A/N: I'm gone for months and now I update twice in one weekend.. That's the power of reviews right there! I asked whether you wanted more Lazy Weekend or move on to the next week. Right after I realized I really wanted to take my time with the weekend and then I started getting agreements from you. - A crazy haze of inspiration and the next update ready already now. Thank you!

I hope you enjoy Chapter 16:

By 3:40 pm Lydia and Peyton had already watched three Disney movies. During the first one Lucas had driven to Tree Hill to shut the lights he hadn't turned off leaving in such a hurry. He had also taken a shower and packed some clothes to change since it was decided he'd be staying at Peyton's for the rest of the weekend.

He had tried to be calm about it, but when he was driving alone in his car on his way back to Wilmington and he had an overnight bag on the seat next to him he couldn't help but feel giddy. He was on his way for a sleepover at Peyton's. Granted it wasn't what it sounded like. He would have the guest room and the girls would bunk in Peyton's bed. But it was already an amazing feeling to be invited to Peyton's for the weekend.

Lucas had let himself bask in the feelings for a good five minutes. But as he had gotten off highway right outside Wilmington and had to stop to traffic lights he slapped himself on the cheek and told it was time to quit the fantasies. Thinking like that would violate his new life. He just wasn't 13 anymore.

Lucas had gotten back to Peyton's around the time the ladies had finished the first movie. He had gotten Peyton to agree to a nap and taken little miss Scott for grocery shopping. They had walked around Walmart picking up things either of them remembered Peyton to like. There was a chance he'd hear about it later. That they'd gone a little overboard. But the way he saw it, it was the perfect way to start the new life.

Well, what really made it perfect, was when a man in his mid-40's had looked at his cart that was so far just full of fruits and vegetables and commented to him how wives were such a pain for putting so many vegetables to the shopping list. Lucas hadn't had the time to tell him he didn't have a wife and that actually no one had even made him a list - he was simply going a little overboard for a friend and he'd probably pay for it as soon as she was well again. No, just as Lucas had been about to speak up Lydia came running to him with a cucumber she had picked up. The man smiled at Lucas and commented "then again, suffering through vegetables is a small price to pay for having that cute kids with someone". Then the man was gone and Lucas couldn't help but smile. In the morning maybe for a little bit he had let himself imagine the three of them were a family. And while his actual dream was to not have to borrow from his brother's family, it felt nice that someone imagined the same for him. Then he realized he was again thinking so wrong. He would have slapped himself again, but Lydia was there and it didn't seem like a good habit to teach her.

Luckily Lydia's happy babbling had helped him focus again. In the car back home - well, back to Peyton's - they had made plans to keep practicing reading and writing and spelling if aunt Peyton needed another nap. But by the time they had gotten back and out away the groceries they had bought Peyton had woken up and the girls had continued the movie marathon. Lucas joined in around the time when Snow White first met the dwarves. His soup was fine on the stove waiting for the movie to finish. To Lydia's delight they ate the soup bundled up on the living room couches while watch the third movie.

In all honesty, Lucas hadn't watched much of the 3rd movie either. He had really tried to, but from where he was sitting he also had a really good view to the couch where Peyton and Lydia were lounging. Every time Lucas tried to focus on the movie either Peyton or Lydia would squeal or whimper or sigh. Watching the girls watch Beauty and the Beast was actually more interesting and entertaining than actually watching the movie he had already seen.

"I don't think my eyes can take a 4th movie. It was fun, but I'm reaching my limits.." Peyton sighed and closed her eyes as the credits started rolling.

"Should you take a nap aunt Pey?" Lydia leaned over to observe her godmother.

Peyton laughed. The girl had taken to the role of an attentive nurse. She worried about naps, took care of vitamins and she had even learned to look after Peyton's hydration. She was no doubt Haley's kid.

"No, I'm good Silly D. I don't think I'm sick enough to sleep at this time anymore. Don't wanna mess up my rhythm completely."

"Okay.." Lydia said her thoughts clearly already in something else. She was looking at her uncle and aunt intently. "So what shall we do.."

"There are some puzzles you could make.." Peyton suggested.

Lydia looked at her suspiciously. "I can make puzzles with mama at home."

Lucas and Peyton exchanged slightly worried looks. The plan to stay in Wilmington might have been a mistake after all. How'd they entertain the girl if she didn't want to do anything she could do at home as well.

"Ooh, I know!" Lydia squaled. "We could play Question Game."

"What's Question Game?" Lucas asked intrigued. "Like 20 Questions?"

