Thanks for the reviews!! I'm glad that everyone liked the flashback. I'll have to keep that in mind and incorporate them when they're appropriate. Here's the next installment, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 15 – Take a Sad Song and Make it Better

Before the three could worry much more, a doctor entered the waiting room and asked for the family of Winifred Scott. Lucas and Peyton both jumped up quickly; startled that someone had finally arrived. The seemingly young doctor crossed the room to them and introduced himself as Dr. Ryan Triol. He promised them that their daughter was fine for the moment but he wanted to ask a few questions.

"What symptoms of Winifred's have you noticed the longest?"

"The fatigue," Peyton said without hesitating. The fact that her baby girl had been constantly exhausted for months had not escaped her. "What's wrong?"

"We're not certain yet, Mrs. Scott. I'd like to run a few more tests, to rule out the different possibilities."

"What kind of tests?" Peyton asked immediately.

"What possibilities?" Lucas asked at the same time, not liking the idea that there were several different things that might be wrong with his daughter.

"Nothing is clear at the moment. Winifred's symptoms are extremely varied. There are several possible scenarios, and we want to rule those out."

"Such as?" Nathan could see that his brother and sister-in-law were about to lose their tempers; he didn't wish that on the poor doctor.

"It could be something as simple as a bad case of the flu, mononucleosis, a common virus or something more serious. I'd like to test Winifred's blood and spinal fluid. It's the easiest way to rule out immunodeficiency, leukemia, and meningitis."

"Oh God," Peyton whispered, her words caught heavily in the rising sobs.

"Can we see her first?"

"You can be in the room. The nurses can draw the blood and perform the spinal tap in Winifred's room. The results can be rushed. We should have them sometime tomorrow." Lucas nodded, absently stroking Peyton's hair as he forced himself to ignore the fact that she was trembling. "You can go ahead in, I'll order the tests. A nurse should be in shortly. Room 351." Lucas thanked him and watched as the doctor walked back out of the waiting room and toward a nurse's station.

Standing up, Lucas pulled Peyton with him and held her so that they were facing one another. "Look at me." He waiting a moment and then tilted her chin so that she had no choice but to meet his blue eyes. "You need to pull yourself together. Everything's going to be fine. If Fred sees you like this, she'll be worried. We can't deal with that right now." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer to him. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I should clean up before we go in," Peyton replied shakily as she pulled away and attempted to wipe away her tears. She didn't wait for a reply before turning on her heel and heading for the nearest ladies room. Nathan and Lucas stood outside the door, both brothers with his hands stuffed deep in his pockets. Peyton stepped out of the ladies room looking fresh and completely normal; she had picked up a fair share of makeup tips from Brooke over the years. "Let's go." She walked resolutely down the hallway, the Scott brothers working hard to match her smaller but quicker strides. Peyton knocked lightly on the open door and peaked inside to see Fred lying listlessly among the dark pink sheets. "Hey baby," Peyton said softly as she entered the room.

"Mama," Winifred said happily as a bit of her spirit prevailed over the exhaustion and caused her hazel eyes to sparkle. Peyton sat beside her on the bed and hugged her close, attempting not to lose her false but convincing smile.

"How're you feeling' bug?"

"Daddy," Winifred answered in the best-annoyed tone she could conjure. She had told him time and again that she was too old for that nickname.

"Sorry," Lucas replied as he raised his hands in surrender. "Habit."

"Uncle Nathan?" Winifred was surprised to see him standing behind her father in the doorway.

"I'm here, kid-o. Just making sure our favorite babysitter is okay. I mean, we have hockey tickets next Saturday. Your Aunt Haley wouldn't be too thrilled to miss it." Peyton and Lucas both smiled, knowing that Haley would rather do just about anything before going to a hockey game. But it gave the slightly younger Scott couple a chance to spend time together.

"I'll be there."

"I'm holding you to that," Nathan said as he pointed at Winifred with a smile. "I'll see you soon." With that, he ducked out of the room and went back to the waiting room; Peyton and Luke could handle this on their own. After Nathan left, they were faced with the realization that they had to tell their little girl something; she had no idea what was going on.

"Can we go home?"

"Soon, baby," Peyton, whispered as she put her arm around the little girl.

"We just have to wait and see what the doctor says. They're going to make sure you're in perfect condition before you leave. They don't want to chance getting sued or anything," Lucas said playfully. Before they had a chance to converse farther, two nurses entered with the doctor.

"Hello Winifred. How are you?"

"I'm fine. I think we can just go home now."

