A/N: Just relocated this the LP section, since it is primarily LP but does have major NH. Please R&R. Thanks!

"Hello?" she said into the phone, her voice groggy.

"Hey, Peyton," came a voice from the other end. "Did I wake you?"

"Oh, hey Elizabeth. It's alright, I really wasn't sleeping."

"Sorry anyways. So how's New York?"

"Cold."

Elizabeth let out a laugh. "I told you not to go all the way up there."

"Yeah, yeah," Peyton responded. "But get this- I come all the way to New York and guess who happens to live here?"

"It's not Lucas is it?"

"Lucas, Brooke, Nathan, and Haley."

"Wow. How are they all?"

Peyton took a moment to put it into a word. "Different," she supplied.

Elizabeth was pondering a question on the other side of the line. "How was it to see him again?" she asked, hoping Peyton wouldn't get mad.

"Lucas?"

"Who else?"

"It doesn't matter. He's married."

"To who?"

"Oh, to Brooke," she added, a fake cheeriness to her voice.

"Boy moves fast, doesn't he?"

"You got that right."

"But really.. how was it, Peyton?"

Peyton was silent herself for a moment, trying to figure out a way to put all of her feelings into words. "Everything I ever felt for him, that I thought was gone, came rushing back at the sight of him. You would think the feelings would go away, or lessen after three years, but they're still there." Peyton flopped herself on her bed. "I don't know what I'm going to do around here for a year. It's going to be interesting."

"Sounds it," Elizabeth responded from the phone. "Listen, I've got to go, but call me tomorrow and we can talk more about this.."

"Kay," Peyton said, wondering what the rush was. "Thanks for calling, Elizabeth."

"Sure. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," Peyton said as she hung up the phone. She stared at the phone for a second, marveling still in the fact that she had a mother- she may only be her birth mother- but she was still alive and there. Her thoughts drifted back to Lucas, once again. He was the only one of the group of them that even knew of Elizabeth's existence. She remembered the day she told him about her. -- -- -- -- After she left his room angry, Lucas found Peyton at the beach again. This seemed to be her new spot to think. He watched her with a smile. Her jeans were rolled up to her knees, allowing the waves to come crashing up her legs as she stood at the edge of the ocean. He spotted her shoes feet up the beach, laid in disarray on the sand in back of her. Peyton had her back to him and her arms were crossed against her chest. Lucas moved towards her quietly, hoping that she wouldn't run away from him again. Moving past her shoes, he also noticed that her drawing pad was laid out in the sand, a pencil on top of it. It was blank.

He shed his own shoes and marched right up next to her in the water. He glanced at her, but she didn't look at him at all, her eyes remaining on the water in the distance. "What do you want, Lucas?" she asked him coldly.

Lucas pulled the picture of the two of them out of his pocket. After looking at it for a moment, he handed it to her. Peyton looked at him for a moment, surprised, then took the picture from his hand. Lucas watched her, surprised himself, as she looked over the picture fondly.

He took a deep breath. "It's from a box. A box of stuff about you, from you.. it's pretty much your box," Lucas told her quickly. He held his breath, waiting to hear what her response was to that.

"I know."

"Wh-what?" he asked her confused.

"About the box. Brooke told me."

Lucas looked down at his feet. "Oh... is it weird?"

"A little," Peyton said, her voice even, even though she was freaking out. Truthfully, it was one thing to hear it from Brooke and then to see proof of it for real. "But I'll admit I still have some pictures of you still, too," she said, trying to rationalize the situation.

"You do?"

"Yeah, Luc. They're just memories, right?"

Lucas nodded, a sad look on his face. Memories. Somehow these times captured in these pictures didn't feel that far in the past.

"I'm sorry- about trying to keep it from you. I want this friendship, Peyton. For that time that we didn't talk, that I didn't know what was going on in your life- it was terrible. I want to be involved." He took one of her hands. "No more lies, okay?"

Peyton bit her lip and nodded. "Then let's start that now. We both know that there's one huge thing from each of our lives that we're not telling each other. You know it and I know it. In the honor of our new friendship... I'm ready to spill."

Lucas' face stiffened. He thought about the consequences of telling her the secret. "Okay," he said finally. "But you start since it's your idea."

"Fine," Peyton replied with a laugh. "Let's sit."

She pulled Lucas, who had never removed his hand from hers, to the sand near her shoes. Lucas was surprised to find that his hand was still clinging to hers. It wasn't strange or uncomfortable.. but it felt right. Like as long as he held onto this girl, everything would be perfect in the world. Just as he thought this, she pulled his hand from his. The feeling vanished, and Lucas was left with a coldness, an emptiness. Both of her hands were now on their picture.

"Okay.." she started. "The first night of summer vacation, when you found me on the beach?" she asked, looking at him for recognition. He nodded quickly and she continued. "The woman who had been asking me for an interview, she came to my house. And she told me that she was my mother."

Lucas started. "But-"

"Hang on," Peyton said. "Not my mother that died, obviously. I ignored her that night. Told her she was crazy and all that. The next day, I called my father about it." She took a visual breath. "Apparently, I was adopted."

Lucas sat in stunned silence for a moment. "Yeah," Peyton said, "That was how I felt."

"I don't even know what to say to that," Lucas said as he ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in weird positions. Noticing this, Peyton reached a hand up and smoothed it back down with a laugh. Lucas watched her movements.

"Turns out my mother wasn't able to have kids, so they found Elizabeth. She was sixteen when she got pregnant and wasn't going to keep the baby- me of course, so my parents arranged it and they had me as soon as I was born. That's also why my middle name is Elizabeth, because she gave my parents their child."

She turned to Lucas, who had his mouth half opened, his head shaking back and forth. She smiled at him. "It's a lot, I know."

"Are you okay? I mean, it's a huge thing to find out that you were adopted."

Peyton nodded. "At first, I was freaked out. Mad at my dad for never telling me, mad that my birth mother didn't want me. After a few weeks, I saw it differently. Like I have a new opportunity to have a mother."

"A second chance to a mother in your life."

"Something like that," Peyton agreed. "I talk to Elizabeth every couple of days. I like her... it's just weird for now."

"This may sound bad," Lucas started. "But I think this is a blessing in disguise. Another opportunity for you to have a mother.. you've been hurting for one all this time."

Peyton smiled again, a little wistfully. "I think you're right." She sniffed quietly and Lucas laid a hand on her back for comfort. "I believe it's your turn now, Scott."

"Nah, how 'bout we stop playing?"

"Lucas."

"Alright," he said as he averted his gaze from hers, his eyes focusing on the gentle waves in the distance. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "I have HCM."