"Hey Luke, hey s.t.b. mommy." Haley was out of breath, and anxious looking as she ran into Lucas and Peyton's house, but it didn't stop her from commenting on Peyton's "condition", which she was still the only person, aside from Lucas, to know about.
Peyton only rolled her eyes before she turned back to her magazine, knowing that it would get Haley going. Lucas chuckled as he removed his hand form Peyton's stomach, where it had been resting, and turned to face his best friend. "What going on Hales? Don't you have class?"
"Not this hour." She said simply, leaning against the doorframe as she caught her breath. "Actually, I need to ask you for a favor, best friend." Lucas rolled his eyes and then beckoned for her to continue. "Well, Jamie is sick, I mean I think he's sick. Either that, or he just doesn't want to go to school. Either way, I figure if I take him to the doctor, he'll either fess up, or I'll get him some medicine. So I called the pediatrician the morning, and he said he could look at Jamie, but he's leaving for vacation this afternoon, and the latest he can take him is in an hour. Normally, I would just bring Jamie to the hospital, and have someone there take look, but the last time he was in the hospital, was after Carrie."
"Okay."Lucas said, not really sure what he was being asked to do. "I can take him to the doctor's for you. That's fine."
"No, Luke. He hates the doctors. He won't even go in unless I'm there, holding his hand. Actually, I need you to cover my afternoon classes for me."
The room was silent as Lucas looked at Haley for a second, and then back to Peyton, he let out a sigh, and Haley knew immediately what he was thinking. "Peyton can come, that's fine. Principle Turner already said it was fine. She can come and you can come and it's only four classes, and they're all freshman, so it's all the same material…" She trailed off as she said that, and looked up at Lucas sheepishly, her eyes betraying that something was up.
"What are they studying, Hales?" He has to ask it, and he really isn't sure why. He'd like to say that it was because he didn't know, but the truth is he's always been able to read her almost better than his fiancée, which is saying a lot.
"An Unkindness she reluctantly admits, she had been hoping to not disclose that piece of information. She knew he hated owning up to his achievements, unless of course, he was talking about the baby. "Come on, Luke, it could be fun. I mean, how often do you get to relive your relationship? I think the last time that you guys did that was on the way to Honeygrove, when you read the yearbook that Peyton just signed her name in."
Peyton reached over and attempted to smack Haley, though she was interrupted by a look from Luke that clearly said "do not exert yourself," that she would have found incredibly annoying, if he hadn't have been so damn cute.
"I didn't even know you then!" She exclaimed, settling for a glare, and then turning to face Luke, her tone of voice instantly changing. "And I'm pretty sure that Luke would say that his senior yearbook made of for that, wouldn't you babe?"
Haley sighed, grimacing in an overly dramatic manor. "You better not let your kid see that. Trust me, Nathan and I have had enough of parent's embarrassing us with creepy sex things for our entire generation. Can you believe that she called the other night and asked us if we knew which store sold the cheapest condoms?"
"It could have been Dan calling." Lucas said, smirking, and he only laughed as Haley leaned forward and smacked him.
"Funny. Seriously though, it could be fun…"
"Yeah, Luke. It could be fun!" Haley let out a silent cheer as soon as Peyton agreed. As long as Peyton thought it was a good idea, Lucas would agree in a second.
Sure enough, one skeptical look, and then a slightly too hot for Haley to be watching kiss, not that she left, or acted anything other than impatient, he turned and nodded to his best friend. "Sure, why not Hales. Let me just change." Haley smiled, and then backed out of the room that Lucas and Peyton were still both in.
"You honestly think this is going to be fun, Peyt?" He sighed as he pulled off his shirt, and changed into the light blue sweater that Peyton had tossed at him, and the tan khaki's that he found folded in his bureau.
"I think that Haley has been here for me from the second that she found out, and with Brooke so upset over Sam, and Nathan away at camp, I think that we are all that she has, at the moment, and she needs you to cover for her, so that she can take her baby boy to the doctor's. And one day, we might need her to return the favor." She smiled simply and shrugged, and that, combined with the way her hair was just falling over her shoulders, and the way he swore he could see a little bump just over her stomach, even though he knew he couldn't, really, just the face that he knew his baby was inside her, made him smile, and then nod. She could have told him that she had a brilliant to eradicate all flying squirrels from the state of Montana, and he would have pulled her into his arms, and kissed her exactly the same way.
"You're right." He said, after they had both gotten dressed, and were on their way to the kitchen. "And I love you Peyton Sawyer. And baby Scott."
"Who says it won't be baby Sawyer?" She asked, and he slid his arm around her waist, as they walked into the kitchen.
"We could call it baby Slip-and-slide, and I would love him just as much."
"Luckily, baby, that's what I'm here for." Haley interrupted, laughing, "To make sure that you're crazy parent's don't end up naming you after a toy." She laughed again at Lucas and Peyton's faces. "You two idiots ready to go yet?"
"Why not, Hales?" Peyton laughed as Haley walked out of the house, the happy couple just a few feet behind her. She didn't have to look back to know how they were sitting. She knew that Peyton was on Lucas' side, and that Luke's arm was wrapped around her, settling finally on her stomach, just inches away from their child.
"Come on, you two." She said, as she pulled her car into her parking space. "I just have to grab some stuff from my room, and then I'll introduce you to the class." She stopped outside her classroom, looking to Lucas and Peyton for approval.
"Sounds good." Lucas said, smiling. "Just one question."
"Sure."
"Do they know about me and Peyton?"
"No. They don't know who Peyton is, anyways. They guys on your team may have noticed that you're with someone…"
"They're not that observant." Lucas countered, a smirk already on his face. "Don't introduce Peyt. I'll take care of that."
"Sure." She said, nodding, as she walked into the classroom, a smug looking Lucas, and a confused looking Peyton behind him. "Class, this is Lucas Scott, the author of the book we're reading, and," She turned to Peyton, sighing, "And this is his friend. They're going to be sitting in on the class today. Behave." And with that, she was gone.
Silently, Peyton walked to the back of the classroom, and took a seat, a smile on her face as she watched Luke pout as she retreated.
Rolling his eyes, he sat down on top of the desk, making sure his girl, and his baby, were in full view as he began to talk. "So, Mrs. Scott tells me that you guys were just working on the character analysis. I happen to think that romance, and who a person is with, especially in this book, can tell you a lot about a character. For example, in the beginning of the book, Peyton is dating Nathan. He treats her like shit, but she still stays with him, because it's not bad all the time. That shows that at that point in her life, Peyton was insecure and lonely. But, as she grows, and her relationships differ, we can see, through the way that she thinks of herself, and who she's with, how's she, as a character, had grown. So why doesn't someone tell me their favorite character from the book, and give me an example of what you can tell about her, from who he or she was dating?"
Three kids raised their hand, and quickly meeting eyes with Peyton, he saw her shrug, and then gesture to a small looking girl on the right. Lucas nodded at her, and then smiled.
"My name's Hannah, and I just loved Lucas and Brooke. I thought what they had was so real, ad so true. So much more than what he and that skank, Peyton had." Or maybe, they had both been wrong, and this was going to be hell.
A/N: Okay, so this is just going to be a small ficlet, just a few chapters, so review, and tell me what you think.