Title: The Life You Never Expected

Author: leytonunit930

Disclaimer: If I owned OTH, I'd make sure that Peyton and Lucas were together.

Summary: Peyton and Lucas finally got married and are living their happily ever after ending, or are they? After eleven months of being married, Peyton suddenly leaves Lucas leaving Lucas and the whole OTH gang stunned. Fourteen years later, Peyton meets up with Lucas again and he realizes that she's not alone. (Leyton)

Chapter 3: Daughters

Lucas stood by the apartment door, his hand ready and poised to knock when he heard laughing. He was pretty sure that Peyton lived alone, but he heard laughing. He wasn't sure if he was at the right door; he looked at his palm-pilot and back at the door. He decided to walk around and just make sure.

Meanwhile in Peyton's flat, Peyton was showing Emily drawings.

"You were a cheerleader?"

"Yeah, hard to believe, isn't it? That's kinda how I met your dad. He was like the point man or something-"

"Mom, point guard."

"Right, anyways, he was point guard and I was a cheerleader. Naturally Sawyer and Scott were always together because of the alphabet."

Before Emily could respond, the phone rang. Peyton reached over to grab the ringing phone.

"Hello, oh hi Mrs. Smith. Oh, yeah, sure I can help you. Okay, I'll be right there."

"Em, I gotta go help Mrs. Smith. I'll be right back."

"But what about the dude coming over?"

"The dude?" Peyton said, while giving her daughter a look as if saying the dude, who says dude anymore.

"Yeah."

"You mean your father, well, just let him in, but I'll probably be back by then. Just let him in and then go into your room and lock the door."

"Lock the door?"

"I don't really know. Just let him in and tell him I'll be back."

"Okay, Mom. Whatever you say…."

Peyton dashed out of the room and no sooner than 5 minutes, the doorbell rang.

Emily's POV

Great, I thought. It must be daddy-dearest. I walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. Yup, there he was; although I never saw him in person, I had seen enough pictures of him.

"Hi." I said after letting him in.

"Hi. Is this Peyton Sawyer's apartment?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Lucas Scott." He said reaching out to shake my hand. He has my eyes, I thought. "Who are you, Peyton's roommate?"

Roommate, please, that's pathetic. "No, I'm Emily, her daughter."

"I didn't know Peyton had a daughter."

I wasn't quite sure as to how I should answer that question, so I did what my mother always said to do: shut my mouth and smile.

"Well, is your mom here?"

"She had to go help out a neighbor."

"Oh, well, I guess I could come back later." He said this fidgeting the whole time. I wonder what he was thinking, you know, looking at the daughter you basically abandoned, but he wouldn't know that, he didn't even know that I was his daughter.

Lucas's POV

Her eyes, I thought, they look exactly like mine. She's so much like Peyton. And her eyes, this is madness. She looks likes she's probably 13 or 14ish.

General POV

"So, what's your name?"

"Emily S-…Emily."

"Oh, how old are you?"

"Almost 14."

Lucas thought, whoa, 14 years old, that's so long, that means I haven't seen Peyton in like 14 years or more. Oh My God! I haven't seen Peyton in 14 and a half years; she has a kid that's almost 14. There's no way that Emily could be my kid, right? That's absurd. It would never happen. Peyton would've told me, she wouldn't keep that away from me.

"You look a lot like your mom; it was a lot like looking at her a few years back."

"Yeah." This is weird Emily thought.

"You knew my mom?"

"I guess you could say that. We were really good friends. We hung out a lot."

"You're from Tree Hill?"

"Yeah, so was your mom."

"Yeah, I know."

As he talked to Emily more, he became more convinced that she was his kid, but she was so cold to him. He had no clue why, maybe he interrupted something, but darn those eyes. It was like she could read him, just like her mother could,

The door slammed, startling Lucas out of his thoughts. Peyton came into the room and she looked so similar to Emily that it was so uncanny.

"Sorry Lucas. One of my neighbors needed help."

"It's alright."

"Honey, why don't you go rest upstairs?"

Peyton gave her daughter a smile that seemed to ease the young girl's worries for her mother. Emily admired how her mother was so calm and well, just like her usual self.

