A/N: Thank you for the reviews. There's stuff I'd like to address, but to avoid spoilers, I'm going to wait until the end.

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Lucas checked his watch. It was getting a little late and he was starting to get worried about Peyton. Looking across the room at his friends, he could tell that he wasn't the only one. Brooke kept checking her cell phone nervously while Haley's eyes never left the phone in the living room. Nathan was playing with his son, but Lucas could tell by his brother's hunch shoulders that his mind was elsewhere.

"I'm calling her," Lucas announced.

Brooke nodded, "I was two seconds away from saying that myself."

He called her. One ring, two rings, three rings. Lucas felt his muscles tighten with every second she didn't answer.

"Hello?" Peyton's voice was soft, but he could still tell that she had been crying.

"What's wrong?"

"Lucas," was all she said before starting to cry again.

"Peyton, what is it? Do I need to come get you? Where are you?"

"I'm parked outside." A loud sob. "I just wanted to calm down before… coming in."

"She's outside," Lucas informed his friends. Then back to Peyton, "Do you want me to go to you?"

"Yes."

"I'll be right there." Lucas hung up the phone. "I'm going to go sit with her for a bit, okay. We'll be in soon."

The elder Scott brother made his way out of the house and walked over to Peyton's car. He could see her hunched over the steering wheel. He climbed into the passenger's side. Once inside, he wrapped his arms around her.

"Shhh… I'm here. It's okay."

She shook her head violently. "No, it's not. Nothing's okay!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath. "I went to see Julian today. I wanted to tell him to leave Tree Hill. To leave us alone. And he wouldn't hear of it. And then… he threatened that he would press charges against you if I didn't sleep with him."

"WHAT?!?" Lucas couldn't remember a time in recent memory when he had been so angry. He wanted to kill Julian. His rage momentarily rendered him speechless and his silence allowed Peyton to continue talking.

"I slapped him and told him I wouldn't do it. He told me to sleep on it, that I should tell him my answer tomorrow." Her teary eyes met him in the dim light. "I'm sorry, Lucas. I can't do it. I can't sleep with him."

As mad as he was, he couldn't help but snicker. His beautiful and perfect Peyton was apologizing to him because she couldn't sleep with someone else. Lucas brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't apologize for that, okay? That's a good thing. And don't worry about Julian, okay? I'll take care of him."

"You sure? I didn't mean to cause you any more trouble…"

"Peyt, I know you were just trying to help and I love you for that. Just let's go inside and eat, okay? You need to stop thinking about this. Stress isn't good for you or the baby."

She nodded. "Thank you." She gave him a small teary kiss. "I love you."

"I love you. Now come on, you need to eat."

Peyton wiped her face and allowed Lucas to bring her inside. Their friends knew better than to ask what was wrong after seeing the look Lucas gave them when he first stepped in. He wanted Peyton to forget all about Julian and his indecent proposal and have a good meal and he was going to concentrate all his effort on that.

Once dinner was over, however, then he'd start thinking how to deal with Julian.

-----

At dinner, pretty much all the conversation was held between Jamie, blissfully oblivious to the situation, and Brooke, who took it up herself to fill the empty silence. Haley watched Peyton with concern. The pregnant girl looked shaken and only put food in her mouth when Lucas was watching her. On the other hand, Lucas was watching her pretty much the whole time.

Nathan could feel the anger radiating off his brother but he respected the fact that Lucas didn't seem to want to talk about it. At least not in front of Peyton. So, when dinner was over, he pulled Lucas aside at the first opportunity.

"Talk to me."

"Peyton went to see Julian."

"She tried to make him leave, didn't she?" Nathan asked, knowing full well what the answer was. "Classic Sawyer."

"You know what he said? He told her that if she didn't sleep with him that he'd press charges on me." Lucas ran his hands through his hair. He hadn't really wanted to talk about it in front of the group, but he knew Nathan would understand his position perfectly.

"He told her that? God, I want to KILL him."

