Chapter 8

This is the final chapter, I can't believe how long it took me to complete an eight chapter story but I've learnt my lesson and from now on when I write chapters they will be shorter than 3000 words each.

Painted in flames

All peeling thunder

Be the lightning in me

That strikes relentless

She was stereotyped immediately. She was the girl whose daddy worked away too much so to get his attention she got pregnant by a guy she knew her father wouldn't like. She got pregnant because she wanted someone to love her and she wanted her dad to come home and look after her.

It was a cry for help.

They half of them pitied her and acted like she was a victim, the other half acted like she was a whore, like she didn't have the right to walk around town anymore, mother's kept their young, naive teenage girls away from her. What they didn't realise was that half of their precious little girls had already had sex. What made her any different from them? It wasn't like she hadn't been using protection, it could have just as easily happened to any one of their perfect little girls.

At first she'd tried to hide it, just until they decided what they were going to do. That was her excuse anyway, they decided that night at the rivercourt that they were going to keep the baby, they talked all night about it until they came to the decision and it wasn't an easy one but at the end of the day it was the choice that felt right for them. It's funny because everyone has these conversations with their best friends, the what if conversations and she'd always told herself that she'd never get an abortion, it was something that she just wouldn't do, not for any religious sort of reason but she just didn't believe it was right. Then when the choice was no longer just hypothetical she found herself hesitating and wondering if it would just be easier if she could just make the problem go away, this was before she'd even confirmed the pregnancy or told anyone at all. She felt an incredible guilt for feeling that way, for thinking of a baby as a problem but the amount of fear that she felt at that time with nobody to talk to about it and knowing that it wasn't just her life that was going to change but Lucas' and both of their families including her dad who hadn't even known she was dating Lucas at the time. In the end she knew that she'd never be able to actually go through with it though, it was her mistake and now she had to own up to it.

She kept the pregnancy hidden because she didn't want the stares or the sideways glances, especially not at school but eventually it got out. She still didn't know how but someone probably saw her and Lucas at the doctors or they heard her throwing up in the bathroom or they overheard her talking about the baby with Brooke and Haley. However it happened it seemed as though one day the only people who knew were Lucas, Peyton, Nathan, Haley and Brooke and the next day the whole school knew and the parents of the people at school and the rest of the town. She was barely showing at that point and it hadn't been obvious at all until people knew, then they saw the bump and boy did they stare at it. It was as though there was some sort of fascination with her belly and she lost count of the amount of times she saw people stare at it then start whispering with their friends. It made her hate the pregnancy, she hated it so much that she looked forward to the evenings when Lucas would hold her and whisper about their baby and their future, a future that they hoped they'd still have after everything.

She stared in the mirror; she'd done it a lot when she first found out that she was pregnant. At first she used to stand there and bend at all angles just to see if there was any change in her body, to see if the baby was actually there or whether it was just her mind and body playing tricks on her. No matter how hard she looked there was no evidence of the baby that was turning her life upside down, some days she didn't even believe that she was actually pregnant. Eventually she could see the changes, her boobs got bigger, her face got fuller and most of all she saw her stomach swelling until it was impossible not to notice even to the extent that now she could no longer walk down the street without someone staring at her belly. She hated the staring, it was like she was the first pregnant teenager that they'd ever seen and in this town she most certainly wasn't.

She put her hands on her stomach and smiled softly to herself when she felt her baby kick her, she sometimes felt guilty for smiling and feeling joy when that happened, after all she wasn't meant to be happy about this pregnancy. The thing was that it wasn't the pregnancy that she was happy with but how could someone not smile when they felt a baby move inside them? It was an amazing feeling, terrifying at first of course but amazing.

"Strange feeling isn't it?"

Peyton turned around to see Karen with a sad smile on her face walk through the door.

"You can say that again," she laughed nervously as she sat down on Lucas' bed, well her and Lucas' bed now.

