As she looks at the picture in her hand, the tears begin to dry on her face... tears of relief, uncertainty, and of fear. A combination formed by the emotions she had been facing all day. Then, as she picked up the phone and dialed that familiar number, the tears began again.

"Hi..." she sighs, "I have to tell you something...."

"Peyton?" the concern was etched in his voice, and she knew that he would worry until he could get home to her. "What's going on...?"

"I lied to you today... when you called earlier. I told you that I left early to meet with a band, but I didn't."

"Peyton, you're scaring me... are you okay?"

"No, Luke... well, yes, but... I just need you here right now."

"I'm on the first flight out."

"Thank you."

"Peyton?"

"yeah" she says with such sadness.

"Are we okay?"

"Just come home Lucas...." she says, hanging up the phone before he could hear her whisper "I hope so."

Seven Hours later, and he was finally in front of the house. Being 3 o'clock in the morning, he figured that he would find her in bed, sleeping, but when he entered through the bedroom door, she wasn't there.

He had hours to agonize over the conversation they had on the phone. Every scenario had played out in his head. As he walked through the bedroom, the worry continued to torment him. Then he saw her... tear tracks down her cheeks, a blanket thrown over her body, and her hand clutching the picture of her and her birth mother when she was a baby. She was asleep, but it didn't seem to Lucas that it was a peaceful sleep, as her brow seemed knit in confusion even now.

He reached a hand out to squeeze her shoulder... "Peyton..."

She opened her eyes and gave him a half smile as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. "You're here."

"Did you think I wouldn't be?"

She sat up on the couch, leaving space for him to join her and let herself be taken into his arms. "I did, but I was just... I needed you, and now you're here."

"Peyton, what's wrong? I have gone through every possible situation in my head, and none of them have been good from the way you sounded on the phone."

"I'm sorry Lucas, for doing that to you, but I couldn't tell you about this on the phone."

"Can you tell me now?" he asks, with a look of pleading in his eyes. "Start from the beginning, with where you were if you weren't meeting a band."

She stood up then, needing the distraction of pacing in front of the couch, and proceeded to tell him about the pain that she had been feeling and how she went to the doctor's office. The pacing stopped as she looked into his eyes and told him that her biggest fear was that she had what Ellie had, that she would end up with an incurable cancer, and not be able to do everything that she, that they set out to do.

"Luke, they found a few things when they were doing the tests..."

"Is it cancer?"

"I don't know...." she whispers, taking in a shaky breath. "They don't know yet...but they felt something when they were examining me, and I need to get it checked out."

"So you might not be okay, you said you were okay, so how....."

"When they did the blood test they found something else."

Lucas let out air that he hadn't realized that he had been holding and buried his head in his hand. It was too much for him to take in right now. She could have cancer, there is something else, and he was in love.

They had finally gotten it. They were getting married, her business was taking off, his movie was somewhat getting made, he was writing again. It wasn't supposed to be hard now.

When he looked up, he was met with the beautiful eyes of the woman he loved. In that moment though, there wasn't sadness or worry like there had been before. A hint of amusement and hope sparkled amidst the greeen.

"I'm pregnant..." she says quietly as tears well up again in her eyes.

"How can...."

"Come on, Luke... you know how that happens." she playfully hits him on the shoulder.

He finally smiles for the first time that night, realizing that she was okay with this part of her news to him.

"Wow..."

"I know... and I know that we never planned for this..."

"No, but it's okay. It can be okay, and we'll be okay, and...."

"Luke, the okay thing needs to stop sometime soon, because you're driving me crazy."

"I love you." he says, looking into her eyes and setting his mouth in a pure Lucas Scott smirk.

"I love you too."

"Oh my god, you're pregnant! We're gonna have a baby!" he says, getting up and allowing himself to get more excited by the second. "I can't wait to tell everyone! I can't..." he stops when he notices that she hasn't moved from her spot on the coffee table.

"We can't tell everyone... I don't want to tell anyone yet."

"Peyton..."

"Luke, I know this isn't fair for me to say, but you have no idea the emotional rollercoaster I have been on today. Thinking that I might have cancer, finding out that I'm pregnant, and then still not knowing what the future holds. Luke there are still tests... There is something else there that they don't know about, and it's killing me not knowing that everything is going to be okay, because I want nothing more than to celebrate this with you and tell all of our friends and family. But this might not happen..."

As she finishes her small monologue, he takes her in his arms again, letting her cry.

"What's next?" he asks as she finally settles down.

"Because of the pain, they want to do an ultrasound on the baby. They can see if there is a heartbeat or not, and they can tell us how far along I am. They also want to see what else is there that they felt."

"When?"

"Tomorrow morning... well, today actually. Ten o'clock."

"I know that you don't want to hear this, or rather you won't beleive me when I say this, but it's going to be okay."

"Luke, I..."

He puts a finger to her lips to silence her for the moment. When he takes it away, he moves his hand down to hers and places both of them over her stomach. "For now, forget the rest. Focus on the amazing and the great. For the..." he stops and looks at his watch. "next five hours that we have, can we focus on the fact that you are pregnant, and that this could be amazing, and that we are in love and getting married in a few months?"

She allows herself the happy thoughts and turns her head to meet his lips in a kiss. "I'd like that."

"Good." he says as he settles into the couch and pulls her closer to him.

They fall asleep like that, until she is awoken by the sound of Lucas talking. In her sleepy state, she doesn't understand what he is saying, and finally looks up to see him engaged in conversation not with her or someone on the telephone, but her stomach. She closes her eyes again to listen to him talk, and give him a few moments to sort out his thoughts with their unborn child.

"So, here's the deal, kid... we're going to get you checked out, and we're going to get your mom checked out. I'm telling you that you have to be okay though, because this whole thing kind of freaks me out. Not you though. You, I think I have been waiting for awhile, and your mom and I finally came to our senses at the same time, so now you can happen, and that makes me so happy. Your mom though... that is another story. When you get older, you are going to meet someone who just makes everything right in your world. That is who you are supposed to be with. Don't question it, don't tiptoe around it, and certainly don't ever let it go. Your mom and I did that enough for the next generation. Now that person is your mom to me, and I'm not ever going to be ready for her to leave me again, so you work on keeping her okay from the inside, and I'll work on it from the outside. If all goes well, I'll be seeing you soon. Oh, and when you get older, don't tell her about this conversation, cause she'll think I'm a big dork... but I don't even think you have ears yet, so I'm sure that we're good."

With that, he kissed her stomach, and stood up from the couch, and Peyton thought that was her cue to "awaken" for the morning.

"Good morning beautiful..."

"Hey... what time is it?"

"We've got about forty minutes to get ready so when can head over to the doctor. So go take a shower, and I'll get breakfast ready."

With breakfast in their stomachs, they headed out the door to find out what lay in their future. When they approached the door to the doctor's office, Lucas used their attached hands to spin her to face him.

"Whatever happens in there today... I love you with all my heart, and I don't plan on leaving you ever again."

"I know that, and I love you too."

A shaky kiss, and they walked through the doors, knowing that no matter the situation, when they walked out, they would have their lives changed.

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Okay, so I go through these random television obsessions... I went through X-files, Grey's Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, and then I found another love in One Tree Hill. So, while this isn't my first fic, this is my first OTH fic. Fair warning, that I'm a huge Leyton person, so that'll probably be all that I write. Reviews are always appreciated, and if you are a Gilmore Girls fanatic and miss that show, you should check out those ones that I wrote too! Happy Leyton!!