Disclaimer: I do not have the brilliance of Mark Schwann, and therefore I do not own One Tree Hill.
A/N: This takes place after season 4 but before season 5 starts. It begins six months after the proposal, and Lucas has not hasd the signing in LA yet, so Lucas and Lindsay are not together.
Chapter 1 - The Wish
Peyton Sawyer walked into the pediatrics ward of the hospital close to her home in Los Angeles. Since she was not finding fulfillment in her job as the assistant to the assistant to the president of a record label, she decided to find it elsewhere and volunteered to work with some of the children who were long-term patients of the hospital. She was basically doing something similar to the Big Sister program, where she would spend some time with a child; however as they were very ill she could not leave the confines of the ward with them. It was here that she met Jessica Thompson.
As Peyton walked into room 1089, she came face to face with a young girl of fourteen whose skin tone almost matched the color of her sheets. The room around her was colorful, with various drawings and get well cards from friends and classmates hung around the room and covering the tables. Peyton had been briefed on her condition; she was suffering from a second bout of leukemia after being in remission for two years. She had been here for the last six months. As she looked around at all of the artwork, she found an 'in' so to speak; Jessie was an artist. As she looked her over again she noticed that she was wrapped up in her drawing at this moment, and though she did not want to disturb her concentration, she decided to make her presence known.
"I see you like to draw. You're really good."
Jessie snapped her head up at the sudden introduction and looked at Peyton inquisitively. "Thanks. I have to do something while I'm here all day. I'm Jessie, but I am assuming you knew that already."
"I did, but I prefer to hear things from the source. I'm Peyton."
"Peyton huh? Well you have a lot to live up to, so I hope you are a really cool person."
This confused Peyton. 'What did she mean I have a lot to live up to?' "What, exactly, do you mean by that?"
"Well you can see that I like to draw, but I also like to read, and my favorite character in my favorite book is named Peyton. So since you have the same name, I figure you have to be as cool as her, though that will be difficult, I'm sure, because Peyton Sawyer is awesome."
Jessie saying her full name startled her a bit. 'I could not have stumbled upon a teenager that loves his book could I?' "What book is that?"
"An Unkindness of Ravens of course. Do you live under a rock or something? How could you not know who Peyton Sawyer is?" Jessie said incredulously.
'If only you knew' Peyton thought to herself. "Of course I have heard of the book. It is my favorite as well." Peyton replied quietly.
She could not believe that this is the direction this conversation was taking. Lucas had only left her six months ago and the pain of waking up alone was still raw. She went back to that night often in her mind, and in her dreams, and sometimes in her nightmares. In her nightmares the events play out much like they did in reality, but in her dreams her answer changes. In her dreams Lucas proposes to her and every single time she says yes. After such dreams, she wakes up feeling elated, until she comes back down to Earth and realizes that it was just a dream, and that Lucas left her without even saying goodbye.
"Hello, Earth to Peyton!" Jessie said causing Peyton to swiftly snap out of her thoughts. "Where did you go?"
"Sorry, I was just thinking about…ummm…Lucas and Peyton."
"I LOVE Leyton! They are the best couple ever. True love always. I wonder if we will ever hear about their wedding. You do know the book is based on Lucas's real life right?"
"Yes I did know that, and what is Leyton?"
"Oh geez, how out of touch are you? Leyton is the nickname for the Lucas/Peyton relationship. It's like when Brooke calls Nathan and Haley Naley. Duh."
"Oh…right…okay," Peyton replied thoroughly thrown by Jessie's devotion to Luke's book. She is happy that the novel, which she has read several times since it came out last month, has such loyal fans, however she needed to get the topic of conversation off of her past relationship, even though Jessie did not know it was her. "So what are you drawing?"
"The Tree Hill gang at the River Court at the end of the book, the part where Nathan and Lucas face off for a one-on-one game after the post-graduation party. I love this part, and rumor has it that the scene was not in the original manuscript, but he added it because it was such a natural ending to the story, just before the friends split up for college and when the their futures were still so wide open."
"Oh." That distraction did not work as planned, so Peyton decided to try a different tactic. "Do you mind if I draw too?"
"Are you even any good? I mean, the Peyton in my book is good, but that does not mean that you are."
"Umm, I'm decent."
"I guess. Here," Jessie said as she passed Peyton paper and a pencil.
"Thanks." They sat and drew in silence for a while before Peyton finally had to break the silence. She found it odd, since she was so accustomed to the silence in her life, that she wanted to start a conversation, especially this one.
"So, do you really think that Luke and Peyton should be together? I mean how often does the person you go to prom with end up being the one you marry?"
"True, but these two are different. They deserve each other. After all the crap that Peyton has been through in her life, and all of the stuff that Lucas has been through, they deserve to have a happy ending together."
"But it's not like they had the perfect relationship right? I mean Haley and Nathan were always much stronger then Lucas and Peyton."
