Notes: Co-writing with BroodyBlondes4ever.I'm a feedback Brooke, I mean bitch so make my day and send me a review or two, okay?

Warning: S4 spoilers.

Haley was a woman on a mission. And thanks to Peyton, she now knew that she had to go after the things she wanted, not simply wait. She needed to find Luke and have a talk with him. What the hell had happen? Before the wedding everything was fine. Brooke and Peyton were talking to each other, Lucas had a girlfriend and someone that he could talk to, but now he had none of the above. Peyton and Brooke didn't want anything to do with each other, although to Brooke's credit, she had gone to the hospital plenty of times. Even if she never made it past the waiting room, she had at least put forth an effort.

So, Haley was a woman on a mission and the mission was to find Luke, he was the only one who might have an inkling as to what on earth was going on…the only problem was that Lucas was nowhere to been found. She had search the whole school for him but it was like he had vanished into thin air. Just when she was ready to call it a day, a blonde flash caught her eye.

She wasn't sure if it was Lucas or not, since she had seen nothing more that a flash of blonde hair but when she looked inside the classroom it was him.

"About time," she whispered, stopped for a moment before going in and taking a good look inside. The art room! What was Lucas doing here?

"Hey orange crush, I was looking for you," she said loudly but still managed to scare him.

"Hey Hales," he frowned like he always did.

"What are you doing here?"

"Thinking," he sat in a chair and looked at a painting on the wall, "I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Yeah, if that thing up there is yours," he grinned, but Haley didn't give him a minute to stay relaxed, "I talked with Brooke, you know."

"Then you know too," he said angrily.

"I know nothing, Luke! I'm your best friend and I don't know a thing," Haley stood up and tried to calm herself. As much as she loved Lucas, she hated his habit of hiding things from her, "I had to learn it from Brooke, Lucas! I learned it from Brooke. We ate together last night and you had your mouth shut!"

"I couldn't tell you, alright?" he yelled and Haley looked at him with a mix of fear and surprise, "I tried to tell it to you, but I couldn't."

Haley rolled her eyes and walked to the window near her. So many things and so little time to process any of them. She felt like she was left behind and had to run to catch up with everything. She was exhausted and didn't know if she could do any more running.

"Why did you and Brooke break up?"

She waited for a long hour before he finally answered her question, "We kissed."

"By 'we' you don't mean Brooke and you."

"No, I mean…Peyton and I," hearing Haley curse made him he feel like he had to defend them somehow, "It wasn't like that Hales, Okay? We didn't go behind Brooke's back or anything like that. She was bleeding Hales, probably she thought she was going to die and she kissed me. Peyton kissed me and I didn't pull back."

"Lucas," Haley inhaled deeply because she didn't like what she was about to say and she definitely didn't want to be the one to say it, "you have to figure out what you really want, what you really need because Luke, you are a good guy but you hurting people around you."

Before he had the time to say anything, not that Haley believed that he could actually respond to her after that, she turned on her heel and left him alone with his thoughts.

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Nathan was watching with worry written etched all over his face as Larry put Peyton to bed. He looked at Karen but she shook her head and nodded down the hall, gesturing for them to give the father and daughter their privacy.

After they left the hospital, they stopped by Karen's Café for a quick bite that turned out to be his mother's chicken soup. Nathan didn't miss much from his parents' house but he did miss a few things, like his mother's soup. Haley wasn't much of a cook. She did awesome salads but a man cannot survive eating rabbit food forever.

His mother was acting a little strange but soon he had forgotten about her and his attention was once again to Peyton. She looked like she was in some serious pain but she had rejected the painkiller that her dad had tried to give to her.

They go their food to go since it was obvious to everyone that Peyton was about to collapse. Nathan had to give her credit, she fought it hard and for a long time, but like him when he had just gotten out of the hospital, exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep on the ride home.

"Sleep is good. Sleep will make her feel at least a little better," he had murmured to no one in particular although Karen nodded.

"How's your arm Nathan?" Karen asked him getting ready to pour some coffee into a MOTORHEAD cup. One side of the cup had a small crack, but Karen didn't know if it was okay to throw it away or not.

"I have a Batman cup," Nathan said when he saw what she was looking at. He got up and headed over to the cabinet, pulling out a well used cup and setting it down in front of Karen. "It's old and the color's worn off but I love it. Hales wanted to throw it away but I didn't let her. That cup, it's like a piece of home and I felt like I had a part of my old home in my new home." He shrugged as he sat back down.

"What is about boys and the Batmobile? Luke had one cup like that too. I swear, when I broke it he didn't speak to me for eight days," Nathan smiled and took a sip from his coffee.

"My mom," he cleaned his throat, "Was she a little weird today?"

"She has too many things in her head right now Nathan. With your uncle's death, me being almost like the invisible person, it's a miracle that she's still running the place."

