The game had a weird sense of intensity, which was a lot different than the typical games. Things seemed a lot harder not to mention tense and had been like that off the court in the days leading up to this game. Nathan was coming close to beating a personal record of Dan's and apparently Daddy dearest was being a pain in the ass' about. Effy didn't know as she was making a conscious effort to stay out the way of her father path as she wasn't really in the mood to be chatting with him at the moment. Cheering along at the sidelines, Effy watched the game with eager eyes as she quite liked basketball although she had to pretend otherwise given who she lived with and how Dan's world practically revolved around basketball to the point where it had taken over the majority of his life. Waving her pom poms around, Effy kept up her cheery cheerleader peppiness which was a requirement of being a cheerleader as she watched Nathan lose his cool over something. This was nothing new to Effy as the last few days Nathan had been in a permanent bad mood which Dan had clearly played some role in. Effy knew to stay away from it all and knew that her brother would cool down with some time so she left Nathan to it as Effy knew better than to deal with Nate when he was in a bad mood.

As the clock resumed on the score board after a time, Lucas passed the ball to Nathan who caught it but didn't do anything. He kind of stood still yet he was leaning backwards and Effy shared a look with Peyton as that was weird and straight away she knew something was wrong. Nathan wasn't standing properly, there with this odd look in his eyes and he seemed so spaced out and confused. Then it happened. Right in front of Effy's eyed did Nathan dropped the ball and collapse to the ground and in that moment Effy's heart jumped out of chest. She didn't wait to see whether Nathan would get back up and shrug the whole thing, instead Effy dropped her pom poms and started to run over to her brother as he laid on the ground unresponsive.

"Nate! Nathan!" Effy called out as she inched closer to where Nathan was laying but before she reached him, someone grabbed Effy from behind and pulled her away before she could get any closer. Effy tried to resist but the harder she fought back, the tighter whoever it was behind her held on.

"Effy, no!"

"Lucas, look at him! He's not moving!" Effy wailed becoming more and more hysterical as she watched Nathan who was yet to respond and was now surrounded by several people which didn't make Effy feel any better in the slightest.

"He'll be okay Effy, an ambulance is on his way and Nathan will be just fine…" Lucas said in a soothing manner as he pulled Effy into a hug but she didn't reply, she couldn't reply not until she knew Nathan was okay and right now he was the furthest thing from it. Time seemed to pass by real slowly, it seemed like it took forever for the paramedics to show up and load Nathan on to a stretcher. Effy's nerves were gone, they weren't even on edge, she was basically just running on fuel that consisted of fear and adrenaline Effy couldn't remember leaving the gym or driving to the hospital, all she could remember was Nathan laying on the ground and Effy kept playing that image over and over in her head even when she was waiting in the hospital. Effy was so worried that she had to grab Dan's hand and squeeze it several times because she was that scared.

Eventually the doctor came out and said that they could see Nathan who was finally starting to come round and they were led to a hospital bay where Effy saw her brother laying in a bed, somewhat groggy and not completely awake or focused yet. But he was conscious and better yet, alive and Effy had never been so happy to see Nathan in her life.

"Easy son, you're okay." Dan began when Nathan was finally fully awake and Effy smiled weakly at Nathan, trying her hardest not to cry because of how relieved she was to see him awake. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah" Nathan responded as relieved to hear him talking, Effy took his hand and gently squeezed it.

"You collapsed during the game." Effy told him with a small smile as it was pretty clear that Nathan was confused as to what was going on and how he ended up here at the hospital. Even after Effy had told him what had happened, she could see that Nathan was surprised by what she was telling him but before he could say anything, the doctor came over to them.

"Nathan, how you doing?"

"I have to piss." Nathan wearily stated and Effy found herself laughing, glad to see that Nathan still had his sense of humor about the whole thing, even if he didn't recall anything that had gone on.

"You were severely dehydrated, we had you in these ice packs because you're body temperature was very high. Now I need to ask you a few questions about the supplements you're taking… Benzedrine? Mephedrine? Anabolic steroids? Anadrol, Dianabol?" The doctor questioned and for each one Nathan just shook his head. "Err okay, what about Speed? Cocaine? Ecstasy?"

"Hey doc, he's an athlete not a junkie, okay?" Dan interrupted.

"He's also a kid." The doctor responded in a curt and polite manner but the look that Effy saw in her father's eyes meant that he wasn't going to a back down on this as Nathan's reputation was on the line and it meant more than anything to him. But Effy didn't care about Nathan's reputation, he could be the lowest thing on the social totem pole and he'd still be her brother, Effy was more concerned with Nathan's health and the doctor seemed concerned that he had been using steroids which explained a lot about his recent aggressive behaviour.

"True, but he's my kid. So why don't you play a little more doctor and a little less detective"

"Mr. Scott, can I talk with you?" The doctor questioned before heading out into the hall

"Listen to me son, you're going to be fine, okay. You hit it a little hard lately, but we'll back it up a notch or two and you'll be good as new. Hell the scouts won't even remember this, come post season" Dan stated to Nathan before leaving with the doctor and Effy watched the visible sigh of relief that come over Nathan because Dan had left the two of them.

