A/N: Again, thanks to all the readers and especially the reviewers with all the feedback and encouragement. It is so much appreciated. Thank you all.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

Nathan woke, reaching for Peyton, disappointed to find a cold, empty sheet beside him. Normally he rose before she did, used to his father's early morning workouts. Then again, it wasn't morning; it was evening.

He sat up, stretching his long limbs, glad he suffered no hangover. His contentment lasted mere seconds as he remembered he'd have to face his dad today. He'd barely had time to dwell on that thought before the bedroom door burst open and Peyton came in, holding a pizza box.

Seeing he was awake, Peyton flashed him a brilliant smile. "So everyone's heard of breakfast in bed, but I come with dinner in bed."

He grinned at her. "Good, I'm starving," he said, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her chest.

Peyton giggled as she gave him a light push. "I swear you have a one track mind. All you think about is sex, sex, and more sex."

"Actually, I was thinking about my dad, but then he flew out the window with the arrival of a sexy blonde with killer legs."

"Oh, is that right?" she asked teasingly. "Well, I guess he doesn't get any pizza then," she said, sitting beside Nathan on the bed.

"Cool, more for us," he replied, opening the box, which he had set on his lap. "It's half gone," he commented.

"Brooke and Rachel," she explained simply, taking the slice Nathan handed her. "Thanks, baby, that was the yummiest looking slice of them all," she said, having already inspected all the slices.

"I know," Nathan replied with a smile. "You owe me," he added, grabbing a piece for himself.

"Why didn't you take that one?" Peyton questioned, pointing to the second most appetizing slice.

He shrugged carelessly. "I was saving it for you," he said.

She gave a quick kiss on the cheek. "You're so sweet sometimes."

"Yeah, well you can return the favor later."

"I should have known there'd be a catch," she commented lightly, her eyes sparkling with humor. "When exactly are you cashing in on this favor exchange?"

"You'll know when the pizza starts rising," he replied with a smirk.

She gave him her most innocent of looks. "As in self-rising crust?"

He chuckled at his comical girlfriend. What would he ever do without her? "Yeah," he responded cockily. "A crust so thick you can barely get your mouth around it."

Peyton shook her head in amusement. "Your perversions and your ego never cease to amaze me."

"Hey, they have to match the rest of me, right? Otherwise they'd feel left out."

"Oh, so kind of you to include them with your self-claimed amazingness. Is that even a word?"

"Yeah," Nathan replied. "If you look it up, you'll find my name," he joked. "And by the way, you were the one claiming, no, screaming, my amazingness this morning. Brooke can vouch for that."

Peyton slapped him playfully as he laughed.

"You know," he said, "I've never ate pizza naked before. It's kinda weird."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. You should try it."

"You just want me to strip. Eat your pizza, mister."

He smiled, and they soon fell into a comfortable silence as they ate. After several minutes, Peyton noticed that Nathan's mind had drifted elsewhere.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said.

He glanced over at her, their eyes locking. He gave her a brief smile, debating over what to tell her, finally deciding on the truth. "I'm just wondering how mad my dad's gonna be when I get home. It's gonna get ugly, I can tell you that."

Peyton placed a soothing hand on his arm. "Then don't go home, Nate."

"I have to, Peyton."

"You could stay with me."

"Yeah, your dad would love that."

"Or here. Brooke's parents are hardly ever home and…" Her speech faltered as he shook his head.

"I can't hide forever," he told her. "It'll just make things worse when he finds me."

"Nathan…" she spoke softly, desperately, already starting to tear up, making him wish he'd settled on one of the thousand lies he could have fed her. She'd just worry now. He should have spared her that.

"Babe, don't cry, ok. There's nothing to worry about," he said, snaking an arm around her shoulders. "He's just gonna yell at me like he always does. Just probably a little louder," he tried joking.

"I don't want him to hurt you," she cried out.

"He won't. Well maybe my eardrums."

This time she did laugh slightly before leaning further into his embrace.

He'd had to reassure her again when she'd driven him to the beach where he'd left his car when Jake, Rachel and the others had brought him to Brooke's. He managed to convince her all would be fine with his unfaltering ability to lie without blinking an eye. Now if only he could fool himself so easily.

