"You are not okay, Brooke."

"Maybe not. But I am not going to admit it right now, especially to you. And anyways it does not matter right now, all the matters is that Haley wakes up, and we can help her out. Then maybe, just maybe we can talk about me, and all the problems I have going on in my life. Right now though, I am still here, I am okay, and I am not lying in a bed broken like Haley."

"What about in the inside?"

Brooke was not expecting Lucas to say that, she thought that she was getting out of it…at least for now. How could he possibly know exactly what she was thinking, it was not fair for him to know that much about her, it was not fair for him to get to know that, when she had a problem even admitting it to herself. "The inside…I am still working on it," she turned back to Haley, hoping that Lucas would not say another word about her right now.

He was getting that vibe, and he did not want to pry any further, he knew it was not fair, he had not been in her life in a while, and he had no right trying to be. "How is our girl doing?"

"She will not wake up, I am scared, Lucas," she answered, glad that the topic was no longer her, though the topic was not any less grim.

With the upbringing that she had been given, it was not easy for Brooke Davis to be scared, but she was. The last time was not much better. It was about six months ago. Brooke had not told a soul about what happened to her, she could not. She already had a rep, this, though was entirely not her fault, it would make her reputation even worst. Nevertheless, there was one person, and someone unexpected, that was able to shelter her from the storm…literally.

It was another rainy day; it seemed that the rain always seemed to bring the worst of days. It was a Friday night, right before closing, Haley actually got distracted with a song that she had been working on and left the door open 20 minutes longer then she should have. But it was fate that she did. She heard the bell, and looked at the clock and realized how late it was, "I am sorry, we are closed," she said without looking up not knowing who was entering the café at 11:20 p.m. There was rarely anyone at the café this late, especially with Tric going strong for a couple of months now. But Karen kept the café open every other Friday late just for those who were not the club type of people. Thank God it was one of those Fridays.

Haley did not know what to do, the sight in front of her was one that she did not experience very often, the girl in front of her was in a ripped dressed, completely drenched, she was missing a shoe, she had scratches up and down her arms, her hair completely covered her face, and when she revealed who she was, a bruise was revealed as well, who was it? It was Brooke Davis. "Brooke, is that you?"

Brooke and Haley had not really been that good of friends at this point, they were more of acquaintances, they both loved Lucas Scott, he was the best guy that either of them had ever known. Brooke had made fun of Haley a lot, but that was just because she did not know what else to do, afraid to show her real self.

She did not know where else to go, who else to turn to. She had been running, running away, and she saw the light, and she knew it was safe. It was safe. Brooke knew the café closed at 11, but the door was still open so she opened the door and found it completely empty, except for Haley James. She just seemed safe. And she was.

Brooke looked up, at this time revealing her bruise. She did not know what to do, or what to say. So she just let Haley do the talking, "Brooke, are you okay?" Brooke just shook her head, "did something happen to you?" A barely noticeable nod was present. With this Haley brought a firm arm around Brooke's shoulder and led her to one of the couches and sat her down. Haley looked Brooke over, seeing if there were any clues or hints that would tell her what had happened. The one though that was coming up over and over was the she was attacked, and it was very pliable, but she did not want to jump to conclusions. She had to ask again, "Brooke, can you tell me what happened?"

She just shook her head, she could not tell Haley what had happened to her, she could not tell anyone. What was she doing here anyways? What was going into a café going to do to help her out? She did not deserve to feel any better, anyways. Or that is what he told her. Those words, all the words that he told her crept into her head; she shook a little bit, hoping that the words would fly out of her head. They did not. She felt Haley put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Why was she doing this? Why was she being so nice when all Brooke did was treat her like shit? Maybe there was a God, and He wanted everyone at some point to have someone to look after them. Was she Haley?

"Brooke, you can tell me anything, and I will not tell a soul, if you do not want me to. I can tell that something happened to you, I want to make sure that you are okay. If you are hurt, emotionally, I can help you, but if it is physically, there is nothing that I can do other then bring you to the hospital and hold your hand. Can you please just tell me which it is, so that I can help you out?"

"Why are you being so nice to me? I have never been nice to you, not one day in either of our lives. I mean anyone could have been in here right now, and so many would have just turned me away. But you let me in, and you are being nice to me, and you do not have to."

"No, I do not have to 'be nice' to you, Brooke. But I do not really see it like that. I see it as I see someone in need, and I am here to help you. So are you going to tell me what is wrong so I can help you? 'Cause, you know what? I do not think that I am doing a very good job just sitting here gloating from doing my good deed of the day. Did something happen to you, Brooke? You can tell me. Are you okay?"

