A/N An update! Finally! My most profuse apologies for how long this chapter too to post: I wrote it last month and then felt weird about how it turned out. and put it on the back-burner. Then I had a three-credit class in one month which included the mid-term, final, and paper on top of my normal course load and then I directed a group of forty people singing Gilbert and Sullivan's "When the Foeman Bares his Steel" from Pirates of Penzance. Anywho, I revamped the chapter and think it's ready for public consumption.

The chapter is called "Let Her Cry" named for the Hootie and the Blowfish song. The song may not relate, but the name certainly does!

Without further ado:

Haley's eyes blinked open but the world remained fuzzy. Figures moved in and out of her sight and words tickled her ears but didn't crystallize in her mind. The voices were soothing and the combination of noise and floating images seemed to urge her to shut her eyes. She stopped fighting and allowed herself to drift back to sleep.

Lucas stood by the coffee machine blowing steam off his hot drink and blinking in annoyance at the flickering florescent lights. A cheerful voice sounded from behind him at the same moment that he felt arms wrap around him.

"She woke up, Luke," Brooke said. Even without turning around Lucas could tell the words were accompanied by a smile.

Lucas turned around in his girlfriend's arms so that they were now facing each other and asked, "Is she still awake? Can I see her?"

Brooke shook her head a little. "No, she was only up for a moment. But Luke, her eyes." Brooke's own eyes glistened as she explained. "I don't think I realized how much I missed seeing her eyes."

Lucas allowed a smile of his own to cross his face, glad to see his girlfriend so happy, but it didn't dispel the concerns he'd been having about Haley's return to reality. The Haley that would wake up in that hospital bed would not be the same Haley he had left to close up the café two nights before. Regardless, he refused to dampen Brooke's joy.

"What did Haley do when she woke up?" Lucas asked trying to feed Brooke's enthusiasm.

"She just opened her eyes for a few seconds and looked around. Karen and I were trying to talk to her, but then she just closed them again and went back to sleep. But her eyes are brown – did you know that? I don't know that I did," Brooke babbled happily like the stream of water she was named for.

Lucas smiled, hoping that it would reach his eyes. "That's really great, Brooke."

Apparently it hadn't been completely convincing, because Brooke searched Lucas' eyes, her happy smile melting away, and asked, "What are you thinking, Broody?"

Lucas shifted uncomfortably under his girlfriend's gaze before admitting, "I'm really glad she woke up, Brooke, but you're acting like Haley is going to wake up and everything is going to go back to normal. Too much has happened for that to be possible, and I just don't want to see you disillusioned."

Brooke's brow crinkled slightly. "That's what you think? That I think everything will be fine?" Lucas' silence answered her question. "That's not what I think. I know everything's messed up, Luke, but I have to celebrate every little victory I can get, because I have this bad feeling that we aren't going to be getting too many." Lucas bowed his head a little ashamed and realizing that Brooke was just trying to keep up what hope she had left. "It's hard, Luke. This whole thing. And there isn't a whole lot to be happy about. But right now, I'm doing my damndest to get excited that my friend, who could have died yesterday in an OR, opened her eyes today."

Lucas nodded and prepared to respond when a voice called from down the hall, "Lucas Scott?"

Both Lucas and Brooke turned around to face the newcomer. A tall, skinny blonde girl with red, swollen eyes approached them with a brown haired man following close behind. The girl walked up to Lucas and pulled him into a hug, "It's been far too long, Luke."

"Quinn?" Lucas asked. "It's good to see you." He looked at Haley's sister, who over the last four years had turned from clumsy, long-limbed free spirit into … well, a gorgeous, grown-up free spirit.

"You too. You've really grown up," Quinn commented, noting that Lucas was now taller than her. Lucas was inspecting the man who had remained silent but was still fixed directly behind Quinn. She realized who Lucas was watching and said, a slight laugh in her voice, "Oh, Luke, you haven't met my husband, David."

Lucas controlled his impulse to choke out 'husband?' and instead cordially extended a hand in greeting. No matter how many times peers told him they were married, it would never cease to be weird. In the James family, early marriage must be catching. If Lucas was a little awkward catching up with his best friend's sister and her husband, David seemed to be enjoying it even less, but he still managed to be sincerely polite. Searching his brain, Lucas was pretty sure that Haley hadn't mentioned Quinn's marriage. In fact, now he just hoped Haley already knew and didn't get a second shock when she woke next.

"Quinn, this is my girlfriend and Haley's roommate, Brooke Davis," Lucas added, bringing Brooke into their odd reunion. Instead of taking Brooke's proffered hand, Quinn pulled Brooke into a hug. Brooke's face was stunned for a moment before she relaxed and squeezed back, understanding Quinn's need for contact. Quinn smiled as she pulled away, "Haley has told me so much about you. You've been such a good friend to my sister."

Brooke smiled back, already liking this James … or whatever Quinn was. "Haley makes it easy. You're sister is pretty amazing."