"I don't know I'm only 5. What's 20 Questions?" Lydia was slightly confused.

"It's a game where someone thinks about something and then the others ask questions to find out what it is. But the thinker can only answer yes or no to the questions." Peyton explained.

Lydia thought for a moment. "Well it's not Question Game, but can we play it so that you can only think about something fun, like cool people?"

That was so Lydia.. But why not?

"Okay." Lucas and Peyton answered at the same time. Chuckled at the situation and Lucas then asked who would start.

"Aunt Peyton." Lydia answered without hesitation. "And you ask first."

"Okay you ready blondie?" Lucas winked at Peyton. She nodded. "Is this person a man?"

"Yes."

Lydia thought for a moment and then ran to Lucas and whispered something to his ear. Lucas whispered her an answer and then nodded for reassurance until a bright smile appeared on her face. "Does he have dark hair?"

"Hmph. Yes he does." It wasn't supposed to be quite this easy..

Lucas chuckled. Her reaction gave her away a little bit. "Has he ever played in the NBA?"

Peyton rolled her eyes. She knew he knew. "Yes he has."

Lucas leaned to whisper to Lydia. "Now who would be a man who has dark hair and has played basketball in the NBA?" Lydia thought for a moment and smirked. She looked so much like her father when she smirked like that. "Is he my daddy?"

Peyton smiled and nodded. Lydia shot back to her place next to Peyton on the couch and snuggled by her godmother. "Good game. Now I know how to play so uncle Lucas make it harder!"

"Alright, you got it." Lucas smiled. Lydia signaled Peyton to start questioning.

"Well is this person a man?" She was fairly certain it wouldn't be since the last one was.

"Yes, he is." He would have loved to add something snarky like "or so they say" but he held his breath and kept quiet.

"Is he hot?" was Lydia's next question.

Both Lucas and Peyton gasped at it. It was lucky Nathan was all the way in Charleston.

"Some people seem to think so.." Lucas muttered a little embarrassed by the situation.

"Uncle Lucas that's not a yes or a no answer." Lydia scolded. Wasn't he the one who suggested the game and now he wouldn't play by the rules..

Lucas rolled his eyes and growled "yes."

Peyton was just about to ask her next question, when Lydia tugged her hand and whispered so loud even Lucas could hear it "Aunt Pey, this game is fun. Don't ruin it with a boring question."

Peyton bit her lip. "Would you like to ask the next question as well, then?"

Lydia nodded. "Is he good looking?"

"What, you just asked that?" Lucas was confused.

His niece looked at him like he was losing his mind. "No, I asked if he was hot. It's not the same. You see, Some men may get kissed a lot even if they are ugly. And you're good looking, but you're not that hot."

Peyton was trying her best not to laugh. Lydia was right. This game was hilarious. She shifted her eyes to Lucas in hopes to calm herself down and avoid annoyed Lydia. In her mind she had to disagree with her goddaughter. Lucas was most definitely not only good looking but down-right hot. Even or especially as he was looking all embarrassed by his niece's bold comments. The blue button up shirt certainly sealed the deal.

"I guess he's good looking, too." Lucas admitted quietly. He was clearly praying for a

"My turn. Does he make movies?" Peyton came to rescue. It just all felt like he was referring to Brooke's comments.

"No."

Again Lydia whispered so loudly Lucas could hear it, too. "It's not Julian. You don't think he picked daddy again?"

Peyton wasn't sure. But there was a way to check it out. "Does his first name start with N?"

"Yes." Lucas answered. And Peyton mouthed to Lydia "I think it could be."

"Is it daddy again?"

"No."

Peyton and Lydia looked at each other as if to draw clues from the other's thinking. Then Peyton figured it out. "Is it Neil?"

"Yes."

"Hmph." Lydia frowned. She crossed her arms and backed to the other corner of the couch. As far away from Lucas and Peyton as possible. "That wasn't fair.."

Peyton and Lucas looked at each other in wonder. "I'm sorry but what wasn't?" Lucas asked. It felt like this was his fault somehow.

"You said he was hot and good looking. That doesn't sound like Neil. I KNOW he doesn't get kissed as much as daddy or uncle Julian. And he's not ugly, but I don't think he's quite as good looking as daddy or Jamie or uncle Lucas or even uncle Julian."

"Lydia.. that wasn't very nice." Peyton scolded her a little bit about the attitude, but then she softened her voice and explained. "You know these things are always a matter of opinion. It isn't polite to make a big noise about those opinions. Besides, it's quite rare that people get kissed quite as much as your daddy or uncle Julian. Growing up with so many very special men, it's especially good to learn to take it easy with comparisons."

