Heaving a sigh, Peyton sat down at the kitchen table. Brooke had fallen asleep upstairs and the blonde had disentangled herself from the smaller girl's arms so that she could go make some soup.
A knock at the door jolted her to attention, and Peyton warily walked towards the front entrance. Peeking through the shades, Peyton felt her heart drop as she saw the mop of blonde hair in front of her. Opening the door slowly, she said, "Hey, Luke."
The man in front of her grinned and moved to kiss her. Turning her head so that he only kissed her cheek, Peyton took a deep breath and steeled herself for the coming conversation. Confused, Lucas said, "What was that?"
Not meeting his eyes, Peyton said, "There's something I have to tell you, Luke." Stepping outside and onto the porch, Peyton closed the door behind her to try and spare Brooke from being woken by what was almost certain to be a loud and unpleasant conversation.
"Lucas...I can't marry you."
The look on Lucas's face was a mingling of shock and disbelief. "You're kidding, right? I mean, come on, Peyton, you said yes! Not even three days ago, you were head over heels in love with me."
Shaking her head, Peyton said quietly, "I'm sorry, Lucas. I just realized that it wouldn't be fair to you to go through with this if I didn't love you that much. Don't get me wrong, Luke, I love you, I really do, but I don't think it's enough to keep a marriage together."
Tears sprang to the Lucas's eyes as he realized what Peyton was saying. "You don't really mean that, Peyton." She nodded that she did, and the grief turned suddenly to suspicion and anger.
"There's someone else, isn't there?"
Mouth open, Peyton stared at him and said, "Why would you say something like that, Luke?"
Running names through his mind, he said, "Is it Jake? Skills? Who the hell is it, Peyton?" Shaking her head, she said, "It's not them, Luke. This is about us, not anyone else."
Staring past Peyton at the closed door, Lucas said, "Oh my god. He's here now, isn't he, Peyton? You're here sleeping with some guy while you're engaged to me. That's great, Peyton, really great." Trying to block the door, Peyton was taken aback when Lucas shoved her out of the way and went through the door.
Following him, she tried to stop him from going upstairs. "Don't do this, Luke. Please, just let this go." Shaking her off, Lucas threw open the bedroom door and walked in. Seeing the shape under the covers, he grabbed the covers and pulled them back.
Grabbing the person's arm, he yelled, "Get the hell out of..." but the yell died on his lips at the cry of pain and as he saw who was in the bed. Peyton was suddenly between the two as she rounded on Lucas. "Get away from her, Luke, she's done nothing to hurt you."
Not noticing Brooke's appearance, he turned to look at Peyton. "You've got to be kidding me. Brooke? Really?" His laugh bordered on hysterical as he looked between the two. Peyton turned her back to Lucas and reached for Brooke's hand.
The brunette had a wild, terrified look in her eyes, and Peyton said quietly, "Get out of here, Lucas." Moving towards Peyton, Lucas jumped back in surprise when she yelled, "Now!"
Turning on his heel, Lucas muttered, "I can't deal with this. I can't believe you're sleeping with her. That you two..." Not bothering to finish his sentence, Lucas stormed out of the room. Not bothering to follow him, Peyton slowly wrapped her arms around Brooke and tried to soothe her.
The brunette gradually calmed, and she said, "I'm sorry, Peyton. I didn't mean to hurt you and Lucas this badly."
Peyton shook her head and murmured, "Don't worry about it. I didn't think he would take it this hard, though...and if I had any idea that he was coming in the first place I would have given you some warning. He didn't hurt you, did he?" Brooke sighed. "Just another bruise, I think."
Anger flared in Peyton as she thought about Lucas hurting Brooke. "I'm going to kill him," she whispered. Brooke touched Peyton's arm gently and said, "Don't, Peyton. He was upset, and I honestly don't think he meant to. Give him a couple days to come around and see if he apologizes. If he does, let it go. If not, then you have my permission to go kick his ass."
Smiling at the brunette's words, Peyton sighed. "Fine, I'll do it your way. As long as you're sure you're ok..." Waving the blonde's concern off, Brooke said, "I'm fine, Peyton. It's not like I haven't been through worse."
Wincing as she realized how that must have sounded to the other girl, she opened her mouth to take back what she had said, but Brooke stopped when she saw the small smile on Peyton's face. "Don't worry about it, Brooke." Nodding, Brooke let herself relax back onto the bed.
The pain meds from the doctor had helped considerably, and Brooke almost found herself wishing she had gone there to begin with. Peyton laid down next to Brooke and grinned as a sudden thought popped into her head.
