A/N: The last one…I really hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER 11

Although it was already the beginning of May, today was the first time Peyton had walked outside and felt the warmth of the sun more so than the cold pre-spring wind. Yet she hadn't taken the time to raise her eyes at the sky to behold the sun or take the singing of birds in. Why not? Because today was also Lucas eighteenth birthday and together with Karen –or mostly because of Karen- she had arranged a surprise party.

However, not only was it a beautiful spring day or Lucas' birthday today but also exactly three months had passed since the blonde had finally fully accepted Lucas in her life and since Haley had cut Nathan out of hers.

Despite her best attempts, Peyton hadn't been able to convince the petite brunette that she belonged with him; even not through Lucas or Brooke, who had began to help him too after a few days of scoffing. Even more: Haley had met a guy and had asked if she could bring him along to the party. Since Karen-somewhat unaware of all the drama- had been fine with it, Peyton now had to worry about Nathan's mental health besides her huge, comparable-with-three-footballs tummy, which had been producing unpleasant sensations all day long.

The room where the party would take place was dimmed with subtle spots on the floor. Surrounded by an army of balloons, Peyton took another one to blow up.

"Damn Sawyer," a mocking voice sounded "that's wrong on so many different levels."

Brooke laughed while Peyton looked up and gave Nathan a death stab with her eyes. However, she had to admit he was sort of right. The red balloon she was filling with air had the same colour as her face and was about three quarters the size of her stomach. She must look laughable.

"Shut up," she snapped. "Why doesn't your lazy ass help instead of ridiculing me and my tortured bod-"

"Sit down," he cut her off. "I'll blow up the rest of those balloons before your head explodes."

Nathan walked her to a chair where she plumped herself down with a puff.

"I can't do this anymore, Nate," she whined. "I'm constantly tired and hurting…and in a bad mood."

Brooke and Nathan exchanged meaningful glances. 'In a bad mood' was just 'being a complete bitch' nicely put. The only one who still had some kind of grip on her was Karen and maybe Lucas, but that wasn't much.

"This baby has to come out," the blonde continued "Now."

"I read teenage girls usually have their babies earlier. Like a week or something," Brooke announced.

Peyton briefly stared at her friend in utter annoyance. "Well apparently not me, huh?" she then shouted.

"Everything OK?" a caring, female voice from the left sounded.

"No…" Peyton dramatically answered. "I'm sick of being pregnant."

"Come on, honey," Karen took a seat next to the blonde and began to soothe her "It can't be very long anymore. Wasn't the baby calculated for May tenth?"

"That's another two days! I'm in so much pain. This thing is constantly kicking and moving and I…" her voice broke "I can't take it anymore. It's the devil!"

"Hey, don't say that. You're stealing my line," Brooke joked.

Upon that, Peyton burst out in crying, an action followed by a 'look-what-you-did'- look form Karen to her fellow female brunette, who mouthed a 'sorry'.

"Ouch!" the curly girl suddenly shouted out and placed her hand on her stomach before continuing her wailing. "Pain."

After yelling 'surprise!', a kiss and the present, Peyton had escaped outside because inside, it was unbearably hot and she had to constantly suppress the urge to slap everyone who talked to her across the face. Lucas had suggested coming with but she hadn't want him too: this night- which was now nearing its end- would probably be his last one as a 'normal' teenager and she thought he should enjoy it. It's what she would do if she wasn't like Aladdin's chained genie held hostage inside this body.

"Hey, you," someone tore her attention away from her pain.

"Hi, Haley," she greeted back while watching the brunette sit down.

Quickly, the girl's brown eyes strayed off, staring through the window.

"He's cute," Peyton said after following Haley's gaze.

"Peyton, it's never happening again so m-"

"Damn!" she cut her off; her face deformed with pain as she wrapped her arms around her stomach.