A tear glinted in Quinn's eye as she agreed emphatically, "Yes she is." She swiped at her wet eye and asked Lucas in a quiet, solemn voice, "How is my sister?"

Lucas gave her his best comforting smile, trying to put Quinn at ease. "She's doing good. Actually, really good, considering. She came through surgery fine yesterday and they moved her from the ICU to a private room this morning. Brooke was just in with her when she woke up for a little bit."

Quinn managed to give a small smile back at the news, but couldn't prevent a couple of tears from falling down her cheeks. "Good. That's so good." She tried to wipe away the first of the tears, but her eyes wouldn't stop glinting with more waiting to drop. David approached her and gently wrapped an arm around her, which only seemed to make her tears fall faster. She laughed a little as she continued her losing battle to keep her face dry saying, "I must look like such a mess. I've barely stopped crying since Taylor called me last night. Apparently Mom and Dad wanted to wait until they had some good news to tell us, so Tay had to find out when she turned on the news."

Lucas nodded, but grimaced inside remembering the heated conversation with Taylor on the phone the day before. She hadn't been shy on name-calling. Honestly, Lucas had never thought he needed to call Haley's siblings: he assumed Jimmy and Lydia would have that covered.

Quinn continued. "I was going to leave right after Tay called me, but I talked to David and he said he wanted me to wait until he could drive me, but he was on his way back from out of town filming this documentary and I was sort of a blubbering mess, so it was probably good I didn't try by myself." Quinn finally wrapped up her run-on sentence so she could take a breath.

Brooke said gently, "You don't need to apologize, Quinn. You're still the first James here and Haley hasn't been awake long enough to notice who was here and who wasn't."

Quinn managed to smile and nod through her tears as David planted a comforting kiss on her head. She tried to explain, embarrassed that Brooke would think she was as airheaded as her family liked to tease that she was. "I don't mean to seem crazy, I know I'm talking so much."

David broke his silence his voice full of teasing but somehow remaining very gentle, "Quinny tends to talk a lot when she's nervous."

Brooke let out a light laugh, trying to keep the mood from drooping, saying "It must be a James thing. Haley does that all of the time. She once explained to me the characteristics of, like, thirty different cheeses in mac 'n cheese just because she was nervous about me eating her cooking. She wasn't about to give me a chance to critique it."

This got a laugh out of Quinn and Brooke could even feel Lucas relax a little beside her. When silence fell over the little group they remained comfortable from that lingering laughter giving Quinn time to clear her eyes of the rest of her tears while David rubbed her shoulder.

Feeling a little more in control, Quinn asked, looking at Lucas again, "I don't mean to be completely rude, but what room is Hales in? I know she's probably sleeping right now, but I really need to see her."

Lucas definitely understood how that felt. He gestured down the hall, "Room 229. My mom's still in there with her right now, but I know she'll be happy to see you."

Quinn grasped David's hand and began to pull him down the hallway, past Brooke and Lucas. Her eyes rested for a moment on both as she said, "Thank you guys. For everything," and disappeared down the hall with her husband securely holding her hand.

"Hey Haley-bub." The voice was soothing and encouraged Haley to look around her to find its source. She slowly lifted her sealed eyelids pushing through the heavy feeling that demanded they remained closed. Although the only source of light was coming through the curtain covered window to the left, it still hurt her eyes and she tried to blink to clear her focus. She felt a light hand on her wrist and she looked up to see the blurry outline of her older sister. Her vision cleared with another blink and Haley could see a smile light up her sister's face.

"Glad to have you join us, Hales. We've been waiting for you," Quinn said in a soft voice as her hand continued to gently rub Haley's arm.

Haley made a soft hmming sound and then smacked her lips lightly together trying to rid her mouth of its odd cottony feeling. Movement registered in Haley's periphery travelling alongside the bed, obviously understanding Haley's need before she spoke.

"Here are some ice chips, honey," Karen said, her voice also much lower than normal. "You need me to help you?"

Haley blinked her eyes, lids still trying to droop and close, and she took her time to consider the question while trying to get her bearings. She lifted her hands as if to accept the cup of ice chips but saw that both hands were swaddled in bandages. She wrinkled her brow, noticing how her face felt papery and stiff, before nodding to Karen. Karen smoothly slipped a spoonful of cold, dripping cubes between her lips, and even as the liquid soothed the dry feeling, it also tickled her throat and sent Haley coughing.

She hadn't noticed that her bed was reclined most of the way back until she tried to sit up, struggling to clear her throat. Her body was suddenly on fire and her stomach burned with each harsh cough. Karen pulled Haley to her in an upright position allowing Haley to lean against her until the coughing stopped and left Haley trembling.

Haley was covered in a sheen of sweat from her exertion and as Karen gently helped Haley lay down again Haley began to pick out encouraging words coming from Karen, telling her she was just fine, just to relax. Haley's eyes darted around the room and she saw the scared expression on Quinn's face. As her head hit the pillow Haley realized how much her head ached and her eyes scrunched up as she fought against the pain.

