It had been two days since Lucas and Keith had packed and left Tree Hill for good. Cassie and Karen were having a hard time adjusting to their house being so quiet. Karen spent the majority of her time at the cafe. Cassie put split her time between studying for her midterms and hanging out with Nathan and Haley, Brooke and Peyton, who were all trying their best to help her keep her mind off of the fact that her twin brother was gone.

"So, I was thinking of having a party for Nate and Haley, you know as a way to celebrate their being married and everything." Cassie said to Brooke as they rummaged through a pile of clothes on Peyton's bed. Peyton was sitting at the desk drawing something.

"What is up with that anyways?" Brooke asked.

"What do you mean Brooke, their married, what else is there to know?" Cassie asked.

"Well tutor-girl and Nathan get married, you know there has to be something else going on that we don't know. Come on Cass, your tutor-girls best friend, you should know something. She's totally pregnant." Brooke said.

Peyton laughed and rolled her eyes. "Brooke, people don't just get married when they are pregnant."

"Wrong...I mean it has to be something else. People don't just run off and get married for no reason in high school." Brooke said as she picked up a dark blue dress and held it up to the mirror in front of her. "So, tell me do we need to be throwing a baby shower? Cause you know I'm the queen of throwing parties."

Cassie laughed. "I know you are Brooke, but Haley is not pregnant. Believe me that was one of the first things that came to my mind when she told me she was married, but she assured me it was just because she and Nathan were in love, and I'm choosing to believe her. She's never lied to me before."

"Whatever you say, I still say something's off about this whole thing. How do you think this would look?" She asked turning to her friends to show them the dress she was planning to wear to a party that night.

Just as Cassie was about to answer her cellphone went off. "Hello?" She answered.

"Cass, it's Nate."

"Nathan, what's going on? You sound panicky." Cassie said after hearing the tone in her brother's voice.

"It's Dan, he had a heart attack." Nathan said.

"What?" Cassie shrieked disbelievingly. "When?"

"A few hours ago, my Mom brought him to the hospital. Haley and I are just about to head over there now." Nathan explained.

"Ok, I'll be right over." She said as she hung up the phone. "I can't believe this."

"What's going on Cass?" Peyton asked noticing her friends pained expression.

"Dan had a heart attack, he's in the hospital." Cassie said. This was all to surreal. As much as she disliked Dan for the things he had done she also knew he was in incredibly good shape for someone his age. People his age didn't just drop and have heart attacks for no reason.

"Come on, we'll drive you to the hospital." Brooke said grabbing her purse from the bed.

"I...do you think I should go? I mean this is Dan were talking about." Cassie said.

"Cass, I think that no matter what kind of things he has done to you and your family that you still care if he lives or dies. That's just the kind of person you are. Besides you need to be there for Nathan." Peyton reminded her.

Cassie nodded gathering her things. "Lets go."

Twenty-minutes later they pulled up the Tree Hill Hospital and ran into the emergency entrance.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where Dan Scott is?" Brooke asked the administrator at the desk.

She nodded. "He is having tests ran now. He will be taken to ICU after that, you can go wait in the waiting room there."

Brooke thanked her before rejoining Peyton and Cassie. Cassie had turned as white as a ghost in a matter of minutes and looked as if she might pass out.

"Cass, you really need to calm down." Peyton said out of concern. "Brooke can you take her, I'll go get her some water and something to eat from the cafeteria."

Brooke nodded and followed Peyton's directions. They entered the waiting room and found Nathan sitting with his head in his hands, in the corner of the room with Haley comforting him.

"Nathan." Cassie said as soon as she saw her brother. She ran and threw her arms around him tightly.

He smiled slightly and hugged her back. "Good, your here."

"Have they told you anything?" Cassie asked.

Nathan shook his head. "No, they just took him for more tests."

Cassie nodded. "Where's your Mom?"

"In the chapel." He said. "She found out about Haley and I and flipped out. I'm giving her some space."

"Well can you really blame her for being upset?" Cassie asked.

Haley sighed. "Not really, but she's always been so supportive of our relationship, I never figured she'd react this way."

"Cass, are you going to be ok here for awhile with Nate and Haley?" Brooke asked as Peyton entered the room and gave her the water and muffin she has bought.

Cassie nodded. "Thanks you guys for bringing me."

