A/N: As much as I adore C.M.M…boy refused to renew his contract and so ends One Tree Hill. That makes me so sad! I just started watching it this summer, so this will be the only season I get to watch episode by episode. That's so sad, so it's a good thing I had awesome reviews and freshly purchased Season Four on DVD to cheer me up. I always say this, but people, really: if you fave my story or put it on alert…review. Please? Thank you. Now feel free to ignore my babbling and read on.
Divertimento: a slow-paced, somewhat melancholy, solely instrumental composition intended for entertainment
Peyton felt bad for her old friends as they all ate supper. Nathan and Haley were tiptoeing around her, dying to ask questions but fearing the responses they'd receive. She didn't know how to help them out. It wasn't like she could just start rambling and give them a perfectly edited version of the last twelve years of her life.
Their kids were so beautiful. Jamie was so big, and her heart ached for all she'd missed. James Lucas Scott: named for Lucas, which contributed to her heartache. Despite his name, he seemed like Nathan all over again, only with his sweet side not quite as well hidden as his father's had once been. Just looking at him made her smile.
She saw a lot of Haley in their twin six-year-olds, particularly Noah. They were quiet but smart; their eyes, sparkling with childish fascination, took in every little detail.
And the baby, Sebastian, stole her heart right away. She'd never wanted to let him go.
The entire Scott family was just so picture-perfect and…comfortable. Peyton could not have wished for more for Nathan and Haley, two of the people she loved most in the world. They were such good people, such caring friends, that she felt so guilty for holding as much information as she was from them. It was just that Jenny knew so little – first and foremost, she felt that it was her responsibility to protect her daughter. And admittedly, she was a bit selfish: she wanted to protect herself from the drama and pain of confrontation and confession. Nathan and Haley loved her too much, even after all this time, and when it came down to it, that was truly the problem. They wouldn't be impartial, they'd be emotional and supportive, and Peyton had no desire to break down – especially not in front of Jenny.
"This is amazing, Haley," she said truthfully, commenting on the pasta dish they were all eating with the exception of the baby boy.
"Yeah, it really is great," Jenny chimed in politely, and Peyton shot her an approving smile of thanks.
Haley, just an invested in her social etiquette, said, "Thanks, both of you."
An awkward silence fell over the table. The quiet made the six-year-olds uneasy, and they exchanged a bewildered glance. Sebastian was, of course, oblivious to it all, while Jenny seemed to have reluctantly accepted the intensity of the history between her mother and the couple whose home she was residing in for the next eight weeks. Jamie didn't seem to care; he just kept stealing glances at Jenny, which Peyton thought was cute. Could it be their Naley's firstborn had a crush on her daughter? If anything was cute, that was it.
Nathan cleared his throat and folded his hands, looking very serious and fatherly in his place at the head of the table. "So, um, Peyton."
"Yes, um, Nathan?" she teased back, unable to resist. She felt more at ease with Nathan, not because of any romantic history they had, but because Haley looked at her with much more concern. She knew Nathan worried for her, but he was better at hiding it.
"Are you, uh…dating anyone?"
Haley made a strange face and hissed, appalled, "Nathan!"
Jenny giggled and Peyton gave her a quick smile. The boys all looked confused.
Peyton was determined to keep everything as light-hearted and easy as possible. Compared to some of the questions she knew Haley was dying to ask, this was an insanely easy one. She had a little fun, still teasing as she asked, with a quick lick of her lips, "Why, you interested?"
Haley's strange expression got even more intense, and she looked honestly upset.
"Hales…" Peyton rushed to assure her, feeling confused. Haley hadn't accused Nathan of having a thing for her since their junior year of high school. Her relationship with Nathan had been sex with the occasional sweet moment thrown in – Naley were a forever kind of deal that no ex-girlfriend could mess with. "I was just joking," she said calmly with apologetic eyes.
"Oh! God! I know, I just…yeah, I know, of course you were, that's not even what I was thinking, it was just that…" Peyton couldn't remember ever seeing Haley so flustered. "Nothing. It's nothing."
