AN: Here's chapter 5! This one is laid out a little bit weird but I think it'll work.
And just to clarify because Lucas is going to call Keith 'dad' in this chapter- Dan is still his birth father. BUT, since this is semi-AU, Keith is Lucas's father figure and was around so much that he started calling him dad.
This is a BRUCAS fic, so please keep that in mind as you proceed.
Lucas looked around, he was standing in the hospital, people running around past him and even… Were they running through him? Skills was standing off to the side with complete and utter shock on his face, his eyes glazed over as someone- Nathan, tried to talk to him. The doors burst open and… Was that him? He was on a gurney, passed out or something.
"We have a male, aged 18, collapsed on the street and suffered a massive heart attack. He went into cardiac arrest once but we were able to get him back." The paramedic said, handing him over to the doctors.
"I'm not dead?" He asked to himself.
"And thank god you aren't." Jumping, he turned around and smiled as he saw Keith and Karen.
"Mom, dad?" He asked, running to their arms and hugging them. "What are you doing here?"
"The better question is, what are you doing here? It's not your time yet Luke." His mom said, looking at him in the eyes with a sad smile.
"I don't even remember what happened… The paramedic said I had a heart attack?" He mumbled, looking at Keith, who had a sad look in his eyes.
"Yes, you suffered a massive heart attack when you and the rest of the team were walking back from the stadium… You worked your heart too hard during that game." Lucas ran a hand through his hair and looked around.
"Am I gonna die?"
"We don't know. But you're not supposed to be here son." Keith said, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"I'm supposed to be back at the hotel room with Brooke, getting ready to drive back home with Lily." Karen's eyes softened at the mentioning of her daughter.
"You're doing such a good job with her Lucas. You and Brooke are doing such a good job with her." She smiled, putting a hand on his cheek. "We couldn't be more proud of you both."
"Thanks mom. But it's hard, without you and dad here. I love Lily, but every day I look at her I'm reminded of her real parents." He said sadly, looking down at his hands.
"You and Brooke are her parents. You'll always see us in her, but you need to know she's yours now. And you need to go back to her. To both of them." Lucas looked at her with a small smirk on his face. "You know, the first time you brought Brooke home to hang out, your dad and I were convinced she was going to be the one for you. We still are."
"Well, you aren't the only one that thinks she's the one now." Lucas turned his head as he heard the doors opened and Brooke came running in.
"Lucas Scott, where is he? Is he alright?" She asked, panic in her voice. Rachel and Haley followed in, the redhead holding the baby carrier.
"I'm sorry, I can't release any information unless you're a family member." Brooke frowned and held out her hand.
"Well news flash honey, I'm his fiancé and mother of his child, so you better start talking." The woman nodded and quickly flipped through the papers and looked back up.
"He's being treated right now, he suffered a heart attack earlier tonight and went into cardiac arrest. I'll let you know if anything changes. What's your name?"
"Brooke Davis."
"Okay, well, good news is you're his emergency contact so we were going to call you anyways. I'm going to need you to fill out these forms and get them back to me." She handed a clipboard filled with papers to the teen, who put a hand over her heart and moved to sit in one of the chairs. Lucas walked around and sat on the table to look at her. Haley had given Brooke her wedding ring, and if the situation were any different, he would smile at the kindness in his friend's heart.
"She looks so sad." He whispered, running a hand over his face. "I can't believe this is happening to us."
"It's going to be okay Luke." Keith mumbled, putting his hand on the teen's back. "You're tough, you'll pull through this. I believe in you." Looking back at Brooke, Lucas's concern grew when she looked up in shock.
"Oh… My God. Rachel!" Her best friend moved over to her friend and sat in the chair beside her. "If he doesn't pull through… I can't keep Lily. I legally have no rights. I just turned 18 and we were planning on going to the courthouse next week so I could sign custody papers, we had talked about it a while ago, but…"
"Hey, look at me." She nudged the girl to look at her in the eyes. "He is going to pull through; he is going to wake up and everything will be okay. He knows he has a beautiful family waiting for him. He will make it. Be positive Davis, he'd want you to be hopeful."
"I do want her to be hopeful." Lucas mumbled, watching the brunette breeze through the paperwork, glancing up at the ceiling every once in a while to take deep breaths. "I gotta get back to my family."
"This is just the waiting game." Karen sighed, "You just have to wait to see what happens."
xXx
Another 3 hours passed before they knew anything, and Lucas stood with his parents watching over Brooke. At some point she had taken Lily out of her baby carrier and sat with the child in her arms, holding her tightly and kissing her as much as she possibly could. Lily seemed upset too, she could tell something was wrong with her parents.
"I wish you guys could have gotten the chance to raise her." Lucas sighed, wiping away a tear as Brooke tried to calm Lily down.
"As much as I would have loved to raise Lily with your father, I think fate had other plans. And I think this tragedy is going to bring you and Brooke closer together. We miss you so much Luke, but we're still watching over you." Karen said, grinning as Lily finally settled against Brooke's chest to fall asleep.
"It's just… I miss you guys so much."
"We miss you too, son." Keith said, looking him in the eyes. "But know we'll always be right here." He patted him over the heart, causing him to smile. As he opened his mouth to speak, the doors opened and a doctor stepped out.
"Ms. Davis?" Brooke shot up, making sure to keep Lily still against her chest. Everyone else inched closer to hear the news.
"Yes? Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay."
"His heart stopped several times, but we were able to get it back to a steady level." She let out a sigh of relief, and Lucas smiled as he realized he wasn't dead. "However, he's in a coma."
"When will he wake up?" She asked, concern running deep in her voice.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. You can see him now if you'd like. There's been cases of patients being able to hear in a coma, I can't make any promises, but talking to him may possibly wake him up." He said, pointing back to the doors.
"Yes, please, can I see him?" He nodded, motioning towards the door. "Nate? Could you take Lily for me? I don't want her getting sick from anything back there."
"Of course." Handing the baby over to him, Brooke followed after the Doctor back to one of the rooms.
Lucas noted he wasn't hooked up to any real machines, which, he assumed was something good. But he was pale, and looked weak. Putting a hand over her mouth, Brooke sat in the chair next to the bed.
"I'll leave you alone for now." The Doctor said, leaving them alone. Lucas walked around to one side of the bed and watched as Brooke wipe her eyes before grabbing his hand.
"Hey Broody." Brooke said, smiling at his still form. "You gave all of us a really bad scare. Even Lily knew something was wrong." Wiping her eyes, she stroked his hand lightly before speaking again.
"Here's the thing Broody. You have to wake up. You can't leave yet. You can't leave Lily. You can't leave Haley, Nathan, Skills, all of them. And you can't leave me. I know I don't say it, but you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Not just with bringing me Lily, but from the first day I met you, you were the best thing that ever happened to me. You showed me what it was like to have a family, you introduced me to all my friends-our friends. And when I didn't think you could give me any more than you already had, you gave me Lily. The best little girl I have ever met."
Lucas smiled, he had a feeling he knew where this was going. Brooke paused for a minute, before she leaned closer and whispered in his ear. Closing his eyes, he took in her words.
"I love you Lucas Eugene Scott. I hope you can hear all of this because God, I love you so much it hurts. So wake up. Your family needs you. If you can hear me, once you wake up, I want to be with you. Please wake up. Come back to me. Come back to Lily." She kissed his cheek and leaned back in her chair and just watched his chest rise up and down. Turning around, he looked at Keith and Karen.
"I have to wake up."
And there it is! The next chapter will be the one I think you all have been waiting for! Hopefully that love declaration at the end of this chapter should make up for my disappointing chapter 3 semi-rejection.