For one moment everything was on hold.
-o0o-
"Who the hell invited you, anyway?"
Lucas stared venomously at the one asking that stupid question, his half-brother. Honestly, he could do without that idiot in his life. Nathan's presence really didn't help making things any easier for him—as if having to deal with Dan wasn't enough already. Or with his screwed love life. Oh, he knew he shouldn't even honor the question with a reply, but this time something in him—his pride maybe—couldn't let the matter drop. Therefore, he turned around to stare at the younger one and his cronies and said,
"This is an open-to-all beach party, Nathan, meaning: no invitation required… Besides, if I'm not mistaken, it's not your party, or is it?"
Okay, so maybe Lucas had sounded a little condescending. But come on, such an obvious lame attempt at provoking him, at making his anger flare up? Lucas was in no mood not to get angry at the jerk, not after it had taken him and Haley almost five full minutes to stop Peyton and Brooke from having a go at each other, from fighting over him of all people…
Nathan smirked, but there was no joy in that expression, only anger.
Lucas could definitely see what was coming and he knew he should just walk away like his mother always used to tell him when he was younger. But then again, why should he? He hadn't done anything, right? So he might just as well stay and wait it all out. Besides, Nathan didn't really look like he was in any shape to put up a good fight—if it should come to that. Lucas would have no difficulties taking him on, as drunk as he appeared to be.
"Always with the smartass retorts," said Nathan, raising a half-empty bottle of something and passing it on to Tim, who stood right next to him. His friend grinned, took a swig out of the bottle and threw in his own two cents worth.
"Yeah, seems to be a geek thing—I mean, just look at his 'best friend'—that tutor girl geek of yours, Scott!" he said drawing quotation marks in the air and started laughing until a shove from Nathan silenced him quite suddenly. Stunned at realizing that the "wrong" Scott had gotten angry at his remark, it took Tim a moment to get his bearings. He whined,
"Dude, what the hell?"
But already the other one had redirected his focus on the other Scott.
"You know, Lucas, you always know everything better, don't you?"
Gradually, Lucas' patience was nearing an end. He didn't have to listen to the crap these guys were spitting out at him. He had already been halfway to losing it when Tim had brought Haley into all this. Only Nathan's odd reaction had prevented him from actually lunging at the jerk. It had been such a low blow…
"Aw, Nathan, this is how you deal with screwing up at last night's game? Or maybe with having had to face Dan afterward? Seriously, spare me with this crap. You screwed up, remember? Nothing to do with me, so: I'm sorry but you can't blame everything that's going wrong in your sad life on me. Go get wasted or whatever you were planning to do, but leave me out of this." With that said, Lucas really wanted to do nothing else but get the hell elsewhere, maybe over to where Jake and a few others were making s'mores and seemingly having a much better time than Luke. Or he might go and join Haley and Mouth—or maybe even drive home. Yeah, that was probably the smartest idea. And what exactly had made him decide to attend the stupid party, anyway?
Just when he started walking off, though, he heard that hated voice again.
"See?" sneered Nathan, closed the gap between them, and using force turned Lucas around until they faced each other. Lucas angrily shook him off and glared at him, just as Nathan was spitting, "You think you know everything. But you don't know shit, got that? You don't know me. You don't even know Dan, not really..."
"Oh yeah? Well, I can't say I regret that."
"Know what's funny? How much alike the two of you really are—"
It was then that Lucas finally lost it…
-o0o-
Okay, Haley told herself. Don't panic. Think. She could do it. She would just have to try and shift Nathan's weight a little to the side, off of her. It wasn't so difficult if she really set her mind to it. She wasn't weak, after all. Therefore she could do it.
Only, it did sort of complicate matters that she was terribly afraid of hurting him any further. His injured arm was practically sandwiched between their bodies and she didn't want to worsen the impact his fall—their fall—might already have had on it. Sighing, she noticed that even breathing had become more difficult what with Nathan lying sprawled on top of her.
Great.
And out there Dan Scott was on his way to kill Luke—at least if she was to take his younger brother literally, which right now she felt inclined to do.
Haley tried to take a deep breath and was at least half successful. Oxygen could only help her paralyzed brain to come up with a way out of this, right? It had to, for she needed to get help for Nathan, and she needed to stop Dan, and she needed to do all of that quickly.
The best way to accomplish all that seemed to be to make her arms meet around Nathan's back, tighten her grip, and roll the two of them over as fast as possible. Easier said than done, but in the end she did manage it and found herself on top of him just when he suddenly opened his eyes again.
"Nathan. Thank god, you're awake!" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting their awkward position. Once she did, though, she hurried to raise her body from his and tried to get up until a hiss stopped her in mid-movement.
