A/N: This begins at the same point in time as season one of OTH did. The basic premise for this story ties into the actual plot of One Tree Hill pretty well. Lucas and Haley both have their season-one personalities, and the same bond. They are seventeen. The whole Dan-got-two-girls-pregnant situation is the same, but Keith has not played the same significant role in Lucas' life.

Peyton, on the other hand, grew up in a completely different environment. When Ellie got pregnant, she decided to keep the baby (and conveniently chose to give her the same name as Peyton's adoptive parents did on the show). I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory. This is a little different than anything else I've written – no marriages to other people, no children to complicate issues, no past relationships coming back to haunt them…but I'm really liking that at this point, to be honest. It's a good change. This chapter is an introduction; and at this point Lucas and Peyton have never met. Here it goes…

Chapter 1: Start

Peyton rested all her weight on one hip as she flipped through the papers on her clipboard absentmindedly. The VIP lists for the event were lengthy and impressive. By each name was a figure, the amount of money the celebrity or socialite or philanthropist was committed to donating.

Arms encircled her from behind, one thumb hooking into the waist of her skirt. "Hey, gorgeous," a gruff voice greeted her.

Despite herself, Peyton smiled and leaned back into his arms, turning her head to kiss his cheek. "Hey. I missed you," she said honestly. She cared deeply for Jack. When he was around, he was her best and closest friend. But Jack was not a permanent fixture in her life – no one really was. He may have been her first lover on God knows what night however many moons ago, but he was far from being her first love.

"Back atcha," Jack replied, brushing his lips against hers. "I feel like I've been away forever."

Peyton shrugged, wincing a little: he smelled heavily of cigarette smoke. "It's been months."

"How's Pete?" he asked pointedly. He'd always had a bit of a jealous streak, even though it had been almost two and a half years since they'd been together.

He made a face, releasing her from his grasp and jumping up to sit on the table next to where she stood. "Sorry, Peyt."

Arching an eyebrow, she grinned at him. "You're one to talk. How many hearts did you break over the past four months?"

Jack just laughed, ignoring her question and nodding toward the clipboard she held. "How're the numbers looking?"

Peyton glanced down at her lists, quickly calculating in her head. In her seventeen years of life, she had never attended school. Music served as her education. A friend of her mother's had taught her to read at a young age – both music and literature – and that was the foundation she'd needed. Notes, measures, time signatures…that was how she learned all the math she needed to know. The language of music showed her the basics of poetry. Living her life drifting from backstage at one concert to another improved her people skills and taught her self-defense. Her knowledge of geography stemmed from the origins of famous musicians; she learned about historical events in each decade from the songs that had survived that time. Peyton felt secure with her unconventional education – she didn't believe that she needed to know anything more.

She looked back up at Jack. "It looks like it's going to be amazing."

Jack gave her a smile that was gentler than his usual cocky grin. "You did good, Peyton."

She shot him a confused smile in return. "It's not me, Jack, it's all my mom."

"Nah. Look at you, you're all over this thing. Ellie let you take the reigns, and you're killing it."

Peyton nodded, looking down at her feet. She knew that Ellie had stepped aside and let her run the show. She just didn't want to think about what that meant. She let her heavy eyes drift back to Jack. When she spoke her voice was surprisingly raw. "How long are you planning on sticking around?"

He gazed back at her, his eyes soft. "I'll be here," he promised.

She appreciated that, but she didn't love him for it. It was a temporary commitment. She knew that he would soon disappear again.

People always leave.

-x-

"Haley!" Lucas bellowed toward the bathroom door. "We gotta go!"

His mother smiled in amusement from her spot on the couch, where she sat watching him pace their relatively small living room. "Do you have the emergency credit card?" she asked. "The roadside assistance number? Your cell phone and your charger?"

He smiled back. "Relax, Ma. I've got it all. We'll be careful."

"No drinking. Promise me, Lucas."

"I promise," he replied obediently, and it was more than likely that he was telling the truth. He and Haley had never been into that stuff.

"But…if you do get yourselves into trouble, you call me right away, okay?"

"We're gonna be fine," he assured her.

Karen sighed, clearly nervous. "Look out for Haley…and for yourself. I want both of you home safely."

As she spoke, Haley finally emerged from the bathroom, glancing at the ceiling and blinking rapidly. "Sorry. My contacts are bothering me."

