Laughter filled the small café as the intimate group had gathered to celebrate. When Lucas snaked his arm around Peyton, she entangled her fingers with his and gave him a sweet smile. They were ever the picture of the happy couple, blonde and beautiful seemingly without a care in the world. From across the room Brooke sat, watching them uncomfortably. To the world and especially to their inner circle, Peyton Sawyer was some super strong, unaffected miracle of human nature. But only the brunette could look past her best friend's happy façade. Only she knew the real truth.

"Here we are," Karen grinned, walking slowly and carefully as she rejoined the others, birthday cake in tow. "One yellow lemon cake with buttercream icing and double chocolate cream filling coming up for the birthday boy. Now the only question is, how many candles should I light?"

Everyone erupted with laughter as Larry just grinned at her.

"You better play it safe and stick to one, Karen. You use the real number and it just might burn the place down."

It was a joyous gathering. It was Larry Sawyer's 43rd birthday. His daughter had insisted they throw him a party and Lucas had suggested his mother's café for the perfect location. Closing one hour early on a quiet and warm weeknight, the gang had come together once again, this time for a happy occasion. Lucas, Peyton, Brooke, Nathan, Haley, Karen, Dan and of course a few of the guys from Sawyer Dredging. The mood for the evening had been lighthearted and fun. After a delicious dinner, it was time for one of Karen's infamous homemade desserts as Haley led the group in a rendition of Happy Birthday.

"Blow out your candle and make a wish, Dad," Peyton prodded.

Father and daughter looked at one another. They had spent so many happy birthdays together. With tears of fondness in his eyes, Larry could almost see the beautiful little blonde girl, already covered in chocolate frosting, sitting on Anna's lap just waiting to open her presents. And Peyton could remember the quiet, private dinners at home she had been cooking for her father since the death of her first mother. Over the years, her attempts at cake baking had vastly improved but the best memories were just sitting so close to her dad, watching his face light up as he opened the present from her, no matter if it was an expensive watch from the store or a drawing she had scribbled on a blank piece of paper. It had been those two against the world then and Peyton had never felt so safe. She grinned as with one big puff of breath, the candle's light turned in a lingering trail of smoke.

"What did you wish for, Larry?" Lucas asked.

"He can't tell you," Haley said. "You guys know the superstition. If he reveals the wish, then it won't come true."

"It's okay, Haley," Larry looked up. "My wish already came true. All I wanted was to be able to celebrate this birthday with my little girl safe and happy by my side. And here she is. I couldn't dare ask for anything more."

Peyton grinned.

"Happy Birthday, Dad," she hugged him as she gave him his gift. "I love you."

It was large and carefully wrapped, obviously a painting of some sort.

"Peyt, you know you didn't have to do this. Having you here is present enough, honey."

"Just open it, Dad. I wanted to do something extra special for you."

And extra special it was. Beneath the paper wrapping, was an exquisite hand oil painted portrait of Larry out to sea standing command on his dredging boat.

"Oh my God…when, when did you have time to do this?"

Peyton shrugged.

"Here and there. Do you like it?"

"I love it, baby. And I love you, too. Thank you. It's so beautiful."

He gave Peyton another hug and opened a few more presents as everyone continued to chat and Karen went about cutting the cake. Lucas politely excused himself from the main table to use the restroom. On the way in, he noticed Brooke off to herself with a worried look upon her face. He decided he would talk to her if she was still there when he came out and sure enough she was. Leaned against the counter, playing with her hands, her normally pretty face seemed so troubled.

"All partied out?" Lucas joked as he took a place next to her.

"Huh?" she asked, distracted. "No, um, I'm fine."

"You sure? Because you don't look fine."

"It's nothing."

Lucas sighed.

"You know, I could always see right through you. We're friends now, Brooke. I'm still here for you. If something is on your mind, you can talk to me."

Something was on her mind and Brooke had been debating whether to say anything for days. Glancing over, she saw Peyton oblivious to her and Lucas' absence as she was smiling, talking, eating cake and participating in the festive activities.

"Can we go somewhere private?" she asked after a few seconds.

Sensing the serious nature, Lucas nodded, ushering her to the back in Karen's private business office.

"What's going on, Brooke?"

She took a deep breath.

"It's about Peyton."

"What about her?"

"Have you noticed how she's acting out there?"

Lucas grinned.

"Yeah. It's great. I mean, I can't believe it myself but it's like we got the old Peyton back. She likes to do stuff and she makes jokes. She's slowly getting back in the swing of things."

"And you buy all that?"

He looked away.

"I'm not stupid, Brooke. I know Peyton. I know her just like you do. I also know she just went through a very traumatic experience that capped off an already emotional and life changing year. It's hard for her and she's doing the best she can. I'm sure she's doing her best to make us all think she's handling it better than she is. I wish she would see a counselor or someone but I know I can't force her. So all I can do is watch her and be there for her and try to protect her."