"Mom," Jamie said bluntly, sounding tired. "Why're you acting so weird tonight?"
"Jamie," Nathan scolded him lightly.
"Well?" his son said pointedly.
Peyton broke through the tension quickly. "No, Nathan, I'm not."
He grinned at her. "Bad opening question, huh?"
She could only smile sympathetically. There was no such thing as a good opening question in this particular scenario. "As good as any," she said honestly.
Haley looked like she was struggling with something. Peyton wanted to call her on it, but on second thought realized that she probably didn't even want to deal with whatever it was. Haley relaxed a little, asking, "So, um…what're you doing lately?"
Peyton shrugged. "Well, my label, you know. Moody musicians and all of that. It keeps me pretty busy."
"No new hobbies or anything?" Haley asked, and her desperation to know a little more struck a chord with Peyton.
"I…I still draw a lot," she offered, "in my free time, and Jenny and I do some goofy stuff sometimes," she said, smiling at the fourteen-year-old. "Bowling and cooking and being really annoying at the movies. I'm sorry, Haley, that I can't tell you more, but…my life is mostly work and Jenny. That's all there is." She swallowed hard and twirled her fork idly in her pasta.
Haley gazed at Peyton sadly, wracking her brains for some sort of neutral conversation. Jake was the big question, and it had been the one thing Peyton had declared taboo. She gnawed on her lower lip with her front teeth before leaning over to Noah to remind him that he had to eat all of his carrots.
She just wanted to know. Haley craved knowledge, loved it, and used it as fuel for all her important decisions. She couldn't make choices without it. She met Peyton's eyes across the table and could see just from the emotion in the green eyes she faced that Peyton understood how she was feeling and felt sorry about it…but it was also clear that she wasn't going to relent or take back her decision. Whatever had gone down with Jake, she was keeping it private.
Another question pushed its way to the front of her mind. What about what had gone down with Brooke? Lucas? Even Mouth, for God's sake? Why had Peyton avoided contact with every single member of a once-strong group of friends? They'd spread out and made their own decisions, but no one, not even classic screw-up but overall good person Rachel Gattina or the infinitely annoying Chris Keller had completely cut off contact.
She just couldn't understand, and it made her sick with worry. Brooke was Peyton's best friend, and Lucas was her soulmate. Perhaps not in the romantic sense – their respective relationships with their significant others had proved that theory of Haley's wrong long ago – but in the purest sense of two complimentary people. Haley had found it in her husband, and she couldn't even imagine parting with him for as long as Peyton had broken contact with 'Brucas', as she affectionately called the pair occasionally, considering that Brooke had long ago dubbed her relationship 'Naley'.
The shrill ringing of their phone, which for some inexplicable reason played a jaunty Beethoven symphony, which, over the years had become a musical hatred for the entire Scott family, broke the bitter silence. The ringtone made Jenny smile, which warmed Haley's heart as she stood up and walked briskly over to the phone.
The number displayed by the caller ID made her hesitate. Briefly, she toyed with the idea of leaving it to ring, but having the voice of the caller fill the room as they left a message, blissfully unaware of Peyton's return, could only heighten the discomfort and unpleasantness in the air. She took a single deep breath to prepare herself, and answered the phone with a pathetic, "Hi," well-aware that every single person in the room – minus baby Sebastian – was straining to hear her conversation while pointedly pretending to be engrossed in their meal.
"Hey, tutor mom," Brooke Davis-Scott's raspy voice said perkily in her ear.
"Hey…you," Haley said, forcing an equally cheery tone.
"Something wrong, superstar mentor, or whatever the hell you are this summer?"
"Ha…um, no, of course not. What's up?"
"Oh…nothing. Lucas is just cooking for me like the big sweetheart he is. Mira's practicing ballet, it's the cutest thing; I'll get her to show you her moves next time we're over there."
