All you ever wanted was love
But you never looked hard enough
Its never gonna give itself up…
Low-Coldplay

He walked solemnly to the beach, well more like strolled, his mind full of thoughts. He yawned several times during his walk, his mind telling him to go back home and get some sleep, but his feet were telling him otherwise. So there he was, finally he was walking on the beach, looking for a spot to sit and listen to the waves crash along the shore. Ever since that day he had found Peyton there at the start of summer, the sound of the waves crashing along the shore calmed him. It was like the only place where he could find peace. He walked along the sand some more still trying to find the right spot until something, or someone caught his eye. He squinted a little and finally noticed who it was.

She sat there alone listening to the waves crashing she loved it here. Besides art, this was like her only escape. It was a clear, open, and peaceful place where she didn't have to worry about anything. She used to love the beach as a little kid. She, her mother, and father used to go all the time during the summer. Her mother and father would be lying under an umbrella talking while she would be in her own respective spot making sand castles. She missed those days. After her mother passed her father never wanted to go to the beach anymore, it must've hurt too much. It was amazing how she, herself, could still come here and find peace. She guessed it was because she had nothing but fond memories here.

"Hey." He whispered softly as she jumped and looked up at him.

What was he doing here? He was probably there for the same reason she was, to find some peace of mind. They had came here countless times during the summer at night to talk and it seemed like tonight would be no different.

"Hey." She finally responded patting the sand next to her inviting him to sit.

He took a seat next to her, "I think we're starting to know each other a little too well."

She looked his way and laughed, "You think so?"

"Yeah." He laughed a little with her. It was so strange how they could do these things. They were uncomfortable or angry at each other one minute and then the next they were talking and laughing as if nothing ever happened. Maybe they did it so their friendship wouldn't be ruined or maybe they did it to avoid ever really talking about things.

Their laughter finally resided and was replaced with silence. They both stared out into the ocean peacefully no words were needed.

"Listen Lucas," She turned to face him, "I'm sorry about earlier. It was stupid—I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions—"

"You don't have to apologize." He turned and locked eyes with hers, but she shook her head. She looked more together than she did earlier.

"Yes I do. It's just—you know as stupid as this sounds, I'm not used to sharing you. We spent a whole summer together, just the two of us, and then when I saw you and Brooke—I guess I just freaked out and I'm sorry." What she was saying was the truth, well most of it.

"You don't have to feel that way. Brooke and I are just friends and I'm sure it's always going to be like that. I don't—feel the same way about her. Actually, I don't think I really ever did in the first place. This summer gave me a chance to clear my head and think… realize the one thing that I really wanted." He hinted towards her, hoping she would get his point. She was what he wanted and he was going to tell her. He didn't know if he could wait any longer.

His last sentence was starting to scare her… what did he mean by that? He was probably just talking about getting his old life back, becoming the person he used to be. Over the summer she had witnessed a change in Lucas. She saw how hard he had been working to become the person he used to be and although he had claim to lose that person completely she believed that he was always the same Lucas. Sure, he had made some horrible decisions, but everyone made mistakes.

"I'm almost afraid to ask what that is." She looked at him shyly before turning her gaze from him back out to the ocean.

"I've been wanting to say this for a while, you know? It's just never really been the right time… or maybe it's always been the right time, but I was just too scared."

She looked at him and nodded, she knew how the felt.

"Peyt, I know this may seem sudden and I know it's late and we should both be at home sleeping or getting ready for school or something, but I don't think this can wait any longer." He was stalling again; he just never knew the right words to say. She had told him once that it wasn't what he said it was what he did, but this time he didn't know how to do either.

"What are you saying Lucas?" She finally got out, something told her that she wasn't prepared for whatever he had to say.

His blue eyes met with her now almond shape hazel eyes and tried to read her. It was now or never.

"I'm trying to say that—" The ring tone from his cell phone suddenly went off, breaking whatever was between them as well as his words. He dug into his pocket, silently cursing as he pulled it out. He looked at the caller ID and it read as private. Who would be calling him at this time of night—well morning?

"Hello?" He spoke obviously frustrated.

"Am I speaking to a Mr. Lucas Scott?" A woman's voice asked, what was going on?

"Yes… this is he." He turned away from Peyton and listened to the woman's words. He couldn't believe the words that had come out of her mouth. Everything was happening so fast.

"Y—yeah, I'll be there." He stammered through his sentence and hurriedly put his phone back into his pocket.

Peyton watched as Lucas' mood suddenly changed. His face was becoming pale and his blue eyes held no emotion what so ever. She was almost afraid to ask what happened.

"Lucas," She paused and placed a hand on his back, "What's wrong?"

He turned to face her and tried to speak, but everything he thought of just didn't sound right.

"I need to go to the hospital."

"Okay… I can drive you there, but why? Is this about your heart? Lucas are you okay?" Peyton's eyes widened with fear as she heard his next words. She couldn't believe it.

"Dan—he's dead."

