"Peyton!" Jake shouted, chasing his girlfriend into the street. She whirled on him, blonde hair wild, her eyes full of an emotion he couldn't put his finger on. He stepped back, stricken by the intensity that he could see on her face.

"Just...don't," she hissed. "I can't. I don't. I need to go."

"Where?" Jake demanded, stepping toward her once again. "Peyton, I understand that you're upset. But you can't just go running off."

"You have no idea how I feel!" she screamed. "My brother, who I hardly know, beat my best friend to a fucking pulp! My best friend who is all ready dying!"

"Don't make this harder," Jake tried to reason. "She was trying to protect you by not telling us. She didn't want you to feel this way."

Peyton scoffed, throwing her hands up. "There's going to come a day where she can't protect me anymore! She should have stopped a long time ago!"

"But she didn't," Jake argued. "And part of you has to appreciate that. She loves you, Peyton. And you saw what he did to her. She doesn't want the same thing to happen to you."

"I brought him into her life," Peyton whispered. "It should have been me."

"Don't say that," Jake said softly, pulling her into his arms. She fought him, beating her fists against his chest. He held on, letting her get it out before she finally collapsed into him, crying.

"I can't believe this happened," she whimpered. "How could I let this happen?"

"You didn't know," Jake murmured. "You had no way of knowing. None of us did."

"Haley saw."

"But even then, she didn't say anything," Jake assured her. "Because no one would ever think that someone would so this."

Peyton nodded feebly, finally accepting his comfort. "Can we go get my stuff from my house? I want to crash at Brooke's tonight."

"Of course," he soothed, kissing her on the temple. "I'll text Lucas, Nate, and Haley and see if they want us to grab their stuff too."

Peyton smiled at him. "I love you, Jake. Thank you, so much. And thank you for being here for Brooke. I know you guys aren't exactly the closest."

Jake smirked at her. "That's what you think, Sawyer."

Peyton looked at him, confused. He smiled and continued as they got in the car. "She called me every week after you left."

"What?" Peyton breathed.

"She wanted me to know that you were okay," Jake shrugged. "And she wanted to check on me and Jenny. She was always asking if there was anything she could do to help."

Peyton's expression softened. "I never knew."

"Brooke and I got fairly close," he shrugged. "We would talk on the phone for like, an hour at a time. But ya know, I have Jenny and you, and she has Lucas and everything going on, so we don't have much time to talk anymore. It's funny that now that I'm back, I know her less."

Peyton grinned. "I know what she meant. When she told me that it meant a lot to her that Lucas and I care about each other. She wanted the boy she loves and the girl she loves to love each other."

"Well, you're both lucky," Jake teased. Peyton smiled, leaning her head back. Despite everything, she couldn't help but agree.

Meanwhile, in the house, Lucas was pacing. Haley sat on the couch, her face blank as she watched. Nathan had run upstairs, looking for more evidence.

"I'm going to kill him," Lucas said suddenly, his voice gruff and low.

"Lucas-"

"No. I really am," he said, a humorless grin on his face. "I am honestly going to make him pay for this, Haley."

"That isn't what Brooke wants," Haley argued, standing up and trying to reason with him.

"Sometimes what Brooke wants isn't what's best for her," he hissed. "He could do it again. And I can't let that happen."

"No one's asking you to let that happen again," Haley said. "I agree we need to do something about it. But violence isn't the answer to that."

Lucas laughed. "Oh, I think it is."

"Come on," Haley pleaded. "The last thing Brooke needs is for you to end up in prison."

Lucas sighed, finally sitting, much to Haley's relief. "You're right. I just have to be there for her right now."

"Exactly," Haley said, sitting beside him. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I know this isn't easy for you, Luke. But you just have to try your best to help her heal from this. It's all you can do."

"Yeah," he agreed grudgingly. Nathan came back with nothing but a worried expression.

"Brooke is awake," he said, his voice low. "I told her that we're all going to stay here. She just stared at me."

Lucas groaned, running a hand over his head. "I'm going up to her. If I don't go now, she's just going to keep putting up her walls."

"Nate and I can go to the market," Haley suggested. "I'll get stuff to make her favorites. Maybe a nice family dinner will cheer her up."

"Family dinner?" Lucas asked, confused. Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Does she even need to explain?" Nathan asked. "We're family. We're all in this together. All six of us."

Lucas grinned and ascended the stairs, bidding his brother and sister in law goodbye. He entered her room quietly.

"Brooke?"

She turned in bed, looking at him for only a second before averting her eyes again. He sighed, taking his shoes off and crawling into bed with her. She went to turn back over, but he gently reached out to hold her there.

"I'm not going to let you shut me out," Lucas teased, kissing her on the forehead. "Like it or not, you're stuck with me, Davis."