Haley froze for a minute. She'd completely forgotten that Brooke and Lucas had the habit of stopping by unannounced, like, all the time. It was never something she'd complained about in the past, particularly because she and Nathan tended to do the same thing, dropping off kids to be babysat, just checking in, pleading for some coffee, volunteering to take all the children on an outing, or offering to cook dinner for them all. It was never a problem: they were family, after all. Haley didn't have any daughters, so she couldn't get enough of Brooke and Lucas' spoiled sweetie, and the 'Second Scotts' didn't have boys, so they were always eager to tease and play with Nathan and Haley's brood. Haley could only be thankful that Lucas or Brooke hadn't shown up on their doorstep over the next day.
"Seriously, girlie, what's your deal?" Brooke asked, taking on a more sombre tone. "You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, I'm fine. Mira's dancing sounds really cute. I wish I could see her soon but I'm so busy with this whole…music camp thing." Haley grimaced when Nathan, Peyton, Jenny, and Jamie all gave her curious looks, wondering why she was lying to her caller.
"Yeah, that's why I was calling. I was wondering how the whole camper situation's been going, considering how mysterious Chris 'The Horny Idiot' Keller was being about it. Is the kid a total freak?"
"Brooke!" Haley cried out, aghast at her friend's blunt humour and appreciatively laughing at the fact that Brooke had remembered that she was mentoring that summer and had thought to call.
Then she realized her mistake. She pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut quickly, cursing herself, before she chanced a glance at the table. Nathan was wincing on her behalf, aware of how awkward the whole situation was. Jenny looked unconcerned, not even curious – which meant that she had no sweet clue who her mother's ex-best friend was. Jamie still looked intrigued, while the twins grinned and Nick cried, "Aunt Brooke!" making everything worse still. She looked at Peyton last. The blonde's face was ashen, and her lips had twisted into a sad frown. Had she even thought about the fact that Lucas and Brooke would be inevitably involved in Naley's life?
"Well!" Brooke cried in her defence, oblivious, of course, to all that was going on in the Scott household. "Who is it? Tell me, already, Haley!"
"I'm sorry, but I…can't talk right now. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? I promise. I'll tell you everything."
"Fine," Brooke huffed. "Play hard to get, see if I care," she teased. "I'll talk to you tomorrow tutor girl! Kiss those beautiful boys for me. Luke says hi. Now go do your mysterious stuff…it better be dirty!" she added, and Haley could picture the quirk of her eyebrows and the glint in her warm brown orbs. Before she could reply, the dial tone resounded in her ear.
Haley slowly set the phone back down in its cradle to charge. With a weak smile, she turned back to the table. "That was Brooke," she blurted, even though it was the most obvious and unhelpful thing she could have possibly said.
"Yeah, we heard," Nathan replied, studying Peyton out of the corner of his eye.
"Auntie Brooke!" cheered Nick again. He absolutely adored Brooke and was always beyond happy to see her. "Is she coming over?"
Peyton gulped, her eyes searching Haley's face.
"No, honey, she's not," Haley told Nick firmly, but she was really speaking to Peyton, who visibly relaxed.
Jenny rested her chin in the palm of one hand, her elbow on the table, and drummed the fingers of her other hand against the hardwood. "So I'm gonna go right ahead and ask the really obvious question here: I guess I'm pretty out of the loop, here, but who's Brooke? Your sister?"
"Uh, no, Jenny, she's…a good friend."
"She's my favourite aunt," Nick told Jenny as if informing her of an important secret.
She smiled sweetly at him and said, "Yeah? Cool. I bet she's lots of fun."
Nathan chuckled. "Fun is one word."
Haley shot him a glare. It was so not the time to be affectionately snippy about Brooke's character. "So not helping, Nathan."
Peyton placed her fork down carefully, as though she was afraid that it would break. "So she and um…" she hesitated as if gathering the strength necessary to go on, "she and Luke are still living here?"
"Yeah," Haley replied softly, not sure why she felt quite as apologetic as she did. "Um…we're all still…really close."
"Of course you are," Peyton said graciously, but Haley could see how much it was all killing her.
Jenny arched her eyebrows. "What's your deal with Brooke?" she asked her mother.
"Jen…"
"What? I can't ask?"
