Rating: PG-13. Mature themes. Maybe light R.

Feedback: I thank you so much to everyone who reviews. I really do appreciate it. It keeps me motivated!

Author's Note: Last chapter! This is a bit of a long one, but I really didn't know where to split it up…so, it all gets posted together. It took me a bit to get the end chapter the way I wanted it, but I'm happy with it now…I hope you are too :)

Disclaimer: I had a blast taking these characters out for a spin, but sadly, I do not own them at all. The hardworking folks involved with One Tree Hill do. And yes, part of the end rant by Brooke (the bit about it never being about Lucas) is slightly borrowed from One Tree Hill; it seemed to fit here too.

Peyton bit her bottom lip and murmured something intelligible. Her best friend just looked at her until she finally ventured out with, "It was a kiss?" She was glad that her crying had stopped; she had apparently run out of tears, because otherwise she was pretty sure that she would have been crying again after seeing Brooke's reaction to the kiss.

The blonde was used to Brooke being angry, well, she wasn't necessarily used to it, but she had seen it before. She would yell, like when she used to rant about Rachel, when they were both competing for maintaining control of the cheerleaders. Or, she might be bitter, like when Jake's ex-girlfriend, Nikki, had gotten with Lucas before he found out that she was Jenny's mom. She might throw things like the time that she didn't get to go on the school field trip to the zoo, because her mom had never been home to sign the permission trip; she had thrown her stuffed tiger since she was only eight at the time. Peyton's dad, who had been around, made a few calls, and he drove Brooke to the zoo himself, since she wasn't allowed on the bus; Peyton rode with them.

Then, there was the time that Peyton and Lucas had been together behind Brooke's back. That time…That time trumped all. She had yelled and screamed; Peyton and Brooke had even gotten into a physical fight in the blonde's yard. Then, Brooke hadn't talked at all to Peyton; in fact, she avoided her when she wasn't making nasty comments, which she did often. She had joked about Peyton's dead mother. But…The look that Brooke was giving her now almost made the blonde want that Brooke back. She looked furious as she glared, but there was sadness in her eyes that Peyton didn't understand. "Peyton, seriously, what the hell was that?"

The blonde tried to make it seem innocent and simple. "It's not the first time we've kissed, Brooke."

Brooke seethed, "We're not six anymore, Peyton, and that wasn't any dare that I knew of. And back then you weren't crying over our ex-boyfriend."

Peyton didn't have to daydream to know that Dream Brooke and Dream Lucas would be urging her on at that moment, to just say what she wanted to say. It was then or never. The look that Brooke was giving her made her think that maybe it would be never. The brunette seemed to soften slightly at the look of distress on her friend's face. "Seriously, P. Sawyer, why did you kiss me?"

"I…" The blonde trailed off, not sure where she wanted to go with her own statement. "I need more coffee," she picked up her half-full mug and semi-trotted out to the kitchen. She could hear the groan of mixed frustration and anger come from her friend as she left the room.

Brooke was unsure of what to do with herself once Peyton left the room. She contemplated following her into the kitchen and pestering her with questions, but she knew that wouldn't work with Peyton; it would just back her even more into a corner. She just really wished that Peyton hadn't decided to kiss her just because she missed Lucas. Okay, Brooke understood that she missed Lucas, but you can't just kiss whoever you want…especially not when you're Peyton. Brooke was used to kissing random people, but Peyton wasn't supposed to do that; it wasn't her.

Yes, Brooke Davis had kissed a lot of people, but a lot of it was because no one had ever felt quite right to her when they kissed. She had kissed Nathan, Lucas, Mouth, Felix, Chase, and even Rachel after one particular extraordinary showing of Clothes Over Bros clothing and a Long Island Ice Tea or two or five. In all honestly, she had done a lot more than kissing with quite a few people, but it still wasn't something Peyton was supposed to do. Brooke had kissed people when she was upset too, but you were not supposed to kiss your best friend when you were upset. Peyton wasn't supposed to do that; that was Brooke's kind of thing. Just like moody music that the brunette only sometimes understood was Peyton's thing. It was a rule somewhere; that she was sure of.

