Thanks so much to everyone who is reviewing but especially to tardychick06, lysser8312, and a.k.a.-ashley who have all been reviewing for every chapter – it's wonderful to know you're all enjoying the story! Here's the next part... it's a little long, but I might not be able to update for a few days as a direct result of impending midterms.

Chapter 4 Falling in Love Many Times

Two weeks later, they were all in back-to-school mode. Peyton spent most of her time shopping with one kid or another and Lucas went over his lesson plans and had a few meetings with the upcoming basketball team. The night before the first day, they had a big family dinner with Nathan, Haley, and their son Jared, Jenny, Jake, Brooke, Karen, and Keith. When their families had first begun to take shape, Haley and Peyton had foolishly attempted to include the Scott grandparents but that always tended to end in trouble. It was far more harmonious without Dan and Deb. Although they were still made to face weekly dinners at Dan's bequest, they compensated by having their own fun at other times. The visitors left soon after dinner since the kids all had to be in bed early; it was the eve of the first day of school, after all.

"I'm too old to be tucked in," Ryan challenged scornfully when Peyton poked her head in his door.

"Okay," she said calmly, skirting his side of the room to kiss Ashton, who had already set his book aside and curled up in bed. "G'night Ash," she said softly after kissing his forehead. She avoided Ryan once more and left the room.

"You can still say goodnight!" He yelled after her. She smirked and leaned back into the doorway.

"Good night Ryan."

"'Night mom." Peyton shook her head and stood in the hallway, trying to remember when they had grown up so quickly. Lucas passed her in the hallway to say goodnight to the boys.

"Ryan's too old to be tucked in," she warned playfully. Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise and chuckled.

"It was going to happen sooner or later. Gretchen's sleeping."

"Thank you," she replied softly and then headed down the hall to check on the three year old. Her last stop was Winifred's room, where the door was already closed. She knocked softly and waited for permission to enter. She walked in to see the young girl at her desk, closing a sketchpad. Although she didn't use her drawing like her mother had, as an emotional release, Winifred had quite a bit of artistic talent. The child who seemed most like Peyton when it came to art was Ryan; he often got into trouble in school because he doodled on just about every available surface. And the representations were never what you would call cheerful; Lucas and Peyton had already spent time in the guidance office trying to assure the well-meaning counselors that Ryan was simply artistic and expressive, not problematic.

"Hey."

"Hi Mom."

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Winifred nodded and turned to her computer, which she quickly shut down. "Eighth grade is a big year."

"Not that big."

"The last year of middle school is a pretty big deal."

"Maybe."

"Are you still staying after for try-outs tomorrow?" Since they had seen pictures of Peyton in her cheerleading days, Winifred and her best friend Lindsay decided they also wanted to be cheerleaders. They had already gone to mini-cheerleading camps but this would be the first year they would be eligible to actually cheer for the junior varsity teams. Peyton hadn't been certain she wanted Winifred to follow her in those footsteps. Then Lucas reminded her that she had been able to maintain her individuality through her many years as cheerleader and then as captain of the squad. If Peyton could do it, they should allow Winifred the same choice.

"I want to," Winifred said resolutely. "Yeah, I think so. Lindsay is going to stay too. We'll walk home together."

"I'll pick you both up," Peyton said firmly.

"Okay." Winifred knew her parent's policy on walking home from school; it didn't happen until high school. The middle school was a little too far from home and much too close to the main roads for Peyton's liking. They were silent for a moment and just as Peyton was about to get up and leave, Winifred looked as though she wanted to say something. After a few moments of thought, she did. "Promise not to freak out if I tell you something? You can't overreact or anything."

"I can try," Peyton said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"You have to promise."

"I promise," Peyton said dryly.

"I don't believe you."

"Winifred—"

"Alright. Okay. I think—I think—" Peyton could tell that she was trying to decide how to say whatever was on her mind. Suddenly, she launched forward on the bed and whispered something in her mom's ear, causing Peyton to burst out laughing. "What? Why are you laughing?" Winifred was clearly upset by her mother's reaction.

"I'm sorry," Peyton said as she tried to slow her laughs. She took a tissue from the box on the nightstand and tried to dry her eyes. She was simply relieved that it was something normal, something that probably explained how her little girl had been feeling for the short time prior. She was growing up; that realization truly had Peyton wanting to cry. "You had me worried for a minute. I thought it was something serious. But that's nothing to worry about."

"Really?"

"Really," Peyton promised. They spent the next hour or so, much to Winifred's horror, talking about girly things. At one point the young girl finally threatened to never speak to her mother again if they didn't change the subject. Lucas poked his head in to say goodnight just after they finished talking.

"'Night bug," he said with a silly grin. He knew she thought she was too old for childhood nicknames, but she would always be his first baby.

"Dad!" Winifred groaned and threw a pillow at him.

"Sorry," he said as he caught the pillow and tossed it back. He moved mockingly into a formal position, standing straight up and speaking slowly with rigid facial expression. She thought he looked a bit like one of the guards in front of Windsor Palace in England. "Good night, Miss Winifred."