"Are you alright?" Haley asked concerned. "Should I-"

"Don't worry, it's been like this all day" she sighed and ignored the fact that her physical distress was getting worse with every second that passed. "But anyway, I meant Jack. Not Nathan."

"Oh. Yeah, Jack. I guess he's alright."

"Such enthusiasm! I might faint," she sarcastically said and bit her teeth in order not to shout when another aching feeling went through her abdomen.

The comment was meant jokingly but Haley bowed her head. She had met Jack two months ago at Karen's Café and today was their first date. He was a nice guy and to tell the truth, she had hoped he would have gotten her over her ex-husband but unfortunately, compared to him Jack was an insect battling an eagle. However, it wasn't only him. Every boy sank a mile under the pedestal she still had Nathan on and it was quite depressing to realize she had rejected someone, probably the One, who no other guy would ever live up to.

As Peyton was about to soothe her, the sky began to carry the tones of Eric Clapton's 'Tears in Heaven' all the way outside. Every time she heard the guitarist sing about meeting his passed, five year old boy in heaven, Peyton had to fight the tears. The song -together with heart wrenching lyrics and beautiful, sad melody- brought her the image of Anna, which then reminded her of the fact that her daughter would grow up to never know her grandmother. With a cross of nostalgia and sadness, she bowed her curls along with Haley's brown locks. Physically, she handled her pain by clutching her stomach with every pain wave.

Then a figure slid down beside her, providing her a strong arm around her shoulder. As soon as the first sound of Eric Clapton's guitar string had left the box, Lucas had left to room to look for Peyton. The blonde turned her head and pressed her mouth against Lucas'. "I'm so lucky to have you," she whispered against his lips. Both closed their eyes while he tenderly kissed her once more. His arm slid around her waist as she nestled herself against his chest.

"I'm tired, Luke."

He pressed her a bit closer to him; he knew the last days were weighing heavy on her, emotionally and physically. Not long after Lucas dropped a kiss on Peyton's curls, Haley stormed away in a soft whimper. The blondes pulled apart to look at each other with guilt.

"Follow her," Peyton said. "I'll be alright," she added when he seemed hesitant.

He smiled and gave her another quick kiss before running after his friend. When he found her crying further on against a wall, he just wrapped her tiny frame into his arms.

"I thought I could live without him," she said between sobs. "But I was wrong and now it's too late!"

"Come on, Hales. You know as well as I do that he'd take you back even if he were sixty-five, married and father of ten children."

The brunette pulled back and gazed at him with glazy eyes.

"Not that I would approve," Lucas added with a smile. "Just go in there and tell him you love him."

Before she was able to give in, they heard the hysterical clicking of high heels and a panicky raspy voice sending shrieks their way.

"What?" the blonde shouted at the nearing brunette.

"HER WATER BROKE! SHE'S HAVING THE BABY!"

Series of complaining groans and whining moans left rooms across the whole floor, with Peyton on top. The blonde had been in her hospital bed for twenty-one successive hours and nine different nurses without a lot of progression.

On the other hand, all selflessness had left her body and right now, her friends and father were beholding the blonde in her most egoistic form. She had demanded to have someone at her bed at all times and when that hadn't been the case three hours ago, when Brooke had to go to the bathroom, she refused to speak for an hour, until the position of her pillow had to be adjusted for the hundredth time and when Nathan had brought her Led Zeppelin IV instead of II, she had thrown the CD in a corner and stubbornly turned her back at him. He had officially gotten scared then: Peyton Sawyer not treating her music with utter care equalled apocalypse.

"Turn that thing off!" she suddenly yelled.

"But Peyt, I especially bou-"

"Off!"

Biting his lip and taking a deep breath to stay calm, Lucas pushed the 'stop' button of the relaxation-music tapes. What Peyton wants, Peyton gets, right?

"Do you want one of my books? I've br-"

"No."

"TV?"

"No."

"Maybe we should try something from the birth preparation course," he tried while reaching for her hand.

