Thanks to everyone who has read and/or reviewed. :) Sorry about the long wait for an update.

Chapter Ten

Pulling out her phone she called Lucas. "Come on please pick up…please!" Brooke breathlessly said into the phone as it continued to ring.

"Please pick up…"

"Hello?" Lucas said as he tightened the knot on the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Oh my god, Lucas Peyton is in trouble. Someone drugged her drink and I can't wake her up," Brooke said hysterically.

Barely able to understand her Lucas tried to calm her down, "Brooke, calm down. You need to slow down and tell me what is going on."

Brooke fought to calm down, "Some drugged Peyton's drink Lucas, I can't wake her up."

Lucas rushed to his closet to pull on some clothes, "Where are you guys?"

"At duke, we went to this fraternity party."

"Okay, call the campus police."

"Lucas! I can't she's been drinking,"

"Okay, where are you? I'll come find you.

Brooke told him the address as she stared at Peyton, willing her to wake up.

Hanging up Brooke shifted Peyton to a more comfortable position, "Please be okay, Peyt."

"…actually sounds interesting, I can't wait for college; All the classes, the people, basically just the whole experience sounds wonderful," Haley said.

"Yeah, me either. Are you planning on Duke?"

Haley shrugged, "There are schools that I would enjoy going to but I'm going to keep my options open. I do have a lot of time to think about it."

"Come on, not that much time right? Applications need to be filled out and sent soon if you want to do early registration."

Haley scoffed, "Yeah, in about two years. Trust me I have time."

Haley smiled at Brent; they had run into each other about ten minutes ago when Brent almost walked right by her on his way into the party. She was outside, alone, since she was still waiting for Nathan and couldn't be more bored. So she was happy to see someone she knew who would keep her entertained. It was a little weird that she kept running into him, but he was good company to she couldn't complain.

Looking confused Brent asked, "Two years?"

Haley giggled, "Yeah, two years. I'm only a sophomore in high school."

Brent groaned and said hopefully, "All this time I thought I was getting tutored by a senior. You are sixteen thought right?"

Haley smirked, "Nope not for months and months."

"Oh well, you win some you lose some." Brent glanced around, "So who are you waiting for again?"

"Oh my cab never showed up so I called Nathan to come pick me up, he should be here soon. He told me to stay where I was so he could find me."

"Ah, okay." Brent swung an arm over Haley's shoulder, "So why did you even come to the party if you didn't think you would have fun?"

"Why do you think I'm not having fun?"

"Call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure the minute you go here, you were ready to leave."

Haley grinned, "Okay, you'd be right. I'm not against parties; I just never really wanted to go to this one in the first place. Brooke wanted me to come so I did, maybe I'll have fun at the ne-"

"Haley."

Turning Haley saw Nathan walking to her in wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a sleeveless shirt

Haley smiled up at him, "Hey Nate. Brent was ju-."

Nathan ignored the greeting, "If you were going hook up with some dude why did you bother to call me? What a waste of time."

Nathan turned to leave.

"Hey, is your friend okay?"

Turning around Brooke saw that it was the girl who had been in the hallway earlier.

Brooke shrugged helplessly, "I don't know, she can't stay awake."

The girl kneeled down besides Brooke and shook Peyton, "Hey, wake up sweetie, come on."

Peyton softly mumbled, "dizzy."

Peyton's voice was almost overshadowed as the sound of screeching tires filled the air. Brooke almost sobbed in relief when she saw Lucas running up to them.

"Brooke!"

Brooke turned to him, "I don't know what to do Lucas."

"Is she okay?" Lucas asked the girl next to Brooke.

"She's not drunk; I think he just gave her a sedative. We just need to know what it is."

Lucas stared at the girl.

Seeing the puzzled look on his face she explained, "I'm a medical student."

Lucas nodded and turned to Brooke, "Brooke, you need to show me where Peyton was, we need to find that guy."

Brooke nodded and her eyes filled with hatred, "Gabe."

"Can you stay with her?" Lucas asked the medical student.

"Sure, come on let me get her."

