After their breakfast, Lucas and Peyton shared a long shower before making their way to Nathan and Haley's for an unannounced visit. Peyton knew the purpose of this visit was to spread their news, and she'd wished she'd had a chance to talk to the other couple before hand. She wasn't sure how Lucas would upon learning that they knew before he did. She really hadn't thought that part out when she'd told them.
Nathan swung the door open and a broad smile came to his face.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Nathan asked, pulling his brother into a manly hug.
"I got an earlier flight," he explained.
"Lucas!" Haley walked up behind them and launched herself at her best friend.
"Hey, Sawyer," Nathan said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling them into the house.
Haley shot Peyton a smile, and the blonde just looked to her feet, unable to hide how happy she was that he had come home, early no less.
"When did you get in?" Haley asked as they all settled into the living room.
"2:00 a.m.," Peyton said, rolling her eyes teasingly. Nathan laughed because of course he'd come home late and wake her up.
"I thought you two'd be locked in the house as soon as you came home," Nathan teased, earning him a slap to the arm from his wife.
"Actually, we came over because we have news," Lucas said, looking to Peyton with a wide smile as he took her hand in his.
Peyton shot glances to Nathan and Haley, in an attempt to encourage them to act as though they knew nothing.
"We're having a baby!" Lucas said proudly, with possibly the biggest smile that any of them had ever seen.
"Wow!" Haley said animatedly.
"Awesome!" Nathan added.
"You knew already, didn't you?" Lucas asked. He knew his brother and best friend, and he knew that their reactions would have been different had it been first hand information. He turned to look at Peyton, and his smile still hadn't faded, so they all knew he wasn't mad.
"I'm sorry," Peyton said sheepishly, meeting Lucas' gaze. He just laughed and pulled her closer so he could kiss her forehead.
"Nice try, though, guys. Oscar-worthy performance," he teased the couple across the room. "Who else knows?"
"Just them! No one else," Peyton clarified. Lucas just nodded and ran his thumb over her knuckles.
"We're so happy for you," Haley said sincerely, doing her best to keep her emotions in check. But her best friends were having a baby together, and even though she already knew, seeing Lucas so happy was making it all even more real.
"We are. Congratulations, man," Nathan added.
"Brooke's going to be so mad that she's the last to know," Peyton said, shaking her head.
"Oh God. She might not talk to you for a while," Haley laughed.
"How hot and heavy are her and Skills now, huh? Exclusive and everything," Peyton said with a devilish smirk.
"Wait, what?" Lucas asked, surprised. "I asked her about it in an email and she said they were just 'hanging out'."
"Yeah," Nathan said, unable to stifle his laugh. "Hanging out naked. Like, all the time."
"Nathan!" Haley and Peyton shouted in unison. Haley shoved him playfully as they all laughed.
"I think it's good," Haley said after a few moments.
"I know it's good," Lucas teased, wiggling his eyebrows, making Peyton glare at him. "What? Nate knows too!"
"Wow. Thanks, man. Take me down with you," Nathan said, shaking his head.
"Do you know nothing about women?" Peyton asked, squinting at him as she spoke, letting him know that those types of comments, while mildly funny, were scarcely appreciated.
"Peyton, I have to go pick up Jamie from his friend's house. Why don't you come with me?" Haley asked, rescuing her best friend from whatever scolding he was about to receive from his wife.
"And leave these two to their own devices?" Peyton teased.
"We'll be fine," Lucas said, kissing Peyton softly before she stood. "What do you say, little brother? River Court?"
"Sounds good."
Truthfully, he would have loved to just spend the entire day with his wife just feeling them and that comfort he always felt when they were together, and appreciating all the little things he'd missed while he was away. But the thing he had missed only second to his wife and family, was basketball.
There hadn't been time on the road, and when there was, he couldn't find a court, and so when Nathan tossed him the ball for the first time in a month, that, too, felt like coming home.
"We should go to Brooke's later," Peyton said as they all started out the door.
"You could go..."
"Lucas Scott," came Haley's stern tone. "You are not making her go alone!"
Nathan and Peyton both laughed because yes, Haley knew Lucas almost as well as Peyton did, and both women knew that was exactly what he was about to suggest.
"Come by the River Court after you get Jamie," Lucas suggested. "I miss my nephew anyway. We'll go from there."
Peyton gave him a sweet smile before hopping into the passenger seat of Haley's SUV, and Lucas caught his brother's smile and a muttered It's good to have you back. But all he saw was Peyton.
It was good to be back.
----
After an hour at the River Court alone, then another 30 minutes with the rest of their family there, Lucas somehow felt like things were finally getting back to normal. But then he saw his wife's hand cover her stomach, a move she probably thought would go unnoticed, and he knew that normal was light years away. But in a very, very good way. He wanted to run to her and kiss her, and tell her for the hundredth time how happy he was, but instead he just caught her eye and looked at her, the two of them having a silent conversation that they each knew no one else would pick up on.
