*Two hours earlier*
"HOLY COW! This really, really HURTS!" Peyton yelped out in pain as she crushed Brooke's hand. "Why did no one tell me this hurts so bad?" she asked through clenched teeth.
"It's kind of common knowledge, Peyton", Brooke told her. Peyton shot a wicked glance in her direction before sucking on the gas and air pipe.
"Have- have you gotten hold of Lucas yet?" Peyton huffed.
"I've been trying but he's not picking up", Brooke told her nervously.
"Oh, god! Where is he? I need him here, Brooke", she told her, slowing down into small sobs.
"I know, honey, I'm sure he'll be here soon. I'm gonna go out and try and call him again", Brooke replied as she hastily left the room and dialled Lucas's number once more. "Lucas Scott, you better get your ass to this hospital! I do not want my tombstone to read 'here lies Brooke. She was murdered by her best friend'!" she shouted at his answer machine before hanging up. Brooke strutted down the hallway to where Julian sat in a waiting room with the twins and Sawyer. "Hey, how are the kids?" she asked.
"Bored out of their minds", Julian told her has he got up and kissed her on the forehead. "How's Peyton?"
"Oh, she's hanging in there", Brooke said sarcastically.
"Look, Sawyer keeps asking questions and I don't know what to tell her so I'm gonna take the kids for ice cream, okay?" he suggested. Brooke nodded before Julian gave her a soft kiss on the lips. She then went over to the twins and hugged them both simultaneously, smothering their cheeks in kisses before making her way towards Sawyer.
"Aunt Brooke, is Mama gonna be okay?" she asked. Brooke smiled softly as she shifted Sawyer's hair out of her face.
"Your Mama's gonna be fine, pretty girl", she told her confidently, kissing her on the top of her head before returning to Peyton, who had been re-joined by her midwife. "What's going on?" Brooke asked as she returned to Peyton's bedside.
"It shouldn't be long now", the midwife told her.
"Brooke", Peyton said breathlessly. "Did- did you talk to Lucas?" she asked. Brooke shook her head. Peyton groaned. "I can't do this without him, Brooke. I want him to be here for this", she cried. Brooke wrapped her arm firmly around Peyton's shoulders as she began to pat her forehead gently with a cold compress.
"I know. He'll be here, P. Scott. I know he will", she told her. Another hour passed as Peyton writhed around in pain, huffing and puffing on her gas and air pipe as Brooke wiped the sweat away from her forehead.
"Will- Will you try calling Lucas again?" Peyton asked breathlessly. Brooke nodded before kissing Peyton's hand and leaving the room. She wandered down the long and winding corridors as she began to dial Lucas's number for what felt like the hundredth time and as she pressed the phone to her ear, she could suddenly hear a phone ringing at the exact same time in the distance. She turned quickly to see Lucas standing at the other end of the corridor.
"Luke?" she said. Lucas turned as Brooke began running towards him as quick as she could, but upon reaching him, she could see that his t-shirt had a tear in the shoulder, he was covered in debris and looked a little battered and bruised. "What's going on?" she asked, completely forgetting about Peyton for a moment as she watched the lost expression on Lucas's face.
"There was an accident. Jamie's hurt pretty badly", he told her quietly. Brooke could feel her heart sink in her chest at his words.
"Oh my god, is he gonna be okay?" she asked nervously.
"I- I don't know", he told her, his eyes becoming glossy. The pair stayed silent for a moment as Brooke thought about Jamie and wondered whether he was going to be okay or not. "Wait, what are you doing here?" Lucas suddenly asked. Brooke quickly remembered Peyton.
"Oh boy. There's no easy way to say this", she told him.
"Brooke. What is it?" he asked quite sternly. Brooke decided that she'd better approach this like ripping off a band-aid.
"Peyton went into labour", she spat it out.
"What?" Lucas spoke. "Is she okay? What happened? Where is she?" he threw his questions at her.
"She's fine, the doctor says she's in slow labour so it could take a while. If you go to the reception, they'll give you her room number. I'm gonna call Haley", she told him. Lucas gave her a quick peck on the cheek before running down the hall to the reception desk. Before even approaching the reception desk, Lucas found himself running back to Brooke.
"Let me know how Jamie is", he told her before running back down the hall, not giving her a chance to respond.
X
In the delivery room, Peyton continued to huff and puff, her gas and air pipe held tightly in her right hand as she sobbed.
"It's going to be alright, Peyton. I need you to try and relax for me, okay?" The midwife spoke as she crouched down at the foot of the bed. "You're almost fully dilated".
