A/N: Just because i kind of wasn't clear in the last chapter the boy's name is Brody not Broody. It juts reminded Peyton a little bit of Broody, which irked her because she was 34 weeks pregnant and that's what Brooke called Lucas when they were dating.
August 25th. 2012
Tree Hill, North Carolina
Lucas, Peyton, Brody, Bailey and Avery Scott, and Derek Sommers' House
Peyton Scott opened her eyes as she had every morning since she and her husband brought their triplets home nearly two months ago. She turned around, still savoring the fact that she could do that, and check the clock. 3:30. A smile formed on her face as she realized that she had been up at this time yesterday, and the night before, always to go and feed the 'lets, as Brooke like to refer to them as. The smile disappeared as she realized what she was hearing. Nothing. No crying as there was every other night.
"Lucas?" Peyton sat up, turning to face her husband, about to shake him awake, when she realized that he was missing as well. Frowning, Peyton crawled out of bed, threw on an old sweatshirt over her Nada Surf tee shirt and shorts and headed out the door and directly across the hallway into Avery's room. She smiled as she found her daughter awake, just like every other night. She wasn't crying, Avery never cried, not like her sister, who would wail at the top of her lungs until Peyton or Lucas, or Brooke or Haley, or someone came running in, or Brody, who would scream and scream, no tears, until he got what he wanted. No, Avery just would sit there, waiting patiently for her mother or her father, her green eyes wide open, a smile on her face that always seemed to grow a little bit bigger when Peyton or Lucas walked into the room. "Hey baby girl." Peyton whispered, reaching into the crib and pulling her daughter out, running her hands quickly though Avery's curly brown hair. Avery was the only one of the triplets to have either Karen's brown hair, or Peyton's curls, or Peyton's green eyes. Both Bailey and Brody had fair, thin blonde hair and Lucas' electric blue eyes. "How are you?" Peyton cuddled her closer to her, smiling at the youngest of the three, and then she and Avery made their way through the dark hallway into Brody's room. She wasn't surprised to find it completely empty. Nor was she surprised to find Bailey's room empty. She laughed as she walked downstairs, careful not bump Avery as she walked into the living room and saw Lucas on the couch, Bailey in one arm, Brody in the other, both with a bottle of formula.
"I didn't think she was up." Lucas said, sliding over to make room for his wife, and kissing first her, then his daughter as she sat down, and then handing her a bottle of formula. "She wasn't crying."
"She doesn't cry Lucas. She's mommy's good little girl. She doesn't cry, she just waits patiently for her mom to come and get her every night, don't you." The little girl smiled, kind of, and her mother and father both smiled back. "How long have you been down here Lucas?"
"An hour, or so. And before you yell at me, I didn't want to wake you up, you've been up nearly twenty-four seven for the past two months, and you deserved the sleep. And Derek and I could handle it."
"Derek's up?"
"Yes, little sister, I am." Derek said, walking into the room with three blankets, one pink, one green and one blue. Peyton took the blue one, smiling as Avery immediately took it, despite the fact that they were straight from the wash. Brody took his without much of a fuss as well, but Bailey's blanket would have to sit in her room for a few hours before she would take it. "So, what are we going to be up to today?"
"We're going over to Nathan and Haley's. And you are taking a day off." Lucas said, laughing. "Stay here, come with us, but enjoy yourself. No babysitting." Since the triplets had been born Derek had officially become a nanny. With three kids, and two adults and two jobs he was becoming more of an angel everyday too.
Every morning Peyton and Lucas would get up with Bailey, Brody and Avery, get them breakfast and dress them. Peyton would head to work, leaving Lucas, Derek and Brody, Avery and Bailey alone until lunch, when she would come home. Lucas would try to get in some writing time between then and when he had leave to go over to the school for the pre-season team workouts. But Derek was always there, always taking care what couldn't be done by Lucas and Peyton, who wouldn't even be working, except there was now officially six people living in that house, and without Peyton working, and Lucas writing, the only source of income was from Lucas' published books.
