thanks guys so glad you appreciate the slowly but surely increasing clarity... is eugenia nathan's? hahah... you'll just have to see...thanks. pls cont to read n review. this chpt will hold some clues to the mystery of the story's beginnings - breyton, brucas and understanding leyton! enjoy!

the worst day since i dunno when

'How'd your godfather take it?' Shane said putting down his tray of meatloaf.

'Not so good,' Eugenia said chewing furiously on her carrot stick. She stuffed a french fry vigorously into her mouth.

'Stop murdering your food please,' Shane said laughing good-naturedly and playfully knocking her food out of her hand.

'Shane! This is terrible!' she said grumpily. 'How can you joke about this?'

'They'll get over it…' he said putting his hands behind his head. 'It's probably some old basketball rivalry or something.'

'Lukey told me to never see you again.'

This got Shane's attention, he sat up and looked straight into his girlfriend's pretty but sad eyes.

'And what'd you say?' he asked.

'I said I couldn't… that I l…'

'That I…'

Shane looked at her eagerly.

'I.. liked you a lot. And that he couldn't order me around I wasn't a child,' she said resolutely.

'Oh,' Shane replied. 'Well, what'd he say?'

'He didn't say anything. He just went off into his study, the same way he always does whenever he gets upset.'

'Oh,' Shane said. 'My dad does the same thing. He's usually really noisy and active, but when he gets upset he just goes off into his study and broods…'

'Like when he fights with your mum?'

'Hmm… nope,' he said. 'He and mum never fight.'

'Never?' she asked, a little shocked.

'Yeah…' he said scratching his head. 'Not as far as I can remember anyway.'

'Well Lukey's never noisy but he was really upset this time…' she said sadly.

'How can you tell?' he asked.

'He didn't come out, the whole night,' she said. 'When I woke up in the morning he was still in there, with the door bolted. It was awful.'

'Oh no…. you alright?' he said ruffling her hair gently.

She nodded and swallowed. They both ate their food in silence for the next few moments. Eugenia couldn't help but wonder what had happened to make them so angry with each other. And at the mention of her parents' name, Mr. Scott had looked shocked but also, in his eyes there was something much more than sadness.

Grieved, devastated, he looked practically in pain.

The way she used to feel… which reminded her…

'Hey Shane can you come over to my place after school?' she asked.

'Won't your godfather be there?' he wondered.

'Nope, he has to go out of town for some publication stuff, he told me last week. Besides I have something important to show you.'

'Ooooh I can't wait…'

----------------------------------

'Brooke?' Peyton gripped the sides of the doorway. Slowly, little by little, this had become almost the worst day of her life.

Almost.

'I've missed you so P.Sawyer!' Brooke reached forward and before Peyton could stop her, she had engulfed her into one of her familiar hugs. 'I heard it's P. Scott now though huh?'

Peyton nodded, her head spinning.

'And you have two little 'uns… that's so great for you!'

Peyton nodded and struggled to formulate the words. 'How'd… how'd you know?'

'Oh Luke told me.'

I wonder how much he's told you, Peyton thought to herself.

'So you gonna invite me in?' Brooke said cheekily.

Wordlessly Peyton moved out of the way and ushered her high school best friend into the living room. She made some noise fetching the ice tea but at last placed the jug and two glasses firmly on the centre of the table.

'So how've you been!' Brooke gushed.

'I've been erm.. okay I guess,' Peyton answered cautiously.

'I've wanted to come so many times,' Brooke said. 'But I've never got round to it you know… I'm sorry Peyton…'

Peyton sipped her ice tea and nodded, wondering how many more minutes of idle chatter she had to endure before it would be polite to suggest her leaving. She mentally did the sums in her mind, would 10 minutes be sufficient of 15?

'Well the truth is, I didn't want to come back,' Brooke said suddenly.

At this Peyton was forced to put down her glass and look up.

'I couldn't, it… it's so long it's all in the past now, but now.. now we can start over right P?' Brooke said clasping Peyton's hand in her own.

Peyton resisted the urge to pull away and gave a feeble nod.

It seemed the appropriate time to say something but all that filled the air was the awkward silence of two people who had long since ceased to be friends.

'So how's your love life?' she choked out at last.

'Oh I'm fine!' Brooke gushed. 'I'm married… to a model actually. You know that I'm designing full time for Victoria's Secret lingerie line now? So I actually met this model 5 years ago and we got married just like that! He's really wonderful… his name's Stan.'

Another awkward silence. Model, clothes, fashion, marriage… what was the appropriate thing to ask!

'Any kids?'

'Nope,' Brooke said. 'I… well, after the miscarriage the doctor said I might not have any more children. Some complications and stuff, you know? And after rehab I guess I didn't even feel ready to adopt or any of that stuff so…. well… yeah.'

'Oh,' Peyton said. 'Were you… Were you, I mean, erm… okay after it?'

'After the miscarriage? No babe I was a mess,' Brooke gave a sad smile.

'That's why I took to drinking. And then the rehab after it to get over the alcoholism. Poor Lucas, he had to help me through all of that, and then the moving around. It seemed that wherever I went it reminded me of something that I'd lost… and coming back to Tree Hill was out of the question. It was only in the past few years that I'd even dared to think of coming back.' Brooke gave a weary laugh. 'It took some getting over you remember I always wanted a big family? But Stan and I we're alright…'

And for the first time, Peyton finally realised, she finally realised what had happened. She sat there unable to move, unable to speak, until she realised that Brooke had stood up to leave.

'I'd best be going P, Stan's waiting for me at the café,' she said cheerily. 'But don't be a stranger alright?'

Peyton nodded silently as she opened the door for her. She watched her lithe figure walk down her front porch and off into the sunlight.

'Brooke!' she shouted suddenly. Brooke turned around and smiled in a friendly manner. Peyton gulped down and spoke. 'I'm sorry… for everything…'

Brooke smiled back. 'I'm sorry too…'

With that she turned around and walked away as Peyton stood on her front porch staring at the sky in speechless wonder.