"Me too. Peyton's all worried because she thinks it's all her fault. She actually apologized for not being able to sleep with him. I told her that she shouldn't worried because I'd take care of Julian, but I know she's still concerned about it."

"So, what are you going to do about him?"

"I don't know. All I can come up with… well, let's say that they're not exactly viable options. What about you? Any ideas of what I should do?"

Nathan breathed hard. "No, but… God, Lucas, don't hate me for suggesting this, but you could always talk to Dan. If there's someone who knows all about ruining people's lives, it's him."

"No, Nate. I'm not going to visit him in prison and ask him for advice on how to get the love of my life's ex-boyfriend off my back."

"Well… Um, I've been meaning to talk to you about that." Nathan swallowed nervously. He hadn't been looking forward to disclosing this certain piece of information to Lucas. "He's not exactly in prison, right now."

"Where is he?"

"He got paroled. He's out."

"He's out? He killed his own brother in cold blood! How could anyone think that four years was enough time behind bars?" Lucas curled his hand into a fist. "How long have you been keeping this from me?"

"A little over a week," Nathan told him, apologetically. "Luke, I knew how upset you'd be and you were busy with your screenplay and… I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

The blond Scott was silent. His monster of a father was free and out on the streets. He didn't know who he was angrier at, Dan or Julian. Then Lucas saw Peyton sitting down on the couch, putting on a brave face for her girlfriends and knew the answer.

"Do you know where he's staying?" His voice sounded empty and hollow, even to himself.

"I have his number," Nathan said and Lucas raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't ask."

Lucas took the phone number of the man who had taken one of the most important people in his life away from him. Could he put all of his anger and hatred for his father behind him long enough to ask for his advice? Lucas looked at Peyton again. He could, if only to protect the most important people in his life. He told Peyton he'd take care of it, and even if he had to ask Dan for help, he was going to.

-----

Haley took Jamie upstairs to put him to bed and Nathan and Lucas were off in the corner talking. That left Peyton and Brooke alone with each other. Brooke sat next to her best friend and wrapped an arm around her.

"What happened, P. Sawyer?"

"Julian happened."

"What did he do now?" Brooke was getting mighty tired of this charming little creep messing with her friend's happiness.

"He's threatening to press charges on Lucas if I don't have sex with him."

Brooke didn't look surprised. "That's pretty low. I actually expected something so low class from him. You're not going to do it, are you?"

"Of course not. I can't." Peyton shuddered violently in disgust. "It makes me physically ill to even think about it."

"What an asshole." Brooke shook her head, "So what's your plan, then?"

Peyton shrugged. "I told Lucas about it and he told me that he was going to handle it."

"How?"

"I don't know. He just told me to stop worrying about it and that he would handle Julian." Peyton let her eyes drift over to Lucas. "Just between you and me, Brooke? I'm not any less worried now."

"Listen, he's right. You shouldn't worry. Lucas isn't going to do anything stupid. Concerning yourself over what he could do is just going to make you sick." Brooke hugged her tight. "Everything is going to be fine."

"You think so?"

"Without a doubt," Brooke lied. In truth, she was pretty worried about the whole situation. But right now, she had to make sure that Peyton believed it.

Peyton wasn't fooled by her best friend, but she didn't call Brooke on it. She just sighed and said, "I hope you're right."

-----

Later that night, everyone made their way to their respective homes. The five of them had desperately tried to have some light, care-free conversation, but they found it impossible. The whole situation with Julian hung like a dark cloud above all of them. Even Haley, who hadn't yet been told what was wrong, could feel the tension. Eventually, there was nothing else to do but call the whole evening a bust.

When Lucas got home, he immediately took out his cell phone. He can't believe that he had Dan's number programmed in there. It was so tempting to just erase the number and figure things out on his own, but he couldn't risk it. He had to do it for Peyton.

He picked the number and with his hands shaking, he brought the phone up to his ear. Lucas forced himself not to hang up when he heard his father pick up.

"Scott."

"It's Lucas."

Dan blinked. He had never ever expected to receive a phone call from his eldest son. "Lucas? How are you, son?"

