Author's Note

This is my first fanfic ever. So, please comment... I'd really appreciate constructive criticism.

Okay, there are quite a few ships covered in this, hopefully something for everyone

Okay, so this is kind of AU, so I'll give like a little background for each character:

Okay, Lucas and Nathan's parents grew up in Tree Hill. When everything got too much, Karen and Keith (who are together (and have been since not long after Dan and Karen broke up)) upped and left with Lucas to a new town. Deb and Dan also moved away (but to a different place) and had the same relationship that they have in the actual series and divorced; after which, Dan made Nathan's life miserable. When Nathan was old enough to emancipate himself, he left and went to live with Keith, Karen and Lucas. Lucas and Nathan have always been close (but they still have that playful antagonism that they have now XD). Both of them wish to pursue their basketball careers and so Keith and Karen decided to move back to Tree Hill so that the brothers could benefit from Whitey's coaching.

Nathan is still cocky, but not as cocky as he starts off in the original series. Years of Dan's abuse have broken him into someone a lot more self-conscious than that.

Lucas is as he has always been; but a tad more confident than he started off in OTH- this being Nathan's influence on him.

Brooke and Peyton are best friends: Peyton is still the angst-y, arty, individual we know and love; and Brooke is still in Season 1-mindframe; so still flirty and confident (but she is not as bitchy as she is in the actual series).

Haley goes to Tree Hill High School but is very much unknown there. Literally, NOBODY knows her. She is still in "tutor girl" mode really: geeky, shy, self-conscious but ultimately lovely.

Jake goes to Tree Hill High School as well- he was on the basketball team, but quit because of his commitment to Jenny in Freshman year. Nikki came back and threatened to take Jenny; and Jake had to have her move to Savannah with his family. Nikki kidnapped Jenny and was later imprisoned for neglect of her child when Jenny was found malnourished. Jake's parents didn't want Jake to miss out on everything so they proposed to take care of her while Jake finished school in Tree Hill (whilst staying with an Aunt and Uncle). He has since become a complete recluse, only turning up to school when he has to- he does the bare minimum that he can do without being kicked out. It's not that he is angry, just sad. Upset that he can't be with his child. But his parents have forced him to do this, knowing that it is the best thing for him.

So there we go...

Hope you like it.

It was the end of summer, that smell of fallen leaves and anticipation had crept into the air; beckoning children back into school, and putting an end to the endless evenings under the fading sun. The world was peaceful... At least for a second.

Just calm.

Just for now.

Peyton was stood in the hallway of the hotel, suitcases in hand.

Come on, Brooke.

"Brooke! We're gonna be late!"

"I'm coming!"

"We're gonna miss our flight..."

Brooke came running out of the room, putting on a pair of dark sunglasses.

Oh God, why's it so bright?

As she got to the door, she turned to the mirror and grabbed a lipgloss out of her pocket, which she started applying. Peyton rolled her eyes in dismay.

"Don't you think this colour is cute...?" Brooke giggled, adding another coat on.

"Brooke!"

Brooke jumped and quickly screwed the cap of her lipgloss back on, hurrying out of the door. She started to grab all her cases, arranging them in a way she could balance.

"You know, P. Sawyer, you become a real bitch when you haven't had your rest..."

"No, Brooke, I become a bitch when I'm about to be stranded in L.A. because I missed my flight because my friend is too hungover to function."

Two hot boys walked past and one winked at Brooke.

She sighed, smiling "...So worth it, though."

Peyton grabbed the collar of Brooke's jacket, and pulled her a little.

"Hey!"

Nathan and Lucas were walking into LAX, kind of briskly. Nathan looked down at his watch.

"Okay, we're not late anymore. We're gonna be right on time."

"No thanks to you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? It's not my fault we had to connect from 'Town Nowhere' in the middle of state 'Nobody-ever-comes-here'"

"I'm talking about it taking you way too long to find the right terminal, can you even read?"

Nathan mock-laughed.

