Firstly, Monnie thanks for the review and I'm glad you're liking the story so far. Secondly, to all that are reading this fic I can not apologize enough for length of time that I have taken to update, I just hope that you haven't lost interest and that this chapter does the wait justice. Sorry again!

Stunned by his appearance in front of her, Haley struggled to get the words out. But she regained herself.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Thanks for inviting me in" Chris said as he pushed past Haley and made his way into the apartment.

"I didn't." she snapped. "You still didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"I came for you Haley and I'm not leaving until you realise what a mistake you are making by staying in this cosy little life of yours, and you come to New York with me so can realise your potential" he answered. "You've got a talent Haley, are you really going to stay in this town and let your dream go to waste? Is it really worth it, is Nathan really worth it?" Haley found the words to retaliate to his comments "Of course he is, he is my husband and I love him. "And you remembered this after the first time we kissed or was it the second time Haley?"

"Those were mistakes, which you initiated might I add" Haley retorted.

"You're lying to me, you're lying to Nathan and most importantly you're lying to yourself. There was always a connection between us Haley" Chris shot back.

"A music connection Chris, that's all it was. I love Nathan. It was never about that with us and I'm sorry you feel that way but I just…….don't, I'm sorry." Haley couldn't control the way Chris felt, she just didn't feel the same way.

"Haley I felt something when we kissed and I know you did too" he said convinced.

"It was always just about the music Chris, I'm sorry" she replied.

"Maybe this will refresh your memory then." Without warning he moved into Haley and pressed his lips against hers. She quickly pushed him off and slapped him across the face. "How dare you. Does this mean anything to you? Because it's my life" she said furiously holding up her finger with the wedding ring on it.

Chris and Haley where still relatively close to each other when the door opened, with Nathan and Lucas mid conversation. However Nathan soon lost interest in what he and Luke were talking about as he laid his eyes on Chris in his apartment. "What the hell is he doing here?" Nathan asked angrily. "Hey man, miss me?" Chris replied in his usual cocky demeanour. "Don't give me a reason to smack you" Nathan responded. "I can give you a reason" Chris shot back moving closer to Nathan. "I already know about your little kiss" Nathan replied. "Which kiss? The first, the second or the one we just had before you walked through the door?" Chris said with a grin.

Without hesitation Nathan punched Chris, who fell to the floor under the force of the punch. Nathan proceeded to unleash punch after punch onto Chris who was doing his best to fight back. Eventually Lucas pulled Nathan off of Chris and led him into the bedroom to calm down. "Nate he is not worth it, now I'm gonna send Haley in here and you two need to talk. I'll get rid of Chris" Lucas informed his younger brother.

Lucas exited the bedroom and made his way toward Haley. "I think your presence is required" he said to his best friend motioning to the bedroom. "What about Chris?" Haley replied. "Chris and I are going to take a little walk and have a little chat" Lucas answered. With that Haley left the two boys and entered the bedroom to her expectant husband, Chris was focused on Lucas' facial expression. Lucas walked over to the apartment door and held it open, "After you" he said in a calm tone.

They had walked down the stairs that led to Nathan and Haley's apartment and had walked a little further, Chris was beginning to lose patience and finally spoke up. "Is this it? I mean, don't get me wrong the silence is really intimidating, it's just I have people to see and places to go" he said in a sarcastic manner. Lucas chuckled at Chris' comment. "I only have one thing to say and then you can go back to your life rock star. Stay away from Haley. Those people you are messing with happen to be my brother and my best friend and I don't like when people try to mess with the people I care about" Lucas replied.

"Whatever man, Nathan doesn't scare me and neither do you but anyway it was really nice meeting you." Chris turned and walked away from Lucas.

Lucas took off home in the other direction.

It had been a short while since Lucas had left the apartment, he was taking his time going home mainly because he wanted to think and a little because his mom was still pissed at his refusal to take the HCM test. He snapped out of thought when he recognized the house he was passing. He was at the end of the path that led to the Sawyer house, he didn't want to leave things with Peyton the way that he had.

He walked up to the door and knocked. There was no reply.

He knocked again and again no reply.

He tried the handle and the door opened. Peyton frequently left the door unlocked. The house was quiet but he still made his way up the stairs to the door he had been at so many times before, however he didn't expect to see Jake lying asleep in the chair beside the bed.

