August 31st, 2013
Tree Hill, North Carolina
What Used to Be Larry Scott's House
"Yes Dad. Uh-huh. I know. Basement. Right." Peyton rolled her eyes as her father prattled on, on the other end of the phone call, about the box of things she was supposed to look for in their basement. "Big, brown, taped over with duct tape, and don't open it in the basement." She repeated the phrase to her father, sounding much like a child. "I'll get it dad." She could almost see her father's pensive gaze through the phone, and she could hear the reservations in his mind. "Lucas is here, Dad, he won't let me hurt." She knew that that would calm him down, and it did. She could feel the change in atmosphere as she said it, her father taking a deep breath. He seemed to accept this, and seconds later, Peyton was flipping her phone shut and sliding it into her jean pocket, turning to look at her husband, an annoyed look on her face.
Lucas was of course not with her. Actually, Peyton wasn't completely sure that he even knew where she was. He was at work, gearing up for the preseason, and for his new push-in-class, where he would travel throughout the English classes and teach a curriculum novel. She was fairly sure that she was going to be in a lot of trouble when she got home, but if he read the note that she left on his cell jest before she left, My old house, errand for dad, the he at least wouldn't be worried until then. She had no choice but to come today. She was nearly positive that she couldn't see any of her kids in this house, not without Lucas there to help her through it, for fear of a mental breakdown, and seeing as she didn't want Lucas here for this, she was venerable, and as much as she loved him, he didn't need to be saving her all the time, any day when the 'lets were at home was out. Today though, Brody was with Nathan at his new job as head coach of the Duke Devils. Nathan had been beyond thrilled when he had learned of the job, which he had been working for nearly an entire week now. Peyton couldn't honestly fathom why Nathan had wanted to drag his god-son around with him and Jamie, especially considering in the new baby at home, but Peyton hadn't complained when he had offered. Bailey was Brooke, searing as a model, along with Sawyer, Lo and Ollie, for a design meeting about Brooke's two newest lines, Baby Brooke and, Growing up Davis. And Avery and Chaim were both with their father at work. All in all it was the perfect opportunity for Peyton to head down to her new house. Now all she wanted to do was crawl home in a bad, curl up in her husband's arms, and sob. She knew exactly what was in that box; it was all of the things from her mother's funeral. Her father had just had someone pack it up and toss it in the basement, completely forgetting about it until the other week. Apparently, he had called the owners of the house, and they hadn't thrown anything out, so it should still be there. Peyton just didn't want to be the one to look at it.
Before she could actually change her mind and run home sobbing, she raised her hand to the door, pushing it forward until it hit the door. The intensity of the sound started her, she hadn't realized she hit the door so hard. She knocked three more times, desperately hoping that no one would answer.
She had no such luck. Only seconds after she had dropped her hand to her side, she felt to door open in front of her, and was left standing in front of the brunette that she knew lived in what used to be her room.
"Molly, hi." She started, hoping to god that this girl remembered who she was. She did.
"Peyton!" Molly said, a smile breaking out on her face, and Peyton still was in shock that she could have this sort of effect on this girl. "What are you doing here? I mean, I know what you're doing here, my dad said that you might be coming over to look for some box, he said that he figured you wouldn't make it, and he'd just do it when he got home."
Before Peyton had a chance to reply, another voice came from the upstairs. "Mol, what's going on down there?" Peyton heard a curious voice ask, and seconds later a mess of brown hair, and then the body of a gangly, but still cute looking, high school boy followed. He stopped short of himself when he saw Peyton in the doorway, and waited for Molly to throw an impatient look at him, before he completely made his way, albeit hesitantly, down the stairs.
"Hi," He stuck his hand out in a way that looked strangely odd, stiff, as if he didn't do it often, which he probably didn't. Peyton took it, smirking, and then quickly shook his hand before letting it drop.
"Hi." She replied, smiling, "I'm Peyton, I used to live in Molly's room."
"Oh, you're the girl that got shot." The boy said, with an air of enlightenment. Typical. Girls remembered the book, guys remembered the gun.
