A/N: MaryYaYa, xobabiidoll, lovescole, brucas3, HeavenLee03, joeycreek9, Joise, DianaGlOw1, TuggyAngel08, LeytonTilEnd, othstewy, littlewhitelie91, iftheyonlyknewthetruth, LeytonLover4ever, truckcoff, LesandPes ; thank you all for the amazing reviews!


CHAPTER 2

Her hazel eyes popped in appetite as she eagerly squeezed the ketchup bottle empty onto her Ben & Jerry strawberry ice-cream. This isn't weird, she convinced herself. Tomatoes are vegetable, right? Yet some people say it's a fruit. And so are strawberries! Plus, it's all in the same colour range. Therefore, this is a perfectly normal combination. Her attention suddenly fluttered away from her ummm…special creation to her stereo, which produced the synthesizer tones of 'She's got the look'. That's right, Roxette. She, Peyton Sawyer, queen of punk-rock, was listening to the epitome of 80's kitsch. Clearly, her taste in food wasn't the only thing that had changed; although the primary reason for listening to this kind of music was that it cheered her up; and God knows, she could use some of that.

While licking a spat of ketchup-strawberry sauce of her finger, Peyton turned up the volume up 'till the point that she could feel her floor vibrating. It was peculiar how one time she could be hitting people with her sketches while the next, she'd dance on the tones of a Swedish pop-rock-electro- whatever band (it was a bit hard to actually past a name onto this genre- it's the 80's, that means it practically a bit of everything thrown together).

The curly blonde knew she couldn't be disturbed tonight- Lucas, Brooke, Rachel, Haley, Nathan…they were all partying their ass off at 'Tempation'. Peyton, on the other hand felt completely at ease at home and her outfit also expressed that: she wore a tight, red tank top that brought out her curved tummy and a comfy blue pyjama pants. With her ice-cream bowl clutched in her hands, she sang along loudly, completely shut off from the outside world.

How could she have known, whilst singing with great devotion, that someone was walking away from her front door, with the intention of going in through the back? She didn't even hear her door open, nor did she see the blue-eyed man watching her as she danced with her back at him. But when she made a goofy twirl; the refreshing lightness she had felt just seconds ago, crashed and burned. An expression of utter shock came upon her face but the bewildered look in her eyes didn't even begin to compare with the one of the boy she faced. Apparently, he wasn't partying his ass off. After certainly a minute of sharing clueless gazes; Peyton pulled herself together and turned off her stereo. On her way towards the volume button, she took a wide, red shirt out of the hamper and quickly pulled it over her head.

OK, she thought as she faced the shocked boy. What now? Should I say something? Do something? Even though her secret was now revealed, a very small part of her felt relieved she would now be able to talk about it with someone. At this moment, however, she mostly felt very vulnerable.

"Nathan," she crossed her arms under her bust protecting "What are you doing here?"

It took a moment before her question seeped through and even then, he was only able to produce separate word groups. He went to lean against her kitchen counter in order to not collapse in shock.

"I-I…not party…keep you company." He swallowed with a troubled look on his face before finally calming down. "I'm sorry…I just need a moment," he explained his reaction.

"More like a tranquilizer," she attempted to joke with a faint smile.

Nathan looked at her even more shocked, if that was possible.

"This isn't funny," he said, completely appalled.

"What do you want me to say, Nathan?" she shrugged. There was no use crying over spilled milk; she couldn't keep torturing herself about this, it was something she had to learn to live with. After all, she had chosen to keep this child instead of aborting it, which she had seriously considered in the first few weeks of her pregnancy. It had been a class of PE that had changed her mind: during volleyball, one of Bevin's serves had gone straight towards her direction. Instinctively, Peyton had bended her upper body while covering her tummy with her hands. She realized then and there that she couldn't go through with an abortion, even if it meant she'd have to give up a part of her young life.

"I want you to say how-what, I mean, what, h-" he stopped and took a deep breath to control himself. After he had forced calmness onto himself, he fixed his eyes on Peyton. "You're pregnant."

The curly blonde didn't respond but just turned around and walked to her living room without any intention really; she just didn't want to be confronted with his demanding stare.

"Who's the father?" He asked further but the blonde preserved her silence. "You DO know who the father is, right? Do I know him?" He raised his voice.

"I don't know, Nathan," she sharply answered, shooting him one of her fiery looks "do I look like a slut?"

"I'm sorry," he closed his eyes as he calmed down "it's just that y-" he rethought what he was going to say. The girl knew she was pregnant, no need for him to repeat it "how far along are you?" he spoke instead.

