Karen and Peyton had not said a word since the hospital, there really were no words left to be said, nor were they needed right now. Time would take its toll and eventually every single person in the situation would tell every other person how they feel and everyone will know, and then the world will be good. Wait a second, who were they kidding? Life doesn't work like that, it was going to be a lot harder then that. But for it to work, everyone was going to have to embrace the fact it would take time, a lot of time for them to find some normalcy. Because only God knows that no one could pinpoint any of that in their lives, especially in the last couple of months. Both of them watched as Lucas took Haley carefully out of Brooke's car, it was painful to watch, because as redundant as it seems, the girl was literally broken. One drop and she would break into a million pieces; she was like a china doll. The sad part being, that she wasn't, just a girl with a broken heart that took extreme measures to try and repair it herself. It did not work.
Lucas held Haley tight to him, making sure that he wouldn't drop her; he thought that it would hurt her, but then he realized she was beyond pain. Brooke helped opened the door, and Lucas brought her to a place that she would be safe waking up in, he brought her to his bedroom, and he placed her in his bed. Brooke got some blankets and covered her up, she brushed some hair out of Haley's eyes and it hit her, Haley was soaked, she was going to get sick if she lay in these wet clothes any longer. "We have got to get her out of these clothes; do you have anything that she could change into?"
Lucas went to his dresser and pulled out sweats, the famous Keith's Body Shop, and a pair of sweatpants. Brooke was actually surprised when Lucas was helping her take off Haley's clothes, Lucas noticed her surprise, "I am not going to do anything Brooke, and there is nothing for me to see."
"I know that Lucas, never mind, I know you are a good guy." They got her wet clothes off and Lucas was able to see the skeleton that Haley had really turned in to, she was all skin and bones, she was very fragile. He couldn't look at her like that much longer, "C'mon she must be freezing, lets get this on her."
Brooke watched as pain overcame Lucas's eyes, she knew that he always cared about her, still does, but to see your best friend deeper gone then you could even fathom, it is hard. Brooke knew that feeling to well; it was hard to just sit back while Peyton wasted her life away to cocaine. She shut her out, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it, so she backed away. When she finally tried to re-enter, it was too late, but it hurt because she never thought that it could get that bad.
They got Haley changed, it was sad, it was like she was a doll of some sort, changing her clothes was just a passing melody, no not at all. They laid her down, and Brooke re-covered her up. Lucas stood back and stared at his best friend in his bed, she was tiny, she was broken, and she was alone. And he did not know what to do, he felt like he was not the right person for her anymore, he did not meet her needs right now. "Okay, she cannot wake up alone, I do not want her thinking that she is," he scratched his head.
"She isn't alone, Lucas, we are here for her, you are here for her."
"When she wakes up someone has got to be here to reassure her."
"What are you trying to say, Luke?"
"That you know her a lot better then I do nowadays, you have been with her through out this entire crisis, I think she much rather see your face when she wakes up, then mine."
"So you are going to walk out of her again, Lucas? How many chances do you think that you are going to get with her?"
"I am still here Brooke, I am not walking away from her, I am just going to be in the other room, that is all."
"Why not here? Why don't you sit in here with her, be the first person that she sees when she wakes up?"
"I can't Brooke, I just can't do it."
"Why not Lucas? You are preaching to me how I don't know her, I have only known her for this long, and that you are her best friend, you know her so well. Well no matter how long I have known Haley, I know how much she cares about you. She would want you to be here when she wakes up."
"I am not so sure anymore. I haven't been there for her; I do not know what she is feeling anymore. You do though; you have been there for her through everything."
"Why are you making this a competition between you and me about who have been a better friend to Haley? This is not about who has been there and who hasn't in the past. This is about now, this is about who is here for her now. You are here, Lucas, sit with her, be the first person that she sees, tell her that you love her. Tell her that no, things are not perfect, but nothing is, and this is just another stepping stone on her path of life. Yes, it was a rough one, but she has to jump to the next one, she made it. She is stronger then a broken heart, and stronger then the person who gave it to her. She does not have to mend alone, there are a lot of people that care about her, and are willing to take all the steps necessary for her to be happy again. Whatever it takes."
"Because you are the one with the right things to say, not me. You know what to tell her from letting the world crash in around her. All I do is watch, I do nothing."
"You can though Luke, and just use your own words, you do not have to use mine. Just tell her what you feel, tell her how you feel about her, and tell her how much you love her."
"It is just too hard," Brooke saw the emotion in Lucas's eyes, but she still was not quite sure what was too difficult for him.
"What is Luke?"
"Seeing her in pain," that is when it hit Brooke, he was in denial, and it was too hard for him to think about his friend in need, that he wanted to pretend that it wasn't true. "I do not think that I am strong enough to sit here and watch her, and know that she is not just sleeping, she is in unconsciousness, and she may never wake up. And if it wasn't for me, she would have never have been in this much pain."
"What are you talking about Lucas?" trying to be the strong one in the situation.
"If I never joined the team, then Nathan would have never have gone after her. If I had just accepted that I am from my side of the tracks, and be okay with it, be okay with it just being me and Haley, then she would be okay."
"But Lucas, basketball makes you happy."
"So does seeing Haley happy."
"I know Haley well enough to know that she would never want you not to do something because of her. And you did not know that Nathan would go after Haley in spite of you. So stop saying that, you never know what the future holds for you. And you do not know what Haley's holds for her, or did. Maybe it was fate that brought Haley and Nathan together, that just maybe they were somehow destined to be together, you just got them there a little sooner. Did you ever think of that?"
"But she is still in pain; she is still broken, no matter what her fate was with Nathan."
