Author's Note: D... this update is so quick just for you!!

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"She is claiming that you are keeping him from her. Even at the funeral, you asked her to leave." their lawyer says, running through more of the case with them before it would go to court.

"We did ask her to leave, because Jamie had a long, rough day, and broke down a bit at her insistence that he come sit by her."

"And what happened?"

"He ran down the hall to Peyton, and I asked EVERYone to leave. Peyton took Jamie into his parents' room."

"Okay, and what about the other claims?"

"Jamie is an involved boy. He may be young, but he loves the things that he does, so showing up on a whim or calling the night before doesn't fly with us. It upsets his schedule, and we are trying as hard as possible to make sure that he stays consistent with that."

"Can you give an example?"

"She called us a few weeks prior to all of this asking us if she and her husband could take Jamie to the zoo."

"Okay?"

"It would be a Friday afternoon, and he was still in school, so we said no." Lucas tells her like it was the dumbest thing in the world.

"Have there been other times?"

"I don't think so."

Peyton shakes her head to corroborate that claim. "Why is this happening?"

"Peyton, it is my job to ask you all of these questions, because I'm pretty sure that you are going to be asked these things as well."

"I know, and I know that you are trying to help, I'm just confused as to where this is all coming from. I mean, we take good care of Jamie, he's never said a bad word about us. We love him like he's our own, why would they take him away from us?"

"Peyton--" she begins, but is cut off by her secretary buzzing in.

"You've got someone on line one"

"I am clearly busy with the Scotts right now, so this can wait."

"Actually it can't. You need to take the call on line one."

She apologizes to Lucas and Peyton before walking over to her desk to pick up the phone. All Peyton and Lucas could hear was her side of the conversation, and they could tell that the woman was not pleased with whoever was on the line.

"There is NO legal reason why they should get that."

"No, they don't have to allow that."

"Their names are written on those damn papers!"

"How long?"

"No."

"And I'm telling you that I'm not giving you a week... that's too long."

"A weekend, and that's it, because there is NO legal basis for this whatsoever."

She slams the phone down and stands up a little straighter, seeming to adjust herself for a moment before coming to sit back down.

"I really wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of you being mad, like ever." Lucas says, laughing, as Peyton then turns to smile at him.

However their smiles turned when they noticed that the woman who had quickly become a friend to them was not returning the gesture.

"What is it?" Lucas asks, his eyes growing concerned.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first."

"Well, you're going to tell us both anyways, so why don't you pick?"

"The bad news is that they are going to get to take Jamie for a little while--" she says, standing and putting a hand to Lucas' shoulder as he moves to stand and start the nervous pacing that she found he did when he was angry about a situation. "but the good news is that I fought for them to only get him for a weekend."

"When?" Peyton asks, upset by the turn of events, but knowing that she really can't change anything about it.

"Tomorrow afterschool until Sunday evening."

The two of them nod, not excited at all by the prospect of him being led away. As the looks on their faces grow even more knit in concern and confusion, she decides that is it for the evening.

"You two go home and spend some time with him. Explain what is happening tomorrow, and make sure that he is okay."

They stand and leave for home, not wanting to face the little boy, not even wanting to face this whole situation. It had all been perfect. The three of them had settled into a rhythm. Jamie was doing so well, and Lucas and Peyton were doing better and better every day that passed. They grew more and more in sync with each other and in raising Jamie that they had no clue that anything like this would come to shake them.

When the next day came, they were forced to put on happy faces and smile as Vivian came to pick Jamie up, who was, not surprisingly to Lucas and Peyton protesting the idea.

"I was supposed to go swimming with my shark team tomorrow... why can't I go?"

Vivian didn't answer herself, but looked to Peyton and Lucas to answer the boy's question. They share a look at that, her inability to field the simplest of questions from the little boy.

"Well, you are going to visit your Aunt Vivian and Uncle Michael this weekend, and they live a bit farther out, so you can pick up with that next week."

"But we were going to learn about the butterfly today, and that's like the coolest one!"

Lucas then leans down to talk to his nephew, "You will be flying around that pool in no time, and maybe next week Peyton and I can take you to the pool and show you how to do it."

