So sorry this took long again. I'll try my best to be better but I'm in a bit of a lull with writing right now and I've just never been busier with school and my.. cough cough.. social life has been way more exciting lol. Ha ha Thank stagediva23 for another kick in the pants to get going on this chapter. Two weeks and then finals and the semester will be over yay.

Thanks sb1218, minervaann, h23brock, kelly, callmegeneralawesome, caroline, arubagirl0926, isabel camilla scott, kerri, wordsmeaneverything, xkatielouisex, cullentreehill, lostinwriting, stagediva23, simy, alexis, molly, and sarah for reviewing.

Enjoyyyy!

AGE 9 and a half

It was mid baseball season in Tree Hill and the boys' little league season was in full force. Julian really wanted to be involved in the boys' life and to encourage them to play whatever sports they wanted, or whatever else they liked to do, so he signed on to be one of the parent coached. Like way back when he helped Nathan and Clay with Jamie's little league team, he was gunna try it out now again with his own sons. The boys were now at that age where they were very competative with other towns, and the Baker boys were among the most competative of players. I mean, they are Brooke Davis's sons after all.

Davis's favorite position was short stop, and he played it well. Jude could play pretty much any position, but the one he loved the most was pitcher.

"Dad come on!" Jude wobbled back and forth as he carried a large bucket of baseballs out of the shed in the back yard. "I have to practice!"

"You don't need me to throw them against the fense," Julian laughed.

"No, I'm gunna stand in at bat and you have to be the catcher," Davis said, coming up behind Julian and handing him his glove.

"Okay, okay."

Julian walked to the plastic home plate that Jude had set up and crouched down into position.

"Oh no, I don't think Daddy can do this for very long guys. I'm getting old."

"You're not old," Davis laughed, tapping his bat against the plate.

"No, swinging Davis, okay. No one has helmets on," Julian warned.

"Yep, I know."

Jude threw a couple balls outside before finding a rhythm. He threw a bunch of strikes in a row before the back door opened.

"We're home!" Avery sung, coming outside in her pink zebra striped leotard and white tights, just back from gymnastics class.

Julian turned his head to say hi to his daughter but was hit with a sudden pain.

"Ah!" Julian grabbed his elbow after the baseball bounced off of it. He fell back from his catcher squat onto his butt. "Jesus!"

It had hit his funny bone in the most unperfect, painful spot.

"Sorry!"

"Jude, you have to be careful. What if that had hit my face? You have to make sure I'm ready."

"I'm sorry!"

Julian got up and tried to walk off the pain.

"What happened?" Brooke asked, coming out onto the deck after hearing a pain-filled yell.

"Jude hit Daddy," Avery tattled immediately.

"He didn't do it on purpose," Davis defended.

"I didn't mean it!"

"You okay?" Brooke looked to her husband.

"Yeah," Julian rubbed his arm. "I'll live. But I'm done for now. You did fine, Jude. You'll be great at the game."

"Come on guys, come in and I'll fix you a snack before we have to leave," Brooke suggested.

"Sorry Dad," Jude said, running towards the house.

;

When the game had started, Brooke and Avery settled in the stands to watch the game. Avery waved to Davis at short stop but he rolled his eyes, embarrassed.

"Mommy, Davey is ignoring me."

"He has to concentrate on the game, baby."

Brooke caught Julian's eye as he leaned against the edge of the dugout. Julian should have been paying attention to the game too, but his wife was always distracting him with her beauty.

"Play ball!" The umpire yelled and the kids jumped up off the bench behind Julian and scurried out to their positions.

Jude pitched a good first inning and kept the Bear Creek Junior Bears at bay. The Sharks dominated and scored twice in each of the first two innings. But when the third inning came, a huge kid stepped up to bat.

"Jeez, are you sure he's under ten?" Julian commented to his fellow co-coach, Warren McCarty. Warren just happened to be Jude's best friend Ethan's father. Ethan was also on this baseball team.

"I think he's taller than me..." The on-the-short-side father furrowed his eyebrows.

"Come on Jude! You got this buddy!" Julian clapped.

With two men on base, Jude gulped as he looked at the plate. He took his best wind up and pitched his best fast ball. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough. Number 4 took a nice lead step and cracked that baseball into straight away center field for a 'little league' homerun. Jude lowered his head as the other team cheered. The game was now 4-3.

On the bleechers the Tree Hill parents sighed.

"Oh no, I hope we're not a jinx..."

Brooke and Avery turned.

"Auntie Alex!"

"Alex, Chase what are you guys doing here?" Brooke stood and hugged her friends.

"We just wanted to come support the boys," Chase smiled as they sat down.

"Well I'm sure they'll love that you came."

