Haley James Scott resisted the urge to run into her brother's arms and engulf him into a bear hug like she wanted to. She hadn't seen her brother in eight years, minus the occasional birthday and Christmas card he'd remember to send a couple months after the date. The baby of the family had so many unanswered questions that she needed answers to. Why did her brother distance himself from the family all those years ago? Why hadn't she seen him since the day he walked out of the James House? Her mind was running a mile a minute, and though she felt worthy of his attention, she knew Dean was on the clock and the long awaited confrontation would have to wait. Consequently, she breathed a sigh of relief knowing her brother was assigned to her friend's case. If anyone could find out who did this to Brooke, it was her older brother.
"Your brother?" Nathan asked his wife, his eyes switching between the two siblings. "What are you doing here in Tree Hill? Aren't you some big shot homicide detective in New York City or something?"
The man in question couldn't help his eyes from narrowing towards (who he assumed to be was) his brother-in-law. "If you'll excuse me, I'd appreciate it if we saved this conversation for a later time." His tone was firm and daunting while his facial features took up a slight scowl. The older man had a job to do, and he didn't have time to play twenty one questions with his little sister's husband.
Nathan didn't look too pleased by being dismissed, but Haley placed a calming hand on his arm, bringing his attention back to her. "Of course, Dean." She turned her eyes towards her husband this time as she spoke. "This can wait." Nathan sighed impatiently as he ran his free hand through his hair. He focused on his friend and was brought forced to face the reality of the situation. Brooke needed to come first.
"I'm sorry," he apologized whole heartedly to the other man, though his gaze remained firm on his friend.
Dean nodded his head back in acknowledgement, sending a silent thank you to Haley. He watched her offer him a meek smile before walking over to the side of the hospital bed. "Brooke, how are you feeling?" she asked as she gently took her friend's hand to clasp between her own.
Brooke winced at the sensation and a cool grin overtook her features moments later. "Like I've been hit by a car," she muttered distractedly. The brunette looked over to the detective and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Is that what happened?"
Dean stuffed his hands into the pockets of his slacks and shook his head no. "You were attacked at the store last night," he informed her in hopes of jogging her memory.
"What?" Nathan asked, clearly taken back by the admission. His gaze swung over to the beaten woman as he grimaced at her appearance. "Someone beat you up?" he asked incredulously. The idea of beating a woman was beyond anything Nathan could ever attempt to understand. The fact that his childhood friend was a victim of such violence did nothing but disgust him. "How could this have happened? Did someone break into the store?" He directed this question to his brother-in-law.
Under normal circumstances, Detective Winchester would refrain from offering any information in relation to an ongoing investigation. But if he knew his sister, his badge as on officer of the law would be useless to her twenty-one questions. He looked over to Brooke, prepared to ask her permission to go into further detail.
She nodded her head immediately, though the act itself brought a fresh onslaught of pain to her neck. "You can say anything in front of them. They're practically family."
Dean resisted the urge to scoff at the mere mention of family and nodded his head firmly instead. "There was no sign of forced entry which leads us to believe that either one, you knew the suspect and let them in knowingly, or two—"
"I left the door unlocked," she both finished and answered his unspoken question. She closed her eyes at the stupidity of her actions and groaned softly. She wanted to drag her hands across her face, but then she'd be reminded of the condition her body was in. "I'm such an idiot," she scolded herself.
"Brooke, you're not," Haley was quick to defend her friend. "You had no idea this was going to happen. We're in Tree Hill, for goodness sake—not New York."
Her eyes quickly opened as she braced her hands against the mattress of her bed. "My clothes, my store—was anything taken…"
The look on Dean's face alone was enough for her to know she'd not only been roughed up, but robbed on top of that as well. Granted, the chain wasn't as extravagant as her other stores in bigger cities across the nation, but Clothes Over Bros in Tree Hill was holding its own in her small hometown. It was never meant to be a replacement of headquarters, but Brooke found it easy to get work done in the shop formerly known as Karen's Café. The place held memories of the dreams she'd begun having while in high school. It was a place where her ideas ran wild, where she could stand behind the counter and design a custom made couture dress in record time. Someone had invaded and stolen goods from her home, and the thought alone brought tears to her eyes for the second time since waking up in the hospital.