"The doctor's here," a new voice informed them and Haley managed to reopen her eyes to see Lucas watching her with a concerned look. Brooke followed behind him as they made their way further into the room to give a man in blue scrubs enough space to enter. Quinn murmured "Thank God," and took a seat near Lucas and Brooke with a clear view of Haley's bed.

"Haley?" a kind voice prompted. Haley looked up into two clear blue eyes and saw the gentlest looking white-haired man she could have imagined. "Do you know where you are?"

Haley felt completely lethargic and didn't want to answer, but his sincere concern stirred an extreme desire to please him. She opened her mouth to say, "Hospital," but all that came out was a whispery sound without words. Her brow scrunched and she tried one more time, but her throat hurt and she could tell that even with more effort the results would be the same.

The doctor smiled comfortingly, "Don't try too hard. You might not be able to speak for a few days. You damaged your vocal chords a little." This scared away the lethargy and Haley's eyes locked with his, fear lurking in her gaze. Although still not in control of the situation or her own wandering thoughts, Haley knew she could not lose her voice. At Haley's startled look the doctor added, "It's not permanent. It's no more than when you lose your voice after a night at a basketball game." He continued, "You probably can't write too well right now, so why don't we work off of a blinking system. Two blinks for no, three for yes. That way you can still blink when your eyes need to without worrying about answering the wrong question."

Haley thought this through, her mind catching up with the moment from her temporary shock over her voice. She blinked three times.

"So you know where you are?" Three blinks. "You are in the Tree Hill Hospital. And you remember your name?" Three blinks. "Alright, good. My name is Dr. Hale and I've been with you since you came in. I'm sure you have some questions and we'll try to answer them as you think of them." He paused before Haley blinked three times to show she followed. "Now I'm going to check you over real quick to make sure everything's as it should be." He gave her a moment to blink three more times before entering her personal space. "Nurse? Can you check her vitals while I take a quick look at the dressings?"

Haley's mind was spinning as Dr. Hale and a nurse bustled around her bed checking machines and lifting up bandages. Her friends had long since faded into the background and her mind was carefully considering her situation. What was she doing in the hospital? No one else looked hurt, and she didn't have her own car, so it probably wasn't a car accident. It felt like every part of her hurt, and judging by Quinn's presence it was probably something pretty serious. What was the last thing she could remember?

The café. She remembered talking with Lucas at the café and then she remembered him leaving so that she could close. Everything was almost done, she just had to take out the trash-

Suddenly the holes in her memory filled in and she remembered everything. Every moment came back to her, from her first fears in the alley to the brutal, repeated assaults, to the long night slowly dying in the cold. She let out a pained gasp.

Dr. Hale was back in her line of vision and asked gently, "Haley, are you in pain?"

Haley whimpered as tears leaked out of her eyes and she was suddenly humiliated at having all of those eyes on her. She was positive that her face was bright red and blotchy from shame abd she knew that each person in the room was watching her, judging her. She blinked twice and then tried to turn her head away, doing her best imitation a scared ostrich with his head in the sand.

Dr. Hale seemed to understand her reaction and asked her, his voice dropping so that Haley would focus only on him, "Do you remember what happened?"

Everyone in the room held their breaths and watched Haley who hadn't moved with Dr. Hale's prompting. Finally, she Haley slowly turned with her eyes closed so that she faced Dr. Haley. Then she opened her eyes. Three blinks. Karen's heart felt like it was breaking and she rounded the bed quickly taking Haley's hand. Her voice said quietly, if a little brokenly, "Sweetie, you're safe now. No one can hurt you." Haley jerked her hand out of Karen's grasp and effectively covered her face with the large white dressings that encompassed it. Stricken by the rejection Karen took a step back.

Dr. Hale asked, "Would you like some time alone?"

Haley pulled her hand down just far enough to reveal her eyes blinking three times in quick succession.

"Alright, we'll get out of your way. Everything is looking good, so take the time to relax a little and rest. If you need anything, push this button and one of the nurses will check on you." With that, Dr. Hale gestured for the other's to leave ahead of him and quietly closed the door behind him. Everything was silent for a moment. Then, when Haley sensed that she was alone, she let out a gut-wrenching cry that could still be heard through the thin hospital door.

All of the terror from the night before, when she had cried out of fear for her inevitable death now transitioned into tears of fear for living. She cried tears of humiliation knowing that she had been so easily damaged and laid bare before all of her friends and family. Although she was now fully clothed (if a hospital gown could be considered clothing) she felt just as naked in the sight of her friends as she had been before the boys in the alley. She was garbage now, used and thrown away.

She had never dreamed that she would be rescued and then deal with living after the brutal assault. Although she had been afraid, Haley had been prepared to die. In the alley, when she closed her eyes to drift off one last time she knew she would never wake up again. And she was okay with that, because she had been done fighting. But now? The only thing that she could think of was to ask why she was still alive. Why did she have to live?

A/N The next chapter is also written but needs to be reworked. Reviews just might encourage me to post faster! Next chapter - Haley is awake and the plot will thicken! Thanks for remaining interested, everybody!