-o0o-

Usually, Brooke would have never—not for one second—been grateful for Lucas' current inability to walk. When she watched him turn away from her and make his way to the exit, though, she thanked her lucky stars for the fact that Lucas couldn't go much faster than walking pace with the wheelchair.

"Lucas!" called Brooke after him. Already, she had nearly caught up with him, acutely aware of another presence somewhere behind her back. She tried to ignore it, she tried to ignore Greg Anders—the guy she should never have kissed.

"Lucas, stop!" she choked out again, as she finally reached him. Grabbing the handles of his wheelchair, she forced him to a stop. An angry flare in his eyes made her flinch, but she stood her ground nonetheless. For Brooke Davis was determined; she didn't just back away. Not because of a kiss and a little something extra that had happened weeks ago—and happened because Lucas had basically cheated on her with her best friend! Oh no; she wouldn't have any of that now. Lucas had no right to behave like that. He had no right to act like the one who had been wronged. He had no right; and Brooke was certain that he was more than aware of it. Knowing him, he was probably using the whole little Greg episode as an excuse to continue denying the impact the accident had had on his life, denying that anything other than his leg had gotten damaged that night.

Lucas whirled around, the wheels screeching as he did. "What, Brooke? What? Are you going to tell me that it didn't mean anything? Or that it was just the comeback I deserved after Peyton and I…" His eyes, suddenly swimming with tears, betrayed his feelings, and he fell silent. He had nearly forgotten their argument at the beach and how close they had come to breaking up their relationship that night. Only now did he begin to realize how much he had actually shoved to the back of his mind in the face of the terrible accident. Brooke, Peyton, his jumbled feelings, the lost game, Dan's angry glare, Haley—begging him to take Nathan home, Tim… the car keys… And Brooke. Brooke, with a guy he hadn't recognized—because he hadn't known him then…

He knew she was mad. She had all right in the world to be. Lucas had kissed Peyton, had nearly slept with her—if it hadn't been for Peyton's intervention at the last minute. "She's my best friend, Luke. We can't," she had said, pleading. And he? Cursing himself, he had to admit that he had been disappointed. With Peyton, he ceased to feel certain about his feelings for Brooke. There was just something between him and the blonde that sent the proverbial sparks flying.

Now, though, as he saw his girlfriend flirt with some stranger, he couldn't deny feeling terribly jealous, and angry, and achingly in love with the brunette. Oh, he deserved it, he was sure. But that realization didn't stop him feeling hurt and wronged and… Lucas forced himself to get a grip. He forced himself to look away and ignore Brooke's giggling and flirting and—God, did she just kiss that dude? Lucas ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He knew her; he knew that she wanted him to confront her just so that she could attack him for what he had done.

"Lucas!"

Mouth. Good old Mouth. Lucas was more than grateful when he saw his friend walk up to meet him. "We've been looking for you, man—after that girl fight… whoo—"

"Wha—," he made, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Girlfight?

"Dude, don't tell me you didn't see Brooke and Peyton going at it." Mouth must have seen the disbelieving look on Lucas's face, just as he must have noticed how uncomfortable his friend suddenly felt, because with a pat on Luke's shoulder, he simply continued, "God, I can't imagine something like that ever happening to me. I mean, come on, girls fighting over you? How awesome is that?—Come on, Luke, man, don't look at me like that. Let's go, Haley'll be glad I found you, she's been looking for you…"

Numbly, Lucas followed his friend, nearly stumbling into his somewhat absent looking half-brother on the way. "Dude, watch it," was the only warning he received. But Lucas was feeling too subdued to say anything in return. And anyways, all he still wanted was for Brooke to be with him and not with that other guy… He wanted Brooke.

And finally he knew that he had wanted her all along.

"Dude," Greg suddenly piped up again, having come up behind Brooke. She felt ready to hit him, but to her surprise, it was Luke who suddenly hissed, "Stay out of this, Greg. Do us a favor and go."

"Lucas, I'm sorry, it was never my intention to—"

Lucas started grinning. "You better not finish that sentence, okay?"

