This Time its Sink or Swim

by BecauseYourMine

AU. LP. "Their random, by chance meeting is a beginning and it's been years in the making. They might not know that, but really its true. So many times fate had intervened. Delaying the inevitable, without either of them knowing it."

A/N: I don't know how I feel about this one, it sort of feels off, but I promised myself I would finish all my incomplete fics this week, so I am and now I'm posting this. This is completely AU. one-shot and all you really need to know is that Peyton and Brooke grew up together not in Tree Hill, and Lucas, Haley, and Nathan grew up together in Tree Hill. Everything else gets explained, I think. LOL

** Reviews/Criticism are always appreciated, especially on this one.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

ll Caught in the middle of a crossfire.. ll

She had never considered herself a normal girl. Everyone else did. Well sort of. Kind of.

OK, not really.

She grew up in a small town (Charlotte, North Carolina to be exact), and she had been a cheerleader, and the best friend to the most popular girl in school. She could always be seen at all the right parties, and she could be found every Friday in the gym, cheering on the varsity basketball team (they were the Bear Creek Warriors). And at one time she had dated the captain of that basketball team, for the better part of junior and senior year, actually.

But there was a lot more to her then all those things.

She drove a vintage car, and her bedroom walls were painted red. She listened to all kinds of music, loudly. Constantly. And when she wasn't cheering, she could be seen with a sketch pad in hand, drawing beautiful works of art that no one else could see.

And yes she was a cheerleader, and other then the one week when she had missed a game because of the flu- a game that they lost to some team whose mascot was a raven and who's two leading scorers happened to be two brothers with some serious family issues (or so she heard from queen of the gossip Brooke) - she cheered for a far bigger reason then just being popular, even if no one else knew that.

To her is was far easier to let people think what they did of her, to assume what they did based on what she allowed them to know, then really put herself out there.

There was no denying that she was sarcastic, and witty, and bitchy, and… guarded.

So given all her contradictions and quirks, she had never really considered herself a normal girl; but really she didn't want to be.

She liked that she was so different. Most of the time.

She liked that her choice in music and art, and everything else that mattered to her, was so unique, because it made her feel more confident and certain in herself. It was like all the things that made her, her was her own little secret, making all those things feel even more important and prominent.

But there were also other times, other reasons, when being different wasn't all that appealing. She wasn't a complainer, but to say that her life hadn't been easy, would be a understatement. She tried to get past it, tried to find strength and courage, but it still felt like something, or someone was missing. But she would never admit to that.

She thinks that her childhood ended the day she lost her mother. While her adoptive mother, but she didn't find that out until she was sixteen and her biological mother showed up on her front porch one day to tell her otherwise. Add on to the fact that her father, the adoptive one, she's never met the "real" one, pretty much spends all his time away from home, working literally oceans away. So because she's never really had a stable family life, (did she mention the stalker she had who pretended he was her long lost half brother?) she could say with certainty she had never been a normal girl.

She also knows that all this has really complicated how she sees the world.

She always felt like she was sort of lost, searching for something... to believe in again, to have faith in, but she never actively sought out anything to fill the void. For her it was to risky to put herself completely out there for someone to find. She had learned a long time ago that people-even people who promise otherwise-always leave.

As high school was coming to a close, and everyone else began deciding what their future might hold, she began to wonder the same thing.

And if deciding what she would do for the rest of life and having absolutely no clue was mad enough, then everything around her started to change. Even if she didn't want it too.

The guy-Jake Jagielski-the boyfriend who she knew wasn't the guy, but still cared a lot about, the guy she had dated most of junior and senior year, the one she had cheered on at every game, except for one game when she had the flu, came to her and decided a week before the Senior Prom to finally say what they both knew what was sad, but inevitable.

They weren't right for each other, they didn't belong with each other, and once high school was over, their relationship would be too.

Needless to say they never ended up going to prom together.

It hurt, really it did; but she soon realized not for the reasons it should have.

Losing Jake hurt because it meant she was losing her comfort and stability that he had long represented to her. She wasn't in pain because she had loved him, because she was losing someone who she had been in love with, she was in pain because it meant things were changing. It meant she was growing up and everything in her life was unclear, and she couldn't stop the change from happening.

Breaking up with her boyfriend had dampened her spirits, but then she found out something quite worse.

Her best friend, the one who knew all her stories and secrets, the one who had always been by her side, the one she thought would always be by her side, told her something that she hadn't expected. She told her that after high school was done, she would be moving half way around the world.

Brooke Davis, her best friend, (the one who had always been there), was an amazing girl, and for all the years that they had been friends Peyton knew that one day Brooke Davis would change the world. She just wished the world could have waited awhile. Apparently, as Brooke tried to explain, the world waits for no one, and so it was entirely necessary to move to Milan in hopes of starting her very own fashion line, and as Brooke summed up it, it had to happen as soon as high school was over.

The day Peyton Sawyer graduated, it was a turning point, and she knew as much. It was the moment-however much she tried to will it away-she could pin point as the moment when things completely changed. Because that's when she realized she had no clue about life. She didn't know what she wanted and she didn't know what she was gonna do and she really didn't have anyone there to help her figure it out.

And the scariest part was, her life was just starting and she was already a mess.

With no best friend or boyfriend, along with the fact that she hadn't even considered college, she wasn't left with many options. The one thing she knew was that she had to find some direction, a purpose.

For so long she felt like, no matter how challenging her life had been, it had always been hers to make, now with everything changing, it felt like it was being taken away and she had nothing left to lose.

So as soon as high school was over with, she knew it was time, it was either now or never. It was time to finally try to find what was missing, what had been missing long before she had lost a boy and a friend.

She decided to move to a big city. She figured Los Angeles would do. She hoped that someplace as big as L.A. might bring some clarity or meaning to her life.