She nodded, smiling slightly to herself when Molly elbowed him the stomach. "This is Max, my boyfriend."
Peyton smiled warmly at the girl. "I figured as much. Look, my dad is sure that the box ox is in the basement, but I'm almost positive that it's in my old room. Would you mind?" She was sure she had moved that box up there the summer after she had turned sixteen, after it had rained so hard that Brooke's basement had flooded.
Molly nodded back. "Yeah, sure I was just up there cleaning. You know where the room is, so you can just come get us when you're done."
"No," this would be far easier if she wasn't alone. "No. You guys can come up and clean or what ever, it'll only take me a half hour, at most."
"Actually," Max started, eying Peyton warily, "I have to get home. My mom needs me for dinner." He nodded at Peyton and then kissed his girlfriend quickly, before bolting out of the house, leaving just Molly and Peyton in the hallway.
"Are you sure?" Molly asked one more time before she had Peyton headed up into the room, Peyton expertly walking up the stairs, making sure she made no sound. Lucas had been the one who had taught her how to do that, after the attack. He mapped out the entire staircase for her, so that when he came in he wouldn't scare her with the creaking of the stairs. She smiled to herself as Molly stumbled up the stairs behind her, hitting every creak.
She led herself though the hallway and into the room that she used to call hers, the one that looked so odd not coated in the blood red paint that her brother had painted onto it. "I wonder if Derek remembers that." She whispered to herself, not realizing that she had said it out loud until she heard Molly question her.
"Who's Derek?"
"My brother." Peyton answered reflexively. "Remember I said that this room was red when I lived here?" She waited for Molly to remember, and nod before she continued, not really sure why she was telling this girl this. Probably because she was nervous. "Well, he painted it red right after I was attacked by a stalker here."
"What?" Lucas had not written about that in his book, he had known that that would be too hard, so Peyton wasn't surprised when Molly looked horrified.
"He pretended he was my brother, and despite what everyone, and by everyone, I mean Lucas Scott, said, I trusted him, and he showed up here one night. If Lucas hadn't have been so damn stubborn, I probably wouldn't be here right now. But there was a trial for the guy, Ian, a few months back. He's going to be in jail for the rest of his life." At the mention of her husband Peyton's eye's drifted over to the door, to the TLA.
"I read his new book." Molly started, unsure whether or not to continue, though Peyton wasn't sure why. She nodded at her, smiling a bit, as she got up to look at the door, running her fingers over the familiar wood. "It was really good, and sweet."
"It was." Peyton agreed. That book had made her dreams come true. She was eyeing the closet carefully. She knew that in all reality she couldn't do this. Not without Lucas here with her. This place, it meant too much to her. Just being in this room had her ready to cry, the last thing she needed was to be sitting next to a box of her dead mother's things. She turned around to face Molly, who was eyeing her curiously. "I think I need to wait a little bit." She said, and she watched as Molly nodded.
"Do you want some time alone?"
"No, No. I just can't go though the stuff right now." She paused. "The last time I was here, I was kind of short with you. I was just going through a bit of a rough patch. Do you want to talk about anything?"
Molly had had something on the tip of her tongue ever since Peyton had arrived, and Peyton could see that. She waited, and for a second it seemed as though Molly wasn't going to say anything, but then she began to talk.
"I know this is going to sound really weird and all, and totally personal, but, how many guys have… been… in here."
"You mean how many guys have I had sex with in here." Peyton laughed as the younger girl turned bright red. "It's okay. Three. Nathan Scott, Jake Jagelski and Lucas Scott."
"Do you regret any of them?" The question startled Peyton, and she tried to think. Did she?
