Hey everyone – I'm sorry I've been away for so long but I did have a great time on my course, so I'm happy. But I just had a look at my chapter-planning thing and this is probably going to be the penultimate one, putting a bit of a dampener on things. But hey, we've still got Jeyton's wedding to go and what happened with Brooke and Lucas, so all is good!

Peyton woke to find beams of bright sunlight streaming through the crack in the curtains. She automatically checked to see if Jake was awake, and, finding that he wasn't, picked up her specially packed bag and crept out of the front door, after kissing Maddie and Noah once each on the forehead.

I'm getting married today! was all that she could think. I'm getting married to Jake Jagielski, the most amazing man on the planet, and we're getting married today!

She drove almost in a trance to Brooke's apartment, where she'd been keeping her wedding dress so Jake didn't see it, and where she was going to get ready today. When she got there, Brooke didn't answer the intercom first time round, so Peyton rang it again. And again. Still there was no answer, so, although she knew that Brooke was probably just still asleep, she found herself assuming the worst and started fishing around her bag for her key.

When she reached the right apartment, Peyton let herself in and scanned the room. No sign of Brooke, but the bedroom door was slightly open. As she edged towards it, she kept telling herself, there's no note. She hasn't left a note, so she must just be asleep. Peyton took a deep, apprehensive breath in and pushed the door open.

Oh. There's a guy. There's a guy in the apartment, which explains the fact that Brooke didn't answer the door. Thank god. The man's back was towards the door, his arm draped protectively over Brooke, so Peyton couldn't tell who it was, but there was something familiar about the tattoo on his shoulder…

Peyton was on the verge of figuring out who had stayed the night, when Brooke stirred, realised what was going on and looked up at her, shock and fear on her face. She hastily pulled off the covers, grabbed a dressing gown and wrapped it around her, before ushering Peyton out of the bedroom and shutting the door quietly behind them both.

"That looked pretty cosy, Tigger." Peyton remarked, smiling at the fact that Brooke had finally got over Ross.

"Peyton, are you crazy? It was a completely stupid mistake. We were just… just don't tell anyone, please promise me you won't tell anyone." Brooke said urgently.

"Why the hell not? You're a beautiful, single woman who deserves some sex."

"But Lucas is a pretty stupid choice to have sex with." Brooke raised her eyebrows and turned towards the door.

"Lucas?" then Peyton realised why she'd recognised the tattoo. "Oh god, that was Lucas?"

"Yeah." Brooke sighed and turned back around. "It was stupid, he came round last night and I was half drunk anyway… He said something about Samantha cheating on him, I don't know. It was just a heat of the moment kind of thing. It won't happen again, so please don't tell anyone. I'm going to talk to him as soon as he wakes up."

Peyton noticed a shadow moving in the darkness of Brooke's room and nodded her head towards the door. "Well, you'd better work out what you're going to say."

Lucas emerged from the room and rubbed his eyes. It took him a moment to realise why he was in Brooke's apartment, and that she and Peyton were standing in front of him. Peyton looked confused, Brooke just worried and scared.

"I'll be back in an hour." Peyton said quietly. "You two need to talk." She shot Lucas a meaningful look and headed for the front door.

Once she closed it quietly behind her, Brooke cleared her throat and looked straight into Lucas's eyes. "So, this is messy, huh?"

oooOOOooo

Three hours later, Peyton closed her eyes and took a deep breath in as the car pulled over at the side of the road. When she stepped outside the door, she would be standing in front of the church where possibly the most important moment of her life was about to happen.

All of her wedding guests, save Brooke, Haley, Laura, Katie and Jenny, were inside, all sat down by now. Brooke and Haley both looked stunning in their royal blue bridesmaids' dresses and the two flower girls were making Peyton's heart melt. The real revelation, though, was Jenny. After Peyton had asked her to be her maid of honour, the teenager had said she would only agree to do it if Peyton persuaded Jake to let Leo come. Peyton was pretty sure it was an empty threat and Jenny would do it anyway, but she didn't want to run the risk, so she managed to get the boyfriend invited by none other than Jake himself.

Larry came out of the church, beaming, and signalled to Brooke that everything was all right to go ahead. "Alright, everyone ready?" she said, smiling. Only Peyton, knowing her as well as she did, could tell it was a false one, but she felt deeply indebted to her for putting on a brave face.

When she'd left Brooke's apartment earlier that day, she'd driven around for a bit, hoping to clear her head. Then, remembering that Samantha couldn't make the wedding in the first place because of 'work commitments', she swung by to pick up Katie and Callie. Samantha herself looked a mess when she opened the door, so different to the glamour puss who had greeted Peyton a year before. She had asked after Lucas, but Peyton lied that she didn't know where he was. It was up to them to sort things out.

Next stop was Haley and Nathan's, where she dropped off Callie and picked up Haley and Laura. All the things Brooke was meant to be doing, Peyton remembered, when Katie shouted in her ear for the millionth time.

Lucas was just leaving when Peyton and the others arrived at the apartment. Brooke was sitting in the corner, silently crying. Haley rushed over to her as Lucas had a hushed conversation with his daughter.

"Ok, I'll see you at the wedding." he said a few minutes later as he left. Right after that, Brooke stood up, clapped her hands entirely professionally, paused, then ushered Laura and Katie into the room where their 'flower girl' dresses were being kept.

Now, she held her head up high as she prepared herself to walk down the aisle after Haley. Peyton, standing next to her, watched her with admiration from the side. She knew that she wouldn't be able to pull herself together that much if she'd been through the same amount as Brooke had in the last year. Brooke swallowed and started to walk to the front of the church. Only Jenny left to go.

Peyton found herself thinking about everything that had happened since she had returned to Tree Hill. It's funny just how much can happen in just one year. Twelve months. 365 days. And this was the climax of it all.

Peyton stepped in so she could see the inside of the church. She could see her family and friends, all smiling and watching her. She could see Jake, a hint of tears in his eyes, standing at the front of the church. As she started to make that all-important trip down the aisle arm in arm with her father, she murmured quietly.

"Ok. This is it."