A/N – So I've had this story rattling around in my head for the past week or so, and I felt the need to write it down, even if it is just so I can get some decent sleep lol. It is set in the time jump between season four and five, so everything up to season four happened, as did the proposal in LA, but after that it will be different. I'm not sure if this will be a one-shot or a couple of chapters, it depends on how well my muse is working and how many words I end up writing.

As always, I do not own OTH or any of the characters, and I am unbelievably happy that Season Eight is now airing over here.

Okay, so before publishing this I totally re-wrote most of the beginning bit, so I hope that it now reads better.

x

Sliding onto the red leather seat of her old Mercury Comet, Peyton reached over to press the button to lower the roof whilst glancing furtively around her. Grabbing an old pair of aviator sunglasses from the mess covering her backseat, she slid them into place before throwing the car into gear and revving engine into life. Rolling her eyes, Peyton sighed. She had only been in town for two hours maximum, but it felt like a lifetime. No one knew she was here except her dad, who was currently floating in a dredging boat somewhere off the coast of Iceland. No one had been there to greet her at the airport, and for once Peyton was thankful for it.

She hadn't spoken to Brooke in a good few weeks, not since she had called her at two in the morning one random Wednesday night when she couldn't sleep, and surprisingly Brooke had answered, sounding wide awake. She knew Brooke was also having problems, so Peyton didn't like dumping more worries onto her. From the headlines featured on the front of the glossy magazines, Peyton knew that Brooke was stuck up in New York for the time being, whilst she tried to sort out her clothing company with Victoria. To the world it looked like Brooke was getting every nineteen year old girl's dream, but Peyton could see behind the fake smile she presented to the camera. Mainly because Peyton had been using that same fake smile for the past couple of months, and no one had even noticed.

Nathan and Haley on the other hand were on campus with Baby Jamie over at Gilmore College. Keeping up-to-date regularly with Nathan, she knew that they were crazy busy, trying to juggle classes, training, games and the one year old. Peyton knew that they were awesome parents, and that they were creating a stable household for him to grow up in. It was also a good chance that he was with them, considering he lived with them and he was also Nathan's full time coach.

Taking a deep breath, she figured that she was fine to be driving around her small home town, with the wind blowing her long blonde curls out behind her, as she leaned forward to bring the radio to life. For a moment she pretended that she was still in high school, and that her life hadn't recently been turned upside-down. Shaking her head, she let the wind blow away that thought, loosing herself instead with the lyrics of the music playing. She refused to go down that road. Not today. Today she had something else she had to do. The reason she had come home for the first time in almost a year.

She hadn't really been planning on coming, until her boss had all but demanded that she take some day's holiday. She had booked the time off when she first started for the company, and he threatened that if she didn't go then she would run the risk of losing them next year. Her boss, John, was a complete arse, but for a split second he managed to redeem himself. Just before he stalked away back to his office with the amazing view, he had paused to look at her, before saying that she needed to get away from the office, away from LA, have a decent meal and sleep in her time off. Peyton almost felt touched, knowing that she had been running on hardly any sleep and even less food, but then the moment was gone, and he was back yelling at her to get him some coffee.

Pulling her car to a stop in her usual spot next to the grass verge on the edge of town, she silenced the radio before sliding quietly out of the car. Leaning over the side, Peyton reached over to pull a bunch of white lilies from the backseat, cradling them gently between her two hands. This journey was always painful, and today was no exception, as she pushed through the old rusted gate, Peyton felt her heart rate increase, and her feet automatically tread the faint path across the long grass to her usual spot.

Running her long fingers over the cold marble, Peyton crouched down to place the flowers at the base of the headstone, pausing for a moment to take a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Twisting around slightly, so that she could sit facing the headstone, she shuffled backwards so that her back was resting against a nearby tree, and she stretched her long legs out in front of her. No matter how many times she had sat here, and no matter how many years passed, this week always hit her the hardest. He knew that, and he had once made her a promise in their junior year that she would never be alone during this week. But that was just one more promise that he had broken, and here she was once again.

Resting her head back against the tree, Peyton could feel the tears begin to build behind her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She had built a wall around her heart months ago, and she refused to let it crumble now. It was normal for people to always leave her, and she was now a pro at dealing with the aftermath.

Standing quickly, not wanting to be here when she eventually did crack, Peyton quickly brushed underneath her eyes before gently pulling one of the lilies from the bunch. "I'll come back tomorrow, Mom," she whispered under her breath, just as a gently breeze lifted her hair. Exiting the cemetery the same way she came in, she decided she needed some support, and she knew exactly where to go.

