Finally getting another update for you all! I have another one coming tomorrow so stayed tuned...
Peyton, Brooke and Lucas get some closure after a near death experience. Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Three- Numb
Two months had passed since the Scott empire had crumbled and things had been relatively calm in Raleigh since. Karen had rebranded the entire foundation as the Roe foundation and although people weren't forgetting the kind of man Royal Scott was any time soon, things were looking positive for them. Lucas had paid the settlement money and Karen was starting afresh and making the foundation into the support frame she had always dreamed it of being.
Brooke even walked into the hospital that morning with a skip in her step as she pushed Sophie's pram. She had just sent out Nathan and Haley's wedding invitations and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel nauseous this morning. She was nearing the end of her first trimester, and this was the positive and welcoming sign.
As she walked through the hospital courtyard, she found Lucas at the coffee cart.
"Hey" he greeted happily when he saw them.
"Hey!" she greeted as she kissed him.
"Well good morning… and good morning to you too love bug." He said as he bent down and kissed Sophie's head as she giggled. She was a real daddy's girl, as much as Brooke tried to not acknowledge it.
"I missed you last night" she said as Lucas took over pushing Sophie's pram and Brooke wrapped her arms around one of his.
"Yeah, on call was a bitch…" Lucas grumbled. He'd really missed being at home with his girls.
"Unsurprising" she said with a laugh.
Lucas smiled at her; "You're in a good mood though."
"Well, I sent Nathan and Haley's wedding invitations out and you know how much I love love." She said with a dreamy look on her face.
Lucas chuckled; "Oh I do." He confirmed. "Those invitations had you stamped all over them. Nathan is going to hate them." Recalling how he'd sniggered when he received his this morning. It also made him laugh that Brooke had sent him one as if they wouldn't be going together anyway.
"I know, is it bad that that made me love them more?" she said with a cheeky smile.
"Awful." Lucas joked.
"Hm. And today is the first day that I've woken up not wanting to puke my guts out." She added.
"Well today is a good day then" he said as he gave her another kiss.
"When do you want to tell people about the baby?" Brooke asked. They'd managed to keep it pretty well under wraps. Andy was the only person who officially knew, and Kate suspected it since she'd given her the test, but no one else was any the wiser.
"Maybe we should let people work it out." He said with a shrug.
"Oh yeah, let's wait till we're holding the baby in the delivery room, our moms would take that really well."
"Well, you know how much I hate meddlers—" Victoria and Karen were the very definition of meddling moms.
"Lucas…" Brooke warned and whined at the same time. She was desperate to tell her mom, she wanted to finally start talking baby stuff, not to mention Rachel and Haley too. They would go crazy for this.
"Ok fine, we can tell our moms." He conceded.
Brooke was happy for a moment before grimacing; "There's a problem with that…"
"What?"
"Your mom can't keep a secret. Which means Keith and Lily will know and Lily will then tell Matty who will tell Harry who will tell my mom and Martin." Brooke rhymed off. There was nothing Matty and Lily loved more than causing mayhem in their family. Ever since they'd met a few years back they'd instantly clicked. They were a devious brotherly sisterly duo.
Lucas raised his eyebrows; "My mom can't keep a secret? If you tell your mom, she will tell Martin and Harry and Matty who will tell Lily who will tell my mom and Keith—"
"And so the cycle goes on." Brooke conceded this time.
"Let's just put it on ice for now. There's no rush. See how things go." He suggested.
"Deal."
After getting Sophie settled in day care, Brooke went upstairs to get changed for the day. As she was just about to do some rounds on her patients in the ICU, she received a page to come down to the ER immediately. As she rushed down, she found Piper and Bevin standing by the nurse's station.
"What's going on?" Brooke asked as she walked over to them. Before she could answer, a gurney was rushed passed her and into the trauma room. She looked at the patient – he looked so familiar. How did she know him – oh my god. It was Jake Jagelski. She hadn't seen him since the party but now he was here. He was conscious, but barely.
"Is that Jake Jagelski?" Brooke asked as she followed Piper and Bevin into the trauma room.
"Someone needs to page Sawyer and let her know he's here." Bevin said to anyone who was listening. Soon enough one of the interns rushed out of the room to try and find her.
Brooke stood there a little stunned. Had Peyton been seeing Jake? After all this time? Brooke had said a while back that it might now be a bad idea…
"Davis, can you get in here and do a head assessment please?" Piper instructed as Brooke snapped out of her confused state and rushed towards Jake.
"Jake, it's Brooke Davis, Peyton's… friend." She said awkwardly. That wasn't technically true, but how else could she describe herself right now? "Can you hear me?" she asked as she flashed a light in his eyes.
"Peyton…" He grumbled.