"You guys don't know how to do stuff like that..." he says, narrowing his eyes at his uncle.

"I'll have you know Jamie Scott that I've swam a few laps in my day. Your mom and I used to go to the pool all the time during the summer."

Jamie lit up at that, which made Lucas smile. However, Vivian, at the mention of her sister got a sour look on her face.

"Lucas, I think it is hardly the time to be bringing that up."

"Why?" Jamie says, turning to her.

Vivian doesn't answer the question, clearly not understanding that talking about Nathan and Haley was something that helped Jamie and them deal with what happened nearly a year ago. Instead, she pats Jamie on the shoulder and leads him towards the door.

"Wait, I've got to hug Aunt Peyton and Uncle Lucas!"

He runs back to them and wraps his arms around both of them, not understanding the gravity of the situation, and definitely not realizing how upset his aunt and uncle were.

"Don't do anything crazy or really cool when I'm gone okay?" he says with a smile as he looks up at them.

"We will just sit in our bed all day long and watch television and stay in our P.J.s" Peyton says.

"We won't even shower or move!" Lucas adds with a smile.

"Aw, man... see that's cool!" he says, his shoulders slumping as Lucas pushes him towards his aunt and lets them walk out the door.

They watch him pull away, her putting him in the back seat of her SUV as he waved at them.

It wasn't until they were completely out of the driveway that Lucas and Peyton stepped back into the house, turning to look around for a minute before settling on standing across from each other with unreadable looks on their faces.

"And then there were two." Lucas says, trying to make the situation a little easier on them.

She laughs, which was his purpose in that statement, and she walks towards him with her arms out, wanting to have him put his arms around her and wanting to do the same to him.

The stood that way for a while, just breathing with each other, taking in the silence of the house. It hadn't been just the two of them for a while now, and the feeling was an odd one.

"We're twenty four years old, newly married according to everyone else in the world and we are standing here like lost puppy dogs because we are kidless for the first time in nearly a year. What is wrong with this picture."

He laughs a soft laugh that warms her heart in that way that only he can and pushes her away from him so he can search her face for a moment. "It's going to be okay, you know that right?"

"What if he likes them more than us?"

"Really? That's what you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know Luke, it could."

"Nope, it couldn't. Trust me. Vivian and all of Haley's sisters were so quickly out of this town and out of the James house as fast as humanly possible. Didn't you ever notice that Haley didn't talk about them? She rarely tells a tale past when they were in high school."

"That doesn't mean anything, Luke."

"Yes, it does, Peyton, because that kid is the perfect replica of Haley in his heart, and if there is any one word to describe Haley, it's loyalty. He knows who is there for him and who will be there for him. To be honest, I'm surprised that he even recognized Vivian at the funeral, cause she wasn't in his life for the whole year before Nathan and Haley died."

"Then why is she doing this? Why now?"

"I don't know... but we have a big house all to ourselves for the weekend, and we don't have to play chauffeur to our nephew at all, so I think that we should take advantage of the situation."

"Really..." she says, allowing a glimmer to reach her eye that told him she was more than willing to play that game.

While they didn't forget about Jamie, they let themselves enjoy the weekend, taking in a movie with just the two of them, cuddling together on the couch to watch a movie that didn't have superheroes or disney plastered all over it. It was nice.

It was nice until they got the phone call on Saturday night before they went to bed.

"Hello?"

"Aunt Peyton?" he says and his voice sounds just a little bit too scratchy for her liking.

"What's wrong, Jamie?" she says, which has Lucas' full attention as he makes his way over to where she is sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I don't like it here..."

"Jamie, honey, what happened?"

"Aunt Vivian was yelling at me. Uncle Mike told her to stop, but she was still mad."

"What was she mad about, Jamie?"

"I was looking at the photo albums."

"Did you ask before doing that?" Peyton says, sounding just like the mom that she had become.

"I asked Uncle Mike, and he said it was okay. And then Aunt Vivian came in, and she was mad, and she said that I shouldn't be looking at those because they were going to make me sad."