She turned her face back at him while she went to lean down against the arm of the couch "4 months," the blonde murmured.

As soon as she spoke out those words, Nathan's face folded in utter concentration; Peyton could literally see him calculating.

"…august…" he whispered as he tried to recall Peyton's whereabouts that month. She hadn't done anything really, he thought. Yeah, brooding on the beach, or at home, or at the River court together with Lucas. With their numerous problems, the two blondes hadn't exactly been partying that summer; they had stayed at Peyton's or Lucas' place and often spent the night with each other. Nathan's blue eyes widened and slowly turned back at Peyton. It was Lucas', he concluded, there was no other possibility; they had been practically glued together those summer months. But he would've never thought they had gone further than a bit of cuddling and hugging. Apparently, he had been mistaken. Severely mistaken.

"Is it Luke's?" He still posed the question, even thought it was unnecessary, but he wanted to be absolutely sure.

She briefly looked down, pressing her lips together troubled and slightly afraid. Admitting it, now, to him would make it all the more real.

"Peyton?" he urged her "Is your baby Lucas'?"

While tucking a golden spiral behind her ear, she looked up into his demanding eyes.

"Yes…" she softly confirmed.

"OK," he nodded with a thoughtful look on his face "Does he know?"

"No…" she shook her head. "And he's not going to either," she added with a stern voice.

Doubt and disapproval flashed over the Nathan's face.

"Nathan," she spoke strained upon seeing his expression. "He isn't going to, do you understand?"

"I can't …" he shrugged "I can't do that to him."

"Nathan!!!" She frowned in irritated anger, her index finger waving through the air in a threatening manner.

"He deserves to know you're having his baby!" He cried out. "You can't keep this from him!!!"

With quick, nervous steps, Peyton walked over to Nathan and grabbed his arm.

"Nathan..." her hazel eyes betrayed complete despair "you can't tell him."

When he didn't seem to give in, Peyton's panic started to rise.

"Please," she begged as a haze of glazy tears covered her hazels 'You can't tell him!!!" She screamed. "YOU CAN'T TELL HIM!" Her fists started to hit his chest violently. The thought of everything coming out; of all the trouble, all the hate (mostly from Brooke's part) absolutely terrified Peyton. "You can't tell him!" Tears rolled over her cheeks; leaving marks in the form of wet streams.

"Peyton…." In vain, he said her name, hoping it would calm her down "PEYTON!" He repeated louder while he took a hold of her wrists; he attempted to stop her but her small fists were still able to reach his chest.

"You can't tell him," she repeated in between sobs.

Suddenly, Nathan pulled her close against his chest, rocking her body softly. The intensity of her fists slowly weakened until her arms laid flatly on him.

"It's OK, Peyton," he soothed her.

The curly blonde cried uncontrollably onto her ex's blue shirt; all the emotions, fears, worries of the past few months escaping in the form of a tear storm.

"I won't tell," he eased her in her most vulnerable state "I promise," he added while stroking his friend's hair.

With her father's blue blanket wrapped around her frame, Peyton sat in the couch, her eyes still red from crying. A weak smile curled her lips as Nathan joined her with two cups of hot chocolate.

"Thanks, Nate." she sounded grateful. Too grateful. She must've felt so alone, Nathan thought. "Look," Peyton started with her small hands wrapped around the greenish cup "I'm sorry I went all psycho on you. It's just, you know…" again, she felt the urge to cry but was able to suppress it by taking a deep breath "it isn't easy."

"You don't have to explain yourself, Peyton. It's OK." He looked at her seriously. "Besides," he continued "there will be no more outbursts of that kind; you're not going through this alone anymore; I'm here for you now."

"Thank you, Nate."

"You're welcome."

The two shared smiles.

"So," Nathan re-found his trademark smirk "Roxette, huh?"

"Dude," she playfully bumped against him "Shut up."

"What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue," he sang teasingly.

"Oh," Peyton scoffed "You're horrible, harassing a pregnant girl."

"when everything I'll ever do, I'll do for you…" he continued completely off-key.

Peyton looked at him briefly before pulling him into a tight hug, instantly changing the atmosphere.

"You're a good friend, Nate," she said. "I love you."

It was a simple but sincere statement.

"I love you too, Saywer. And I promise to be there for you every step of the way."

As you see, I've tried to take your comments into account concerning NP. I'm open to other suggestions too. What do you guys think, should I add some NH; develop their relationship? Or just LP? NP are just friends by the way, they love each other only as friends. Can't make that clear enough lol.

I know there wasn't LP in this update but I still hoped you liked it.