-"Alright, I'm going to put you down." He said softly, trying not to think too much about the position they were in. Carefully, he lowered her onto his bed, making sure not to be too rough with her, afterall, she was just out of the hospital.

-"Thanks." She told him quietly, blushing and unable to look anywhere near him.

-It was almost laughable, all the tension that could appear between two persons in such a short lapse of time. They'd been friendly, talking about nothing and everything like they'd never been apart not more than two hours ago.

-Then she was released from the hospital.

-She was doing a lot better. She could now move her arms and the dizziness was almost all gone. According to her doctor, there were absolutely no reason why she couldn't go back home.

-Lucas had managed to come up with a few though, the most important of which being that he was absolutely terrified, and the big bandage that was still wrapped around her head didn't help any.

-He couldn't help but panic. What if he wasn't good enough to take care of her? What if he missed some of the signs of complications that the doctor had talked about and that she collapsed again? What if he messed up and worsened her conditions? These thoughts had been rummaging through his head ever since that morning when he was told that Peyton could finally be released from the hospital, ten days after she had collapsed in his apartment.

-Peyton had assured him that she was going to be fine. She must have sensed that he was completely panicking, not that it would have been too hard to realise, he was almost green with worry before they even stepped out of the hospital, Brooke and Anna in tow.

-It had been fine, well she hadn't collapsed or complained of headaches so as far as he was concerned it was fine, anyway, everything had been peachy right until the moment where they had walked into his building, his arm wrapped securely around her waist to make sure that she didn't fall, and he had noticed that the elevator still hadn't been fixed.

-He had cursed loudly at that realization. How long could they take to repair that thing anyway?

-It had seemed like a perfectly fine solution at the time. Peyton might have argued that she could walk up the stairs but there was no way he was risking that so there was pretty much only one thing left to do. He had bent down and taken her into his arms.

-THAT was when it had gotten awkward.

-He hadn't touched her, well except holding her hand from times to times or when he had helped her with her exercises, since she had been back. In fact, the last time he had been this close to her was when he had hugged her, and that had been nowhere near as awkward as it was now.

-Maybe it was that they were in a hospital, maybe it was that she was crying, or that she couldn't hug him back, he had no idea. What he did know was that the moment her arms had wrapped around his neck, unsurely at first and then more tightly as she realised what he was doing, it was like a cloud of sexual tension had wrapped itself around them.

-He hadn't seen it coming, for the life of him, he had been completely clueless about what it would be like to have her in his arms again, to feel her heart thumping through his chest, or to feel her rapid breaths on his neck.

-At that moment, he would bet anything that they both were thinking of exactly the same thing. The reference to the thousands of times he had carried her to bed that way simply couldn't be ignored and he had cursed the building managers in his mind once again.

-Really, he could ignore how much he wanted her, well most of the times. He had accepted that there were lots of things that needed to be said and fixed before they could go anywhere near there, but did the Gods really have to torture him like that?

-Him and Peyton had agreed to postpone any discussion about their relationship, what had happened before, if they wanted to try again, etc., until things had settled down with her health, with Anna.

-It was all going great, he was able to enjoy spending time with her and Anna who had finally unfroze and started talking again, to talk with her and not torture himself with how much more he wanted, with how much he had missed being with her, and then this had happened.

-He could tell that Peyton had felt it too. The way she had tensed and looked away quickly the moment that their eyes met, it had told him everything that he had needed to know. She had been just as uncomfortable as he had, and Brooke walking in with Anna and whistling at them hadn't helped any.

-Brooke was having way too much fun with this situation. Here he was, having to focus on not looking at Peyton at all as he climbed up the ten flights of stairs with her in his arms, closer than she had been in seven years and his mind clouded with images of the two of them together, and Brooke was smirking at the back of his head. That was not helping to distract him at all.

-Peyton hadn't been able to meet the brunette's eyes either. Really, her insinuations about them becoming a couple again were awkward enough when they were in a room together, but when he had her in his arms, well that was a whole lot worst.