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"Peyton, are you crazy?" Brooke asked once she realized her friend was serious. "Nathan will be pissed if you do that!"

"He'll get over it," Peyton replied dismissively.

Brooke shook her head, wondering what on earth was wrong with Peyton. "Uh, did you hit your head on the headboard this morning? He's not gonna get over it, Peyton. He can't even stand when the guy looks at you! And need I remind you how he reacted last week when he found out you guys talked?"

"No Brooke, I remember, ok? Nathan was pissed at first, and yeah, we argued," Peyton confirmed. "But then the next day he admitted he was wrong and apologized for being an ass."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "You know Nathan will say whatever he needs to in order to get back on good terms with you. But you can't seriously believe he'll be fine with you taking Lucas, his worst enemy, anywhere, let alone to the concert he bought the tickets for. So unless your aim is to have Nathan beat the crap out of Lucas, I really think you should reconsider asking him."

"I've made up my mind," Peyton told her. "Nate and I have already established that I'm not his little puppet, and just because he hates Lucas, doesn't mean I do."

"That's so not the point, P. Sawyer," Brooke argued. "It's one thing to have a conversation with the guy, but a whole other thing to date him…"

"It wouldn't be a date," Peyton denied.

"What then? It's not like you two are even friends."

"Well, maybe we could be."

"Don't you and Nathan have enough drama without creating more?"

"I don't see the big deal," Rachel, who'd previously been silent, piped up.

"Really? You don't?" Brooke snapped.

"No," Rachel answered. "I think if Peyton wants to ask Lucas, then she should."

"Ok, you've both officially lost your minds," Brooke said in disgust. "Nathan…"

"Is going to be pissed. We know that," Rachel replied. "But so what? It's Peyton's life."

"He's her boyfriend. I think he has a say in who she dates."

Peyton opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when Rachel spoke. Apparently the debate was between her and Brooke now.

"Like she has a say in who he bangs?" Rachel retorted. "It goes two ways, you know."

"Ok whoa," Peyton demanded, putting both hands up. "First of all, Rach, thanks for the support, but please don't compare what I'm doing to what Nathan has done. And Brooke, why do you insist on calling it a date when I just said it wouldn't be? What's wrong with two people who share a music interest going to a concert together?"

"Peyton, I seriously think it would be a mistake," Brooke said pleadingly.

"You know what?" Peyton asked. "This conversation might not even matter. For all we know, Lucas could say no."

"Yeah right," Brooke scoffed. "Turn down the girl he's been fantasizing about for, who knows how long? Like that's gonna happen."

Peyton shook her head to deny the fact. "It's not about that."

"Then what, Peyton? Please explain this to me because I can't make any sense of it. Unless, you're like, into him?"

"What? No!" Peyton denied, unable to believe the remark. Was there ever any question of her love for Nathan? "Ok, look, when I asked Lucas if he was going to the concert, he said he wished he could, but that he couldn't get tickets," she explained.

"So?" Brooke asked with a shrug, not really seeing her point.

"So, no one else our age is interested in going, including both of you, including Nathan. Yeah, he would have gone with me if he could, but he would have been bored the whole time. So would you and Rachel and all our other friends."

"I know hon, but…"

"So then wouldn't it make more sense to take someone who genuinely wants to go rather than drag someone along who'll be staring at the clock all night, waiting for it to end?"

"Sure," Brooke agreed readily. "If it's not going to cause problems with your boyfriend."

"She doesn't have to base every decision she makes on whether or not Nathan will approve," Rachel declared.

Brooke threw Rachel a penetrating glare. Peyton was being impossible, and Rachel, well she was being a bitch. "I know that," Brooke said through gritted teeth. "But a little consideration for his feelings wouldn't hurt."

Peyton laughed bitterly. "So feeding into this unreasonable hatred he harbors for his own brother is being considerate?"

"Don't put words in my mouth," Brooke snapped. "I never said you had to feed into it. But, on the other hand, why make it worse? And why do you assume Nathan's reasons for hating Lucas aren't valid?"

"Because his number one reason is 'he was born'," Peyton shot back, using finger quotes.

