A/N: Here is the final part of part 3. I would like to thank all of you for taking this journey with me and I want to tell you that it's not over. It will just take some time for me to pick up part 4. I do need ideas for Breyton storyline coming up in part 4 (four years later).

Part 3 Ch. 13: Graduation Day

June

Most of our life is a series of images. They pass us by like towns on the highway but sometimes a moment stuns us as it happens and we know that this instance is more than a fleeting image we know that this moment, every part of it, will live on forever.

Graduation day in Tree Hill were always crazy. It marked the day that seniors of Tree Hill High were ready to go out in the world and do what they were prepared to do. Some go off to college. Others work. Some freeload off of their parents. But each and every one of them had one thing in common. They all wanted that high school diploma. The ceremony was just a formality.

Tree Hill high's school gymnasium was filled with chairs and banners. It was all set up for the ceremony, an hour from now.

Brianna sat on her coach as she listened to her wife's speech. She was extremely proud of her and she looked cute in her blue cap and gown.

"What do you think?"

"The speech is great Skye. You don't need to fix it anymore."

Skye sits down next to her wife. Brianna cuddles close to her.

"The ceremony is in less than an hour," Brianna mentions. "Are you ready?"

Skye smiles and grabs Brianna's hand.

"I'm ready. Are you?" Skye asks softly.

"Yeah, I can't wait to watch you up there."

Brianna gives Skye a small smile. Skye smiled sadly at Brianna. This day was hard on her and Skye knew that.

"I'm sorry."

Brianna drops a kiss to Skye's forehead.

"There's no need."

*I Need You Now*

The parents of the graduates (a certain number of them) were at Tric. Peyton supervised as her wife played with the children that were there.

Jason Emery smiled at Peyton after hanging up the banner.

"It was a good idea to have this celebration together. The place is big enough, obviously, since it's a bar."

"It's not a problem. Only a few of us were getting together anyway."

Jason glances at Peyton. He had been Brooke's OBGYN and had been the one to delivery her baby. His kids were friends with Brianna and Skye, but he and Peyton didn't really know much about each other.

"Are you okay?"

Peyton nods her head and then shakes it.

"I thought I was, but I'm not sure anymore."

"Do you mind if I asked what made you feel like this?"

Peyton raises an eyebrow and smirks.

"You're not that kind of doctor."

"I'm not, but my wife is. I'm just trying to be a friend Peyton."

Peyton looks around the room and smiles at her wife who catches her eye. Brooke gives her a dimpled grin. Peyton takes a seat at a table. Jason follows her.

"I've just had a rough couple of weeks. I just closed my record label."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It had been my dream since I was in high school, but I didn't have the money to do it so I went to school. I became a teacher and then a few years later I had the money. Now I just feel like a failure."

Jason looks at Peyton and wonders if he talked about the failures in his job would help. He worked with expectant mothers every day. Now every birth has a happy ending.

"I was a third year resident. I had a patient. A perfectly healthy woman in her ninth month. She comes in having contractions. We prep her and we deliver the baby. Then complications arrive. The mom hemorrhages and dies. She lost too much blood. That was the first patient I lost. I took time off. I couldn't handle it until the patient's sister talked me into going back."

"Why would she do that?"

"She had lost her sister, but I had saved her nephew. That's when I went back."

"What happened to the baby?" Peyton asks with curiosity.

Jason smiles.

"I watched him grow up," Jason caught the weird look Peyton was giving him. Jason chuckles. "I married his aunt."

Peyton smiles and shakes her head.

"The point I'm making Peyton is that things happen in life that are out of our control. You closed your business. It sucks, but it happens. Start a new business. Go back to school. Go back to teaching. It's up to you to bounce back."

"Jason, we have to go. We promised Chase and Chelsea we'd see them before everything started."

"Coming dear," Jason responds to his wife. He looks at Peyton. "Just think about what I said."

Brooke joined her wife at the table after playing a game with the kids.

"What were you talking about?"

Peyton kisses her wife soundly and pulls away.

"Just life. Come on, we have somewhere to be."

*I Need You Now*

"I want to thank all of you who could come to this joyous celebration. I've been a teacher for most of my career. I've worked in different high schools all over this state, but for the first time I was able to become a principal and I'm happy to say that this has been quite an experience. Sitting before all of you is a wonderful group of students who at times had a rough senior year. Other times not so rough. But today marks the ending of their senior year so without further ado I now present this year's graduating class."

The seniors in the first row of chairs stand up and wait until their name is called to receive their diploma. The process is repeated multiple times. For a few audience members, they start to listen when familiar names are being called.

"Chase Emery…Chelsea Emery."

Their parents in the crowd had found a spot next to Ty and Melanie as well as Brooke and Peyton. Jason had a proud smile on his face. His children were high school graduates.

"Brianna Evans."

