You're Invited!

A/N: Sorry it's been like two months since I've updated! I'm done with school until fall but like I've said before…this story is the hardest to get back into writing once I've stepped away from it for a bit because there are so many little details I have to keep straight or else I'll f*ck it up. I also work and I have a life so yeah…you'll be seeing more updates of my stories but don't expect something new like everyday…that's just not going to happen. But anyways…here's the next chapter. Hope you all like it! – Jasmine

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Naley house…

"Do you have a recent photo of your daughter?"

A teary-eyed Peyton shook her head at the police officer. "N—no not…on me. I—"

"I can find you one." Haley interrupted as she sat up from her spot next to Peyton on the couch. "Let me go look through some of the photo albums."

She then exited out of the living room and headed upstairs.

"Now Mrs. Scott…is it possible that your daughter might have wandered off after something or—"

"No!" Peyton shouted out cutting him off. "I laid into Lizzie just YESTERDAY about wandering off! She knows not to do it!"

The officer nodded and jotted some notes down on his notepad. "Other than this Sara character you've told me about, is there anyone else you think might have taken Elizabeth?"

Peyton vigorously shook her head. "No, there's no one else! And I know you think that my thinking is way off but I'm telling you…she is the one who has my daughter and—"

"I told you someone would be looking into her." the officer told Peyton, though not all that convincingly. "Now…I would like to know more about that father-in-law of yours, Dan Scott. He is a convicted murderer is he not?"

Peyton sighed. "Dan did not take Elizabeth."

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

"BECAUSE AS EVIL AS DAN IS I KNOW HE LOVES ELIZABETH AND WOULD NEVER TAKE HER OR DO ANYTHING TO HURT HER!"

Just as the officer opened up his mouth to respond, Haley remerged into the living room from upstairs and handed him a photo of Elizabeth. "This was taken just last month."

The officer nodded. "Now, are you all sure that there weren't any suspicious looking individuals in the area?"

Peyton ran a hand through her hair and threw her arms up into the air. "Like I've told you a BILLION times already…NO!! NONE THAT WE'RE AWARE OF!!"

Peyton shook her head and got up from off the couch. "I can't do this anymore. I can't just SIT here while my four-year-old DIABETIC daughter is missing! I can't and I won't…I'm leaving to meet up with Lucas and the search party!"

"But Mrs.—"

"NO! I've been sitting here, answering all of your REPETIVE questions over and over again for long enough! I'm going!"

"I'm going with you." Brooke said as she too sat up from the couch and began rummaging through her purse in search of her car keys.

The blonde quickly turned her attention to Haley. "Lizzie she…she knows our house number so if she's able to get to a phone and calls I want someone that she knows and is comfortable with to be at the house to answer it so she won't get scared and hang up and—"

"You got it." Haley said interrupting. "I'll take Jamie and Lily with me and we'll sit at your house by the phones and if Lizzie calls or I hear ANYTHING new I'll call you."

Peyton wiped away the tears from coming from her eyes and hugged her. "Thank you."

"You ready?" Brooke asked as she pulled the keys from her bag.

Peyton nodded. "Yeah let's go."

The two best friends brushed passed Haley and the police officer, hurried to the front door and exited the house.

"Jamie!" Haley yelled out to her son. "Lily!"

The kids instantly came running up from the basement and quickly emerged into the living room.

"Did they find Lizzie!?" Lily asked hopefully.

Haley sighed and shook her head. "Not yet but—"

"You should tell them about that weird looking delivery guy you were talking to me about." Lily said to Jamie, cutting Haley off.

The police officer raised an eyebrow and eyed Jamie. "Do tell."

Jamie took in a deep breath. "Not long before Lizzie went missing this strange, creepy looking Chinese food delivery guy came to the house. He thought this was 124 and I…I told him he had the wrong house and that he had to go to the other block. He thanked me and then left."

"What did he look like?" the officer asked as he jotted down some more notes.

Jamie thought for a minute before responding. "He was tall…kind of chubby. He was pale too…and had blue eyes and red hair…like fire engine red…and he was wearing black, horn-rimmed glasses."

The officer continued to write on his notepad and then directed his attention to Haley. "Okay you can all go to your brother-in-law's house now if you want but I'm sending over two officers and a sketch artist to do a composite drawing of this guy…he definitely sounds like he could at the very least be a person of interest. Hopefully we'll be able to find him…"

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The red-haired man stood examining his profile in the mirror. "Alright Mark…now that the dirty work is done it's time to transform back into the handsome devil that you are."