Karen stood up and embraced them both. She regarded them with muted worry in her eyes as they shouldered their overnight bags. "Be safe," she warned them. "And get out of here, you'll miss the concert."

Lucas hugged her one last time. "We'll be fine. I love you."

The moment they stepped onto the porch, Haley shoved her bag into Lucas' hands so that she could jog down the walkway, throwing her arms into the air. "Woo! Road trip!"

He grinned, even though he was now carrying two bags instead of one. Haley was his best friend and pretty much a part of his family. He'd scored tickets to a massive benefit concert that she was dying to go to for her birthday, and he was glad that she was so overjoyed at the thought of going.

Haley's parents had raised several daughters. They were free-spirited and casual in their parenting. Though they loved Haley, she was their youngest and they were tired. They'd virtually left her upbringing to Lucas' mom – not that that was any sort of challenge, Haley was as good as gold at all times.

Still, Karen was hesitant about letting them drive off to Raleigh for the concert. She wasn't keen on sending the teenagers to a cheap motel for the night. She knew that there was no a hint of romanticism in Lucas and Haley's relationship, but she worried about who they'd meet, if they'd start drinking, if they'd forget all the warnings about what to do at concerts to keep themselves safe.

Lucas was her only child and virtually her only family; he meant the world to her. And in recent years, Karen had been mothering Haley as well. She worried about them, of course she did, and they both respected that.

Haley settled into the passenger seat, propping her feet up on the dashboard as she slid a CD into the slot. She rummaged in her purse as Lucas joined her in the car before pulling out a map and spreading it across her lap, studying it intently.

Lucas smirked to himself. Haley did everything by the books. "Hales, I can get to Raleigh without a map, I promise. There are lots of signs, and I've driven there before."

"I know that," she said with a playful, long-suffering sigh. "Having a map is just part of the road trip experience." Her eyes were lit by a mischievous light. "Hey! Can we get lost? That would totally solidify all road trip clichés."

He rolled his eyes fondly, honking the horn as a final farewell to his mom. "I'll see what I can do."

-x-

"Hey, you!" Ellie said enthusiastically as she walked up to her daughter.

"Hey," Peyton replied, her voice so quiet that it was nearly drowned out by the music.

"Look at them go," her mother marveled, watching as Jack's Mannequin wowed the crowd. "You've kicked as with this, Peyt, it's incredible. I'm very proud of you."

Her words warmed Peyton's heart, but just as quickly as it had set in, the warmth faded. There was a sort of finality about her mother's words that terrified her. She looked over at Ellie and was alarmed at the sheer exhaustion that was painfully clear in every bit of her mother's body language. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked, keeping her voice as casual as she could.

She felt her mother's hand in her hair and froze, breathing shakily. "I'm fine," Ellie said soothingly. "But this is all a little weird, huh? It makes me feel a bit selfish." At her daughter's questioning look, she clarified, "It's a cancer benefit."

Peyton shook her head fiercely. "It's not selfish, not at all. It's good."

"Sweetie…you know that nothing's going to change my fate. Not at this point. We agreed, remember? No regrets." She used the pad of her thumb to wipe away the moisture beneath Peyton's eyes. "And no tears."

Peyton's face crumpled. "I don't want you to…"

"Oh, baby, I know," Ellie replied softly. "Come here," she added, opening her arms.

Peyton curled up vulnerably in her mother's embrace, sniffling into Ellie's shoulder. Terms of endearment were never Ellie's thing, but Peyton found herself answering to them more and more lately. That didn't provide any comfort; in fact, it did the opposite.

"You listen to me, okay?" Ellie asked, her lips so close that they brushed Peyton's ear; that way she didn't have to yell to be heard. "I want to be strong, and I can see that you're trying, too. But the thing is that I do have regrets. I regret that for so many years, I wasn't the mother you deserve. I love you so much…you deserve everything and anything that you ever want. I'll let somebody up there know that, okay?"

Peyton choked on a sob she couldn't hold back any longer. It had been welling in her throat for months, since the day Ellie told her that she'd decided to stop treatment. "Don't leave me," she whispered plaintively.

"Honey…" For the first time ever, Peyton heard the thickness of tears in her mother's voice. "I wish so badly that I didn't have to."

Ellie took a deep breath and pulled away, smiling gently. "No tears," she reiterated.

"Right," Peyton whispered, struggling to smile. "I…I, um…I saw Mick. He's here."

