The Up Hill Battle

18. Tree Hill, North Carolina- December 24th - Lucas POV

When I woke up this morning I was on the couch. Sawyer and Peyton were at Brooke's too. Lindsay's kids were not. There uncle picked them up early in the morning. The social worker was him, a new one as he got into an argument with the other one and spoke to the person in charge. He picked them up, taking them home. He's here now, he dropped the kids off at the hospital where a friend of his is with them.

"Barry," I said.

"I am here, not to punch your face like I would love too, but to ask you for your help, Obviously the girls can't stay at the hospital all day, but they really don't want to be here," he explained.

"You mean, Mia doesn't want to be here," Peyton said as she grabbed her mimosa.

"Yes, but neither does Alycia," he stated.

"Who?" Brooke asked.

"AJ," he said, "Alycia Jemma...anyway the girls want to make everything great for Lena and have things be perfect for when Lindsay comes home. They want to be home and I wanted to ask you if one of you would watch them. You can bring your entire family for all I care, throw a Christmas dinner in the house, but I just need them to be watched."

"Why didn't you bring your family?" I asked.

"I would have, if I didn't think my mother would have a fit. After Thanksgiving she's not exactly happy with any of us. Especially Lindsay. Everyone knows that she's in the hospital, I'm keeping them up to date."

"And why won't you be able to watch them?" He looked a bit taken aback by Sawyer and then looked at me. He pointed at her while looking at me, I just nodded.

"Charming...I will be at the hospital going over my sister's scans and case, as well as speaking with her doctor. I will be scrubbing in," he stated, "I'm a neurosurgeon."

"What's wrong with Lindsay?" I asked. He sighed.

"They found a small brain bleed from her falling down the stairs, but they also found signs of post-concussion syndrome," he explained. "They'll fix the bleed and then she'll need to get treated for the post-concussion. They'll also keep her for observation."

"Post-concussion, what was she hurt before?" I asked. He looked a bit confused and sat down.

"Did she ever tell you about her ex-husband?" he asked.

"No, but he was an ass. They argued in the café when Mia was here for a debate competition," I stated. Barry nodded.

"My mother wasn't happy with Lindsay. She left you at the altar, became a single mother, dated some FBI guy and got pregnant again, then adopted that guys child he had during an "affair" even though he and Lindsay had broken up... My mother was pist, she thought Lindsay was making poor decisions and once they were back on speaking terms, she introduced Lindsay to Callum Calloway. He was condescending, smug, intelligent, determined. His self-assurance, charisma, and love for philosophy is what won Lindsay over. They got married within in a year due to my mom insisting they get married. He was fine with her having three kids, said it was amazing and loving that she adopted Lena. We all thought life was good for her until it wasn't. A few years ago, we found out about the abuse. The physical abuse at least. We didn't know, we don't know for how long it was going on. The kids were never hurt, but Lindsay was. She started to hide money and the birth certificates, adoption papers. She was going to leave and then it was like god had decided to help because he got in trouble with the law for money laundering. He was going to jail. And things got better until he showed up here during that competition," Barry said. "She had already filed for divorce and told him. She got it, the divorce, he's in jail, but to be safe they left New York. Everyone thinks there in England running the London office. She's put pictures of them on the internet of them being at Big Ben, the Buckingham palace, Piccadilly circus. A professional photo shopper... That's why she's here, she would never in a million years have moved here, if it wasn't for the kid's safety. So, will you help watch the kids."