He slowly removed his black horn-rimmed glasses and placed them on the counter in front of him. He then opened up his eyes and removed his blue colored contacts, revealing dazzling emerald green eyes.

Mark then lifted up his shirt and took it off, revealing his fat suit. After struggling a bit he was finally able to remove the padding and he tossed it onto the floor.

He leaned in closer to the mirror before him, began running his hands through his hair and shook his head. "I look like a fucking clown. This Bozo red dye better not have fucked up my hair too much."

Mark opened up a draw, pulled out some dark brown hair dye, placed it beside the glasses, and just as he started ripping off his prosthetic face his cell rang.

Mark sighed, exited the bathroom, headed into a bedroom and picked up the cell from off the bed. He flipped the phone open, saw who was calling and hit the ignore button. "Eh, she can wait. I'll call her back when I'm finished fixing myself up."

He threw the phone back onto the bed and made his way back toward the bathroom.

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"Elizabeth!" Nathan called out as he moved some tree branches from his view. "Elizabeth!"

"Do you really think she could be here in these woods?" Skills asked as he followed behind Nathan.

Nathan sighed. "Well some passerby's heard loud shrieks coming from in here so maybe…and hopefully if she is we'll find her unharmed, alert and not passed out somewhere because of her diabetes."

Meanwhile in another part of the woods, by the forest entrance, an anxious Lucas stood on the side of the road, tapping his foot and constantly checking his cell.

A few minutes later Brooke's car pulled up next to him and Brooke and Peyton immediately hopped out and the blonde ran over to Lucas as fast as she could and embraced him.

"No news?"

Peyton shook her head no. "H—has anyone found anything?"

Lucas sighed. "No one's found any traces of—"

"HEY I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING!"

"That sounds like Chase." Brooke said looking around. "But where is he?"

The trio entered into the woods and quickly spotted Chase near a swamp, surrounded by Nathan, Skills, Andy, police officers and detectives.

"What is it?!" Lucas asked a he ran up to Chase. "What did you find?!"

Chase sighed. "I found a—"

"Sandal." the lead detective said, holding up the shoe. "A little white sandal. Is this Elizabeth's?"

Peyton burst into tears and buried her face into her husband's chest while he blinked back his own tears and nodded slowly.

The detective turned his attention to the officer standing next to him. "I want you to call down to the station and tell them we need a crew to come up and drain this swamp."

"Got it boss." He then whipped out his cell and walked off to make the call.

"T—they found…her s—shoe." Peyton stuttered. "They…f—found…h—her…shoe!"

Lucas took his hand, lifted his wife's face from off his chest and stared deeply into her tear-stricken green eyes. "That…t—that doesn't mean that…she's in that swamp. DO NOT assume the worse. W—we have to…think positively."

Peyton nodded and laid her head back down on Lucas's chest and whispered out. "I just want our baby to come back to us."

"And she will." Lucas whispered into her ear. "She will."

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A little later that night…

Mark zipped up his blue Abercrombie hoodie over his white polo shirt and stared at himself in the bathroom mirror.

He stared long and hard at his now very dark brown locks, grabbed a can of hairspray from off the sink counter and sprayed his hair.

"You're looking sharp Mark." the young man said to himself as he placed the can back down and ran his hands through his hair. "Looking sharp."

He stepped away from the mirror and sighed. "I guess I should go and check on the kid."

Mark exited the basement bathroom and headed down the hall toward a plain looking guest bedroom. He pushed the twin-sized bed into a corner in the room, bent down and began rolling up the area rug, revealing a hidden passageway through the floor.

Mark stands up, heads over to a bookcase, removes a copy of The Catcher and the Rye, opens it up and removes a small remote from it.

He hits a button, tosses the remote and book onto the bed and watches the door slowly open up. Mark then makes his way over to the entrance and begins walking down the ladder, heading into a secret part of the house.

Once he reached the floor he hopped off the ladder and made his way down a hall and into darkly lit room.

Mark walked up to the two way mirror and stared at Elizabeth, who was tied up, though not all that tightly, in a chair in the secretly built, reverse panic-like room.

"Shit, she looks like she's waking up." Mark said to himself quietly. "Her eyes are fluttering."

Mark turned to his right, reached into a drawer in a nearby desk and pulled out a small vial and syringe. He measured out an appropriate dosage and made his way over to the panic room door.

Mark entered the password on a number key pad and the door opened up. He walked over to Elizabeth, took her right arm and injected the sedative into her.

