A/N - Hey!

Thanks: BRUCAS EQUALS LOVE, othfan326, hoeoverbros, brookenlucas4eva03, Mosie1213, BrOoKe DaViS23, BDavis427, Brucas3Naley23, CheerandBrood323, Team Davis-Scott, Princesakarlita411, onetreefan, brucas224, brucas333, erika x3, Brook-Lucas-Fan-23, tanya2byour21, chebelle, and Kimmers.

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Searching For What We Lost

Chapter 6 -

--Two Months Earlier--

"Where is she?" Haley bursted into the house frantically.

"I don't know!" He yelled exasperated. "I have no fucking clue where she went!"

"Okay...okay. Let's calm down and try to be rational about this. We need to think. She wouldn't just run away to another state...would she?"

"That's the thing...The two of us have been so screwed up this past few days that she hasn't been talking to me...so I don't even know."

"Did you call the police?"

"No." He waved his hand, dismissing the thought. "I didn't want to get the officials involved. I figured she'd just show up later tonight."

"But she hasn't, Luke. It's already one in the morning."

"You think I don't know that?! She's my wife and she's missing. She could be dead for all I know."

"Stop it, Luke. Don't talk like that!"

"Well what else am I supposed to think? I just lost my son...and now I could have lost my wife."

He was scared. Scared to death. He hadn't heard from his wife since last nice. And when he woke up, he only found a note. A small, simple note that didn't even inform him where she was or where she was going! All it said was that she had to leave!

"You tried calling her cell phone, right?"

"Of course...that's the first thing I did."

Haley nodded and tried to think of something else. She was scared, too. Nobody saw this coming.

Just then, the phone rang and Lucas jumped a bit from the unexpected shrill.

"Maybe that's her." Haley suggested as Lucas picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" He said into the phone.

No answer...Just breathing. But for some reason he knew who it was.

It was Brooke, Haley was right.

"Brooke...are you there?"

Silence.

"Brooke." He pleaded. "Please. Just let me know that you're okay."

Haley stood in front of her best friend, confused. What was going on on the other end of the phone?

"I'm fine." She finally spoke.

And then she hung up.

"Dammit." He mumbled and threw the phone down.

"What? What is it? Where is she?"

"I...I don't know."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I don't know where she is, Hales...but she's okay."

--Present Time--

"Hey." Her voice cut through the silent house.

Lucas, in response to the ever so raspy sound, looked up from the newspaper he'd starting reading over breakfast.

Her eyes weren't as red as they had been the night prior and now her hair was pulled back and out of her face. She looked a little better, and Lucas assumed it was because she'd finally gotten a few hours of sleep.

They had talked and cried together, however Brooke still didn't want to go into exact details about what had happened to Alex. It was still such a raw emotion, and she expected it to stay that way forever.

"Hey, Brooke. Are you hungry?" He knew he shouldn't have even bothered to ask. He knew she'd say no. And come to think of it, it looked like she hadn't eaten in a while, she was looking rather thin. She'd been too tired and too depressed to eat. He'd have to call up Peyton, as much as he despised to do so, to ask if she'd been eating while in California.

"No." She shook her head politely and moved an inch forward towards him.

"You can come sit." He pulled the chair next to him out from under the table and then resumed to his coffee and newspaper. If she wanted to sit, she would. He'd leave it up to her to decide.

She didn't move and stood there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"So what are we gonna do, Brooke?" He asked, putting the paper down.

She shrugged hesitantly and shuffled her feet against the cold kitchen floor.

"Are you still leaving?" It wasn't really something they had discussed. After she'd brought it up, their conversation had gone in a completely different direction.

"No." She immediately responded but then further explained. "I mean...I don't want to, but..."

"So then don't. Don't leave."

"But I want to know what's going to happen to us. If we can ever be okay again..."

"Right now...I'm not so sure." He sighed deeply when he saw her face fall even more.

"Lucas..." Her voice cracked when she spoke and moved closer to him, finally taking a seat at the table. "I'm sorry. Okay?" She knew that no matter how many times she said that, it wouldn't make things any better.

"I know that." He nodded slowly.

"It's just...when he died...I guess I died, too."

"And you think I didn't, Brooke? I just had to stay strong for you...and I don't know, maybe that wasn't enough." He admitted. It was something he'd been holding in for a long time. He'd try to take away all her pain in hopes of trying to keep her sane, and when she ran away, he felt as though he failed. "I mean, you did leave, didn't you?"

"I didn't leave because of you, and you know that. I left because I blamed myself for what happened, and I still do."

"You never did tell me what exactly happened that day..." He trailed off. He knew by making that statement, she'd get uncomfortable again, possibly start crying, too.

"I...um...I'm hungry. You said you made breakfast?"

Lucas sighed silently to himself. She was still in denial.

"Yeah...yeah, I did."

Brooke's stomach churned as she saw the doctor, clad in scrubs, approach her and Lucas. She instantly felt Lucas's hand reach for her's and he gave it a tight squeeze, letting her know that whatever was about to happen, they'd still have each other and would be able get through whatever was about to be thrown at them together.

"Mr. and Mrs. Scott, please follow me." The doctor's voice was in monotone and because of this, he wasn't really hinting which way the operation had gone. Whether their son was okay or not.

Before getting up, Brooke looked over at Lucas and just wanted to break down all over again. He did, too, as he watched her. She looked dead. He didn't know what to do.

"Mr. and Mrs. Scott?" The doctor said.

"Come on, Brooke. He'll be fine." Lucas reassured her and got up from his seat. He extended his hand out for her to take once she got up from her seat, except she didn't move. Not one inch.

She couldn't move. It was as though she were paralyzed by fear. And nothing was about to change that.

"He's going to be fine. He's strong. He's your son, after all."

It took all of her strength to nod her head and then finally get up, and when she did so, she felt her knees begin to give in and buckle beneath her.

Lucas wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her along the way.

They followed the doctor into a secluded room where the walls and floors were as pale as they could be. Too pale for either of their liking.

It was then Brooke remembered she hated hospitals.

The doctor began talking and her whole world blurred. She couldn't hear or see anything. She had lost control of her balance and collapsed into Lucas's arms.

And then she sobbed.

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A/N - I know it's frustrating 'cause you still don't know how exactly their son died, but don't worry. It's coming up soon!

I'm working on chapter 20 for Finding My Way Back, and I'm hoping that'll be up soon.

Anyways, leave a review, please!! Thanks!!

–Melissa :)