AN: So this chapter is a combination of emotions, from cutesy to angsty. A lot will be revealed at chapter's end - my longest one yet.

"Can I wake them?"

"Let them sleep."

"How long have they been sleeping?"

"For awhile."

"Then can I wake them?"

"Jamie, sometimes adults just need to sleep."

"Like a nap?"

"Yes, like a nap," Lindsey informed her soon to be nephew. A small smile came across her face. That boy did wonders on people's expressions; he gave away smiles for free.

"When can I wake them up from their naps?" He was not giving up, Jamie was one persistent little boy.

"You already did, you kook," Haley revealed opening her eyes. She soon realized that it was easier said than done, her eyes were swollen from her tears – just something else to add to the list of grievances for Nathan.

"Momma!" Jamie was happy to see his mother awake.

And Haley was glad to see his excitement; she feared that she had broken his heart as she walked away earlier. Her boy was resilient though, after all he was James Lucas Scott.

Brooke had opened her eyes as well, but she did not speak.

Hands were so comfortably encasing Haley that she didn't even notice Brooke's presence, she just accepted the warmth. Jamie jumped between the duo, breaking the embrace.

Haley grabbed onto him, as if she had never held him before, and starting tickling him.

"Aunt Brooke, help me," it brought her back to the current reality, the giggling boy cried out for relief.

Everything changes for him, and it did, "Help you…get more tickles?" as Brooke joined Haley in contributing to Jamie's laughter.

His attempts to break from the tickling duo were to no prevail, but he didn't seem to mind. There was a smile on his mom's face, and he had not seen one of those in a long time. He was afraid she had lost it, or that his dad had taken it away.

Lindsey watched it all from the doorway. She was the only one currently pained by the picture in front of her. It scared her that Brooke and Haley were able to turn on their façades so easily, as if it was connected to a switch. The smiles on their faces were only temporary, and a lapse in happiness would not rid the immensity of pain underneath the grins.

The tickling duo grew tired and let the little boy become free from their fingers; they all laid back on the bed, slightly exhausted from the excursion.

Once he got his breath back, "Momma, Uncle Lucas said that we were staying here for awhile. Are we really?"

Lindsey watched as Haley crumbled under her façade. "Just until Daddy feels better, Buddy," that was the deal. Or at least that was her deal, the only one she would agree to.

"I didn't know he was sick. I just thought that he was mad."

"It is a different kind of sickness, Jamie," Brooke broke in. She looked at Jamie as she spoke, but caught a glimpse of Haley's expression. Haley was taking all of the strength she had left from this weakening day to remain calm for Jamie. But inside, she was screaming, and she was breaking even more.

"So Daddy is going to get better?" If only the answer to the boy's inquiry was that simple. If only someone knew the answer.

Someone had to pretend. They had to pretend for Jamie, and someone had to pretend for Haley. She had to know it was going to be worthwhile, or she was not going to be willing to fight anymore. "Have you ever been sick before, Buddy?"

"This one time I was really, really itchy, Momma made me wear oven mitts on my hands so I wouldn't itch. I couldn't go to preschool. I think it was called Chicken's Socks."

Brief laughter filled the room, there was some things that couldn't possible be left alone, "Chicken Pox, Honey," Haley had to correct him.

"Isn't that what I said?"

"No you thought your chicken had some socks."

"Oh, I don't think they can wear socks anyways."

"Me either, Buddy."

"Well, you don't have any chicken's socks now do you?" Brooke asked him.

"Of course not, Aunt Brooke," he had to giggle again.

"Soon your dad won't have any chicken's socks either," it was the best way she could describe it for a five year old. She just hoped that Haley accepted the juvenile response. Nathan may be sick right now, but it wasn't going to last for ever. Brooke just had to accept it as the truth, because if it wasn't, there was no saying how their world would end up.

"Well, if Daddy gets better will you get better too, Momma?" Another heartbreaking answer goes to little Jamie Scott.

"I'm not sick, Buddy," Haley informed her son, but everyone in the room knew that Haley was sickened by her own type of agony, even a five year old could see through Haley's lies. She was going to have to take lessons from Brooke if she wanted anyone to ever believe her.

"Not Daddy sick, but sad sick," trying to clarify.

"I don't think being sad is a sickness, Jamie."

"When people are sick they are different. When I had the chicken pox, I couldn't go to school. Daddy is sick and he can't say nice things. And you are sick because you can't smile," the intelligence beyond his years broke Haley's heart. For all those wondering if it was possible, Jamie's last statement just proved the durability of Haley's heart was diminishing.

