Fifth Chapter. AGH, I am so happy.

Thanks for the reviews. Glad that the Accident at the end of the previous chapter didn't piss yall off.

Definitely some LEYTON in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Nuttin.

Lucas was ringing up the receipts, which was usually done by Miss Haley James, during the slow part of the day when he heard sirens. He looked up and saw two fire trucks drive by and an ambulance. He wondered who they were driving to. He always wondered that when those trucks drove by or when he heard them late at night.

"Sir? Sir."

Lucas came back to reality to face a petite young woman, long black hair dark eyeliner and a black tight tank top. Talk about scary. "Oh I am sorry ma'am. Was everything good?" He asked while taking her ticket and money.

"It was delicious." The lady replied and Lucas gave her change back. "Oh and the food was too." She winked and walked out.

Lucas smiled a little. It wasn't everyday he got compliments like that. Okay so maybe it was exactly a compliment, I was more like a pick up line.

Lucas's mom came up behind him and draped an arm around his shoulders. "You can go now if you want. You have done enough." Laughing, Lucas hugged her and took his apron off.

"Can you hear what I am saying ma'am?" The nurse said while prepping her for surgery.

Peyton opened her eyes slightly. She felt a sharp pain in her side and a stinging feeling on her forehead. "Where- where am I?" She stuttered.

"Sweetie you are in the ER. You were in a car accident. A semi hit you. He ran a red light." The nurse said nicely while taking her blood pressure.

Peyton's eye got bigger. Why? Why did it have to happen now? Now Lucas would never come see her because he would feel horrible. Then she would be left in the smelly grimy hospital by herself. "Oh." She replied then she felt I pang in her arm. She looked down and saw a needle sticking out. Peyton began to feel queasy. She hated shots, she usually had her dad with her when she had to have shots and now, now her dad was currently thousands of miles away. This reminded her.

"Have you…called…my……fathe….r….?" Peyton drifted into sleep.

"Sh. We have already called everyone on the emergency list." The nurse said.

Karen was closing early due to the fact that there wasn't a lot of business when the phone rang in the café.

"Karen's Café, Karen speaking." She said in her nicest voice.

"Hi. This is Patty at St. Jude's Hospital. We have a Peyton Sawyer here and you are on the emergency contact list. Can you get to the hospital now? We need some one to be here while we wait for Larry Sawyer to get in from work."

Karen almost dropped the phone in shock. "Yes, of course I can get there. Give me 10 minutes."

Karen hung up after talking with the lady and grabbed her keys. She remembered Lucas had the car. "Shit…" Just then she saw Dan. Her stomach churned. She couldn't believe she was about to ask this but she had to try.

"Dan!" She yelled.

Dan turned around from the direction he was walking. He was shocked to see Karen. "What? Is it not enough that you stole my wife away from me?"

Karen glared at him from afar. Why did he have to be so cruel? "For your information I didn't 'steal' your wife from you, you pushed her away like you pushed Nathan away. I just need your help. If it is going to be too hard for you tell me now and save me the trouble." Karen snapped.

Dan displayed a surprised look and walked closer to his former high school sweetheart. "What?"

"I need a ride to St. Jude's." Karen simply asked.

Dan began to grow worried. "What happened? Is Lucas okay?"

Surprised was the least you could say about Karen at the moment. When did Dan ever care about her son? "He is fine except the pain you've caused him. It's Peyton."

Dan nodded and walked to his car. When he noticed no footsteps following him he turned around. "Are you coming?"

Karen rolled her eyes and walked over. This is going to be interesting, she thought.

Once they got to the hospital Karen remembered she needed to call Lucas. He would want to know. She frowned when she started dialing, he was going to freak out.

She let it ring twice before Lucas answered his cell. "Hey mom, what's up?"

"Um, Lucas I am at the Hospital, its Peyton…she was hit by a semi this morning. I thought I should tell you." Karen informed her son.

