Sharing a look with Peyton, Lucas kissed her forehead, and then said he was going to drive his car back to the house, and he'd meet her there. He walked away, leaving Jake and Peyton standing alone next to her mother's grave. "Well, um, I guess you just heard our good news," she said with a nervous smile, wondering what he was thinking. She knew that he had said he wasn't here to get her back, but she also knew that Brooke had called him and told him she was getting divorced and he had shown up. She just wasn't sure.
Smiling at her, Jake pulled her into a hug. "I'm happy for you, Peyton. I got a call from Brooke, who was told by Sophie, who had just talked to Ainsley that you had taken off this morning, after receiving your divorce papers in the mail. I thought I was going to have to come here and talk you out of leaving Lucas again. I'm glad that the two of you figured it out on your own this time," he joked, hugging her probably longer than normal friends would hug, but she didn't say anything.
Looping her arm through his, she started walking towards his car, grinning widely. "Yeah, well, it's about time I pulled my head out of my ass and just let myself be happy, I guess," she joked back. She was glad that Jake had moved back, because he was a good guy. She hoped that he would find love one day, but she knew that it just wasn't her. She was meant to be with Lucas. She loved Jake, but just as a friend. "Come over for dinner. I'm going to call Brooke, and Haley and Nathan. I'll probably order pizza, but we can hang out and celebrate my engagement. It'll be fun," she offered as they reached his car.
Shrugging, Jake agreed. "Sure, I'll follow you to your house," he said as they stopped walking. He stared at her for a brief moment before continuing. "Speaking of Brooke, you should call her, let her know you're okay. Probably Haley, too. You know Brooke, when she thinks there's something wrong with you, she calls everyone to alert them and see what they know," he laughed, pulling the keys to his car out of his pocket.
Laughing with him, Peyton began to walk backwards towards her car. "I've got to jump in the shower when I get home, but I'm sure Lucas will be there already. He better wait until I get there to tell the kids," she broke off, her tone saying that Lucas would be in trouble if he didn't wait for her to get home before opening his mouth. She brought herself back to what she was saying. "I believe we have a bottle of wine at home. The adults can have some fun tonight," she waved, and then turned as she continued to walk to her car.
When Peyton and Jake arrived at her house, she jumped in the shower as she had said, and the guys were left in the living room. She had to call some of her kids to get them home, and she had called Brooke and Haley while she was on her way home. She was going to call for the pizza when she got out of the shower, and Brooke had even said she was going to bring over a bottle of champagne, because Peyton had said she had good news, and Brooke, of course, had immediately guessed what it was.
While Peyton was in the shower, and Jake and Lucas were talking in the living room. "Well, Lucas, I'm happy for you. I mean, she's a great woman. I'm glad you realized what you had lost before it was too late. You guys really are perfect together, and I know you make her happy. So just make sure you don't hurt her again, because as her good friend I'd have to hurt you, and I'm not entirely sure I could take you," Jake said with a laugh.
Laughing, Lucas watched Jake, not entirely sure if the other man really was happy for him and Peyton. He knew that Jake had once been in love with Peyton, but he wasn't sure if he was anymore. He knew that Jake hadn't come back just because Jenny had moved out of his house, but he couldn't tell if Jake was faking his happiness for the blonde couple or not. "Well, Jake, thanks, man. I know that you know what it's like losing her. It's not easy. I only hope that you find the woman who makes you as happy as Peyton makes me," he said.
Nodding, Jake thanked the blond man, but didn't say anything. He was thinking, but Lucas couldn't tell what he was thinking about. "I'm only telling you this because we were once really good friends, but I once thought the woman who could make me happy was Peyton, but I've seen her. I saw her when you guys were apart, and I see her now that you guys are happy again, and I know I could never make her as happy as you make her, Lucas," he said, and the two men came to an understanding. Both of them loved Peyton Sawyer, but they both knew who she loved and who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
A little while later, Brooke and her kids, and Nathan and Haley and their kids had arrived, and the rest of the sextuplets had gotten home too. Peyton opened the champagne, pouring everyone over age a glass, and giving the minors sparkling cider. She called up the twins on speaker phone in a three-way call, and she and Lucas prepared to tell everyone their news. "Well, um, I'm sure you've all heard that we got the divorce papers in the mail this morning," she said, and she got murmurs from the group as everyone wondered where this was going.
