"Thank you," Peyton said softly as she took a cup of water from a nurse's hand. She took a quick sip and put the cup down on the movable table next to the gurney. It had only been a few minutes since the doctors had left her room, but Peyton was already feeling trapped. The pain hadn't really subsided, and she wanted to do something, anything, to make it go away.

As if she was reading Peyton's mind, the older nurse with graying hair held up an IV bag and said, "Fentanyl." With a knowing smile, she added, "This should help with the pain." Quickly, Katherine removed the saline drip and hooked the medicine bag to Peyton's IV.

Peyton watched drops of Fentanyl fall down her IV tube and enter her hand. Skeptically, she said, "I hope so."

Checking the IV a final time, Katherine continued. "Can I get you anything else, dear?"

Peyton sat back on the gurney and signed. "Do you know if anyone has been able to reach Lucas?"

Katherine rolled a machine from the corner of the room next to Peyton's bed, "I'm sorry; I'm not sure. I'll check at the front desk for you as soon as I'm done checking your vitals here."

Peyton closed her eyes and bit her lower lip against the pain that was shooting through her abdomen. Exhaling a deep breath, she whispered, "Please."

Katherine seemed to notice the way Peyton cringed and looked a bit worried. Saying nothing, she pulled the blood pressure cuff out of the portable machine in the corner of the room and warmed her stethoscope. As she inflated the blood pressure cuff around Peyton's right arm, she tried to make small talk. "So Lucas is your fiancé?"

"Yeah." She pushed some stray tendrils of hair out of her face with her left hand. With a wistful smile, she added, "He's in LA for work, so I know he'll be freaking out when someone tells him I'm here."

Katherine smiled. "He sounds like he really loves you."

With a smile, Peyton said, simply, "He does." Sighing, she added, "I guess we're both a little paranoid that our lives have been too perfect for the last few months. Something like this was bound to happen." She tried to forget all of the struggles that they had gone through to get together, stay together and get back together. She tried to forget the three wasted years that haunted her every day. He was hers now, and nothing was going to drive them apart. But she expected the world to cave in around her. Just like it was right now.

"Oh, honey, don't think like that."

Rolling her eyes, Peyton said, "We've been through so much; it's almost routine to have something terrible happen." While she rubbed her temples, she said, "I wish I could call him. Can I use my cell?"

"Sorry, dear, we can't have cell phones back here because of all the equipment and the threat of interference. But as soon as I'm done here, I'll see what I can do. We might be able to work something out to get a phone in here."

Peyton breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks. I think Luke will feel better if he can talk to me." She didn't add that she would feel better if she heard his voice, too. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture Lucas's smiling face, telling her that everything would be okay. With a small smile, Peyton said, "I think talking to me will help keep him sane."

"We'll see what we can do." Katherine smiled at Peyton, but her expression soured when she looked at the machine readout. She muttered, "90/62, 108. Not good."

"What does that mean?" Peyton rubbed the painful area in her side and tried to ease some of her pain. No success. "Of all days for Lucas to be in --"

"-- Does it hurt right there?" Katherine's voice was soft, yet firm, as she pointed to the spot Peyton was rubbing.

Peyton's thoughts drifted from Lucas to her current situation. "Yeah. It's worst here."

Biting her lip, Katherine put a thermometer in Peyton's ear. "Is the Fentanyl helping?"

"Not really," Peyton admitted. Truthfully, since the rest of the doctors and nurses had left the room, the pain had become more intense, more focused. She shifted to her right side and tried to pull her knees to her chest. "Can you get me another blanket? I'm freezing."

The thermometer beeped, and the nurse scowled as she gazed at the temperature reading. "I'm going to get Dr. Brown."

Peyton's pulse quickened. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Your fever has gone up pretty quickly." Katherine tried to keep her voice calm, but Peyton could sense that she was hiding something. "You had a low grade fever when you came in, but now you're at 38.5. The doctor might want to get you started on antibiotics."

"What does that mean?" From the way the tone of the nurse's voice changed, Peyton had a feeling that it wasn't good.

"Dr. Brown needs to check your white blood cell count to be sure, but with numbers like this, you probably have an infection." The nurse was notably less chipper as she walked toward the door.

"Wait. I need to know. What's wrong with me? What's happening?"

Katherine stopped in her tracks and looked at Peyton with an unreadable expression on her face. It was bad. It had to be bad. "I need to get Dr. --"

Peyton grabbed her knees and pulled them closer to her chest. In a soft voice, she said, "-- This is worse than just an infection, isn't it? What aren't you telling me?"

