A/N: Okay, my update is sooo very late. To be honest, my ideas for this story flew out the window as soon as I started writing this chapter. I'm so embarrassed by this (the lack of direction, not this chapter). I think I finally have some idea of where I'm going to go with this, so hopefully the updates will be coming much quicker. Not everyday, but definitely much quicker than however long this one took to go up. Anyway, so very sorry about that, but I do think this version doesn't suck. And trust me, all other version of this, DID suck. I love reviews and want to thank everyone who reviewed it. Anyway, I've kept you waiting long enough for this so here we go, Chapter Four:
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Peyton made her way out of the hospital. She turned on her phone to find that she had only one voicemail. She held her breath and crossed her fingers that it was just Brooke being Brooke and nothing more.

"Hey, P. Sawyer, I'm not planning on going to the party 'til late because as you know, only the absolutely desperate arrive early, so you can totally dump Broody at the hospital and come live it up with me. I hear that there's going to be some boys from out of town, so I was thinking of a double hook-up. Maybe with twins, since we obviously have the same type…"

Peyton rolled her eyes and bit her lip to keep from smiling at her best friend. So much for letting it go, Brooke, she thought.

"Anyway, call me when you get this because I have the most amazing plan ever to make the rest of our junior year rock, because God knows it needs to. Hoes over Bros. Oh and it's Brooke by the way. Not that I doubt you didn't know that but I don't know if we're back to that leaving messages and just assuming that we don't need to-"

The message ended there suddenly and the blonde had to stifle a chuckle when she realized that the message had just been too "Brooke" for her answering service to handle. Peyton quickly called her best friend back.

"Hey P. Get my message? Or half of one. I can't believe your answering machine cut me off," Brooke rambled. The truth was that the brunette was thrilled that at the very least her best friend wasn't completely blowing her off for the blond boy.

"I did, but that's not why I'm calling."

"Oh? You've got your favor voice going on," Brooke noticed, proving to Peyton once again that she hadn't been her best friend for years for no reason. "Okay, what is it? You want me to give you my permission to go after Broody, don't you?"

"What? No. This has nothing to do with Lucas. Well, actually it does but not in the way you think," the blond said. Her face was burning at the idea of her and "Broody" getting together. Peyton quickly banished all those thoughts from her mind, knowing that it would only lead to trouble. "I have to talk to you about something."

"Okay…"

"Hold on, I'm enjoying the feeling of having some gossip that not even Brooke Davis is privy to, yet." Peyton smiled, knowing her friend all too well. She knew that this was going to be an easy way to get Brooke up for the idea.

"Gossip? Is it good?"

"Very good," Peyton promised.

"Spill, Best Friend, or I'm revoking your title."

Peyton laughed, thoroughly enjoying the conversation. "Okay, Haley and Nathan got married a couple of days ago."

"OH MY GOD!" Brooke squealed painfully loud. "Nathan knocked up Tutor-Girl? Scott sperm strikes again, huh?"

"Actually, she's not pregnant," Peyton told her friend. "At least I'm pretty sure they're not. They just wanted to be married."

"That's just an excuse," Brooke informed the obviously naïve Peyton. "And the baby is going to be born 'premature' in a few months."

Peyton wasn't going to argue with her, not when she was about to ask her for a favor. "Anyway, thing is that Lucas wants to throw them a wedding reception and-"

"Since I'm the best at throwing parties, I should be involved, right?"

"Yep."

"Let me guess, the little coward begged you to ask me for him," Brooke growled, again showing that she might not be as over the whole thing as she said she was.

"He did, but cut him some slack, B. Davis. His father's in the hospital and he just found out that Dan wants to see him."

"Really? That's huge." Brooke hadn't meant to show concern for her ex-boyfriend. She was still mad at him and he didn't deserve such consideration from her. But this was her best friend and she knew that she could trust Peyton not to tell him. "How's he holding up?"

"Pretty well, under the circumstances, I guess," Peyton replied. "I don't really know. Karen's here so I don't want to intrude on them."

"You could never intrude," Brooke pointed out. The brunette took a deep breath before continuing, "Listen, I hope you can understand why I can't be there right now. But I don't mind that my best friend is there comforting him."

"Brooke-"

"Peyton," Brooke cut her off because she still had more to say and she needed to get it out before she lost her nerve. "I told you, I'm over him. But you're not, I can tell. That means something. So go to our boy and help him through this. I love you, P. Sawyer."

"I love you, B. Davis."

"More than Lucas?"

"Much much more," Peyton said, smiling, hoping that her friend believed it. "After all, you didn't sleep with that skanktacular Nikki."

