It's Always You

by inmyarms57

He was a gentle, kind, selfless man and such a boy at times. He was everything and nothing to her. He was charming, boyish, sexy and he was all she every wanted. So why did she have another wanting her forever?

Cupping the mug of hot chocolate in both her hands, Peyton leaned back against the wall, pillows piled behind her as she tried to relax upon the window seat her father had built in the small room of the mountain cabin. He had purchased the small cabin in the mountains, a few years after her mother died, saying it would be their retreat away from the world. And they did just that. Every summer, they would escape for a week and she'd hide away in the tiny room she had claimed as her own and stare out at the nearby lake and silently talk to her mother.

Right now the wind was blowing, snow was falling and the lake was nowhere to be seen. Instead glistening snow folded out before her, tree branches were getting heavy and Peyton wished she could smile at the beauty it all held.

Breathing in deeply from her nose, she let the aroma of the chocolate fill her senses and closed her eyes, a small shiver crawled over her skin and she carefully placed down the mug to pull the soft quilt her mother had made more tightly around her. Lifting the mug back up she cupped it again and inhaled the soft warm scent of chocolate for the second time and sighed when it didn't magically clear her mind and bring a smile to her face like it had done so many times in the past.

Sipping the chocolate she stared out the window at the falling snow and wrinkled her nose, pursed her lips and then sucked the lower so it was pinned between her teeth. Her shoulders were tense and she shifted a bit stretching her long legs a bit more in front of her on the seat and looked up at the ceiling of the cabin. She didn't see the ceiling though, she saw past it into a place no one could see but she knew was there.

"Mom, what do I do? I need to give an answer… I just don't know what to do?" Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked to try to control them, her heart pounding. "It isn't supposed to be like this, is it? So hard. Shouldn't it be easier then this? Shouldn't I be able to just say that one word he needs to hear."

Leaning back she let her gaze fall back to the falling snow and furrowed her brow at the peaceful winter scene before her. It was beautiful and it looked so calm and she growled in anger that she couldn't see it.

Couldn't feel it.

"Well that ruined that beautiful picture," an voice cut through the silence of the cabin and made her jump inside her skin, sit straight up and turn towards the door, her green eyes wide in shock.

Standing there just inside her bedroom door, his leather jacket wet with snow flurries, his blonde hair damp and a grin on his face but pure concern in his eyes was one for her best friends. Her heart fell to her stomach and her eyes filled with anxious tears and she had no clue if she was happy or pissed he was there.

"I'm mad," She whispered turning back to the window and closing her eyes. She was going with pissed. It was easier then telling herself she was happy he was once again rescuing her.

She heard the sound of his zipper as he undid his jacket and the light thud sound it made when he tossed it on the bed. Before she knew it, he was lightly walking across the floor and sitting down in front of her, just missing her feet under the quilt, and peering at her with those eyes of his.

Those damn blue eyes that seemed to sere into her soul and killing her by revealing everything he felt.

"At me?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know."

"Peyton, you have been missing for almost a week. People have been calling, worrying, Julian and Brooke wanted your Dad to put out a missing persons on you. Your Dad talked them out of it, told them not to worry about you. He was damn convincing too, but when he looked at me, I knew he was truly worried. So, instead of not sleeping every night wondering why the hell one of my best friends got up and took off to hide from the world, I came here to ask her why?"

Quirking an eyebrow his way, she softly whispered "You knew I was here?"

"Where else would you go to hide, Blondie?"

Peyton rolled her eyes and reached out with one hand to brush the hair from his eyes, "You're wet and it's cold out and would you buy it if I said I am okay?" She said with a smirk, concealing the urge she felt to smile from just the simple touch of his skin beneath her fingers.

"No shit Sherlock it's cold out and no I don't buy it," Lucas said grabbing her hand and squeezing it, sending shivers up her arm that Peyton instantly rationalized as being from his cool body temperature and not from just his touch.