She did not want to say it out loud, especially to Haley, she barely knew her as it was already, no one knew who Brooke really was on the inside, but Brooke barely knew her at all to begin with, how could anyone else? But she knew one thing, and it was the only thing that came to her mind, "I am scared," and she was, her tears spoke for her.

Haley looked around just seeing if anyone, anyone at all was seeing this, Brooke Davis with tears in her eyes. And she was not looking to make herself feel better, or for her to be able to be the one to reveal that Brooke was sensitive. That was not her intention, she just never saw her like this, and it concerned her. Haley always saw the best in people, no matter who that person was, and she always found it. It never mattered what the person have done to them in the past, nothing else mattered when someone was in trouble, or if someone was in need. Brooke was in trouble, and Brooke was in need.

Haley put her arms around Brooke, who reluctantly let Haley hold her. She was never one to admit that she needed help; she was never one to let anyone see her cry. Maybe that really was not who she was, maybe that is just how she had been conditioned to be. She let Haley hold her and comfort her, Haley soothed her with her words, and each one she believed her. She was scared, more scared then she had ever been in her whole life. And she did not know what it felt like, until now.

Brooke pulled back a little bit after a majority of her tears were shed, and she looked into Haley's eyes, and she saw pure kindness, and she could not honestly say that she saw that in that many people. And mostly when she was looking into someone's eyes, it was the person that she was having sex with and it was just a fiery look of power. Power—that was something that she sure lacked. She had none of it; it had been taken away her entire life.

"Brooke, did something happen? You can tell me."

"I am sorry."

"For what?"

"For my tears."

"Brooke, never apologize for tears. Everyone has got to cry now and again…it reassures us that we are still alive. When you feel those tears on your face, trickling down your cheeks, you know that life is not just a dream, it is real…and you feel everything."

"Maybe that is why I feel so dead all of the time," she cannot believe that she just said that out loud…to Haley. She never talked about her feelings, not to anyone; her mask was revealed here and there, but never like this, never the entire thing.

"I really wish that you would not feel like that. It gets hard sometimes but never feel like you are not alive, how can you experience life then?"

"I do. Don't you worry."

"How can you experience life when you never release and let your tears fall? It is okay to cry, it does not mean anything other then you are alive, no harm. Why are you holding them back?"

"I see no need for my tears. You see, I rarely feel emotion at all, so sadness would be an adventure in itself, I just have never ventured that far before. C'mon, Haley, you know me, that would just not fit my character."

"I know the person you are to millions, but I do not know the person you are when you are scared, when you are hurt, or when you are alone."

"Well, you are looking at her, I am a wreck. You can see now why I do not let others really see this person. I have a rep to maintain, don't you know?"

"Well you are talking to the wrong person about maintaining a reputation. You are looking at the poster child for a person living a life not written for them. As you might remember, I am 17, and I am married. I am still in high school, and I am a tutor. But you know what; let them have their worlds, let them think what they want. Their thoughts cannot hurt me, I am who I am, and I am not changing for anyone. If they want change, let them do it themselves. I am not going to be forced to change from the person that I am. And no one is making you do the same."

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You do not care about what others think of you, how can you do that? I have problems with myself and just what I think about myself. Those are people out there, and what they think, it gets to me, and I feel like I have to be a different person for them. But you, you do not care what they think. It is hard not to constantly judge myself or compare me to the person next to me. How do you do it?"

"I ask myself one question, and one question only."

"What is it?"

"Whose life am I living? If I answer someone else's, then I think I would be more zealous to live another life, maybe even for someone else. But my answer again and again is 'mine,' this is my life, and I am living it for me, and everything that I love. So I will ask you the same question, Brooke. Whose life are you living? 'Cause if you answer yours, I would think about changing your lifestyle a little bit, because you have been living your life in someone else's shoes for a little too long, and I think that they want them back."

Brooke could not believe the resilience of the girl in front of her, yes, she was still a girl, but she knew a lot about herself and about life. And Brooke thought she did, she felt that she was pretty knowledgeable, but not like this, not to the degree in which Haley did. She was just her peer, when did she take this class on life? Where was Brooke?

"I was attacked." That is all that she said, she did not respond to Haley's comment. She just felt that after those words that Haley spoke to her, it was time to fess up to what had happened. And she trusted Haley; she knew that she would not go shout it to the world. And maybe, just maybe, she felt a little better about herself for someone else to know, and maybe even possibly tell her that it was not her fault. Because, until someone did that, she was never going to believe that she did not cause this, and that it was not her fault.

