Disclaimer - Don't own anything, why is that? Cause Mark Schwahn does. Oh I'm not bitter, not one tiny little bit...maybe a huge big gigantic bit! But, you gotta love the guy he has gave us all the OTH Gang, and Bethany, who is just the best!

A/N - Thank's a whole heap to the people that have reviewed, (I'll pay you the money I promised you for them later) they were muchly loved, each and every one of them. Now if you dude's and dudette's keep this up, I'll love you all forever and ever! Now on with the chapter!

Chapter 5 - Well, Thinks Just Got a Little More Interesting.

Their lips were millimetres apart and they were getting closer every second. It was a defining moment.

"What the hell happened to my sister?"

And the moment was shattered.

Brooke so surprised at the interruption, jerked her head back and looked at the person in the door.

"Taylor." Haley stated, shocked at seeing her older sister standing in the threshold of her bedroom door.

Taylor was the last person she had expected to see, but no matter what, she would never get tired of seeing her big sister, even if she did happen to interrupt something.

xxxx

Stepping fully into Haley's room, Taylor took in her sisters appearance and her eyes widened dramatically. "Haley-Bub? Are you ok?" she whispered in shock.

"Tay!" Haley exclaimed happily and tried to smile, but it only seemed to aggravate her lip some more, causing her to winch.

"Is everything ok?" Brooke asked, noticing Haley's actions.

Moving her head to the side Haley remembered that Brooke was still there, it wasn't that hard to forget. 'God, if I just moved forward a little bit...' Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Haley tried her best to smile at Brooke.

"Uh huh, fine."

"Who are you? Did you do this to my sister?" Taylor accused Brooke, as her thoughts went into overdrive. 'My little sis is all cuts and bruises! Who in the hell did this, I'll kill them, no one messes with my family and gets away with it!' "Well, did you?"

"God, no! I would never hurt Haley! Never!" Brooke told Taylor venomly.

"Then who in the hell did?" she erupted.

"Taylor, calm down, I'm ok." Haley told her sister, the last thing she wanted was for Brooke to be blamed for something Nathan had done.

"Look at you! How could you possibly be ok? Have you looked in a mirror?" Taylor asked her fervently.

"Oh yeah, first thing I did was get up off my ass and check out how I looked. God knows I have to look my best, even when I'm hurt Tay." Haley replied sarcastically, and as much as Brooke tried to, she couldn't stop the small laugh that passed her lips at Haley's reply.

"This isn't funny! Look at her!" Taylor spurted out almost in a rage of her own.

"Brooke, have you met my overprotective, vigilant, bodyguard of a sister Taylor? If not there she is!" Haley remarked.

Looking over at Taylor, Brooke gave a small nod and a little wave.

Taylor acknowledged Brooke with a nod of her own, but her attention was still pretty much on Haley. 'Even when she's in pain, she'll still try not to make it about herself. Who in there right mind would want to hurt her? I'll bash there pretty little skull in, until it's ugly and deformed!' Walking closer to the bed, Taylor came to a stop when she was standing next to Haley, taking a hold of her hand, she sat down next to her sister. "Seriously sweetie, are you ok?"

"I've been better Tay, I just hurt more that I should." Haley told her quietly.

"Did you even think of taking her to the hospital?" Taylor asked directing her question at Brooke, who was sitting on the other side of Haley's bed.

"Uh..." Brooke faltered, being a little intimidated by Taylor's brashness. 'It's not like I was the asshole who did this to her, who physically beat her till she was unconscious, how did I suddenly become the bad guy?' She thought tot herself.

"Taylor, don't be mean," Haley admonished. "This isn't Brooke's fault. If anything she's the one that's helped me. She didn't need to, but she did. She wanted me to go to hospital, but I told her no, so would you please lay off her!" Haley finished in a warning tone, and a little breathless. 'Probably talking that much isn't the best thing to do Haley.' She told to herself.

"I'm sorry Brooke, but you can understand why I'm a little upset. I mean coming home to find my baby sister like she is. It isn't exactly the best homecoming is it?" Taylor reasoned.

"I completely understand. You know I should leave you guys alone. I'm intruding, I should go." Brooke told them both.

