When Peyton awoke, there was a distinct feeling of loss that she couldn't explain and couldn't shake. She felt like her consciousness was still clinging to the ends of a horrible dream. That dream would not let loose of her and she felt the dark fingers of loss and despair grab hold of her soul and squeeze tight. She felt cold inside and out. What had been that horrible dream she'd had? That dream that made her wake feeling like she'd lost everything.
Peyton's eyes snapped open when she realized the reason she felt that a whole piece of her was missing. It had been a nightmare and it would stay with her. Peyton's eyes began to sting as she ran her hand across the spot Lucas had lain holding her in his arms.
"Oh God, what have I done?" Peyton's cried. She curled around a pillow, tears streaming down her cheeks. There was only one man who could sooth this hurt, who could ever take it all away, and she'd sent him away.
Peyton closed her eyes and she could feel the way his hands moved down her body, guiding her hips to move with his. The tender kisses he laid on her face, lips, throat, and breasts.
"How did this happen?" Peyton sat up and saw the note Lucas had left for her. Peyton reached over and grabbed it. She read it from beginning to end and then she read it again and thought her heart would burst.
Her next thought was had she made a mistake letting Lucas go. They had waited for so long to be together and now it seemed like it would never happen. When did she become a main character in her own tragic romance?
No matter how good their intentions were Tristan and Isolt ended up apart and in the end, so did Romeo and Juliet. We aren't exactly Romeo and Juliet, Peyton thought. But it was tragic.
Peyton kissed the letter folded it up and tucked it in her sketch book before getting up and slipping on a robe over her body. She walked over to her records, intent on immersing herself in the one thing that helped her feel better when Lucas wasn't there. Her music. She chose her favorite Van Halen album and as she went to remove the record a note fell out.
Furrowing her brows, she picked it up and opened it, thinking it was from Lucas. It wasn't. Peyton sat down, heavily.
A brother?
Peyton heaved a great sigh, biting back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Brooke was gone and Lucas was gone, the two people she would turn to. She was alone again.
Peyton looked at the camera above her computer. She walked over to the screen slowly and sat, weighing her options. Nothing left to lose, she thought before switching on her camera. Peyton dialed the numbers, but quickly hung up before anyone could answer.
She heard a sound behind her and turned. She smiled and immediately burst into tears. She crashed into waiting arms and the voice she'd come to know so very well said,
"Hey, it's okay, Peyt."
"No, it's not." Peyton looked into Haley's face. "I feel like it's never going to be okay again."
She was right of course. As she spoke, Haley's womb carried a secret, Brooke was nursing an anger that would explode and destroy everyone in its path, Nathan would soon learn what he was made of, and a man who'd nursed a terrible desire for a young woman for years would soon get his opportunity to strike.
As Haley comforted Peyton, Peyton's message box popped open on her computer screen.
It read: Watchmewatchyou: Welcome back.