So as soon as high school was over, her life as a small town girl was too.

She left with some pretty high expectations of what could be waiting for her in LA. And that blind devotion and faith, however uncharacteristic, was enough for her to believe that…anything, was possible. She left home and tried to leave all the bad behind; hoping that her faith in music and art and everything else that matter to her, could somehow fix her.

It was hard to choice between her two passions, art and music. But finally she was convinced that music was a form of art and it had the ability to inspire the masses and she wanted to be a part of it. She wanted to say that it mattered. That the work she did could not only change the way she saw the world, but it could also do that for someone else, anyone else, everyone else.

So she went, and thought maybe she could do it, maybe she could be happy living somewhere where she was just another face instead of the being known as the girl who had lost her mother when she was seven, then her dad to work, then her other Mom to cancer and had never really recovered. She could blend in with strangers and not be known as the tragic cheerleader who never could open her heart to anyone.

She thought that maybe she could leave the past behind, and start fresh. And she kind of started thinking even bigger then anonymity and privacy, bigger then a new beginning. She thought that just maybe along the way, after she finally forgot about the past-a past she would eventually learn she could never escape-after she saved herself and the world with music, she thought maybe she could find a boy.

A boy to love who would love her back.

The last part was more of a hopefully then maybe. She had never been the type to believe in stuff like that; destiny, true love, fate...But she was kind of hoping that she could be proven wrong and find out that it was real. That everything that had happened in her life had been for a bigger reason, something a lot more important that pain and lost, something like love. And one day, Someday it would all be realized and she could just be happy.

She thought it could happen.

Hopefully.

ll Lost my balance on the high wire ll

Somewhere in the span of the two years for a brief second, he sort of became the golden boy in his hometown. Which is surprising and strange and really weird because growing up all anyone saw him as was the mayor's illegitimate son who everyone pretty much ignored.

But then things changed.

With a lot of encouragement from his Uncle and a push from the basketball coach at school he applied to a basketball camp that had the pull that to make real things happen. Like NBA stardom, or at the very least college recruitment. It was a chance he never thought he would have considering who he was. He had never even had the chance to play organized ball before.

It nearly shocked everyone-mostly him-when he found out right as junior year was ending that not only had he been accepted to High Flyers, but he was getting a free ride into the program, which made it impossible to use how expensive it was as an excuse for not going. So there really was nothing holding him back.

It was the first time Lucas Scott had an opportunity to show everyone that he was more. More then some mistake or secret that was whispered about, more then what everyone thought he was. And yeah he was scared, he was scared that everyone had been right. But as scared as he was he knew this was his shot to prove them wrong. So he took the chance. And it changed everything.

He excelled in the program, and soon he had scouts getting in contact with him, telling him that as soon as he graduated high school there would be a place for him at any college of his choice. But there was one catch. They told him that if he wanted to be considered one of the best -aside for the other guys at the camp- he had to play more then just on the playground. He would have to go back home and join the team at school. He would have to get his name out there and gain the recognition that he deserved, the notoriety that could make him more then just a contender for a spot in the NBA.

It was all a little bit of a world wind but he knew that playing ball was what he wanted, it was something that he loved, at, something that made him feel alive. But there was a problem with playing for the team back at home, (the Tree Hill Ravens), and it was that his brother -his half brother, Nathan who he despised almost as much as the man they both called their father- was the team caption. Meaning if he wanted to be a raven he would have to deal with the other Scott boy in town. And that's something he really, really didn't want to do.

So he went home, and he spent the last days of that amazing summer debating on what to do. Debating if he should put up with all the crap that was about to come his way. But then it really wasn't a question, he knew in the end it would be worth it. So he joined the ravens, and he put up with it. With the name calling and the hazing and having to play every game knowing that the man who wished he had never been born would be in the bleachers cheering, not for him, but for his other son. The one he claimed as his.

But he had been right, it had been worth it. Somehow he stopped being the mistake of Dan Scott, and he started to become Lucas Scott the co-caption of the Tree Hill Ravens. He started to become acknowledge for all that he was, and it meant so much when he saw how proud it made the people around him.

So yeah he had to put up with most of the team not liking him-resentment mostly fueled by Nathan-but eventually, more so as the team started to win (especially a certain game against the Bear Creek Warriors when both Nathan and Lucas actually played together and slaughtered the other team), everyone started to warm up to the other Scott brother. And just like that Lucas became a celebrity in his small town, someone people looked up to and admired, and then scouts started showing up more and more at games and... yeah it was all worth it.

But then something happened, something crazy actually. Well, a lot of crazy things happened all at once.

Lucas' best friend, Haley James, agreed to tutor Nathan (a scheme Nathan had started to get back at Lucas, that inadvertently became something more) and somehow by the time Thanksgiving rolled around they started dating, and by the time New Years Eve got there, they were married. Married. Well, no Lucas didn't really take it well. He was pretty pissed off for a while. He couldn't understand how someone as smart as Haley could be convinced that someone like Nathan Scott was worth a second of her time, let alone good enough to be her husband. But then something else happened. Another crazy thing.

Lucas and his Uncle Keith were driving to pick his mother up from the airport and someone ran a red light and rammed then into a light pole, killing Keith instantly, and injuring Lucas, specifically his left shoulder.

In one night not only had he lost his beloved Uncle, the man he had considered his father for so long, but Lucas lost any chance of ever playing basketball again.

His dream was gone.

After that things got a little dark. While everyone else was applying for college and picking out prom attire, Lucas sat and watched his mother go through mourning the loss of the man she had loved for more then half her life. While other seniors were buying class rings and getting sized for graduation gowns, Lucas dealt with psychical therapy and recovery excises full well knowing it wouldn't change him never making it to the NBA.