Staring at their gripped hands Peyton shook her head and then shrugged, "I didn't think so, you can take my Dad's room, no reason you should sleep on the couch like you used too."

Lucas's eyes clouded and she bit her lower lip waiting for him to respond, "Is that your 'go unpack your duffel bag and get out of my hair Luke' response?"

"Please?" She pleaded.

He nodded letting go of her hand and stood up smiling, "Fine. We'll play it slow," he walked away picking up his jacket off her bed and looking back at her, "Thanks for the use of the room."

"It's only right." She whispered looking out the window, but she could see Lucas in the reflection of the window, watching her. His jacket slung over his shoulder and the way he was watching her made a lump fill in her throat. Blinking she willed back the tears in her eyes but a few broke free falling down her cheeks and she saw him struggling with his own emotion. He took a step towards her, their gazes meeting and she simply smiled as he retraced his steps and exited the room, knowing she would come to him when she was ready.

But in all reality all she wanted was for him to hold her and tell her it would all work out in the end.

Turning her gaze back out at the falling snow outside, Peyton smiled for a second before confusion filled her eyes again and had her biting her lower lip. Her face crumbled as she struggled for control and a harsh gasp came out as she began to cry.

~*~

Knocking on the door of her father's room, Peyton pushed it open and leaned her head into the main bedroom of the small cabin. Lucas looked up from where he was laying on his side flipping through an old magazine that had been left in the room. "All settled?"

"Yup, how are you?" He asked, tossing the magazine aside and starting to climb off the bed but Peyton shook her head and crossed the room. The fuzzy slippers on her feet making a muted sound on the hardwood flooring with each step. She sat down on the bed, indian style facing him, and waited until he sat up across from her. He reached out and touched her cheek and didn't hide the frustrated sigh he let out. Her hand reached up and caught his when he went to pull away and she met his eyes, hers closing instantly hiding from the emotion in them.

"I needed to get away to think."

"About what?"

"My life."

His brow furrowed in confusion at her statement. "What about it?"

Her eyes fluttered open, revealing sadden green orbs. "The direction it seems to be taking and how I'm confused if that's really the way I want it to turn."

"Life doesn't usually go the way we want it to, Peyt. You know that as well as I do. Sometimes you have to just have to hold on and try to enjoy the ride."

"And sometimes you have to make the choice of where the next turn takes you, Luke. Life doesn't just happen, not if you really want things out of it, you know that." She argued back, and she began to wonder why he was really there, sitting before her.

But she knew the truth. He was one of her best friends and he was after all, Lucas Scott her own white knight.

One of the most solid shoulders she knew of, beside her father's, to cry on. The boy who came to her rescue more times then she could count. The one who held her, loved her when at a time she believed no one ever would.

He was a gentle, kind, selfless man and such a boy at times. He was funny and sarcastic, able to blend with any crowd and follow no rules without upsetting a soul.

He was everything and nothing to her. He was charming, boyish, sexy and he was all she every wanted.

She bit her lip and averted her eyes away but she felt her skin flush at the last thought, it always did when those thoughts surfaced, more and more as days had gone on since she had come back home. She with a broken heart and too many regrets and he had been with someone else. But they managed to find their way back to each other, as friends that is and she clung to it. Because it was what she needed she had told Brooke. She needed him in her life and if it was just as a friend, she'd take it.

That had been a two years ago. He broke up with his girlfriend or he's then fiancé, claiming he realized she wasn't the one and she rekindled with an old flame. A movie producer she had dated on and off when she was LA. Her attempt she told him once, to forget him. He in turned laughed and said he was nothing like him and she smiled. Telling him no one was ever like him.

And he laughed, pulled her to him, whispering that he wished he had simply heard her instead of letting his hurt pride get in the way all those years ago, in that hotel.

And she wished she had said yes. But she didn't tell him that, she just hugged him tighter and wished for it to be all so different.

"Peyton, did you hear me?"

Shaking her head she looked up at him and felt her cheeks burning and blurted out, "He asked me to marry him."

