A/N: Slight 6.01 spoilers
October 4th, 2012
Tree Hill, North Carolina
Red Bedroom Records
Peyton Scott forced her head down to her desk, burying her head in her arms as she listened to yet another demo. This one was startlingly similar to the one before that. And the one before that, not that the music itself was remotely similar, they just had the same feel to them. Both just felt wrong. Neither had a good message (in fact, Peyton was nearly positive that one actually was promoting drugs), and they just had an unfinished feel. Both demos made their way into the trash and the blonde producer mindlessly pushed another CD into her stereo, confused when she heard not melodies, but wails. And not the normal wails that young bands and artists tended to produce, but infant wails. Her eyes flickered over to the playpen and the bassinette in the next room over, and her overwhelmed looking assistant, who was currently trying to organize the constantly incoming demo's, schedule a lunch meeting with a few promising bands, update Mia on her record sales, and on top of that, she was juggling two infants.
Peyton got up, a smile on her face on as she muted her stereo and pulled her blonde hair out of a messy bun, running her hand through it before she walked out the door and laughing, took Avery out of her assistants hands, balancing the now smiling infant on hip before she took Sawyer out of the bassinette and placed him in her other arm. God, that kid had a pair of lungs on him. It was absolutely amazing how much he could cry.
This was only Lindsay's second day back in the office since Sawyer Rowan Strauss had been born on September 5th, 2012. And apparently, she was "Out with Mia's Press Secretary, Call if SRS needs anything. Be back by one.", at least, according to the note taped onto the door to Lindsay's new office, that's where she was. And it was just nearing twelve thirty.
The thought of the time immediately perked Peyton up, as she realized that she only had two and a half more hours until she could go home, and properly celebrate her anniversary with her husband, when he got home from practice, at least. She had the entire night planned perfectly, just her and Lucas for the night. Brooke and Chase were going to be watching Avery, Bailey and Brody for the night, and Lindsay and Sawyer, along with Derek, who much to Lucas and Peyton, and probably Lindsay's, amazement, and amusement, had become really close with Lindsay, and spent more time with her these days, then he did with Peyton. But no matter what everyone else was doing tonight, Peyton knew exactly what she and Lucas were going to be doing.
But she knew she still had about fifty demo's to go though before she could even contemplate leaving, so she quickly brought a now sleeping Sawyer back into the front room and placed him carefully in his bassinette, just in time to hear someone walk into the door. She would have known the voice in an instant, and she knew that was all it would take for her to have a screaming headache. An instant.
"Hello John." She sighed, turning around to face her ex-boss and her first artists' new producer. "Can I help you?"
Obviously, he was ignoring her flippant attitude as he walked closer to her. "You know," he started, looking at the light blue bassinette and the playpen in the corner, "Babies aren't the best thing to have when you walk into a label's office. Tiny infants tend to scare away hard rockers. And they cry." As if on cue a small whimper was heard from Peyton's office. She was hesitant to bring John into her office, or anywhere near her daughter, but seeing as she knew Mia needed him, she rolled her eyes and held the door to her personal office open, letting John walk in. The blonde hurriedly walked over to where her daughter was lying on the floor, on one of the quilts that Peyton had gotten from Karen, Peyton side up, and scooped her into her arms, hushing the small infant as she rocked her quietly in her arms. She was just about to sit down and figure out what on earth her ex-boss from hell could possibly want from her when her husband burst though the doors, face red, dressed in his Raven's Coach tee, with one baby carrier in each hand.
"Hi Lucas." Peyton laughed, rolling her eyes at her disheveled looking husband of one year, today. "Nice of you to drop by."
"I'm sorry Peyt, I didn't know you were in a meeting-" He started, looking over at John, who was comfortably sitting in his seat, watching the entire scene with a smirk on his face.
"Don't worry about it." Peyton smiled, getting up and walking over to him, Avery still in her arms as she quickly kissed him. "Happy Anniversary."
"You too, wifey." He laughed, kissing the top of her head. "You like the flowers?" He gestured to the overflowing vase of yellow Celandine's.