"No! Brooke, don't go! Please, stay?" Haley said to her grabbing a hold of her hand.

"Hales, I don't..."

"For me?" Haley asked her as she interrupted.

"Fine," Brooke relented. What was it about this girl that made it impossible to say no to her? 'You don't want to make her sad or unhappy.' An inner voice piped up, and Brooke could do nothing but agree.

"So who did this to you?" Taylor asked her sister.

"Why do you automatically expect, that someone has done this to me? I mean you know how accident prone I am, I could have simply fallen downstairs." Haley told her hypothetically.

"Haley, I'm a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them. I know you don't get that hurt by falling down some stairs. Especially not the face, look at your eye! I want to know. Hay, tell me please?"

"It was her boyfriend, turns out he's more of a dickhead than anyone thought. Didn't take to kindly to Haley bailing on him at school and got violent. He's idiotic like that." Brooke told Taylor, berating Nathan in the process. So she didn't have to hear Haley tell it, partly because Haley needed to save what energy she had, she knew that. But mostly because if she had heard Haley say it...she was liable to charge out of Haley's home, find Nathan and hurt him. She could wait for that, wait until Haley could talk without it being such an effort, till she knew that Haley was going to be ok.

"I hope you dumped his sorry ass!" Taylor told her little sister, hating the fact that an idiot hurt her Haley-Bub.

"Well, it's highly unlikely that I'm gonna welcome him into my arms again and tell him to do it again, am I Tay?" Haley told her sister, only to end up coughing as the pain from her numerous injuries creeped up on her again.

"Doesn't she have a killer sense of humour or what?" Taylor asked Brooke deadpan.

Brooke nodded her head distracted, as she moved closer to Haley. "I think we should get you to the hospital, so someone can look you over, and I'm not taking no for an answer this time Haley." Brooke told her with a half smile.

"Do I really have to?"

"Yes," Both Taylor and Brooke chorused at the same time.

"Fine," Haley said giving in, much like Brooke had moments before.

Standing up off of the bed, Brooke reached into her jean's pocket and pulled out her car key's.

"Hey Tutor Sis, go start the car up and I'll help Haley down to it." Brooke instructed, taking charge and flinging the keys to Taylor.

"But..." Taylor started to protest, then seeing the look that Brooke was giving her decided against it. "Ok," she mumbled and headed out, leaving Haley and Brooke alone in the room.

"You know if I was a guy, I could just scoop you up into my arms and carry you all the way to my car, but alas I lack the upper body strength for such a classy gesture. So you're gonna have to work with me ok?" Brooke told her. "Can you sit up, or is it sore?"

"It hurts my ribs, like a pain is shooting through them, and I get kinda dizzy." Haley explained. "But I think I can manage it." Leaning forward, under Brooke's watchful eye, Haley slowly sat up into a sitting position, releasing out a breath as one of her arms held her up.

"Are you ok, it hurts doesn't it, you should lay back down and rest..." Brooke began.

"No Brooke, I'm ok. It only hurts when I breath." Haley told her with a humourless laugh. "I just need a little help standing up, can you help me?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Brooke told her with a smile, moving to stand in front of Haley. "Come on." She told her leaning in, putting her arms around Haley in almost a cuddle like fashion. Taking in a breath, Brooke pulled Haley into a standing position, but she couldn't escape the aroma that surrounded Haley like a scent to a flower. If you asked her to describe it she couldn't, it was just simply Haley, and she couldn't get enough of it.

Pulling back slightly she looked into Haley's eyes and saw that she was in some sort of pain. "Are you ok?" Brooke whispered.

"I can honestly say I've felt better," Haley replied, staring into Brooke's eyes. Does she have a magnetic pull or something, I swear I can never look away.

"Uh, we...we should head down to...to the car," Brooke stuttered. Why do I act like an idiot when I'm around her?

"Yeah, to the car." Haley agreed in a whisper, her eye dropping to Brooke's lips, noticing her tongue snake out and wet her lips. Was I meant to find that sexy? Looking back up her eyes caught Brooke's again, and she couldn't stop herself from moving in, she didn't want to stopherself from leaning closer. I'm going kiss her! Am I meant to be this anxious?

