A/N: You've probably realized that there hasn't been any Naley in London, I just figured that other than seeing the sights and… doing Naley things in the hotel rooms that wouldn't be appropriate for a "T" rated fic… there wouldn't be much to write about. No worries though, when they get home you will definitely see the Nathan and Haley we LOVE. At least, that I love ;)
Also, I have a few concerns with this fic; one, I feel as though I'm making the characters act differently than they would in the TV show. We all know Lucas probably wouldn't be that harsh on Peyton, and that Peyton wouldn't be so naïve about everything, and things like that. I'm making them into what I think they should be, or want them to be, rather than what they are.
However, as much as I want it to be realistic, I dislike Peyton, and we'll see a few more fights with her. But, she could possibly redeem herself later.
Also, I feel like I'm rushing things, putting in too much of one storyline, blah blah blah. So, if anyone has any suggestions or criticism or ideas, I'd love to hear them!
Also, is anyone following the European Championship? I would totally love for Italy or the Netherlands to win.
Enough of my rambling, here is the next part! Read and enjoy and review please! It's kinda short, but I have a feeling you'll love the next chapter… : )
She curled against the arm of the couch, unable or unwilling to leave this place where it had all changed for her. Maybe, possibly, if she stayed here, time would reverse itself and it could be taken back. If she left, it would be cemented in place and become so much more real. It was a disparaging thought. Tears rolled from her bright green eyes and splashed against her heaving chest. Her body was overcome with racking sobs.
What she wanted now more than ever was someone to cry on, or with, or someone to wrap their strong arms around her and hold her tight until all the pain and heartbreak and shock went away. She wanted this, and she hated herself all the more for it. Every time this thought crossed her mind, it reminded her of the tragedy that she had gone through just an hour earlier, and how she couldn't have that safety blanket any longer. This always brought on a new bout of sobs that shook her whole body.
It wasn't until hours later that the tears finally stopped. Even if she had tried, another tear wouldn't have fallen. Too tired to think about anything, too drained to place blame or accusations on anyone but herself, too emotionally spent to consider what this bleak future could possibly hold, Peyton just lay there, dejectedly staring at the same pipe on the ceiling.
She begged sleep to take her, and it did. But before she fell, one last thought crossed her mind.
I gotta get out of Tree Hill.
It was a rogue thought, something to solve all of her problems. But it went unconsidered as Peyton fell into the deep, black, forgiving recesses of painless sleep.
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The cool female voice filled the air, but was partially masked by the crashing sound of the waves or random conversations of the masses.
"The ship—"
"Alright, do you have everything? I'll see you when—"
"—seven minutes—"
"—Left the dog in the garage—"
"—luggage—"
To Lucas, the voice sounded comically like a telephone conversation with a bad connection; he couldn't help but smile, even after what had happened this morning. It reminded him that not the entire world was steeped in drama like his life.
"—thank you."
After that, it turned to another language, Spanish, maybe, and continued to rattle off instructions that no one paid attention to. Lucas turned back to Skills, echoing the conversations all around him.
"So, Skills, you good? Got everything?"
The two friends stood on a dock, dwarfed by the huge cruise ship that gleamed next to them. Skills had decided to take time off from his nonexistent job and go on a week-long cruise to the Bahamas.
"Yeah, it's all here," Skills said apprehensively, staring up at the huge ship.
"What's wrong?"
"Dude, look at that thing! What if it sinks?"
Lucas laughed at Skills's anxiety. "Man, it'll be fine. This thing's like the Titanic."
Skills rolled his eyes and gave Lucas a 'duh' look. "Yeah, and that went over real good."
"Huh. I guess you're right." Lucas looked critically at the ground and rubbed his chin. "Well, you had a nice life. See ya later!" He made to walk away.
"Luke!"
"Skills, you know I'm just kidding. It'll be fine." Skills just rolled his eyes again, dropping the discussion.
"Speaking of fine, how's you and P. Sawyer?"
Lucas froze, remembering the disastrous morning. He had said some callous stuff to her, stuff that he didn't mean to come out and that he regretted, in a way. She didn't deserve it. But, everything he had said had a harsh grain of truth, and he was determined not to lie to Peyton. That's how he consoled himself, at least.
"Uh, Peyton and I—"
Suddenly the whistle sounded, and for once, everyone listened to this announcement: "Last call! Anyone who isn't on now isn't on at all!"
"Well, dawg, that's my call. I'll see you in a week," Skills interrupted, pounding fists with Lucas. "Try to stay off that Peyton candy, aight?"
Lucas gave a grimace that he hoped looked like a smile. "I'm sure it won't be a problem," he whispered pensively to himself as Skills walked up the gangplank.
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"We need to talk," Andy said officially as he sat down next to Karen.
