A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad I'm doing a good job :). Hope you're all still enjoying it!
It's been two days since the accident, and Lucas still isn't awake. These have probably been the longest two days of Nathan's life.
He's stopped by the hospital a few times, hoping to get some alone time with Lucas so he can talk to him, but Karen hasn't left his side once. It's not like he can just tell Karen to leave, but he can't exactly say what he wants to in front of her either.
Mostly he just feels useless. Lucas is just lying in there, and he can't do a damn thing about it.
Haley's been avoiding the hospital like the plague, still feeling incredibly guilty about everything that's happened. Nathan's been trying constantly to get her to go, but when she threw a coffee cup at him in the cafe he decided that he should probably just leave it alone.
Things haven't been too great at home either. Dan's living at the beach house, constantly bugging Nathan about moving out there with him. His mom keeps telling him about how sorry she is about all of this, and honestly, he just wants the both of them to shut the hell up. At this point, he doesn't want to live with either of them.
He's at home playing SSX on his PS2 to pass the time when he gets a phone call from Haley.
"Hello?" He says, resting the phone on his shoulder.
"Are you busy right now?"
"Just trying to lose myself in snowboarding. What's up?" Nathan says, still focusing on the game.
"I think I'm ready to go see him."
Nathan pauses the game before answering her. "Are you sure you're not going to fling another cup at me if I come get you?" He can hear a slight laugh in response.
"At least my aim sucks. Yeah, I'm sure."
"Okay, I'll drop by and pick you up," Nathan says, turning the PS2 off and grabbing his keys.
"Alright.. see you in a bit." Haley sighs before hanging up; probably nervous as all hell.
She reluctantly gets in his truck when he pulls up to her house, biting her nails the entire time they've been driving.
"Good thing we're heading to a hospital," Nathan quips.
"Why?" Haley mumbles, still biting away.
"Because you're not gonna have any fingers left if you don't stop," Nathan says, pointing at her hands.
"Shut up," She says, smacking him on the shoulder. "I'm just nervous."
"Haley…,"
"What if he wakes up while I'm there and doesn't want to see me?"
"At least he would be awake," Nathan snaps.
"Sorry, you're right," Haley sighs, finally lowering her fingers from her mouth.
They spend the rest of the ride in silence.
In Lucas's room, Karen's asleep in a chair against the wall, and Lucas is still as lifeless as he was the last time Nathan came to see him. Instead of following him in, Haley stops in the doorway.
"I can't," Haley whispers, retreating into the hall.
"Haley, wait!" Nathan says, following her and trying to keep his voice low so he doesn't wake Karen. "It's alright."
"No it isn't," Haley responds, rubbing her forehead."He's lying in there and I can't do anything about it."
"Then just be there for him," Nathan tells her. "Talk to him; it'll make you feel better."
"I don't deserve to feel better," Haley says. "I mean, giving him an apology isn't worth anything if he isn't even awake to hear it. Plus, I'm just going to start crying and that's the last thing Karen needs."
"C'mon, Haley," Nathan tries, but she starts walking away from him.
"I can't," Haley says, turning and walking down the hall.
Sighing heavily, Nathan proceeds back into the room and sits in a chair next to the bed. There's so many things running through his mind that he wants to say, so many things he wants to apologize for, but Karen's still in the room. She is asleep though..
Well, guess this opportunity is as good as any.
"Hey, Luke," Nathan says, squeezing Lucas's hand. "It's me again. I'm here to apologize because… everything's just so screwed up right now. You and me, you and Haley; it's all messed up. We're not together anymore, but she needs you to open your eyes, man. She's hurting, and feels like she can't be forgiven for what she said. I'm sort of in the same place."
He glances over at Karen to make sure she's asleep before continuing.
"I'm sorry I've hurt you so much, and I'm sorry I've been running away this whole time instead of running to you like I should've been. The truth is… I love you, Lucas. Kind of scary saying it out loud, but it's the truth."
Nathan can feel himself start tearing up, and wipes his eyes. "So now I just need you to wake up, okay? I can't do this without you."
