Thanks for all your reviews last chapter… I didn't know if it would be too much drama or whatever, but I have been planning this from very early on in the story.

Oh and thank you so much to the people that have been reviewing for ages, even when I update in like once every blue moon lol. However that does not mean I do not appreciate the people who have just found my story and are taking the time to review, cos I love you lot soososo much as well.

Yeah and we are nearing the end of my story I think, definitely less than 5 chapters, it could be just a couple, it depends.

If you're mad about this, I'm sorry, but even though this story has only 15 chapters so far, I used to never update and so it has been a long time since I started. I'd like to then start my Singing Her Last Song again, which is testing out the two couples Brucas and Brathan together and maybe start some new stuff. So read them when they come out! Though of course I havent yet finished this story sp please keep reading!!

Thanks for reviews once again… and of course, enjoy!

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Chapter 16 - Just Her

The colours were cold, so cold, yet they were nowhere near as freezing as what he felt inside of himself at that very moment. It was as though he was fading, fading so fast that soon there would be nothing left of him.

He rushed through the emergency ward, not noticing the many people around him who were bleeding, the unconscious patients that surrounded him. All he could think of was reaching Cesca.

He suddenly found himself outside the emergency room, the place where most people die if you watch the hospital programmes on t.v. Cesca used to love those programmes, he had no idea why. Even throughout their whirlwind romance, she still found the time to watch these programmes where people die. Luke could never make sense of it.

It was irony that the place Cesca used to stare at, eyes glazing over was now the place which was going to decide her fate.

As he was looking through the doors, it appeared to Luke that Francesca was completely covered in tubes. She was surrounded by doctors and nurses, all looking frantic, whilst the few glimpses he saw of her made her look more serene than she had ever been during life.

She was always bouncing round, the curls in her hair framing her face, and they still did now. However now this happy scene he was remembering was tormented by the blood that he saw which matted her hair.

The constant beeping that had been reverberating through his mind was soon replaced by a harsh, low, constant sound. It never changed pitch, it just went on and on and on.

From what he could remember from the shows, this was not a good sign.

Cesca's body jerked into the air from the electric shocks which had just been sent straight into her. Luke's ears strained for a different sound coming from the machine in the corner.

After two more attempts, the machine still taunted him with that sound.

Francesca's heart had stopped beating.

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Brooke looked up at Lucas; his body started to shake and she could see the tears which poured down his cheeks.

Brooke did the only thing that she could think of doing. She reached up to him and brought his head down to hers. She held him, worried that if she let go, he'd fall and break into a million pieces.

He had been there for her earlier that evening, and now she was going to do the same. She had to be there for him. Even if he hadn't saved her before, she would still be doing the exact same thing that she was doing now.

Because she loved him. Lucas Scott had her heart, and she was pretty sure that she had his.

The two were interrupted by a kind woman's voice.

"Excuse me, are you here for Francesca Civourciani?" Lucas pulled himself away from Brooke and nodded, just before seeing this woman holding his son. He reached out yet the little boy shied away.

Brooke's heart broke for the young son and his father. They didn't even know each other yet they were going to be together for the rest of their lives. Whether they wanted to or not, they had been pushed together, and would have to live with the grief that they felt. The young boy did not know this yet of course, but he would one day and Brooke could tell from Luke's eyes that he was thinking the exact same thing.

He had wanted to be there for his son when Cesca left him, his heart hurt for the boy he had lost. He had a father who wasn't always the best for him and his brother, but he was there. And he didn't want Billy to grow up without one. But now he would grow up without a mother. And Lucas didn't know if he could look after such a precious object by himself.

The young boy soon became restless in his father's arms, and heart-wrenchingly pointed into the room which had torn his world apart.

"Mommy!" Lucas cried. He had not noticed the tears before, however now they were flowing faster than ever. His son had seen an image of his dead mother. Though he was so young, Luke had no idea whether this image would stick in his head for the rest of his life.

Brooke took Billy away from his father, she could see that he just needed to pull himself together before he could think of doing anything else.

He needed to say goodbye, however Brooke was not sure if he was going to be able to do that yet.

She slowly wandered away, soothing Billy in her arms. She never knew anything about babies, and she never thought that she would have to know when she was younger. She thought that she would do the exact same thing as her parents did. Hell, she thought that that was what every parent did to their children; left them with their nannies whilst they went on big expensive holidays. That was what hurt the most when she became friends with Peyton. Brooke found out for the first time what it was like to have a real family, and though the Sawyer family welcomed her with open arms, she knew that she was not a real part of the family.

