Chapter Eleven

Lucas sat impatiently waiting for Brooke at his favorite French restaurant, La Petite Cherie. So far, everything worked out as planned. There were no problems with the reservations, although he was slightly late himself. That was the real reason he couldn't pick her up, he knew he'd be pushing time to get there himself. Today was the day he finally did it. For two years he had been drooling over a Ford F250 SuperCab but he could never get himself to go through with it. Time after time he made arrangements, drawing out plans for payment options and everything else that buying a car included, but he could never get himself to actually go to the dealership to but the damn truck. After Brooke woke up it, he realized that he needed to start living life, just as she needed to again. It was as if all his dreams were finally fitting into place.

But now he sat waiting for Brooke, who was already two hours late. Had she lost the address again? Was she avoiding him for some reason, or standing him up? Did something else come up? But he knew that Brooke wasn't avoiding him, and she would have called if it were the other two reasons. He started to get a little worried. Sure, Brooke had her times where she was late. She also wanted to look perfect, especially on special nights like this. But she was never this later. Never.

- - - - -

Brooke sat at the bus stop, head in her hands, sobbing. It was completely dark outside, and she had no where to go. She played all her options over and over again in her head. She couldn't call anyone because she was an idiot and didn't write down their phone numbers. She could call a cab to go anywhere, because once again she was ignorant and didn't write down any addresses. She walked back over towards the phone, praying that maybe something would come to her.

"Hey there beautiful," She heard a raspy voice behind her. She didn't turn around, afraid of who was there with her.

"I said 'Hey there beautiful.' Are you going to answer me, sweety?" he said again.

"No, actually I'm calling 911, so that you will get the hell away from me!" she hissed.

"Fine, honey, play hard to get." She could hear him walking away.

"God, help me." she whispered.

And then it hit her.

- - - - -

"Hello?" Karen answered.

"Karen, it's Brooke."

"Brooke, sweety. What's wrong?"

"Karen. I don't know where I'm at. Yours was the only number I could remember. Could you please give me Lucas' cell number."

"Sure, Brooke. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just scared."

"Ok, Brooke here's his number. 212-555-0564."

"Thank you so much Karen. So it's 212-555-0564?"

"Yep, that's it. Be careful Brooke, I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks Karen. Bye."

"Bye."

- - - - -

Lucas was relieved when he heard his phone ring, but was disappointed when he saw Out of Area on his caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Lucas, where are you?" she hissed.

"Brooke, where are you? I've been waiting for like two hours."

"Is this your idea of a funny joke? Lucas, I'm scared, hurt, and in really expensive shoes!"

"Brooke, what are you talking about. Why aren't you here at the restaurant?"

"Lucas, I gave the driver the address, and he did not take me to any damn restaurant!"

Lucas could hear the anger and fear in her voice.

"Brooke, something got seriously screwed up here. Just tell me where you are?"

"I don't know." she started to cry even harder.

"Ok, just look for a nearby street sign. I'm going to pay the waiter and get out to my truck."

"Lucas- don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere Brooke, I promise I won't hang up. I just wanted to let you know. Ok, now can you see any street signs?"

"Yeah, but it's too dark and I can't read it."

"Ok, well put the phone down, and get closer so you can read it."

"Lucass..." she whined.

"Brooke, it'll be ok. Just tell me so I can get there quicker." He made his way out to his new truck. He was so thankful he had paid extra for the On Star helpline.

"Ok, it's like the intersection of Lincoln and Long. Oh, Lucas the phone just beeped and I don't have any more quarters!" she was sobbing.

"Brooke, just stay in a well lit area. I'm on my wa-" he heard the phone click over.

Lucas floored on the gas pedal. He didn't care how many laws he was breaking, he just needed to get Brooke safe.

- - - - -

Brooke sat in the bus stop again, waiting for Lucas to arrive. She was shaking and shivering uncontrollably. She wasn't sure if it was the cold, her crying, or her nerves. Maybe it was a mixture of all three.

"Hey sweet thang. Miss me?" Brooke could see the man reapproaching.

"I thought I told you to get the hell away."

"Is that anyway to talk to somebody. Where did you learn your manners, girly?"

Brooke ignored him, hoping he would just leave her alone.

