Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or its characters. Flashbacks are italicized. .


Peyton Sawyer has gone through many things in her short lifetime. Never did she think that her best friend would go behind her back and kiss her boyfriend. They have overcome so much together; love triangles, sex tapes, and stalkers, who knew Brooke would be willing to throw that all away just to get with Lucas one last time. And what makes it worse is that she saw it. She saw it with her own eyes; Lucas and Brooke kissing. A kiss always means something right? She couldn't let this happen, not again. So Peyton did the one thing she knows how to do best…she ran. Right into the arms of her ex-boyfriend. Literally.

"Oh...ugh. Nathan I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. I was actually just leaving." Looking up at him with tear stained eyes.

"Sawyer. What the hell happened?" he asked her as he let go of her arms.

She looks at him and says with force. "Your brothers an ass!.....And Brooke is a bitch!"

He couldn't help but laugh. She was just crying, and within a matter of seconds she's pissed.

"This isn't funny Nate! I'm serious!" she said as she punched him in the arm.

He flinched back at her punch. "Hey! Hey! Alright. I'm sorry." He said sincerely. "What happened?" He asked as they started walking together.

Peyton sighed. "They kissed." He cocked an eyebrow. "Brooke and Lucas. I saw it happen and I just ran."

"Wait a minute. You saw Brooke and Lucas kissing? Are you sure?" he asks doubtfully.

He knows his brother can be an ass and the Brooke can be a bitch but he never thought that they would do this to Peyton. She means too much to them.

"I'm sure. It was a hands tangled in her hair full on Lucas/Brooke kind of kiss." She said looking down at her feet.

"What did you say?" he waited for her response. Nothing. "You're telling me you didn't say anything."

She shook her head. "Nate what was I supposed to say? Oh hey Luke. I love you too, wanna make it a threesome?" she retorted sarcastically.

She was upset and he knew it. They made their way into his empty bedroom and sat down on his bed.

"I never thought Brooke would do that to me. I mean we're best friends! We've been through so much together ya know. Especially lately…I just, I don't know. I mean, sure she slept with you, but we were terrible together. That doesn't even really count." She rambled on.

Nathan listened to her ramble. She was right he had slept with Brooke; while he was dating Peyton. God, he was an ass. But she was wrong about one thing; they weren't terrible together, in fact Nathan thought they were pretty great together. He had to make her see that.

"I'm sorry." He says lamely.

She can't help it. She laughs."It's not your fault Luke and Brooke are screwing around."

He shakes his head and grabs her hand. "No. Not for that." His icy blue eyes meet her emerald green ones. "For everything." She looks at him confused. He sighs, "I was terrible to you when we dated. You didn't deserve that. But for what it's worth I think we were pretty great together." He confesses.

She looks away, she can't bear hearing this. She thought that she and Nathan were done. Wait, they are done. She loves Lucas; that's why they broke up. And Nathan loves Haley; even if they aren't together right now. This, her and Nathan, isn't supposed to happen. They are old news. Right? Then why did her heart just skip a beat when he told her he thought they were 'pretty great together'? And why does she want to kiss him so badly right now?

So she starts putting her walls up, like always. She pulls her small hands out from his larger ones and stands up. Great now she's pacing.

"Nathan." She pleads with him "You…I, I…you can't say those things to me! Not now, not…" she takes a breath, "not after everything that's happened. I mean God, you were married!" she screams.

Nathan stands up now and faces her. "Your right. I was married. But Haley and I, we weren't in love. We were young; and I was lying to myself. She was a rebound Peyton." He tells her.

"Don't! Don't you dare tell me that you love me and that it's always been me!" She yells and walks away from him. She can't look at him; if she does she might do something extremely stupid.

"Peyton. I love you. And it's always been you." He tells her, passion oozing from his voice.

He did it; the exact thing that she tells him not to do. And in that moment she forgets all about Brooke and Lucas kissing in the other room. In that moment she fell in love with Nathan Scott all over again. And everything that they have done to each other and every relationship that have had after each other has just been erased.

He slowly starts walking over to her. He grabs her waist with one hand while the other grazes her perfect face.

Her breathing is hitched; she knows something is going to happen that she will never be able to take back, but she can't bring herself to care.

Their lips are inches apart.

"Nate. I…but, what about Lucas?" she had to throw that out there. Thinking maybe that would stop him.

It didn't.

"What about him?" is his response.

She says nothing. He takes that as his cue. He crashes his lips into hers and they stumble backwards onto his bed. She knows this is wrong. This is the exact thing that she's pissed at Brooke and Lucas about. But she doesn't care. All she cares about is that Nathan is taking too damn long to take his shirt off.

Their lips part only when their shirts are being thrown over their heads. Clothes are flying everywhere and Nathan looks deeply into her eyes, never breaking contact.

