Lost in the Past

Chapter 20

A/N - It's been quite a while and I know the last chapter was quite a bit of a shock...but I had that planned for a while. I had a blast on vacation and I couldn't help but try to think of ideas for this story or any others that I want to do. I hope you guys are enjoying my stories and if at any point you aren't then you need to let me know. I don't want to write a story you don't want to read. I hope you enjoy:

Peyton was laying across her bed, thinking of the events of that morning. The phone rang, startling her. She quickly grabbed it from her night stand so it didn't wake Liz from the nap she was taking. She answered in a rather tired voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey friend!" her best friend since high school said happily. "So, what're you up to today?"

"I think I'll be sitting here catching up on my sleep while the kids are quiet," Peyton replied.

"Well that is not what I was thinking for today P. Sawyer...I think we should take the kids and get out for a day!" she announced.

Peyton rolled her eyes and groaned. She wasn't really in the mood to leave the sanctuary of her bedroom, but she was in the mood to get her situation off her chest. She was always able to talk to Brooke about her sexcapades and this was no exception.

"Ok," she said letting out a heavy sigh. Brooke giggled a bit at her friend's lack of enthusiasm, but nonetheless she grabbed Jenny and headed out towards the car.

"You ready to go see Nate?" she asked the girl she considered her daughter.

Jenny gave a smile and shook her head vigorously. Just the thought of her best friend put a smile on her face. Jenny and little Nathan did everything together. They were in the same grade because of the way Nathan's birthday fell. They didn't have too many other friends in the class and sat out by themselves, but they were ok with that. They were the best of friends and nothing could tear them apart.

Brooke had to laugh at Jenny. Looking back, they were a spitting image of the way Luke and Haley were. Well, the way they were before sophomore year, before Brooke and Peyton and Nathan came into their lives and corrupted them. The only thing Brooke could hope was that Jenny and Nathan's friendship was strong enough to get past all of those people who come in and out of their lives.

Luke and Haley had a hard time staying close after other people entered their lives. Not that it was a bad thing when Peyton, Brooke, Nathan, Lucas, and Haley all became friends. It changed their lives for the better, and for the most part neither Luke or Haley had any regrets about the way their lives turned out.

There were times where Luke had confided in one of them about his one major regret about growing up. He'd told all of them that if he could go back and fix one thing that it would be how he grew apart from Haley. They didn't talk as much when she got with Nathan and he had his problems with Brooke and Peyton. Brooke saw how much Jenny meant to Nathan and vice versa and she didn't want to see them fall apart the same way she watched Luke and Haley deteriorate. It was depressing.


After all her thinking she arrived at her best friend's house, and grabbed Jenny from the backseat of her Ford Taurus. She tapped on the door waiting for the blonde to arrive. She saw the door open and then saw the glowing face of Peyton Sawyer. Brooke immediately knew something happened to make Peyton smile like that.

"Ok what happened?" Brooke asked, sending Jenny inside, and getting right down to business.

'Damn' Peyton thought 'She knows too much.'

"Um...let's talk about this inside," Peyton said trying to get off the subject.

"Nope. You are going to tell me what's got you smiling like that. The last time I saw you smile like that was...when you and Luke got together after he sang at the café."

"You're on the right track," Peyton mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Ok, ok I give up. I slept with Lucas last night," she said confessing her secret.

"What?!"

"Keep it down. I don't want the whole world to know," Peyton scolded.

"Oh my god! You two are so meant to be, no matter how cliche that sounds," she told Peyton with a huge smile.

Peyton giggled and ushered Brooke inside to go check on the kids. They walked into the living room and found them having a popcorn fight while watching a re-run of Rugrats.

"Guys! My living room!" Peyton whined. They all laughed at her and Brooke went to clean up the popcorn.

"C'mon Jenny...we'll go outside and get away from these psychos," Nate stated.

"Ok...later guys," Jenny said running outside after the little boy.

"Those two are gonna give us many problems," Brooke said with a laugh.

"No, don't say that. We don't need any more problems in our screwed up lives."

"Speak for yourself hun. My life is pretty damn good now," Brooke said defending herself.

"Yea whatever. But still I mean Nate is like an image of Luke and Nathan mixed so that could be a problem. Jenny will be raised by you and that could be a big problem. I mean we are going to have a lot of problems from these two," Peyton said making sense of the situation.

Brooke could only laugh at how high strung Peyton had become. Peyton gave her a look and said "Let's go to the grocery store. I need food in this house...you wanna stay for dinner?"

"Yea we'll stay, but I have to call Jake and tell him. This is funny that like 5 years ago we'd be going to the mall and now we're dragging 3 kids to Pathmark for food," Brooke said giggling. Peyton just smiled and really thought about where the time had gone. Her son was 8 now and her little girl was 4. Everything just went so quickly.


They took Brooke's car to the store and had to walk around getting food with 3 kids.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," Brooke said as she grabbed Nathan and Jenny from climbing up the shelves.

"No, maybe not," Peyton replied dragging Liz away from opening a box of cereal.

It took them another half an hour to get to the check-out aisle. The kids were looking at the candy and trying to open anything they could get their hands on.