"I do!" Avery smiled, taking her place on Alex's lap. Brooke shook her head. Avery had a soft spot for Alex Dupre... now Adams, and visa versa.

"Oh I'll be right back," Chase pulled out his buzzing phone. "Duty calls."

Alex's heart dropped at those words as Chase walked away, and Brooke noticed.

"So... what's been going on with you two?"

"Nothing much. Same old, same old." Alex said, staring out at the game and bouncing Avery involuntarily.

"So... you guys working on the whole..." Brooke leaned in towards Alex's ear, "baby making?"

Alex pulled away. "Brooke..."

"What?" Brooke smiled. "You know how much I'd love to see you get fat," she joked. "And you're good with Ave."

Alex shook her head slightly. "It's just not the right time."

"Of course it's the right time, Alex. You're married to a wonderful guy. You're not out doing concerts, you're freshly out of honeymoon phase and settled into married life. What's the issue?"

"Stop!"

Brooke pulled back. "I'm sorry."

Avery turned and looked at Alex and then turned back to the game when the people in the stands started clapping. "Mama! Davey got a hit!"

Brooke turned and smiled. She felt bad that she missed her son's hit but she was now worried about Alex. Brooke could tell her eyes were glassy.

"I know that's great baby. Why don't you go down to the fense and cheer for him."

"Okay." Avery hopped down and left ear-shot.

"Alex what's going on? When Avery was a baby you said you couldn't wait to have one just like her..."

"It's not the right time Brooke..."

"Okay. Can i ask why?"

Alex face scrunched in saddness.

"Oh no, Alex, what's wrong?"

"I don't wanna have a baby when Chase isn't here..."

"What do you mean Chase won't be -"

Brooke stopped when she realized. Chase was still in the air force.

"Oh no.. Did Chase's troop get called back?"

Alex nodded tearfully. "We just found out. He has to leave in a few weeks and he could be gone for God knows how long. And be God knows where in the air... And be in danger and..."

"Alex, you can't think like that."

"I knew this would happen eventually but it still hurts to think about, nevermind live."

"Everything's gunna be okay." Brooke rubbed Alex's arm. "When he comes back safe and when the time is right, you'll get there, I promise."

Just then Chase came strolling back over to the women with a smirk on his face.

"You'll never guess whose kid's on the other team. Brooke, do you remember that creepy Clean Teen Sheldon?..."

Brooke didn't have quite the reaction he expected, and Chase looked to his wife.

"Everything okay?"

"Uh huh," Alex nodded. Brooke just smiled and turned back to the game.

;

In the last inning, Jude was three outs away from leading his team to victory. His pitching was a little shaky and he walked the first batter. Then the second kid grounded out and Davis made a nice play to nab the lead runner in a fielder's choice. But then the whole Sharks' team gulped. Up came #4, the home run hitter who could win the game for his team with one good swing of the bat.

Julian could tell Jude was nervous and called time out. He went to the mound.

"Dad, you can put someone else in.. I don't wanna lose the game for us."

Julian shook his head. "Jude, I know you can do this. And no matter what happens, I'm very proud of you."

Jude smiled and nodded. "Okay."

Stepping back to the dugout Julian gave a thumbs up to his daughter standing behind the fence.

"Go Judie!" Avery yelled, making Alex, Chase, and Brooke laugh behind her. Jude hated that his sister gave him a girly nickname.

Jude set his stance and took a breath.

And the pitch... ball one.

"Come on, Jude!" Davis called from behind his brother.

And the pitch... #4 hung back. "Strike one."

And the pitch... a big swing and a miss. "Strike two!"

Jude smirked, his confidence boosted.

"Come on, one more strike, buddy!" Julian clapped.

And the pitch... swing and bat connected with ball, but only slightly. The ball popped up and Davis waved his arms in the short stop position.

"I got it! It's mine!"

Davis Baker had practiced catching pop-ups many a time. He knew he could handle this. The baseball plopped forcefully into his extended glove and Davis shut his glove quickly.

"Out!" The umpire called. Two down.

"Yeah!" Jude pumped his fist and the brothers made eye contact as Davis threw the back back to his brother.

"One more, guys, just one more!" Julian clapped.

"Come on Sharks!" Brooke cheered, always amused by the team names Tree Hill came up with. Apparently they liked this one since it's history dated back to even before Jamie Scott played.

With more confidence, Jude looked to a smaller #11 walk up to the plate.

The pitch... strike one.

The pitch... ball one.

The pitch... foul tip, strike two.

The pitch... line drive straight back at the pitcher. And the pitcher wasn't exactly prepared.

Crack.