"Ok, so that one's a bit over the top," Brooke admitted. "But he has good reasons too."

"Brooke, really? Can you honestly stand there and say he has even one good reason?" Peyton demanded to know.

"Well, just the way the guy obviously fantasizes about you is enough to piss off any boyfriend," Brooke stated sourly.

Peyton rolled her eyes. "Please, if Nate's gonna hate on anyone for that, he'd have to start with Tim. That guy looks everywhere but my face."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Well, that's because he doesn't want to kink his neck," she joked.

"Tim is harmless," Brooke returned, ignoring Rachel's attempt at humor. "He's no threat to Nathan."

"Neither is Lucas," Peyton told her sternly.

"Right, cause he's not bent on getting into Nathan's world," Brooke commented snidely.

"You know, you sound just like Nathan when you say stupid things like that."

"Hmm, go figure. We talk. And I happen to agree with him for the most part. I think Lucas would do anything to have Nathan's life."

"You can't say that, Brooke," Peyton defended. "You don't even know the guy."

"And you think you do?"

"No, but I'm not the one judging him."

Brooke shrugged. "You have your opinion, I have mine. But he most definitely is a threat if you'd jeopardize your relationship with Nathan for him."

"I'm not!" Peyton exclaimed, getting extremely agitated.

"Oh that's right," Brooke said. "You never need to worry about losing Nathan because 'he always comes back'. Isn't that right?"

Peyton narrowed her eyes at her friend. "You went through my sketches?"

A look of confusion crossed Brooke's features. "Why? Was I not supposed to? You've never had a problem with me looking at them before."

"I still don't," Peyton replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I just didn't think you'd seen it, that's all." She'd have to find a better place to hide it before Nathan found it too. She wasn't sure how he would take it. He could take it as she meant it, that no matter what happened between them, that he couldn't stand to be away from her any more than she could from him, therefore he always returned to make things right with her. Or he could twist it to mean she was pulling his puppet strings, controlling him . "I didn't mean it in a bad way," she assured Brooke.

Brooke nodded, already regretting her condescending tone regarding the sketch. "I know, hon. I'm sorry, I was out of line with that one."

"Just that one?" Peyton asked with humor.

"Ok, maybe not only that one," Brooke commented, with the tiniest of smiles playing on her lips. "I just want things with you and Nathan to run smoothly for a while, you know? It would be a nice change. Don't you think?"

"Yeah it would," Peyton agreed. "But then again, the make up session are always worth it," Peyton bantered.

"Yeah, if you're not in the next room hearing the entire thing," Brooke stated. "But hey, I did get a nice view when I stormed in there, before he so rudely pulled up the covers," she continued. "Oh and I totally get why he wears a size 14 shoe," she added with a wink.

Peyton giggled at her friend. "B. Davis, you're too much."

"Ok, what?" Rachel asked, laughing once they told her what had happened. "Wow, no fair. I want a peek too," she replied. "But, you know what they say, it's not what you got, it's how you use it."

"Well the way this one was oo-ing and ah-ing, he knows how to use it," Brooke teased, pointing her thumb toward Peyton.

Had anyone else been present, Peyton would have blushed a deep red, but she wasn't embarrassed with Brooke and Rachel. She was used to Brooke, so nothing she said or did surprised her anymore. She bumped hips with her and the three girls laughed. Previous disagreements were forgotten.

Peyton didn't tell the girls her primary reason to want to get to know Lucas better in case her plans got foiled, but what she really hoped to achieve by developing a friendship with the older Scott brother was that he and Nathan would one day come together, and just talk. Maybe she could be that link between them, the one to separate the gap and the misconceptions they each had about the other. Maybe eventually they could even become real brothers in the true sense. She'd do anything to have a sibling, and yet there they were, denying each other that role. Such a shame.

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Peyton entered the café a bit nervously. They'd all been told to never come back since the altercation between Lucas and Damien. She wondered if it still applied if she arrived solo.

She also wasn't sure if Lucas would even speak to her, let alone accept both her apology for going off on him the day of the fight, and her invitation to the concert. She'd meant to apologize sooner, but she hadn't seen him around at school all week.