How could see lie to her son? How could see lie again? He knew her better than anyone, she had to be careful with what she elected to say to him, "You make me smile, Baby, can't you be my medicine?"

"He can't, Haley," Brooke spoke; she had to be the voice of reason.

And Haley had to accept it. "What about ice cream?" Jamie asked.

"What about it, Buddy?" Haley wondered.

"Ice cream makes me happy, maybe it is the medicine you need," if life could only rely on a five year olds fixtures of happiness.

"We might just have to try, Jamie," Brooke played along with his godson.

"Momma lets go get ice cream," he tried to pull her out of the bed.

"I don't think ice cream is what I need right now."

"Well if you can tell us what you would rather have, but if not we are going to get some ice cream, my friend," helping Jamie pull his mother up.

Lindsey was still an eyewitness to it all. Haley was breaking; the glue that she had attached to her façade was cracking. Brooke's was strong and managing to support it all.

Haley didn't want to leave the house. If she couldn't be with Nathan, she certainly did not want to be out and about around Tree Hill when he was miserable. No amount of makeup or expensive clothes would cover up her pain or her disarray. And for the first time in four months she was starting to give up.

"Buddy, I'm tired. Maybe your Aunt Brooke can take you."

"You just got up."

"I know, but it wasn't enough. You go get your ice cream; I will just go to sleep."

"No," it was definitive and affirmative.

"What?"

"I said no, that is not an option," Brooke put her foot down. She was going up to bat again, she was going to try and reel in some of Haley's happiness. She was not going to let Haley sink into a depressive state of unconsciousness. If she left her alone to sleep, she knew that she would be falling into that coma. Brooke wasn't sure if once she fell she would ever be able to wake up her. And that she could not have stay on her consciousness.

"Brooke, I am tired, that's all. Please just let me sleep."

"No," there was that word again.

"C'mon, Momma, Aunt Brooke will even buy you as much ice cream as you want."

"Is that true? What happens if I want one hundred scoops," she didn't know about Jamie's attempt at hundred the night before.

"She will buy it," Jamie smiled, "you just might not be able to finish it before it turns into soup," as he recalled last night's experience.

Haley looked at Brooke giving her an 'I cannot believe you bought my son that much ice cream' look, but she appreciated Brooke's willingness.

"But if your momma wants to try, you have to help her Jamie."

"Of course, how many did I have last night again?"

"I think you managed three, three out of a hundred," she had to smile as she recalled Jamie's vigor attempt at shoving his mouth with chocolate ice cream before he cried out in pain from brain freeze.

Jamie acknowledged Lindsey's presence, since the other two had forgotten, "You coming too, Aunt Lindsey," he was already accustomed to her presence in his life.

"I don't know, Buddy. I haven't had dinner yet." It was as time had been forgotten.

Brooke and Haley hadn't realized it, but thought that one day's dinner could be ruined, "I think that's okay. There are no parents around," Brooke announced. The second she said it she knew it carried some weight with Lindsey. Was it the ice cream or the word parents? Wait, Haley was a parent, thought all Brooke could see her as now as in need.

"Aunt Brooke will pay for you too," its was Jamie's attempt, and Brooke was wondering if she was going to have to buy ice cream for all of Tree Hill at the end of his pleas. If she did, it would be money well spent.

"Oh, you have a nice aunt there, Jamie, don't you?"

"I have only known her since yesterday," no one would have imagined the longevity of one day, "but I'm glad she is my aunt, and my godmother."

"Because I buy you ice cream?" Brooke wondered.

"No, well yes, you can buy me ice cream anytime you want. I would give up the ice cream though, and I would still like you. You are helping my momma be happy again. And more than all the ice cream in the world, I just want her happy. It makes me sad when she is sad," he said as she wasn't in the room.

"Well I am going to try really hard to make that happen. But I am going to need your help. And your Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Lucas. Do you think you can help me?"

Haley wanted to shout that she was hearing everything, and she did not like to be ignored. But she knew Brooke had a purpose in all of it, and her purposes were normally worth the while.

"What do I have to do?" he was in, anything to help his mom.

"Well first you have to give her a hug and tell her how much you love her," and he proceeded, holding on to his mom as tight as he possibly could. When Brooke heard Jamie's affectionate phrase towards Haley, she was ready to give Jamie his next task. "You ready for the next one?" Jamie's heading bobbed up and down profusely, he was ready for anything, "You take this card and you buy your momma as much ice cream as she wants." He didn't want to ask, "and you too, Little Man. You, your momma, and your Uncle Lucas. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"What about you and Aunt Lindsey?"

"Don't worry about us, Buddy. I need to make sure that you can help me out though."

"Uncle Lucas is going to have to drive, because I am only five," he held up five fingers.