"You don't have a right to ask me that! Not after what you did!"

Dan sighed. This was going to be a very difficult conversation, he could tell. "I'm sorry. I'll just sit here in silence until you tell me why you called me."

Lucas felt his anger flare but knew that wouldn't be conducive to anything. "I need your help."

Dan stayed silent. The ex-mayor knew that this was a crucial moment and was fearful that if he said the wrong thing, his blond son would just hang up and he'd never have the chance to try to fix things with his son again.

Lucas had expected a smug remark after his admission and was surprised at his father's restraint. Perhaps Dan had changed. A very, very little, but still any change was welcome. "I'm in a situation and I don't know what to do."

"Okay…" Dan was beginning to grow impatient. Why couldn't Lucas just spit it out and they could move on?

This was where things got really tricky for Lucas. The way he saw it, he had only two choices. Well, three, but hanging up the phone really wasn't an option anymore. Either he told Dan everything to get accurate advice or he told Dan scraps of information and risked being given advice that wouldn't work at all. Lucas hated that Dan still had this power over him. But he did, and because of that, Lucas decided, Dan was only going to be given information on a need-to-know basis.

"There's this guy, Julian Baker, who's making my life very difficult right now. He's threatening to press charges against me if my girl won't…"

"Sleep with him?" Dan finished the sentence for him, sensing that his son was having difficulty getting the words out. "Just ignore him. Unless he's a cop or a high-ranking official, bogus charges won't be able to stick."

"What if they're not bogus?"

"What did you do?"

"I punched him in the nose."

"Oh, well. Now, there's always the fact that it's your word against his…"

"Actually, I did it in front of a group of people."

"Jesus, Lucas!" His son had definitely inherited the Scott temper. "Why does this guy want your girl? Is it just to get you back or because of some other reason that you're not telling me."

"Why does that matter?"

"Well, maybe there's something that could be done involving her."

"Peyton's not sleeping with him!" Lucas had blurted her name without thinking and immediately regretted it.

"I wasn't suggesting that, believe me. I pretty much figured it was out of the question since you would have to be out of viable options for you to have called me for advice."

Lucas had hated this man for so long that he had forgotten that Dan had some good qualities. He was very smart, which often turned into conniving, but still his intelligence could never be questioned. "They used to date. Julian and Peyton."

"Oh," Dan said quietly, thinking over the situation. "And I'm guessing that Peyton already tried to talk him out of it and that didn't work."

"Yeah."

"You know, I can't tell that there's still something you're not telling me. Something that would make it plausible for me to believe that you called me for help."

Lucas sighed. "We're having a baby."

"Congratulations," Dan said, his voice cracking in the middle. It hurt to know that he would never get to know this grandchild of his. Just like he'd never get to know Jamie. "So, that makes perfect sense to me now."

"And?" Now it was Lucas's turn to become impatient. He just wanted the phone call to be over. He couldn't believe that he had disclosed so much personal information to his father.

"I'm going to handle it," Dan said, his voice firm. "Do me a favor, Lucas. Don't tell anyone that you talked to me. Just pretend it never happened."

"What? What are you talking about?" Lucas felt cold. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to pull some strings to make this go away. Don't worry about it anymore, Lucas. Just take care of Peyton and her baby." And with that, Dan hung up.

Lucas felt worried. What had he done?

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It was late by the time Peyton fell asleep. Brooke had stayed in bed with her, comforting her over the situation with Julian. The entire time, the brunette could feel herself growing angrier and angrier with Julian. And now that her best friend was fast asleep, Brooke could do something about it. She grabbed her phone and called information. Once she had been connected to the hotel that Julian was staying at, and had been transferred to his room, Brooke began to hope that her plan would work.

"Hello?" Julian was annoyed at whoever would think of calling so late.

"Julian…" Brooke said, her voice deep and husky. "It's Brooke Davis."

"Ah, Brooke. I'd wonder when you'd call."

"Listen, I heard about your little proposition to my friend and I think I can do you one better."

"Oh really? I'm intrigued," Julian said. "Go on."

