A/N: Hi! I've been working on this story for over a year now...Well not exactly working, but it's been in existence and I've been putting off publishing, but I decided to go for it. This is my very first story and I'm very nervous about it, so please review and let me know what you think even if it's that I should stop while I'm ahead. Don't be afraid to be brutally honest.

Everything up until 321 happened basically the same, expect the conversation between LP in 317 went a little differently and things have been awkward between them since. I'll get to it in a flashback. The story starts with Jeyton and stays there a while, but bear with me I'll get to Leyton.

Chapter 1: To Build A Home

"Do you wanna get married?"

For Peyton the last couple of days felt like a blur. A crazy love filled blur in which she had somehow managed to end up engaged. As she stared at the man lying beside her and the baby girl in her arms she wondered how she had ever gotten so lucky as to find the family that she'd always wanted. How after so many years of being alone, she was now facing the prospect of never having to be alone again.

She knew it was crazy. She was only seventeen and the last thing she should be thinking about was getting married or starting a family. Most seventeen year olds weren't even near ready to seriously contemplate those things. Yet here she was lying next to her slumbering finance, holding the beautiful baby girl that could one day soon be hers, happier than she'd felt in way to long. She wouldn't take it back for anything.

"You watching me sleep?" her finance asked a smirk on his lips.

"So what if I am?"

"Nothing, it's just a little creepy."

"Shut up!" she yelled while hitting him over the head with her pillow and laughing at shocked expression on his face.

A tiny peal of laughter reminded them both of the beautiful girl that was between them and Jake scooped her up tickling her as she laughed wildly.

"You think that's funny Jen, huh?"

"Wow torturing a two year old? Very mature Jagielski."

"Your right maybe I should pick on someone my own size," he said with a devilish grin.

"NO!" Peyton yelled jumping out of bed and running out of the room with Jake hot on her heels.

Her life lately had been so filled with drama and tears. Finding out she was adopted and then losing the only mother she had left. Getting shot and almost losing her life. Realizing again that she was in love with her best friend's boy. It was all too much and she felt as though deserved something as uncomplicated and joy filled as her relationship with Jake. She deserved to be happy without having to break anyone else's heart. She knew that he could be enough. That if she could wake up to this every morning for the rest of her life that she'd be happy. Who needed Lucas Scott? She tried her best to forget that she did and it was getting easier and easier each day.

She squirmed madly as he caught hold of her, but it was in vain and with a cry of "uncle" they collapsed upon the sofa breathing heavily.

"I don't want to have to leave today. I wish we could just stay right here forever, all three of us," Peyton whispered into Jake's chest once they'd both managed to catch their breath.

"I wish that too," he whispered gently stroking her hair. "But the sooner you go the sooner you'll be back, so we better get ready before you miss your flight."

"Five more minutes?" she asked with a pout.

Unable to deny her while she was making that face, he laughed and said "Okay, okay five more minutes."

Truth be told, he wished that he could keep her here with him and prevent her from ever going back to that place. He worried about the man there that a small part of him still thought held a piece of her heart, no matter what she said to the contrary.

Flashback

"You told Lucas that you loved him?"

Jake couldn't believe this was happening. Just hours before he had felt like the happiest man in the world and suddenly he was faced with the reality that it had all been a lie. As he watched the woman he loved struggle to find the words to explain herself he felt like the world's biggest dumb ass.

"It was the school shooting! Okay? And I was bleeding and I thought I was going to die. I didn't mean it like that," she yelled desperately trying to hold onto the happiness that she had found a few hours ago. "Jake…I love you."

"I know that you do."

"Then why are you making such a big deal about this."

"When you decided that you weren't going to go back to Tree Hill, do you remember what you told me?"

"Yeah," she whispered quietly trying to figure out why he was bringing this up.

"You said that your father's not around, that Haley had Nathan, and that Brooke has Lucas."

"Okay you know what? Haley and Brooke are my best friends and they spend a lot of time with their boyfriends. That's all I meant by that."

He nodded terrified by what he was about to say, but knew that he had to. "Let me ask you a question. What if Brooke didn't have Lucas?"

Truthfully she knew that if Brooke didn't have Lucas she (Peyton) would. They'd both been frightened by their feelings and entered relationships with other people since their brief romance last year, but what she'd realized as she sat bleeding to death on the library floor was that she had always loved him and it wasn't going away no matter how hard she tried to force it to. It was a shame then that he was "completely in love with Brooke Davis" as he had so eloquently put it. So it didn't matter how she felt or how things would be if Brooke didn't have Lucas because she did and Peyton needed THIS man to believe in her love for him so that she could have someone she loved, just like everyone else.

And it was with those thoughts swimming through her head that she said "I would be here, with you Jake. I love you so much and it hurts me that you can't see how deep that love runs. I have been so lost without you. And yes Lucas has been there for me and I do love him, but it's not in the same way. I asked you to marry me Jake because when I close my eyes and dream of my life you're the man I picture it with."

He looked into her eyes and saw the love he felt reflected there and wondered why he was being so insecure. He loved her and she loved him and any and everyone else in their past was unimportant. Or at least that was what he tried to convince himself.

"Peyton…"

"Jake, I love you. Please don't do this," she begged tears silently pouring down her cheeks. And that was the truth no matter how false the rest of what she had said was. She loved this boy and maybe it wasn't in all the ways he wanted to know she loved him, but it was there and it was real and she was clinging to it for dear life.

He pulled her gently closer to him and whispered "I know. I love you too."

Flashback end

"I love you Jake Jagielski, you know that?"

"I love you to Peyton Sawyer soon to be Jagielski."

She smiled and rolled over so that she was looking him in the eye. "We're going to have to discuss that. I'm not sure I want a last name that looks like a disease."

"Ouch that hurts Sawyer," he said clutching at his heart before reaching for her sides and continuing his attack.

--------

"Maybe I don't have to go. I mean Nathan and Haley are already married. What am I really missing? I'm a bridesmaid. I walk down the aisle looking pretty-"

"Looking gorgeous," Jake said gruffly as he pulled her closer to him.

Peyton blushed and he rolled his eyes "When are you going to learn how to take a compliment?"

"Fine gorgeous, but my point is I'll practically just be eye candy. You haven't even meet Nathan's uncle I mean he's really hot and you know what they say about bridesmaids and groomsmen," she said looking at him plaintively.

"No what do they say."

"That…that 65% of them end up dating," she stuttered caught off guard.

"You just made that up didn't you?"

"Okay maybe I did, but I really don't want to leave."

They had finally made it to the airport and Peyton was about 10 minutes of lingering away from missing her flight. She was really just trying to lolly gag long enough to have an excuse to stay away from Tree Hill. She was scared of that place and the feelings that she had there. They were easier to bury when she was hundreds of miles away. She didn't trust her heart not to betray her.

"Babe, it'll be fine. You'll go have a blast and come back. I'm kind of sad that I won't get to be there with you, but you know I can't just leave the state. So go have fun with your friends and then come back to me. Okay? I love you," he said kissing her gently.

Peyton let out a sigh. She knew that she would have fun. To be honest she was already missing Brooke and a few of the others. Namely the blond haired blue-eyed man of her dreams. So she wasn't worried about not having any fun. What worried her was whether or not she'd be able to leave once she got there.

"Okay. Fine I love you too. And you my amazing little girl," she sighed kissing both of them gently and then turned to return to the one place that she sincerely wished she never had to go again.

A/N: So that was really short...I think the chapters are going to be longer from now on. This was really just a Prologue of sorts. Anyway, review please! I really want to know what you think. Oh and in case you didn't notice most of the dialogue from the flashback is not mine. I don't own that sadly.