And This Too Shall Pass
By: Sari
Summary: Post Season 2 Finale. The ones left behind spent a whole summer getting over their heart break. Now that summer's over, they find out that this too shall pass. P/L/H Friendship, LP, BL, and NH.
Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own One Tree Hill.
3: A Confrontation of Sorts
Nathan's eyes nearly shot out of his head as he surveyed the scene before him. He knew through the little correspondence he had with his dad before he had ended up in the hospital that Haley had moved out of their apartment into Peyton's place, and he knew just from talking to Haley earlier that day that she had changed a lot but he had definitely not expected this.
Peyton's chaperone-less house had been turned into the place to be for parties it seemed. Everyone was thanking Haley for the party and he could see more alcohol being brought in by the minute. His wife had gone from bookworm to party animal in two months.
"A little bit surprising isn't it?" Peyton said pulling him towards the quietest area in the house which in this case happened to be the kitchen. "Look what happens when you don't stay in touch, you end up losing touch with everyone you thought you knew."
Nathan shrugged. "I didn't think Haley would change into this."
"She hasn't changed for the worse Nate. She's still the Haley you knew. The only difference is that she can finally survive without you." Peyton said. "Don't give her reason to."
"I'm trying not to Peyton." Nathan said sighing. "She doesn't want to talk about anything that happened during the summer."
"Honestly would you want to bring up all the crap that made you depressed?" Peyton asked him. "She was really hurt when you left Nathan. You acted selfishly and you didn't give her a chance to explain herself. When you say you want to marry someone it says through the good and the bad times not just the good."
"Don't lecture me about my own marriage Peyton, I know what I did wrong." Nathan growled.
Peyton shrugged. "I don't know Nathan; it sure doesn't seem like it."
Nathan watched her walk away and groaned as he ran into his brother who, like Haley, had gone through his own changes. He still felt guilty about the way he left things with Lucas. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him yet and frankly, he was dreading it.
"Lucas." Nathan said simply. "Nice party."
Lucas nodded. "This is all Haley's doing. You should thank her."
He gave Nathan a cordial smile before making a move past him but Nathan cleared his throat. "Look, I wanted to apologize about what I said to you." Nathan started. "It was wrong of me and I shouldn't have tried to make you choose between Haley and I. She's your best friend and I'm your brother it put you in a really shitty position."
Lucas nodded. "It was hard, but apology accepted Nate. You weren't the only one who did wrong, I should have told you about Dan."
Nathan drew in a sharp intake of breath. "How is he? I keep wanting to visit him but I can't work up the nerve."
Lucas shrugged. "I don't really know. He's recovering, and that's about all I know. The last couple of times I tried to visit he wasn't accepting visitors."
Nathan ran a hand through his dark hair. "Sounds like something dad would do." He muttered.
"Hey, I got to go find Peyton, I'm helping her make sure nothing gets trashed or broken I'll talk to you later okay?"
"Yeah, I'll see you."
Lucas smiled indulgently to himself. He might not have shown it while he was talking to his brother but inside he was genuinely happy that he and his brother were back on the right track. Right now, when his mother was wrapped up in her problems with Andy and Keith and with Dan being in the hospital it was always nice for your family to be around to support you and the whole family he had left was Nathan.
"Hey Lucas!" Brooke shouted. "Crazy party right?"
Lucas didn't know why he was surprised to see her there. He was under the impression that both Haley and Peyton were more than a little pissed off at her, but it wasn't like any of them was standing at the door censoring who came in.
"Hey Brooke, I see your enjoying the party." He said smiling easily at her.
"Wow, who ever knew Tutor-wife was capable of throwing a decent party. If she was speaking to me I'd give her my congratulations on graduating into the major league." Brooke yelled over the music. "Can we go somewhere quieter?"
"The bedroom or the kitchen?" He shouted trying to avoid getting bumped into by the crowds of people. "Your choice!"