"They're beautiful Luke." She nodded smiling at him, John all but forgotten.
"They're supposed to represent joys to come, so I thought they'd be appropriate." He smiled, thinking of all the anniversaries after this one that they would share.
"I know." Peyton admitted, sheepishly. "I googled them this morning, when I probably should have been looking at demo's. So thanks to you, and your overly thoughtful gestures, it's going to be a little later than I thought when I get home."
"That's okay; actually, I was just coming over to tell you that I don't know when I'll be home." Lucas admitted.
"What happened?" Peyton noticed now that they're was a look of worry in her husband's eyes, and that Bailey was with him, when she was supposed to be with Brooke today, "Is Broke okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. There was a meeting that she had to go to and she was running late and she felt awful leaving Bailey with Millie, even though Millie said she would watch her, so I went over and picked her up an hour ago. No, actually, I have go to the hospital." He watched Peyton's eyes pop opened with fear and he kissed her, reassuringly. "Q did something stupid I guess and I need to go over there and talk with his doctor about playing and, I just don't know how long this is going to take. But I promise you that I will be home tonight."
"Lucas, don't worry about it. I know you just got everything worked out with your suspension and this had got to be awful. I'll just head over to Haley's tonight."
Lucas looked absolutely appalled at the thought, "You, Peyton Scott will do no such thing. I will be home by five. And I'm going to leave you to your meeting so that you can be home too."
"At least let me take Brody and Bailey. You don't need to be carrying them around a hospital."
Lucas nodded, "If you're sure… I love you Peyt."
"Love you too Lucas." She smiled, watching her husband walk out of her office, leaving her with her three children and John. She quickly pulled out her cell, calling Haley and quickly asked her to pick Lilly up from school with Jamie. Once that was taken care of she picked up both baby carriers and Avery and walked back over to her desk area, digging around in the small closet before she found what she was looking for, three small infant rockers. She was well aware that John was probably laughing his ass off as she quickly set up all three seats well keeping tabs on all three four month olds. But it wasn't as if she hadn't done this before. There was a reason that these were the bouncers that she kept in her office. The were custom made, and of course from Brooke, and even though Peyton disliked using overly expensive things for her kids, these were just something that she couldn't say no to. They were easy to set up, east to store, and they looked cute. They were actually from Mia, Haley and Brooke, and each one had the signature of one artist that she loved. Bailey's had Haley's Avery's had Mia's and somehow or another, they had gotten Jake's on Brody's. She laughed quietly as she brought all three chairs over to her desk, sliding a near asleep Brody into one, rolling her eyes at the miniature Raven jersey that she was sure Brooke had had made for him. She had an awful habit of buying her children new clothes every chance that she could. She slid Bailey into her bouncer next, making sure that it was close enough to her foot that Peyton could rest her ankle on the edge and gently rock the baby, making sure that she didn't cry. Avery stayed in her arms.
"Well, congratulations are in order, I guess." John said, smirking at Peyton as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Well, thank you." She didn't sound extremely grateful.
"Don't I get an introduction?"
She rolled her eyes again as she quickly gave each infants name to John, sighing when he asked yet another question. "And the little boy outside?"
"His names' Sawyer Rowan and he's my PR Consultant's newborn. She's out at a meeting and should be back any minute. Now, if we're done with the formalities, can you please tell me what you are doing here in the first place?"
"Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer." John sighed, shaking his head.
"It's Scott now." Peyton bit back, scowling at him. "Peyton Scott."
"Very well then. Scott. I didn't come down to be a problem. I just have a demo for you. The artist sent it to me, to give to you. I guess he didn't realize that you are no longer an employee of Sire Records." There was a bitter note laced through the entire statement, and Peyton smirked as she realized why.
"Or maybe he wanted to embarrass you by making you realize that I am doing something good here. I being successful and I'm doing it the right way, with no buttons undone." Peyton smirked, but it left her face when she realized that he wasn't. He was sitting across from her, gazing at her children, at her left hand, and at the picture of her and Lucas and the kids, and then the one right next to it with Haley, Nathan, Jamie, Brooke, Chase, Derek, Rachel, Owen, Lindsay, herself, Lucas, the three kids, Lilly, Deb, Skills, Mouth and Millicent. He was still silent when he got up and made his way around the desk, and Peyton instinctually moved herself so that she was standing in front of her kids, until she looked up and saw his face.
