Of hospitals and romance...
No memory. Until he opened his eyes to the white tiles of a hospital room's ceiling.
And gradually, the memories returned.
-o0o-
Brooke really didn't feel like sitting anymore. She had been sitting in various places in the last hours. The time she had spent sitting down somewhere or other would probably add up to a complete day of sitting, interrupted only by a handful of things that had forced her to get up for a few minutes.
When first she had sat down, Brooke had accompanied Lucas in the ambulance, where she had sat by his side the whole way. She hadn't given much thought to the fact that it had been her who had climbed into the vehicle, instead of Peyton, or Haley. She had just done it. And strangely, the other two girls hadn't questioned her right to do so for one second. So it had been Brooke who sat there, right by Lucas Scott's side. She had been the one holding his hand as long as the paramedics let her. And all the while she had tried to smile for Lucas, had babbled about things she could no longer remember for her mind had been—and still was—preoccupied with a terrible fear for him. Brooke tried to forget the moment when he had passed out again and she had been forced to let go of his hand.
But that was over now. Now she was sitting right by his hospital bed's side, staring intently into his pale, exhausted face and waiting for him to wake up. She had been sitting there all night since Karen Roe had allowed her to do so.
"Please, Ms. Roe. Can I please sit with your son?" Brooke asked in a small voice, her eyes downcast as if she feared to look at Lucas' mom—as if she feared rejection.
But Karen smiled and gently put a hand out to hold the girl's for a moment. Karen felt too exhausted to even wonder about all the girls asking her permission to go see Luke. Haley, of course, Karen hadn't wondered about her wanting to see Luke as soon as he had come out of surgery. She was his best friend after all and Karen could not imagine a time those two hadn't hung out together, shared everything. Then Peyton. Well, if Karen remembered correctly her son had some sort of crush on the pretty blonde. And the dark haired girl? The one who was standing right in front of her now, too shy to look her in the eyes? The one who seemed to have been crying the hardest? Karen sighed tiredly. The night had been one big nightmare so far, but those girls' concern for her son was one of the sweetest things she had ever come across, just like Keith's concern.
Brooke stared up at her finally, reciprocating the slight pressure of Karen's hand.
"Please," she begged again, and somehow Karen could tell that the brunette was no one who often begged for anything.
"Sure," she therefore conceded. "But please wait until Peyton has left the room, okay? He needs his sleep, and there shouldn't be too many people in the room…"
"Of course! Oh thank you, Ms. Roe. Thank you… I promise I won't disturb his sleep, I—I'll just sit by his side and as soon as you want to sit with him I'll leave…"
Karen smiled, swept a strand of brown hair out of the girl's face and nodded lightly. "Okay," she whispered, "Okay." She would have to talk to the surgeon now, and to the people from their insurance company. She would have to call school and tell them that Lucas won't be coming tomorrow—or the day after, or… Without another word Karen went past the cheerleader, desperate not to start crying right here in the hallway, in front of a poor girl who had surely seen enough drama that night to last her a lifetime. It was good to know that Lucas would not be alone as long as she was gone, but still she wished she could just sit by his side herself now and wait for him to wake up.
Sometimes, being a single mom tore at her heart too painfully.
Behind her, Brooke stared after her for a little while, before she went to the door of Luke's room and waited for Peyton to come out. And when she did, the girls locked gazes for a moment until both their eyes started watering again and they hugged each other, Peyton clinging desperately to Brooke, and Brooke clinging desperately to her.
"I'll go check on Nate now," Peyton eventually said after they disentangled themselves from the embrace what felt like an hour later. It could only have lasted a few seconds, though. Peyton sounded as tired as Brooke felt herself. Tired and exhausted, and the dark shadows underneath her eyes surely mirrored Peyton's, too. It had been a long night, for sure, and not at all due to anything she had once planned to happen …
"Okay. And I'll…" Brooke pointed behind Peyton to where Lucas was lying in a bed and her friend nodded in understanding.
"Yah," Peyton simply said. She tried to smile but failed. "I should go… I'm not sure Dan or Deb are even around yet, so…"
Brooke nodded wordlessly, she knew Nathan's parents well enough herself to question their already having arrived at the hospital.
"You do that," said Brooke after another minute that rang with the awkwardness of their having fought earlier. But then she added, "Peyton? About tonight… I'm not going to say I didn't mean what I said because I meant most of it and we both know that, but… it's not worth fighting over a guy, P., it's not worth it…"
This time, the curly blonde did manage a smile before her face scrunched up again and she croaked out a barely audible "I know…" which made Brooke hug her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interfere. I know Lucas and you—I know he chose you… I'm so sorry, Brooke, it's—I'll stay out of your relationship from now on, I promise, I won't come near him if you—"
Brooke's involuntary laugh interrupted Peyton's sobbed out declaration and she stared at the brunette in confusion.