Nathan drops his head down, wiping the tears from his eyes again. Suddenly he feels Lucas's hand twitch. He looks up and sees Lucas's eyes staring right at him.
He's awake.
"Hey," Nathan says, smiling like crazy.
"Water," Lucas breathes, his voice practically inaudible. Nathan hurries and pours a cup of water for him, lifting it to his lips so he can drink.
"What.. what are you doing here?" Lucas asks weakly, wincing and clutching his right shoulder with his left hand.
Nathan doesn't respond; instead he stands up and kisses Lucas's lips, resting his forehead on Lucas's.
"Don't ever scare me like that again, you asshole," Nathan says, letting the tears flow freely now.
"Nathan…," Lucas says, gently wiping Nathan's eyes with his thumb. Shit; he needs to get ahold of himself and wake Karen up.
"I'll go get your mom," Nathan says, kissing Lucas one more time before walking to Karen and gently nudging her shoulder. "I think Lucas wants to talk to you." Karen wakes with a start, looking at Nathan curiously before looking at Lucas.
"Lucas?!" Karen says, jumping from her chair to his side. "Talk to me sweetie, I'm right here."
"Hi, mom," Lucas says, smiling up at Karen.
"Oh my God," Karen says, bending over and pulling Lucas into a hug.
"Ouch, mom. Still in pain here," Lucas says, wrapping his left arm around his mom.
Feeling like he should give the two of them some time, Nathan quietly slips out of the room. He needs to go find Haley, but she ran out of there so fast he couldn't ask her where she was going.
He tries her house first, but her parents said she wasn't home. So he tries the cafe next.
"Hey honey, any news?" Deb asks him from behind the counter as he walks in.
"He's awake!" Nathan tells her, smiling.
"Thank goodness," Deb says, breathing a sigh of relief. "You know, it's really brave of you to go and visit him, considering our messy family situation. I'm proud of you, Nate." She doesn't even know the half of it.
"Thanks, mom," Nathan says, chuckling. "Hey, have you seen Haley?"
"She came through here earlier and headed for the roof," Deb answers, pouring a cup of coffee.
"Cool," Nathan says, heading behind the counter towards the door to the roof. He stops for a second when he gets up there, admiring everything. The whole roof is designed like a miniature golf course. Why hasn't he been up here yet?
He spots Haley sitting on a little kid's picnic table.
"My mom told me I would find you up here," Nathan says, sitting next to her.
"Hey," Haley says, giving him a slight smile.
"So this place is pretty cool," He says.
"Yeah it is," She says. "Lucas and I built this, back when it was the two of us against the world. Sorry I ran out of the hospital."
"Don't sweat it," Nathan says, wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her shoulder. "But I think you might wanna go back."
"Why's that?" Haley asks him.
"Lucas is awake."
—
Lucas can barely move without feeling like he's going to fall apart.
He right shoulder hasn't quit fucking throbbing since he woke up, his chest feels like it's going to collapse even when he just tries to sit up, and his stitches where he got his spleen removed will not stop itching.
In a nutshell, he feels like pure shit, but he's happy he's alive. He can barely remember the accident; everything after leaving the house with Keith that night is extremely fuzzy. Bits and pieces are coming back to him, but nothing major. Lucas can also remember hearing a few things while he was asleep; his mom singing to him, and Nathan talking to him. He also remembers Nathan kissing him as soon as he woke up, which quite frankly, confuses the crap out of him. Every time he thinks about it his head starts throbbing even worse, so he's been trying to keep it out of his mind as much as possible.
His mom told him how many people came to see him: Whitey, most of the basketball team, Brooke, Peyton, Deb, and much to her surprise, Nathan. He apparently set a new record for most "visitors while unconscious." One name he noticed she didn't say though was Haley. Are things really that bad between them?
Lucas reaches for a cup of water, but stops halfway, his body screaming at him for moving.
"Careful mister, or you'll pop a stitch," Karen says, grabbing the water cup and handing it to him. "Here."
"I'm not helpless, mom," Lucas says, taking a drink.
"Keep this up and you will be," Karen says. Before Lucas can say something else, his doctor walks in the room.
"How are we feeling today?" The doctor asks him.
"Like I had my spleen ripped out," Lucas quips.