Holy carp! She's leaning in, what do I do? Breath Brooke, you've done this plenty of times before! With a girl? Well yeah, that's new. It's Tutor Girl though, I'm going kiss Haley. Haley. Wow.

This was it, this time was it, no interruptions, intrusions. Just a kiss. Lips on lips. A kiss.

If only it were that simple, big sisters, more specifically Haley's big sister, Taylor had an impeccable timing for ruining such moments just like this. The honking of the horn was the interruption, Haley and Brooke didn't want. As the sound was heard, they both pulled back fast, like they had been caught with there hand in the cookie jar.

"Impatient isn't she?" Brooke stated with a sigh. Damn it!

"At the most unwanted times too." Haley told her. You're dead Taylor. Dead.

And those were the thoughts they were thinking as they headed downstairs, with Brooke holding onto Haley tight supporting her till they safely got to the car, and on the way to the hospital, Brooke still never let her hold on Haley go until the doctor came.

xxxx

Sitting in a waiting room, was the single most boring, fearful thing on plant, or so Brooke thought. The walls were a metallic white, and the smell was rank at best. She wondered why they couldn't paint the hospital wall, some vibrant color, that appealed to everyone, even soothed them if they were nervous, and had no one is hospital heard of a thing called an air freshener? The smell alone, would be enough to put someone into a coma.

When they had arrived at the hospital, Haley had been taken to a private room, to be looked over by a doctor. As Brooke, watched Haley being taken down the corridor of the hospital, she couldn't help but think one thought that turned into an inner battle of her own thoughts.

'I hope she's going to be ok," Was Brooke's first thought.

'Tutor Girl's gonna be fine, she's tough.' Was the inner reply.

'Yeah, she's a tough nut,' Brooke agreed with herself.

'Tough cookie, that's the saying.' The inner voice corrected.

'O...k, this is getting kinda weird.' Brooke told herself.

'Having conversations with yourself usual are, it sure isn't the first sign of sanity that's for sure.' The inner voice pointed out.

'I'm stopping this now, pushing it way out of my mind.' Brooke vowed.

'Won't work. Just like pretending that almost kissing Haley didn't happen either, cause it did.'

'Heat of the moment.'

'Right,' Brooke's inner voice dawdled out. 'Heat of the moment! That's it! It's not like it happened more than once...oh, oh yes it did! Twice is what you're looking for sweetie, two times, both your lips almost touched, so don't heat of the moment me...you...us!' Her inner voice mocked.

'Did I hit a nerve there?'

'Doesn't mean anything,' Brooke mumbled to herself.

'Oh wake up and smile the damn coffee! That's it take a big whiff, I'm you sweets, obviously a more honest you, but you all the same.' The voice argued.

'What are you trying to say?'

'Come on Brooke, it doesn't take a rocket science to work it out, open your eyes. You already know or else I wouldn't be saying this right now.' Her inner voice reasoned.

'I like Haley...as a friend.'

'I'm sure you do, but it's more than that, that's not all you like.'

'Ok, that's it, you're shutting up now!"

'Why cause I'm telling the truth?'

'No, because you're annoying the hell out of me!'

'So you annoy the hell out of yourself then, seeing as I'm you and you're me?'

'Are we always this confusing?' Brooke wondered.

'Stop avoiding what you're trying to tell yourself. Listen, would you! God, you're so stubborn.'

'We're both that!'

'Well of course we are, we're the same damn person!'

'Testy, testy."

'Ok Brooke, be in denial, but we know Lucas wasn't 'The One', you're heart isn't even broken over the fact he's with another girl, you're hurt because you miss you best friend, she was always better to talk to than yourself. But did you ever even think Brooke, did you ever give into the thought, that Haley might feel the same?' Her inner voice, explained.

'Yeah, but what if she doesn't?' Brooke wondered hesitantly.

'You won't know until you take a chance."

Her last thought made her think, 'What if she never took a chance?' Minutes later still in thought, Brooke had the distinct feeling of being watched, lifting her head up, she caught sight of Taylor looking at her.

"You looked deep in thought, anything interesting?" Taylor asked her.