Her mother sighed. "She was my best friend for a long time. We went through a lot together, but we lost touch," she said as matter-of-factly as she could.
"Bummer," Jenny muttered sarcastically. "I can't say it surprises me that I didn't know that. What about that Luke guy you mentioned? He an ex?"
All three adults just stared at her. Haley wondered how she could have possibly figured that out…did Jenny know more about Peyton's past than she ever would have credited her with? Or was she just so close to Peyton that she could decipher everything simply from the inflection in her mother's voice?
Jenny gave them all a look that told them that they'd underestimated her. "It was just the way you said his name."
Oh, not good, awkward, uncomfortable…Haley's head spun as she sensed everything rapidly spiralling out of control. "Pie!" she cried joyously, spontaneously. Once she'd gotten everyone's attention in the form of concerned stares, she continued, "Who wants pie? I think we all do. What'll it be, Jenny, lemon meringue or coconut cream?"
"Either…either's fine."
"Both it is. Peyton? Nathan?"
The two of them exchanged a worried look, which was an odd turn of events that made Haley smile.
"I'll have whatever Nate's having," Peyton answered her, smoothly forcing Nathan to make the choice.
"Uh…coconut cream, Hales, thanks."
"Great. Boys?"
She was bombarded by three requests for "Both, pretty please?" and she couldn't deny any of them considering she'd already made the offer to Jenny. She gave Jenny and Jamie chores to help her in the kitchen as she cut and served the two pies she'd bought at the bakery earlier in the day. She got Jamie to remove everyone's plates from the table even though no one had actually finished their main course, and got Jenny to distribute the pie. When they were all seated again with sugary pies sitting in front of them, Haley prayed for easier conversation.
Thankfully, she got an idea, and happily asked, "How's your dad doing, Peyton?"
Peyton's reply came accompanied by an easy, relaxed smile. "He's pretty good. He retired to Florida, actually, and he pretty much loves it. Jenny and I visit him, or he visits us…we make sure we see each other. Jenny loved going out there when we she was little…you remember, hon? Disneyworld was like heaven to you."
Jenny blushed and giggled. "Yeah, I remember."
"Imagine that," Nathan said teasingly, "Peyton Sawyer, nonconformist extraordinaire, taking her little girl to Disneyworld." He shook his head. "I can't even picture it."
"Shut up," she ordered him amicably.
Haley shot them both a big smile. "Are you close to Larry, Jenny?"
She nodded, her eyes bright. "Yeah, Grandpa's pretty great. I love visiting, I really miss him."
"Because he spoils you rotten," Peyton laughed.
"Not true!"
"Please. We promised you a car for your sixteenth birthday ages ago and he's actually going to stick to it. I was hoping you'd forget."
"Never," Jenny said devilishly.
"Well, I know that now. If only I had when you were seven."
"He bought you are a car for your sixteenth birthday. It's only fair that he buys me one…especially because he loves me more."
"Ha ha," Peyton said dryly. "I just worry about you driving, you know that. I've seen you get road rage navigating a shopping cart through the supermarket."
Jenny's smile softened to one that possessed a better sense of understanding. "I'll be careful, Mom, you know that."
Something tangible passed between the two of them at that moment, as Haley looked back and forth between them.
"Yeah, kiddo, I know," Peyton assured her, effectively ending that portion of the conversation.
The others moved on, but Haley stayed lost in whatever silent agreement the two blondes at her dinner table had come to. There was clearly a sense of honest comprehension in Jenny's words, an understanding of why her mother would worry about her driving. Was it possible that she knew, at the very least, of Peyton's childhood, and of Anna's accident? It was obvious that she knew that Peyton had good reason to worry about her child and cars.