"Someone is looking for her, ok?" Brooke encouraged as she tried to get him to lie still. He was clearly distressed about something, but he was so out of it they couldn't work out what.
"She's here? She's ok?" he asked as everyone looked at each other.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Brooke asked. Was Peyton with him when he got hurt? What was going on?
"She—she warned me that the roads would be slippy, I s—" Jake said as he started to panic.
"Can we get a sedative here?" Piper asked as one of the nurses quickly brought one over to calm him down.
"He does have a head injury, he could be free associating?" Brooke suggested. They were all completely confused right now. Jake was claiming Peyton was with him, but the paramedics said he was the only person in the car. Where the hell was she then?
The intern who went to find her came rushing back and said her phone had gone to voicemail 6 times and no one had seen or heard from her today.
"I'll go ask Lucas, he might know." Brooke suggested. He and Peyton hadn't exactly been on the best of terms over the past few years, but they still spoke. She was one of his best friends after all, he wasn't entirely comfortable completely cutting ties with her.
As the other doctors took Jake to get some scans done, Brooke secured her scrub cap as she rushed through the surgical wing of the hospital and found Lucas sitting on a bench tying his shoelace before his first surgery.
"Hey, I'm glad I caught you—" she said as she approached.
"Barely. There was a huge factory fire, I've got a whole bunch of burn victims coming in, it's going to be a hectic day" Lucas told her as they walked on.
"Do you know where Peyton is? Have you seen her?" Brooke asked.
Lucas shook his head; "No not since Friday. Why? What's up?" he asked, stopping for a brief moment.
Before Brooke could reply her phone beeped with a message from Piper telling her they had found Peyton. It appeared she had climbed out of the car to look for help and had slipping into some bushed, knocking herself unconscious. It wasn't looking good.
"It's uh—" Brooke said, unsure what to tell him right now. She didn't want to worry him when he had to go into surgery.
"Luke, I've got a whole bunch of family members out here wanting to know what's going on, what do I tell them?" Rachel said as she rushed over to inform Lucas of the growing situation in the waiting area.
"We don't tell anybody anything until we know the full extent of people's injuries." Lucas instructed before walking on with Rachel. He stopped and turned on his heel, almost forgetting that he'd been talking to Brooke in the midst of the chaos.
"Babe, did you need something?"
"… nothing. Just some patient stuff, I can handle it." She lied with a gulp. He looked at her for a brief second. He knew Brooke like the back of his hand and he wasn't convinced she was giving him the whole truth, but he really didn't have time to over think it.
"Ok" he said as he rushed into the OR to get started.
Brooke rushed back down to the ER and grabbed a gown as she walked towards the doors.
"Did you find Scott?" Piper asked.
"He has a whole bunch of burn patients coming in, I want to wait until I know what to tell him." Brooke told her as Piper nodded and they swiftly walked into the trauma room they had brought Peyton into.
"What's happening?" Brooke asked as she put her gloves on and immediately went to assess Peyton's head injury.
"Her temperature is 68 degrees, she's completely freezing and she has a substantial head injury, initial signs suggest we'll need to relieve the pressure on her brain." Bevin told her.
"Ok, we need to keep her heart pumping while we warm her up, that means constant compressions." Brooke determined as she moved to the side and starting to do the compressions on Peyton, just as Andy came in to look at her head.
Nathan had since joined them and was desperately trying to get an IV line in to Peyton but with little luck. His attention was momentarily drawn away from Peyton when he saw Brooke suddenly rest a hand on her stomach.
"Macey get up here" Brooke demanded as she allowed one of the interns to take over. "You need to keep it steady, 100 beats per minute."
"Are you alright?" Nathan asked quietly as Brooke took a step back. She was acting like she had just been stabbed or something.
Brooke nodded; "Fine, fine." She assured her. She had a twinge in her stomach that didn't feel normal, but all thoughts of the baby were pushed to the back of her mind in that moment. Peyton was their priority.
"Davis, you need to take it easy." Andy instructed as Brooke nodded her head and took a step back.
Nathan eyed her curiously, "Why do you need to take it easy?"
"I'm pregnant" she said quietly. Everybody in the room wanted to congratulate her, but they knew this wasn't the time or the place. The congratulations would come later.
"We have to tell Lucas." Bevin announced. She knew he would want to be here for this.
"He has a patient on the table." Brooke said firmly, standing by her decision not to tell him right now.
"This is Peyton we're talking about—"
"I know Bevin, but right now we don't need people with big feelings, we need people who can help." Brooke added. Lucas going crazy would not have helped this situation. Despite how the ended, they still meant a hell of a lot to each other, especially considering all they've gone through together as surgeons, nothing was going to change that.
