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Disclaimer: I DO NOT own 'One Tree Hill'. No copyright infringement intended.


Lissa stood in Kyle's room and looked out of the window. Kyle was lying next to her on his bed with his earphones on and didn't listen as she said: "I'm going to talk to Mom."

Rolling her eyes, she stood up and went down.

She was about to enter the kitchen when the doorbell rang again. Reluctantly she crossed over to the front door and opened it only slightly.

It was George. Lissa sighed out in relief and opened the door properly to let him in.

"Hey baby" he said and smiled. Lissa beckoned him to come in and he followed her up to her own room.

"So", he said, "what have you been up to lately? I haven't seen you since the game."

Lissa bit her lips. "Yeah, you know… I was pretty busy. There were some things I needed to… sort out."

George took her hand. "You worry too much, pretty. Hey, if there's anything at all on your mind, just tell me. Maybe I can help."

Lissa smiled at him. "Nah, I don't think you can help me with this."

"Well, I won't if you don't tell me what it is." George kissed her on the lips very softly. "Hey, my cousin Jenny is coming down here for a visit. Would you like to see her?"

Lissa's mood lightened up a bit. Jenny was great. She was a little older than Lissa and her friends and already done with school and last time she had been visiting she had promised to visit them after the summer. Jenny lived with her father Jake in Richmond. When Jake had visited Jamie's parents and Lissa's mother one summer it turned out that George's mother was Jake's half-sister. Jake had brought Jenny and Lissa, George, Jamie, Patricia and Jenny had hung out together and become friends.

When Jenny left again they had all promised to meet soon. But then Jenny had to focus on her Senior Year and they all were too busy to arrange a meeting, all of them.

"When's she arriving?" Lissa asked.

George smiled. "Uncle Jake said they would be here by tomorrow morning."

Tomorrow morning! She sighed out in relief. "Great. I hope she's alright."

"Sure she is", George said and softly leaned my head against him.

Lissa thought about everything that had happened today and suddenly she was so relieved about George being here for her that she let out a deep breath and said: "I love you."

For a moment nobody said something. Finally, George replied, smiling happily and in surprise: "I love you too, pretty."

Haley, Peyton and Lucas sat on the couch in Haley's house in silence. Nobody wanted to be the first to speak until Haley took a deep breath and said: "Alright, enough of this. Kyle and Lissa are Brooke's children."

Expecting her friends to say something, Haley waited a minute. When they stayed silent she looked into Lucas' eyes and said slowly and clear: "And they're yours too."

Peyton turned her head to look at her husband but he still didn't speak. He just stared at something behind Haley.

"Honey", Peyton said carefully, "we're going to figure it out together. We'll talk to Brooke. Maybe she's wrong and…"

"She's not" Lucas finally said in a quiet voice. "The boy… he looked just like me. And I left them, Peyton, I abandoned them."

Haley heard the bitterness in his voice and prepared herself for an outburst.

Peyton looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "You didn't know. How could you have known? You came with me, Lucas, and Brooke could've said something but she didn't. Don't blame yourself for not knowing. You came with me and that's got to mean something, right?"

Lucas stood up and let go of Peyton's hands. "No. No, I mean… She said she was pregnant. She told me but I didn't believe her. I thought she was trying to hurt me and I didn't even… I didn't even realize that she could tell the truth. I was wrong, Peyton. I've turned into Dan. I… I can't…"

He drew a hand through his hair. "I have to get out of here."

He left the room quickly. Haley didn't look at Peyton. Nothing she could have said could have made Peyton feel better, Haley knew that. And although she was still kind of angry at Lucas and Peyton she couldn't help feeling sorry for them. They came here wanting to reunion everyone and getting such a blast of news…

Haley sighed quietly, stood up and left the room. Peyton didn't stop her.

She ran into Nathan in the hallway who was staring at the open front door.

"What happened?" Haley asked although she knew.

Nathan shook his head in disbelief. "I… just saw Lucas. He ran past me out of the door and he… didn't even say a word to me."

Haley returned his look coldly. "Nathan, is there anything at all that you didn't tell me over the past, let me think, seventeen years? Concerning Lucas and Peyton?"

Nathan swallowed hard. "Hales, I just thought you…"

"I what?" Haley asked loudly. "You thought I would be angry? Disappointed? Hurt? Because, Nathan, I was all of these things because you did not tell me about their kid." She frowned at him and he looked down to the floor. "I thought you knew me", she whispered. "After all these years… I thought you knew me well enough, Nate."

She turned around and left the room, leaving Nathan staring after the second person in two minutes.

Brooke sat in her kitchen, holding her phone in her hands. She didn't know who she should call, or if she should call anyone at all. It came somewhat of a surprise when the phone rang before she could dial a number.

"Brooke Davis?"she said in a shaking voice.

"It's Haley", she heard the familiar voice of her friend. "Are you OK? I heard what happened and I…"

"It's OK", Brooke said hastily. "I'm fine. Well, alright at least. Why, how'd you heard of…?"

"Brooke" Haley said slowly, "Peyton's here. She's hiding in the living room and I can't just throw her out of there. They didn't know, Brooke. They didn't know you were pregnant, and I think…"

"Is that what they told you?" Brooke's voice broke. "Is that what you believe? They knew it and they walked away. They just didn't care." She sobbed once.

Haley hesitated for a moment. "They have a daughter, you know", she then said. "She's sixteen. Her name's Penelope."

Brooke didn't respond. She didn't say anything about whether she was surprised about this kid existing, or whether she cared that the girl's name was her second name. She just waited for Haley to say something but she didn't.

They both hang up at the same time and Brooke wiped the tears from her face.

So Lucas didn't leave her because of her pregnancy but because of Peyton's pregnancy. He left with her because he loved Peyton more than he loved Brooke. But of course, they had broken up because of Peyton. Because of Peyton.

Peyton.

Brooke missed her sometimes.

Just as she missed Lucas. So much.

But it wasn't as simple as him coming back and apologizing. It just wasn't. They were things they hadn't talked about, they had never talked about. And then she wondered whether Lucas would've returned to Tree Hill if he had known about the kids. Kyle and Lissa. Brooke's kids.

She wondered if Karen had known it. Of course she had. She had talked to Lucas and Peyton, she had met them more than once. Why hadn't she told Brooke?

Why hadn't anybody told Brooke? Haley and Nathan? Had they known it?

But did it even matter? So Lucas and Peyton had had a reason to leave the town. But she was sure, if Lucas had asked anybody about her in the past seventeen years they would've told him about the kids. But he didn't. And neither did Peyton.

She felt tears rush into her eyes again, and decided to do something. She stood up, threw on her coat and left the house. It was time to make things clear. With Haley and Nathan. With Peyton. And with Lucas.


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