Lucas Scott walked the streets of downtown Tree Hill as people milled around the busy street fair and farmer's market. He fingered his half of the list Haley had given him of items he had to pick, but his mind wasn't on his shopping duties. His mind was on his life, and its recent turn of events. He was supposed to be a married man right now, but instead he was a jilted groom with a conflicted heart.
Lucas looked over to his left and saw Haley talking to a vendor, his nephew Jamie at her side. He felt a wave of jealousy assault him. He wanted that. A family. It was during those waves of longing Lucas again would feel that old strain of regret, and feelings of being left out, that he once felt when he thought of his half brother Nathan. He would try to squelch the feeling that it seemed Nathan got everything, while Lucas was left in want. And then he would feel like an asshole for thinking that way.
Lucas had his chances, more then one, if he was honest with himself. And though he continued to lament and stress to those around him that his heart belonged to Lindsey, and he would win her back, in the recesses of his soul he heard the voice and saw the face of another.
Turning from Haley and Jamie, Lucas strolled further down the street and halted suddenly. He blinked to try and assure himself what he saw was true and when he opened his eyes again he was still shocked at what he saw.
The buildings lining the streets stopped as a large expanse of open land overtook the far end of the city. Development seemed to halt at the end of the street and the area was covered in rolling green grass and a thick forest. In the middle of the open area sat a small shack. Though not as fancy or flashy as the other buildings, it still held a certain charm.
Lucas found himself drawn to the small building and was shocked when he walked over to the shack and moved to stand at the front door. He was about to turn and leave when the door creaked open and a man appeared. He was dressed in a black suit, had a clean-shaven face and short dark hair. He smiled brightly when he saw Lucas and stepped over the threshold.
"Hello," the man said holding out his hand. "My name is Barone, and you are?"
Lucas placed his hand in his and shook it. "The name is Lucas Scott," he said slowly.
"Well, nice to meet you Lucas Scott." The man let go of Lucas' hand and held his arms wide. "Do you like my humble piece of land?"
"It's anything but humble." Lucas looked around in awe of the plot of land. "Just seems kind of strange to have all this open space at the edge of the city."
"It would seem so, wouldn't it?" Barone looked around. "But it is all mine. I guess you could say it is my own piece of heaven."
"I guess." Lucas braced his hands on his hips. He was still in shock at what he was seeing. Why hadn't anyone come to the man and forced him off this prime piece of real estate?
"Would you like a look around?" Barone walked the edge of his tiny house. "It is quite a view from the back."
"Oh, no, I couldn't impose." Lucas shook his head slightly. "I just came to look at the place, it kind of reminds me …." Lucas broke off his sentence and continued to stare at the rich and fertile land before him.
"It reminds you of home, doesn't it?" Barone moved close to Lucas.
"How did you know?" Lucas threw Barone a shocked expression. "I mean, not my home. I live here. But just something about it drew me here."
Barone stared out lovingly at the land before him and sighed deeply. "I have found that when people seek this place out, it is for a reason." He rubbed his hand over his jaw and his eyes twinkled when they rested on Lucas' face. "It is not an accident you have found yourself at my door. You seek something."
"All I seek is what is on this list." Lucas held up the piece of paper Haley had given him. "I get this and everyone is happy."
"But are you?"
Lucas held his breath and counted to ten. He was so tired of people questioning his feelings. Of challenging him, he was a grown man, he knew what he felt. Didn't he?
"Listen buddy, I don't have time for this." Lucas turned to leave.
"Please, just come with me."
It was the pleading in Barone's voice that forced Lucas to turn around. And when he did, he saw in the man's eyes a genuine goodness that couldn't be denied. It had been so long since Lucas had seen such humanity, such caring and without a word he walked to the man's side and followed him around the small shack.
When they turned the corner Lucas was taken aback by the beauty he saw - as a veritable Garden of Eden unfolded before him. Grass so green it looked to have been painted spread out before him and the yard was lined by massive oak trees, and down a small path was a pond with exotic birds floating busily on the surface.
The hundreds of different flowers assaulted his nose and he inhaled deeply their sweet fragrance. It was like, well, it was like walking into heaven.
"It is wonderful, isn't it?" Barone smiled brightly. "Keeping this place up is why I live."
"I can see why." Lucas turned in circles. When he turned completely around, he noticed a young woman had joined himself and Barone. She was breathtaking with honey brown hair and light brown eyes. Her skin was slightly bronzed, as if she spent a lot of time outdoors, probably tending to this magnificent garden.
