A/N: This is an AU-ish Leyton story, with minor Naley and Brulian. AU season 5. It's basically going to be about Lucas 'saving' Peyton, and the trials and tribulations of their life together. There is a much more detailed AN at the bottom of the story if you're confused. Enjoy! BTW; flashbacks as well as internal thoughts are in italics.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own one tree hill or any of the characters. If I did, I would be in my room with chad Michael Murray, not posting this story. Nor do I own 'making memories of us', the title of this story.

"Finally", She thought. "Lucas will be home tomorrow." After a fourth day, stressful meeting after meeting with Lindsay and his other book editors, Lucas would be on his way home. His third novel was finished, and ready to go to the printers. Peyton was more than proud of him. As she often found herself doing when he was gone and she was missing him, she found herself at the river court, drawing in her sketch book. She never knew what she was going to draw when she sat down to draw; she just drew what her heart told her to draw. He thought about calling her to tell her that he was able to sneak away a day early, but he decided to just surprise her. When he pulled into their driveway, he was at first surprised that he didn't see his fiancé's old, 1963 comet in the driveway, but then figured to himself that she was at tric.

"I'll just wait here for her" He thought. After unpacking his bags, and ready for the love of his life to get home, he started to become restless. As he settled down to catch the day's sports highlights on ESPN, he heard the doorbell. Quite startled, as most of his family and friends just barged in, often without knocking. As he opened the door, he was very shocked to see 2 policemen on his doorstep.

"Are you Lucas Scott? Fiancé to Peyton sawyer?" The first policeman asked.

"Yes, yes I am." Lucas responded. "Why, what happened? Was there an accident? Is she okay" He responded, becoming more and more alarmed with each question he asked.

"There was an accident." As Lucas heard those four words, he felt his world coming down on him. Like someone had stabbed him in the stomach. He suddenly forgot how to breathe.

It was late in the evening, and Lucas drug Peyton out of the house. "But Lukeeee," she pleaded, "Dirty Dancing comes in twenty three minutes. You know it's my favorite movie. Are you REALLY going to make me miss it?" She asked.

"Oh come on, it'll be worth it. I promise" Lucas smirked. He knew she couldn't resist his smirk. And he was right. After walking down by the boardwalk and making their way on to the beach, it had been way over an hour. Peyton knew she was missing the movie, but she could tell there was something different about Lucas tonight. So she decided not to push it, and just roll with it. Even though she was more than likely missing her favorite part, as Patrick Swayze was telling Jennifer Grey's family that "Nobody puts baby in the corner." She was abruptly shaken out of her thoughts as Lucas splashed her with the rather cold water. Even though it was May, the water was still quite chilly in Tree Hill. "LUCAS SCOTT!" Peyton screeched, "You WILL pay for that!" and smirked at Lucas. They continued to walk hand in hand, occasionally their feet being washed on by the waves. Peyton still couldn't figure out what was going on, Lucas was unusually quiet tonight. Just as she was about to ask Lucas if he was okay, Lucas stopped walking, and turned Peyton to look into her eyes.

"Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, you are the love of my life. Ever since I locked eyes with you when you nearly run me over, I knew I was going to love you forever. I can't promise that life is going to be easy. I can't promise that that she sun will always shine."

"I am dating such an author" Peyton thought, but still oblivious to where this was going.

"But I can promise you this," Lucas continued, "there is nothing that will make me stop loving you. I promise you that. And I promise you that I will be by your side forever. And whatever life throws you, I'll be there to help you, and support you, and love you. Like I've said, I'm going to love you forever Peyton Sawyer and I want to start showing you now" He said, as he dropped to one knee. "Will you marry me?"

She begged her voice to say that one simple word, but her voice just wasn't working. But she knew that Lucas could see her answer in her eyes. As she nodded her head up and down, she was finally able to say those precious words. "Yes, yes baby YES!" She practically screamed. Once Lucas was standing, and placed that precious ring on her fourth finger on her left hand that was once used by Keith to propose to his mother, he kissed her. He knew it was special, for he wasn't just kissing his girlfriend. He was kissing his fiancé. And she wasn't just kissing her romantic, over dramatic, such-an-author boyfriend, he was her fiancé… and she never thought that she could love him any more than she did in that moment.