"That is okay with me," she gave Jamie the card and a smile.

"Jamie, maybe I should hold onto that," Haley suggested.

"I promise I won't lose it, Aunt Brooke," he said holding on to it tightly so his mother wouldn't take it away from him.

"I trust you, you are the man of your family while your Daddy is sick," she hoped it was not too much responsibility for the little boy. But it was apparent to Jamie it was not.

He grabbed Haley's hand, and helped her to her feet. Her eyes were still swollen, and as much as she wanted to close them up again, she let her son pull her towards the door passing Brooke and Lindsey as she went. She mouthed a thank you to Brooke, and put a reassuring hand on Lindsey's shoulder and the two Scotts were out of Karen's old room.

Brooke had her back to Lindsey, but she knew that she had to confront her. It was the reason she sent Haley and Jamie away with Lucas. She had to do this now, before it got too far. What Lindsey had seen was a lapse in her consciousness, and her creed of excellence in pretense was going to be put to the test. She took a deep breath and turned to speak with her savior, "Lindsey, what happened earlier…" as it was going to be that easy.

Lindsey did not accept one word. Brooke's elaborate explanation of her breakdown was to sum it up: shit. One of her New York people may have fallen for her Oscar worthy speech, but Lindsey was an expert in selecting the right words. And Brooke's words were not them. "Were you an actress in high school?"

An actress? Where was Lindsey taking this? Wait a second, did she actually not believe what she had just said. No one has ever not believed her. After all she was Brooke Davis, and she was the face of pure happiness. "I was a cheerleader, and class president, what does my extracurriculars have to do with anything?"

"Your words are pretty believable."

"I sure hope so, it was the truth." The look on Lindsey's face read bullshit, Brooke Davis. "You don't believe me?"

"Not one word of your made up story."

"It is not a story, it is the truth. My truth."

"It may have been founded in some of your truths, but it is not the whole story."

"You don't know a damn thing about my life," she was becoming defensive; she never had to secure herself before.

"Not this life. But I know about who you were."

"Oh from Luke's book? Those were just words from a lifetime ago."

"When you were happy?"

"I was never happy," it came out; it was Lindsey's plan all along, to make her angry enough to break down, and break through the mold.

"It sure looked like it. You were head cheerleader, school president, beautiful, you could get any boy you ever wanted…"

"Stop it, just stop it. High school is over. Why must we linger on it?"

"What can't you be honest?"

"With you? You seem like a really great person, to Luke, to Haley and Jamie. But I just met you yesterday, I really don't think you have the audacity to expect me to be honest with you," her hand quivered as she spoke. She was weak. She was always weak.

"You are right, and I don't expect you to be honest with me. But it would be nice if you started being honest with yourself," breaking through, the encasement was slipping.

Who the hell was this person before her? Why wasn't she just letting her be? She was not going to take it from someone that she met yesterday. She had known herself for 22 years and she had yet to be truthful, why would Lindsey be the exception? Brooke started to walk towards the door, she didn't know where she was going, but it was out of the room.

"Another thing you are walking away from?"

A sharp arrow through the back stopped her forward moment. Damn, she was good. She turned around to face her, the speaker of truth, her truth. "What do you want? What is it that you are trying to do?"

"I am just trying to help."

"I don't recall asking for any."

"I don't think Haley did either."

"Wait, are you jealous or something? I am trying to mend Haley after a long absence, and you are jealous about how easy she let me back in?"

"Not at all. I thought we went over this earlier. Haley is my friend, and if anyone can repair her, I will be forever grateful for that person. Yes, I would have liked to have broken through, but I couldn't, I just can't seem to do it. You can, and you must have some special gifts. But I do not envy you, it is an earth crushing undertaking that you must only be strong enough to bear," she watched as Brooke took in her every word, thinking of the perfect counter.

"Then why won't you just let it be. Why won't you just let me be?"

"Because I am not going to let you end up like Haley."

"We are in two completely different worlds."

"There is only one world, Brooke."

"Then why do I feel like I am in my own?"

"You tell me, Brooke. Why are your and Haley's worlds so different?"

"She has a reason to fight," and Brooke didn't. Haley had a family, a reason to keep going regardless of the hell she was adversely facing. Brooke had no one. She had no reason. No reason to fight.

It was the truth, and Lindsey knew it. The words spoken from Brooke's mouth were factual. What happens when the truth gets out? The whole world changes, no matter which one you are living in.

The weight was too much for Brooke, she sat back down on the bed. She looked to Lindsey, her eyes concentrated on her. She had never seen eyes like those, and she had never seen them looking back at her. With their eyes locked, Lindsey sat next to Brooke.