"True. Now go do your thing," Brooke told her. "I'll get to work on making it the best wedding reception ever."

----

Lucas kept looking between the elevators and the door to Dan's hospital room. He'd stare at the direction that Peyton left in, hoping the curly blonde would soon make a reappearance and then he'd move his attention to the direction that of the hospital door that he'd wished that would stay closed just a little longer and then back again.

"Jesus, if you keep doing that, Lucas, you're going to give me a neck ache," Karen said, giving him a sympathetic look.

Lucas looked at his mother and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

She rested her hand on his arm. "It's going to be all right, I promise. Whatever you want to do, I'll support you."

"I know that, Ma," Lucas said. "But what if I don't know what I want to do?"

"That's okay, too."

Lucas sighed and some movement in his peripheral vision caught his eye. It wasn't the movement he was hoping for though. He turned in that direction to see his brother and his best friend leaving the hospital room. Lucas and Haley had been best friends for so long that he prided himself on being able to tell what she was thinking just by the look on her face. Maybe his skill had diminished because he couldn't even read her expression.

The younger brother and his new wife stood in front of Karen and Lucas. Karen's mother intuition kicked in and she gave Nathan a much needed a hug. Lucas followed suit and hugged the newest member of the Scott clan and felt Haley relax in his embrace.

"You okay?" He had asked the question so softly that she had barely heard him.

Haley responded by nodding and she broke away from him as Karen let go of Nathan. Nathan looked as if Karen's hug had provided much-needed comfort.

"So, how is he?" Lucas asked his brother.

"Acting like a completely different person," Nathan replied. "Seriously, he's like Anti-Dan or something right now. If this was some soap opera, I'd swear it was his 'evil' twin or something. Which of course would be the 'good' twin because-"

"It's very unnerving," Haley chimed in, interrupting her husband's nervous rambling. Nathan shot her a grateful look and she smile back at him. "He was actually incredibly supportive of our marriage, believe it or not."

"Seriously?" Lucas asked, almost convinced that his best friend was pulling his leg.

"Yeah," Nathan assured him as Peyton rejoined the group.

"Hey," Peyton said., eyeing the serious faces around her. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing much. Apparently, Dan didn't disapprove of Haley and Nathan's marriage," Lucas informed the newcomer.

Peyton raised an eyebrow but forced herself to keep from saying all the sarcastic comments that were threatening to roll off her tongue. She watched as a nurse made her way into Dan's room as she searched for an appropriate response. "Wow."

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too," Nathan told Peyton. "The entire time I was with him, I was convinced that it was only going to be a matter of time before he did something to make me hate him again. But he didn't."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Karen asked him.

"It is," Nathan agreed. "It's just strange to see him like that, is all."

"Believe it or not," Karen began. "Your father used to be a very different man."

"When he was dating you?" Nathan asked, remembering the private conversation he had had with his father.

Karen looked surprised at his query. "Yes."

Nathan looked back at his father's door and then back at Karen. "You know, I think he would really like it if you went and visited him."

Lucas was about to go off on his brother for even suggesting that his mother should be in the same room as the man that abandoned her when Karen gave Nathan a small smile and nodded. "Don't worry, I was planning on seeing him."

"What?" The blond boy turned on his mother. That was just about the last thing he had expected to hear his mother say.

Karen didn't even turn to look at Lucas. She was the adult and certainly didn't need to explain herself to her son. "You heard me."

Her "mother tone" made it perfectly clear to all in attendance that the matter was not up for further discussion and that it would be prudent for all of them to just let the subject drop and move on to a different topic.

Just then the nurse that had disappeared into Dan's room a short time ago, reappeared and made her way over to the small group. The nurse eyed them carefully, especially the two boys, before asking, "Nathan Scott?"

Nathan took a deep breath. "That's me. What's wrong? Is my dad okay?"

The nurse gave him a smile as reassuring as she could. "Your father is as fine as a man in his condition can be. However, he did ask me to check to make sure that you and your new wife had left the hospital as he had instructed."

Haley's cheeks burned and so did Nathan's as he fought hard to keep from smiling right then. "Um, we were just about to do that. We were just checking in with our family, but we're on our way out now," Nathan told the nurse.

"Okay, then." The nurse nodded and she made her way to the nurse's station where she had a good view of the newlyweds and the elevators to the exit of the hospital.

"What was that about?" Peyton asked.

"Dan said that the hospital was no place for newlyweds and that he didn't want us back here for two days," Haley related. "I didn't think he had been serious. Definitely not serious enough for him to have nurses come and check up on it for him."

