(A/N: Thanks so much for reviewing! This is great. I have no idea where Brooke's parents are living And I don't know what happened with Brooke and Felix on the show, because I missed those episodes, so I'm going to make up something. Enjoy. –NL)
"I hope your mom's going to be okay with this. I don't want her to freak out or anything … thinking that you're dead." Peyton smiled, referring to Dan's business burning down. They still hadn't found any traces of his body, but it was evident that no one could've survived a fire that massive. It even took down a couple of other nearby buildings.
"What's summer if you sit around and overanalyze everything?" Lucas wondered throwing the last of his things into the van they had rented.
"You know what Lucas?" Peyton began. "I'm really starting to have second thoughts. What are the odds that we will actually find Jake and Brooke and make them come back to us?" She surrendered.
"I know you are not backing down. Five days ago, you were stoked and now you're scared." Lucas shook his head. "No. I will not let you do this to yourself Peyton. I need this. We need this." He explained, ready to carry and dump her into the car if necessary.
"I don't know…" Peyton sighed, pulling down her long-sleeved top.
"What's with you and that thing anyway? It's summer. Girls are supposed to wear less clothing, not more." He joked as Peyton pointed to her exposed midriff to detract attention away from her long sleeves. If he only knew what was really going on with her, then he would let her stay here—and get better.
Brooke stood frozen in place. She didn't know whether to kiss him or kill him. Felix had put her through a lot and it turned out that the friends with benefits thing had only turned sour for her. Studying Felix, she instantly began to understand what it was that she loved about Lucas; his bright blue eyes, his dirty blonde hair … the way he protected her—"as a friend" she reminded herself, snapping back into reality.
For some reason, she just wasn't functioning normally since his confession. Desperately, she wanted to run back to Tree Hill and tell Lucas how much she loved him, but love couldn't salvage everything. It was only part of the process. She smiled to herself. At least she knew what it felt like well enough to end it with Felix, yet here he was. He was always persistent.
"Don't I get some type of reaction?" Felix wondered as Brooke reached her arms out to Felix. She still couldn't pin point why she was even doing this … but she was thinking about leaving the past in the past and living in the present.
"What are you doing here?" Brooke finally asked, becoming more like her old self.
"I missed you." He admitted, resting his head on top of hers.
"Come on Felix. What is it? Really?" Brooke pressed, not believing any of his bull.
"I had second thoughts." He explained. "I thought, what if it … what if I was meant to be a father at eighteen. And I couldn't just leave you hanging." Felix finished as Brooke pushed him away.
"I did not come here for that. This is exactly what I wanted to get rid of. Don't you understand that? All the drama is behind me." Brooke took in a deep breath. She was trying to block out all thoughts of possibly being a mother, and had succeeded—until Felix had brought it up again.
"How far along are you?" He wondered, looking at her stomach.
"Who said I didn't already get rid of it?" Brooke cringed at the sound of her own words. It. How could she talk about her egg, no her possible child like that. "I mean, that part of my life is over." She lied, really leaving Tree Hill to have a child and then decide what to do from there.
"You've got to be kidding. Brooke, don't I get a say?" Felix asked.
"You already said your peace. You didn't think it was 'yours' did you? You wanted a 'paternity test' because you already had big plans for your life. Pursuing acting in New York, remember?" Brooke threw up her hands, defeated. She suddenly began to feel weak and sat down before Felix suspected it. "Just let me handle this." She shook her head, annoyed. "I really wish that you hadn't come here."
"What?" Felix was outraged.
"Did you expect that I would fall at your feet and kiss them? Be glad that you and all the pain that comes in the Felix package is back? I'm moving on with my life Felix. Maybe you should do the same." Brooke almost shouted, trying to stand up, but feeling her legs buckle under her as Felix came to the "rescue" again.
"Brooke, are you okay?" He held her tightly as she struggled to stand on her own.
"I'm fine." Brooke pushed him away, taking a few steps only to feel as though the room were spinning. Abruptly feeling weak, Brooke held onto the thing nearest to her, which happened to be Felix. "Take me to the hospital." She whispered, closing her eyes and trying to remain stable.