"I only met you yesterday," and it seemed that she already knew more than anyone.

"That was a long time ago," she grabbed Brooke's hand.

"I don't understand."

"There is nothing to understand, Brooke. I can see the pain in your eyes."

"No one ever has."

"I don't know how they missed it; it is as present as your eye color, Brooke."

"No one has really looked," she had to admit.

"It is a shame; I have no doubt in my mind that the girl beneath the pain is worth the look."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"Why not, Brooke?"

"If this girl you speak of was so great, so worthy, then someone would have pulled back the curtain already. The grand reveal has yet to occur."

"They weren't the right audience."

"Because it doesn't exist."

"What about Haley? Or Lucas? Even Nathan? What about them? Don't you think they deserve the real Brooke Davis?"

"They have never had a problem with me before."

"You don't get it, Brooke."

"That is what I am trying to tell you, I do not get the point of all of it. All of this. Haley, and Lucas, and Nathan accepted me in high school as I was. And for the most part they have allowed me back in."

"Obligatory."

Brooke was beginning to despise Lindsey's words. Her former high school friends felt obligated to allow her back in? If that is how they felt, she had no problem leaving them alone, they could withdraw their obligations. "I can leave."

"That is what you want."

"How do you know what I want, Lindsey?"

"It is written across your face, in your eyes."

"I really wish that I was blind right now."

"You are."

"Umm, I think you are losing it, two eyes;" pointing to her eyes, "perfect sight. It is one of the only things I can thank my life givers for."

"It is figurative blindness, Brooke. Physically your sight may be perfect, but the spectrum you are viewing the world is shot. You can't see clearly. You don't see it at all."

"What am I missing, due to this blindness," she used Lindsey's perception, wanting to know where she could take this.

"You are missing your life. It keeps going by, day by day, but you are not in it."

She was sure now that Lindsey was on crack, she must have obtained some pharmaceuticals while she was sleeping. "So where was I, Lindsey, when my life was floating along," her hands imitated motion, and she was just waiting for Lindsey's explanation. It was going to be good.

"Well your body was there, but you, you were mentally absent."

"Oh, so who was my body double? Megan Fox? She has a damn good body."

Lindsey's realization hit her. Brooke was taking it as a mockery. It was her life. But Lindsey was not going to sit back and let it fall apart. If she couldn't help Haley, she was going to try to save Brooke. It would do Haley only harm to gain her family back but lose her friend in the process. She needed both, and Lindsey was going to make sure that the latter stayed in the picture. "Stop it, just stop it."

This brought Brooke's back down from her outcry of charade. She was silenced by the presence in Lindsey's voice. She had to apologize, she didn't know for what, but she was sure Lindsey deserved it, "I'm sorry."

She didn't think she did, "Brooke, you don't need to apologize. I just want you to listen, really listen. Maybe all my mumbo jumbo wasn't getting through. But I will give you the straight forward facts. I don't know what is wrong; I do not know why you are sad. You have been pained by something. But it shouldn't have changed who you are, or were. It has. And you have come home to try to gather your former life. You just didn't expect to come home to disarray. But you have. And Haley needs you, and you have dropped everything. It is apparent that it is a common occurrence in your life. You put your needs aside the second another's arise. Haley's has, so it is an excuse to ignore what is killing you inside," Brooke was listening to each and every word, holding on to them for dear life. "And you are a good friend to Haley for putting her first. Someone has to do it. But what happens when she recovers from this? And she will. What happens when happiness creeps back in her life, and she wants to share it with you? Are you going to be okay? Or are you going to be gone? Leaving her life once again, how many years will it be next time?"

"That is not fair. I have my reasons for being away. I thought that Haley didn't want me in her life. I thought that with her happy life, I had been omitted."

"But you came back."

"It took all the courage I had."

"I commend you."

"It took four damn years. Four damn years that I cannot have back. Four years I did not have to watch Jamie grow up, or be a friend that Haley needed. Four years that is gone, four years that I should have had."

"You have the rest of your life."

"I don't trust time, look where it has gotten me."

"Your past has got to be forgotten to have any hope of a future."

"It is always with me. It is why I am like this; it is why I am who I am."

"Brooke, the person you are now is not a bad one."

"My friend is gone, just the outline of her self is present."

"Who is to say if you had been here the outcome would have been any different."

"Who's to say it couldn't."

"You cannot blame yourself, Brooke, for what happened. And there you go again, putting your needs aside once more. You have to stop for a second and think about what you need."

"I need my friend to be okay, I need Haley."

"Don't you have faith that she will be? I do."

