This Used to Be My Playground
A/N: Here's the next chapter. I hope you all like it! - Jasmine
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"Where am I?" Peyton wondered aloud, her vision being clouded by a thick fog. "I can't see anything."
She got up from the bench she had been sitting on and, in an attempt to figure out where she was, began walking around in the fog.
Peyton squinted with her eyes and noticed something far in the distance. "Is that a...slide?"
She made her way over to what she thought was a slide and discovered that she was correct. "So this is a slide..."
Peyton let her voice trail off as she stared and admired the beautiful red slide. She then spotted what looked like a swing set and headed over to it.
Peyton sat down on a swing and gripped the chains. "I must be in a playground."
She closed her eyes and gently rocked back and forth on the swing. Just then, Peyton heard what sounded like laughter coming from behind her.
She opened her eyes, turned around and from afar saw the giggly little blonde girl spinning around.
"That's her." Peyton whispered to herself.
She instantly hopped off the swing and just when she was about to reach the little girl she vanished into thin air.
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Peyton stirred and slowly opened up her eyes.
She sat up, turned to her left and saw that Lucas was up and out of bed already. She then laid her head back down and began staring aimlessly at her bedroom wall.
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"You have to eat fast, okay?" Lucas told his son as he poured milk into his cereal. "You can't be late for your play practice and I CANNOT be late for my meeting with my new editor."
"Ok, I'll hurry." Jack said as he took a sip of his orange juice. He then began shoveling spoon fulls of cinnamon toast crunch into his mouth.
Lucas placed the milk back into the fridge and headed into the living room. He yawned, lied down on the couch and closed his eyes.
Just then Kari came running into the living room from her bedroom.
She walked over to her father on the couch and climbed on top of him. "Dada."
Lucas slowly opened up his left eye. "Kari, how'd you get out of your crib? Did you climb out?"
Kari nodded her little head up and down.
Lucas lifted his daughter into the air and looked up at her. "But you're not supposed to climb out. You're supposed to sit in your crib and wail your head off until someone comes and gets you."
Kari shook her head. "No baby!" She then began playing with one of the buttons on her father's shirt.
"Is that so?"
She nodded again.
Lucas sighed and stared deeply into Kari's green eyes. "Well you will always be MY baby so promise me you'll never get too big, okay?"
Kari grinned. "Kay!"
Lucas smiled and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "I love you."
"Love you!" Kari kissed her father on his forehead.
Lucas tossed Kari into the air a few times and then started to tickle her, causing the little girl to burst into laughter. He eventually stopped, got up off the couch with Kari and headed back toward the kitchen.
"Jack, you finished?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah." He quickly took one more big spoonful of cereal, hopped out of his chair and placed his bowl in the sink.
"Okay hurry up and put your sneakers on."
Lucas exited the kitchen with Kari in his arms, headed toward his bedroom and knocked gently on the cracked door. "Honey, you have to-"
"I'm awake." Peyton said as she slowly sat up, slid out of the bed and walked over to her husband.
"She climbed out of her crib this morning." Lucas told her as he handed Kari over to Peyton. "So we need to think about getting her bed or one of those tent things you put on the crib."
"Okay." Peyton said as she shifted Kari onto her right hip. "You off to basketball practice?"
"No, I have my meeting first and then practice." Lucas checked the time on his watch. "Alright Jack needs to get to his play rehearsal and I need to get going so-"
"Am I picking Jack up today or-"
"No he has a play date with his little 'girlfriend' Emma so her mom is picking the both of them up and they're going to hang out for a little while and she'll bring him home later."
Peyton nodded. "Okay."
Lucas leaned in and gave his wife a kiss. "I'll call you later."
He kissed Kari on the cheek. "Bye princess."
Kari waved bye to her father and watched him exit the bedroom and head down the hall.
"Jack, I'll be in the car!" Lucas shouted out to his son.
Jack quickly put on his left sneaker and, after fumbling around with the laces for a minute, was finally able to tie it.
He picked up his right sneaker, tied it, stood up and ran out of the kitchen and into his parents' bedroom.
