…0…
The symptoms are too deep
I've got you on my mind in my sleep
…0…
Haley looked around the faces in the hospital waiting room, feeling her own panic increasing at the sight of worry and anticipation etched into the expressions of the people around her.
Skillz, having heard her screaming for help as Lucas lost consciousness, managed to calm her down enough so she was able to get call Principal Turner from Lucas's office phone while he called 911. Now he was pacing back and forth across the waiting room, muttering under his breath.
Her eyes fell on Jamie, sitting quietly in Deb's lap, watching everything unfold around him. Haley's heart went out to him. It wasn't as if he really understood what was going on; only that his Uncle Lucas was sick and that everyone was worried about him.
"Hales."
She turned at her husband's voice, and then to the direction his eyes were looking. The doctor walked towards them and she felt her breath catch at the sober look on his face.
"Is Lucas okay?"
It seemed to Haley that Peyton's voice was coming from a million miles away, not scant inches to her left, Brooke's arm around her shoulder. Licking her lips, Haley turned her attention to the doctor and the thought ran briefly through her head that she recognized him.
"I need to speak to a family member," he said in an overly even tone. "Parents, wife."
Half the eyes of the small crowd looked to Peyton, like they expected her to claim the status of wife fresh on the heels of a shaky reunion. The rest, she guessed, may have been looking for Karen to show up at any moment even though it had only been a few hours since Nathan had called her in Barcelona.
"I'm his brother," Nathan spoke up, and Haley felt his warm fingers slip through her icy ones, tugging her in against his side.
"Your brother's condition," the doctor began, in a somber tone that made Haley's stomach clench violently, "is very serious, Mr. Scott?"
It was Brooke who voiced the question; "How serious?" that had been running through all of their heads ever since they'd gotten the news of Lucas's collapse.
He shifted his weight, eyes going from one face to another in the small group crowded around him. "Receiving an electrical shock of any sort is dangerous, especially with a conductor such as a liquid." He looked around again, paused, and took a breath before continuing. "Most of the concern is for the vascular system. Any sort of strong shock can disrupt a heart's rhythm. That's the main reason defibrillation is so effective for treating heart attacks."
A still kind of coldness settled over them. It didn't take a psychic to know that this sort of technical information was used to lay the groundwork for unwelcome news. They all braced themselves; holding hands, latching on to shoulders, whatever and whoever was closest.
"Your brother has sustained serious damage to his heart in the past, Mr. Scott. He's had several cardiac episodes, and coupled with the constant strain of his HCM, the shock was enough to bring on a heart attack."
"Serious?"
At the words 'heart attack' Haley felt as if she were going through a tunnel, slipping further and further away from the situation she was in. No matter how hard she tried, there was no way to know who had even asked the question.
"It wasn't massive," the doctor replied, "but with his history…serious enough."
That was the moment that Peyton and Brooke both burst into tears, turning into the other in a tight hug. Skillz began to sink towards the floor, Mouth's hand on his shoulder and Millie standing just far enough back to be supportive but not obtrusive. Seeing the scene turn, Jamie freed himself from Deb's hold and walked over to his parents. Nathan seemed to be waiting for her to do something. This was the usual relegated to her area of expertise after, the emotional stuff, but she barely noticed any of the movements around her. It wasn't until later that she even remembered noticing them. So without a word to her, Nathan pulled his hand from hers and scooped his son up, walking back to his mother at the end of the room.
…0…
Karen was the first person Haley spoke to since the doctor's news. Dawn had broken over the coastline of Tree Hill, making the entire room glow pink, when she felt the older woman's hand on her shoulder.
"Has he woken up yet?" she asked.
Haley shook her head, more tears falling from her tired eyes down her face, already sticky with the dried tears from earlier. "No. But he's sedated so…" Her vice trailed off, not sure how to reassure the woman she thought of as a second mother. "Is Peyton still upset that she can't come in?" The blonde's fury at not being allowed into ICU, since she wasn't related to Lucas by either blood or marriage, sent a wave of guilt through Haley's stomach. She herself hadn't moved in five hours, since Nathan had left with tears tracks of his own to ask Deb to take Jamie home. He hadn't been able to come back in since.
"This was my fault, Karen," Haley whispered before she even answered the question. "If I hadn't gone into his office and distracted him-"
"Don't." Karen came around and tilted Haley's chin up so that she could look her in the eye. "This was no one's fault. Lucas has a genetic heart condition. This could have happened at any time."
The sobs that she had managed to keep at bay since the day before suddenly rushed up, and Haley let her head fall into her hands as she cried, Karen's arms going around her.
She felt the vague sense that this should be the other way around. It was Karen's son that was lying in the bed fighting just to stay alive. Karen was the one who should be getting comforted, not the other way around.
"Haley?"
Both women's eyes shot to the bed. Lucas's eyes were open, barely, and he tried to raise his hand before Karen took hold of it, lowering it back to the bed. "No, honey, don't move. You need to save your strength."
"Haley." Lucas said again, this time more of a statement than a question.
She wiped at her face, trying to banish all traces of the tears and pushing her hair away, and leaned over to take his hand in hers. "Hey, you," she said, "how are you feeling?"
"Like there's an elephant sitting on my chest," he replied, and fidgeted, a look of discomfort on his face. "You were there?"
Eyebrows knitting together in confusion, she responded, "Yeah. In your office. Don't you remember?"
She watched his shake his head and look at her apologetically. "Not really. I remember…you. The look on your face. But that's it."
"It'll come back," she assured him. "Or maybe not. It was just an accident after all-"
"No," he told her, his voice seriously. "I don't remember anything but you…anything."
Karen inhaled sharply behind Haley, moving closer to the bed. "Lucas, what are you saying; you don't remember what happened in your office besides Haley being there…or something else?"
His face was a mask of non emotion, but he kept his eyes trained on his best friend's face as if he were hoping she would have some answers for him. "Nothing," he told his mother. "I remember nothing about my life…just Haley."
…0…
Lyrics from 'You on My Mind in my Sleep' by Richard Ashcroft.