Both Brooke and Peyton stand up and cheer for their daughter. They had been seriously worried about the test that Brianna had to take. When they had gotten the call that Brianna had passed, that had just been one less thing to worry about. They had been proud though because Brianna had studied and she studied hard. She deserved this.

Names continued to be read. Students continued to take that walk of accomplishment to receive their diploma.

"And last but not least…this year's valedictorian…Skyler Evans."

Ty and Melanie both had smiles and slight tears in their eyes. Ty was Skyler's brother, but he had never seen it that way. He had always taken care of her and when Skye had come to live with him and Melanie, everything had fallen into place with him. From that point on he had seen Skye as a daughter and she had just graduated.

Skye stands up to the podium and lets out a laugh.

"I've practiced this speech with my wife everyday for the past week. Each and every time she told me that I didn't need to change it, but what she didn't tell me was how boring it actually was."

All eyes turned to Brianna who blushed and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's okay though. She didn't want to hurt my feelings. Now I guess I'm going to just wing it. Academically it's been said that senior year is the easiest year in our high school years. I believe that is true. For some it might be harder, but that's okay. Emotionally thought, senior year had been hard. High school in general is hard. We've all been on a journey these last four years. I look back to our freshman year when we were thrown into this whole new world. I couldn't even see myself her standing before you all. I also never saw myself married at 18, but here I am and I'm happy. I look at all the faces I see in front of me. Some of us have been going to school together since elementary school. Others we just met this past year, but one thing we all have in common is that in a few minutes after my speech is done and our graduation ceremony is over we all have to go out and face the world. A world that is filled with so many unknowns and you get the same feeling you felt when you walked through the front doors of Tree Hill High for the first time. Nervousness. Apprehension. Just plain scared. We made it through then and I have no doubt that we will make it now. I honestly believe that. Now if everybody would move their tassels to their right I can finally say the words we are all dying to hear. We are graduated."

Hats were thrown in the air as the gymnasium grew louder with each cheer. Camera's snapping in the background and Skye stayed at the podium and locked eyes with her wife. They had done it.

*I Need You Now*

Before the party Skyler and Brianna had made a quick stop to their house to change and then to the flower shop so they could head to the cemetery.

"Do you need me to give you a few minutes?"

Brianna looks at her wife and shakes her head. She places the flowers by the gravestone.

"I graduated today. Three years ago I never thought I'd make it this far. I lost all of you and I was barely making it. Now I have a family and a wife and a high school diploma," Brianna lets the tears fall from her eyes. Skye grips her wife' hand. "I just wish you could've been there. I'm going to college too. I just hope I made you proud. I was afraid that I would fail you, but I'm not a failure. I love you all."

Knowing that her wife was done Skye started speaking.

"I just want you guys to know that I love you daughter very much. I'm going to make sure she accomplishes everything she wants to. You don't have to worry. I've got her."

Brianna rests her head on Skye's shoulder and they stand quietly together to gather their thoughts and emotions because they had a party to get to.

*I Need You Now*

Chase, Chelsea, Skyler and Brianna all stood on top of the stage. All eyes were on them as the crowd quieted down. They had all spent the last hour or so talking and playing games. All adults were antsy about what schools their kids were going to because nobody had said anything until now.

"I guess I am the one that is announcing where I am going first," Chase says with a smile. "I contemplated staying in Tree Hill for college, but I realized that I wouldn't be living up to my full potential and when the acceptance letter that I had been waiting for arrived I knew that Tree Hill wasn't right for me. I got into Harvard and I'm going pre-med because eventually I want to be a doctor like my dad."

Chase hands the microphone to his sister.

"Unlike my brother I have no idea what I want to do in life, but I do know of the school I want to attend. I applied to many different schools, none of which was Harvard, but the one school I am saying yes to is UCLA."

Skye grabs the microphone and reaches for Brianna's hand.

"It was an obvious choice that we would be going to the same school. Narrowing down the schools had been the hard part, but we have both decided that going to a school that gave us full scholarships would probably be the best idea. Come fall, Brianna and I will be attending Duke University."

As soon as the young adults got off the stage they were all gathered in a huge group hug.

*I Need You Now*

Brooke and Peyton stood off to the side of Tric and watched as their daughter chatted away with Ty and Melanie. Skye was playing with Evan and his toy cars. All the other guests were wrapped up in their own little world.

"Duke University Peyton. I can't believe that."

Peyton smiles and turns to her wife.

"It's going to be great for them baby. I think this is what they need. I think those two are ready to face anything."

Brooke smiled and looked from their daughter to their son.

"One down, one more to go."

Peyton looks at her son and chuckles.

"Yeah, one more to go. Let's just hope he doesn't grow up so fast."

Brooke rests her head on Peyton's shoulder.

"I'll agree to that. We did good Peyton, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Peyton whispers as she watches Brianna let out a huge laugh when Skye tickles her sides. "We did."

Happiness comes in many forms. In the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else's dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. It's okay to let yourself be happy, because you never know how fleeting that happiness mightbe.