"How can you say that? I love Naley just as much as the next person, they are right up there with Leyton, but Leyton should be together too. Yeah Lucas put her through a lot, but they worked through it, and by the end of senior year they were together and in love. Naley may be always and forever, but Leyton is true love always."
After such a passionate speech Peyton did not really know how to respond. For some reason she did not want to reveal to this idealistic young woman just who she was; it was almost as if she was afraid of what would happen if she knew of the break-up. The girl was already going through so much; it would almost be a sin to dash these dreams too, trivial though they may be. She decided to broach the subject with caution saying "but what if they broke up?"
"They won't."
"Just say they do."
"Then they will work through it and get back together."
"And if they don't?"
"They will," Jessie said adamantly. With that, the subject was dropped and they each went back to their drawing. A while later, a nurse came in to give Jessie some medication which quickly put her to sleep.
As Peyton got up to leave, Jessie rolled over and said "Don't worry Peyton, they will always be together. Everyone is rooting for the couple in the book, and when you have an entire country behind you, you know it is meant to be." She then rolled back over and went back to sleep. Peyton stood there for a moment before turning back and walking out the door.
After that first day, time continued to pass casually by the two girls. They had bonded completely over art, music, and of course the book they both loved. Peyton suddenly found herself being much happier with her life; she smiled more, and she even laughed when she was with Jessie, neither of which had she done since Lucas had walked out of her life. She was still in love with Lucas, and of course she still missed him, but she was able to be happy again with Jessie, and she cherished that relationship. Whenever Peyton had a free moment, she could always be found in room 1089 of the hospital. Peyton had still not told Jessie that she was the character in the book that she loved so much, but Jessie had announced, about two weeks after Peyton began spending time with her, that she was almost as cool as Peyton Sawyer, but that nobody would ever take P. Sawyer's crown. This caused Peyton to chuckle internally a bit. Everything was going well, the nurses would smile often as they passed the room and heard laughing come from inside. Everything was going well, until Peyton noticed what Jessie was reading one day as she walked in the room.
"Hey what's up? Why are you reading that?"
"I'm trying to come up with a wish that they would be able to give me."
"But I thought that the Make a Wish Foundation only granted wishes to kids who were…" Peyton faded away slowly.
"Yeah, exactly. The doctors told me yesterday Peyton, I'm not going to get better, and they don't know how much time I have left. I just don't know what to ask for. I know what I want, but I don't think that they can give it to me."
"Well what is it that you want, and why can't they give it to you?"
"I want to meet one of the characters from the book, but they are all so busy. Lucas is on a book tour still, Nathan has basketball, Haley has school, and they both have Jaime to worry about, Brooke is busy with Clothes over Bros in New York, and even though Peyton is in LA, who knows where she is, and she is probably swamped with all of the cool bands she's probably signing. I even heard that Karen left with Lily to travel a bit."
"So what are you going to ask for?"
"I guess I want to go to the River Court. Even if nobody will be there I would like to see it. I mean, it's not like they are able to do anything for me here anyway. Maybe I'll even catch a game between Junk and Fergie while I'm there," she finished with a hint of a sad smile.
"That sounds like a good wish."
"Yeah, unfortunately, my parents can't go with me since they have to work so much to pay for my treatment. Even though they are stopping treatment, they still owe a lot of money, so I don't think I can go. They won't let me go without an adult. It is nice to dream about though."
"Yeah it is," Peyton replied softly, with a hint of tears.
"Okay, no waterworks. Gees, I'm here and I'm fine. Give me a break!" Jessie said forcefully with a small smile that completely ruined the effect. Peyton burst out laughing, and just like that they were back to their normal selves.
When Peyton got home that night, she was still thinking about Jessie's wish. She had swiped the phone number to the Make a Wish Foundation while Jessie was in the bathroom, so she got herself a light snack and her phone, and prepared to make a few phone calls.
The first call was to the hospital to make sure that they would even let Jessie out of the hospital for the length of time it would take to get to North Carolina and back. When they said that it was okay, she made the next call which was to Jessie's parents.
She had met them quite a few times over the course of her time with their daughter and they got on well. She explained to them exactly who she was, though she requested that they not tell Jessie, and explained to them her plan. She told them of Jessie's wish to see the River Court, and that she would be happy to escort her there if they needed her to. They gratefully accepted, and she prepared for her next call.
Peyton called the Make a Wish Foundation and explained about Jessie's situation and her plan for her. They gladly said that they would make the flight arrangements for the two of them for whenever Peyton wanted to leave. They joked that this would be the easiest wish they would ever provide, since all they really needed to do was arrange the flights and Peyton was taking care of everything else.
She then called her boss and requested a few weeks off. When they refused to give her the time, she quit, and she felt freer than she had in a long time.
Finally, she made the one phone call that she was simultaneously excited for, and yet dreading. She got anxious as the phone continued to ring, until the person at the other end answered. She froze, but she told herself that Jessie needed her, and she would not let her down. It took a few seconds before she could speak, but she took a deep breath and rushed through it.
"Luke, I need your help."
A/N: Hope you like it. Please let me know in a review!