Driving had always been something that she loved to do, him too. Tonight, however, there was no music playing, there were no stories being told. The only sound was the road, and the only thing that either was paying attention to were the road signs counting down the miles until Tree Hill.

A phone conversation with Karen told them that Jamie was in the hospital, and okay, only having a few scratches and a broken arm. The last she heard, both Haley and Nathan had been in surgery since their arrival at the hospital.

They had only a little idea of what they were walking into when they came into the Tree Hill emergency room that night, met by Andy and Karen.

"Lucas...God..." she says, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"What do you know? Do you know anything else?"

"No... they haven't come out and told us anything."

"What about Jamie, where is he? Is he awake?" Peyton asks, concerned for the little boy who had taken a liking to her so quickly over the past few months.

"The nurse is doing another check up, and the drugs that they've given him for pain are making him extremely sleepy. I've been trying to get him moved into the children's area for some time now, too, not wanting him to have to deal with the noise around here."

"Did they say what was wrong with Nathan and Haley, or how long this was going to take?"

"They just told me to be patient, and the doctor would come out to let us know what was going on."

As she finishes explaining this to him, the nurse that was looking in on Jamie comes out of his room, telling Karen that he can have visitors again.

"We'll sit with him awhile, okay?" Lucas says, hugging his mom, and still holding on to Peyton's hand as he turns towards the room that the nurse just came out of.

His blond hair was mussed, as it always was, and his eyes closed with a nasty gash that seemed to swell up too much for such a short period of time. His right arm was hooked into an IV, and his other arm was splinted in such a way that he couldn't move it if he tried. It was too much for a six-year old body to have to go through at one time, but they knew that he would pull through with flying colors.

"He's so tiny in here..." Lucas says, sitting down next to the bed.

"But he's okay... and that's all that matters."

They sit there, in silence for a few moments, allowing the hum and buzz of the machines to be the background noise, for fear that if they talked about it, it would make things somewhat worse.

Lucas, being the literary mind that he was, could do nothing but imagine how this could turn out, "I'm so glad that he's okay... but I can't lose them Peyton."

"You aren't going to Luke, you aren't."

"You don't know that."

"I don't, but are you going to let the devil get the best of you in this one? Letting you believe that there is going to be tragedy? That isn't you Lucas... They would have wanted you to stay strong regardless because of Jamie."

"You're right." he says, looking back to the boy, and then up at Peyton, whose hand had taken residence over the small one of his nephew.

"I've got to get some coffee, you want?"

"No, I'm fine, but hurry back."

"Got it." she says, standing, and placing a light kiss on Jamie's forehead and patting Lucas on the shoulder before leaving for the coffee machine.

The second she got out of the room, she was being stopped by Karen, "How is he?"

"He's okay, but he's scared."

"After everything that has happened between him and Nathan to get them to where they are, and thinking about the amazing friendship he and Haley have, I don't blame him."

"How are you Karen?" Peyton says, putting a hand on the shoulder of the older woman.

"I don't know. I didn't ever want him to have a part of Dan, and that meant that I was so worried about him and Nathan becoming close. But it was one of the best things for him. And Haley... she was the girl who decided that her family had enough people and we didn't have enough... at eight years old, that girl had a bigger heart than anyone in the world. She's like a daughter to me."

"She is a good woman... she and I have really gotten close these past months, and I don't know..."

"Well... when Haley gets out of there, she will be back in the studio in no time and the two of you can continue the friendship that you started...and all three of us can continue the job of keeping Lucas in line, just like we have been" she says, getting a little misty eyed as she spoke the words.

"It'll be fine..."

"I know it will..."

"Where did Andy go off to?"

"One of the neighbors is watching Lily, but I wanted her to sleep in her own bed, so I sent him home for a bit."

"Luke and I are here now, Karen. Why don't you go get some sleep too?"

"No... I won't be able to sleep until I know they're okay, and until I see Jamie awake."

"Well, I'm going to grab some coffee, would you like some?"

"That would be nice, Peyton. Thank you." she says, smiling and then pulling her in for a quick hug.

She walked down the hall and around the corner to the machine quickly, grabbing coffee for the two of them, and when she came back, she saw a young nurse talking to Karen.

"What did she have to say?" Peyton asks, walking up to her and handing her the warm coffee after the nurse left.

