WARNING!! WARNING!!

There is no Brooke in this chapter, that's right folks, NO BROOKE below.

Please take this warning seriously and save yourself some time ( and me my sanity ) there's no need to continue reading if you want to read about Brooke, she's not in this part.

Come back and read from the next chapter.

Or the one after that, or...

:D

Okay for anyone still reading, please enjoy...

Part 25

"So, what did she want?" Asks Lucas as he joins his brother in his car.

"How should I know?" Nathan responds with a frown. "It wasn't like I actually spoke to her. I left."

"Hmm."

"And how did she know his name? His real name. It's not like it's printed on the fliers, all they have is that he's missing and a contact number." Nathan continues.

"Yeah."

"So, if she knew who he was, that means she knows what he's done. Like, about the other girls, right?" Nathan asks.

"Probably." Lucas responds as he drives them back towards Nathan's apartment. "I guess it's her job to find stuff like that out."

Nathan sighs, it was bad enough with the problems the fliers had caused in the first place now they had the added worry of a reporter knowing more than most anyone else in town. He didn't think it would take very long for word to get out.

It was big news and he understood that, it was the biggest news worthy thing that had happened in Tree Hill since the school shooting. It was just that it involved two of his best friends. They had already been through so much recently and he didn't want more problems added to that. But there was little he could do about it.

"So… you want to tell Peyton or will I?"

"I vote for you on this one." Lucas says sending a smirk in his brother's direction before watching the road again. "She's already hit me once. I'm thinking it's your turn to step up to the plate."

"She's not going to hit me!"

"Says you!" Lucas responded with a laugh. He could still feel the moment when Peyton's hand had connected with the side of his face. Damn had that hurt. He was just grateful she had slapped him and not punched him instead because chances were that he would have been out for the count.

Nathan frowned and thought about what his brother had said, he didn't seriously think Peyton would hit him when she found out about the reporter sniffing around, but he did think it would upset her.

"She's taking all of this really hard isn't she?" He said softly causing Lucas to glance at him.

"I mean, I know this sucks, right. But she gets so angry sometimes, and I get why, I do, but it's not like she's alone. We all want to help do the right thing for her and for Brooke. She doesn't have to do everything herself."

"But…" Lucas begins as a realisation hits him. "But that's how it's always been for her." He almost laughs out loud as he thinks about how stupid he's been having worried himself so much over the past few days.

Nathan just stares at his brother not having a clue what he was talking about.

"Think about it…" Lucas says keeping his eyes on the cars in front of him as they near Nathan's apartment. "Ever since she was a kid she's had to look after herself. Her mother died when she was young and her dad's always away working. She's never had anyone to look out for her, helping her when she needed it." He explains with a smile as he pulls up to the sidewalk and kills the engine.

"Maybe she just doesn't know how to ask for help." He says feeling better about his relationship with his girlfriend now that he had figured it out. She wasn't pushing him away, she just didn't know how to let him help her, but he'd show her she didn't need to do it all herself.

Nathan shrugged and frowned slightly as he considered what Lucas had just said as they walked towards his apartment building.

"She's always had Brooke looking out for her, I don't think she's really needed anyone else." He says more to himself than anything as he reaches to open his door.

Caught up in his own thoughts about his friends he never noticed as Lucas' movements falter at his words before continuing to follow him through the door.

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"Shh!" Haley says while motioning with her hands to be quiet as Nathan and Lucas walk into the apartment.

"Why?" Nathan asks quietly as he nears Haley and steals a kiss before she could respond.

"Because…" She begins in a hushed whisper as she smiles up at her husband. "Peyton's on the phone next door and I don't want either of you to disturb her, okay?"

"Who's she talking to?" Lucas asks as he watches Nathan and Haley hold each other.

"Is it about Brooke?"

Haley shakes her head, so much for wanting them to keep quiet. "No, no, it's not about Brooke, although she did call earlier with some good news. Looks like she could be getting out tomorrow."

"Really?" Nathan asks with a smile, happy to hear that his friend was well enough to be coming out of the hospital so soon.

"Yup, if everything goes okay, then I guess by this time tomorrow she'll be living here." She replied with a grin.

"That's great news Hales."

"I know!"

"Who is it?" Lucas asks causing Haley to look at him.

"What?"

"If it isn't Brooke on the phone with her, then who is she talking to?" He asks.

Haley's expression becomes more serious as she looks over at her friend. "Her dad."

"Oh boy." Nathan mumbles.

"Yeah." Haley agrees with him.

She knew Larry didn't have any idea about what had happened in his home or about Brooke, so she knew it wasn't going to be an easy conversation for Peyton to have or for her father to listen to. Not when he was a few hundred miles away and unable to actually do anything but listen to what his daughter told him.

"Do you think he'll come home?" Lucas asked.

"Maybe." Nathan shrugged as he answered, it was hard to say in his opinion. Would Larry offer to be on the next plane back? Probably, but it was also more than likely that Peyton would tell him he didn't need to rush back.

It was a toss up as to how it would turn out, but he thought it shouldn't really matter how much of a brave face Peyton put on with her father, Larry should be here for his daughter, end of subject.

"Actually he's going to try and get back before graduation next week." Peyton said walking over and placing the phone back into its place on the counter. She knew that her swollen, red eyes would give away the fact that she'd been crying but she didn't really care.

It had been hard for her, not just having to talk about what had happened to Brooke, which was upsetting on its own, but also why it had happened and who was responsible for it.

Her father could repeatedly tell her it wasn't her fault, just as Brooke had, but that wouldn't change the fact that she still felt guilty.

She was the one that had brought Ian Banks into her life, she had given him the opportunity to become part of her world, and because of her actions he had come very close to destroying it.

