The greatest joy of my life was falling in love with you.

She sat in a chair in the living room of their home. A home they had purchased after years of traveling and seeing the world with his mother. She had fallen in love with it the first moment they had seen it on a visit to New York to see Brooke. They had taken a trip to Brooklyn one afternoon to experience something other than "Brooke's World" she had told him. He laughed at her excitement, whispered anything for her. It was in their exploring she spotted the old brownstone with the open house sign and with a wink, she swung their five year old daughter up into her arms and tugged him inside.

He had watched her as she carried their daughter around the house, whispering what he knew were dreams, ideas that would make it a home, their home. He had only simply shook his head, with a smile, when she looked over her shoulder with a smile and a wink before hunting down the realtor, determined to give her the world.

To give her, her dreams.

They moved in months later, the three of them and she was happy. Thrilled to be in one spot for the first time in their marriage she had told him. Whispered to him, late one night that they could finally build roots for their daughter and he simply told her he loved her.

That he'd always love her.

They built their lives. He started writing again, telling the world about their lives. His love for her, his love for their daughter and she returned to the company she had started. Helping Haley and Mia with their new albums and discovering new artists along the way.

They were happy and living in what she had told him once, after spending a day as a family, was a fairy tale she never knew she had dreamt of.

That was five years ago and now she sat in the dark with a drink in her hand she had poured hours before and had yet to touch. She honestly didn't know how long she had been sitting there in the dark that way. But when the overhead light finally clicked on around her, she had to wonder if it had been long enough for her to change her mind.

Blinking against the harshness of the lights, she forced herself to turn and face him. A smile on her face, "Welcome home, Honey." She said sweetly.

He smiled only to frown at the sight of the suitcase sitting at her feet. His eyes darting from the suitcase and back to her face. "Peyt?" He questioned hesitantly, dropping his keys on the table in the foyer and placing his own suitcase down by the closet. "What's going on? I thought you weren't going to LA for the record company this month?"

Business? Is that what he thought? She almost laughed at his naivety. "Come have a drink with me, babe" she said with a smile, watching as he quietly closed the front door and slipped his suit jacket off. His own eyes darting around the room at the candles that had long since burned out that lined the room. "We need to celebrate."

"Celebrate?" His brow knitted in confusion. "What are we celebrating? Did you finally sign that band Haley told you about? The one back in Tree Hill you've been chasing for months?"

Work. Everything went back to work. Would he ever realize again that there was more to life than work?

No, probably not, she thought. But, of course, it didn't really matter anymore, did it?

She shook her head and finally tossed back her drink, cringing at the bitterness. "This isn't about work," She stated calmly, reaching for the bottle on the end table beside her and poured herself another glass, another double, and downed it, too, in seconds.

"Peyton?" He questioned again. His voice low, guarded. "What's wrong? Why were you sitting in the dark? Why are we" He paused, watching as she poured another drink and lifted it to her lips, "celebrating?"

"Why not?" She asked, lifting one shoulder his way and causing the strap of the black cocktail dress she wore, to slide down. A dress designed by Brooke with the very intention of taking his breath away. "What else have I got to do tonight?"

He didn't know. She could see it in her eyes. He had absolutely no idea what today was, and that knowledge alone hurt the most.

Shaking his head, Lucas ran a hand through his hair and moved toward the stairs, still holding her gaze, "I'm going to go and kiss Sawyer goodnight and when…"

"She's not here." She whispered, stopping him mid-step her gaze dropping from his and onto the bottle in her hand. "I forgot how good this stuff was." As if to prove her point, she poured another shot. "Here," she said holding out the glass toward Lucas, forcing a smile his way. "I'll let you have the next one. It will help with the sting."

"I don't want it," He responded, his eyes squinting in the way she had always adored and now suddenly couldn't stand. "Where is Sawyer and what the hell is wrong with you?"

With her? Nothing, not anymore at least.

"Brooke's."

"Why Brooke's?" He asked. "You knew I was coming home tonight and would want to see her before she went to bed. Peyton what is going on with you?"

Her heart broke a little more at his words. He didn't remember and it was killing her. She blew out a breath. It was now or never.

"I'm leaving," she told him flatly, finishing the drink in her hand and placing the glass and bottle of vodka back on the table. "My cab should be here in a few minutes."