"Ah, I would like you to meet my wife, Esmerelda, and Esmerelda this is Lucas Scott." Barone took Esmerelda's hand in his and leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek. The love in the man's eyes was unmistakable and the utter devotion in hers told Lucas she returned the feelings of love.
That was what Lucas longed for. That look, the devotion, the love for only him. Was he cheating himself by continuing to wait for her? Was she really the love of his life? The love he saw in these two made him doubt him self everything he had protested to others he felt.
"Lucas?" Barone looked at John as he said his name. "Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Lucas blinked to clear his head. "It is nice to meet you Esmerelda."
"Like wise," Esmerelda said sweetly.
"You have a wonderful garden." Lucas told her. He was about to compliment her some more when a figure in the distance caught his attention. "What the hell," Lucas asked himself absently.
"What?" Barone followed his gaze. "What is it?"
"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Lucas didn't wait for a reply as he strode toward the figure. As he grew closer and closer he prayed his eyes were playing tricks on him, he couldn't take it if they weren't. There, standing before him was, well, himself. Lucas Scott was staring at his twin.
"What the hell is going on," Lucas asked. Staring the man up and down, feeling like he was looking in a mirror.
"Listen, why don't we go over here and sit down, this could take some explaining." The twin told Lucas.
"I don't want to sit down," Lucas almost screamed. "I want answers."
"I know you do, I would too." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Will you give me a chance to explain?"
"Go." Lucas copied his twin's motion and ran his finger through his hair.
"Remember when you had the heart attack after winning the state championship?" The carbon copy of Lucas replied.
How could Lucas forget? Four huge moments of his life were wrapped up in that night. He had fulfilled every athletes dream of hitting a winning shot for a championship, admitted his love for the girl of his dreams, Peyton, saw his best friend Haley almost die after being hit by a car and almost died himself thanks to his stupidity of not taking his heart medication.
"You died," his twin began. "And then found yourself doing a "Wonderful Life" skit with Uncle Keith."
Lucas simply shook his head in agreement.
"And then you woke up and continued on with your life," the twin stated.
Lucas could only again shake his head yes.
"Well, I found myself here, in this amazing garden," his twin continued. "Barone told me about this place, and I think, though I am not sure, that this is heaven."
Lucas looked back at Barone and his wife as they picked a flower from the garden. Was this true? Could it be?
The other Lucas continued his story. He was shocked to awake on a soft bed of sweet green grass. His last memory was of Peyton and a promise of being with her later that evening. Barone came to him and calmed his fears. He told him that he was in a place where those who die go, but could tell he didn't belong here. It was Barone who told him that there was a part of him that was being held here, that his other self would need him some day.
"Are you trying to say I am dead?' Lucas stepped back.
"No, I am saying that you carry only half of Lucas Scott's soul." He reached out for Lucas but Lucas shrank from his touch. "We can only be whole if we merge."
"I think maybe you just want a strangle hold on my life." Lucas exclaimed.
"And what kind of life are you living?" the twin questioned. "Treating your friends and family horribly, denying your true feelings."
"You don't know what the fuck you are talking about," Lucas screamed. "What I have been through."
"I don't care about you and what you have been through," the twin said. "I only want you to remember what you had, what you walked away from and what could be."
The twin took Lucas' hand and he felt a bright light and then a flash. Before him, like a movie screen, Lucas saw his life flash before him. But it wasn't his whole life, just his moments with her – with Peyton. From their very first encounter, when she almost ran over him with her car, to their clashes in his uncle Keith's garage, to her conversations on the river court, to their almost making love twice, to all their heartache, to all their times of quiet friendship and to the times he saved her, to the times she saved him and to the times when they both gave their hearts to each other.
Then there were flashes he had never seen before. Her smiling face, bright green eyes a light with love. The ring his uncle Keith gave his mom being slipped on her finger, the same ring that Lindsey had worn but he always felt uneasy seeing her wear on her finger. Quiet times with her in his bedroom in the house he grew up in and his mother had given him, her crying softly when she told him she was carrying his child and then Peyton in a white wedding dress walking slowly toward him.
Then, just like that the flash was gone and so was the man who looked so much like him he could be Lucas' twin. Lucas turned and ran into Barone.
"What the hell just happened?" Lucas looked at Barnone and then his wife, Esmerelda.
"This place is truly heaven, it allows a chosen few a second chance," Esmerelda said with a smile.