"It's gonna be okay, Brooke," Haley attempted to comfort her friend. She took a seat on an empty space on the bed and rubbed her free hand over Brooke's. "It's just material things. They can be replaced."
Brooke shook her head as she willed her tears not to fall. Her lips thinned at the attempt as one lone tear slipped to trace a single track down her face. "You don't get it, Haley. Clothes Over Bros… that was my home. It was all I had…"
Haley opened her mouth to speak but stopped once she felt Nathan's hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him with a question in her eyes. His hand squeezed around her shoulder and he brought his attention to Dean. "Can I have a moment alone with Brooke… please?" he asked when it seemed like either sibling would protest.
"Mr. Scott, it's important that I speak with Ms. Davis while the memories are still fresh in her mind—"
"All right," Haley answered as her brother threw her a glare. "I'm sure Brooke will be okay to answer more questions once she has some time to herself," she said, offering her friend a reassuring smile. Her eyebrows furrowed together when Brooke refused to meet her gaze. She looked at Dean. "Besides, it gives us a moment to catch up."
Though every instinct in his body screamed not to leave the room, Dean nodded his head once and followed his sister out of the room. Nathan took the opportunity to have a seat in the same spot his wife just vacated. "You know I love you."
The random comment caused Brooke to look at her friend suddenly. She had no idea where this conversation was going, and the look on her face said just as much. "I love you, Brooke Davis. I've known you for more than half of my life, so I don't want to hear any bullshit about how your clothing store is all you've got going for you."
She opened her mouth to protest, but the words ceased to leave her lips when he fixed her with a glare. He held onto her hand with a tight grip. "Let's be honest. Your parents? Suck. They're so horrible that they almost give Dan a run for his money." He didn't stop when she managed a small smile at the comment. "For a long time, it was you, me and Peyton when we were kids. Do you remember that?"
Brooke smiled full on this time, a dimple making its presence known. "How could I forget? We were the three musketeers."
"You bet your ass we were," Nathan spoke firmly, no hint of sarcasm in his tone. "And eventually our family grew. Now we have Haley and Lucas on our side. We're one big family, Brooke… and if you keep on insisting that you're alone and you're the only one left out, I'm going to have to knock some sense into you."
She laughed at the thought, and his face took on a mockingly serious feature. "Don't doubt me. I am Dan Scott's son, you know."
The smile slowly faded from her eyes as she looked down at her hands. "Who would do something like this, Nate?"
Nathan shook his head and held onto both of her hands with his own. "I don't know, Brooke. I don't know." He paused to take a look at his wife and her brother a few feet outside the door. "But something tells me Haley's long lost big brother will be able to figure it out for all of us."
Outside, Haley rubbed at her arms nervously. It had been a while since she was face to face with Dean Winchester, her mother's first born. Though he often spent his childhood shifted from her house and his father's, Dean took care of her in a way that her sisters never wanted to. He was her knight and shining armor, protecting her from all sorts of evil. There was no bruise too small or no bully too big that Dean couldn't handle. She adored the ground he walked on, and the feeling was mutual.
After an argument spurred between their mother one night, Dean stormed out of the house and refused to come back. To this day, she still didn't know what the fight was about. She never knew the reason why her brother adamantly expressed his desire to never return to Tree Hill. His relationship with their mother had never been the same. Contact at first was a few phone calls and promises to hang out with Haley when he found the time. However, his promises became empty as the years passed on and the two siblings drifted apart. He'd never really gotten along with their sister Taylor, and Vivian and Quinn stopped all forms of contact with him the moment he'd walked out the door.
And now, here they were. Eight years later, and Haley didn't know how to break the ice.
"I don't appreciate what just happened in there, Hales."
Okay. That wasn't how she expected the conversation to go. "What?"
