Karen was never pregnant, but Keith still passed away in the shooting.

Peyton slid herself into the café door early the next morning. She hadn't gotten much sleep, her mind was in a million pieces.
"Karen?" Peyton called out. It was early, and there were a few customers, and no one behind the counters.
Karen waltzed out looking the same as she did 5 years ago. "Peyton, oh my Gosh! What are you doing here?" She was smiling ear to ear as she came out the swinging door with open arms.
"Oh, Karen you look so great!" Peyton said as she hugged her.
Karen led Peyton to the front of the counter, and poured her a cup of coffee. "Rough night?" Karen asked.
"You could say that."
"So what brings you back to Tree Hill? When did you get here? Does Luke know you're here?" She asked consecutively.
"Uh, well i'm just visiting. I wanted to see you and Luke, and Brooke and everyone. I actually got in a few days ago, and I have seen Luke."
"Wow. I'm glad you came to visit, we've missed you around here. It's been a really long time." Karen said admirably.
"How's everything with you Karen? The café looks great" Peyton said sipping coffee.
"It's good. Yeah, business is great. Well, everything's pretty normal. I re-opened Tric while you were gone, I don't know if Lucas told you."
"You did? Oh, that's really great Karen." Peyton was shocked.
"Yeah, it's sort of a Saturday only thing for the time being, the café has been busy, and I haven't found anyone who could run Tric as my partner." Karen explained. "Enough about me. How's Jake? Everyone sort of assumed when you ran off you probably went to Jake." Karen said wiping the counters.
"Oh, no. No Jake. I haven't even seen him since before graduation. I looked him up once, though. We never really kept in touch."
"Any other men?" Karen asked, neglecting the Lucas subject.
"Nope. I have been a work-a-holic since I got to New York, not a lot of time for anything else. It's nice to take a break you know."
"I'll bet" Karen responded smiling.
"Can I ask you something?" Peyton asked.
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Were you happy when Luke and I got together during senior year?"
Karen sighed. "Well I knew that he loved you, and that was enough for me."
"I know, but did you think we were good together?" She said, going out on a limb.
"Well, all I can say is you made him really happy, and I like to think that you made him a better person." Karen said, looking away. "But Peyton, we don't have to talk about Lucas if you don't want too."
"No, Karen, I do. We kind of got together last night," Peyton said making air quotes.
Karen laughed, "Are you serious?"
"Yeah. And I have to leave tomorrow morning, and I don't know what to do."
"Well, Peyton. Your life is in New York now, and Lucas knows that. And it's nice that you guys found your way back for a while, and reality is a harsh thing, but these things happen."
"What do you mean?"
"Distance. Whether it's when someone passes away, or moves away or even moves on."
"So, if you don't mind me asking, how do you deal with the distance between you and Keith?" Peyton asked, sadly.
"It's hard. I try to keep myself busy, and every so often i'll visit his gravesite. I talk to him, tell him how things are, and it helps. But then again, you have something I don't, and that's someone that can talk back. I'm not going to be that much help Peyton, but you should do what makes you happy." Karen said smiling.
"Well I don't know anymore. I mean, people change right? What happens if Luke and I are different people. If I take a chance and leave New York behind, what happens if it doesn't work out?" Peyton asked.
"Well I guess that's where the chance comes in, right?" Karen stopped wiping.
Peyton smiled, "Yeah. Anyway, i'm going to go. Thanks Karen for the coffee, and everything else." She said putting down a 5 dollar bill.
"Your welcome Peyton, and if you decide that you want to go back to New York, please come and visit, i'd love to see you again soon." Karen said waving.
"Bye, Karen." Peyton responded.
A few tears swelled from Peyton's eyes as she got into her car. She slammed her hands on her steering wheel. She drove away.

Ding-ding.
"Hello-" Brooke started, before she caught Peyton in her store doorway.
"This is really nice Brooke," she said as she stroked a few clothing items while walking to the front desk where Brooke was standing.
"Well, thanks. We don't have anything here for you." Brooke said, as she turned her back to Peyton.
"Why not?" Peyton looked confused.
"Well stealing isn't aloud, and Lord knows all you do is take things from me. You took my friendship, you took the two chances I gave you, you took my boyfriend…twice, and now your taking Lucas away from me again. Words can't even express the things I feel towards you right now." Brooke didn't look her in the eye once.
"Brooke, stop it. I talked to Lucas-" Peyton was cut off.
"You mean you slept with him?" Brooke said biting her jaw.
"He said you guys were friends and he hasn't felt that way about you for a while now."
"Well that's just great Peyton. Rub it right in my face, God you're such a [Censored you know that. Just get out!" Brooke said slamming a handful of hangers onto the floor.
"Brooke, I can't change what I did. I can't change Lucas' mind about you, and I think your blaming a whole lot of things on me that weren't my fault to begin with." Peyton said, fighting back.
"You just don't get it, do you? You know what Peyton, I wanted one thing from you, one single thing. Just leave Lucas alone. That's all I ever wanted all along. Be friends with him, whatever, but you took him from me twice, and now this is the third time. God. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. There isn't even a third one, because no one is as stupid as I am to let someone fool them that many times. Well i'm done. You can have Lucas! OKAY! You can have him! You can have him," Brooke broke out into tears. She disappeared into the back room.
"Brooke!" Peyton called out. Her mouth was wide open in shock. Peyton walked out after no response.