"What?" His eyes squinting in the way she had come to love over the years only for them to widen shock.

Peyton lost her breath, she had known it would shock him but she hadn't expected him to pale the way he just had or for his eyes to nearly pop out of his head for that matter.

He leaped from the bed and began pacing. His hand rubbing the back of his neck as he mumbled under his breathe and she just watched him.

"Lucas? Say something."

His pacing stop as he came to stand in front of her, his eyes narrowing and his heart pounded in his chest. "What did you say?"

"That I needed time."

"Okay…" He breathed out, relief filling his eyes as he smiled down at her, "Are you close to giving him an answer?"

"No," Peyton whispered, air lodged in her lungs as she watched him. Lucas seemed suddenly so off-balance, nervous, so not like himself that she began to wonder if maybe he would tell her not to marry Julian. Her chest stabbed then, from lack of air, from acknowledging the fact that she wanted him to say that.

To tell her what to do. To tell her that he still cared and she was the one.

That he loved her still.

She had almost run to him the night Julian proposed but something made her run away from his door before she knocked. It was her life, Julian was her boyfriend and he was simply someone she once loved. So why did she want Lucas to tell her what to do, what to say.

Why would she think he would, yet watching him now, all she think was she wanted him too. She needed him to.

She wanted to hear his next words and damn it if she wanted them be; Don't marry him, marry me.

"Okay…so I mean do you…what are you reasons for not being sure?" Lucas stammered out, "He asked you to marry him, you two have only been back together for what? Two days and …"

"Six months, Luke. We've been back together for six months." She replied, her tone reflecting her irritation with him.

"Isn't that fast?"

"He says he knows he loves him and wants me to be his wife."

"Really?" He said his face paling at the thought of someone else marrying her.

Standing from the bed, she moved pass him, stalking out of the room her words coming out harsher then she had intended as she stormed down the hall. "Yeah really Luke. Is the idea that someone other then you, would want to marry me that horrifying?"

"Peyton I didn't mean that." He called after her, trailing behind her into the kitchen. "I didn't… I just…I didn't realize you two were that serious."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she shoved him away from her. Her green eyes flashing his way, causing him to flinch. "It's not like you ever cared. He's just some guy I happened to be dating, like the girls and I do mean girls, you go out with weren't any of my business right?"

"What?"

"You always tell me to shut up about your dates."

"You always give them the third degree like you're my mother or something and deciding if they are worthy. It's not like I was planning to marry any of them…but if I'd known you'd be holed up here contemplating marrying Julian, I would have spent more time getting to know the guy. Besides, he's more of a stick in the mud than Hales can be. What do you see in him anyways?"

Glaring his way, she turned away from him and stared out the window over looking the snow covered frozen lake, her heart pounding in her chest as she asked, "Do you plan on ever getting married?"

"What?"

Turning on her heel, she took a hesitant step closer to him, her eyes searching his. "Do you?"

"Do I plan on getting married to who?" He asked, his eyes locking onto hers and he wondered if she could hear his heart pounding his chest as he reached out for her hand, only to have his fall away when she took a step back.

"Anyone."

"Peyton…"

"Do you think about it…that day?" She asked turning away once again, afraid to meet his eyes.

Afraid to hear his response.

Sighing, Lucas closed his eyes and leaned against the counter as the image of him down one knee, ring in hand asking her to marry him filled his mind. His voice low as his eyes opened, "Yeah. I do. I think about it every time your out with Julian. Every time you…Every time I see Haley and Nathan together, I think about it. Do you?"

Nodding her head, she glanced over her shoulder a sad smile on her lips. "Do you ever wish we could go back and tell ourselves what to say? What to do?"

"I do. I would tell myself to stop and listen. To hear you and not walk away."

Her eyes shifted away from his, settling on the wall just over his shoulder, "I would tell myself to say yes so I could save us from the heartache."

"Peyton…"

Shaking her head, she lifted a hand to her cheek, wiping away the lone tear that slipped down. "So do you?"

"Do I what?" He asked.

