Chapter 21

Thank you so much for the reviews. When I said that I was condensing the story that didn't mean that it's ending really soon, there's still quite a few more chapters I just meant that things are going to progress a little faster. Anyway this chapter has been something I've been working up to for a while so I hope you like it.

"Okay I think I'm ready."

Peyton turned to see her best friend on the happiest day of her life, as much as Peyton had bitched over the past few months about Brooke's bridezilla tendencies she knew that it was only because this day was the one she'd been dreaming of since she was a little girl.

"You look beautiful Brooke," she told her blushing friend.

"I just can't believe that today is the day," she gushed. "I'm getting married P. Sawyer."

Peyton saw the glee in Brooke's eyes which immediately induced tears into her own.

"No no no," Brooke put her hands on Peyton's shoulders. "Don't you start crying or then I'll start and then we'll both have to redo our wedding makeup."

"Sorry," she laughed tearfully.

"It's fine," Brooke laughed. "I blame Luke anyway."

Peyton threw her a questioning glance.

"Well he's the one who knocked you up and made you all hormonal," she explained as though that should have been completely obvious.

"I guess so," she laughed although her head was suddenly somewhere else completely.

She quickly shook it off and returned her attention to the bride to be.

"Speaking of which you couldn't have waited another three months so I'm not fat on all of your wedding photos?"

"As tempting as that sounds I just want to marry Julian," she said wistfully. "I just love him so damn much and I can't wait to be married to him. Plus I'm the only unmarried one in the group now, legally at least."

Peyton gave her a mocking glare.

"Don't pretend that wasn't funny P. Sawyer," Brooke grinned. "If you're in a sucky situation then you've got to laugh about it."

"Yeah and maybe in ten years after Lucas and I are divorced and we're living separate lives we'll be able to laugh about it but right now we're married and living together which doesn't exactly make me want to burst with laughter," Peyton sighed.

"You do realise that you and Lucas will never have separate lives?" Brooke pointed out. "You're having a kid together."

"I know but everything will be so much less confusing when I don't have to see him every day," she explained.

"Confusing like 'I think I'm still in love with you but I'm afraid to tell you how I feel'?" Brooke suggested playfully.

Peyton rolled her eyes in response.

"Stop it this is your day B. Davis," she smiled. "We shouldn't be talking about my messed up relationship with the father of my baby."

"But you admit that you have a relationship?"

"You're going to have to find a new maid of honour in a minute," Peyton warned.

"I'm just saying with you and Luke you never know…"

"One more comment and I'm getting Haley in here."

You see she normally loved weddings – it was one of those girly habits that she rolled her eyes at but deep down she really did – and especially when the two people were as perfect for each other as Brooke and Julian were. But she'd never been pregnant at a wedding before, especially one where she was forced to stand up and smile while her best friend and soon to be husband exchanged their sickeningly-sweet-but-far-too-long vows. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for them, honestly she was over the moon that they were getting married, but who came up with the idea that the bridesmaids weren't allowed to sit down during the ceremony? She was tempted to just sit right there on the floor and she totally would have if she didn't realise that it would be a huge disruption to the bride and groom's special day.

She rubbed her belly and stretched her back as subtly as a six months pregnant woman can in front of 200 people, she then shifted her weight from her left foot to her right before glancing up and then she saw it.

Lucas Scott was giving her that smirk that let her know that she'd been caught.

He raised his eyebrows at her which was the final straw, she had to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling back at him before she looked down and then turned her attention back to the bride and groom – who still hadn't finished their vows by the way. It didn't really help though, their words were drowned out by her brain that wouldn't shut up and the pressure she could feel from Lucas staring at her.

All of a sudden she felt herself become flushed, why was it so hot in here all of a sudden? She could feel Lucas' burning gaze on her now more than ever as though she wanted her hormones to be going crazy like this. She was starting to come around to Brooke's idea of blaming it all on him, he was the one who got her pregnant after all.

All of a sudden everyone was clapping and Brooke and Julian were kissing, her first thought was how happy she was for her best friend but her second thought was more along the lines of 'thank God this is over!' Maybe now she'd be able to find somewhere to sit down.

"Okay now we need the wedding party for photos."

God this was going to be a long day.

"Do you want to dance?"

She heard the familiar voice come from behind her and she smiled at her brother-in-law.

"Would you be terribly offended if I say no?" she asked teasingly and he grinned at her. "My feet are killing me."

"Are you at the stage of blaming Lucas for it yet?" he asked her half seriously.

"Nate I was at that stage three hours ago," she sighed.

"Rough day?"

"Is it awful if I say yes?" she asked even though she knew the answer to that question was a definite yes. "It's not that I'm not happy for Brooke because I am, she deserves to have this with Julian, she's so in love with him and it's amazing. I'm just so… exhausted."

"You've still got two and a half more months to go," he pointed out.

"Is that your way of trying to make me feel better?"

"Ah come on, tomorrow you'll be back to your normal self."

"And the day after I'll be back to being a hormonal crazy pregnant lady," she sighed.

"But eventually the baby will come out and then in a few years you'll forget all about the exhaustion and hormones and you'll want another one," he laughed as she glanced at him doubtfully. "Trust me. But since you refuse to dance with me I'm going to find my wife."

"Yeah well you're not the one whose stomach is the size of a basketball," she muttered as he walked away to find Haley.