With a pained look on her face, the nurse said, "I'll be right back with the doctor."

When the nurse was gone, Peyton finally let herself cry.

______________________________________________________________________________

Unwilling to let himself cry, Lucas fought the tears that lingered at the back of his eyes. As the cab sped toward LAX, he grabbed his phone and dialed Haley's number. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Then, she answered.

"Lucas!" Her voice was frantic. "We've been trying --"

Lucas didn't want to wait for Haley's drawn out explanation. "-- How is she? " His voice cracked as he added, "I'm dying here, Hales." He closed his eyes, waiting for her response.

He could hear Haley take a deep breath. Then her words came out as a very fast stream of consciousness. "I know you are; I wish I knew more, but we're still waiting. I think they were talking about taking her back for some tests a while ago, but we haven't heard anything since. No one's been able to see her yet because they're working on her. Brooke just talked to her dad, and he said he'd be here in about twenty minutes."

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed deeply. Haley didn't know much more than he knew already. "Can I talk to someone? A doctor, a nurse, anyone?"

"Okay," she answered. "We'll try." Her voice was slightly muffled when she said, "Brooke, can you see if someone at the desk will talk to Lucas?"

He couldn't quite make out Brooke's response, but he did hear her sniffle back her tears.

After one of the longest moments of his life, Lucas heard Haley's voice again. "Brooke Davis, I don't even want to ask. Okay, Lucas, this is Nurse Smith. She's one of Peyton's nurses."

An unfamiliar voice took Haley's place. "Lucas?"

The cab pulled into an entrance for LAX, but it didn't even register with Lucas. "Yes."

"I'm Katherine Smith, one of Peyton's nurses."

His breath caught in his chest. His words came out together as he tried to process the thought that he was really talking to someone who had just seen Peyton. "How is she? What's wrong? Can I talk to her?"

"She was asking about you," Nurse Smith said in a kind, motherly tone.

Lips curling into a slight smile, he let out a long breath. "She's awake? Thank god."

"Yes, she's in a lot of pain, but she's completely conscious."

"What's wrong with her?" Lucas played with the edge of the seat, unable to sit still.

"We haven't gotten the results back from her blood work, and we haven't been able to do a CT, so we're not positive."

"But you have an idea." Lucas felt his heart sinking; the nurse's evasiveness was not a good sign.

The nurse avoided his question. "She wants to talk to you."

Lucas recognized the avoidance tactics, but he was too excited at the prospect of talking to Peyton to care. "She does? Can I talk to her?"

After a short pause, Katherine said, "I think I know a way to make it happen. Let me transfer you to another line."

As he waited for the nurse to come back, the cab pulled up to the entrance nearest to his gate. He swiped a credit card, grabbed his suitcase, and hopped out of the back seat. Waving to the cabbie, he found a bench near the door and sat down, waiting to hear Peyton's voice.

Almost as soon as he sat down, Peyton's familiar, but weak, voice came across the line. "Lucas?"

He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Peyton, oh, god, Peyton." He ran his free hand through his hair. "It's so good to hear your voice. How are you?"

Chucking slightly, she said, voice slightly slurred, "Pretty good now that I have this Fentanyl."

Lucas cracked a small smile. "Really, I'm serious, Peyton. I'm going crazy here worrying about you."

Her voice softening to almost a cry, she said, simply, "I don't know what's wrong." He could hear her start to cry as she said, "My stomach. It hurts."

"It's okay," he tried to keep his voice calm, but he had a feeling she could sense his nervousness. "You're gonna be okay."

"I know," she declared. "I do feel better on the painkiller."

"Good, good. Has the doctor been in to talk to you?"

Almost on cue, he heard a deep voice say, "Peyton, we met before, but I'm Doctor Brown from general surgery."

"Surgery?" Lucas exclaimed, his pulse quickening. "Is that your doctor?"

Peyton didn't respond to him, but instead asked the doctor, "Can I keep my fiancé on the phone so he can hear this?" After a moment, she added, "He's out of town and is waiting for a flight back home."

"Okay," the doctor answered.

Lucas smiled, but didn't speak. He hung on the doctor's every word, praying that it would be that Peyton was fine and would be released that evening.

His stomach dropped when Dr. Brown said, "We got your bloodwork back, Peyton, and it's a little inconclusive."

Peyton's voice was steady, but Lucas could feel her tension as she said, "Oh, how so?"

"Well, as we feared, you have an infection. We'd like to start you on antibiotics, but we want to culture the infected area to give you an antibiotic specific to your bacteria."