"Bye mom!"
Jack stood staring at his mother, waiting for a response, but Peyton, who had sat Kari down on her bed and had begun absent-mindedly brushing her hair in front of the mirror didn't seem to hear him and said nothing.
Jack frowned and then turned his attention to his little sister. "Bye Kari."
"Bye-bye Jack." Kari said quietly, waving her little hand goodbye at her brother.
Jack waved bye and slowly exited the room.
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Peyton sat Kari down in her playpen in the living room. "I'll feed you breakfast in a minute, okay?"
Kari nodded her little head as she sipped juice from her sippy cup.
Peyton sighed and made her way over toward the couch, sat down and began sifting through a box next to her.
She slowly picked up a raggedy old blanket and started to get teary-eyed. "Sawyer's blanky..."
Peyton held onto the blanket for a long while before placing it back into the box. She then pulled out a framed family portrait drawing Sawyer had done and smiled softly at it.
Peyton stared at the picture for a long while before carefully setting it back into the box. She was about to reach for Sawyer's bear when she heard the teapot whistling so she quickly got up and headed into the kitchen and toward the stove.
Meanwhile Kari, having had enough her drink, tossed her sippy cup to the corner of her playpen. She stood up, poked her head over the top of pen and saw Sawyer's bear sticking out of the box on the couch.
Kari's eyes lit up and she tried her very best to climb out of the playpen.
She succeeded, made her way over to the box, pulled the bear out, clutched it and smiled. "Mine!"
A few minutes later Peyton emerged back into the living room from the kitchen.
Her jaw dropped in shock when she saw Kari out of her playpen, playing with Sawyer's bear and she immediately ran over to the little girl and took the bear from her.
Kari looked up into her mother's eyes, burst into tears and tried to grab the bear back from Peyton.
"Honey, I'm sorry but...you can't play with Sawyer's bear." Peyton placed the bear back into the box and put the box on a nearby stand out of her young daughter's reach. "Mama will buy you your own bear, okay?"
Kari just continued to sob hysterically.
Peyton picked up a stuffed puppy dog from Kari's playpen and handed it to the little girl. "How about you play with your puppy?"
Kari took the stuffed animal, but didn't stop crying.
Peyton sighed, scooped Kari up into her arms and headed into the kitchen. She placed the crying tot in her high chair, picked up a bowl of cut up bananas from off the table and placed it in front of Kari. "I cut up some bananas for you...you're favorite. Don't you want some?"
Kari picked up one of the pieces of banana and threw it at her mother.
Peyton sighed. "Kari, I know that you're mad at me but I know you're hungry so please don't throw you're food at me. Eat it."
Kari continued to cry for a little while long before eventually tiring herself and stopping. She sniffled, took her free hand and wiped her eyes. She then slowly picked up a piece of banana and popped it into her mouth.
Peyton stood watching Kari for a minute before momentarily stepping out of the kitchen and heading off into Lucas's office to grab the laptop.
She re-entered into the kitchen, sat down at the table and placed the opened laptop in front of her.
"I have to find this playground." Peyton said to herself aloud as she googled 'parks in Charlotte, NC' and began looking through the many searches that had popped up under google images.
It only took Peyton a couple of minutes to find the red slide from her dreams. "There it is. At Rosemont Park."
Peyton closed the laptop and began staring off into space. "I have to go to there. She's going to be at the playground, I know it."
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Charlotte...
Peyton shifted Kari onto her left hip, hit the lock button on her car keys and walked toward the playground entrance.
Kari's eyes lit up when she saw a little yellow pony spring rider. She pointed to it and shouted out to her mother. "Mama!"
Instead of bringing her to the pony, Peyton put Kari on a baby swing and gently pushed her as she looked around the playground, hoping to see the mysterious little blonde girl.
Kari seemed extremely displeased. She looked up at her mother. "Mama, down." She pointed to the pony again, but Peyton left her in the swing and continued to push her.
Kari gave up trying to get her mother's attention and instead crossed her arms and began angrily mumbling to herself.
