Chapter 26

Edge of Doom

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. It is an ever-fixed mark on tempests and is never shaken. Love alters not with times brief hours and weeks. But bares it out even to edge of doom."

- Sonnet 116 Shakespeare

Peyton watched Lucas run out the café with an unwavering look on his face. He knew what he wanted and he was determined to get it. She knew he thought of Brooke often but it still strung that he raced after her so quickly. Her feelings for him didn't go beyond friendship but it was still hard to be reminded that their one night together was considered a mistake. She couldn't help but think that maybe deep inside of him, he felt the same way about the baby she carried. She was being stupid and she knew it. Lucas had been great the last few months. He was acting like a happy father to be. But Peyton knew he wasn't. She knew he loved the baby and her in his own way. It was just different. This wasn't exactly how she dreamed of becoming a mother.

Peyton balanced her weight on the table and tried to pull herself up but an unfamiliar pain stopped her in her tracks.

"Ahhh!" she cried out.

She carefully took her seat again.

"Wowww…baby girl…" she said shaking her head. "Mommy doesn't like…"

There it was again.

"Karen!" she called out.

Breathe in, breathe out she reminded herself.

"Ohhh!" Peyton clenched her stomach in pain.

Karen looked up from cash register.

"Peyton, sweetie what's wrong?" she asked while walking over.

Wiping her hands on her apron and she asked again. "What's wrong?"

"I don't…know" she managed to get out between breaths.

She didn't remember hearing that being in labor was this painful.

"I think I'm in labor," she whispered as white as a ghost.

Karen nodded.

"Well let's be sure about that honey."

Karen did her best to help her stand.

"Peyton do you think you can walk to the car?" she asked.

She attempt to stand but the pain in her stomach was too much.

Peyton shook her head.

"Oh God…something's wrong. I can feel it!" she cried.

"Haley!" Karen yelled towards the back. "Call an ambulance. I think Peyton's in labor."

Or at least she hoped so.

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Lucas found himself walking by the one place he felt most at home. The Rivercourt. It didn't surprise him that he ended up there. It was after all the first place he'd gone to the first time Brooke left. He didn't know what it was about that place but it always seemed to put things in perspective for him. He remembered coming here when he was a little boy. Keith and him would spend the whole day here playing ball, talking, just hanging out. It was the only time in Lucas' life he actually felt like he had a father. Dan make it no secret that he didn't want and sometimes it felt like, didn't love his oldest son. But Lucas knew better. Dan hide it will but sometimes it showed. Maybe it was his imagination or a life long yearning of his but in the end it didn't matter because it was enough.

He felt the familiar vibration of his cell phone but ignored it. He needed to think. His life had been pretty stable the last few months but in less than hour it was turned upside down again. Yesterday he had accepted the fact that he may never see Brooke again but today when he saw her the feelings and memories of the past three years came rushing back and he was powerless to stop them.

"This is my world Brooke…or at least it used to be," he smirked.

"I have been here before you know," she responded.

Lucas shrugged.

"I know…I just never told you what this place is to me." Looking away, he continued, "It's not just a court…It's where I came from, it's where I belong, It's my world," he finished.

"So do I get to be apart of this world?" she asked openly.

Smiling, he said, "The biggest part."

And she was. She always would be. His love for her was everlasting. No matter how many months or years they spent apart or how many miles separated them he would always have her heart. He just hoped she let him prove that she would always have his.

"Stop! This is ridiculous," he screamed while running after her in the rain.

"Ridiculous! I found that letter in your sad box to Peyton, whatever in your closet. Dear Peyton, blah, blah, blah, you're mine forever love Lucas."

"Look, I don't even remember writing that," he tried to reason.

"Well you did! Looks like forever just got a lot shorter!"

He grabbed her arm. She turned to face him.

"Brooke, okay I'm sorry. It was a mistake."

"Which time? When you wrote it to me or Peyton?' she angrily asked.

"No, you were the one who was snorting through my closet."

"So not the point!" she defended.

"Look I know you feel vulnerable…about what you wrote to me in your letters," he started.

"That is not while I'm upset right now! And FYI I'm not your recycling bin," she yelled.

Fed up, he screamed back.

"No you're psychotic!"

Beyond pissed, Brooke turned around and tried to walk away but Lucas pulled her back once again.

"Brooke, I'm sorry I said that. You're not psychotic. I mean a little disturbed, maybe…" he said jokingly.

"You think this is funny?" she asked annoyed.

"No, what I think is, I think you trying to spoil us. By any reason you can so you can end it but you don't have to worry about getting hurt again," he tried to assure her.

"But the same words, Lucas! The exact same words!"

"I never sent that letter to Peyton."

"And I never sent my letters to you either but they still meant something," she cried. "Just tell me, why me this time? Why not Peyton?"