"Invisible woman," Nathan corrected her and she laughed and said something 'about boys and comic heroines' which he didn't quite understand, "Besides, she knows that you are away for a good reason. With Peyton's dad here things will be different."

"Starting right now. I put the soup in the fridge if Larry asks, fresh coffee is here," she looked few around a few times to see if there was more she could do, but she found nothing. "Okay, I'm going to give your mom some time off."

"Yeah, I'm going to stay a little longer and then I'll head out too," Nathan said as he walked her to the door.

Opening the door for her, he came face to face with the last person he expected to see. He was so sure that after the last time, Brooke would choose to stay back and, for once, she would have every right.

"Hey," Brooke said avoiding Karen's eyes.

"Hey Brooke," Karen gave a small nod but didn't smile the way she usually did, and she didn't say anything else before she walked out of the house.

"Brooke," Nathan stood between the door and Brooke like he was a club's security gaurd, "What are you doing here?"

"What's that Nate? Playing bad cop on me now?" She tired to seem irked, but from her voice he could tell she was joking and Nathan relaxed.

"No, just…you know."

Brooke's eyes picked up a hint of sadness for a moment and for a second she wished it was Lucas in front of her and not his little brother. She needed a hug and a shoulder and she was sure that she couldn't turn to Nathan for that. She couldn't compete with an ex-girlfriend and a presently best friend. She couldn't help but wondered if she and Lucas would became as good friends as Peyton and Nathan had became.

"I didn't want this to happen," she said as she sat on the steps of the porch, lying her bag in the spot between her feet.

"Who said you wanted that?" Nathan sat near her but not quite next to her. A move that didn't go unnoticed from Brooke and caused her to shut her eyes tightly in an attempt to prevent her eyes from betraying her and revealing the pain she was feeling, the pain Nathan had just managed to add on to.

"No one," she watched the road for a minute or two, "I feel like I caused it, Nathan. With all this negative energy…"

"Brooke, I'm not sure if my brother ever told you this, but you really need shut up," he couldn't help but laugh when he saw the utter shock on her face, "Apparently, he didn't. But that's not the point. You sound like a crazy person. It's like you think you have some kind of a secret, super power that turns wishes into reality. You didn't cause any of this."

"Does the ability to destroy relationships count as a super power?" she asked him after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, totally."

"Do I get a code name too?"

"Bitchy Bitch?" he offered as he stood up. It was time to go but he wanted to ask if they wanted anything before he left, "You coming in?"

"No, go on. I'll stay here for a while," he gave her a worried look, "I'm okay Nathan. Bitchy Bitch needs some time to think."

She probably won't like whatever she thinks, but Bitchy Bitch needs to do it anyway. Brooke thought to herself before furrowing her brows and realizing she was starting to sound like Chris Keller. Ew!

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It was still early, not even eight o'clock but Peyton was already asleep in her dad's bed. Thankfully, she had taken her damn pills without an argument, much to Larry's surprise.

After Nathan left, she had slept for over five hours, waking up for half hour to eat something before falling asleep again. When she had woken up, she ate a little and stayed in bed, watching TV shows and the news.

The difficult part was when she asked for a bath. She smelled like antiseptics and sweat. The nurses had given her sponge baths but Peyton had the need to feel water running to her skin. Her dad warned her that they only way she was going to have a bath was if he gave her one.

At once, Peyton's temper took the best of her and started to yell at him but her yells were to vain. Finally, after half an hour of screams, Peyton accepted the fact that if she was going to take a bath, her father would be there too.

They put a nylon bag around her broken wrist, to avoid running water over the bandage. Peyton felt tears of embarrassment spring to her eyes when her dad helped her take off her clothes and she avoided looking at him. Larry, on the other hand, didn't care about that. His only worry was not to hurt her.

When he heard the first sob, he continued as he had. He put some shampoo on his palm and he gently washed Peyton's hair. It took him a while to understand that Peyton wasn't crying because she was embarrassed.

"Oh, Peyton! Oh, baby!" he hug her, not carrying for the running water or the foam in his eyes.

Hours later, Peyton was sleeping and Larry was nursing a glass of scotch when the doorbell rang. It couldn't be one of Peyton's friends, most of them had called or visited already.

All of them except Brooke.

Larry had seen her at the hospital and today, talking with Nathan outside the house but for some reason, Brooke avoided them like the plague. And it wasn't only Brooke's strange behavior but Peyton's as well. At first, Larry thought that Peyton's angry words against Brooke were part of her nerves, but now he was sure that something bigger was beneath.

Opening the door, he was greeted by Whitey's bitter face.

"Sawyer, I like your daughter. She has character and style. But she didn't get them from you-"Larry cut him off quickly

"If you came here to say what a screw up father I am, don't bother Coach. I already now," Larry moved and let Whitey walk inside.

"I'm not only here for that," Whitey said and taking the took the liberty of pouring himself a drink from the open bottle, "I'm here to offer you a job. And if you are half as smart as your daughter, you will accept it."

TBC…