-It had been hours and still he couldn't close his eyes for even a single moment. He couldn't get the image of Peyton's tearstained face out of his mind.
-Now that he had no distractions to avoid the subjects, all his thoughts were on her. He couldn't believe that she was alive, that she was here, just next door. All this time, he thought that he was never going to see her again and now she was here.
-He couldn't help but feel guilty, he kept thinking that if he had looked for her, he could have found out about her being alive much earlier and maybe her and Anna wouldn't be going through all of this now.
-He knew Peyton was hurting. Even though they hadn't seen each other in years, she was still as easy for him to read. He hated for her to feel this way and that Anna hadn't reacted the way that she had hoped she would. He couldn't bare knowing that there was not much he could do. He couldn't make Anna forgive her or erase all the pain from the last year, all he could do was stand by and hope for the best and he hated that.
-Realizing that he wasn't going to get sleep anytime soon, he got out of bed and exited his room, or office as it was. He went and checked on Anna. The little girl was still sleeping, but even in her sleep she looked sad. He wanted nothing more than for Anna to be happy, yet he could understand how she felt. He, too, had been angry at Peyton, for dying, for leaving him, but whereas he knew that Peyton had had no control over what had happened to her, Anna thought that Peyton had left deliberately and was angry about it.
-He kissed her forehead, told her that he loved her and then left the room. He was about to walk back to his office when a thought crossed his mind and he went into another direction.
-Every fibre of his being was telling him that it was a bad idea and that he had enough issues to sort through as it was, but he couldn't stop himself, he walked into his bedroom.
-She was so beautiful there, lying on his bed, sleeping. He carefully walked closer and just looked at her. He hadn't seen her in so long and he hadn't been able to bring himself to admire her earlier, there had been so much tension. But now he could, and he couldn't take his eyes away.
-Her curls were as tight as he remembered, the colour though was a little lighter and it was longer, but she still looked as beautiful as ever. He had never met a woman that could make him feel so many emotions just by looking at her. Looking at Peyton, watching her sleep, it was like being transported back in time, all the emotions that she had always made him feel, they were rushing back.
-He looked at her closely. Her traits were relaxed and yet he could still see pain in them. Even in her sleep she looked tormented.
-Slowly he backed away and sat himself on the floor, his back resting on the wall, and his eyes still fixed on her. For her to be there, to him it was such a miracle that he couldn't take his eyes away from her.
-He couldn't count how many hours he had spent doing just that during their time together. Him and Peyton had dated for over a year in a half and he had spent countless hours watching her sleep just like now during that time. Most of the time, it had been circumstantial. He was an early riser, Peyton hated mornings, consequently, he was bound to wake up before her. He would spend this time watching her, admiring her. Peyton had never really felt comfortable having people flattering her, so this time, in the morning, before she woke, had always been for him the best time to do so without making her uncomfortable.
-During her internship, he used to get up a few hours early, just so that he could watch her sleep through her web cam. She always pretended that she had forgotten to turn it off but somehow he felt like she was doing it for him, that she knew he wanted to watch her and that it was the reason why she 'forgot' to turn it off. When she had gotten back and started art school here in New York, he had kept the habitude, waking up early, turn around and just watch her.
-It had been one of the worst thing about her deciding to go back to L.A. to start a degree in music management, he couldn't watch her sleep anymore, didn't have the escape that it procured, well that and the fact that he didn't have her point blank.
-When he had agreed to her leaving, he had never thought that he wasn't going to see her for seven years.
-Now, thinking back on it as she slept, he couldn't help but think that they should have tried to figure things out, find a way to be together, but they hadn't and as a result had completely lost touch with one another. It had taken her almost dying to bring them back into each other's life and he was going to be damned if he let her walk away again.
-He knew that tonight, when she had refused to talk to him and took refuge in her room, that she was isolating herself, building her walls to shield herself from the pain of Anna's reaction. He knew that, he just didn't know what he was suppose to do about it. He wished that she would talk to him, tell him what she felt, but he knew that a long time had passed and that it was highly unlikely to happen, for now anyway.
-He rested his head on the wall again, his mind flowing with images of her and of them together and next thing he knew, he was fast asleep.
-Her eyes opened difficultly, the light streaming from the window hurting them. It took her only a few seconds to remember where she was and what had happened the previous day. The events flashed in front of her eyes, and her heart broke all over again.
-She had had a terrible night, her sleep had been plagued by Anna's pain as well as her own. Her sleep had been restless, yet she couldn't think of going back to sleep, she had so much to do, she wanted to fix things, that hadn't changed, she had realised though, that it was probably going to be much harder than she thought.
-She was about to get up when her eyes met the figure of her ex-boyfriend, sleeping on the floor beside her bed.
