Sacrifice

I didn't exactly belong in the small, stifling room but he'd wanted me there anyway. I though that the presence of his girlfriend while he was trying to negotiate the custody of his daughter wouldn't exactly be a point in his favour, but he claimed he'd needed me there, by his side.

So of course I caved.

I couldn't bring myself to focus on their conversation. It was all so unreal to me. A week ago we were perfect. He and Jenny and I were all living together at my house, beginning to date. He was one of the nicest guys I'd ever gone out with. Nicer even than Luke, who'd at one time seemed so perfect.

Now she was back. Nikki, the villain of our horror movie. Somehow or other, she was back with a vengeance, arguing again that she should have custody of their daughter.

Sometimes I'd forget that Nikki really was her mother. That Nikki had carried beautiful Jenny inside of her for nine months and then been her mother for another month. I forgot that Nikki was more than just a nagging fear, and really had a claim to her.

"How can this possibly be fair game? I've cared for Jenny since she was born! I've been her parent for a year, Nikki for a month! Nikki disappeared! How is that possible?" Jake suddenly said heatedly, bringing me out of my reverie.

"Since you didn't seek to legally take the child from her mother, Nikki's been technically as much of a parent as you've been. We can use her time away against her, but she can also use your time away against her. As I recall you were absent up until fairly recently?" said the lawyer.

"I went to Savannah in hopes of avoiding all this," said Jake honestly. I looked at him sympathetically. Savannah had been my idea, and both of us had thought that it would be the answer to his problems. But I was so, so glad that he was back.

"So I understand that she returned eight months after she left you and expressed a desire to be in the child's life?" questioned the lawyer.

"Yes, and then demanded. Soon after I left town and didn't see her up until now," explained Jake. I smiled tightly at him and saw that he was trying very, very hard to contain his anger to seem like a responsible adult. We both were. Under the desk I reached across and took his hand.

"Thank you, I think that is all I need for now. The hearing will be held in three weeks. Oh, and by the way. Who's this?" he asked, indicating me.

"This is Peyton Sawyer," said Jake. I stood up and shook his hand.

"A pleasure. Your sister?" asked the lawyer.

"My girlfriend," said Jake. I had to keep myself from smiling. After wanting him for so long it was so nice to finally have him to depend on.

"You might want to keep that under wraps-it could only do harm," advised the lawyer. Jake scoffed.

"What do you mean? Nikki slept with a guy she'd never met before just before she came back, claiming she wanted to be a family," said Jake indignantly. The lawyer raised his eyebrows and scribbled something down on a piece of paper.

"Right. The more we know, the better. I'll be seeing you, Mr. Jagielski," he said, shaking his hand. Jake nodded and we left together.

The day was bright and would have been enjoyable had the chill of the meeting had left us.

"It's going to be okay, Jake," I said suddenly.

"We don't know that. I could lose Jenny! She's more important to me than anything!" he said.

"Me too," I said.

"I know. But I have to get to work. Do you think you could pick up Jenny from Karen's and take her home, take care of her until I get home? Then maybe we could all go to the park or something," he suggested. I nodded and smiled.

"I'd like that," I said. He quickly kissed me before running off to work. He worked hard to stay in school and take care of his daughter. His coach Whitey, his boss Karen, his parents and I all worked hard to let him accomplish all he did.

The bells on the door jangled as I entered Karen's Café. Karen was a friend of mine, in a way. I'd met her when I was involved with her son Lucas and she'd become the mother figure I needed.

Lucas waved when I came in. We were friends again. Jenny, who'd been playing surprisingly quietly on the counter, suddenly perked up.

"Mommy!" she cried, sliding down from the stool and running over to me. As she reached me I swung her up into the air and then held her close. Every time she said that, it made me happier than I'd ever been. Because I wasn't her mother. I didn't even think she'd ever call me mother because I hadn't started being a part of her life until a couple months before she'd turned one. But somehow she'd picked up my maternal feelings toward her.

