Hi guys, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been so busy lately with family occasions and getting ready for Christmas that I just haven't had the time. Hopefully this chapter will have been worth your wait!


Brooke had been asleep for a few hours when there was a sudden knock at her door. At first she thought she was hearing things, but when the banging sounded again, she got out of her groggy state and reached for the baseball bat beside her bed.

"Who is it?" She shouted as she approached the door. You could never be too careful in Tree Hill, the town was no stranger to psychos and murderers, but once Brooke heard who was at the door, she soon put the bat down.

"It's Peyton." Her best friend replied, but the tone she'd said it in made Brooke worry a little.

Opening the door, she found Peyton stood there with tear marks down her face.

"What's happened, are you ok?" She asked as she let her go inside and Peyton took a seat on the couch and let out a sigh as Brooke joined her.

"I just pulled a Luke on Lucas." She said and Brooke looked at her confused.

"You pulled a what? Have you been drinking or am I hallucinating and all this is some random dream that I won't even remember in the morning?" Brooke asked which caused Peyton to smile a little.

"I was at Luke's, we'd gone to sleep and suddenly I remembered L.A and the proposal. My reaction to it was the same as his when I'd said someday." Peyton explained.

"Wait you remembered something else?! Oh my God why is it always things that happen with that damn Scott boy that you remember and not me?!" Brooke exclaimed and then she noticed Peyton's face and the tear marks that were still there. "Right yeah, sorry not the bit I was supposed to be focusing on." She added and then let out a sigh. "He's going to be worried when he wakes up to find you gone, did you not even leave him a note?" She asked and Peyton shook her head.

"I wanted to, but all I could see in my head was me waking up to find him gone and all I could feel was that pain in my heart. I guess I just wanted to do to him what he'd done to me so he knew what it felt like." Peyton told her and then began sobbing.

"Hey, hey come here." Brooke said as she pulled Peyton into a hug and shushed her. "You know he was an idiot back then right, I mean I know he's not much better now what with some of the more recent stunts he's pulled, but he was young then Peyton." Brooke explained and Peyton pulled away and looked at her while wiping her eyes.

"Are you defending him for leaving me in a hotel room and walking out of my life?" She asked and Brooke shook her head.

"No of course not, but..." She started and then stopped, realising that she hadn't even said this to Peyton before her memory loss.

"But what?" Peyton asked, wanting her best friend to continue and Brooke let out a sigh.

"I saw him the night after he proposed to you. He was in New York and we met up. He told me about the proposal and I told him he was stupid for going all Naley on you. We had this fun, free night out thanks to that engagement ring of yours, but it wasn't fun...not for him. He just got wasted and told me how he felt lost and didn't know what to do without you." She explained. "He screwed up with that proposal and he screwed up by leaving that hotel room without so much as a goodbye to you, but he still loved you back then...he was just young." Brooke told her and Peyton let out a sigh and nodded as she took it all in.

"Listen, I'm sorry for waking you up so late...or early given the time. I probably shouldn't have come round here." Peyton said and Brooke shook her head.

"No, it's fine don't be silly. I'm glad you did. It's nice to be here for my best friend again. I miss that if I'm honest." Brooke admitted with a laugh, although they both knew what she meant.

Since Peyton had been released from the hospital they hadn't really had much best friend time. Before, they'd go shopping or have a night out at Tric and just be room mates as well as best friends, but now it was house visits every few days and questions about what they'd done in the last four years. It wasn't the same.

"Oh my god!" Peyton suddenly said as a fresh set of tears suddenly cascaded down her face and Brooke looked at her confused and worried.

"What? What is it?" She asked and before she knew it, Peyton was hugging her tightly.

"I miss that! You just said 'I miss that!' I said that to you on the phone from L.A! We hadn't seen each other for SO long and I remember calling you up and telling you how I missed the friendships we used to believe in and how I missed you!" Peyton told her as she pulled away and Brooke felt her own tears prick at her eyes. Peyton had finally remembered something to do with their friendship!

"Yeah." Brooke said as she nodded her head and felt the tears fall, but she had a smile on her face.

"I can't believe we let it get like that, both of us so unhappy and miles away from each other." Peyton added.

"When all we both wanted..." Brooke started.

"Was to come home." Peyton finished and Brooke smiled before grabbing the tissues

for them both.


The next morning and Lucas woke up in an empty bed. At first he thought nothing of it. Peyton was probably having a shower or was somewhere else in the house, maybe she'd even tried to make breakfast, but as the time ticked by, he heard no noise coming from the shower or the smoke alarm for that matter and he'd started to get a little curious.

He got out of the bed and walked down the hallway. "Peyton?" He called out, but got no answer. "Peyt?" He tried again, but still there was nothing?

It was when he walked back into his room and over to the side of the bed where she'd been, that he noticed her bag had gone from the floor where she usually left it.

He'd not heard the door go and when he looked around for a note and couldn't find one, he became worried. Her suddenly taking off like this was one thing, but her suddenly taking off like this with memory loss was another!

Grabbing his phone from the bedside cabinet, he was about to ring her and then everyone else he could think of, but he saw a new message on his screen and felt relief wash over him as he read it.

'Peyton's at mine, don't worry. Brooke. x'

He looked at the time she'd sent it and got quite a surprise when he realised it was at four that morning! Peyton had obviously left his place shortly before that and walked to Brooke's alone!

'Thanks for letting me know. Is she ok? Why'd she take off like that?' x He typed back.

'She remembered your L.A proposal & what happened after. She's fine though, we had a nice girly slumber party in the end. x' Brooke replied and Luke took a seat on his bed and sighed.

Peyton remembering that was always something he was dreading, even though he'd told her about it and his other screw ups since, he was never sure how she'd react? Now he knew and he didn't know what to think? Brooke may have said that Peyton was fine in that text, but she couldn't have been to begin with, why else would she have left in the middle of the night without so much as a note?

