Lost in the Past

Chapter 32 - Such Great Heights

A/N - I'm on this updating spree right now, and I'm really back into the writing right now. Plus, this helps me keep the Leyton faith, when I'm falling a little low right now. I can safely say I will never be a Brucas or Jeyton fan. Or at least if those two couples do make it into my stories I can safely say it will end Leyton. I can make that promise to you guys. Anyhow, only 3 more chapters left after this. :Tear: I hope you guys are still enjoying this, and I also hope you all stick with me for the next sequel! Enjoy and review ;-)

There are many ways to define love. In fact the dictionary has nine different definitions for this undefinable word. Yet, looking at the two young adults that now lay in a hotel bed, it seemed that not one definition fit. There is no way to define what was between the two, frankly, it just was. Things were never easy, there was always going to be obstacles, things were always going to try to come between them, but truthfully it was up to them if this was going to work in the end. They couldn't plan their relationship, the best way to stick with it was to roll with the punches, whatever happened, happened and if they were together after the destruction it would only prove to make them stronger.


– 'I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images, and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned' –

Her eyelids closed slowly, and her breathing evened out, signaling to him that she was sleeping. The room remained dark, with a patch of light coming through the shades. Their two kids lay sleeping across the room on the pullout couch, each of their little chests rising and falling with their breath. A small smile formed as he looked around the room, he had his family back. As tired as he was, sleep wouldn't come, slowly he focused in on the ceiling, thinking back to the events of the day.

FLASHBACK

It took some begging, and also a lot of compromising to finally sign Peyton out of the Florida hospital. She remained slightly weaker than before, but still being the stubborn girl she was, insisted on doing everything herself. His self-control was put to the test as he watched her stumble through the parking lot, wanting so badly to help her.

A few hours later, she sighed for the eight time in a minute. His fuse was shot as he turned to see what her problem could possibly be. The rain outside pelted against the window, leaving a slight shadow on her face, he softened quickly before questioning her.

"What's wrong?"

She sat up from her position on the bed to face him, a look crossing her face like a kid in a candy store. She swiftly stole a look through the sliding glass door next to her before running into the adjoining room. Minutes later she was back, grabbing Lucas' arm and running through the door without a second thought.

"What're we doing? It's raining out...what about the kids?" the questions ran through his head at fifty miles per hour. He couldn't help but crack a grin, knowing she was always the more spontaneous one. She continued pulling him until they were outside in the pouring rain. He tried to turn back towards the front door of the hotel, but she held him firmly.

"My clothes."

"You girl," she teased him lightly, letting her head fall back, the rain wetting her hair, accenting her features. He watched her, nearly in awe of her beauty. "C'mon, we gotta go to the beach...I love the beach when it rains," she added, as he followed her.

They approached the wet sand only a minute later, the waves continually roaring in and out, flaunting their power. She slowed her pace, letting him catch up and fall into step with her.

"So, what's this all about?" he questioned her motives as she looked up to catch his eyes.

"I don't wanna have three kids and be all grown up before I get to do the stuff I wanna do. I wanna be out in the rain on the beach in Florida...will you do that with me?" she asked him softly, still holding his stare. His eyebrows crinkled slightly before he nodded and they continued their walk, down towards the water. The air remained humid, despite the rain that came down in buckets full. He watched her stare longingly at the endless sea, her eyes glazed over in that dreamy way.

"You wanna go in?" her head snapped over to look at him, her eyes full of question.

"Are you serious?" a twinkle reformed in her eye when he nodded yes, a full fledged smile peeked out as she went running. He laughed a little, pulling his shirt up over his head and running behind her. She squealed upon making contact with the chilly water, he dove right in, falling under within seconds. He reemerged, grabbing her and taking her under the second time.

"Luke!" she screeched when they came back up, the rain partially blocking her vision of him. He didn't answer, instead he stood in the waves, holding her tightly as her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Having fun?" she nodded gently, leaning down for a light kiss, enough to mess with his head.