Elizabeth instantly became loopy. Her eyes slowly closed and her head drooped to the left.

"That's better." Mark said aloud. He then exited out of the room, whipped out his cell from his pants pocket and began dialing.

"Yo, where the hell are you? I—yes I walked right up to the house and made sure the cousin got a good look at me and…yeah I put one of her shoes in the—yes I just gave her another sedative but I can't keep drugging her. You need to get here and—no I didn't AGREE to do this; your crazy ass BLACKMAILED me into SWIPING the kid only and—fine, whatever. Just come here and take care of your business."

Mark ended the call, shook his head, tossed the cell onto the desk and watched Elizabeth through the mirror.

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An agitated Sara tossed her cell into the passenger's seat and shook her head. "I can't believe that…"

She let her voice trail off and then began rummaging through her backseat.

"I know its back here somewhere." Sara said to herself. "It has to be."

Sara continued sifting through her messy backseat, knocking down her handbag and spilling its contents all over the floor of the car.

She quickly tossed her wallet, lip gloss and a white envelope addressed to Peyton, back into the purse and resumed rummaging.

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"What is taking them so long?" Brooke asked nervously. "It's just a swamp. It shouldn't be taking them this long to drain a swamp!"

"They're going as fast as they can." Chase told his fiancée. "It's really dark out here now and that swamp is pretty deep."

Brooke sighed. "I know it is. I know."

She turned her attention to a devastated Lucas and Peyton standing together, watching a team of men as they continued to drain the swamp water.

She then looked over at Nathan. "Have you talked to Haley? Were they able to uh…get a good composite drawing of that guy Jamie had seen?"

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, she just sent me a text saying that all the news stations, statewide and hopefully nationally, will be showing his face in their morning news broadcasts tomorrow."

"So what exactly is this guy supposed to look like?" Chase asked.

Brooke fixed her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the ringing of her cell. Nathan began describing the man to Chase and Brooke stepped away from the guys and answered her phone.

"Julian?" Brooke asked, kind of surprised.

Julian seemed surprised himself. "Brooke?" He checked his cell and saw that it was indeed Brooke whom he had called. "I meant to call my buddy Brock, not you. I'm sorry."

Brooke ran a hand through her brown locks and sighed. "It's okay I—"

"You alright Brooke?" Julian asked worriedly. "You seem sad."

"It's Lizzie…she's missing."

Julian's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah." Brooke paused for a moment and took in a deep breath before continuing. "One minute she's outside with Jamie…he goes inside for a second, comes out and she's gone."

"How long has she been missing for?"

"Hours."

Julian shook his head in disbelief. "And the police don't have any leads?"

Brooke sighed. "Y—you know that swamp in the forest on the border of Tree Hill and Wrightsboro?"

"Yeah…"

"One of…Lizzie's shoes…w—was found in the water. There's a team draining it right now to see if..." She let her voice trail off.

"Don't…assume the worse Brooke." Julian said, sensing her gloomy outlook. "Someone probably just...planted the shoe to throw the police off."

Brooke sniffled. "I pray to God you're right."

There was a long period of silence on both ends of the phone before he eventually spoke up. "I want to help. Is there anything I can do?"

"From California?"

"No, I'm not in L.A. anymore. As soon as I landed I pretty had to turn right back around to take care of some production business in Charlotte. My plane just landed a couple of minutes ago and I'm sitting here in the Charlotte airport…just an hour or so from Tree Hill."

"Well I'm not sure how you could help really…Lucas, Peyton, me and everyone else…we're just standing around and waiting right now…trying our best to stay out of the way and let the police and rescue team do there thing. It's too late to pass out flyers and the earliest news broadcasts aren't going to be airing for hours still so—"

"I'm still going to come." Julian said interrupting. "If I can't help tonight, I can at least be there to help first thing in the morning."

"That's…very sweet of you Julian. Very sweet."

Julian nodded. "Elizabeth's going to be okay Brooke. She's a little fighter…just like that kick-ass godmother of hers."

Brooke smiled softly. "That she is."

"Alright, I'll let you go. I'll see you soon." Julian ended the call, hopped up from his seat in the terminal and quickly made his way toward the airport exit.

Brooke shut her flip phone and as she went to place it in her pocket, she caught glimpse of her engagement ring. She stared long and hard, letting her mind wander for a minute, before going to catch up with Nathan and Chase.

