A/N Glad ya liked it, this chapter will be mostly Jeyton

Flashbacks are in Italics

Chapter 11: Our Little Fighter

Peyton laid in the hospital bed crossing her legs and screaming, "Damn it! This baby is not coming out!" She cried to her husband. It was too soon for this child to be born, she was only seven months pregnant. Tears flowed down her face, "I…can't do this."

"It's going to be okay, this baby is going to be a fighter." When they'd arrived at the hospital it was already too late to stop the labor because her water had broke. Peyton was already fully dilated and the baby was coming.

"You need to push." The doctor told her and after fighting it Peyton had to push.

Peyton pushed as hard as she could before she knew it she was sobbing, "Baby what's wrong?" Jake asked trying to wipe her tears away.

"Th…this is happening because I went shopping isn't it?" She cried into his shirt as he held her.

Jake kissed her forehead and he glanced at the doctor who shook his head and smiled, "Oh baby it's not, it's because this one stubborn kid that's ready to come out come hell or high water." Peyton smiled until another contraction hit heard and she screamed.

"Here's the head, this child has a head full of dark hair…one more big push should do it." The doctor told her and she braced herself to push.

The pain was awful and Peyton screamed and cried, "It…it hurts…so bad!" The baby was too small to cry. "Is…is it alright?" She asked worriedly, Jake had said when Jenny was born she'd screamed.

"Congratulations, you've got a baby boy." Jake cut the cord and the baby weighed in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces. He was placed in an incubator and taken into the NICU.

"I…I didn't get to see him, is he alright?" Peyton asked softly still crying.

"Yes his heart beat is strong but his lungs are very weak, which is why he had to rushed out you'll be able to see him soon though in the NICU." Peyton nodded.

Once the after birth was over Peyton was exhausted, she fell right to sleep after Jake helped the nurse bathe her. Then he went to the NICU to see his son, they'd named him Dakota Jacob. After he was sterilized and given scrubs he was able to go to in the NICU. He son was so small, his ventilator was closed because of his lungs being so susceptible to germs.

"Hey little guy, it's your daddy. Your mommy wishes she could be here to see you too but she's exhausted you did quite a number on her. You've got a big sister named Jenny who already loves you." Jake told him about Tree Hill and about Nathan, and Lucas and their families and how about Whitey and how much the man had helped him. He was there three hours and then the nurse told him that he should go and check on his wife and call his daughter and that Dakota would be fine.

Jake called the sitter and she told him that Jenny had been worried about her mommy but was now sound asleep, after promising to call in the morning he called Lucas and Nathan and left messages on their machines.

He walked back into the room, Peyton was awake and fighting with the nurse to let her see her baby, "It's alright." He told the nurse as he laid a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Dakota is doing fine."

"Are you sure?" She asked glaring at him, she couldn't believe that he'd seen their baby son before her.

Jake smiled, "Yes I'm positive. I called our friends and left them messages and I called and checked on Jenny, she was worried but now she's sound asleep."

"Alright, but tomorrow I'm going to call and talk to her and I'm going to see my baby." She told him firmly.

Jake chuckled and kissed her lips, "I love you so much."

"I love you and ya should love me after what I've been through today to give you a son." She told him smiling, he showed the pictures that he'd taken of their son with their digital camera. "Oh Jake, he's so small."

"Yeah but he takes after his mom so he's a fighter and he's got one heck of a Guardian Angel Grandmother named Anna looking out for him." Peyton wiped away a stray tear at his words, he knew that with the birth of their son she'd been thinking about her own mother a lot.

"Thanks for that." She whispered softly, "Climb in with me…please." She scooted over and gave him room and fell asleep in the safety of his arms.

The next morning Peyton called Jenny and told her all about her little brother and how they should pray for him. She promised her that her daddy would come and get her soon and bring up to the hospital. It was noon when Jake walked into the room holding a bowel of ice cream.

"After I eat this will you take him to see him?" She asked softly, she was dying to see her baby.

Jake nodded, "Yeah I will his nurse tells me that he's doing a little better today." Peyton thought it was great that her son had his own day and night nurse.