Brooke gently transferred Peyton into her waiting arms.

Lucas helped Brooke up and steered her into the fraternity house.

Brooke led him to the hallway where the room was and standing outside of it was Gabe, in all of his smug glory.

Brooke tugged on Luke's arm and pointed Gabe out.

Lucas felt his face harden as he got closer, then without warning he grabbed Gabe by his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"Hey man! What's your damage?" Gabe yelled.

Around them people moved closer to the hall to see what was happening.

"What did you put in her drink?"

Gabe smirked, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"He's lying Lucas, he's the one who was with Peyton," Brooke said from behind Lucas.

"Peyton? You mean that drunken high school slut? It's not my fault she can't handle alcohol." Gabe carelessly shrugged.

Lucas let go of Gabe and swung back to hit him once before slamming him against the wall again.

"Tell me what you put in her drink."

"I didn't put anything in her drink, and if that bitch said I did she's lying."

"Pull out your phone Brooke," Lucas told her as he moved Gabe higher against the wall, "you can tell me or you can tell the police."

Gabe rolled his eyes, "It was nothing man, just one roofie."

Lucas grew more incensed, just one roofie?

"Where are they?"

Gabe just laughed and shrugged.

Lucas moved away from Gabe and punched him again, before reaching over to search his pockets. Finding his driver's license he tossed it to Brooke and told her to copy the information, before finally finding the pills in one of Gabe's shirt pockets.

Looking down Lucas stared at the packet of pills that could have killed Peyton, he didn't care that is was 'only' a sedative or 'only' a roofie. This son of a bitch drugged Peyton and had been planning to rape her. Lucas reached down and he helped Gabe up. Only to punch him once again; he went to help Peyton saying over his shoulder, "You better hope to god that she is alright, or I'm coming back for you."

Brooke rushed past Gabe to follow Luke before turning around and kicking Gabe in the crotch.

Brooke caught up to Lucas outside where they showed the pills to the medical student.

"I was right it was a sedative, you just need to make sure that she gets plenty of rest and water. She might feel sick in the morning, but there shouldn't be any lasting effects. You should take the pills with you so that she can show them to her doctor if she decides she wants to get a check up," she said as she handed the pills to Lucas.

Stuffing the pills into his pocket Lucas thanks her before carrying Peyton to his car. He gently put Peyton in the back seat with Brooke before getting in the driver's seat.

He caught Brooke's eyes in the rearview mirror, noticing that they were filled with tears and she still looked worried he tried to reassure her, "She's going to be fine Brooke, and I'll wait with you at her house until she wakes up okay?"

"Okay," Brooke said, and a couple minutes later he heard her say, "Thank you for coming Lucas."

He smiled at her before turning back to the road; he could hear her start whispering to Peyton.

"Wait, huh?" Haley said confused.

Nathan sighed and said with irritation, "Look I don't mind coming to get you but if you were planning on staying you should have called me and told me that your friend joined you and I didn't have to come anymore."

Haley rolled her eyes and turned to Brent who was trying not to laugh, "I'm going to go, thanks for keeping me company."

Brent grinned, "Sure, I'll see you around."

He went inside the house leaving Nathan and Haley alone.

"So you still want to go? I thought you were with your 'friend'," Nathan questioned her while doing air quotations when he said friend.

Haley ran a hand through her hair, "I really appreciate you coming to get me Nathan, and I don't want to argue. Especially since I don't know why you are annoyed with me; so can we just go?"

"Whatever," Nathan said, leading the way to his car.

They drove to Haley's house in silence; once they got there Nathan left his car on, obviously intending to leave as soon as she got out of the car.

Not wanting to leave while they were arguing she turned to him and asked, "Nathan, I changed my mind. Tell me what happened?"

"Are you sure she is going to be okay?" Brooke asked for about the tenth time, biting on her thumbnail.

Lucas rubbed a hand down her back, "I'm sure Brooke, she just needs sleep and water when she wakes up. She'll be okay."

Brooke nodded.