"She has to be here." Peyton said to herself quietly as she continued to scan the extremely crowded playground. She momentarily closed her eyes, placed her hand on her heart and became very overwhelmed with emotion.
Peyton slowly opened up her eyes and it was at that exact moment that she saw the happy and giggly Sawyer look-alike sliding down the same red slide she had seen in her dreams.
She covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my God, it's her!"
Peyton watched the little girl as she hopped off the slide, bend down and tie her loose shoelace.
Once she finished tying her shoe she stood up and caught glimpse of Peyton staring at her from afar.
The little girl's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. She briefly shifted her gaze onto Kari in the baby swing and then relocked eyes with Peyton. She shook her head, rubbed her eyes, opened them back up and resumed staring.
"She recognizes me..."
Just then a giggly redheaded, freckled face girl came running up to the little blonde and whispered something into her ear, causing the Sawyer look-alike to burst into the laughter.
The redheaded girl ran off and, after taking one last look at Peyton, the little blonde ran off behind her.
"No! Why is she running away!?"
Peyton began rummaging through her purse for her camera phone. Once she found it, she quickly scooped Kari up out of the swing and began running in the same direction as the look-alike, but the little girl was no where to be found.
"Where did she go..." Peyton wondered aloud.
She stopped moving and sighed. "She's gone."
Peyton shook her head in disappointment and slowly made her way back toward the baby swing. She bent down and picked up Kari's left shoe, which had fallen off when Peyton hastily lifted the toddler out of the swing, and headed off out the front exit and toward her car.
Peyton opened up the back seat and placed Kari into her car seat. Just as she was about to start to buckle her in, Peyton heard laughter coming from nearby.
She looked around and saw the Sawyer look-alike, along with her little redheaded friend, getting into a black SUV just a couple of cars ahead of her own, with the same handsome brown-haired man she had seen at Nathan's basketball game.
Peyton returned her attention to Kari and quickly began buckling her little one into the seat, but struggled as Kari kept fidgeting.
"Kari!" Peyton yelled out harshly. "Sit still!"
Kari immediately stopped moving and Peyton quickly buckled her in and slammed the backdoor shut.
She ran over to the driver's side door, looked up and saw that the SUV was gone, causing Peyton to burst into tears and collapse onto the roof of her car.
"She recognized me! That HAD to be Sawyer!" Peyton closed her eyes and sighed. "But if it was her then...why did she just run off like that? And who the HELL is that guy with her?!"
Peyton dried up her tears, swung open her car door, and hopped in.
"I need to figure out if Sawyer's really buried in that grave." Peyton said to herself as she started up the car. "And I will."
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Music studio...
Kari looked up at her mother and tugged on her shirt sleeve. "Mama."
Peyton let go of the mouse and directed her attention onto the little girl on her lap. "Kari I know you've had a long day and want to go home and we will soon, okay? I just have to check something out on my computer here real quick and then we'll leave."
She picked up her daughter's stuffed dog from off top of her purse and handed it to her. "Play with Sammy."
Peyton returned her attention to the computer screen in front of her and shook her head. "Lucas he's...never going to agree to exhume her body and...there's no way I can get that done without him knowing. Even if I could, if he were to ever find out later..."
She let her voice trail off and began playing with the locket around her neck. Just then, a light bulb popped into her head. "The hair in the locket. After Sawyer died the nurse she...she gave me a lock of her hair."
Peyton held onto Kari with her left arm and typed away with her right hand. "I can do parental testing. I can have the hair from the locket compared to mine and that will tell me if the girl in the grave is Sawyer or not."
Peyton stopped typing and scanned the page of a diagnostic center in nearby Wilmington. "I don't want to get caught doing this so it's probably best I go out of town."
She continued to look at the screen for a long while before eventually slamming the laptop shut when she heard someone approaching the studio door.
"Hey Peyton." Mia said as she entered into the studio. "I didn't know you were going to be coming in today."