"Nathan? Are you alright? I'm sorry if I hurt you—it's just—you fell and I…I'm sorry, I couldn't hold you and we both… we fell," she stuttered out, her voice getting ever quieter until dying out completely.
He only stared at her, wide-eyed, his face scrunched up in pain, and breathed a little too quickly for Haley's taste. Weirdly, it seemed to be his obvious distress that brought her senses back full force and let her regain her calm.
"Nathan. I'll get up now, alright? I'll slowly move over to the side, and if I hurt you in any way just let me know, okay?" He didn't so much as nod, but something in his eyes told her that he had understood her nonetheless. She was so close to him now, so close that he simply had to feel the warmth of her breath on his face just as she felt his. So close that she could see every different shade of color in his eyes, could see the flutter of his pulse in a vein in his neck, so close that only inches remained between her lips and his… Haley had to close her eyes for a second before she tried to push herself up as slowly as possible, aware of even the slightest hitch in his breathing, and reacting instantly to each and every one of them until she finally came to sit down right next to him.
"Didn't know you were so heavy, Hales," he muttered while she was already trying to assess the state of his arm—in spite of his not letting her come near it.
Deciding to ignore his snarky comment, she instead said, "Hey, let me at least see whether you'll be okay before I go and get a nurse, Scott." And before I go and keep Dan from doing so much as try to enter Lucas' room, she added in her thoughts.
At that, Nathan suddenly let go of his arm and used his free one to push himself into a sitting position as well.
"Crap. My dad…"
"Hey, not so fast. You know what happened last time you tried that…"
"Yeah, well. Sorry about that, I didn't mean to—I'm sorry. But right now I have to get to my father, okay?"
Haley didn't have much of a chance to reason with him. She tried it nevertheless.
"Nathan, I really don't think you should be going anywhere at the moment okay? Aside from back to bed. I will go and talk to Dan, alright? Just let me call someone for you first."
"Haley, you don't know my father, he's…" Nathan trailed off as he watched her get up and head to the call button. Once he was sure she had her back to him he gave getting up a second try. Still feeling a bit shaky he managed to keep himself on his feet this time. He briefly let his gaze wander over the girl standing not far from him and wondered why she was even here, with him, and why he felt so oddly glad about that fact. But then he remembered his father's words—those he had heard before he had so embarrassingly passed out—and he said,
"If he knows that Lucas drove the car…"
"Oh Nathan, I'm sure even Dan…" said Haley without much conviction and faltered. Her gaze fell on the discarded forceps lying on the bed. Only a few minutes ago and it had still been attached to his finger. She lightly tapped the device with one finger while groping for the call button with her other hand, then finally turned around again just to discover that Nathan was already turning the doorknob in his hand. Those stubborn Scotts. And there Lucas was trying to convince her that he and Nathan had nothing in common. Right…
"I just—I don't even know if he's okay, Haley… But even if he is, no one needs Dan Scott barging into their room and…" He didn't finish his sentence, he just opened the door and with one last look at Haley walked out.
Again, Haley froze for a second.
Then she ran after him. Whatever happened, she needed to be there, be it for her best friend or for his brother that had quite peculiarly managed to get into her head, and into her heart.
-o0o-
"Hey! Hey, wait! Please wait…" Peyton heard someone call out after her. She didn't feel much inclined to do so, though. She just wanted to get out of here. She hated hospitals, she hated car accidents. She just wanted to get out of this place and leave it all behind. At least for a few hours she wanted to pretend that everything was not a complete mess.
But of course she did turn around eventually and faced a guy who looked slightly familiar.
"Thanks. Hey," he said a bit breathlessly and stopped in front of her. "The car accident over on Costello, you were there, right?"
Peyton frowned. So that's why she thought she knew him. Now that he had mentioned the accident she actually remembered having seen him there. He was one of those guys with whom Brooke had arrived if Peyton remembered it correctly.
"Greg," he introduced himself. "I was there, too…"
"Yeah, I know. I'm Peyton." She crossed her arms in front of her and waited. She didn't feel much like doing small talk with him, especially not when all they shared was one horrible experience. No, she really didn't want to talk about all that now. "Um, thanks for helping my friends back there, Greg. I really appreciate that. But, I better get going now, I…"
"I'm sorry to bother you, it's just… I wanted to ask you whether you know anything about those guys. Are they okay? I mean, will they be okay?"
Admittedly, it was kind of sweet of him to still worry about the Scott brothers, Peyton had to give him that. Smiling she said, "I guess they will be, yes. They're alive, so…" She didn't know whether they'd really be okay again. She didn't know anything about the severity of their injuries, about any possible repercussions of the accident. But what she'd told Greg was all that counted for the time being, the boys were both alive.