Haley went into turbo mode, she had a feeling that from the picture in front of her, that this is what had happened to Brooke, but just hearing Brooke say those words to her, it scared her. But she was not going to let her fear shine through, Brooke had enough of that for the two of them, and what kind of healer Haley would be if she was as scared as the rest of them. She was not. "Brooke, I know it is going to be hard, but I need to know everything that happened tonight. I am going to try and help you out. If you need to go anywhere, I will take you. If you need to say something, I will listen. Anything that you need, I am here for you. Let me just go lock the door," Brooke was still holding on to Haley's hand, so Haley had to gently release it, "I will be right back, I swear, I am not leaving you, I am not leaving you alone during all of this."

Haley got up and she locked the door, and she turned the sign over to closed. Then she went behind the counter and got Brooke a cup of coffee and a blanket. She handed Brooke the cup of coffee, and then she wrapped the blanket around Brooke's shivering body. "I am here. Just tell me what happened, I am not rushing you, if it takes you all night, then it is just going to have to take us all night. If it gets too hard, you can stop. There is no one that is going to pressure you into this, Brooke."

"Haley?"

"Yeah, Brooke?"

"What happens if I walked in here tonight and you were not here?"

"Let's not even think about that right now."

Brooke could see Haley's deep concern in her eyes; she felt that it was selfish to hide anything from her. No one else in this situation would be this nice to her, especially after what Brooke had done to Haley. Brooke knew that this was on Haley's mind, it would have been on anyone's mind if they saw Brooke's appearance, "I was not raped." Brooke could see the sigh of relief that Haley let out, but she did not say anything, not yet. She could see that Haley was waiting for her to continue, so she told her exactly how it happened, "I have a fake ID, I do not know if you know that, but I do. So I can get into the bar very easily, and I never buy myself a drink, never, it is always bought for me. I was having a bad week, not like some are that much better, but this was just a bad week, I was going to go to Tric tonight. But I couldn't. I just couldn't do it," Brooke saw Haley's look of confusion, "I could not face Peyton. I could not face Lucas."

"How come?"

"You did not hear?" Haley shook her head, "I am a slut."

"Brooke, what are you talking about? Are you telling me that Lucas and Peyton called you a slut?"

"No, it is true though."

"Where is all of this coming from? You are not a slut, Brooke."

"Do you know how many people I have slept with? No, I did not think so, if you did though, you would have agreed with them."

"Where is this coming from? Tell me what happened tonight. Did the person that attacked you, did he call you a slut? And you believed him? Brooke, Brooke, please, he was just trying to get power over you, and he was trying to make you feel worse about yourself, so that he could have his way with you. Whatever he said to you, whatever it was, it was a lie. You are not a slut. I do not care about how many sex partners that you had, I can honestly say from just sitting with you right here and right now, every conception and perception that I have ever had of you is gone. You are a totally different person, and you have feelings just like the rest of us. So whatever happened tonight, it hurt your feelings, and yes, you do have them. You were hurt. But whatever this guy said to you, it was a lie. Because there is no way that he could ever know you, because honestly Brooke, I do not even think you know yourself right now, so could how he?"

"Haley, you do not know me at all. That guy tonight, he knows me more then you ever will. I am a slut. He was right."

Haley was not going to let what she said to her affect her. Brooke was visibly upset, so whatever thoughts that was going to come out, were going to come out wrong, in an unintentionally hurtful manner. "Brooke, listen to me, please just listen me. This guy he wanted to have power over you, so he told you something that he thought that you would believe, something that was completely untrue, because he wanted that power. And you let him have that power. But he was not right. Never let him have that power."

"I am weak."

"Who are you talking about? Are you talking about the person in front of me? Because she is not weak. She has been hurt, you have just been hurt. Just because you have tears it does not mean that you are weak, it just means that you were hurt. Tell me what happened tonight, Brooke. Because whatever you are going to tell me, I know that it was not your fault. And you are just going to have to start believing that."

"I gave him the look and he bought me the drink. That is how it works, we are just supposed to flirt, possibly make out, and then I walk away. And it is okay, that is how it is supposed to work. But not this time. He would not let me walk away that easily. I think that he might have put something in my drink, because I became really weak, and no matter how hard I tried to push him off of me, I could not fight. This has never happened before, normally they just walk away. It is like there is some code of Brooke, and there are steps that they follow, and it was like he never got the handbook. I knew that the drink tasted funny, and I have had this drink many times to know it was not right, so I did not drink anymore, I put it down. But I did not think that he had anything to do with it. So when he led me towards the back, I let him. We kissed, and as self-centered and low as I sound, I was done with him. But he apparently was not done with me. I tried to walk away, and he grabbed onto my arm and pulled me back towards him and he held me tighter. He went to kiss me again, and with any power I had left, I tried to push him away. I tried to yell for help, but he slapped me, hence the bruise and he covered my mouth. Everyone at the bar knows me, and I just think that they thought that I was over exaggerating something that was going on, so no one even turned to look at me. He pulled me out of the bar, and I swear it was like someone wanted this to happen and the world was in his favor, there was not a soul outside of the bar." Brooke looked up at Haley and saw her following each word, and she felt bad for what she had said to her earlier. But Brooke continued.

