The Girl He Knew

Set: After Season 4, the proposal happened and that is the last time Lucas or Peyton have seen each other in three years. Now Peyton is back in Tree Hill because home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

Prologue:

March 5th 5:10 AM

Lucas sighed at the sight of her, sprawled ungainly in a chair on the deck, the sea air blowing her curls against her face, hair sticking to her lips and cheeks, the sickening stench of vomit clinging to her jacket. He shook his head as if trying to deny his senses; this was not the girl he knew. This was not his Peyton.

"Come on, Peyt." He grunted; using a nickname she hadn't heard in three years. He tried to remain detached, cold, as he pulled her to stand on wobbly feet, but the anger vibrated off of his skin. He hated this, hated himself, hated her, hated the world for letting her become this- making her this. The putrid smell of regurgitated tequila was strong on her breathe and he wondered what he was even doing here. He had a fiancée waiting at home for him and here he was, playing savoir again. A disgusted sneer crossed his lips, he didn't want that role any more. "Peyton!" He called, his voice snappish, breaking the calming dawn. "You need to wake up! Wake up!" He commanded, half tempted to put her back where he had found her and let Brooke deal with her when ever she woke up.

"What for?" It was the softest mewing, a whine carried on the sea air away from them.

"For me. Come on." Lucas coaxed, trying to force warmth into his voice when all he wanted to do was shake her senseless. For a moment her eyes flashed open, emeralds squinting at the earliest morning light, before her head sagged forward, mouth slack-jawed, the will to go on parting from her as quickly as it came. All she wanted was this, sweet oblivion, something to numb the wounds that never healed, something to make her forget the scars the painted everything in grey.

"Never mind." Lucas rolled his eyes, antipathy running high. He leaned her briefly against the deck rail, before taking a deep breath and then heaving her up into his arms. She was lighter than he remembered, the phantom weight of her the day of the school shooting always in the back of his mind, and her hip bones jetted out, rubbing roughly against his stomach as he carried her inside and into the spare bedroom.

Once inside he laid her down on the floral coverlet and ran a hand across his face, at a loss of what to do next. She was a mess, in more ways than one, her denim mini skirt riding up high on her thighs and her jacket stained with vomit. Exhaling loudly, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. He thought about calling Haley but knew after last night that wasn't the best option, and Nathan was certainly out of the question. In reality he figured she should be Brooke's problem. She was the one that had invited Peyton to come roaring back into their lives, destruction following at her heels.

Lucas lifted Peyton's blonde head, placing a pillow beneath it and turning her on her side, a waste basket inches from her face. He wasn't quiet certain how much she had had to drink but it was enough to have him worried. Stepping out of the small room, he groaned at the ruin in front of him. Red cups littered the carpet with half deflated birthday balloons hanging low, their strings mixing with spilled chips and forgotten plates on the floor, and oblivious to it all, lay Brooke Davis, snoring softly on the sofa. Bending down, Lucas placed a hand on her shoulder and shook lightly. "Brooke." He called softly. "Come on, Brooke. I need you to wake up and take care of your mess of a best friend."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Lucas looked up with a start to find the front door open, and a dark hair girl balancing four cups of coffee drinks, two bottles of water and a bottle of aspirin. "Let me help you." Lucas approached her, taking the drinks from her overly full hands and setting them on the counter. "And why wouldn't you do that,…" Lucas let the sentence linger on, before just admitting the truth. "I am so sorry. I forgot you name."

"Millicent, Millie." Millie smiled. "Don't feel bad, I sort of figured you were going to have your hands full. When I left last night thing seemed a little… tense." She handed him a cup. "Mocha extra foam?"

"Thanks." Lucas took the hot beverage. "I guess 'tense' is a good word for it. "

Millie nodded, starting to pick up trash and handing Lucas dishes to be placed in the sink. "Did your brother make it home okay? He seemed a little-"

"Like a drunk ass?" Lucas filled in, not even bothering to hide the venom in his voice. Millie offered him an uncomfortable smiled in return. "Yeah. I drove him to my place, watched him throw up in my fireplace and finally got him to bed. I came back as soon as I could."

"I generally try to call it an early night when I am sure that Brooke will need extra help the next day."

"You mean when she is going to be hung-over?"

"Something like that." Millie admitted, eyes downcast. She really didn't know how to feel around Brooke's friends, people that she had heard about, even read about, but never met. "And just FYI if you wake Brooke up from a hangover without bacon prepare for the worse."

"I forgot about that." Luke admitted. So much had changed in those years apart, Brooke had been back for almost two weeks but they were all still feeling each other out, trying to find a way to repair the damage time had done to all of their friendships.

"Oh god." Lucas heard the unmistakable sound of Peyton's voice, a groan followed but the sound of her retching into the waste basket.

"Is that?" Millie asked, peeking into the open room.

"Peyton." Lucas confirmed, annoyance flashing in his blue eyes. He watched as Payton laid her head back down, closing her eyes against the bright light of day. "That's why I was trying to wake sleeping beauty here." He gestured to Brooke, who let out a loud snore. "She needs a shower and I don't even know how much she had to drink." The sad truth was he didn't know anything about this girl, nothing that mattered anyway. She was an imposter, parading around in her skin with vacant eyes and a hard set jaw.

"I can do it." Millicent volunteered. Lucas was about to protest, when Millie held up a hand to silence him. "Brooke has a friend that's a model, it's not the first time." She offered. "I'll run up to Brooke's room and get her some sweats to wear. You want to try to wake her up?"

He didn't want to wake her, he didn't want to be in the same room as her but he nodded. "Alright." He spoke to himself, as if gearing up for a game, needing some sort of support to make it through this. "Wakey, wakey, Peyton." He spoke loudly, closing the door behind him. He stood in front of the bed. "Peyton!" He yelled, biting out her name, venom dripping from his tongue.

"Go away." The reply was weak and slurred.

"No." Lucas shook his head. "You are not getting out of this that easily. Come on." He lifted her to a sitting position. "We are going to get you into a shower." Lucas explained, a wordless whine coming from her sweet pink lips.

"Let's get you out of that jacket." Tenderly he pulled the jacket from her one arm, and then the other, the tips of his fingers barely brushing against the skin on her back and the satin fabric of her halter. "You've been wearing this all night." Lucas spoke gently. "That's better, isn't it?" He asked tossing the jacket across the room.

Peyton sagged against him, before Lucas lowered her head back to the pillow. It was then that he looked at her, really looked at her, without dizzying crowds and smoke filled clubs. "Oh god." He felt his stomach drop, and the bile rise in his throat, closing his eyes tightly against the sight in front of him, praying to a kinder God to let this all just be a nightmare. "My god, Peyton." He held a trembling hand over her back, before allowing it to run across the crisscrossing pink scars. "What happened to you?"

Peyton's eyes remained closed, tears leaking out as she felt his fingers play against her raised flesh. "You. You happened."

TBC

A/N: So? Thoughts? Back story will be explained obviously. I will be working on this and A Soft Place to Land at the same time. This story is a little dark, so you are warned. Let me know what you think and click the Green Review Button!- Becca