Here's the next part -- hope everyone enjoys reading it :-)

Chapter 14 – Family: the Rock that Steadies

Tuesday morning, Peyton watched as Lucas left with three of her children. The boys were on their way to school, Gretchen on her way to spend the day with her grandma. Karen was always more than willing to watch her grandkids. Lucas had wanted to accompany Peyton and Fred to the doctor's appointment, but she didn't want him to miss any more work than was absolutely necessary. Despite the fact that she brought it a lot of money with her artwork, Lucas was still the steady income that they relied on everyday. She didn't rouse her daughter until it was almost time to leave, deciding to allow Fred sleep whenever possible. The young girl had, after first hearing about the doctor's appointment, put up a huge fuss with both her parents, attempting without success to convince her parents that she was perfectly fine. The attempt to convince her parents she wasn't sick didn't go over well since the determined words were accompanied by a fever and visible exhaustion.

They spoke with the doctor for a few minutes and both explained a bit about what had been going on. Peyton told him about being dismissed by the other doctors and Fred told him what had happened at the children's museum the previous weekend. After a quick examination, he made the first amiable suggestion that Peyton had heard all summer; he wanted them to go immediately to the hospital for further tests. Winifred immediately panicked, begging her mom not to listen to him; he wasn't their normal doctor anyway. Peyton sympathized with her daughter's fear but she was more afraid to find out what would happen if they remained inactive.

Peyton stood in the hospital waiting room and listened patiently while the phone rang; silently praying that someone would answer. She was attempting to call Haley to make sure someone would take her other kids after school. She knew she should have called before, but she had still been in shock and her only thought had been to find Lucas. Eight rings later, she hung up and redialed, this time trying Haley's cell phone. Realizing that she apparently wasn't going to be able to contact her sister in law, Peyton sat down to wait for her husband.

Lucas's heart sank at the sight of Peyton in the hospital waiting room; the memories of such a scene were too fresh and painful. He still remembered that call clearly; it had come during his senior English class and he had excused himself to answer his cell phone. It was something he would have laid into a student about but only Peyton called his cell during the day and only in emergency situations.

After a strange nurse explained that something had happened, he had dismissed his class and jumped into his SUV. He still wasn't certain how he had made it to the hospital in one piece. Gretchen's wailing was audible as soon as he entered the hospital and he arrived in the main waiting room to find the 11-month-old baby trying to squirm out of her carrier that sat on the floor next to Peyton. Five-year-old Ashton, completely unaware of any problem, was crawling along the line of hard plastic waiting room chairs. Peyton sat motionlessly, her eyes fixed on a mute point in front of her; she was hugging her jean-clad legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.

Lucas had unfortunately seen that expression before and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to help her until he found out what had happened and found someone to watch the kids. He picked up Gretchen and kissed her forehead when she immediately stopped crying. The now-calm baby in arm, he made his way to the nurses station.

"Hi," he said uncomfortably to the young redheaded nurse. "I'm—"

"You must be Mr. Scott," another woman said as she rounded the corner and spotted him with Gretchen in his arms. She was dressed in a suit, which led him to believe that she was hospital administration as opposed to staff.

"Lucas," he said with a nod. "What's going on? What happened to Peyton?"

"Mr. Scott, you may want to sit down—"

"What I want," he stated calmly, "is to know what is wrong with my wife." The woman sighed and relented.

"Mrs. Scott was called in this morning. She was on file as the contact for Lawrence Sawyer."

"He's her father. Is he alright?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Scott. He passed away about an hour ago. We attempted—" She prattled on about what had happened but Lucas had tuned her out in favor of keeping himself calm.

"A phone? Do you have a phone I could borrow?" His sentence was a bit garbled in the confusion and by the deep breaths he was forcing himself to take. He wasn't sure what to do but he knew the one person who would; she always did. The administrator looked a bit miffed at being interrupted but the nurse handed him a phone with a sympathetic smile. He dialed blindly and waited four rings.

"Hello. Karen's café. May I help you?"

"Mom?"

"Hey Luke," she said with a happy laugh. "How are you? Hey, shouldn't you be in class? You're a little old to skip—"

"Mom—" his uncertain tone cut her off mid sentence.

"What's wrong?"

"Could you just come down here?"

"Where's here Lucas? What's wrong?"

"We're at the hospital. We're okay, but I need you to pick up the kids."

"I'll be right there." Lucas thanked her and hung up the phone, handing it back wordlessly to the nurse and then walking back to the waiting room. He sat Gretchen back in her carrier and then sat down next to Peyton. Taking her hand between two of his, he realized that they were ice cold.

"Peyton, look at me." She made no move to comply. After the events of that day, it had taken weeks for her to work her way back to a shadow of her former self. Even then, she never had quite the same glint in her eye or the exact ring in her laugh.

Looking at her, sitting in that waiting room once more, Lucas realized that they had changed so much in the two years since her father's death. It had caused them to grow up quickly. His passing had forced them to realize what they meant to each other and what would happen if either one of them were left alone. They had four relatively small children to think about. She looked up as he approached and quickly jumped up to greet him.

"The kids—"

"With Hales," he assured her as his arms circled her waist protectively. She leaned against his chest, trying to forget where they were for a moment. "It's going to be okay," he whispered consolingly. She shook her head, not wanting to hear false promises at the moment.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know," Peyton said in a tearful voice. "They wouldn't let me go in with her. She was so scared, Luke. I hate this." She erupted in sobs, an emotional release very unlike her, and Lucas answered by pulling her closer.

They were waiting together for almost thirty minutes when Nathan arrived, his hair still wet from a quick shower in the locker room. He played for a nearby city's professional basketball team and a call from Haley had probably interrupted that day's practice.

"Hey," Lucas said as lightly as possible over Peyton's blond curls. She was snuggled against his chest, holding on for dear life. Nathan nodded and sat next to them, rubbing Peyton's back reassuringly.

"What's going on?"

"Just waiting for news," Lucas answered. "What are you doing here?"

"Haley called and said that Karen was helping her out with the kids. So I thought I'd stop and see how you guys were doing." He could see from the current position of his former girlfriend that they were not doing particularly well. Not that he could blame them. He still remembered what a happy surprise Winifred had been; from the very beginning she had been the center of Peyton and Lucas's joy. Although they had only been freshmen in college, the two had never considered Winifred's arrival as anything short of a welcome and blessed event. Peyton had taken a break from classes after the spring semester and moved back home to Tree Hill where she stayed at home with her dad until the baby was born. After Winifred's eventful and somewhat frightening birth, Lucas transferred to a university closer to home and commuted everyday, making sure to spend as much time as possible with his new family.

When Nathan and Haley had first laid eyes upon the blossoming Scott family that Thanksgiving, they were both shocked at the quick transition. Motherhood fit Peyton better than anything else they could have imagined; she seemed to know just how to calm the baby's cries without coddling her. The lack of a mother during her childhood caused her to strive that much harder to be a good mother. Lucas was overjoyed with his new role as father, but even more so as husband; he lived and breathed for Peyton from the very beginning of their relationship. Looking now at the seemingly fragile blond curled up between them, Nathan thought that Lucas just might have to do the breathing for the both of them. A light breeze would break Peyton at that moment.

The chapter title comes from this quote:

"The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family." Lee Iacocca