"I can't do this without my husband!" Peyton cried. All of a sudden, as if by magic, Lucas burst through the door and was by her side in a matter of seconds. "Luke!" she sobbed. Lucas kissed her forehead hard, holding her left hand in his as tight as possible.
"It's okay now. I'm here", he told her soothingly.
"What happened?" Peyton asked breathlessly. "Your head-", she said, staring at the bruise that had begun to form on Lucas's forehead.
"Don't worry about that now, okay?" he told her, kissing her forehead once more.
"Okay, Peyton. We're ready for you to start pushing now, honey", the midwife told her. Peyton gave Lucas a scared look before he kissed her softly on the lips.
"You can do this, Peyton", he told her. Peyton nodded as she squeezed his hand slightly.
"Okay, after three, I want you to push as hard as you can for me, okay?" the midwife spoke. Peyton nodded as she readied herself. "Okay. One- two- three! Push, Peyton!". Peyton shut her eyes as tight as she could as she gave everything she had into pushing. Her chin pressed down into her chest as she sat forward, groaning in pain as she crushed Lucas's hand.
"C'mon, Peyton! You're doing so great!" Lucas encouraged her. Suddenly, Peyton slammed back on to the bed, fighting for her breath as she stopped pushing.
"I- I can't do this, Luke. I can't push anymore, I really can't", she sobbed.
"Hey", Lucas said, lifting her chin up to face him. "I know you can do this, because, I can't save you from this, Peyton. This one's all on you", he told her, kissing her softly. Peyton sobbed quietly as she looked at him helplessly. And as she stared into the depths of his ocean blue eyes that stared back at her with so much love, she knew in her heart that she could do this.
"Ready to try again, sweetie?" the midwife asked. Peyton nodded as she readied herself once more and continued to push. She yelped out in pain, holding on to Lucas for dear life as she used all the energy she had.
"I can the see the head!" The midwife told them. With his head right beside hers, Lucas spoke softly in her ear.
"You're so amazing. You're doing so great. Just keep going, Peyton". And as Lucas continued to speak softly to her, all of a sudden, all surrounding noise had been drowned out as a beautiful cry filled the room. The midwife suddenly held up a tiny baby who continued to cry.
"Congratulations on your new baby boy", the midwife smiled softly.
"A boy?" Peyton said breathlessly. The midwife nodded before taking the tiny boy to be cleaned up.
"We have a boy, Peyton", Lucas grinned proudly, half laughing as he kissed Peyton's forehead.
"You've got your son, Lucas Scott", she sniffed.
"Here he is", the midwife interrupted as she handed a small blue bundle to Peyton carefully. Peyton looked down at the tiny bundle in her arms. His hair was tufty and a dirty blonde colour like hers. She reached into his blanket so that she could find his tiny hand and hold it within her own. She slowly bent down and placed the softest of kisses on his forehead as Lucas gently brushed his hand across the top of his head. All of a sudden, the little boy began to slowly open his eyes to show the brightest of blue, just like his father's.
"You are so beautiful", Peyton spoke softly.
"I'm so proud of you", Lucas told her as he kissed her gently on the lips. Lucas and Peyton spent two hours admiring their new-born son before the midwife returned to take him to the nursery so that Peyton could rest. Peyton sighed lovingly as she left with her little boy. "How are you feeling?" Lucas asked as he kissed her forehead.
"I'm in a little bit of pain, but I guess that's normal after giving birth, right?" she said confidently. Lucas smiled brightly at her before kissing her full on the mouth. "So, you wanted a boy. Any name ideas?" she asked. Lucas took a moment to think before the perfect name popped into his head.
"How about Jackson? Jackson Keith" he suggested.
"Jackson Keith Scott. I love it, Luke", she smiled warmly, kissing him once more. As their embrace came to an end, Lucas suddenly noticed something worrying out of the corner of his eye as Peyton whimpered slightly. A patch of blood had suddenly begun to form on the sheet that covered Peyton. She suddenly yelped out in pain as Lucas panicked, staring at the patch of blood.
"Luke? Luke, what is it?" Peyton asked in hurried tones.
"Peyton. You're- you're bleeding", he said.
"What? What's wrong with me?" she began to panic. "What's happening?" she asked before crying out in pain, feeling a stabbing sensation in her lower abdomen. Lucas quickly ran to the door of the room and swung it open.
"Help! I need a doctor in here!", he cried out into the corridor before looking back at Peyton, who laid on her side, crying in agony as the patch of blood doubled in size.