Part 10

Peyton leans against the heavy door behind her, wanting nothing more than to slide down it and collapse at the idea that anyone could think she had something to do with Brooke being in the hospital.

She had cried all the way home from school until she had fallen asleep only to awake from a nightmare about finding Brooke dead in her bedroom. That's not what happened, she's not dead! Peyton thought as warm tears dropped from the corners of her eyes.

She was tired of crying. Thinking about what Brooke had gone through left her hurting inside, so consciously, she pushed all those thoughts down and focused on what really matter right now, Brooke was alive and she was awake.

Peyton had been talking quietly to the brunette about nothing important when suddenly the hand she was holding gripped her strongly. Her eyes immediately went back to Brookes face and as her body began to move her eyes opened. She had looked confused at first but then looked terrified as she brought her other hand up to pull at the tube she was breathing from.

Just as Peyton tried to calm her down two nurses had rushed into the room and Shannon had then asked her to leave while they helped Brooke. Very reluctantly Peyton had nodded and left her friend in the hands of the experts knowing she could do little if anything to help the situation.

Taking a deep breath Peyton pushes off from the door and starts walking towards Shannon who was standing just outside Brooke's room.

"How is she?" Peyton asks wiping at her eyes.

"Hey, she just panicked. Which is understandable and perfectly normal, waking to find a tube down your throat isn't a great feeling." The nurse reassures her touching the blonde's arm.

Peyton nods trying to see into the room but the door had been closed.

"The doctor is in there just now, he should be finished soon and yo-"

"PEYTON!" A thick voice wailed from the room.

Before Peyton knew what she was doing she was inside the room heading towards Brooke. The brunette was in tears trying to rip at lines attached to her arm while a nurse tried to keep her in place on the bed.

"PEYTON!" Came a second shout, this one more broken and painful than the first.

"Hey, Brooke I'm right here, I'm right here." Peyton said as Brooke, on seeing her, threw herself into her arms sobbing.

"Shhh, Brooke… you're going to be okay… everything will be fine." Peyton sooths as her friend grasped frantically at her, holding on as tightly as she could. Running her hand gently over the brunette's hair Peyton looks up at the medical staff in the room with pained eyes, her heart aching for her friend as her own tears fell.

"Miss you need to sit back, you're not well enough to be moving around." A nurse said taking a step closer to the pair.

Peyton looked at her but refused to push Brooke away from her, there was also an insistent beeping coming from a machine or two beside the bed she wished would stop.

After a moments glare at the nurse Peyton decided to try to ease Brooke back into a lying down position, not wanting to cause her to be in any more pain than she already was.

"Hey, you're okay B, just lay back down. Easy… that's it." Peyton encourages her friend as she helps her back into position.

Brooke moans a few times but Peyton doesn't know if it's from pain or not and is unsure of what to do as a nurse moves over to look at the brunette.

"She'll be okay Peyton." Shannon says as she stops the machines beeping and replaces a lead that had fallen from Brooke's finger.

"Well looks like you've burst some stitches." The other nurse says with a huff going over to an equipment drawer by the bed.

"Peyton?" Brooke says her voice hoarse from the tube as her eyes close.

"I'm right here." Peyton replies taking hold of her hand.

"Don't… go… away." Brooke whispers before falling asleep.

"We gave her a little something to calm her down." Says a nurse as the blonde studies her friends face.

Peyton glanced around the room, the doctor had disappeared at some point from when she'd run into the room and the other nurse was placing items on a tray. Sighing she guessed she was about to be asked to leave again.

"Why don't you go wait with your friends and we'll get Brooke seen to before letting you come back in." Shannon said with a smile edging her lips. She knew the blonde wasn't happy about leaving again so soon.

Peyton shrugged, it wasn't like she could say no.

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"That went well." Haley says sarcastically as she sits down.

Nathan looks at his wife then at Lucas who was sitting with his head in his hands, and sighs a little. It really hadn't gone very well he had wanted to talk about what had happened and to try to figure out what they should do now.

He hadn't expected Peyton to be back so soon.

"Hey, come on Hales. Brooke's awake, that's good right?" He says going over and sitting down beside his wife.

"Yeah, it is." Haley agrees leaning her head on his shoulder. "But now Peyton's upset with us."

There was nothing he could say to that, Peyton had looked more than upset when she'd turned away from them.

"Not us. Me." Lucas says looking at his friends with sad eyes. He had managed to hurt his girlfriend again even without meaning to. He was doing everything he could to be there for her but he always ended up screwing things up.

Haley looks intently at her best friend for a moment.

"What made you say something that stupid anyway?" She asks, not understanding what was going through his head. She thought that he had sounded somewhere between angry and jealous when he had recounted how Peyton had acted that night.

