Thanks for the reviews. I was going to hold on to this chapter a bit longer to explain some cancer facts in more detail but right now I just don't have much time and I want to get this story moving along. I've got each chapter outlined now and now I just have to write them :) But if there is anything that you want to see in this story, let me know. Anyways, hope you like this chapter and the rest of the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything OTH related

Chapter 2

"Peyton!" Lucas yelled form the bottom of the steps, "They're here!"

"I'll be right down!" she replied from somewhere in the bedroom.

Lucas opened the front door of the house. Holding Aiden in his arms, they watched as Jake, Lauren and Jenny all got out of the car. Aiden pointed at the familiar visitors as Lauren crawled into the back seat of the car to get Jacob out of the car seat while Jake and Jenny disappeared behind the car. Lucas smiled at the happy family of four. He remembered the day Jake and Lauren had met.

FLASHBACK

Lucas uneasily propped himself up in the hospital bed trying to get comfortable on the hard mattress.

"Careful, man," Jake said from the chair that was beside bed, "You don't want to break your other arm,"

Jake had returned to Tree Hill about eight years ago with sole custody of Jenny from Nikki. It had taken him a while to find his daughter but once he did, the court proceedings went quickly in his favor. Nikki had been charged with perjury and resisting arrest.

"Funny," Lucas replied bitterly.

They had been down at the Rivercourt playing a game of pick up when Lucas slipped awkwardly and fell on his arm.

"Did you call Peyton?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, she's on her way,"

"Dude, I told you to tell her not to come down. You know she hates hospitals,"

Jake shrugged and joked, "I tried but I guess she just loves you more,"

Right on cue, the door to the room swung open and Peyton briskly walked over to Lucas's side. The worried look on her face disappeared when she finally saw with her own eyes that he was ok.

"Hey," she kissed his forehead, "How's the arm?"

"Better now that you're here,"

Jake groaned as he stood up. If things were going to get lovey-dovey between the two, he didn't want to be in the room. "I'm gonna get a soda or something. You guys want anything?"

Lucas and Peyton shook their heads 'no'.

"Hey, Jake. Thanks for taking care of him," Peyton said.

"No problem, I'm used to taking care of babies," he winked and walked out of the room.

Jake walked down a random hall, trying to find a vending machine or the cafeteria. He quietly hummed an old tune as he walked down the empty hallway. Nearing the end of the hallway, Jake slowed his pace down as he decided which way to turn – left or right. As he looked to the left, he felt someone walk right into him.

Instinctively, he grabbed the women's shoulders gently to steady her, "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the women in purple scrubs replied. "I just wasn't paying attention,"

Jake smiled at the brunette as their eyes locked. She caught his charming gaze. Slowly his hands released her. When she couldn't feel his hands on her she suddenly remembered that she was in a hurry. Quickly and somewhat nervously she bent down to pick up the files she had dropped.

"Let me help you with that," Jake knelt down and helped gathered the manila folders.

"Thank you," she replied politely.

"My name's Jake, by the way," he handed a couple of folders to her.

"Nice to meet you, Jake. I'm Lauren,"

END FLASHBACK

"You haven't told Jake anything have you?" Peyton asked as Lauren drove them to Tree Hill Memorial.

Lauren shook her head, "I know you probably wouldn't have told me if I hadn't seen you at the hospital and since you haven't told Lucas about it…I figured you weren't ready to tell anyone yet,"

"Thanks," she replied quietly, "and thanks for being there with me for all those tests and for today. I really appreciate it,"

"Peyton, you don't have to thank me. We're friends and I'm going to be here for you. We're all her for you…Lucas, Jake, Rachel, Brooke and Haley,"

"I know…but I just don't want to scare anyone. I mean it might be nothing, right?"

Lauren gave Peyton a hopeful smile and nodded.