Brooke gasped as she watched her son drop like a stone. Straight on his side. Line drive right at his head. He had tried at the last second to put his arm up, but it didn't quite stop the ball. The baseball hit the side of his hand first but it definately made contact with his face. It knocked his baseball cap right off his head. Jude was definately out cold for a few seconds there.

"Jude!" Julian started to run immediately but Davis got to his brother first. Davis dropped to his knees.

"Jude! Jude wake up!" Davis yelled and shook his brother. Jude moaned. Julian pulled Davis aside.

"Jude? Can you hear me buddy?"

Jude's hands moved towards his head immediately as he came to. He groaned painfully as he flopped onto his back.

Brooke was paralyzed with fear. Alex grabbed her arm as everyone watched the scene at the pitcher's mound. The umpires and the three other coaches, from both teams, scurried over.

"Get up, get up, please get up," Brooke whispered to herself. Everyone was kneeling over Jude and she couldn't see him moving.

"Mama what's going on?" Avery was now back in the bleechers. She had been turned away when it happened so she didn't know she should be scared.

Brooke opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Come on Ave, let's go play on the jungle gym, okay?" Alex intervened to distract Avery.

On the field Davis looked to the stands to find his mother. "Mom!" His face told her he was scared to death.

"Come on, Brooke," Chase took her hand. He knew she wanted to be down on the field, but at the same time she didn't want to face the reality.

Brooke stood and walked down off the bleechers. Then she all of a sudden made a run for it around the fence and onto the field.

She saw Warren talking on his cell phone, having called 911 immediately.

"Jude!" Brooke pushed through the crowd of five people and dropped down to the ground next to her husband, wh was only wearing a white undershirt now.

"He's still really out of it," Julian said as he held his removed-coaches jersey to Jude's bloody nose. Jude seemed pretty calm but it was apparent that he was in a lot of pain. He was dizzily looking around and his head was pounding.

"Just hold still buddy, help is coming," Warren said, standing behind Julian now. Everyone made a face at the large bump and immediate purple bruise that adorned Jude's lower forehead and beside his right eyebrow. His face was swelling pretty fast.

"Dad..." Jude said, closing his eyes. "Mama.."

"You gotta stay awake for me bud, okay? I know you're tired but you have to stay awake."

Within the next ten minutes, the parametics arrived on the scene. They assessed the situation with Jude and immediately knew he had a concussion. They backboarded the nine year old for safety reasons and loaded him into the ambulance pretty fast.

"Dad, Mom!" Davis ran behind the group of adults with the stretcher.

Brooke stopped and turned, grabbing Davis's cheeks and kissing the top of his head. Chase reached Davis and put his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"You stay with Alex and Chase, okay? Everything's gunna be okay."

Brooke turned and caught up to her ailing son.

"But..!" Davis took a step but Chase stopped him.

"Everything's gunna be fine, Dave. You just gotta let them go right now," Chase said as the two, along with the rest of the parents and kids and players, watched the ambulance zip away.

;

The prognosis was good, but Jude had quite the recovery waiting for him. The baseball had broken the top of his nose, cracked the inside of his right eye socket of his skull, given him a mean concussion, and had literally imprinted the laces of the ball across and above his eyebrow. Brooke was so thankful that he hadn't broken any teeth, but she was obviously concerned still about how black and blue his eyes and forehead already were and how badly this concussion would affect him.

Julian paced the floor in Jude's hospital room, not able to stand or sit still. Brooke sat by Jude's side holding his hand. She watched the IV bag drip tiny drops of morphine down and into her son blood stream. Jude was all propped up because it was too painful to lie flat with his injuries.

When Jude's doctor came in, all eyes were on him.

"We've got his MRI scans back and thankfully there is no indication of bleeding in the brain."

Brooke breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was for her son to have brain surgery.

"His nose doesn't need setting but he will be in a lot of pain for the next few weeks. Now if he can tolerate weaker pain meds, then we can release him tonight, but I think it would be best to keep him here overnight for observation."

Brooke looked to her snoozy son. "I think I like that idea best."

"Now he won't be able to go to do any strenuous activities or sports or physical play until all of his symptoms are gone and he is cleared by a doctor. I imagine that it's going to take awhile until he even feels like doing those things but even if he bes, you have to say no."

"Don't worry. We're gunna keep a very close eye on him," Julian spoke up.

Jude stirred in the bed and Brooke turned her attention back to him.

"Mama.."

"I'm right here, baby. The doctor came by to visit you too."

"How are you feeling, pal?"

"My face hurts real bad."

"Do you know where you are?"

"In the hospital."

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

"I was pitching and then I woke up on the ground. I know I got hit in the face with the ball but I don't remember it."

"And can you tell me what day it is? Do you remember that?"

"It's saturday. We always have a baseball game on Saturday."

