The next few weeks were something akin to a nightmare... they all admit it... because the next few days were filled with confessions and tears and fights that they hadn't expected. At least, they didn't think that these things would happen so soon after Lucas and Peyton arrived home.
"Hey, I'm home..." Peyton says, coming in through the doorway to find Luke sitting at his desk working on something new, "How was your game with Skills?"
He didn't look up for some reason that she didn't know at the moment, and that confused her. His eyes held something between annoyance and anger when he did finally meet her confused gaze, "Where were you?"
"I was at the office."
"No, you weren't."
She couldn't lie to him. So, instead, she chose to just stand there, not saying anything at all.
"Where were you Peyton? I went down there to see you, and then I went by Brooke's house, and you weren't there..."
"Why would you go to Brooke's house?"
"She's your best friend, why wouldn't I go to Brooke's house?"
"She hates me right now, and you know that."
"Yeah, well, I thought that I knew a lot of things... but I guess not." he says, cooly.
"Well, don't worry about it." she replies, moving towards the closet and grabbing some comfy clothes to get ready to stay in for the evening.
"I am going to worry about it Peyton! The doctor told you to take it easy, and I find out that instead of sitting around at the office you've been running around Tree Hill all day... that isn't taking it easy!"
"Luke, you don't know what I was doing all day, so back off!" she screams back at him, matching his biting tone.
"Where the hell were you then?"
"I can't tell you..."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I can't tell you..." she says, turning to walk out of the room, leaving Lucas inside to only hear the door slam.
He wasn't a jealous man, and didn't even let a thought cross his mind about her cheating on him. It was more than that. It was sitting in the doctors office four months ago, learning that Peyton and the baby were a bit more fragile than they thought.
–
While they were away...
–
"This just means that you have to take it easy... you can't do anything that gets your heart rate too elevated, or you're going to have these issues again."
"Is this condition genetic?"
"Yes, which, combined with Lucas' HCM, is something that we are going to test for right after the baby is born."
"I've never had any heart issues before, and I..." Peyton says, grabbing for Lucas' hand as the tears threaten to fall.
"The baby grows a lot in the first few months, putting a great deal of strain on your body. When your heart gets over worked, it just starts to pump faster. Your condition makes it fire incorrectly, causing it to palpitate at an inconsistent rate. Heart palpitations can cause shortness of breath and a feeling of unsteadiness, which is what you experienced last night. You told me that you two had been at the park all day and shopping. It was too much."
"So what does this mean for later on in the pregnancy?" Lucas asks, fully ready to put Peyton on complete bed rest and not let her leave his sight until the baby was born.
"When you feel tired, you need to rest. If you feel short of breath, you need to stop what you are doing. If it gets anywhere near what happened last night, you need to come to the hospital."
"Childbirth?" Peyton finally says after they take a few minutes to digest everything that the doctor is trying to tell them.
"There is a great possibility that you will not have this baby naturally. Labor is an intense experience for the body, and probably the greatest workout known to man... which is why we are going to monitor you closely as you get farther along. When you go into labor, we need you in the hospital immediately."
Sensing the urgency in that last statement, Peyton cautioned to ask, "What are the risks to continuing this pregnancy?"
Lucas looks up at this, not understanding exactly what Peyton was asking, "What? Peyton..."
"I won't end it, but I have a feeling that there is a greater risk here, and I want to know what it is, so we can be prepared."
Turning to her, "Peyton, you're going to be fine, and the baby is going to be fine."
After a minute of looking into his pleading eyes, she turns again, facing the doctor, "What are the risks?"
The doctor takes a deep breath, knowing that what he is going to say is going to change everything for the young couple before him, "There is a great risk of maternal death during labor. If we don't have you monitored right off the bat, your heart might not be able to take it. Even with the monitors, there is a careful balance at how things are going to be approached."
–
Present Day
–
They knew where they stood... as far as best friends were concerned, there were some issues and some reservations. As far as brothers were concerned, it was the same deal. However, Nathan had been more accepting for some reason of everybody's situation.
Peyton found herself on the doorstep of the person she had always turned to, the person who was always waiting for her in the end, and she knew that there was a great chance that this was going to be the first time she would be turned away.
Knocking a quiet but steady knock, she waited for the door to open and reveal the woman she still considered her best friend.
"Peyton..." Brooke says with a caring tone that she hadn't used towards her in a long time, and certainly not since they had returned.
That was just what she needed to break down, "Brooke... I know that you hate me, but I..." she starts to say, letting the tears fall down her face.
"Come on, let's get you inside." she says, pulling her inside by placing her arm around Peyton's shoulder.
As they sit down on the couch in very much the same way as the night that Peyton had found out that Lucas had proposed to Lindsay, it was as if the past year didn't happen. They never left. Nothing was wrong, and the universe was perfectly right again. It never worked that way.
"What's wrong Peyton?"