"She's on her way to the ER right now. I'm sorry Mr. Scott. Apparently, she was in an accident. We're not exactly sure what happened, but a witness called in saying he saw her swerve to miss a child who ran into the road. If you'd like, you can follow us the hospital." Lucas barely heard anything the officers were saying. All he could think about is how she was supposed to be home. In his arms. Telling him how much she missed him, how she hated him being gone, and how she loved him. But now she was in the ER, and he wondered if he'd ever get a chance to see her again. Hold her again. Kiss her lips, smell her hair. He barely noticed as they pulled up to the hospital, and jumped out while the car was still running. As he rushed into the ER, he realized that he needed to call Haley and Nathan. Rushing to the nurses' station, he stuttered to the nurses,

"My-my fiancé, she was br-brought into here earlier, s-s-she was in a car accident... is she okay?"

The nurse looked up, obviously not thrilled that she was disturbed, and said, "Take a seat. The doctor will be out shortly."

As Lucas unwillingly took a seat, he took out his phone to call Haley. After the third ring, Nathan answered." Nate? Hey its Lucas... look. Peyton was in an accident... I'm at tree hill hospital... can you and Haley come? They haven't told me how she is, but I don't think its good man. I can't... I can't lose her, I can't Nate!"

"It's okay man, we're on the way. Do you need us to call Brooke?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks man." Lucas said as he hung up the phone. As he tried to keep his mind from thinking the worst things, he thought back to the last conversation he had with Peyton.

"Hey baby" Peyton purred as she answered the phone

. "Hey pretty girl" Lucas replied. "How was your day?" Lucas questioned.

"It was aiiight. Haley has been pushing mia to 'live a little', and it has paid off! She came in all bubbly and ready to record a new song. It's great Luke! You'd be so proud of her"

"I am," he replied. "I'm also very proud of you. Do you know how hard it is to open up your own label at the ripe ol' age of 22? And for it to be this successful? I'm so proud of you baby. You don't know how much"

"Oh stopppp!" Peyton Sawyer never could take a compliment. But Lucas loved how she blushed even the slightest if you mildly bragged on her. But he knew deep down she loved it, and he loved doing it. "I have something to tell you" Peyton said.

"What, are you okay? Is everything alright?" Lucas inquired.

"Oh no, no, everything's fine. I promise. I'll tell you when you get home, okay?"

"Allllright. You know I'd rather you tell me now though" Lucas said.

"I know I know. But look, I gotta go, okay? Tomorrow. You get home tomorrow. I can't wait. You know I hate it when you gone Luke..."

"I know Peyton. I'll be home tomorrow. I love you."

"I love YOU."

It had bothered him the whole day what it was that she had to tell him, but he didn't worry too much. He knew she'd tell him if it was important; but still. He wanted to know what it was, especially now that she was injured. He was shook from his thoughts as he saw a doctor walking into the waiting room.

"Family of Peyton Sawyer?" the doctor said. "Yes, I am "Lucas said as he stood up.

"Miss Sawyer sustained many injuries in the accident. She had a crushed spleen, which we were had to remove, 2 broken ribs which, many cuts, and took quite a bump to her head. She also had a rather deep laceration in her head. I can only assume that it came from the shards of glass of the windshield. We were forced to shave quite a bit of her hair off to be able to sucher it she's very fortunate though, she suffered no internal brain damage from the cut. If it had been just a half an inch over, she would have severe brain damage. She's still unconscious, and we've given her some medications to keep it that way." The doctor noticed Lucas' quizzical facial expressions and continued, "It's best for her body to heal its self while she is unconscious. We'll keep her severely medicated for a couple days, and then we will slowly reduce the medication, allowing her body to wake up on its own, in its own time. But I will warn you, it could take up to 5 days." The doctor also noticed the fallen face that Lucas was sporting. "You're welcome to go see her. But I warn you, she has many tubes and bandages, and it can be quite shocking to see for the first time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to tend to."

Before he walked away, Lucas stopped the doctor and thanked him full-heartedly. As he returned back to where he was sitting, he saw Nathan and Haley walking in. as soon as Haley saw Lucas, she rushed to his side. Even though Haley was Lucas' best friends, she could count on one hand how many times she had seen him cry. But she could tell he had been crying by the redness and puffiness of his eyes. As she embraced him in her arms, Nathan also knew that his older brother was hurting.

"How is she man?" Nathan asked.

"Not good… well, I mean, she's still alive so that's good... I guess, but she's unconscious." Lucas knew he was rambling, but he just couldn't compose himself enough to form complete sentences. "The doctor just came out and here… and-d, s-she-ee…" Lucas couldn't continue, and broke down. After receiving another hug from Haley, he composed himself, and continued. "Her spleen ruptured or busted or something, I really don't know, so they had to remove it. She also has some broken ribs, and she hit her head really hard on the steering wheel or something. She also has a really bad cut on her head… they had to shave some of her hair off. And she also has cuts on her body from the glass. She's still unconscious, but the doctors gave her medicine to keep her that way. He said it was better for her or something… I really don't know" Lucas finished with a puff.