And when the entire town of Tree Hill cheer on as the Ravens won a state championship, it was Lucas who was there wondering how it must of felt to make the game winning shot. How it must of felt to have done something that no one thought would happen.

So yeah things were dark for awhile but could you blame him?

For a while not much made sense. He was angry and upset and really confused, but somehow along the way, the pain stopped being so intense, and the anger lessened, and somewhere along the way Lucas was able to find some understanding. But he's not dumb, he knows there were a couple reasons, why he was able to get through it, why he was able to let the darkness not take over.

For starters, Haley and surprisingly Nathan stepped up and was there for him, even when he tried pushing them away. They stood and listened and gave advise and helped with his Mom. Apparently Nathan realized after losing Keith that he had wasted so much time not knowing someone like Lucas (no doubt it was also Haley who helped him realize that too). So after a while the two Scott boys stopped being enemies and started being friends, brothers even.

Finally having some back up, really helped to open Lucas' eyes, and it helped to finally deal with everything. And once he had all that, he thought it would help if he started to write it down. To write down how he felt and what had happened, and what he wished would have happened. All his desires and fears and everything.

And once he did that, once he let it go and wrote it all down, he realized that life wasn't over, and just maybe all along there was more to him then just basketball. He had a story to tell, and he wanted to shared it. He had a new goal, a new path.

Keith had always told him that sometimes a person has got to have faith in fate. While, that's what he was gonna do.

When high school finally came to end, Lucas finally knew what he was going to do. He was gonna be a writer.

So after some help from Nathan and Coach Whitey, who told all the recruiters who tried scouting Nathan that he would only consider the school if it had a place for his brother as a coach, all three Scotts (Haley included) decided on a state school in California. In Los Angeles more specifically.

Where not only did they have a great basketball program for Nathan, and a excellent teaching program for Haley, Lucas found out the literature department was one of the best.

Lucas Scott might have started off with a rough life, but things were gonna be ok. He was having faith in fate that it would be o.k.

ll Trying to figure out what to do.
Pushed to the edge of my reason... ll

The first year or so things seem to be ok.

Peyton gets a job working at a small, yet very reputable label. Its not a job that has much impact on the overall music that gets produced for the label, but it's a start for a girl from the south who had no bankable experience in the music industry. She gets a job as a assistant, while the assistant to the assistant, but she's hopeful that if she works hard enough eventually she can make the difference that she knows she can/will do.

She and Brooke stay friends. They might not be as close, but she knows that Brooke will always be there when it counts, even if she cant always be there physically. They email each other, and text, and call; basically resorting to any and all different types of communication just to keep in touch.

And L.A. is ok.

At the moment it's the only thing that is working, really. She has a little apartment just down the street from her office and just 10 minutes away from some really great music venues. She's seen Jack's Mannequin at the Wiltern, and Matthew Ryan at Fox Theatre, and even The Cure at the Hollywood Bowl. But more then all the music, L.A. gives her privacy and a fresh perspective, everything she had been hoping for.

She can walk to Max's, her favorite coffee shop, (its not a chain and the people are always friendly and the coffee actually tastes good) and she can sit and sip coffee and get lost in a book for a few hours and not be bothered by a single person. She can sit there and become just another face in the crowd. And that's nice.

But if she's being honest, it's sort of getting old already.

She's got some complains about L.A. Typical ones that she's sure everyone has got about the city. Like the noise and the people and the traffic and just the over pomp of it all. And although she might never admit it she misses home, just a little. She misses her red bedroom and all the nights her and Brooke would stay up just for the sake of trying to stay up. She misses the fact that everyone knew her back home (Ironic isn't it?). She was distinct and unique back home. In L.A. she's just another person trying to find their way and who gets lost in the city and the people and the noise.

She hasn't found her purpose yet, and she thinks that until she does she'll always have complains. This is life, the real world. Having to work really hard and not always being happy. Trying to live to your ideals and beliefs that you know are the right ones. Its dealing with people you don't like and putting up with annoying neighbors, and rude bosses and paying your dos.

She still thinks that she can change the world. Its still possible. She just didn't expect it would take this long.

And as for finding someone to love, a boy who she might be able to love. Yeah that hasn't happened either.

Brooke never fails to mention that it wont happen until Peyton lets it happen. Until Peyton goes out and finds the guy for her. But at the moment, that just seems like too much work (she's busy, or at least she pretends to be). Brooke tells her she's got to make time, she's got to lighten up with work and reframe from coffee shops, and go out and just hook up with someone;

Brooke says, "you can never know that you've met the right one, until you go through a lot of wrong ones."

That just seems like too much work for Peyton. And yeah she might not be the kind of girl who believes in things like true love and fate and destiny, but she's also not the kind of girl who would go out every night and have endless one night stands. That pretty much leaves her alone.

ll Everywhere around me is treason
I don't want to do that to you... ll

This first year at school is a little bit tougher then Lucas expected. Its not necessarily the school part because he loves school, and he feels like he's learning a lot, and it's an experience he knows that is shaping another part of who he is. And having Nathan and Haley there with him is awesome. Both him and Nathan get along better then before, and being assistant coach to his lead scoring brother has only made things easier for them.

It's the other part that's making it hard for him, the being across the country from home; because he misses home. Which some might think is ridiculous considering all the bad things that happened there, but there was a lot of good that happened too, and he misses that.

He misses the river court and his friends that are still there, and he misses the bridge where he and Keith used to fish and the good coffee from his mom's café. And he just misses it.