"Hey."

The other Scott man in her life stood in front of her with his hands awkwardly in his pockets.

"Hey," she smiled and at this point she honestly couldn't be bothered to act indifferent towards him as she had been since the rehearsal dinner.

"You want to get out of here?" he asked her.

Honestly she hadn't felt that relieved all night so she nodded quickly in agreement.

They headed out to the car park in a silence that was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"You know I've never realised just how boring weddings can be without alcohol?" She was the one to break the silence.

"Yeah I know what you mean," he sighed sympathetically.

"You haven't been drinking?" she questioned.

"I figured that you'd be tired and wouldn't want to drive," he told her. "Plus the last time I drank I kind of said some things that I probably shouldn't have."

"Like how our baby was the result of our toxic relationship?"

"That's not exactly what I said," he mumbled as he opened the passenger door for her.

"I know."

"Peyton you have to know how much this baby means to me, I can't wait until I can hold him in my arms," he insisted.

"Him?" she questioned playfully.

"I don't know," he mumbled bashfully. "I just get the feeling it's a boy."

"I think it's a girl," she confessed.

"Come on with the amount of boys in this family the odds are that it's going to be a boy," he defended.

"Well in two and a half months I guess we'll see."

"God in two and a half months we'll be parents," Lucas stated disbelievingly.

"I know I can't wait," she smiled.

"Really?" he questioned. "You're not terrified?"

"Today I'm not," she laughed.

"Of course," he agreed knowing how crazy her hormones had been recently.

"It's too late for that now anyway," she shrugged. "It's just going to be so great when the baby's born, as terrifying as it is I'm excited to be a mom and I also can't wait for everything else to go back to normal."

"What do you mean?" he asked sceptically.

"You know… my hormones, my body," she listed.

He nodded slightly before she murmured the next word.

"Us."

She felt him look at her but she couldn't face him. What was going on with her? Why did she just have to say that?

They arrived at the house in silence and said hastened goodnights to each other before turning into their separate rooms.

However after an hour of thinking she decided that she couldn't just lie there and wait to succumb to sleep so she got up and walked into the kitchen - she could do with a snack anyway. It had been well over 24 hours since she'd last had ice cream so it was totally reasonable that she needed more right now.

Unfortunately as she walked down the hallway she noticed that the living room light was already on, she would have turned around and gone back to bed but curiosity got the best of her. Plus she really wanted ice cream.

As she walked into the living room she saw the father of her baby eating her ice cream, right out of the carton.

"What are you doing?" she asked accusingly.

He looked up at her with a shocked expression before it turned into one of guilt when he realised that she'd caught him. He should look guilty, after all it was her ice cream.

"I was just hungry so I…" he trailed off, aware of how serious she got when it came to foods that she had a craving for.

"It's fine as long as there's another carton in the freezer," she warned playfully.

"Do you think I have a death wish?" he laughed. "Of course there is."

"Thanks," she smiled at him before retrieving said ice cream from the freezer and sitting down across from him on the couch.

After a few minutes of silence she put her feet onto the couch in the space between them next and winced, Lucas apparently noticed because he stopped eating his ice cream and moved his hands to her feet before she recoiled them quickly.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"I was just going to give you a foot rub," he explained with a sheepish expression that she didn't think she'd seen since they were teenagers. "You've been on your feet all day so they've got to be hurting. Besides I'm half to blame for the reason they hurt so bad so I may as well do something to try and help."

She smiled at him gratefully and placed her feet back on the sofa giving him silent permission to continue.

She closed her eyes as she ate the last of her ice cream, she forgot how good he was at this. The sensation of his hands on her skin was reminding her of the way his hands used to caress other parts of her body, God she shouldn't be thinking this in her hormonal state but those hands had done things to her that made her blush just to think about.

Slowly she felt his hands work their way up her legs, not too far but enough so that they were both very aware that this was no longer just a foot rub. Just as his hands had worked their way up to just below her knees she decided enough was enough and placed her hands on his.

"Luke stop," she whispered as she looked into his eyes.

"Sorry I just-" he began to move his hands away.

"No it's j-just that I'm really… hormonal right now so while w-what you were doing felt…" she stumbled on her words. "It felt good Luke but this baby is making me think things and feel things that I really shouldn't."

"No it's my fault, I'm sorry," he apologised quickly. "I don't know what came over me, it's just that today felt different. Kind of like old times but this time it was like we were… I don't know it was like we were a family."

All of a sudden she couldn't care less what her brain was telling her, he'd just said all the right things to make her want him even more than she had before.

She slowly put her ice cream to one side and put her hand on his cheek before closing her eyes and pressing her lips to his softly.

The next morning she woke in a very familiar position, one that she had been in six and a half months ago to be exact. As she looked over at the naked man asleep next to her she thanked god that at least this time she didn't have a hangover to go with the sinking feeling of regret.

She sighed as she realised that this time the blame was all on her.

I've been wanting to write this chapter for a while so I'm happy I finally did, it took me ages to actually finish it though because I can never write anything romantic or without it sounding weird and the ending is meant to be like sexy romantic which is the worst kind because I feel awkward writing it and then you feel awkward reading it which is obviously not the aim. Anyway sorry for the awkwardness and also sorry for taking ages to update again, this time it was mostly because I was avoiding writing the last bit.