We Belong – Chapter one

Peyton woke up to the noise of silence and her husband's snoring and for some reason that excited her, for the past two weeks they had been living out of a suitcase feeling as though they were burdening there close family by taking their couches and cereal. She kissed her husband's cheek before sweeping her legs over the side of the bed and carefully opening the curtain then proceeding to the window she leant out of, looking out over the over grown garden and backyard the swing set was engulfed with the height of the grass. Next to her feet she stumbled on boxes but despite her chaotic life and her chaotic home she could still remember that feeling she had felt the first moment she had stepped out onto the driveway with Brooke at her side about a week ago

This was about the eighth house they had looked at that morning, she had been so excited to get out into the heart of Tree Hill house hunting, she not only got a moment away from the kids who she had spent about 99% of her time with in the past two weeks, she loved them but right now they were ratty and crazy. It was so hard living in someone else's home, the kids loved it and they loved it especially since they had felt lost and disconnected to their Tree Hill family when they had been away but it was beginning to take its toll and while Haley and Nathan were too polite to say anything they knew that they were feeling this pressure too. Lucas had taken their kids along with Nathan and his kids to the river court so that Brooke and Peyton could go house hunting, Lucas promising her that any home she picked would be an absolute perfect home for their family to come into. Brooke took a sip of her coffee as they waited patiently for the real estate agent to show up with the keys to the house, Peyton was already blown away by its structure, A bright green leafy bush formed a hedge around the front of the house and lead into the quaint little driveway to the two story home with gorgeous windows, a path that lead up the side of the house but was blocked off by a locked white picket gate, Peyton was dying to look around and see if this was their dream home "So P. Sawyer, I haven't asked because well you know I didn't want to pry but if we are looking at houses does that mean you and Luke are moving back to Tree Hill?" Brooke asked, they had been in town for over a week now and no word had been mentioned of whether they were staying and while Brooke wouldn't tell her this she was scared to ask if they were staying in case they decided not to stay and she had to face saying goodbye to them all over again, she had grown attached to the idea of being able to hang out with Peyton within five minutes of making a phone call to her. Peyton smiled as she turned around to face her best friend

"You know we came back to help Karen and Andy settle back in and while I was keeping an open mind a very open mind Lucas was adamant that we weren't going to come back, that we would stay for a week or so and then head back to our little beach house" Peyton gulped as Brooke's face became gloomier at the idea of not getting the answer she so desperately wanted "But by the end of the weekend when we were first planning on heading back when we all went to the river court and had that water balloon fight I could see it in Luke's eyes being with all of you guys again had gotten to him and he just didn't want to leave again" Brooke's face gleamed and so did Peyton's "And come to think of it I wouldn't want to raise my kids in any other place in the world, even if there is buckets full of drama and a couple of psycho's in the mix" Peyton said walking across to the car bonnet where Brooke sat and throwing her arm around her shoulder, Brooke put her head onto her best friends shoulder

"I'm glad you're coming home P. Sawyer Scott" she said as Peyton kissed the top of her head as the car of who they could only assume was the real estate agent rolled into the driveway. She stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door where she met them.

"Okay Mrs Scott this is the last house in your price range with the requirements that you and your husband requested" she said putting the key into the door "Now the couple who previously owned this house separate and moved out of Tree Hill rather quickly a while ago the house is a little bit dusty and the backyard is a tad over grown but other than that it is a lovely family home"

"Other than that it's a lovely home" Brooke whispered sarcastically into the ear of her best friend Peyton who tried to silence her laughter, let's just say that this real estate agent wasn't up there with the best of them, she turned the key in the door and with a creaky push the dusty door was opened to reveal dusty hardwood floors and a bare place that was not remotely desirable according to the faces of Brooke and the real estate agent, but as the real estate agent Jane went to close the door again based purely on the look she was receiving from Brooke, Peyton pushed past both of them and walked into the home, Brooke followed as Peyton walked through in a state of awe the large open home, the foyer led straight passed a guest bedroom and an office to an open area that held a kitchen and an incredibly large room left bare where she assumed a living room and a dining room would go, both Jane and Brooke looked at her as though she was a woman possessed as she yanked the curtains open to reveal large glass doors that lead onto a recently added deck that over looked the large backyard

"It's been on the market for a while, you see the couple were doing it up at the time of their separation and they were half way through the renovations, it's hard to get people interested in a half modern half classical house" Jane said knowing full well that no one was listening to what she was saying, Peyton pointed to upstairs and as Jane nodded she watched as Peyton Scott and her friend Brooke Baker disappeared up the stairs, after a moment she joined them up there a smile on the blonde's face.