Brooke nodded.

"Okay."

"You still look upset. What's wrong?"

"I, I don't know…"

"Is it something about Peyton?" he wrinkled his eyebrow. "Do you know something?"

Guilty as charged.

"Maybe but I don't know if it's a big deal."

"Does it feel like one?"

"Yes," she whispered honestly.

"Talk to me."

She exhaled.

"I don't know if I should. I mean, I promised Peyton. I gave her my word. Our friendship is finally back on and things are so great between us again after it being so bad and weird for a long time. I don't want to risk that."

"You scaring me, Brooke. Please."

Wrestling with her decision one last time, Brooke closed her eyes.

"Peyton is not okay."

"What do you mean not okay?"

"She's acting all happy and normal now and yeah it may seem that way but she is not over this Psycho Derek situation, far from it."

"Of course. That's gonna take time."

"That's not what I mean, Luke. I spent the night with Peyton the other night and we had like the best day ever. Back at her house that night, we slept in her room and she starts talking about being okay and being normal again and taking her life back. She even still plans on going to college away at UNC."

"So I heard. That still kind of worries me."

"And it should. Peyton is not ready. No way can she handle it. She had this, I guess it was a nightmare, when I was at her house. But it was more than just some random bad dream. It was so real. She was terrified. Peyton was crying and shaking and sweating and hyperventilating. Afterwards, she couldn't get back to sleep. I stayed up with her and she made me promise not to say anything to you or Larry but Lucas this is pretty bad. We talked about it a little bit and she has these terrible lifelike dreams where Psycho Derek comes to her at night. And she can't deal with it. She's afraid, she doesn't sleep...take her dad's birthday present. I mean, Peyt is a good artist and all, but you saw how detailed that painting was. How long would it take her to get that done? She's been working on it because she doesn't sleep at night. She's not sleeping because she's scared. And she's walking around pretending trying to convince everyone else, including herself, that everything is okay when it really is anything but. I'm afraid for her. I'm afraid one day she's just gonna crack up."

Lucas sat silently trying to take it all in. He'd had his own fears and suspicions but obviously, it was worse than he thought.

"I'm afraid of that too," he agreed in a soft voice. "I, Brooke, I just don't know what to do."

"She needs help, real professional help."

"I know."

"Maybe forcing her won't be so bad if in the end it's what is really gonna help her."

He shook his head.

"That's no good. Believe me, I've thought about it but you know Peyton. If she's forced, she'll just shut down. She won't participate and then she'll no longer trust us, the ones that made her go. And if it's bad enough and they commit her…God, I don't even want to think about that. That would definitely be way too traumatic and that would probably be the thing that would send her over the edge."

Brooke hated it but he was right. Still there had to be another answer.

"So what do we do? This isn't just gonna go away."

"No, it won't. And neither can we. All we can do is be there. I know it might not seem like enough now, but what can we really do? I'm still working on it, getting her to see someone but she's stubborn as hell so it's not easy. So to answer your question, in the meantime, we tackle one problem at a time. I'll start hanging out at her house later and later, staying with her until she falls asleep. I'll talk to Larry about it, too. I'm also looking around at different programs and stuff. I mean, maybe it's that whole stigma of being labeled and of lying on some quack's couch. Maybe it's actually facing her true fears but whatever it is, we have to fix it and fix it fast. I know that. I'm hoping to get her some programs in the local community like peer counseling or something like that."

"I know you're doing your best, Luke."

He looked away sadly.

"It just doesn't feel like enough sometimes."

"She's gonna be okay. We love Peyton and we're going to take care of her, everybody."

"I don't want to lose her, I don't want to hurt her, I don't want to make things worse for her. I just wish she would let me all the way in."

"Me too," Brooke thought out loud. "One day, Lucas."

"It kills me that she's so scared and not sleeping and I can't do a damned thing about it."

The concern was so real written all over his handsome, worried face.

"You're a good person, Lucas Scott. And a really great boyfriend. You really love her, don't you?"

"With all my heart."

Brooke nodded. At least they both had that in common, she thought as she reached out and gave him a hug.

"Come on. We have to get back."

"Yeah…" he wiped at his eyes.

"Lucas, do me a favor."

"Anything."

"Don't tell her what I told you. I…"

"I get it. I won't say a word, Brooke but thank you for telling me. You definitely did the right thing," he said as they rejoined the group.

"Hey," Peyton looked up with a grin. "I missed you. Thought you had skipped out on the cake."

Lucas leaned down and kissed her.

"With my mom's classic double filling? Not a chance," he forced a returned smile.

"Brooke?" Peyton handed her a saucer.

"Thanks."

"You okay? You look kind of down."

Brooke looked over at Lucas and then back at her blonde friend, fighting back tears as she gave her a hug.

"I'm fine, P. Sawyer," she hung on for dear life. "Everything is gonna be just fine."