-1Brooke opened her eyes slowly and turned her head to find Nathan reclining in the chair next to her bed asleep. She moved her hands down beside of her and tried to push herself up to a sitting position but stopped when she heard Nathan's voice.

"You're awake"

Brooke nodded blankly looking down at the bed sheets covering her.

"How's my favorite sister-in-law feeling?"

"I'm just sore" Brooke looked over at Nathan and nodded "What happened?"

Nathan rubbed his eyes groggily and got up from the chair to sit on the side of the bed. "You lost a lot of blood after you had the baby they wanted to do an emergency hysterectomy but Rachel like flipped out and said that that's not what you'd want and she begged Andrea to not do it…by the way you owe your future children to her"

"Where's Lucas?"

Nathan sighed "Hales took Lucas home so he could rest for a few hours…he's been between your room and the NICU all night long…god Brooke you should have seen him he looked so sad…I haven't seen him ever look like that….not even after Keith died…Peyton found him in the chapel earlier praying that god wouldn't take you away from him and your kids"

"Is the baby ok?"

Nathan looked down at his hands and shook his head. "He's tiny Brooke really tiny…he wasn't breathing very well on his own so they had to put a respirator over his nose to help him breathe, he also has a feeding tube going to his stomach to help him eat…he's got a lot of IV's giving him antibiotics but other than that he's doing really well to only be 3 pounds"

A single tear slid down Brooke's cheek "I want to see him "

Nathan shook his head "Brooke…I don't know maybe you should…"

"I want to see my little boy…if you don't want to take me I'll go myself"

Nathan stood "Ok…I'll get you a wheelchair"

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The ride to the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit was the longest 4 minutes of Brooke's life. She rode in silence as Nathan pushed her through the big metal doors and into the nursery filled with the tiniest babies Brooke had ever seen. Nathan pushed Brooke's wheelchair to the back of the room into the corner where Brooke saw her baby boy for the very first time.

He was in a Plexiglas enclosed bed called an isolette. The isolette regulated the temperature and filtered the air that made its way into the bed so that the oxygen going into the bed was the cleanest air possible. Brooke sighed as she looked at her baby, he looked almost unreal. There were tubes going every which way connected to his tiny body, his chest quickly rose and fell as he struggled to take every breath. He had a head full of light brown hair and a brooding look on his face that accompanied piercing blue eyes that were focused on his mommy and uncle Nathan.

"It's so unreal that he looks so much like Luke" Nathan finally said breaking the silence.

A nurse noticed Brooke and Nathan and walked over to them. "He's doing really good this morning…very alert for a baby born 8 weeks early"

Brooke looked up at the nurse that was talking to her, she was a young girl not very much older than her. Brooke looked at her nametag "Cara" Brooke read. Cara looked like she'd pulled a long shift and even though she looked like she was about to drop she held a genuine smile on her face.

"Can I hold him?" Brooke asked her raspy voice cracking.

The nurse smiled sadly and shook her head and reached below the isolette to get some hand sanitizer. "I'm sorry, not just yet but you can touch him and talk to him…he's an awfully popular little thing…barely 9 hours old and has already had about 12 visitors it's supposed to only be family but I made a few exceptions"

The nurse squeezed the clear liquid onto Brooke's hands and helped her place them inside the arm holes in the Plexiglas. Brooke ran her hand down her little boys arm that was almost as thin as her finger. She ran her finger over his tiny hand and the baby grasped his hand around her finger.

"Talk to him" the nurse encouraged.

"Hi…pumpkin I'm your mommy…I know that you had to come out a little sooner than what you would have liked but that doesn't mean you get to give up that easy. You have a big sister named Hannah who's going to be two soon…I know it seems hard but you've got to fight ok?…I love you" Brooke pulled her hands out of the isolette and shook her head. "I can't do this"

Nathan knelt down beside of Brooke "Hey…I know that this is hard right now but you have to be strong for him ok?….If you give up he's going to want to give up too….and the Brooke Davis-Scott I know is not a quitter she never has been…and he's half you so I know that stubborn will power is in his genes…you just have to be strong and help him fight"

"I'll be over here if you all need anything" Cara said and walked back over to the nurse's station.

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The next morning Lucas walked down the hallway of the hospital and into the NICU. He walked to the back of the room and saw Brooke sleeping in a glider next to the isolette. Lucas smiled sadly and knelt down and kissed Brooke softly on the forehead. Brooke's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at Lucas "Hey….I've missed you"

"I love you so much Brooke" was the only thing Lucas could get out.

Brooke sighed and smiled up at him "I love you too Luke"

Lucas looked over at his son who was sleeping. He took out a few pictures and handed them to Brooke while he began to tape them backwards onto the Plexiglas. Brooke looked at the pictures in her hands. There was one of her and Lucas, one of Hannah, the next one was of Karen, Andy, and Lilly, followed by a picture of Peyton and Jake with Jenny, Emily, and Hayden, then a picture of Nathan and Haley with Jamie and Leah, Mouth and Rachel, the following snapshots were of Whitey, Skills, Junk, Fergie, Millie, and the final picture Lucas taped up was of Keith.

"Luke what are you doing?"