"You'll be sore for a while," The doctor says.
"What about basketball? Will I ever get it back?" Lucas asks. The pain in his shoulder tells him the answer is no.
"Your shoulder was pretty badly damaged. Full recovery may not be possible, but I wouldn't give up hope."
"Great," Lucas sighs.
"Well, since you seem to be doing fine, I'd say you should be good to go home in a few hours," The doctor tells him. "We'll get you set up with some pain medication before you leave. Make sure you take it, or your shoulder will hurt even worse."
"Thanks doc," Lucas says, and she turns and walks out.
"Don't worry honey, you'll be able to play again," Karen says, pushing his hair out of his face.
"Let's hope," He responds.
Suddenly he hears a knock at the door. Looking up he sees…
… Haley, smiling at him with tears falling down her face.
Guess they're gonna be okay after all.
"I'll leave you two alone," Karen says, smiling and walking out of the room. Haley runs up to him and gives him a hug, sobbing into his chest.
"Hey buddy," Lucas says, kissing the top of her head.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Haley says, squeezing him tighter, making him wince. "Sorry."
"Thanks for finally coming to see me," Lucas says, smirking. Haley lifts up, wiping her eyes.
"I would've came sooner, but I just couldn't," Haley says. "I said a lot of horrible things to you, Lucas."
"All water under the bridge," Lucas says, which makes her smile. "We're best friends, remember? We can make it through anything."
"Yeah, you're right," She says. "So, about this whole Nathan situation.."
"I'm sorry for kissing him, I promise I wasn't trying to hurt you."
"We broke up, Luke," She tells him.
"Oh," Lucas says. "How come?"
She doesn't respond; instead taking off the toy bracelet she got from Nathan and putting it around Lucas's wrist.
"Because I wasn't the one this was meant for," She says, smiling at him. "I'm sorry for freaking out. I was letting my own personal feelings cloud my judgement. The truth is, as long as you're happy, I'm happy. Plus, the way he looks at you… he never looked at me like that."
"You sure about this?" Lucas asks.
"Of course," Haley responds.
"You really have no idea how much this means to me," Lucas tells her.
"Like you said, we can make it through anything."
The two of them talked for a while, laughing like old times, and he realizes that he's missed this terribly. He's never going to let anyone come between the two of them again…
… unless of course they look like Nathan. God damn.
Lucas looks and sees Nathan coming in his room, smiling at Lucas, showing off those gorgeous dimples of his.
"I'll let you two talk," Haley says. "Call me when you get home?"
"Yeah," Lucas says, still gawking at Nathan. Haley gives him a hug before leaving the two of them alone.
"Hey," Nathan says, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, staring at Lucas with those gorgeous deep blue eyes.
"Hey," Lucas says, smiling like an idiot.
"Isn't that..?" Nathan says, pointing to the bracelet on his wrist.
"Yeah," Lucas says, holding his arm up. "Haley said it was meant for me and not her."
"So she told you we broke up?"
"Oh yeah, she pretty much told me everything… including how you only hooked up with her to mess with me," Lucas says. Nathan's dimples fade into a frown.
"I made a lot of stupid mistakes," Nathan says.
"Ya think?" Lucas says, laughing.
"Guess I was just scared," Nathan says, shrugging.
"Like I'm not?" Lucas asks. "Look, if we spend the rest of our lives being afraid, we're going to look back and keep wondering 'what if?' And I can't do that."
"Me either," Nathan says, his cheeks turning red, "So that's why I want to ask you something."
"What?"
"Will you be my boyfriend?"
It takes Lucas a second to register Nathan's question. He has to be dreaming this.
"Are you serious?" Lucas asks.
"Hell yeah I'm serious," Nathan answers, smiling. Lucas still is at a loss for what to say. "Could you just say yes already? This is pretty nerve-wracking."
Laughing, Lucas pulls him down and kisses him.
"Yes," Lucas says, feeling absolutely euphoric.
Nathan smiles and kisses him back.
"Just don't think I'm gonna go easy on you in practice because we're dating," Nathan says, running his hands through Lucas's hair.
"Bring it on, little brother."
—