"Haley, I could not even fight anymore. He was dragging me out of the bar, and I could not even fight to push him off of me. He got me in the car. He got me in the car," she repeated because she was so baffled about it herself. "He locked the doors, and he was on top of me within a minute, his hands…they were everywhere," she paused because she felt like she could still feel them all over her. "He was pulling at my dress, I tried so hard to get him off of me, but I had no power. I never do. Haley, I do not even know how I was not raped. He ripped my dress and I thought that I was done with. But I had been kicking the entire time, and someone must have been looking after me, because I hit him in the right spot, and had a quick glimmer of strength and pushed him off of me and opened the door, and I ran. I just ran, as far as I could go, as fast as my tired legs could take me. And he did not follow me, I do not know why, but he did not follow me. Well I never turned around, so I do not know. And I ran until I could not run anymore, and when I looked up I saw a light, and I saw a sign. Karen has always been safe to me, so I saw her name and I came here. I came here."

"I am glad you did, Brooke. And I am glad that you told me what happened. You did not deserve anything that that man put you through. I do not care if there is some Brooke Davis handbook that boys follow; this guy had no right to make you do something that you did not want to do. When you said no, Brooke, that was when he needed to stop. When he did not stop, that is assault. You were assaulted tonight. And no one should ever have to go through what you went through tonight. I hope that you know that none of this is your fault."

"Haley, the words he said to me, I do not know how this is not my fault."

"What did he say, Brooke?"

"That I led on all of the guys in the bar, and that it was time that I got punished for leading them all on. He said that I needed to get a taste of my own medicine. He told me that I cannot just walk into the bar, get a free drink and a kiss, and then walk to the next guy. He called me a slut, he said it so many times that I lost count. It is embedded in my head, how can I not think that is who I am?"

"Whose life are you living?"

"I am trying to live mine, but it just gets too hard sometimes. And I do not know if I want this to be my life anyways, maybe I wish that it was someone else's and that I am just renting it. Because tonight, Haley, tonight was my fault, and that guy was right. Ever since Lucas, ever since he broke my heart, I do not think that I can afford to get attached to someone, because I fear that it might break again, and the pieces will not fit back together. So I jump, I jump from guy to guy, with no attachments, just free booze and sex. That is who I am. But is that fair? Not at all, so I think I needed to be told that, I needed to be put in my place, so that I know not to do it again."

"Stop it, stop it Brooke. You have been hurt; it is just your scar tissue that is not allowing anyone else in. And this is the way that you know how to function, and it is going okay for you, so you stick with it. You know no other way."

"I am thinking that I am not a big fan on that way. All I get is pain. That is all I know though, so it is easier, I do not have to change when pain is all I feel."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

"I am not a big fan of change, why change what is going for me?"

"Because it is not really going anywhere for you, Brooke."

"I do not know any other way."

"I can show you."

"Haley, if any other person walked in here tonight, would you have said the same thing? Would you have helped anyone that walked in find their way? Even if you did not know them?"

"Well I did not know you when you came through those doors…"

Brooke and Haley talked for a couple hours more, and Brooke decided that with a big push from Haley to file a police report on sexual assault. Nevertheless, when the police station called a month later with details she ignored the calls because with every message they told her that she was going to need to tell her story in front of a judge. And she did not want to remember that night; she was a different person that night. That person was gone.

And she was changed now, and that was due in large part to the girl laying in the bed unconscious in front of her. Haley was there when Brooke needed her the most, and at that point in their lives Brooke and Haley were not friends. They were now. And Haley needed her friend more then ever. So even though Lucas was in the room and he had completely no idea what Brooke was talking about, she asked her anyways, "Whose life are you living? Because if the answer is yours, you need to get up and start living it. But if you are living someone else's, that is some one else has already selected and delegated it, then just sleep away. Whose life are you living, Haley?"

Though there was no possible way for this to happen, it was like it was taken from a movie script, there was movement, and her mouth opened, and something barely audible, possibly Brooke was the only one that heard her, but she said one word, and that was more then enough to let Brooke know that she was still in there, she was still fighting, "Mine."