"I know how much money is required to make a movie. What if I tell you that I'd be willing to through some major dollar signs your way if you just get out of town and leave my friends alone?"

Julian laughed. "You really disappoint me, Brooke. I can get money quite easily, I assure you. I was hoping that your offer included something a little more personal."

"Excuse me?"

"If you want me to forget all about the little choice I gave Peyton, you're going to have to step up and fill in for her. Or to be more appropriate, let me do the filling."

"You're disgusting! I'm not going to have sex with you just so you'll leave town!"

"Who said anything about me leaving town? I'm just talking about letting Peyton off the hook about the whole assault thing." Julian licked his teeth. "If you really wanted to make me leave town, that would take having you both at the same time. Maybe with an appearance from your other friend, the other brunette."

"You're lucky I don't just call Nathan and tell him what you just suggested!"

"No, you're smarter than that. Because if you do, Nathan will probably end up in the cell next to his brother. Maybe they can have a family reunion with their dad."

"Shut up."

"No, seriously though, what's it going to be, Brooke? Are you going take your friend's place in my bed? I'll probably be thinking about Peyton the whole time, but you'll probably used to that."

Brooke growled and hung up the phone. Calling him had been a very bad idea. She hoped that Lucas fared better than she did.

Julian laughed again. This was truly fascinating. He had never expected to find this level of enjoyment in this little town. He couldn't wait to see what would be the next thing that they would try. He knew he didn't have to wait long to find out when there was a loud knock on his door a few minutes later.

He opened the door to find a man that he had never seen before. "Yes?"

The man looked at him, seemingly interested by his broken nose. "Julian Baker?"

"I am. And who the hell are you?"

"Dan Scott." Then Dan push Julian into the room and closed the door behind him.

Julian tripped on the rug and fell to the floor. "Hey!"

Dan kicked him in the face. "You stay quiet unless I ask you a direct question."

Julian felt the rest of his nose disintegrate when Dan kicked him. "Fuck!"

Dan kicked him in the stomach. "That's not doing what I told you to do."

The young producer curled up, alternating between holding his shattered nose and clutching his stomach. He coughed and looked at Dan with fear in his eyes.

"Good, you understand. I've been hearing around town that you are messing with my son and his pregnant girlfriend."

"She's not his-"

Dan cut him off with a swift kick to his spine. "I didn't ask you a question. Anyway, I don't like when people upset my family. It makes me angry. And when I get angry, I sort of go a little crazy." Dan spied a copy of An Unkindness of Ravens on Julian's nightstand. "You should know that if you've read my son's book."

Julian trembled, gasping for breath. With his nose as destroyed as it was, he couldn't get air through it. He watched Dan loom over him and he could feel the hatred radiating off the older man. Julian couldn't help wondering how the Scott father had gotten involved. Wasn't this man supposed to be in prison? What was he doing here, hitting him? And why was he hitting him so much?

"You've been so eager to talk this whole time, why don't you answer a question for me. Did you go see a doctor about that nose?"

"No, I-"

Dan cut him off another kick in the back. "A simple 'no' was all I needed. You're probably wondering why I asked you that. Well, seems like you don't have any evidence that you were hit by my son. After all, any doctor who takes a look at you now is only going to be able to see the damage that I did. And trust me, most of your superficial 'witnesses' aren't going to want to speak up after they see what I did to your face. That is, if I let you live."

Julian swallowed hard, fighting hard against the nausea caused by the pain. Dan had to be joking. That's what this all had to be, just one big sick joke.

"You see, I've done my research about you and I was pretty interested to learn that you're some sort of producer. You make your living making deals. Well, here's a deal for you. You leave Tree Hill immediately and I won't kill you."

Julian's eyes widen, still sucking in air desperately. "You wouldn't."

Dan knelt down beside him and pushed Julian onto his back on the floor. Then Dan punched Julian in the mouth as hard as he could.

"If you can't keep quiet when I'm taking, then I'm going to have to make sure that you can't talk." The older man glared at the injured producer on the floor. "I'm serious, Julian. If you interrupt me one more time, things are going to get unpleasant for you."