"Yeah," Ellie said, her voice its normal volume and packed with its usual strength. "I'll go and talk to him later." She reached out, tucking Peyton's hair behind her ear. "You should go find him, okay? Peyton, he…he loves you. I need you to know that. He doesn't know how to show it, but I know him well enough to know that he does."

Peyton nodded. "Okay. I just…I think I'll go and wash my face first."

Ellie nodded, too. She cupped Peyton's face in her hands and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "I'll see you around."

-x-

Lucas kept Haley's hand securely in his so that they didn't get separated. The place was teeming with people, half of whom were high or drunk in some way or another.

"Hey!" Haley yelled, her voice up to the volume necessary to communicate in any way with the noise of the crowd and the heavy beat of the music. "Thank you so much for doing this for me, Luke. I owe you big time for your next birthday."

He shrugged. "No. This is just as much fun for me…so it was kind of selfish present."

She shook her head, giving him a knowing look. He'd done a big thing for her. He was such a sweetheart. The fact that he'd scored the best concert tickets of the year not only have her a spectacular birthday gift, but also gave her the privilege of covering the event for their schools' newspaper. "There were no tickets left anywhere. You had to have paid a fortune."

He shrugged again, feigning modesty. "Only 'cause I love ya, Haley James."

"I know you do," she said earnestly, clasping his hand between both of hers. "And thank you. Again."

He grinned at her. "You're welcome. Listen…I'm going to run to the bathroom, okay? Can you promise me that you'll stay right here?"

"Sure," she said sweetly. "And I have my phone if you need me. Don't be too long, okay? I'll get all paranoid."

He nodded, knowing that she really would. He bent to kiss her forehead, a gesture of brotherly affection, before he headed off in search of a washroom.

Lucas moved toward a quieter area where far fewer people were lurking about. He wondered if that was a good sign or bad. He would've thought that the area surrounding the bathrooms would be crowded.

He pushed aside a long sheet of black fabric, figuring that he'd go a few more steps before he got himself completely lost. He stopped short just as that thought entered his mind.

The space he'd walked in to was completely empty save for copious amounts of technical equipment and a single girl. She was leaning back against a wall, her head tilted upward so that her eyes were directed toward the night sky. She was wearing a pink t-shirt with some slogan about finding the cure for cancer on it, but his eyes were drawn to her legs, stretching out endlessly from underneath the black leather miniskirt she wore.

Peyton brought her head back down only to see a complete stranger staring at her. He had messy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, which were trained on her legs. Even though he was practically ogling her, there was something about him that just seemed so…wholesome.

Lucas looked back up to her face to see her scowling at him through pretty green eyes. She lifted an eyebrow, asking him a wordless question, and he could feel himself getting flustered. He'd been caught looking at her legs, he knew that for sure. As he paid more attention to her face, he noticed the fresh tracks of tears on her cheeks. The fact that she'd been crying couldn't be hidden even as she bent her head forward a bit, letting her curly blonde hair work as a shield.

"Hi. Sorry," he said, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

The apology was unexpected – the guys Peyton spent most of her time around weren't necessarily big on the whole manners thing. She felt her walls go up around her as she simply told him, "You're in a restricted area."

He looked at the laminated card hanging around her neck and realized that she had the right to be here, while he did not. Something about that struck him; he found it upsetting. "Right. Sorry. I was looking for the bathrooms."

Peyton smiled softly. "Way on the other side. You're pretty lost."

"Yeah. Sorry," he said yet again.

"Stop apologizing," she told him lightly.

"Oh. Sor –" At her pointed look, he kicked himself mentally, cleared his throat and said, "Um, so. Yeah. I guess I'll just be going, then. Thanks for the directions."

A small part of her brain – or maybe it was her heart – screamed at her not to let him walk off, but she purposefully ignored it. "No problem."

Lucas turned to go, but stopped. He sighed and closed his eyes before turning back around. "Look…sorry to be back here, sorry to be prying, and I'm sorry that I keep saying sorry but…are you okay?"

Her natural instinct was to snap at him and tell him to go the hell away. But before she could stop them, the words spilled from her lips, "I'm just…my mom…she organized this whole thing –"

"Ellie Harp?" he asked, and at her shocked expression he elaborated, "My friend's doing an article for the paper on this event. She's done her research."

"Oh," Peyton replied faintly. "Well…I guess what her research wouldn't tell her…is that Ellie's sick, she's…really sick. And I was just…" She shrugged, trailing off. He could draw his own conclusions.