Lucas laughed at him, "Hey, don't be ashamed... most jocks can't read."

Nathan stopped and looked at him. "Dude, you just totally burned yourself with that."

Lucas' face dropped. "...Shut up."

Nathan smirked as they carried on walking.

Haley had been waiting in the ticket line for way too long now: she kept letting people shove in front of her, not wanting to complain. A huge loud family pushed her out of the way, and moved in front of her.

Oh, come on...

She got close to the front of the queue and an elderly woman stumbled behind her. She bent down and helps the woman up with her elderly husband.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Hey, do you want to go in front of me? Maybe you can find a place to sit when you get in there." She smiled at the woman sympathetically.

"Would you mind?" Haley shook her head. "Oh, thank you."

"It's no problem, really."

The couple walked in front of her and got through the teller. He then drew a blind down that says "Please move to another window." Haley sighed, Of course..., and adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

"You know, you'll never make it through this world being that nice."

Haley looked up at a comment she knew was directed at her, and saw Jake, standing in a queue. He smiled at her.

"Probably not..." She laughed, Where do I recognise him from?

She turned and started to proceed towards the back of the long queue.

...Great.

Jake made it through the ticket booth pretty quickly, he looked back at Haley who is now way at the back of the queue, he smiled to himself at how sweet that girl was, and how nice things- nice people- are never rewarded in this world. He then started to walk toward wherever the giant arrow on the wall directed him.

He quickly found a seat, and started to make himself comfy; he was early, and apparently the flight was running late anyway.

Haley was still way back in the queue, she looked forward at all the people in front of her, and watched Jake go through the terminal.

Oh, he's that guy that I sometimes see in the music room.

She looked back at all the people behind her, and smirked a little. It was evil, but hey. She'd had enough of her polite thoughts for today.

Nathan and Lucas were walking through her queue, taking a shortcut towards the vending machine.

"...We can eat when get on the other side..." Nathan whined.

"My blood sugar's getting kind of low."

Nathan collided into Haley, knocking all her stuff to the ground.

"Hey!"

"Oh, sorry..." Both of them bent down and started to pick up her stuff. Haley was already kind of frustrated already, and this just exacerbated her bad mood.

"Just forget it." She snapped, lightly brushing his hand out of the way.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah..."

I didn't mean to snap at him like that... Maybe I should apologise?

Lucas walked back.

"Nate, what are you doing down there?"

"I just knocked this girl's stuff-" He looked up at her for the first time in this whole exchange.

"Now who's holding us up...?" Lucas joked.

"Look, it's okay. You can go." She looked up at him for a brief second, flashing her big eyes at him, she looked down again.

"Okay..."

"Thanks... I guess." She continued picking up her stuff.

"Come on."

Nathan got up, shrugging off this whole thing. He was over it. It was done.

Lucas and Nathan walked off, leaving Haley to regain her composure as she stood up and realised that she was the one holding up the queue.

Peyton and Brooke were in the next queue over, and had just witnessed the Nathan-Haley collision. Brooke turned to Peyton.

"Isn't that just the worst?"

"No, I'm pretty sure there are worse things." Peyton replied, jokily.

"Well... Yeah, starving people and all. But that is so embarrassing, you know like when it happens in school and your tampons and-" She broke off, as she realised a boy was looking at her. She turned back around to the direction of Haley, and looked over at the Scott brothers. "Although... I wouldn't mind either one of those bumping into me. Or, maybe some kind of sandwich position..." She laughed, and then drifted off into a daydream mode. Peyton gave her a little shove, laughing.

Jake was sat, now fully accustomed to his location; it was away enough from everyone that he could sit back relax, do a little people-watching. He sat up as he noticed the blonde-haired girl walk in, with her brunette friend.

They look familiar.

He rolled his eyes, and remembered where he was going. Tree Hill. Of course they were going to look familiar. He looked back at her, she was just speaking to Brooke.

She's... She's beautiful.

He shook his head; hoping to get these thoughts out of it.

No.

