Three months had passed, there were only two months left until the end of the school year, and only one hour until the cheerleader's performed at the Sparkle Classic Competition. Brooke had come back to school after three weeks of absence. Her and Peyton's friendship hadn't returned to what it had been, despite Peyton's continued efforts. They were perfectly cordial, still spoke at parties and occasionally had lunch together, but Peyton knew Brooke was still freezing her out, and she had a feeling it wasn't all down to her being with Lucas. That was probably still a small part of it, another part was the red head that had appeared at the school joined to Brooke's hip. Her name was Rachel. During Brooke's extended absence she had been home-schooled by a teacher from Tree Hill High, Rachel apparently was a student who had been expelled from her three other high schools and therefore was considered 'trouble'. Consequently, the school had decided it was best to have the girls schooled together until Brooke was up to returning, and then Rachel would have a friend. It seemed to have worked, though Rachel's 'friendliness' also hadn't hurt her becoming very quickly acquainted with many of Tree Hill High's students, particularly older male ones.

Lucas and Peyton's relationship was still slowly building. Peyton had become more comfortable with public displays of affection, something Lucas relished in, but they still weren't quite the prominent golden couple that Nathan and Haley had suddenly become. The brunette's first month or so had been a difficult one, Lucas and Nathan's close friends struggled with the idea of 'Naley' an incredible amount. When one of the cheerleader's broke her collarbone in practice, the silver lining to the bad situation was that Haley was drafted in, and for Nathan's friends at least, Haley's new cheerleader status suddenly made everything make sense. Lucas was still struggling, but he loved Haley and he trusted Peyton when she pointed out the good in Nathan that only Haley had ever brought out, so he was keeping quiet and being as supportive as he could be. Double dates were certainly not going to be happening any time soon though.

The Ravens cheerleaders stood on the outskirts of the warm up area waiting to be called through, it was their performance next. The Ravens basketball players were sat in the audience to support the all-girl team, they had already played and won their game at the Classic. Peyton and Brooke were still good enough friends that Peyton had been tasked with creating the mix for the routine, and it was fantastic. Her music genius shone through every transition and second the music perfectly matched the routine. For 2 minutes and 30 seconds the team really made every Raven in the room proud, and all non-Ravens impressed whether they wanted to be or not. Then the music ended, and Peyton and Brooke both collapsed onto the floor.

Lucas and Rachel sat on opposite sides of the hospital corridor. Peyton was in the room behind Lucas, and Brooke in the one behind Rachel. They had been waiting for news for an hour but the doctors were being very cagey as neither Lucas nor Rachel were family members. It was somewhat of an irony that Brooke whose parents were in Tree Hill and near their daughter as little as possible, focusing on running their businesses around the country instead, and Peyton whose mother was dead and father worked on oil rigs far away were the two that would need medical attention and parental presence. Haley had decided an hour of waiting was long enough, especially as Peyton had begun to bleed in the ambulance, so she and Nathan had gone to look for the doctor. They were gone at least 45 minutes before they returned with a doctor in tow.

Dr Pomfrey reasoned with Lucas and Rachel that he would explain both Peyton and Brooke's situations as long as he could speak with their parents first, even if that was via telephone. Luckily Haley had collected both of the girl's bags before leaving the competition for the hospital so they had access to their mobiles. Lucas and Rachel were clearly incredibly uncomfortable about having to call the Davis' and Mr Sawyer as none of them had met before, however they knew it had to be done. Soon, the phone calls had been made. Larry Sawyer, Peyton's dad, had been worried but very grateful to Lucas, Dr Pomfrey spoke to him privately and then revealed that Larry would be in Tree Hill within the week to check on his daughter. The Davis' were more indifferent, as was to be expected. They informed both Rachel and Dr Pomfrey that if necessary they would pay for Brooke to go private, and would be home next month to check on her unless her situation became life-threatening.

After their own conversation with Dr Pomfrey, Lucas and Rachel were left astounded as they left and equally shocked Haley and Nathan in the corridor while they entered Peyton and Brooke's room respectively.
"Hey pretty girl," Rachel said to Brooke as she entered the room, "I see they found a gown to fit your fat ass in then." Brooke laughed weakly, her passing out had clearly taken a lot out of her, but it didn't seem that anything more than rest was needed.
"I see they found a chair to fit yours in," the brunette retorted as the redhead sat next to her, taking her hand in hers.
"Brooke…have they told you what happened?" Rachel began gently.
"I just passed out Rach, no big deal," Brooke turned her head refusing to indulge her friend's worry, "Probably stress and dehydration, I'm surprised I don't do it every comp."
"Well it's probably because you haven't been 3 and a half months pregnant at every competition," Rachel couldn't help but bite out.
"What?! They told you?!" Brooke was panicked now, "I don't wanna be pregnant! I'm stopping it, just let me deal with it." Her fear engaged something in Rachel, a feeling to protect her no matter what.
"It's ok," Rachel said soothingly, "We'll figure this out." Brooke took her serious tone to heart and believed her, however she only calmed down slightly. The thoughts of the past 3 months since she'd first found out still clouded her mind. What the hell was she going to do?! Sixteen and pregnant. Fuck.

"Hi beautiful," Lucas smiled to Peyton as he crossed the room from the door to her bed. She looked so pitiful it broke his heart. She was awake enough to smile at him, her blonde curls splayed madly across the pillow, she looked like an angel, a completely worn out and exhausted angel. Lucas settled himself on the bed facing her, one hand in hers and the other cupped around her cheek. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I've been hit by truck," Peyton croaked in response, Lucas got her some water instinctively, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he smiled warmly, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "I will be around to get you water or whatever else for as long as you need, and then your dad said he'll be here within the week to look after you too."
"You're too good to me," Peyton smiled before looking concerned, "Did the doctor tell my dad not to worry? I don't want him taking time off work to come here, he was due leave soon anyway." Lucas couldn't help but smile, as brash as Peyton seemed, she really did put others before herself.
"He knows, but he's your dad so there's nowhere else he'd rather be than looking after you," Lucas assured her before asking meekly, "Has the doctor spoken to you about what happened?"
"Uh-huh," Peyton replied, tears filling in her eyes, "I'm so-sorry Luke," she began to cry.
"Hey hey, it's ok," Lucas whispered, wiping the tears away from her cheeks and pressing a kiss to her lips, "It's not your fault, I'm guessing you didn't know?"
"Not at all," she shook her head, "I know we've gotten a bit lax with condoms but I always take my pill, and that can mess you up so I didn't think to check…" she trailed off before looking at him with fear, "What if I'd known?! I could've not competed or something."
"But you didn't," Lucas answered simply, "It's not your fault. I love you, and I love our baby even though it isn't here anymore, I don't blame you Peyton."
"Don't." she threatened, her sudden menacing tone shocked Lucas, "Don't tell me you love me for the first time just because we almost had a baby."
"I'm not!" Lucas shouted, he couldn't believe her, "I'm telling you because it's true, and I want you to know it to help us get through this. We don't even have a baby and I still love you!" he regretted the last sentence immediately.
"I know I don't have a baby Lucas! I bled out in the back of an ambulance!" Peyton shouted back, "You know what? I can't deal with this situation, and I don't want your pity love so just get out."
Lucas stood with his mouth open, completely aghast. Arguing, especially over saying 'I love you' felt like the most petty and ridiculous thing to do right now, but he couldn't stop himself and had no motivation to stop Peyton. "Fine." Was all he said before he left the room, and Peyton in tears.