But today was different. Today was Saturday and it was the day of Nathan and Haley's big end of summer party. School would be starting up next week, and then Lucas would have to be at work all day, and Peyton had to be back at work full time by next week as well. The label was having some major issues with Peyton only there for a few hours. So today was truly the last Saturday of summer, and it was the triplets' first big outing. They hadn't been out much, just because there hadn't been much to go out and do since they were born. And they had met all their friends, but they hadn't been with them all at once since the day they were born, so today was like a first time for that too.
Derek laughed, taking Bailey from Lucas. "How about I come with you today, and we can plan on me not doing anything, but if something comes up, I can help out?"
It was the best that Lucas and Peyton knew that they were going to get, so they rolled their eyes and nodded, laughing, then immediately quieting when they realized that all three babies were asleep. Quietly, each adult got up and took the babies up and laid them back into their crib, except for Peyton, Lucas found out, as he walked into his room and found Peyton curled up on the bed, Avery still in her arms.
"Blondie, what's going on with you?" Lucas asked, pulling both of his girls into his arms, and looking his wife in the eyes. 'I know you love her, but you barely let this kid out of your eyesight." Lucas looked over at his wife, who at yet to meet his gaze, and was still staring at their youngest daughter with a mix of sadness and wonder.
"She's just so damn quiet. Bailey and Brody, they just cry when they want something, just like every other kid does, but she doesn't. She just sit there and patiently waits for you to come and get her. She doesn't cry when I sit and hold Bailey, or when I put her down to go get Brody. She's so quiet, and I'm just afraid that if I don't keep her near me, I'm going to lose her."
Avery had been the smallest of the three babies when she was born, and though her brother and sister had both been born healthy; Avery had been the one who had been put on a respirator for two day because her lungs were underdeveloped. Avery was also the only one of the three kids who had inherited Lucas' HCM, and she had been on medication since she was born for that. And it scared Peyton, sitting outside the NICU, watching her daughter while her other two infants had been fine had scared Peyton, and Lucas, a lot. So it really was no secret why Peyton always had Avery with her, not to Lucas anyways.
"Hey, Peyton. She's fine. You know that. She's got the medicine, she's taking it."
"You were on your medicine when you had a heart attack."
"No, I wasn't Peyton. I didn't take it that night. You know that. And I know you love her, god knows I do too, but you've got to believe that she's going to be fine."
"Can she just stay with us tonight?" Peyton was almost pleading, and the worry in her eyes was so evident that it made Lucas want to cry.
"Yeah, sure Peyt." Lucas said, kissing the top of his head before he pulled his wife into a quick kiss before he fell back asleep, leaving his wife to watch their daughter for a few more minutes before she to fell back asleep.
8:00, on the dot, Peyton sighed as she opened her eyes and focused on the clock, only having to wait a few minutes before she heard the telltale screaming that meant Bailey and Brody were awake too. She looked down, checking to see if Avery was awake, and she was, her green eyes staring up into Peyton's.
"Well, come on little girl, let's go get your brother and sister." She swung out of bed and walked over into Bailey's room, knowing that she would cry the loudest if Peyton didn't get her. Her cries immediately stopped as she saw her mother and her sister enter the room. Peyton shifted Avery to one hip and picked Bailey up, pulling her on the other. She turned around, ready to make her way to Brody's room, and was surprised to see Lucas already in the hallway, his son in his arms.
"Morning Blondie." He said, laughing, "And what are you doing?"
"Well, I was going to go get Brody, before you so nicely did that for me, husband." Peyton said laughing as she and Lucas walked down the stairs until they had reached the first floor, and all three babies were put into the reclining high chairs that Brooke had discovered a month ago, and the formula was made.
"May I ask exactly how you were going to get Brody? You had Avery in one arm and Bailey in the other."
"I hadn't gotten to that yet." Peyton said, frowning as Lucas handed her a warmed bottle. She turned around and was surprised, and extremely thankful, to see Derek standing behind her. He took the bottle out of her hand and then picked up Bailey. As he began to feed her he wandered around, managing to pour himself a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk as he held her. "I think he's better at the parenting thing then we are." Peyton said, looking at her brother and her oldest daughter. "And I think that's a problem."