"Peyton, sweetie. You don't have to stay away from him completely. I mean, he's your friend, too, I know that, okay? You know, let's not talk about this now, alright? Let's—pretend it—"
"Never happened?"
"Yes. It never happened.—We're okay, P. Aren't we?"
"We're always okay…"
Eventually, Peyton left to go find her ex-boyfriend's room while Brooke was left standing in front of Lucas'. And all of a sudden she felt too scared to enter it…
Brooke remembered that feeling all too well, her fearful apprehension. What if Lucas wouldn't wake up—what if he did and demanded to see someone else? Peyton. His mom. Someone not Brooke… But she had eventually overcome that fear—or forced herself to ignore it, more like—and entered the room. She had found Lucas lying in bed, looking as pale as the sheets that covered his bruised and broken body, peculiarly leaving his left leg uncovered for her to see the extent of his injury. She had started crying again then, if silently. She had approached his bed slowly, afraid of waking him up with the noise she was making. Then she had sat down on the plastic chair that someone—Karen, presumably, who had sat with her son for a while after he had first come out of surgery—had placed there.
She was still sitting there now, hours later, holding his warm hand in hers, waiting for him to wake up. Karen had returned eventually and Brooke had stood up almost instantly in order to leave, but Lucas' mom had indicated that she could stay if she so wished.
Of course she did. And so she was sitting here and watching dawn break, while Karen had gone out to talk to the doctor once again, when suddenly she noticed Lucas stir. Gasping out in excitement she leaned over in her terribly uncomfortable chair and whispered his name.
"Lucas?"
It felt odd and close to wrong to speak after hours of silence, and Brooke was not even sure she was supposed to cajole him into waking up or whether she should better remain quiet. But she couldn't not call his name. She pressed down on the call button vehemently, praying for the hospital personnel to hurry, while she said his name again, louder this time, and a little more insistent.
And finally, he struggled to open his eyes, his eyelids flickering a few times before he finally managed it and his clouded gaze found hers.
"Hey…" said Brooke, too glad to see him awake to notice that tears were running down her cheeks again.
"Brooke?" Lucas' voice came out as barely a whisper and rang with the confusion he felt. What had happened? Where was he, where was— He tried to push himself up from his lying position, but a strange weakness and the gentle push of Brooke's hands against his chest prevented him from doing so. Exhausted from having done nothing, really, he fell back against his pillow and stared up at the pretty brunette.
"Sssh, Lucas," she was shushing him, her hands still on his chest. "I just called the doctor and I don't want you to exert yourself too much already, Lucas Scott. You understand? I do not want to lose you again, okay?"
"You—didn't lose me, Brooke," he whispered, smiling in confused sympathy. "I'm here…" Slowly, he managed to raise one arm and stroke her tears away. But the movement made him feel exhausted quite quickly and only Brooke gently taking his hand in hers and guiding it back down to the bed prevented his arm from dropping down heavily of its own accord.
"But I could so easily have!" it escaped her then and Lucas frowned at her vehemence and her apparent distress.
The accident, he suddenly remembered the accident, remembered the lights of that other car wavering across the whole road. He remembered clutching the steering wheel when he had realized there was no escape, and he remembered exchanging a last glance with Nathan before they crashed…
"I'm sorry," he muttered, his frown deepening, his eyes filling with unshed tears now. "Brooke… Nathan—is he okay? Is—"
"Sssh… It's okay. It's okay, Luke… he's fine" she said, her soothing tone doing its best to calm him again, just like the tender touch of her hands cupping his face, and the light kiss she placed on his forehead.
And finally, a doctor and nurse entered the room, forcing Brooke to get up again and back away a little.
"Brooke?" Lucas called out at that, suddenly weirdly scared she might leave him alone now.
"I'm right here, Luke. I'm not going anywhere…" she said and saw him relaxing a little. "I'm here…"
-o0o-
"Where's my son?" As soon as Dan Scott came in through the entrance of the county hospital he started shouting at the next best kid that looked remotely like he worked at the place, ignoring his wife's silent pleas for him to please not make this even worse by already antagonizing the hospital staff.
"Hello? Isn't there anybody who can tell me where my son is?—I tell you, Deb, as soon as we have found Nathan I'm going to make sure that he's brought to another hospital because the staff here obviously lacks the required amount of professionalism!"
Deb did her best to not reward that outburst with a comment when her gaze suddenly found her brother-in-law standing close to the reception desk they were heading to now.
"Keith?" she queried just as he called out to her and Dan, but she didn't get to ask him whether he knew anything about Nathan, or about what happened because Dan was already doing his presumed best to get that particular information out of his brother and the nurse behind the desk simultaneously.