"Think about getting married and starting a family?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he cast his eyes downward, away from her gaze. "Yeah. Sometimes."

"With who?" She asked.

"Well not any of the girls I date that is for sure," Shifting his eyes back to hers, he pushed away from the counter, watching as she bit down on her lower lip. A gesture he found endearing and cute and completely her. "And I wasn't the one that was proposed too recently, don't change the subject Peyton."

"I didn't think I was!" Peyton shouted. Covering her mouth with her hand, she brushed past him blinking back tears as she made her away to the stove. "Do you want tea?"

"Sure and also a clue please."

"I just…" Peyton took a deep breath, lifted the kettle and filling it with water. "You think about something and then it happens. And sometimes the way it happens beats out all the fantasies, all the anticipation your mind has built up waiting for it. But then sometimes, sometimes, you wonder what was wrong with you because the way it happens feels just so wrong and so uncomfortable you just want to run away and forget the world."

Turning around to face him, she smiled through her tears. A small laugh escaping her lips when she suddenly found herself wrapped in an all too familiar pair of arms. Her head fell to his shoulder, her hands clinging to his shirt as he gently rocked her in his arms. His voice low, soft and full of love with each word he softly whispered to her. He was her home. Her safety net and everything she sought in Julian but could never find.

His hand lifted and tangled into her curls and her breathe caught in her throat when she felt his lips brush her temple. Her heart stilled for a beat and she remembered why she had turned away from his door the night Julian proposed.

How sometimes in the dead of the night she woke up aroused and out of breath from calling his name because she'd been lost in a dream of them tangled in each others arms.

She didn't want to see their dreams crumple in his eyes when she told him another wanted her.

She didn't want to loose her last shred of hope.

She didn't want to loose him.

"Blondie, you can cry all you want." He whispered in her ear, his hand brushing the hair from her face as he gently brushed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm taking it the proposal from Julian didn't make your imagination pale in comparison?"

"No," Peyton whispered feeling suddenly too hot, too warm and too close to Lucas. She pulled away just as the kettle started to whistle and Lucas reached over her shoulder and grabbed two mugs from their hooks.

"I got it."

She nodded and watched him pour the hot water into each mug and place a single scoop of sugar into each cup. She smiled when he opened the freezer door, pulling out a pint of ice cream and smile her way. With a shake of her head, her smile widening when he dug the spoon into the carton and took a step towards her.

"Ice cream in winter. With hot tea," She said softly for really no reason at all.

Lucas nodded at her, a faint smile on his lips as stood before her, spoon in hand, "Open up."

Her lips parted, her green orbs locked on his blue ones as he placed the cool treat in her mouth expertly and she clamped over it and he slid the spoon out between her lips as she smiled at the sweet taste, "Thanks."

"Want to give more details?" He asked as he took another scoop of ice cream from the container and lifted it to his own lips.

Slowly lower herself to the chair, her hands clasped in front of her. Her eyes cast downward unable to meet his.

"He took me to this fancy restaurant, in New York. And then to the opera. It was beautiful, I mean I loved it. It was different and…its just…When I was little, before my groom had a face, I pictured him… I pictured him being some what like my Dad. He'd just sit me down and with a shaky breath say, we need to have a talk…and say that he wanted to marry me and I'd say yes." She lifted her eyes, a small smile on her lips as she finally meet his gaze. "Then when I was in high school, I meet you and the fantasy proposal changed and it became us at the beach. You'd say you spoke to my Dad and asked his permission and I'd look at you all confused and ask for what? You'd simply smile and say marry me, Peyton. It was really cheesy and so not me I know that but it was my fantasy and it was us. But then it change with time and there was no more beach. No more us."

"Peyton…I…."

"It's okay. Because I had this dream once in LA. Where you proposed and it was spontaneous and completely unexpected on my part. And then you were really there and it wasn't a dream anymore. You were on your knee asking me to marry you and I wanted to say yes. So badly but I couldn't and then you were gone." Her eyes fluttered shut as tears fell from beneath her lashes. "And then he proposed and it was unexpected because I wasn't thinking of him in that way. And there was fancy food, opera and a moonlight view from his balcony. And a ring that looked more like a rock."