"Oh, plenty interesting, but mostly confusing, but that's just me," Brooke told her. "Is there a drinks machine around here? I'm thirsty." She then asked.

"I think there's one on the second floor, there's usually one there," Taylor replied, though not a 100 sure.

"That's your logic?" Brooke questioned doubtfully.

"Hey I never said I was logical," Taylor replied with a smirk.

Sighing Brooke got up off of the chair she was sitting on. "Want anything?"

"Surprise me."

"You asked for it," Brooke told her as she headed off.

'Ok, now I'm bored,' was Taylor's first thought after Brooke had left, minutes ago. 'Not that I wasn't in the first place, I'm just more bored now than I was.' Heaving out a sigh, Taylor shifted in her seat. 'Damn, plastic piece of crap! Would it kill anyone to spend a little money for some decent sets of seats?'

Giving up on getting a comfortable position, Taylor looked around the deserted waiting area and shrugging to herself, lay down across a row of chairs, until she was looking up at the hospital ceiling. 'Oh this is so much better,' she muttered sarcastically to herself. 'We shouldn't even be in this damn place. I swear to any god listening, that if I ever have the displeasure of meeting Haley's assclown of an ex-boyfriend, I'll beat him to death with a shovel!'

'Least she has a friend, Brooke seems like a strange, yet reasonably nice person. They sure did look cosy when I walked in on them,' she thought to herself with a smirk. 'Probably should have let them carry on. I would have to if I hadn't noticed the state of Haley.'

'God Haley,' Taylor thought sadly. 'My little Haley-bub, my baby sister, hurt. Sitting in some damn sterile, nasty smelling room, getting looked over by some doctor. She never should have been in here in the first place. Haley's a lover not a fighter, she wouldn't hurt a damn fly. So why should she be hurt?'

'She'll be ok though,' Taylor reassured herself. 'She'll be ok, she will, she's Haley, she has to be. If not, look out Tree Hill, hurricane Taylor's about to hit.'

'It's a pity murder's against the law, because mister jackass, would be six feet under. Maybe I could plead tempory insanity? Cause no one hurts anyone important to me and gets away with it, especially not my sister. That's just so far over the line, that the line isn't even visble anymore. I'll personally give him the mother load of all beatings and with a song in my heart the time.' she mused to herself with the slightest hint of a smile. 'Maybe that is a bit over dramatic, I do have a thing for theatricals.'

'Maybe it was a one time thing? A one time almost kiss. That was definitely where it was heading. No doubt about it. I guess I don't know little sis, all that well after all.'

'Well if you weren't always away, maybe you qould and this wouldn't have happened. She wouldn't be in here if you had stayed. But oh no, not you Taylor James, no you needed your freedom, leaving her all alone. God you knew mom and dad were never home, it's always just her, herself. That was just a great move wasn't it Taylor, leaving her by herself? This is all my own fault, if I had stayed, I could have stopped this.' Taylor thought, berating herself. 'I'm not going anywhere now. I'm staying put, she's not gonna get hurt again.'

'That may well be true Tay, but she's still hurt now, how are you going to handle that? Can you look her in the face, her bruised face at that, and be there for her, knowing that you've let her down, by not being their to protect her? Can you?'

"I don't know." Taylor whispered out loud.

"You don't know what?"

As soon as the voice reached her, Taylor jerked up. She hadn't even heard Brooke's footsteps, on the floor getting closer. Too deep in her thoughts to really comprehend anything.

"Uh nothing, just thinking aloud I guess," She told Brooke.

"Probably wanna do that inside your head, more privacy," Brooke told her. "Also," she carried on. "Less people are likely to think you're crazy."

"Talking from experience?" Taylor questioned, with a little bit of teasing lacing her voice.

"Here," Brooke replied changing the subject, handing Taylor a cup. "Coffee. Supposedly it's meant to be good if you take a big whiff." She told Taylor, who was currently looking at her like she was the Madhatter himself. "Ignore me."

"Oh I plan too." Taylor told her, taking her coffee from her. "You weren't gone long." She stated.

"Oh, there was one at the end of the hall, didn't even need to go up to the second floor."

"How long do you think we'll have to wait?"

