Part 16

Brooke looked over at the wall clock again and pouted when she realised that there was still over half an hour to go before visiting hours started. After being told by Shannon earlier that she would be allowed to have a few more visitors now, not many but a few, she had been desperate to see the others.

Anything was better than being stuck alone in this room there was nothing but a bed and equipment drawer in the place, and shock of shocks there was no television in sight. How was she expected to pass the hours?

She had been beyond bored, so much so, that she had pressed the call button several times just to have contact with someone else, and she was sure that her last lame excuse of asking for a drink of water was completely transparent.

Brooke smiled at that though because the next time she pressed the buzzer, a mere five minutes later, a nurse came in holding a stack of magazines for her to read through. They hadobviously just been bought as they looked brand new and ranged from Vanity Fair to TV Weekly, but more importantly they kept her from thinking to much.

At least that was the idea but she just wasn't able to clear her mind completely of the events that lead her to be in hospital. Friday night had come close to being her last night alive.

And as she tried not to focus on the terrible things that had happened to her, her mind would replay bits and pieces of those few hours every time she became conscious of the injures she bore. With every movement that pulled at her stitched and bruised side images would be conjured up in her mind of the exact moment that that injury had been inflicted on her.

In high definition each second was played out again and again with every cut, hit and thrust feeling newly wreaked upon her body.

Reliving that night in the hands of a monster every time she turned or breathed too deeply was slowly driving her crazy.

But, as she looked at the wall clock again, she would finally have her distraction in twenty five minutes.

She had no regrets over the decisions she had made that night, or that day. Yes there was some things she wished were different, her fight with Peyton that morning being the big one, but it took no time what so ever for her to accept that she wouldn't change anything that she had done that day.

Not if it meant she hadn't gone over to Peyton's exactly when she had, not if it meant allowing Peyton Sawyer to take her place.

No way!

Because no matter how long it would take her to come to terms with those events, heal from them and eventually move on, she knew she was capable of doing that. She knew in her heart and her mind that she would never allow the perversion that was Ian Banks to have that much control over her life, to make her less of the person she was. No, she would pick up the pieces and move on, hopefully much stronger for it.

This wouldn't break her, she just would not allow that to happen.

Brooke Davis was better than that.

But Peyton Sawyer?

As much as Brooke hoped that with the support of herself and their friends that Peyton would manage to cope had their positions been reversed, there was a part of her that didn't truly believe that.

That Peyton was a fighter wasn't in question, but after everything the blonde had gone through in recent years Brooke had trouble believing that Peyton wouldn't close herself off from everyone that loved her.That she would shut them all out in order to try and cope, even her.

But that wasn't going to be how she dealt with it, in fact shutting her friends out was the last thing on her mind.

She wanted, needed, to be able to see her friends. She wanted to have them as close as possible especially a certain blonde haired, blue eyed friend named Peyton.

Whether it was because of the very real threat Ian Banks still posed to her or due to her true feelings for the blonde Brooke wasn't entirely sure, and she really didn't care too much right now. All she knew was that she needed Peyton more than she ever had before.

Luckily though Peyton hadn't seemed to mind her constant need to touch her or just look at her, ensuring to herself that she was there and safe.

"Knock, knock."

Brooke turned her head sharply at that to see Haley slowly walk into the room closely followed by Peyton who wore such a big smile Brooke couldn't help but return it. Speak of the devil!

"Hey! Get over here and give me my hug tutor-mom." Brooke demanded of Haley once she was able to remove her gaze from the blue eyes that continued to watch her closely.

Peyton looked on proudly, her hands stuck into the pockets of her jeans, as Brooke opened her arms and hugged their friend tightly, or as tightly as she could given her injuries. She had been a little worried as to how Brooke would deal with close contact from other people, but from the looks of it Brooke didn't mind at all.

"I'm not hurting you am I?" Haley asked as she loosely returned the embrace before pulling back to look at Brooke.

"Nah, I'm still sore but for the most part I'm doing good." Brooke said trying to ignore Haley's close inspection of her face. She wasn't entirely sure how bad her face looked because no one would give her a mirror, but she did know it still hurt to touch so she suspected it wasn't pretty. "Get over here Blondie."

Peyton's grin widened as she made her way over and pulled Brooke to her. "Missed you." She whispered into an ear although she was sure Haley probably heard her comment being that she was standing right beside them.

She didn't care.

Pulling back enough to look into Brooke's eyes without breaking the brunette's hold on her she reached her hand up to cup Brooke's face and leaned in to place a kiss on her forehead.

Brooke beamed at her.

The sound of a throat clearing brought both of them back to the present and while Peyton blushed slightly Brooke could only roll her eyes.

"Well don't just stand there, have a seat." Brooke instructed Haley who quickly claimed the seat beside the bed.

Just as Peyton was about to go and find another chair to sit on Brooke gave her hand a small tug causing Peyton to look at her. Lifting her eyebrow Brooke let her know she wanted Peyton to stay on the bed beside her.

Peyton just nodded her acceptance of that, not that she wanted to move away from Brooke, but with Haley in the room she was unsure of how to act. Relaxing,she decided to act how she had been when it had just been the two of them, she moved to sit further back on the bed so that she was sitting behind Brooke.

Sighing Brooke slowly rested back against Peyton as she felt the blonde wrap her arms around her and pull her gently closer. Closing her eyes at the contact Brooke slowly exhaled feeling better than she had all day.

