Pain.

Lucas woke up to the horrible sensation of pain tearing through his leg, and for one surreal moment he believed himself to be back in the car. Panicking, he nearly called out to Nathan, but then his gaze fell on Brooke's worried face and something in his brain clicked, abruptly bringing him back to the present. Dan, what he had done to him, to Brooke. A sudden panic flared up inside of him when thinking that last thought although he knew she was still here, gently smiling down on him. Nevertheless, he tried to push himself up off the bed, tried to reach Brooke, to pat her down, make sure she really was okay.

He was only half aware of someone ordering him to lie still, but all the more aware of the soft touch of Brooke's hands on his chest.

"Ssh, Scott," she whispered, a frown crossing over her face.

"Brooke… Dan—did he, did—"

"I'm okay, Lucas… I'm okay. Don't worry about me, baby…"

"But…"

"Lucas."

She nearly sounded annoyed, and he wanted to protest because he could see the blood staining the collar of her sleeveless blouse. 'And what is that?' he wanted to ask. He wanted to put his finger on it like he wanted to run his hands through her hair, in search of the wound that bastard Dan had inflicted on her. But right then someone—a nurse?—moved his leg and his thoughts lost all coherence, the pain was so immense.

He wanted to cry out, felt an involuntary whimper bubble up deep in his throat, but with Brooke standing there, looking so worried, he fought to keep it inside. He couldn't keep tears from welling in his eyes, though. The pain was just too much to bear.

If only Brooke was really alright, he could handle the pain, could handle it all… And she seemed to be…

"Mr. Scott, the doctor will check on you in a short while, but you were lucky it seems. Whatever happened, the new damages to your leg seem to be mostly superficial. I'm afraid you'll need new stitches, though. But we'll have to wait what the doctor will say…" the nurse said and turned a little to check that the drip attached to his arm hadn't been unstuck during the past few minutes.

Lucas nodded somewhat dumbly at her, still too shocked and dazed to fully grasp what she just said, or understand what had just happened. Did Dan really…

It was then that he noticed Nathan standing a little further off, staring at him. Luke frowned as he tried to make sense of everything. Dan, Brooke, Nate… He did remember Dan barging into the room, but Nate? He saw Brooke worriedly smiling down at him, felt her gently take his hand in both of hers. The gesture oddly reassured him while he was trying to piece it all together; Brooke telling him about Tim and Bevin…

… oh God, Tim and Bevin!

Lucas suddenly looked up to Brooke for confirmation, he needed to hear it again. He needed to make sure…

He hardly noticed how hard the pain was making it to concentrate and follow one train of thought to the end.

"Sssh, Lucas. I know. It's going to be better soon, okay? Just hang in there till the doc can give you something…"

"Brooke?"

"Yes?" She gently wiped a tissue across his sweat-beaded brow, traced the vein protruding from his temple with her thumb, and waited for him to continue.

"If Dan had—if—I wouldn't have known—"

She put a finger to his lips, silencing him effectively. "But he didn't," she then whispered and lightly kissed his forehead before some commotion in the room forced her to retreat, make room for the doctor.

"Oh please!" a voice wavered into his consciousness then. "Are you honestly accusing me of—"

"Don't even start denying it!" Brooke.

For a second Lucas could only smile to himself. But quickly he was too preoccupied again with battling the suddenly excruciating pain in his leg to follow what was happening around him. He was only aware of the doctor examining the ruptured sutures. Nevertheless, he knew that Brooke was in her fighter mode. And he knew that whoever was the addressee of her anger wouldn't stand a chance… Therefore he finally allowed himself to close his eyes for a short moment and solely concentrate on fighting the pain, knowing she would be okay.

-o0o-

When Lucas next looked up at Brooke, he was relieved at seeing her seemingly unfazed by the events. He heard her mutter words to him, only half of which he actually caught, too bad was his leg hurting again, making it hard to listen to anything she said. But as long as he knew she was okay…

He didn't know what had happened to Dan although he was sure he'd heard someone—Dan?—argue with Brooke. He didn't know when exactly Haley and Nathan had left… not even to mention that he didn't even know when they had actually arrived at his room. He saw the doctor coming, though, heard him exchange a few words with the nurse, with Brooke… The man was addressing him, too, and Lucas sure as hell understood all the things he said then: that the pain would subside again, that they were giving him something for it, that Dan's doings had caused the sutures to come apart again, which would need some attending to, but that he didn't have to worry.