"No problem, take care of yourself. We don't want to be visiting you in the hospital next." Peyton said.

"Don't worry I will be fine." She assured them, giving them both a hug before saying goodbye.

"Family of Dan Scott." A Doctor entered the waiting room.

Nathan, Haley and Cassie all stood up.

"Are you his children?" The Doctor asked.

Cassie and Nathan looked at eachother before nodding.

"Ok, well it seems your father suffered a major heart attack. Now he will be fine, but the preliminary tests revealed that he the attack caused minor damage to the left side of his heart. We are able to fix this problem with surgery which we will perform once he regains his strength. The attack also caused his heart to stop beating completely at one point causing him to lose oxygen. We don't know yet if this will affect his brain at all, it all depends how long his brain was deprived of the oxygen, we will determine that when he wakes up. For now he is in his room resting and will continue to do so for the next few hours. We are running more tests to determine the cause of the heart attack, but the results will not be ready for another few days. He is lucky his wife was able to get him here in time. Your mother saved his life." The Doctor smiled before walking out of the room.

Both Nathan and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's going to be ok." Cassie said with a smile on her face.

"Your saying this even after everything he has done to you." Nathan asked his sister.

Cassie nodded. "He may be a monster, but I have never wished his death."

"Wait, has anybody told Lucas?" Haley asked thinking of her other best friend.

Nathan nodded. "I phoned Keith before and he said he would tell Lucas. I doubt they will come back just for Dan."

"I wish Luke and Keith were here, there both good in a crisis." Cassie said with a laugh as Deb entered looking extremely upset. "Deb are you ok?" Cassie asked bringing the attention to the older women in the room.

She shook her head. "Have you heard anything?"

Nathan nodded, not sure what to say to his mother after the way she had reacted the his being married.

"The Doctor was just here, he told us Dad was going to be fine, they're still running tests to see what went wrong" Nathan explained to Deb who only nodded.

"I need some air." Deb said as she quickly left and ran out into the hall.

"Well what do you say we head to Dan's room?" Haley asked.

"You really want to see him?" Cassie asked.

"Well, he is your father despite what you both think about him, I just think it would do you both some good to go see that he is going to be ok. It'll bring you peace of mind." Haley said as both Cassie and Nathan nodded.

"Come on then." Nathan said as they walked down the hall to Room 234.

All three teens entered to find Dan sound asleep, hooked up to a bunch of machines, including a heart monitor and an IV.

"How weird is this, the Great Dan Scott lying in a hospital bed." Haley said breaking the silence.

"He looks so, so weak." Cassie said, the feeling of surrealness creeping about again. "I never imagined I would see him like this. He's always seemed larger then life, but here he just looks..."

Nathan cut her off. "Helpless?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Just then Cassie saw Karen enter looking worried.

"Mom?" Cassie asked. "What are you doing here?"

Karen caught her breath before speaking. "I was here visiting Whitey and I saw Deb, she told me what happened with Dan. I guess I just had to see for myself. Is that why your here?"

Cassie nodded. "In a way. It's just so weird seeing him like this."

Karen nodded. "I'm sorry honey, I know this has to be hard for you."

Cassie looked toward Nathan who was standing next to the bed with Haley. "Not as hard for me as for him." She pointed to her brother. "I don't even know him, I guess I don't feel like I have the right to be concerned about him, why should I be when he doesn't even care about me."

"Cassie, sweetie it wouldn't be wrong for you to be upset about this." Karen assured her daughter. "But you really don't look to good, why don't we leave these three alone and you come back to the cafe with me."

Cassie nodded in agreement. "Ok."

"God, I can't believe this about Nathan and Haley, when Deb told me I didn't know what to think." Karen said to Cassie as they sat in the cafe eating cookies.

"I didn't know either, but I can see they are in love so I'm happy for them." Cassie said and then laughed. "Brooke's convinced Haley's pregnant, she wanted to throw them a baby shower."

Karen laughed. "Why doesn't that surprise me."

"What's this? The greatest cafe in the world is closed during the day?" A voice called from the door.

Cassie's eyes lit up when she realized who it was. "Luke." She said running to him and jumping into his awaiting arms, hugging him tightly. She was soon joined by Karen and the three stood there sharing a private family moment before reality would come crashing down once again as it always did.