"I wasn't." Peyton admitted as she got up from her desk seat. "But then I remembered that I uh...had left some important papers here that needed to be faxed out TODAY so I came in to take care of that and..."
Her speech came to a screeching halt after catching a whiff of Kari's smelly diaper. "Looks like someone needs to be changed."
Peyton grabbed her bag from off the floor. "I'll be right back."
Mia nodded and watched as Peyton exited the room and headed off toward the bathroom to change Kari.
Mia whipped her cell out and sent Chase a quick text. She then walked over to Peyton's desk and plopped down in front of her laptop. "I'm sure Peyton won't mind if I check my email."
The brunette opened up the laptop and eyed the screen curiously. "Parental DNA testing. W-why in the world would Peyton be looking at this unless she..."
Mia let her voice trail, sat up, slammed the laptop shut and started walking off toward the door just as Peyton and Kari had emerged back into the studio from the bathroom. "You just got here and you're leaving?"
Mia nodded. "Yeah umm...Chase called and he...needs me to help him with something so I need to...leave. I'll call you later."
Peyton nodded, but eyed Mia curiously. "Okay."
Mia feigned a smile, waved bye to Kari and jetted out of the studio.
Peyton stood still for a moment, turned her attention onto the laptop on the desk and sighed. "I pray to God that Chase really did need her help and that she didn't look at my computer..."
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"You two are finally home." Lucas said to his wife as he took Kari into his arms. "Where have you been?"
Peyton closed the front door behind her and stepped inside. "Everywhere...the park, studio...uh shopping, errands."
"Well you came home just in time. Brooke finished up all the play costumes and Jack and Emma are going to give us a little preview of Yankee Doodle."
Peyton followed Lucas into the living room, where Brooke and Emma's mother, Mrs. Chang, sat on the couch waiting for the kids to come out.
"Was that Mom who just came in?!" Jack yelled out from his bedroom.
"Yes!" Lucas shouted out as he and Peyton plopped down on the couch. "So come out whenever you guys are ready!"
A few minutes later Emma, dressed in a sparkly green and silver liberty costume, entered into the living room. She walked over to an end table, hit the play button on the CD player, and lovely patriotic music emerged from the speakers.
Emma pointed down the hall and shouted. "Look! It's my Yankee Doodle Boy!"
Jack then came marching out in a dazzling red, white and blue costume and started singing. "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy!"
"A Yankee Doodle do or die!" Emma sang out.
"A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam...born on the fourth of July. I've got a Yankee Doodle..."
Jack momentarily let his voice trail off as he bent down in front of Emma, removed his hat, took Emma's right hand into his and kissed it. "Sweetheart. She's my Yankee Doodle joy!"
Jack quickly glanced at his mother, who appeared to be in deep thought, and saw that she was only watching half-heatedly. His mother's disinterest saddened him and he fought hard to blink back his tears as he placed his hat back on his head and stood up.
Him and Emma started to do a little dance as they both sang out together. "Yankee Doodle went to town, a-riding on a pony!"
Jack pointed to himself and smiled as best he could. "I am that Yankee Doodle Boy!"
"You guys were great!" Lucas said as he hit the stop button on the player and he, along with Brooke, Mrs. Chang and Peyton, all stood smiling and clapping.
"Amazing!" Brooke and Mrs. Chang shouted in unison.
"You sure were." a smiley Peyton chimed in.
Jack sighed and slowly nodded his head. "Well I better take my costume off now."
He turned his attention to Emma. "I'll see ya later." Jack then headed off toward his bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him.
All the adults looked around at each other in bewilderment.
"I wonder what's wrong." Lucas said aloud as he made his way down the hall to his son's room. He knocked gently on the door. "Jack, you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Jack shouted out as he wiped the tears that had fallen down his face. "I'm just tired!"
Lucas sighed. "Okay...I guess I'll leave you alone then..." He then slowly walked off down the hall and back toward the living room.
Meanwhile in the bedroom, Jack laid down on his bed, gripping his pillow and the let the tears fall from his eyes. "She...wasn't even really watching. It's like she...d-didn't even care..."
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Later that night...
