AN/ Yes I know, my bad, I'm sorry. But I just have three words that should explain my tardyness - South. Of. Nowhere. Why oh why have I never known about this show before ::shakes head:: really you yanks get spoiled over there!! Such a great show and I'm sooo jealous. Anyways on with the story...

Part 13

Opening the door as quietly as she could Peyton entered Brooke's room. This had been the first time since that night that Peyton had been late for visiting, in fact more often than not Peyton was early, not that the nurses minded of course.

The blonde had been a constant sight in the unit the past few days and with all the media coverage it was hard to find anyone that didn't know about Peyton and what had happened to her best friend Brooke Davis.

Shannon had pulled her into one of the offices as soon as she had arrived which had panicked the blonde until she had been reassured that Brooke was fine, mostly. The nurse told her that Brooke had just had some visitors that had just left and might not be in the best condition for more visitors so soon.

Peyton's first thoughts went to Brooke's parents having finally arrived to see their daughter. That would be the kind of thing she would expect of Victoria Davis, to never bother returning any of the messages that had been left asking her to get in touch as soon as possible. No. Brooke's mother would just show up unannounced and probably demand to know why she wasn't contacted sooner.

But no.

It hadn't been Brooke's parents.

It had been Bryce and a few others, come to get her side of what had happened that night. And with the way they had questioned Peyton she could only hope that they had been gentler with her best friend.

She didn't really think they would be, but she hoped.

Closing the door as gently as she had opened it Peyton looked over at Brooke. All Peyton saw was a curled up lump that faced away from the door. At first Peyton assumed that the brunette was sleeping, but as she got closer she could hear sniffles coming from her friend.

"Brooke?" Peyton asked softly as she made her way around to face her.

Brooke was lying on her side with her knees pulled up to her chest looking like a lost child as tears dripped from her eyelids. Her eyes were red and puffy making it obvious that she had been crying for some time.

It almost broke Peyton's heart when those brown eyes met hers and she could almost feel just how much pain was held within them. Slowly Peyton walked over and knelt down beside Brooke's face and laid her hand on Brooke's wet cheek brushing away a falling tear with her thumb.

"Hey."

"Hi." Brooke croaked out as she blinked more tears from her eyes as she leaned into the blondes touch.

Peyton watched her for a moment feeling all of her own emotions rise to the surface, she had tried so hard these past few days to block out what Brooke had gone through focusing mainly on the fact her friend was still alive. That was what counted, right?

But it hurt all over again watching Brooke now, because Peyton hadn't been able to protect her from Ian Banks when he had done this to her, she also hadn't been able to protect her when she had to retell the story to the police.

Brooke had been alone, again, she had relived everything that had happened to her, retold every single violation, blow, and injury that had been inflicted on her by that monster.

And Peyton felt her own tears fall down her face as she came to a painful realisation, that already she had broken her promise to her friend.

She had promised both of them that she would never allow Brooke to be so alone again, that she would protect her no matter the cost. That Brooke would never have to be afraid again.

But she had failed without even attempting to try.

"I'm sorry."

Peyton had know the police were going to be coming to interview Brooke but she had been so caught up in the knowledge that she had as much a part to play in what had happened to Brooke as Ian Banks had, that she had forgotten.

"I'm so sorry Brooke. I should have been here." Peyton whispered as she moved her head to rest against Brooke's.

Brooke sighed and closed her eyes at the contact. This was what she needed, what she wanted. To Brooke Peyton was magic plain and simple.

It had never mattered what was going on in her life Peyton had always had the ability to make everything go quiet in her head. Whether her parents had missed her birthday again, her mother telling her she wasn't good enough, or even just worrying about what to wear to a party. Peyton could make her world stop, and even if it was only for a moment, it had always made her feel like nothing bad could touch her.

That's what she needed now, to forget, even for just one second.

Slowly she pulled back from the blonde and shifted away from the edge of the bed being careful of her side as she moved.

Peyton stared at her wondering if she had done something to make Brooke upset but the brunette cast her a small smile and patted the empty space between them with her bandaged hand.

Peyton glanced quickly to the door wondering how much trouble they would get into but she had no intention of refusing Brooke, not when her friends eyes held such a hopeful expression.