Lucas looks away from Haley, not sure how to answer.

"I… I don't know, Hales. I was just trying to say that she was different that night… she…" He trails off running his hand through his hair and standing up.

"She wasn't like normal…"

"What do you mean? She was fine when I danced with her." Nathan says frowning, not knowing what his brother was trying to say. He wasn't as close to Peyton as he had been but she hadn't acted any differently than normal with him, remembering back to that night he thought she had seemed happy.

"I don't know really, she just…" Lucas tries again but is clearly frustrated at not being able to explain himself. "She was just different with me, like she wasn't there, or didn't want to be." He sighs sitting down again.

"Look, just because she wasn't as thrilled to be there as you'd hoped doesn't give you the right to talk about her like that!" Haley says hotly not having heard anything from Lucas that excused what he had said about her friend.

"Peyton already told you she didn't want to go, she just found out her ex-boyfriend had slept with her best friend. Cut her some slack will you! Or you'll end up-"

"Hey, what's with all the shouting?"

Haley, along with the others, turns at the voice to see Peyton walking into the room and stand in front of them uncomfortably.

Haley quickly gets up and goes over to the blonde and pulls her into a hug.

"Hey, that was quick, is everything okay? How is she?" Haley asks leading Peyton over to sit down close to the others.

Peyton shrugs glancing at Nathan and Lucas before turning back to Haley.

"She's not great… she kind of freaked out when she woke up, you know, having a tube down your throat can't be a nice feeling." Peyton explains.

"When I went back in I had to wait cause the doctor was in with her, but she started shouting… screaming really… they… they had to give her something to calm her down." She continues not looking at her friends.

Haley reaches over and rubs Peyton's leg trying to comfort the blonde. It was hard to imaging what Brooke was going through, or what any of them could do to help.

"Hey, Peyton it's not going to be easy, but she will get through this. We're all here to help. Whatever she needs, whatever you need, okay?" Haley says with a quiet determination trying to reassure her friend.

Peyton looks at her with tears in her eyes but a movement caught her attention from the doorway. A nurse was standing there.

The nurse looked nervous having four sets of eyes look at her anxiously. "Uh, Miss Sawyer? You can go back in now the doctor would like to speak to you for a moment." She said.

Peyton quickly stood and followed the nurse back into the unit.

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"Ah, Miss Sawyer please take a seat" Said the older gentleman from behind a desk full of paperwork and folders.

Peyton looks at him before sitting down in the empty seat on the other side of the desk, she recognised him as the doctor that had been in Brooke's room earlier.

"Is something wrong with Brooke?" Peyton asks.

"Oh, no, no this has nothing to do with Miss Davis' condition. In fact all things considered she is doing remarkably well. Under normal circumstances we would be moving her out to another ward as she is no longer in a critical condition."

"Then I don't understand?" Peyton confesses confused as to why she had been asked in, then her face cleared as what he said registered.

"What do you mean 'normal circumstances'?"

"Well it would seem we have a problem." The doctor says sighing. "I have just had an interesting conversation with a Detective Jones, I think it was, anyway, it has been suggested that it would be beneficial to all concerned if Miss Davis was to remain here until her complete release from the hospital."

"I don't understand, if she is well enough to be moved why keep her here?" Peyton asks.

"Perhaps you should take that up with the Detective yourself, I think he was looking to speak with you at some point."

"Okay, is it alright if I go back to see her?" Peyton asks still unsure what was going on.

"Yes, of course." He says gesturing to the door.

Peyton stands and leaves wondering what that whole conversation had been about but guessed she'd find out soon enough.

"Hey." Peyton says greeting one of the nurses in Brooke's room before taking the seat beside her friend.

The bed sheets had all been changed and it looked like the brunette's face had been washed. There was no trace that only a short time before she had been extremely upset and crying. The fact she was no longer needed a machine to breathe for her made her look healthier, even though one side of her face was discoloured badly.

"She could come around at anytime, if either of you need anything just use the buzzer, okay." The nurse says before leaving after the blonde nods her understanding.

"Hey, I'm back again." Peyton says softly while taking Brooke's hand. "I guess waking up wasn't much fun, but I promise it will get better Brooke. I'm going to be right here for you okay, no matter what, and we'll get through this."

Peyton stared at her friend, knowing that she would wake up again was a great relief, but she also knew it would signal the start of a very long road of recovery.

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AN/ Hey not only was she awake, she spoke!!! Wasn't that nice.

Okay you can stop throwing things at me. I'm trying people!!

Right now I'm in the middle of my exams 2 down 2 to go, so not sure when the next part will get finished and posted.

Thanks go out to everyone still bothering to read this ;) and those throwing HINTS at me to post, I need to learn to duck... ahh this place is just full of love!