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Much later that night at the Leyton house…

Karen got up from her seat at the kitchen table, walked up behind her son and wrapped her arms around him. "There's a reason they didn't find Lizzie in that swamp Lucas and that's because she's alive and well. Don't you stop believing that."

Lucas sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. "B—but it's been…h—hours now Mom. My FOUR-year-old DIABETIC little girl…h—has been missing for hours in this dark, cold….unforgiving world alone and unprotected. T—the more time that passes…the less chance there is for her out there and you know that."

Lucas got up and made his way over to the kitchen entrance. He then stood watching his distraught wife sitting on the couch in the living room, being comforted by Brooke.

Karen sighed and walked up to him. "Even though she's sad and hurting…your wife over there…she's one the bravest and strongest women I've ever met. And you my son…you are just as strong and courageous. So what does that make Lizzie?"

"One tough cookie." Lucas said as he rubbed eyes. "One tough little cookie."

"That's right…she's one tough little cookie who's going to be just fine."

Lucas nodded his head slowly. He then turned his attention to his mother and stared deeply into her eyes. "Thank you. Thank you…for being here. Even though none of us can do much right now except wait and stay out of the investigators way….having you here by my side...it r—really means the world to me."

"There's no other place I'd rather be." Karen said as she went to hug her son.

Mother and son stood hugging for a long time before eventually breaking away from the embrace and heading into the living room together.

Peyton stood up as Lucas made his way over to her, wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. After a long while he whispered something into her ear. Peyton nodded and the two then directed their attention to the family and friends that surrounded them in the living room.

"Thank you all…s—so much for…all of your support." Lucas said, pausing momentarily to wipe his nose. He then continued. "You all being here for us during this…extremely difficult time…it really means the world to Peyton and I but…"

Lucas let his voice trail off and took a minute to clear his throat before he resumed speaking. "There's nothing that…any of us can do until daylight so…we want you all to…g—go home and get some rest."

Nathan sighed. "Luke are you sure that—"

"Yes." Lucas said cutting him off. "There's nothing that you can do. Not right now. So please…you all go and get some sleep."

Nathan slowly nodded his head. "Okay."

"But if you need us for ANYTHING, call." Brooke added.

"And we'll be ready to help tomorrow…as soon as day breaks." Julian, who had recently caught up with the group, chimed in.

Lucas nodded. "Thank you."

Everyone then began hugging and saying there goodbyes and left the house.

Lucas slowly closed the front door behind Andy, locked it and him and Peyton made their way back over to the sofa and sat down.

"Lizzie she…s—she never….sleeps w—without her stuffed alligator." Peyton said as she laid her head on Lucas's chest. "How is she…supposed to get through the night without Allie…without us?!" She then began sobbing uncontrollably.

"I don't know." Lucas said to her, the tears pouring from his eyes. "I…don't…know…"

Peyton rubbed her eyes and sniffled. "There has to be SOMETHING that you and I can do—"

"It's too dark out." Lucas said interrupting. "The police they…want us to stay out of the searching process until the morning because us being out there at this time of night…would just be a hindrance to them. It's only a few more hours. As soon as those birds start chirping…we're g—going to hand out flyers, make a…public plea for Lizzie's safe return on air, and continue searching ourselves. And we'll call a private detective of our own too, okay?"

Peyton slowly nodded, but remained quiet and the couple sat in silence.

After a long while Lucas spoke up. "We…really should wash up and…change clothes. I'm going to…take a quick shower and then I'll run a bath for you, okay?"

Peyton lifted her head off of her husband's chest and nodded.

Lucas gently caressed his wife's cheek, kissed her on the forehead, wiped his nose, hopped up from off the couch and headed upstairs.

Peyton placed her face into her hands and sobbed softly.

A few minutes later she wiped the tears from her eyes, ran a hand through her messy blonde locks and got up from off the couch.

She began making her way toward the kitchen, but stopped when she spotted a white envelope by the front door.

Peyton walked up to the door, bent down and picked up the odd, strange looking envelope with her name on it.

She examined the envelope as she made her way into the kitchen and sat down at the table and then slowly proceeded to open it.

"You're…you're invited…"

Peyton opened up the invitation, gasped in shock, picked up the photo of Elizabeth that had been placed in the invitation and began crying uncontrollably.

"OH MY GOD!" Peyton exclaimed as she sat staring at the picture of her sedated little girl, tied up in a chair with a red party hat on her head and a fringy red and white party blow out in her mouth.

"Lizzie…"

Peyton continued to stare at the photo for another minute or so before placing it down and began reading the invitation out loud.

