Part 29

Peyton stood beside her three friends outside the entrance to the unit were Brooke was still staying. The car ride to the hospital had become more uncomfortable the closer they got to arriving and she could feel her stomach twitch as they waited to be let in.

She knew Nathan and Lucas were nervous about seeing Brooke now that she knew about the posters, but she was more concerned with what would happen when all of them where gathered in the same room.

The phone conversation she had shared with Brooke outside the apartment still upset her, she had no idea why Brooke had been willing to have that particular piece of information come out the way she had suggested, but it worried her. It worried her a lot.

Haley had tried making some cracks about getting her own room when they got to the hospital but they had fallen flat, everyone else in the car had other things going through their minds. In the end, they drove the rest of the way in silence.

"You know what? I think I'll let you guys go in first, okay?" Nathan said as a nurse opened the door. "I'll just be in here." He continued indicating the family room just off to the right of where they were standing.

Peyton looked at him for as second, she knew he was worried about what kind of reception Brooke was going to give him, but she was kind of glad he didn't want to go in right now.

"Yeah, I think I'll stay out here too, give you girls a chance to talk without us." Lucas said as he shifted on his feet.

This time Peyton had to hide a smirk, Lucas had only found out about Brooke knowing what they had done in the car ride over. He'd looked slightly pale ever since, she guessed Nathan wasn't the only one afraid of the cheerleader inside.

"Okay, guess we'll see you in a bit." Haley said as the two brothers disappeared into the adjacent room, before following the nurse behind Peyton.

"What was that all about?" She asked the blonde girl.

"I think they might be afraid of what Brooke has planned for them." Peyton replied with a grin.

"But I thought she wasn't really that upset over the whole thing?" Haley asked.

"She isn't, and I told them that, you heard me. I just don't think they believed me."

"Here you go." The nurse said indicating Brooke's room before leaving them alone.

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"So how mad do you think she'll be?" Lucas asks as he takes a seat across from his brother.

"It's not that I think she'll be mad Luke, it's just that I'm not sure what to tell her." Nathan explained. "Yeah Peyton said Brooke was okay with it, but I still think she's going to be disappointed."

Lucas thought about that for a second, personally he thought Brooke would still be mad as hell over the whole thing.

"Because of what we did, or because we didn't tell her?" He asked wanting to know why Nathan thought she would be upset.

"A little of both, maybe if we'd talked to Peyton about it. I know she was dead set against it, but I think if everyone had been involved in the idea it wouldn't be such a big deal, you know?" Nathan replied. "I mean that way it would have been all of her friends trying to do the right thing."

"Instead of me just screwing up you mean." Lucas said softly.

Nathan sighed.

"It's not that you screwed up. It's that we didn't think it through properly, seriously how much worse would it have been if Brooke had come out of hospital and seen them all over town without knowing about them first." Nathan said.

"At least now she might shout at us but that'll probably be all, hopefully anyway." He continued.

Lucas smiled a little. "And that's why we're hiding out in here?"

"Oh hell no!" Nathan said. "I'm hiding in here because I'm sure Brooke's pissed about us asking Peyton why she was there that night." He said with a laugh.

Lucas laughed along with his brother for a while, but that was a question he had been asking himself ever since his brother had called him from the hospital. Why on earth had Brooke been anywhere near Peyton, or her house, after what had happened between the two of them?

It just didn't make any sense to him.

"Why do you think she turned up there that night?" Lucas asked his brother seriously.

Nathan shrugged, he and Haley had talked about why Brooke had been there themselves but the truth was they just didn't have any idea as to what the truth was.

"There's only two people that know the answer to that Lucas, and I'm not one of them." He eventually replied.

"But just a guess, why do you think she was there?" Lucas pressed, not satisfied with what Nathan had just said.

It may have been the truth of the situation but Nathan had to have his own theory as to what had been going on that night between the two ex-best friends.

Nathan shrugged again not sure why Lucas was taking such an interesting the circumstances surrounding that night.

"Like Peyton said, Brooke went over to talk to her, could have been about the dress, their fight… I just don't know." Nathan replied. He'd believed what Peyton had said back at the apartment, but any fool could tell that it must have been something pretty important for the blonde to have gotten as defensive as she had.