"Soon. First, we just want to make sure you're all right. We're going to run a few tests to find out what's wrong so that we can help you feel better." Winifred raised her eyebrows at her mother, signaling her disbelief that this man was addressing her as he would a five year old. Peyton shook her head, letting Winifred know that she needed to behave and keep her teenage opinions to herself. "We need to take a bit of spinal fluid. To do that, we use a local anesthetic. You might feel a pinch, but the procedure shouldn't cause any pain—"

"They can't stick a needle in my back," Winifred protested immediately, looking to Peyton and Lucas for support. Peyton looked at Lucas with a questioning glance; she wasn't sure what they should do.

"Calm down, bug. It's important to let the doctor do his job." With those words, Winifred realized that she had lost all control and it caused the floodgates to open. Large alligator tears flowed from her hazel eyes, which were closed tightly against the mutinous room. Peyton rubbed her back and tried to calm her, but Lucas shook his head and walked over to her side, pulling her away from the crying child. He knelt on the floor on the opposite side of the hospital bed and turned Winifred toward him; so that she was on her side in the position the nurse needed her to be. He pushed a blond ringlet from her tear-stained cheek and felt the bed shift as Peyton stooped next to him.

"It'll be over in a minute," Lucas assured her as he took one of her hands and Peyton took the other. One of the nurses opened Fred's gown and swept cold antiseptic over the spot where the Novocain would be injected, causing the girl to shutter in surprise.

"Sweetie, you can't move once the needle is in, alright. Stay very still. Don't pay attention to the needle. Just watch your mom and dad over there." Fred opened her eyes again and saw Lucas and Peyton both staring at her, each squeezing one of her hands.

"Mom, I need that hand. Trying to cripple the competition?"

"You wish," Peyton answered with a wink, trying her best to lighten the mood.

"On the bright side, I think this officially excuses you from your grandmother and grandfather's Sunday dinner." Lucas smiled as Winifred's eyes lit up at the thought of not having to sit through an evening at Deb and Dan's house.

"Always a silver lining," Peyton agreed with a laugh. Just then, Winifred grimaced and Lucas could see that the nurse had injected the anesthetic.

"That'll take a few minutes to have any effect. I'll be back in a few minutes." Peyton and Lucas both nodded and watched as the nurses left them alone.

"I bet you'll be home by tomorrow," Lucas said optimistically.

"I hope so."

"You're a Scott," Peyton said with a warm smile. "I learned a long time ago never to bet against a Scott. They don't stay down long."

"You're a Scott too, mom."

"In every way that matters," Lucas agreed as he leaned over to kiss Peyton lightly on the lips.

"Eww! Gross! Hello! I can't move here! Can't you wait?" Lucas laughed, but reluctantly pulled away and turned again to face his daughter.

"Looks like you're in for a whole lot of movie watching."

"Princess Diaries just came out on video," Peyton supplied helpfully. "Have you seen it yet?" Winifred shook her head.

"I want to see that new fairy tale one. The Prince and Me."

"That can be arranged," Lucas answered.

"Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream goes best with movies."

"That's probably a good idea," he agreed again.

"I've always wanted a horse," she said wistfully.

"Good strategy. Bad idea," Peyton interrupted before Lucas could answer.

"I had to try," Winifred answered playfully.

"No living things larger than three hundred pounds in our house, bug."

"What about a dog?"

"We'll talk about it later," Peyton consented with an amused smile.

"Are we ready?" The nurse was back with a large syringe with a thick needle that she kept hidden behind the immobile young girl. Peyton saw it though, and all the color drained from her already pale face. Two seemingly endless minutes later, the painful process was over and the three members of the Scott family began to breathe again.

"He lied, that hurt," Winifred said between sniffles as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, bug," Lucas said as he pulled out his handkerchief and wiped her tears. Peyton kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair.

"You did good, baby girl. It's over." The blood sample was far less traumatic, but Winifred was none too thrilled that she had to lie on her stomach for three hours following the first procedure.

"I can't do anything like this. Can't even watch TV."

"Then sleep," Peyton said gently, trying to block out the nurse who was walking quickly around the room, checking a machine here and a tube there.

"I want to go home."

"Fred—we will. We just have to be patient." Despite her words, Peyton herself was feeling particularly impatient. She wasn't sure if it was because of their location in a hospital or the fact that she hadn't been able to go outside all day. It very well may have been a mixture of both that was causing the young mother to feel as anxious as her daughter appeared.

The title comes from the Lyrics of "Hey Jude," a Beatles song.

"Hey Jude don't make it bad,
Take a sad song and make it better,
Remember, to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better."