Part 17

Peyton kept walking from the kitchen to the living area and then back again, her hands laced behind her head while she tried desperately to calm down. She was so angry right now that she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop herself from hitting Lucas the moment she saw him face to face again.

Why doesn't he understand?

Why doesn't he get it?

He doesn't even think there's anything wrong with what he's done!

"Peyton?"

The blonde stopped by the couch and turned to look at Haley having almost forgotten there was anyone else in the room with her.

"What is this?" Haley asked as she looked at the crumpled up piece of paper Peyton had pulled out of her back pocket and given to her just a few moments before.

Peyton wiped at her face as she walked over to her friend and took it out of her hands.

"What does it look like? It Lucas' idea of helping of course!" She said throwing it down onto the counter.

"Come on Peyton… Will somebody just let me in already?!" Lucas shouted from his position on the other side of the apartment door.

Peyton watched as Nathan, who hadn't moved or spoken since she'd entered the apartment, moved towards the front door.

She snorted.

"If you and Haley ever plan on having more than one child, I'd rethink opening that door if I were you Nate." She said coldly. She had no interest in being anywhere near her boyfriend right now.

Nathan looked at her and then at the door as Lucas gave it another bang. He wasn't sure what to do but he did think Lucas needed to be there to explain rather than just shouting through the door.

"Will you just give him a chance to explain Peyton?" Nathan asked softly.

"What exactly is it that he needs to explain Nate?" Peyton enquired sarcastically.

"Why pictures of that bastard are up all over town? Fine! Go ahead, let him in, let's hear him explain." She demands folding her arms across her chest.

Nathan looked from Peyton to his wife unsure of what he should do. But Haley wasn't paying any attention to either of them as she stared at the poster that was once again in her hands.

Sighing, he slowly turned around and opened the door to let his brother inside. It wasn't like he had much of a choice but this had been Lucas' idea after all, so even though he took part in it, Lucas was in a better position to defend their actions.

"They're all over town?" Haley asked as Lucas walked cautiously into the apartment.

"Yeah, everywhere, on poles, bus stops and even on the insides of shop windows. They're all over Karen's windows." Peyton replied then glared at Lucas. "So go ahead, explain it to me!" She continued.

"But when did you… how could you?" Haley asked confused as to how that could be possible given that they had been together almost all day.

"Well obviously Luke here had some accomplices, didn't you?" Peyton spat at him.

Lucas wasn't sure why Peyton was so upset with him. He knew this was a good idea, in fact it would help more than anything the police had done so far, which was close to nothing as far as he could tell. At least this way Brooke's friends could all help, really help, protect her and Peyton. Why can't she see that?

"Peyton, this will work, it will. You just have to give it a chance to." Lucas said as he tried to get his girlfriend to understand that all he was trying to do was help.

The blonde ignored him almost completely as she glared at him. "Who helped you?" She demanded. "You couldn't have done all of this, you didn't have the time. You were at Karen's this morning, then at the hospital this afternoon and then you were with me, so who did it? Who did you get to plaster that bastard's picture all over town?"

Lucas looked nervously at his brother.

"Nate?" Peyton asked catching the glance between the pair.

"And Mouth and Skills." Lucas admitted.

Haley shook her head at this but Peyton could only stare at Nathan.

"You helped him do this?" She asked in a pained voice not really believing that Nathan could have been involved.

"You lied this morning…" Haley says looking at them. "You weren't helping Karen at all, were you?"

Peyton could tell from the guilty looks that Haley was right, but she still had trouble believing they had gone and done this.

"You went there?" She asked as her voice cracked.

She had to close her eyes to fight back the tears but it didn't help, the reality of what they had done was just too much for her. They had gone to her house, they had been inside that room.

She could still remember the moment she had flicked the light switch on only to be greeted by the sight of her best friend's blood covered body laying helplessly on the floor.

Could still remember the horrific silence that was broken only by Brooke's desperate attempts at getting air into her lungs as they waited for help to come.

Still remember the sight of her friends naked body being turned over by the EMT's that had shown quite clearly just how brutal and sadistic Ian Banks had been to the brunette.

And just how close Peyton had come to losing Brooke altogether.

Peyton opened her eyes and stared hard at the man before her unable to feel anything other than hate and contempt for him. There wasn't a single part of her that felt what he had done was okay.

It made her livid that he wasn't the least bit apologetic over his actions. It was when he showed this side of his character that she always wondered why she had been so willing to risk her friendship with Brooke.

She slapped him.

Hard.

But not as hard as she would have liked.

"Wow, timeout!" Nathan said raising his arms in a calming gesture as he moved in front of Lucas who had stepped back and clutched at his cheek. "You okay Luke?"

"Yeah." Lucas replied as her gingerly worked his jaw feeling that it had come close to being dislocated. "I think."

Peyton laughed and turned away from the pair, choosing to walk to the other side of the kitchen counter where she leaned on her elbows.

"What's wrong with you Peyton?" Nathan demanded. Sure they should have told the girls what they were going to do but all they wanted was to help.

What was so wrong with that?

"What's wrong with me? What the HELL is wrong with the both of you? How can you possibly think that what you've done is okay?" Peyton fired back at him.

