Title: Defining Happiness on Our Own Terms
Summary: A look into the future. Haley&Nathan want another addition to their family & Peyton&Lucas have just begun expanding there's.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Tree Hill.
Author: Maygen Lauren
Chapter Eleven:All At Once
The majority of chapter eleven gets dedicated to Reddevil6394, who helped me come up with the plot line for this chapter. She is a "Defining Happiness" life saver and you all owe her your life. This chapter wouldn't exist without her. Thank you again, and wonderful choice! May secrets be revealed…
Special dedications to: Annie's OTH love, jasper41164, marybethothfan, mthorne13, bendecida82, Who all sent me a PM and we're so willing to help. I'm sorry but Reddevil6394 got to me first!
Dedicated reviewers for chapter ten: lizzy1234, leyton4ever35, cayt326, ReeseHolden (I want to collect all your reviews and publish them in a book to read when I get sad, because they make my day, time and time again), HJS-NS-23, taylor (I'm coming over to your house to plan our stake out. Mark + killing Peyton= You&Me going to Wilmington to kick serious ass.), aracely6, Juzzy88 and jamyj30
You all are so fantastic and the time you take to write a review means the world to me. Thanks again and here's chapter eleven…
"You sure you're okay?" Nathan asked, placing a warm hand on Peyton's knee. The blonde nodded painfully from the passenger seat of the car. She pressed her forehead into the cool glass on the door. Nathan's eyes turned back to the road as he set off on the quick trip to drop Peyton off at her house. "Whatever you do, don't give in. You're strong Peyt, and you know something's going on in that big head of his that he's not ready to share yet. So if you want your big family, go and get it. Hold your ground. Agreeing with him to spare yourself an argument won't get you anywhere. He's stubborn and will keep his thoughts locked up if you do that."
Peyton folded her hands in her lap and leaned back into the white interior. "I just want to know what set him off. We had a great morning and I decided to bring up a topic that I thought we could embrace, but he freaked out!"
"Any ideas as to what?" She shook her head. "You guys did come pretty close to losing Elle back in her first month. Maybe he's feeling anxiety about being just as attached to your other kids as he is to Elle. Maybe he sees those kids as something he's too afraid to lose."
"You know, I did think HCM at first. He does have it and he was so angry when he found out he'd passed it onto Elle. But we did talk, about that anyway, and he said so long as we kept her on the medicine, it would never pose another problem."
"We talked a little about HCM down at the river court today, he said it didn't bother him really, but maybe it's not that he's worried about HCM affecting future kids, maybe he's worried about you?"
"Me?" Peyton's head shot towards Nathan's. "Why would he be worried about me?"
"Peyton the first time he got you pregnant, he was told it would end up being you or the baby in the end. He had to live through those nine months thinking about that delivery day and who would come out of it alive."
"Yea, but that's just dumb. I told him it wouldn't happen again." She crossed her arms, aggravated to the point of no return. "He makes a scene, at your house no less, and walks out on me. This is bigger than that."
"Give him a chance to explain. He probably feels like an idiot right now."
"He is an idiot if he thinks I'm going to sleep in the same room with him tonight." Nathan pulled into the driveway and Peyton's heart dropped. Only her 1963 Mercury Comet was vacant on the pavement.
"Well he's not even home so that might not be a problem." Nathan stopped the car in front of the porch and turned to face his sister in law. "You guys never fight, and Jamie doesn't like seeing his favorite Aunt and Uncle doing just that so, take it easy, get some sleep, maybe call Broke or something. I'll make sure Luke gets home; you just leave that to me."
His arms reached out and wrapped around her neck. "Thanks Nate" She kissed his scruffy cheek and pulled away to look in the back at her daughter asleep in her car seat.
"You guys will work it out." He squeezed her arm before opening his door to unbuckle Elle's seat for Peyton. She met him at the steps of the porch and took the handle from his hands. "You don't fight, it isn't like you guys. You'll pull through."
"You're sweet Nate. Thanks for taking us home."
