This fic is back from haitus and it is back pretty stong. A kind of intense chapter and a very surprise ending. you've got to read and review.
xoxo Jules
Chapter 12: Come on try a little
Jake rushed into the emergency room to find Peyton talking to one of the doctors.
"Is everything okay?" Jake asked "Where are the kids!"
"Tessa and Gunner are at home." Peyton said wiping her eyes
"Is Cody going to be alright?" Jake asked Peyton as he pulled her into a hug
"Yeah, she just needed stitches." Peyton said
"So what happened?"
"I guess she was at the movies with Hannah and River and then she started bleeding through her shirt and she fainted." Peyton explained as she looked away from Jake
"Has she done this before?" Jake asked
"No, I mean, I don't know! I hope not. God I wish she never did it at all… When I was her age I was always on the verge of doing things like this but when it came down to it I couldn-… I mean sure there was the coke, oh my god."
"It's okay." Jake said pulling Peyton into a tight hug as she cried in his arms.
"I really don't know what to do anymore Jake. Spencer is all grown up, he doesn't need me anymore, Gunner is on his way to where Cody is now, and Tessa is just caught up in the middle of this when she is barely well." She wiped tears from her eyes as the Doctor called Peyton back into the ER.
Hannah walked into her house, followed by River. The two were in a trance.
"Uncle Luke?" Hannah said when she saw him on the couch. "What are you doing here?"
"I am just filling in for Jake."
"Oh, I just figured that you would be at the hospital, that's all." Hannah said brushing hair from her face.
"Why would I be at the hospital?" Lucas asked raising himself from the couch.
Hannah and River exchanged glances before River spoke.
When Peyton and Cody returned home they crashed in Lucas and Peytons bed, Cody's head rested on her mothers chest.
"I had no idea Co-Co." Peyton said as she kissed her daughters curly blonde locks lightly.
"It's not your fault mom. I promise, it wasn't." Cody said suddenly feeling guilty for everything that she put her mother through.
"Yeah, but I still don't feel like I know what's going on in any of your lives. I want that to change."
Cody nodded as she began to doze off. Peyton waited until she was completely out before she tucked her in and went to check on her other two children, who were hopefully, by this hour asleep. She didn't understand how Haley did it. She has twice as many children as Peyton and she could tell anybody anything about them. Every detail of their lives, or so it seemed.
Peyton noticed a faint light from under Tessa's door. Peyton lightly knocked on the door before she entered.
"Hey tinker belle. What are you doing up so late?" She sat on the edge of Tessa's bed.
Peyton looked around the room, so innocent the white lace curtains and the baby doll pink walls were. Ballerinas danced across the border on point with perfect form. Tessa sat small and fragile against her big white fluffy pillows and pink comforter. Her room was spotless with porcelain dolls on the shelves and stuffed animals splayed about.
"I was just reading." Tessa say letting her wavy hair hit the pillow, and holding up a worn copy of Alice in Wonderland. Peyton smiled when she saw the book. The same one that her mother had been reading to her when she was a girl… except she had never gotten the chance to finish it.
"You're so different." Peyton said smiling at her daughter.
"What do you mean?" Tessa and with a confused by amused look on her face.
"Well I just mean that I think that you're different than anyone that I've ever met. You just sit back and take things in. You know people well because you take the time. Most adults that I know can't do that. Hell I know I can't." Peyton said smiling
"Have you and Dad been alright?" Tessa asked putting the book on her bedside table.
"I'm not sure sweetie." Peyton asked
"He hasn't been himself lately." Tessa continued. "He is always busy at the shop." She sighed
"What would you think if I told you I was thinking about taking a break from that all for awhile?" Peyton asked
"You mean like separating?" Tessa asked
"Yeah." Peyton said swinging her legs up on the bed and staring at the ceiling just as he thirteen year old daughter was doing.
"I trust you mom. It's your decision." Tessa said turning her head to face her mother who did the same. The identical eyes stared into one another's.
"I love you Tess." Peyton said kissing her daughter on the forehead before leaving.
Next Peyton headed to Gunners room. She knocked a couple of times and then peeked inside. He wasn't there. And then she heard the familiar sound of a basketball hitting the pavement time and time again.
She went outside to see Gunner sinking shot after shot.
"You're really good." Peyton said as she sat on the bench by their driveway, converted into a court when they moved in. "Wanna come talk to me for a minute?"
Gunner shrugged and put the ball under his arm taking a seat beside his mother.
"How come you don't play? I can sign you up for a team?" Peyton offered.
"I got kicked off of the team here, remember mom?"
Peyton sighed. Luke's car pulled up in the drive.
"Why don't you go on upstairs?" She said kissing her sons forehead.
"Night mom."
"Night kid."
Lucas stormed up to Peyton.
"What the hell! How come I didn't know that Cody was in the hospital! I had to hear it from my thirteen year old niece!"
"Well I'm sorry Luke, but Cody needed me and the way that things left off with us I didn't want to get into anything at the hospital!" Peyton said attempting to control her volume.
"We've always had issues to talk about."
"That's the problem Luke. We always have problems to take care of and we can't spend anytime with our children, I can't do it anymore. Our kids deserve at least one of us."
"What are you trying to say?" Luke asked angry at her implications.
"I wasn't there for them, and neither were you." Peyton stated
"You're just wrong, I have ALWAYS been there for my kids."
"Think what you want Luke, but have you ASKED them? I'm making a change with or without you." Peyton said meeting her husbands eyes.
"What are you talking about Peyton?" Lucas asked picked up a stray basketball that had been lying on the ground.
"I'm taking my kids and moving back to Tree Hill." Lucas had never heard Peyton speak so firmly.
Lucas stared Peyton dead in the eye and then threw the basketball in the siding of the house causing it to car before he hopped into his car and sped away.
Everyone probably has a different opinion on the Lucas Peyton stuff, but we'll see how it turns out, I mean I know of course, but I guess YOU will see. Review !
xoxo Jules