Center of Attention

A/N Thankyou so much for the reviews, I received 22! Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter it has the Peyton and Nathan confrontation. It isn't that good and it's not dramatic because I didn't want my story going in that direction. I hope you like it anyway. This chapter is just a bit of a filler.

Lucas woke up the following morning to a bright stream of sunlight shining through his window. He rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, two knocks on his door prevented him from doing so.

"Lucas, sweetie, are you up?" Karen Roe opened her son's door. Lucas sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.

"Well, even if I wasn't up, you probably would have woken me up by asking that," Lucas stated, watching as his mother ignored his comment and walked into the room, folding up pieces of clothing that he had thrown on the floor last night.

"Do you always do this? I thought I raised you better." Lucas chuckled.

"No. Just in a hurry to get to sleep last night. I was exhausted," he said, getting himself out of bed and to the doorway of his room. "You coming?" he asked.

"Yeah."

The mother and son walked into the hallway, where they were met by Keith carrying Charlie in his arms. The older man let the little toddler down and he quickly rushed over to his father.

"Daddy!" he exclaimed, and Lucas laughed, picking him up.

"Hey buddy!" he said. Glancing over at his parents he asked a question that he was dying to know the answer to. "Did Larry call?"

Karen lowered her head. "No. We haven't heard anything. I'm sorry, Lucas."

"It's fine," he said as he shook it off. Charlie didn't need to see him upset. He still didn't want his little boy to know about Peyton's situation just yet.

"Hey daddy," Charlie looked up at his father as the three adults walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah Charlie, what's up?"

"Mummy's coming home today, right?" the toddler's big green eyes locked with his blue ones.

Karen and Keith exchanged a quick glance and then look at their son. The parents were worried about Lucas. They knew how much he cared about Peyton and they felt that the situation was affecting him more than he let on.

"Yeah. Mummy's coming home." Lucas answered, setting his toddler down. God, he really did have Peyton's eyes.

"So, what time should we leave to go pick her up?" Keith asked, helping himself to a piece of toast that Karen had made.

"I think that we should call Larry and see how Peyton is. I mean, the doctor's were optimistic and everything, so, maybe she remembered something overnight…" Karen trailed off, seeing the look on her son's face.

"No. She didn't remember anything. Larry would have called me if she remembered." Lucas said, stirring his coffee. It was still hard to believe, but somehow he was getting adjusted to the fact that he was simply a person in Peyton's eyes.

"Well, I think we should go in around five o'clock? She gets released sometime tonight, so I think that we'll have plenty of time to wait for her." Keith said, eyeing Charlie meaningfully. Lucas nodded, knowing his son didn't need to sit in a waiting room the entire day.

"That's fine. I'll call Larry after breakfast and tell him the plan. Maybe we can take Charlie out to the gym or something. Would you come, Keith?" Lucas asked his uncle, who nodded vigorously.

"I'm all for it. We have to start training this little superstar at a young age if he's going to be as successful as his father is." Keith smiled. "Speaking of which, Lucas, I know it's summer, but when does your vacation end?"

"I go back to mandatory practices in a month." Lucas answered, suddenly looking up from his coffee. "Great!" he yelled.

"What's wrong?" Karen asked with her face full of worry.

"What am I going to do when my season starts? I'll be travelling for days at a time and Peyton is going to be here all by herself!" He sighed. This was a tough situation.

"Well, sweetheart, we'll figure that out when the time comes. For now, let's just hope she gets her memory back soon." Karen said in a tone that told Lucas to drop the subject.

"Yeah. Let's hope so," Lucas sighed.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

The blinds were pulled apart, allowing the sunlight to shine into Peyton's room. The young blonde groaned, closing her eyes once again, hoping to get at least another minute of sleep.

Her father had stayed with her last night. They had stayed up talking until about two in the morning. Now, at twelve, Peyton still wasn't ready to wake up, even after ten hours of sleep.

She had to admit, however, that even with the lack of sleep; Peyton did obtain some valuable information. She had made note of special occasions, birthdays, and everything possible about Charlie. Even though she couldn't remember her son, she still wanted a young child like him to have a mother figure at home. She felt guilty for not really finding out anything about Lucas.

"Good morning." Peyton replied, her eyes widening slightly as a nurse entered the room to check her stats.

"So, I was thinking that we could go out to dinner with Lucas, his parents, and Charlie tonight after you get out of the hospital. Would you be up to that, or do you not have much of an appetite?" Larry asked his daughter.

"No, that's fine. Not too fancy though. I'm going to be wearing my bloody clothes out of here," his daughter laughed.

"Oh! I completely forgot! Sorry about that honey. I'll have Lucas bring up something for you. Let me call Karen to see what there plan is today." Larry answered, and immediately began digging through his pockets for his phone.

"Will I get to meet Charlie today?" she asked in a quiet voice. The thought of a husband scared her enough, but a child? She was a mum.

"I think so. We still have to find out if Lucas wants you guys to meet a certain way, so that there's less of an impact on him. He may want you to pretend that you remember Charlie. I'm not sure. I'll be right back pumpkin. We can't use cell phones in this part of the hospital," he smiled, leaving Peyton to her own thoughts.

The phone rang at the Scott household, and all heads, except Charlie's, turned at the sound. Lucas looked a bit fearful, so Karen decided that she better answer it for him.

"Hello? Scott residence."

"Karen, it's Larry. I just had a few questions for you regarding today's events."

"Is there anything new?" Karen asked, knowing what the answer would be. She glanced at her son, who was now interested in what she was saying.

"I'm sorry, but no. The doctor said, though, that Peyton's ribs have healed at an incredible pace, and that she will be able to walk out of the hospital with just a bandage around them. Apparently, Peyton was extremely lucky to have this little of damage. Well, except for her brain, of course." Larry stated. He heard Lucille sigh on the other side of the line.