"She said that the doctor was on his way up to talk to us."

"I'll get Luke, and I can stay in with Jamie in case he wakes up." she says, walking away and opening up the door to Jamie's room quietly, and plastering a thin smile on her face when she meets the eyes of Lucas.

"Hey, has he woken at all?"

"No, he's still out of it." he answers, with his eyes never leaving the sleeping boy.

"A nurse just said that the doctor is on his way up, so I told Karen that I would sit with Jamie while you went out there to be with her for a bit."

"You sure?"

"I'm here, Luke. I'm in this." she says, stepping around to the side of the bed he was on, placing a kiss on the top of his head, and pulling him in towards her.

"I love you, Peyton."

"I love you too, babe."

"I know I'm new here, but you are all like family to me now... you know that, right?"

"You think I'd let anybody sit in here with my little nephew if that wasn't the case?"

"I just wanted to make sure you knew that..."

"I said forever Peyton, whatever that forever has in store for us."

She nods, with a small smile on her face, glad that he understood where she was and what she was feeling right now. He stands up and makes his way to the door, looking back to see her taking residence on the chair he was just sitting on. Her eyes were focused only on the little boy, her hand placed over his, lightly stroking over the back of it in a comforting gesture.

When he walked out, his mother was sitting down, with a man speaking with her in hushed tones. He assumed it was the doctor, and sat down silently next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder as he allowed himself to hear what the doctor was saying.

"....and it took a long time to stabilize both of them. When we went into the surgery, we were fighting a losing battle, and there was even more internal bleeding than we initially thought. They fought hard, but we were unable to save them..."

The man continued on for a while about what happened, and the procedures and details, but Lucas shut down after the news that he lost both of them, his eyes focusing on the door across the hall. A door that led to a room that held a boy who just lost both of his parents. He no longer had a brother. His best friend would never get to see her little boy grow up.

Without a word, he stood, ignoring his mother's questioning and confusion that he would walk away. He slowly made his way to that room, quietly opening the door to reveal his girlfriend and his nephew.

When she locked eyes with him, it was like all the emotion in the world couldn't make up this feeling she had, seeing him broken, and feeling a little broken herself. She knew what the doctor said the second their eyes met. She looked down at Jamie and then back to Lucas as a few tears made their way down her cheeks. He didn't make a move towards her, and she didn't stand either, just connecting with their eyes, knowing that somehow, this changed everything.

She broke the contact when she felt movement under her hand, turning to face the little boy whose eyes were fluttering open as much as they could.

"Jamie?" she asks, quietly, reaching up to stroke his hair as he woke up and his eyes met hers.

"Peyton?"

"Do you remember where you are?"

"In the hospital."

"Yeah, you're in the hospital, but you are going to be just fine." she says, her voice betraying her as it cracks at the end, with her head knowing that he might not be that okay after this accident.

"Uncle Lucas?" he asks out into the room, making the assumption that with Peyton comes Lucas automatically.

Walking over to the boy's line of sight, he placed a hand on Peyton's shoulder, leaning down to make sure he saw him, "Hey Jamie, how are you?"

"I'm sleepy..." he says in a soft voice with a yawn.

"It's okay to sleep Jamie... you're going to be pretty tired for a while."

"Where's Mama?" he asks, with his little brow crinkled as much as it could be with how his face was bandaged in certain areas.

Peyton's eyes welled up a bit as she turned to look at Lucas, who had a look of shock on his face at the question. She shook her head subtly, knowing that now was not the time to tell the boy that his parents weren't going to be there.

"The doctors are taking care of your mom and dad right now, just like they took care of you." Lucas finally says, smiling at him.

After regaining her composure, Peyton turned back to the little boy, feeling so much for him, knowing the feeling of losing a parent, but at the same time not even comprehending the idea of losing both at the same time. Wanting to comfort him, she moved her hand to the top of his head, stroking the short blond locks that she found there.

"Okay..."

"Can we get you anything, Jamie?" Peyton asks softly.

"I want to go to sleep again..." he says, his eyes drooping shut.

"We'll be right here." both of them tell him, and Peyton stops her movement for a second moving her hand back down to rest on his.

"Peyton?"

"Yeah, buddy."