"NO! NO! NO!"

"Well," he began vexed 'you're being very-"

"How dare you take that tone with me? Do you know how this feels? For the last twenty hours, I've been in agonizing pain. I'm exhausted like I've climbed the Mount Everest and you get irritated when I don't want to listen to your freaking Vivaldi?"

"No, I-"

"You selfish, selfish boy. Where's my dad?"

"I don't kn-"

"I want my dad!"

"I'll get him," he quickly said and stood up but she grabbed his arm and pulled him down again.

"Then who's going to stay with me in the meanwhile?"

"I'll just be two minu-"

"No."

"But P-"

A water fall of tears began to leave her eyes when she didn't immediately get what she wanted and she began to remind Lucas of one of those spoiled brats on my Super Sweet Sixteen. Yes, she might be tired, but for the past two and a half hours, he had been walking backwards on feet and hands to give her what she desired and she still wasn't happy.

"Dad?!?" she shouted while sobbing. "Daddy!"

Quickly, her father stood by the other side of her bed. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"Lucas is being mean to me!"

"Why are you being mean to my daughter?" he addressed the boy sitting opposite with a non-understanding frown.

"I'm n-" he began but stopped when he realized arguing with two Sawyers was the same as wasting your breath. "I'm going to get something to eat."

He bowed over Peyton and kissed her forehead but quickly pulled back, afraid to get slapped or something similar. After a few steps in the corridor, he heard 'poppa Sawyer' as Brooke occasionally nicknamed him, also undergoing a verbal attack.

"It's your turn," Brooke and Haley simultaneously cried out when Lucas showed up in the waiting room.

"Larry's with her," the blonde quickly set them at ease. It was the first time in over fifteen hours that the whole gang was here; usually someone was always at home to freshen up before coming back.

"Thank God," Nathan sighed out. "Like, did anyone ever see Xena?"

"Huh?"

"Xena, the Warrior Princess."

"Yeah," Lucas said while his childhood friend nodded. The exchanged a look and laughed as they recalled how they would roll-play and how Haley always ran away screaming when Lucas wanted to kiss her like Ares kissed Xena on TV.

"She's being like her but before she became good. Pure evil." Nathan nodded to give his statement some additional power.

"That isn't true," Haley laughed.

"It is," the dimpled brunette confirmed. "I've known her for over ten years but I've never seen her like this. She's capable of killing right now."

"Well, I feel sorry for her," Haley insisted. "She's been in there for almost a day."

As soon as she had spoken out her sympathy, Larry came sauntering into the room, completely stressed and gazing wildly around him, like a wounded deer trying to find an escape. He plumped himself down with the teenagers but didn't say a word; his eyes staring into nothing.

"Are you OK, Mr Sawyer?" Nathan asked a bit worried.

Slowly, he turned his head to the questioning voice. "I'm not going back there," he then said. "Unless it is with an exorcist."

"Is someone with her?" Lucas asked.

"No."

"You left her alone? Someone has to go immediately!" the blonde exclaimed in a panicky voice.

"Not me," Brooke quickly said.

"Me neither."

All eyes were now fixed on Haley who had seemed most understanding of her irrational behaviour. "I'm scared," she softly admitted.

Lucas took a deep, preparing breath and disappeared again out of the waiting room, into the lion's den for his second, successive 'Peyton' shift.

"I'm going home; take a shower. I'll be back," Brooke announced and stood up.

"I'm getting a coffee." Larry also left his chair and mumbled 'God knows, I need it.'

An uncomfortable silence rushed into the waiting room.

"Lucas must really love her to go back in there," Haley touched the silence. "I mean, if she's really being that awful…"

"Yes. Yes, he does love her," Nathan confirmed a bit simply.

They locked eyes before fixing them on their feet.

