No Happy Ending or Maybe So

Ch.22 The Big Reveal

Peyton, Lucas, Julie, and Brody were standing in front of Christine's mansion. She had everything she could possibly ever want or need. They were greeted by one of her many maids. Lucas realized then that Julian had probably given Peyton so much more than he could possibly ever think of giving her.

The maid led them into one of the many living areas in the house. Lucas was amazed by all the décor and pictures of Julian and his sister. The woman even had portraits of her two children and Julie and Brody. It freaked him out that the crazy woman he had met before had a painting of his little girl. He figured that she didn't know the truth about Julie's real paternity, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

Peyton was looking at a picture of Julian when he was much younger. He had hated the picture when he was alive. He had said that he was miserable in that picture and all throughout his childhood. She took the picture and turned it where no one could see it. She knew Julian would have thanked her if he had been there.

Christine's voice sent chills up and down Peyton's back, "Well better late than never I guess." Christine remarked with a devilish smile.

Peyton glared at her, "That's what I always say."

The kids turned to see their grandma, "Grandma," they both ran to hug the woman, but she stopped them.

"Oh no Grandma is wearing a beautiful suit. She doesn't need anyone to ruin it."

"Oh that would be horrible," Peyton rolled her eyes. She hoped dinner would be short and sweet. "Is dinner ready Christine?"

"Dinner was ready fifteen minutes ago Peyton, but you were late as always."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Peyton smiled.

"I know," she turned to the kids. "Your Aunt Alexandria should be down soon."

"Yay," they both said at the same time. They loved their Aunt Alexandria almost as much as Peyton. Lexie, as Julie called her, was amazing. She was a lot like Julian. She had a free spirit and huge heart. She had beautiful dark brown hair almost black and beautiful green eyes. She was eighteen and had just graduated high school.

Lexie walked through the door, "Hi guys."

The kids ran straight to her with big smiles on their faces, "We missed you," Julie said.

"I missed you too butterfly, and you too little J," she smiled as she hugged them. The kids loved that she had nicknames for them. She called Brody little J because he looked so much like Julian. She looked up at Peyton, "Peyton." She hugged her sister-in-law. She absolutely loved Peyton, and it made her sad that she was now in Tree Hill. She had begged Peyton to marry Julian so many times. "I missed you so much Peyton. Nothing is the same without you."

"I missed you too Lex," Peyton continued to hug her.

Lucas was amazed. He had never imagined that Peyton would actually have a life that didn't include him. He always thought that she was just as miserable as he was, but he now saw how wrong he was.

"Please tell me that you are coming home for good now."

Peyton didn't want to tell her that she wasn't coming back, but she had no choice, "We're moving to Tree Hill."

Lexie's face dropped immediately, and for the first time she noticed that Lucas was in the room, "Who the Hel…" she stopped remembering that the kids were in the room. "Hello I'm Lexie. Who are you?"

Lucas was amused by how feisty she seemed, "I'm Lucas Scott."

"Okay whose Lucas Scott," she looked at Peyton, and then remembered hearing about him. "Oh no its you."

Lucas frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

She looked at Peyton again and then pointed between the two, "Are you two um…." She trailed off.

"No, he's just helping me move," Peyton admitted.

"Oh," Lexie began to examine everything about the man standing in front of her. But before she could say anything Christine came back into the room.

"Children Lois here is going to take you to where you will be eating."

"Okay is mommy coming?" Julie asked.

"In a minute sweetie, I need to have a word with your mother."

Peyton rolled her eyes. She didn't want to hear anything that the monster had to say. "What do you want Christine?" The kids had walked out of the room and out of ear shot.

"You know what Peyton I don't need an attitude from you. I think that I have been very calm after everything you've done." She gritted her teeth as she spoke.

Peyton was getting angry, "What exactly have I done?"

