Chapter 4

An hour later

Peyton is sleeping with her head resting beside Lucas on the bed. Everyone's in the room… waiting…. Waiting for the results of the biopsy.

I don't want to die… I don't want to die… not like this, Lucas kept thinking.

Just then the doctor walked into the room. Automatically, everyone sat up straight and the room was completely silent. To Lucas, the room seemed to be screaming. Peyton woke with a start, and when she saw what was going on, she took Lucas's hand.

"Well… we finally received the test results. I have good news…" says the doctor. "We caught the cancer just in time… it's not too far advanced. There's something we can do to give you a chance. It's risky but it's really the only thing we can do. I'm not going to guarantee you anything," he says.

Karen cries out with joy and hugs Lucas so hard that he almost cannot breathe. Lucas pulls Peyton toward him and kisses her on the cheek twice and she squeezes his hand in relief. They both have the biggest smiles on their faces. "Now we can have our chance," he whispers in her ear.

Brooke lets out a sigh of relief and Nathan pulls Haley into a hug.

"You'll have to go through chemotherapy to help damage all of the harmful cells in your bone marrow, and then you'll have to have a bone marrow transplant. It'll be a lot to deal with, but if everything goes well, you'll live a long happy life… I promise," says the doctor. "We'll have to start the chemotherapy tomorrow morning. So… you're free to go home for tonight."

That night at Lucas's house w/ Peyton

"I guess I better tell you this before it's too late," said Lucas.

"What?" questioned Peyton. "It might be the last time I ever say this…"

"Stop…." She puts her fingers up to his lips to stop him from talking. "Please stop…. Don't say that. I need you. I don't ever want to lose you. I can't lose you," says Peyton.

"Ok, ok… I'm sorry," he says. He wraps his arms around her and rests his chin on her shoulder. He wipes a tear from his eye before he pulls away so that she could not see it.

"Now what were you gonna say?" asked Peyton.

"Never mind, never mind," he said jokingly. "No… tell me," she said jokingly. She playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"I love you," he said. Peyton stopped playing around and asked, "What did you say?"

"You heard me…"

She took both of his hands in hers and kissed him. She stopped kissing him but didn't pull away. She whispered, "I love you too."

"It feels so good hear that," he says.

(They make out for awhile, but Peyton pulls away) "You really need some rest… you're gonna have a hard day tomorrow."

"Oh… I'll be fine," he says. Lucas leans in to kiss her again but she playfully pushes him away with one finger. "Uh uh uh," she says jokingly. She runs over to the bed and jumps on it. "Come here," she says, patting the bed next to her. Lucas walks over to the bed and they snuggle together.

At Haley and Nathan's apartment

"God I hope Luke will be ok," says Haley.

"He will be... don't worry Hales. I have faith," said Nathan. Nathan helped Haley out of the wheelchair and onto the couch. "You need some rest," he said, resting her feet across his legs.

"Thanks... I don't know what I'd do without you Nate."

Nathan looks into her eyes and she smiles.

"What's wrong Nathan?" she asks.

I have to tell her... I need to tell her, he thought, "Haley, I have something I need to tell you," he said.

"What? What is it?"

"It's about your accident," he said.

"My accident? I don't understand Nate. Tell me what's going on," says Haley.

"That's just it... see... it wasn't an accident."

"What do you mean?" says Haley sitting up straighter.

"I'm so sorry... I wanted to tell you so much but I didn't want to hurt you." Tears are starting to fall down his face and he looks down at his hands. "Haley... do you remember the night I shaved points in the basketball game?"

"Yeah... I remember," she says hesitantly.

"Well... a few days before that, I talked to this guy, Duante, and he said he would help me with our money problems. But then he changed his mind... he would only help me if I won by no more than 10 points in that game..."

"Nathan... why would you do that? You could have asked Dan for help!"

"I did! I did! He wouldn't help us... he couldn't help us. But he tried to. Believe me... I tried everything. But after that game Daunte still wouldn't help me. Haley... he told me I had to lose the championship game. He threatened your life. I had to do it. I couldn't let anything happen to you." Nathan started to cry harder now and Haley had her mouth open in shock.

"But you didn't lose...," she breathed.

"I know... I didn't... I tried to in te beginning but something you said changed my mind. I thought everything would be ok... I didn't think this would happen," he admitted.

Haley titlted his chin up and wiped a tear away. "Why didn't you tell me this was going on?" she whispered to him. "I could have helped you... I could have done something."

"I didn't want to worry you... you had enough on your plate already. This was my problem," he said.

"But that's just it... it wasn't just your problem. It's our money. And what does this have to do with my accident?"

Tell me what you think!!