Derek laughed. "No, Peyton. I'm just the uncle." He laughed again as he sat down at the table, Bailey still in his arms. Peyton sighed, turning around and taking another warmed bottle off the counter and picking up Brody before he started to cry. Lucas had Avery in his arms, he always was the one to give her her medicine, and he mixed it into her bottle before he gave that to her and then joined the rest of his family at the table.
"So, it's nine o'clock." He started, looking at his wife.
"And we have to be at Haley and Nathan's by eleven, so I figured that if we gave the babies a bath and then dressed them, that should leave us enough time do get ready ourselves?" Peyton said, looking over at Avery. Lucas took the hint and he put her down in her recliner, taking Brody from Peyton as she took Avery from her recliner.
"Derek and I will do the baths, you can dress them?" Lucas said, looking once again at Peyton.
"Sounds good. Use our bathroom, it had the soap in it."
Lucas nodded and then got up, handing Brody from to her while he cleared the table off.
"How's my little boy?" Peyton asked, looking at her son. He looked a lot like Lucas, he had the same hair and the same eyes, and they just acted the same. She placed a light kiss to her sons forehead and then got up, Derek and Lucas both following her as they made their way up into the master bathroom.
Avery got her bath first, and as soon as she was clean she was handed off to Peyton who brought her down the hall and into her bedroom. She smiled as she put Avery down on the changing table and walked over to her closet. True to her word as soon as Brooke had found out there were tow girls and a boy, all three closets had been stuffed with a combination of Brooke's own designs and other designer clothes, and then the clothes that Peyton and Lucas had picked up at the mall. But she knew Brooke would kill her if she knew that, so she found one of the outfits Brooke had designed and pulled it out. It was a cute body suite with a purple monkey on it and matching pants, and it looked adorable, Peyton though as she dressed her daughter, and it, thanks to Brooke, came with matching socks, shoes, a hat, and even a blanket. Peyton smiled, picking the little girl up and then placed her and the blanket into the crib before she made her way back into the bathroom where she found Derek holding Bailey.
She smiled as she picked up her daughter and walked into the "Pink Room". She knew Bales would cry if she put her down, so she kept her on one hip as she went through that closet as well, settling on a pink, red and white polka dotted dress and hat. She dressed her, smiling and talking as she dressed the little princess. When she was done she put her back into her crib, and hurrying to turn on the only music that could stop her daughter from crying. She shuddered as the Chris Keller CD came on. She still blamed Brooke and that ridicules song that she was playing when they were naming her for that. The song came on before Bailey could cry and Peyton kissed her on the forehead, smiling as she handed her the matching blanket and then walked out of the room, grabbing Brody from Derek's arms in the hallway outside the bathroom.
"Thank you." She said, hugging him. 'You are the best brother in the entire world." Peyton laughed and so did Derek as he made his way down to his room to get dressed and ready for the party. Brody was the easiest to dress, probably because Peyton had known that he was wearing the green leaf shorts, the body suite that had "ROAR!" on it and the tiny green hoddie on it since the day that she had first seen it. It was absolutely adorable and, once again thanks to Brooke being amazing, there was a pair of matching socks shoes and the matching blanket, he was completely dressed. Peyton placed him gently in his crib, and she turned off the lights, seeing as he was already nearly asleep. He too liked to be left with sounds, but he preferred basketball games, so Peyton pushed in a CD of Mouth's pod casts from the Raven's games that he had given Lucas and Peyton and pressed play, smiling as she saw her son close his eyes.
Slowly, she made her way back to Avery's room, checking to see if she was asleep. She wasn't. Her green eyes were open. Smiling, she walked over to the CD player that was in her room and slid in a CD that she knew would at least relax her daughter. She even relaxed a bit as Haley's voice filled the room, singing a cover of Sarah McLachlan's Elsewhere. It was specially recorded for Avery after Peyton and Haley had noticed that it put her to sleep one day when they were fooling around in the studio. And ever since then Peyton had played it every night, and it always put her to sleep, much as it was doing now. Peyton turned around to see her daughter nearly asleep. Kissing her quickly, Peyton left the room, softly closing the door before she made her way back to her bedroom.