"You can keep ignoring me, honey, but I'm not going anywhere." he grabbed her wrist, turning her around to face him. She tried to release her arm from her grip, but he was clenching so hard it was leaving marks on her hand. She tried to kick him, but he twisted her arm, forcing her to the ground. He was behind her, and she could feel his hot nasty breath in her ear.

"Please, let me go." she cried, tears falling onto the ground.

"It's ok now, let daddy take care of you." As he said this, he licked the side of her face.

"Hey! Get the hell off of her." Brooke could faintly hear Lucas' voice, but felt the grip on her hands go lose. She heard a faint thudding noise, and everything went black around her.

- - - - -

She woke up about fifteen minutes later in a car she had never seen before. She looked over and saw a worried Lucas behind the wheel.

"Lucas." she said weakly.

"Oh, thank god Brooke. I was freaking out."

"Why did you have me go there Luke?" she was already crying again.

"Brooke, that is not where I wanted you to go. I swear." he saw her rub her wrist."Brooke, I am so sorry. I don't know how this happened. Do you need to go to a doctor or the hospital or something?"

"No, I'm fine. I just don't know how this happened." she whispered.

"I don't either Brooke, I swear. I gave you the address to this French restaurant. And I know I wrote down the right address because I called them to make sure I still had reservations."

"Luke, why didn't you just hand me the address earlier? Like when you saw me at your work." It really worried him how quiet she was.

"I don't know Brooke." In all honesty, he didn't know. "I guess I was trying to appeal to every situation. I knew you needed the address, but I really wanted to see you. But there was also the possibility that you could have came in and I could have been called away at a meeting. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, it does. I just don't know how I ended up there."

"I wish I knew, Brooke. Maybe the secretary gave you someone else's paper."

"No one would send anyone to that god awful place. Maybe someone switched it. Who at your work knew you were doing this for me tonight."

"A lot of people. I was really excited about it."

"Oh."

"Brooke, I'm so sorry. You have to believe I-"

"Luke, this isn't your fault. I guess someone out there really doesn't like me."

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Lucas gently holding her hand. He could hear he softly cry from time to time, but just held her hand tighter when she did.

"Luke, who's truck is this?"

"Oh. This was part of my surprise. I bought it today."

"Wow, Luke. It's really nice."

"Yeah. I've been wanting it for like two years. I guess I felt like all my dreams were coming true, so I had to tie the knot with something like this.."

"How so?"

"Well, I guess the biggest thing is you waking up, and being here with me. Agreeing to say and move in with me. It's all like a dream come true."

"I see... Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"It was my dream too."

"What do you mean, Brooke?"

"When I was in the coma, I wanted nothing more than to wake up, so I could see everyone again and be, well, alive again. But mostly, I wanted to wake up for you. Just so that I could tell that everything's ok, and just to let you know how I feel. It would have been my biggest nightmare to die without you knowing how much you mean to me."

Lucas squeezed her hand tight. They finally arrived at his apartment, and she went straight into her room. Lucas left her alone for the rest of the night, until it was almost 1:30 in the morning, and he was going to bed. He cracked the door to see if she had gone to sleep, but was surprised to find her sitting on her bed, softly crying.

"Brooke?"

"Lucas, when is all going to get better?" When is all the bad stuff just going to go away?"

He sat on the bed, and took her in his arms. They sat like that for several minutes.

"I don't know Brooke. But from here on out, I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. I promise you."

"You can't be there all the time Luke, it's not possible!" she was shaking again, and crying hardly to match the shaking.

"I know, but I can do as much as I can to know you're ok. I promised myself that if you woke up I wouldn't lose you again. That I'd never let anything bad happen to you. I'm sorry about what happened tonight, Brooke. I know there were a thousand different ways I should have done things."

"Lucas, I love you. So much." She looked up at him through tear filled eyes. "And I know that we're going to make it through, together. And there isn't going to be any more bad or dramatic or unfortunate things. It's just me and you. Together." She kissed him softly, and then fell back into his arms.

"I love you Brooke." He kissed her forehead, and laid down on the bed with her in his arms. He could hear her fighting sleep, and could feel her body twitching as she starting to fall through the layers.

"This is how I want to spend the rest of my days." She said." Safe, with you." He pulled her tighter. Together, they drifted off to sleep.

- - - - - -

Coming up...

Nathan's game!