"You heard me," he replied almost instantly. He was sure to keep his voice low so that the gossiping nurses wouldn't hear their conversation. He schooled his features easily to repress the irritation he felt towards his sister. "I'm working," he reminded her, as if scolding a child. "I'm on strict orders to follow protocol, and here you are interrupting my job."
She stood staggered by the words that came out of his mouth. Apparently, a lot had changed in the time they'd spent apart. The happiness she felt earlier was slowly replaced with annoyance. She'd forgotten how impossible Dean could be. "Well, excuse me for wanting to give my best friend some time to process the fact that a man could not only beat her beyond the point of consciousness, but destroy the one place where she felt she had a home." Haley's cheeks tinted pink as her anger continued to get the best of her. "And I apologize, from the bottom of my heart, if I used her as an excuse to catch up with my brother, who I haven't seen in a little less than a decade."
He instantaneously mimicked her expression as he stared his sister down. Before a word could escape his lips, the two were interrupted by the ringing of Haley's cell phone. He scowled at her when she moved to answer it. "You know you're not allowed to use cell phones in the hospital—"
"Oh, shut up," she quickly scolded as she picked up the call, turning her body away from her brother. "Hello?"
"Hey Hales," came the weary response on the other line. Lucas picked up on his best friend's tone immediately and questioned her on her behavior. "..is everything okay?"
"Luke," she breathed on a sigh of relief. "Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you and Peyton all morning. She's not picking up either."
"She's actually here with me," he looked at his fiancé as he answered. "It's a long story, but basically we're… we're back together."
Haley managed a small smile as she closed her eyes, happy that her best friend had finally followed his heart. "That's great, Luke. I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, I'm happy, too. I actually bought tickets to Vegas last night and proposed to her over the phone," he hesitantly admitted.
"What?!" she screeched over the phone, placing a hand to her head. "Lucas, tell me you didn't get married without having us there or else, so help me God—"
"Relax, Hales!" he chuckled onto the line, sharing a smile with Peyton who'd just exited the restroom of their hotel suite. "We decided that we wanted to have a huge wedding back home in Tree Hill. It didn't feel right… eloping in the spur of the moment."
"Good," Haley breathed as she took in her surroundings, remembering the reason why she'd been trying to reach Lucas and Peyton in the first place. "Look, Luke. Something's happened."
"What's wrong, Hales?" he shared a look with his fiancé as the question came out.
"Luke… it's Brooke. She was attacked at her store last night."
"What?" Lucas asked, shooting upright from his bed as he held the phone closer to his ear. "What do you mean she was attacked? Is she all right?"
Haley sighed and rubbed at her temples with her free hand. "As far as we know, she's okay. She's pretty roughed up, Luke. She's a mess over the whole situation."
"Where are you?" he asked as he motioned for Peyton to collect what little belongings they brought for their trip. Though she carried a worried expression, she didn't ask what was going on and complied with Lucas' request.
"We're at Mercy Hospital," she answered once more.
"We're leaving right now," Lucas replied before disconnecting the phone. He filled in Peyton on their best friend's condition, and before they knew it, they were in a taxi heading back to the airport.
Haley snapped her cell phone shut and took a moment to collect herself. She braced her arms on top of the nurses' station counter and took a couple of deep breaths. Brooke was attacked. Lucas chose Peyton and whisked her away to Vegas for an impromptu wedding. And her brother was home and had changed into someone she couldn't recognize.
Once she realized she'd kept him waiting, her eyes opened and sought him out in the crowded hallway. When she drew her attention back to Brooke's room, she groaned as she watched him stand over her bed. So much for giving Brooke some space. She walked back in to hear her friend recounting what little she remembered of the night before.
"I was in a bad place," she admitted, her fingers twisting in knots on her lap. "I was really sad about stuff that happened earlier that day, so after I hung up the phone with Peyton, I lay down on the couch in my store and started crying." Brooke refused to make eye contact with the other patrons in the room. She knew Haley had walked in a short while earlier, but she was too embarrassed by last night's emotions to acknowledge anyone. "I heard a creak on the floor, and when I looked up… I guess I got hit or something."
