First off, thank you for all the wonderful reviews they really make me smile. And secondly I know absolutely nothing about medicine so I'm sorry if things aren't accurate.

Chapter 4

Sheer pandemonium broke out, people dove for cover into the pews of the church, screaming in fright. Yet he only saw her, her life quickly ebbing away.

"No!" he demanded. "Not again dam it. I just got you back, you do not get to leave me again, do you hear me? You do not get to leave me."

Lucas had fallen to the ground with her in his arms, he gently stroked her cheek, while her blood soaked through his once crisp white shirt. "Peyton, please, please baby stay with me". He pleaded in vain, but she could no longer hear him.

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The next hour or so was a blur, an ambulance had appeared, paramedics had rushed to his side and taken her out of his arms bundling her into the waiting ambulance into which he too jumped desperate to remain by her side.

He was now sitting in the sterile, empty waiting room on an uncomfortable plastic chair, his head in his hands, waiting in vain for some news, any news.

The doors suddenly burst open; Brooke flew in closely followed by Nathan and Haley. They had been held up at the church with police taking their statements and making sure that Jamie was ok after his ordeal.

"Tell me that was who I think it was" Brooke demanded harshly "Lucas!" she shouted when she received no response from the blond man.

"Huh?" Lucas said sitting up straighter in the chair, he had been so involved in his own thoughts that he had not even heard his friends enter. "How's Jamie?" he asked not really looking at anyone.

"What the hell..." Brooke lunged at him but was held back by Nathan. It was Haley who answered him.

"He's fine Luke. He's with Deb and your mom" She reassured him quickly to which he responded by absently nodding his head. "Lucas..." Haley asked carefully approaching him and gently reaching for his hand silently demanding that he look at her "Was that Peyton at the back of the church?" She was almost scared to ask the question that was on everybody's minds.

"Yeah" was his only answer.

Brooke gasped, her knees buckling under her, Nathan only barely managing to hold her up. Everyone in the room fell into a stunned silence, even Haley could not find any words.

"What happened, where is my ?" Brooke's request was much softer this time barely able to contain her sobs.

Lucas finally looked up at his friends, if only briefly. "She was shot. She was...God she was so pale...they took her into surgery as soon as we got here." A sob broke from the depths of his throat. "What if she dies?"

Brooke was by his side in seconds embracing him in a fierce hug. "She won't" She said with conviction. Before he could protest she continued "Its we're talking about, that girl is a fighter, she has been through so much crap in her life but she always pulls through. She came back to us didn't she?" She asked rhetorically "She is going to come back to us again."

"I don't think I could survive if she doesn't make it." Lucas mumbled against Brooke's hair.

Everyone's heart was breaking not only for the blond girl who had been gone for so long but also for the broken blond man sitting in the chair who was clearly still desperately in love with her.

Seconds became minutes, minutes becoming hours, time passed at an excruciatingly slow rate for the young friends sitting waiting on news of their friend.

Hayley started speaking simply to fill the silence that was encompassing them all. "I can't believe this. How did today go to hell? To think I trusted that woman with my family, with my son, that son of a..." She took a deep breath as Nathan's hold around her strengthened. "I swear to God when I get my hands on her..."

"He got away?" Lucas enquired his voice raw.

It was Nathan who answered him "Yeah she got away in the panic, the police are looking her for but God knows where she is now."

Finally the door opened interrupting the tense conversation and a weary looking surgeon entered removing his scrub cap. "Peyton Sawyer?" he called out. Lucas immediately rose from his chair approaching the doctor, Brooke followed placing a comforting hand on Lucas' arm not only for his benefit but for hers too.

"We were able to remove the bullet and we repaired the damage as best as we could, but the damage was extensive. The bullet nicked a number of organs and Miss Sawyer suffered massive internal bleeding. I'm afraid that there is no guarantee that she will pull through the night." The doctor looked at the distraught face of the young man before him and signed "All we can do is wait, wait and pray."