"I have no idea," Brooke responded.

So they waited. Waited till they could see Haley again.

xxxx

The room was silent, the only thing Haley could hear was her own breathing and if she listened hard enough, she could hear her heartbeat echo, not that it was much of a heart right now. More so a broken one, shattered into thousands of little, sharp, painful piece. Putting them back together would no doubt take some time. She wasn't letting anyone close, this was to much to go through more than once.

"So why did I let Brooke get so close?" She wondered out loud. Deep in the back of her head she knew the answer, she just had to find it.

'Was it to forget Nathan? Did I actually want to kiss her? It felt like I did. But did she want it to happen?' Haley asked herself wordlessly. 'Ha! Like anyone would really want me, I'm just a pity case. Brooke just felt sorry for me. Nathan was right, I am disgusting.'

Reaching up, she gingerly touched the outline of her swollen eye, running her thumb down it, and down the side of her face until she came to her lip. That wasn't any better than her eye, it had swelt out, and had a deep cut on both her top and bottom lip. Her face was a picture of abuse, amoungset all the cuts, and the bruises just made it all the worse. 'Comes with the territory of getting smack a few time.' Haley thought moresly.

'I must have deserved it, why else would he have done it? I was a tease wasn't I? Normal girls don't keep there boyfriends waiting, so I must have been. I was nothing but a tease.' Haley justified to herself.

'Maybe I should give him another chance, I mean this is my own fault and nobody else would want me. It wouldn't be so bad would it?' She questioned herself.

'Are you kidding, it would be so much worse, taking him back would be suicidal! If he thinks he can get away with doing this, then what's their to stop him from doing it again? What's their to stop him from doing it so many more times, that you've lost count? What's to stop him doing it until, one day he goes to far. There's no forgiving what he's done. Never.' Whatever logic her clustered mind had, pointed this out to her.

'Yeah, taking Nathan back, not an option.'

Taking a deep breath Haley tried to relax, forget. But the pain in her ribs, surged throughout her entire body, reminding her why she was in here. Couldn't she catch a damn break? Yes, she had been beaten and bruised until she had been black and blue and a little bloodied, but did every movement in her damn body have to remind her of it! Was it not bad enough, that every time she closed her eyes, she could picture it, that she could feel every blow hit her body, over and over again. The pain was a reality, but it wasn't like she could forget than it wasn't a reality, her boyfriend, her ex-boyfriend, had hit her, everywhere, she didn't know how it had gotten this far, but it had, and she wasn't likely to forget it. The hurt was to much, not just in the physical pain kind of way, but emotionally to. She had been so close to loving Nathan, and if someone you loved could do this to you, then how could she ever trust anyone ever again?

Haley wanted to throw something, get rid of her frustration, but she could hardly move without help, so she doubted she could actually through something, by herself. 'Oh this is just great, I mean I can't do anything for myself! Did I do something in a past life, that was so bad, that my karma got passed onto this life, which is now accountable for this!' Haley raged at herself, her anger of the situation, over riding her, short lived self loathing. 'Life officially sucks! No, Nathan sucks! The little weasel did this to me, just cause he couldn't control his sexed raging hormones, to much like daddy Dan, after all!' She fumed.

'Is this hell my fault! It's his, it's not like I begged him to hit me, he's just a goddamn child with a temper. If he thinks he has any power over me he's wrong. The first time he touched me in anger, our relationship was over. Nathan can rot in hell for all I care.' Haley reasoned, finally seeing some sort of light, in this dark situation she had found herself in.

'Brooke, helped me. Brooke was there for me.'

In such a short space of time, everything had changed around her, but the one constant thing was Brooke. When she had need to talk to, Brooke was there. When she needed help, who had she called? Brooke. Brooke. Brooke. Brooke. Brooke. It was always Brooke. Brooke who she had been near kissing. Brooke, who she had wanted to kiss. Brooke Davis. Who knew? Haley did now.

The door to her room opened, and in walked her doctor. She saw him winch when he saw her face, but she didn't care. Walking to her hospital bed, he picked up her chart and gave it a once over.

"Miss James, how are you feeling?" He asked her.