"I have to tell Luke about Jamie... Brooke it's killing me..."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't lie to him, and tonight he knew that I hadn't been at the studio, and he was so angry with me."
"Where did he think you were? What could he possibly think that you were doing?" she asks in a soft tone, not understanding Lucas' freak out.
"It's not that..." Peyton says, not meeting her eyes.
"Then what is it?"
"It's the baby." she says, sitting up and resting a hand on her stomach.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you that it wasn't all roses after we left either, and this was a thorn that we hit along the way."
"He doesn't want the baby?" Brooke asks, completely confused, and fully knowing that a family is something that Lucas Scott had wanted all his life.
"No, it's... we found out that there was potentially something wrong."
"Okay... define potentially and define something, cause I'm not getting it."
"There is a great chance that I could not survive the pregnancy because of a heart condition that we didn't know about."
If Peyton Sawyer ever had a doubt about the friendship she shared with Brooke Davis for all these years, that doubt was shattered the instant those words were out of her mouth. The silent tears made their way down Brooke's face as she looked into the eyes of the only friend who was always there. She placed a hand cautiously over Peyton's resting on her stomach, emitting a small sob as she does so.
"It's okay, Brooke, it's going to be okay."
"Peyton, this is not okay... God!" she says, quickly getting off the couch and mumbling to herself about not being able to deal with this again.
"Brooke, what are you talking about?"
"That's why Haley doesn't want to be around you, Peyton. She was pregnant after you guys left."
Her eyes were the picture of confusion thinking about Haley and then thinking about when she saw Haley, and how Haley was very obviously not pregnant. Of course, that was when realization hit, and her eyes went wide, watering with tears.
"Elizabeth... it was a little girl. Pre-term labor, probably brought on by all the stress from Jamie. It just happened a few months ago..."
While Peyton was forced to find out a bit of what happened here while they were gone, Lucas had to deal with the same, leaving for the river court to do some thinking after he realized that Peyton was not coming back to chat with him any time soon.
A few minutes after he arrived, his brother walked on to the court.
"Don't you have a wife now?" he says, joking.
"I sure hope I do..."
"What'd you do?"
"Who are you to say that I did anything... maybe Peyton did something." he says, pointing at his brother who got a 'Yeah right' face on the second he started blaming Peyton. "... I was an ass."
"Well, what's new then?"
"Funny..."
Nathan waited, trying to silently encourage his older brother to share what was going on between the two of them.
"Peyton was out and about in Tree Hill today instead of at her office where she said she was going to be all day."
Nathan straightened up for a moment, knowing exactly where Peyton was when she said that she was at the office.
"Well, did you ask her where she went or why she left the office?" he tries to reason.
"She said that she couldn't tell me... aren't we supposed to share everything! And that isn't even the issue here, and she doesn't get that!"
"If that isn't the issue, then what is?"
He then tells Nathan exactly what Peyton had told Brooke, instead taking the stand point of a man that could lose his wife. He was of course shocked, but then sympathetic towards his brother. It was killing him that he didn't know what Peyton had been doing all day, and frankly it was killing Nathan to not tell him where Peyton had been. He broke then, not wanting to continue the stupidness of this omission.
"Jamie is dying."
"What?!" Luke says after recoiling from what felt like a slap at his face.
"Leukemia... a very aggressive type."
"I..." he says, but drifts off as he bends down to grab onto his knees in an attempt to steady himself, "when did you find out?"
"About three months after you guys left... and then we thought that it was one kind of cancer, but we were wrong, and it turns out that it was a lot more than what they originally thought."
"And we didn't answer our phones... we didn't check our voice mails...how are you even standing here talking to me right now?" he says, in complete disgust of himself.
"You're my brother, Luke. No matter how much we go through and how stupid we are... I'm always going to love you and be there for you."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"Haley didn't want you to know. She's so angry at everything the world has dealt us this past year, and you weren't there to help her through it."
"What does this have to do with Peyton..."
"Peyton found out a few weeks ago when she saw Haley in the hospital. Haley came to the house a told her that she should go see him, so she has visited every day since then."
"That's where she was today?"
"Yeah."
"Does he know that I'm back?"
"She wouldn't allow Peyton to talk about it, and she certainly won't let us talk about it either."
"So, Peyton can go see him, but I can't."
"I want you to, Luke, I do. Haley isn't going to be happy, but you are a great uncle, even though this year was something entirely different, I know you love Jamie."
"I do."
Nodding, Nathan saw this as the time that the conversation was over. Their tales were shared, and as Nathan left, he turned back around to face his brother, "Tree Hill hospital... Children's oncology... he's in room 343. Visiting hours are 9 to 9."
As Nathan walked to his car, Lucas glanced down at his watch, that proudly glowed that it was just eight o'clock.
He grabbed the basketball that he had been using and grabbed his sweatshirt and headed over to his car, preparing to get into it and drive straight to the hospital.