No, I can't think like that.

That didn't work out too well for me last time...

Peyton looked up in his direction, Jake stopped breathing for a second; but she didn't look at him, just past him. She was looking for a seat. He sighed.

Of course.

Why would she notice me?

Brooke and Peyton were having one of their banter-y arguments, when Brooke tripped, and Peyton threw her head back laughing. Jake chuckled with her; he noticed how she lit up when she laughed.

Wow...

Lucas and Nathan wandered through the airport, eating the crisps Lucas had just bought.

"See? Bet you're glad I bought these now..."

"I could have waited."

"You can never just admit when I'm right, can you?"

"Okay, Luke, for the first time in your entire life you were right, but it was about chips. Good for you."

A member of airport staff (Linda) was walking up to most of the people sat around the terminal "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, we're not sure when we'll be able to get the flight ready. But don't worry, you'll be compensated..." Her voice droned off as she got further and further away. When she got the end of a group of people, she hurriedly walked towards Lucas and Nathan, nudging Lucas as she passed them. "Oh. I'm so sorry"

Nathan turned to Lucas "She was kind of hot..."

Lucas laughed and checked her out, "What is it with girls and bumping into us today?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you were real choked up about it..." Nathan turned around, remembering that girl, he took a quick scan of the room.

As Linda reached the counter, her sanctuary for a moment, her fake smile had worn thin. She turned away from the agitated crowds and sighed, looking up- her eyes glassy, asking desperately for something. She took a deep breath and turned around, a fresh coat of enthusiasm across her face.

"My legs are tired, my arms are tired... and I want to sit. So pick a damn seat."

Nathan picked up his bags "...You are such a girl."

They went and found a seat, somewhere near a window, anything to avoid the tedium of the four walls that loomed over them.

Neither Haley or Nathan realised, but Haley was sat just behind him. A big family- the same loud family that had shoved her out of the queue earlier- were looking for a seat. Haley smiled, and got up, collecting her stuff and moving out of the chair. She took a quick scan of the room, and the futility of her mission to find another seat became apparent to her. And so she decided to sit back up against the window. Does it really matter? I shouldn't be here for too long... I hope I'm not here for too long.

The loudspeaker burst into life "Flight 302 to New York has been cancelled. Flight 408 to Houston, Texas has been cancelled. Flight 315 to Tree Hill has been cancelled indefinitely, we are sorry for the inconvenience. And you will all be seated on the next available flight to your various destinations. Thank you, and sorry again."

Nathan groaned, I'm so bored! He leant back, and then brought his head forward catching a glimpse of Haley who was having a similar reaction to the news. She untied her hair, and shook it out, running her fingers through it. That's. Just. Great.

Peyton laughed at Brooke, who was not-so-subtly scoping out man candy; anything to make this wait go a little faster... but if they were cute enough, hopefully not too fast.

That's great, I'll be sat here while Brooke makes out with some guy in a cubicle.

Brooke spied the brothers, "There are those hotties with a capital H again. Maybe this won't be so bad, P. Sawyer." She shrugged, and raised one eyebrow.

"No, Brooke. No. I will be not dragged into another of those situations where you assume that because there are two guys and two girls, it's meant to be."

Brooke laughed "Aw, you can have first pick. As long as you don't want the blonde one."

Peyton chuckled. She tried to look at the brothers for herself, but managed to catch Jake's eyes. He's... gorgeous. She did a little half-smile, she didn't mean to, it was almost involuntary. Jake looked away, and checked his guitar was still stood up. Oh, God, and he's a musician... So hot.

Brooke laughed, "No, not there, silly." She turned Peyton's face into the actual direction of Lucas and Nathan. Peyton looked back at Brooke, and shrugged. "That's what I get? A shrug? I offer you some prime boy candy here and you shrug? Sometimes I don't know why I'm friends with you, Peyt." She moaned, jokily.