"They dressed?" Lucas asked as he was getting dressed himself. He slid into the pair of beige cargo shorts and the polo and then pulled his wife into his arms. "You look beautiful this morning, by the way."
"Thank you, I don't, but thank you anyways. And yeah, they're all dressed and asleep."
"Lovely." He leaned in to kiss her. She kissed back, but only for a second before she pulled back. "And you always look gorgeous."
"I have to take a shower and get dressed. We have to be there in a half hour." She sighed as she said this. There was no way that they were going to make it on time. Lucas laughed, but he let her go, and she took about the quickest shower ever, and she was downstairs, dressed in a pair of jeans and one of Brooke's shirts, with Avery and her carrier in one arm and Brody in the other. Lucas was carrying Bailey's carrier and Derek had the food, and he was getting the car. She frowned as the SUV pulled up. She never got over seeing that thing. It was just momish. She missed her Comet. Not that they had gotten rid of it. It was still in the driveway, just not so used.
Derek got out and slid open one of the back doors, taking in the baby carriers one by one and buckling them into the car. Lucas and Peyton then slid into the front seats, and they were on their way. And more importantly, they were actually on time.
But everyone else was still there by the time that Lucas and Peyton pulled up to Nathan and Haley's house. Everyone but Karen and Andy, who hadn't shown up yet, though they were supposed to have gotten into town two hours before, they discovered after they had all made it into the house. As soon as they had gotten in Haley had taken Bailey from Lucas, and Nathan had taken Lucas out to help grill. Skills, the ever so fun uncle had grabbed Brody, and he, Jamie and the youngest Scott boy were, as far as Peyton knew, watching basketball in the living room. Everyone knew about Peyton and her reluctance to leave Avery, so no one, not even Brooke, asked to take her. So Peyton, still holing Avery, minus the carrier, which had been discarded in Jamie's room, Brooke, Haley, holding Bailey, and Millie, were all sitting in the living room, talking while Nathan, Lucas Derek and Owen cooked. As far as Peyton knew, Rachel was setting the table and the boys were still watching the game.
Despite Lucas and Nathan having never barbequed as kids, they were both amazing at it now, and it showed as they plated the steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs and brought them to the table. And despite their lack of a father, they were both amazing at that too, and as soon as they were done plating the adults' food they were both in the kitchen, Lucas warming the bottles and Nathan constructing the perfect bowl of Mac and Cheese for his son.
As soon as all the food was cooked and out on the table, and Brooke, Lucas and Peyton each had an infant to feed, grace was said, and the adults began to eat. It was only a few minutes after the food had been served that Brooke, obviously unable to contain her self stood up.
"Okay, everyone, Chase and I have an announcement to make." Leave it to Brooke to make a big spectacle out of what every she was going to say, Peyton though, smiling at her best friend, frowning when she felt something vibrate up against her.
"Lucas," She whispered, catching his attention and interrupting Brooke, which got her an extremely dirty look from her best friend. "Your phone." He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID.
"Brooke, it's my mom." Lucas said, looking up at her, waiting for a quick answer.
"Fine." Brooke said, scowling as Lucas flipped open the phone and got up.
"Brooke, why don't you tell us your news anyways, then you can tell Lucas when he gets back." Haley suggested, immediately cheering her friend up.
"Yeah," Mouth added, I have some news too, so how about we both say it now, and then we'll fill Luke in later."
"Okay, you first." Brooke smiled, standing back up and shifting Bailey's position in her arms as she pulled Chase up with her.
"You first." Mouth replied, as he and Millie stood up.
"Fine." Brooke smiled before she began. "Chase and I are getting married."
"And I got a job as a sportscaster, in Omaha."
There was stunned silence as everyone attempted to digest the information, and just as it looked like someone was about to say something. Lucas walked in, tears running down his face.
"There was an accident. My mom and Andy and Lilly, they're in the hospital. It doesn't look good."
A/N: Don't hate me. Please. Review and tell me what you think. 52 reviews would make my week! Which reminds me. I don't own One Tree Hill, or any of the characters. I do however call full claims on Avery, Brody and Bailey. And I don't own the clothes either… Thanks!