"Well, that's good," Karen said in a soft tone. She was happy about Peyton's ribs, but looking at her son's downfallen face was heartbreaking for her as well. It was strange, but not only did Lucas miss his wife, but Karen missed her daughter-in-law as well. They got along great, and had a lot of fun memories. "So what are you wondering about?"

"Well," Larry started, "I guess the first thing that we want to ask is whether or not Lucas wants Peyton to meet Charlie today. I guess we can talk about that when you guys get here. Also, do you think that Lucas could bring Peyton a fresh change of clothes? I thought we could take her out to eat tonight, nothing heavy, of course. She joked about not going somewhere fancy because she would be walking out of the hospital in blood-soaked clothes." Karen chuckled at this statement.

"Sure, I'll let Luke know. We plan on getting there around five tonight. Is that okay? Keith thought that Charlie shouldn't sit around all day, like yesterday," Karen asked.

"I agree. Peyton felt horrible that you all waited for hours. She'll be happy to hear that you are having some fun. Basketball, I presume?" Knowing Lucas, Larry figured it would be something to do with sports.

"Of course. Well, tell Peyton that we hope she's better, and that we're looking forward to seeing her tonight!" Karen glanced at her son once again, who was in an intense conversation with his father/uncle. "Bye!"

Having heard his mother end the conversation, Lucas's attention turned back to her.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Well, I think you know that she still doesn't remember anything." Karen started, and watched her son nod his head in agreement. "But, there is good news. It appears that her ribs are healing at a fast pace, so she will be able to walk out of the hospital today, instead of sitting in a wheelchair."

Lucas let out a sigh. "That's great. What else did Larry say?"

"Well, she asked if you could bring Peyton a fresh change of clothes for her. The only ones she has are bloody. I assume that we're taking her out to dinner, so, perhaps something comfortable, but fancy?" Karen suggested.

Lucas nodded his head, taking a last sip of coffee and rinsing out his glass. "I'll pick something out right now, that way we can go straight from the gym to the hospital."

Karen's nose wrinkled up in disgust. "Lucas, you would see Peyton after basketball? When you're all sweaty and gross?"

"Mum…" Lucas walked over to pat her on the back. "They have showers there." He said, and made his way up to the master bedroom.

"Excuse me, Mrs Scott, I mean Miss…" A nurse poked her head into Peyton's room. The blonde became confused at the smile on her face and a little sorry for the nurse who was at a loss as to what to call her.

"Yes?" she asked politely.

"There is a man and woman here to see you. Is it alright if they come in?" the nurse turned around to mutter something to the people outside the door.

"Uh… sure?" Was it Lucas's parents? Her dad had said they weren't coming until later that day.

The door opened all the way to reveal a couple with a wrapped box in their hands. Peyton recognized them to be Haley and her boyfr… well ex-boyfriend. The woman cautiously entered the room, sat in her bedside chair, and took her hand.

"Peyton, are you feeling better?" Haley asked as Peyton noticed that her eyes had gone watery.

"Not really but the painkillers are helping," Peyton tried to joke but failed miserably since she was a little uncomfortable talking to Haley since she really didn't know her yet Haley knew her really well.

"Haley, she doesn't remember you…" Nathan began before trailing off. Peyton darted her green eyes from Haley up to where Nathan was. This was going to be awkward. How are you supposed to talk to an ex-boyfriend who has gotten married when you don't even remember breaking up with him? Haley quickly got up noticing the way they were looking at each other.

"I think maybe we should speak to Peyton separately, you can go first Nathan," Haley said getting up from her seat and giving Nathan a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. Nathan took Haley's seat.

"So this is weird I guess," Nathan said trying to fill the awkward silence that had overcome.

"Yeah, so how long have you been married to Haley?" Peyton asked wanting to find out what had happened in Nathan's life after their break-up.

"Junior year in high school so when I was seventeen and Haley was sixteen." Peyton's eyebrows scrunched up.

"But that would mean it was the same year we were dating," Peyton asked clearly confused.

"Well when you and I broke up, I immediately started dating Haley who was my tutor and then we fell in love pretty quickly and I don't know out of instinct I asked her to marry me and she said yes and so we did," Nathan said cutting the story short.

"Oh cool, do you think you could tell me why we broke up?" Peyton asked curiously.

"Well it was really because you were sick and tired of the way I treated you," Nathan answered.

"But Haley doesn't mind that you treat her that way?" Peyton asked slightly remembering how much she hated Nathan for the way he took her for granted and yet she still stayed with him.

"Oh God no, Haley and I, it's different. I love her and well you and I never loved each other. I changed for Haley; I became the person you used to tell me that I could become."

"I'm glad Nathan, I always knew you could do it, I guess that's why I stayed with you for so long. I'm proud of you Nate," Peyton said smiling.

"Don't take this the wrong way Peyton but I kind of need to know for Lucas's, Haley's and my sake, do you have any romantic feelings for me," Nathan questioned cautiously. Peyton froze thinking about what Nathan asked. She thought carefully about how she was feeling around Nathan and knew it was just friendship.

"No, Nathan I most certainly don't," Peyton said giving Nathan a reassuring grin.

"Okay," Nathan said relieved, "well I guess I'll let Haley speak to you then, be nice Peyton she's been your friend for years." Nathan then got up and left the room to allow Haley to have a chance to speak with Peyton.

So did you like it? This chapter is probably my least favourite because nothing much happened and there weren't any Leyton scenes. Please leave a review!

This chapter is named after the song Center of Attention by Jackson Waters. It is my all-time favourite Leyton song. It is played in the background of episode 4.08 where Peyton tells Lucas she's in love with him.