"Haley!" Nathan yelled into the phone.
"Hey Honey," she responded, "what are you up too?"
"What are you doing Haley?" Nathan said.
"Oh, i'm backstage. Were kind of in between shows right now, hold on, i'm going to go into the bathroom…Hi" She said, her voice louder.
"Hi."
"So how are you?" Haley asked again.
"Lonely, bitter, kind of like last time, don't you think? You said it would be different Hales. You said you'd call me every night, twice a night. You said you'd invite me out to your weekend shows. This feels a hell of a lot like last time." Nathan snapped.
"Nate, don't be like this please. I haven't found a lot of time, we hardly stay overnight so if you came out it would be a waste, you'd have to leave a few hours later anyway. I'm really sorry we haven't been able to talk honey, I am. I really miss you." Haley said sympathetically.
"I miss you, too" Nathan calmed himself down. "When am I going to get to see you…truth!"
Haley sighed into the phone, "I don't think it's that realistic for you to visit me, so probably not until I get back. But that's in a few months. And i'm coming home for your birthday for the weekend in a week or so!" She said happily.
"You are?" He was surprised. "That's great!"
"I was going to surprise you, but you sound like you kind of needed it sooner."
"I'm sorry Haley, I didn't mean to yell at you. I miss my wife."
"I miss you, too. But i'm going to let you go. I love you Nathan" She said.
"Love you, too. See you soon."
They both hung up.

"Hey you," Lucas said sweeping Peyton into the door of his apartment, and pushing her up against the wall. He kissed her lips, and smiled closely to her face. "What's up?"
She breathed deeply. "I saw your Mom…and Brooke."
"Oh" Lucas' face sunk, and he eased off.
Peyton walked to the table next to the kitchen and put her bag down, and took off her jacket. "Things with your mom went great, but with Brooke…not so much."
"Do you want to talk about?" Lucas asked.
"Not really." Peyton smiled. "I mean it's not like it matters, right? We haven't been friends for a long time, and even though I miss her, when I see her like this it gets a lot easier to be away from her. She pretty much just mentioned you…"
"I'm sorry, Peyton. This isn't your fault, it's between me and Brooke." Lucas said walking towards her.
"It's not your fault either, it's just Brooke being Brooke." Peyton shrugged.
Lucas grabbed her hand and stared into her eyes. "So what did my Mom say?" He asked.
"She told me about Tric. And I think it's amazing. And we talked about the café…and about you."
"Oh you did, did you? Good or bad?"
"Look Luke, I don't want to leave, I don't…" Peyton said holding his face in her hand.
He gave a sad look.
"But my life is in New York." She said dragging her hand down his face, his neck, than to her side.
"Peyton i'm not asking you to leave New York behind…"
"Lucas. It's been so amazing to be here with you, it brings back a lot of really happy times in my life. You were always so great, and I could just kick myself for leaving in the first place. Do you remember when I told you I wanted everything with you?"
"Yeah…and?" Lucas was perturbed. He stepped back from her.
"I meant it. I did, and I do. Just thinking about it, I could work with Karen at Tric and be with you. Brooke and I would eventually make up. We could move in together. I'd see a lot more of Nathan, and Haley when she came back. But I guess I just feel like I shouldn't open up old wounds. I left, and that was my choice and my mistake. It's not fair that I could just come back and pick up where I left out. I should have to live with the consequences." Peyton began to cry.
"Hey, hey, hey," Lucas held Peyton closely, "why should I have too? I love you Peyton. Please don't take that away from me again." Luke smiled. "Don't think you're off the hook so easy. We're going to talk about things, and we'll work it out. It's going to be easy, Peyton, it's going to be hard to make things good with you and Brooke again. It's going to be hard to get to back where we were, but I know we could. Because I love you." Lucas said holding her tightly.
"And what about New York?" She said so convinced.
"I'll take you back. We can get your stuff."
"Luke I love my job," she said pulling away.
He pulled her back, "What about THUD? Maybe it's not as credible as your job right now, but Tree Hill has missed your strips i'm sure." Lucas spoke.
Peyton kissed Lucas. "Luke…"
"Peyton just say yes."
"…Yes." She kissed him again.