"I just want to be alone."

"No you don't," Lucas said simply. "You never actually want to be alone. You pretend like you do, because you don't want to burden anyone and you always want to be the one to fix everything. But you hate being alone."

Brooke stared up at him in shock. "How did you-"

"I know you, pretty girl," Lucas said, kissing her as softly as he could, trying not to hurt her busted lip. He could taste the blood and he nearly winced.

"I look like a monster," she whispered.

"No, you don't," Lucas argued. "You look like a horrible human being hurt you. He's the monster. Not you."

Brooke sighed. "I heard Peyton outside."

Lucas crinkled his face sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Brooke. Haley found his phone."

"I guess I was going to have to tell you all eventually," Brooke sighed. She snuggled into his chest, causing him to smile. "At least I didn't have to say it."

"There's the silver lining."

"I was so scared, Luke. I thought I was going to die."

"Speaking of dying," Lucas said suddenly. "Guess who won't be doing that any time soon?"

"What?" Brooke asked, pulling back to stare at him in confusion. "That was the strangest topic changer ever."

"Jake is a match, Brooke."

Brooke looked simply floored. "What?" she asked in a hopeful whisper.

"Jake is a match for the bone marrow transplant," Lucas said with a soft smile, tracing one of the bruises on her face. "It's all going to be over, pretty girl."

Her eyes were filling with tears, and she was suddenly sobbing into his chest. Relief, happiness, gratitiude. And sadness, grief, and horror at what had happened the night before. It was all coming out in hysterical, broken gasps.

"Sh, Brooke," Lucas soothed. "It's okay, babe. Just breath."

Brooke nodded, still gasping out sobs. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Lucas chuckled. "I felt the same way. With less tears."

"Shut up," Brooke giggled.

Seeing her smile, despite her tears and bruises, made him grin. When she finally quieted to gently hiccuping, Lucas got out of bed, gently tugging her to follow him.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

He lead her in to the bathroom, picking her up and sitting her on the counter. He started to run a bath, reaching into the medicine cabinet and getting her little first aid kit. He began gently cleaning her cuts, wiping the remainder of dried blood off her face.

"You're beautiful," he said, kissing her softly when he was done. The bath was full now. "I'm gonna let you enjoy your bath."

"No, wait!" Brooke called, panicked as he turned to leave. "Please stay with me."

"Of course," he said, pulling off his shirt easily. "I'll never turn down the opprotunity to take a bath with my girl."

She smiled, happy that he was treating her normally. She tried her hardest not to gasp as she finally hopped off the counter and took a look at her body. "Oh my God."

"I know babe," Lucas said, running his hands gently over her stomach. "But it'll go away. I promise, it's gonna go away."

Brooke nodded and slipped into the bath, Lucas climbing in behind her. She leaned against him, letting him massage her aching, injured body. After a long, thoroughly enjoyable bath, they got out, Lucas wrapping her in a towel and giving her a sweet kiss.

"It's almost dinner time," he said with a smile. "Go get dressed, Hales has a little surprise for you."

Brooke's eyes lit up. "Oh, I love surprises!"

"I know you do, crazy girl," he laughed, drying off and putting his clothes back on. Brooke was all ready off in her walk in closet, slipping into jeans and his favorite gray hoodie.

"I should really stop being surprised," Lucas grinned. "You're always stealing that thing."

Brooke stuck out her tongue. If it wasn't for the bruises and for the obvious pain in her steps, Brooke would seem perfectly normal.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she beamed despite her cut lip. Haley was just finishing up cooking. Nathan was setting the table, and Peyton, Jake, and Jenny were all sitting on the floor of the living room, playing. Peyton immediately stood when she noticed Brooke. The two stared at one another before Peyton cautiously wrapped Brooke in a hug.

"I am so sorry," Peyton whispered. Brooke shook her wet hair.

"Don't be," Brooke whispered back. "I promise, Peyton, it was not your fault. Not even a little bit."

Peyton bit her lip, nodding and hugging her one more time. Brooke rolled her eyes at Jake, who crinkled his nose at her.

"Dinner's ready!" Haley chirped, bringing in the food. She had cooked a massive amount of all of Brooke's favorites.

"Thank you so much Haley," Brooke smiled. "It really means so much to me."

"Of course, Tigger," Haley said, hugging her gently with one arm. "Plus, this little one happened to be craving your favorite pasta."

Brooke giggled, rubbing Haley's stomach. "Auntie Brooke is already rubbing off on ya, huh?"

That night, Brooke was able to sleep soundly, Lucas by her side. Nathan and Haley were just down the hall, and Peyton, Jake, and Jenny were all sleeping across from them. In just a few days, she would have the procedure to hopefully cure her. Psychos be damned, Brooke Davis was not leaving the world until she was good and ready.