Ironically though, it's Lucas conflicting feelings that taps into his inspiration, which has him writing non-stop when he's not in class. He's trying to find meaning in what's happened in his life, and so he writes, non-stop, ideas and characters flowing in and out of all logic. He constantly has a notebook with him and most days he never leaves his room because he cant pull himself away from his writing. Nathan and Haley say he needs to loosen up a little, they say he needs to get out more. Haley tells him it might do "his broody nature" good to take a break away from the writing and go out and meet someone nice. Nathan says he needs to get laid.

So he pretends he's listened to their suggestions and he leaves the house they all share, pretending to be going out, and instead he ends up at a small coffee shop name Max's, and it seems like just his kind of place. He walks in and everyone is doing their own thing and its low key and some really get music is playing in the background, and he definitely feels like he fits here.

Then he sees that no table is available, and is about to just order his coffee to go and kill sometime somewhere else, when he notices a woman-a beautiful one with blonde curls and long legs-sitting in the very back corner table, getting up to leave. And while he walks over to sit down, he also notices that she has her nose in a book, and doesn't even see him, and before he can even say a thing to her (didn't his brother and best friend say he should go out and meet someone?), the beautiful girl is gone.

He doesn't know what it is about that girl - its definitely more then just her utter beauty - but he wishes she would have noticed him too.

ll Kamikaze airplanes in the sky
Are we going down or will we fly ll

It takes her almost two years, but Peyton finally gets promoted a few months after she turns 21.

She busted her ass, and worked really damn hard for it, and it finally paid off. She's now a scouter and she goes out almost every night searching for the next act that is gonna inspire the world. And its amazing. She finally feels like she's made it, like what she is doing is something bigger then just her, and its more then just finding music that sounds marketable, its about finding music that touches her soul, and that's amazing.

And although whenever Brooke comes to visit Brooke insists on going out to bars and clubs to "search" for talent, when Peyton really is working and on her own, she always winds up in small venues with open mic nights. Little places where young kids face their fears and perform, its places like those where she finds the raw most purest of singers.

Tonight however is her night off, which is something she rarely has, and where does she spend it? Of course at that small coffee shop, that she still frequents. She stopped on the way to Max's at the bookstore down the block and wound up with some book, from a "fresh new talented" author the casher had said.

And while it had a raven on the front cover and no author information on the back cover (mysteriously no picture of the author) she was more then curious.

So with her new purchase she made her way to the back corner table (her table) and waved to Max (at this point she had become a regular, she knew practically everyone even the owner) and asked for her usual before making herself comfortable with her new reading material.

She sits and reads the first few pages, and theres something about what she's reading that makes her feel like whoever wrote this, wrote it just for her, like they knew and felt exactly like she did.

"Sometimes when you're young you think nothing can hurt you. It's like being invincible. Your whole life is ahead of you and you have big plans. Big Plans. To find your perfect match, the one who completes you. But as you get older you realize it's not always that easy. It's not until the end of your life that you realize how the plans you made where simply plans. Because at the end when you're looking back instead of forward you want to believe you made the most of what life gave you. You want to believe you're leaving something good behind. You want it all to have mattered."

Wow, thats just wow. Its like she could of written this, but its so damn better then anything she could ever write. The authors poise and his word choice just has her completely captivated.

"Here you go Miss. Sawyer..." Max says as he takes Peyton out of her reading as he places the large mug in front of her and then takes the seat next to her.

"Thanks Max. Whats up?" She asks puzzle that he sat down (they're friendly, but not this friendly). She just really wants to keep reading.

"You work for a record label right? Like a real one?" He asks trying to sound calm.

"Well yeah the paycheck makes me think its real." Peyton laughs as she throws the book in her bag and starts listening to Max.

"Cool, I was sort of wondering if you could do me a favor, like a favor that could potentially guarantee you free coffee for life." He states enticingly.

"Considering that an offer like that could run you out of business, what is it?" Peyton asks more then intrigued by the coffee shop owner.

"You see that waitress over there?" He says as he motions over to a petite brunette girl.

"Yeah…" Peyton says not quite understanding what Max is asking.

"That's Haley. She just started here. Sweet girl, and your not gonna believe it, but she can sing. Like really sing." He says.

"Ok…" Now Peyton gets it.

"And while... I was just wondering, if maybe you could hear her, and I don't know if you think she's good enough-which she totally is, then I don't know…" Max says smiling as he pleads his case.

"Max, I don't know, I mean-" While the offer of free coffee is very tempting, Peyton isn't really sure.

"Come on Peyton, just give her a shot. For me. She really is a great girl, and I just think that she deserves a chance."

"Max, be honest with me here, why do you care so much?" She says genuinely curious.

"Like do you have a thing for this girl or something…." Peyton laughs out, trying to figure out his angle. "Eww… Max no offense but your not that young, and please tell me you do not like this girl."

"What? No! I think Haley's huge basketball player husband and just as tough brother-in-law would have a problem with that. She's just a really good person. And I think everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams…" Max trails off. He knows that Peyton has a heart, he knows she'll do this.

And damn it why did he have to bring up chancing after dreams, and good deserving people.

"Fine." Peyton mutters out. Not really happy that she has to work on her night off.

"Great, your awesome Peyton, like seriously awesome!" Max shrieks. "Hey Haley! Come here for a sec. There is someone you got a meet."

ll This could be a shipwreck on the shore
Or we could sail away forever more ll

The last few years have been pretty eventful for Lucas. Last year the team he helps coach, the team Nathan plays on, won their division title, and due to this, along with the fact that the head coach was retiring, Lucas was offered the head coaching job. Which of course he accepted. And school and coaching was great. Then something happened, something great happened. His novel, the one he had been working on for the past few years, the one that Haley send out to publishers without him knowing, got published.

Lucas Scott became a published author.

A real writer. With a editor and a fan base and a book tour and it was just an awesome feeling the first time he saw his finished book; the black cover with the solitary raven on the front. And finally, it was happening. His dreams, what he had worked so hard to do.

