"See you tomorrow Rach," Brooke Davis called to her redheaded friend as she climbed out of Brooke's car. "Bright and early."

"Why do you insist on dragging us out of bed to go over a routine? Can't we just do it at lunch?" Rachel Gatina asked.

"Alright we'll do it at lunch," Brooke relented with a laugh. "Can you do me a favor and call all the girls and let them know? I've got so much to do when I get home."

"Sure I can do that," Rachel agreed. "You really shouldn't leave your homework until the day before it's due either bitch!"

"Ah well at least I can get it done in one night slut!" Brooke said back with a laugh. It was common for the two girls to insult each other; it was all friendly though.

"Whatever!" Rachel laughed as she headed up her path. "Get going whore!"

"I'm going you ho!" Brooke said as she began to pull away from the front of Rachel's house. She waved at the redhead as she did and the redhead waved back before heading inside.

Brooke grinned to herself as she picked her speed up. She was in a good mood as she had had a particularly good night cheering. Her team had won the basketball match by practically slaughtering the other team. The cheerleaders had outshined their rivals as well, much to the rivals' annoyance. As Brooke went around a bend to get back onto the road she needed, she felt that something wasn't right with her car. She couldn't quite explain it yet, it just seemed to be a little harder to control. She put her foot on the break and nothing happened. She tried it again and the same happened. Panic quickly set in as she repeatedly pressed the brake and got no response from the car. She tried the handbrake with no success. It didn't help that the road she was on went downhill.

"Oh God!" Brooke muttered to herself as she saw a broken down car at the bottom of the hill, with its hazard lights on, sat precariously in the middle of the road. There was no way that she could avoid it.

She pressed the horn of her car to alert anybody who might have been sat inside. She saw four figures get out; two cheerleaders and two basketball players for the rival team. Brooke's eyes went wide as she saw they were all smirking evilly at her: one held up a set of sharp cutting blades. Brooke instantly knew they had sabotaged her brakes. Sheer terror set in as she knew she had to make a split second decision. She either hit the people stood by the car or she steered her car to the left or right. If she went to the left she would hit a rock facing and if she went right, she would end up in the rain swollen river.

She turned her car to the right. The river seemed a better option than crashing into something solid. She was a good swimmer. As she crashed through the small fence at the side of the river, she unfastened her seatbelt so she could quickly get out of her car once she was in the water. It was the wrong decision to make. As the car hit the water, Brooke was catapulted forward, hitting her head against the windscreen and her chest against the steering wheel. She was out cold as she fell back into the driver's seat, as the car sank further into the dark water of the river. The people who were stood at the car laughed as they climbed back into it. The driver switched the hazard lights off and started the car. Another car was making its way down the hill and the car that had been stopped quickly sped away.

~X~

Lucas Scott was on his way home from finishing his shift at the fire station. He had had a nice quiet shift. He liked when there wasn't really much to do, it meant people were actually being careful. As he went down the hill road by the river, he saw a car sat in the middle of the road before it quickly sped away. He thought it was rather suspicious. He glanced around the area and he was certain that he could see tail lights in the river. He got to the bottom of the hill and pulled his car over, switching the engine off. His years spent as a fire fighter had made it so that he trusted his gut instincts. He got out of his car, picking up a flashlight as he did. He went over to the chain link fence and shone the light onto it. Sure enough it was broken.

Cursing to himself, he put the flashlight on the hood of his car and quickly took his boots off. He couldn't swim with them on. He went to the trunk of his car and pulled out a crow bar, just in case he needed to get anybody out of the car. He went back to the front of his car and took his jacket, sweater and t-shirt off. He would need something dry to put on when he got back out of the cold river. He picked the crow bar back up and went to the edge of the swollen river. He didn't even pause before he jumped in.

The water was flowing a lot faster than he had initially thought and he was washed away from the car. He used all his strength to swim against the current of the water to reach the car. Taking a deep breath, he submerged himself completely, swimming expertly down to the sunken vehicle. He went to the drivers' side and his eyes widened as he managed to make out the brunette cheerleader in the car. She was completely submerged by the water. He gripped the handle and tried it. The door wouldn't open. He moved the crow bar and put the end in the tiny gap where the car door met the framework. He tried to use the metal bar as a lever to open the door. Placing his feet against the back part of the car, he used all his strength to push on the bar. He was still unsuccessful and his lungs needed air.

He swam back to the surface and refilled his lungs before diving once more and returning to the car. This time he used the crow bar to smash the glass of the driver's window. It took two hits before the glass shattered. He ran the crow bar around the edge of the frame to make sure that all shards of glass were gone. He dropped the tool and it sank further into the river. He then reached inside the car and he gripped the brunette's right arm and pulled her towards him. He turned her slightly as he did. He saw the extensive bleeding that was coming from her head as he gripped her under both arms and pulled. The water was darker where it mixed with her blood.

She came out of the car easily and he secured his grip on her. He accidentally got a feel of her breasts in the process. He quickly adjusted his hand and began to swim back to the surface. He broke the surface and gasped in as much air as he could as his lungs screamed at him. He made sure the brunette's head was above water too. He placed his mouth over hers and blew and then began to swim towards the shore. He repeated the action again before he easily lifted her petite frame onto the river bank and then climbed out himself. He picked her up and moved her away from the riverbank and nearer to his car. He put her down onto her back and began CPR. He positioned her head and then completely covered her mouth with his and pinched her nose. He breathed into her mouth, keeping an eye on her chest to see if it moved. It rose so he repeated the action. He then began chest compressions.

"Come on," Lucas whispered before he breathed into her mouth once more. "Come on breathe."