Reaching out, he place a hand over hers, his voice low and his heart aching to pull her to him and ease her confusion. Instead he whispered, "That's not your style."

With a smile, she opened her eyes and looked at him with glistening eyes, "I know."

Lucas nodded, reached up and wiped her tears away, and she leaned into his touch her eyes closing, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because…because Julian is a great guy. He's reliable, he wants a family, he's nice. He's very…he wants me and I want to be a wife, and I want to have kids. I want what he can give me and…

"You make him sound like a dog."

"Luke!"

"Sorry but Peyton not once did you say you love him."

Leaning back, she watched him, his hand still resting on hers. "He loves me." She whispered.

"But do you love him?" He asked.

"Luke, I care about him a great deal. He was there when you…he can give me everything I want."

"So why didn't you say yes? Why did you tell him maybe and then run here to debate something that, to me, seems as if your going to say yes to."

"I didn't say maybe! God to you ever actually hear what I'm saying or do you just hear what you want?" She yelled, her green eyes glaring at him. "I said I needed time to think and the next thing I knew I was standing outside your door."

"What? Peyton why would…"

Pushing her chair back, she stood and went to retrieve their mugs. "I don't know why, Luke I just did. I stood there, staring at your door, wanting to knock but it was late and I told myself that maybe your latest bimbo was there so I left and came here. All I wanted was for you to tell me what to do. What to say. So tell me…please!"

"I've never told you what to do, ever. So why would you want me to now?"

"I know but it's what I want now."

"Why?"

Throwing her arms up, she turned and looked at him with desperate eyes. "I just do… Tell me what to say to him. Tell me either way, Luke. Just tell me what to do!"

"I can't. I just can't. Peyton…"

"Please?" She begged. Her hands reaching out and gripping his hands in hers. "Luke. Tell me what do I say. What do I do? Should I say yes cause he's a great guy. He is and he loves me and I…"

"He doesn't even know you like I do!"

The harshness of his voice made her jump back and he yanked his hands from hers in shock. He hadn't meant to say it but it had been sitting there on the tip of his tongue and now as he looked at her, he wanted to take it back. "Peyton…I…I didn't mean to say that…I…"

She smiled, her head titling causing her hair to tumble across her shoulder, "Yes you did."

Lowering his head, he rested his head in his hands, a groan escaping through his lips. He hadn't intended to say anything. All he had planned on doing was coming here and bring her back home and ease the minds of their friends. And they'd all go back to their lives.

But it was hard. It was all too hard and being here and hearing that Julian wanted to marry her just made it worse and he wanted it all back.

He wanted to turn back the clock to the moment he woke in that hotel room. To the second she spoke those words and he choose to hear no rather then someday. He wanted it all back just to do it differently.

"I do know you." He whispered, lifting his head and meeting her gaze. "I've always known you."

She smiled faintly, her green eyes glistening with tears, her head nodding slightly, "I know."

"I just…Peyton is he really the one? Is he who you want to spend your life with?"

"Maybe…I don't know…He wants a family. And I…"

"You've said that." He whispered. His eyes closing.

"Luke," She said softly. "What do you what me to do? Tell me, please! This is too hard and I…"

"Peyton…" Lucas inhaled, his eyes opening as he stood and stared down at her. His throat tightening from the look in her eyes. "I can't."

And he walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, stopping in front of the mantle. His eyes drifting over the framed photos that lined it.

Pictures of just the two of them. Pictures with her father. Pictures of their small group of friends. Of her alone.

Memories captured forever all sitting there for the world to see.

She bit her lip and slowly made her way across the room, her arms crossed over her chest as she came to stand next to him. Her gaze taking in the pictures before her, "That's one of my favorites." She whispered.

"Which one?"