"Okay." The girl said quietly. "I'm sorry Aunt Peyton, Uncle Lucas."

Peyton ruffled the girl's hair. "It's alright, baby."

They were all quiet for a moment. It wasn't an awkward silence. It felt important. Like they were all letting the silence to heal them and build connection.

"Aunt Pey, I think we should take this to the bedroom.." Lydia said eventually. Lucas and Peyton both swallowed hard to diminish the shocked laughter that was just demanding to burst out. They had no idea what the girl meant by it, but she sure meant it somehow innocently - certainly not how the adults were used to mean it. It was either that neither of them had actually had any use of the phrase in a long time or that the silence before had been sweet enough, but both Lucas and Peyton were quite proud of themselves for surviving the shock so well.

"Baby what do you mean by that?" Peyton asked and Lucas couldn't help but think how amazing it sounded that she called the little girl 'baby'. He could imagine her one day asking 'baby what do you mean by that' from a little curly blonde haired girl, who would call her 'mama' in stead of 'aunt Pey'. That child would be the luckiest kid on the planet.

"I mean that I like this - just being like this with you two.. But I think it'd be better if you lied down properly. Couldn't we just go be like this in your bed?" That sweet little girl..

Peyton had to say she agreed with the idea. "Sounds perfect. Let's go." She took the girl's hand as if in sign of simply transferring the moment to another room. Lydia seemed to grasp the meaning of it as she reached out to her uncle and in Peyton's lead the three of them walked to Peyton's bedroom - sweet little Lydia between the two adults.

Peyton settled to her side of the bed and Lydia to the middle. Lucas didn't quite know what to do, but because Lydia had directed him to come as well, he opted towards the chair he had used during breakfast.

"Where are you going uncle Lucas?" Lydia asked an patted on the empty part of the bed. Lucas looked at Peyton for an opinion but she did not seem fazed about it. She just smiled at him and so he climbed onto the bed next to Lydia. They fell back to the comfortable silence each of them just enjoying each other's presence and staring at the ceiling.

"Can we now play my Question Game?"

"Sure, baby just tell us how it goes." Peyton answered softly smiling. Her eyes were closed, but she was feeling better than she had in the last 24 hours. She could actually enjoy the comfort and that was exactly what she was doing.

"Alright. So the game goes so that we randomly pick one of us and one of the others gets to ask the picked one a question. It has to be a nice or interesting question - nothing mean. And then the picked one will have to answer it honestly. But it should be good, because they are nice"

Hearing the game rules, Peyton couldn't help but wish Lydia had been there when they were in High School and in desperate need of some social games. The Question Game sounded much better than Brooke's Truth or Dare without-the-Truth-because-No-one-really-tells-the-truth-anymore or all the drunken I Never where someone was bound to pick something mean and someone always ended up hurt.

Lydia made some weird calculations in her head and the announced that Aunt Peyton was the first one to answer.

"When you were my age, what did you want to be when you grew up?" Lydia asked the first question. Lucas liked the game already. Surprisingly they had never talked about anything like that. What was she like before her mom died? What did she dream of? How did she see the world back then? It was enchantingly interesting..

Peyton had to take a while to think about it, but it was alright. They all knew now that the silence was good, too.

"I think I wanted to be a mom. I admired my own mom Anna so much. She was the coolest woman I knew. She was beautiful and kind and caring and funny. She sang to me at night and taught me a lot of cool things about music and art. And life.. I wanted to be just like her." Peyton paused, but since her two companions seemed to wait for anything and everything she wanted to say she continued. It felt good to reminisce her mom for the woman she was and not just the loss of her.

"When I was your age, Lydia, I didn't really think what I wanted to do. I just dreamed of one day having someone to love the way my mom loved my dad. I dreamed of listening to music and falling in love with it together with someone I loved. And of having a child - or maybe more than one - to do all kinds of fun things with. Being just like my mom. Loving like she did and being loved just like she was."

Lydia scooted closer to her godmother and took Peyton's hand into her own tiny one. "I think YOU're the coolest woman I know." A few tears rolled down Peyton's cheek.

Five minutes later Lydia announced that her random pick had now fallen on uncle Lucas. She seemed to have changed the rules a little already, because she didn't really wait to see if Peyton wanted to ask a question first. She simply felt inspired and asked straight herself. "What's your first memory of aunt Peyton?"

Peyton turned to her side towards Lydia and Lucas. Where'd that come from? A smile formed slowly on Lucas' face as he thought about it.