"Y—y—you have…been…c—cordially invited to attend…a Going Away Party for…Peyton…when...tomorrow….time and location to be announced."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "So p—please come out and…join us as we take the time to…celebrate, reflect back a—and…commemorate your time here on Earth and send you off into…Hell's h—hot and un-heavenly g—gates. If you want to save your daughter you'll RSVP…867-5309."

Peyton dropped the invitation onto the table and buried her tear-stricken face into her hands and cried, but only for a minute. She then lifted up her face, wiped away her tears, slowly took out her cell from her jeans pocket and dialed.

A sinister, doctored, computerized type voice picked up the other line. "It looks like you've received my invitation and I am…SO very happy that you've agreed to join me and Elizabeth here for your little 'Going Away' celebration. I'm certain that it's going to be a real…BLAST if you know what I mean! ANYWAYS, sometime tomorrow I'm going to call and tell you to drive to an undisclosed location where…at any given time, when you least expect it, you'll be snatched up and brought to the party. Now…I want you to take a good, long hard look at the photo in front of you."

Peyton shakily picked up the photograph of Elizabeth and wept as quietly as she could.

"Your little girl…she's okay. And nothing bad will happen to HER. But if you decide to tell someone about that invite and/or our conversation…because I will know if you do…I'll blow her fucking brains out."

Peyton gasped. "NO!"

"Have a nice night Peyton." the line then went dead.

Peyton shut her phone, dropped it onto the table and cried out hysterically.

She then heard footsteps coming from the staircase and she quickly placed the photo back into the invitation and had just shoved it underneath the kitchen table mat in front of her when Lucas emerged into the kitchen.

"Oh Peyton…"

Lucas ran over to his wife and began stroking her hair.

Peyton's eyes quickly shifted back and forth between the mat and her husband before she finally rested them on him. "Luke, there's something that I…need…"

She let her voice trail off and thought back to threat she just received over the phone.

"What is it honey? What do you need?"

Peyton stared deeply into Lucas's light blue eyes and sighed. "I…I need for you to…stay with me and hold me in your arms."

Lucas took Peyton's into his arms and laid her head down on his chest. "Our little girl is going to come back to us. I'll do whatever takes to ensure that she does."

"So will I." Peyton whispered out. "So will I…"

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Okay…so there it is! I hope you guys liked it! So…lots of stuff is going on right now. It looks like that creepy, weird looking delivery guy that had stopped by the Naley house on "accident" is in actuality a guy, dressed in disguise, that was apparently blackmailed by a certain someone into kidnapping Elizabeth…who is now being held captive in a panic room…a room that even if she wasn't all loopy and sedated she wouldn't be able to escape from. An investigation is under way and the search is on. The police officer talking to Peyton seemed to be really interested in Dan and then later the delivery guy and not all that much on Sara like Peyton wanted him to. Speaking of Sara…she seemed a little upset about something and was anxiously looking around in her car for something? What do you think that was? And what do you all think of the "party" invitation? The voice on the other line pretty much gave her no choice but to call and RSVP to her "Going Away" aka murder party. It was either RSVP and keep her mouth shut about the invitation/convo or let Elizabeth die. But what do you think is going to happen next? Do you think Peyton will end up telling Lucas about everything or do you think she's not going to risk it and is just going to play this psycho's game and, once reunited with Elizabeth, go all Kill Bill Uma Thurman and kick some butt and save the both of them herself? It's about to get CRAZYYY!! Lol…please review with your thoughts/predictions! I greatly appreciate them! – Jasmine

Teasers for things still to come…

"Lizzie wake up. Y—you…have to wake up honey! Please wake up!"

"Have a nice trip Lucas! HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT FALL!"

"NOOOOOOOO Lucas!!!!"

"What are you waiting for?! SHOOT!"

Oh…I wanted to ask you all a question. I see that most of you guys also read my other fics so I thought I'd ask: which one do you want to see updated next? Do you want another chapter of Tears Are Not Enough? Would you rather see what went down the night of the murder in Reunion more? Really curious about what's going to happen with Lucas, Nathan and Anna in She Will Be Loved? Are you more interested in finding out where the post-partum stricken Peyton ran off to after the intervention from hell in You Could Be Happy? Or are you all anxious to find out if Peyton's going crazy, really seeing the daughter she though perished in a house fire or if something else strange is going on in my newest story, Sweet Silver Lining? Those are my active fics and, though I like some a little better than others, I'm willing to update the one that a majority of my readers most want updated. So let me know in a review!