"What were the pictures of?"

"Momma and Aunt Quinn and Aunt Vivian, and Aunt Taylor mostly. There was one from when Momma and Uncle Lucas were little kids though, and she was at his basketball game. That was my favorite one, and she took it away from me. I told her that I wanted to see what Momma was like when she was my age, and she said that it wasn't good for me. Why isn't it good for me?" he says, not seeming as upset now, but seeming confused as to why his aunt would act in such a way.

"You know Jamie, it is good for you, and I think that Uncle Lucas and I have pictures around here of your mom and dad, and I'm pretty sure that we've got some from the old house that we could show you too. So, you can see some pictures when you come home, okay?"

"Yeah, okay..."

"Hey Jamie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, what did you and Uncle Lucas do today?"

"We watched a movie together and we ate dinner together and we missed you a little bit."

"Just a little bit?"

"Maybe more than that."

There is a pause after that, and Peyton can hear that Vivian had just walked into the room, so she thought that she would let her have a piece of her mind for a moment.

"Hey, Jamie, you best be getting to bed, but can you put your Aunt Vivian on the phone?"

"Really, I have to go to bed?"

"Yup, it's way past Jamie time, little man, but your Uncle Lucas and I love you, and we will see you tomorrow."

"I love you too"

Then there is a bit of rustling before the phone is passed over to the other woman.

"You know, I can tell the boy to go to bed just fine without your help."

"Really? Then why did he call us?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure that he is going to be fine."

"Well, he's not going to be fine if you pull another stunt like you did tonight. Don't you think that boy has been through enough that you don't need to go yelling at him?"

"Oh, so you two are the perfect parents? You never yell?"

"Oh, we yell, but not about something as stupid as him wanting to look at pictures of his mother."

"Peyton, I don't know what fantasy world you live in, but his mother, MY sister is dead, and he needs to start getting over that fact. He needs to start realizing that life goes on and he shouldn't be lingering on the past."

"Vivian, the kid is nearly seven years old. It is perfectly normal to still be curious about his parents. In fact, we want him to talk about Nathan and Haley, because we want him to remember the good things about them, so he can have positive thoughts about what happened."

"I don't know where you get off acting like you knew my sister at all. You didn't know her. You just came into their lives. Convenient enough of a time for you as well. Don't tell me about my sister or my brother in law. You have not been there all these years."

"Well, from what I understand, neither have you."

"Listen..."

"No, you need to listen. Don't EVER stop him from talking about his parents or finding out more about them, because he has that right. We will see you tomorrow."

"Fine."

"And I'm pretty sure that you didn't know your sister at all, because your sister has always valued the people who put family first, who are there. Lucas was there, and dammit, when that boy was in the hospital and when Nathan and Haley were in surgery, it wasn't you there. It wasn't you who had to tell that little boy that he lost both of his parents. It wasn't you who sat with him at night and stroked his hair so he could fall asleep. It wasn't you who crawled into a twin bed in the middle of the night to keep the nightmares away. It was us. Me and Lucas. So don't you tell me anything about having a right to that boy or talking about Nate and Haley, because if you ask me, you're the one who should feel guilty right now."

With that, she hung up, slamming the phone down on the counter and turning to look at her husband, who was still a little speechless from listening to her outburst. When their eyes met though, he instantly put his arms around her, knowing that this was one of those rare moments where Peyton Scott had a meltdown.

It had been a lot to carry around and a lot to face, but the lay it all out there for someone else to hear. To try to get them to understand just what they had gone through was probably one of the hardest things that she had ever done. So, she let herself take a moment to cry, comforted by his hands rubbing circles on her back.

"I know it's going to be okay, but Luke... I'm still scared."

"For you or Jamie?"

"For everything."

–

A little more drama and a pissy Peyton. LOVE it!! She's got some fire to her, and I wanted to make sure that you all saw that again! I'm hoping that you are enjoying this little plot twist, because I'm diggin' it. I'm also liking the fact that the words they are a-flowin', cause I sat down to write this one, and it just came flowing out of me.

So, keep reading, keep reviewing, and thanks!!!