AN: Hi guys, I've been deeply touched by the response to this fun little fic. I apologise for the hold up on the update, I always intended this story to come out quite quickly. Life gets in the way sometimes. Not long after my last update my family received some sad news, my elderly grandmother's health declined rapidly. We were able to spend as much time as we could by her side before she passed away peacefully surrounded by family. My focus had been with my family. This has hit especially hard as my grandfather only passed last year. There's a bittersweet peace to think they are together again.

-x-

There was something comforting about the light, she was warm, strangely heavy, Jenny was so tired but her bed was so comfortable she could not wake up. Every time she stirred Jenny felt the call of her dreams again and slipped back into sleep.

A hand held hers, a voice soothed her nightmares, yet sleep always claimed her back. Jenny felt her eyes flutter open once more, barely a second, the bright room a golden crown for the smiling woman whose face she saw, deep dimples on display. It was familiar, so familiar yet Jenny could not place it and her eyes were already closing. More dreams stealing away her ability to think.

And then sleep seem to fade away and Jenny lay, her thoughts coming back to the surface, her mind waking before her body. Jenny blinked, her eyes focusing on the first thing she saw.

An empty chair by a window. In those first moments of waking Jenny's memory was a fog, she blinked again not knowing where she was, and then she realised she did not remember how she got to wherever it was. And as Jenny frowned trying to remember the last thing she could recall, panic started to set in, in waves Jenny remembered that what had first seemed like a strange dream or nightmare was in fact a new reality.

Startled by the realisation Jenny's body shuddered, her eyes shot open and not really taking in the room Jenny looked from one side of the room to another.

A hand squeezed hers, a soothing voice came, "it's okay, it's okay, you're okay"

The panic didn't leave Jenny, she sat up, eyes still wild and then slowly her breathing relaxed as she took in the daylight, the clean room, the warm hand that grounded her. Jenny found herself looking into a pair of dark hazel green eyes, "where am I?" Jenny voice cracked.

Brooke smiled, "you're in the hospital, you've been asleep for the last fourteen hours but you're okay, you have a cannula in your hand from when they gave you fluids through the IV line" she explained calmly, her voice slow and careful yet her eyes twinkled, joy and tears intermixed.

After looking around the room again, Jenny looked back to Brooke, she pushed away her knew knowledge and focused on her main concern, "where's Lily?"

"She was discharged not long ago, Lucas took her home to sort a few things out but they'll be back soon" Brooke smiled, "we're all just so happy you're okay"

With an awkward nod Jenny's mind then went to her next concern, "have they found my mom?"

It took everything in her not to suck in her breath at the words, Brooke managed to mask the pain hearing Jenny call Peyton mom, yet the younger girl noticed the slight wince in Brooke's eyes.

Brooke sucked in her lips for a moment, composing herself, "no, sweetie, Peyton is still missing"

Fear suddenly came into Jenny's blue eyes, she eyed the door, fear and confusion, a whimper escaped Jenny. Brooke held tightly onto Jenny's hands, "it's okay, you're safe, there's a police guard right outside that door"

"Lily's really okay?" Jenny asked again, almost forgetting what Brooke had already told.

"Yes" Brooke nodded, her grip loosening, "thanks to you. I know how hard and confusing all this must be, Lily told us what happened and you were so brave, so very, very brave"

And Jenny's composure broke, tears falling from her eyes, she couldn't speak. Brooke moved instantly, wrapping her arms around Jenny and pulling her into a hug. Despite not hugging Brooke back Jenny still buried herself more into the embrace, her face turning into Brooke's neck welcoming the touch.

Brooke closed her eyes, basking in the feeling of holding her daughter in her arms once again.

Eventually the tears dried though Brooke did not let the girl go nor did Jenny make a move away from Brooke. A last sniff came from Jenny, and Brooke moved slightly back to cup Jenny's face, before she could find the words to say the girl spoke first.

"What's happens now?"

Brookes smiled, "honestly, I have no idea" and she wiped away the dry tear stain running down Jenny's cheek, "I know we are all happy to have finally found you after all these years" and the smile remained on her lips.

Jenny looked down, wondering for a moment if it would have been better if she'd never come to Tree Hill at all. If they had never found out the truth.

Everything had changed. The future appeared daunting in front of her, and Jenny could not look at her past and figure out where the truth and lies began or ended.

-x-

The adrenaline seemed to have disappeared, Lily watched Lucas rest against the wall with his face still, his eyes looking far into the distance his eyes unseeing what was in front of him. He let out a deep breath, his cheeks puffing up. They were so close, Lily looked don the hallway then back at the man she called dad who wasn't moving.

"Dad?"

Lucas didn't meet Lily's eyes, instead he held up a hand and turned his back slightly to Lily, "give me a moment".