Did she just look at me? I mean, I'm not sure. But I think she did, I am pretty sure she just looked at me. Like, I am almost certain. But why would she look at me? I'm hardly up to her standards, but I'm pretty sure she just smiled at me. Or... was she laughing at me? God, was she laughing at me?

Jake looked at her again, and noticed how elegant she was; her long body was draped across the chair. But this time, with this meaningful stare, he realised how sad she looked. In the brief interludes between her laughter and smiles, this melancholia descended over her presence- dampening her, weighing her down, but she was still beautiful.

You don't even know her. She may be the worst person in the world. The most cold, and evil. Worse than Nik- Well, probably not... But she could be really bad.

Peyton moved her hair out of her eyes, and managed to look back at Jake, this time she didn't smile- not with her mouth, her eyes on the other hand, lit up. Everything about her lit up, shone down, 

shone onto his lowly existence- made it seem worth something again- the same way Jenny could make him feel whole again. He sighed.

No, she's not evil...

Haley text her parents "Flight's been cancelled. I don't know when I'll be able to get home. Love you. X".

I want to go home.

I need to take my mind off of this...

She grabbed her schoolbooks out of her bag, and started placing them on the floor.

If I'm going to be stuck here, it's not going to be a waste of time.

Nathan looked up this girl, who was now... studying? He wanted to apologise, he needed to. He just felt bad, and he hated the fact that she would probably be thinking he was a total jerk right about now.

"I'm just going to go apologise to that girl. Back in a second."

He quietly approached her, knowing he was probably not who she wanted to see right now.

"Hey..." Haley ignored him, she was just looking down at her papers. "Hey...?" Haley still didn't look up. He was about to walk away, when he realised she was talking to herself, really quietly.

I'm kind of glad she ignored me, the girl is obviously insane...

Haley pulled out her IPod and switched the song, she then carried on quietly singing, till she saw Nathan's feet. She looked up and pulled an earphone out.

Oh my God, she was listening to music... she was singing. Now she's looking at me. And I'm not saying anything. Why aren't I saying anything?

Haley looked at him and then nodded, indicating that he should start speaking.

"Hi..."

"Hi."

"I just... ahem I just... I just wanted to apologise- apologise for earlier- and the whole bags-falling-fiasco-thing... So yeah..."

"Okay. Thank you. Seriously don't worry about it. I'm over it."

So was I. I was over it. Why is this affecting me so much?

Haley looked up at him again, and pulled a face that asked Nathan to get to a point and soon.

"Okay, I'm gonna go."

"Okay..." Haley put in her earphone again, rolling her eyes in a kind of confused way. Nathan turned and walked away. To be honest, he was kind of confused. Okay, earlier, she was pissed off. I can see their being some friction between us. But now, I've apologised like twice. And still... nothing. I mean, I can get us not being best friends, but this girl seems like she doesn't even like me. Okay, why am I still thinking about her? Stop thinking about her. Now.

Nathan slumped back to his chair. He sighed deeply,

Okay, five seconds without thinking of her. Not too bad.

Brooke was speaking quickly, and without hesitation, the girl was on a mission. "So, we walk over there, all casual and sexy, we lock eyes and flash 'em a grin, maybe I cock my eyebrow a little. Then we look away, we carry on walking. We let them know we are interested, but then we go. We don't want to seem desperate enough that we are unattractive; but they need to know we are available."

"Brooke, I just feel kind of awkward about this whole thing..."

"P. Sawyer, I wasted a lot of golden opportunities in this once-in-a-lifetime trip to L.A. with a lot of really cute guys, because of your 'awkwardness'." She pouted, "Please, Peyton..." Peyton rolled her eyes, and smiled, looking back at Brooke and groaning. Brooke clapped her hands, excitedly, she knew she had won. "Oooh!!" She started to scrape back Peyton's hair, Peyton pushed her hands away, and ran her fingers through her hair. Brooke huffed "Okay, okay..." she raised her hands, and pulled out a compact mirror, she licked her lips and pouted into the mirror, she caught a glimpse of Peyton looking at her with disdain and laughing a little, she scowled jokily back at her.

