jamyj30, Annie's OTH love, lizzy1234, aracely6, courtneylovejason, marybethothfan, Juzzy88, DKnAK, Sweetcheks, artmatters, mthorne13, A Amanda A
ReeseHolden- I was so upset you were sick! Ugh, that really stinks. BUT I was happy that I brightened your day with my update. One Tree Hill comes back on the 20th! That is sooo exciting! And thank you for the review, I didn't mind that it was shorter than you previous ones. =] Happy Reading!
Xoxotaylor- Jordan… wow. Well when you said you review had to be good enough for DH, I was like… what!?But that was good enough. More then so. So thank you sweetie and I'm happy I could help you out.
The format of this chapter is very…different. I'm hoping you will understand by referencing what italics meant in my previous chapters. If it's too confusing, and no one understands, I'll repost. Just make sure you let me know. -Maygen
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"Why didn't you tell me?" Peyton breathed as she fell into the chair by Ryden's bedside. "I had to find out from Sam and Brooke, that you didn't even want me here."
"I don't want you here!" The small blonde cried. "Cause I'm not going to make it."
"Shh" Peyton placed her hand on the teen's forehead. "Don't say that. Now tell me what happened. They had everything under control and now, this"
Ryden shook her head. "I went in for my check up when you were in LA with the band-"
"-That was two months ago!" Peyton cut her off.
"I know, I know" She held up her hand. "And everything was under control, so they told me to come in every week for an examination. But I didn't want to go to the doctors, and I was feeling fine. So I skipped one appointment and then another and then another and then I didn't feel so well, so I went in and the cancer had spread, not to stage two, but just spread. So the doctors put me on steroids to prevent the cancer from spreading any further. So yesterday, I felt so sick, I thought it was the steroids, but I ended up passing out in the morning and one of the nurses from the shelter drove me to the hospital. After they did the examination. It was too late. The cancer's everywhere and my white blood count is down bellow bringing up. I'd need an emergency bone marrow transplant, and even then there are no guarantees. But they can't find anyone willing, or anyone who matches my genetic in time. It's impossible."
"I can be your donor." The woman stood up and started to move for the door. "I'll see if I'm qualified. Let me go find a doctor"
"No Peyton." The blonde stopped, with her hand on the door, and turned to face the small fragile girl in the bed. "It's too painful. I couldn't ask you to do that. I don't want you to do that." She rephrased.
"If it'll help, Ryden I'm doing it."
"Peyton go back to your party."
"No," The woman half yelled. "Look around you Ryden. No one is here. You say you're not going to make it and no one's here. I'm going to be here for you god damnit." Tears poured down her cheeks as she left the room…
"Peyton" A hand was shaking her.
…Walked down the hall to the nurses stations…
"Peyton!" She moved to sit up in bed, Lucas sitting beside her. "Peyton," He moaned, dragging her body closer to his. "You were dreaming. Come here." She cried into his neck as they laid back down together. "It's over now baby; I know you're upset."
He let her cry until she fell back into a restless sleep…
"Hi, my names Peyton Sawyer and I would like to speak to one of Ryden Calhoun's doctors." She placed her hands on the counter in front of her and took a deep breath.
"One moment ma'am." She dialed in and lifted the phone to her ear. "Hello Dr. Tallure. Yes; Would you be able to come down to the waiting area for a moment? There's a woman here who would like to speak to you about Ryden Calhoun. Okay, I'll let her know." She hung up the phone and sent Peyton a small smile. "He's on his way down. He just finished up some of her testing."
"Okay" Peyton pointed towards the chairs. "I'll just be right over there." She started to walk away.
"I think it's really sweet, you know?" Peyton turned back around. "What you're doing for Ryden. She's always alone. And now, with it so close to her end, I'm glad she has someone."
Peyton shook her head. "It's not her end."
A cry broke out waking Peyton back up. Lucas was up right beside her in a second.
"I got this" He assured her, but she reached out for his hand as he began to stand up.
"Let me. I love you for taking care of me Luke, but I've got this."
"Sweetie, you need your sleep for tomorrow."
Peyton shook her head and got up from the bed.
"Mrs. Scott, how did I know I'd be seeing you again?" Dr. Tallure made his presences. "How can I help you?"
"I want to donate bone marrow to Ryden" She announced plainly, and more aggressively then needed.
"If that's what you really want to do then I'd say, okay, let's get you tested and see if you're even compatible and then we'll go over the risks."
"The risks?" She asked, folding her arms.