"I've been better doc, way better." Haley answered him, as he started examine her.

xxxx

"Relatives of a Miss, Haley James?" A voice called out into the almost empty waiting room.

Stirring out of their bored slumber, Brooke and Taylor quickly got to there feet and headed over to where the doctor was waiting.

"I'm her sister, is she ok?" Taylor questioned, him.

"I'm her doctor, Dr. McMahon. Your sister, considering what she's been through, is going to be fine, she's a tough girl." Dr. McMahon told Taylor.

"How is she? What's wrong with her? Can she go home?" Brooke questioned.

Looking at Brooke, Dr. McMahon looked at her questionably.

"It's ok, they're friends or something, I'm not to clear on that part." Taylor told the doctor.

"Miss James, should really stay the night, for observation, but she's adamant about going home tonight, and there's really nothing I can do to stop her. As I said she'll be fine, but right now she is hurting. From the x-rays we took of Miss James's, body it showed us that due to the impact she has suffered, there are two broken and three fractured ribs. They'll need time to heal, as does everything else, but fractures take longer than usual. I know it may not look it now, but those are her only major injuries, she was very lucky in that sense. Once the swelling of her eye and lip go down, the lacerations she received should heal just fine with minimal scaring. We weren't able to stitch up her lip, due to the swelling, and by the time it heals it'll be to late anyway. We did however, stitch up the laceration on her arm, which Miss James, will need to come back in a week and a half to get taken out." Dr. McMahon explained to them.

"I didn't even know her arm was hurt." Brooke muttered.

"Neither did Haley, until we tried to lift up her sleeve, the blood had soaked into it and made it hard to remove, without it hurting. We've written her a prescription for painkillers, they're strong, so she should be given one when she gets home." The doctor told them, handing the prescription to Taylor.

"Can we see her yet?" Brooke asked him.

"Yes you can, the nurses should be done with her now. She's in room, 414."

"Thank you,"

"It's what I do ma'am." He told her with a smile, and then started walking away.

"I'll go get the prescription, you go see Haley." Taylor told Brooke.

"Are you sure?" Brooke asked her anxiously.

"Positive, she'd want to see you, go."

"Thanks!" Brooke told her as she headed off to Haley's room.

xxxx

Walking into room 414, Brooke was happy to see Haley sitting up, on the hospital bed. She looked significantly better than when she was first brought in.

"How's my favourite Tutor Girl doing then?" Brooke asked her happily, with a smile.

"Brooke, we've been over this, so I'll say it one more time, I'm the only tutor girl you know," Haley told her with a kind of smile, it was hard when both lips were cut.

"What, that can't make you my favourite?" Brooke joked. "Ready to get out of here?" she asked Haley.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" Haley told her in an exasperate tone. "I was starting to feel like a damn pin cushion."

"They're much more decorative. I did pass a nurse in the hall and told them that the good ol' doc's letting you go. She should be here with a wheelchair soon."

"Can I pull a wheelie?"

"Uh, maybe when I'm a safe distance away, and that won't be anytime soon so nope you can't!"

"Spoil sport!"

"Yeah, I'm just a regular grinch I am."

"I thought you looked a little green, I just thought you were envious of my good looks."

"Hardy Har har! Funny aren't you?"

"Oh you know me Brooke, regular comic genius."

"If I can interrupt, this fascinating bout of wit, I'd say it's time for someone to get going, and gladly I might add by the look of joy on ones face." A nurse broke in, pushing in a wheelchair.

"Thanks Joan, but I can walk, I don't mind." Haley told her.

"Hospital policy I'm afraid dear, now why don't we get you on this and get you going?" Joan told her.

"Can I help?" Brooke asked.

"No it's fine, being doing his half my life, I've got it." Joan answered.

"Where's Taylor?" Haley asked as she was helped.

"Taylor went to get you you're prescription, she should be here..."

"Now." Taylor interrupted.

"Yay, we can go now!" Haley exclaimed happily. "No offence though Joan, you've been great."

"None taken dear. I'm glad I could help dear."