"Faith can only get you so far. And I don't think I believe in it anyways."

"Why not?"

"I had faith that I would get everything I ever wanted."

"You did."

"I got most of it. I got my company. I got my success. But I was never able to get the one thing I ever wanted, more than fame and prosperity."

"What are you missing, Brooke?"

Was it time for reveal? She was words away from it being out in the open, her reason for living her life this way, her unhappy ending at only age 22. She tensed up, she could not do it. Not yet. "I can't do this."

"Are you ever going to be ready to address your demons?"

"I don't know if I will ever be strong enough."

"If you do not believe that you ever will, how do you expect to live happily?"

"Oh, I am, look at this face," her patented Brooke Davis smile plastered her face.

"All I see is a scared little girl trying to be brave."

"I have to be brave. I have to be brave for Haley. If I am not brave, then Jamie is going to grow up with out both of his parents. And he deserved to be loved."

"So do you," maybe she knew all along, the words didn't need to grace Brooke's lips.

How did she know? How could she possibly know that all she ever wanted was to be loved? Just to be loved.

Lindsey took Brooke's silence as an opportunity to drive her point home. "Brooke, Haley is going to get better. I believe it," the roles seemed to have been reversed. "I know you are afraid she isn't, but she has something now she hasn't had before. And that is you. She has you. So I know that the prognosis is not paralysis. Nathan will walk again, and he will repair Haley's psyche and smile. But when things are looking up, and she walks confidently with the future in her reach, she is going to be reaching out for her best friend. It would be a damn shame for you not to be there. Your heart can be healed as well. Haley's heart once shone so bright it covered the parameters of Tree Hill. When it is beating once more, and it will, she will come looking for her best friend in the shadow of her own demons. It would be a damn shame if you stayed in the shadows."

When she looked up silent tears had escapes her eyelids. Lindsey was dead on; Brooke had lived in the shadows her entire life. There was always something to hide behind, whether it was Lucas Scott or a multimillion dollar company, the shadows were vast. Sometimes she even became lost in it all. And sometimes she came to realize it was what she wanted all along. Brooke was lost in Lindsey's words. Her words had purpose, and they made more sense than her own. She couldn't heal Haley if she was too broken herself to carry on. Brooke knew she had to do something to ensure Haley's return to her former self. After all it was always going to be about Haley, "Only for her."

Lindsey was shocked that even through Brooke's brokenness her focus was still on Haley. It was going to be a potentially impossible task to break through. She knew that she was not going to be that person. She just had to hold on long enough until she was ready. Lindsey would wait until Haley's strength returned, but until then she was going to ensure Haley did not lose another part of her past. Brooke was right, it was always with the individual. No matter what you do, your past is always there. The only way to let go was to forget, and that was a travesty in itself.

Brooke wiped her silent tears away from her pretty face. Brooke Davis does not cry, and she let the dam break twice. If Victoria had seen her, she would have told her to rid them, and Brooke would have listened. Her every word so embedded in her own mind. She controlled everything about her, every single decision, whether it was about the company or her body appearance. She wanted love, and though what she was getting was anything but it, it was time spent with her mother, and it was more than she ever had. She was immune to it; she was immune to Victoria's words. She got up, "They will be back soon, I better wash up."

"Brooke," Lindsey tried, but when Brooke turned to confront her, she knew that it would be to no prevail. "Think about what I said. If you need me, I am here to talk."

"I am okay, Lindsey."

"You are not okay, Brooke," had everything she said gone in one ear and out the other.

"I am fine. Perfectly fine. I will not be fine if I don't go and wash up. Tears do not go well with my façade," she had listened, but it was not something she was willing to adhere to, not now at least. Lindsey knew some of the reason for Brooke's pains now, so she was not going to pretend everything was normal. Nonetheless, she was going to try to change things. Not now. Haley was top priority.

"Fine, Brooke, fine. But when you are not fine, I'll still be here."

"Okay," she looked once more at Lindsey and was out the door. She took in everything Lindsey had said, but she wasn't breaking down, not yet. The weight was not quite heavy enough. She was still strong enough. Today she was.

AN: So I know you all have mixed emotions about Lindsey and her place in this story or in Tree Hill. In my opinion right now, Haley is struggling, but so is Brooke silently. Haley is not stable enough to support Brooke's needs. That is where Lindsey comes in, she is almost like a place-holder. And as you can see, Brooke is kind of backing off from Lindsey, not quite sure her place in it all. Haley is going to rebound, but she is going to need Brooke to be there, and she might not if someone like Lindsey doesn't step in. So that is why I have Lindsey in here. I hope this is okay. Other than that, how do you think this chapter went? Peace.