Most of them had a good idea, but some of her kids really didn't expect what was coming. "Well, we won't be divorced long. Lucas proposed to me today, and we're getting married again," she announced, squeezing Lucas's hand and looking at everyone. There were mixed reactions, but the overall effect was everyone wanted the two blondes to be happy. She could tell that Madison was a little disgruntled, even though she pretended to be happy for them, but she knew that her daughter would get used to the idea, once she realized that this time they were in it for the long haul.
When everyone had digested the news and they got off the phone with the twins-Peyton wanted to get the update on their college lives-they all sat down in the living room and ate pizza and just hung out. She knew it had been a long time since they had all gotten together like this, and as she looked around at almost everyone she loved, except for the teenagers in college of course, she knew that she was making the right choice for her. She knew it was going to take some hard work, but she couldn't be happy without Lucas, and that was that.
A few weeks into October, Peyton was well into the wedding plans, with Brooke's help-actually Brooke did most of it, and just passed her decisions by Peyton for approval-with a tentative date for December 20th. She thought a winter wedding would be nice. She had gotten married in the summer the first time around, and now she wanted things to be different. She was glad that she wouldn't be carrying the pregnancy pounds this time around. She hoped she wouldn't be, anyway.
When she woke up for the fourth morning in a row with morning sickness, she began to question that, though. She went to her calendar and started counting days, finding that she was late for her period. She couldn't believe that, though. She had been told when she had given birth to the twins that she wouldn't be able to have a baby again on her own, without help, which had proved true. They hadn't gotten pregnant in the past 16 years, and they had used no birth control whatsoever. So how could she be pregnant now? She couldn't be.
Of course, she knew that doctors were sometimes wrong, and sometimes things happened that were inexplicable, but she just couldn't believe she was pregnant. She would have to take a few tests to be sure, but she wanted someone with her. She couldn't ask Lucas, because she didn't want to get his hopes up for no reason, but she could ask her best friend. She knew that Brooke had been trying to keep herself busy with other things, so the brunette would love the fact that her best friend was having a pregnancy scare.
Just as she thought that, she heard her phone start ringing, and the ring tone that was floating through the room told her that it was aforementioned best friend calling her. She wondered if Brooke had some kind of psychic abilities that she had never mentioned as she crossed into her bedroom and pulled her phone off the charger. She flipped it open and put it to her ear. "Hey, B. Davis, just the best friend I was thinking of. I need to talk to you. We're supposed to meet today so we can take my measurements for my dress, right?" she asked.
After talking to Brooke for a little bit longer, Peyton hung up the phone so she could get ready, and find where Lucas had run off to. She knew he hadn't been in bed when she had gotten up, so she headed downstairs. She found him in the kitchen, where he had a plate of breakfast waiting for her. "I already made the kids breakfast and sent them off the school. I was going to wake you up, but you looked so sweet and peaceful that I just couldn't do it. You want a cup of coffee?" he asked, reaching into the cupboard to grab her a mug.
For a moment, Peyton just stood in the doorway of the kitchen. She thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a baby again. Lucas had always been great with the babies, and she knew that before this whole ordeal had happened she would have freaked out at the idea of having another baby, but now she knew they were a stronger couple, and they could do this. She knew the sextuplets would be leaving the house in a couple years, and she wasn't sure she was ready to have an empty house yet. She wanted to be a new mommy again, and Haley had just had a baby, so the new baby would have someone its own age in the family.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn't scared, if she was pregnant. She was brought out of her thoughts by Lucas asking her if she was alright, and she just crossed the kitchen, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. She knew he was a little surprised, but he still kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer. "Good morning, fiancé," she said when she pulled away, grabbing the cup of coffee he had just poured for her and sitting at the table to eat.
Following her, Lucas sat next to her, watching her as she ate. She blushed as she realized he was watching her, and cocked an eyebrow, silently asking him what he was staring at. "You seriously are the most amazing woman in the world. What did I ever do to deserve you? I can't believe I get to spend forever with you," he said, causing her to blush even more, and he reached out and caressed her cheek. "It's the truth, you know," he added.
Shaking her head, she put her fork down and reached up, taking his hand in hers as she looked into his earnest blue eyes. "Forever and always. We've always been meant to have it, Lucas, and we will get it. You are the one who convinced me that we're True Love Always, after all. I just can't wait for the day when I get to be Peyton Scott again. Only two more months, and then I'll be Peyton Scott until the day I die," she leaned over and kissed him again.
