AN - Okay so maybe this is coming a bit late but I'd just like to point out that this story doesn't exactly follow the show, well duh it's Breyton!, so this is just how things go in my head okay?

Part 12

"Well." The man in the suit starts as he reaches over and pulls the picture out of Peyton's hand. "You may have known him as Derek but his real name is Ian Banks and he's wanted for questioning in the murder of six other young women."

"What?" Peyton asks not believing what had just been said. Six other women?

"What… what do you mean other women?" She asks as her mind tries to understand what that meant. Derek was wanted for murdering other women. He's killed six other people.

"This is Special Agent Bryce and he and his colleagues have been kind enough to help with Miss Davis's case." Jones informed her.

"Special Agent? So you're some kind of F.B.I. Agent then?" Peyton inquires as she looks at the two men across from her. "Are you going to catch him? If he's killed so many other girls before why haven't you stopped him already? Why isn't he in jail?" Peyton continues as she begins to get more and more upset at the situation.

Brooke had been the victim of some sort of psychotic serial killer that should have been locked up the first time the sick bastard did this but no, not only wasn't he arrested he was allowed to destroy the worlds of the people who knew the other women.

"Miss Sawyer." Agent Bryce begins with a sigh. "Please believe me when I tell you that we have been looking for Ian Banks for a long time, no one wants him apprehended more than we do. But you have to let us do our job, we will catch him, it's only a matter of time."

Peyton stares at Bryce for a while as something niggled at her, worried her, about everything she'd been told. It was like there was all these pieces of a puzzle that she needed to work out, that if she asked just the right questions they would be safe.

Then she remembered something.

"He's still here, isn't he?" She asks her eyes becoming frightened. "That's why Brooke hasn't been moved yet, right?" She asks beginning to panic.

Bryce holds his hands up in a calming gesture.

"That's only as a precaution, it's simply safer if she remains in a ward where access is limited and controlled, that's all." He states trying to reassure her.

"We have no idea at the moment as to the whereabouts of Ian Banks, but we do know where Miss Davis is and that she's safe, we'd like it to remain that way." Jones says.

"Because she's your only witness right? All the other girls are dead, she's the only one that's still alive, right?" Peyton asks as her worry for her friend increases. She had thought that things were beginning to get better. Brooke was no longer critical and she was awake now, she had thought the main problem they would face would be all the media speculation and town gossip.

Now there was the real possibility that Derek, Ian, whoever, was still out there. Not only that but he could come back to finish the job.

"Why aren't you protecting her?" Peyton demands, these we're supposed to be the good guys right? Why weren't they guarding Brooke, if Ian Banks was such a dangerous person why weren't they protecting Brooke from him?

"Miss Sawyer now that Miss Davis is awake we'll speak with her and find out what she can tell us about what happened to her. After that we'll discuss her options as well as your own." Bryce informs her.

"What?" Peyton asks with a shake of her head. They had to protect Brooke from this psycho, she was the one he had raped and almost killed, not her.

"Miss Sawyer I see you haven't fully grasped the situation in it's entirety." Bryce said looking at her with the first hint of compassion she had seen from either of the two men so far.

Peyton raises her eyebrows not understanding what he was trying to say.

"We believe that Miss Davis was not Ian Banks' intended victim that night, we are going with the assumption that her presence was not anticipated and it was in fact you that he was there for that night." He continues.

"Oh." Peyton says quietly as the colour drains from her face. She had known that it was her fault the moment she was handed the picture of Derek, but how do you deal with being told that everything he had done to her best friend was what he had planned to do to you.

"And you do look similar to all his other victims." Jones added pulling out a few photos from a folder which he then placed on the table in front of her.

Without much thought she looked from one image to the next as her mind tried to come to terms with the fact that it had been her he had come for. She couldn't fail to notice just how similar all of the girls looked, and how young they were with their whole lives still ahead of them. Until the day Ian Banks managed to worm his way into their lives, earning their trust and friendship only to take everything from them, their friends, and their families.

Just as he had done with her, pretending to be her brother while the whole time he had planned to rape and kill her. Only Brooke had been in his way. Would he be back to finish what he had started with Brooke, or would he be back because he had still to get me?

"All of these girls including you yourself bare a likeness to his deceased girlfriend, a young woman who died in a car crash in which Ian Banks was the driver." Bryce said. "She died on the night of their high school prom, her death was ruled accidental but soon afterwards Mr Banks disappeared, we've been following his trail ever since."

"Excuse me." Peyton quietly mumbles before standing and rushing over to the waste bin in the corner of the room and emptying the contents of her stomach.

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"You know what they say about a watched phone? It never rings." Haley informed both Nathan and Lucas who were staring at the device as if at any second it would come to life.

Nathan looked up at her and then glanced at his brother only to share a shrug with him before returning his gaze to the phone that rested between them on the breakfast counter.

With a shake of her head she continued to pour mugs of coffee for them as she felt her son kick. "Hey kid, try to keep it down in there okay? You have another two weeks to go at least." She says rubbing her hand gently over her protruding belly.

Nathan smiles as he watches his wife, he was looking forward to having his son in his arms where he could have some interaction with him. He was finding himself becoming a little jealous that Haley was able to have such a strong bond with their child already, it felt like he would have to play catch-up with a little person who would have no idea who he was.

"Ring, Ring."

Just as the noise of the phone reverberates throughout the room both Nathan and Lucas stand and grab at each others arms in order to be the one to answer it, unfortunately for them they are both beaten to it as Haley quickly snatches the phone away from them.