"Leaving?" He asked in amazement, his arms falling to his side his brow furrowing as he took a step toward her. "Why are you leaving? Where are you going?"

With a sigh, she rose from the chair, her eyes down as she gripped the handle of the suitcase in her hand, "I'm taking Sawyer and leaving," She said and walked toward Lucas, finally meeting his eyes as she stood before him, "What does it matter anyways?" She asked after a moment. "You won't even notice we're gone tomorrow."

"That isn't true, Peyton. I love you. She's my daughter and you're my wife."

That got a laugh out of her.

"Wife? No, baby, I'm not your wife. I'm just the woman that sometimes gets to sleep beside you. And she's a little girl that you only see on the days you feel like being here." She leaned forward, her hand rising to cup his cheek and lightly brushed her lips against his, softly whispering as she went, "Happy anniversary, Luke."

She pulled back and motioned toward the dining room with her free hand. "Dinner's on the table," she started, ignoring the look of realization that filled his eyes. It was too late. It was all too late. "I'm sorry you'll have to reheat it. I honestly thought you'd be home hours ago. Hell I thought you'd be home yesterday."

His gaze moved toward the table and she knew, even before he turned to look at her again, that he saw it, recognized it, sitting next to his plate; Keith's ring. "Peyton please don't do this."

"I didn't," She offered hoarsely, bowing her head in regret. "You did."

"I did?" He asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "What are you talking about? I didn't ask you to leave. I…"

A horn honked outside and she looked back at him, watching tears fill his eyes, and she blew out shaky breath. "Don't Luke. Please don't make this harder then it already is. This is what you've been wanting, right? Your freedom? Well, now you can have it," She whispered softly, her voice breaking with emotion. "Now we can both have it."

"This isn't what I wanted!" He cried, blocking her escape, his hand reaching out and grabbing hers in his. "I've always wanted you. Needed you. Just you."

"If that were true, Luke,' She whispered pulling her hand from his, her eyes misting over with tears. "We wouldn't be standing here right now would we? You would have been home days ago and we'd be upstairs making love and you would have remembered our anniversary."

"Peyton," His voice broke as she took a step back. "I'm sorry. I…I love you."

She closed her eyes desperate to block out the hurt in his eyes. "I love you, too" She admitted reluctantly. "I will always love you, but I can't do this. I don't know how to be an afterthought anymore. I've been trying for years, but…I just can't do it anymore."

When she opened his eyes again, she saw a tear fall and travel downward before falling to the ground between their feet. It took every ounce of strength she possessed to ignore it. But as she stepped around him and walked toward the front door, she knew without a doubt in her mind, she'd never forget this moment.

Not as long as she lived.

"The divorce papers are underneath the ring," she whispered, reaching for the doorknob. "I was going to wait a few days to give them to you, but I really didn't see the point in pretending it wasn't going to happen anymore. We both know this marriage is over. That it's been over for a long, long time."

"Peyton, please, I…I love you. Don't leave." He begged. His voice breaking and tearing at hers. "I need you. I love you."

"I love you, too, Luke. But love…it just isn't enough anymore." Opening the door, she stepped outside and walked down the front steps before pausing momentarily to whisper, "Goodbye Lucas."

She didn't stop until she opened the back door of the cab, and then, against her better judgment, she looked back toward the house. The front door stood wide open and in the middle of it, stood the love of her life. Her best friend. Her…

Husband.

He had been everything, he still was everything but she couldn't do anymore. Be second choice to a life, a career he wanted more. With a faint smile, she slipped into the cab, softly whispered her destination and leaned back against the seat as tears slipped from her eyes.

Part of her wanted to yell to the driver to stop, to turn the cab around and walk back inside the house. Back into his arms, promising him they could make it work. But she didn't want to be the only one holding on anymore. She didn't want to be the fighting to hold on to something that was crumpling around them. She needed him to fight, to be in it with her only he wasn't and he hadn't been for a long time, longer than she even cared to remember.

Leaving was the only real choice she could give them of surviving this and coming out as anything more the friends. No matter how much she loved him, she just wasn't strong enough to stay with him anymore. He had already shattered her dreams of spending forever with him and her heart. But she wouldn't let him shatter her soul too.

No matter how much she loved him.