-They had walked up the stairs in silence, well him and Peyton anyway. Brooke and Anna were talking to each other but he was barely able to focus on what they were saying, there was too much on his mind.

-When they had finally reached his floor, he had thought that the worst was over. Once again he had miscalculated. He had completely forgotten to take into account how much Brooke was enjoying torturing them.

-He had handed his keys to Brooke so that she could open the door for him and wasn't thinking about much more then putting Peyton down and taking a very cold shower when Brooke had pushed the door open and quipped.

-"Let the honeymoon begin."

-He had wanted to strangle her.

-He was pretty certain that he had never glared at someone as darkly as he had to Brooke after that comment. Peyton, who had just started to relax had completely tensed again and she had blushed profusely. He would bet anything that he had had the same reaction and Brooke had had the nerve to burst out laughing and bounce out of the room with Anna, leaving them alone with all this awkwardness and tension.

-Yup, strangle her, that was exactly was he was going to do.

-After that, he had awkwardly carried Peyton to his bedroom and placed her on the bed which was where they were now. Peyton was pretending to look around the room and Lucas was racking his brain for an excuse to get the hell out of there and go strangle Brooke. Really, like things hadn't been uncomfortable enough.

-"Okay, well, do you need anything else?" He asked her awkwardly, looking around the room just so he wouldn't have to meet her eyes.

-"No. Thanks. I'm fine." She told him in the same tone and he didn't have to look at her to see that she was still blushing.

-He huffed. Seriously, how old were they? Sixteen? Because truthfully, that was the last time there had been this much sexual tension between them.

-Peyton seemed to read his thoughts.

-"I'm sorry, about…you know." She met his eyes shyly before quickly looking away.

-"Not your fault…It's just…"

-"Us."

-"Yeah. Us." He confirmed, exhaling loudly afterward. "And Brooke isn't helping either." He added, smiling shyly at her.

-She laughed and their eyes met again.

-"Yeah, definitely not helping. You'd think she was enjoying herself."

-"That's because she is." He paused, smiling at her again. "Alright, you should rest. I'm going to call the super about the elevator and then I'm going to bring you stuff to occupy yourself and then I'll make lunch."

-"You know, I can walk now, I could get this stuff myself. I could even help you out with lunch"

-"No! Huh hun. Sorry but you're staying in this bed. The doctor said to rest and take it easy."

-"Yeah, which means not to go rock climbing or something. I'm perfectly capable to help you out around here." Peyton argued stubbornly and he rolled his eyes. Only Peyton would take 'taking things easy' to mean do whatever you want as long as its not life threatening.

-"Well I disagree and I'm the nurse around here until the doctor clears you. So bed. And rest." He ordered her sternly. The effect he was going for was a little ruined when she burst out laughing though.

-"What?" He cried, a little offended.

-"No, it's nothing. It's just…A nurse? Really?" She started laughing again, eyeing him dubiously and he couldn't help it, he burst out laughing too.

-"Alright. Maybe not a nurse then, but I'm still in charge."

-"No…no. I can totally see you in pink scrubs." She joked, making him blush as the image imprinted itself onto his brain.

-"That's not funny." He laughed, "and that's not going to work. Rest. Now."

-"What? What's not going to work?" She evaded, brushing the tears from her eyes.

-"The distraction technique to make me forget that you're suppose to be in bed. Anna does the same thing at least once a week and like I said, not going to work. You rest, I'll bring in your stuff when I bring you lunch later."

-"Fine." She huffed, pretending to be irritated with him, the smile on her face giving her away though. "But you're not going to be able to keep me in this bed forever Scott." She told him challengingly.

-"We'll see Sawyer." He shot back in the same tone, and their eyes locked on each other's. The previous sexual tension was now right back.

-Lucas tore his eyes away and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

-"I'm going to go." He said quickly, barely waiting for Peyton to nod before he practically ran out of the room. Yup, he was definitively in trouble.