"Let's get going," Brooke, told them as she went behind Haley and started pushing the wheelchair, heading out of the hospital room to her car.

xxxx

The ride home had been more relaxed than the previous ride there. Knowing Haley was going to be all right, calmed both Brooke and Taylor down immensely. Now they were home and Haley was in Taylor's bedroom, feeling safer there than she did in her own room. She had taken a painkiller less than ten minutes ago and it was already kicking in. She was getting drowsy, but the was zero pain, so she could deal with that. Brooke was in the room with her. Brooke. She was the best.

"Arn't you go in 'ome?" Haley slurred.

"What and leave you here alone? Never." Brooke told her back.

"Tay, here." Haley tried to explain.

"Yeah, but still I'm here till you get better, it's not like I'll be missed. My parents are either a) at a party being held by some big corporation or b) throwing one. So yeah I'll stay right here." Brooke explained, bouncing her leg up and down, like she was fidgiting.

"Good. You no wha' you 're?" Haley slurred again.

"What?" Brooke wondered.

"Tigger, you're my Tigger." She told Brooke with a small, tired, drowsy smile.

"I can deal with that."

"C'mere Tigger." Haley told her. Then waited for Brooke to come close.

"What can I do for you, my little Roo?" Brooke asked, sitting next to Haley on her bed.

"Roo?"

"If you get one, then I get one. Plus he's the cutest, so therefore, I must name you it." Brooke told her.

"Lay down next to me? Just till I fall sleep?"

"Of course I will."

"Thanks Tigger." Haley told her as Brooke did as she was asked and lay down next to her. Seconds later Brooke felt Haley scooch closer and rested her head on top of her shoulder. It was comfortable.

As time went on Brooke felt Haley's breathing even out and knew she was asleep, turning her head to the side, she looked at her. She didn't know how long she looked at Haley, but she couldn't take her eyes away. Brooke felt her eyes get heavy and then they closed. She was only going to close them for a second, just a second.

xxxx

Waking up earlier today, Brooke had found herself still laying in bed, with Haley next to her. It really wasn't the worst way to wake up, defiantly the opposite of worse. But she had someplace she needed to go and here she was.

Walking down the deserted corridors of Tree Hill High, Brooke had a destination in mind, she had left Haley asleep, knocked out by the painkillers to really know who was coming and going, in her house. She walked with a purpose and turned the corner and saw the double door's to the school's gym. She would bet any money she had that, that was where he was. 'He's going to pay, after everything Haley went through last night because of him. He'll pay if it's the last thing I do.' Moving forward some more, Brooke came to a halt when the double door's were pushed open.

"Jake, practice over?" Brooke asked him.

"Sure is Brooke, I'm sorry but I gotta run, my parents are looking after Jenny and they're heading out soon. Have a good night." Jake explained, then started to walk away.

"Wait Jageilski, is Nathan still in there?" she asked him.

"Yeah he is, only one in there too. Coach told him he was too distracted during practice, so he needed to stay behind and practice some lay-up." Jake told her with a soft smile.

"Thanks Jake." Brooke told him as he headed off down the Corridor. 'Time to get this over with.'

"Bye Brooke." he called over his shoulder, with a small wave.

Turning around Brooke made her way to the gym doors, pushing them open. Clenching both her fists together, was all she could do to stop herself from just running at Nathan and attacking him with everything she had. 'God look at him, just acting like nothing's happened. He sickens me, he should be burning in some kind of hell, not being some star basketball player around school, he doesn't deserve that one bit.'

Nathan hadn't noticed her yet, so Brooke walked further into the hall and came to a stop near the bleachers. Picking up a discarded basketball, she bounced it on to the floor, the noise successfully getting Nathan's attention.

"Brooke? What's up?" he asked her, as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Oh you know the usual," Brooke began calmly, walking closer to him, bouncing the ball a few more times, then brought it to a halt as she held it tightly in her hands. "Cheerleading practice, fixing the faux pa fashion mistakes of the school," she stated to him in her usual perky voice. "Oh yeah, there was one other thing I had to do," Brooke told him, her voice suddenly sounding dangerous and squeezing the ball to herself tighter. "Beat the living daylights out of you." And before Nathan knew what was happening, the basketball Brooke had, had in her hand was sailing through the air and only stopped as it smacked off of Nathan's face. 'Well damn, that had to hurt. Nothing he doesn't deserve.