"Seriously, man, you are way uptight. All I was trying to say was that Brooke and I—"

"You—," Brooke turned to face him. Strangely, her angry tone satisfied Lucas immensely.

Greg shrugged. "What?"

"What? You followed us, without any apparent reason, and all you have to say is 'Brooke and I kissed that night?' What is wrong with you, Greg?—Don't you know that what happened between us that night didn't mean anything?"

"Whoa, Brooke. Wait—"

"You knew I was upset. You had seen me and Peyton. You knew that I had a boyfriend, and you took advantage of the situation. Fine, I don't blame you, it's not like I didn't enjoy it. But that was back then, and it has nothing to do with now. Get over it, Greg. There will never be more between us, no matter what you're trying to do here now." Brooke had been so intent on making that clear to him that she didn't realize how his expression changed from amused to angry. When suddenly he seized her arm and forced her to step closer to him, she felt herself grow tense, frightened even.

"Let go of her!"

"Said the cripple," Greg sneered without looking at Lucas who stared daggers at the bulky guy who was now holding onto his girlfriend.

"I said let go of her."

Brooke, wide eyed, couldn't turn her eyes off Greg's face. Forcing her stuttering brain to get working again, she eventually tried to wiggle her way out of his grasp, but she wasn't successful. "I'm going to scream if you don't let go of my arm," she finally forced out between gritted teeth, trying to sound more self-assured than she felt. But Greg's hold on her only tightened, and she felt him push her up against the wall, pinning her between the cold concrete and his too warm body, his free hand now placed over her mouth.

"So, who's going to stop me from kissing you again, now, huh? Pretty?"

Brooke had the odd sensation of witnessing herself, and witnessing Greg's mouth come closer and closer to hers. She couldn't believe how she had ended up being stuck in this situation when all she had wanted to do in the first place was go and check on Lucas. Now, though…

She was just about to develop a full-blown panic attack, when all of a sudden, she felt herself being released from Greg's grasp as someone lunged himself at the guy, pushing him to the ground.

Lucas.

Lucas had hoisted himself out of the wheelchair in the face of Brooke's demise and had put all his strength into attacking her assailant. It hadn't sounded like the greatest idea in the first place, what with his injured leg and everything. And yet he hadn't known what else to do. Now, though, wrestling with the guy, the whole enterprise seemed to turn worse and worse as Greg managed to kick at Luke's hurt leg, and Lucas had to fight hard to at least get in a few punches of his own.

"Lucas! No!" he heard Brooke scream but was too intent on fighting Greg to be aware of much else than the fact that fighting the guy proved to be pretty futile. Great, he thought…

-o0o-

After a while, Haley gently loosened her hold on Nathan and took a step away. She watched him closely as he ran a hand through her hair, a distant look on his handsome face. She wondered what was going on behind his shuttered eyes, wondered what it could be that he was about to tell her, just when he finally said,

"If it hadn't been for you I don't know what would have happened…"

Haley frowned. "Nathan. What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I… You think I'm a jerk, right?" For a second, a grin played across his face, but it was gone again so soon Haley wondered whether she had ever seen it in the first place.

"Nathan—"

"No, that's okay. I guess I am. I don't know how not to be, Hales. With a dad like Dan… God, I'm so tired of it all. To him all that matters is basketball. But after—after… He expects me to go on like before but I don't think I can do that. Haley, I…"

He shot a pained look at her before training his gaze on the ground beneath him, effectively avoiding her eyes.