After Emily walked upstairs, Peyton smiled sweetly at Lucas, "Would you like a drink?"

"Sure."

As she walked into the kitchen to get the drinks, he looked at the pictures, but one thing stuck him odd. All the pictures were of Peyton and Emily, or Emily and Ellie, or Ellie and Peyton. It never showed pictures of Peyton and Emily with a male figure. Could he possibly be her father? She looked like him, especially the eyes. As he looked at the pictures, he stumbled on one that was Peyton holding Emily as a baby who looked oddly like him, but he figured that all babies looked the same, so that part wasn't weird.

Peyton came back into the room and saw that he was looking at the pictures; not really knowing what to say, Peyton decided to look at what he was looking at. Seeing him look at the picture of Peyton in the hospital with newly born Emily brought tears to her eyes. She remembered that day so clearly……

Flashback

"Ms. Sawyer, you have a baby girl!" The nurse proclaimed to Peyton who started crying.

After a couple of minutes, the baby was handed to her.

"Hey, little girl. I'm your mommy. Guess what? It's hard to believe, but I already love you more than anything. I wish your daddy was here, but he's not, but I knew that the guy I married a long time ago would be here. I'm gonna give you everything that's good for you and I'm gonna be the best mom, I hope. I have no clue what to name you. There are so many names, and the one I pick is going to be your name forever. Hmm…you don't look like a Sophie, or a Laura. What about Emily? Do you like that name baby girl? I think you do Miss Emily Sawyer. I promise you that I will try to be the best mommy because growing up I didn't have one and I don't want you to ever have to go through that."

The baby looked up at Peyton and opened her eyes, her crystal blue eyes.

"You got his eyes. You got my smile. You got a piece of your mommy and daddy. You're going to make all the boys chase after you, but you're not going to date until you're at least 20."

End Flashback

Peyton never was really sentimental or emotional, but seeing Emily for the first time changed that.

"When I look at that picture and I look at my daughter today, I feel so old."

Lucas turned around and laughed. "I know what you mean. I can't believe you have a daughter."

"Yeah, I can't believe it either."

"Where's her father? He's in none of the pictures. "I'm just wondering she looks so much like you; her dad probably was angry that she got all of your beautiful genes."

Damn, Peyton thought. He noticed, man this is going to be tough.

"He left. When I found out I was pregnant, he said that he wasn't ready for this kind of commitment and he left." Peyton shrugged as if it didn't mean anything.

"Oh. Does he know about Emily?"

"He should. It was really obvious."

"Oh. Wait- does that mean that Emily had never met her own father?"

"Yeah. I try to not talk about it."

"That's understandable. But, why didn't you come back when he left you?"

"I couldn't face Tree Hill. It was too weird for me. So I made a new life here."

"She's 13?"

"Yeah, I still remember when she was still a little baby." Peyton smiled at the memory.

"Peyton, I am going to ask you something and it is very important, but you have to promise me you won't yell."

"Lucas, I am not going to discuss why I left Tree Hill or why I sent the papers."

"That's not what I am going to ask you."

"Oh, okay, I guess."

"You promise not to freak out-"

"Lucas, just ask the question."

"You promise me that you won't yell and-"

"Yes, Lucas. Just ask me the question."

"But-"

"Look Lucas. I didn't invite you to my flat so you could question all the decisions I made. And I certainly didn't invite you so that you and I could be best buddies again. So if you don't have the courage to ask the question then-"

"Am I Emily's father? Is she my daughter?"

And with that, Emily coming from the kitchen dropped the plate she was holding, Peyton dropped all the paper, and Lucas looked at both mother and daughter with his blue eyes.

"Is she?"

Author's Note: While writing this chapter, I listened to Daughters by John Mayer. (notice title of chapter) I know that I am evil….just wanted to leave you all with a cliffhanger. This version is not completely beta-d. My best friend Christine still has to beta this and the chapter before last. Please review, it really helps me as to know what you guys want to read. It takes literally like a minute. Hope you all liked it? Any suggestions- REVIEW!