A/N: Happy Mother's Day! Sorry for the delay, but I did end up getting sick, and my kids got sick, too. As always, thank you so much for all the reviews. This is mostly LP interaction, because let's face it, there hasn't been enough of that in my story so far. Hopefully the update is enjoyable. Anyway, this is for all the mothers out there (and all those who have mothers).

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On the ride home, Lucas suggested that the two of them hang out at her house. He wasn't quite ready to go home yet, he told Peyton. The blond girl agreed and she started heading towards her house. During the car ride to her house, the two sat, not uttering a word, and just listening to the music. He stayed silent for fear that he would say something that would upset her and she would immediately decide against spending time with him. She, on the other hand, didn't speak because she was too absorbed in her thoughts.

But even so, when they finally pulled up to her home, the quiet began to get a little much. For both of them.

"So..." Lucas began.

"I…" Peyton started at the same time.

The two blondes laughed awkwardly at that.

"What were you going to say?" Peyton asked.

"Nothing, really. What about you?" Lucas threw the question right back at her.

"It wasn't anything important," Peyton admitted. The tension between them was somewhat unbearable. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

This was exactly what Lucas wanted to avoid. "No, it totally was. I know things are a little weird between us right now, but I want to get through this."

Peyton opened the door to her house and let herself in. "Really?"

"You're too important to me for me not to want to sort this out," he told her. "I hate that you and I are stuck in this awkward limbo."

"Me too," Peyton told him. She looked at him from her doorway. "Well, are you coming in or aren't you?"

Lucas grinned. "I was just waiting for an invitation. You know how cranky you get when I intrude on you."

Peyton raised an eyebrow at him. "And when has that ever stop you before?"

"Never," he said. "But I'm not sure I could deal with snarky, violent Peyton right now."

"Then maybe you should stop saying things that make me snarky and violent," Peyton suggested and she closed the door behind him.

"But what doesn't make you snarky and violent?" Lucas asked. "Honestly, Peyt, to accomplish that, I would have to stay quiet."

"There's an idea," she pointed out.

"Just not a very good one," he told her.

Peyton just rolled her eyes, trying to keep the smile that was threatening to appear off her face. She had truly missed this. Their little back-and-forth reminded her how much she enjoyed having Lucas in her life.

Lucas was not fooled by Peyton's attempt to keep looking serious. He felt pretty good at that moment. One little exchange between the two of them and things were already becoming reminiscent of how they used to be.

But the moment was interrupted when Peyton's cell rang. She paled, recognizing the ring tone. Lucas recognized it as well. Of course Brooke would be calling the second he had made any progress with the blond girl.

Peyton flashed him an apologetic smile before answering the phone. "Hey!"

"I didn't get your voice mail," Brooke said, the surprise evident in her voice. "Does this mean that you are no longer in the hospital?"

"Yeah," Peyton told her. "What's up?"

"I called to have a one-sided conversation with your voice mail about how I was going to be heading off to the party now and that you could totally be coming with me if you hadn't felt the need to play chauffer to the snake formally known as Lucas," Brooke told her, pausing slightly to allow her friend to stick up for the boy. When she didn't, Brooke pressed on, "But if you're out that means you can totally come with me! We'll hang out, drink a little, hook up a little and then crash at your house and in the morning we could do more reception stuff."

"As good as that plan sounds, B. Davis, there's only one problem. I'm really not in the mood for a party right now," she regretfully told her friend. "But I would love if we could hang out tomorrow and do stuff for the reception."

"What's going on, P. Sawyer? I know that you aren't party girl usually, but did Lucas do something to upset you?"

"No, it's nothing like that." Peyton looked over at Lucas and sighed. She knew that telling Brooke about him would just be asking for trouble, but she knew that, in the long run, lying to her best friend would be worse. "In fact, he's over at my house right now. We were just going to hang out if you want to join us or something."

Lucas felt his jaw drop. He really hadn't expected to hear Peyton admit that the two of them were together. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. He prayed that it was a good thing because he didn't want any more drama that night.

Brooke had to struggle to bite back her jealousy at the thought that Peyton appeared to be picking that two-timing jerk over her. On the other hand, she was relieved that at least her best friend was being honest with her. "Tell me the truth, if he wasn't over there right now, would you be coming to the party with me?"