"Keith. What the hell happened?" He asked and not pausing added, directed at the nurse now, "I'm Dan Scott, I'm Nathan Scott's father—isn't there any competent person working at this damn place who can tell me where the hell my son is?"
"Please calm down, Sir, I'm already checking the—"
Dan punched down on the counter with both fists, thus making the poor nurse flinch in alarm.
"Sir—"
"Dan…" Both Deb and Keith called out, and Deb was grateful when Keith took matters into his hands. Apologizing to the nurse, he grabbed his younger brother by the shoulders forcing him to step a few feet away from the counter before he was able to shake Keith off in anger.
"What—"
"Dan. You're not helping anyone with this. You want to know what happened? Then calm down. No one is going to allow you to go to Nathan when you are like this, okay? Okay, Danny?"
Reluctantly, Dan finally nodded and tried to compose himself at least a little, exchanging a quick glance with his wife. He dimly noticed how afraid she looked, and she had to be quite afraid if she dared placing a hand on his arm at a moment like this.
"Keith. Where the hell is my son? Do you know anything? Is he—"
"He's alive, Danny." Keith was smart enough to not let Dan finish his sentence. "He will be okay again soon, I'm sure," Keith added and the tears Deb had managed to hold back until then finally began to flow freely.
"Oh, thank god… Keith, do you know where he is?" Deb felt herself pulled in for a hug by her husband's brother and was glad for the little comfort his proximity offered her, if only for a moment before her fear pushed any chance of that far away again, unreachable until she would have seen her son.
"But isn't any friggin' doctor here able to tell us anything?" Dan butted in and pulled Keith away from his wife like it was his fault that no one had come to tell them anything about Nathan, yet.
"Dan."
"Mr. Scott."
Both Keith and Dan whirled around at the address, but it was Keith the doctors eyes focused on first. Dan didn't care, he stomped right up to the man in his stupid scrubs and white coat and grabbed him by the lapels. If he wasn't instantly told where to find his son he would sue this place no matter if Nathan was alive. Letting a father wait for news on his son's state of health was beyond unprofessional. It was cruel. It was—
"Dan," Keith muttered and pried Dan's hands loose. Luckily, Dan didn't put up much of a fight so that the situation didn't come any closer to escalating.
"Sir?" The doctor sounded confused, turning from Keith to Dan and back again, until Keith explained,
"He's the boys' father…"
"Well. Then I'm glad to inform you that Lucas finally woke up a few minutes ago. Come on, I'll lead you to his room. His—" He started walking, then turned and stared at Deb who had moved up close to her husband again and was now walking right by his side. "His mother is already with him.—As for Nathan—"
"Lucas was involved somehow, too?" Dan's voice sounded icy all of a sudden and didn't only seem to spook the doctor, but also his wife, and Keith. The four of them came to an abrupt halt.
"They had an accident," Keith said in explanation. "A car accident."
"Car accident.—Whose car?"
"Sir. I don't think—"
"Dan—let the doctor tell us about Nathan. Please. Doctor…" Deb did her best to stir their conversation away from such dangerous terrain, although she already knew Dan wouldn't let the matter drop until someone had told him whose car it had been and—more importantly—who exactly had been the driver of that car. Somehow, Deb wasn't sure which of the two alternatives would be better for both kids.
The doctor, obviously more than a little bewildered, tried to return his focus on Deb's thread of talk and was saying "He is sleeping now, but—" when another outburst from Dan interrupted him once more.
"Was it Lucas? Did Lucas drive?"
"Dan," hissed Keith. He grabbed his brother's shoulders, told him to focus on what was important now: that both boys were still alive.
A short, humorless laugh escaped Dan when the truth dawned on him. Of course. If he had really needed any form of affirmation in the first place, then Keith's behavior was more than enough. The things he said—and those he did not say. Dan nodded to Keith, to Deb, to himself most of all because no one else really seemed to grasp the dimensions all this had suddenly grown into. Smirking in anger, he bit out a venomous "I knew it" and demanded to know where Lucas' room was.
Hardly surprising, but no one was volunteering to do so, everyone was just trying to reason with him, to hold him back. But he was a strong man, and once he set his mind on something there was no way anyone could hold him back.
"You're not telling me? Fine, I'll find the way on my own then!"
"God, Dan!"
-o0o-
Peyton had left Nathan's room after having assured herself that he would be alright, that he was sleeping. She had sat with him for a little while, unsure whether she should stay and wait until someone else—his mother, his father even—showed up for him. But then she had had that feeling of being an intruder again, for hadn't they broke up ages ago? They were not too good at the whole stay in touch thing—not yet, and somehow she doubted that Nate would approve of her seeing him like this once he woke up. He was like that. Or rather: Dan had made him like that, always afraid of coming across as weak, afraid of showing his true feelings. It had been part of the problem that had let to them breaking up in the first place. Scratch that, it had been the reason for them to break up.