Instead, he drove home, passing Brooke's on the way and seeing Peyton's car in the driveway. He stopped, walking up the path to knock on the door.
"Luke..." Brooke says in a quiet voice after opening the door to see him with red eyes and a tiredness about him.
"I need my wife, Brooke."
She nods, ushering him in the door and over to Peyton on the couch in the living room asleep.
"I'm glad she fell asleep." he says, watching over her.
"She needs it."
He looks over to see the girl he once loved and his wife's best friend all over again. She shares that same look of love and adoration that passes through his eyes when he sees Peyton again and again. This time, however, there was a look of fear in the twinkle that he also knew all too well.
"She told you..."
"It's going to be fine." she says, hoping that her voice is confident enough to convince the powers that be what they need to do.
"Yeah..."
"Don't be mad at her."
"You knew..." he says without a hint of accusation in his voice.
"Yes, I did... and Peyton just found out, so don't be mad at her about that either. Haley came to her after Peyton ran into her at the hospital."
"I know, Nathan told me... and Brooke...thank you."
"For what?"
"For taking care of them, watching after them... being a good best friend to Haley."
"Lucas, you are still the person in that spot, she just can't see that now."
"Why did we let it get this far?" he asks, not knowing exactly what 'it' was.
"Maybe five years down the road we'll realize that this was all worth it... you know? All the heartache, and the crap that we've been dealing with. Maybe it makes us stronger?"
–
While they were away...
–
"Sam!"
The teenager sulks into the kitchen with a scowl on her face, "What do you want?"
"I just need you to be here! I know that you went out last night and you didn't tell me about it, and then you snuck in this morning like nothing happened." Brooke says, with an accusatory stare at the young girl sitting before her.
"So, if you knew that I was doing it, why didn't you say something?"
"Because that would have made you more pissed off than you are on a regular basis, so I just assume avoid it."
"Well, thank you for the thoughtful consideration." she says in a monotone voice that always seems to aggravate her foster mother.
It was then that she notices it... the pause of just a moment when Brooke looks at the calendar. Her face goes from annoyed to heartfelt to sad to livid in what seems like just a second. When she turns around to meet Sam's eyes, they are the picture of broken, but she only just catches it before Brooke turns again.
"What's with the date?" she asks, knowing there was obviously something up with that date in particular.
"It was my best friend's birthday." she says, after a long moment of consideration.
"Was?... Did she die?"
"She might as well have..."
"Care to explain that drama?"
"Nope." she says as if it is the be all end all of the conversation.
"Come on! You know all sorts of things about my past, isn't it only fair that I get to know about some of yours?"
"You have not shared with me any of your past sans when you stole from my clothing store six months ago."
"Okay, fair is fair.... My dead beat mother gave me up... I know who she is, because I looked it up, but she has no clue that I exist here in this town. I was dumped from foster home to foster home, with a great majority of them homes where I got the crap kicked out of me by either the parents or other kids. I've tried the homeless thing... now I'm trying this out... satisfied?"
Clearly, she is taken aback by the whole monologue just put in front of her, confused as to how to respond, she just sits, unblinking.
"Now is where you tell me what's up with you and the date on that calendar and your so-called best friend."
"She left... with a guy who I dated in high school, and who has become a great friend. He is Haley's best friend and Nathan's brother. We have been rooting for the two of them, Lucas and Peyton, since high school... minus the time that I was dating him of course. He was an idiot and thought that he would marry someone else, but when she finally saw what we saw..."
"Which was?"
"That no one can come between the epic romance that is Lucas and Peyton... when she realized it, she left him at the altar. Nearly a month later I get a note from Peyton saying that she was taking some time for herself, and Haley gets a note from Luke saying the same. We have a hunch that they are together, but we don't know."
"It's your best friend... how can you not know?"
"Now you see the issue..."
"How long have they been gone?"
"About six months."
"And you haven't heard from them at all?"
"Nope... and they won't answer voice mails or e-mails either. Which is why today is bittersweet. I want the two of them home because I want to celebrate Peyton's birthday with her, but at the same time, I'm so pissed that they cut off all contact with us that I could give a shit if I ever see her again."
"You don't mean that."
"Yeah, I do."
"Brooke, trust me about this... you should hold on to the people in your life that have seen you through it all. I don't have those people, and look what it did to me..." she says, half-joking with the last statement, that causes Brooke to start to protest, "... all I'm saying is that maybe when they get back it will be worth it. They will get what they wanted, you'll get what you wanted, and you guys will be stronger than ever. Going through a bunch of crap always makes you stronger."
–
Okay, I'm sorry that I haven't updated this fic in awhile... you know how life happens. But I picked it back up, along with working on my other two fics that are currently in progress. I hope this was worth the wait, and there is certainly more to come!!
REVIEWS are cool!!