It was completely shrouded in sadness, and pity, and if Peyton hadn't have known what an ass he was, she would have almost felt sorry for the man.
"Look," he began, moving back to his seat. "I didn't just come down here to give you that demo, you're right. I came down here to offer you a position back at Sire Records. And we want you back Sawy- Scott. But I need to tell you something before I ask you, because I know that I've pretty much been an ass to you since the day you started your internship. But I need you to listen to me, because I see a lot of promise in you, and I know that you could come out to LA and do amazing things for the music industry. But before you even consider the offer, and all its benefits, and the money and the fame and the concerts I just need you to know that you've got it. You have what people spend their entire lives searching for. You have a husband who loves you, not who loves you and his other girlfriend, or a husband who loves how you look and how you are in bed, but who sends corny flowers with special meanings to you on your anniversary. You have three kids who are the cutest kids I've ever seen, well, not on television, and friends who care about each other. So, yeah, you could do great things for the music industry in LA, but you can do good things for it here and more than that, you can do amazing things for your family here. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to leave now, and I'm going to back to LA. And then I'm going to tell the board that you refused to see me and that I left the demo for you, but if they wanted to offer you a job, they should send someone who you don't hate. And then, someone'll be in touch. And don't get me wrong, this job is an amazing opportunity that will open up hundreds of door for you. So think about it. And then make the right choice." John finished up, looking up to meet Peyton's gaze, and laughing at her stunned expression. "What? I was a good guy once upon a time, just ask my ex-wife, and my kid. It's the once upon a time that kills you though." He threw one last smile Peyton's way before he got up, tossed a demo on her desk and then left.
"John?" Peyton said tentatively, "Thank you, for everything you may not have been the bets person to me, but no one will ever be able to say that you weren't the one who made me into someone who could survive in the business, even if doing becoming that person nearly killed me. And I'll listen to the demo."
"Thanks Scott. And I swear to god, if you ever tell anyone we had this conversation, I will kill you." And then he turned on his heals and walked out of the office, leaving only the demo and Peyton's memories as evidence of his visit.
Peyton was still in a slightly shocked, and now slightly nervous mood, though that emotion was for an entire different reason, when she got home later that afternoon, alone. Bailey, Brody and Avery were at Brooke's house for the night; well, at least until Peyton called crying for her babies, as Lucas, Brooke, Haley and Chase were all betting would happen. She changed quickly out of the deep purple dress she had been wearing for work and into a white blouse pair of dark jeans, heading quickly into the office, where Lucas' anniversary present sat, waiting to be wrapped. She smiled as she looked once again at the framed drawings. She knew that it wasn't what most men would like for their one year anniversary, but after the year that they'd had, she knew that her husband would absolutely love the hand drawn pictures of Avery, Brody, Bailey and Lilly, of her and Lucas, of just her, and one of their entire group of friends that was actually a copy of the one that sat on her desk. She pulled the wrapping paper out and began meticulously packaging each frame, and she was about halfway done when she heard the door open, and a "Happy Anniversay.", in her husband's voice from the hallway.
"Go back out," She called; laughing as she quickly cleared her desk of the present as she heard him reply.
"Why, the mailman here again?" He asked, and she heard him walking closer to the door, a smile in his voice. Obviously, Q was okay.
"No, he just put on his pants and jumped out the window. But he left an anniversary present that I haven't wrapped." Her voice lost all it's sarcasm as she leaned in to kiss him. "Hi baby."
"Hi wifey." He laughed, kissing her and pulling back, pulling the bouquet of flowers out from behind Peyton's back and showing them to her. "These are for you."
"They're beautiful." Peyton said, examining the white flowers that he held. They were beautiful, as beautiful as the flowers that she had gotten that morning, and she was sure that they had some kind of meaning to them to.
