AN: You know the drill, hope you like it, leave a review if you so desire.

-If All Else Fails-

Brooke decided to walk over to Peyton's house. Along the way she couldn't help but think over everything she had just been told, and how it might relate to the letter, trying to figure out anything. It was all so confusing.

"So Peyton's gay. Huh, I never would have thought that, well, maybe… Maybe that has something to do with this whole mess, maybe not. In the letter, she said I was her everything, what did that mean? I know she loved me, loves me, but is there more to it than friendly love? If that is the case, am I okay with that? Strangely yes, huh, that's odd. She started doing cocaine again. I was still around for four months but I avoided her. I didn't notice anything different about her. I mean sure she looked kind of sick, but I guess I just that that was stress or guilt or something. Why didn't I notice, I should have been there for her. Why did I react that way to the fight? I didn't even love Lucas. God, why is everything so messed up? What happened to you Peyton?"

As she continued walking, more and more thoughts danced around her head. She examined every relationship she ever had, compared her feelings to each boy, how they made her feel, if the made her feel anything. She thought about Peyton and how they had been so close, how she always felt safe and at peace around her. Just being with her made her feel complete. As these thoughts and more endlessly swirled, realization dawned on her like a ton of bricks, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Oh my God, I think I love Peyton."

Wait, this couldn't be right. But it felt real, sure, she had always loved the other girl, but maybe there was more to it. The jealousy she felt when someone else cut into her time with her friend, the fact that she truthfully preferred hanging out doing nothing with Peyton than getting drunk at some party. She was so hurt when she thought she really loved Lucas. Maybe this was why. Brooke wasn't sure of anything at this point; all she knew was that she needed to find Peyton. As she began to walk again, she noticed that she was already standing in front of the house in question. It was now or never, she desperately hoped Peyton hadn't left yet, but either way, she needed to find out more, what had she left for her, what really tore them apart, why the hell had everything gone to shit in such a confusingly monumental fashion?

The door was unlocked, as usual. Brooke slowly made her way inside of the house. Looking around, things seemed the same, yet so different. How could so much change in a year? The house seemed empty, she was starting to feel like maybe she was too late, she had already left. As she moved towards the stairs, she noticed a slight movement in the living room. Looking over, she saw a heap of blankets on the couch, surrounded by various tissues and what appeared to be cold medicines strewn out on the coffee table. Then she saw it, the small amount of curly blonde hair splayed about peeking out from under the blankets. She wasn't too late, Peyton was still here. Of course she appeared to be passed out, seemingly sick with that virus or whatever.

Despite the fact that she couldn't actually see her, Brooke could tell that she was indeed down for the count. That really must be one hell of a cold. Quickly deciding that she didn't want to wake nor was she ready to face the blonde quite yet, she hastily made her way up the stairs to the room she had once known so well.

Upon entering the room, Brooke almost let out a small gasp, it looked very different. There were curtains covering the windows, allowing very little light into the room, not that it would have mattered much anyway, the room was so dark anyway. The walls were painted a dark red and black, and all the paintings, sketches, any drawings, were virtually non-existent. The room was a mess to say the least, trash spread across the floor, mostly torn paper, cloths not hung up, just a complete chaos zone. The one drawing the brunette happened to notice that was still intact was one she didn't recognize. It showed two girls, one blonde, one brunette, standing on opposite ends of a hall. The blonde was reaching out towards the other, but looked like she couldn't get close enough. It was dark, of course angst filled, and sad. Obviously it was Brooke and Peyton. The drawing made her heart break, they couldn't get to one another, something was constantly keeping them apart. As Brooke continued to survey the room, she noticed a blown up version of Peyton's 'People Always Leave' artwork.

"I guess she was right, everyone left her. People always leave."

Looking around some more, her eyes fell on what she could only assume was what Peyton had intended to leave for her. The name 'Brooke' written across it also gave it away. It was another envelope, another letter.

Dear Brooke –

Welcome home. This is where you belong, and now that I'm gone, I hope you will stay, because I know how much you love it here, and you really should stay.

I imagine the abridged version of events over the past year that Lucas gave you has only left you more confused. Maybe you found some answers, I don't know. After all this time, I still don't know what to say. I used to think I had my life figured out. I thought I knew who I was, what I wanted to be, maybe even vaguely what I wanted to do. I don't know any of that anymore. I have no answers, I feel like I don't know anything anymore. But if there is one thing in this world I do know, it is music.

--And if all else fails you can look up at the sky
Because it's the same one that shines above you and I.
And if all else fails you can close your eyes
And I'll be right beside you.
I'll be the one by your side.

So close your eyes and sleep to dream.
I'm by your side.
No words to speak.
We'll set our course and make it through.
No matter how far I go
No matter how much this hurts
I wanted you to know,
My heart remains with you.—

Good luck to you Brooke, I am so sorry for everything. I really hope you find peace and I'm glad you could come back, even if I can't be here.

- Peyton

Walking back down the stairs, Brooke wasn't quite sure what to make of the letter. If she was understanding things right, Peyton was in love with her. Somehow, she was trying to say that but ended up screwing it up when they had their big fight. And Brooke felt partially responsible because, with hindsight being the bitch it is, she too realized that she was in love with Peyton, and that's why she reacted the way she had. This was just one big convoluted mess gone to hell.

Brooke soon realized the only hope they had of ever getting to the bottom of this was to talk it out, no matter how hard that task may be. A years worth of feelings and pain, past mistakes and decisions would need to be brought up. Part of her felt bad seeing Peyton like this – well at least her room so far, but she got a good enough sense already as to her current state – she felt like she had caused it, or at least been part of the problem.

Not wanting to leave for fear that she may never see Peyton again if she did, Brooke decided to stay and wait it out until they could talk. She sat herself down on a chair near the couch, and waited for the blonde to wake up.

After nearly two hours, an extremely groggy Peyton finally woke up. However, due to the amount of cold medicine she had apparently taken, and the cold itself, she was anything but completely coherent. Slowly standing up, swaying a bit, and looking around, she noticed someone staring at her from the chair beside her. Realization dawned on her who the person was and she immediately thought she was hallucinating.

"Brooke! You're back! Are you here to bitch at me like you did yesterday, because I'm really not in the mood for your ghost-hallucination-whatever-the-hell-you-are-ass to be yelling at me again? You keep showing up, and I'm starting to wonder if I've really lost it, so please just go away, this torture is killing me. It's bad enough to know what I've done, but to have you haunting me is just making it all the more painfully obvious. Ow, my head."

This little speech was delivered with the occasional slur and almost drunk-like attitude of one seemingly off-balance Peyton. She steadied herself and then started to make her way upstairs, only to have the fake-Brooke follow her. The sarcasm continued to spew from her mouth, completely believing that she was imagining things, apparently not for the first time.

"So, non-Brooke, why are you following me? What enlightening conversation shall we have today, perhaps the real reasons why you left, the cause being me, your true feelings, or is this going to be another one of those days where you just yell at me and tell me how worthless and fucked up I am? Personally, I prefer when you don't talk at all and just do that weird staring thing, but hey, I guess I don't really have a choice. But the upside is, I bet I'll pass out again once I make it to my room, so then I don't have to listen to you. Isn't that great?"

Brooke just followed silently as Peyton rambled on. She didn't quite know what to say. First off, Peyton was clearly under the influence of some sort and not in her right mind, most likely due to being sick. Second, what the hell do you say to someone who thinks you're a hallucination and has apparently been 'seeing' you for some time? There were just no words at the moment so she just mutely walked behind the other girl into her room as Peyton did proceed to pass out on her bed as predicted.