Her mind was running wild, still trying to figure out why Peyton was acting so weird when she noticed the sketchbook on the floor. There had never been a problem before with her going through the blonde's sketches, so she picked it up, in hopes of getting an insight as to what the blonde was thinking. She knew that drawing was another one of Peyton's things. It couldn't hurt to look.

The first sketch was of a guy wearing a wedding tuxedo. He had blonde hair, and he looked almost exactly like Lucas Scott. He was holding a wedding ring that had apparently grown rather large in size as he looked surprised and the ring was nearly as big as his head. Words such "Lindsey" and "commitment" and phrases such as "I do" and "never again" made up the band of the ring. Brooke almost felt herself smile; it was easy to see how Peyton was feeling that day. It must have been right after she had tried to win him back over, and Haley had told her about the wedding, before she had thought that Brooke had married him.

She flipped to the next page, and this one featured two people who appeared to be Brooke and Lucas. Lucas looked as perfect as grooms are supposed to look and was looking at his bride-to-be, and his bride-to-be was in a beautiful dress. The dress wasn't shaded, so she assumed it was meant to be white, of course, and it was sleeveless, with just the right amount of Brooke's styling. Huh, apparently the blonde had been paying attention when the brunette would make her look at her sketches; it was something she would actually wear, well, minus the one bit of lace…but really, it was close. The Brooke in the drawing was staring at the third person in the photo, Elvis. Well, really, it wasn't the real Elvis, Brooke supposed, as Peyton had given him thinning hair and an overly cheesy Elvis smirk, but he was the one who was supposed to be marrying them. There was a caption above the drawing in which Peyton had written, "She shouldn't have to settle," in small dark loopy lettering.

This one threw Brooke a bit for a loop and made her chuckle all at once. Peyton knew the kind of wedding she wanted, and it definitely wasn't in Las Vegas. The third drawing featured a confused-looking Peyton in three separate frames. The first frame contained Peyton looking at her left shoulder, where a small Brooke in an apron sat smiling happily. The second frame contained Peyton looking at her right shoulder; it was empty. The third frame had a younger looking Lucas sitting on her head, looking down at her. Peyton's eyes were strained upward to try to see him.

Again, that was one that Brooke didn't quite understand; she supposed it meant that she and Lucas were Peyton's conscious. Well, maybe. She may have been Peyton's best friend for years, but that doesn't mean that even she was able to ever completely understand the blonde's drawings…which still didn't really make that much sense. But it looked like one of them must have been the devil and the other the angel or something to that effect. That would be weird. For a moment, she wondered which of them would have told Peyton, if they were her conscious, to kiss her. Then, she flipped to the fourth page. It was blank. Huh. Brooke shut the sketchbook feeling more than a bit guilty; it was as though she had just read Peyton's diary, and yet she was still confused. "Have fun?" Brooke glanced up to look at Peyton. She didn't look angry.

"I'm sorry."

Peyton shrugged, "You keep apologizing this morning, but you shouldn't apologize, especially not before you see the other drawing I did while you were gone." She went over to one of her dresser drawers and carefully slid out several black band t-shirts before pulling out another drawing. She held it out to Brooke, but before the brunette took it she looked at Peyton who nodded, "Take it."

Brooke wasn't sure why she was suddenly nervous, but she was. She flipped the drawing over and tried not to let any reaction register on her face. It wasn't successful; her mouth formed a little 'o' of surprise, and Peyton chuckled. "I told you not to apologize before you had the full story." This one was more simple than the other drawings in the fact that it only contained two people from the waist up, but the details in what was drawing gave it the clear meaning that it was Brooke and Peyton in the drawing. Peyton had both her hands wrapped around one of Brooke's and was pressing it up against the area in her chest where her heart would be. Both of them were smiling hesitantly in the photo.