While Lily watched, Lucas bent down and placed his hands on his knees, taking a deep breath and letting it out again.

"Dad" Lily said again, this time as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "it's gonna be alright"

Eyes on the ground Lucas breathed again, his mind was thumping inside him, "I have dreamt of this, hoped for it. Every day. Every day. But every day that dream seemed further away and a part of me had given up, had mourned Adrienne"

Lily rubbed Lucas' back, she'd spent her whole life observing Brooke and Lucas coping with their loss, struggling to live without their daughter and find a ay to move on and hold on all at the same time. The bad days, the good days, and every day in between. Lily had seen the tears, and heard the ones they tried to hide.

"She's here now" Lily whispered.

Lucas sighed, "and if we have all this hope, all this love, and then we find out it is not true? They thought they found her before and they were wrong" his voice was edged with fear.

"But we aren't wrong. It's really her, Dad"

Lucas choked back his tears, standing up straight he smoothed down his shirt, "how do I look?" he asked Lily.

"What look are you going for?"

"I don't know…" Lucas chuckled sadly, "like I know what I am doing, that I have a handle of myself and not that I feel like I am standing on the edge of a cliff"

With a pat on Lucas' back, Lily said softly, "you might want to wash your face then." She waited as he followed her advice, and then together they continued their way through the hospital, stopping at the guarded room where Lucas had to show his ID.

The adrenaline had left Lily, today her mind had caught up to the last few days and everything it meant. It didn't quite feel real, if Lily hadn't been there, she would think it was a story from a movie, or that she was about to wake up any minute and realise it was a dream.

If she was honest Lily still was expecting to wake up, before they walked into the room Lily discretely pinched her arm and let out a breath when she didn't suddenly find herself back in bed.

It was real. Jenny was Adrienne, they'd been kidnapped by a psycho and held at gunpoint, escaped, and now there were cops guarding the room. Lily took a deeper breath and followed her dad into the hospital room.

Jenny lay in the bed, the whites of her eyes pink, her nose red, she hugged her pillow while Brooke sat by the bed, a hand on her shoulder.

It took Lily only a moment to read the room, recognising Brooke's tight mouth as she held in her tears, and Lily could tell empathetic Brooke could physically feel the pain she could see written over her daughter. Lucas was silent and unsure, and like Brooke and Jenny he had no idea how to act in this situation.

Lily felt awkward just breathing in the same room as them all, she flung off the backpack over her shoulder and held it up as she breezed through the room, "I come bearing gifts!"

Jenny looked up at Lily's voice, instantly smiling, Lily grinned back determined to act normal, "it's not much" she explained, "got you some clothes, technically my clothes but they should fit you, and some good stuff to eat so you're not stuck with the junk in here" Lily dropped the bag at the end of the bed, "I even stole a book from Dad's shelf, seeing I know you're a nerd like him"

"Thanks" Jenny replied. The two girls hugged, "are you okay?" she looked into her newly found sisters eyes "really?"

"Bit shaky, a little sore" Lily grinned "but I'm good. You had me scared though"

"I'm okay… I guess… I-" Jenny looked around the room, her eyes going over Brooke and Lucas but unable to meet their eyes, she lowered her gaze and settled on Lily's clean sandals, "- I don't know how I feel, I'm sorry, this is all…"

Lucas stood behind Brooke, rubbing his girlfriend's back in soothing circles, he smiled warmly at Jenny though his eyes were bursting with emotion and his hidden hands were slightly unsteady, "A lot has happened, whatever you're feeling is okay, take it one day at a time" he breathed slowly, "I hope you know though that no matter what we are here for you, we always will be"

"Finding out the way you did, it must have been-" Brooke began.

Lily interrupted, "crazy"

With a side eye at his daughter Lucas said instead, "overwhelming"

"Unexpected" Brooke added.

Jenny finally looked directly at the others and found three pairs of eyes looking at her, she managed a small smile, "yeah"

It was confusing, surreal, scary, and odd yet as Jenny looked at the other three another emotion that she couldn't quite name filled her. Infront of her was a family, and not just any family this was meant to be her family, and after years of only just having one person there was a warmth in knowing that her world was now a little bigger, she was apart from them yet she was a part of them, "I… guess you're my family"

"That's a good place to start." Brooke nodded, she resisted the urge to take Jenny's hand unsure how the preteen would feel about it, leaving hers on the bed close to it, only a fingers breath away, "We don't know how long you will be in here for but-" she briefly looked up at Lucas beside her before looking back to Jenny, "- we're hoping once you're released you can come home with us, how would you feel about that?"

