Strength Of The World

Once everyone got inside they grabbed a beer and sat down in the living room, except Peyton, who was standing there nervously waiting for everyone to get settled. "Peyton," Val said softly, "Come sit next to me." She suggested, and patted the spot next to her on the love seat. She sighed and walked over and sat next to Val, with all the guys' eyes on her. "What's going on, Pey? Why do you look like you're scared to death?" Johnny asked, "Because I am." She whispered, looking down at her lap and taking her sunglasses off. Valary rubbed her shoulder for encouragement, "It's okay, P. You can do this." Peyton let out a shaky breath and lifted her head to look at the five men with tears in her bright blue eyes. "What the FUCK happened?" Brian shouted, jumping up off the couch and rushing over to her, the other guys with shocked expressions on their faces. Out of all the guys, Brian had always been the most protective over her. Peyton jumped when Brian shouted and curled herself into Val's side. "Brian, calm down, now." Val said sternly, and the look she gave him made him instantly crouch down and softly grab his old friend's hand. "Peyton, babe. Look at me." She lifted her head again to look at Brian, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Who did this to you? What happened?" "Jason," she said so quietly that Brian probably wouldn't have heard her if she wasn't right in front of him. "I'll kill that mother fucker. He is dead." He said, standing up quickly and pacing around the living room. "P, what happened?" Matt asked with concern. "I was packing to come home for the engagement party, and he told me I couldn't come. I told him there was no way in hell I was missing my best friends' engagement party, and there was nothing he could do to stop me. Well I guess he thought smacking me in the face would stop me, but he didn't consider the fact that I would hit him back." She swallowed hard and looked at Val, who nodded encouragingly. "That really pissed him off, and he hit me. Again and again and again. Until our neighbors came over and pulled him off of me. They called the cops and he went right to jail. I'm okay. I just have some bruises and my ribs are bruised." By the time Peyton was finished, she was staring at her hands in her lap, waiting for someone to say something. The guys were quiet for a few minutes, and she couldn't bear to look up and see the looks on their faces. "Okay," Jimmy sighed, "Show us." "What?" She asked, snapping her head up to look at her blue eyed friend. "Show us the bruises, Pey. We have to know everything." He said, Zack looked over at him like he was crazy, but Matt nodded his head in agreement. "We have to know exactly what's wrong so we can help you." Peyton sighed and looked over at Val, who was looking back at her, "Okay." She said softly as she stood up, knowing the guys have seen her in just a bra before. She closed her eyes and lifted her shirt over her head, hearing many gasps and "oh my god"s. Brian was so furious he had to leave the room. She opened her eyes when she felt a pair of calloused hands touching her ribs, where her deathbat tattoo was. Zack looked up at her with tears in his green eyes, helped her put her shirt back on, and just hugged her. That was enough to make Peyton break down crying. She stood there with Zack and cried for a few minutes. Once she was done she pulled away and looked up at him. He kissed her once on her forehead and once on her bruised eye and said "You're safe now, and I promise you that will never happen again." She smiled softly up at him, her heart exploding with the love she still has for the man. "Zack's right," Johnny spoke up, "You will never have to worry about that little bitch touching you again, because he's a dead man." "Guys, it's okay. I'm home for good." Peyton explained, watching the relief cross everyone's faces. "Jason is in jail and from what I understand he will be there for quite some time." She looked around the room and noticed Brian wasn't back. "I'm gonna go find Bri, give me a second." She said, walking out of the room to find the man she dubbed her big brother 16 years ago.

An 11 year old Brian was chasing a 9 year old Peyton around the Smiths' backyard. His parents and Peyton's parents had always been close friends, along with the Dibenedettos, so they were always together. He chased Peyton right into her tree house, where they were sitting down talking about life. "Hey Brian, how come you don't have a sister?" She asked curiously, picking at the fray in the knee of her jeans. "I don't know. Why don't you have a brother or a sister?" He asked, making her a little sad. "I don't know, but I wish I had one. I have always wanted a brother." She said, looking at her brown eyed friend with tears in her eyes. "Well P, I'll be your brother," Brian suggested, "if you want me to be." Peyton smiled brightly at him "Really? You would do that for me?" She asked excitedly. "Of course. I'd do anything for you Peyton." He replied, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "Thanks Bri, you're the best big brother ever." She said with a laugh, "Come on, let's go see if its time to eat yet!"

"There you are," Peyton said with a smile when she found Brian outside smoking. "I thought I ran you off." She sat down beside him and he sighed heavily. "I'm sorry I scared you Pey. And I'm sorry for storming off like that, but I am so fucking pissed right now I could break something." He said angrily, taking another drag of his cigarette, "Brian, look at me." She said sternly, making sure he was looking her in the eyes before continuing, "I'm safe. I'm never going back there again. I know you're angry, and you want to kick his ass, but I'm okay. I have you five clowns to protect me and make sure it never happens again." I said reassuringly. "It never should have happened in the first place." He huffed. "But it did, and I had to learn the hard way that it wasn't meant to be with Jason and I. And I'm okay with that. Because I know I deserve more than someone who hits me." "Someone like Zacky Vengeance" he said with his signature smirk. "Oh shut up," she said as she bumped him with her shoulder, "Come on. Let's get inside so I can convince everyone else not to go to LA and rip Jason's head off." He smiled and stood up, and helped Peyton get to her feet. Once they got inside the rest of the guys we're still pretty pissed off. "Okay, here's what's going to happen." Peyton said loudly, getting everyone's attention, "We are NOT going to sit around all pissed off tonight. I haven't seen my family in two and a half months, and I miss them. So we are going to hang out, just like we would normally do. No more Jason talk, and no more looking at me with sad eyes. Got it Johnny?" She said, directing the statement to the bassist, who kept looking at her like she was going to break. "Okay, okay." He said, holding his hands up. "Okay," Peyton said as she sat down between Jimmy and Zack, "What are we doing tonight?"

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