"Brooke and Haley called, Brooke wanted me to know that Austin's got his stitches out and after Lucas's game tonight they're going to fly up here. She's thrilled that Karen is leaving, she said 'I love you Peyt but she's gotta go.'" Peyton recited laughing. "Haley said that she's going to come up by herself, well actually the Celtics are playing your team which you'll be at and she's driving up and then they'll go down together."

Jake groaned, "Which reminds me that you've got practice tonight and I want to go. Now take me to my baby boy." She demanded and he swore she'd turned into Brooke.

Peyton had thought she was ready but she wasn't, as soon as she saw him the tears started to flow. "Oh..Jake I can't do this, I just can't handle it."

"Baby it's okay, I know that he's small and he looks so weak but the nurse tells me that he's doing so much better in so short a time." He looked over and mouthed to his son's nurse to come over and talk to his wife.

"Hi, I'm Claire, I'm Dakota's day nurse and you're husband is right since he was born just yesterday he's already gained in ounces, and it won't be long until it's pounds. I will be honest I've seen a lot of babies be so much worse off than he is and they're now starting elementary school." Peyton wiped the rest of her tears, she had to be strong for her son and she had to have hope.

Peyton thanked her and Jake wheeled over to the Incubator, "Hey there baby boy. It's your mommy, I love you so much." She laid her hand against the side of the incubator and cried, "So very very much."

Pretty soon two more days had passed and Peyton was able to be discharged but she was hesitant to leave her babies, "Baby you said you wanted a good shower and to change before they get here and they'll be here tonight." Jake told her softly, "And you said that you wanted to spend the afternoon with Jenny."

"I know and I still do but I hate the thought of leaving him." But she lead herself be dragged from the hospital.

The shower didn't take long and she was able to spend two solid hours with her little girl before she had to leave for the hospital, "This is for Dakota mama." She said handing Peyton a picture.

It was a picture of their whole family and on top of the picture it said "Please Come Home Soon".

Peyton sighed and kissed her daughter's cheek, "It's beautiful sweetheart. I love you so much."

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Brooke sat on the plane with Austin in her lap and Seth was in Lucas's, " I can't believe that Peyton's had the baby." She really hoped that for her friends's sake the baby would be alright and be able to come home to them soon.

"Yeah, Jake said she's been pretty upset and that it'll be good for you and Haley to be there with her." Lucas told her kissing her softly. They'd been through so much lately and he couldn't wait for the year to be over.

"Luke, in a couple months we'll be to find out the sex of the baby…do you want to know?" She asked when Austin was sound asleep and so was Seth.

Lucas thought about it, "Yeah and sometimes those things aren't even accurate so it could still be a surprise. Do you want to know?" With the boys she hadn't, but he'd been able to find out.

"Yeah I think that I do this time." She told him reclining her seat back, "I think I'm going to follow suit and take a nap." She fell asleep remembering when she'd been a new mom in the NICU. She'd been 8 months pregnant and she'd fallen down the stairs…

"Lucas they're so small, will they be alright?" Brooke asked as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

Lucas slipped a hand into Seth's Incubator and rubbed his little hand, Seth was 5 pounds and 6 ounces while his brother was only 4 ½ pounds.

"Yeah baby they're going to be fine, 'cause they're strong and they know that we love them." He said kissing her softly.

After two weeks Seth had been allowed to go home, then finally a month after they'd been born Austin had joined them and they were a family.

Lucas thought about what Jake must be going through, he remembered when their boys had been in the NICU he'd been terrified and he'd felt so helpless unable to keep his family safe and now he was feeling that way again. For the second time he'd failed to keep his family safe.

"You'll pay Rachel, I swear it." He whispered harshly.

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Haley felt like she'd been driving forever, but couldn't stop unless it was just to get the car filled up, Nathan hadn't liked the idea of her driving but she'd told him that it was her way or the highway and he'd laughed saying she'd been around Brooke too long.

"Oh my baby, I can't wait to see you but I truly hope you'll wait until it's time to be born." She told her unborn child softly, she couldn't imagine what Peyton must be feeling.

A/N Ick another short chapter, I promise to try and make the next ones a little longer, please review