Pulling her car into the drive and automatically parking it in the empty garage, she was surprised when it sputtered to a stop before dying completely. 'Wow that had great timing,' Peyton thought, but considering her car hadn't really been driven frequently over the past year it was to be expected.

Climbing out of her now broken down car, Peyton lifted the hood and stared at the engine for a moment, before walking away and pulling the garage door closed behind her. Walking up the porch steps, and knocking on the front door, she played nervously with the stem of the delicate flower. Usually she would just walk in, but it didn't feel right anymore. Standing apprehensively on the porch, Peyton debated just walking home and burying her head underneath her covers, but with Brooke out of town she knew there was nobody to try and drag her back out, or in typical Brooke fashion, climb in underneath with her.

She missed her best friend. She hated that they were separated by the entire country, and without her Peyton felt like she was just going through the motions of life, with no one to drag her out of this mess. She missed everything about this small town, and for a moment she couldn't find any reason to be living in LA anymore, because her dream just wasn't there.

Peyton's eyes started to water, and the first tear overflowed just as the door was opened. "Peyton?" she heard a confused Karen question, throwing the towel in her hands over her shoulder in order to pull the distressed blonde into her arms. "Oh, honey," she whispered into her curly hair, and the dam burst.

Lucas walked out of his last class of the day, and began wandering in the direction of the gym, pulling his play book out of his bag to make a new adjustment. Sliding his pencil behind his ear, he reached into his pocket to check his phone, as there was usually a message from either Nathan or Haley asking if he could pick up Jamie from the day care, or what he wanted for tea.

Living with the married couple and their young baby hadn't taken any adjustment at all on Lucas' part. They were their own little family, making sure that they all sat around the dinner table at night, so that Jamie had some stability. Plus he didn't really mind baby sitting whilst Nathan was at the gym and Haley was stuck in her weekly night class. He really did adore that little boy, but it just hurt when he thinks that he should also have this... but that dream died and as far as he could see it wasn't coming back.

Sliding his finger across the screen to wake it up, he instantly panicked when he read 23 missed calls. Tapping on the small icon it split it into two names; 22 missed calls from Peyton and the most recent, one missed call from his Mom's house. He was torn, half of him ached to call Peyton back, but the other half of him knew that the other call involved both his Mom and Lily. His finger hovered over the call button, and eventually logic kicked in. If his mom's call wasn't important, and considering she had only called once, he was assuming that it low on the panic scale, he decided to deal with that one first.

Tapping the screen, he held the phone up to his ear and held his breath as it rang, two... three... four times. Cursing, he was about to end the call and try the phone at the cafe, when his mom answered with a hushed "Hello?"

"Mom?" Lucas questioned, wondering why she was being so quiet, and then he thought that maybe Lily was asleep. "Is everything alright?"

"Lucas... don't worry but I think you need to come home for a couple of days." he heard his mom whisper through the phone, and he instantly began to worry even though she told him not to.

"Why? What's wrong? Is it Lily?" he fired off the questions in rapid succession, not waiting for an answer before starting to jog to his car.

"No Luke, nothing is wrong," Karen tried to calm her son, but knowing it wouldn't do any good. "Just drive safe, and I'll see you in an hour or so."

Ending the call quickly, whilst sliding into his Mustang, Lucas dialled a familiar number and left two quick messages, one on Nathan's phone and one on the house's answering machine, letting them know he would be out of town for a couple of days and telling Nathan which drills to run during practice.

Pulling up at the side of the road 58 minutes later, Lucas jumped out of his car, pausing for as second to wonder why the garage door was closed, before bounding up the porch steps and flying into the house.

"Mom!" he called out, glancing at the two cups of coffee sitting on the table by the couch, and heading towards his sister's room, knowing that the most likely place to find them both.

"Lucas?" he heard his mom reply, and he leant against the door frame, catching his breath as he raked his eyes up and down his mom's small frame before focusing his attention onto his baby sister. "How fast did you drive?" she demanded.

"Er... not that fast," he mumbled, crossing the room to the side of the cot to place his finger to the sleeping girl's cheek, and his heart rate calms down as he feels her tiny chest rise and fall slightly in time with her gentle breathing. "So why exactly do I need to be home?" he questioned, turning to face his mom again for a moment before adjusting the blankets in the cot slightly.

"Er... it's hard to explain," his mom began looking uncomfortable. "I think it would be best if you went out into the garage, as your explanation is there."

"Mom?" Lucas questioned suspiciously, but she just shook her head to indicate that she wasn't going to say anything else before walking from the room.

Raising his eyebrows, he paused for a moment to watch his sister, taking note of how big she was getting and he was missing most of it, but eventually curiosity got the best of him.