It turns out that whilst Peyton and Lucas were talking about their baby at the rivercourt that day that they'd found out the most terrifying news of their lives, Larry had taken it upon himself to inform Karen of the situation. When Peyton had found out that her dad had gone behind both her and Lucas' backs and told Karen before they were ready she'd got a little bit angry, okay maybe more than a little bit considering she was hormonal and had just found out some incredibly shocking news. Anyway the argument that she had with her father had ended up with both her and her father saying words that they would both regret and Larry making it clear to Peyton that if she thought she was grown up enough to have a baby then she was grown up enough to not rely on her dad for somewhere to live. So she called Lucas, packed her bags and bashfully turned up on Karen's doorstep in the hope that she'd feel sympathy for her and allow her to move in. Luckily she had and Peyton had been living with Karen and Lucas for six months now. Karen had been disappointed with them and Peyton couldn't blame her, she'd been disappointed in herself but she was glad that Karen hadn't really been preachy with them, how could she when she had been pregnant at her age too?

"How are you feeling today?" Karen asked with guarded concern for the pregnant teenager. Their relationship wasn't brilliant but they were both trying for the baby's sake and it was getting better day by day.

"Okay I guess, it's just kind of boring being in the house all day," she admitted then almost immediately afterwards she realised that she might have sounded ungrateful for everything that Karen had done for her. Just as she was about to explain herself Karen nodded sympathetically.

"I know how you feel, you hate being inside but the minute that you go outside you have to put up with people staring, in the end it's just easier and safer to stay inside."

Peyton felt tears coming to her eyes which wasn't an uncommon occurrence for her while she was pregnant, the slightest thing made her cry, happy or sad it didn't matter as long as some sort of feeling was inside her she let it out with her tears. And it wasn't as though she didn't try to keep the tears at bay because she did - she hated being such an emotional mess all of the time – it just seemed as though no matter how hard she tried to prevent it, tears would fall freely.

"I don't want to hide, I really don't but every time I go to the café or a shop somewhere they just look at me and make me feel ashamed," she confessed with teary eyes and Karen gently put her hand on Peyton's then gave it a squeeze of encouragement.

"Are you ashamed?" she asked gently.

Peyton looked up at Karen's eyes and saw just how concerned she was for her, this was the sort of conversation that she should have had with her own mother, the only problem was that whenever she spoke to her mother about it there was no reply and it broke her heart every time.

"Sometimes I am," she revealed anxiously as she wasn't used to having these conversations with somebody on the other side. "It's like I should have known better and the thing is that we did know better yet here we are."

"Peyton," Karen sighed as she sat next to her on the bed and held her hands in her own. "This can happen to anyone and no matter what people say you have both handled this incredibly maturely."

"It's just so hard not knowing what's around the corner, before this we had our lives planned out and we knew where we were going to be in a year's time but now a year just seems so far away and I don't know where we'll be." Tears were falling from her eyes and she felt embarrassed that Karen was seeing her in this state, the only time that she had even been close to this was when she moved in and at that point anger had been the most prominent emotion.

"You just have to remember that that's life and there are always going to be surprises, people who are married and settled still have unplanned babies but surprises don't have to be bad things," Karen attempted to convince her although she still seemed hesitant.

"I know and I love this baby so much," she promised as she tenderly caressed her stomach. "It's just that I feel like I've made everyone's lives so much harder including the baby's, she's constantly going to be judged for what Lucas and I did and I never wanted that for her because I've been there, in the position where you're criticised for your parents decisions, it's not what I want for any child let alone my own."

"And that is why I support your decision to keep the baby," Karen confirmed as she watched Peyton's eyes meet hers with a questioning glance. "You and Lucas aren't selfish and you're going to put this baby before anything that you might want for yourself, you're already doing it now and she's not even here yet."

Peyton smiled in spite of the situation, she knew that there was nothing that she and Lucas wouldn't do for their baby girl and she was glad that Karen saw that too, after all she was her baby's grandmother and she wanted her to have at least one grandparent seeing as two were dead and she hadn't seen another since the day she told him she was pregnant. Their selfish days were behind them now and every decision they made regarding their baby was done so with an effort to be selfless and make their decisions on what was best for their baby girl.

They were in bed when it happened. She hadn't been able to sleep well because she kept getting what she assumed were Braxton Hicks contractions, she had four days left until her due date and everyone had told her that she was much more likely to have the baby late than early considering it was her first child.

It was around 2 am when suddenly the contractions got stronger, she wanted to wake Lucas up so that she could hold someone's hand through each one but she resisted just in case they were Braxton Hicks' and she was just being jumpy so close to her due date. She sat in bed with a small smile on her face thinking that this might be the day that she gets to meet her daughter, of course she was scared but everything that had happened over the last nine months had been building up to moment and she couldn't wait to hold her baby in her arms for the first time.

