I am always here if you need me, even if I do not approve of what you are doing; I just wanted to let you know that."

"Thanks," was all that she could really say, feeling nothing felt so much better then feeling pain, it would not be that easy to change her ways. And Haley hurt Nathan; there was not a switch to turn off that made her no longer mad at Haley. Peyton was unsure of a lot of things, but the only thing she was sure of was that it was only going to get more uncertain as she went.