She pointed towards Peyton's dad's room and he nodded. They barely made it through the crowd to Larry's room.
"Jeez, I don't even think my parties were this rowdy." Brooke said.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment." He said laughing. "I know Haley will."
Brooke's smile was bitter sweet. "It's been a real bitch coming back to everyone hating you."
Lucas sighed, his smile dropping off his face. "No one hates you Brooke, it's just a really big transition for us. We survived without you or Nathan for a summer and we liked it like that. Now that we have the both of you back you have to give us time to get used to it again."
"Oh don't give me that shit Lucas." Brooke said laughing. "I was gone for two months it wasn't like you guys didn't know that I was going to come back. And even my best friend hasn't made the effort to talk to me!"
"Don't you think you're being a little bit insensitive?" Lucas asked. "Peyton's your best friend yet you didn't say a word to her over the summer. She was dealing with Jake leaving again and her drug problem and you didn't say a word. Haley's husband left her to go play basketball even though she begged him to stay and I didn't see you handing out any condolences, so tell me who needs to make the effort you or us?" He hissed.
Brooke's eyes filled with tears. "What could I have done from California?"
"Oh, I don't know Brooke, gave us a call?" Peyton said joining the conversation. Her hands were filled with objects she had saved from the clutches of their insane classmates. "Don't give us shit because we're not welcoming you with open arms. While you were off in California doing god knows what we were going through hell back here in little ol' Tree Hill and oh woe is you to not have been in the loop when it came to your supposed best friends but it's not like you or Nathan gave us any choice! We had to stick together because we were all we had."
She angrily threw the various objects onto her father's bed before turning to really face Brooke. "You're my best friend Brooke, and god did I need you this summer and I understand that you had to leave but they made telephones for a reason. Do you know how many times I was on the brink of falling back into depression when I could have needed a friendly voice? I learned to rely on Lucas and Haley because they didn't abandon me like you did!"
"I didn't mean to abandon you." Brooke whispered pitifully.
"But you did" Lucas murmured. "And there's nothing you can say that can take away that fact."
"God…just why can't you forgive me for that?" Brooke cried. "I'm sorry! I had no choice but it was stupid of me to not call. I was an ultimate bitch for it.'
Peyton laughed in her face. "Brooke, that would be a lot more convincing if you actually meant it."
"I do!" She insisted.
"You only mean it because you want Lucas back not for any other reason." Peyton whispered. "Just get out of here Brooke, please."
Brooke nodded her eyes red-rimmed. "Peyton I really am sorry."
Peyton just shook her head.
The party goers had all filtered out by now. It was the usual suspects who were left behind: Haley, Lucas, and Peyton. They had divided up the chores so they could get the house cleaned up faster. Lucas did have a curfew to make and another sad, tear-filled conversation with Brooke he knew was coming.
"Why the somber faces? You guys look like your dog just died." Haley commented finally breaking the heavy silence that had permeated the cleanup.
"Brooke happened." Peyton said sighing. "We had a little fight."
"Little fight?" Haley said eyebrows rising. "About what?"
"Her abandonment of us over the summer." She said. "You know the usual."
"Well, my night was good." Haley said secretively.
"Oh you know you're going to spill, just do so already." Peyton said grinning.
"Well if I must…" Haley laughed. "Nathan and I had an honest heart to heart talk." She said triumphantly.
"Or as honest as you can get when you're drunk right Hales?" Lucas added.
She threw a duster at him. "No, I was quite sober thank you very much. I only do my drunken whoring around on weekends." She said giggling.
Peyton laughed. "So…what happened?"
"We're taking it slow, but we decided to be exclusive again." Haley said excited.
Peyton squealed. "I'm so happy for you Hales. I guess true loves reigns supreme once again."
"Yeah I guess so."
A/N: Shorter chapter than normal! Sorry, I ran out of ideas at the last minute. Next chapter should prove to be exciting though.