All of a sudden she felt some water between her legs and she knew today would be that day.

"Luke," she whispered in his ear excitedly only to receive a small grunt in reply.

"Lucas wake up," she said louder this time while poking his arm impatiently.

"If you want ice cream it's in the freezer," he grumbled sleepily.

"Fine then," she said, faking an agitated voice. "Looks like I'm having this baby on my own."

"What?" he asked now much more awake, his voice was a couple of octaves higher than usual in shock, like her he'd assumed that she would have the baby late rather than early.

"It's time," she smiled nervously and watched as his eyes gleamed in excitement and fear.

"It's time?" He needed confirmation that the best and scariest moment of his life was about to happen.

"Yeah my waters just broke and I've been feeling stronger contractions for like the past hour so I think it's time to go to the hospital," she rushed out with her anticipation becoming evident to him.

"The past hour? Why didn't you wake me?"

"I just wanted to make sure that it was definitely happening now, I can't believe that she's going to be born today," she whispered in amazement.

"I know it seems like yesterday we were all freaking out about her," he joked which earned him a playful glare from his girlfriend.

"Well she was a surprise to say the least but we love her anyways." Peyton smiled as Lucas laughed.

"Okay you get changed and get the bag while I go wake my mom up," he told her before getting out of bed and running across the room leaving Peyton in the room with only her thoughts for company, this was going to be the last time that she would be in that house before she was a mother, that terrified her in a way that seemed impossible.

"Okay Peyton on your next contraction I want you to start pushing," the doctor told her as she gripped Lucas' hand, not that he'd complained once about it since he knew there was nothing he could really do to help.

It was about twenty seconds before she had her next contraction and she was so relieved that she could actually push now, the last couple of contractions se had felt an overwhelming urge to push but the doctor had told her that she wasn't allowed to yet. The relief she felt was soon taken over by the feeling of pain again when she pushed and pushed and nothing seemed to be happening.

Eventually the most magical thing happened though, she heard her baby cry and her doctor congratulate her and tell her that the baby was a girl, she would have told him that she already knew that but she was trying so hard to see the baby while she was being cleaned up. Then the most beautiful baby girl was placed into her arms and it was only then that she looked up at Lucas who had tears in his eyes but was gazing through them at their daughter.

They had a daughter.

It just didn't seem real that this tiny little person was theirs and their responsibility, they would influence whether she became a good person and the decisions that she would make later in life. At that moment both Lucas and Peyton made a silent vow to make their daughter proud in everything they did, they were going to make sure that she grew up to be a good person if it was the last thing they did.

Soon after the baby had been born Lucas went out to the waiting room but returned almost immediately with Karen who at the ripe old age of 36 was now an extremely proud mother and grandmother. Whilst the shock of being told that her son would have a baby at eighteen had disappointed her massively she couldn't help but admire how they had handle the situation, Lucas and Peyton both had jobs now, Lucas was currently attending classes at Tree Hill community college and they hoped that at some point in the next year Peyton would be able to as well.

As Karen held her newborn granddaughter she couldn't help but smile as she recognised Lucas' nose on her and some light blonde hair that she could have realistically inherited from either of her parents but she hoped that in a couple of years she'd be able to see Peyton's curls on her granddaughter.

It then became Karen's job to take a picture of the happy family, the picture was to be sent to Nathan, Haley and Brooke who had all gone to do amazing things with their lives, Nathan and Haley were at Duke together and engaged while Brooke had moved to New York and had incredible plans for her fashion company, Peyton knew that her best friend was going to be amazing and she would find her soul mate soon enough, probably not someone from high school like normal people.

The thing was that Peyton was jealous of her friends because they were living their dreams and she was still in Tree Hill but then she looked at Lucas and her daughter, little Grace Sawyer Scott, and suddenly she knew that she had no regrets and that's all she'd ever wanted. She knew that they had so much to overcome and she knew that she had nobody to blame for that but herself but at the same time everything with everything that they had yet to face, the little baby that was staring up at her with her big blue eyes would make it all worth it, she couldn't believe anything different.

Thanks for reading this story, reviews are always appreciated. I'm actually going to Florida for a couple of weeks tomorrow but I have most of the first chapter of my next story written so if I have time while I'm there I'll update or I might even do it when I wake up tomorrow morning depending how much time I have, I do have a nine hour plane journey though so I should definitely have time then.