A/N: Okay, so this idea came to me at about 2 AM. I don't know what I'm thinking trying to do two fanfics at a time, so I need everyone to help me. Please review and give positive OR negative feedback on this. Also, please say if you'd like for me to focus more on continuing this or Feel the Silence. It's up to you guys. :)

About this one, I AM a NH shipper, don't get me wrong. This was just something I really wanted to try. Any questions you have about timeline, relationships, anything, should be answered in the story. If not, feel free to ask me.

"Grief is like the ocean: it's deep, dark, and bigger than all of us. And pain is like a thief in the night. Quiet. Persistent. Unfair. Diminished by time, faith, and love."

Black. It was a simple color. Some people didn't even think it should be considered a color. Peyton did. She had always thought of it as a representation of the darkness that loomed in the world. That was her personal reason for agreeing that it should be worn at funerals. Other colors showed too much emotion. Black was void. Cruel. Trying to grasp at a feeling that couldn't be spoken, but would sting your soul like an electrical current at unexpected times. The feeling of sorrow and remorse. Regret for unspoken words and unfelt touches.

As she stood in silence in the crowd of people, she began to glance at her surroundings. Lucas had a comforting hand on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan was looking downward, unable to watch his wife be buried into the fresh earth. The church had wanted to use plastic grass to cover her cold body. Nathan had refused. It had to be natural, real. Every part of this was so very real.

Everyone in attendance was dressed in black, of course. As she looked around, Peyton wondered what color displayed this emotion? Grief, hurt, depression. What actions showed those emotions?

Nathan was a picture of stoicism. He was void of feeling, trying to remain strong. He would never let his son, his brother, or his beloved friends see him cry. Even Lucas had shed tears for his best friend. Not Nathan. He wouldn't break down. He was Nathan Scott.

Jamie was only almost three years old. He wouldn't even remember his mother. This oddly made Peyton feel lucky. She had known Anna for eight years. She still remembered her scent. Young, precious Jamie wouldn't even be able to remember Haley's face.

Brooke had flown down to Tree Hill for the funeral, but wasn't in the crowd. Instead she was at Nathan's house, looking after James Lucas Scott. He was far to young to comprehend death. It was best that he didn't watch his mother's body disappear into the ground.

Lucas had been Peyton's best friend for almost five years. After he had started dating Brooke in their junior year, he and Peyton had grown close. He confessed all of his relationship, family, and school problems to her constantly. She did the same. Once Brooke had realized Peyton and Lucas talked more than she and Lucas ever had, she wisely broke if off with him.

Maybe becoming friends with Peyton partially caused the guilt Lucas was feeling right now. Haley had started dating Nathan around the same time Lucas had begun to date Brooke. They had grown apart. The conversations turned vague, as they now had other people to bear their intimate secrets to. None of that meant they didn't care deeply about each other, it just meant they had found stronger connections with others.

Everyone had known about Nathan and Haley's recent marital problems. Nathan had been so determined to make his NBA fantasy a reality that he had temporarily forgotten about his family. In the words of Brooke, they were Naley. They had to work things out. But not this. Haley was gone now. Forever in a place that no one else knew. Everything that had happened could never be forgiven. It could never be taken back.

The idea of death had always been frightening and unimaginable. The concept of it had been seen and experienced when Dan had taken the life of Keith. It had been no different then. Keith had left a child, just as Haley had. The impact of this blow, this intangible devastation, was going to leave deep and lingering bruises on all of them. Nothing would ever be quite the same again.

Sure, Nathan might remarry. Sure, the James' had other daughters. No person would again be Haley James Scott. No one would ever sing the lyrics of 'Halo' into a microphone, captivating a crowded room. More importantly, no woman would ever be a mother again to little Jamie. No person could replace the feeling of what it was like to know Haley. They couldn't fill the emptiness she had left behind.

Snapping out of her trance, Peyton noticed the large of group of people had begun to move. The funeral was over, everyone was headed for Nathan's house to the wake.

"Hey," Lucas said as he approached her, embracing her with strong arms.

"Hi. How's Nathan doing?" Peyton replied, while moving to return his firm hug.

"Not very good. I'm pretty sure he didn't even flinch during the whole thing."

Lucas now had stopped embracing her, but had pulled her to him with his arm wrapped her shoulder.

"Everything's going to be okay, though, right? We're all going to get through this?" she asked hopefully, needing to hear her closest friend reassure her, as he always did.

"I don't know, Peyt. I really don't know."