Karen walked over as Jenny snuggled into me, breathing softly onto my neck.

"Peyton, how did the meeting go?" she asked in concern.

"Oh. Not that bad, I guess. The lawyer said it's going to be hard to make a case against Nikki because she's the mother and Jake never legally took action against her after she left," I explained. Karen's brow furrowed.

"You two are her parents! I can't believe that anyone could take that away from you," she said.

"I know. But you know Nikki-well you don't know Nikki, but she's a bitch. She wants her daughter and she doesn't care who she hurts in the process. But thanks for taking care of her," I said.

"Anytime. Honestly, I'm her for you guys. How could anyone not love her?" asked Karen, tickling the back of Jenny's neck. Jenny squirmed and giggled.

"Thanks, Karen. Jenny and me are going to get going now," I said, picking up her diaper bag and lifting her into her stroller.

Jenny had obviously had a long nap because she was wide awake as she rode home in her stroller, chatting to me in the baby talk that I understood perfectly. Her charisma was easily noticed-almost every person we passed would peer into her stroller, smile at her then smile at me in an almost congratulatory way. And I didn't even bother to explain that Jenny wasn't my daughter, because really she was.

The house was empty as we arrived home, but I was used to that. When I was little I had lived here with my mother while my father spent most of the time working on the boat. He'd be around about a week out of every month. Then after she'd died he'd stayed at home for a year but then left again, leaving me by myself. This had bothered me until Jenny and Jake had become my family and the house had stopped being quiet.

"You hungry?" I asked her, leading her into the kitchen.

"Yes," she responded. Yeth, really.

Jenny was thankfully off baby food so I reached into the fridge and heated up a small serving of macaroni and cheese as she climbed into her high chair. As it heated I held a selection of her bibs in front of her as she chose the blue one. She was the kind of child who had to have a say in everything.

I thought about making dinner for myself and Jake but decided it wouldn't end well. We had systems-Jenny would stay all day with either his parents or Whitey or Karen and then either one of us (me more often than not) would pick her up, take her home and take care of her until the other one of us got home, at which point we'd usually go out and do something, and then hang out together after she was in bed.

Sometimes I wondered how this had all happened to me. How I'd gone from cheerleading, tortured artist, asshole-dating Peyton to Peyton the mom with her live in boyfriend. Suddenly without meaning to, I'd become a grown up and acquired a family. At eighteen I dealt with what most did at twenty-eight.

And I loved it.

After Jenny finished her dinner we went upstairs and I sketched her while she played with some trains on the rug. A year ago, my walls had been filled with pictures depicting teenage angst. They were still around, but pictured of Jenny, of Jake and of the three of us dominated.

Jake got home at around six, when it was luckily still light outside.

"Honey, you're home!" I sang jokingly, falling into his arms. He laughed.

"How are my girls?" he asked, picking up Jenny.

"Daddy!" she cried in surprised delight.

"I believe we were promised a trip to the park," I stated, kissing him. He laughed and kissed back, the dark mood of the afternoon apparently having left him.

"Come on, let's go. If leave now we can play for a while before it gets dark."

Ten minutes later we were walking down the sidewalk holding Jenny's hands. When I'd first started taking care of her it had bothered me that people might think that I was a teenage mother but I didn't even notice anymore.

The park we frequented was surprisingly full for a Thursday night. Summer was approaching, and the days had begun to get longer and warmer.

Jenny's favourite, the swings, were packed so we settled for the sandbox. She quickly found a friend of hers, a little boy named Derek and began to dig a hole in the sand. Jake and I took off our shoes and made a castle.

That night I was exhausted but couldn't sleep. My long years of Tree Hill High were almost at their end. And I was going to college at Duke, and hopefully I'd be able to be with Jake and Jenny as much as ever. My biggest regret was that Jake wouldn't be going to school with me.

Author's note-this will get angsty soon, I promise. Any comments? Suggestions? Thanks for reading!