If she had gotten home only a few minutes later, things could have been so much worse than they had been.

Shaking herself out of those thoughts, and not wanting to remember how it felt when she had flipped her bedroom light on Peyton raps her arms around her waist and looks over at Nathan.

"So are they all down?" She asks as her friends watch her closely.

Concerned by their lack of response and worried by the sadness she can see in their eyes, it takes Haley walking over to her and reaching up to wipe her cheek before she realises that she has tears falling from her eyes again.

She laughs nervously and wipes her hands over her face.

"Hey, Peyton it's okay to be upset." Haley says.

"I know… I'm just… I'm tired of it, you know." Peyton replies. "It's like there's all of this crap going on and I just want it to stop for a while."

She sighs and leans back against the counter, running her hand over her face again.

"I mean Brooke's coming home so that should be a good thing right?" She asks looking at her friends who all nod in agreement.

"Right. But there's all this other stuff going on, there's finals, telling my dad, having to deal with my house. And then there's having to tell Brooke's parents at some point, and the media hanging around looking for a story. Not to mention the fact the police don't seem to be doing much, and through all of this Ian's still out there. Waiting to come back for all we know."

"Well…" Haley says pulling one of Peyton's hands over and holding it in both of hers. "What I think is that, some of that stuff you said, we can't really do anything about right now. I mean yes Ian Banks is still out there, but we have to just let the police deal with finding him."

Nathan snorts at that causing Haley to turn and glare at him before she returns her focus to the blonde beside her.

"But while we have to trust the police to do their job, we can also try and do our best to keep both you and Brooke as safe as possible, okay? No going places alone, no midnight strolls, keeping Nathan and Lucas close, that kind of thing." She continues.

"Okay, that doesn't sound too bad." Peyton says with a little nod.

Lucas scowls at that, how was Haley's idea any different to what he and Nathan had said in the café the other day.

"We can also help you with getting your stuff from your house, Nathan and Lucas can go over today and get everything you want, that way you don't have to go anywhere near the place if you don't want to." Haley says thinking that was the one thing that could be done with very little trouble.

"Would you guys do that?" Peyton asked looking from Nathan to Lucas.

"Sure, just tell us what you need and we can go get it for you, or we can just pack up everything in your room and bring it here." Nathan offers. He wasn't really in any rush to go back to that house but if it meant Peyton wouldn't have to step foot in the place again then he would get over it.

"Yeah, shouldn't take more than a couple of hours anyway." Lucas adds.

"Great." Haley says casting a smile at Peyton, glad they had that sorted out fairly quickly. "Now, about the rest of it, well you've already told your dad about what happened, and if we have no way of getting in touch with Brooke's parents right now then there's no point worrying about that until we have to."

"I guess." Peyton reluctantly agrees. But while she knew what Haley said was right, the longer it took without being able to reach Mr and Mrs Davis the worse their reaction was going to be.

"And finals don't start 'till Monday so…"

"Don't worry about them until I have to?" Peyton guessed as a smile slowly worked its way across her face.

Haley smiled back at her. "Oh, you catch on quick!"

Peyton laughed. "Am I hearing this right? Tutor-mom doesn't want me to stress over my final exams until I'm about to sit them?"

"What? Hey, if you've been paying attention all year then you've nothing to worry about anyway, and if you haven't it's too late now so why upset yourself?"

The blonde shook her head, but she had to agree that there was some twisted sort of logic to what Haley had just said.

"Okay so we can scratch that off the list as well then." Peyton said.

"Hey, just think, if you bomb out you can always just repeat them all over again next year." Nathan said with a smirk.

"Jee Nate, thanks for the vote of confidence there, really feeling the love." The blonde said sarcastically.

"Well, why screw with fate." Nathan replies smugly.

"Glass houses Nate, glass houses." Peyton warns him.

"So, I guess that really just leaves the press to deal with, and I'm sure you're about to tell me not to worry about it until I have to, right?" She asks looking at Haley again.

"Right." She says with a smile that fades as both Lucas and Nathan couch at the same time.

"About that…" Nathan starts rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and looks to his brother.

"Yeah, maybe now's the time to worry about that." Lucas says.

"What? Why?" Peyton asks confused as to what they were talking about.

"Are the posters still up?" Haley ventures a guess.

"Ah, well no, they're all down, but…" Nathan replies.

"But what?" Peyton asks wishing he'd just spit it out already.

"But a news crew turned up while we were taking them down." Lucas continues deciding to help his brother out by explaining as best as he could.

"And? Why would they be interested in you guys pulling down a bunch of fliers?" Peyton asks not getting what they were talking about.

"Since she knew it was Ian Banks' picture we were pulling down." Nathan added solemnly.

"Oh." Was the only response Peyton was capable of after that. She'd known it was only a matter of time before questions over the identity of Brooke's attacker started, and so Lucas was probably right.

It was time to start worrying about how to cope with the media fall out of having a survivor of a serial killer in their small town, if there was any bright side to it that Peyton could think of it was that maybe, just maybe, it would keep Ian Banks as far away from Tree Hill as possible.

Now all she had to worry about was telling Brooke that she was about to become a national news story, whether she wanted to or not.

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AN/ I know, I suck… sorry. :( But on the upside I am still alive so that's good news right? :D

Hope you all enjoyed the update, the next part should be up next week when I'll have more free time. These past few weeks have been hell, but the end is in sight thankfully so I'll have a chance to chill out and write some more, I hope anyway :P

Thanks to everyone out there that's reading this, hope you're still all enjoying it.

Hello to any newbies just finding this.

And major hugs to everyone that takes the time to review, I'm sorry I'm such a slacker right now, I'll get better.

Next time everyone.