Chapter 21 Headaches and Heartaches

Peyton was slightly alarmed when she arrived at Haley's house to find the door unlocked; that was never usually the case. She pushed it open gently and called out for Haley and then Gretchen. She was in the living room when Gretchen came toddling out of the hallway, thrilled to see her mother. Although she loved her Aunt Haley, she didn't adjust well to anyone other than her mother. Even Lucas had a difficult time trying to take her places without Peyton's presence. Setting her purse on the end table and taking Gretchen's hand, Peyton walked back toward the master bedroom.

"Hales? Are you in there?" She knocked once on the bedroom door but then simply pushed it open when there was no reply. The room was empty. Peyton felt a bit panicked; she would expect a disappearing act from Brooke perhaps, but never Haley. Especially a very pregnant Haley. "Haley," she called again.

"In here." Haley's voice was incredibly strained and when Peyton reached the doorway to the master bathroom, she saw that her sister in law was apparently in labor. She was sitting in an uncomfortable looking position on a pile of towels and holding onto the edge of the bathtub.

"What in the hell are you doing?"

"Apparently I'm in labor," Haley said dryly, with an almost surprised look.

"Why didn't you call Nathan? Or me? Or Karen?"

"Why don't we worry about the explanation later? A little help?" Peyton helped Haley into a standing position.

"Your water broke," Peyton observed.

"And who says blonds aren't bright—"'

"I can't wait until you're not allowed to be the crabby pregnant lady anymore. Come on, Lucas's is going to kill me—"

"For what?"

"For the mess you're going to make in the car," Peyton teased as she grabbed a few towels from the pile on the floor. "Come on Gretchen, we're going out to the car," Peyton said to the little girl as she kept one arm around Haley as they walked toward the front door. "Do you have a bag?"

"Front closet," Haley said as her face began to contort. "Contraction, I have to sit down—"

"No, you don't," Peyton answered back matter-of-factly. "Because you're not having this baby in the house." She quickly found Haley's bag and they continued to the car. Although she was normally forbidden, Peyton used the speaker car phone to call Haley's doctor and Nathan. By the time they reached the hospital, there was a room available and the nurse led Haley directly there. Peyton stood uneasily in the waiting room, not sure what to do with herself. There was a plan all laid out for the delivery but the plan was null-in-void now that it was a week early and Nathan was out of town.

Pulling a pen and small sketchpad out of her purse, she quickly made a list of what needed to be done. Nathan had already been called; Lucas and Karen were next on the list. Haley's parents weren't always reachable but Peyton would at least try their answering service. Peyton could stay with Haley as they had planned, but Gretchen posed a problem, as did the other kids returning from school in a few hours. Fred. Fred needed to be picked up in a matter of two hours. Taking a deep breath, Peyton picked up Gretchen once more and made her way to the pay phone.

Many phone calls later; she was awaiting Karen and Brooke's arrivals. Karen needed to be at the hospital with Haley but Brooke had offered to take over with the menagerie of children in the Scott family. She only looked slightly horrified when Peyton handed over a screaming Gretchen and a list of things to do for the other four kids she would soon be watching over. After maneuvering every member of the family into the right place and making sure everyone necessary was notified, Peyton was exhausted. Unfortunately she had the unhappy task of telling Haley that Nathan had still not arrived at the hospital.

When she entered the room, Karen was trying to keep Haley calm, reading to her from some novel Peyton recognized. She was only in the room for five minutes, listening to Karen's calm voice and Haley's occasional gasps when Lucas raced into the room looking hurried and disheveled.

"I don't think you hurried that much for my deliveries," Peyton teased.

"Hey Hales," Lucas said once he regained his breath, ignoring Peyton's joking comment.

"Where's Nathan?" Haley's demand was not an unreasonable one; Nathan had been called a long time prior and he should have made it to the hospital by that time.

"I'm sure he's on his way," Karen answered in her unusually soothing voice.

"He should be here," Haley whimpered, crossing her arms in front of her.

"He will be," Karen assured her. "Go find him," she said in an urgent whisper to Lucas. Lucas nodded, gave a quick kiss to Peyton, and then left the room to track down his brother. While Karen and Peyton were trying to keep Haley calm and Lucas was attempting to track down his brother, Brooke was facing difficulties on another battlefield. The middle school.

