Note: Thanks so much for the reviews Lyss and everyone else. It means a lot to me. I know that this is very different from how the show actually went after S1, but I stuck with it and I'm going to be introducing new things and possibly some of the stuff from S2 as I get farther along into the story. I have about...10 chapters that have been written already so I'll be starting from there. For now, just sit back and enjoy what I've already got waiting for you. :)

Out of the Shadows, Into the Light

The next day dawned bright and early, a little too early for Peyton who rolled over, beating her alarm clock when it went off telling her to get up.

"Too early. Must sleep. School…why?" After several minutes she sat up groggily, scratching her mess of curls. Slowly she made her way to the bathroom.

"Need wake-up music," she groaned searching through her massive collection of records and CD's. "Ah-HA!" she cried and yanked Jet's CD off the shelf and blasted "Are You Gonna Be My Girl."

"That's the stuff right there," she said, grinning to herself. She was sitting on her bed, lacing up her shoes when she heard someone at the door. She looked up and this time it was Lucas.

"I'm sorry," she said looking around confused and then back at Lucas. "Are you looking for someone here?"

"Only my beautiful girlfriend," Lucas replied, smiling.

"Oh, well that's a problem. There's no one here but me!" she exclaimed as she put a bewildered expression on her face.

Lucas walked towards her and said, "Well I guess you'll have to do," and planted a big kiss on her forehead.

"Good morning."

"Good morning to you too," Peyton said.

"How's my favorite girl?"

"Well your favorite girl - nice touch by the way - has some news for you."

"Oh yeah? Shoot."

"Ok…well, Brooke came over last night," Lucas raised his eyebrows at this in slight shock, "She wanted to patch things up. I told her it was a bunch of b.s and I also told her about us," she pointed at herself and then at him.

"Wow, um….how did that go over?"

"She actually said she would try to be cool with it. Can you believe that? I thought I should check her toolbox or something—make sure she wasn't one screw loose."

Lucas winced and put his hand on his chest. "Ah, Peyton, that was a terrible joke. Not funny at all," Lucas laughed.

"Well, I tried my best, and if it wasn't funny, why are you laughing?" She said wiggling her eyebrows at him. "You ready to go?"

"Definitely, have to go public someday." He put his arm around her and they walked out of her bedroom, off to another day of school.
Karen was at work, just starting to make the first coffee of the morning when she heard the bell on the door tinkle as someone walked in. She turned around to see who it was and saw that it was Keith. Her heart leapt at the sight of him as she remembered her conversation with Lucas the night before….you have to at least tell him, mom…

"Hey, Karen. How's everything going this morning?" he asked, smiling warmly at her. Inside all he could think about was how many days there were left until he wouldn't be seeing her face everyday. He pushed the thought aside and sat down at the counter.

"Hi, Keith, what can I get for you? Just some coffee?"

"Yeah, that should do me fine." As Karen turned her back to him to get his coffee she gave herself a silent pep talk. "Karen, get a grip on yourself, woman! You've got to tell him. It's now or never." She took a deep breath and faced Keith, handing him the mug of dark liquid as she did so.

"There's something you need to know before you leave," she blurted out.

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"I lied to you, Keith." He just looked at her and then slowly said, "About what?"

"Before you say anything I know that you are leaving and it's entirely my fault and I have no right to do this to you now. But I just wanted you to know. Lucas said I should give the option at least. If you still want to leave, it's ok. I'll understand, but….I'm in love with you, too."

"Wow, Karen, I don't know what to say. I didn't expect this," he said, looking completely taken aback.

"I know I'm so sorry." She looked down at her feet.

"I can't give up this opportunity. Ever since you told me you didn't love me the same way I've been putting my heart and soul into this job. I'm really looking forward to it." Karen nodded her head, blinking back the tears. "But maybe there's a way to solve this." She looked up at him then. "Maybe….you could come with me."

"What?" she gasped. Did he really just ask her to come with him?

"Will you come with me?"

"I—I…..Keith, I would love to. But Lucas and the café …I can't just leave them!"

Keith's face dropped in disappointment.

"You're right. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking." He shook his head at himself. "It's never the right timing for us, is it?"

She looked at him sadly, "No, it never seems to be."

"I guess we'll have to just visit a lot. Maybe things will work out down the line sometime." He looked at her for a moment and then took her hand. "I love you, Karen. I'll wait if I have to," then he got up, laid a few dollars on the counter and walked out.

Lucas and Peyton were walking down the hallway of Tree Hill High, holding hands, looking like they were the only two people in the world when Haley spotted them.
She grabbed Nathan's arm, who was standing next to her, talking to a few guys from the team and whispered, "Nathan, look!" as she pointed at Lucas and Peyton.