Something had been bothering Lucas since they arrived at Peyton's house, "Brooke? Where's Haley? Did we leave her at the party?"

Brooke could tell that Lucas was really worried about Haley; she shook her head, "No we didn't leave her at the party." Brooke was about to explain that Haley left early when Lucas shut his eyes. Huh? What's the matter with him?

Before she could ask him he continued questioning her about Haley, "So, did she um… hook up with some guy or something?"

Brooke almost laughed at Lucas, he really was too cute. "Well…"

"Oh god," Lucas groaned; there were some thing he was never supposed to picture.

"Relax Lucas; she took a cab home from the party early. She wasn't having a lot of fun," Brooke told him.

Lucas opened his eyes; but his relieved look shattered when Brooke continued talking, "Next party, of course, we'll have to find her someone."

"I really can't talk about this," Lucas said squinting at Brooke. "Ever. Haley and guys. No, just no."

Brooke laughed a little and nodded, deciding to ease up a bit and after a few minutes of silence she angled her body toward Lucas, "Why did you come?"

Startled Lucas blinked, "What?"

"You came to get Peyton," Brooke said, "You hardly know either of us but when I called you didn't hesitate; you just came. Why?"

Lucas shrugged, uncomfortable with Brooke's piercing gaze. He realized that not even Brooke knew about him and Peyton. He didn't want to hide it from her, but he figured that Peyton had a good reason for hiding it from her best friend and it wasn't his place to tell her. Peyton would when she was ready, or maybe not considering how they left things the night before.

"You're remarkable you know that? I don't know any other guy who is like you," Brooke sighed and turned back to Peyton. "Peyton has been my best friend since we were eight Lucas, I don't know what I would do without her. Sometimes I think I'm the only person she lets in, she's had all this heartache and she scared to let people in. But when she does…… it's like nothing else."

"That must be something you two have in common," Lucas told her.

Brooke felt herself start to blush. Blushing? I can't remember the last time something made me blush. I get compliments all the time but this…… Staring at Lucas Brooke realized why it embarrassed her; unlike all the other compliments this was different. He saw her, not the Brooke that everyone else saw. The Brooke that was supposed to be the happy cheerleader with no problems, Lucas saw what was underneath it all and he liked it. No other guy had ever done that. Feeling a rush of affection flood her she leaned against Lucas and they sat like together watching Peyton sleep.

Nathan shrugged, "Nothing happened. I just don't like to waste my time."

"Okay," Haley said slowly. "Why was it a waste of your time?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because you were with Brent Haley? Why did you need me to come get you?" Nathan said impatiently, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Haley focused on Nathan's hands and smiled, "You know what? Lucas does the same thing. When we talk in his car he usually taps his fingers on the wheel."

"What?" Nathan asked.

Haley shook her head, "Never mind, look I wasn't there with Brent. After I called you he showed up and just kept me company while I was waiting for you, I never planned on staying. See? It wasn't a waste of time."

Nathan shifted awkwardly, "Oh. Okay then."

Haley looked at Nathan thoughtfully, "Are you sure there isn't anything else? There seems to be something else bothering you."

"Before you called my dad was giving me a hard time. It just gets to me you know?" Nathan told her.

"Are you okay?" Haley asked concerned.

"Yeah, It's just… it's Dan you know?" Nathan told her like it explained everything and in a way it did. Haley had only been around Dan a couple times; she hated to think about what Nathan had to go through living with him.

Haley reached over and squeezed Nathan's hand, then moved to open her door. Wait, if Dan is being an asshole today then maybe Nathan doesn't want to go home. Who would want to go back and spend even more time with that asshole, right?

"So do you want to come in for a while?" Haley questioned Nathan.

"Um…," Nathan was hesitant; he did like to spend time with her and it would be great to avoid Dan some more. But they had never really spent time just hanging out. Most of the time they were studying or they just happened to be at the same place.

"Oh, come on Nate. It's still pretty early and it is a Saturday, we can do that movie thing you suggested. I have a ton of DVDs or we could watch something on cable; choice from the each of us right?" Haley told him, realizing that she really didn't want Nathan to leave yet.