'Is it safe to come over? I need to talk to her. x' He sent a few minutes later and Brooke soon replied.

'Yeah, come round anytime. I'll make sure she doesn't go wondering off again. x' He read and then had a shower and some breakfast before going over to Brooke's place.


Opening the door to Luke, Peyton gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry." She said and he shook his head.

"No, don't be. I should be the one saying that...I don't think I ever did apologise for leaving you in that hotel room?" He admitted and then Brooke pushed her way past them in the doorway.

"Right I'm off to work, but there is to be no fighting, no leaving without the other knowing and absolutely no making out on my couch or any other furnished thing in my house! Got it? Good!" She told them and then left them both to it.

"Sorry about her, come in." Peyton said and Luke just laughed before walking inside.

"So erm last night...me and you...we're...well we're cool yeah?" He asked as he sat down and she nodded walking into Brooke's kitchen.

"Yeah, I just freaked out I guess? I couldn't be near you after remembering that, it just...well there were a lot of emotions and I know I should have woken you up or left you a note, but...the only thing I could think of doing was leaving like you'd left me. It sounds childish now though." She explained as she made them both a drink.

"It sounds perfectly rational to me. I was expecting a kick in the balls when you opened the door just then!" He told her and she laughed as she handed him a drink and then sat down.

"Well I did think about getting Brooke's copies of magazine and throwing them at you, so you've got off lucky Scott." She replied with a smile, but Luke's face looked serious. "Luke, I was joking." She told him and he put his drink down and just scratched the back of his neck. "What? What have I said?" She asked.

"Throwing stuff at me." He replied. "It triggered something in my mind that's all, I just wondered if it had for you too, but I don't think it has...not completely anyway." He added and suddenly Peyton thought back to what she'd said to him and tried to remember what ever it was that he had.

"Peyt, forget it. It doesn't matter." Luke said, seeing how her mind was ticking over and she just nodded, knowing that what ever it was, it would eventually come to her at some point.

"So Brooke told me you guys had a slumber party here last night." He laughed, before reaching for his drink.

"Yeah, it was really nice to hang out like we used to. I even remembered some things." She told him and he looked at her, waiting for her to carry on. "Oh, it's nothing exciting, just how I'd called her up before we came home and how I knew where certain stuff was in the kitchen." She added.

"I thought you looked like you knew your way around pretty well when you were getting our drinks." he told her. "That's great though Peyt, even if some of it is bad stuff or little things." He added and she nodded with a smile.

Look, I want to ask you something and I've wanted to ask for the last few days..." She started, but then she stopped and sighed. "God this is complicated." She said.

"Peyt it's fine." He said with a chuckle. "What is it?" He asked.

"Ok, well I know that we're not together and we haven't been for four years, and I know that you might think this is my 18 year old self talking, but it's not because I've been told what's happened between us since then and I've even remembered a heartbreaking bit of it, but I still love you and from what I know and have been told, you still love me." She rambled and then rolled her eyes. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, do you want to go on a date sometime?" She asked and Lucas looked at her, he wanted to say yes more than anything, but this wasn't going to be simple. Would them dating effect her in someway?

"Peyt, I...I don't know?" He answered and her face dropped. "It's not that I don't want to ok and you're right, I do still love you, I just don't know if us dating would be the best thing for you right now?" He explained.

"What if my memory never fully returns Luke? I mean if that's the only thing stopping you and you're just waiting for it all to come back to me before we can be together again...well what if it never comes back...does that mean that we'll never be back either?" She asked with her voice cracking and he shook his head before going over and hugging her.

"I just don't want to screw anything up for you in recovering...we both know that I've screwed up with us in the past." He told her while rubbing his hands up and down her back to comfort her.

"Not if we take it slow, that's why I suggested dating." She said as she pulled away and he looked right into her eyes.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked as he caught a lone tear that was falling down her cheek.

"More than anything." She said and he kissed her forehead before nodding.

"Me too." He told her and she smiled.

"How do you fancy that Cure gig?" She asked, knowing the date on the tickets was for next week and that Skills had told her to take his broody dawg.

"Anywhere with you." He replied with a smile.


It was later that night when Lucas had gone back to his place and Peyton was back at her old house with Larry, that she suddenly remembered something.

Her and her Dad were watching tv, or rather she was. Larry never did like the shows she watched as a teenager and that was something that hadn't changed. But it was when he took his head out of the book he'd been reading that Peyton got a flashback and she realised now why Luke's face had been so serious earlier when she'd told him she was thinking of throwing Brooke's magazines at him.

"You didn't think I could do it! You didn't think I could get my novel published!" Luke fired with venom in his eyes. "Maybe you just didn't care?" He said, lowering his voice and she just nodded letting him say what he thought was right. "Because it wasn't about you, what you wanted." He added.

"Well if that's the truth, if I NEVER cared, then how come every time I see THIS STUPID BOOK, I buy it EVERY STUPID DAMN TIME LUKE?" She fired, grabbing one in her hand. "YOU SAID I WAS GREAT!" She yelled, launching the first one at him. "YOU SAID I COULD BE GREAT!" She shouted, throwing another one his way. "YOU SAID WE WERE DESTINED TO BE TOGETHER!" She ranted as she chucked a third book at his head. "YOU SAID IT TO THE WORLD, YOU SAID IT TO ME AND I WISH YOU NEVER HAD BECAUSE YOU DID NOT MEAN ANY OF IT!" She screamed and threw a final book at him.

She knew it wasn't something to smile about, at the time it had been horrible, but she'd remembered it and she was going on a date with him next week. Things were slowly starting to come back to her, in more ways than one!