"I was thinking about those papers I sent you." Haley began the next morning.
"The annulment papers?" Nathan finished as she nodded.
"Yeah. Maybe it's best if we let them pass through." She suggested as Nathan glared at her. "Here me out. I talked to my lawyer and it would be a hassle to get them stopped now. Maybe it's for the better—we never got the wedding we wanted, and we can do things right this time." Haley smiled. "What?"
"What has gotten into your Haley? Why are you pretending like nothing happened, like we have no history?" Nathan questioned her intensely.
"I'm not pretending. It's just no use dwelling over what can't be helped. All we can do is try to fix it--"
"Fix it? Fix it, Haley? You were on a tour doing God knows what with some rock star. And you think spending less than twenty-four hours with me is going to change that?" He wondered angrily.
"No, but I'm trying to make things better."
"Ack. Wrong answer." He made the sound of a buzzer, walking away from her.
"Nathan. Nathan, come back." She pleaded as the door bell rang.
"Who would that be?" Nathan muttered to himself. Someone with awful timing. Someone who probably heard everything that had been said—
"Chris." Haley whispered as Nathan opened the door surprised. "What are you doing here?" She pushed past Nathan to hug Chris, hoping that the act would be enough to fool him until she could get Chris out of here. As long as he wasn't boozed up, that would be easy…
"We'll find Jake first, okay?" Lucas reassured Peyton, heading towards Miami.
"How do you know she's in Miami?" Peyton wondered, the insides of her arms stinging. She gritted to keep from letting on that anything was wrong.
"Everyone goes to Miami when they're in Florida." Lucas smiled.
"So how do you expect to get to Ontario from here?"
"That's what the car is for. And to think, you're giving Mouth a run for his money as Salutatorian."
"Would you stop joking for a second? This is serious. Lucas, we're both broke and we're traveling on intuition, with no plan. Doesn't this concern you at all?" She panicked.
"No. I told you, I've got it covered. But as soon as we get there, I'm sending you to the spa. You really need to chill out Peyt."
"It seems like she has anemia." The doctor explained.
"Meaning?" Felix looked down at her, concerned. Brooke was sickly pale and was now sleeping, peacefully.
"She is lethargic and will be limited in what she can do for the next few months." He continued.
"Okay, so what can we do about it?' Felix probed.
"Normally, we would prescribe iron pills to help combat the problem, but since she is with child—a nutritionist might be the best thing … and some over-the-counter multi-vitamins. Children take away a lot from their mothers and right now, Brooke isn't healthy enough to survive childbirth." The doctor began to stand.
"What? You mean she's pregnant?" Felix looked down at Brooke again. She looked small and delicate. Her figure had barely changed and—"she won't survive childbirth?"
"Not if it happened today."
"Chris. Glad to see you." Haley looked at him, confused.
"Good to see you too Haley. You look good." He nodded as Haley, who looked away a little embarrassed. "Really good." Chris repeated, forcefully pressing his lips onto Haley's.
"Chris. What are you doing--" Haley's anger was overshadowed by Nathan's.
"Back off ass wipe." Nathan released his anger by punching Chris in the jaw.
"Have you been drinking?" Haley mouthed as Chris just smiled.
"Wow. That's the best you got?" He rubbed the side of his face, which stung, but it wasn't enough to really get to him.
"No. I'm just getting warmed up." Nathan prepared himself to take another shot.
"Nathan. Don't." Haley begged, holding him back.
"Why are you protecting him?" Nathan wondered as Haley looked back at the man she had spend the last six months with, with pity. And more than that actually … she understood him, which was more than what she could say for Nathan. Haley loudly exhaled. She was going to have a huge decision to make and soon.
(A/N: I don't know if that was any good. I got the idea to make it more dramatic from 'Higher Ground'—an old, yet good television show with Hayden Christensen and A.J. Cook and from playing Spider Solitaire. Anyway, let me know what you think about this and what you think will happen. –NL)