"Sure, what the hell. Why not?" Nathan turned off the engine and followed Haley inside of the house.

Brooke shifted and looked up at Lucas, "Peyton had been making out with Gabe earlier, Luke. While I was with Bevin and Haley and I just let her."

Lucas felt his heart clench as he thought about Peyton with someone else.

When Lucas stayed silent, Brooke bit her lip and looked down at her hands, "Do you think that this was my fault?"

"What? Why would you think that?" Luke asked her.

"I made her go to the party, I picked out her outfit, I basically poured the alcohol down her throat and didn't even watch after her while she went off with some random guy, even though I knew she had been drinking I didn't even think about her being impaired and then when Haley lef-." Brooke told Lucas, letting all the guilt she carried inside rush out.

"Brooke, stop… to answer your question, no I don't think any of this is your fault. It's not Peyton's fault either. It's only Gabe's fault. Okay?" Brooke stayed silent and he nudged her with his arm, "Okay?"

"You're not lying?"

"No Brooke I'm not lying."

Feeling slightly better Brooked settled back and told him, "I didn't stop her, Luke, because I do the same thing all the time. Go to a party, get drunk, and find a random guy. Peyton used to do the same thing before she got with Nathan, so I didn't think anything of it…… then we were going to leave and it didn't seem like a big deal."

Lucas rubbed a hand down Brooke's arm, "I'm not judging you Brooke. You did and can do what you want; it's not going to change what I think about you.

Brooke nodded, relieved, before she moved herself out of Luke's arms and told him, "I'm going to go downstairs and get Peyton a glass of water in case she gets up soon. Do you want me to get you anything? I'm going get something to eat for myself."

Lucas nodded, "I wouldn't mind a little something."

Brooke smiled at him, "Okay I'll take a look around and I'll see what I can find you."

Lucas watched Brooke as she exited the room before looking to the sleeping blond.

A few moments later he watched as Peyton's eyes fluttered open.

"Hey…How are you feeling?

"Like hell," Peyton said as she sat up slowly. "What are you doing here?"

"You don't remember last night do you?"

"I remember I was at the party and I was with some guy…," Peyton said as she searched her memory for more clues.

"Gabe," Lucas supplied.

"Whatever, Gabe I guess. What happened?" Peyton asked.

"Gabe slipped something in your drink and Brooke called me to help you out."

Peyton paled as she thought about the implications, "Someone drugged me? Did they… um… did he d-."

"No!" Lucas told her quickly, "Brooke stopped him from doing anything."

Peyton let out a relieved breath and ran a shaky hand over her face, "God…"

Lucas started leaving the room, "Brooke's downstairs getting you water. I'll go get her."

Peyton quickly stopped him, "Wait! Lucas, thank you."

Lucas gave her a half smile, "I'm just glad you're okay Peyton."

"Lucas…," Peyton started.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry Luke," Peyton told him earnestly.

"For what?"

"For a lot of things, I guess." She looked down at her bedspread, ashamed at all the choices she had been making lately.

"Look Peyton, I really wanted to be with you. I truly did, and I don't know if you realized but I've had a thing for you since we started high school," Peyton smiled a little hearing this. Noticing this Lucas smiled at her, "Yeah I know, a little pathetic right? What I'm trying to say is that even though I wish we could have worked out I'm okay with just being friends. You're a special person Peyton, and I want you in my life. Even if we can't be together like I had hoped."

"Luke…," Peyton said, unsure of what to say to him.

"No Peyton, you didn't do anything wrong. We can't help the way we feel right? I care about you way too much just to have a sexual relationship with you. And I know you care about me, but you only want the sexual side of it and if you only want to have sex for a while then we are at just different places. It doesn't make our feelings or wants any less true or make them wrong. It's just the way it is."

"Lucas, no… I just want you to unders-."

"Peyton!" Brooke rushed into the room and leaped onto the bed to join Lucas and Peyton. Crying, she hugged Peyton, "I was so worried about you. I'm so sorry I dragged you to that party. I know you didn't really want to go."