"As much as you and I want to take away her pain, we cannot do it, it is not that easy. Everyone suffers Lucas; people would be lying if they told you that they didn't. It is a part of life, and suffering cannot last forever. Time is the only factor that we cannot control, and it will take us somewhere, and in this place Haley will be smiling once again. We just have to wait."
Brooke was not the person that she let everyone see, she was much more then that, she knew more about the world then most of the people in it. It had taken her years to figure it all out, but she was one of the lucky ones, and did. With that she was able to accept a lot of more things, mostly that she couldn't change the path that had already been written for her, that she just needed to embrace it, let it bring her to the destination that she longed to find.
"I do not want her to suffer anymore."
"No one does."
"I am sorry Brooke; I cannot just sit here and watch her suffer. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, and that I am being selfish, but I do not know what else to do."
"It is okay, Lucas, I will sit with her for awhile. But if you ever change your mind, she is all yours."
"Okay, there is something that I have got to do." Lucas rushed out of his bedroom, and did not even give his mom a chance to say anything to him, he ran past her without a word.
Karen had led Peyton to the couch, "If there is anything you need, let me know."
"I just want to go home, is that okay?"
"There is no one home Peyton."
"You think I don't know that?"
"I am just saying that you have a concussion, it would be better if you stayed here to night just in case something happened to you."
"I know where Lucas is going, can I go with him?" she asked, not even waiting for a response, she ran out of there, and made it just in time before Lucas drove down his driveway, "Lucas," she called out to him.
He saw her and stopped, wondering what the girl was doing out here, "Peyton, go back inside, you are going to get sick."
"Let me come with you," she had made it over to his truck by now, there was not much that he could do, she noticed his hesitance, "I know where you are going, Luke."
"Get in."
After Peyton and Lucas rushed out of her house, there was only one person left conscious, Karen needed to make sure that she was okay. She went into her son's room, and there was something different about it, and it was not the fact that there was a girl in Lucas' bed, it was something else. And she could just not put her hand on it.
Brooke was holding Haley's hand, just letting her know that she was there, hoping that Haley could somehow feel her and know that she was there. Karen walked in and put a hand on her shoulder, which slightly startled her.
"It is okay, sweetheart."
"I am sorry, sometimes it is scary not knowing what is behind you, that is all."
"Understandable, Brooke, so how are we doing today, Brooke?"
"Fine, I am perfectly fine," Karen noticed that Brooke did not look up at her at all as they spoke; her eyes were concentrated on Haley the entire time.
"Brooke, you have been through a lot today, it is okay for you to tell me how you are really feeling, no matter what it is."
"I am fine, Karen. There are no hidden emotions. No tears necessary, I am good."
"Just because there are not tears, doesn't mean that you are just okay. Brooke, this is a lot to take in, emotionally, mentally, and physically. It has been raining all day long, you have been stuck in it, and you could have caught something. I mean you have seen Haley break down, your best friend get reeled away in an ambulance, and then you were the one that found Haley on the beach. You are the only one that got to see her at the beach, and you are going to have that image in your head, that is not something that is just going to go away with a blink of the eye."
"It is okay, I can take it, and I am glad that I found her Karen. I did not want her to be alone any longer."
"That is not all, Brooke. You saw her at her absolute worst, you saw her in the most pain, and I cannot even fathom that. If I try to even imagine it, I know that it is not even to the magnitude of what it really was. But you saw it, Brooke."
Still holding on to Haley's hand, Brooke turned to look at Karen for the first time since she entered the room, with emotions encased in her voice, "I know I saw it, Karen. And it was awful, I never thought that a person could suffer that much. And no, that image is not just going to erase from my mind, I mean there is no possible way. No person should ever feel like she did on that beach, and it is not fair, it is not fair that kindest girl in the world has to feel the worst pain any human can feel, a heart breaking. But that is not how things work out, good people hurt, and sometimes there is nothing that anyone can do, there is nothing to help those who hurt. But that image in my head, Karen, the one that is never going to go away, it is a reminder to me, that I never want to hurt that bad. I do not think that I could be as strong as Haley was…is." She did not mean to say that, it just slipped, Haley was still there, she was going to be okay, she just had to be. So the tears that she pushed back in, they came out, because there was nothing else for her to do.
Karen put her into her arms, and let her cry. She honestly knew that not that many people have allowed her to do this. With open arms she let ever tear that needed to fall come down, there was no stopping the pain that was being kept inside. And the worst part was that Karen knew that there was something much deeper, much deeper then just the tears for Haley, that Karen had yet to even scratch the surface. "It is alright, Brooke, let it out, no one is stopping you," she rubbed her back, and the tears continued to flow. Karen looked to her right and saw that Brooke still had Haley's hand in embrace, she was not letting go. She could not believe this girl in front of her, Brooke Davis was just a character, a code name, right? Because the Brooke that Karen had come to know, was so much more, so much more then anyone would ever know.
Brooke pulled back and wiped her eyes, "I am sorry, I am okay."
"No need to apologize, it is okay to let your tears flow, it means that the pain is not still left inside, and there is enough of it in there for you to release some of it."
"I am okay, really, just need to release a couple tears," she directed her attention back to Haley, "Wake up for me, Haley, please."
"Brooke, are we not going to talk about this anymore?"
"There is nothing else to talk about it. I am just going to sit here with her, okay?"
"Of course," she did not want to go any further into anything, she wanted to let Brooke be. She kissed Brooke on the forehead, and bent down and did the same to Haley, "I love you, sweetheart." Karen left the two girls, and went back into her kitchen.
A little over an hour later, Lucas came in with Peyton in his arms. Of course, Karen being the person she was, she was concerned, "What happened? Is she okay? Is it her concussion?"