Lucas looked over at Brooke and shrugged his shoulders "I want him to meet his family"

Brooke smiled sadly "I know what I want to name him"

"What's that?"

"Isaiah Keith…Isaiah means "God is my helper" and I know that god is going to help us through this and Keith after your uncle because I know how much he meant to you and how proud he'd be of the man you've become" Brooke wiped away a tear that slid down her cheek.

"You really think Keith would be proud of me?" Lucas asked taking a seat in a chair next to Brooke.

Brooke looked over at him and nodded "Without a doubt"

Lucas smiled and leaned over and kissed Brooke gently on her temple "Isaiah Keith….I love it"

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Rachel walked to the NICU carrying a stuffed rabbit she was stopped at the door by the head nurse on duty.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

Rachel turned and looked at the woman and narrowed her eyes. She eyed the middle aged woman up and down and shook her head forcing a smile. "No thank you I'm just going to go and see a friend"

"Well ma'am I'm afraid that you can't do that"

Rachel sighed and turned around again. "And why not….Susan?…the night nurse Cara let everyone go in" Rachel asked looking at the woman's name tag.

"Because it is "family" only and Cara will be reminded of the rules when she comes into work tonight…like I said "family" so you will just have to wait in the lobby" Susan used her fingers for quotation to emphasize her point.

"She is family"

Rachel turned and saw Lucas standing in the doorway and she smiled before looking back at Susan. "See…told you so"

Susan nodded defeated and threw up her hands. "My apologizes Mr. Scott"

Lucas nodded and held open the door for Rachel to walk in "Thanks Luke"

"It's no problem"

Rachel and Lucas walked to the back of the NICU nursery and Rachel took a seat in front of Isaiah's isolette. "Where's Brooke?"

"She's in her room getting her checkup from Andrea before they discharge her…she's been a mess all day…she just doesn't want to leave him here" Lucas never took his eyes off of his son as he spoke to Rachel.

"Do they know how long he's going to have to stay here for?"

Lucas shook his head "The doctor said it could be anywhere from 3 to 7 weeks…it just depends on how well Isaiah can fight off infection and he has to learn to eat on his own and breathe without the help of a machine…we can't even hold him yet"

"Can I touch him?"

Lucas nodded and ran a hand over his tired eyes "Yeah…there's hand sanitizer under his bed…will you just stay here with him for a little while?…so I can check on Brooke"

Rachel nodded and watched Lucas walk out of the NICU and she turned her attention to Isaiah. She rubbed the sanitizer on her hands and held up the bunny.

"I brought you a present…I'm going to call you "bunny" cause I just found out from your aunt Haley that you were conceived at "The Fluffy Bunny" so I'm going to call you that…also we need to have a chat…I know you're probably tired but you've got to fight ok…your mommy and daddy will fall apart if something happens to you…everyone will. Also you've got to stick around cause there are so many things you'll miss out on if you don't: Haley and Nathan's crappy Halloween party, followed by their crappy New Year's party, they don't have a Christmas party because Mouth and I throw it and it's a damn good time…oh sorry that was probably the first curse word you've ever heard…don't worry you'll hear more. You're also going to miss fighting with your big sister Hannah, everyone thinks that just cause Hannah is such a beauty that she's innocent…and yeah her attempts at singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is cute but I tell you…she's a little hell cat….oh sorry again…but you see my son or daughter will be here in about 7 months and it's not that Peyton's kids aren't cool…I don't have anything against them but I want my kid to hang out with you…cause you can tell my kid about how awesome you are that you survived being born 2 months early…just please fight…please"

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Brooke looked at Isaiah and shook her head "I can't leave him here Luke"

Lucas leaned down and kissed Brooke gently on the top of the head "I know baby girl but we've got to…they're going to take such good care of him…besides Hannah is waiting for her mommy to come home and see her…she's been asking for you for the last three days"

"Do you want to hold him before you leave?" Cara asked walking over to the isolette.

Brooke nodded quickly and smiled "Absolutely…are you sure it's ok?"

"Yeah…I think it'll be fine besides the two of you have been through so much that you deserve to have a few minutes with him" Cara explained as she pulled back the back off the isolette and lifted her hands up under Isaiah and brought him over to Brooke.

"I'm not sure how to hold him"

Cara smiled at Brooke "You'll do just fine just hold him against your chest he'll benefit best from skin to skin contact"

Brooke leaned back in the chair and Cara gently placed Isaiah in her arms. Brooke ran her hand over the sleeping baby's tiny body. "Oh wow…he's even tinier than he looks"

"He'll grow…he's doing so good considering how early he is…I know it seems like he looks helpless but he's so strong" Cara explained.

Lucas knelt down next to Brooke and looked at his son face to face for the first time. "Hey buddy…your mommy and I really don't want to leave you here…but we're going to be here everyday until we get to take you home with us…everyone is going to come and see you…cause that's how much everyone loves you…and when you get bigger your uncle Nathan and I are going to teach you how to play basketball, and all kinds of things…you just have to be strong for everyone"

Brooke held Isaiah for 20 minutes before she was almost forced to let him go. Lucas wrapped his arm around Brooke and they slowly made their way out of the NICU and went home leaving their little boy behind.