When she didn't hear anything she questioned him. "Luke? Are you there?"

She heard a silent sob on the other end. "Yeah mom I am here. Can I come there now?"

"Yes, she is still in surgery though. You mind calling Haley? I don't have her number with me." Karen inquired.

"Yeah sure mom. See you in a bit."

"Bye hunny."

Lucas fell on his bed after he hung up with his mother. Now how was he going to talk to her when she was lying on a bed being poked and prodded? It aggrieved him to think of the pain she was in. It made him angry, angry that he wasn't with her when this happened. If he was her boyfriend at least she'd know she had someone waiting for her when she woke up. She probably thought he would never see her again after the fight they had. He knew how scared she was, and how frightened she was that her dad wasn't there. He decided then and there that he would never leave Peyton's side, ever, even if that meant only being her friend.

He remembered he needed to call Haley.

"Hello?" Haley answered.

"Hey it's Lucas. I need you to go to the hospital with me Hales." Lucas asked. He heard Haley shutting someone up in the background.

"Nathan, shut up. This is an important phone call."

"Sorry, what was that again Luke?"

Lucas grew angry. He needed a friend and Haley couldn't keep Nathan off of her for one damn second. "I said I need you to come with me to the hospital. That is if you can escape your boyfriend for a couple hours." Lucas said in a smart ass tone.

Haley sighed. "Lucas…I am sorry. And of course I will go with you. What's wrong?"

"Peyton, she is in the hospital. I am so scared Haley." Lucas cried.

"Oh my God. I- What happened?"

"She was hit by a semi. Damn idiot ran a freaking red light." Lucas choked back tears.

"I am so sorry Luke. I will go with you. Want me to pick you up?"

"No I will come get you." Lucas insisted.

"Okay."

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked as he took Haley's hand to pull her on his lap.

"Peyton, she is in the hospital."

"You serious?" Nathan asked, even though he knew it was a stupid thing to ask.

Haley nodded. "You want to go with us?"

"Lucas won't mind will he?" Nathan asked cautiously.

"No, he is to shaken up by all that is going on to care." Haley smiled. "And it wouldn't matter. You are in my life now, he has to get used to it. And he will." Haley kissed Nathan tenderly on the mouth. Nathan deepened it. It could have gotten more serious but Lucas honked the horn.

Lucas groaned when he saw Haley holding Nathan's hand on their way to the car. "Great! My brother is coming too." He grumbled.

"I hope it's alright with you that Nathan comes too. He is worried about Peyton too." Haley asked as she got in the front seat.

"Yeah! It's fine." Lucas lied. He was sure Nathan didn't care as much as he did. Nathan was only coming to be with Haley. Which was also Lucas's job. God, sometimes he wanted to give Nathan a serious beating.

"Someone should probably call Brooke. She'd kill us if we went there without her." Nathan said from the back seat.

"How about you call her." Lucas said in an impolite tone.

"You have a problem with me?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, its called you." Lucas answered back in the rear view mirror.

"Okay boys put down the weapons of mass destruction." Haley put her hands in between the boys. "We have more things to deal with than pity arguments."

"Whatever." Lucas said.

"Sure." Nathan said and began dialing Brooke's number.

Haley sighed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

Once Brooke got the news she was already on her way. She was a wreck. She didn't know what to think. Nathan didn't really tell her a lot so anything was a possibility at the moment and Brooke's imagination wasn't t good. She was thinking the most horrible situations imaginable. She knew she was kidding her self with her inner fears but it was all she had.

She finally got to the waiting room and was greeted by Karen, Whitey, Lucas, Haley, Nathan and surprisingly Dan. Haley came up to her first and hugged her. This staggered Brooke because she was never that nice to Haley in school.

Next was Karen. "I am so sorry." She whispered.
Brooke was glad that Karen was there. She was like a mother to her.

Lucas came up next and pulled her close. It felt nice to be in his arms again. Once he released her she asked him how she was.

