He had waited out in the hall and around the corner for almost an hour. He wanted to see her, but he wanted to see her alone and Diane was reluctant to come out of the room. It was nearing 8 o'clock when the red head did leave and the younger Scott was quick to take her place. He sat in the seat next to the small bed and gently took her hand in his. He kissed each of her knuckles as tears began to burn behind his eyes again.

"God I've missed you so much Peyt. I was actually mad at you for not calling again. You promised to call…if…if I had just believed you I would've known something was wrong…I should've known…I should've looked for you." He rested his forehead against their intertwined fingers. The sudden pressure against his hand caused him to shoot his head back up, hope shining in his eyes. He stared and waited, but there was nothing but her still figure lying in front of him.

His body shuddered, not form cold, but from something else, something he couldn't really name. He kept her hand in his as he folded his arms on the bed and dropped his head in the open space. It had surpassed being a matter of wanting her to wake up…Nathan needed her to wake up…he needed her to be okay. He didn't know what he would do if she wasn't okay…there would forever be a guilt there…a guilt that he was sure would get stronger through time.

It didn't take long for sleep to overcome him. He was both physically and emotionally drained, he had been all summer. For three months he had been too worried to get any decent rest…now he at least knew where she was. He felt better sleeping next to her…knowing that if there was any change in her condition he would be the first to know. From now on he vowed to be there for her through everything, he had made the ultimate mistake letting her go after high school. He watched her run…he basically encouraged her. He had promised her she would be okay...twice…the first time was ten years ago, the second was 3 months ago when she confided in him. He promised her that he would protect her and now she was depending on a machine to breathe for her.

Diane walked quietly into the room. She stopped at the foot of the bed and could not hold back the small smile that crept onto her face as she took in the sight of the young man sleeping soundly, his head resting on the edge of the small mattress. She had feared that the entire group had gotten caught up in their own emotions that they forgot why they were at the hospital in the first place. Luckily, at least one of them found the ability to stay with her.

The red head walked around to the unoccupied side of the bed, her eyes coming to rest on the machines beeping against the back wall. Diane once again smiled as she noticed the improvement in the young girls vitals…it didn't work for everyone, but there were a significant number of patients who suddenly started to get better once the people they cared about started coming around. Apparently that was the case for Peyton. Diane carefully pulled the oxygen mask from the brunette's face and watched as her vitals remained stable.

"What are you doing?" Diane looked over at the Nathan who was staring at her suspiciously.

"Nothing bad…its good actually"

"Won't that kill her if you remove the mask?" His brows furrowed as he glanced between the two women.

"Not if she's breathing on her own…watch her chest" The same hope that was present when he thought he felt pressure on his hand now returned to his eyes when he saw her chest rise and fall repeatedly.

"What are the chances of her having to go back on life support?"

"There's always a chance but its not likely if her vitals keep improving over the next twenty-four hours"

"So for right now I just have to wait until tomorrow" he whispered to no one in particular, defeat evident in his voice. "For all any one knows I could lose her tonight, I could lose her in 5 minutes or in 5 hours. "

"Nathan you can't lose hope. There's never a guarantee, no matter what the situation. She's doing better…you've gotta stay looking on the bright side."

"That's a little hard to do when I'm the reason she's in here" He shook his head before resting it against their connected fingers.

"This was not you're fault"

"How do you know"

"Because regardless of what Brooke says, weather you let her leave…you're not the one who hurt her." Diane placed her hand gently on his shoulder but her shrugged it off.

"Yeah…but I swore 11 and ½ years ago that I would protect her…I did one hell of a job didn't I."

"Nathan…"

"No…she trusted me to take care of her…I've always been there for her…except for when she needed me most. I should've known when she first came back to Tree Hill…I suspected that something was wrong and I watched her get in the car with him and leave. Hell…I let her run away all those years ago…she never should have met that bastard, she should have been safe in Tree Hill and all it would've taken was for me to say I didn't want her to go…but I gave her my blessing and now she's fighting for her life"

"None of that makes it you're fault" Diane repeated sternly. "this is all Stan's fault and no one else's"

"Whatever you say" he shook his head once again as tears slowly began to slide down his face. He rested his head against her stomach, the grip on her hand tightening.

"It's not you're fault Nate….you're not to blame for any of this" Nathan's head shot up as he looked at the owner of the voice in disbelief. "I'm sorry about what I said…I was angry and it was easiest to take it out on you, but that's no excuse."

"It's not you're fault either Brooke" the brunette turned her head to face Diane.

"She didn't wanna be here…she said so, I made her come back…if she had come on her own terms she never would have wanted to leave."

"If it's not my fault Brooke…then it's not yours." The two brunettes looked towards each other briefly, before focusing their attention back on Peyton. "Sit" he gestured to the empty space on the bed on the other side of Peyton's body. Brooke nodded and sat down, her hand quickly finding her best friend's.

"She's off life support" Brooke smiled as she finally noticed the missing mask.

"Yeah…about half an hour now. Diane says if she stays stable and keeps improving though tomorrow then she probably won't have to go back on it." They both looked towards the older woman, who nodded in response.

"That's good" Brooke said gently. She locked eyes with Nathan and smiled slightly. He returned the gesture before focusing his attention back on Peyton.

"Yeah that's good"