She brought her hand up to the side of her left temple and felt a bump underneath her fingertips. "Right here," she whispered softly. "He hit me here, and I blacked out."
Nathan stood silently by Brooke's side, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. Haley remained silent as one arm crossed over her chest, the other hand pressed against her mouth. Dean seemed to be the only person without a reaction as he jotted down her statement in a notepad. "Did you see anything that could help us track him down?" he asked professionally. His baritone had dropped a pitch with Brooke's words, his only indication of emotion.
Brooke shook her head no. "I had tears in my eyes, so I couldn't really see a thing."
Dean nodded his head and scribbled down some more notes before standing upright and locking eyes with the brunette. "Okay. If you remember anything, no matter how small the detail, you be sure to call me, Ms. Davis."
"Brooke," she corrected him. She finally managed to make eye contact with someone and directed her gaze on Dean. "My name is Brooke, and I'd like for you to call me Brooke, Detective."
"All right," he answered with an appropriate grin. He was on the clock after all. "Then I'd appreciate it if you called me Dean, Brooke."
She gave him a soft smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Deal."
"Ms. Davis, how are we feeling?" a nurse asked as she walked in with the patient's chart in hand.
"Like I got beat up?" came the cheery response. The three visitors shot her surprised looks, bringing Brooke to laugh. "Come on guys, if anyone gets to joke around about the conversation, it should be the victim, don't you think?"
"Brooke, that's not funny," Haley spoke with concerned eyes.
"Sorry," she apologized. "So nurse woman," she said looking towards the nurse assigned to her. "When do I get to go home?"
The nurse looked over the notations made on her chart and shrugged. "I wouldn't have that information here. You'd have to wait until your Dr. Copeland is ready for you."
"Dr. Copeland?" Brooke asked surprised. "Isn't he a cardiologist?" she asked, panicked.
The nurse offered her a reassuring smile as she patted her leg over the blanket. "Dr. Copeland donates time to work in the ER once a month. He should be in shortly."
"He's already here," Dr. Ethan Copeland pronounced as he entered the room. He took the chart from the charge nurse and looked over to the woman he'd seen no less than twenty-four hours ago. "Brooke, how's the body feeling?" he asked sympathetically.
"Oh, you know—bruised and battered," she joked again. She ignored the glare Haley threw at her and spoke to her physician. "You're quite the hero, Dr. Copeland. Saving lives with free surgeries, donating time at the ER… can you fly, too?" she asked with a smile.
"No, I assure you I'm nothing special," he told her. He opened her chart and wrote some notes. "Feeling nauseated, light headed?"
"No," she replied. "Do I have a concussion?"
He shook his head. "Your test results came back earlier this morning, and you seem to be fine," he answered. "With any luck, you should be out of here in a couple of days. Three tops."
"Three days?" she groaned. "What's with the hold up?"
Dr. Copeland sighed. "Brooke, your body needs time to recover, and I'd really like for you to take bed rest seriously—"
"Fine, then I will in the comfort of my own home," came the stubborn response.
Her doctor let out a breath and clasped his hands together behind him. "Brooke, if you'd like to discharge yourself against my orders, that's your decision. I don't recommend it, but I'll relent on the sole condition that you have someone monitoring you for the next couple of days."
Brooke's eyes saddened at his words. "Peyton left town with Lucas…"
"It's fine. She'll stay with us," Nathan said immediately. He looked over to his wife for reassurance. She nodded at him as they turned to Brooke.
"Guys, I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You're not asking, we're offering," Nathan corrected her.
She hesitated before she spoke. "I… I don't want Jamie to see me like this."
Haley swallowed roughly before taking a firmer stance. "We'll explain to him what's going on," she spoke up.
Nathan nodded his head in agreement. "What do you say Davis? It's either this or more hospital time."
"Fine," she begrudgingly answered. "Thanks you guys. It really means a lot," she said softly.
Dean watched as both friends engulfed Brooke into a hug, reassuring her of her importance in their lives. He stood in the background and watched in silence. He figured now wouldn't be the best time to tell his baby sister he needed a place to stay.