Flashing Brooke a quick grin Peyton kicked off her shoes before climbing onto the bed and lying down on her back beside her best friend. She was aware that Brooke was still hurt and didn't want to cause her any more pain so she left some space between them.

Space that soon disappeared as Brooke slowly got closer until eventually she let out a sigh having finally managed to get into a comfortable position with her head on the blondes shoulder and her arm holding her tightly across the waist.

Peyton grinned as Brooke shifted closer still, bringing her leg up and over both of hers effectively pining the blonde in place. Not that Peyton minded at all, she had often held Brooke like this but that had been before. Before everything had changed between them, before her feelings for Lucas had torn them apart, and before she had ever heard of a half-brother called Derek.

"You okay?" Peyton asked more than a little amused that Brooke seemed to be falling asleep on top of her.

Brooke was silent for a while, long enough for Peyton to assume she had fallen asleep and start to run her hand through her hair. It was a touch Brooke more than welcomed, it had been a very long time since she had last felt like this and she missed it. She missed a lot of things, but mainly she missed Peyton.

"No." Brooke finally replied.

Peyton nodded and moved her hand to Brookes back being careful not to hurt her friend as she knew Brooke had been cut badly on her back in the attack.

"I want out of here Pey." Brooke continued keeping her voice low as if she was sharing a secret with Peyton.

Peyton smiled a little at the shortened version of her name, Brooke had been the only person to ever call her that. It brought back memories of a much simpler time, when both of them had almost nothing to worry about except keeping out of the trouble Brooke had always seemed to get them into. Not that she had ever minded, she had always gone along with whatever idiotic idea the brunette had come up with. And they had always had fun even if they did get told off sometimes. Her mom would always just end up laughing at them and shaking her head.

Peyton missed those days.

"Maybe in a few days? What has the doc said?" She asks.

Brooke shrugs. "All I'm doing is resting until I heal a bit more, don't see why I can't do that at Rachel's." As she says this she feels Peyton tense. "What?"

"About that" The blonde begins. "you remember that Rachel has gone to stay with her folks right?"

"And? She said I cou… oh… guess I'm homeless again." Brooke replies lifting her head up to look at Peyton.

"Yeah, but I was thinking that maybe you could move in with me, if you wanted to." Peyton says with a grin which fades as she watches Brooke pale at the idea and she realises where her thoughts had gone. "No!" She says loudly not wanting to upset Brooke more than she already had.

"That's not what I meant." Peyton begins cupping the side of Brooke's face with her hand. "I moved into the apartment, I've been staying there since that night." She continues to explain as she watches Brooke's eyes close and some colour return to her face. "And Nate and Hales are moving in with his mom this week, so it'll be just us." She finishes with a grin. "So how about it, wanna live with me?"

Brooke can't help but smile at her friend, at first she had thought Peyton wanted her to move back into her house. But she couldn't do that, Brooke wasn't sure she would ever be able to go back into that house again.

She also wanted to know why Peyton had been staying with Haley and Nathan instead of her boyfriend, but she didn't really want to talk about that right now. Not with Peyton looking at her expectantly with her eyebrows raised.

"I guess I could put up with you, but maybe I should stay here as long as possible. Get some sleep while I can." Brooke said with a grin.

Peyton snorted at that.

"Hey I'm not the one that talks in my sleep, Blondie."

"Oh no you just steal all the covers, kick and." Peyton trailed off with a hand gesture indicating the fact Brooke was practically on top of her.

Brooke blushed at that. She knew she snuggled in bed with Peyton when they shared but she didn't think the blonde really minded, maybe she would now.

"Never had any complaints before, but…" She said and pushed herself up to move away from Peyton only to be pulled back down into place.

"I'm not complaining, and besides I already have all of your stuff back at the apartment, so you're moving in and that's final." Peyton says smugly.

"Pretty sure of yourself aren't you." Brooke says rolling her eyes and failing to stop a grin forming as she tried not to show how happy the idea of living with Peyton again made her.

Peyton laughs lightly before wrapping both of her arms around Brooke and rocking her gently from side to side before placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Only about us, only about us." She whispers to Brooke not caring what she meant by the comment, only knowing that it was true.

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Again I really should stop telling you guys when I'm gonna post cause I'm always wrong, I'm not a tease, really I'm not.

Thank you for reading this and also thanks if you review!!