Hi everyone, it's been a bit of a while since I wrote a chaptered fic so I thought I'd start a new one. I wrote a Leyton/Nathan oneshot last week called 'The Wrong Brother' so if any of you want to read or review then there's a little plug.

I got the idea for this fic from the way the world is at the moment economy wise etc and Coldplay's Everything's Not Lost song. Without giving too much away it's a different take on S5 and just for a heads up, there's no Nanny Carrie, Dan or Lindsey, but she does get a mention later on. I think that's all you really need to know, the rest should explain itself as it continues.

Right enough blabble. Hope you all enjoy! :)

Everything's Not Lost

When I counted up my demons
Saw there was one for every day
With the good ones on my shoulders
I drove the other ones away

When people think of L.A they think of it as the place to go to find dreams and acheive them. Peyton Sawyer did too four years ago, but all she ended up finding were nightmares and she'd been living them ever since! She'd lost her boyfriend, her job and her friends, but now she had a new problem facing her, one that would only result in her losing her apartment and her beloved car...she was low on cash.

When she'd first gone out to Los Angeles, it hadn't been too bad...infact it was the complete opposite of the situation she was in now. She'd found herself a nice little apartment to rent, had gotten herself a job at a record company where she'd previously done an internship, she had a long distance relationship with her boyfriend and she was still in touch with all her friends. So where had it all gone wrong?

"Peyton I love you and I want us to be together forever...I know it's a bit sudden ok, but will you marry me?"

There, that right there is where it all went wrong. She never said yes to Luke, but she never said no. All she wanted was to wait a year, they were only 19, still so young and they'd only seen each other a few times the year he'd asked her that question. He'd left the next day, walked out on her, walked out on them, walked out forever! To say she was upset was an understatement, she was heartbroken to the core! 'People Always Leave' she'd told herself, but she never thought for a second that he'd be one of them, especially without so much as a goodbye!

It was that day she quit her job. She'd gotten into a fight with the printer, been told to unbutton her blouse and got shunned when she played a demo of a band in a meeting. It wasn't long before she was put back to being the assistant to the assistant and all she could hear was Luke's voice in her head, telling her how giving people coffee and delivering mail was less than she was doing in Tree Hiill and she knew he was right, she'd produced two albums back at home and she'd had enough! She quit then and there...but she hadn't had a job since.

Having time on her hands was great at first, it may have sounded lazy, but she didn't really put much effort into looking for a new job. She knew from past experience that people never called when they said they would and that the hardest job was looking for one, she also didn't want to end up in a mail room again when all she wanted to be was an executive. So she lived off the money she'd made so far, plus money she'd saved before leaving Tree Hill. She was enjoying the freedom of not having to work and the lay ins were a bonus as she'd never been the best morning person, but then a year had gone by and the boredom had set in along with the loneliness and time spent thinking about the past and how she'd ended up like this.

It was in that first year that she'd lost touch with all of her friends. She'd wanted to call them, but she'd seen how well they were doing for themselves and naturally thought their jobs would be keeping them busy. As well as that, she wasn't even sure if she could class some of them as friends any more? She couldn't see Nathan and Haley wanting to be after the whole disaster proposal from Lucas. Time passed and they'd all moved on, going from a group that were as close a family to a group who had become complete strangers.

Another few years had gone by since then and you'd think a lot would have changed, but for Peyton, everything was still the same, the only difference being her cash flow problem. She'd been stupid really, all that time she spent moping around, living in and thinking about the past, spending her savings on her ex boyfriend's book every time she saw a copy and subscriptions to her best friend's magazine on top of all the important things like rent, gas for her car and food.

It had all gotten too much, she needed a job and fast, she'd been looking and applying for anything and everything going lately, but four years unemployed on a resume wasn't doing her any favours, she couldn't even get a job at a fast food chain! Thankfully she'd managed to make a bit of cash by selling some of her things, but it wasn't much.

That night she checked the balance in her bank account and the balance on her phone and although she knew it would clean her out financially, she did something she hadn't done in four years. She dialled the number of her best friend and booked a plane ticket home.

Peyton touched down in Tree Hill the next day and as she walked into the airport she felt relief and a sense of calm. She was home and even though she'd said in the past that this place was two dead Mom's and a psycho stalker, she knew this was where she belonged. Brooke wasn't going to be flying in from New York until that night which gave her a few hours to kill before she met her at the airport. She hadn't told her how much of a mess her life was right now though and made out she'd only recently quit her job. It just seemed easier to lie? Brooke probably thought she had money saved from all these years of 'working', but really she only had about $100 to her name since she'd splashed out for this flight back. That's the way Peyton was though, always wanting to help others and listen to their problems, like how unhappy Brooke had been in the Big Apple, but keeping her own troubles bottled up. She'd put her luggage into the trunk of her car, not even wanting to think of how she was going to keep it running in her cash strapped state and decided that as she couldn't afford to rent anywhere or waste what little she did have left on a hotel, she'd sleep in her beloved Comet.

Evening soon descended over Tree Hill and Peyton made her way to the airport, she was really looking forward to seeing her best friend, but for the first time in her life she felt nervous about it too. They used to spend every day together, they were the sisters neither ever had, but they'd not seen each other in four years, it felt like a lifetime, plus there was a lot she was keeping from Brooke and secrets had never been good in their friendship.

Those thoughts soon escaped from her mind though as the arrivals came in off the New York flight and Peyton saw that familiar dimpled smile of the girl she'd missed so much!

"P. Sawyer." Brooke whispered as she walked towards Peyton with her arms open.

"B. Davis." Peyton replied as she hugged her best friend.

They stayed like that for a while before pulling away and wiping their emotional eyes.

Brooke booked herself into a hotel that night with Peyton making out she'd already got one elsewhere. There was a joke about turning up at Luke's and asking to crash, but they decided to leave the surprising of their old friends and ex boyfriend until tomorrow, it was pretty late now after all.

Once Brooke had got settled, Peyton left her and made her way to her car which wasn't parked to far from the Rivercourt, she was just going to get in it and sleep, it had been a long day, but her legs didn't stop at her car, they took her to the Rivercourt itself. She'd always loved this place, especially at night. Her heels clicked as they hit the concrete and she looked down at the ground to see the faded names of her and all her friends from graduation night. She smiled to herself and then looked up as she heard the sound of a ball bouncing and saw the guy who still had her heart after leaving with it approaching.