He'd known Peyton for a long time, and there weren't many occasions where she had acted like that before. Yes, there was a lot going on right now for her to deal with, but he had always thought her friendship with Brooke was one of the few things she had in her life that she truly valued.

Peyton never really cared what anyone thought of her, and she didn't let many things really bother her in any way. Losing her mother at such a young age left its own mark, and Peyton understood that some things in life matter more than others.

So to Nathan, the way Peyton had reacted to his question made him think she was either protecting Brooke by not revealing what had gone on between them, or she was protecting the both of them.

It didn't matter whichever of those two ideas were true or if he was completely wrong about the whole thing, he had no intention of asking her again. But he was pretty sure Lucas was going to continue asking until he got the answer he wanted.

He stood and ran his hand through his hair as he watched his brother frowning.

"I'm going to grab us some coffee, okay?" He said before leaving the room after Lucas had nodded. As he left all he could think was that Peyton was right; whatever the answer it wasn't Lucas' concern.

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"So, what? They're too scared to come in?" Brooke asked completely amused by the thought of the two Scott brothers not wanting to face her.

"Sad isn't it?" Haley confirmed from her seat beside the bed.

Brooke shook her head and then turned her attention to Peyton, who was currently sat not far from her on the bed staring at the blanket.

"And what's wrong with you Blondie?" Brooke asked.

Peyton let her shoulders drop a little. "Nothing." She replied softly without looking up.

"Yeah, I can see that." Brooke said before reaching over and tilting Peyton's face up to look into her eyes. "Wanna try that one again?"

Peyton held her gaze for a few seconds and then sighed.

"Why did you say that?" She finally asked, still unsure of what Brooke had hoped to accomplish by it.

"Say what?" Brooke asked lifting an eyebrow.

Peyton rolled her eyes. Only Brooke could come close to spilling her deepest secret not an hour before and then profess to not knowing what Peyton could possibly be talking about.

"Oh, right, that." Brooke said after watching the other girl's reaction.

"Yeah, that."

"Come here." The brunette said motioning Peyton to move closer.

"What?"

"Come on Blondie, move your butt." Brooke repeated and waited until Peyton reluctantly moved the remaining distance between them and then rapped her arms around her from behind and rested her chin on the blondes shoulder.

"Now you listen to me. If you think I'm going to let anyone upset you over why I was at your house that night you can think again, got it." Brooke said giving Peyton a squeeze.

"It was only Na-"

"I don't care who it was Peyton, if Dumb and Dumber next door want to know why I did anything they can come and ask me themselves and leave you out of it." Brooke interrupted. "Understand?"

Peyton closed her eyes with a sigh as some of her previous anxiety began to leave, she was still worried but in truth Brooke was right in what she had just said. She was the one that kind of information had to come from and Peyton had already made a promise to herself that she wouldn't be the one telling people.

It was a promise she intended to keep, so it wouldn't matter to her who asked, she was never going to be telling anyone. She hadn't told the police during her interview so she wasn't going to be pressured by Lucas or Nathan either.

She still wasn't completely sure how she felt about what it meant, but she did know it didn't bother her, at all. Brooke was her best friend, her family really, and nothing was going to change the fact that Brooke meant the world to her.

"So Haley anything you'd like to ask me?" Brooke said with a grin as she looked at the pregnant girl.

"Brooke!" Peyton practically shouted.

"What?" Brooke said first to Peyton before turning back to Haley. "Well?"

Haley smiled at the pair of them. It was nice to see Brooke willing to deflect some of the attention away from Peyton, she just wished it hadn't been because of something her husband had started.

Brooke would have more than enough problems of her own without having her friends causing trouble as well.

"When exactly are you getting out of here tomorrow?" She asked knowing full well that wasn't what Brooke had been fishing for.

Peyton smirked and winked at Haley, pleased by her choice of question.

Brooke pouted. "That's it? That's all you want to ask me?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Haley replied smiling. "Come on Brooke, it's important. This'll be my last night at the apartment, so I need to know how long I can wait before getting up and moving the last of our things out."

Brooke sighed. "Probably around midday, the doctors have to do rounds and they'll need to wait on the results of some tests."

"Anything to worry about?" Peyton asks with concern turning a little to look at the brunette.