"Are you?" he seemed to think for a moment before making eye contact.

"Yea...I am."

"Good," she whispered before meeting him in another kiss, a rough wave poured in, knocking him off his feet back into the water. They both came back up, breathless and wet.

"You ok?" she couldn't answer, she was laughing so hard. He picked her up, carrying her out of the water and back to the wet sand where the rain still fell. The laughter finally died down, she grabbed his hand, gathered their things and began the short walk back to the front of the hotel.

"We need a shower," she told the boy next to her, he wiggled his eyebrows and she winked at him. It was the first time they had been really playful in a while. Things had become so serious. They put the kids down to sleep at ten o'clock that night, each falling asleep within a ten minute span. They went back to the beach that night, nearing ten-thirty, she held an ice cream cone in her right hand as she lifted herself up into the lifeguard stand.

When they finally headed back near midnight, everyone else was already sleeping. They walked in silently, laying in the bed comfortably. He kept her close as she began talking.

"In a few months, do you wanna know what the baby is?" she was quiet, careful not to wake the kids.

"I dunno, I kinda wanna be surprised," a beat of silence before Peyton spoke up again.

"We can do that, I did that with Nate, I think I found out about Liz though. You like any names...boy or girl?" he was quiet, carefully formulating an answer to her question.

"I like Ryan for a boy...or maybe Lucas," he smirked, not sure if she was gonna for that.

"Maybe Lucas. Aw, we'd have a Luke and Nathan...and they'd be brothers too!"

"Shh!"

Nate stirred, turning over in his sleep, but their little girl hadn't moved. Peyton watched, a sigh of relief finally passing when she realized neither was awake.

"God, Luke, she's you. I could set a bomb off next to you and you wouldn't move," she giggled at the end of her sentence while he nudged her slightly. They spent the next hour talking about the baby, how things were going to change, if they were going to need to move, they were definitely going to need a new car. Slowly, she drifted off while he laid there.

END FLASHBACK

– 'And I have to speculate that God himself, did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay. And true it may seem like a stretch, but its thoughts like this that catch my troubled head when you're away, when I am missing you to death' –

It was nearing 2:30 AM and still his eyes wouldn't budge to close. The moonlight still visible through the curtains laid a light blue shadow across her face, his eyes remained focused on her. Her curls tucked neatly behind her as she lay cuddled up on his arm. It tingled slightly with the hint that it was "falling asleep". He slowly tried to reposition himself, tugging on his limb, moving it very carefully. She groaned, rolling into his chest before abruptly waking up.

"You're still up?" she questioned him groggily. He smiled slightly, nodding at her. She rolled her eyes, and pulled herself up, staring at him.

"You don't have to get up," he offered, but still she sat up, rubbing at her tired eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but the phone interrupted him, making her wince in her semi-conscious state. Reaching over he grumbled something about who would possibly call his cell phone at 2:30. His mom's number flashed over the caller ID, some unknown feeling fell to the pit of his stomach.

"Hello?" his voice was unusually shaky as he awaited her answer.

"Luke?"

"Mom, what is it? What's wrong?" her voice had been hoarse from tears, some sobs soaked through the background.

"Lucas, it's Whitey...he had a heart attack," she broke off, not being able to continue as another round of tears drowned out her voice.

"Is he okay?" the minute the words came out, he knew the answer already. Somehow, the confirmation would only prove to make it true, so he waited.

"Honey, he's gone," she choked out the last word, nearly unwilling to believe they were true.

His head snapped up roughly, the sweat soaked through his shirt and he lifted himself from underneath the blankets. Sometime after thinking about his day he had actually fallen asleep. He messed with his ruffled hair, wiping the sweat profusely, looking over next to him he realized Peyton wasn't sleeping as he had left her. He looked over towards the sliding glass door to see her huddled on a plastic chair outside.

"Hey, what're you doin out here?" he asked quietly so as not to startle her, he slipped out, sitting next to her.

"Thinking."

"At 4:30 in the morning?" she smiled lightly, before turning serious again.