"Dad!" She said with a giggle. "He is so weird." Peyton simply laughed and shook her head as he ducked back out of the doorway. She looked down and saw that the young girl had a panicked look on her face. "Don't tell him."

"Don't tell him what?" It took Peyton a minute to remember what they had been talking about. "Oh Fred. He already knows about the birds and the bees. Trust me. His best friend growing up was a girl."

"Still," Winifred protested. "Don't tell him."

"Okay," Peyton promised as she leaned over to hug her daughter. "I won't tell him. But he'll know eventually. I love you, sweetie."

"Love you too." Peyton walked into her bedroom and collapsed on the bed, ignoring the fact that she was sitting on piles of paper Lucas had set out earlier.

"Hope that was nothing important," she said wearily.

"Not likely," he said from his desk, where he was finishing a letter. He wrote letters about once a month and after fifteen years of marriage, Peyton still didn't know who he wrote to. He put down his pen, stood up, and swept her into his arms. "How are you?"

"Tired," she said as she buried her face in his chest.

"Let's go to bed then."

"Uh-uh," she mumbled with a shake of her head. "Lunches to pack. I have to get a bath—"

"Two things I can help with," Lucas said as he kissed the top of her head and set her back down on the bed, this time away from his previously meticulous piles of handouts and lesson plans. She lay down on the comforter and listened as the water faucets came on in the bathroom and the CD player clicked on to Norah Jones, one of the few jazz artists she liked. "You're not going to help me at all, are you?" He asked when he came back and found her lying down. She shook her head and he chuckled as he picked her back up and carried her into the bathroom. Soon she was soaking in a luxurious whirlpool bath, complete with raspberry bubbles.

"I'm pretty sure I love you," she cooed when he leaned close to kiss her.

"I'm glad," he returned softly. He disappeared for about ten minute and when he returned, she was practically sleeping. He set the two glasses of wine on the bathroom counter and disrobed.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to sleep in the tub? You could drown."

"I knew you'd save me," she whispered as he sat down beside her. She shook her head at the glass of wine he offered her.

"Lunches are made. Kids are sleeping. Alarms are set."

"Oh good."

"What's with Fred? She seemed very secretive tonight."

"I'm not allowed to tell you," Peyton said playfully.

"Already?" He groaned. "But she's just a little girl."

"Not anymore," she said mournfully. "But I'm glad that's all it was. I always feel a little achy before mine. She was probably a little worse since this was the first time. But I feel better knowing that was the problem. Maybe she'll perk up now."

"Peyton, do you realize what you just said? She officially became a teenage girl. Did you perk up when you were a teenager? From what I remember – you were the least cheery person I knew." He quoted his younger self and Peyton hit him playfully in the chest.

"You were Mr. Broody himself. You can't talk. Besides, Fred is different. She'll be fine."

"I know. Okay," he said as he took a sip of his wine and tried to hand her glass over once more. "Five minute of no kids. We're not allowed to even mention their names." Peyton finally took a sip of the wine and set it on the edge of the tub. And they stared at each other.

"We've already wasted two minutes. I've got nothing."

"Me neither," Lucas admitted. Their lives revolved around their children; they knew it and they loved it.

"How's the team going to do this year?"

"I don't know. They're looking pretty good, but Greeley hurt his shoulder at the end of last season. He's one of my best, but I don't want to risk his shoulder just to get ahead."

"What's the problem then?"

"His old man had been on my back since practices started last week. He wants his son playing every second of every game."

"Sounds familiar," Peyton commented.

"It brings back some bad memories," Lucas agreed with a nod. "If I ever get that stupid with Ashton or Ryan, knock some sense into me."

"Oh, I plan to," she assured him. "But I don't worry about you. It's Nathan who's a little too involved with Jared's practices. Haley and I were watching Jared and Ry practice and the coach actually asked that Nathan sit further from the bench at games this year. And they're still in elementary school."

"A few years from now, there are going to be two more Scott relatives on the Tree Hill varsity team."

"Scary thought. I may need a few valium to live through that again."

"Jared and Ryan like each other though."

"You and Nathan were scarier to watch once you started playing together. You were natural targets for the other teams' biggest guys. They knew the best way to get an advantage was to take one of you out of the game. I stopped breathing every time one of you went down. I'm not watching that happen to my son."

"Hey, calm down." He scooted behind her and began to gently message her tense shoulder and neck muscles. In just the last few minutes, Peyton had gone from drowsy and disconnected to completely alert and agitated. "We've got a few years to worry about it." He kissed the back of her neck and then shifted to kiss her on the lips. The conversation ended there, their bath a few minutes later, but the night was far from over. Despite the hectic and sometimes stressful days the dealt with constantly, they always found their way back to one another. After thirteen years of marriage, the couple was finding that no day could end badly when it included falling in love all over again.

Quote used for this title:

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966