Strength Of The World

The entire lower level of the house was covered in Halloween decorations for the party later that evening. There were spider webs, skeletons, creepy statues, strobe lights, even a fog machine out by the pool. Peyton walked through the house looking for Zack, but couldn't find him. "Babe? Where are you?" She chuckled. "Upstairs!" Was his short reply. She headed up the stairs and smiled when she saw him walk out of one of the extra bedrooms. "Hey birthday girl." He said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her soundly. "Come on, I wanna show you something."

They walked into the room Zack had just come out of and Peyton's jaw dropped to the floor. There were hundreds of pictures covering every inch of available wall space. Pictures of them throughout the past ten years. There were also at least five vases full of flowers scattered around the room, along with candles and a huge speaker in the middle of the room playing all of Peyton's favorite love songs. "Zack, What is all this?" She said in awe. "Remember this picture?" He asked, pointing to a photo of them taken during the first Warped Tour. Zack was about to go on stage, and Peyton was giving him a kiss for good luck. "Aw yeah. I remember that. Oh shit look at this one. The Chain Reaction gig. What a night." She chuckled. They continued walking around the room looking at all the pictures until Zack stopped on the most recent one taken; it was a picture of them at the pumpkin patch from a few nights ago, they had their arms around each other and both were smiling brightly, Zack's hand over her baby bump. "Peyton, I love you." Zack said, looking down at her. "I love you so fucking much it's almost ridiculous. I spent four years without you, and they were the worst four years of my life. I never want to wake up in the morning and you not be right there beside me." He reached into his back pocked and pulled out a small box. Peyton's eyes filled with tears as he dropped to one knee, "Peyton Elizabeth, will you marry me?" Peyton grinned down at the green eyed man and put both of her hands on the sides of his face. "Yes." She whispered, before crashing her lips onto his. "Yes. Yes. Yes." Zack stood back up as he placed the engagement ring on her finger. "Happy birthday baby girl." He said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her deeply.

A while later they were laying in bed, cuddling and talking about the future. Peyton just so happened to look at the time and cursed. "Shit!" She said, jumping out of bed, "shit shit shit! Everyone will be here in an hour!" She threw her robe around her body and headed into her babe cave. She was dressing up as a gypsy this year, so she made her eyes super smoky and glued a few gems underneath and in the corners of her eyes. Her lips were a deep red, and her hair was left in its natural waves. She hurriedly dressed in her costume, added some gold chokers and an earring with a chain that connected to her nose ring. She tied a scarf that had some gold dangly things on it around her head, and slipped on some black pumps and met Zack downstairs. "You might be the hottest gypsy I've ever seen." He smirked at her. "You're not so bad yourself there, Dracula."

One by one their friends started filtering in, and their plan was to wait until everyone had arrived to share their news. Michelle and Brian were the last to arrive, and Brian was currently teasing Peyton about how much cleavage her costume was showing when she lifted her left hand to smack his hands away. Noticing the new accessory on her finger, he grabbed her wrist before she could jerk away. "Is that what I think it is?" He asked, eyebrows raised. "Yup." She said proudly. He looked at her, then to Zack, then back to her and shrugged. Then before Peyton could react he was picking her up and giving her a bone crushing hug. "It's about fucking time!" He shouted, drawing everyone else's attention. "Time for what?" Johnny asked confused. "Little peanut here is gonna be a mrs." Brian said, holding up Peyton's left hand. The women of the group swarmed her with hugs and congratulations, while Zack received pats on the back and "bro hugs." "BUT," Peyton started, looking at her friends, "we aren't getting married until I'm small enough to actually fit in a wedding dress." She laughed, "so that gives you and Mich plenty of time to tie the knot." She said to Brian, who had just recently proposed to Michelle. "Actually, we were thinking May." Michelle spoke up with a smile. "Awesome! I'll be a whale!" Peyton said with a laugh. Everyone became engrossed in conversations about weddings, music, cars, and alcohol wen Peyton noticed her parents walking through the door. "So," her mom said as she was giving her daughter a hug. "Did you say yes?" "How did I even know you knew about this already." Peyton said with a laugh. "Who do you think helped him set all of it up?" Her dad grinned. "Congratulations babe. I always knew you'd wise up and marry him." He joked, kissing her on the head. They talked for a while longer until Matt told the DJ to "turn the fucking music off for a second." "Okay okay okay, I gotta say something here." He started, looking around the room. "I want to say happy birthday to Peyton. We're so glad you're back home where you belong, and you're here to stay. We love you, P.Smith!" He said, raising his glass toward Peyton. "You mean soon to be P.Baker!" Jimmy shouted, causing the entire crowd to erupt into cheers. Looking across the room at Zack, she could tell his smile was just as big as hers.

A few hours later, Peyton had changed into sweats and a tshirt and was currently goofing off with Jimmy and Johnny. They were having a "most ridiculous dance moves" competition and Peyton had just busted out the Running Man, which is how Zack found her when he came inside from smoking. He just stood there for a while, watching her interact with their friends. Peyton, Jimmy, and Johnny had always been the goofballs and pranksters of the group. Especially if there was alcohol involved. Peyton wasn't drinking tonight, but Johnny had drank more than her share of the liquor. "Dude, you've got it bad." Matt chuckled, standing beside his friend. "Shut up, you're the same way." Zack replied, never taking his eyes off Peyton. "Everything is going so good right now, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop" he sighed, taking a sip of his beer. "Knowing that Jason is still out there scares the hell out of me. Especially not knowing what he's going to do when he finds out she's pregnant and we're getting married." "Dude. It's all gonna be okay. We'll keep her safe. Trust me, that dude isn't going to put his hands anywhere near her as long as I'm fucking around." Matt growled. "We got this. You guys focus on growing my little nephew and planning your wedding and everything will all work itself out." "Nephew? Dude it's gonna be a girl. I can feel it." Zack grinned. "Fuck no. It's gonna be a boy. And he's gonna be able to shred just like uncle Brian." Brian said, joining the conversation.

Everyone kept drinking, dancing, and talking until the wee hours of the morning. Peyton could hardly hold her eyes open, Johnny had passed out hours ago, and Jimmy was still wide open. Zack helped Peyton upstairs and was going to get ready for bed when she stopped him. "Zack, go enjoy your friends. Have fun. Stop worrying so much." She said softly. "I'll be fine up here, we're just gonna crash." Zack grinned down at his fiancée and kissed her deeply. "I love you, Peyton." "I love you too babe." She yawned, laying back onto the pillows. She fell asleep almost immediately, and Zack kissed her head and went to join his friends, where they sat around and talked for a few more hours until they finally all decided to get some sleep. It was probably one of the best Halloween parties he had ever thrown, and it was all because Peyton was there and she was going to be his wife.

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