"No." She finally said. "No. I don't really regret any of them, but Nathan, Nate was just a big mistake. I needed someone to need me, want me, and Nathan needed someone to do. If could do it over again though, I wouldn't change anything. Maybe I wouldn't have slept with him when I was so young, I was only fifteen the first time, but being with Nate taught me what a relationship isn't supposed to be. It's not supposed to be about sex, it's supposed to be about everything. Being with Jake taught me what a family was. He taught me how to love, and he taught me how to be loved, and that made a huge difference in my life. And Lucas, Lucas taught me how love was supposed to be. It's not supposed to feel forced, or strained, its juts supposed to be there. Lucas taught me that family can be anyone, and you don't have to be married, or related to be someone's family. And Lucas taught me that love doesn't go away. It'll always be there. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes sucks, and when it doesn't work out it feels like your entire world is crashing down on you, but true love, it never really goes away or fades. Lucas taught me that."
"But he proposed to his editor!" Molly exclaimed, "How can you be so sure that he loved you when he proposed to someone else."
Before Peyton could answer the girl, she was stopped by something else, a tiny small voice from the doorway. "Mommy."
Peyton spun on her heels and was completely floored to see her daughter standing the doorway, her brown hair pressed up against the doorframe, a smile on her face. "Avery?" She got up and quickly walked over to her daughter, picking her up and holding her close to her. She was amazed at how good that little girl being in her arms made her feel, how much of the pain that little person was able to alleviate. She suddenly remembered Molly standing in the room, and she turned to face the astounded girl. "This is my daughter, Avery." She watched as Molly's eyes focused first in on the baby, and then traveled down to the ring on her hand.
"Congratulations. I didn't know that you got married." Peyton nodded slowly, confused as to why the girl voice held more sorrow than happiness. The last time she had checked, this girl had been her and Lucas' biggest fan.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I guess I always just held out some kind of hope that you and Lucas would end up together, that's all." She seemed to realize what she had said as soon as she had said it, and her eyes widened in horror. "Oh my god, I am so sorry, I didn't mean…"
Peyton shook her head, on the brink of laughing, "Don't worry about it." She moved closer over to the window, as she realized that despite the fact that she and Lucas were about as big a deal as breathing to her, the rest of the world didn't know that she and Lucas were married. She quickly glanced out the window, and was slightly amused to see Lucas, Chaim in one arm, frantically searching for his daughter, apparently forgetting that Avery had been able to crawl up the stairs since she was ten months old. She slid the window open quickly, rolling her eyes as she yelled out. "Smooth, way to loose our daughter." She laughed at his shocked looking face as he turned to face her. She quickly mover her arm so that Luke could see Avery, and she smiled as the relief washed over her face. "Why don't you come up here?" Lucas nodded, and then moved towards the door. Peyton turned to Molly. "You want to meet my husband?"
Molly nodded, and Peyton was struggling to keep from laughing at the girls' crestfallen expression, which she was clearly trying to hide. "Sure." Almost as soon as she had said it, Lucas walked into the room, and Peyton smiled as he walked over to her, wrapping his arm around his wife's waist, looking at her sheepishly.
"Sorry."
"That is why don't watch the kids, honey." She kissed him quickly before turning back to Molly. "I think you know my husband, Molly, meet Lucas Scott, and my so, Chaim."
"Oh my god, you married Luke!"
"Yeah." Lucas said proudly. "Sometimes fate works in odd ways, hurting you and letting you down, but you have to believe in what you know, because sometimes there are things that are meant to be, and you have to know in your heart and your head that everything's going work out, because they do." Lucas smiled one last time at girl before turning to her closet and reaching in, pulling out the box he knew that his wife was looking for. "I'll meet you in the car babe." Peyton nodded one last time, a smile still on her face as he left.
"Can I?" She reached for a black paint-pen that was sitting on Molly's desk, taking it when she nodded. Peyton walked over to the door and pressed the pen to the wood, leaving a new message on the door before she too walked out. Against Our Odds, Dreams Can Come True, scribbled just under TLA.
A/N: Okay. This story had officially ended. It was amazingly fun to write, and the reviews were awesome! In a few days, I'm going to post the "last" chapter of the story, which is also the first, so read that again after you read this. Also, I am going to write a sequel, but it's up to you guys whether it's a one chapter thing, or its own fic. If its own fic, it will most likely revolve around the triplets, Avery, probably, in high school. Review and tell me what you think!