On their way to Brooke's house, he let out a puff of air and started shaking his head, and she looked at him, curious as to what was going on in that gorgeous head of his.
"What?" she asked, letting her left hand rest on his shoulder like it always did when they were driving.
"This is just...amazing," he said seriously, turning to her briefly as he smiled. "I mean, we're going to have a family. A family, Peyt."
"We already have one, baby," she explained softly, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly. "It's just getting bigger."
"Are you happy?" he asked, taking her hand in his and pulling it to rest on his thigh with his.
"Are you kidding me?" she asked, as though she thought it crazy that he even posed that question. "Lucas, this is what I've wanted since I was 17. This life with you."
"Me too," he admitted quietly.
He couldn't explain the shyness; he'd told her before that she was all he ever wanted. But somehow, when your dreams are coming true you start to question how it's all possible, and it just takes your breath away. He felt it when when he kissed her senior year for the second first time, and when she said she'd marry him, and when she said I do. And he felt it the night before when she looked up at him, tired and emotional and just so obviously in love, and told him that they were going to have a child.
Walking up the steps to Brooke's house, she clung to his arm in a way that she rarely ever did. Only when she was nervous or scared or on the verge of breaking down, had she ever looped her arm through his in quite that way. So when he turned to her and smiled, and assured her that everything would be OK, she just nodded because it would be, she knew that, and because she loved that he knew her so well.
He was just about to knock on the door when they heard a loud giggle come from inside, and he muttered something about coming back later, when Skills would be nowhere in sight, but she swatted him on the arm and rang the doorbell before he could protest.
Flinging the door open, Brooke was surprised to see the two of them standing there, and they were surprised to see both Brooke and Skills, both fully clothed and obviously just having a conversation about something or another.
"Hi!" Brooke said happily, ushering them into the house. "Luke, you're home early!"
"Yeah. I got an earlier flight," he said, completely distracted by his childhood friend sitting nonchalantly on the sofa, totally unfazed and looking like he belonged there.
"Hey, man. Good to have you back," Skills said with a smile, standing to pull his oldest friend into a hug. He turned to Peyton and did the same, though they'd seen each other frequently in Lucas' absence.
Peyton was filling Brooke in on the whole story about Lucas' homecoming, leaving out the biggest detail of all, while Lucas was grilling Skills, just as he had with Nathan, about his team's performance while he'd been away.
They all settled in, with Brooke next to Skills on the sofa, and Peyton sat in a chair with Lucas perched on the arm, her hand on his leg and their fingers intertwined.
"OK, so we have some news," Peyton started, looking up to Lucas then back at their friends.
"You're pregnant!" Brooke cried, then her hand flew to her mouth and she closed her eyes as if trying to process the information.
"How did you...?" Lucas started.
"I'm her best friend!" she shouted, by way of explanation. "Oh my GOD!"
"Brooke," Peyton laughed, then noticed the tears in her best friend's eyes, and moved to sit next to her on the sofa. Soon - within seconds, really - both women were crying, and hugging each other, and Skills and Lucas were looking between each other and the two girls nervously.
"I'm just..." Brooke started, pulling away from Peyton and wiping her face. "So happy!"
"You want a minute?" Lucas asked delicately, watching as Peyton nodded. Both men, almost in unison, got up and kissed their respective womens' foreheads, then slipped out the door. Both women heard Skills saying congratulations, and they both smiled at that.
"Peyton," Brooke said softly. "I can't believe it. I mean, I can believe it because you're married and whatever but...You're going to be a mom."
"You're going to be an aunt," Peyton laughed, wiping her own face.
"But not really," Brooke said with a kinked brow.
Being an only child had always suited Brooke, until she grew up and found herself in love with children. She wished she had actual nieces or nephews, and though Haley, and now Peyton, would always call her 'aunt' to their children, she knew that it wasn't really true.
"Brooke, you've been my sister since we were 8," Peyton insisted, watching as Brooke shook her head. "You have. You were my family long before Lucas was."
They hugged again because they both knew those words were the truth, and they sat like that for a few minutes, crying happy tears and rubbing each others' backs.
"So does this mean I get to be Godmother?" Brooke asked, making Peyton laugh.
Of course, that would be Brooke's main concern.
----
The next three and a half weeks were a complete blur. Peyton's father had returned from a long time away working, and though he knew of the pregnancy, he was more than excited to spend some time with his little girl, which yes, he still called her, despite her half-hearted attempts to make him stop.
Larry had pulled Lucas in for a fatherly hug and said, "Rake Boy, you done good." It had made them all laugh, and in that moment, they all wondered who was prouder than who, knowing in the end that it didn't really matter.