There was a note lying on the bed.

Jake, couldn't sleep and

I went to talk to Brooke.

P.S Didn't want to wake you

Will be back soon

Peyton

Lucas hadn't realised that Jake had awoken and was staring at him, however Jake was still half sleeping. "Where is Peyton?" Jake asked. "She left you a note, she went to Brooke's. I'm sorry man I didn't mean to wake you, I'm gonna go. You go back to sleep" Lucas replied to Jake, who in turn almost simultaneously with the last sentence was asleep again.

Lucas placed the note beside the computer screen on her desk, he then turned toward the door and was about to make his way out when something caught his eye. He remember the last time he had seen it, it made him happy and he couldn't help but stare at it then and now. He picked it up and took it with him as he left Peyton's bedroom and the Sawyer residence.

Brooke lay on her bed staring at the ceiling just thinking, as she had so many times before.

She hadn't heard Peyton come in her bedroom door, who was now just a few feet away from her.

"Earth to Brooke! Are there naked guys on the ceiling that only you can see?" This eventually snapped Brooke out of the trance. "I wish P.Sawyer" Brooke replied winking at her best friend, and her forwardness didn't surprise Peyton who replied the only way she knew how. She laughed. "So what brings you here bestest friend" Brooke questioned. "I couldn't sleep and I was just needed to clear my head" Peyton replied. "Now what could possibly be on your mind that you needed to clear your head, I wonder" Brooke said sarcastically before beginning to speak again "he wouldn't be about six foot something, shaven blonde hair and always brooding." "I have no idea who you could possibly be talking about" Peyton replied with a light chuckle. "Yeah we had a little fallout" she said. "How little?" Brooke asked her best friend.

Casting her mind back to the incidents of earlier on that night, Peyton's face went from cheerful to almost emotionless. Peyton never liked it when she fell out or had arguments with any of her friends, she liked to avoid confrontation if it was possible.

"He shouted, I shouted. It all started because he found out about Rick and the drugs and then he asked me to tell him what had been going on in my life" Peyton sighed. "I'm just not ready to start disclosing details of my life to him yet. Do you think I'm crazy?" Peyton questioned.

"Me? I always thought you were crazy, I just took pity on you" Brooke replied with a laugh "KIDDING, no I don't think you are crazy. The connection between you and Lucas was always stronger than the one I had with Lucas. Well maybe not too much stronger but it was mutual." Brooke had a lump in her throat as she relived the past and Peyton looked away feeling guilty for what she had done to her best friend. "But all that's in the past now" Brooke said trying to comfort her friend "what I mean is that you and Lucas had an emotional connection, which for you is a very rare thing. And his little indiscretion with Nikki, hurt you and more importantly brought the walls back up. I can almost guarantee that Lucas regrets that more than you will ever know."

Brooke began speaking again "Lucas and I are only beginning to rebuild our friendship so I can understand why you feel the way you do."

"Thank you Brooke."

"What for?" Brooke replied.

"For always being there for me and most importantly for just being you."

Peyton hugged her best friend and said goodbye. She didn't want to stay too long as it was late and Jake was alone. Those few minutes with Brooke helped justify why Peyton was feeling the way she was.

Lucas walked through the back door of his house to an expectant Karen sitting in her dressing gown at the kitchen table.

"Lucas Eugene Scott, where the hell have you been?" she asked furiously.

"I'm sorry mom. I lost track of time. It has been an eventful day to say the least, and thanks for the frequent use of my middle name these days" he replied to his mother.

"Listen mom, I know things between us aren't as good as they should be but I need a favour and you are the only one I could think of that could help" he pleaded. Lucas explained what he needed done and left his mother to go to bed.

Naley's Apartment

Nathan: Haley I can't believe this. THREE TIMES, YOU AND HIM HAVE KISSED THREE TIMES!

Haley: Nathan calm down, we have kissed once. He has kissed me two other times.

Nathan: Why should I calm down, I'm not off kissing other girls. And I do recall you giving me an earful for looking at some websites and THAT WAS JUST FOR LOOKING!

Haley: That is not the same thing.

Nathan: You're damn right because I never acted on anything.