"Damn." Nathan says sitting down in defeat and resigned to listening to his wife speak to Peyton.

"Idiot." Lucas mutters giving his younger brother a playful shove as he sits down and watches Haley.

Haley hides a smirk from both of them by turning her back as she answers the call.

"Hi!"

As she listens to the reply she quickly turns back around in shock as fear clouds her face causing both Lucas and Nathan to become concerned.

"Just a moment." Haley says politely as she takes the phone away from her ear and holds it out to her friends with one hand covering the mouth piece.

"Who is it?" Nathan asks.

"Is Peyton okay?" Says Lucas.

Haley offers the phone to each of them before whispering. "It's her dad!"

Suddenly both the boys back up as far away from Haley and the phone as they can, leaving her to level a glare at them from her position in the kitchen.

"Hey don't look at me like that, you wanted the phone so bad you get to do the talking." Nathan says with a grin.

"Yeah, what he said." Lucas says although in a quieter voice than Nathan as that look from Haley still held some power over him.

"Fine!" Haley says with a frown. "But what exactly am I supposed to say to him?"

"Ehh…" Was all Lucas could suggest at such short notice.

"Well… I don't know… just… just tell him she's not here!" Nathan says helpfully knowing that the simple answers often worked best. Having been married for a while now he'd learned the benefits of statements such as 'Yes dear', 'Of course dear', 'Right away dear' and in reply to the dreaded 'Do I look fat in this?' the best answer was 'You look beautiful' although that one had taken him a few tries to find an answer that didn't result in upsetting his wife. Honesty sometimes isn't the best policy, especially when it's your heavily pregnant wife doing the asking.

"Right! Right! Just tell him the truth." Replied Haley trying to make herself sound more confident than she was feeling.

"Not the whole truth Hales!" Lucas quickly instructed her as she took a deep breath to talk, which earned him another glare from his best friend.

"Hi Mr Sawyer, sorry about that, the baby was fussing." Haley begins hoping her cheerfulness didn't sound as fake to Peyton's dad as it did to her. "Oh no, not for another couple of weeks yet." She continued as she wondered how much small talk she could get away with.

"Peyton? Oh she isn't here right now… I could take a message if you'd like… why here? Well… she kinda lives here now?" She replied tentatively, afraid she'd already said too much.

And from the looks of Nathan, who was shaking his head quickly, and Lucas who had his hand to his forehead, she guessed she was saying the wrong things.

"How about I let Peyton explain that to you? Oh, well she was having trouble with her cell… you are? Okay just a second." Haley said and then motions with her hand that she needed something to write with.

"Okay go ahead." She continues once Nathan had found a pad and pen for her. Quickly she wrote down the number Peyton's father could be reached at. "That's fine Mr Sawyer… Larry… as soon as she gets back from the police station I'll have her call you, bye." She says ending the call satisfied she'd done well.

Looking at Lucas and Nathan with a smile she doesn't understand their looks until she remembers what she had just said.

"Oh… My… God!"

Nathan watches in some sympathy as Haley sits down in shock. Walking over he rubs her back trying to provide some sort of comfort. "Hey, it wasn't that bad Hales, and it could have been worse."

Haley just leans into her husband hoping he'd take pity on her later and explain what had happened to Peyton for her, and keep the blonde from beating on a pregnant woman.

"How exactly could it have been worse?" Lucas asks with a smile edging onto his face causing Haley to look at him.

"Well… it could have been Brooke's mom." Nathan informs them as he shudders just thinking about having to speak to the woman.

"Really? Come on she can't be that bad?" Haley asks having never heard much about her from Brooke.

"Trust me, she's ten times worse." Nathan responds.

Just then the phone begins to ring again.

"Not my turn!" Haley says quickly as she moves away from the kitchen leaving both of the boys to decide who had to answer it as it continued to ring.

"You get it."

"You get it, it's your house."

"You're older."

"So?"

"So you answer it, it could be your girlfriend."

"And it could be her dad again."

"Just answer the damn phone!" Haley calls out from her seat in the living room area. She then rolled her eyes at the pair knowing that before they would decide the answer machine would have already picked up the call.

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Peyton had left the police station a few hours before and had just walked aimlessly around town with no real destination in mind. Although it came as no surprise to her that an hour ago she had found herself standing in front of her mother's headstone.

"Mom, I don't know what to do." She began speaking for the first time since she had sat down as tears once again clouded her eyes.

"Does she blame me? Will she be able to forgive me?" She asked quietly as she pulled some grass away from the bottom of the headstone.

With a sigh she stands up dropping the few blades of grass she held in her hand. There would be no answers from this place, her answers would all come from the person in a building a few miles into town.

She was just terrified what those answers would be, and what they would mean.

And as she began her journey to find those answers a few lines of a song filled her head that she felt fit the moment.

It's never easy and you never know

What leaves you crying

And what makes you whole

There ain't no way that I can hold it down

Falling to pieces

Forever in doubt

But it's alright

Why don't you tell me again

How you'll still be there

When the heartache ends

There were so many things happening at the moment Peyton could hardly keep track of them all. But it was the last part that meant the most to her, more than anything else that was what she needed.

That when all of this had played out, Brooke would still be there with her at the end of it.

Would they make it through this together and become stronger in spite of it, or would it tear them so far apart that there would be nothing left of what they once had, and what she desperately needed in her life.

Guess it's time to find out.

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AN - Again massive 'thank you's to everyone reading this, feel free to let me know if you like it or hate it, might not do you any good, but still :P have at it!!