And it wasn't only him who was doing so well. With college almost done, a lot of talk had started about Nathan being an NBA draft pick, and that just made Lucas the proudest brother, knowing that his brother had made his dreams come true too.

And then there was Haley, just the other day she had told Lucas and Nathan how she had met this record label scout while she was working her shift at Max's. Apparently the scout thought she was worth pursuing and had asked Haley to sing a full set for her.

"Ok Hales…relax." Lucas says from his seat as Haley paces back in forward at Max's. It turns out it was Max who had arranged the meeting between Haley and the scout and who had also offered Haley the shop as a venue to perform for the night.

"Oh my god Luke, this is like a big deal. And what if I forget my lyrics? What if nothing comes out? What if I look like a complete idiot?" Haley rambles as she continues to pace.

"Hales... Haley just relax, ok? Your awesome, and your gonna do great. Stop worrying." Lucas says as he finally gets in her way, stopping her pacing.

"I'm just really nervous Luke." She says as she hugs him, completely unsure as to why she agreed to do this.

"Hey, your gonna do amazing, I know it." Luke whispers to her trying to calm her down.

"Hands off my wife big brother.." Nathan says joking as he makes his way over to them, always late.

"You made it." Haley says, her fears automatically claming when Nathan pulls her to him.

"Where else would I be?" He says as he gives a nod over to his brother and they share a smile, both proud of the girl in his arms.

The three stay talking waiting on the label scout - Peyton - Lucas remembers Haley said her name was. But then his cell rings and he walks out of the shop to take the call, in the process bumping into a woman that looks awfully familiar.

"Oh, sorry.." Lucas says to the woman. A girl with blonde curls and long legs, and why does he think he's seen her before?

"No problem." She says with a smile. Taken a back by the way this guy-this hot guy with piercing blue eyes and sandy blonde hair-is looking at her.

His phone keeps ringing and he smiles again at the girl and then continues to walk out. But there is just something about that girl...

When Lucas finally takes the call, everything kind of crumbles around him.

And the only thing he hears is Mom and heart attack and get back to Tree Hill now.

He doesn't bother to go back inside and let Nathan or Haley know what's going on. He doesn't see Haley sing her heart out, although annoyed that her best friend just took off on her (until she finds out why) and that the scout who came to see her wants to sign Haley.

He doesn't find out that Peyton is also the girl with blonde curls and long legs that he's ran into not once now but twice (actually three times when you count the time they should have ran into each back in High school at a certain game between the tree hill ravens and the bear creek warriors).

He rushes straight to the airport and gets on the first flight that he can, making it just in time to say goodbye.

ll This time it's sink or swim,
Sink or swim ll

She's 24 and she's unemployed and she just broke up with her boyfriend. Her almost fiancé. And thats why they broke up, she didn't want her boyfriend to become her fiancé. And yeah it all just sucks.

Once upon a time Peyton Sawyer thought she was gonna change the world.

Well, the world changed her.

After doing so well as a scout, she got promoted again, to a junior executive. And it was great for a while. She had more seniority and her opinion actually mattered for something, and it felt like she had really done what she had set out to do all those years ago. And once she did see it that way, she stopped having all those complains from before, and then to top it all off…

She met someone.

A boy that loved her. A boy that was kind and patient, and wanted to be the one to fix the broken girl. And he did, kind of.

He was there for her when she finally dealt with her mom's death, finally letting go of the hurt and sadness she had been carrying around since she was eight years old. And he was there for her when she got a call from the coast guard saying that her father was missing out at sea. He was there to hold her hand as they flew to Florida and had to I.D. a body. And he was there when she teared up when the body wasn't her dad.

By all accounts Julian Baker was a saint. And she was lucky to have him. There was just one problem. (A big one). While it was obvious that Julian loved Peyton, what Peyton realized the night Julian proposed - over a romantic candle lit dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ocean - was that Peyton didn't love Julian.

She loved him, she did. But she didn't love him enough. She loved him but she didn't think it would be forever, she knew it wouldn't be. So she said No.

Not someday or eventually, she flat out told him No.

That was pretty much the beginning of the end. After a lot of angry words (more from Julian) and a lot of tears and heart felt apologies (more from Peyton) it was over.

And the girl who had once believed that she could find a boy to love, realized that, that was easier said then done.

Not more then a month later, Peyton got called in to her boss' office, and after the longest most drawn out talk ever, she found out that the label was downsizing, and they just couldn't afford her talent anymore.

And so with no job and no boy and really nothing keeping her in L.A. anymore, and also a lot of pushing from Brooke (she said she just missed her best friend too much) Peyton packed up her life into boxes and stopped once last time at Max's to say goodbye, and then she was gone.

Brooke told her everything would be alright, that she would figure everything out and it was gonna be ok.

She was trading one big city for another. Moving to New York to try to have another fresh start, but this time she didn't really think new beginnings really would make a difference.

ll Hearing the song in your laughter,
Melody I chase after,
No one else has done this to me ll

Things got a little bit hard for Lucas after his mom died. It was so sudden and something no one is ever really prepared. It was just really hard. But like always he had Haley and Nathan by his side.

He also had Lindsey.

Sometime during his grieving process his editor-a sweet, kind, compassionate girl-became more then his friend, or confidant, she became his girlfriend too.

And he really did need her, because even though it felt like his world was crumbling, his brother and best friend had their own stuff going on. Eventually Haley signed with that label who came to see her and Nathan did get drafted to the NBA, and the couple had their own issues they needed to deal with aside from Lucas. They had to manage their careers and find time for each other, and understandably it wasn't easy.

But at least Lucas had Lindsey.