Jenny's eyes only widened slightly, she knew she would never be able to go back to her life with her mother, and she knew that Brooke and Lucas were actually her real parents, it all felt so out of her control. Jenny didn't know what she wanted, or what she didn't want but with her past completely shattered behind her she looked at the family in front of her and knew she had nowhere else to go, her feelings didn't really matter, her feelings had never mattered. The woman she called mother had made sure of that when she had kidnapped her and built a life of lies for Jenny.

Yet despite it all Jenny had always craved a home, a true home, it was like a part of her had always known there was more waiting for her, that her family was never meant to be just two people alone.

This was everything she'd wanted and been looking for at the beginning of the summer yet Jenny felt conflicted, her heart still pulled her in a different direction. Wanting it and admitting she wanted it was a different thing, guilt clawed at her, Jenny felt like she was betraying the mother who raised her.

Without answering Jenny instead wondered what her future would look like as the pieces in her life shifted around her, she frowned, "where would I go? We go?" she looked to Lily for help, "do I live with Lucas and Lily, or Brooke, do I have do go between the houses?" if she had a choice Jenny would go where Lily was, her sister was her friend, Lucas and Brooke were still strangers.

"For now, we'll be staying at Nathan and Haley's, Nathan is my brother, their place is big enough for all of us and it's… it will be a good place for us until we can sort everything out" Lucas answered.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and the doctor ushered the others out while she looked over Jenny. Brooke and Lucas waited outside with Lily, holding onto each other as the stood not far from the door.

"How did she seem?" Brooke asked Lucas, her voice nervous.

"Better than I thought, poor kid"

"She shouldn't have to be going through this, she should have been with us this whole time" Brooke's voice grew angry, her frustration breaking through.

Lucas rubbed her arm, "she's with us now, Adrienne's home"

"But she's not Adrienne anymore, she's Jenny, and we can't just ignore that, we're not saving her from a bad home and abuse, we're taking her from Peyton. She's just a kid who lost the only mother she remembers, a mother she loves" Brooke choked out.

Lily scoffed, "Peyton was crazy, you didn't see the way she was, and whatever they felt… it wasn't love, not real love. You don't point a gun at someone you love. We're her family, we love her, and she will love us too, we just got to show her how"

For a moment Brooke remained still then she gave a sniff and hugged Lily, pulling her youngest into her arms and embracing the daughter she'd spent too long pushing away.

"I love you, Lil"

"I know" The brunette girl closed her eyes, "and I know everything is going to be okay."

-x-

There was something humiliating in the process for Jenny, surrounded by strangers, the only family she had with her she hadn't even known existed a week ago let alone that they were somehow related to her, the only constant in her life was not only gone she was now a stranger herself because Peyton Jagielski was not the woman Jenny had thought she was. And it was in this situation that Jenny was prodded and questioned by doctors, nurses, and the police. It became repetitive and tiresome and Jenny wasn't sure if it became more or less real with each time she had to repeat the events.

No. She didn't know where Peyton could be.

No. She didn't know anyone Peyton would go to.

No. There hadn't been any clues about the truth, not that Jenny could think of.

Yet she thought about it and how strange their life had been had become obvious. Peyton had kept Jenny away from anyone from her past, they'd had no one, no family or friends, they never created roots. The photos from Jenny's childhood had a blank spot, which had been explained by a time Jenny had been in the care of her birth mother and lost photos. Then again Jenny had never questioned if the chubby baby and toddler had been her, it had never crossed her mind to doubt it.

"Wait. My grandfather, Larry. Larry Sawyer. Peyton's dad. He works on a boat and is always at sea, we only ever see him every couple of years but Mom would sometimes get a call from him every few months" Jenny frowned, "did he know about me, you think?"

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Two years ago, I think"

The detective wrote something down, he'd been writing notes with everything Jenny said.

The sound of the pen scratching against the notebook echoed in Jenny's head. She wondered what was written, what details she didn't know.

She didn't ask the questions that swirled in her head, too afraid of the answers she may receive. Jenny sat patiently as the interview was interrupted by the ring of a cell phone.

After excusing himself the detective left the room and Jenny found herself alone, it was oddly comforting to have no one around, no pressure to act a certain way. A breath escaped Jenny, she chocked slightly as she leant her head back and let the tears fall.

-x-

Lucas clutched Brooke's hand tightly as Detective Morris stopped in front of them, the look on his face familiar to the young father. It was the same apprehensive face they always wore when they had new information, yet there was a hint of something else that Brooke and Lucas rarely recognised.

Hope filled Lucas, hope that instead of bad news they were about to be told something positive.

The detective let out a rough breath and smiled, "the DNA results came in. We can confirm that your daughter has been found".

For a moment the parents stood frozen and then Brooke gave a happy gasp and her arms were around Lucas, tears of joy spilling from her eyes. Lucas remained stiff for a moment longer and then his body let go of all the tension, all the doubt, he embraced his girlfriend as he embraced the truth. Their daughter was home.

-x-