"Right now? Not a chance," Peyton answered honestly. "But if you really need me to go with you, I'll go, Brooke."

Brooke had to smile and for a split second she actually contemplated telling Peyton that she really needed her that night. But then she realized that if the blond girl was making an effort to better their friendship, so would she. "No, that's okay. Besides, you'd just be a mood killer if I forced you to come if you didn't want to."

"I still want to hang out tomorrow, though."

"Me, too," Brooke assured her. "After all, we have a lot to do if we are going to pull of the best reception for Naley."

"Naley?" Peyton repeated, obviously confused.

"Naley? Nathan and Haley? You know, like Brangelina?" Brooke rolled her eyes at her tragically unhip best friend.

"Anyways," Peyton said, rolling her eyes at her friend. "Just come over after you wake up from your hook-up, okay? I'll have some aspirin waiting for you."

With that little promise, Brooke immediately knew that there was nothing that was going to tear them apart again. The two girls had suffered through far too much to let anything, even Lucas Scott, come between them. The bubbly brunette felt her throat constrict for a second when she realized that she almost forced the person who had been there for her since they were kids out of her life. Peyton knew her better than anyone and never judged her. Brooke Davis was thankful that she smartened up before it was too late to fix their friendship.

"I love you, P. Sawyer," she told her best friend, trying to keep her voice steady. She hoped that the other girl hadn't noticed the second that her voice trembled.

But she had.

"Are you okay?" Peyton asked, her voice heavy with worry. "Let me just drop Lucas off and I'll come right over."

Brooke had to laugh at the fact that she worried that Peyton wouldn't choose her over Lucas. "No, I'm fine. Really. I was just thinking that I was glad I got you back. That's all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Brooke reassured her. "Now, I have to go to party if I want to get there before all the alcohol is gone."

"Hey, B. Davis?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too. Hoes over Bros."

Brooke grinned. "See you tomorrow, Best Friend."

"Yeah. Bye, Brooke."

"Bye, Peyton."

With that, the two girls hung up and Peyton turned her attention towards Lucas, who had been standing there, listening to one half of the conversation.

"Is Brooke okay?" Lucas asked, the concern evident in his voice. After all, just because he wasn't in love with the brunette, didn't mean he didn't care for her.

Peyton, on the other hand, took his concern to mean that he was in love with her best friend. "Yeah, she's fine. It was nothing, don't worry about it."

Lucas couldn't help but notice that Peyton's tone with him had become a little colder and she definitely seemed a lot more guarded now. He silently cursed Brooke for calling and ruining the whole thing for him.

"Listen, I'll just go home," he told her, convinced that she no longer wanted to spend time with him. "I guess you were right. This was a bad idea."

This time it was her turn to disagree. "No, it wasn't. I'm sorry about all that. Let's just start over, okay?"

As much as it hurt to know that Lucas only wanted to be her friend, Peyton knew it would only hurt worse if she didn't have him in her life at all. Just that small verbal sparring that they taken part in earlier had been enough for Peyton to realize that she definitely needed him around, even if it was as just her friend. It would be difficult for her, she knew, but the alternative wasn't something she even wanted to think about.

"Start over?" Lucas asked Peyton, trying to figure out exactly what she meant by that. "Like the night or the whole thing? Like… Hi, I'm Lucas?"

"Just the night, freak," she told him. "I don't think we have the time to recreate the emotional rollercoaster that is our friendship right now."

"I wouldn't call it an emotional rollercoaster."

"Oh no?" Peyton asked. "What would you call it then?"

"I don't know. A merry-go-round?" Then he cringed remembering the night he had with Nikki on the carousel. "How about a ferris wheel?"

"Actually that fits," Peyton said, as she starting making her way up the stairs and to her room. "Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down. We keep going round and round but still manage to not go anywhere."

"That was poetic. And depressing, but mostly poetic." Lucas told her, following close behind her. But too close so he have a nice view of those gorgeous legs of hers.

"Yeah, I guess I've been hanging around you for too long." Peyton walked into her room and threw herself on the bed.

"Excuse me," he said, gesturing towards her admittedly gloomy sketches. "I think you've been doing the depressed thing from before you even knew me."

"I was actually talking about the poetic part," she told him, with a sneer. "But if you want it like that, then I could point out that you do have the uncanny ability to make me feel like slitting my wrists whenever you're around."