His eyes grew deep blue with sadness, as if he'd embraced his pain as his own. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly. He knew just from the look in this girl's eyes that Ellie's sickness was beyond the point where an elaborate benefit concert could help her.

Peyton fidgeted uncomfortably. "It's okay. I mean, God, it's really not but…it's not something that you have to be sorry for."

His eyes bored deep into hers. "I still am."

She bit down on her lower lip. "Thank you. Um, this…is off the record, right?" she asked, going for a joke.

He smiled at her and her heart skipped a beat. "Of course it is."

"Thanks for listening," she muttered shyly. "You should probably go…your friend will be looking for you."

Lucas nodded, remembering what Haley had said about getting paranoid. "Yeah. It was…nice to meet you. Good luck," he said, so firmly that she couldn't doubt that he truly meant it.

That part of her that didn't want him to leave screamed at her again, a little bit louder this time. "Hey!" she called out impulsively. "Who are you? Where are you from?"

Lucas grinned. "Lucas Scott. I live in Tree Hill. It's a small town a few hours from here." When she didn't reply, he prodded, "And your name? Or should I just call you Blondie?"

She blushed at how genuinely sweet all of his words were, and lifted her chin confidently, trying to disguise how much his presence was affecting her. "Peyton Wolfe," she told him.

He repeated it over in his head, savouring each syllable. "I'll see you, Peyton Wolfe," he told her, her name sweet as sugar on his tongue. That wasn't a name he'd be forgetting any time soon.

Peyton leaned back against the wall again as he disappeared again. "Lucas Scott," she mouthed, trying it out. There was a name that she was sure to remember.

-x-

"There you are!" Haley cried, wrapping her arms around Lucas in relief. "I told you I'd get paranoid! Are the bathrooms that far away?"

"Uh…no." Lucas felt a little disoriented after the conversation he'd just had, the girl he'd just had it with. "I actually went in the wrong direction and got totally lost…the bathrooms are the other way, apparently."

"Jeez," Haley laughed. "Come on, I'll go with you this time." She wrapped one of her arms around her and he returned the gesture, following her lead as the navigated her way through the crowd. "Lucas…?" There was something off about him. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"I'm fine, Hales," he assured her with a smile. "Don't worry about anything. Nothing happened."

Lucas Scott hoped that the words he had just spoken aloud were a lie. Something had happened. He just didn't know what.

-x-

Peyton stood in the background, hidden by the shadows, watching her parents interact. Mick Wolfe was considerably older than her mother. He was a cool guy with some viciously bad habits, and Peyton had never been able to form a judgment of him that she could back up with sold evidence.

There was one thing that she did know. He loved her mother. Everything about him softened when he was around her, and she was the only one who could persuade him to give up his rock star lifestyle, even if it were only for a brief period of time. Even from the distance between the adults and Peyton as she stood watching them, she could see grief, already shining in Mick's eyes. She wondered if her own orbs looked just as haunted.

Ellie spotted her watching them. Peyton blushed, but her mother didn't chastise her, simply lifted her hand to wave Peyton over.

"Hey," Ellie greeted her when she arrived next to her parents, placing her hand on Peyton's back.

"Hi," Peyton replied, looking directly into her father's eyes.

"Peyton," he responded quietly, his eyes searching hers carefully.

Ellie wrapped her arm all the way around Peyton's waist, pulling her closer and sandwiching her in between the two people who'd given her life. "We were just talking about you," she said, her voice bright.

Peyton looked back and forth between the two of them and knew that they had been. She could read the same emotions in their eyes. She broke all eye contact, resting her head against his mother's shoulder. She'd wondered countless times in her life while some kids got two parents who adored them, spoiling them rotten and providing everything they could ever need, while she got two people whose eyes shone with remorse and tentative affection. But never before had she longed for it quite as much as she did right now, as she felt her first real sense of family, the three of them standing there together and watching the same musicians, feeling the same music. She was overwhelmed by the urge to cry, and before she could think too much about it, reached out and slipped her hand into Mick's. It took a full minute, but he finally squeezed back, and she let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

This was a beginning and an ending.

And it was all she got.

A/N: Let me know if you'd be interested in reading more.

For those of you wondering why I've decided to dedicate my attention to another storyline, I don't have an actual reason, but I do promise that I have updates for How's Your Halo? and But I Know (Because It's You) in the works. I need another week to deal with school, and then I'm going to delve back in to Crescendo as well. Thanks for reading!