The place was busier than it had been when she'd come from Tyler's party. In fact there were still several customers. Then again, it was also earlier in the night.

She was caught off guard when she noticed it was that Haley girl working. For some reason, she'd thought that Lucas would be there. She kicked herself for assuming that he worked every Friday simply because it had been a Friday that she'd come.

She glanced over at the counter, noticing Bevin, who was eagerly waving her over. She was sitting beside a guy, who Peyton recognized as a part of Lucas's group of friends. He'd been here the day of the fight, sitting in that very same spot.

Peyton sauntered over, and Bevin quickly introduced them. Peyton smiled a little at his name. "Skills? For real?" she asked.

"Nickname," Skills replied dryly. Figuring she'd be as rude as her boyfriend and Rachel, he didn't bother extending his hand. He was much more comfortable in his own group, excluding Jake, who seemed more down to earth than the others.

"Oh," Peyton said in amusement, wondering, as Nathan and Rachel had, if Bevin had given him the pet name. But unlike the other two, she didn't comment on it. Instead she put her hand out, even though the guy seemed quite put off by her presence. "Well, it's nice to meet you," she said in a friendly manner.

"You too," he said, accepting the gesture. But of course, he'd seen how she was with Luke so he knew that this meant nothing. When her friends were around, she'd likely snub him as she did with Luke.

"I'm sorry about you and Nathan," Bevin told her sympathetically. "But don't worry, you'll get back together like you always do."

Peyton smiled. "Actually, we already did," she revealed to the other blonde.

"Oh good," Bevin said happily. "He was so miserable last night. And really drunk."

"Yeah, I heard that."

"Oh! Nathan is Peyton's boyfriend," Bevin told Skills, though he already knew that.

"So, where is Nate?" Bevin asked Peyton.

"He went home a few hours ago."

"Last night he didn't want to go home at all. He seemed scared."

Peyton nodded agreeably. Bevin may be lacking in intelligence, but she had an uncanny ability to read people. "Yeah, I'm worried about him," she admitted. If Nathan thought for a second that he'd convinced her not to worry, he thought wrong. She had only gone along with it because it had seemed important to him that she believed him.

"I am too," Bevin stated. "I remember that time Nathan got kicked out of the game for too many fouls and his dad…"

"You know what?" Peyton interrupted, uncomfortable with Bevin's reveal in front of another person. "I was looking for Lucas. Do you know if he'll be coming in tonight?" she asked Skills.

"Nah, he's still layed up."

"Oh, he's sick?"

"You could say that," he answered bitterly.

"Ahh, that's too bad," Peyton said in disappointment. "I was gonna ask him to go to a concert tomorrow night."

"That Benefit concert, with all the different bands?" Bevin asked. "Aren't you going to that with Nathan?"

"I was supposed to, but now he can't go."

"Well, my man Luke ain't gonna be in shape to go to no concert by tomorrow, that's for damn sure."

"Hey! You should go with Haley!" Bevin suggested. "Do you know Haley? Oh well, it doesn't matter," she continued without giving Peyton a chance to answer. "She's totally nice and she was just saying she wished she could go to that. So you could go together!"

"But I don't know her at all," Peyton reasoned.

"I'll introduce you. She's like the nicest person in the world, not a bitch or anything. And she loves music just like you. You could be best friends!"

"I already have a best friend."

"So, you'll have another one," Bevin chirped excitedly.

From then on, Bevin was a whirlwind of activity, going to and from both girls, making plans. Somehow it was confirmed that Peyton would pick Haley up at the café at 6:00 pm, and Skills would be taking Haley's place at Luke's. All arrangements were made via Bevin. Both Peyton and Haley could see the girl's enthusiasm at the prospect of blending their groups further, and though neither felt it was very realistic, they could not bring themselves to shatter poor Bevin's hopes by declining.

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Nathan entered the house close to midnight. He hadn't gone straight home like he'd told Peyton he would do. Instead he'd waited, hoping his dad would be asleep when he arrived. No such luck. Dan turned to face him, a bottle of scotch in his hand, fury in his eyes.

Nathan took a deep breath and swallowed hard; mentally preparing himself for whatever came next.