Karen smiled. "Well, I have to say, I completely agree with him," she said. "You two should go and spend some time alone. Dan's going to be fine, but if anything does happen, I promise someone will call."

Both Nathan and Haley nodded, before the new husband took his wife's hand and squeezed it. "You ready to go, Hales?"

Haley nodded at him. "Yeah, I'm ready."

The pair said their goodbyes (and thank yous) and headed off to the elevators, leaving Karen alone with the two blondes. When she was sure that Nathan and Haley were gone, Karen turned to Peyton and asked, "Did you manage to get in touch with Brooke?"

"Oh yeah, she's totally excited for the idea," Peyton told her. "When I hung up with her, she had already started making preparations."

"She agreed?" Lucas asked, shocked. He had been expecting that once Brooke found out that he was involved that she would pass on it. Could it be that she wasn't as angry with him as he thought? "Did you tell her that it was my idea?"

"I told her that you were the one that wanted to throw the wedding reception," she replied honestly. "So she definitely knew when she agreed to help."

Lucas smiled. "That's great!"

He was happy because maybe he'd be able to clear the air with Brooke. He needed things to be okay between the two of them before he could go after Peyton.

Peyton, on the other hand, completely misunderstood the reason behind his reaction. Seeing Lucas's enthusiasm at hearing the Brooke was going to help broke Peyton's heart a little. She was convinced that the reason he was so excited about the prospect of working with the bubbly brunette was because Lucas would be able to try and get back with Brooke.

Peyton swallowed hard. Brooke hadn't been wrong when she had accused Peyton of still having feelings for Lucas. But obviously it didn't matter. He didn't return those feelings. Why would he ever want Peyton Sawyer when there was Brooke Davis around? Suddenly the hospital felt like it had shrunk. She felt like she was suffocating.

She needed to get out of there. Peyton forced a small smile on her face and looked between Karen and Lucas. "Well, I should probably get going. I don't think it's fair to leave Brooke with all responsibility of planning the reception."

Lucas's heart fell at the thought that he wasn't going to have her with him. He didn't want Peyton to leave and he could tell that somehow all the progress they had made in the last hour had been erased. "Peyt, please don't go yet."

Peyton looked at him, definitely surprised.

Karen, being far smarter than anyone ever gave her credit for, stepped in. "Yes, please stay, Peyton. I'm planning to go visit with Dan for a little bit and I would feel so much better if someone was here with Lucas."

Lucas groaned. He knew what his mother was doing and it bothered him a little that she was manipulating the situation like that. But he also knew that beggars can't be choosers. "Yeah, please stay with me."

Peyton nodded, the suffocation having had eased the second that he had used her nickname. "Yeah, I'll hang around for a bit."

"Thank you," Karen said to the skinny blond girl beside her. Then she hugged the girl tightly to her and whispered in her ear, "You're a good woman, Peyton. Probably a better woman than my son deserves right now."

When Karen pulled away to embrace her son, she left Peyton appropriately shocked. The younger woman couldn't even begin to understand what the hell the other woman had meant by her statement. It was a compliment, sure, but what else? She wished she could ask Brooke, but Peyton knew that it was much too soon to come to her best friend for advice on this relationship. Friendship, not relationship, Peyton reminded herself. Lucas and her were just friends.

Lucas and Karen broke away from each other and the two blondes sat down watching the older woman make her way into Dan's room.

"I can't believe she's going in there," he said, not being able to keep the anger out of his voice. "After everything he did to her. He doesn't deserve that."

"I understand what you're feeling, Luke, I do," Peyton began. "But maybe there's a little more to the story than you know."

"What is that supposed to mean? I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about!" Lucas snapped at her. And instantly he regretted it. He paled immediately and turned his blue eyes to look into her angry green orbs. "I am so sorry, Peyton. I totally didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm so sorry."

Peyton took a deep breath. "Listen, I know you're under a lot of stress and that's the only reason why I'm not standing up right now and heading out. But you watch your tone with me, Lucas Scott. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," he told her. He gave her a weak smile. "Thank you. For everything, I mean. You're the reason I'm even here in the hospital. You make me try to be a better person, Peyton, and I've never thanked you for that."

"Don't thank me," she replied, coldly. "Because as far as I'm concerned, I haven't done a very good job at making you a better person."

Lucas recoiled slightly at her angry words. She was right, his actions as of late were not something he was proud of. "You have a point, but I promise you that I'm trying to be a better man. One who deserves to be with-"

"Can we please not talk about this right now?" Peyton asked, interrupting Lucas. The last thing she needed to hear right now was that Peyton was pushing him to be a man worthy of being with her best friend.