"Hey Nate, you really had me going back there…" Effy quietly said before sighing as now it came the hard part, she needed to ask the difficult question which Nathan had already answered but Effy was convinced that her brother had been lying. "Nate I am not Dan and I am not the doctor but you need to tell me the truth, were you using steroids?"

"I need to get out of here…" Nathan replied after a moment which all but confirmed Effy's suspicions. Nathan had been using steroids and she wanted to throttle him for being so stupid, which made the fact that they were at the hospital a good thing. But Effy sighed as she couldn't do anything, tonight had probably been a big enough scare to steer Nathan straight but that didn't mean that he wouldn't get a lecture off her.

"Nate…"

"Please Eff…" Nathan pleaded and Effy felt herself caving and taking a deep breath she looked over her shoulder to see that Dan had finished talking to the doctor and was now on the phone to someone.

"Fine… But when you get home, you're telling me the truth and I mean everything Nathan." Effy firmly stated and Nathan nodded his head and once they had agreed that Effy helped Nathan out of his bed before going into her bag and pulling out her purse and handing Nathan some cash. "Here's $40, this should be enough to get you out of here, wait two minutes after I've left before going otherwise Dan will kill me if he knows I've helped you."

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet Nathan…" Effy wearily replied before taking her leave and heading to the toilets where she idly stood around for five minutes before she returned to the ER where she found not only Dan but her mother as well – who was freaking out about the whole Nathan thing for good reason especially since Nathan was gone. When asked if she knew where Nathan had done, Effy told the truth and said she had no idea as it was the truth as she had only given him the money to take off, she never asked where he was going. Effy watched as both her parents tried to call Nathan but it just went to voicemail, no doubt because his belongings were still in the gym and so eventually they had to leave and head home. The ride home was a bit of a blur, Effy was too tried to really thing as it had been a very long day both mentally and emotionally. All she wanted to do was go to bed but the moment she stepped through the front door her parents started arguing much to Effy's dismay so she headed upstairs. But when she reached the top of the stairs, she didn't head down the hallway to her bedroom instead she sat down and listened to her parents who going at it. Thinking that she was upstairs in the confines of her bedroom

"I tried to call you, but you weren't answering your phone."

"Because I ran out of the café, with nothing but my car keys and the fear that my son was dying!" Deb yelled.

"Oh and that's my fault?" Dan retorted.

"After Haley walked in, how long was that Dan? 20 minutes after Nathan collapsed, a half hour, maybe?" Deb demanded and Effy felt this terrible ache in heart, she didn't know why but it felt so heavy. This was not how things were meant to be, sure Dan was a crappy parent and Deb was constantly absent but the arguing had never been like this before. It had never been this bad.

"My first concern was for Nathan, you're overreacting" Dan rationalizes.

"Oh, I'm overreacting that my son almost died and my husband didn't see fit to call?" Deb yelled and Effy could her mother pause for a moment. "Where is he Dan? He could be anywhere, he could be unconscious!"

"Get a hold on yourself, the doctor says he's out of harm's way"

"Well the doctor was wrong, because as long as you control him the way you do, he'll be in harms way." Deb yelled and Effy just nit her lip, she wanted to move, run as fats as she could so she could no longer hear any of this but she was frozen to the stop.

"Oh, okay I get it, I'm to blame. It's got to be my fault"

"Yeah!" Deb yelled.

"But you consider this lady, if you weren't off helping your little friend Karen, her café you might have been there for him, like I was."

"You smug son of a bitch, I want you out of this house." Deb said and Effy wasn't sure how to react to the fact that her mother was kicking her father out of the house. For some reason relief wasn't what Effy was feeling.

"Deb…" Dan began.

"I said, get out!"

"It's been an emotional night." Dan reasoned.

"No Dan, it's been a night of clarity and it's time for you to go." Deb firmly stated.

"It's my house."

"Fine then, I'll go but either way the kids stay with me." She says

"Don't do this." Dan asked.

"I'll say it one more time Dan, pack a bag and get out, or so help me god I'll stab you in your sleep." Deb firmly stated offering and ultimatum and Effy couldn't believe what she was hearing, her mother had just threatened to kill her dad if he didn't leave. "And you better pray that my son is okay!"

"Do you really think that Nathan and Effy will chose you over me?"

"After the debacle of you telling your own daughter that you never wanted her, I am certain that Effy would chose you over me in a heartbeat and Nathan will come with her." Deb snapped and then everything went silent and Effy ran her hands over her head and when she looked up Effy saw her mother who looked shocked over the fact that Effy had overheard everything. But before her mom could say anything Effy scrambled to her feet and ran to her bedroom.

Effy sat in the corner of room, sitting in the dark with her legs against a chest and her arm wrapped tightly around her legs wishing the world would just go ahead ad end already. She was exhausted and her nerves were wracked but Effy couldn't sleep no matter how much she tried, her head was ringing and it felt like it was almost on fire and despite her best efforts to shut herself off from the rest of the world, it seemed like nobody got the message. Her phone kept ringing, no doubt from friends calling about Nathan to find out how he was doing, it was a nice sentiment but Effy just couldn't deal with it right now. There was also her parents and whatever was going on after that mammoth argument and her mother kicking Dan out the house. Effy knew she should probably be happy about that, but she wasn't. In fact she was the furthest from happy about it. Deb had come up a few times but each time she had come in to check on her, Effy just wailed at her mother to leave her alone and eventually Deb got the message. There was still nothing from Nathan, Effy had god knows no idea where on earth her brother was, which was another problem to add to her intensive list. It was all too much for her, it was like she was drowning on dry land and there was nothing that she could do about it.