"Okay great, can you see me out of that eye?" The doctor said, refering to the more injured side of his face; that eye was closed and swelled.

Jude tried to open it.

"A little but it hurts and it makes me feel dizzy."

"Well you get some rest and I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay."

"Thank you doctor," Brooke smiled as he left.

"Does this mean that we lost the game today, Dad?"

Julian shook his head.

"That doesn't matter, Jude. As long as you're okay, that's all that matters."

Jude nodded his tired head and closed his eyes to rest.

;

The night was rough. Jude would sleep for a bit, but then wake up restless and in pain. And the whole having to sleep sitting up thing was not comfortable either. Julian was the one to stay the whole night with his son because he insisted that Brooke should be the one to get some rest. She of course refused at first but with some persuasion and the fact that even Jude told her to go make sure his brother and sister were okay, she finally gave up.

Brooke had gone home and been greeted at the door by a very worried Davis and Avery. Alex and Chase had brought them home hours ago and they had been extremely anxious to hear any news about Jude. The siblings were sad that Jude couldnt come home tonight, but glad to hear from their mom that he was going to be okay.

In the morning when Brooke returned to the hospital, she brought Davis and Avery with her. They got to the room and looked in the tiny window before entering. All she saw was an empty bed and Julian sitting in the chair. She opened the door.

"Hey where is he?"

Julian stood, walking towards his wife, hugging her.

"They just took him down for some extra x-rays. Good morning."

"Hi Daddy," Avery smiled.

"Hi princess. Hey champ."

Davis said hi and then jumped up on the bed.

"How was he last night?"

"Miserable and in a lot of pain."

"Oh goodness. It breaks my heart."

"Yeah. And his face got a lot worse overnight."

"I didn't think it could get worse."

"Oh it did, believe me."

The nurse opened the door and wheeled Jude back into the room. His right eye and nose were purple and it even extended over to his other eye a tad. His poor eye was almost swelled shut.

"Good morning sweetie," Brooke greeted.

"'Morning.. Hey! Get out of my bed!" Jude joked, pointing at Davis.

The brother saw the state of Jude's faceand hopped down immediately. He wasn't in the mood for joking.

"Well at least you seem more alert and happier today."

"We gave him some strong pain killers this morning after we took his IV out," the nurse smiled, helping Jude back into bed.

Avery didn't say much but Jude addressed her.

"Do I look funny Ave?"

She shook her head. This wasn't funny.

"It's the same Jude, honey. He just got banged up that's all," Brooke assured, knowing she was nervous seeing all this.

"Why is he wearing a dress?" she said quietly.

Davis started laughing and Julian gave a chuckle too.

"It's a gown honey. You have to wea one when you're in the hospital."

"Yeah, and I don't like it. Can I go home now?"

"I'm going to go get your discharge papers so when the doctor comes to check you one last time, then you can leave after that," the nurse explained.

"Thank God," Jude said, resting his head on the back of his pillow.

;

When the family got home, Brooke made Jude a nice spot on the couch to rest.

"Now you have to rest and you can't be fooling around at all for a while. You have to let yoruself heal."

"I know, Mom. You told me that already. Like ten times."

"You know I'm just worried about you."

"Can I have some Mac and Cheese?"

"Of course you can."

Davis flopped down on the chair next to the couch. "Me too?"

"Mmm Mac and cheese!" Avery smiled.

"Okay, I guess it's Mac and Cheese for everyone. Chop chop Daddy!" Brooke smiled.

"Me! Why do I always have to do all the work?" Julian joked.

"Ha yeah right," Brooke shook her head.

"Okay, okay."

Brooke walked to the answering machine and pressed play for the messages.

"Hey guys, it's Warren. We just wanted to make sure Jude is doing okay. Ethan's been asking about you and I know you're pretty banged up so get well soon pal. Just so you know, I talked to the other coach after and we all agreed that we'd just pretend that last at bat didn't happen. So it looks like you won the game for us, Jude. So take your time recovering because you have a nice win on your record when you get back. We'll come by to see you soon if you're up for it. I'm sure you'll want to show off your battle wounds. Call us with an update when you have a chance. Take care."

"Well that was nice of him," Brooke said.

"We won!" Jude put his tired arms up in the air.

Everyone smiled at Jude's reaction.

They would have to tread lightly with Jude for a while, but he would heal. Just like an injury, this Baker family could heal from anything. They were in it together and they came to the aid of the one who needed it. Jude just happened to be the one who got hurt the most it seemed, but they took it in stride. Boys will be boys and things happen. They expected the unexpected and they always knew that they had their the other four people to catch them when they stumbled and nurse them back to health.

.

Review please loves

~Haley :)