Lifting the picture from the mantle, she tenderly traced their outline with a finger. She was laughing. Her head titled back, eyes closed. His arms wrapped around her waist. A smile on his lips. His eyes watching her through parted lashes. She wore a black dress and he wore a suit. "I fell in love with you that day." Her voice was low that he barely heard her over the faint crackling of the fire. "You were this boy who saw me. The real me. It scared me that you did, that I let you. But I wanted you and you wanted me."

"You walked away that night." He whispered.

"Luke," She breathed out. Her eyes closing. "I…"

Sighing, he took the picture from her hands. His eyes scanning the photo before he gently placed it back it's spot on the mantel. "I wanted you that night and you walked away and I wanted you in that night in LA and you said…"

"Luke…"

Turning he faced her. His head titled slightly as he stared at her. He loved her. He knew that. He's know it since the first time he saw her back in the eighth grade. All legs and a tangled mess of curls. He loved her and he knew he'd love her until his very last breath. "I use to love coming up here with you. With your Dad. It was like I was a part of something. And your Dad made me feel like I belonged and I wasn't just some kid no one wanted."

Peyton bit her lip and inhaled sharply. Her eyes glistening with tears. "You did belong…You do belong, Luke. You belong here and you've always been someone. You were…you're my friend. My heart. Your everything, Luke."

"Am I?" Lucas asked looking at her and making her stomach flip and she lost her breath again, "Am I, Peyton? Am I really?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you knock on my door after he proposed? Why did you run away?"

"Because… Because I wanted you to tell me not to marry him and that scared me. So I left cause it's you and it's me and I…I wanted you to tell me what to do."

Lucas shook his head and he ran his hands through his hair, "See I don't get that Peyton. You've never asked anyone what you should do. You do what you want. Even if we all don't agree with you, you still do it. Cause's it's who you are. Just like your internship in high school. You wanted to do it and you did it."

Her eyes closed as the tears slipped from her eyes, "You said I should do it. That I was meant for greatness. You said I was full of magic."

He took a hesitant step forward. His arms lifting only to let them fall back to his side as her eyes fluttered open once again, "And I meant it. I wanted you to go and chase your dreams. But the selfish person in me wishes you never did."

"Luke…" She drawled out.

Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his hair. His eyes meeting hers, "It's selfish of me to admit that now, I know. Cause if you had stayed you would have resented me with time so I let you go believing that we'd be together in the end but we weren't, were we? And now your asking me to tell you what do when you've never asked anyone before."

"I know." She whispered. Her voice shaking as she stared at him.

"So what are you going to do Peyton, are you going to marry that nice dependable safe guy that doesn't make you lose your breath with just a touch or you going to wait and risk it on someone who believes in you. Who knows you. Knows what you want and won't just simply shrug his shoulders at your dreams."

Peyton swallowed and a lump formed in her throat, "I don't know."

"Bullshit!" He cried.

"Lucas, I don't know what I should do, because the choices scare me!" She cried back. "It all scares me!"

"What scares you? The idea of settling for nice guy Julian or the idea going it alone a bit longer?" He asked. "You won't ever end up alone Peyton, you are too beautiful and too damn special for that."

"How would you know! You left me, remember? In one breathe you said you'd love me forever and the next your whispering goodbye. And now you look at me and only see a friend."

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do. We're friends Lucas, stupid boring damn friends. You don't see me as a the same girl you feel in love with anymore!" Peyton shouted. "I'm just the one you turn to when you need a shoulder to lean on. I'm not that girl anymore in your eyes and no matter how much I want it to be true, it's not."

Turning away, she started for the door, needing to get away from him but his hand was around her wrist before she even took a step and the next thing she knew she was facing him. Her body slammed into his chest as his arms wrapped around her waist. Her hands fell to his chest. One right over his beating heart, causing her own to beat a little faster.

One of his arms slid up her torso and gentle cupped her chin and then his lips were against hers. Her eyes closed and then opened as she wrapped her arms around him and felt him tighten his hold on her waist. Her own arms tightening their hold around his board shoulders. Their kiss deepening.