"Look, Nate," Haley then said as she suddenly sat herself down next him "I…I was wrong. I thought it would be for the best to go our own ways but since I walked away from you, I've been feeling so miserable, like I've lost a part of myself and…" she took a very small pause before continuing to ramble" It's not only that I love you but I really need you. I don't feel like me without you and I might also sound a bit Atomic Kitten now but…But I know you can make me whole again. "

She tried to estimate the pair of surprised blues in front of her and continued.

"My point is just that ummm…I miss you and I'd like us to try again; if you want. Because off course, i-"

Finally, she was silenced when he captured her lips. They pulled back but as he wanted to tell her that he loved her but she just kept pulling his mouth back against hers. After a couple of times of trying to declare his love, he just gave in and they made up for almost a year of not kissing each other right there in the waiting room.

With sad eyes and a pout, Peyton stared at the scared blonde boy by the side of her bed. Now that she had done the impossible and somewhat gotten used to the incredible pain, she realized how much of a fury she had been for the past hours. Between the contractions, which were following each other at a quick rate now, she softly stuck her hand out and cupped his face.

"Sorry."

"It's OK," he accepted her apology and took her hand off his cheek to intertwine it with his.

Ear-deafening screams suddenly left both blondes mouths when an extremely painful labour pain took a hold of Peyton's body.

"I'm going to get help!" Lucas yelled while trying to free his hand.

"You're not going anywhere!"

Peyton howled, swore and mashed his hand hysterically while Lucas loudly cried for help. It took less than ten seconds before a few nurses and Dr Williams ran into her room and bowed over the curly girl.

Slowly, the pain left Lucas now freed hand and he was able to concentrate. He looked at her, this crying, cursing, coughing girl and had never loved her as much as he did in this second. And never found her more beautiful. She was so real as she fought to bring their child into this world.

"Come on, Peyton, push!" the doctor ripped him out of his thoughts.

"I can't!" she cried out between doing what she asked. "I'm tired."

"We know b-"

"Luke, get my coat, I want to go home!"

Then one of the nurses did something which made him realize maybe she hadn't overreacted. Or at least not as much as he had thought. The brown-haired woman threw herself on Peyton's stomach and pressed it.

"The baby can't do it himself. He needs help," the doctor answered Lucas' questioning stare.

Then finally, they pulled their child out and immediately left with it to do God-knows-what. Peyton was immediately taken care off while the doctor assured Lucas nothing was wrong; that the child was simply exhausted and that they were going to do a quick check up.

After ten of the longest minutes of their lives, the same brown-haired nurse who had helped bringing their baby into this world, walked up to them to offer them their child, wrapped in a pink blanket. Lucas instinctively stood up while Peyton tried to sit up more straight. Maybe a bit contrary to what she had expected, a heavy motherly feeling overwhelmed her. She smiled lovingly at the little soft-pink person, which now already had a few plucks of blonde, wavy hair.

"Say hi to your daughter," the nurse grinningly addressed Lucas.

His breath almost stopped as he saw that tiny, moving thing nearing with those chubby arms and miniscule fists. What did he know about holding a baby? What if he'd hurt her? He didn't spoke his worries out loud and took his baby ever so carefully, as if she was made out of porcelain.

'Happiness' wasn't the right word for what he felt in that moment because 'luck' and 'happiness' are tangible. Holding his daughter in his arms for the first time, everything seemed surreal and transcended all earthly feelings. The world stopped turning and it was as if, even if only for a few seconds, there was only him and this little human being. All the banalities, the numerous debacles with Dan –last week about some kind of alimony he had wanted to give them- and the trouble in the past with Nathan…It all seemed so meaningless now.

He slowly handed her over to Peyton.

"Hi," the blonde greeted her. "Luke, she's so little," she then said as she gazed down at the baby in her arms and again smiled at the fluffy blonde curls on her daughter's head. Lucas took the small, soft baby hand into his.