"We need to get to theatre now so we can heat her up and get her on bypass, we can't sustain these chest compressions for much longer." Piper concluded.
"We also need to relieve the pressure on her brain or she's going to stroke out, let's move people!" Andy announced as the swiftly pulled Peyton's gurney from the room and towards the OR.
The doctors soon managed to get Peyton up to an OR just as Lucas and Rachel were finishing up their first surgery and leaving the opposite OR.
"So all of it went to Royal Scott's victims? All of your inheritance?" Rachel asked him as she left. She'd heard it all from Brooke, but she still couldn't quite believe it.
"I am essentially broke, yeah." He said as Rachel let out a laugh "and that's funny, nice."
"No, it's just that you're 'broke' other than your 6-figure salary as a plastic surgeon, your fancy house—"
"Ok—"
"Not to mention that your wife has a pretty hefty trust fund and inheritance herself—"
"Yeah—"
"You can't take all of it, we need it" they heard a nurse exclaim from the other end of the hall. They turned around and watched as Macey practically wrestle the nurse for the blood bags.
"We need all of it, I was told to get all that I could find." Macey told her, but she wasn't having any of it.
"We're trying to save Dr. Sawyer's life, you need to find more!." Macey exclaimed as Lucas and Rachel's faces fell.
"What did you just say?" he questioned.
Parker gulped. Before he could answer, Lucas ran down the hallway looking into all the OR doors. He soon spotted Piper, Bevin, Andy, Brooke, Nathan and Owen all standing and he knew she had to be in there. There was no other reason for them all to be in there. He burst through the door and his worst fears were realised—Peyton was lying on the table. He surveyed the scene in front of him and realised that there were multiple surgeries going on at once. She was on bypass and Andy was working on her brain.
"What the hell has been going on?" Lucas asked quietly as everyone remained silent. "How long has she been like this?"
Brooke gulped, not willing herself to look at Lucas. "Three hours"
"Three hours?! Why they hell didn't you say something?!" he exclaimed. He now realised why Brooke had been asking him where Peyton was. She should have told him there and then.
"Luke, let's go." Brooke said as she walked towards him and pulled him into the scrub room.
"Brooke, we need to be in there—"
"No, we need to be in here." Brooke said as she took her gown and gloves off and began to scrub her hands. "Peyton doesn't need big feelings right now. She needs the best doctors that she can get. I know this is scary… but you cannot be in there. Ok?"
Lucas let out a breath and nodded his head. He knew she was right, but it didn't make this any easier. He cared about Peyton. She really hadn't made their lives easy, but he couldn't hold a grudge after all they had been through. Brooke couldn't hold a grudge either – it just wasn't in her nature.
Peyton had come through her surgery successfully. They managed to warm her up and fix the bleed in her brain, now all they had to do was wait for her to wake up. They all took it in turns to sit beside Peyton until she woke up. Lucas however did not leave her side. He had no intention of leaving her side until she opened her eyes. He couldn't help but feel guilty over seeing her lying there. He didn't anticipate how scary he would find if Peyton had died without them ever making amends. While they weren't necessarily in a bad place, they weren't in a good one either. He just wanted to make things right. He just wanted some peace.
Rachel and Brooke sat outside the ICU, taking a moment away from all the madness to just breathe and contemplate what had just happened.
"Peyton took a lot from me…" Brooke said, breaking the silence. "and I hated her for it. Then—then I took it right back… and a part of me hated myself for it." She confessed as she looked at her hands. "She means so much to Lucas. They went through so much together and seeing him like this… I can't bare it. Despite everything… I really believe she deserves a bit of happiness in her life. It's just a pity that our worlds had to collide to viciously. She can't die."
"She's not going to die." Rachel said with certainty as she took Brooke's hand in hers. They sat in a moment of silence before Brooke gulped and spoke up, ready to confess something to her best friend.
"I uh… Lucas and I didn't want to tell anybody yet but uh… I'm 12 weeks pregnant" Brooke said quietly as Rachel smiled at her softly.
"I had a funny feeling you were… call it a best friend's intuition" Rachel said with a wink as Brooke smiled softly. "Congrats Brookie"
"Don't congratulate me yet. I uh—those compressions took a lot out of me and I've been cramping all day. I'm too scared to check for blood." Brooke said sadly. She knew she had to face this now or never.
"… come on." Rachel said as she pulled her up from her seat, ready to support her no matter what. "Let's get you checked out."
The hospital staff came and went from Peyton's room all day, not only to be there for Peyton, but to be a support for Lucas too. He hadn't left her side all day, apart from when they were transferring Peyton from the OR to the ICU. Then, he had hugged Brooke with everything that was in him, beyond thankful that she was here and ok. Then he went down to the day care and hugged Sophie with everything that was in him again. She of course just thought her daddy was giving her a loving hug and happily smiled along and squeezed him back, not realising the distress he was in.