"Holy crap is it possible that the drama has ended and Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer are finally together? Wait…let me compose myself," as he pretended to wipe a tear from his cheek. Then he smiled and ruffled Haley's hair, mainly because she was giving him a deadly glare.

"Honestly, Hales, I think it's great."

"That's better," she replied, giving him a quick kiss before she ran up to her two friends.

"Hey you guys! What's all this business?"

Peyton looked up at Luke happily and just shrugged. Lucas looked down at Peyton and just…shrugged. Haley rolled her eyes and said, "Oh I see, of course. That explained everything! Peyton, dear, may I steal you?" She ushered her off to a corner and asked excitedly if Peyton and Luke were finally together.

"Haley..we are and it's really great. We talked it all out last night." Peyton'seyes were wide with happiness as she continued."Brooke even said she was going to be cool about it. I've never been this happy in my life. That's saying something too, because I'm never happy." Haley laughed and nodded.

"That is so great. I'm really happy for you….so Brooke gave up just like that? That's really hard to believe."

"You know I thought the same thing, but maybe she's just changed." Peyton turned around to look at Lucas who was talking to Nathan and laughing. She faced Haley again. "Anyway, I'm gonna get back to him. I feel like I'm in a dream and I'm going to wake up any second. Talk to you later, Hales."

Haley watched Peyton join Luke and smiled when she saw them kiss and walk off together. Slowly her smile faded though as she thought of Brooke. Nathan came up to her and saw her staring at nothing. He passed his hand in front of her face and when she didn't react he asked, "What's the psycho look for?"

She shook her head and looked up at Nathan. "Oh, hey….it's just…Peyton said Brooke was completely fine with she and Luke. I don't buy it though. I have a feeling something terrible is going to happen with them." Nathan touched her face, "Don't worry about it so much, Haley. They'll be fine." She nodded and grabbed his hand. The bell rang and the hall slowly emptied as everyone rushed off to their classes.

Later that day after school, Lucas and Nathan were at practice and Peyton and Brooke were showing the rest of the squad a new cheer they had come up with. It was proving to be a little too difficult for the girls though. Everyone had confused looks on their faces as they tried to coordinate the cheer with the moves that went along with it.

"Wow, this is sad." Brooke commented looking on at the girls, disappointed.

"Haha, no kidding. It's painful even to watch." Peyton laughed.

"All right, ladies," Brooke yelled, clapping her hands together. "Why don't we give it a rest for a bit. Take a fiver." All the girls sighed with relief as they broke off to stretch or get a drink of water.

"So, Pey, got any plans this weekend?" Brooke asked, turning around to face her.

"No, not yet, I guess. Why? You want to hang out?"

"I thought it would be nice. It's been awhile since we've been together, just the girls."

"Ok, well, what do you have in mind?" Peyton said looking at Brooke suspiciously.

"Don't give me that look, Peyton! Nothing terrible. I just thought maybe we could go out to the bar for some drinks; loosen up a little bit and then go from there. Come on, it'll be lots of fun!" she looked at her friend hopefully, clutching her pom-poms. Then she pouted and said, "Can you really resist this face?"

"Ah, you got me! So Friday night then, 9-ish?"

"Perfect! Just you and me, friend." Brooke twirled around and clapped her hands again. "Ok, girls, let's get back to business."

The week went by uneventfully although everyone was excited for the weekend. Finally Friday rolled around, thank God, because Lucas thought it would never get there.

After the bell rang for his last class of the day, he walked out into the hall, carrying his school bag. He scanned the hall for Peyton and when he saw her, he grinned and ran over to her.

"Hey, stranger. Seems like I haven't seen you for ages."

"Lucas, I just saw you before this hour!" she replied laughing.

"I know that's my point. An hour is way too long." He bent down and gave her kiss before she shut her locker and took his hand.

They walked out of the school out to the parking lot and stopped when they got to Peyton's car.

"Whew," he said looking into the backseat. "Don't you ever clean this thing out?"

"Nah, it's an expression of my personality," she joked. "Besides how could I ever get rid of my week-old McDonald's cup? It has too much sentimental value."

He shook his head at her and pushed her hair back from her face.

"So are we hanging out tonight?"

"Oh, damn, I forgot to tell you. I told Brooke I'd hang out with her, just the two of us."

"That's all right," Lucas replied, looking disappointed.

"I'm all yours tomorrow though!"

"Good, I can't wait. Well give me a call tonight and tell me how things are going and then I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll do that." She said good-bye as she reached up and kissed him and then got in her car.