"How do you know?" Lucas stared in her eyes.
"Because it gave my husband a second chance." Esmerelda stared lovingly at Barone who stood beside the other him.
What Esmerelda told him took Lucas' breath away. Barone, she began, was a very wealthy man. He grew up poor and through wise investments he amassed a fortune he could never spend. To show everyone his success he began to build a massive home that took up five city blocks.
Lucas looked around the garden, and suddenly realized she spoke of the very plot of land they stood on. "This place," he said in a whisper.
"Yes." Esmerelda nodded her head.
He was never satisfied with the size of the home he built and continued to add on. Esmerlda was a maid in the massive house and she caught Barone's eye. He fell madly in love with her and she with him. They planned to marry, but just arns before the wedding Esmerelda was killed in a tragic accident. Barone was left alone in the massive house he had constructed.
Not soon after her death, he found himself in the tiny plot of grass that was left after his last add-on. He was shocked and overcome with joy when he saw Esmerelda standing by the one remaining tree in the garden. She told him the truth that day. His seemingly never-ending building campaign was shrinking heaven, his backyard held heaven. Esmerelda told Barone that if he didn't stop the building she would have to leave because it was already too crowded.
Barone shocked by what he heard, and determined to keep Esmerelda anyway he could, hired hundreds of men to tear down the house he had spent years building. In its place he constructed a small, simple home and was never happier.
"It's true." Lucas stared back at his twin. "What he said is true."
"Yes." Esmerelsda squeezed his hand. "You can only find true happiness when you are whole again."
"Thank you." Lucas leaned in and kissed Esmerelda on the cheek.
"Hey, watch it there." Barone came to join them and wrapped his arm around his wife's waist. "What are you doing with my girl?"
"Just thanking her for turning on a light bulb." Lucas flashed one of his brilliant smiles.
He knew what they all meant now, about a second chance. It wasn't with a woman who he had used as a shield for his heart. It was with the woman who had captured his heart as a lonely boy, one who he saw as an angel with wild, unruly curls and piercing intense green eyes.
"I can't believe this." Lucas looked at them in amazement. "I feel whole, like I had been chilled and suddenly warmed."
"You are yourself again," Barone told him.
"I am," Lucas smiled. "I mean, I can't explain it. It's as if a piece of me was missing, and now all has been revealed."
"The other half of your soul has been returned to you," Esmerelda told him.
Peyton, he saw Peyton happy and smiling. He could remember the look of pure joy on her face, could almost taste her lips on his. Her velvet skin as he stroked her and her screams of ecstasy as he entered her warm and supple body. Peyton, he remembered Peyton's love and he vowed to one day experience that again.
"You have to go now," Barone said. "This place is for others whose life is over and you still have so much left to do."
"You are right." Lucas slapped Barone on the shoulder. "Boy, are you right."
He looked at Esmerelda, sweet Esmerelda whose life had been tragically ended too soon, and yet she still found her happiness. She died, yet she lived, kind of like him self. "Take care of yourself," Lucas said as he leaned down and kissed her cheek again. "Thank you."
"Find your happiness, Lucas Scott." Esmerelda took his hand and squeezed. "You never know, it might be where you lest expect it."
"Oh, I know where it is," Lucas admitted. "I just have to fight for it."
"Good luck," the couple said as Lucas walked away.
Lucas turned to return the goodbye but they were gone. It felt like a dream, but he knew it wasn't. He was whole again, and he had a purpose. With a spring in his step he went in search of Haley and Jamie.
Haley looked at him as if he had sprouted two heads when Lucas thrust the list in her hands and said he had to leave.
"Lucas," Haley said her voiced laced with concern. "Are you okay? I am worried about you."
"I am fine," Lucas replied tossing her a lopsided grin. "More fine then I have been in a long time."
"But where are you going?" Haley called after Lucas as he started running up the street.
"I have a date with my destiny," he shot back over his shoulder.
A few hours later, Lucas sat in the Tree Hill airport his phone in his hand and his hand resting on his knee. All he had to do was punch in the final number and the call would be placed. With sweaty palms and a shaking hand he dialed the number eight and waited.
She answered on the second ring. Peyton's voice sang over the phone as she said hello. She was a bit breathless as if she had been running for the phone. He didn't even say who it was, he pushed out the words quickly, afraid if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to speak.
"Hey, it's me," he began. "I have two tickets to Las Vegas. Do you want to get married tonight?"