They'd invited him for their Sunday dinner with Nathan, Haley, and Jamie. The young boy was fascinated by the fact that Larry worked on a boat, and the older man spent all evening telling Jamie stories and tall tales that made his eyes go wide or made him laugh in that way that only children can. Lucas noticed Peyton's chin quiver and she placed her hand over her heart, and he knew that she was thinking of how great a grandfather her dad was going to be. So he pulled her in to his side and kissed her forehead, and whispered, "I think so, too," into her ear.
Before Larry had left that evening to 'leave the kids to chat', he handed Peyton two shoe boxes that had been taped shut and clearly hadn't been opened in years. He simply told her there were some things in there she'd want to have, and that her mother would have wanted her to have. She kissed him on the cheek as she said goodbye, and set the boxes in the bedroom so she could look through them later.
"Well, Jamie," Haley said. "You think we should tell them a story?"
"Yeah! Let's tell them!" he said excitedly.
It was just the five of them again, scattered around the living room like they usually did when the weather turned cold.
"OK. Go ahead," Haley prodded, and he looked up at her with wide eyes, asking if she was sure. He turned back to his aunt and uncle, smiling widely.
"Once upon a time, mama and daddy are having another baby! The end!" he said happily, completely unable to hide his delight.
"What?!" Peyton cried, eyes wide with surprise. "You too!?"
"Yes," Haley said after her laughter had died down. How could she not want another child when Jamie was so incredible?
"Your little guy's gonna have another cousin," Nathan said proudly, grinning ear to ear.
There was a chorus of congratulations and hugs were exchanged, just as had happened not even a month earlier. Lucas made a remark about now having to buy all new things instead of just using hand-me-downs, and they all laughed, except for Peyton, who just shook her head at him, making him shrug his shoulders innocently.
"You realize it's probably gonna be two more boys," Nathan pointed out, smirking at the thought of any more Scott men in the family.
"Probably," Peyton and Haley said in unison. Lucas was the only one who didn't comment.
"This is insane," he finally said, shaking his head, trying to process it all. "I can't believe it."
He was having a baby with the woman of his dreams. His best friend was having her second child with his brother. He wasn't sure life could get any better, and then he realized that in just about 7 months, it would be exponentially better.
After everyone had left, Peyton put on her satin nightgown, the silver one that Lucas had always loved, and collapsed into bed. In the previous couple weeks, she'd found herself tiring easily. She'd come home from work, go in to the bedroom to change, and Lucas would go in 20 minutes later to find her sleeping, still fully dressed in her work clothes.
She reached for one of the many books they'd bought, and began reading while he was in the living room watching the highlights of the day's basketball games.
He walked in 15 minutes later and began tugging off his shirt before he noticed her hand covering her mouth and the horrified expression on her face as she read her book.
"What is it?" he asked, concerned, as he tossed his shirt onto the chair and began undoing his belt.
"There are just...there are a lot of potential side effects," she said in awe.
"Well, like what?" he asked, climbing into bed with her and peering over her arm at the book she held.
"Like...a lot of things that you don't even need to know," she laughed, pulling away from him so he couldn't read the laundry list of possible symptoms.
"You know, there are about 9 more books over there that I could read," he pointed out, gesturing to the stack of reading material perched atop his desk.
"It's fine," she said, brushing off her earlier concern. "A lot of them are highly unlikely. Like pica."
"What's pica?" he asked, smirking both at his own ignorance and her adorable interest in knowing everything there was to know about pregnancy.
"It's an eating disorder that makes you eat anything, even if it isn't really food. Like paper and soap and stuff," she explained, looking at him with a grimace.
"OK, I don't think that'll be a problem," he scoffed, reaching for his own book, an oft-read Dickens, and settling back into his own side of the bed.
"I don't know," she sang, gesturing to his book. "That's looking pretty tasty."
He just rolled his eyes and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek because she was so cute when she acted like that, even though they both knew it was completely dorky. About three minutes passed before she was talking again.
"Luke, what if I get all fat and gross and you hate me?" He could only laugh at that utterly ridiculous statement. "Stop laughing! I'm serious. I'll have like, boats for feet and huge hips and I'll be moody and impossible! "
"Babe, you're talking crazy. I won't hate you," he said, closing his book once again and turning to look at her.
"But what if I don't lose the baby weight?" she asked timidly.
"You're too skinny anyway," he shrugged.
"Luke," she protested, encouraging him to actually address her concerns.
"Peyton, pregnancy is beautiful, OK? And you're beautiful. I don't care if you don't lose the weight. Or if you have...boat feet and you're moody. You're carrying our little girl," he finished with a smile before resting his hand on her still fairly flat stomach, causing her to tilt her head at him.
Just recently, as recently as a few days before, she noticed her shape changing. It was subtle and she realized that no one else would have noticed; it just looked like she'd gained a couple pounds. But one morning as she was tugging on her top, she noticed Lucas' eyes and smile as he gazed at her adoringly, and of course, she knew he'd noticed it, too.
