I'm baaack! Sorry its taken so long for this, but don't worry I haven't forgotten and I will be updating again regularly!
Thank you all for your freakin' awesome reviews, and hopefully this chapter will suffice!
Enjoy:
Nathan was quick to jump from the car. He sprinted to the hospital doors, aware that the group was following closely behind him.
The teenager entered the doors, dodging a few innocent patrons leaving the place that was supposedly able to fix most of human ailments. It was a freaking hospital, where people were supposed to make everything better, and the young man could only hope that Lucas would be saved.
Nathan walked up to the nurse's desk and leaned forward, getting the attention of the young nurse behind it. "… My brother was brought here, Lucas Scott. I need to know how he is," Nathan heaved as he tried to catch his breath.
The woman nodded, smiling at him until she realized he was glaring back. "Scott… Scott… Scott," the woman mumbled as she looked through her computer database. She frowned at the screen, got up from her seat and found a couple of clipboards. "It looks like he was taken up for surgery hun, other than that I have no other news for you."
Nathan gaped at the woman. "You've got to be kidding me!" He clenched his teeth and shook his head angrily. "What good are you!" he shouted at the woman.
"Nathan…?"
The teenager quickly turned his head to see Karen Rowe frowning at him through tears. "Come here," she commanded softly.
The young man walked over and breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled him into a hug. "It's going to be okay. Lucas is strong and he knows that we need him."
Nathan laughed harshly. "You couldn't imagine the things I said to him the night he…"
Karen gave him a pained smile before saying, "I bet I could. I said some pretty bad things to him too."
"We're quite the pair aren't we?"
Karen nodded, and then realized that Lucas's entire group of friends stood behind the boy. "Hey everyone," she whispered, grateful for the support.
"Mrs. Rowe," Brooke began. The girl stepped forward and hugged the older woman tightly. "I'm so sorry…"
Karen shook her head softly. "This is just as much my pain as it is all of yours," Karen acknowledged. These people were feeling the same things she was. She knew they felt worry, sadness, anger, and a whole bunch of other things.
"How could this have happened?" Nathan asked. "How did dad even find him?"
Karen cringed at the memory. "Dan was going to search TRIC… Lucas was chained to the fence like a…," Karen couldn't finish the words and whimpered.
"Do you know who did this to him?" Peyton asked softly. The girl was relieved that Lucas had been found, but very disgusted towards the sick person or people who had done such a cruel act to her friend.
Karen shook her head, she wished she knew who did it so she could make them pay dearly, but she had absolutely no idea. "I'm not even sure there are cameras in TRIC, let alone in the alley beside it…"
"Karen Rowe?"
The worried mother spun around, almost expecting there to be a man in a white lab coat. But the man before her was no doctor… it was two police officers. "That's me," she confirmed and stepped forward to shake their hands.
The man reached out and took her hand, and shook it in a greeting. "We're here about your son ma'am."
Karen bobbed her head up and down to show she understood.
"I'm Officer Daniels." The officer flashed an apologetic smile before pulling her to the side and out of the group's ear shot. "Do you know if your son has any enemies that would have wanted to cause him harm?"
Karen fought not to let her mouth drop open in shock. "No, of course not. He's liked well for being such a defender… he's a sweet boy," Karen explained.
The officer nodded. "We figured that seeing as there were so many volunteers in searching for him."
Karen agreed and set her lips in a thin line. She glanced back at the teenagers and her eyes locked with Nathan's, they were so full of guilt and she knew that her eyes were mirroring the same thing. What kind of mother would say such words to her baby boy?
"A team is currently searching the site your sound was found at. There weren't any security cameras back there so we're seeing if we can get any useful video from the traffic lights across the street from the alley," Officer Daniels informed her.
"Thank you Officer."
The man smiled. "Your husband will be here momentarily."
Karen frowned. "Oh, I'm not married…"
"Ah… oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed that you and Dan Scott were… well he said that he was Lucas's father…" the officer spoke, feeling embarrassed for mentioning it.
"He is, we're just not married. His wife is over there," Karen pointed to Deb who was busy biting her nails nervously.
"I hope your son comes out of this alright. If this kind of stuff happens in Tree Hill, I can only imagine how bad it is everywhere else," the officer noted with a bit of bitterness in his voice.
"I couldn't agree with you more," Karen whispered.
"I'll update you regularly ma'am," the officer promised and left with his partner.
"What'd they say?" Nathan asked anxiously.
Karen frowned. "They know as much as we do, but they're doing all they can for us now. All we can do is wait and hope that Lucas will pull through and tell us who did this to him…"
"If he comes out of this…" Nathan muttered.
Karen's hand struck Nathan's cheek before she could catch herself. "Don't say that Nathan… I can't hear that, not now."
Nathan shook his head, whispering an apology. "I'm so sorry Karen."
The woman took him in another hug. "He's got to be okay… he just has to…"
The group waited for hours, each taking turns to sleep, eat, and yell at the nurse when she didn't have any more information about Lucas's condition.
Peyton and Brooke played cards, trying to staunch the flow of worry, and boredom that emanated from everyone.
Brooke would speak randomly, her nerves dominating her speech. "It's taking so long, that's a good thing right?"
Peyton looked up and shrugged. "I don't know… we waited a long time for my mom and look how that turned out."
Brooke rolled her eyes in anxiety. "Way to be optimistic Peyton."
"Sorry," she muttered.
While the girls bantered between each other, the grown ups had their bout of conversations.
Deb laughed as she finished her story of when Nathan flushed his plastic duck down the toilet when he was three. Karen laughed too and allowed some of the anxiety lift from her shoulders.
"You know, when Lucas was five we visited this hospital wing, bringing some of the patients and their families care packages. He'd just learned about marriage from kindergarten and decided that he should make the leap for it."
Deb raised an eyebrow and listened intently.
"He bought one of those twenty-five cent rings from the machines and walked up to this woman who had to be in her early twenties and was reading the newspaper. He just kind of stood there until she sensed him, and when she did he held out his hand and dropped the container into her lap."
Deb laughed at the thought of Lucas's innocence.
"Her mouth kind of fell open, but he just smiled, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. I remember the whole waiting room was laughing… and the woman accepted the gracious offer. Now you have to remember that Lucas had no idea which finger the ring was supposed to go on, so he slid it on the middle finger of her right hand."
"That's so sweet…" Deb laughed, and wiped the tear from her eyes.
Karen laughed at the memory. "She told him that he'd have to find her when he was a little older, and he promised he'd find her."
The two were interrupted as well as everyone else when a man in that historical lab coat walked into the room.
"I'm looking for a Mrs. Karen Rowe…"
Karen felt her heart thunder within her chest and her mouth went dry. "That's me," she croaked.
TBC...