"Hey!"

"What? You started it," she said, refusing to look at him.

"Number one… Are you ten years old with the 'you started it?'" Lucas said. "Number two… I so did not start anything."

"Whatever."

"Don't 'whatever' me."

Peyton looked at him. "Whatever," she said again, this time having to bite her lip to keeping from laughing.

He growled and then jumped onto the bed. Lucas scrambled to get on top of her pining her to bed to keep her from escaping what he had in store for her. She screeched in surprise and then started shrieking when he began tickling her.

"No, please… Stop!" Peyton exclaimed through gasps and shrieks of laughter as Lucas continued to torture her.

"Are you going to behave?" Lucas asked, stopping for only a second, but making sure to keep his weigh on her so she couldn't get away.

"Yes!"

"Good," he said, sitting up and releasing her. "Because if you don't, next time… Next time, there will be spanking."

Peyton's eyes widened and her mouth opened. "You wouldn't dare," she said, not entirely sure that he wouldn't.

"Oh yes I would," he told her. "And if you don't believe me, why don't you test me and misbehave right now?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, a smile still on her face and then with all her might, she pushed him off her bed. She cackled as she saw him land unceremoniously on his upper back, his face just showing his shock.

Before he even attempted to get off the floor, he playfully glared at her. "You better start running now, Blondie. Because when I catch you…"

Peyton didn't stick around long enough to hear what he was going to say. She jumped off the bed and sprinted out of her room. She flew down the stairs and stopped long enough to look behind her and see that Lucas was indeed in pursuit of her.

She shrieked and opened her front door and launched herself out of the house. She was grateful that she hadn't taken her car keys out of her jeans. If she could only make it to the Comet, she could get away. She gave a quick glance back at Lucas (which is the same mistake EVERY horror movie victim makes) and she noticed that he was nearly on top of her. She gave out a little yelp and turned her attention back on her destination.

At least she didn't trip.

Only a few more feet, she thought. Then she'd be safely in her car and away from whatever torture Lucas had in mind. Her hand reached out for the door handle when she felt her herself get pulled back away from the car.

He had caught her. She had lost.

Lucas picked her up and deposited her on his shoulder, all the while she was giggling and protesting. He smirked as he felt her wriggling there, her ass mere inches from his face. He brought up his free hand a gave her a swat on her ass that made her jump.

"Lucas!" Peyton screeched, surprised that he had actually spanked her.

"I warned you," he reminded her before swatting her ass again. He brought her back into the house, closing and locking the door behind him.

"I know, but I really didn't think you were actually going to do it," she admitted, still giggling at the fact that they were acting this way.

"Are you kidding?" Lucas asked as he swatted her ass yet again, eliciting another shriek from the blonde on his shoulder. "There was no way that I was giving up that chance. In fact, I was going to do it, even if you hadn't done anything."

"Why?" Peyton asked before Lucas dumped her off his shoulder onto her bed. "Oof! Hey! Gentle there, jackass."

Lucas sat down next to her and swatted her ass again. "That one was for calling me a jackass. All the others were because I always thought that you needed a good spanking."

Peyton rolled over and glared at him. And not a playful glare, either. "I'm not the one that done things that need punishing lately."

Lucas sighed. Of course it got back around to that. He wondered if she'd ever be able to let it go. That when he got the idea. "Would you feel better if you spanked me?"

Her eyes widened at the suggestion and then narrowed immediately as she asked, "What? Are you being serious right now?"

"Like a heart attack," Lucas said, before visibly cringing. "That phrase is never going to be usable again, is it?"

"Maybe," she said. "In a few years. But back to the matter at hand… Were you serious about me spanking you?"

"Yes," he told her. "But under one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you totally forgive me for all the stupid things I did and that you can't keep bringing them up every time I piss you off."

Peyton thought about it for a second. "That seems fair, I guess. After all, experience shows that you just do some other stupid thing in the near future that I can use instead."

"Well then, I'll just have to let you spank me for that when it happens."

"If you're going to have me spank you for every time you screw up, I think I'm going to have to get myself a paddle," Peyton said, laughing a little at the notion. "Like one those that Ben Affleck had in 'Dazed and Confused.'"

"Now I know what to get you for your birthday, then," he joked back. "But, all joking aside, if this will help us move pass all this crap, I really want you to do it."