The younger felt the tears stinging his eyes. He was absolutely terrified of what this man would do to him next.

"Now, I understand that you doubt the seriousness of my threat. But you really shouldn't. I murdered my own brother in cold blood," Dan reminded him. "Trust me, I wouldn't hesitate putting a round in your head."

Julian stayed quiet and Dan smiled.

"Good to see you finally caught on," Dan said. "Now, you heard my deal, so I want you to think long and hard before you answer my next question. Are you going to leave town, leaving my son and his friends alone?"

Julian coughed, a little blood sputtering out. "Yes," he managed to get out before convulsing in a fit of coughing again.

"Good. Now, I know that when I leave you might be tempted to call the cops on me. And, let me just tell you what a stupid idea that would be." Dan leaned down near Julian's ear. "I served four years for committing murder. How long do you think it is before I get out? And when I did, finding you would be my first priority."

Julian shuddered and knew immediately that Dan was neither lying nor exaggerating.

"So, I'm going to go now," the elder man said, standing. "You seem like a smart man, so I know that you're going to make the right choice. You're probably going to crawl into the bathroom and vomit your brains out into the toilet for a while and then you are going to call the airline and get a seat on the next flight out."

Julian didn't move until he saw Dan leave the room and close the door behind him. He closed his eyes and gasped out a relieved breath. He hoped that would be the last time that he EVER came in contact with Dan Scott.

-----

Peyton looked at her clock. It was still pretty early and she knew from experience that Julian always slept in late. She needed to call him and tell him that she wasn't going to sleep with him. And if she was going to call him, she might as well wake him up to tell him. So, she called the hotel and waited for someone to pick up.

"Yes, Julian Baker's room, please."

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Baker checked late last night."

Peyton blinked. "Are you sure? Did he leave a note or a forwarding address or something?"

"No, I'm sorry, miss."

"Oh, no. Thanks for the help," she said, hanging up the phone. The blond artist was now utterly confused. He left? Why did he leave so suddenly? Did he have a change of heart? Peyton didn't know, and that bothered her.

She quickly called Lucas.

"Hello?"

Peyton could hear the drowsiness in his voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"Peyton?" Lucas woke up completely. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really. I just called Julian to tell him my answer and the lady at the front desk said that he checked out last night."

"He did? Has he called you or left you a message?"

"Not that I know of. What about you?"

"No, nothing on my end."

Peyton was quiet for a second. "Did you do anything to him?"

"To Julian? No! How could you think that?"

"I don't know, I'm sorry." Peyton chuckled a bit. "It's just seems like it was too easy for us that he just took off like that."

"I know what you mean." Lucas breathed out slowly. "But it seems like that's what happened, so we shouldn't dwell on it."

"You're right, Luke. So, maybe we can meet up later to celebrate… I mean, if you'd want to."

Lucas laughed. "I'd love to. How about we have a nice long together?"

"Sounds good. I guess I should let you get back to sleep. Call me later?"

"Definitely. I love you, Peyt."

"I love you, too. Bye."

Lucas hung up the phone. He hadn't wanted to worry Peyton, but he was positive that Julian's sudden departure had to do with whatever Dan had done. Lucas sighed. He hoped that Dan hadn't done anything severe. He was going to have to talk to his father. Later. Right now he was going to go back to sleep.

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A/N: I love how everyone was so against the idea of Peyton sleeping with Julian. Not that I had thought for a second of having her do it. I just thought it was funny how everyone totally didn't want it to happen. Before I go, one more thing. Okay, I've apologized for my dislike of certain characters (Julian and Lindsey), now I have to apologize for liking Dan. I don't know what it is but I'm fascinated by his character and I truly believe that he's not entirely a bad guy. He makes for interesting reading and he was the only one that would do what needed to be done to get Julian out of town. Hopefully his appearance doesn't keep you guys from continuing to read the story. So, enjoy One Tree Hill tonight and I'll update soon.