"Effy?"

Upon hearing her name, Effy looked up and got ready to yell at her mom to leave her the hell alone but as she looked at her bedroom door which had slightly creaked open, she saw that it wasn't Deb standing on the other side of the door. It was Jake. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom called me, she said that your really upset and that you wouldn't talk to her so she thought you needed me." Jake quietly said as he turned on Effy's beside table before shutting the door behind him and walking over to Effy before sitting down right beside her and then there was silence. Nobody said anything and Effy appreciated the silence. That was one of the things that Effy loved most about Jake, was that he never pushed her on things, he would sit here and wait until she felt ready to talk.

"I keep seeing it… I keep seeing Nathan laying on the gym floor unresponsive, no matter how much I try to not think about it, but that memory is inside my head and playing in my head on a constant loop. No matter how hard I try to not think about it… I keep telling myself that Nathan is fine, that I've spoken to him but that doesn't work." Effy quietly murmured. "God forbid something worse could have happened to Nathan I don't know what I would do, sure we argue a lot and I call him practically every name under the sun but he's my brother. My twin brother and I'm not Effy without him around…"

"But like you just said yourself Effy, Nathan is okay." Jake told her in a reassuring manner and Effy knew she couldn't tell Jake about the steroids. Sure he was her best friend and her boyfriend but there was something she couldn't tell her and the steroids thing was one of them. Effy ruefully shook her head as things were far from okay, things were a damn mess.

"N-No things are not okay, we came home and my mom and dad started arguing like I've never heard them before. They were yelling at the top of their voices and saying such terrible things to each other. Mom kicked him out of the house and then they were talking about who Nate and I would stay with, it was horrible Jake. I've never seen them like this." Effy sniffed, she was upset about the whole thing hence her calling Deb and Dan by the parental titles and she was shaken up about the whole. Sure her parents argued by never like this and outright insinuated about divorce and custody then the thing with Deb threatening to stab Dan in his sleep if he stayed in the house. Effy knew her home life had never been normal or perfect but this was something else entirely, it was like her whole family were falling apart tonight and Effy didn't like it in the slightest. It felt like she had no control over in the slightest.

"Your parents were probably just caught up in the heat of the moment because of everything that has happened with Nathan."

"No, things have been changing here for the worse and after tonight I had packed my bags and I was ready to run as fast as I can and never look back." Effy said chocking on her words as she glanced over at her bedroom window to where her skateboard, backpack and a small duffle bag were waiting. And glancing at Jake, Effy could see the shocked look in his face over that revelation, clearly he hadn't expected her to do something that drastic. But for Effy it wasn't drastic for her, it was a solution for her to finally be free from the madness of the house that she lived in. At first Jake didn't say something, instead he stood up and turned to Effy and held his hands out to her, after a brief moment Effy gave her hands to Jake and he pulled her up to him.

"If you ever feel like that, like you want to run away I want you to call me first Effy, no matter what the time is. I am here for you day and night."

"Jake–" Effy began.

"–Promise me, Elizabeth. Promise me that you will call me if you get that urge to run." Jake replied in a firmer manner and Effy slowly nodded her head.

"I'm just so tired Jake and everything is spinning out of control that I don't know what's going on anymore. I just want to be a normal teenaged girl but I can't be. I'm just a mess Jake, I'm falling apart and I have no idea who I am anymore." Effy sniffed and moments later Jake was wiping her tears away.

"Whatever is going on I know you will get through it as you are the strongest person I know and things may be hard but things will get better and even if they don't you have people who love you and will be by your side during the hard time. I know that you are going through a hard time and there isn't much I can do but I want you to remember that I will always see you as I will always know how you are and if there are days where you can't believe in yourself, then believe me." Jake assured Effy which just mad more tears come.

"I-I don't deserve you." Effy quietly mumbled as she buried her head into Jake's shirt.

"Other way round." Jake replied with a quiet laugh. "Your exhausted Eff."

"I'm always tired."

"You need to get some rest."

"Will you stay with me?" Effy questioned who looked up at Jake as she asked her question, although she had shut herself up in her room and ignored everyone in a desperate need to be alone, she didn't want Jake to leave. Effy wanted him here with her as when she was with Jake, she felt safe and protected whenever he was near by. Just standing this close to him, Effy felt a tiny but better. Some of the fear was slipping away and she could relax ever so slightly in his embrace. Sure Jake couldn't fix all the problems but he could make Effy feel a tiny bit better.

"For as long as you want." Jake replied with a small smile and so Effy quietly led Jake over to her bed and the two of them both kicked off their shoes and got on the bed and laid down and straight away Effy shuffled closer to him.

"Forever. I will always want you here."