"All right," she said. "Lie on your stomach, then."

Lucas grinned at her in a way that made her knees buckle. But she wasn't going to allow his charming smile distract her from her task at hand. He did as she had commanded, sticking his butt in the air and waving it a bit.

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the sight. So, to make sure she didn't completely lose all the anger she had for him, she tried occupying herself by searching for something that would make an adequate substitution for a paddle.

And she found it.

It was a clipboard, with a hard wooden back. One good swing with this and she wouldn't be surprised if he never do anything to piss her off again.

When she turned her attention back to the blond boy on her bed, she noticed that he was still up to his ridiculous antics. She took one look at his swinging ass and then a look at the clipboard and she almost lost her nerve.

"What's going on back there?" Lucas asked. "Are you too scared to go through with it or are you just hypnotized by the majesty that is my ass?"

Peyton grit her teeth and took a handle of the clipboard and swung for the fences. The clipboard made a loud, solid WHACK when it came in contact with the boy's ass. The noise made her jump but the impact made Lucas react far more unrepentantly.

"Shit!" Lucas screamed and rolled away, gingerly touching his injured rump. "What the fuck did you hit me with?"

Peyton sheepishly held up the clipboard, once again fighting to keep a solemn expression. She wasn't quite sure how he'd react if she started laughing right now. But he was sure making it hard for her to stay serious with the way he was acting.

"Jeez," he said, looking at her. "You should have gone out for the softball team or something, Babe Ruth. You have a hell of a swing there."

She felt herself blush and turned away to not give him the satisfaction that he had gotten to her like that. "So, are you going to continue whining or are you going to get back on the bed so we can continue your punishment?"

Lucas went over to her and pulled the clipboard out of her hands. "I think that last one was enough, don't you?"

"I don't know," she told him. "I'm still feeling a bit angry at you."

And it was true that she hadn't completely gotten rid of all her anger. While the spank with the clipboard had surprisingly managed to ease away a lot of the anger she had for him, she still had some residual feeling left. Probably because she was still upset that they could be like this with each other and he still would prefer her best friend over her. But, she had to admit to herself, maybe it wasn't fair for her to punish him for something like that.

"Never mind," she said, sitting on her bed. Suddenly her anger dissolved but was replaced by something no more enjoyable, sadness.

"Hey," Lucas said, as he carefully sat down beside her. "What's going on in that curly-haired head of yours?"

"Nothing. It's nothing, really."

Lucas knew her well enough to know that it was most certainly something. But he also knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere by just pushing her. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.

Peyton sighed softly, allowing herself to be soothed by his closeness. His smell was intoxicating and she felt a little dizzy and lightheaded as she breathed in his scent. His heart raced as she snuggled closer to him. In spite of the innocent intent in him pulling her close, his body reminded him that he was still nothing more than a teenaged boy in close proximity to the girl he had wanted for years. As he busied himself trying to prevent his arousal from becoming apparent, she struggled to keep from looking up at him and kissing him.

"I missed you," she told him. And even though she didn't elaborate on that, he knew she wasn't talking about his short trip to Charleston.

"I kinda missed me, too," he admitted. "But most of all, I've missed this, Peyt. And it sucks to know it was all my fault."

"It's fine now," Peyton told him. "All is forgiven."

He kissed the top of her head, even though he longed for his lips to touch hers. "Thank you. I promise that I won't upset you anymore."

She knew that it was a promise he would not be able to keep, but didn't tell him so. She wouldn't tell him that him loving Brooke would hurt her because she wanted to be with him. No, it was better for everyone involved if she just stayed quiet on the subject and just enjoyed the feeling of the blond boy's arms wrapped around her.

There they sat for an indeterminable amount of time just enjoying the feeling of their bodies admitting to each other what neither of them had the courage to say out loud. Who knows how long the two would have stayed there holding each other if they had not been interrupted by a ringing cell phone… this time, his.

Lucas groaned loudly as he regretfully pulled away from Peyton and fished his phone from his jeans. He shot her the very same apologetic smile that she had gave him earlier when she had answered Brooke's phone call.

"Hello?"