"Don't worry, Lucas…" those were the words he heard most clearly. But how could he not? He knew he had all the reason in the world to worry. So maybe Dan hadn't made it that much worse, but hadn't it been bad beforehand already?

He couldn't stop thinking those thoughts, not with this pain tearing through him, not with…

"See, baby? You heard the doc. It's going to be okay… it's going to be okay…" And as Brooke's soft rasp finally reached through to him, he allowed sleep to tug at his consciousness more forcefully until he succumbed to it completely.

-o0o-

After a few hours of pain-filled sleep in which Lucas had nearly managed to readjust to the level of pain again, a knock on the door suddenly woke him. He felt too drained to curse much, though his intruder sure had a bad timing. Tiredly rubbing his eyes, Luke prepared himself for whoever the unexpected visitor was, and forcing a little more strength into his voice he managed at least a half-decent "Come in."

Once the door was fully opened, Luke couldn't help but frown in bewilderment at seeing Nathan of all people entering his room. He could have imagined Brooke stealing herself past the watchdog of a nurse who always made sure that no one was staying past visiting hours. He could've imagined his mom doing it, too, or Keith—and definitely Haley. But his brother?

"Nate," said Lucas eventually, when the other remained silent for longer than felt comfortable. Nathan was lingering close by the door, keeping it from shutting completely as if Lucas might send him out again any second, and somehow Lucas had to smile at that. Because, why would he do that, right? That would have been a totally "Nathan" thing to do. But Lucas was nothing like his younger brother. Also, hadn't it been Nathan who had somehow prevented Dan from… whatever the hell the man had been up to? At least Brooke believed that it was only Nathan's appearance which had stopped Dan from hurting Luke more than he had already done before. Lucas was more than willing to believe what she said. After all, he knew Dan. Dan Scott never simply let go of anything. Besides, hadn't there been another instance in which only Nathan's timely arrival had stopped Dan from having a go at Lucas? No matter what the man had tried to make everyone believe afterward. Who was he kidding, right?

Well, definitely not Lucas.

He barely heard it when Nathan eventually muttered an awkward "Hey," but at least the guy was finally deciding it was safe to step a little further into the room. Still, he remained in close proximity to the door as his gaze met Luke's.

"I was just—you know," he nodded to the room's exit, his eyes never once leaving Lucas's face, "on my way out of here."

Lucas stared at him, his brow furrowing involuntarily. "You're leaving?" he asked. "Does anyone know about it?—I mean, did they…"

Nathan grinned awkwardly and finally fixed his eyes on the ground. "Nah… it's an AMA-kinda thing. Without the part of me actually doing the signing out."

"Aw, Nathan, don't be so stupid." Lucas knew he was in no position to protest, or judge. Still, he felt the urge to do so nonetheless. He honestly didn't think his brother should do such an idiotic thing. Although Lucas had to admit to himself that saying that Nathan was acting stupid was not a very smart move. And of course, the younger's defense mechanism had already kicked back in. He jerked his head up in a show of defiance, reached for the doorknob, and stared hard at Lucas.

"I don't think it's any of your business," he bit out, and already turning to leave he added, "But you're right, coming here wanting to see whether you're really doing okay after Dan, after—it was stupid." With that, he swung the door open and took a step out of the room.

Sighing, Lucas, called out to the younger one. "Nate," he said, and was glad to see Nathan stop in his tracks for the moment.

"I'm sorry, okay? You're right, it's none of my business, so go. Fine by me. Just…"

Nathan's shoulders tensed. He didn't turn to face the older one again, but he wasn't' leaving yet, either.

Now what, Lucas thought. Then—and he didn't know what made him do he, he honestly didn't—he said,

"Thanks. For… you know… stopping Dan…—And… for what you did for me that night, after the accident…"

Lucas stared at Nathan, watched the younger one slowly turn to face him again. He watched him lower the arm with which he had held the door open all along, and look right into Lucas's eyes. Suddenly Luke felt uncomfortably nervous and uncertain, and he cursed himself for having chosen this particular time for a 'Thank you' to his brother.

He bit down on his lips, ran a hand through his hair until surely every single strand of it stood on end. It was not easy to read anything in Nathan's features, it never was. But now? Luke didn't know what he was thinking, how he would react. And whether he had just made a complete idiot out of himself—or not—that depended solely on his brother's next reaction.

-o0o-