"So Brooke... now that Lucas and I are officially broken up..."
The blonde trailed off and looked up at the other girl, batting her eyelashes. Smirking, Brooke answered the girl's question by leaning over and kissing her. Laughing as she finally pulled back, Peyton said, "Wonderful. Glad we got that cleared up. But just to make sure that there aren't any future misunderstandings...." She kissed Brooke again and when they broke apart she said, "I'm allowed to do that whenever I want, right?"
Brooke nodded vehemently.
"And...I'm allowed to do this whenever I want?" So saying, Peyton dragged a fingertip across the bottom of the brunette's stomach, careful not to press or hurt her. Brooke's eyes closed and she gasped out, "Yes, Peyton, you can do that whenever you want."
Grinning again, Peyton said, "Good, because I can't do it anymore now since the doctor said very clearly 'no strenuous activity'. Guess I'll have to wait on that one."
Pouting, Brooke kissed Peyton lightly and snuggled close to her. Letting her thoughts wander, the brunette kept coming back to Lucas's reaction to her and Peyton being together.
God, I hope the rest of our friends don't do that too. They haven't seen me since the attack, I don't think Lucas even noticed so they won't find out about that through him. The rest of it, though.... I'm not sure what I'll do if they hate me for this, for breaking Peyton and Lucas apart.
"What if they hate me, Pey?"
Confused, Peyton said, "What?" Sitting up halfway, Brooke looked at the blonde and said, "All of our other friends. I mean, Haley loves Lucas like a brother, and Nathan is his brother. And Jamie, and Mouth, and Skills...what if they hate me for this? For splitting you and Lucas apart and hurting him? What if they hate me for being with you?"
Sighing, Peyton said, "Brooke, honey, if they hate you for splitting me and Lucas apart then their anger will be completely misplaced. I played an equal part too, you know. And as far as hurting Lucas... if I recall correctly you were the one who wouldn't even let me kiss you once you thought of him, plus he hurt you too."
Running her fingers lightly over the new bruise on Brooke's arm, Peyton shook her head, still unable to believe that Lucas would want to hurt Brooke. "If they have a problem with you being with me, then they're wrong again, because it's not you and me or me and you, it's us. If they're really our friends and care about us, then they'll respect that."
Smiling at Peyton's words, Brooke still couldn't quite shake the knot in her stomach. "Still, Peyt, nobody but you knows I was even attacked. I'm pretty sure Luke was too busy with you to notice today, and I haven't been out of the house other than to go to the hospital. Maybe...maybe it's time to tell other people."
Watching the smaller girl carefully, Peyton said, "Are you sure?" The brunette shook her head, but said, "I have to do it sometime. I can't hide here forever with you, much as I might like to. I would rather tell them now than have them find out somehow later."
Peyton nodded and said, "Ok, Brooke, it's your decision. Do you want me to call Haley?" Brooke nodded and Peyton grabbed her phone and dialed the familiar number. Haley answered after four rings.
"Peyton? Is that you?"
"Yeah, Hales. Sorry I haven't called in a couple days, I was actually wondering if you want to come over and catch up tomorrow?"
"Sure, Peyton! I'd love to. Oh by the way, have you seen Brooke? I haven't been able to get ahold of her, and I'm worried about her."
Glancing over at Brooke, Peyton said slowly, "Yeah, actually she'll be there tomorrow too."
"Oh great, I've just been so scared that something had happened to her, and then she wasn't answering her cell or the house phone, so it'll be good to see her."
"Yeah...do you think you can make it here around, say, 9'ish?"
"Yeah, sounds perfect. I'll see you then, can't wait to hear about what you've been up to for the past couple of days!"
"Ok, I'll see you then Hales, bye." Sighing as she heard the click on the other end, Peyton said, "Ok, Brooke, Haley said she would love to come by tomorrow. Apparently she's been worried about you."
Reaching for Peyton's hand, Brooke pulled her back onto the bed and said, "Well, in that case I think I need to get some beauty rest. Be my teddy bear?"
Groaning, Peyton nonetheless wrapped an arm around Brooke and burrowed close to her under the covers. "You're just lucky you're cute," she grumbled, not meaning a word of it.
Loving the feeling of being in Peyton's arms, Brooke said, "Know what, Pey? I think my regular teddy bear might be out of a job."
A/N: Haha. Update. Yay.
Sorry for the wait, although in my defense I did post five breyton oneshots(which you should read and review if you haven't already! )
Same as with Broken, it's a bit thrown together, but any time I write pucas it usually is...I can't bring myself to care much about writing scenes with him
Reviews are love!