She had been sitting at the table for the past hour, staring silently into the shafts of light that highlight the swirling dust in the air. It was mid-afternoon, and Lily was watching cartoons in the front room. Andy took his one opportunity to voice what had been weighing on his mind all day.
"Dan?" she guessed, not taking her eyes off the window.
"Dan," he confirmed. "I'm not sure what to do about him."
"He's an ass."
Andy smiled slightly, in eternal admiration of Karen's courage. For eighteen years, she had raised an amazing son, successfully run two businesses, all the while in the same town where she had grown up, a town that probably didn't hold good memories for her. And, of course, there had been that ever-looming threat of Dan Scott, a shadowy figure in the background of Lucas's life, someone who could have come in at any second and torn everything Karen had built to shreds.
But she kept going strong, keeping her hope and faith. And then Keith died, and it seemed as though, for the first time in her life, Karen was truly broken. But she had even fought through that, and she was fighting even now to keep her daughter safe from the same puppet master who had threatened Lucas in his younger years.
"He's more than that. But one thing about Dan: he usually gets what he wants, whether it be through his own cleverness or some divine power. But he always does. And I think that we need to make sure he can't get to Lily, no matter what his intentions are." Andy's voice was grave.
Karen nodded in the silence. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," he sighed. He had no answers this time.
An unspoken thought crossed between them, and they both turned to look at the small, brunette six-year old who was laughing gleefully at the TV. How could Dan ever touch something like that? But he could. And worse, he would.
Looking to change the subject of their depressing conversation, Andy asked, "So, where's Lucas today?"
Karen smiled in nervous relief. "He's going to see Antwon off for his cruise, and from there I don't know."
"What do you think about all this?" He waved an arm around the kitchen, trying to signify the conversation from this morning. Luckily, Karen understood.
"I just want what makes him happy, and the least troubled. I wish I would have known more when he was in high school. I was always at the café, or TRIC, or with Keith or you. I only knew that he liked Peyton, then dated Brooke. And of course, that pregnancy thing," she added with an uneasy laugh, as if remembering that night when she heard the news. "After, I knew that he loved Brooke for a while, then she left for the summer, and then they got together. Then they broke up, and he got together with Peyton. Of course, he always came to me for advice, but I never knew it was this deep and twisted. No wonder he brooded so much more in junior and senior years."
Andy laughed and rubbed a grimacing Karen's shoulder. "It'll be fine. Lucas'll make the right decision. Same goes with us and Lily."
Karen could tell Andy wanted to say something more; there was something in his voice, in the way he leaned forward ever so slightly, how his eyes begged her to guess and start the conversation. But what he wanted to talk about, Karen had no idea.
Together, they looked once more towards Lily, both with apprehensive looks on their faces again.
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"Hey there, pretty girl."
He didn't realize the slip until too late. Inside his mouth, Lucas harshly bit his own tongue, waiting for her reaction.
Brooke ignored it though, or maybe she didn't hear it. She quickly scanned the playground to make sure Jamie was ok before shading her eyes and looking up to Lucas. The light wind rustled her hair, and she seemed almost like a staged picture, like she was in a photo shoot for some high-end magazine.
"Hey Luke." She smiled, showing the famous Brooke Davis dimples. A sight for sore eyes.
Lucas had just walked up to the shady bench where Brooke was sitting and reading—what else?— "B. Davis" magazine. Jamie had insisted Brooke take him to the park today, and she had instantly called Lucas for backup: the park wasn't exactly her forte.
"I thought you were seeing Skills off on his big fancy boat ride?"
Lucas sat down next to her. "Yeah, it sank," he said nonchalantly.
"Ohmigod, Lucas! What happened?" She instantly sat up, eyes wide.
"Brooke, you know I'm just kidding; it didn't take as long as I thought to get him set up." He tried an apologetic smile, but Brooke hit him with her magazine anyways.
"Well, you missed ice cream hour. Seems a fitting punishment," she said with mock officialness and a curt nod. Then her joke fell away and she giggled and smiled at him.
"It certainly is," Lucas said, leaning himself into a more comfortable position on the bench, looking out for Jamie. "You know, we're godparents."
"Yep."
"So, we should act like an old married couple; always squabbling and arguing."
"Uh, one, we're twenty-two. And two, we do that anyways." She kinked an eyebrow and laughed.
"Shouldn't you be designing clothes or something? I heard that's what all famous fashion designers do sometimes," he teased.
"Shouldn't you be writing a book?"
"Nice try, Brooke Davis, but I already did. What's your excuse?"
"I— shut up, Lucas." She bit her lip with a reluctant smile, and the two started laughing.
After the fun had subsided, Brooke spoke up again. "You know, I'm glad we can do this sort of thing."
"What?"
"Be friends."