"Can you do that again? Mama does that to help me sleep when I don't feel good." he says, his voice dripping with that six year old innocence.

Knowing that his eyes were closed, she let the tears fall, and resumed her touch on his head, trying to keep her emotions in check as she lulled the boy to sleep.

That was how they sat for another half hour, her stroking his hair, and Lucas standing next to her watching the scene before him with a hand on her shoulder. "Peyton, we should let him sleep..."

"I can't...I don't want him to.." she says, with a catch in her voice.

"He'll be fine..."

"He said that's how she helped him fall asleep. I don't want him to wake up and think something's wrong."

"Something is wrong, Peyton..."

"Lucas..."

"We've got to go check on my mom. He'll be okay." he finally says after she said his name in that pleading tone, squeezing her shoulder.

They stand up, and with a final quick glance to make sure he was still sleeping, they walk out of the room to find that Andy had come back and was consoling his mother in the same spot she left him.

"Mom..." he says, walking up to her and taking her into his arms, silently apologizing for leaving her out here alone.

"It's okay, I understand."

"I shouldn't have left you out here..."

"No... our primary responsibility is that little boy now, I know that..."

"He woke up for a few minutes." Peyton says from her spot next to Andy.

"That's good." Karen says, nodding, and looking back at Lucas, who had yet to break down.

"I'm going to go make a quick call... Luke... will you be okay?"

"Yeah."

Nodding, she walks into another hallway, taking out her cell phone and dialing a familiar number, cringing at the thought that it was way too early to be calling this person. But it was the one who was always there for her, and she knew she could count on her.

"Oh, my God, Peyton Sawyer, somebody better be decapitated for you to call me this early."

The statement hit her hard, even knowing that it was her friend's bad attempt at a joke. It was like the night's events all the sudden exploded in front of her, and she was realizing how big this really was. So, she did all she could do, and let the feeling wash over her, sobbing into the phone for a few minutes, listening to Brooke trying to calm her down on the other line. Finally, something broke through, "P. Sawyer, honey, I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong... did something happen with you and Luke?"

"No... I just... We're in Tree Hill."

"Didn't Lucas just get back from his book tour? Why did you..."

"There was an accident... Haley and Nathan and Jamie."

"Oh my God, is everyone okay?"

"Brooke..." was all that she could manage before breaking down a bit again.

"What can I do?"

"We have to stay here for a while... I don't know how long. Jamie made it. By some grace of God, he's okay, with just a broken arm and a couple of scratches. But Brooke... they're gone. He doesn't..."

"Peyton, what can I do?"

"I need you to go to the apartment and get me and Luke some clothes. Pack enough for a couple weeks, and then can you make sure that Christy can cover the gallery?"

"You've got it. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks...and can you pack something nice for..."

"I know, I've got that too...How's Luke?"

"I don't know. I don't think that it has hit him yet."

"Does Jamie know?"

"No. He only woke up for a few minutes, and he's asleep again, but just call me when you get in the area, I should go so I can check on everyone."

"Peyton, I know how you are... You may not have known them all your life, but it is okay to break down... It's okay to not be the strong one every minute."

"I know. Tonight though... I do."

"Fair enough... I'll see you in a few hours."

"Okay, thanks." she says, hanging up the phone, and walking back to the doors that would lead her back to where the family was.

The only one she found was Lucas, sitting in a chair alone with his head in his hands. She moved toward him, and with a quick look into the window saw that Karen and Andy were sitting with the slumbering Jamie.

When she sat next to him, he felt her. He knew that she was there even before she put the reassuring hand on his back. As he looked up, with red-rimmed eyes and dried tear tracks down his face, she knew that it had hit him.

"How am I going to tell him?"

–

Okay, so do you all hate me? Please don't tell me that you hate me, cause that would make me sad. It was really hard to kill them off, and wow... really sad to think about that happening. Hmm... Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed it. This is still going in my head, and I've got a lot still planned, so bear with me, folks, and keep reading, and keep reviewing, because that really does mean a lot to me.

Some of you may also know that I'm trying my darndest to reply back to some of your reviews, because they really do mean a lot... so if you have questions or whatever, or you want to tell me you love me...hmm... not like Psycho Derek love me... you know what I mean... then review it baby!!

Reviews rock!!