"Nah, all routine stuff." Brooke responded but she held Peyton's eyes for a moment her expression saddening somewhat.

"So, you look about ready to pop Hales, how long do you think you have left to go?" She asks Haley before Peyton could ask the question that was forming on her lips.

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"Hey, I see they've finally left you in peace. Looking forward to your last night with us?" Shannon asks walking into the room and moving to check the readings on the monitors.

"It was okay, and I can't get out of here fast enough if you ask me." Brooke responded with a grin.

Shannon looked at the younger girl hesitantly for a moment before turning and pressing a few buttons on one of the machines.

"No, Peyton tonight?" She asked softly still facing away from Brooke.

"Oh, no. She wanted to, but I told her that I was a big girl." Brooke replied before pulling something out from under her pillow. "Plus I still have this, so she said to call her if I needed to." She continued smiling.

Peyton had spent at least ten minutes trying to find her phone to take it back from her, stating that if her next call was going to be anything like the last Peyton would rather she waited until she was back home.

With a little pouting on Brooke's part the blonde had given up and let her keep it, on the promise that Brooke wouldn't be giving her a heart attack the next time she called.

Brooke could be good if she had to be.

"I… umm… met her boyfriend this morning, when we dropped her off." Shannon confessed looking at the brunette. "Luke was it?" She asked having heard Peyton and the pregnant girl talking earlier.

"Yeah." Brooke replied softly.

"I know it's none of my business but does she know?" The nurse asked.

"Know what?" Brooke asked looking at the nurse. "That I'm gay, that I'm in love with her, or are you asking about something else?" She continued.

"Um, any of those I guess."

"She knows." Brooke said sadly looking down unable to hold the nurses gaze any longer.

"I take it that it's complicated?" Shannon ventured, because to her the two girls still looked like they were more than 'just friends'.

"Not really. I love her, she loves Lucas, and he loves her back." Brooke replied. "Simple as that." She continued lifting her hand up and letting it fall back onto the bed in resignation.

"Right!" Shannon said failing to hold back a laugh.

"What? That's how it is." Brooke replied defensively.

"Well, as an outsider I'd say you are pretty close friends, closer than I am with any of my friends." The nurse responded with a small grin.

"We've know each other for most of our lives, of course we're close."

"Honey, no one is as close as I've seen the two of you without feelings being involved and I'm not talking the sisterly kind."

Brooke shook her head, Shannon was wrong, Peyton didn't feel that way about her. "She loves me, I know that, everyone knows that. But she doesn't love me the way I love her, she just doesn't."

Brooke didn't want to have this conversation, it was hard enough coming to terms with the way she felt for her best friend in the first place. Having someone say they saw things that were just not true, couldn't be true, was more than she could take.

A tear worked its way down her cheek to fall onto the bed.

It was so hard to think that Peyton would never feel that way about her, but she'd always know Peyton liked guys, Nathan, Jake and Lucas were proof enough of that.

She'd known the moment she had watched Peyton staring at Lucas that it would never be her.

"She doesn't love me." She repeated as more tears began to fall.

Shannon moved closer and wiped some of the tears away from Brooke's face.

"Hey, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm just trying to let you know how it looks. And to me it looks like she might feel the same way."

"You don't know her."

"No, but I do know what it love looks like, and she looks at you the same way my girlfriend looks at me. You might think I'm wrong but I wouldn't give up all hope just yet." Shannon said.

And with that Shannon stood and left Brooke alone with her thoughts.

"She can't love me, she loves Lucas I know she does."

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AN/

Hey guys, long time no see ;)

And would ya look at that, I think Brookie might just be getting to go home in the next chapter – won't that be fun!!

Considering its taken about six months, I'm thinking she'll be ecstatic, maybe throw a party… you never know, I mean criminals have done less time than her!

Well hope everyone's still around and enjoying this… and all that other nice stuff writers are supposed to say to their readers ;P

Honestly what do you guys want?

A pat on the back?

A cookie?

A gold star? (I can remember those! It was fun being a kid, gold stars rocked!)

Oh, I know, it's the same thing you guys always want… an update!

Well, tough, come back next week and I'll see what I can do, but until then…

SCRAM!!

Go on…

SHOOO!!