Disclaimer: I own squat

After Your World Stops

Chapter 1

The rain was relentless, pouring unabated, pounding the ground. The cemetery had long since been abandoned, mourners paying their last respects before leaving to get out of the storm. They had lives to return to, families that required attending. Their world hadn't just stopped turning.

Not like his had. So Nathan made no move to leave. He stood in his dark suit, drenched to the bone, completely numb from the cold. He stared at the fresh mound of dirt under which lay buried every hope and any dream he'd ever had. He couldn't quite grasp it yet.

Haley couldn't actually be gone, he felt like someone was playing a really sick joke and if he stood there long enough, Haley would eventually show up behind him, laughing her sweet laugh, to wrap her arms around his waist, "Nate, why the long face? Who died?" He could picture it so clearly in his head, it felt real.

"Nathan!"

He whipped around, so sure it was a miracle and Haley was calling him. He watched as a figure in a black overcoat and holding an umbrella ran through the heavy rain towards him. Nathan could practically taste his disappointment; it was so acute, when he realized it wasn't his wife brought back.

Brooke rushed up to him and placed the umbrella over his head.

"Nathan, you're going to get sick. Please, come back to the house with me? Everyone's really worried about you."

"You think I CARE if I get sick? You think I give a FUCK about 'everyone' right now? You can all go to hell!" He screamed angrily at her.

Brooke flinched but she wasn't going to let him push her away. She pulled Nathan into a hug and murmured soothing words to him, in the same soft voice she used to comfort her kindergarten students when they became upset.

Nathan came apart then, sobbing uncontrollably onto her shoulder, the cries torn from deep inside of him. He clung to Brooke desperately and she started to cry with him. Her own pain ripping her apart as she finally let it consume her after trying so hard to keep it together for everyone else.

Haley was her best friend, the two of them inseparable since that day at school so many years ago. Brooke had kicked Kyle Nolan in the shin and pushed him over for tormenting the new girl and laughing hysterically when she started to cry.

Brooke took one look at little quiet Haley with tears swimming in her eyes and had a fierce urge to protect her. And she did exactly that for the next eighteen years.

She was there holding Haley and wiping her stuffy nose when she was crying for days over the loss of her parents.

Brooke was the devious mind behind the great "Shrimp Incident of '02", deciding that Rick the Prick deserved a little surprise after dumping Haley very harshly for a bimbo that would spread her legs when Haley wouldn't. Brooke hauled a bucket of raw shrimp and strategically hid them around Rick's prized '67 Chevy Impala, stuffing the little critters between and under the seats. He had to air his precious car out for weeks, unable to ride in the horrible stench and forced to ride the bus to school.

It was Brooke who sized up Nathan and gave him the whole "you hurt her, they'll never find your body" speech before finally giving him her seal of approval and deeming him worthy of her Haley.

Now here she was crying with Haley's husband and she couldn't believe that she had actually buried her friend today.

Nathan abruptly pulled away from Brooke, his eyes red-rimmed and full of anguish before he masked it and a cold look came over his face. He pushed aside Brooke's hands as she tried to hold onto him and staggered away from her, shaking his head.

"No! I'm not going back to that house. I can't…I can't go there. It's too much." He started to walk off in the direction of his car.

"Wait, Nathan! Where are you going then?"

Brooke followed after him. He wasn't in any state of mind to be driving right now and she wasn't going to stand by and let him do something stupid.

She felt as though he was partly her responsibility now. After he and Haley had gotten married four years ago, Haley used to joke that Nathan was being saddled with more than just his bride, he was inheriting Brooke too. Nathan would groan and act horrified until Brooke rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm.

"Stop pretending that you don't love me. I'm taking Haley away if you're mean to me. I've got dibs, you know!"

"No way! Our marriage nullifies your dibs! I have dibs!"

"Stop saying dibs!" Haley would intervene, "And anyways, nobody has dibs, I am dibs-free…dibs-less, if you will."

"Haley? Stop saying dibs." Brooke interrupted her little speech as Nathan nodded in agreement.

Haley was so happy to see that her loving husband and her best friend in the whole world were not only getting along but actually grew to be great friends. She had been a bit nervous about that, both were so protective of her. Her doubts were put to rest though, they got along famously. Nathan knew how big a part of her life Brooke was and set out to win her approval from day one, and Brooke eased up on him once she realized how much he really loved Haley.

As she hurried after him outside the cemetery, Brooke felt a need to look after Nathan the way she used to look out for Haley. Nathan took out his keys to unlock the car but couldn't fit it in the keyhole because his hands were shaking too badly. Brooke slowly retrieved the keys from his hands and unlocked the door for him. She led him to the passenger side and coaxed him in.

"Wherever you need to go, Nathan, I'll drive you. I'll leave you to be by yourself once we get there, if you want me to, but I'm not letting you drive like a mad man in the state you're in, ok?" Brooke slid into the driver's seat and waited for him to say something.

Nathan just nodded. And they sat there for the next 10 minutes in silence until he said in a raw voice, "The Blue Post."

"Nathan…I don't think,."

"The Blue fucking Post, ok? You said you would drive me, so goddamn drive me!"

Brooke looked at his profile as he sat staring forward and felt such an intense wave of sadness she thought she would keel over. She so badly wanted Haley to be alive. But she didn't argue any further, she started the car and drove them to the dingy bar. And watched Nathan get completely hammered as he downed shot after shot, raging at her if she told him to stop. He was almost incoherent and on the verge of passing out when she finally got him out of there with the help of one of the waiters. Knowing he didn't want to wake up alone in his and Haley's bed, she drove him to her apartment and tucked him in under her covers. After she was sure he was asleep, Brooke pulled her chair up and settled into it to watch over him, to make sure he didn't choke on his own vomit. She eventually fell asleep dreaming of two 9 year old girls laughing together and playing on the swings.