Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated In the Presence of an Angel and The Sweetest Sin in like almost a whole month. The reasons I didn't were that I got grounded from the computer for a week, then I went on Christmas vacation to my grandmother's where I didn't have my stories or an internet connection. Then school started and I was trying to adjust to my new classes and everything. Then last week I had a big project due for one of my new classes. Whoever heard of a major assignment the second week of school? Anyways, I wanted to make this chapter really good for all of you since it's supposed to be the 'defining moment' of the story and it's a little longer than the other chapters have been lately. I really hope you like this chapter. I'm hoping to have The Sweetest Sin updated by Wednesday, but I'm not sure. I have the day off of school and work tomorrow so I will spend most of the day writing that chapter. Well anyways, I hope you all like this chapter and I hope it was worth the long wait! As always, please read and review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. One Tree Hill and its characters are property of the WB.

Rating: PG to PG-13

In the Presence of an Angel

Chapter 13

The next day, Lucas and Peyton were over visiting the two girls to see how they were doing. Lucas and Haley were in the kitchen making lunch while Brooke and Peyton were talking in the living room. "So, how is the Cheer Nazi," Lucas asked, grabbing a cherry tomato and popping it in his mouth. "I heard that," Brooke yelled from the other room, "I may be the Cheer Nazi, but Haley is the Nurse Nazi! I'm allowed to walk around a little bit but she won't even let me get off this damn couch or out of bed! The only improvement is that I can dress myself now and go to the bathroom without her helping me!" All of them laughed then Haley brought in the sandwiches and set them in front of Peyton and Lucas. She handed Brooke's plate to her and said in a firm voice, "Eat. All of it." Brooke grudgingly took it from her then turned to the blonde couple, "See what I mean?" "Don't worry, her bark is worse than her bite. Most of the time," he laughed again then stopped at the angry stare Haley was giving him, "but then again, her glares, like the one she is giving me right now, are pretty powerful." After glaring at him for a few more seconds, Haley turned to Brooke, "You need to get your strength back and you've hardly been eating. You won't get your strength back if you don't eat." "Maybe I would get my strength back if you'd let me walk around a little," Brooke replied a little bitterly.

"You won't have any strength to walk if you don't eat," Haley returned. Brooke glared at her irritatedly for a few long seconds before picking up her sandwich and shoving part of it in her mouth, "Happy now?" "It's a start," Haley replied. Peyton and Lucas just looked at each other and began to laugh. Brooke glared at them crossly, "It's not funny. You try having the Nurse Nazi riding your ass 24/7, and I have to be here for a whole WEEK! Maybe more!" "Well if you really feel that way, maybe I'll make you go stay with Peyton," Haley responded a little coldly, but the other three did not notice this. She had tried so hard to keep her feelings concealed but she was becoming frustrated and it was beginning to show in her attitude. "Hell no, I don't want to listen to her whining and complaining all day," Peyton responded. "I don't want to stay with her," Brooke exclaimed, "no offense Peyton, but you have bad taste in music. Plus there's nothing to do in her house." "And there is here," Lucas asked with a laugh. "There's movies, games, and books; lots of stuff to do," Brooke smiled up at Haley. Lucas and Peyton began laughing again and he managed to get out through gasps of air, "You? Books? I never thought I would see the day where books and Brooke Davis would be used in the same sentence."

Haley saw the hurt expression flash across Brooke's face, the tears she was trying hard not to let go, and instantly became protective and mad at the two, "Brooke's tired and she should get some rest. You should go." Haley knew how Brooke was feeling; how hurt she was that her own friends didn't know some things about her, the secret things that only friends should know. Both the blondes stood and Lucas grinned, "You're right Brooke; she is one hell of a Nurse Nazi. I feel sorry for you. You know I would let you stay at my house but my mom doesn't think it's such a good idea for me to have girls over, especially when she's not home. You never know what she might walk in on." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and smirked. Brooke shut her eyes tightly and covered her ears, shaking her head, "Eww! Bad image! Bad mental image!"

He placed both his hands over his heart and pouted with his puppy dog face, "Aww, that hurts Brooke! I don't get you all hot and bothered anymore? I didn't know the thought of me repulsed you Brooke. I thought I was your best." "Luke," Peyton shouted in shock. Brooke acquired a disgusted expression on her face, "Oh please, don't make me hurl. I never got all that 'hot and bothered' with you. It was always a chore; I'd just lay there while you performed your 'duties'-" "Hey!" Lucas shouted in protest, "don't lie Brooke, what about those times I had you screaming my name, huh? You didn't feel anything then?" "Nope, faked it," Brooke responded, smiling sweetly at him. "What about the time in the car," he asked. "Faked it," she replied. "The hot tub?" "Faked it," she answered in a sing-song voice as she smiled at him, laughter in her brown eyes.