"I can't believe it's been a year." Lucas sighed, as the couple made their way into the kitchen, smiling.
"Time goes fast when you get what you wish for." Peyton responded simply, leaving his embrace for a second to grab something in the cupboard, what though, Lucas wasn't sure, as she returned empty handed.
"Is it Peyton, is it everything you wished for?" Lucas asked, pulling his wife back to him. He knew that she loved him but there were still moments that he wondered whether this life was what she wanted. Married with kids at twenty three.
"Would you make fun of me for being a dork if I said it was more?" She laughed, kissing him quickly.
"Yes." He laughed, kissing her back with as much fervor. "I made dinner reservations for tonight." He added, smiling at her. He knew that it wasn't much, but it was at least a simply gesture to show her at least a little bit about how much he loved her.
"Actually, I was hoping we could stay in tonight. Have a quiet dinner, kiss awhile." She smirked mischievously, "Plus, there's a chance that I may be rocking some pretty dirty girl lingerie under these jeans."
Lucas sighed, a smile forming on his face. "I think I need to sit down."
"No way Mr. Scott," Peyton laughed, pulling him back towards her, "I think that you are going to help me make dinner.
Lucas complied happily, and set to work with his wife making dinner, his happiness growing by the second, Peyton's happiness however seemed to be slowly shirking, and though he had asked her about what was going on several time, Lucas still had no idea what was wrong.
Eventually, Lucas gave up asking altogether, deciding that he was either being really paranoid, or she didn't want to talk about today and ruin the good mood, probably something had happened at work, so he relaxed, smiling when he remembered that she hadn't gotten her present yet, and he didn't have him. He nearly saw the old spark of light in her eyes when he mentioned this and she left for the office, returning a few minutes later with a box full of wrapped gifts.
"Peyton," He sighed when he saw the amounts of packages in the box.
"I didn't break the rules." She said indignantly, knowing that he would have not been happy if she had spent more than fifty dollars on his gift. She hadn't the only thing she had had to buy were the frames. She gave him his present first and she could almost see the tears in his eyes as he saw first the sketch of Bailey, if what he knew to be Clothes over Bros, and then of Brody, dressed in his miniature Keith Scott Body Shop sweatshirt, lying on top of the comet, and then of Avery, on her blanket, on the floor of Peyton's office, smiling. He kissed her fiercely when he saw the drawing of them, happily embracing on the river court, and then again when he saw the picture of Lilly, Karen and Andy, and the one of Karen and Keith, and he had to laugh when he saw the huge group picture that was last.
"I love them, Peyton. And I you. God I love you." He smiled when he saw her smile back at him, and then laughed as her grin grew more pronounced when he pulled out a small jewelry box and handed that to her. "I wish that I could have given you something a little bit more tome consuming, but I really think you're going to like it. It was my mother's, for me, and I had yours put in.
Peyton had to hold back a gasp as she saw the necklace. "Wow Luke." Was all she could muster as she looked at he piece, admiring both birthstones and the way they seemed to melt together on to of the small heart.
"Flip it over Peyton." Lucas softly instructed, smiling as she did so and he saw a tear slip out of her eye as she read the inscription that he had been debating over for weeks. He had at first wanted I'm going to love you forever Peyton Scott, but after realizing that the back of the necklace wasn't near big enough, he had decided on three simple letters. TLA. And from the look on his wife's face, he knew that he had made the right decision. "I am so happy that you are my wife Peyton Elisabeth Scott. I love you, and I'm going to love you until the very last day of forever Peyt."
"Lucas Scott, I love you too." She replied simply, moving into his lap and kissing him.
Three hours later, as they lay in their bed, in each other's arms, they both knew that this was it. That they were each other's forever. But Peyton knew that even though they had an entire future to look forward to with each other, there were still some secrets from the past that needed to be told.
"Lucas?" Peyton whispered, knowing full well that her husband was fully awake.
"Yeah Peyton?" He asked, pulling her closer to him, kissing the top of her head, frowning when she wormed her way out of his arms to look him in the eyes.