Lucas nodded, crestfallen. Was the idea of the two of them getting together that distasteful for her that she didn't even want to hear it? He sighed. As much as he wanted to broach the subject, with the way she was acting, it looked as if that might be the worse thing he could do at that moment. So, instead he pursued a less controversial topic. Well, less controversial for her, at least. Dan Scott certainly wasn't an easy topic for him.

"So do you think I should do it?"

Peyton didn't even have to ask what he was talking about. Her face softened and she turned to look at him. "It doesn't matter what I think," she told him.

"Actually, it does," he corrected her. "Peyton, you're so insightful and I could really use some of that right now."

Peyton sighed, trying to put her thoughts into words. "Thing is that I don't know, Luke. Dan's an ass. He's proven that fact over and over again. But now, there's evidence that he's trying to make amends and change for the better. I think that if he's at least making an attempt to be a better person then you should reward that."

Lucas nodded. "I get what you're saying, but what if he's just faking it?"

"I don't know," Peyton replied. "But if anyone can suss out whether or not he's faking, it's your mom. Maybe you should wait until she comes out before deciding?"

"No, I don't have to," Lucas said. "If my mom can go in there, then I can, too. After all, in spite of everything, he's still my father, right?"

"That's true," Peyton agreed. "So you're going to do it, then?"

"Yeah," he started. "But I'm going to have to ask you a huge favor, though."

"Okay…"

"Will you come with me?" Lucas asked her, hopefully. Before she could begin to protest, he continued quickly. "Please, Peyton? I can't go in there alone and besides you've spent more time with him than I ever have. Please?"

"My God, Luke, you weren't kidding when you said huge favor." Peyton shot a quick look at Dan's door and rolled her eyes. She obviously loved him if she was even considering visiting Dan Scott with him. "Fine. I'll go in with you."

He stood up and took her hand. He pulled her from her seat into his arms as he hugged her tight to him. "Thank you, Peyt."

She relaxed against his chest, savoring the feel of having him so close to her. His delicious scent filled her nostrils and for a moment, Peyton forgot where she was. She lifted her face to his, her green eyes meeting his blue ones. His face was angled towards her and their lips were but inches from each other. Peyton closed her eyes and Lucas moved his face closer to hers. Just as their lips were about to touch, the sound of Karen's laughter wafted towards them. The two of them pulled away in embarrassment, both believing that the other didn't feel the same way.

Lucas turned to see his mom standing in the doorway of Dan's hospital room. Her smile was wide and genuine, her face was flushed and her eyes were locked on something… or most likely someone inside the room. Karen laughed loudly again at something the man had said before turning to look at her son and the girl he's been infatuated with for years. The color in her face intensified and she made her way towards them.

Lucas crossed his arms in front of his chest and was about to demand angrily what the hell that was all about when Peyton placed a soft hand on his arm. He looked at her and she shook her head. He nodded, realizing that she was right. He dropped his arms to his side and forced a small smile on his face when his mother moved closer.

"What was so funny?" Lucas asked, forcing himself to keep his tone light.

"It was nothing," the dark-haired woman replied. "We were just reminiscing about stuff in high school, is all."

Lucas was about to remind her that Dan had knocked her up and abandoned her in high school, but Peyton's hand gave him a soft squeeze. He smiled in spite of himself. Peyton knew him so well. He took a deep breath, trying to relax.

"How is he?" Peyton asked, giving Lucas more time to relax.

"He's surprisingly well for having almost died," Karen answered, sneaking a glance back in the direction of the man in question.

"I'm going to go see him," Lucas announced.

Karen smiled. "Good, that's good. He really wants to see you. And I think it might do you some good to see him… well, see how he used to be."

Lucas just nodded. He reached out for Peyton's hand. "You ready?" Lucas asked Peyton.

"I should be the one asking you that," she informed him, taking his hand. At Karen's confused look, Peyton explained, "Lucas asked me to go with him to visit Dan."

"Oh," Karen said, slightly disappointed that Lucas was giving Dan a chance to have a one-on-one with his son. "Well, you guys should go in, visiting hours are going to be over soon."

Lucas didn't say anything else, instead he began walking in the direction of the hospital room, Peyton hurrying behind him.

Karen sighed. At least Peyton's presence would calm her son enough to keep him from going off on Dan. She just hoped it was enough for Lucas to see that Dan wasn't all bad. After all, he had been a good guy in high school, for most of it, anyway. Color rose to her cheeks remembering how he used to be. She chided herself for that. Dan may have changed back to the guy she fell in love with, but that didn't mean she was going to fall back in love with him again.

Right?