"Luke, hey!" It was Haley. She sounded a little out of breath, like she had been running. But Lucas figured running wasn't exactly the strenuous activity that she had partaken it to cause her to be short of breath. After all she was a newlywed on her honeymoon with his sex-crazed brother… And that when he immediately stopped that particular train of thought.

"What's up?" Lucas asked.

"I was just wondering how you were doing. I mean, did you talk to Dan?"

"I did talk to him and I'm fine, Hales."

"You sure?" Haley asked, full of concern. She was in full-on best friend mode at the moment. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I don't want to talk about it because there's nothing to talk about. The visit went fine and I'm going to be working with Nathan at the dealership."

"Good! I'm glad you agreed. And nothing else happened?"

Lucas sighed. "Nothing else happened. I'm kinda running out of ways to tell you that I'm fine. Listen, you shouldn't be worrying about me right now. You're on your honeymoon, remember? You shouldn't be thinking about your husband's brother."

Haley laughed. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right with everything. I called Karen and got her voicemail, so I figured she was still at the hospital and I was worried about you being all alone and everything."

"Well, stop worrying. I'm not alone," he informed his very nosy best friend. "I'm over at Peyton's right now."

"Oh! Well, it's late and I shouldn't have been bothering you anyway. Bye, Luke!" Haley then hung up without letting the blond boy getting a word in edgewise.

"Bye, I guess," Lucas said as he closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. "That was weird. I mean, weird even for Haley."

"What was?" Peyton asked.

"The second I told her I was with you, she immediately hurried off the phone," he related. "Which is very unlike Haley."

Peyton had to agree that it was a bit strange. "Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe something suddenly came up that she needed to take care of."

Lucas looked over at her and gave her an incredulous look. "What could possibly have come up at this hour at night?"

Peyton smirked. "Nathan, for one," she pointed out.

He was horrified. He couldn't believe that she was implying what she was. "Peyton!"

"What?" Peyton asked him, the very picture of innocence. "I was just stating the obvious. After all it's their honeymoon and-"

"Stop! Don't say another word!" Lucas commanded Peyton, interrupting her before she could say anything further that would forever scar him. He then tackled her, just in case she decided to disobey him.

Peyton chuckled. "All right! I'm sorry, I won't say anything else about Haley and Nathan's having wild hot sex." She laughed when he glared at her for that. "Goodness, I didn't realize that you were such a prude, Mr. Scott.

"I am not a prude," he defended himself. "I just don't want to think about my best friend and my brother having… doing stuff together, okay?"

"Prude."

"I can't be a prude," he told her. "After all, I dated Brooke, didn't I?"

It was her turn to glare at him. He mentally slapped his forehead. What was it about Peyton Sawyer that always made him stick his foot in his mouth.

"Sorry," he said, getting off of her.

"Don't apologize," Peyton said, trying to smile… but failing. "You made a joke. A totally lame one, but a joke nonetheless."

"It wasn't lame!"

"Dude, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but your talent does not lie in the way of comedy," she told him. "Maybe you should stick to basketball."

"Because I'm so good at that, right?" Lucas asked, remembering the last game he played. The one that they had lost because of his missed shot.

"Hey, don't say that," she said, pulling him around to look at her. "You're a great player who was playing even before he had fully recuperated from a shoulder injury. And let's not forget that you were being coached by pre-heart attack Dan."

"Actually, you have a point there," Lucas said, before lying down on Peyton's bed, staring up at the ceiling. "But I can't keep going through life blaming Dan for everything rotten thing that happens in my life."

Peyton laid herself down next to him. She was on her side, so she could look at him while they talked. "Especially if he stays the way he was earlier. It's going to be kind of hard to blame him if he actually did turn over a new leaf."

The two of them were silent for a moment. Lying there in Peyton's bed, with the curly haired girl next to him… it was the first time since arriving back at Tree Hill that he actually felt like he was home. Suddenly, he was exhausted.

He turned his face to look over at Peyton and noticed that she, too, was fighting off sleep. Lucas smiled and kissed her forehead. Her lips curled up in a smile at his little display of affection. He wondered if he should just leave her to sleep or if he could try to convince her to let him stay because he was way too tired to even think about getting out of her bed.

She, knowing him far too well, just scooted over a few inches and laid her head on his chest. "Good night, Luke."

He took a deep breath, happy knowing that they somehow managed to get back to something like this that night. "Good night, Peyt."

And then there was sleep.

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