"Are you shitting me?" Lucas asked.

Everyone was looking around at each other and talking.

"Order in the court! Order in the court!" the judge said again. "Mrs. Lawrence, I request that you take the stand and testify under oath, on the record if counsel has no further objections."

A stunned prosecutor and defense attorney shook their heads. Amanda walked off the stand, glaring at the woman she resembled.

"Melanie…"

"Hello, Mother", she rolled her eyes. "Long time no see."

Carol Lawrence took the witness stand and was sworn in.

"Melanie has been missing from our home from almost a year now. We live in Mobil, Alabama and she'd run away several times before. She usually crossed the state line to Pensacola and she'd either come home on her own or we'd find her or the police would bring her back. Regardless, she always came back and usually within a few weeks. When she didn't come back this time, we got worried. We feared the worst…that she had been hurt or killed. You see, Melanie has always had problems. As a child she was prone to frequent and violent outbursts. She was in lots of special schools because of her emotional problems but nothing seemed to work. In fact, it got worse as she got older. By the time she was a teenager, she was out of control. She had been diagnosed manic depressive with sociopathic tendencies. She began seeing older boys and became very promiscuous. She also began to experiment with illegal drugs around that time. That was the first time she falsely accused someone of rape. It was a family friend. His name was later cleared but she accused a teacher and a neighbor as well. Nothing seemed to help, my husband and I were desperate so in a least ditch effort, we had Melanie institutionalized. She ran away but not before she set fire to the hospital. We have been looking for her for months and yesterday I received a call from a Mrs. Jagielski and a Mrs. Scott. We were relieved to know that Melanie was alive but it was disheartening though not surprising that she has been up to her old tricks and wreaking havoc again. Your Honor, our daughter is a sick individual. We love Melanie very much but she needs help that we cannot give her. I am pretty sure, as pattern has proved in the past, that these current allegations are also false. I hope that Melanie will rethink her actions and admit the truth so the Scotts can go on with their normal lives and she can come back to Alabama with us and receive psychiatric treatment."

The presiding judge took a deep breath.

"Counsel, may I see both of you as well as Miss Marshall or shall I say, Miss Lawrence, in chambers, please? 30 minute recess."

The attorneys and the girl formerly known as Amanda all followed the judge.

"Peyton, what in the world is going on?" Jake asked.

"Just call it intuition but I had a feeling so I convinced Haley to break into the records room at the school with me. We went through her stuff and found out exactly what was in her record. Nothing added up so we did a little more digging and found out Amanda isn't who she said she was."

"She lied about everything", Haley added. "We found her real identity and that she had lied about her whole past including the rapes and the foster homes and her parents being dead. I remembered this private investigator I had met once at one of Nathan's parties so I called in a few favors and told him we were literally running out of time and luckily he found the Lawrences."

"She is one sick puppy", Lucas shook his head.

"You guys did that for me?" Nathan asked as he still sat in the defendant's chair.

"We knew you were innocent, dude", Peyton smiled. "I wasn't gonna let you go down for her lies. I couldn't."

Haley smiled.

"You're my husband. I love you. Nathan, I told you I'd stand by you and I did. I will."

"But you guys could have lost your jobs. You could have been arrested…"

"Who cares?" Haley said. "Babe, you're more important than any of that."

"Hey", Brooke pouted. "Why didn't you guys include me?"

"Brooke", Peyton chuckled.

"Don't Brooke me. It's not funny. I'm really mad. Why couldn't I be the third Charlie's Angel?"

"It's not like we planned it."

"You just didn't want me along. I get it. Fine. Whatever. I see how you guys are."

"Tigger, don't take it personal. We're sorry. And God forbid the next time a psychotic, evil, demon possessed, lying teenager comes into our lives and tries to ruin everything and Pey and I have to play Dick Tracy, we totally promise to include you. Okay? Forgive us now?"

Brooke thought for a second and smiled before shrugging.

"Okay. You're off the hook. Buy me a fabulous pair of shoes and we'll call it even, Friends."

Nathan smiled his first real smile of the day.

"Maybe I shouldn't say anything until I'm out of this damned orange suit but Hales, what you did…well, it was kind of hot. Sweet but hot."

"Thank you", she smiled.

"Yeah", Jake loosened his tie. "That was kind of hot, Peyton."

She just winked at him.

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's busted. Amanda or Melanie or whatever the hell her name is. At least it's over. There's no way they can keep you now, Nathan. They'll have to let you go and drop charges."

"I know. At least I hope so. I just want it to be over for everybody. Amanda…well, she's really sick. Something is wrong with her. I don't think she can help what she is or what she does. For her sake and everybody else's, I just hope someone can help her. I hope she'll be okay."

"Who cares?" Brooke rolled her eyes.

"It's just sad, that's all. I mean, you saw her mom crying and stuff on the witness stand."

Jake sighed.

"After everything she's done, after all the people she has hurt and especially what she almost did to you, man, you mean, you're not even a little bit bitter?"

Nathan shook his head.

"I'm pissed and I wish none of this shit ever happened and that we all never met her but what can you do? I can't change the past. None of us can. There's no reason to be bitter. If I am, if we all keep being angry, then she just continues to win. That's all she ever wanted anyway. Life's too precious and too short to spend it being bitter about stuff we can't control."

"You're right", Lucas said quietly.

He was proud of his little brother. Nathan had grown into quite a noble young man. He didn't know if he himself could have been able to handle the pressure as well as Nathan had.

"I love you", Haley mouthed.

"Love you, too", Nathan winked at her.

Just then, the doors to the chambers opened and all parties walked back into the courtroom. All eyes were on the judge as he took his seat on the bench.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the court, Miss Melanie Lawrence aka Miss Amanda Marshall has recanted her previous testimony. We now have a signed and notarized letter stating such. I must say that the latest revelations are quite disturbing. Miss Lawrence has not only perjured herself but she did make a false statement to the police as well. These are all serious felonies punishable by law but I am unsure at this time sentence in a juvenile detention center or jail or prison would be in the best interest of the child. And despite her heinous actions, she is still a child. So I am ordering that Miss Lawrence be immediately transferred to a maximum security psychiatric hospital in the state of Florida. Pending the latest evaluation, I will determine id further detention is required or if Miss Lawrence can return to the state of Alabama with her parents. As far as the People vs. Nathan D. Scott, the case has been dismissed and all charges have been formally dropped. Mr. Scott, you are free to leave the courtroom at this time."

Nathan stood and shook the hand of his attorney before embracing Haley. Next, he hugged Peyton as well and over her shoulder she could see the bailiff escorting Amanda/Melanie out. The two made eye contact and the younger girl smirked with a shrug. For Peyton, it was the final devastating blow. But at least it was over.

"Everybody okay?" Lucas asked.

The group murmured and nodded.

"Good", Brooke sighed. "Let's get the hell out of this godforsaken place. Let's go home."

Nathan pulled Haley into his chest, kissing her forehead again.

"Yeah", he sighed, just happy that he could say the words and actually mean them. "Let's go home."