"Besides, I want to talk to Lucas first before I do anyone else. He should be the first to know,"

"So you and Peyton getting much sleep lately?" yawned Jake, "Cause with Jacob crying all night, I'm lucky if I get an hour in. Seriously man, I don't remember Jenny fussing so much,"

While the girls went 'shopping' for the day, the men stayed home and watched the kids. Lucas and Jake were outside at the BBQ grilling hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. Jenny was in the house watching TV and the two toddlers.

Lucas laughed, "Nah, Aiden sleeps right through the night. He must get it from Peyton. They both love their sleep…except for the past couple of weeks," his voice trailed off.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure," Lucas flipped over a hamburger on grill. He watched the flames erupt momentarily as the juices and oils from the meat dripped down. "It's just that Peyton hasn't been sleeping much the past couple of weeks…and when she doesn't sleep, I can't sleep,"

"Is everything ok with you guys?"

"Yeah, I mean as far as I can tell it is," Lucas stared off and thought for a moment, "You know it all started two Saturdays ago when she was late for a meeting,"

"A meeting on a Saturday?" Jake questioned.

"Yeah, that's what I said…but I trust her. It's not like her to lie, you know,"

His long time friend agreed, "Have you talked to her about it since?"

Lucas shook his head.

"Maybe it's nothing. She hasn't been acting weird still has she?"

"Besides not sleeping…no. She goes to her regular meetings as usual; she comes home, takes care of Aiden, cooks…"

"Well, she and Lauren have been spending more time together lately. Do you want me to talk to her to see if anything's up?"

The last thing he wanted to do was to snoop behind his wife's back, but he had to know if she was ok or not. "Yeah, I just need to know if Peyton's ok,"

"Hey, maybe it really was just a meeting that sucked but she's over it now," Jake tried comfort his friend.

"Yeah, I hope so,"

"Hi, Peyton," Dr. Shaw greeted as she closed the door for some privacy. She took a seat behind her desk.

"Hi, Dr. Shaw," Peyton replied politely, "This is my friend, Lauren,"

"Nice to meet you, Lauren,' Dr. Shaw warmly welcomed. She then turned her attention back to Peyton, "I received all of the tests that you did last week and reviewed each test carefully,"

Peyton's hands gripped the arms of the chairs so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her heart beat faster and faster as each second past, waiting for the results of the test. Although Lauren had placed her hand on top of Peyton's to offer some support, it still didn't calm her nerves or offer any comfort.

She kept her eyes on Dr. Shaw's face and saw the sudden change in her face as she started to reveal the results. Her face was no longer warm and happy. Although the doctor tried to remain optimistic, the solemn look in her eyes gave it away.

"The pathology report indicated that the tumor found in your right breast is cancerous…"

Dr. Shaw continued explaining each test result but Peyton didn't hear a single thing after she heard 'cancerous'. She couldn't believe what she had heard. The chances of her inheriting the cancerous gene was 10 - one in ten chances. The odds were low but not low enough. Peyton had inherited the aggressive gene from Ellie.

"What stage is it?" Peyton heard Lauren ask.

"It's in early stage II," Dr. Shaw replied seriously.

Stage II meant that the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes.

"The good news," Dr. Shaw continued, "is that your pathology report indicates that the cancer cell has not spread into the blood stream. I know this is a lot for you to handle, Peyton, but given your genetic history, I would like to start treatment as soon as possible. The best option is to schedule in for radiation and chemotherapy,"

"Both?" Peyton was surprised.

Dr. Shaw nodded, "Radiation treats the cancer locally while chemo attacks the cancer as a whole body – it's also as precaution in case cancer cells manage to find a way you're your bloodstream. Using both treatments will also have a greater impact on the cancer,"

"So if I do the treatment, it'll be in remission?"

"Best case scenario, yes…if not, then we'll do another round and increase the strength,"

"Exactly how many rounds are we talking about?"