Her family just didn't want her.

As she became older, she vowed that she was going to be a better mother than her parents had been, yet this part of her had been buried inside, the lowest layer out of all that she had built up around herself. Underneath all the crap that everyone else saw.

But now. Now was her chance to show to everybody that she could be a good mother. She wouldn't want to replace Francesca as Billy's mother, yet she could fulfil the role that Francesca was supposed to take.

She couldn't let Billy, the gorgeous little boy in her arms not have the best life tat he could possibly have, even after the tragedy that he was experiencing at such an early age.

She would be there for Billy and for Lucas. She'd be there to watch Billy play basketball, or football, or soccer. Whatever he wanted to do. She'd be there. She'd messed up enough times in her own life to know that she had to do the best that she could for this little boy.

Brooke walked up to the telephone. She knew Haley wouldn't want to talk to her, yet she also knew that both Haley and Nathan would want to be at the hospital for Lucas.

At this point she forgot all about how hurt she would be if Haley did in fact blank her once she entered the hospital, all she could think of was how they needed to help Lucas.

If they all weren't careful, they could completely lose Lucas forever. Not the whole of his body, but the Luke that lies inside. He could die in this hospital, and his fate would be worse than Cesca's. Because he'd have to live with it.

The numbers came to her easily, she had dialled Haley's number so many times that now she didn't even have to think about it.

But then it struck her. What if Haley didn't want to pick up the phone and left it?

What if it was her actions from the past which made two of the people closest to Lucas not be there when he needed them?

Brooke's heart raced as she heard the ring through the phone repeat again and again.

It was on the tenth ring that a voice answered. But it wasn't Haley.

"Nathan?" Brooke guessed that Haley had forced him to answer, knowing that it was her. It hurt, but at least somebody had answered the phone. For the first time in the hospital, Brooke broke down in tears. The sobs shook her shoulders so hard that she nearly dropped both Billy and the phone.

"Brooke? What's wrong? Tell me, what's happened?" Brooke knew it was unfair to keep Nathan waiting for the answer however she just couldn't form the words.

That would make it all too real. And Brooke Davis could never deal with things that were real. Brooke had never liked Cesca, that was true, however it was because she could see the way that Luke still looked at her. Even though he was annoyed at Cesca for leaving him, she could still see the love that was in his eyes. And that hurt her more than anything else ever could. But still, Brooke didn't want anything to happen to Cesca. She was like her in a way. They were both feisty… and…

"Brooke, tell me what has happened." This shook Broke back into the present.

"N-n-nate… I… uh … am - we - we… hospital… Lucas… Cesca… die….." Nathan only made out the words hospital, Lucas and die. With those three words firmly planted into his mind, Nathan was already out of the door and heading to the car.

"Lucas is at the hospital? Oh god Brooke, you really need to tell me what has happened." Brooke shook her head madly, for a second not realising that he couldn't see her.

"No no no, Nathan, it's Cesca. Cesca's dead." The line went dead and Brooke collapsed onto the seat beside her. Never had a phone conversation exhausted her so much, and she had once been involved in a three way conversation with Haley and Peyton one night which had lasted for four hours.

Minutes passed silently, Billy soon becoming accustomed to being in Brooke's arms. She was glad. At least he couldn't feel the pain that was being emitted from the room.

There were people crying everywhere. Some were bleeding, some had scars covering their bodies. Some were just like her, crying for the loss of somebody else.

Everybody in the room was hurting in some way, and when put together that hurt was simply magnified.

The screams and shouts merged into the tears and cries of others, the sound would not cease.

And there was nothing that Brooke could do. Billy was looking round bewilderingly at the people, probably wondering how so much noise could be coming from just one place.

Yet he still didn't realise why all the people were making so much noise. He probably didn't know that these were not shouts like that at a birthday part, but were filled with grief, with anger, with pain.

And Brooke was in the middle of it all, the pain being absorbed into her skin, suffocating her until she could hardly breathe.

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Lucas looked at the beauty which had been taken from the world. Beautiful was an understatement. Her golden skin which usually reflected the sun was now trying in vain to radiate the same colour from the lights in the room, yet the greyish tinge appearing on her surface slowly began to spread.