"You sure you don't wanna grab some clothes and spend the night at our house?"
Peyton shook her head. "No, we'll be fine. I'm going to feed her then we'll probably crash for the night."
"Okay Peyton; please, call, if you need anything." He held her arm briefly before walking back to his car and giving her a small wave.
She opened the front door, and shut it quickly behind her. The darkness eloped her.
Peyton removed Elle from her car seat and set it down in the doorway. She held her child to her chest as they entered the bedroom.
Why is this so weird? She thought to herself, taking a seat on the bed. This is my house too and he's coming home. He won't leave me. You don't really think he'd leave me? No, he has his daughter. He'll be back before ten at the latest. What time is it now? Her head jerked towards the clock on the nightstand. It's only eight. He needs time to cool off. Everything's going to be fine. He loves us and we love him. There's going to be an explanation.
Elle let out a soft cry, gripping tighter onto her mother's sweatshirt. "I'm sorry baby girl, are you hungry?" She fixed herself, the routine engraved in the back of her head. "You know Elizabeth Anna Scott, I'm not sure how much longer we're going to be doing this; three or four months at the most. As soon as you're sitting up in that high chair we're getting you started on that yucky baby food. Not that I mind this, not at all, it's just making sure that when I'm not home, you're not starving because somebody forgot to tell me all the bottles were empty."
The baby gurgled against her chest as if to say. "Oh yes, I know that father of mine"
"I know you're scared because Daddy left, but I promise you he's coming back. He loves you so much; he's just confused. But he'll explain later and you won't have to be angry at him anymore." Somewhere within the twenty minutes, Elle had fallen asleep during her meal. Peyton was barely aware of the loss of contact and then began the debate on where to let Elle sleep for the night, for her Childs sake, of course. Her small infant body was still restless with the dreams of her father's absence, so Peyton decided to build a pillow wall on Lucas' side of the bed and allowed Elle to sleep next to her for the night. She couldn't allow her tiny offspring to spend the night alone, across the hall, with only one parent to attend her every want and will. Peyton stripped her clothes from the day, and settled down in a pair of sweats and an old band T' shirt. She laid under the covers of the king sized bed and turned on her side to watch her daughter sleep. For the first time, in what felt like, a long time, she admired Elizabeth's innocence and short amount of time on this earth. Her body swaddled tightly in a purple blanket as her tiny chest rose and fell with each breath.
It was somewhere within that time, looking at her child, Peyton realized that she would do anything for Elizabeth. Keep her safe, protect her, educate her, inspire her, love her and all of the things a good mother should. And Peyton would continue to do that no matter what condition she was in. Whether her insides were in a wreck because her husband had just walked out on her, or because she had a rough day at work, she would always be there for her daughter.
"Peyton, sweetheart, does your mom know that there was cheerleading practice today?"
The short blonde turned around, arms crossed, curly hair in a makeshift pony tail. She eyed her teenaged coach angrily as if calling her sweetheart was the vilest thing she could be called and nodded. "She dropped me off."
"Well maybe you could call your dad and get him to pick you up?" The woman suggested as tiny cheerleader sat down on the curb in front of the elementary school.
"He's picking up a shipment at the marina."
"Is there someone else who can come get you?" Even at nine years old, Peyton could tell her coach had somewhere better to be.
"No, Brooke's mom already left. I'll just wait here. My mom said she'd pick me up and she will."
The teen swung her car keys on a lanyard and approached her car, sitting on the hood. "How much longer do you think she'll be?"
"How would I know?"
They sat in silence for another twenty minutes before the restless coach stood up and began pacing. "Peyton, I'm going to bring you home. I have to be at work if fifteen minutes and I can't leave you here."
The petite blonde opened her mouth to protest but was silenced by the cry of an army of ambulances down the road. She stood up and followed the teen to her car. She buckled herself in the back seat, closest to the right side window. They set off on the journey to her house, the coach knowing the way, having babysat Peyton before.