Nathan so surprised at what had just happened, flew backwards onto the floor, due to the impact of the ball to his face and the shock he was feeling.

"How did that feel Nathan?" Brooke questioned, but carried on talking not letting him get a word in. 'I hope it hurt you bastard!' "Do you think it hurt more or less than when you backhanded Haley across her own face? Here's a question for you, do you think when you leave this gym, are you going to be hurting just like Haley was or so much worse?" 'It's gonna be so much worse Nate, so much worse. She watched him try to scramble to his feet, but before he could Brooke had walked over to him and much like he had done to Haley, she brought her foot forward and kicked him in his ribs. "No you're staying down."

"You bitch!" Nathan spat at her.

"Me bitch, you a complete and utter asshole." Brooke told him with a grim smile. "Self defence classes are a gem Nate. They're all about teaching you how to defend yourself against bastards like you, not to mention they're a pretty good way to keep in shape as well. Let's see, the first move we learned, was how to get your attacker on their back, I guess I won't need to worry about that huh?" she told him with an amused smile. "What was the second thing? Oh yeah toe step, elbow to the gut, groin kick. Why don't we just move along to that last bit huh?" Which Brooke proceeded to do, bringing her foot back and with as much force as she could muster brought it forward, smiling as it came in contact with his groin.

Nathan's scream, resounded throughout the empty gym hall, the pain he was feeling was nothing but agony and Brooke couldn't be happier. Looking around, her came to rest on a discarded weight. If the smirk on Brooke's face could be described as a word, then sinister would be it. Walking over to it, Brooke picked it up and then walked back over to him. 'Am I really going to do this? Won''t this just make me as bad as him? I have the power here to be the bigger person, and just walk away. But Haley, was he the bigger man, did walk away from her, no he didn't. So why should I?'

"What're you gonna do with that?" Nathan wheezed as he questioned her.

"Oh nothing much, but thank whoever was using it." Brooke told him. 'Should I?'

"Lucas," Was his answer.

"Might just have to thank that boy, or should he be thanking me?" she asked him rhetorically. "He is gonna be the star player on the team now. Let me ask you something Nathan, ok?"

"O...ok." he stuttered.

"Why did you do it? What possessed you to do that to Haley?" 'Tell me Nate, give me a reason not to do this. Because I have a reason to do this, did you? I'm justified, I want to protect Haley, what's your justification?'

"Because I could." Was Nathan's simple statement, with an almost cocky grin, and with that, Brooke's decision was made.

Without any warning to Nathan, she brought the end of the weight down on his hand. Once, twice and a third time. "No fun playing with a broken hand now is there?" Brooke asked with a wide smile, which only seemed to get wider as she heard Nathan whimper and watched as he screwed his eyes shut. 'I'm nothing like you, you deserved that. I may not have used the power I had over you for good, but I'm still a better person than you'll ever be.' 'Now I'm going to walk away.'

"I'll tell everyone, you psychotic bitch!" he gasped at her.

"You do that Nate, and I'll be sure to tell every single person, who's listening about what you did to Haley." she told him with a shrug. "But what you're really gonna say is that, the floor was slippy, and you fell into the bleachers which caused the weight to fall onto your hand. Brooke told him, looking him straight in the eye. "I mean really Nathan, who's gonna believe that a girl got the better of you? And come on Nate, would it be any fun to tell your friend that you got beat on by a girl?"

"Fine." he growled at her.

"One more thing Nathan, you come anywhere near Haley, you so much as look at her in the wrong way, I'll castrate you and I'll have fun doing it. You see her walking in the halls, you better get your ass going in the different direction. Do you understand?" 'Now I'm going to walk away.'

With a nod Nathan agreed, and without a word Brooke turned her back on him and walked away, leaving him hurt and broken in a heap on the gym floor, much like he had done to Haley.

End of Chapter 5

Phew, long one huh? Thanks for sticking with me and reading it all, proves you can read, and your diploma will be sent to you via mail, please wait for 3 to 5 working days, review and it'll get there between 1 to 2 working days! (Reviewer's always get special treatment!)