Both Haley and Peyton sat in chairs as they watched on in amusement at their little feud, similar fights having happened before. However, Haley was beginning to become uncomfortable with the topic at hand. Sure, it had bothered her a little the other times, because of the nature of the conversation, but now even more so after discovering her feelings for the brunette standing before her. It was starting to become all too much for her. She quietly stood from the couch and retreated to her bedroom for peace.

Back out in the living room, Peyton laughed as she shouted, "Guys! I don't want to hear about your past sexual escapades together! She's my best friend and you're my boyfriend!" Lucas went over to her and rubbed her arms, "Sorry Peyt. I can't help it if she gets me bothered. Just bothered, not hot and bothered. And by bothered, I mean annoyed," he shot Brooke a playful grin and she stuck her tongue out. "Come on now, stop acting like children. Wait, how old are you two again," Peyton inquired as she chuckled. Lucas whispered in her ear, but it was loud enough for Brooke to hear, "I've been a bad little boy. I might need some punishing…" "Lucas! Get out of Haley's house before you start doing it on her couch," Brooke yelled, then looked around, "hey, where's Haley?"

"I saw her leave a few minutes ago. She probably just went to the bathroom," Peyton replied. "I'll be right back," Brooke said as she made her way towards Haley's room. She opened the door silently and saw Haley crying on her bed, her back to her. She left as quietly as she came and walked back into the living room. "Could you guys go home please? Haley's finally resting and I don't want to wake her; she's hardly slept for days because she's been taking care of me," she requested. "Sure Brookie, we'll see you later. Tell Haley thanks for having us over," the curly haired blonde replied as she hugged her friend, "you take it easy, okay? Don't worry about a thing; just focus on getting better." "I will," Brooke replied with a forced smile. She was becoming worried about Haley as questions ran through her mind. Why was Haley crying? What was she crying about? It was then she realized that it had only been yesterday when they visited her brother's grave. How could she have been so stupid to forget about that? She silently berated herself in her mind. Lucas and Brooke exchanged their goodbyes and the couple left.

She quietly walked back into the bedroom to find Haley still crying. Brooke gently sat down on the bed behind her and wrapped her arms around Haley's waist, laying her head on the back of Haley's neck. She felt Haley stiffen at her touch, but she only hugged her tighter. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You didn't do anything," Haley whispered back. "I'm sorry you lost your brother. I would have liked to have met him. I know he is so proud of you," Brooke said, tears shining in her eyes as Haley turned to her. "You really think so," she asked hopefully in a soft voice. Brooke nodded and Haley buried her head in her chest, beginning to cry a little more forcefully, "T-Thank you." Brooke stroked her hair and rubbed her back, murmuring soft words in her ear, "Sh, it's okay." Haley wrapped her own arms around Brooke's waist as she laid her head on Brooke's left breast, burying her nose into it, taking in her sweet scent. Brooke inwardly groaned and closed her eyes at the pleasurable feeling she had caused. Haley began to lightly run her fingernails over Brooke's back in long strokes. This, along with Haley's warm, erratic breaths on her breast, caused Brooke to go almost insane with longing.

A few minutes later, Haley finally pulled away and looked into Brooke's eyes, "Thank you for being here for me. You don't know how much it means to me. I'm really tired now. I think I'm going to take a nap." Brooke nodded and started to get off the bed and walk towards the door, but was stopped by Haley's voice, "Brooke?" "Yeah," she responded, turning around. "Would you lay with me? I really need someone right now," Haley replied, the vulnerability showing in her brown eyes. Brooke gave her a small smile then crawled in beside her. Haley turned to face her as she laid down and wrapped her arms around Brooke's body and laid her head in the crook of Brooke's neck.

Hours passed and the two were still sleeping, both moving and mumbling in their sleep. They were dreaming, but more specifically, they were dreaming of each other.

