Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or anything associated with it, except my much loved copy of the DVDs
A/N: I know, I really shouldn't be posting anything new, shame on me, but this was just begging to be written. It's a series of oneshots about Leyton, all unconnected, some AU, some not, set to Nickeldime17's alphabet prompts. Anyway, from now on, I will be focusing on this, Rewritten for Gilmore Girls and my crossover Opposites Attract, I SWEAR! I'm almost done with the new chapter for OA, so hopefully that will be up real soon.
Anything
He'd always known, in the back of his mind since that first day he'd talked to her, that he would pretty much do anything for the curly-haired blonde. He'd try anything to talk to her, use anything as an excuse to explain why he was watching her, especially once he started dating her best friend, and do anything to help her. He would do pretty much anything when it concerned her.
He went through so many changes when he knew her. She'd brought out both the best and the worst in him. He'd wanted so much with her, but he'd let his pride get in the way time and again, and time and again he'd run to a different girl, and every time he'd been drawn back to her, hurting the girl he was with, and he just couldn't help himself. The only excuse he could give was that it was Peyton but even he knew that shouldn't excuse anything, but to him, it did.
The first time, in that questionable motel room, in hindsight was so wrong, with the timing and the whole situation, but that moment had been just perfect and felt so perfect that everything else had faded away, nothing else had mattered but being there with her.
He'd hurt her, and in the process had hurt himself, but he'd also been happy with her, happier than he ever had been, or knew he would be. And that in itself made all the past pain and possibly future pain seem insignificant, although he always regretted the moments when he was the cause of her pain. So he vowed to spend the rest of his life making it up to her.
It wasn't until the moment he saw her hiding behind a bookshelf, blood coming from her leg to stain the white carpet beneath her, that he fully understood that there wasn't anything that he wouldn't do for her, including risking his own life, just to make sure that she kept living.
The sheer panic he felt when he came around that corner, heard her small sound of fear, and saw that she was bleeding. He couldn't remember ever being so scared before. But the sight of Peyton, curled up against the bookshelf, the noise of fear she made when he came around the corner with his bat, gave him the strongest urge to hold her close and never, never let her go, never let anything else harm her.
He did hold her close, and told her everything would be ok and that he would get her out. He promised her he would save her, and he never broke the promises he made to her. Didn't think he had it in him to do that to her. Hoped he didn't have it in him.
When she whispered that she loved him, and gave him a kiss that was in case he couldn't keep his promise, he knew without a doubt that he would do whatever was necessary to keep her alive so he could do whatever needed to be done to ensure he'd hear those words every day for the rest of their lives.
After she'd kissed him, she'd rested her head on his shoulder, and she hadn't moved again. When asked later, he would never be able to put into words for anyone but her how exactly he felt in that moment. How his heart stopped beating for just a second before it went into overdrive and he forgot about anything else; Nathan, Haley, Brooke or Jimmy with the gun, anything that wasn't her and his desperate need to save her.
He had scooped her up and carried her out of the library, wincing when the door slammed behind him and he remember Jimmy, but not stopping in his determination to get her out of the school. He moved up the corridor as quickly and quietly as he could, and had just made it through the glass door that had been shattered by Jimmy's earlier bullet when he heard Jimmy's voice.
'THE SCHOOL'S ON LOCKDOWN!' He turned to look at his friend, and nodded slowly, willing to do or say anything to get her out safely.
'I know Jim, but if I don't get her outta here, she's gonna die.'
'I didn't mean to hurt her,' Jimmy whispered, his voice breaking.
That was when Keith had come in, coming to save his nephew, and Jimmy and all of them. He'd told Lucas he loved him, and told him to go, the last words he would ever hear from his uncle.
It was after that day that he knew that even though he would give almost anything to have Keith with him, he couldn't give Peyton. He grieved for Keith, wished for him to come back to him, but when he thought about the fact that he'd almost lost Peyton, that he'd gone in and saved her, he felt like it was worth it, which made him feel horrible, but he couldn't feel bad that Peyton was still alive.
That was the day he realised he would sacrifice anything, do anything, say anything for Peyton. There were no limits when it came to her. She was everything to him, and he would do anything to keep it that way.