It almost made Haley sad to see that Jenny was close to Peyton's father. Larry Sawyer was a good guy who'd done his best for his daughter, and loved her to pieces, but most of the time doing his best meant that he was far away and that she was alone. He wasn't technically her biological father, but he'd raised her as though he was and Haley could give him nothing but credit for that, but the fact of the matter was that after Anna Sawyer's death, Peyton's family dynamic had shifted. Her father was there for her from a distance, and her immediate family turned into the unconventional pairing of two nine-year-old girls, and later grew to include Nathan, Lucas, Haley and the rest of their friends. In high school, when they'd married, Nathan said to her, You're my family now, and Haley had always felt that in her group of friends. They had relied on one another and did their best to provide unconditional love, though sometimes, just as in a nuclear family, they came up short. She regarded Peyton as her sister, and it made her sad to think that Peyton's daughter was close to Larry, who had been so absent in Peyton's life, while she, Haley, who had been there for her through thick and thin, Jenny knew only as a famous musician.
Jenny, across the table diagonally from her, dug into her coconut cream pie, and it smeared over her lips. She giggled as she lifted her napkin to wipe it away, shooting Noah, who was staring at her, a smile. She missed a bit of the smear, and Haley was amazed at how instinctive it was for her to reach across the table with her own napkin to clean her up. She didn't do it, but she felt the urge to without even thinking about it.
It made her wish so much that Jenny had always known her as an aunt.
Lucas rubbed Brooke's arm lightly. They were cuddled together on the couch with popcorn like a couple of teenagers as they watched The Notebook. Miranda had been tucked in about an hour, and Lucas had finished with kitchen clean up before joining his wife in their spacious-yet-comfy living room. "What's going on with you, Pretty Girl?" he asked her tenderly. "I'm pulling out all my best moves here, and you're ignoring me," he teased.
She looked up at him with a small smile on her lips. "Sorry, I guess I'm just not in the mood right now. I know I was horny before, but I'm thinking about Haley and it's kind of killing the mood."
"I figured," he agreed patiently. "Talk to me, Brooke. Did you two get in a fight or something?"
"No, nothing like that. She's just confusing me." She shifted her position, no longer leaning into him, but sitting up so that they could establish eye contact. "I called her earlier, just to say hi and ask her how it was going with that musician kid of hers, and she was acting really strangely."
"What do you mean?"
"She just seemed…jumpy, I guess. She didn't sound like herself; she sounded nervous, and I don't think she wants us to come over anytime soon…" She stood up abruptly, spilling some of the popcorn. "We should just go over there, right now, and figure out what's going on."
"Brooke…" He'd been looking forward to a relaxing evening, and quite frankly, sex. He wasn't in the mood to get up and storm the other Scott household.
"C'mon! I want to know what's up. You know how much I hate secrets."
"Yeah, Brooke, but if she doesn't want us going over there, we shouldn't. Let's just relax. You and I both know that we can trust Haley. She'll explain at the right time."
Brooke's pretty pout was similar to that of her daughter. "No, Luke, come on. She'll probably be mad, but let's just find out what's up."
"And what do you suggest we do about our dead-to-the-world daughter upstairs? We don't have a sitter, and we're not going to wake her up just so we can ambush Nathan and Haley."
"But…but…" Still pouting, she flopped back down onto the couch. "Maybe if you call her!" she suggested, brightening. "You're her very best friend; she might tell you what's happening!"
"Or," Lucas said pointedly, "we could be patient and wait for her to tell us both when she's ready to."
Brooke shrugged her consent but continued to sulk as she watched Rachel McAdams on their television screen. Lucas sighed but inwardly, he smiled. There was only one way to make her stop fuming, and it wasn't exactly unpleasant. With the easy push of three buttons, he'd turned everything in the living room off. He held out both hands to her and gave her his slyest smile, "Come on, babe, let's go to bed."
She smiled at him, biting down on her bottom lip to keep from grinning too widely. With one last wistful look at the phone, she accepted his hands and stood to join him, leaning in for a teasing kiss. "Okay," she breathed when they both broke for oxygen. "You win…for now." And with that, she slipped out of his grasp and ran off down the hallway, her laughter bouncing off the walls and finding its way back to Lucas' ears. He smiled.
A/N: I waited for one hundred reviews to post this chapter, so I'm feeling pretty good right now. Send me a few more of those and you'll have more of this story coming your way.