And she closed her eyes, relishing in the feelings that washed over her.

Her eyes fluttered open the moment he pulled away. His forehead pressed against hers, his hand tenderly cupping her cheek. His voice low.

"You're that girl," He whispered, "You've always been that girl. I just wasn't that boy anymore for you. I wasn't who you needed to save you anymore."

"You've always been that boy." Peyton whispered, her voice soft as she lifted a hand to his cheek and gently caressed his skin. "You've always been the one. I've always needed you. Only you. "

He chuckled softly. His other hand lifting to cup her face with the palms of his hands, "What are you going to do?"

"What do you want me to do?" She whispered. Her eyes searching his. "What do you want?"

"You. Always you. I want you. I've always wanted just you."

A lump formed in her throat, "Why do we keep doing this? Why do we find each other…need each other when one of us is with someone else?"

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Lucas gently pulled her to him. His hand tangling in her hair as his eyes fluttered shut. "I don't know, Peyton."

With a sigh, she buried her face into his neck, inhaling his scent. "I want you." She whispered. "I want you for forever."

"I want you for forever too." He said softly as he pulled away. His hand cupping her cheek.

Her lips slowly curved upward. Her hands resting upon his chest as a single tear slide down on her cheek. "I guess I'm saying no."

And he laughed as his face lowered closer to hers, "No one's marrying my girl but me." He whispered just before capturing her lips with his.

~*~

She laid there. Her hand tucked beneath her head, watching the snow as it fell outside the window. A smile on her face. One that grew as she felt his arm slip around her slender waist and tug her back against him. His chin falling against the curve of her neck. Her own hand creeping into his.

"It's beautiful here." She whispered. Her eyes never leaving the window and the snow that spiraled in the wind and glistened in the moonlight sky. "Even more so in the winter then the summer."

"It's cold." He said. "I hate cold."

"Don't ruin it, Luke." She said as she twisted in his arms to lay on her back. The blankets shifting and revealing more of her naked skin to his eyes.

"But," He whispered. His eyes darkening as his hand moved along the curve of her side, coming to rest against the curve of her neck. His lips inching from hers. "We could always use our body heat to stay warm."

Laughing, she pushed against his chest, sending him falling back to the other side of the bed. His eyes wide with shock. "Pety…what the…?"

"I said don't ruin it." She breathed out before straddling his middle. Her hands pressing down on his chest. Her own eyes darkening with lust. "I said it's beautiful here."

His mouth opened and closed. His words lost as her hands slowly slide lower down his torso.

Her eyebrow arched. Her hands stilled. "Luke…"

Gulping, he lifted his hands to her waist and gently pulled her down so she was laying atop his chest. Her face inches from his. His voice low, "We'll stay here a few more days then, we'll go sledding, build snow man, make love in front of the fireplace…" his lips brushed her neck causing her to shiver, "and I'll ask you to marry me." His lips moved along her jaw line. Her hands rose to his face, bringing his gaze to meet hers.

"Luke." She breathed out. Her green eyes searching his blue eyes.

"Marry me, Peyton." He whispered as he lifted his hands to the side of her face. The pad of his thumbs gently brushing her tears away. "I've loved you since the first time I saw you and I've lived a life without you and I can't do it anymore. Marry me?"

Peyton sighed. Her lips slowly curving upward into a smile as she leaned forward, her forehead pressing against his and softly breathed out, "I love you."

"Does that mean yes?" He whispered softly as he gently brushed his nose against hers.

She nodded her head, her smile growing as his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face. "Yes." She said softly as her lips descended towards his. "Yes babe. Yes." Her hands cupped his face. Her tears blending with his as their lips met, "God I love you." she breathed out.

Pulling away, Lucas rolled her onto her back. His arms resting on the side of her face. His lips inching from hers and softly whispered. "I'm going to love you forever, Peyton Sawyer."

And the snow continued to fall outside, leaving them lost in their winter wonderland.