"Really Brooke, it's okay. You didn't drag me, and Lucas told me that you saved me. Brooke, stop crying, Brooke. Broo-."

Smiling at the two girls on the bed, Lucas left the room to give them some privacy.

Nathan woke up slowly, blinking at the room. Where am I? Feeling a weight on his arm he looked down slowly, afraid of seeing some hookup from the previous night that might start acting clingy. He breathed out in relief when he saw that it was just Haley. The previous night was coming back to him.

He smiled as he remembered watching movies with Haley; just liked he had suggested they each picked a movie. He had to admit the movie she picked wasn't bad, it wasn't a chick flick and the casino heist they pulled off was pretty sweet. Maybe next time they would watch the two sequels.

Nathan had looked through the pay-per-view and found a scary movie and used that for his pick. Next time he would bring some of his DVD's so they could watch a classic, maybe 'Scarface'. '1408' hadn't been that scary, for him at least. Haley had worked her way to his end of the couch and had settled in under his arm, using his hand to shield her eyes. Actually the way she had been acting during the movie had been pretty cute… Whoa, back up Nathan. Cute? You don't think girls aren't cute. Shaking his head he shook Haley awake, "Haley…Hales……," damn this girl was a deep sleeper, Nathan thought and started shaking her harder.

Finally he was rewarded when Haley opened her eyes and smiled sleepily at him before she closed her eyes and snuggled deeper against his chest. Nathan watched with amusement as Haley's eyes flew open and she straightened up. She looked around in confusion for a few minutes and Nathan saw the realization dawn in her eyes.

Finally Haley shrugged and stood up, stretching as she asked him, "Do you want breakfast? I'm starving."

Nathan didn't hear what she said; he was entranced with the bare skin showing as she stretched. Just a bit higher Haley…just a little bit mo... He came to attention when Haley snapped her fingers in his face.

"You okay Scott?" Haley asked him.

Nathan nodded and lied, "Sure I'm still waking up. Give me a couple minutes and I'll be fine."

"Okay, so you want some breakfast? I could really go for some pancakes and bacon," Haley said as she ran a hand through her hair.

Nathan's stomach rumbled and he told her, "that sounds good."

"Okay, I'm just going to go upstairs really quick. If you want to brush your teeth there is an extra toothbrush in the cabinet under the sink in the bathroom by the bottom of the stairs."

"Great thanks," Nathan made his way to the bathroom and opened the cabinet. Holy crap, there had to be at least 30 toothbrushes. How many overnight visitors did Haley have?

After Nathan was finished he went to the kitchen, and saw Haley standing at the stove, slightly dancing to the music.

Smiling he interrupted, "Can I help?"

Haley turned and grinned, "Can you cook?"

Nathan shook his head.

"Why don't you set the table? This shouldn't take too much longer."

Nathan started opening draws to find their knives and forks. Luckily the cabinets had glass in the doors, so he had no problem finding the plates.

Placing a plate on the table he turned to her, "So when can we do this again?"

"Thanks for driving me home Lucas," Brooke told him as he pulled into her house.

"No problem Brooke."

Brooke leaned over and kissed Luke's cheek, "and thank you again for coming to help me with Peyton."

Lucas reached over and grabbed her hand, "You're a really good friend to her."

"Are you surprised?"

Lucas shook his head, "No. I might have been surprised before I got to know you, but ever since that night in my car… um I mean, since we met, I've seen what a good person you are."

"Unlike most of the school; most who probably think that I'm a brainless slut." Brooke said in a matter-of-fact voice, trying to make light of what she knew people called her.

"Hey," Lucas squeezed her hand, "don't talk like that. If anyone thinks that then it's their loss."

"Thanks Luke," Brooke smiled at Luke before she left the car.

When she went to close the door she heard Lucas call out to her and she raised her eyebrow.

"Call me if you need anything, okay?" Lucas told her.

Brooke smiled, "You can count on that."

Disclaimer: I own nothing; not OTH or its characters.