It took several long minutes for her to come round. Lucas was just breathing some more air into her mouth, when he was rewarded by a mouthful of river water as she coughed. He rolled her onto her side so that she could clear her lungs of the putrid river water, as he spat the water from his mouth.

"Cough it up," he encouraged as he rubbed her wet back. "That's it."

She rolled back over onto her back and panted heavily. Lucas got up and went back to the trunk of his car. He picked out a first aid kit and a blanket he kept in there for emergencies and then went to the driver's door. He opened it and leaned in, turning the key in the ignition, so that he could have some light to see to her head wound. He went back over to her and knelt beside her. She was looking up at him dazed and confused. It hurt her to breathe and she could only manage small gasps.

"My name is Lucas Scott and I'm a firefighter. You've been in an accident. Can you tell me your name?" he asked her as he began to unfold the blanket. He spread the blanket out closer to the lights of his car and went back over to her. She was still gasping painfully.

"B-B-Brooke," she managed out. She had begun to shake. Lucas put it down to a mixture of cold and shock. "Brooke D-D-Davis."

"Okay Brooke. Where do you hurt?" he asked her concerned.

"My head and my, my, my chest." she gasped. "Hurts to, to breathe."

"I'm gonna lift you and put you on a blanket okay? To try and warm you up." He told her in a soft tone. Brooke nodded in response as she continued to shake. He gently lifted her shaking form up and carried her over to the blanket. He then very gently led her down on it. He noticed that he was shivering now too. He had to put his shirt and jacket back on. He went to move and she quickly grasped his hand.

"D-D-Don't leave me." She managed as her petite form continued to tremble.

"I'm not going to leave you. I just have to put my shirt back on," he told her gently. She let her hold on his hand go and he moved to pull his shirt back on. It only took him seconds to put his t-shirt and jacket back on. He saved his sweatshirt in case she needed it. "Did you have your seatbelt on?"

"Yes, but I t-t-took it off before I went in the river, so, so I could g-get out." she stuttered out.

"Did you hit the wind shield?" he asked.

"Yeah, my head." She told him.

"And did you hit your chest on the steering wheel?" he asked, needing to know as much about what happened as he could.

"Uh huh," she panted. "Hurts. Airbag?"

"I don't think your airbag worked. I need to check your injuries, which means that I'll have to look at your chest okay?" Lucas told her. She nodded, in too much pain to care who saw her. "I'm going to have to cut your top. Is that okay?"

"Uh huh." Brooke murmured.

She didn't particularly care if it got trashed. Lucas pulled the scissors out from the first aid kit and began to cut up the front of her top. Brooke had enough sense about her to wish that she hadn't taken her sports bra off after the game. It had been irritating her so she had slipped it off while she waited for Rachel. She knew that when Lucas had cut her shirt he would have a clear view of everything. He finished and pushed the fabric out of the way. He could see from the light provided by his headlights that bruises were already beginning to form on her chest.

"I'm just going to feel your ribs. Tell me if it hurts," Lucas told her. Brooke nodded as she continued to shiver. She felt his hands brush over her torso and begin to feel her ribs. She hissed when he touched a particular sore part on her left side. "Sorry. I think you've just bruised your ribs but I might be wrong. You've got a cut above your breast that looks pretty nasty. I'll clean and dress that then get you covered again before I check the cut on your head."

"O-O-Okay." Brooke stuttered out. Lucas quickly went about cleaning and dressing the wound above her right breast. He tried not to let his eyes wander as he did and scolded himself mentally a couple of times as he realized that they had slipped lower than what they should have. When he was done he picked his sweater up off the hood of his car and noticed that it was now warm from the heat of the engine.

"Here put this on. It's dry and warm," he told her softly. He helped her to sit up and her cheerleading top stayed on the blanket in ruins. Brooke raised her arms up and he eased his sweater sleeves down and then the neckline over her head, until she was covered. "I'm gonna have a look at this head wound of yours okay."

"Okay." she replied quietly. The little warmth from the sweater made her feel a little bit better, but not much.

"I think you're going to need stitches," he said as he examined it. "I'm just going to put a dressing on and then I'll get you to the hospital. You will probably need x-rays on your chest."

"Thank you." she said quietly. She was still breathing in gasps and pants as he cleaned and dressed the wound on her forehead.

"I'm just doing my job," he told her as he gave her a friendly smile. "You're lucky I was coming along when I was. Do you remember what happened?"

"My brakes," she answered. Her voice wasn't as shaky anymore, but she was still shivering. "They didn't work. There was, a, a, a car at the bottom. It was the o-o-other team people. One was holding a cutting thing. T-they just laughed."

"You'll need to speak to the police when you get to the hospital then," he told her as he wrapped the blanket around her. He made sure to move her cheerleading top before he did. "I'm gonna take you to the hospital now. I'll just go and open my door."

Lucas got up and opened the front passenger door. He had thought about putting her on the backseat but that might have made her anxious and that was the last thing she needed in her condition. He went back over to her and picked her up once more, keeping the blanket around her. He carried her to the car, placed her into the seat and closed the door behind her. He picked her cheerleading top and his boots up as he went back round to the driver's side. He sat in the seat and pulled his wet socks off and then put his boots back on, before closing his door and setting off to the hospital. He glanced over at Brooke and noticed her eyes were fluttering closed.

"Brooke! Open your eyes don't go to sleep." he told her urgently.

"So tired," she mumbled. "And so cold."

"Stay with me okay," he told her. "Don't go to sleep. We're almost there."

"So tired." she repeated as her eyes finally closed. Lucas sped the car up. He knew he was speeding but this was an emergency.