"How bout this?" Nathan asked the brown haired girl standing next to him.

She shook her head to agree and he began to tear at the wrapper. Peyton saw this and immediately snatched the candy bar from his hands and he gave a pout. She glared at him and he just stood in the middle of the aisle not moving, being the stubborn little boy that he was. A trait he involuntarily picked up from his father.

Peyton was digging through her wallet as she watched the total being brought up on the screen. Her eyes grew wider as she went somewhat over her budget and Brooke just stood there watching the kids and making sure Peyton didn't faint at how much money it ended up being.

Nathan looked around the store intently. He looked over and saw someone who looked familiar, his Aunt Haley. He hadn't seen her in years, but he remembered her. He still watched the tapes and read the letters she once sent. She was standing at the entrance looking at everything around her.

"Mom, isn't that Aunt Haley?"

Peyton looked over and saw her old friend. She was unbelievably surprised and overjoyed to see Haley again.

"Haley!" she shouted across the store.

Haley gave a look of disgust and fear and ran out of the store as quick as she could. Brooke eyes were wide as she watched Haley dart out the doors.

"What crawled up her ass and died?" little Nathan asked.

"Nathan?!" Peyton said in surprise.

"Daddy used to say it all the time about you..."

"Yea, well being divorced doesn't allow a lot of nice things to happen now does it? C'mon we gotta go find Haley," Peyton said quickly.

She grabbed the bags and ran out of the store with Brooke and the 3 kids trailing after her. She took off down the street, but couldn't see Haley anywhere.

"We have to call Nathan," Peyton said searching through her purse.

"Nathan?" she said when she heard a voice say hello.

"Hey Peyt."

"You need to do something," she said out of breath from running.

"What?" he asked completely confused.

"We just saw Haley at the Pathmark in town. It was her. I waved and she ran and we went after her but..." she said leaving her words in the air.

"Ok, ok. I'll be there soon and...um I was wondering if you might be able to take Will for me?" he asked nervously. He knew Brooke was there and he felt bad giving them even more kids.

"No problem. You need to get here fast though. I think she's still in town," Peyton rambled.

"Be there soon," he said.


He got there in record time as he dropped Will with Peyton and Brooke. The 6 of them went back to Peyton's house and Peyton had to tell her exactly what went down with Luke. She admitted to the divorce paper signing thing and Brooke sat with her mouth open for a long time before she was able to speak. Brooke said she'd take the 3 kids for the night so Luke and Peyton could talk. She was very grateful for her best friend.

Nathan was searching around town and found himself at the park at 8 o'clock that night. He sat on the swing and buried is face in his hands. He was in a state of despair. Haley was right there, in the town and he'd been only a few minutes too late.

He got up and began walking when he saw a small figure walking into the park. He watched the girl go and sit in the swing he was previously on and watched her repeat his actions. He didn't know what to do, so he walked over and sat on the swing next to her.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. She lifted her head up and he saw her face. He saw the face he had been searching for. The face that could lift anything from upon his shoulders. It was his Haley James.

"Nathan?" she said in a state of complete and utter shock.

"Haley," he said as the corners of his mouth turned into a smile.

She immediately got up and wrapped her arms around his neck as the tears came to her eyes. He held her close, and made her body flush with his.

"Where have you been?" he asked. He didn't want to let her go.

"Only a town away, Nathan. Only a town away..."

"I've missed you so much, Hales," he whispered. He buried his face in the crook of her neck.

He brought his head down to hers and after so many years they kissed. Nathan suddenly felt alive and he felt like his better half was back in his life.

"I've missed you too," she said pulling back. "I don't remember everything, but I know a lot."

"Good. I'll help you with the rest," he told her.

"I have to go," she said beginning to walk away.

"What?! Why?"

"Chris is waiting and he said if I'm not back before he goes to his meeting then he'll hurt me," she said uneasily.

"No he won't."

"Yes, he will. I want you to come to the house after he leaves though. I don't think I can stand another minute without you," she said hugging him again.


She gave him a piece of paper with her address and he was looking forward to it. He walked back to the house he and Luke shared and found Luke getting ready to go out.

"Where you headed?"

"Peyton's. She invited me over because we need to talk," he said with a grin.

"Yea, well you'll never believe the day I had," he said to his older brother.

"Spill."

"I found Haley again!" Nathan exclaimed.

"Really?!" Lucas asked equally excited.

"Yea. I'm going there after. She still doesn't remember everything but she knows me still."

"Well, you make her remember and bring her back here as soon as you can. We all wanna see her and you still gotta tell her about Will," Lucas said a little worried.

"Shit. I almost forgot that she wouldn't remember him."

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THE NALEY REUNION. THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF NALEY IN THE STORY FROM NOW ON. REVIEW SO I KNOW YOU'RE LIKING IT.

NEXT - Nathan and Haley at the house / Lucas and Peyton "talk" / Nathan's gotta tell Haley about Will / Jake and Brooke with 4 kids...can we say chaos? / More drama with Chris...

I love writing this story and I hope you all enjoy reading it. I want to thank you for all the wonderful reviews and they're what I write for. I'm writing for you so if you want more you gotta tell me!! Will update!!