Whoo, update! Enjoy.

The next few minutes were a blur. Lucas dully remembered mumbling something about Peyton to Brooke, her shocked face, and the two of them hurrying into his car. He went at least double the speed limit, passing stop signs and running red lights in his haste to reach the court. He was there within a few minutes- such a short amount of time that the ambulance was surprisingly still there.

Haley and Nathan sprinted over as Lucas jumped out, leaving the keys in the ignition. Haley was shaking from head to foot, her cheeks red and tearstained, while Nathan stood next to her with a look of complete shock.

"Where is she?" Lucas asked, his breath coming in short gasps. "Is she alive? Is she okay?" He heard the passenger door of his car slam as Brooke hopped out.

Haley motioned to the ambulance with her head, while Nathan wrapped an arm comfortingly around her shoulders. "She's- I don't know. I haven't gotten close enough to see."

In a second Lucas had pushed past her, Brooke hot on his heels. A police officer was squaring off the court with yellow tape, but they both simply ducked under it and hurried to the center of the chaos. There were three police cars parked in the center of the court and an ambulance off to the side, where most of the uniformed officers were gathered. He could see a mess of paramedics rushing around the group, talking quickly in loud voices. He began sprinting in earnest to the car, pushing everything in his way aside as he went. Brooke was still behind him, breathing heavily and sounding tearful.

He was feet from the ambulance when an officer jumped in front of him, holding an arm out to stop him. "Sir, you need to get back. Nobody is allowed past the tape right now. Please step away."

Lucas was about to argue back, to tell the officer who he was, but a loud scream from Brooke cut him off. He glanced at her and saw, with a sinking feeling, that she was staring into the ambulance with wide, fearful eyes. He followed her gaze to the vehicle, his eyes staring through a mass of uniformed people, and felt his own heart stop.

Deep inside the ambulance he could see a stretcher, with a curly-haired someone lying on it, obviously in bad shape. Two paramedics were leaning over her, talking in fast voices and looking slightly panicked. One was holding a bloodstained towel against her, yelling at his partner to grab him another. It was even more chaotic in there than it was out on the court.

Brooke was completely sobbing now, but she pushed past the officer and approached a paramedic determinedly. "Her name's Peyton Sawyer," she choked, her voice shaking with fear. "Her blood type is A negative, she's allergic to penicillin…" Lucas stood next to Brooke and glanced at her. Her face was screwed up in concentration: she was obviously trying to remember the various medical facts she'd gathered about Peyton throughout their friendship. "She was born three weeks early-"

"Does she have any family in the area we can contact?" one of the paramedics, a female, called. She was inspecting Peyton's mouth with a flashlight, obviously trying to see the airway.

Brooke shook her head. "No, her dad lives in Rhode Island and her mom's dead." She was wringing her hands together anxiously, as though not quite sure what to do with them.

The paramedic glanced to the front of the ambulance as the engine started. She looked back at Lucas and Brooke, placing her flashlight down and reaching for a bottle containing a clear liquid. "Listen, we really need someone who knows this girl's medical history. We have a better chance of saving her if we can get information fast."

Lucas and Brooke both looked at each other, each of their eyes glazed with tears. They were both mentally debating who should go in the ambulance. As much as Lucas wanted to be beside Peyton, he understood that Brooke's knowledge was more useful. "You go," he told her, feeling his heart break. "You can help her more than I can right now."

Brooke looked momentarily shocked. She glanced at the paramedic, who had an impatient look on her face, and then back at Lucas. "Are you sure?" she asked breathlessly.

Lucas nodded. "Yeah, you go. I'll be right behind you with Nathan and Haley."

Brooke stared at him for one more second, then gave a quick nod and jumped into the back of the ambulance. Lucas slowly backed away from the vehicle, shoving his hands deep in his pockets as he went.

"Is there any history of respiratory illness in the family?" the male paramedic asked.

Brooke shook her head. "Not that I know of," she replied quickly, glancing down at a clipboard the female had placed in her hands. Her eyes were moving rapidly as she scanned the words. A second later, the door of the ambulance slammed shut, the lights and sirens turned on, and the vehicle was speeding off the court and down the road.

--

By the time Lucas, Nathan, and Haley arrived at the hospital, Brooke was already sitting in the waiting area outside the emergency room, tears pouring down her face, her entire body trembling.

"They took her into surgery the moment we got here," Brooke informed them, getting to her feet and crossing her arms. "They wouldn't tell me what was wrong with her- but…it looked bad. Really bad."