The words hit Haley like a tonne, not because of the way Nathan was acting or because he was shouting but because they were true. In the back of her mind she was sure that Nathan has had offer after offer to cheat on her, but to this day he hadn't, she didn't know this for certain but in a way she did. Her instincts told her. Nathan loved her so much that he changed his ways from the "Bad Boy of Tree Hill" to a loving husband, who devoted his time to trying to make himself into the kind of person that he thought was acceptable from Haley's point of view.

Nathan couldn't help but feel betrayed, why would his wife kiss this obnoxious, cocky musician? He went over the question a hundred times in his head but he never got an answer, there was no possible reason why she should have.

Nathan: Answer me this Haley. Why did you kiss Chris?

The question made her freeze in the moment. It wasn't because she didn't want to answer the question, it was because she didn't know the answer.

With no reaction and Haley stood in silence, Nathan walked over to the door and opened it. "I need to figure some things out, when I'm ready to talk I'll come to you. Until then I'll be staying at Luke's." Nathan slammed the door tight behind him.

Haley stood still frozen and felt the tear trickle down her cheek.

Lucas heard the tapping at the door, he was half sleeping but it was still pretty late. However he reluctantly dragged himself outta bed and made his way over to the door and opened it.

"Nathan what are you doing here?" he asked his younger brother.

"Problems with Haley and I need a place to crash so I was kinda hoping….." Nathan answered.

"It goes without saying that you are welcome to stay here anytime you need, but it's the floor again I'm afraid" Lucas replied with a grin.

"Thanks man, I've become quite accustomed to the floor now anyway." Nate replied with a laugh.

The two brothers made themselves comfortable and in what seemed to be no time at all they were both sound asleep.

The Next Morning

Despite sleeping on a rock hard floor Nathan was sleeping pretty soundly that was until he was awoken by sounds of movement. Lucas was putting something in a bag and was getting ready to go out.

"Lucas man, what the hell?" Nathan said with a hint of annoyance that he had been awoken.

Lucas laughed and replied "And you used to be an early riser considering it's past 12 already. I'm sorry I woke you."

"Where are you going?" Nathan asked.

"I have a few things to do but I shouldn't be too long. Help yourself to whatever food when you eventually rise" Lucas answered before opening the door and leaving. Nathan used the opportunity to jump onto the bed and get under the covers "Floor good, Bed better" he said to himself.

Karen's Café

Since Jake had gotten back he would usually go to the café in the mornings for his breakfast and he would bring Jenny. He didn't want to put his parents out because he felt that they had done too much for him already. It was good to stop by the café for him and Jenny, this being due to the good food and that Karen would always fuss over Jenny.

Karen had taken Jenny behind the counter as she was serving a customer, leaving Jake to finish off his meal which he was distracted by from the voice over his shoulder. "My god Jagielski, you can eat!" he turned to find the curly headed blonde that he had left sleeping just a few hours ago. "Hey Peyton, I'm sorry I left but" he as cut off. "Daughters come first, don't worry about it" Peyton responded. Peyton went over to Karen and took Jenny, who was delighted to see Peyton. They went and sat down opposite Jake. "Lucas stopped by last night when you were out" Jake informed Peyton. "Did he? I'll catch up with him later" Peyton replied.

"So I guess I should tell you the good news then" Jake said. Peyton's eyes moved from Jenny to Jake confused. "We're coming home….for good" he exclaimed. Peyton's eyes lit up, she wanted them to stay. Jake was a really close friend to her and she loved Jenny so much. She got up and made her way over to Jake and hugged him. They sat chatting for about half an hour in the café before Peyton gave Jake a ride home. After she had dropped off Jake and Jenny, she debated in her head whether or not to go see Lucas but in the end she decided to go back home, well at least for now, she was genuinely going to catch up with Lucas, she just needed time.

It didn't take long for Peyton to get home and she was still quite tired so she decided to take a little nap, when she made her way to the bedroom she found the door closed, not open like she had left it. There was an envelope attached to the door. She opened the envelope and read the note.

Hey I stopped by

earlier but you weren't

here. I just wanted

to say I'm sorry.

Lucas

The note had caused a small smile to emerge at the corners of her mouth as she entered the room. However, as soon as she entered the room she dropped the note and she felt the tear slip down her pale cheek.

There in front of her on the bed, was her mother's dress that she had worn to the formal. Although now the stain was gone. Peyton collapse to the ground in tears but they were tears of joy rather than tears of sadness.

The chapter title is a lyric from Sarah McLachlan song Fallen.

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