His feelings for Peyton were always so complicated. He had this connection with her that he never had with any other person. Not even Haley. There was a time when he truly believed that Peyton was the one he wanted, the one he was meant to be with. Even while he was with Brooke, the first time, he still believed that Peyton was the one for him. And then one day he saw Brooke in a different light. She wasn't just some dense cheerleader; she was so much more than that. She was caring and giving and loyal beyond understanding. She just hid it well. He wished he had realized it earlier. Maybe then none of this would have happened.

He thought felt his phone vibrate again, 'Haley's Cell' flashed on the screen.

"Hey Haley, " he said miserably.

Haley sniffled.

"Lucas?"

"Are you crying? What's wrong?" he asked concerned.

"It's Peyton…she went into labor and…and something's wrong with the baby, "she cried.

Something was wrong with the baby.

"Wrong…baby…No. No, I just left her. What happened, Haley?" he asked.

She did her best to explain.

"It was right about you left with Brooke…she was eating and then she called for Karen," she cried. "She was so pale Lucas…so pale."

"Is she at the hospital now?"

"Y…ye…yes" she managed to get out between sobs.

"I'll be there as quick as I can."

"Hurry Lucas…she's asking for you."

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Walking through the airport for the second time that day Brooke wondered how in the world her life got so screwed up. It would be easy to blame it all on Lucas and Peyton but she held some responsibility too. She wasn't excusing what they did but in a way she understood it. She recognized the desperate need to lose yourself in someone else when your heart was broken. It was a need she, herself was trying hard to deny. It would have been so easy for her to hook up with random guy after random guy but it wouldn't change anything. She'd still be living in California and Lucas and Peyton would still be expecting a baby. Choices had been made, words had been said and it was too late. Peyton and Lucas made their choices, now it was time for Brooke to make hers.

"Thank you for choosing American Airlines, how may I help you today?"

Brooke vaguely smiled at the ladies, cheerfulness.

"One-way ticket to California please. The first available flight you've got to LAX."

"Will you be flying first class or coach today?"

She didn't give a flying flip if she was in first class or coach, she just wanted the hell out of North Carolina.

"Are both available?" Brooke asked.

"Let me check."

Rolling her eyes in Brooke Davis fashion, she continued.

"I don't really care if all you have left is cargo. Just give me a seat."

Twenty minutes later, she was comfortably sitting in first class with her headphones on and her eyes closed. Naively, Brooke imagined she would feel better after being in Tree Hill but things were never that simple and all she ended up doing was making herself feel worse. She never expected to run into Lucas and Peyton, together, friendly or otherwise. She had hoped that would have become enemies or something. Even during her in worst days she never thought being here would have been so hard. She wanted to close the door to that chapter of her life forever but instead it reminded her that it was wide open. And she would never have the one thing, she was confident she would want for the rest of her life. Lucas.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the captain asks that you buckle your seat belts and turn off all electronic devices at this time. Thank you for flying with American Airlines and enjoy your flight."

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Running into the emergency room, Lucas recognized his mother quietly crying in the corner. He rushed to her side.

"Mom…what happened? Is Peyton okay? What about the baby," he franticly asked.

"She's in labor…the baby is breeched Lucas."

Karen knew the risk involved in having a breech baby and it didn't help that Peyton was so young. The chances of them making it out safely were high but dangerous nonetheless.

"I don't understand what that means," he cried.

He vaguely remembering hearing about it once or twice on television but couldn't seem to process anything other than something is wrong with the baby.

"The baby is positioned wrong…"

"What room?" he asked.

"Down the hall…but Lucas you can't go in there." Karen called to her son's running form.

Lucas couldn't remember the last time he'd been so scared. He was never thrilled about having a baby in the first place but over the months he had gotten used to the idea and on some levels even fancied being a father. He'd be there to dry his little girl's tears, to clean her up after her first fall, to see her off on her first date but most importantly he'd be there to love her. He would be the type of father, Keith had been to him since day one, the type his real father never wanted to be.

Lucas cornered the first nurse he saw.

"Help me, please…"

The nurse had been on shift since 10:00pm the night before, it was now 2:00pm and the last thing she wanted to do was help anyone but after seeing the desperate look in the young man's eyes, she knew she couldn't turn him away.

"How can I help?" she asked.

"Something's wrong with my baby…she was in labor. I don't know where they are."

He wasn't making any sense.

"Slow down, sweetie. Do you know what's wrong with your baby?"

"Sh…she was…breeched," his voice trailed off in fright.

Her face softened.

"What's your wife name?"

He didn't process he just reacted. "Peyton Sawyer," he whispered.

"You stay here, I'm gonna go see if I can find something out."

Lucas grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes.

"Please help them…that's my family in there," he begged.

She smiled at the young man's obvious love for his unborn child and what she had assumed was his wife.

"Your baby and wife are in good hands. Try not to worry," she tried to assure him.

Lucas nodded but they both knew he was going to worry just the same. Like he had said earlier, that was his family in there.

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tbc… a little short, I know but I hope you loved it anyways :D

Flashback #1 is from eppy #310

Flashback #2 is from eppy #313