Haley just looked at her best friend, seeing the hurt in his eyes. She didn't know how to make it better, but she knew she needed to try anyway. "She's a fighter Luke, you know that. She'll get through it. She's stronger than you give her credit for… look at what she's already over come. Two psycho Derek's, losing a mother, and I gotta say, those little 'brawls' with Brooke weren't pretty" She said, trying to lighten the mood a little. She saw a trace of a grin on Lucas' face, and knew she has succeeded a little bit.

"The doctor said I could see her. Like I said, she's still unconscious and has all kinds of tubes and bandages and monitors, but I don't know if I can do it or not…" Lucas said. Deep down, he wasn't sure if he could stand seeing his Peyton like that. He protected her with his life. Nobody even looked at her wrong without Lucas going all 'a-wall' on them. He couldn't stand knowing that he couldn't help her. That he couldn't save her. He just didn't know if he could take that or not.

"Luke, she needs you. I know it'll be hard, but you have to" Haley encouraged. "But what will I do? I mean, we can't exactly finalize wedding plans…"

And then it hit him. The wedding was in 49 days. Less than 2 months. 7 weeks. He knew that it wasn't going to be this grand gala that would be THE event of the year, but he knew it would be special in its own way. With the help of Brooke, Lucas and Peyton had planned a simple ceremony near 'their spot'. It was going to be small, with only their closest family and friends there. But even at that, their guest list was still quite long. By the time you involve Lucas' book editors, and Peyton's artists' that she had on her record label, along with her label partners, it was going to be exactly small. They had planned a reception at TRIC, and Brooke had backed off with the wedding, but she said that her best friend wasn't going to have a quiet, non-chalant reception. With Brooke's help, the reception was going to be quite the party. And even thought Peyton originally wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, she had come to love the idea of having this amazing party to celebrate her and Lucas' love. Lucas was a smart man, and just let Brooke and Peyton run with the reins, and only spoke when Peyton asked him something. But with Brooke having to fly to NY more often with COB, Peyton was asking more and more of Lucas' opinion. And like many grooms-to-be, he acted like he didn't care and that it kinda bothered him, but deep down, he loved it. And Peyton knew it. Even though he really didn't care whether or not the table clothes were Christmas red or crimson red, he couldn't tell the difference between the two. But he loved staying up well into the morning with Peyton, sitting at their kitchen table, going over the smallest details.

After all that planning, she might not get to experience it.

And it broke his heart.

Nathan broke him from his thoughts as he said, "I'm going to go to the cafeteria and get some coffee… I'll bring back enough for all of us. You need anything else Luke?"

"Oh no, no no I'm fine. Thanks bro." Lucas responded, then adding "What time is it anyway? And Jamie? Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Always thinking of others", Haley thought, then said "Deb is at home with him. And it's about 2:30 am now."

"Time sure flies," Lucas thought. "Wasn't it just 30 minutes ago that I sitting at home, watching ESPN? No, I guess that was 9 hours ago…" Lucas reasoned with himself. "Hey hales… your right. I do need to go see her, I am. I'll be back in a little bit, okay? I really can't say how long. But if you and Nathan need to leave, go. You don't know how much I appreciate this." Lucas said as he pulled Haley into another hug.

"No prob. Luke. You take your time. Nathan and I will be out here when you get done. I promise."

As Lucas walked down the hall in the emergency room, through the doors, he started to mentally prepare himself for what his eyes were about to see. As he stood at the door, with his fiancé just on the other side of the door, he took one last breath, closed his eyes, and opened the door.

A/N ; okay, that was the first chapter. What'd ya think? Anyway, in case you're wondering, here is some more info that might clear some things up.

Peyton came back after the internship in LA, and she and Luke went to college together. Luke is the head coach at the ravens, as well as a published author. Peyton runs red bedroom records.

Luke/Lindsay never happened. She is just his editor.

Nathan/Haley are the same. Except Nathan never had his accident, and he now plays for the Charlotte bobcats. Haley is a teacher at tree hill high.

Brooke/Julian. Brooke continues to run Clothes over Bro's from Tree Hill, and she met Julian in New York. They're currently dating.

I think that about covers it. If you have any questions, just let me know. Please review, I have most of this story written, I just gotta know if you want it

xoxo, taylor