And like the first time she had left him, there was nothing that he could do. He'd tried to call after her, scream at her, but he knew that in reality nothing would work. She was not coming back. And this just set the guilt in motion that was now consuming his every fibre of being. Was Cesca the love of his life? Judging by the pain he was feeling at that very moment, he could say that yes, she was. She was the one who had first caught his eye, had shown him how to feel, how to love. She had been the one who had given him the most precious gift that anyone could give. New life. A son. A son who was going to grow up to be happy, Lucas was sure that that was going to happen. He would not rest at night if his son was happy.

His son was now everything to him.

Lucas looked down at the fingers that he was so desperately clinging on to. He had wanted one of those fingers to be clad in a beautiful ring, yet when he had announced this to her, she had laughed it off, declined. Lucas closed his eyes with the sheer pain of what he was feeling. Maybe… just maybe if she had said yes, then he would have been able to protect her, they would be a family right now, either watching one of Billy's favourite shows, maybe the Tweenies, a favourite of his when he had grown up in England. Or they could have been watching ER, and he wouldn't be sitting at the side of one of the dead, he'd have just been trying not to watch.

Nothing would or could ever be okay again. Too much had happened. She was never coming back. If he had one wish right now it would be for her to come back. And if he needed to bargain, he would have gladly given up himself if she could come back to walk the Earth. She was needed more than him. He wanted so badly to look after Billy, but he didn't know how. Cesca knew, and that was why she needed to be back. She needed to look after his son, their son. Because Billy needed the best life he could possibly get.

A straight faced nurse told Luke that he needed to leave. Leave the love of his life. The last time that he would ever get to see her. Those curls, those eyes, those lips.

Just her.

He'd miss her.

Luke stood to the side as they covered up his beauty and wheeled her away. Down to the mortuary. He had never been to one, however he had heard that they were cold. He was not sure if they would be as cold as he was at that very second.

He had never known what it was like to lose somebody that you loved. He had heard about it before, had seen people outside churches, all dressed in black, the ladies crying, the men sombre. But he had never imagined that it would happen to him.

He had always thought that he was invincible. Nothing could ruin the perfect life that he had. But something had come and wrecked it far more than he ever expected.

Lucas soon realised that he was no longer alone in the room. The beautiful brunette that he had recently come to love was standing there holding his child.

She looked so perfect, so calm. But how could she be calm? Cesca was gone.

And how could she hold his son, his and Cesca's son without feeling any guilt. Billy wasn't hers. Now, Billy only had him. And that was because of her. She was the reason that Cesca had gone.

If Brooke wasn't there, he'd never have left her whilst he went on some stupid road trip; if he hadn't been with Brooke then he would have talked to Cesca rather than telling her to go away.

This was all down to Brooke, and then she had the nerve to go and stand by his side, holding his son?

Lucas took Brooke off guard and grabbed Billy away from her.

"Be careful baby, don't hurt him!" Lucas scowled at her.

"How would you know how to look after my son? How can you dare to come and take my child away from me whilst I am mourning the woman I love in this place. It's just him and me right now. Us against the world. So can you please keep away from him… and from me. Because right now I am thinking that if you had never been here then I would never have lost Cesca and I would not be in the situation that I am in right now." Brooke started to speak yet her voice faltered, how could he say all this to her when all she wanted was to be there for him? She was prepared just to let everything go and be there for him and Billy. But he couldn't see that. How could he not see that?

"Luke. I am trying my goddamn hardest just to be here for you. I know you are hurting right now, so, so bad. Let me help you out with this, okay? Don't shut me out. I've given you my heart Luke, so can you please give me yours back?" Brooke had now choked up and the tears were starting to fall. She had given him her all, but she knew that he wasn't giving his all back. She knew what it was like, Peyton was exactly the same. But she needed him to need her. She needed him to want her, to love her.

But Lucas looked straight past her. It was as though he did not even see her. The woman he said that he loved only the night before. And now she seemed to be gone. Out of his heart, out of his mind…

Lucas walked past her holding his son in his arms. He didn't even spare her glance. He left her, in a room that was so cold, so full of grief. Of death.

Surrounding her were the machines which tried to save peoples' lives. The machines which so often failed. And there was nothing that she or anyone else could do about it.

She was alone in the room. He'd left her standing so cold and alone, it was only her.

Just her.

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So there is another chapter.

And don't hate Lucas… think about it, his first love is dead, he's going to be confused right now and he won't be able to think straight. So yeah…

So I want to know what you think about this! So review please, love you all!

xxx