The brunette looked up to see her best friend wearing a similar hesitant smile to the one in the photo. "I don't understand…"

"I think you do." Peyton was biting her bottom lip nervously again. "I did a lot of thinking while you were gone. Well, a lot of thinking, sleeping, and drawing. But no matter what I was doing, I couldn't get you out of my mind. I thought that you had married Lucas, Brooke. It didn't upset me the way that I thought it would. I mean, obviously I was upset that Lucas had not chosen me at first, but then I realized that Lucas never was the one for me. He never was the one that I found the perfect presents for. He never was the one I fought for when he was dating someone I didn't like...you were." Peyton didn't dare look away from Brooke's eyes; she was afraid that if she blinked the brunette would disappear.

She took a deep breath before continuing, "When you were Felix, I remember feeling so relieved when I got you back, and I remember how jealous I was when you were with him. I was afraid of losing you, and it took me awhile to realize just how afraid of losing you I was. When I saw Lucas with Lindsey…It took me forever to even begin to deal with it. I just let him go, but you, Brooke Davis, I can't let go of you…I'm in love with you." Peyton expected herself to begin crying by this point, but she was okay. She just wanted to say it all. "I kissed you, because I finally realized how much I want you. I was crying, because I realized how close I was to losing you without ever telling you how I really felt, how close I was to not realizing how I really felt even."

Brooke stared at Peyton for a moment before looking up at the ceiling and sighing. When she turned back, Peyton had taken joined her in sitting on the bed and was staring up at her curiously. "You're not in love with me, P. Sawyer."

"Why?"

"Because I would have known!" Peyton's eyes stared at her curiously. "I know when people are checking me out. I could have graduated valedictorian if the classes were about knowing who was into you. I knew that Felix wanted me, though he was pretty obvious. Mouth was a bit harder, but I still knew, though I tried to avoid it…I just hoped that one would go away." She didn't want to mention when she and Nathan were drunk and fell into bed together. She even considered not mentioning Lucas, but that one couldn't really be avoided. "I knew when Lucas wanted me. Hell, I knew when Lucas wanted you." She sighed, "That's one thing I'm supposed to know how to do, but you're trying to throw it off."

"Maybe you didn't know, because I didn't know right away either?" She looked at Brooke, glad that she hadn't run any farther than a few feet off. "Maybe you didn't know, because, I'm a girl?"

"I know when girls want me." Peyton raised a single eyebrow, questioning her friend. She waved a hand easily dismissing it with must a murmur of, "Rachel."

"Maybe it's because you don't…feel the same?"

Suddenly Brooke was angry again. "Peyton, just stop guessing! You're not going to get it. I knew when people wanted me before when I didn't want them too."

"Oh," Peyton backed up a foot or so. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"I didn't mean it like that…" Though, she did mean it like that, she just didn't mean to yell it like that. The blonde was still looking at her warily, as though she was wondering if she was going to yell again. "Look, Peyton," she tried to begin again, but she only got as far as scooting over closer to the blonde on the bed and looking her in the eyes when her words faltered. She tried again, "I just," but the words wouldn't quite come out. Maybe it was from the way Peyton was staring at her, or the way that the blonde's eyes flickered quickly from Brooke's eyes to her lips, but suddenly the words just…

Brooke kissed Peyton. There was a little gasp as Brooke slid her tongue into Peyton's mouth, though neither girl was really sure whose gasp it was. Peyton was caught a bit off-balance and was leaning backward even before the brunette traced her fingertips from the blonde's wrist to her cheek and wrapped her left arm around Peyton's back, effectively sliding them into a lying-down position. During part of this, Peyton seemed to realize that she was helping move Brooke closer by intertwining her arms around the brunette's waist.

The blonde's arm seemed to have a mind of its own as it played with the bottom of the brunette's shirt, finally twisting it to the side and venturing up onto a smooth stomach. This time the gasp was most certainly Brooke's, though the one that followed when the brunette began to move her lips down onto Peyton's neck was most certainly the blonde's.