"It was at the beginning of 6th grade. Your mom and me went to different elementary schools than your dad, Peyton and Brooke. So that was the first time we went to the same school." Lucas told and Peyton couldn't help but think how great an author he made. He could make even a review of school system sound interesting. And judging by Lydia's shining eyes she wasn't the only one enchanted by the story even if it was her story and not the little girl's.

"She was the first person I saw when I walked to the quad with your mom. Haley loves school so she wanted to be really early. There were only a few people when we arrived, but I didn't see anyone but this one girl.." He paused to gather the image from his memory. "All skinny arms and tangled mess of hair.. She was sitting on this big rock near the entrance, she was drawing something on her sketchbook and I had no idea what your mom was talking about. I just kept staring at her and basically just trying to make note of every little detail about her. And well, just determine if she was real."

Lucas was so deep into his memories that only as he stopped speaking he realized how honestly he had talked and that Peyton was actually there to hear the story. Luckily she was once again lying on her back so he did not have to make eye contact with her yet.

"So what happened then?" Lydia asked enchanted by the story.

"The bell rang, Haley dragged me to class and for months I just saw glimpses of her somewhere around the school." Lucas said sheepishly. But damn, that little girl's shining blue eyes were demanding for more story and so even though it felt awkward to have Peyton hear about his adolescent infatuation and dangerous to have extremely-honest and social Lydia know all that, he continued. "It took a few months for me to learn her name was Peyton Sawyer and that she was a 6th grader as well."

"So did you just talk then and become friends?" Lydia asked excitedly.

Lucas chuckled nervously. This was the point his niece would learn that he wasn't quite as cool as she possibly imagined. "No.. It took years. Every year in the beginning of a school year I made predictions with your mom - sort of what we hoped would happen that year. And every year mine was something about Peyton. That I'd talk to her or take her to the movies or.." last minute he realized he'd better not tell about him wanting to make out with Peyton, let alone the one about marrying her. "But I only talked to her for the first time when we were 16. Junior Year in High School."

"That's when mama and daddy talked as well!" Lydia beamed.

"Yes it was. It was only a little while before that. I worked for my uncle Keith and he sent me on a service call. It turned out it was Peyton's car that had broken down on River Road."

"The Comet?" Lydia almost squealed.

"Yeah, the Comet." Lucas confirmed.

"Oh, the coolest car in the whole world.." Lydia said dreamily. Neither of the adults could really disagree.

"And what's your first memory of uncle Lucas, aunt Pey?" Lucas was relieved that the focus had moved away from him. He had already said too much.

"Wouldn't it be our turn to ask you a question now?" Peyton asked. "I've already answered a question."

"But I don't remember my first memory of you or uncle Luke." Lydia smiled innocently.

"Oh well.." Peyton said softly. It was still nonchalant enough that Lucas knew it was all as it had been. She was still the cool one and he was the infatuated nerd. "I almost ran him over with my car."

Lydia giggled.

"In my defense. I was listening to a really good song, it was dark and all of a sudden he just ran to the road right in front of me."

Lydia laughed a little more and now Lucas joined her. "Aunt Pey, I really don't think a good song is good enough reason to run over someone.."

Peyton realized she was actually being judged by something she only ALMOST did. "I didn't actually run over him. I saw him just early enough to hit the brakes and stop the car right before he was under it.." Now Peyton joined in the soft laughter, too. Maybe her defense wasn't good enough. "But yeah, you're right. Don't ever do that for any reason, baby."

Lydia took a moment to calm down from the giggles and then said. "Yeah, but I think it was still worth it.. You got to start making memories with uncle Lucas in them. I wish I could remember my first memory of you."

A/N: The rest of the weekend just didn't seem to fit right to this chapter so I'm holding it off to something that will be looked back on later in the story.

Please review and leave any comments, thoughts, wishes..

In the next few chapters there's coming up at least: the Haley+Brooke+Mia meeting about Leyton, Nathan taking Peyton somewhere, but let me know if you have wishes what you'd like to see. There are gaps to be filled in my plans even for the next few chapters.

Also, I know it's been a good 50 000 words of Leyton fiction without them yet getting even as far as kissing again. I've wanted to take the time because there's a lot of history at this point and they are at the point where it's pretty serious. There's only so much they can handle anymore at this point so they have to make it right. So just bear with me. I've already picked a Wedding Song for Leyton - they'll get there, but it will still take time to get the two to a place where they can just get together and be happy. In the words of Whitey Durham:

"Who knows where life will take you, the road is long and in the end the journey is the destination."