Lucas and Lexie shared looks but neither one of them said anything. "Well let's see there is a damn long list Peyton. First you get pregnant with my son's kid so he has to drop everything for you and the baby," Christine started. Both Peyton and Lucas shared looks. "Then you say no to him every single time he asks you to marry him like he's not good enough for you. Let me tell you something Peyton he was way too good for you. You were never good enough for him."

Lucas stepped up ready to defend Peyton, "Hey." Peyton stopped him.

"No Luke I can handle this. I've been waiting for her to blame me. I knew this was coming."

"And you know when you finally say yes the two of you marry without even telling me about it. My only son gets married, and you are too selfish to let me be apart of it."

"I'll have you know that Julian is the one that rushed the wedding," Lucas couldn't help himself.

Christine shot daggers at him, "This is none of your business. I overheard you Peyton. I will not let you take my grandchildren away from me."

"You don't get a say in this Christine. I'm moving to Tree Hill, and the kids are coming with me," Peyton couldn't wait to be rid of her.

"You can't take the only things I have left," she yelled at her. Lexie looked a little disappointed.

"Mom you have me," she told her.

"Oh Alexandria you were a mistake that should have never happened. I only ever wanted Julian."

Peyton couldn't stand it anymore. She felt rage fill her body, "You bitch. I can't wait for my kids to be rid of you."

"I won't let you do that Peyton. See I have connections, and I will make sure that you won't be able to take them away from me."

"How do you expect to do that Christine? I'm their mother."

"I'll take you to court, and I will get custody of my grandchildren. You don't deserve them just like you never deserved my son."

"You can't do that," Peyton wasn't going to let some Bitch take her kids. "They are my kids, and you will be lucky to see them on holidays. The only reason we ever came around was because of Lexie. Julian never loved you. You made his life a living hell, and I will never let you do that to my kids."

"I will raise my son's kids. That is the way it is going to be." Christine was sure of herself. "And Peyton you are the bitch." She yelled. "I can't let you ruin them."

"She's a damn good mom," Lucas yelled. "And she's an amazing woman."

"You are only saying that because you're sleeping with her. The two of you were probably having an affair before Julian died. I always knew Peyton was a slut."

"Shut up…You don't know a damn thing. I loved Julian with all my heart, and I never cheated on him."

"Then why are you moving to Tree Hill? I bet it is because the two of you can't keep your pants on."

"I'm staying in Tree Hill because Lucas is Julie's father," Peyton finally said it. She didn't want Christine to know, but she was sick of her mess and couldn't take it anymore.

Christine looked as if she had been stabbed. "Julian is Julie's father."

"No Christine he isn't. Lucas is Julie's father," she said it again. Lucas was glad that it was finally out in the open until he turned around and saw his shocked little girl's face.

"Julie," was all he could say.

Peyton turned around. "Oh no Julie."

Julie didn't say anything she just ran up the stairs as fast as she could. "Damn it," Peyton yelled. "We didn't want her to know."

"I'll go find her," Lucas said.

"No we should find her together," Peyton thought. She looked at Christine, "Once I find my daughter we are leaving, and we won't be back. I'm sorry Lexie, but I can't do this anymore."

"Me either," Lexie said bravely. "Peyton, can I come with you to Tree Hill?"

"Excuse me," Christine yelled.

"Mom you said it yourself you never wanted me so I don't want to be where I have never been wanted. Can I come with you Peyton?"

"Of course you can," Peyton said. She looked at Lucas, "We should find Julie."

"Yeah," he looked at Christine. "You better hope that my daughter is okay."

They walked upstairs. The house was huge, and they looked in every single room.

"Luke, where could she be?" She said with worry in her voice.

He touched her shoulder, "We'll find her Peyton. She couldn't have gotten that far."

"I should have made sure that you were apart of her life. None of this would be happening right now."

"Peyton none of this is your fault."

She shook her head and tears filled her eyes, "It is my fault." She paused for a minute.

"Peyton this isn't your fault," he tried to comfort her.

"How long after you left me in that hotel room did you wait until you moved on?" she finally spoke. It was something that she had wanted to know for so long.