Haley collapsed into Nathan arms, breathing heavily and unevenly. He wrapped his arms around her, digging his face into her hair, his shoulders shaking. Lucas stood in complete silence, staring at the doors of the emergency room, his head spinning and his legs like jelly. Brooke glanced at him worriedly, then pulled him into a chair before his knees could give way. "She'll be okay," Brooke said quietly, her voice fierce with determination. "This-it doesn't happen this way. She's gonna be okay."

The wait felt like an eternity. Lucas switched positions at least a dozen times, never fully comfortable. At one point he was lying upside down on the chair, his legs in the air and his head resting heavily on the floor. His mind seemed to be on overdrive. He spent minutes at a time debating whether or not he should speak up about Peyton's secret. He wasn't sure whether it would be appropriate or not. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, he got a sick, nauseous feeling, and was forced to close his jaw tightly. Everyone else was restless too- Nathan alternated between sitting with his arms around Haley and pacing the halls, his hands deep in his pockets. Haley was completely silent, her head in her hands. It was impossible to tell if she was awake or not. Brooke stared wide-eyed at the door, occasionally breaking the silence with words like, "She's okay; if she weren't we'd have known by now." Every time the door of the ER opened, the four of them would sit up straight and stare, apprehension all over their faces, letting out low whistles as the doctor approached a different group of people. It was the same pattern all night- anxiety, fear, temporary relief, anxiety, and fear all over again. Lucas was sure the clock was broken- it was unbelievable that only two hours has passed.

A long time later, the door of the emergency room burst open again, and an older looking doctor began walking toward them swiftly. Lucas, Brooke, Haley, and Nathan all got to their feet, their hearts stopping. Haley grabbed Nathan's hand and squeezed it tightly. Lucas felt Brooke's shoulders shaking against his. The doctor glanced down at his clipboard, then at the four of them, looking confused.

"My name is Doctor Cruse. You're all here for Peyton Sawyer?" he asked in a wheezy voice, adjusting his glasses. They nodded quickly. "Are any of you immediate family?"

Lucas shook his head. "No, we're not, but-"

The doctor cut him off. "I'm sorry, but hospital policy says we can only give out information to immediate family at this point." He marked something on his clipboard and shoved the pen in his pocket.

Lucas was about to argue back, but Brooke beat him to the punch. "Listen to me," she said in a deadly quiet voice, and it was remarkable how she could translate her pain and fear into blatant anger so easily. "This girl doesn't have any family around right now. Her mom isn't alive. Her dad works on a drudging boat in the middle of the ocean and there is no way of contacting him. He could be gone for weeks. I'm Peyton's best friend; I have been my entire life. We're all her friends; we're all here for her. We're the only people sitting in this lobby waiting for her. We're as good as her family. So unless you want to withhold information about her for God only knows how long, with a pissed of me in the process, I suggest you tell us what the hell is going on." She finished, breathing heavily with anger, her shoulders still quaking.

Doctor Cruse stared at Brooke in shock, his eyebrows disappearing into her gray comb over, his glasses fogging. He pulled them off and rubbed them clean vigorously, his eyes still on the group of teenagers. Placing his glasses back on his face, he cleared his throat. "Okay, then…"

Haley sighed with relief as the doctor began flipped through his clipboard. Lucas bit his tongue, holding his breath, his head spinning.

The doctor's eyes moved quickly over the information in front of him. "Ms. Sawyer was admitted with many serious injuries," he told them. "She had three broken ribs, one of which punctured her left lung, making it very difficult for her to breath. Excessive blows to her abdomen caused much internal bleeding there, which we were able to stop to a point." The four continued to stare at the doctor in silence. His words were doing nothing to comfort them- his use of the past tense was actually scaring Lucas more than anything. Doctor Cruse flipped to a different sheet of paper before continuing. "There was also some swelling to her brain- that went down rather quickly, giving us no reason to suspect excessive damage. Her left wrist- which was already heavily bandaged- was completely shattered. She was in very bad shape." He paused, glancing at them all. They were completely silent.

It was Nathan who finally spoke. "But- she's alive, right?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, she is," he told them. "Currently she is in the Intensive Care Unit. She is hooked up to a ventilator, which is breathing for her. She's also on six different bags of medication, which are keeping her stable, as well as blood transfusions. We have put her in a medically induced coma for now. Her body will have an easier time recovering if she isn't awake with stress or anxiety."

More silence. The four were unsure of how to respond. Lucas felt completely numb to everything going on. His mind refused to register what he was being told. He couldn't find his voice.

Haley broke the silence this time. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked shakily.

Doctor Cruse bit his lip. "It's hard to say," he began in an honest voice. "She is in very bad shape. The fact that she needs machines and much medication to keep her alive is not a good sign. The next twelve hours are crucial. If she can make it through these without any serious complications, she should be fine. It all hangs on that."

