Lucas was astonished, he could not believe that she was waking up, he was a little perplexed to what Brooke had said to Haley, but he was just going to let it slide for now, Haley was waking up, and that was the most important thing in the world right now. He could see that she was struggling to wake up and fully open her eyes. All he wanted to do was put her in his arms and hold her and never let her go again. He was beyond excited to see that she was waking up, but he had to step back. He had to be calm. And he had to let Brooke take control.
Brooke's hand never let go of Haley's, and now Haley was grasping Brooke's for dear life, well with the only strength that she had left in her. She was so pale. She was so weak. Brooke knew that Haley collapsed from a combination of exhaustion and starvation, but she was no expert, and she did not know what Haley needed to get her out of this. "Haley, talk to me, Haley, open your eyes. No one is going to hurt you anymore. Please, just open your eyes."
"Should I get my mom?" Lucas asked having absolutely no idea what to do in this trauma.
"Lets see if we can get her to open her eyes and communicate with us, we do not want too many people in here right now, it might be too much of a commotion for her."
"Brooke, is she going to be okay?"
"I need you to answer that question for me, Luke."
Lucas went over to the opposite side of Haley, he held on to her hand, "Hales, I am not going to leave you again, I promise you. I am here for you; I am never going to leave your side."
Neither of them said anything for a couple of minutes, they did not want to startle Haley more then she was already startled. They let her do what she needed to do, and that is all that she needed, she tugged a little bit on Lucas's hand, signaling to him that she wanted to be pulled up. Lucas carefully helped the fragile girl to a sitting position, and Lucas almost had to cry out for his best friend, he thought that she was going to break.
Haley looked into the eyes of her two friends, and she saw more concern in their eyes then she had ever seen in anyone's eyes. She had to think: 'I must be really bad, the way that Brooke and Lucas are staring at me; it is as if I am on my death bed.' She went to speak, and she never expected it to hurt like it did, and she never thought that it would be as silent as it was, "I am okay."
"Okay? Haley, you are not okay. Okay is when you get a B on the test that you barely studied for, okay is when you run the mile in 8 minutes, okay is when you can walk on your own two feet. You are not okay, Haley. Do you realize that for the past five hours you have been unconscious, if you were okay, you would be able to get out of the bed and sing a song," Lucas was getting visibly upset with her, he was not mad at her, but with each word, his tone got louder, and more serious. Brooke did not dare say a word to try and stop him, Haley and Lucas both needed this. They needed to feel the pain together. "You can barely form a sentence, let alone sing a song, and you cannot even sit up on your own, let alone walk across the room. You are not okay, Haley."
"Lucas…stop. I am…sorry," he was right, and she struggled with each word.
"I do not need you to apologize to me Haley; I just want you to admit that you are not okay. If someone walked in here right now that has never even met you, they could tell you that something was wrong. So do not sit there and deny it, when you are obviously not okay."
"Then…what do you…want me…to say?"
It was hard for Brooke to just sit there and watch Lucas yell at Haley, and it was hard for her to just sit there while Haley could barely even form words. She was no expert, but she did not know if Haley should be enduring this wrath right now. But then again, maybe it was time that Haley came to the realization that she really was that far gone, and that she could not live her life that this anymore. Intervention was necessary.
"I do not want you to say anything at all, Haley. Just know that we are here, and that we love you, and we are going to get through this together," Lucas knew that most of the words that he just spoke were Brooke's, but he did not see any need at the present time to accredit her for them. "And that is just from what everyone else is saying. But me, Haley, from me, I want you to know how much I love you. I care about you too much to let your broken heart take control of you. And I know that I have not been here when you needed me in the past couple of months, but I am here now. And I am not going away. You do not even know how much it hurts me to see you like this, Hales I have never been so afraid in my life," and Lucas Scott shed some tears for his fallen best friend.
Lucas Scott does not cry, he shed his tears for no one. Brooke knew that. Haley knew that. And Brooke could not keep in her feelings anymore now; she had to let Haley know how much she cared about her. She was not even concerned that Lucas was in the room, she had to tell Haley how much she meant to her. "I do not know if I even ever thanked you for that night."
Haley knew that Lucas did not know about the night that Brooke was attacked, and she did not think that Brooke needed to reveal it to him right now. It was something that she had always wanted to keep between the two of them. And just because Haley was in trouble, and she was in pain, there was no reason for Brooke to reveal her deepest secret to Lucas right now, "Brooke, stop."
"No, Haley, it is okay. When I walked into the café anyone could have been in there, and no one could have cared. But as fate would have it, you were all alone, and you never cared about what I had done to you, all that mattered to you was that someone was in need, and that someone was me. I did not know who I was that day, I thought that I did, or at least I tried to pretend that I did. But on that day you told me that no one was making me change, you told me that I was okay just the way that I was. That was a good thing, because I had no idea. I put on this big mask for the world, but you let me know that I could take it off and whoever I was inside, that is was okay to reveal to the outside. I asked you that if anyone other person walked into the café, someone that you did not know; would you have said the same thing? Would you have given them as much faith as you gave me? And you told me that you did not know me when I walked in there. But because of the person that you are, you took time to get to know me, the real me, if you will. I cannot even count on one hand the people that have done that for me. But you are Haley James; you always find the best in people. And even though there might not be much good in me, you found it. You are a better person then most in this world, and one of the nicest persons in it does not deserve the wrath from it. I know your heart broke, but you are too strong to let it take over your life. I have had my heart broken, and though it has yet to mend, I knew that I could not let it take over my life. I know that you love Nathan, and I know that he loves you. But this game he is playing with your heart, it has gone too far. No one deserves the pain that you endure each day. But it is over now; starting today we are going on another path, one filled with happiness. No more morning tears. No more." Brooke had not even realized it but tears of her own had slid down her own cheeks. No one had been more willing to help her find her way, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that Haley was redirected back on hers.