Lacing her fingers with those at her waist and giving them a squeeze which was quickly returned she opened her eyes and looked into Haley's ignoring the obvious curiosity that they held.

"So how have you and N-"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt." Shannon says as she enters the room causing the three friends to look in her direction. "But could I borrow Peyton for a moment?"

Brooke felt Peyton's hold on her tighten at Shannon's request and decided to try and ease the sudden tension coming from the blondes body.

"Why? Need something from a top shelf?" Brooke asked her with a smirk as that got a laugh from Haley and the nurse.

But not Peyton who remained silent.

"Maybe, it'll only be for a minute." Shannon added when it became apparent that the blonde was reluctant to move from her current position.

"Sure but I want her back in one piece, okay?" Brooke said giving Peyton a small tug forward to let her know that she should go with the nurse. Brooke had a good idea what Shannon wanted with her friend so was not as concerned about the request as Peyton was.

It was clear that Peyton was worried about what she was wanted for, there had been very little good news given to her by the people that worked in this place. Brooke had seemed fine to her, her condition having improved more and more with each visit the blonde had made. Surely there was nothing to worry about, right?

Glancing back at Brooke, who sent her a reassuring smile once she had gotten off the bed, Peyton slowly moved towards the nurse.

"And she can bring back another chair." The nurse added with a wink before turning and leaving with Peyton, not seeing the scowl that Brooke sent her way at that comment.

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"I'm telling you it was like she was another person, like some kind of Jekyll and Hyde thing." Haley said as she entered her apartment with Nathan.

"Right, don't you think you might be over exaggerating just a little?" Nathan asks trying not to roll his eyes at his wife.

"Hrmf, you didn't see it." Haley huffs as she drops onto the recliner finally able to put her feet up and relax for a moment.

That was true, Nathan and Lucas had patiently waited in the relative's room for Peyton and Haley to come back out and let someone else visit with Brooke but that hadn't happened. It had taken until after visiting was finished before the pair had returned.

But unlike Lucas who had seemed relieved at that, Nathan himself was disappointed in not being able to see Brooke in person. But he could wait until later to finally see his friend, maybe by then Lucas would have figured out what to tell the brunette about what he'd done, what they'd both done.

Right now Nathan was sure that his brother was informing his girlfriend of their actions that morning, it was a thought that made him feel ill.

"Are you okay Nate? You've been really quiet all day." Haley asked worried at the grimace that had been on her husbands face a moment before.

"Umm…" Nathan began looking at Haley before wiping the sweat from his palms and sitting down beside her. He wasn't sure how Haley would react but he knew that he still felt he'd been wrong in agreeing with what Lucas had intended to do. "I need to tell you something… and you might not like it."

Haley watched Nathan closely not sure what he could be so upset about.

"This morning Lucas and I kinda… see he had this idea of how to help… but…"

"But what Nathan?" Haley questioned him, she'd thought Lucas' comment on helping out his mom hadn't exactly been true. But she'd just assumed they'd spent their time cursing out Ian Banks' existence, and wishing for a slow and painful death for the bastard, like she had.

Now she was almost afraid about how they had actually spent their time that morning, to her eyes Nathan was acting guilty and that wasn't a good sign for things to come in her experience.

But before she could open her mouth to question him the front door of their apartment was thrown open.

Peyton slammed the door closed behind her and quickly turned the lock and put on the chain before turning and leaning her back against it as tears ran down her face.

"Peyton?" Came a muffled voice from the other side of the door. "Peyton, come on. Open up and let me explain." Lucas said giving the door a rap with his knuckles.

Peyton closed her eyes and turned her head to the heavens feeling unable to deal with what had just happened.

"Fuck off Lucas." She almost pleaded in an anguished whisper that carried to Nathan and Haley but not to her boyfriend.

"Will you just let me explain!" Lucas demanded giving the door another bang, he'd chased after the blonde but had been unable to reach her before she had gotten into the house, locking him out.

"Explain? What's to explain, my eyes work just fine!" Peyton shouted through the door as she pushed off from it and walked further into the apartment.

"I'm trying to help Peyton." Lucas replied beseechingly.

"HELP? Are you fucking serious? How in the hell do you think this is going to help? Are you really that stupid or are you just that much of an asshole?" Peyton questioned moving closer to the door, almost wanting to open it.

If only to smack some sense into the insensitive jerk that didn't have a clue about how fucked up his idea of helping truly was.

"Um, Peyton?" Came the timid voice of Haley that made Peyton jump and turn to see Haley and Nathan watching her looking shocked at what they'd just witnessed. Nathan looked at her with a terrified expression.

"Will you just let me in!" Lucas repeated drawing Peyton's attention back to the door and away from her two friends.

Haley watched Peyton and then glanced at her husband who looked like he was about to throw up at any second.

Her eyes narrowed.

"This had better have nothing to do with you!" She whispered harshly into her husband's ear before standing and cautiously making her way towards a distraught Peyton.

Nathan gulped.

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AN/ Hey guys! Hoped you all enjoyed this part, I know its been a while since my last update, sorry. But :) my easter break starts soon so I might just be able to post more often during that, maybe.

Thanks to everyone thats been reading this, old and new everyone's welcome! And thank you if you take the time to review, no pressure though!

( Thanks for the feedback guys, guess I was over reacting but I feel better now:) )

And again thanks for sticking with this!