"Why are you so adamant that it's a girl?" she asked after placing her hand atop his.
"It's just a hunch," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "You still think it's a boy?"
"I think history is on my side," she explained, making him laugh. "The Scotts only have boys."
"What about Lily?" he asked smugly.
"Lily is an anomaly."
"Whatever you say, Peyt. We should make a bet!" he said excitedly.
"Lucas, I am not placing bets on the sex of our child," she admonished.
"I'm serious," he said, shaking his head and raising his eyebrows. "Or Nathan and Haley could bet on ours and we could bet on theirs and whoever wins would have to...I dunno...pay for the first date after the baby's born."
"Lucas Scott, you are not serious," she scolded. He rolled his eyes dramatically, conceding defeat, and reached for his book again as she smirked because she'd at least won that round.
Another five minutes and she was talking again, and usually he'd be annoyed by that at least a little bit, but with the subject matter she was bringing up, he just couldn't.
"You know the baby's heart is gonna start beating any day now?" she asked, eyes wide, and hand resting on her tummy.
"Really?" he asked, turning towards her again. She nodded in response. "That's incredible."
"Yup. And he's gonna lose his tail soon," she teased.
"Well that's good news," he said with a laugh. He glanced at the page she was reading, and the diagram it showed, along with the short list of things to expect in your first trimester. "At least your morning sickness hasn't been that bad."
She looked at him with furrowed brows. "Yes. Because throwing up twice a day is so much better than throwing up five times a day."
"I just meant...you know what I meant," he attempted. He had tried so hard to say the right things. That clearly wasn't the right thing.
"I know what you meant," she said with a smile. "I'll just be glad when this part is over and I can just kind of hang out."
"Hang out?" he asked with a laugh.
"Yeah. You know? No throwing up, no being so tired I can hardly get out of bed," she rattled off, closing the book and snuggling in next to him.
"Right."
His hand trailed up and down her arm like he always did before they drifted off to sleep, and that night, he said words he didn't need to say, but just felt like saying anyway.
"I'm pretty much entirely in love with you."
She tucked just that little bit further into his side and kissed his bare chest, and she fell asleep about two minutes later. He hadn't ever thought it possible to love her more than the day he married her, and yet seeing her day by day, pregnant and excited, he felt that familiar, and yet always completely surprising, feeling of fullness in his heart. All the time.
----
Later that week, after having to run an after-school practice, Lucas had been called to watch Jamie as Nathan and Haley had an appointment with one of Nathan's doctors. He'd talked to Peyton and she'd assured him that it was fine, and offered to meet him to help with Jamie, but he said he didn't need her to, and she laughed and said she was thankful for the rest.
He returned home around 9:00, expecting to find her curled up in bed and looking all adorable. Instead, he found her on their sofa, with two yellowed old boxes open, and tears in her eyes, and items scattered around her and on the table.
"Hey," be broached carefully. He went to sit next to her on the sofa, and she lifted a few delicate items onto her lap to create room for him.
"Hi," she said with a smile. "This is the stuff my dad left."
"I know," he replied, taking in a few of the things she'd been looking at.
There were no birth announcements or photos of a tired mother with her newborn, but there was a photo of Anna and Larry with a baby girl swaddled in pink, and another that neither of them had ever seen, of the Sawyer family with Ellie at the hospital.
"Wow," he said, taking the photo in his hands. "That's pretty special."
"I know," she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder as they both looked down at the faded picture.
"What's this?" he asked with a sly grin, picking up a tattered piece of green fabric, no more than a foot square. "Is this Peyton Sawyer's blankie?"
"Dude, shut up," she admonished, taking the item from him. "I know for a fact that you slept with a teddy bear until you were 13."
"Don't call me dude, and how did you find that out? Haley told you, didn't she?" he asked incredulously.
"Your mom loves me, baby," she teased in a sweet voice, rubbing his back as he groaned. He made a mental note to ask his mother what other of his secrets she'd let his wife in on.
He caught sight of the simple necklace she had on, and reached over to thumb the pendant. It was a tiny gold cross, no bigger than the tip of her pinky finger, hanging on a thin gold chain.
"This was my first necklace," she explained. "I guess my mom and dad bought it when I was baptized."
"It's nice," he said softly, smiling at her. "We should get our baby one."
"We should," she agreed. As soon as she'd seen that necklace, she'd thought the same thing.
"What else ya got?" he said, clapping his hands together and pouring over the rest of the contents of the boxes.
She looked at him with complete adoration as he thumbed through photographs and keepsakes from her childhood. He was clearly enthralled, both because he'd never seen any of those things before, and because he was just so over the moon about their baby. She wondered if there was any man on the planet as amazing as Lucas, and then she realized that it didn't matter because she had him.