-For a few seconds she was frozen in shock, conflicting emotions flowing through her at the sight; she couldn't identify them all. It brought her immense relieve to know that somehow he had watched over her last night, that somehow he still cared enough to want to be there.
-She relaxed back into the bed and turned to look at him, laying on her side, her head on the pillow.
-He didn't look like he was resting, he looked troubled, yet she couldn't help but look him over. He had been so guarded with her the day before, she hadn't had the chance. Now, he was all open for her to examine.
-He was still as handsome and sexy as she remembered. His hair still short and the stubble that he had grown on his face, it made him even more attractive and his body looked more toned than she remembered. He really was a sight for her sore eyes.
-She considered waking him up, feeling like she was intruding his privacy but decided against it. He was so exposed in his sleep, she could almost feel his pain, yet she couldn't understand it. Obviously something had happened that had devastated him, he looked like something was broken inside him, and somehow, someway, she felt like it was about her. She didn't know why she felt that way, probably only wishful thinking, but she still did, she felt it deep inside of herself.
-She got carried away with her thought process and the next thing she knew he was starting to wake up. For a second, panic overwhelmed her, she had half her mind to close her eyes and pretend to still be asleep, therefore avoiding them both the awkwardness of the situation, but she wasn't fast enough.
-His eyes were opened and it took them seconds to settle on her.
-Their eyes met and both of them blushed instantly, then proceeded to look at anything but each other.
-"Hum Sorry." Lucas finally managed to utter, embarrassment at getting caught there easily noticeable in his tone. She met his eyes finally, and gave him a shy smile. He smiled back.
-"Good morning." He started again.
-"Good morning."
-"Look Peyton, about this I…, I didn't…"
-"It's okay. It feels good to know that at least one person still cares. Somehow, almost dying, I'm pretty sure it's not going to help my social life. My own daughter can't even look at me." She looked away from him, brushing away the tears.
-Lucas felt the overwhelming urge to take her into his arms once again, but he restrained himself.
-"Peyton, she'll get over it. She's angry now, but it'll pass."
-Her eyes slowly met his, he looked sincere. She gave him a sad smile. "I don't know, I've never seen her so angry. I don't think she's ever going to forgive me."
-"She will. She loves you too much not too." He reassured. It was hard seeing as Anna's anger had been as much of a surprise to him at it had been to her.
-"I don't know."
-"I do. Just give her time, be patient and you'll see."
-"Yeah, I hope so. I don't know what I'd do if she doesn't."
-"She will." He reiterated confidently. He didn't know where all this confidence was coming from, but he really wanted her to feel better and it seemed to be helping.
-She nodded and he gave her a small smile.
-"So you hungry? I think it's time for breakfast and Anna should be up."
-"Are you sure you want me to come? You said she needed time." Peyton said uncertainly. The last thing that she wanted was to make things worst, they were already bad enough as it was.
-"Yeah, but she'll have to get use to having you around too. Just don't expect too much, she can have quite the temper. Wonder where she gets that from?" He smirked at her, getting up from the floor and stretching.
-Peyton smiled. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She denied, but the smile on her face gave her away.
-"Sure you don't." Lucas rolled his eyes. The little banter was a huge relief. "Now come on." He smiled and offered her his hand to help her out of bed.
-She looked at his outstretch hand for a few seconds before smiling up at him and taking it with her own.
-He looked at their entangled hands for a second and their eyes met, they both blushed a little and then Lucas smiled, pushed the feeling out of his mind and led her out of the room.
-They walked into the living room to find Anna sitting on the floor, watching a kid show on tv.
-She smiled at Lucas and then her expression froze when her eyes landed on her mother. It was clear to both adults that she somehow wasn't expecting to see her at all. It was like she was seeing her for the first time once again.
-Her eyes went from surprised to angry again and Peyton had to fight hard not to let the tears that she could see coming fall from her eyes. Lucas saw this and tightened his hold on her hand, smiling down at her reassuringly. She bit her bottom lip, hard, and then sighed, taking control of her emotions.
-"Hi Anna." She gave her the best smile she could, hoping to see her daughter softened up a little, but sadly that didn't happen.
-The little girl shot her a angry look and then went back to watching her show.
-Lucas sighed sadly.
-"Aren't you going to say hello Ann?" He asked calmly.
-Anna looked up at him and shook her head stubbornly. Lucas was about to argue but Peyton squeezed his hand and he looked at her. She mouthed for him to let it go so he did.
-"Okay then. So do you want breakfast?" He asked the little girl.
-Anna nodded, not even giving her mother a look, before she stood up and walked in direction of the kitchen.
-Lucas and Peyton shared a look and then went after her. This was going to be a long day.