"She is still in surgery." Lucas said sadly. He wanted to see her so badly and Brooke could see it. She pulled him into a much needed hug. "It will be alright Lucas."

He nodded and pulled away to go to the vending machines.

Brooke looked at his back as he walked away. A sad smile hit her face. She decided to go sit with Haley and Nathan to catch up.

Karen was chatting with Larry, who just got in, when the doctor came out. Karen and Larry both rushed up to him.

"How is my baby girl?" He asked impatiently.

"Calm down, she is doing okay. She is still recovering from the blow and is still on antibiotics so she is a little drained. I am only allowing the father to see her at this time. Later I will allow visitors. Come this way sir." The doctor order.

Karen turned around and saw everyone had stood up to try and hear the new news.

"She is out now but only her father can be with her. She is still drowsy."

Everyone nodded. Lucas's face fell when he heard the news. He still had to wait.

"Hey baby doll." Larry said as he entered her room.

"Daddy?" Peyton said unsure.

"Yeah it's me sugar. How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat beside her on the bed, pushing a blonde curl away from her eyes.

"I am a little sore. What did they do to me?" She slurred.

"They had to operate on your side. One of your ribs was broken. And you had a big slab of glass stuck in your head. They had to remove that too."

Peyton's face changed and her body began to shake with the new tears. Her dad leaned over and hugged her. "It's okay sweetie. It is all over now. You are safe."

Peyton nodded. "Is Lucas here?" She asked, still crying.

"Yes he is. Why?" Larry rubbed his daughter's back.

"I need to talk to him. Now." Peyton said fiercely.

"You can't yet, you're still in recovery. He isn't allowed in here yet." Larry explained.

Peyton turned away and nodded.

"I am going to go. It seems like she is going to be in there for a while. Call me later Lucas." Brooke said quickly. She wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible. She hated feeling useless.

"Okay." Was all he said. He was in some other place and it was starting to get annoying.

A couple hours had passed and Larry Sawyer finally came out saying it was okay to go see her but she was resting.

Lucas decided since no one else was going in that he'd go. Plus he didn't mind just watching her sleep.

He walked in and it broke his heart to see her plugged up to so many machines. He saw her chest rise and fall evenly and knew she was getting better. He smiled when he reached her face. She had no make up on, her hair was a little dirty and she had a bandage on the left side of her forehead. She was beautiful.

He found a chair next to her bed and sat down.

He took her hand in his and squeezed it hoping that she felt it and knew he was there with her.

"Peyton I know you're asleep and probably in a hell of a lot of pain but I just wanted to say this. I am sorry for being selfish. I am sorry for running to Brooke when you turned me down. I should have known you were still vulnerable. I wish I could go back you know? Change it. But I can't. You know how I feel and I defiantly know how you feel. I just wish you could see that I would never leave you. I would never treat you like some trophy like Nathan did. I would never hurt again if you would just give me a chance. I, I guess what I am saying is that I love you. I love you so god damn much Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer that it hurts sometimes. I didn't know how love could hurt until I met you. You ouch people so many different ways and I don't think you know that. You have helped me so much lately and I want to thank you. Just don't forget about me. Please. I don't think I can take that rejection third time around." He laughed a little. "I know this won't mean a lot since you're not awake but I want to be in your life Peyton. Whether it be your friend or more than your friend."

Lucas looked at her and saw that she was still asleep. He was part relieved and part disappointed. It meant he would have to say those things all over again with her totally conscious.

He was about to get up to leave but decided to kiss her on the head.

He whispered that he loved her more than anything and began walking to the door.

There was some movement behind him so he turned around and was taken aback to see Peyton sitting up and smiling!

"I love you too Luke." She breathed.

Okay there it be.

Sorry it is soooo long but.

What's Next?

Well…BAKE ofcourse.

BAKE being BrookeJake. DUH.

Lol. Thanks for the suggestion Cabot007!

More soon! I promise.