"Phew, that's good! Good. Well, um—need a ride or anything?"
"No, no thanks, my car's just outside. Well, I'd say it was nice meeting you, but…"
He chuckled a little, sounding embarrassed. "Yeah, same here. Uh—you know, guess there'll be a next time, soon. My family just moved here—it'll be my first day at school tomorrow. Brooke already told me you're attending the same school I'll be going to so…"
"Oh? Well then, see you tomorrow, Greg. Good night." With that she waved and finally made her way out of the building, back to her car. Somehow she already knew that Greg might mean trouble, though she couldn't put a finger to the 'why' yet.
-o0o-
Karen let go of her son's hand and frowning at the growing noises of commotion coming from the hallway she got up from her chair.
"I'll be right back, Luke, okay? Let me just check who is making so much noise out there," she said, gently stroking his cheek before leaving him and Brooke alone for a moment.
Once she had left the room, Lucas turned to face the brunette cheerleader and something in him still couldn't grasp that she was really sitting here with him after all the crap he had dealt her earlier. He couldn't give it much thought now, though, too preoccupied was his mind with what the doctor had just told him.
"Lucas. Luke…" Brooke looked at him with worry marring her features. She hadn't been there when the doctor had finally spoken to both Lucas and Karen, but she could tell that what he had said wasn't exactly what Lucas had wanted to hear. "Hey, talk to me please?"
Damn, if she continued in that understanding tone Lucas wasn't sure for how long he could keep up his composure. He needed to keep telling himself that everything would eventually get better. He needed to concentrate on the upside of things: he was still alive, more than those poor people in the other car could say. They were dead, they would probably give anything to swap places with him, be alive, have a pretty girl sit by their side and—
"Crap, Brooke, my leg…" he choked out, unable to say more, and annoyingly he couldn't stop tears from starting to well in his eyes. He could only barely manage to hold them at bay. And then he felt Brooke's gentle hands on his face and it was enough to send those darn tears flowing.
Brooke's frown deepened as she ran her fingers through the blonde boy's hair in a lame attempt at comforting him. She wished she could do anything to make better whatever had upset him so. But if he didn't tell her what it was, she couldn't do anything. Seeing him like this nearly broke her heart all over again. Oh god, she loved that guy. There was no way back now.
"Does it hurt? Do you want me to get someone?" she queried anxiously, her own eyes moistening at seeing him so distressed. But Lucas merely shook his head, then said,
"No, it's not that, it's…" Oh god, he knew he sounded pathetic. And really, he should be a little more grateful for having gotten out of all this alive. Still he couldn't forget the doctor's words, the gist of them anyway. "I might never be able to play ball again, Brooke. There's even the possibility I won't ever be able to walk properly again."
"I'm so sorry, Lucas, god I'm so sorry…" Brooke found herself crying now, too, and lost for anything to say—anything that did not sound like a platitude.
"God, I know I'm lucky to even still be here, but I…" he faltered and pressed his lips together to keep himself from sobbing. He had to get a grip.
"Hey… ssh," Brooke made and for wont of better things to say or do she lowered her head until her forehead touched his. They remained like that for quite a while, until Brooke felt Lucas' breathing ease and became aware of his hand clinging to her arm. And suddenly it felt as if her power to speak had come back with just that little gesture.
Locking her gaze onto his she proclaimed, "You will be able to walk again. You will have loads and loads of people helping you, cheering you on, and you will learn to walk properly again, you will get back onto the court, Lucas Scott."
There was a pause as he stared up at her, his eyes wide and clear, a pause filled with clamor coming from outside, until all Brooke heard was one uncertain whisper,
"Will I have you?"
She was sure her heart jumped right then and couldn't help but smile at the question. "Oh, Lucas Scott. Of course you will," she answered before her lips finally found his and she kissed him softly.
-o0o-
Unfortunately it was at that instant that the door suddenly flew open and revealed an enraged looking Dan, who had managed to fight Keith off for one moment. But Dan Scott never needed much more than one opportunity and thus he had used this one pretty effectively as well. Startled, Brooke and Lucas separated and stared up at the older Scott brothers.
"Dan, for god's sake!" Keith hissed, shortly followed by both Deb's and Karen's shocked calls of "Dan!" and "No!"
"Sir!" someone shouted.
"Somebody call the cops!"
For one odd moment, they all seemed to be entwined, Dan, Keith, Karen, Deb, until Dan shook them all off again, sending Keith tumbling into the two women. He shoved even Brooke to the side. Her feeble attempt to shield Lucas from his estranged father's wrath thus only resulted in her ending up pushed against the wall, having to helplessly watch as the man stopped right in front of Lucas and grabbed him by his shirt—
"Dad!"