They approached the down town area, aliened with shops and lights and for some reason, rows of cars were halted in dead stop traffic. "I wonder what's going on up there?" The girl asked from the driver's seat. Peyton got on her knees to look out her window. She could see nothing up ahead. As they got closer to the sight, the noise from the ambulances and police cars increased dramatically, and Peyton covered her small ears.
"Wait!" Peyton screamed as the car pulled slowly in front of the scene. "That's my mom's car!" A totaled black Sudan and green SUV had been moved off to side of the road where police officers with pads of paper were seen taking notes. Peyton threw open the car door, the ground still moving bellow her, and fell out. Her bare knees hit the pavement scraping against the gravel as she crawled forward to push herself into a standing position. Her legs moved quickly forward as she lost control of her vocal cords.
"Mom!?" She yelled frantically, towards the mess and chaos of people and cars. "Where's my mom!?"
Peyton's skinny legs ran forward, her arms flailing in front of her as she tried to run past the trucks. A man reached out and caught her by the waist. "Excuse me Ms. Where do you think you're going?"
"That's my mom's car!" The nine year old pointed towards the wreckage. "By the light pole!"
"Which color?" The police officer who had caught her asked, setting her down on the ground, holding her hips securely. He got down on his knees and looked into her green eyes.
The blonde pulled out her hair tie and sighed. "The black one."
His hands moved to her shoulders and a frown creased his forehead. "Is your father Larry Saywer?" Peyton nodded, trying to look around the man's body at the paramedics. "Sweetie, your father will be here soon."
"Why, he's working. Where's my mom?" She tried to leap past the large man, but he held her fast.
"I'm sorry, I can't let you over there."
Peyton shook madly in his bulky arms, twisting and using every ounce of energy in her body to be released. The man didn't budge. "I want my mom! Let go!" She screamed out. By this time, Peyton's coach had parked her car on the side of the road and came up behind the nine year old.
The police officer looked at her with confusion. "I'm Peyton's cheerleading coach. I was driving her home"
"If you wouldn't mind, could you take Peyton to your car and wait until her father's get here?"
"Where's my Mom!?" Peyton yelled louder. She ducked under then mans legs, only getting as far as the next police car where she was grabbed by another man in suit. "No!" Her lungs stretched in exasperation. "I'm nine years old, not stupid. What happened to my mom?"
"Honey, we should wait for your dad." The first police officer encouraged. Peyton, rashly thinking, kicked the man's leg, pulling out of his arms and ran past the police cars, entering another layer of force. A team of paramedics were standing in front of a heightened stretcher.
"The blood loss is significant" Peyton heard a medic say as she stood on her tip toes, looking around the madness to see a brunette woman lying on the stretcher. Her heart stopped.
…"There's too much internal bleeding"…
…"She died when the car made contact with her body on the driver's side"…
…"You don't want to try and jump start her heart?"…
…"We've done all we can do"…
…"It took too long to pull her from the cabin"…
"NO!" Peyton's small body fell to her already bruised knees, her curly hair framing her face. "It's not fair! That's my mom!" Tears streamed down her pale cheeks before her mind had even made sense of the situation.
Numb. She couldn't think. Her lungs couldn't breath. The woman that had always been there for her was gone? No more bedtime stories? No more late night movie marathons? Was this a sick joke?
Peyton wildly hit her head with her palms, repetitively. "Wake up!" She screamed. Somehow, the apple nutriagrain bar she had eaten before practice had worked its way back up her throat and fell to her knees with force, shortly followed by her head. She lay collapsed on the pavement as medics and police officers stepped around her.
Lucas Scott quietly reentered his house. It was nearly three in the morning and he was exhausted. His shoes were kicked off in the doorway next to Elle's car seat, and he walked down the hall and stepped into the master bedroom. The room was moon lit, and Luke could clearly see that his spot in the bed had already been taken over. A wide eyed infant kicked excitedly at the sight of her father. Her arms outstretched in front of her as he walked around the bed to kneel at her side.