Haley nodded slowly. Her face was very pale; she looked like she was about to be sick. Nathan reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly. Lucas still hadn't moved.

"Can we see her?" Brooke asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, you can. She's in ICU, room 349. Normally we'd only allow two in the room at a time, but given the circumstances-" He broke off awkwardly, then suddenly glanced backward, to the door of the waiting room, where two uniformed officers stood. "However, some officers would like to speak with you briefly first. They are trying to gather as much information as possible to help them find her attacker. It should only be a few minutes, then you're free to visit Ms. Sawyer." He gave them a sympathetic look, a small nod, and then turned on his feet to leave. As he stepped away, the two officers began walking toward them swiftly.

The male policeman spoke first. "We're very sorry about your friend," he told them sympathetically. "This will take less than five minutes- we'd just like to gather some information about her. Firstly, does she have any known enemies?"

Brooke, Nathan, and Haley all glanced at each other, unsure of who should speak first. Lucas crossed him arms, staring intently at the floor. Inside his head, he was screaming about Peyton's situation, but the words couldn't make it past his tongue. He still felt nauseous. Beside him, he heard Brooke respond, "No, none that we know of. She hasn't even been living here for the past six months. She was in New York. She just got here a few days ago."

The man nodded, glancing at his partner, a tall and thin female. "Is she involved in drugs? Does she deal or buy?" the woman asked, her eyes stopping on Lucas, who had his head bent. "Sir?"

Lucas glanced up. "N-no," he stuttered, his head spinning. "She's not into that kind of stuff." It was strange how difficult it was to mutter four small words: 'her boyfriend beat her'. He dropped his head again, anxious to get upstairs and see Peyton. He tried his best to ignore the voice screaming at him to speak up.

The woman nodded slowly, obvious dissatisfied with his answer. "Okay then," she said, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen. "If we could just get your names and numbers, so we can call you if we need further information. Then you're free to go." She handed the paper to Haley.

They passed the sheet around quickly, scribbling their names and phone numbers almost illegibly in their haste. Lucas continued to struggle with himself. His mouth was permanently open but he couldn't get a sound out. He wrote his information and handed the paper to Brooke, who grabbed it, wrote her name and number swiftly, and handed it back to the officer. The woman took it and smiled, turning to her partner. Brooke, Haley, and Nathan turned to the elevator and began walking slowly. Lucas's legs felt like stone. Suddenly he found himself speaking.

"She had a boyfriend."

The two officers turned away from each other and faced him, their eyebrows raised. Behind him, the other three stopped walking and stared at him in silence. Lucas glanced back, giving them an apologetic look, before continuing.

"When she showed up at my house a few days ago, she was in a bad state. She had… a black eye and an injured wrist. She had a lot of bruises and cuts." He swallowed heavily. There was complete silence behind him, but he could feel the other three staring at the back of his head. In front of him, the female officer pulled out her pad of paper and began scribbling. "She- she didn't want to talk to me but I kept probing her. She all but admitted that she'd had a boyfriend and that he hit her." Behind him, he heard Nathan punch a wall in anger. He paused briefly before continuing. "The guy- he called yesterday. He left a message asking for her and then he called again. I told him to leave her alone, I- God." Lucas could feel tears forming in his eyes. His voice was at a whisper now. "I never should have let him know she was here, I shouldn't have said anything."

There was a stunned silence. The officers gave each other a meaningful look. He heard Haley give a dry sob. The female cop closed her pad of paper and tucked it into her pocket. "Okay, Mr. Scott, if you'll just come with us. We'll need to question you further."

Lucas glanced at her, tears threatening to pour from his eyes. "Can't I just- can I see her first?" he asked quietly. The woman sighed, turning to her partner, who gave her a dubious look. "Please," Lucas said. "I just- I need to see her. I have to. Please."

The woman looked at him sadly and thought for a moment. After a moment, she replied, "Of course you can see her first. But we'd like to question you sometime tonight. This is a matter we need to address soon." She waited until she was sure Lucas had understood before continuing. "We'll send someone by within the hour to pick you up. The questioning shouldn't take too long. You'll be able to come back as soon as you're finished."

Lucas nodded again. "Okay," he agreed. All he wanted was to see Peyton, to see that she was okay. Nothing else mattered at this point. The officers both nodded back at him before turning away to leave, talking in low voices. He watched them out the door, his heart pounding. He turned slowly, feeling sick and scared.

Brooke, Haley, and Nathan all stared back at him, horror etched into their faces.