It was Lindsey who was supportive and understanding when he had to work overtime to get his mother's affairs in order and finish school and coach and deal with all the press for his book. It was Lindsey he had there to talk with and who helped him deal. She was there and he got through it, all of it.

So when he finished college and Lindsey asked if he would be willing to move to New York for her, he couldn't not say yes. Ok course he went, because Lindsey had done so much for him, how could he not do the same?

Now he's 24, and he lives with his sweet girlfriend who's now always busy working. And he spends his days at home, not writing. It not that he doesn't try to write something, he just can't. His mind is empty, there's nothing left he has to say. And everyday he sits at his desk and tries to write something is another day he loses a little faith in fate.

So after awhile he stops even trying. Instead he walks around the city, wandering like some tourist who has no idea where he's going (really he doesn't know where his life is taking him anymore) and he just gets lost.

One day when he is out on one of his walks-walking with no destination and no purpose other to walk-he winds up in Central Park, and being the literary guy that he is, pulls out a old worn out book from his back pocket and decides to spend his afternoon reading.

And somewhere in between reading about Rabbit defying the belief in the American dream, he looks up and sees a woman -a beautiful one with curly hair and long legs- jogging in the middle of the day. He watches her, her hair falling from the ponytail that is loosely keeping her hair up, and the way she's going so fast that it looks like her feet are not even touching the ground. She looks determined, like she has a reason to be running in the middle of the day. And there is something about the woman, that he can't quite pinpoint, but is just really really familiar and as soon as she's out of sight he cant help but wish she would come back.

He forgets about his reading and rushes back home. He has an idea for a new story.

He gets home and he starts typing away, figuring out a story about a scientist and a comet and waiting on something that will never happen again. When Lindsey reads what her boyfriend writes, the moving words and the touching emotions his words express she thinks she's lucky that she's found a man like Lucas.

But when she asks him what inspired him to write such a tragic story about losing something, she thinks he'll tell her that it came from all the people he's lost in his life, not some chance encounter with some girl running through Central Park. And that admission (how could a stranger have inspired him and not her?) has her questioning where their relationship is going, and what they're doing just living together. When she brings this up with Lucas and he rationally tells her that his story is just a story and there is nothing more to it, she tells him he has to be willing to commit.

While the last time he checked he moved all the way to New York for her, and he calls that commitment. Needless to say it's sort of the being of the end for Lucas and Lindsey.

ll Kamikaze airplanes in the sky,
Are we going down or will we fly? ll

She's been living in New York for almost eight months when she finally realizes that she shouldn't be in New York; just like she should have never moved to L.A. all those years ago.

And how does she have this big epiphany?

By reading a book of course.

Much to the dismay of her best friend Peyton still found books more interesting then going out, and one day when she was out doing nothing (she usually went for runs in Central Park in the middle of the afternoon but today she wasn't up for it) she walked by a bookstore to see a new title by that author who had written her favorite book.

Her favorite book -the one with a black cover and a raven on the front.

She never did find out much about the author (apparently he had used a pen name to publish it) and for whatever reason she had never told anyway why she loved that particular book so much. Honestly she wasn't even really sure why. Ravens had been a sad story about a boy who went his entire life trying to prove that he was worthy of his life. A story about a boy who lost the most important people in his life; losing his dreams in the process. And for Peyton it was close enough to her own story that made it something she could never forget.

And while she loved that book so much, she never heard anything about the author and she figured after so many years the likelihood of him publishing anything else wasn't good. So when she saw that he had and the cover what a comet sweeping across the night's sky, she had to see what he had written.

So she bought a copy and rushed back to Brookes apartment (Brooke assisted on Peyton staying with her) and spent the rest of day reading about a scientist who waits his whole life for something that never comes back.

"It was more than just a comet because of what it brought to his life: direction, beauty, are many who couldn't understand, and sometimes he walked among them. But even in his darkest hours, he knew in his heart that someday it would return to him, and his world would be whole again... And his belief in God and love and art would be re-awakened in his heart."

And that, that story of longing and waiting and hoping for something that may never come, has made Peyton realize that she was never supposed to be in New York or L.A. or any place other then home. Back in her hometown in the house she grew up in, where her red bedroom was, and everything else she once had there. Because that was when it still mattered so much, that's where her purpose was along. That's where her art would be re-awakened.

When she tries to explain her revelation to Brooke, she doesn't really understand how one book about some dumb comet could have so much power over Peyton. But, Brooke understood her need to go back home, and she thinks that maybe Peyton is right to find her "new beginning" where her first beginning started.

So Peyton called her Dad (who was more then happy to hear she was coming home) and she pack up again and then she was home. Back to where it had all started. Back to where she once believed that she could do great things in the world. And she's not quite sure when it happens, if its being back in the red bedroom or driving that old car of hers around town, but she figures it out again.

She thinks that music might not have been her calling after all, maybe she had chosen the wrong passion to change the world. When she is out one day grabbing lunch at her favorite little diner, she notices an abandon business front, and that's when she figures out her new passion (or her original one, she always thought she wasn't really good enough to pursue). She looks inside the empty space and can picture red walls and beautiful art on the walls. Her art, and a lot of other's amazing pieces. So with some encouragement from her Dad and a loan from Brooke she rented out the space and started working.

ll This could be a shipwreck on the shore,
Or we could sail away forever more... ll

After him and Lindsey broke up Lucas knew there wasn't much holding in New York, nothing at all actually. He had never been a city guy, so as soon as he could he moved back home, back to Tree Hill.

He took over running the everyday operations of his mother's café and then got offered the coaching job back at his old high school. Eventually he got settled back into small town life, and it was great. It was quiet nights on his porch, and talking to customers who would come into the café who remembered him when he was a little boy. It was silence and calm and pretty perfect.