Kissing her back with increasing passion, they both forgot the plate of breakfast Peyton had started to eat. He couldn't resist saying something else though. "You've always been Peyton Scott, to me. Even though your name isn't technically Scott anymore, you're still Peyton Scott, because you're my wife, even if the papers don't say it. Even if I had gotten with Lindsey, and you had married someone else, you would always be Peyton Scott, and I would always love you," he stared into her emerald green orbs and kissed her again.
This time, the mention of Lindsey and all that had happened didn't cause her to retreat behind her walls. She knew that it had been a mistake, but it had happened, and she knew that they had emerged a stronger couple for it, and that made her love him all the more. She pulled back for a moment, and stood, backing towards the stairs. "Well, I have to go meet Brooke soon, but I might have some time for a little steamy shower sex," she sent him a look, unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing of his. That was all it took to make him follow her.
When she walked into Brooke's Tree Hill shop, she noticed that her best friend had cleared the place out for the day. She walked into the back, where she knew Brooke would be. "Brooke, I have to be honest with you," she started as she came up behind the woman. "You're kind of lucky we planned the wedding to be so soon, otherwise I might have been putting on pregnancy pounds by the time I actually walked down the aisle, and that is not a road I want to go down again," she joked.
The other woman had jumped at the sound of Peyton's voice, turning around and holding a hand to her chest, since Peyton had startled her. She thought about what the blonde had said, and then she just broke down in tears. Peyton, alarmed, walked closer and pulled her best friend into a hug, asking her what the problem was. "I think I'm pregnant too," she cried. She looked at her best friend and realized that Peyton still didn't get why it was a problem. "I don't know if it's Julian's or Owen's" she added.
Rubbing her best friends back, she realized the problem. She knew Brooke didn't want another child with Owen, because that could give Owen a chance to convince her to take him back, but at the same time, she would be sad if it was Julian's because he would be gone for two years, and he would miss a lot. "Well, Brooke, first we need to find out if either of us have a problem, so we need to go buy some pregnancy tests. Then we can come back here and take them and we'll figure out where to go from there," she said, trying to comfort her best friend.
An hour later they knew the results to their tests. Brooke had started crying again when she had gotten a positive reading, and Peyton knew that Brooke should be happy, but it was hard, when she was divorcing one man, in love with another man, and she didn't know which one's child she was carrying. She knew that Brooke would get through it though. "You'll be alright. You're Brooke Davis. You can do anything, even have another kid at the age of 38," she reassured her best friend.
Wiping her tears, Brooke realized that Peyton was right. She shouldn't be sad she was having another baby, she should be happy. She would have to go to the doctors and figure out when she had gotten pregnant so she could figure out who the baby belonged to, but either way, she knew that this didn't have to change things. She was still divorcing Owen, and nothing would make her take him back. She loved Julian, and she knew he would love her even if she had another child from her ex-husband. He would love it as his own the same way he would love her other kids, because he loved her.
Smiling, she knew she would get through this, especially since she had Peyton as a best friend, not to mention the rest of their extended family. She may not have been related to them through either blood or marriage, but Peyton and Lucas, and Haley and Nathan and all their children were still her family. She realized that Peyton had to be having her own emotions. "Hey, what about you? What are you going to do?" she asked her best friend, reaching over and placing a hand on Peyton's arm.
Smiling, Peyton was shocked to find she wasn't the least bit disappointed. She wouldn't have expected that, but there it was. She knew that this was the right thing. "Well, I'm going to go home and tell Lucas that we're having another child, and then I guess we continue planning the wedding, and take it from there. I'm okay with this, Brooke, really," she said, and Brooke accepted that answer, so they got up and began to take her measurements for her wedding dress, which had been the original plan in the first place.
A/N: Well, this is the last chapter. I could have continued, and done the wedding and everything, but we've all read about plenty of Leyton weddings, I'm sure. I know I have at least. I didn't really expect this to be the ending chapter, but if just seemed to finalize things, and I knew drawing it out any longer would be unnecessary. I hoped you all liked it, and I hope you leave a review and tell me what you think. Thanks for all my other reviews. I appreciate all my readers and those of you who have followed this to the end, despite the times when I thought the next update would never get written. They did, even if they took a long time, and I'm grateful for my fans who never lost faith in me. You're the best!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.