When Peyton looked up at him, her eyes instantly grew glazy. It was all so unreal. Who could've thought that this boy-almost road kill because of her- would turn out to be the father of her child? Up until two years ago, she had never spoken a word to him. She found him as interesting as a bug. Really, he was just there as her boyfriend's outsider- half- brother, pining over her with his squinty light-blue eyes. But he turned out to be so much more than that.

He on the other hand felt more proud than touched. Proud of the person Peyton Sawyer had become with his help. Off course he realized she would always have her edge – she wouldn't be the girl he fell in love with without -but after he had ripped his eyes away from his baby, he saw softness in her hazels that he doubted would ever go away.

He brushed her tears away. "I love you," Peyton said before Lucas moved his mouth closer. Then they shared a kiss loaded with so much love that they were sure never to feel anything like it again while Peyton held her daughter close. "I love you too," Lucas whispered before brushing his lips against hers again. Caught up in the moment, they only pulled back when the little thing under them began to move unquiet.

Very softly, Lucas dropped a little kiss on her slightly turned up, mini-nose and felt the urge to cuddle the baby girl senseless when a somewhat protesting sound left her little red-pink lips. Then she opened her eyes to show him how identical they were to his and although Peyton's hazels were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, Lucas hoped the blues he was looking into would hold that colour. Because it was his. "Oh, Peyton," he sighed out. He kissed her again and then, for the second time, this baby made him cry. But this time, they were the happiest tears of his life.

They named her Isobel Anna Scott. In the days that followed, her father didn't leave her side but smothered his baby girl with attention. He could be in the middle of a conversation but when nurse Grace announced Isobel was getting her bath, Lucas spurted behind her. He would blabber endlessly to the patient lady about his offspring, which the middle aged woman thought looked like one of those chubby angels you find on antique ceilings, minus the wings. If he took a second off from his daughter, very rarely and mostly when she was asleep, he cuddled up next to Peyton.

In the middle of all this, Peyton couldn't help but worry about Brooke, whose mask had briefly fallen off when she had somewhat sadly let slip out Lucas had finally found someone he loved more than her. They had tried about how Brooke felt about all this but were interrupted by the baby's crying; she was hungry and needed her mother. With a million-and-one feelings and thoughts running through her mind, the brunette had watched how Peyton took care of her child.

In that moment, Brooke had also felt the sudden urge to hold her and when Isobel opened her eyes to gaze at her surprised, she saw the purest crystal-blues she had ever witnessed. Although maybe that would be a lie. She had witnessed that particular colour and shape before. On one boy. Off course that wasn't easy but in the end, she realized she couldn't do anything but accept. Life goes on and the person she was holding was the finest example of that.

Brooke Penelope Davis had had the -to her- questionable honour of watching the romance of Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer and Lucas Eugene Scott evolve. She watched him try to conquer her heart and have his broken only to break Peyton's. She unwillingly experienced how they kept being drawn to each other when they couldn't; how they lost but found each other back and the way she felt her already fragile heart being shattered, not when he told her she was pregnant but when she realized that the same way Jake had never meant as much to Peyton, she had never stood a chance with Lucas against the blonde.

Finally, to round off the story, how despite beholding his unconditional love for the two curly girls, the last pieces of her heart are also being glued together again. It makes her feel relieved and hopeful because as she looks around her and sees Haley kiss Nathan or Lucas cuddle Peyton, she realizes she deserves and wants that too. Someone to swap hearts. And she knows that special one is there for her. A soul mate. A boy she'll go through fire for and who would do the same for her.

There could be troubles along the road after she would find this love but if he was true, they'd come out together. Because if there's anything she has learned from watching her friend and her ex, it's that despite adversity, painful goodbyes and awkward love triangles, what's meant to be will always find a way.

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So …That's all, folks:) I hope you like the name I picked and thanks for all the amazing reviews. Also, to all the BLers who read my story: I really admire you guys lol. Personally, I wouldn't be able to read a BL fic so you guys are stronger than me. Respect :p