Haley's Dream

Brooke pushed a few strands of hair away from Haley's face and stared deeply into her soulful brown eyes for several long, indeterminable minutes. She could get lost in those eyes. The palm of Brooke's hand softly caressed Haley's cheek before she gently grabbed her chin and pulled her face forward, close to hers. Haley's breath quickened and her eyelids fluttered up and down in anticipation. Brooke gave her one of those deeply dimpled smiles before closing her eyes and tenderly pressing her lips to Haley's. Haley's body trembled at the shiver of pleasure that coursed down her spine and she deepened the kiss. She placed one hand behind Brooke's head and wrapped her other arm around Brooke's back and part of her upper torso. They began to kiss more passionately and Haley started a trail from Brooke's lips across her jaw then down her neck, sucking at the sensitive skin there. Brooke moaned in satisfaction as she let Haley continue her ministrations for a few more minutes before she placed both her hands on Haley's cheeks and pulled her back up to meet her lips again…

Brooke's Dream

Haley cupped Brooke's cheek and lightly stroked it before wrapping her arms around her neck and laying back on the bed, pulling Brooke on top of her. Brooke smiled and kissed Haley's nose, which caused her to giggle. Haley then pulled her down to meet her lips in a hard, passionate kiss. When they parted, Brooke tenderly pressed her lips to Haley's closed eyelids then placed another soft kiss on Haley's mouth. Haley began to run her hands up and down the sides of her body then started to nibble on her earlobe. Brooke moaned in pleasure as she too ran her hands along Haley's body then brought them up to the front of Haley's shirt, slowly unbuttoning it. As she got lower, Brooke began to kiss down from her neck to her chest, her breasts, then down her stomach. Haley's chest and stomach heaved up and down fast in arousal as she groaned, running her hands through Brooke's hair. Brooke wrapped her arms around Haley's back and fiddled with the clasp of her bra then unsnapped it and pulled it off, tossing it to the floor. Before Brooke could do anything more, Haley guided her up to her lips, pressing hard against them…

Both were so into their dreams that they felt like their dreams were becoming all too real. Haley slowly opened her eyes and instantly became alarmed, quickly pulling away from Brooke's lips, which caused the other girl to awaken as well. Haley scrambled off the bed and huddled in a corner, crying, with her back to Brooke. She had kissed Brooke and now Brooke knew how she felt. She waited for the words that would break her heart. The words that would tell her that Brooke didn't like her, that she was disgusted at the thought of them being together. "Hales, I am so, so sorry," Brooke told her, a painful expression at hurting the girl she loved. She couldn't believe that she'd kissed Haley in her state of unconsciousness. She had tried so hard to conceal her feelings from the upset girl in front of her. Haley felt weak in the knees from the warring emotions she felt so she closed her eyes so she wouldn't look at Brooke and staggered over to the bed, collapsing to a sitting position on the edge of it. "It was a mistake, I know," she replied sadly, wiping her face of the tears. When Brooke had looked into Haley's frightened eyes, saw the vulnerability they held, it was if a tidal wave of memories came rushing back into her mind. An image of the same expression and puffy, tearstained face flashed in front of her eyes and she recognized it as one similar to the one she had seen on Haley's face in the bedroom of Nathan's beach house the night of the party. She tried desperately to recall what had caused that horrible expression on Haley's face, but as she tried to remember, another scene appeared in her mind.

She and Haley were on her bed, both running their hands along the sides of each other's bodies and down the other's back as they pressed their mouths together in both hard and soft kisses. When Brooke pressed forward into her more, Haley leaned back to accommodate her and placed her hand behind Brooke's head to guide her to her lips again.

As the scene played out in Brooke's head, she also remembered the day after the party, waking up with a nasty hangover in her bedroom at her beach house and the unruly, messy state of her dress and bed that morning. Brooke's eyes widened to nearly the size of golf balls as she pieced all these together. She too began to feel weak in the knees at the realization that Haley did like her, as more than friends. A soft smile played on her lips for a moment then it returned to its former frown. If Haley liked her, then why was she so upset at kissing her? Brooke mentally berated herself for being so stupid. Haley was upset because she thought that Brooke didn't feel the same way.

Brooke gently sat down beside Haley and placed her hand softly on top of Haley's right one, curling her fingers between Haley's. Brooke squeezed her hand lightly and gazed at her with a small smile, "No it wasn't." Haley quickly looked up at her, her breath catching in her throat, not sure if she'd heard right. "What," she asked quietly. "It wasn't a mistake," Brooke responded in almost a whisper, "why didn't you tell me about the night of the party?" The frightened look reappeared on Haley's face for a few minutes before she sighed defeatedly and responded, "I-I thought you wouldn't remember that night because you were so drunk, and I was too, but I didn't have as much as you. I was hoping to you wouldn't remember because I thought you didn't like me… that way. I was afraid that we might not be friends anymore if you found out and I didn't want that, to not be friends with you." "I don't want to be friends anymore," Brooke replied. Tears welled in Haley's eyes as she quickly stood from the bed, "O-Okay, I-I understand…" Haley began to walk out of the room but Brooke got up and rushed after her, gently but firmly grabbing her arm, "Hales, wait… I have a question…" "What," Haley replied in a choked tone, her head hung and her back to Brooke. "Can I kiss you," Brooke inquired with soft grin. Haley looked up at her with tearstained cheeks, saw her expression, and then more tears cascaded down from her eyes as she gave Brooke a small smile and nodded.