"I love you Peyton." He whispers passionately. "I'm in love with you."

"Shh… don't ruin it Nate." She smiles at him. She kisses him once more before he has the chance to say anything else.

"I love you too…" She whispers when he enters her. There was no going back now.

-

It happened. Lucas kissed her. Perfect, how is she supposed to explain this to Peyton? It's not like she wants Lucas to kiss her. She's been over Lucas a long time now, and has come to terms with Lucas and Peyton: True Love Always. But Lucas kissed her, and as far as she is concerned that's crossing a line; he's with Peyton, and she will not be that girl. She won't do that to her best friend, because she knows how much it hurts.

"Lucas…..Damn it! You're with Peyton now. We cannot do this!" Brooke yelled as she broke the kiss and backed away from Lucas.

Lucas sighs, "I'm sorry…I, I just don't know what's going on Brooke." He takes a seat on the bed. "Ever since the attack she's been distant from me. I don't know what to do anymore." Lucas admits.

Brooke scoffs, "Yeah, well making moves on me isn't going to help Luke." She tells him.

She takes a seat next to him on the bed. "Do you still love her?" she dares to ask him.

"Ugh, I don't know. I want to. I want to love her. I feel like I'll always have feelings for her. I mean, we've gone through so much to finally get here and…"

"…and you're going to blow it all to hell if she ever finds out you kissed me." She finishes for him.

"Yeah." He simply says.

"Look, she's going through some things right now. I'm not going to tell her if you don't want me to. But I really think you should." Brooke informs him, and stands up to leave.

Luke says nothing. He looks up to Brooke as if he's looking for guidance.

"Okay." She says walking back over to him. "I can't tell you how to be with her, but I know that she loves you. And I know you love her. You just have a tendency to hide your heart." She tells him. "Sooo… Stop hiding it and get your ass into gear! I'm serious Luke. Don't break her heart." She warms him before she leaves the room.

-

That was five years ago. A lot has changed since then. Brooke and Haley sit outside on Peyton's porch, and wonder how all of this went so wrong. They love their friends, they really do but they've done one hell of a job messing things up this time. One too many misunderstandings got them into a lot of trouble. Not only are their hearts at stake but there is an innocent little girl in the middle of all of this. Lucas loves Peyton, Peyton loves Nathan, and Nathan loves himself. Great.

Brooke laughs bitterly and throws her head back. "Look at the mess you got us into Blondie."

"Brooke, we can't put the blame on Peyton. It's not her fault." Haley laughs.

"I know Hales. It's just, she still loves him and the worst part is that it's like he doesn't even care... Ya know?" she says to the petite brunette.

Haley glances over at Brooke, "He's here." Brooke looks at her to continue on. " Nathan. In Tree Hill. I called him yesterday, and he's missing his big game. So, be on high alert." She finishes.

Brooke sighs, "Thanks. I just don't know how to protect her anymore."

"Maybe this time you won't have to." Haley suggests.

"I don't know Hales. You didn't see the look in his eyes five years ago when I went to go see him." Brooke said.

Haley shot up. "Hold on! You went to go see him?" she asked astonished at Brookes revelation.

"Yeah. It was right after Peyton had the baby. I knew she wasn't going to call him again after he denied being the father, so I flew out to North Carolina." Brooke admitted.

-

There was a knock on the door. At three in the morning there was a knock on his door. This better be something damn important to be waking him up at this hour.

"Brooke." was all he could muster.

"Hey there Hot Shot. How's it going?" she asks nonchalantly.

Nathan sighs, "Brooke you do know it's three in the morning. What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, I know. But the better question is what are you doing here?" she hisses out.

"I don't know what you're talking about Brooke." He says as he walks past her grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Don't play dumb with me Nathan Scott. You know exactly what I'm talking about." She says angrily.

Nathan throws his hands up in defeat. He knows there is no way around the wrath of Brooke Davis.

"I don't know what you want me to say." He yells.

That's all it takes for Brooke to snap. She storms over to him a slaps him right across the face.

"How dare you! You knew and yet you decided…you decided to, to what, you decided that you didn't want to be a father? Sorry, but it doesn't work that way." She yells at him. She has so much rage pent up in her she is crying.

"You have a daughter. Her name is Sawyer, Sawyer Brooke Scott and she is beautiful." She tells him as she throws a picture of his newborn daughter at him.

He grabs the picture before it hits the floor and stares at it. And the realization hits him. This is his baby. His child with Peyton; and he wasn't there. He's an ass. And he knows it.

"She's gonna be a knock out one day." She says as she looks at him with hatred in her eyes. "Stay away from Peyton; she doesn't need your pity or your help. She has me." She turns on her heel to leave.

'Nice work Dan." She says before she slams the door in his face.


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