"You don't have to, Nathan. If you don't want to play basketball—"

"No. You don't understand. It's not—you don't know my father, Haley. What he did to Lucas in the hospital… He's…" Nathan stopped. Suddenly, his gaze met hers. The intensity of his stare made her knees feel weak and unsteady. A part of her wanted him to continue, to finally confirm what she had suspected all along. Another part, though, and maybe even the bigger one, didn't want to hear any of it, wanted to remain ignorant of it all. But she had seen what Dan had done to Lucas. And she had seen Nathan's reaction back at the hospital, when he had pretty much broken down in front of her…

"I can't make him stop," Nathan quietly choked out then. And Haley's focus fully turned toward him again. "I just can't make him stop…"

"Stop what?" she dared whisper. He didn't look at her. In fact, he looked anywhere but at her, because he just couldn't face her now. Already, he had said too much. He had been too friggin' weak back at the stupid hospital. He had allowed her to see how screwed up he really was; and she had seen how screwed up his dad was. It was too late now; and for that he was angry at himself. He should have never said anything in the first place, should have never let her in. Because now he couldn't unsay the things he had said, and he could no longer uphold his tough guy façade. And why the hell was he so damn weak, why couldn't he fight against it, why… He was just so tired of it all, so tired of the memories, so tired of the pain, so tired of his life.

"Nathan…"

He felt the light touch of her hands on his chest and eventually looked down to meet her gaze briefly. He couldn't help wondering what she'd think of a guy who wasn't even able to hold his own against some other person… against his dad…

"It's okay, you know? You can tell me anything. Nathan."

She had promised. She had promised him his dad would stay out of his life from now on, and then, after his first day back at school, it had been Dan friggin' Scott who had come to get him. As if his life wasn't already awesome enough. Now Dan hadn't only managed to threaten Haley, he had also been smart enough to somehow sneak his way back into Deb's life.

She had promised Nathan that Dan would no longer be a part of their life. She had said she had already signed the divorce papers. And then Nathan suddenly found himself faced with his father again; and the man was as eager as before to push Nathan to his limits.

"Come on, son. You can do better than that. Let's show the scouts how quickly you recovered from that accident!" Dan shouted while Nathan fell into a light trot after having run suicides for well on too long. His arm hurt pretty badly, but he didn't feel much inclined to admit to the pain. Dan would only see it as another sign of Nate's inherent weakness and that in turn would only make him force Nathan to practice even more. If the Coach knew about the thorough training sessions his star player was getting at the moment, he would be more than a little surprised. Nathan nearly snorted at the thought of Whitey's disbelieving stare, just as out of nowhere Dan's hand shot toward his neck and he found himself flung to the ground startlingly quickly.

"How many times do I have to tell you to PAY ATTENTION, dammit! In a real game you are not the only player on the court goddammit. So, act accordingly, watch what the other players are doing and don't wander around daydreaming!" Dan spat, his face mere inches from his son's. Anger darkened his eyes, as he tightened his grip on Nate's neck once again before finally releasing him again and getting up. "Now go take a shower. Enough for today. You should rest your arm a little before we continue practicing shots tomorrow," Dan said, already on his way back into the house, while Nathan still lay on the ground, panting, rubbing his sore throat.

Cursing himself for not having fought Dan, for not having stood up against him, he eventually got up, and came to stand on wobbly legs. He tried hard to ignore the sick feeling that had settled in his stomach, just as he tried to ignore the pain issuing from his bandaged arm as well as his bruised neck. His life sucked.

He would never get rid of Dan. Even though Deb had promised… But she had her pills, while he had nothing…

Nate swore for the hundredth time to never trust anyone with anything, especially regarding promises. And with a sigh, he finally made his way up to the shower.

"I just can't make him stop," Nathan repeated, no longer really caring that tears had started running down his face. "It only gets worse… Now that Tim is… I can't even go over to his place anymore, when… crap…" He couldn't go on.

"Ssh," Haley made, and because she couldn't think of words to say to him, she gently took his face in both her hands and leaning forward kissed him. It was a light kiss at first, yet soon it turned into a more passionate affair as both of them sought comfort in each other's closeness.

Haley might have lost herself completely in that moment, if it hadn't been for Brooke, who suddenly came running toward her and Nathan, gesturing wildly with her arms. "Oh God, Nathan," she cried, unaware of the interruption she had caused. She grabbed Nathan's arm and began pulling him with her before she had even begun to explain the cause of her desperation. "Lucas and Greg, they… Oh God, they are going to kill each other if—"

Nathan shot Haley a glance, then broke into a run, following Brooke back into the school building as quickly as possible…