Lucas closed his eyes and listened to Peyton's even breathing on the other side of the line. She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, how do you do that?"

"Well, normally, we'd do an abdominal CT to explore the source of the infection. From the location of the pain, there's a good chance that it's appendicitis."

"Appendicitis?" Lucas said softly. He knew it was something she would need surgery for, but it wasn't usually life threatening.

Before Lucas could be too happy about the news, Peyton asked, "But why aren't you doing the CT?"

Lucas took a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

The doctor couched uncomfortably. Then he said, "Because your pregnancy test came back positive."

"Oh my god, Peyton, you're pregnant?" Lucas exclaimed. His heart soared. He'd always wanted to be a father, and since he and Peyton had gotten back together, the urge had only become stronger. "That's amazing."

Peyton's response was a little more subdued. "Oh, I see. But why do I think there's something you aren't telling me."

Lucas wasn't sure if he was hurt that Peyton didn't feel the same way about the baby is he did. Then, he realized why Peyton might not be too excited.

Lucas's enthusiasm was crushed when the doctor said, "I'm sorry, Peyton. We don't want to do the abdominal CT in case the pregnancy is viable." The doctor quickly added, "More likely than not, the pregnancy is viable, but there is the --"

"-- In case?" Peyton whispered. "What do you mean in case?"

Lucas wanted nothing more than to hold Peyton in his arms at this moment. Instead, he tried to speak words of comfort, but he had a feeling that he might be making the situation worse. "It's okay, Peyton. Everything's fine. He said the pregnancy is probably viable." He slouched on the bench, feeling utterly defeated.

"From the location of your pain, you probably have appendicitis, but there is a chance that the infection and the pain you feel are due to an ectopic pregnancy."

"No!" Peyton exclaimed. Lucas could hear her crying, and it broke his heart.

"Peyton, it's going to be okay."

"No, it's not, Lucas," she snapped. Then she added, "Oh, god, Luke, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You're scared." He rubbed his eyes as he added, "I'm scared, too. Are there any tests they can do --"

"-- Can you do any tests to see which one I have?" she said frantically.

The doctor heaved an audible sigh. "We're worried about the infection. With the fever you have, you might be on the verge of the appendix of the ectopic pregnancy rupturing and spreading the infection into the cavity. So we could do an ultrasound, but we feel that an exploratory laparotomy is more appropriate in your case because time is of the essence."

"Surgery," Peyton said softly. "Is that the only option?"

"Unfortunately, yes. We are racing against the clock to prevent a rupture."

Lucas could hear Peyton's tears. "Are you okay, baby?"

Her weak response was completely honest. "I'm scared."

"I am, too."

She directed a question to the doctor. "What if it's an ectopic pregnancy? Is that like a . . . a miscarriage?"

"Don't think like that, Peyton," Lucas insisted. "It's not an ectopic pregnancy."

Before Peyton could respond to Lucas, the doctor said, "Yes, unfortunately, an ectopic pregnancy is not viable. But if the pregnancy is normal, the surgery should be safe for the baby and you should be able to have a normal pregnancy."

"See, Peyton, everything should be okay."

"That's not what he said, Luke." She took a deep breath and said, "I think you have to do the surgery."

The doctor said, "We have the OR reserved. We just have to get you prepped. I'll give you a minute alone with your fiancé. Your friends and family in the waiting room can see you for a minute, too."

"Peyton, it's going to be okay." He sighed. "We're due a break."

"But what if it's not?" Peyton sobbed. "We don't exactly have good luck."

He chuckled sardonically. "Even if it's not okay, we'll get through it. Hey, who else has more experience getting through stuff like this?"

"No one," she said with a slight laugh. Her voice sobered as she said, "What if I lose this baby? I've known about it for about two minutes, but I already want it so badly."

"I know. I feel the same way." Taking a chance, he added, "I've always wanted to have a baby with you. Ever since I first saw you, all legs and curls, I knew that you were the only woman I wanted to have a family with."

"What about --"

"-- Even when I was with Lindsay, I could never --"

"-- I love you, Lucas Scott." She effectively cut off any more discussion. "The nurses are standing at the door, glaring at me."

"Well, I guess we can't keep them waiting." His voice dropped considerably when he said, "I love you, too, Peyton Sawyer. I'll see you when you wake up."

"You'd better." She sniffled back more tears. "They're coming to get me now. God, I love you, Lucas."

"I love you, too, Peyton." As he hung up the phone, he closed his eyes and said a silent prayer that Peyton and his child would be all right.

To be Continued.