"This is our home, this is so our home, I love it" she said turning around on the spot coming back to face them with this mammoth grin on her face "We'll take it"

They drove back within the next two days leaving the kids with Karen and Andy, enlisting the help of Peyton's father Larry and Peyton's brother Derek to help them move out of their little far away beach house, they packed up a moving van and while Derek wished them luck and drove back to his family, Larry and Lucas spent some man time together in the self-moving truck that they hired as Peyton drove behind them in their family car, she had tried to drive the moving van but her dad made her stop when she had nearly ran it into a tree or when she forgot to turn the hand break on. That was two days, one very long car trip and one expensive trip to a furniture store ago, Peyton pulled her head back into the house and pulled the window shut, she looked over to her husband who slept on his chest with his shirt off, she smiled before checking on the baby in the portable cot in the darkness of their walk in wardrobe the gorgeous little girl looked exactly like her dad when she slept, Peyton kissed little Ellie's head before doing the rounds and checking on her other kids who were sleeping in the same room at the moment while they were setting up the house and unpacking their bedrooms. She walked past the sleeping kids and down the stairs, as she took the last step into the land of brown boxes she stumbled over a box and fell straight back down onto her bum on the bottom step she groaned and in frustration yelled "LUUUUUUUUUUCAS"

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"Are you limping?" Brooke asked holding onto the youngest member of their clan as Peyton walked back from setting up her oldest little girl at the kids table around the back of Karen's café.

"That would be because I tripped over a box this morning and landed on the stairs" she said hoisting herself up and sitting on the bar stool, wiping the dribble from under her daughters lip

"Girl you need to unpack those boxes" Brooke said with a smile as she looked down to Ellie and then around the corner to where all the little kids sat

"We can't start unpacking until we have painted, we can't paint if we are busy and the thing about having kids is you are always busy, so at this stage it is never going to get done. Lucas has the boys around today trying to clear out the backyard so that we can at least put the kids outside while we attempt to paint or do something" Peyton said exhausted by it all

"Okay P. Sawyer Scott I have an idea, Hales what are you doing tomorrow?" Brooke asked as Haley and her blonde mess of curls turned around to face her, her eyes half on the café, half on the kids in the back and then sort of on her friends, she took the moment to finally focus in on her friends and smiled.

"It's supposed to be hot tomorrow we were just going to hang around the pool and eat icy poles"

"How do you feel about sprinklers at Peyton and Lucas' with icy poles and a side of painting, dusting, furniture putting together-ing" Brooke asked as Peyton laughed next to her

"You don't have to do that, Brooke the kids will probably get lost in the grass" Peyton said before scooping the little girl who was beginning to get fussy out of Brooke's arms

"Well If Lucas and the guys can get the garden sorted we can throw all the kids out the back and take turns of watching them and water the garden all at the same time" Brooke said over enthusiastically "Jude Baker get down off that chair and give that back to Lydia right this very instant" she said from the counter before standing up and making her way over to the adventurous little boys of hers. "Peyton your back in Tree Hill we are all here to support you, you don't have to try and do it all on your own okay?" Brooke said walking over with her four year old son Jude on her hip.

"What do you think?" Peyton asked turning to Haley who stood with this amused look on her face leaning back on the bench

"A little working bee couldn't hurt" Haley said with a laugh before picking up the coffee jar and walking to a table.

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Haley was right the next day was hot and not just a little bit hot but the hottest hot could get, even despite the incredible heat their house had been swarmed by family and friends all wanting to help them settle back into Tree Hill, it was as though if they unpacked their life the little Scott family would stay and they all wanted them to stay and they were all doing all they could to make sure that it happened. Jamie and Lily were outside with the little kids running around under the sprinkler and handing out icy poles and fruit, little Ellie sat on the deck in her baby activity swing as her Aunt Haley sat beside her putting deck chairs together and watching along with the laughter and the happiness that surrounded her. Brooke was upstairs with Skills painting Sawyer's room green like she had asked while Nathan and Lucas put together the furniture in Leo's room that they had painted earlier. Alex and Millie were in Ellie's room decorating as Julian put together the chest of drawers, Mouth, Junk and Fergie with the help of Andy carried boxes and furniture from the shed into the house where Peyton and Karen took it and unpacked it in the corresponding bedrooms.

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Officially it took five hours to complete the house and set up beds downstairs so that they didn't suffocate on paint fumes, Mouth had laughed when they had blown up the big double mattress for Lucas and Peyton to sleep on because the last time he had seen it was deflating onto the floor underneath him, that was the night he shared a bed with Lucas and Peyton and he remembered the shocked look on Sawyer's face the next morning when she had walked out to see her parents and he found it so incredibly funny that after all this time they hadn't replaced the mattress. Skills had skipped out for half an hour and picked up a Chris Keller and slabs of beer that were ice cold and quickly ripped in to. Peyton walked out with as many beers as she could hold in one hand with Brooke behind her doing the same onto the deck where the rest of the girls sat, the sun was finally setting which meant that the heat was slowly disappearing and the kids who continued to run around under the sprinkler began to get colder and disappear into the house, running around the island bench where the boys stood huddled laughing and drinking the night away, Peyton looked back to the girls who sat sprawled out taking big long sips of their beers and smiled

"Hey guys" she said as they all turned to her "Thank you so much, I mean for all of it, all you did for us today" she said getting choked up with emotions as she realised how amazing her life was and how much gratitude she had because of it, the boys came out onto the deck as Haley ushered them out with one look

"There is something we would like to say" Haley said standing up on the chair as everyone looked at it cautiously wondering if the chair was sturdy " We are so glad that you guys are back, all of you. It brings us such joy and such happiness to all be sitting on the deck of your house in Tree Hill knowing that considering you have so much stuff you probably will never move again" she said with a laugh "So on behalf of us all Welcome home" Haley said lifting her glass into the air as everyone else did the same.

To be continued!