"What are you still doing up?" He moved the pillow wall from the edge of the bed, and rested his head next to her body. "Did you hear me come in?" Elle blinked. "Well that makes one of you." He brushed his hand over the top of her blonde head and placed a kiss on her cheek. "You go back to sleep for a while and then I'll feed you." He rebuilt the pillow wall and walked to Peyton's side of the bed. He pulled over the cushioned chair from the corner of the room and sat at her side. She lay on her back, her head tilted slightly to the right. Masses of blonde hair covered her pillow and one of her arms was sprawled across the bed as if it had originally been grasping Elle's arm.
Lucas traced his fingers over Peyton's face. He skimmed over her nose, her cheek bones, her eye brows, her chin. He stopped and let his hand rest on her chest, just below her neck. Her eyes snapped open immediately and she looked at him with confusion.
"Lucas" Her soft voice breathed against his cheeks as he leaned toward her. "What time is it?"
"Early" His husky voice answered and he couldn't help himself as he kissed her forehead, pressing his nose into her hair.
He pulled back and held her hand in his. "I don't want to fight with you" Peyton whispered.
"I don't want to fight with you either Peyton, but I need you to always be honest with me. Please don't try and protect me.' Her eye brows raised as he pulled her up from the bed and down onto his lap. "I know it was my fault"
"What was your fault?" She questioned and rested her fingertips on his chest.
"You're pregnancy, the severity of the situation" Her eyes drifted away from his. "And don't think I went and looked it up because I didn't believe you. I am so gullible when it comes to you Peyt. I'll believe anything you say just because I love you. But, I was doing the research, HCM research. I wanted to know how likely I was to pass on the gene if we got pregnant again and I found something, something that I was sure I didn't know." He paused. "Why didn't you tell me Peyt?"
She sighed and wrapped her arms around his chest, her chin against his ribs as she looked up at him. "I didn't want you to feel guilty, because I was so happy. And if you knew that HCM caused terminable pregnancies you would have never forgiven yourself if I had died. And it's only 1 in 10 Luke. We could have 9 more kids and it wouldn't happen again." She theorized.
"Not quite" He held her waist with his hands. "If our second, third, fourth, ninth kid, did have HCM, you wouldn't make it through another difficult pregnancy a second time. You're too tiny"
"You really believe that? I defied all odds last time and survived."
"I have to believe that Peyton. I could never forgive myself if I had the opportunity to prevent your death"
She shook her head. "You have no control over things like that Luke. We've both learned that over time."
He held her waist and sighed. "Baby, I do want to have more kids, but, the consequences…" She placed her fingers against his dry lips.
"Don't think about the consequences. I know you don't wanna pass on your HCM, but it's livable."
He shook his head. "Honestly, it's not that, you can live with HCM, if you take the precautions. I've told you already, it's you Peyton"
A smile lit her face. "I love you, you know that?"
"Ya" His cheeks colored slightly.
"But you're crazy as all hell Luke. We both want kids, and you're a selfish prick if you think I'm going to let fear of me dyin', stop you from letting us have our family."
His hand held either side of her head as his lips grazed her forehead. "Okay"
"Okay?" She asked. "You mean, you won't be a selfish prick?"
"I won't be a selfish prick" He paused. "But not now."
"No, hell no, I'm not going through that again until I'm good and ready." An uncertain look swept over his face. "Childbirth Lucas, that was hell" He leaned forward and cautiously kissed her lips. "Where were you?" She asked when he pulled back.
He shrugged. "River Court"
So..What did you think? Short? Hell yea
Were you right!?
Okay, so I need another filler chapter before I get into more DRAMA.
In chapter twelve we are going to be reacquainted with Ryden, our sickly sophomore student at Tree Hill High. But I would also like to know what YOU would like to see in the next chapter? Any shippers? Any fluff?? Let me know and I'll add that in.
Any characters you want me to introduce? I wouldn't mind bringing back Kate Voegele. You just say the word, and I'm yours! Send me a PM for any special requests.
REVIEW!! –Maygen