A restless Peyton tossed and turned in bed...
"I'm back at the playground." Peyton whispered to herself as she looked around the foggy playground that she had dreamed of before and took a seat on a swing. "But I don't see her anywhere this time."
Peyton gently rocked back and forth on the swing for a long while before finally spotting the Sawyer look-alike, with her head down, walking in her direction from a distance.
"She's heading over here!" Peyton said as she hopped off the swing and started walking up to the little girl.
Once the two met each other, Peyton smiled, bent down to the little girl's eyelevel and lifted up her chin to get a good look at her. It was at that moment she came to a startling realization and stepped back.
"Y-you can't b-be Sawyer..." Peyton stuttered out. "Because...you're...you're ME."
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Peyton opened her eyes and popped up. "That...that little girl was...me."
She looked over at a sleeping Lucas beside her and scratched her head in confusion. "But that doesn't make any sense. Today...was the first day I've ever been to that playground. At least...I think it was."
Peyton paused momentarily before continuing. "Or...maybe it wasn't but if it's not...then why don't I have any memory of being there?"
Peyton sat up thinking for a little while longer before eventually laying her head back down on her pillow and drifting back off to sleep.
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Okay so I hope you all liked this chapter! Anyways...a lot happened. Peyton had a dream where she was at a playground and it was in this dream that she (thought) she spotted Sawyer/look-alike/doppelganger/ghost, whatever you want to call her. She does some searching online and discovers this playground, with the beautiful red slide, is at a park in Charlotte and she decides to head down there, hoping to see the little girl. Peyton does end up seeing the look-alike at the park and the look-alike spots her as well and stares at Peyton in shock. Peyton is sure that the little one recognizes her, yet the look-alike eventually runs off laughing with her little redhead friend. Peyton tries to chase after, but can't find her. Peyton sees her again, getting into an black SUV with her friend and, once again, the handsome brown-haired man. She tries to hurry getting Kari into her car seat so she can follow them but is too slow and they drive off before Peyton can even start up her. So what do you think is going on? Do you think the Sawyer look-alike really recognized Peyton? If she did, then why did she walk off? Maybe she was staring at Peyton because Peyton was staring at her? I don't know. Anyways...Peyton ends up deciding once and for all that she needs to figure out if Sawyer is really buried in that grave or not so, knowing that Lucas would never want to exhume her, she decides to get a DNA test done behind his back using the hair in the locket and looks the process up online at her computer at the studio. Mia comes in and, when Peyton steps out for a minute, hops on the comp. to check her email and sees the DNA parentage testing stuff. It appears as though Mia is going to jump to some bad conclusions. Do you think she'll keep the information to herself or tell someone about it? Haley, perhaps? Who knows. It's also important to note in this chapter how Peyton, though I'm sure is freaking out about being the only to have seen her supposedly dead daughter, isn't being all that attentive to Jack and Kari, her two children who are most definitely very much alive and seeking her attention. Peyton dragged Kari to the playground and didn't let her play on the little pony she was eyeing. She also took Sawyer's bear from her earlier too, which is KIND of understandable that she didn't want her to play with it but still...And then poor Jack...Peyton totally ignored him this morning and wasn't even really paying much attention to him when he and Emma did their little snippet of Yankee Doodle in the living room. Jack was so crushed! Peyton loves Jack and Kari just as much as Sawyer and is just a little preoocupied, for good reasons but still...she needs to start paying more attention the kids who are here. Oh and lastly but most certainly not least Peyton has the playground dream again and this time she actually comes face to face with the little blonde girl only then realizing that it isn't the look-alike/ghost but her; the seven-year-old her. You all get that right? Peyton felt compelled to go to the playground after seeing the little girl playing there in a dream and when she goes to the park she does actually see the look-alike but in the dream it turns out it wasn't the look-alike she was seeing but herself. So...what the heck does that mean? Peyton doesn't remember ever playing at that playground, but maybe she did? And does that fit in with everything? Hmm...I don't know! Please review with your thoughts/predictions! - Jasmine