She wouldn't want to put him in a tight spot, forcing him to have to acknowledge that he was not okay in her presence, she wouldn't want to do that to him, not in his current state. Therefore she decided to leave him sleeping and maybe go and check on Lucas one more time before eventually heading home. She would have to go back to school tomorrow after all, and she had already spent the night from Saturday to Sunday without sleep…
She hadn't gotten too far when she noticed Haley linger close by Nathan's room, looking unsure and a little lost.
"Haley."
The girl smiled shyly and pushed herself away from the wall she had been leaning against.
"Peyton, hi. I—um, I saw you go into Nathan's room and thought maybe you could tell me if he's doing alright? I just—want to know before I leave. There's really no one else I could ask, his parents aren't here yet—although Keith finally reached Dan via cell phone, so luckily he will be here for him soon… I mean, Lucas has his mom, and Keith is here, and Brooke. She—um. Oh god, I'm babbling, I'm sorry, I better—"
Peyton smiled kindly at Haley. The poor girl obviously had a crush on Nathan. So help her god, Peyton couldn't help but think, for tutor girl wasn't exactly the kind of girl Nathan usually fell for. The blonde felt sympathetic and hoped Haley wouldn't get hurt eventually. Nathan had that effect on girls, even on those that never got around to confessing their feelings for him…
"That's okay, Haley. I guess we're all a little under the weather after this night, huh?" she said once she had reached the girl and stopped in front of her. She briefly placed a hand on the other one's shoulder before she continued, "It's okay to worry… The doc said Nathan is asleep now, not unconscious. But why don't you go in and see for yourself how he's doing?"
Haley's eyes widened at that suggestion and she backed away a little. "Oh, I don't think I should do that," she laughed a little, instantly berating herself for it. What the hell was the matter with her? Why was she suddenly behaving like some love-crazed teenager when not far away her best friend was lying unconscious? Why was she doing that, and in front of Peyton of all people? Peyton who was so much more experienced than she, and Nathan's ex-girlfriend to boot… "I'm—only tutoring Nathan after all. I'm not exactly friends with him. I mean, he's Nathan Scott, jackass brother of my best friend, and I'm just his—"
Peyton laughed at that, thankfully interrupting Haley's continued rant. "Exactly. He is a jerk most of the time. And still you have been a great friend to him last night, Haley. Who accompanied him in the ambulance, huh? Who was worried he might come to again and be alone?—That was you, Haley. So why don't you stop pretending you aren't his friend and go to him? If it helps you, I'm sure he won't wake up anytime soon, so… Anyways, don't stand here worrying for too long, okay? I'm going home, if you want me to wait and give you a ride…"
Haley smiled gratefully. "Thank you Peyton, but you don't have to wait. I'll be fine, Keith will surely drive me home, or…"
"Sure. Good night, Haley."
"Night, Peyton."
They parted ways then, and Haley was surprised at herself when once the cheerleader was out of sight, she actually did find herself starting to walk toward Nathan's room, entering it, and even walking up to his side. She couldn't help but touch his uninjured arm tenderly, trace the forceps attached to one of his fingers with hers, before she dared to look up into his sleeping face. He didn't look peaceful like she had hoped, or oblivious. Even in sleep he still looked troubled.
She had just made up her mind to sit down with him for a little while when all of a sudden she heard Dan Scott's half-yelled "Was it Lucas? Did Lucas drive?" and she flinched at how clearly his voice resonated. "Show me his room! Now!" His voice was getting ever louder, and Haley was more than afraid it might eventually wake Dan's youngest son.
Sure enough, Nathan's frown deepened at the increasing sound. Torn between making sure he would be alright once he was fully awake, fleeing from his side before he would do so and see her, and keeping Dan from finding Lucas, she froze for a moment.
Unfortunately, that moment was long enough for Nathan to open his eyes to the tiles covering the ceiling above him before he slowly turned his head and faced her. That sort of settled the matter. Now, Haley could only use Dan's words as an excuse to run out of the room now.
But then she had to watch helplessly as Nathan, without warning, got up and out of bed with such a sudden jolt that it nearly sent him tumbling down to the floor again right away, had it not been for Haley grabbing him by the waist.
"Whoa, Nathan!" she exclaimed, holding onto him as he was struggling to right himself. "You shouldn't—Nathan—"
"Gosh, Haley. Dan's going to kill Lucas if—"
He looked so terribly convinced that Haley's skin was instantly crawling.
"—if we don't stop him. Help me get to him. Please," he said, his words barely a breath on the skin of her neck as his sudden movements took their toll and he passed out on her without warning, so fast that she couldn't do much to lessen the impact of his fall.
She couldn't possibly leave him. But half buried underneath his weight, she couldn't even reach the call button.
And Dan was still on his way to Lucas.
Oh please, no…