It was sometime just after Peyton had managed to work Brooke's shirt off and throw it against the door and just before Brooke was starting to flirt with the edge of Peyton's shorts that Peyton remembered Brooke was supposed to be angry at her. She had yelled just moments before the kiss. Oh my God, she was having hot hate sex with her best friend! Well, they weren't having sex yet, and suddenly Brooke's hand had most definitely crossed the edge between flirting with her shorts and…"Oh my God." That moan was most definitely Peyton's again. Oh, fuck. No. Hate sex. No hate sex.

Peyton forced herself to focus as she stopped kissing Brooke and started to untangle them. "You can't have hot hate sex with me."

"Hot hate sex?" Brooke's voice was a bit different than usual; it was a bit lower, and she was biting her lip. The blonde had to look away for a moment to remember what she was talking about. Only she could prevent forest fires and hot hate sex with Brooke Davis.

"Yes, you were doing that thing with your tongue and your teeth and my neck that probably is going to give me a hickey." For a moment both girls grinned slyly, then Peyton remembered what she was rambling about. She looked at her best friend for a moment, confused, "You freaked out when I kissed you earlier tonight, and now this." She gestured between the two of them. Her shorts were slightly askew. Both of them had "bedhead" and Brooke was shirtless.

Brooke really didn't like having talks about feelings. She avoided them whenever she could. This didn't look like one that she could avoid. "It's not my fault that I figured out I was in love with you a few years before you realized it." Pause. "I just wanted to make sure you meant it earlier…"

Brooke looked back up at her friend. Her eyes were honest and her voice was quiet. Peyton, apparently catching Brooke's quietness, whispered, "You figured out you were in love with me years ago?"

"You don't get it, do you? It's not even about Lucas; it never was about any boy, because it's about you. During the school shooting, I felt like I abandoned you. I didn't mean to, you just weren't there suddenly in the haze of it all…Then later, I found out that you kissed Lucas when he found you, and I always just kinda wondered if maybe I was supposed to have been the one that found you. But you and Lucas seemed happy together, so I dated some people." Peyton threw her friend a look.

"Okay, I met a lot of people," she really didn't want to say that she slept with a lot of people. "This sounds weird, but I was hoping that one of them would make me feel the way that I do when I'm with you, only, just hanging out with them, none of them did…so I took it a step farther with them, but that still didn't help. In fact, I usually only got more bored with them." She looked at Peyton's face for support and was rewarded with the blonde's hopeful eyes. "I sound crazy, don't I? I was trying to convince myself that you couldn't possibly be the one by being with other people, but it really always came back to you." This time the reward was a smile. "Seriously, P. Sawyer, after everything from your striping off your shirt in school and my breaking up with Felix over the locker scandal, and after crazy Nikki stealing both Jenny and almost Lucas…after dealing with Psycho Derek and still going to prom…after skinny dipping…how could there be enough room in my life for anyone else like that?"

Peyton's face reflected exactly how Brooke felt on the inside as she mentioned each memory. From the disgust of Felix and the anger of Nikki to the frightening Derek and the, well, fun of skinny dipping. Brooke relaxed a bit more when Peyton's smile returned after the last bit. "I love you, P. Sawyer. Plain and simple."

"You're never simple, Brooke."

"You're never plain." They shared a grin and there was a moment of silence where neither knew where to go from there. It took just a moment before Peyton stood up and stretched, effectively breaking the silence before even speaking. "I need some more coffee." Brooke's eyes widened dramatically.

"What? You're going to get coffee after that?" The brunette was incredulous until she saw the small smirk that the blonde was trying to hide. Oh, so that's how it was. She stretched too, "Coffee sounds good." The blonde seemed to remember that Brooke's shirt was suddenly elsewhere, though thinking back, she never would be sure how she had forgotten that.

"Uh huh," she murmured, already reaching to pull the brunette to her. Brooke feigned resistance before doing that thing with her tongue and her teeth against Peyton's neck again. "Brooke Davis, I really do love you."

Brooke smiled and pulled back a few inches, "And I really do want coffee." Her smirk lasted until Peyton's hands found their way back around Brooke's waist and let her fingers glide across the soft skin of her back.