"Something's wrong," she whispered quietly, the fear noticeable on her face.

"Like what?"

She stood, slowly, to stand and look out over the balcony, out towards the water. She shrugged, she couldn't tell what was wrong. She had woken up near 3 AM, Lucas had been groaning, the sweat evident on his forehead, his breathing had become ragged. She hadn't been able to calm the growing fear in the pit of her stomach, but something was wrong.

The shrill ring of the phone inside startled him, interrupting their conversation. He ran in to answer the phone, she came from behind, watching his paranoid face as he lifted the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" his voice was shaky for what seemed the second time of the night.

"Luke?" the same voice crossed over the line, that same voice that he'd been hearing every day for the last 24 years. His mom, but for once he dreaded hearing what she had to say.

"Mom, what is it? What's wrong?" he played the same lines through the phone, waiting to hear what her response would be. Her voice had tears in it, again. He sighed.

"Lucas, Whitey and your father -" he cut her off abruptly after hearing her words. This wasn't his dream, it was worse.

"Don't call him that," he told her sternly, she pressed on, disregarding his tone.

"There was an accident, Whitey was driving, Dan was in the passenger seat. Whitey had a heart attack, the car went off the road, head on into a tree," she couldn't continue her sentence, the tears were overwhelming.

"Are they okay?" for the second time he felt the need to hit himself for asking the obvious, but yet again he felt it needed to be confirmed. A beat of silence came, followed by another, her non-existent response gave him all the confirmation he needed. "I gotta go," he said softly, letting the phone slip back into the cradle.

– 'They will see us waving from such great heights, 'come down now' they'll say, but everything looks perfect from far away 'come down now', but we'll stay' –

His whole world didn't shatter the way he expected it to, nothing drastic happened, the world didn't stop moving now that his father was dead and gone. His feelings did change, his heart did feel heavier thoughnow that his father was dead and gone.

Peyton watched him worriedly, trying to read his emotions. There weren't many too read, his face remained the way it was, broody and squinty looking. He seemed to sit down on the bed in slow motion, his face remained the same.

"Luke?" she questioned him, somewhat nervously. His head moved to her, a glazed over, teary look forming in his eyes. She didn't ask him, she didn't question his reaction, she just sat next to him. He let his elbows rest on his thighs and leaned down over them, his head now resting in his palms. She sat close enough that he knew she was there, but she didn't make a move.

He looked up at her, his eyes held a tear or two. He looked lost and confused, she wasn't sure how to comfort him. She hadn't been in this situation, it had always been the other way around, he was comforting her. What was she supposed to say? She didn't even know what happened.

"Ya know, it's weird...I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about Dan. I know I should be sad, but why? He was never there," his tone was soft, he flopped backwards onto the bed, staring at the white ceiling above him once again.

She fell back next to him, her shoulder lightly touching his. Quietly she let out a breath, he sighed, the kids slept soundly, unaware to the drama of the world around them. Unaware of how hard their parents were trying to keep it together and keep their love in tact.

– 'I tried my best to leave this all on your machine, but the persistent beat, it sounded thin upon listening. That frankly will not fly. You will hear the shrillest highs and lowest lows with the windows down, when this is guiding you home' –

It's a little short, and I'm like a dramawhore. But can you blame me, as much as I love fluff, it can get boring after a while if you don't add any drama in there somewhere. It turned out to be a little more intense than I intended, but all in all, I like the chapter as a whole. I think it's strong, and I hope you guys liked it. The song was "Such Great Heights" by either The Postal Service or Iron and Wine —I personally like this version. Thanks for the reviews! Only 3 left!

NEXT - Coping with the deaths / Nathan, Haley, Jake, and Brooke find out / Maybe I'll throw in some funeral stuff / drama, fluff, and the ending all ahead!

By the way: I'm thinking the sequel is gonna be The Time Before We Go, so keep a look out after this is over. I will warn you, it may take a little bit, I'll need some time to get my thoughts together and work on my other 3 too, so be patient and keep reading!