"To be honest, there is no answer right now. Each cancer case is different. Some respond well to treatment and others require more intense therapy. The important thing to remember is that it was detected early. This greatly increases your odds,"

Odds. Chances. Probabilities. Everything right now was just a number game. Peyton's life was now based on statistics and knowing that didn't comfort her at all.

Groggily, with sleep still in his eyes, Lucas carefully made his way down the wooden stairs. He squinted at the bright light that came from the room down the hall. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the lit environment and finally focused on his wife. Her back was to him as she was sitting at the dining room table in front of piles of papers and a calculator. Peyton was oblivious to his presence and continued to punch away at the calculator, only stopping to jot down a few numbers.

"Peyton," Lucas finally said.

She turned around and flashed him a quick smile, "Hey,"

"What are you doing? It's 4 in the morning," he peered over her shoulder and saw that she was going over their ledger.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," she replied as she went back to work.

"So you decided to go over our budget?"

Peyton shrugged, "It's like counting sheep, I guess,"

Lucas sighed. He couldn't ignore his intuition anymore, something was definitely going on with Peyton. Kneeling down beside her, Lucas then carefully pushed her chair out and turned it to face him. With nothing but concern in his face he asked, "What's really going on here, Peyt?"

"I..." she stammered, "I...I think we should move,"

"Move?"

She nodded her head.

Lucas contemplated for a moment then he couldn't beleive it. But it would explain her unusal behavior, her meeting Lauren for lunch at the hospital, her going over their budget and the sudden talk about moving. The more his thought about, the bigger his grin got, "Peyton, we don't have to move. Our house is big enough for another..."

"No, I mean we need a smaller place," she said quietly, "We'll have a smaller mortgage to pay off and we'll save on hydro, gas..."

Confusion took over him, "Money isn't a problem. I mean we both make enough. I mean maybe it wasn't expected but we'll manage. We always do," he smiled, "We can just turn the guest room into another nursery..."

"Lucas, I'm not..."

He gently placed his hand over her lower abdomen, not hearing what she was saying, "This is so great! I can't believe we're have another one on the way already,"

When the shock wore off, Peyton harshly pulled his hand off her and abruptly stood up from the chair. She walked to the other side of the room and leaned on the buffet table for support. Her eyes were squeezed tight, trying to hold it all in.

"Peyton...I don't understand. I thought you'd be happy about being pregnant,"

"Lucas, stop, please," she said softly.

"I mean you always said you wanted more kids,"

"I'm not pregnant!" Peyton finally yelled out. She put her hands to her face. Even her own outburst surprised her but she couldn't take it anymore. She did want to have more kids with Lucas. They had also wanted to adopt. They had a plan for their lives that saw them growing old together. But all of that felt like it was slowly slipping away.

Lucas saw her shoulder begin to shake as she started to cry. He quickly crossed the room and put his hands on her shoulder. The instant she felt his touch, Peyton turned and buried her face into his shoulder and broke down for the first time since she found the lump in her breast.

"Hey, it's ok...shh," As he held her, the concern in him continued to grow. It was also beginning to frighten him. Pulling back a bit, he lifted her chin to face him, "Tell me what's wrong. Just talk to me, please"

"Lucas..." she couldn't help but to avoid his eyes, "I have...I have breast cancer," Her voice cracked.

Much like she was when she found out, Lucas stood in place, frozen. How? Why Peyton? What was going to happen? Unanswered questions flew through his mind and iIf it weren't for Peyton crying on his shoulder, he probably would have broken down himself but he had to remaing strong. Waking from his reverie he held her close and made up his mind. They were going to fight the horrible disease and they were going to win. He wasn't going to give up nor was he going to lose his wife, the mother of his child, so easily.

"I'm scared," she whispered through her crying.

"I know. I am too," Lucas cupped her face and placed a kiss on the center of her forehead before he rested his forehead on hers, "But we're going to get through this together. We're going to beat it. We're going to beat it,"

She had to beat it because he couldn't live his life without her.