Even better was the fact that Nathan and Haley were only a few hours away, Nathan having been traded to the Bobcats last season meant they lived not to far from Tree Hill. And Haley after touring and recorded for all those years, gave up her dream of music for another dream. Her dream to be a really great mom to her and Nathans brand new baby boy.

James Lucas Scott was born just a few months after Lucas moved back to Tree Hill, and to say that the baby was nothing sort of perfect would be an understatement. The kid was awesome, and Lucas loved being an Uncle, so whenever he felt like it he would make the drive up to Charlotte and visit his family.

"Hey anyone home?" He shouts out as he walks through his brother and sister-in-laws house. The place is huge and it's just another testament to how successful they are, and that's got to make Lucas smile.

"In the kitchen.." Haley calls out trying to feed Jamie and make coffee at the same time.

"Whoa.." Lucas says with a chuckle as he helps Haley out, lifting the baby from her arms so she can finish what she was doing.

"Thanks." She says as she looks over and sees her best friend playing with her son. Its moments likes these, (when she is so undeniably happy) that she knows she made the right choice in giving up music. She knows it wont be forever, she does eventually want to get back in to, but her family is just so much more important.

"So what brings you all the way out here for a visit?" She asks as he takes the baby back, she always wants to be holding her perfect little boy.

"Just thought I'd come by, you know take my best friend and nephew out for lunch, what do you say?" He says trying to play it off like it was idea.

"Luke…" She knows what he is up too.

"Hales.." He sings out just like she said his name.

"Luke, I'm your best friend and I know when your lying, your eye does that twitching thing…Nathan called you didn't he?" She says expectantly.

"He did call and mentioned that you were sort of bummed because he was leaving for six straight away games, so I just thought I should come over, you know cheer you up." He smiles over at her and notices the sad smile she forms.

"Yeah that would be great actually…" Haley says relieved to have someone like Lucas to keep her from going crazy while Nathan is away.

"Awesome, now let me take him.." He says as he snags his nephew out of her arms again, ignoring the way Haley rolls her eyes at him. "And you can go get ready."

"Fine I know this great little diner that you'll love." She mentions as she runs up the stairs to get dressed.

ll This time it's sink or swim.
Take a deep breath,
No more time left.. ll

Peyton had been working non-stop to finish all the minor details that had to get done before the opening next week and surprisingly things had been going well. She was able to get some really great artists to help her find work to display and she had even finished a few of her own pieces in time and Brooke had come down to help with the decorating and it was all coming together.

She only had to buy a few more things and make some last minute changes, and really the only thing she had left to do was find some musical talent to play for the opening night. She knew she could call some of her old contacts and round up someone to play at the last minute, but she sort of thought that someone local would be a better fit, however she had yet to find a person like that yet.

So when she was walking down the block to her favorite little diner to pick up lunch for her and her Dad who was back at the gallery fixing the lighting, she was really surprised and relieved when she saw Haley James Scott standing outside of that diner with a crying baby.

"Haley?" Peyton questioned as she came up to her, clearly with her son. The kid looked identical to her, save for the blue eyes.

"oh my god Peyton?" Haley said stun to see the woman who had changed her life. After all the work Peyton had done to get Haley signed she never really had contact with her again at the label, then Haley switched labels and then she quit music all together. She really wishes they had stood in touch, Peyton always seemed like one of the good ones, which you learned after years in the music industry were really rare.

"Is this-is he yours?" Peyton questions.

"This is James Lucas Scott, six months old and really fussy at the moment." Haley kids as she continues to rock the baby.

"I can hear that." Peyton says as she places a hand on the baby's head. He really is beautiful.

"Well, it's so good to see you, what are you doing in Charlotte?" Haley asks, finally as Jamie quiets down. They had been sitting down eating and all of the sudden the baby started crying and Haley had to excuse herself and walked out hoping the fresh air would do him good.

"Oh, this is where I grew up actually. I just moved back, you see that place down there?" Peyton says as she motions to her not yet completed gallery. "Thats my gallery, or at least it will be once it's finished."

"Wow Peyton that's awesome." Haley says as she rocks a now quiet Jamie.

"And what about you rock star? I mean I sort of quit the music scene a while ago but I know you haven't released anything recently…"

"yeah well I'm on a break. You know mine and Nathan's schedule was so grueling and then we found out we were pregnant and yeah I'm on a break.." She finishes, not at all ashamed of her decision.

"Well I would be too, with such a cute baby." Peyton admires the now sleeping baby in Haley's arms.

"I know right? I got super lucky with this one, you know when he's not crying and all he's pretty perfect." Haley laughs.

"I bet. Well listen I know your on a break and all, but you think you would be willing to come out of retirement for a special engagement?"

"Oh, I don't know what's the engagement?"

"Playing the opening of my gallery? I know it's last minute but I haven't been able to find anyone and I've always loved your music and it would be amazing if you could do it, you know my old career starting my new one and-" Peyton rambles on and on.

"Peyton." Haley finally interrupts. "For you, of course I would do it."

"Great!" Peyton gets out as she gives her a half hug, not wanting to disturb Jamie. "So I'll see you next week?"

"Sure." Haley assures her. "Ok I got to go, I sort of left my lunch date inside.."

"Lunch date?" Peyton jokingly questions.

"Yeah Lucas, by brother-in-law." Haley says laughing.

"Ok, well you get back to lunch and I'll talk to you soon." Peyton says as she looks down when her phone begins to ring. Apparently lunch has to wait because Dad cut the power line and now she has to call the electric company and so instead of walking inside, she's walking the direction she had just come from.

But Haley walks back inside, and sits back down, far more happy then when she left Lucas notices.

"You ok?" He asks as she places Jamie in his stroller.