Haley looked from friend to friend, and the each had tears running down their cheeks, those tears were for her. If they could cry for her, then she could cry for herself, she let them fall. And they did not stop, Lucas engulfed the girl in his arms, and they cried together. Brooke let go of Haley's hand for the first time, and she had to step back. She did not realize that she left the room until she crumbled to the floor.
When Brooke looked at Haley, it pained her for the fact of seeing someone that she cared about in pain, but that was her. That is exactly how she felt on the inside. She was just afraid to let anyone else see it. And she was not calling Haley a coward for exposing herself, Brooke knew that it was hard for Haley to live the way she had been living without completely breaking down. Haley was braver then Brooke ever would be, or at least that is what she believed. So had to leave though, it was just too hard seeing Haley, fragile and broken on the outside, because this brought her to light about how she looked in the inside.
Peyton actually was the first to see Brooke. She felt each convulsion just from where she was sitting. Brooke was in pain, this was not feigned. Though no one expected her to totally change from the person that she was becoming, Peyton had empathy for the girl. Peyton looked over and noticed that Karen had actually dosed off, who wouldn't after the day that she had experienced. There had to be more then three traumas or dramas for her to experience. What was she supposed to do? Was she just supposed to sit back and watch the girl sob…alone? No one should ever cry alone, not when they already have to battle the weight of the world on their shoulders each day.
So uncharacteristically, Peyton stood up, looked around, not sure what she was looking for, and then squatted to Brooke's level, and hesitantly put a hand on Brooke's. She was in the fetal position, her arms wrapped around her knees, holding herself, because that is all she has left. Peyton allowed for Brooke's body to be leaned against her own, and she eventually was holding Brooke through each convulsion and sob. Though she was in Peyton's arms at the present time, she had never felt more alone then she did right now. Haley had Lucas. Lucas had Karen. Peyton had Gavin (which was very close to being worst then being alone, but at least someone was there for her). Brooke had…Brooke had…Brooke had..? Who did Brooke have? No one.
Brooke cried because she was weak. Brooke cried because it just hurt too much. Brooke cried because she could, it meant that she was alive. Haley taught her that, and if it meant that she had to feel pain to feel alive, it was just a bargain she was going to take.
Though she denied it before to Karen, Peyton knew that Brooke did not have the picture perfect childhood, well neither did Peyton, the death of a parent never paints a happy ending. But one thing that Peyton knew that Brooke never did was that even though Peyton's mother died when she was seven, Peyton knew that her mom loved her more then life itself. And her father still did, even if he was not around as much as he should, or she wanted him to be. But she was loved, as much as she did not want to admit it. Brooke could not say the same; her parents did not love her. Peyton was not even sure if Brooke knew what it felt like. And yeah that hurt, but that was life…well at least for Brooke. The only other time Peyton had seen Brooke cry was her sixteenth birthday, and Brooke's life had not gotten much better since then. So for Brooke to be crying…it must be bad. And Peyton was not sure if Brooke was crying because it was too hard to see Haley going through a broken heart, or whether Brooke was suffering one herself. And it was Peyton that has not been around when her friend was in need this time.
It was almost as if Brooke was unconscious for a moment as well, because it took her a few minutes to even register that there were arms around her, and it took her a few more moments to register that they were of Peyton Sawyer. "Peyton?"
Before Peyton even had a chance to respond, Lucas came running out, more scared then he had ever been in his life, with Haley in his arms. Karen woke up immediately, she was unaware that Haley even woke up to begin with, but the fear that she saw in her son's eyes made her realize that Haley had taken a turn for the worst.
"She…I…she…could not breathe, I tried to help…I tried to, but she held on to her chest, and then she started…she started convulsing," it pained him to say it because it made him recall the scene over and over, that was something that was not going to get out anytime soon. "I don't know what to do. She…has to be okay. She just has to. What are we going to do?"
At the present time in the room, there was only one person sane enough, meaning not completely distraught, to answer that question. "We have got to get her to the emergency room. She is not going to be okay if we just pray that she wakes up here."
"But I promised her…" Brooke was weak from her own tears.
"I think Peyton is right, there is nothing that we can do. And as much as you do not want to break your promise to her, Brooke, I think you might live with a lot of regret if something happened to Haley while you are trying to keep your word. It is in her best interest to get her professional help."
"Ma, I need to know that she is going to be okay."
No one could tell Lucas Scott that his best friend might not make it, but just looking at the delicate girl in his arms, it was hard to tell him that she definitely was.