"Okay." She smiled at Peyton "I think we're ready..."

Oh... Joy...

The girls were about to reach the two brothers when Peyton realised she had the perfect view of that guy from earlier, she looked at him- gazing at his beautiful, sensitive eyes- when he looked in her direction. Her head jerked away, and she tried to compose herself. Brooke's plan had gone perfectly, well, except for Peyton not being part of it, but Brooke was oblivious to this.

"Okay, so those two were hot."

"Tree Hill might have some babes after all." Nathan said, stealing a look at the girl with the books.

Lucas raised his eyebrow, "So which one do you want?"

"Er, I don't know, maybe we should talk to them first?"

"Sure." Lucas nodded, then looked at the girls "But if you had to pick now, who would it be?"

"Er, I don't know... the blonde?"

"The blonde, huh? Yeah that's fine. That's cool. Fine." Lucas paused, "But I was kinda liking the blonde..."

"Let's just talk to them first."

"Yeah. Yeah." Lucas turned, tilted his head, and checked out the girls again. "Sure."

"So are we going over there or not?"

"Yeah, did you wanna go over now?"

"I don't wanna go over at all."

Lucas got up, and pulled up Nathan by his shirt "Come on..."

The two walked over there, Lucas trying to act all cool and sexy, Nathan looking fairly indifferent to the whole situation.



"Oh my God, they're coming over.""What?" Peyton asked, taking one of her earphones out.

"They're coming over. They're coming over now."

Oh God...

"Oh my God, they're almost here. How do I look? Do I look okay?"

"Brooke" Peyton moved a piece of hair from Brooke's eyes "Brooke, you look totally hot, now calm down."

"Thanks, P. Sawyer."

Peyton smiled at her, and sat back, she put her other earphone in and slumped down. Brooke playfully slapped her arm and glared at her.

"Okay, okay, I'll turn it down..." Brooke still stared at her, one eyebrow raised, "... What? I can still hear everything."

The boys finally arrived and sat next to the two of them, Brooke had sat up in her chair and awaited one of them to speak eagerly.

Let the games begin...

Lucas spoke first: Peyton and Nathan definitely weren't going to, and Brooke liked to make the guy work. "Hey, I'm Lucas"

Brooke smiled, "Hey, I'm Brooke. Nice to meet you."

There was a slight awkward pause for a second, which Lucas jumped to fill, "This is my brother Nathan."

Nathan looked up, and lifted his hand to indicate some kind of half-arsed wave "Hey"

Lucas looked at Peyton who was changing the song on her IPod, she looked up and was surprised by Lucas' stare, she laughed a little.

Brooke stepped in "This is Peyton"

"Yeah and she can speak for herself..." Peyton smiled at Brooke, who poked her tongue out back.

Lucas laughed "Hey."

"Hi." Peyton slumped back in her chair, she looked up at Nathan who was preoccupied, and saw a little bit of herself in him. She laughed and took a look around the room, searching for the girl that made Nathan look the same way she did for the gorgeous musician in the corner. She looked over at where the brothers had been sat, and noticed Haley- a girl who though perfectly normal was also very beautiful, she looked vaguely familiar but Peyton just accounted this for them both living in Tree Hill- she looked back at Nathan who was now looking in the same area, and raised one eyebrow. She smiled at Nathan sympathetically, then looked back at Brooke and Lucas who were just talking about... well, nothing really.

This just got interesting.

Back at the airport desk, a group of staff had gathered, Linda was on the phone- the person was still talking but Linda had tuned out. Oh God... She hung up the phone and turned around to the other staff who were staring at her, anxiety almost palpable among her colleagues- David and Suzanne, her friends outside of this harsh sterile environment had moved closer to her. She hushed her tone.

"I don't know what the code is; but we have a large group of hostile individuals with guns... And they're spreading out. They're moving closer to our area."

"A violent situation." David gasped.

Suzanne looked up, her eyes filled with tears.

"Code Silver."