As he sat by her bed, he remembered something Andy had said when he last checked in on her. He told him to keep talking to her. It was amazing what people in a coma could hear a process. It just might be what could bring her back. Lucas wasn't so convinced that his words would do any good, but he had to at least try.
"I – I am so sorry Peyton." Lucas said quietly. "We got ourselves into a really messy situation and I let it escalate and I broke our bond beyond repair. I'm sorry that I ruined our friendship. I'm sorry that I never fought to get it back. I'm sorry that I never fought to make things right with you." He said as he leaned forward and took her hand in his. "It's time we let the past be in the past and just be happy for each other and support each other. So please wake up. Please."
Suddenly, he felt her hand squeeze his. His head shot up as he gulped—and she squeezed his hand again.
"Hey…" he said quietly and he watched as she opened her eyes and looked right at him.
After Andy examined her, it was clear that Peyton miraculously had no brain deficits. The fact that her body was so cold had preserved her brain and then as soon as she was found, oxygen was pumped through her lungs. It would take her some time to recover fully, but she was on the mend. She would be ok.
Before going home that night, Brooke went up to the ICU to check on her. When she arrived, she saw that she was asleep. She looked at her monitors, and then felt a hand take hers. She looked down and saw Peyton holding her hand tightly and smiling up at her.
"Hey" Brooke said as she sat on the edge of her bed. "Lucas just went to check on Sophie. He's been needed regular hugs from her today. He'll be back soon."
Peyton smirked; "He does not need to sit by my beside…"
"He just wants to make sure you're ok. He loves you a lot." Brooke told her.
"Yeah. I love him too… and you are his true love." Peyton said.
Brooke scoffed; "If you believe in that stuff…"
"I do. Weirdly I do. Thank you, Brooke. For the way you love Lucas for—for really fighting for me today. I'm so glad Lucas has you in his corner—forever. And uh… congrats on the baby." She said with as big a smile as she could muster in her ill state.
"What?" Brooke asked. How did she know.
Peyton nodded towards Brooke's coat pocket; "Your sonogram is sticking out of your pocket."
Brooke laughed to herself as she lifted the photo out. Rachel had taken her for a sonogram and revealed that everything was ok. Her baby was healthy.
"Thank you" Brooke said in response to Peyton's congratulations as she let her see the sonogram. "Life is a crazy, crazy thing."
Peyton chuckled; "Tell me about it."
After saying goodnight to Peyton, Brooke made her way round to one of the attending's lounges in search of Lucas. It had been an exceptionally long day and she ready to get home. When she opened the door, she smiled softly when she saw Lucas sitting in one of the armchairs with Sophie fast asleep in his arms.
"Hi" she greeted quietly as Lucas looked up and smiled at her.
"Hi" he replied, so very happy to see her.
Brooke walked towards them and sat on the coffee table opposite them, briefly pushing one of Sophie's brown curls out of her face.
"We make them cute don't we…" Brooke bragged at her baby as Lucas snorted.
"You bet your ass we do." He replied as he rested his nose against Sophie's head, taking in that sweet baby smell. She was just growing up far too fast and Lucas was determined to cherish these little moments he could have with her.
"How are you doing?" Brooke asked as she rested her hand on his knee.
Lucas nodded, "I'm ok. It's just been a rough day."
"Yeah, it really has… if anyone can handle rough days, it's you." Brooke encouraged.
"Only because I know I have you by my side." Lucas replied without missing a beat. He wasn't sure he could ever get through days like today without her.
"Always." Brooke said with certainty. She hoped she would never have to go through days like today without him either. They were each other's rock and that would never change. "I'm glad things have been put right with Peyton. We waited far too long to do it."
"Yeah, I'm glad too. She was a big part of my life, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." Brooke said with a nod. She would never want to take that away from Lucas, just like he would never want to take her experiences with Aiden or Julian away from her. "Come on, let's get this little lady home." She said as Lucas carefully stood up, trying not to wake Sophie.
"This is going to be like walking through a mine field… one wrong step and she wakes up and we don't sleep tonight." Lucas said as he cautiously walked through the lounge and towards the door.
"That sounds like a challenge Scott" Brooke joked as Lucas tried not to laugh. Trust Brooke to make a game out of this. "You know… I kind of love that a potential sleepless night due to our daughter is our reality. It just reminds me how lucky we are to have what we have."
"Yeah… I am incredibly grateful for what I have today." Lucas said with a nod. It was clear that it had been on his mind quite a lot over the past few days.
"I love you Lucas Scott"
"I love you too Pretty Girl"