"What are you talking about?" He was confused. He had never moved on.

"I called you," she admitted. "I called you after Julie was born. Julian had just proposed, and for some reason I couldn't say yes to him. I knew that I still loved you, and I couldn't do that to Julian." Peyton finally told him the truth. He was surprised because he never got a call. "I called, and a woman answered. She told me that you went out for coffee, and you would be back later. She said that you must have grabbed her phone by mistake. I told her not to tell you that I called. I realized that you moved on without me Lucas, and I decided that it was time for me to believe that Julie was Julian's." She was now crying. "I didn't want to ruin what you had with your new girlfriend. I should have told you because evidently it didn't work out between the two of you."

Lucas was shocked, "Peyton she was my editor. I never ever had any romantic feelings for her nor did she for me. She edited a book that was about you and our love. It has always been you, and to answer your question I never moved on. And I never will." Peyton went to speak, but he kept talking. "I know that you are still in love with Julian, and I'm okay with that, but I'm gonna wait for you forever because it's what I should have done that night I left you. I should have waited, and I will always regret that decision."

He loved her and always would. Peyton went to speak but they heard a noise coming from the closet. They both looked at each other.

Peyton opened the door and saw her little girl sitting in between the shoes. "Julie."

Lucas bent down and sat beside her, "Mind if I sit here kiddo?"

"No," she said softly. "You're supposed to be my Uncle Lucas," she said sadly.

Lucas wasn't sure what to say. He looked up to the sky and asked Keith to guide him to the right words, "I know pretty girl. Can I tell you something?"

"Okay."

"You know sometimes people are lucky enough to have a whole lot of people that love them, and you my friend are very lucky because you have so many people that love you."

"Daddy loved me," she told them. "But mommy said he wasn't my daddy."

Peyton went to speak, but Lucas wanted to handle the situation, "He was your daddy. He loved you and took care of you just like a daddy does. You were his little princess."

"But what are you?" she asked innocently.

Peyton and Lucas knew that she had to be confused, "I'm also your daddy. When you were a baby I wasn't able to be apart of your life because some things happened, and your mommy thought that you would be really lucky if Julian was your daddy. He was there for you when I couldn't be. I don't want you to be mad at me or mommy, but I know that you probably have a lot of questions."

She looked at both of them with her beautiful blue eyes, "And now you're my daddy because my other daddy is in heaven?"

He nodded his head, "Yeah and if you want you can still call me Uncle Lucas because I like that job too."

"What about Brody? Are you his daddy too?"

Lucas looked at Peyton. He didn't know how to answer that question. "He's just gonna be Brody's Uncle Lucas for now, if that's okay with you?"

"Yeah I don't want to share you as my daddy." Julie said. "I had to share my other daddy."

"I love you Julie," he told her.

She didn't say anything. "Mommy, can we go home now? Grandma Christine has yucky food," the little girl made a face.

"You bet kiddo," she went to pick up her little girl.

"Mommy I can walk," she walked out of the room.

Lucas followed behind, and Peyton stopped him, "Thank you, you did good with her."

"Thank you Peyton for giving me a chance at this. We'll have to explain it better later, but I don't want her to ever think that Julian wasn't her father because he was a father in all the ways that really count."

Lucas walked out of the room. Peyton stood for a moment taking it all in. She had always thought that Lucas moved on without her, but she was wrong and now she would have to live with that for the rest of her life.

An: First of all thank you so much for all the reviews. You guys are amazing, and really motivate me. Second I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Thanks for being so patient with me. I'm hoping to get another update up before the end of the week. Third I wasn't too happy with this chapter. I had a hard time with the Lucas and Julie thing. I wasn't sure how I wanted them to explain it, but I hope that I did okay with that. Oh and the fourth and last thing I think the next chapter will be the time jump.

Thanks again for all the support through this story. I think it is close to being finished, and I'm really excited about that.

Please let me know what you thought and if you have any suggestions. I always try to give you guys what you want so let me know.