A/N - OK, so I completely suck! I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last update! I was away for two weeks and then work was crazy and when I came back I just really wasn't feeling all that inspired! Anyway, the whole point is I swear I'll be better at updating. Here's the newest chapter, please let me know what you think!

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Peyton's POV

"Brooke, wait…" Nathan tries to stop her as she pushes past him and practically runs from the house. Brooke doesn't even so much as glance in his direction and I watch Nathan look at Haley, his blue eyes cloudy with worry. "I'll go check on her…" He throws a glance in my direction before turning to follow my former best friend.

"No, Nathan, let me…" Everyone stares at me in shock as I slowly approach my brother-in-law. I have no idea what I'm going to say to her but the truth is this conversation has been a long time coming and Natalie's confession is the final straw.

"Peyton…" Lucas' voice pulls me back to reality and I turn to look at him with Natalie still in his arms. "Ugh… Hales… can you…" He nods in Nat's direction and Haley nods silently, approaching my husband, holding her arms out to Natalie.

"Nat, honey, do you want to come with me? We'll go see what Jamie's doing, OK?" Haley smiles at my daughter, who shakes her head and buries her face in her father's shoulder. She's so confused by everything that's going on and I wish there was something I could do to comfort her. The day she was born was the happiest day of my life. I didn't think it was possible to love another person as much as I love her and everything I've ever done was for her, to make sure that she didn't have the kind of childhood that I had; that all of us had really. I swore that she would never know what it was like to have an absentee parent.

"Nat, baby, you should go with Aunt Haley." My voice is soft and gently as I approach them. "Just for a little while, OK?"

"I want to go home, Mama." Natalie looks up at me and my heart breaks at the pain I see in her eyes.

"I know, honey, but I need to talk to Aunt Brooke right now so can you go with Aunt Haley for me, please." I ask her quietly and she looks at me for a long time before slowly nodding and letting Haley take her out of Luke's arms. I watch them leave the room before turning and heading toward the door.

"Peyton, wait…" Luke stops me and I hesitate for a moment before turning back to him. I don't want to look at him. I don't want to see the concern in his eyes because I know it's not for me, it's for my brunette former best friend.

"I need to do this Lucas and so does Brooke." I say after a moment, taking a deep breath. "We should have had this conversation a long time ago." I glance at Nathan, who's been watching the whole scene in silence, and sigh a little. Haley's always tried to stay neutral when it came to me and Brooke but I've always known that if push came to shove Nathan would take Brooke's side over mine and from his expression I think that day may have come. Sighing again I pull the front door open and slowly step outside. I can see Brooke leaning against Luke's car, her hands on the hood. She looks like she's about to throw up at any second. I can't say I blame her for that. If the rolls were reversed, that's definitely how I would feel. I chew on my bottom lip nervously as I slowly make my way across the driveway. "Brooke…" My voice causes her to jump and she spins around to look at me. "I…."

"Peyton, what does this mean?" Brooke's voice is barely above a whisper and if I'm being completely honest I'm totally in shock. This is Brooke Davis. I excepted the firecracker in her to come out and the insults to start to fly but she just looks exhausted now. "Why does your daughter know about me? Why would you tell her about me? I don't understand."

"Because you were my best friend." The words sound simple enough to me but Brooke recoils as though I've slapped her.

"I was your best friend?" Brooke stares at me as tears fill her eyes. "Is that supposed to make everything OK between us? You can't just throw that around when it's convenient for you, Peyton. I obviously wasn't that important to you. That's why you had no trouble turning on me for something that Lucas did." She shakes her head before turning away from and leaning against the car again. "Just go, Peyton, please."

"I knew I would lose him." The words tumble from my mouth and shock even me. Brooke looks over her shoulder at me, a completely confused expression on her face, before slowly turning to look at me again. "When I heard him say your name, I knew I was going to lose him." Tears fill my eyes and I quickly wipe them away. "I knew that you still loved him, Brooke, and I knew that when he found out, he'd leave me." I run my fingers through my hair and sigh again. "I couldn't let Natalie grow up without her father and I couldn't lose him.

"How could you think so little of me Peyton?" Brooke stares at me, pain evident in her eyes. "How could think that I would do that you? I never would have done that to you." She shakes her head as tears spring to her eyes and she doesn't even bother to wipe them away. "Do you have any idea how badly you hurt me. Those things that you said to me, the things you accused me of. After everything you and I had been through together. After everything I gave up so you could be happy, the fact that you could just turn on me like that…."

"But I wasn't wrong Brooke." I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth because Brooke's eyes get wide and suddenly all trace of sadness is gone.

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Brooke's POV

My eyes go wide when I hear the words leave Peyton's mouth. But I wasn't wrong. Is she fucking kidding me?

"You caused this!" I practically scream and have to check myself. "I'm willing to take responsibility for what I did Peyton. I know that it was wrong and I know that I had no right to do it but we wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for you!" I shake my head and take a deep breath as I look at the blonde in front of me. "You ended our friendship, not me."

"And that gave you the right to sleep with my husband?" Peyton stares at me incredulously.

"Of course not Peyton!" I sigh heavily and shake my head. "But I never would have called him if you hadn't cut me out. I would have called you." I blink back tears again. Peyton stares at me for a long moment before slowly walking towards me and leaning against the car next to me.

"I knew, Brooke." She says finally and I stare at her in confusion. "I knew long before I ever heard him say your name that he still loved you." She shakes her head with a sigh. "But when that happened, I don't know, something inside of me just snapped. I knew that I was going to lose him to you. It was inevitable. And I just felt like my whole life was falling apart; my family was falling apart. I was too scared to say anything to Luke and then I went to your house and Haley was there and for some crazy reason, that pushed me over the edge.

"Haley pushed you over the edge? Peyton, what the hell are you talking about?" I stare at her. I am completely lost.

"You're closer to Haley than I am." Peyton pauses for a moment to take a deep breath. "And I'll never have the kind of relationship with Nathan that you do. They made you Jamie's godmother for Christ's sake, and that little boy worships the ground you walk on. And when I saw the two of you laughing and joking… I don't know, I just lost it." Peyton paused for a moment and looked down at her hands. "She's my sister-in-law, they're my family and sometimes I just felt like they wished he had married you instead. It felt like you were taking everything that was important to me." We're both quiet for a long time and my mind is spinning.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say Peyton." I pause and slowly glance in her direction.

"I shouldn't have blamed you." Peyton shoves her hands in her pockets and sighs again. "I knew that and I felt so guilty about it. I missed you. That's why I told Natalie about you."

"What are we supposed to do now Peyton?" I slowly look at her. "I just don't know where we go from here."