-It took all she had in her not to break down crying right at this instant, there was so much pain in the way he had said her name.
-She released her hold on his shoulders and brush her own tears from her face.
-"Yeah." She answered quietly hoping to dear God for him not to pass out on her again, or worst get angry.
-He took a step back and she tried not to let the distance that he kept putting between them get to her, he was probably in shock, she told herself.
-"How? When? You were dead." He asked confusedly, tears once again running down his cheeks.
-"Luke, I'll explain everything to you I swear, but please before all of that, can I see Anna?" She asked tears in her own eyes. She wanted to tell him everything, really she did, but she wanted to see her daughter so badly, she didn't know if she was going to be able to concentrate on anything else until she saw her.
-He looked at her confused for a few seconds before the anger once again took over his beautiful eyes.
-"No." He said taking one more step away from her.
-"What?" She couldn't believe that she had heard him right.
-"No." He spoke once again, his eyes hard.
-"What do you mean NO. You can't. She's my daughter Lucas." She couldn't believe he wouldn't let her just see her.
-"She's mine too. For a year now. So until I know exactly what's going on, you're not going anywhere near her."
-"I'm not kidding Luke, I want to see her." She warned through her tears as she started to make her way down the hallway looking for her daughter.
-"You're not going to find her, she's at school." He said codly following her around his apartment.
-He kept a few feet between them at all time as they toured his apartment. He was so focused on not looking at her that he almost ran straight into her back when she stopped abruptly in Anna's doorway.
-She stood there frozen looking at her daughter's room. It was beautiful. She looked around confused. Other than a few toys, she didn't recognize anything in here. She couldn't believe that she had been gone this long. Suddenly something clicked in her mind. She turned to Lucas abruptly.
-"School?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
-He softened. "Yeah."
-She sniffed. "I can't believe she's already in school."
-At that she saw him softened more. He looked at her with thoughtful eyes before passing by her and walking into the room. He grabbed the phone that laid on the bedside table. She smiled a sad smile when she saw a picture of her on the bedside table. Lucas seemed to follow her eyes because he gave her a apologetic look.
-"Look I have an idea, I'll let you see her, but from a distance, and then we come back here and you tell me everything. That okay?"
-"Luke…" She tried to argue but she could see from the look in his eyes that it was already a lot for him to offer her that, so she nodded.
-"Fine."
-He nodded and dialled a number. She listened as he spoke.
-"Yeah Brooke, it's me. You in town?"
-"Yeah well I was wondering if you could pick up Anna today. I'm busy and I was wondering if you could go pick her up from school in half an hour and spend a few hours with her."
-He paused probably listening to what she had to say.
-"Yeah, that'd be great. Just drop her off some time later tonight. Oh and Brooke call before please."
-"No I'm not on a date Brooke. Now if you could just go before you're late. Tell her I love her. Thanks a lot." He smiled before closing the phone and turning to look at her.
-She was in complete shock. Did she just heard him right? Brooke. Brooke was going to pick up her daughter from school. He had got to be kidding her?
-He seemed to sense her confusion because he explained.
-"Brooke's changed a lot since she met Anna. She's great with her." He said passing by her once again and walking out of the room. She shook her head and followed him into the kitchen.
-"You and Brooke?" She didn't know what had possessed her to ask that, and she looked away when he turned to stare at her.
-He seemed to gaze her before he answered.
-"Are nothing but friends but she hangs with Anna a lot." He volunteered, but once again putting a few feet between them. The distance that he kept putting between them hurting more and more each time he did it
-"Why?" She finally managed to ask. All this new information was hard to handle.
-"Why what?" He asked. If the situation wasn't as tragic, she might have laughed at the ridicule of her and Lucas' conversation.
-"Why does Brooke spend time with Anna?" She reformulated her question.
-"After Pey…, well after you…, well whatever happened to you. When Brooke found out about Anna, she felt guilty or something like that and she decided to make it up by being there for Anna. She's been awesome with her, they get along great."
-Her breath hitched in her throat when she heard him start to talk about her in the third person, obviously it was really hard for him to accept that she wasn't dead or that she had been dead, she didn't know.
-She didn't know how she felt about that, or how she was supposed to feel for that matter so she decided to concentrate on the matter at hand.
-"Make what up?" Her and Brooke hadn't really fought after high school, they had just drifted apart to the point where they had stopped talking completely. She had always felt bad about it and now she wondered if maybe Brooke had too.
-"The way she treated you, how your friendship ended, I don't know, we never really talked about it. Like I said, she's here for Anna. So," he paused, "we should head out if we don't want to miss her." He said awkwardly.
-"Oh! Yeah sure." She nodded and followed him out the door with the same awkwardness.
-If she thought that their conversation in his apartment had been awkward, it was nothing compared to cab ride to Anna's school. They sat beside one another and barely exchanged a word, it was horrible. She had no idea why neither of them could come up with anything to say. Before, they could spend hours talking about nothing and everything, now they were completely awkward in each other's presence. She figured that considering the situation they were in, it wasn't that difficult to explain, but still, it hurt to be this close but to feel so far apart.
-Finally, the cab stopped and she turned her head to look at a very imposing brick building.
-"Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School." She looked at Lucas who shrugged.
-"I wanted her to have the best, beside they have these great art programs. She loves it."
-She looked from him to the school over and over again with an awed expression on her face.
-"How can you afford it? The tuition must be huge." She could tell from the stature of the buildings and the way the buildings were maintained that the place was no public school.
-"Not that much." He shrugged once again. "And it's worth every penny."
-"How much?" She asked dreading his answer. She knew that he wasn't avoiding the subject for nothing.
-"About 30." He wouldn't look at her.
-"Please tell me that's in Pesos or something." She exclaimed. All he did was shrug once again. Obviously that hadn't been a huge concern to him.
-"Thirty thousand dollars Luke. For one year. Are you kidding me?" She couldn't believe he would have spent so much on sending Anna to school. She was both impressed and angry, there was just no way she was going to be able to pay for that next year.
-"She's happy there, it's all that matters. Beside, I'm doing well, I can afford it." He explained. He then closed the conversation when he told the cab driver to wait for them and he got out of the car. Peyton followed him quickly and the both of them sat on a bench that was positioned so that they could see without being seen.
-She could see people going in and then leaving with children with them. When he saw her looking at the kids he spoke again.
-"She hates the uniform. She's complained about it for weeks. But she loves the school so I guess that made up for it."
-She looked sideway at him and smiled. She was about to say something else when something caught her eyes.
-"Brooke." She murmured, her eyes fixed on the figure of her old best friend as she made her way into the school. Her friend looked older, but she still had that happiness that seemed to flow from her being. She had missed her.
-"Yeah. She should get out with Anna soon." Lucas answered quietly looking at her.
-She didn't answer him until Brooke was into the building.
-"How is she doing?"
-"Brooke?" He asked confused.
-"Yeah."
-"Good. Her fashion line really took off and she's getting a lot of attention. She travels a lot, mostly between Tree Hill and New York. She took it hard though, what happened to you. We all did."
-At that she turned to look at him. It was practically the first information about himself that he had given her. They shared a sad smile.
-"Yeah, I missed her too." Her words meant much more than just Brooke though and from the look he gave her, she felt like he understood.
-They broke out of their gaze when Lucas spoke again.
-"There." He said pointing to the entrance. She turned and there she was, Anna.
A.N.: I'm not really proud of that chapter. I tried reworking it but couldn't do any better. Anyway you guys tell me what you think and thanks for reading.