"Well, it's dangerous, and painful… just your basic risks."
Peyton nodded. "Okay then, I'll get tested."
Dr. Tallure sighed. "What if I said it didn't matter?"
Her eye brows rose in confusion and she simply stared back at the man for a moment. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, there is no guarantee that it'll work. The other doctors and I aren't even sure if that's what she needs. We're afraid to perform any kind of surgery on her for fear of risk of an infection. Her body couldn't even fight off the common cold at this point."
"But I just saw her and she looked fine. She was talking and ranting and-"
"It's the adrenalin I assure you." He had cut her off. "I give her two days at the most."
Peyton's hand reached to clasp her chest. "What?" She took a step back. "How can you do that?" Her voice rose in anger. "How can you put a life expectancy rate on a fifteen year old girl?"
"There's nothing we can do Mrs. Scott."
"Nothing you can do, or you won't do anything?"
He shook his head. "We are trying. I don't think you understand the situation at hand. She is weak. If we open her up, she could die. Any injections at this point will just work with the cancer to fight off her body's immunity."
"So that's it? You're done."
"We're going to continue to perform test and research other forms of treatment, but just know, it doesn't look good. If you're planning on staying here, I'll let you know if we come up with any final decisions." He walked away, hands in his pockets.
"Mama!" Elle beamed as her mother came into view. Peyton walked up to her daughter's crib and lifted her into her arms.
"Hi baby, what's the matter?" She kissed her daughter's blonde head. Elizabeth buried her head in her mother's hair, crying silently.
"Sleepy" She mumbled.
"You're tired?" Peyton asked as she rocked her child gently. "Come on"
She carried Elle back to her and Luca's bedroom, as she lay down on the mattress, her daughter comforted in the warm embrace. Luke's arms worked their way around his family.
"You're back, so soon?" Joked Ryden, her tired glance wavered up at her friend. "Even with all of these modern day technologies, I still assumed it would take a good two hours to extract bone marrow."
Peyton sighed and sat back in the chair next to the teen's bedside. "They're going to hold off on cutting you open until your white blood cell count goes up and you start getting better."
A partial glare crossed Ryden's pale facial features. "Peyton, I'm not getting better."
The woman held up her hand. "Shh, we are not starting this again."
"Yes, we are, you have to believe me. This is reality Peyton. This is it for me."
Peyton's face fell. "How can you say that? Don't you want to make it? Or at least believe you can?"
She shook her head from the bed that she was too weak to lift herself out of. "It doesn't matter. I've done more things in my life time than half of today's adults. I've helped sign on a band and made album art work for a major record company and-"
"What about school? You haven't even graduated high-"
"Education's a sin" Peyton lowered her eyes at the girl. "Besides, it's only life." Ryden winked, making Peyton release a sob. The tears started down her face, and she couldn't hold them back any longer. "Hey, hey, please don't do this."
"I'm sorry" She yelled, and continued to cry. She reached up to brush the tears away from her eyes.
"It's not a big deal." Ryden enthused. "Honest, I'm not hurt by this, and you shouldn't be either."
Peyton's eyes were thrown back open. But what had woke her up this time? Her eyes flickered to glance at the analog clock on her night stand. 4:30am. Elizabeth was still passed out cold in her arms, Lucas' death grip continuing to hold them in his embrace. A sigh escaped her lips, and she reached a cool hand up to place on her forehead. It wasn't helping her any by reliving these moments over and over again.
"Don't feel guilty about my death, when it happens. Because I wouldn't want you to" Ryden's words echoed in her brain and the tears that had been on holding in, spilt over again.
"Peyt" Lucas' lips found her forehead, as he gently reached around Elle. "You're going to make yourself sick."
"I can't go tomorrow Luke." She cried harder and Luke pulled Elle away from her as sobs raked her body.
"You're going to go for Ryden baby. You can do it. You're so strong and I'm going to be right beside you, and so are Elle, and Haley and Nathan and everyone else that you love so much."
"I loved her too, it's terrible"
"I know Peyton, and I feel so bad because you've lost more people in a life time than anyone I know-"
"It's not about me!" Peyton whispered harshly.
"Honey, relax" He rubbed her arms soothingly. "Don't worry about tomorrow. Just let it come."
Okay, I lied, again. I'm a terrible person, I know. But NOW you have two chapters left. I broke this one in half, just because it made since. I couldn't continue on without leaving you any questions at all. Please review, and I'm so sorry for the delay