"You are never going to believe who I just saw?" she says smiling.

"Who?" Lucas questions.

"Peyton, Peyton Sawyer!" Haley squeals.

"Peyton who?" Lucas asks completely confused.

"Peyton Sawyer, she was the scout who signed me, don't you remember?" Haley says.

But no he doesn't remember her, because he keeps not meeting her.

ll This is what I thought I wanted
Why am I afraid? ll

The place it packed, there is literally no room to get around, and everyone is having a good time. Brooke is there and so is her Dad and she never thought this would be happening.

Everyone loves her work and she is already getting people coming up to her and talking about purchasing some of her paintings.

And wow its happening.

"Oh my god best friend, this place is amazing!" Brooke says as she come out of no where and hugs her blonde best friend.

"I know can you believe it?" Peyton asks completely shocked that things have turned out so well.

"Ok course I can. I mean I told you P. Sawyer, I told you you would figure it all out and it was all going to be ok, but this is better then ok. This is…" Brooke trails off as she and Peyton take in the scene.

"Amazing?" Peyton says with a smile Brooke has never seen before.

"Yeah." Brooke whispers as she pulls her best friend with her to work the crowd. But out of the corner of her eye Brooke notices out the window a very anxious looking woman and a very amused (and hot) guy out front.

"Hales how you doing?" Lucas asks as he sees his best friend pace back and fort in front of the crowded gallery. Because Nathan was still on the road and because apparently Haley said she needed someone with her, Lucas had been pushed into being her escort for the night, which he really couldn't complain about. Seeing Haley get a little frazzled was always a little fun.

"Ok, just... a little nervous." She says as she continues to walk.

"Your nervous? You can't be serious right? Haley you've been performing for years, you have two albums out and a freaking fan club. How can you still get nervous?" Lucas asks amused.

"Lucas Scott shut up! You are so not helping me right now." She says aggravated. Finally getting a grip and taking one good deep breath she stopped the pacing.

"ok I'm ready." She says more to herself.

"You sure?" He asks with a smirk.

"Come on lets go." She says ignoring his sarcasm as she pulls him inside with her.

ll Kamikaze airplanes in the sky,
Are we going down or will we fly? ll

The night is almost over, and there are only a few people left, and Peyton is exhausted. There was so many people there that she had to talk to all night, the local press and some critics and everything was a little hectic for awhile. But eventually the booze ran low and there was no food left and things started to wrap up.

She looks around and sees Haley sitting down sipping water and talking to some guy-a hot guy with piercing blue eyes and a cute smirk-and that guy looks awfully familiar.

"Haley, thanks so much. You were amazing!" Peyton says as she goes over to the singer and the guy (the hot guy).

"Thanks, Peyton. But seriously this is amazing!" Haley says as she motions her arm around the room.

"Yeah I think I did ok." Peyton says always modest.

"Right you did ok. Peyton this is amazing. And I just wanted to say congratulations, you did it." Haley whispers the last part as she pulls her into hug.

The entire time Haley is talking to her, all Lucas can do is watch the beautiful girl. And damn it why does she look so familiar? Curly blonde hair and long legs, who's just gorgeous.

"Oh, Peyton this is my brother-in-law, Lucas Scott. Luke this is Peyton Sawyer." Haley says smugly as the two blondes just stare at each other.

"Hi Lucas its nice to meet you." Peyton says extending her hand.

"Yeah it's nice to meet you too." He says in awe of her as he shakes her hand. And the spark that passes between them, they can both feel.

And then that when it hits him, he has seen this girl before. A lot of times actually.

"Luke here is a writer, well when he can actually think of something to write about." Haley says trying to start up a conversation, but by the semi-creepy stalker way Lucas is looking at Peyton she's not really sure if its even necessary.

"Wow really? you've written anything I might know?" Peyton asks, because there is just something about the way this guy is looking at her that sort of feels like he's looking right into her soul. And no one has never really gotten to her like this before.

"I've written two novels, but in limited release. The first one, Ravens came out a few years ago and my new one-" He starts to tell her.

"The comet. You wrote those books?" She asks, complete in shock now. Her two favorite novels, her favorite author, its him?

"Yeah you've read it?" He can't believe she's read his work. Of all the people, she has read his books.

Haley is standing there, watching the two and realizing that they are having their own conversation and slowly eases herself away from the pair, and clearly they are in their own little world because they don't even notice she's gone.

The two stay that way, talking for hours after everyone is gone, and eventually (after exchanging numbers) promise to meet up for coffee at the little diner down the street the next time Lucas is in town.

ll This could be a shipwreck on the shore
We could sail away forever more... ll

That night (it's really morning) after she finally makes it home, Peyton can't help but feel that whoever Lucas Scott is, he's about to change her life, but for once she's not scared. She sort of feels ready for it.

The next day when Lucas talks to Haley and tells him how he had seen Peyton before, how she had had a big impact on him without her ever knowing it, Haley only smiles and tells him that Keith had always told her that sometimes you've got to have faith in fate. Lucas smiles and said he was glad he did.

There random by chance meeting is a beginning and it's been years in the making. They might not know that, but really its true.

So many times fate had intervened. Delaying the inevitable, without either of them knowing it.

So many times their choices had influenced the other, without either of them knowing it.

But maybe it was supposed to be that way.

Maybe everything really does happen for a reason and every single chance encounter that could of change who they were meant to become didn't happen so they could be who they are now. If they had met at any of those other moments they wouldn't be the same people and so maybe it took fate so long to get them here because now is when it really matters. Maybe someday is now, and maybe only now are they ready to share it together. Its seems that way at least.

Maybe they just had to have faith in fate.

ll This time it's sink or swim,
Sink or swim ll

-FIN.

song: "Sink or Swim" by Tyrone Wells