The waves crashed against the shore, sending rolling booms across the dunes up to the party. But there was one figure alone on the sand, sitting with a peaceful sadness, staring across the endless black ocean.
He stepped lightly towards her bent form, and she looked up at him serenely.
"Is this beach taken?" he asked.
"There's plenty to go around."
"Don't worry," he said, sitting down, "I'm not going to ask you if you're ok."
"Good."
"Know any good jokes?"
"You're looking at one." She turned back to the ocean. "Why does everybody lie? You know, the bad guys lie to get in your bed, and the good guys," she turned to him savagely, "Lie to get in your heart."
He leaned back with a sigh, knowing his role.
"And I'm the idiot that falls for it every time."
"Brooke, you are not an idiot. Not even close. You know who you are. Most people don't. That's why they lie. They're afraid someone might find out who they are before they figure it out themselves."
They stared at each other for a long moment. "Lemme take you home."
"I can get home without a guy, thanks."
He nodded. "Ok." He began walking away.
"Wait." He turned back. "I really don't want to walk."
It was early morning when they got back to Brooke's house. She turned away from her house to face him as he shut off the car.
"So, thanks for breakfast. We should do this more often."
"Do what?"
"Be friends."
"We are friends."
"But we should BE friends."
"I'd like that."
"But no benefits."
He just laughed and watched her go.
"How're you and Peyton?"
The question pulled him from his thoughts, his fond memories. Brooke's face seemed genuinely interested, but for the first time in several years, Lucas thought he saw something more: curiosity? Concern? Maybe even… hope?
But, of course, he could have imagined it.
"Um, actually—"
"Uncle Lucas!" Suddenly, a small, multi-colored ball landed on Lucas's lap, a ball that soon turned out to be Jamie in his cape. "What are you doing here?"
"Providing backup," Lucas told him truthfully.
"Can we get ice cream?"
"Did you already?"
"No," said Jamie innocently. Lucas looked at an incredulous Brooke, but she quickly recovered herself.
"Uh, little genius boy, nice try. Instead of that, how about Uncle Lucas comes home for dinner? Is that good with you, Luke?" He nodded.
"Ok!" Jamie crawled off the bench.
"Why don't you go get your things, and we'll meet Uncle Lucas later?" Jamie nodded and hurried off to collect his toys.
"He's so damn innocent-looking, he could get you to buy him anything." Lucas laughed and shook his head. "Thanks for inviting me for tonight."
"Yeah, it's those eyes. They can make you tell him anything, even things you're not sure of yourself…"
Lucas tried to keep his expression blank (and he's not sure if he succeeded) as remembered the night before.
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The car eased quietly through the night, more gliding than driving. True, Peyton wanted to get to her destination, but something seemed to hold her back. Because of her indecision, she decided to coast the car to Nathan and Haley's where she knew Brooke was.
Her car… the Comet. Again, another silent proclamation of Lucas's love, whether he knew it or not. His first book had been a love letter to her; his second, allegory of their love.
Peyton knew Brooke wasn't attracted to Lucas, so it wasn't her fault. Peyton just wanted to talk to her, keep things clean. For now.
By the time she had finished her deliberations and set upon one, clear path, Peyton had arrived at Nathan and Haley's house. Parking the car, she stepped quietly to the porch, but decided it would be better to go around the back, so she wouldn't wake up Jamie if he was sleeping.
Luckily, she was rewarded. Peyton saw the soft glow from the kitchen window in the back, throwing golden light over the pool. She strode confidently to the back door, and that was when she saw them.
Brooke and Lucas sat next to each other at the table with Jamie, and all three were laughing. Brooke looked playfully over at Lucas, giving him a little punch on the shoulder. Very flirty, Peyton thought.
But that was fine. Lucas and Brooke were good friends, they were great at the brother-sister type thing, in Peyton's opinion. What was wrong was the way Brooke looked at him. A sort of appraising look, as if she was looking at him in a new light. A light Peyton didn't want there.
It was the picture of a perfect family; the warm kitchen, a table full of food (although it was all take-out and other fast food), laughing and talking, the loving couple… the loving couple.
Pain assailed Peyton's body as she stumbled away from the window. Hoping to not be seen, she ducked and lurched to the front of the house. That whore. Peyton couldn't believe Brooke was doing this, trying to steal Lucas away again. Brooke knew that Peyton loved him, but she still did things like this. This was her fault. It was Brooke fault that Lucas had left Peyton this morning. It felt good to place the blame on someone, to relieve her guilty shoulders.
For a long moment, she seriously considered going back and kicking Brooke's sorry— but no, she couldn't do that. Every time she thought about the two of them back there, a new wave of rolling nausea hit her, so Peyton jumped in her car with only one idea in mind.
I gotta get out of Tree Hill.