"We need to talk about something."
"About what's been bothering you all night?" They both knew that her reassurances throughout the night had been fruitless.
"Yeah." She admitted, leaning back into his arms, avoiding his eyes.
"Did something happen at work?"
"Yeah." She repeated, not sure how she was going to explain herself. It wasn't like he hadn't done the exact same thing, but at least she had known about it.
"Is everything okay Peyton?" The worry and fear was evident in his voice and his eyes. "Are we okay?"
"Yes, yes, yeah baby, of course we are. You just have to know that what happened was years ago, and I just have to tell you because I don't know if he'll bring it up." She was rambling, but at least Lucas seemed less worried, no less stressed, but less worried.
"What happened Peyt?"
"Well, you know that John stopped by today, to give me a demo to listen to, well, and to offer me a new job in LA, but don't worry, when they officially ask I'm definitely turning them down, anyways, I put the demo in after he left, mostly because he had just given this really weird speech about how happy I was and how fame shouldn't get in the way of that, and he asked me too, but it was really, really promising, and it sounded a little familiar, so I looked at the Artist information, and it was Jake's demo." She felt Lucas tense when she mentioned her ex-love's name, much in the same way as she assumed that she had before Lindsay had moved in with them.
"Is he coming up to Tree Hill?" Lucas asked, and Peyton remembered that Jake and Lucas had been friends before he left.
"Yeah." Peyton nodded, Jenny just turned eight, and Niki's in some trouble, so Jake thought that it would be good for them to get out of Savannah and come home for a bit, and this was just a really great opportunity."
"That's great. God, it's been forever since we've seen him. Junior year." Lucas frowned when Peyton didn't respond, turning to find her sitting beside him, her eyes clenched shut. "Blondie, what's wrong? No matter what it is, you can tell me." He knew that she hadn't cheated on him, and that she and Jake were over, so he was sure that what ever she had to say seemed worse in her mind.
"Actually no. After the shooting I was just scared, and alone and kind of dating Pete Wentz, and I missed having someone love me, and then my dad gave this really nice speech about following your heart before you really are with some one." Peyton and Lucas both had to laugh at that, because it was seriously ironic that Larry took that moment to tell Peyton to wait for love until she had sex, especially since she and Nathan had been sleeping together since freshman year. "Anyways, Pete had just left me this ticket to Chicago, and I went to the airport, and I was going to go, and then I saw this flight for Savannah had an open seat, and I just didn't think, and I called Jake and asked him if I could come down, and then I flew down, and asked him to marry me." Peyton couldn't have looked at Lucas' eyes if she had wanted to, and it wasn't like she could, seeing as as soon as she finished speaking, the phone rang, and Lucas immediately lunged out of bed grabbing the phone and nodding a few times to himself before muttered an "Okay." And hung up, leaving the room in a stony silence. "Lucas."
"Peyton, I have to go pick up the kids, Brooke just got a call from the adoption agency, and they have a baby for her and Chase, and they have to be on the next flight out." Lucas said, his voice hard and cold before he left the room, leaving his wife shocked into silence on their bed.
"I love you Luke." She cried out weakly, hoping that he would at least respond, and it was all that she could do to contain her tears when she heard nothing. Peyton let herself sink into the pillow, and the sobs overtake her, and she gasped when she felt a pair of strong arms pull her up to them a few seconds later.
"I am still going to love you forever Peyton Scott." Lucas said weakly, tears running down his face as he quickly kissed her. "We can talk a little bit more when I get back, but I will always love you, as long as you'll have me." He kissed her once more before he really left the room, and made his way downstairs to pick up the kids.
A/N: Okay, firstly, disclaimer. I don't own OTH, and I don't own any of the dialogue from when Lucas gets home either, that's my slight tribute to the awesomeness that was last night's episode. How amazing was that? Anyways, sorry about the long wait for an UD, I have been super busy, and honestly, kind of uninspired. Hope this kind of made up for it…. Review and tell me what you think, 70 Review would make my week. Speaking of, school starts back up this week, so I'm not sure how frequent the UD's are going to be from now on.