"Peyton these posters are going to help, you have to believe that. When everyone's seen these then if he shows up again someone will call the number on the posters and we'll get him." Lucas explains, it was a good plan.

And it would work, Peyton was just going to have to trust him on this.

"You're unbelievable!" Peyton shouted then covered her face with her hands and mumbled something into them that none of the others were able to understand.

"You are fucking unbelievable, do you know that?" She asked as she glared at him again.

"What? Peyton the more people that see his face the better chance we have of getting him, can't you see that?" Lucas asks.

"Right! That's a great idea Lucas, but tell me something cause I'm just curious, when exactly do you plan on catching him? Hmm? Today, tomorrow, next week, next month? Just a rough guess will do." Peyton asks sweetly as she clasps her hands together and displays a fake smile on her face.

"Well…" Lucas says fumbling for an answer he couldn't possibly give.

No one could answer that question because there was no guarantee that Ian Banks would ever be caught and arrested for his crimes.

"Right, so in the meantime I'm guessing the posters will just have to stay up, right? I mean what good are they if no one remembers the phone number on them if they ever do see him." Peyton asks.

"I guess so." Lucas replies softly having lost some of his conviction over his plan.

Peyton looked at both the Scott brothers noting their dejected looks. "You still don't get it do you?"

"Get what?" Nathan asks with a frown, he did get it, she was saying that Ian Banks might never come back to Tree Hill so the posters wouldn't be of any use.

Peyton slapped her hands down onto the counter. "Have either of you just once, once, considered Brooke in all of this?" She demanded as she moved to stand in front of the brothers.

"What? Of course we have!" Lucas says. "We did this for her, for the both of you." He continues defending his actions.

"So the fact that you've plastered pictures of her rapist across town was all part of the plan, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear that." Peyton said her eyes reflecting just how angry she still was.

"She'll-" Nathan began before the blonde glared at him and interrupted him.

"She'll what?" Peyton asked raising an eyebrow at him. "Thank you?"

She snorted. Like hell!

Peyton ran her hand over her head and rubbed at the back of her neck as she tried to work out how to make them understand what she was trying to get at. Suddenly she reached over and pulled the poster out of Haley's hands and held it up so that it faced Nathan and Lucas.

"Who is he?" She demanded to know as she thrust the poster away from her and closer to the two boys.

"What?" Nathan asked feeling more confused by the second, they all already knew exactly who he was.

Haley watched on curious as to where Peyton was going with that question.

"Ian Banks." Lucas finally answered her.

"No!" Peyton shouted as her eyes began to water.

"Who is he?" She repeated as she began to cry.

There was only silence in the room as the three friends tried to comprehend just what Peyton was trying so hard to say. None of them wanted to upset the blonde any more than she already was.

Finally Lucas tried. "Peyton he's Ian Banks, we all know who he is." He said quietly.

"No you don't, you can't. Not if all you see when you look at this is Ian Banks." She said. "That's not who he is!" She continued as her eyes pleaded with them to understand.

"Peyton?" Haley began wanting nothing more than to go over and wrap the blonde in her arms.

"Then who is he?" Lucas asked throwing his arms up as he admitted that he was completely lost as to what Peyton was saying to them.

Peyton stared at her friends noting the deep sadness in Nathan's eyes, the pain in Haley's and the questions in Lucas'.

She stepped closer to Luke.

"He's the man that dragged our friend into my bedroom, he's the man that spent almost two hours beating her with his fists." She began as she felt herself start to shake and she had to swipe at the mountain of tears that were falling down her face.

"He's the man that hit her so hard that he broke her cheekbone in two places, the guy that took a knife and began to make cuts all over her body and when that wasn't enough for the sick bastard he then drove that knife into her." She continued ignoring when her friends faces began to pale at the images she was creating for them.

"He's the guy that held her down while he climbed on top of her and raped her while she probably begged for him to stop." Peyton couldn't say anymore than that as she sank to her knees. Why couldn't they see!

"That's who he is, that's who Brooke will see."

Nathan watched in shock as Peyton collapsed to the ground and sobs wracked her body. He couldn't take the sight for long and quickly reached for her, lifting her into his arms while he tried to comfort her.

"Shh, Peyton it's okay." He whispered to her and as he looked over his shoulder to his brother he continued. "We'll take them all down, I promise, Brooke won't see any of them."

"Shh, it'll be okay. I promise." He said rocking her gently as his own tears began to fall.

He finally understood.

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AN/ Hey guys thanks for all the responses to the last part, you all rock!

Just to let you know just for fun I did write a version of this where Peyton reached for a frying pan, saddly Lucas didn't survive that encounter. shame I couldn't post it :P but alas he is still needed for the story, but I'm really trying to get ride of the guy.

Can't really have Breyton if he's still dating Blondie now can we?

Congrats to those that guessed right about what they did, I personally do kinda think its a good idea, sorta.

But Peyton gets what Peyton wants damit! And if she wants them down, then down they go.

Catch you all next time, hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading and have a good egg day when it rolls round! (get it? rolls? egg? :sigh: its late here what can I say)