Chapter 10

-there's a little summary in the beginning just to describe what's going on

As the giddiness of the state championship approached Tree Hill, many students couldn't wait for their school to finally bring home the state title. But some could care less. There was so much else going on that the championship game wasn't at the front of their brains.

Lucas sat in first period, staring at the empty seat in front of him. Brooke was absent yet again. He hadn't talk to her in awhile, and was beginning to get a little worried. He decided he would head over there after school to check up on her.

Haley and Nathan finally learned to deal with the trauma of losing their child. It had taken Haley a little longer, but in the end, Nathan had been there for her.

Peyton still wanted Lucas. But since he had turned her down, she was beginning to get over him. She hoped.

Mouth and Rachel continued their romance. She was really beginning to fall for him and didn't understand why.

As for Brooke, well she had made both Nathan and Haley promise not to say anything to anyone about the pregnancy. The reason she wasn't in school today was because she had yet another doctor's appointment.

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"Hello again Ms. Davis." the doctor said.

"Hello"

"How are we doing today?"

"I guess okay."

"Well, we did another check up and it looks like you are definitely pregnant. The baby seems healthy so far, but it is way too earlier to be sure. All we can say is that for you to continue to come back and get checked to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Is the father going to be involved?" Ah, the looming question. The father. But Brooke didn't know who the father was.

"Um…"

"I see, well it's always better if the father is involved but I understand if other circumstances have evolved."

"No, um….that's not the case. You see the thing is, I'm not exactly sure who the father is" she said ashamed of herself, that not only wasn't she careful, but that she didn't even know who she wasn't careful with.

"I see. Well we can always do a paternity test, but you would have to have someone in mind for that to work. And we would also have to wait for the baby to be born as well."

"Okay" have to wait? She didn't know if she could do that. She didn't know if she could even have the baby at all.

"Moving on to other things" the doctor began knowing that he had hit a sore subject "it seems that your disease has spread quite rapidly through your body."

"What does that mean?" she asked, switching emotions from shocked and confused to upset and scared.

"Well, it means that symptoms may start to show within the next few months, if not earlier. And it could also mean some complications through the course of your pregnancy."

"What kind of complications?"

"Well, you're more likely to have miscarriage. And you could also display more signs of pain, as well as a painful delivery. We would most likely have to do a C-section in that case, and there's also a possibility of a stillborn baby."

"Okay" Brooke exhaled as she was taking all this information in. What the hell was going on in her life? How could she have messed up so badly?

Tears began to swell at her eyes as the light on her future became duller and duller.

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"Hey Luke" Haley said as she passed him in the hall

"Hey Hales" and he reached in and hugged her "I'm so sorry to hear what happened"

"It's okay Luke, really, I'm healing" she said confidently

"I'm still sorry."

"Has Brooke talked to you recently" she said as she finally pulled out of his arms

"No, why?" he asked not getting more worried

"No reason, just wondering" she said, confused as to why she hadn't told him, any of it, yet.

"Hales, come on. You suck at lying. What's going on?"

"You just really need to talk to Brooke, Luke." and she walked away before he could say anything else.

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Peyton was sitting at her computer when she heard a knock at the door. She turned around assuming that Luke had come to talk about something. The surprise that a waited her was more than she could bear. She leaped up out of her chair and bolted into his waiting arms.

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Brooke opened her door to find Nathan standing in the doorway.

"Hey Nate, I wasn't expecting you."

"Yeah I know, just thought I would check on you, and maybe we could talk."

"Sounds great" she said as she let him in and they sat on the couch.

"So what's up?" she said

"Well, I just wanted to see how you were."

"I'm fine Nate, but I know that's not why you're here."

"I guess you're right."

"Nate, I talked to the doctor, and he said that I can perform a paternity test, when the baby is born, to find out who the father is."

"Okay" he said very uneasily

"But, I don't want to."

He looked up at her very confused. "Brooke?"

"Nate, I want to be with Lucas. I want to be everything with him. And this news would break his heart. I couldn't have that. So, I'm just going to tell him that it is his, no questions about it, no doubt."

"That's great Brooke, but…"

"No, Nate, this is what I want."

"Okay fine. If that's what you want." and he rose from the couch and left Brooke alone to wallow in her thoughts.

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