As soon as she entered, Brooke realized that the elderly secretary remembered her. And apparently she hadn't made a good impression in her teenage years. Upon entering the office, she set Gretchen down on a chair and handed her the car keys, an item the baby found highly amusing. Mustering up her best smile, she walked over to the desk and informed the woman that she needed to pick up her niece, who had an early dismissal.

"Are you a parent or guardian?"

"I'm an Aunt," Brooke replied dryly.

"I'm sorry. School policy says we can only release a student to his or her parent or guardian," the woman quipped, sounding much like a recording.

"Mrs. Meyers, you know who I am. You know who Winifred Scott is. You know that I'm not a stranger. I need to pick her up because her mother and father are at the hospital."

"Oh dear. I do hope Mr. and Mrs. Scott are alright."

"They're fine. They're with their sister, who is currently having a baby. But that means they can't come and pick their daughter up. Which is how I got the job."

"I'm sorry, it's against school policy." Brooke stared hard at the other woman and somehow managed not to scream. She was about to begin another line of argument when Winifred walked into the office, dragging her book bag tiredly behind her.

"Hi Aunt Brooke." Her voice was weak and her eyes barely lit when she attempted a smile. A few short hours of school had already exhausted her and Brooke realized that she needed to go home, not stand in the office while the two grownups fought.

"Hey, Fredders. How was school?"

"Okay," the young girl said with a small shrug. "Where's mom?"

"We'll talk about it in the car as soon as this nice lady lets us leave. Everything's fine," Brooke added as an after through. She looked back to make sure Gretchen was still amused before once again approaching the secretary. "What can we do here to work this out?"

"You can call Mr. and Mrs. Scott and tell them that they must pick up their own daughter."

"You don't get the concept of 'otherwise engaged', do you?"

"Mrs. Meyers," Winifred said in her usual polite, kind voice. "Could we please just go? I can get a note from my mom tomorrow. I know she wants me to go home with Aunt Brooke. She never sends someone else unless she has too. It would help us so much if you could let it go this once—"

"Well," the older woman said slowly, obviously crumbling under the child's sweet and honest plea. "I suppose – just this once. And I want to see a note from your mother first thing tomorrow."

"Thank you," Fred said with the best smile she could muster. Brooke looked suspiciously at the little girl but decided to simply go with the bit of luck. Picking up Winifred's book bag and taking Gretchen by the hand, she led the girls out of the office and out to her car. Luckily, the ride home met no other faults and both girls were napping less than five minutes after arriving home. On the unlucky side, the quiet gave Brooke just enough time to panic about Haley and the baby.

They were both still sleeping when Brooke realized that she needed to meet the boys on their way home from school. She shook her head as she scribbled a not to Winifred; she didn't remember the last time she'd had so many things to do at once. She was just on time to meet the three Scott boys at the corner where they would normally split, Jared walking a few feet to his house and the other two continuing on another block. Brooke waved Jared over before he reached his yard and a storm cloud seemed to stop over the little boy; apparently he realized what was going on.

"The baby's coming," he said flatly.

"Yeah," Brooke said uncertainly.

"Where's Mom?" It was Ashton this time that asked the question. Brooke looked down at him and realized that he looked a bit off; his eyes were almost red, as if he had been crying.

"She's with Aunt Haley."

"Could you go with Aunt Haley so mom could come home?" It wasn't meant to be rude, Ashton simply wanted his mother. It had been the worst day his seven year old mind could remember and he wanted his mom; she always knew how to make him feel better.

"I don't know if that'll happen," Brooke said uneasily.

"He's just being a baby," Ryan snapped, running into the house before anyone could yell at him for the uncalled for comment.

"I am not," Ashton muttered, dragging his feet as they continued down the sidewalk.

"Is there something wrong, Ash?"

"No." He too disappeared before anything more could be set. Jared, still sulking about the baby news, walked into the house before Brooke and went straight into the computer room. All three boys were moping in their own corner of the house before Brooke was even in the door. She figured it was pretty inevitable; they had broody genes on both sides of the family. With all three boys not talking to her and both girls still sleeping, Brooke took the opportunity to call the hospital and find out how things were going with Haley.

The chapter titles comes from this Italian Proverb:

Little children, headache; big children, heartache.