Brooke gently cupped Haley's face in her hands as she brought her face closer to Haley's, their lips meeting in a light, tender kiss. The kiss seemed to last forever, everything else around them blurring and fading to black where only the two of them remained. Brooke pulled back smiling and Haley sniffled as she smiled too. "I have another question," Brooke said. "What," Haley replied, looking at her a little in confusion. Brooke smiled even more, "Can I kiss you again?" Haley once again nodded her head but this time was the first to initiate the kiss, pressing her warm lips to Brooke's almost forcefully. When they parted, Brooke responded, "I have another question." Haley rolled her eyes as she grinned, "You aren't going to ask me if you can kiss me again are you?" Haley watched as Brooke's expression turned apprehensive, maybe even a little scared. "Well, it's rather something I need to say really," she replied meekly and she saw Haley raise an eyebrow to continue, "I know this all just came out in the open, but I've been feeling this for quite a while. I know it might scare you, and frankly, it scares me too that I could feel so much for one person in such a short amount of time, but I do. What I want to tell you is that… Haley… I-I love you." Tears resurfaced in her eyes as she stared up at Brooke and opened her mouth to respond but couldn't, too emotional to even speak.

Haley closed her mouth, trying to come up with an idea of how to tell her how she felt in her own way. Her eyes moved from side to side, searching Brooke's face for the words she willed to come to her. A pain-stricken expression appeared on Brooke's face and she began to turn away. Haley panicked, not wanting her to leave with things left unsaid, and she grabbed her hand. "I love you too," Haley said quietly as she waited for Brooke to look at her. She finally did, slowly turning her head to face Haley. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, both her chin and lower lip trembling, "Really?" Haley smiled and nodded as she wrapped her arms around Brooke's neck, quoting one of movies they had watched a few days ago, "Really really." "I have a question again," Brooke said, grinning. "You don't even have to ask, Brooke," Haley chuckled before pressing her mouth against Brooke's.

The kiss continued for several minutes before Brooke began to outline Haley's lips with her tongue then pushed against her mouth for permission to enter. Haley gave her access and Brooke's tongue began to mingle with her own as she got her first taste of Brooke. She moaned as Brooke deepened the kiss and started to massage Haley's tongue with her own. Haley began to suck at her bottom lip as she ran her hands through Brooke's hair. Brooke pressed into her harder as her hands roamed up and down the sides of Haley's body. She slowly slipped her hands under her shirt, rising them up her body and beginning to caress Haley's breasts. Haley abruptly pulled away from the kiss and covered her chest with her arms before sitting on the bed, not meeting her eyes. "Haley, I am so sorry," Brooke replied, gazing at her with pleading eyes as she sat down beside her and took one of her hands.

"I'm not ready for that, Brooke," Haley responded quietly. "I know and I'm sorry," Brooke sighed as she entwined her fingers with Haley's, "I just- I love you and I've kept these feelings inside for so long… I just want to let them out, you know? And I've been having these dreams…" She smiled as Haley quickly looked up at her. "You mean those kinds of dreams, um, the intimate ones," Haley asked incredulously then blushed a fierce red and hid her face from Brooke's view. "Yeah. You've been having them too," Brooke inquired. Haley nodded sheepishly as she glanced up at Brooke from behind some of the hair that had covered her face. Brooke took her other hand and grasped both of them firmly in her own as she turned to face her more, "Haley, I love you and I want to be with you. I know how you feel about sex and intimacy and I'm sorry about what happened a few minutes ago. I- something just came over me and… what I want to say is that I know it will take you some time, but I am willing to wait for you until you're ready. We can take this as slow as you want. I just want to be with you and if you want to wait then I will too. I love you so much Haley James, I'd do anything for you."

"T-Thank you," Haley replied, her eyes becoming watery again as she wrapped her arms tightly around Brooke's shoulders, "it means a lot to me that you will wait for me." "I would wait for you forever," Brooke responded as she hugged her too then pulled back and cupped Haley's cheek. She caressed it slowly with her thumb as she gazed into Haley's soulful brown doe eyes. "You are so beautiful," she whispered quietly. Haley pressed her lips lightly to Brooke's as she rubbed a hand up and down her back. The kiss ended a few minutes later with Haley pulling away but placing another chaste kiss on her mouth. Brooke smiled widely as she said, "I have to ask you something…" "Stop asking questions, Brooke," Haley replied before she pressed her lips to Brooke's once more.