You see the world in black and white
Not painted right
You see no meaning to your life
You should try
You should try…

The ride to the hospital was short and silent. She didn't want to ask any questions because she knew how it felt to lose a parent and when her mom died she hated when people asked her if she was okay or not. She hated the questions; she just wanted to be left alone. Even though Lucas barely knew Dan, she knew he would still feel the same way so she stayed silent. They arrived at the hospital, went towards the lobby and saw a grieving Deb, a somewhat somber Nathan, and Karen who was pacing back and forth. Peyton turned to Lucas and watched as he immediately stopped walking. There was an indescribable emotion on his face, but it looked more like fear. Her heart ached for him.

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, as a way of telling him it'll be okay. He looked down at her and gave her a small smile he looked so lost. She stepped back and watched as he walked over towards his mom and the rest of the family. She watched them all comfort each other except for Nathan who stood away from the rest of them. She knew they weren't on good terms, but she didn't expect Nathan to be this cold.

"Lucas! Where were you? I tried calling the house, but no one picked up. I even came by to get you, but you weren't there." Came from a worried Karen. She was obviously shaken up by everything.

Lucas didn't know what to say. If he told her that he left the house to go for a walk he was sure he would be in trouble.

"Lucas called me after the hospital called him and I drove him here." Peyton spoke up and suddenly all eyes were on her. They probably didn't notice she was there. She didn't want Lucas to get in trouble so she covered for him. It was the least she could do.

"Oh… okay. Thank you so much, Peyton." Karen looked towards her way and then back to Lucas.

"It's no problem, really. I—I'm just sorry about your loss." At her last words they all nodded and turned back to whatever they were doing.

Watching them all together made her feel sort of out of place, like she shouldn't be there. She hated being in hospitals. As far as she knew the brung nothing, but pain, pain that she couldn't handle. She walked down the hall and stood in a vacant corner and took out her cell phone. She had to call someone.

"Hello." Came the sleepy voice of Haley.

"Hey Haley, it's me."

"Peyton? Wait… you're not in your room?" She yawned.

"No. I'm at the hospital—"

"The hospital," Suddenly Haley was wide-awake, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but listen Dan… he died." She chocked out. Even for Peyton who barely knew Dan at all it felt weird saying that. All of the pain he had inflicted on people's lives and the games that he had played were over. It was like an end of an era or something.

"What?" Haley whispered obviously shocked.

"Yeah… I'm at the hospital right now. I need you to go get Brooke if you can and come straight here. Nathan might need you." She waited for Haley to respond, but she didn't. All she heard was silence.

"Peyton, I don't know—Nathan doesn't want me there." Haley said sadly.

Peyton sighed as she heard the sadness in her voice, she didn't like seeing her friend like this.

"Then do it for Lucas. He needs you, too." Peyton tried her best to get through to her and with luck it worked.

"Okay… I'll try to be there in a half hour." She reasoned.

"Thank you Hales." She whispered as she ended the call and went back to the hospital lobby.

It was then when she saw Deb talking to the doctor, most likely telling her the cause of his death and other information. Everything was so surreal. She stood in her respective spot, still not sure what to do, where to go, or what to say, so she just watched. She watched because she knew that there was really nothing that you could do.

"If you would like to see him, you know to say your goodbyes I can take you to where he is." The doctor offered as Deb feebly nodded.

"Okay… Karen, Nathan and Lucas would you like to come?" Peyton immediately turned to Lucas and watched for his reaction and still there was nothing. He was emotionless.

Lucas made his move to get up from the chair when Nathan started to yell.

"Why should he come? He never liked dad and if I remember correctly he was the one that drove him to this." Nathan accused and the rest could only watch.

"Nathan don't be like this—" Deb pleaded, but he wouldn't listen.

"You just had to push him right, Lucas? Get close to him; make him think that you actually wanted to be apart of his life just to bring him down?" Nathan was angry. He was just so angry lately and he didn't know why. The truth was he wasn't even that upset about his father's death. He was a horrible man, but there was a time when he was much younger that he felt his father actually cared about him and despite his resentment towards him that was all he could think about.

"It wasn't like that Nathan." Lucas said rather calmly. He wasn't up for a fight, not right now. Of course he didn't like hearing what Nathan said, but apart of him knew that it was probably true. He did push Dan… maybe this was his entire fault.

"The hell it wasn't," Nathan sneered, not listening to his mother's pleas to stop.

Nathan stepped closer to Lucas so he was face to face with him, "You don't belong here. You never did."

"I will not have you talk to my son like that!" Karen stood up from her chair and now it was her turn to reprimand Nathan.

"Whatever." He did nothing but back away from Lucas and did nothing to hide the smirk on his face.

"What has gotten in to you?" Deb asked once he retreated back to where she was.

"Why don't you ask him?" He said simply, nodding his head over in Lucas' direction and soon all eyes were on Lucas waiting for some kind of explanation of this all. It was an answer that he didn't have and one that he did not want to give.

"I can't do this." Lucas whispered and without another word he walked out of the lobby.

"Lucas wait!" Karen shouted after him, but he was already gone.

Peyton looked towards the way Lucas had went… maybe she could catch up to him.

"I'll go after him." She offered, not waiting for the go ahead, and just took off.

And all you ever wanted was love
but you never looked hard enough
it's never gonna give itself up…

"I'd figure you'd be out here." She took a seat next to him on the bench that was outside of the hospital and embraced the cold air.

"It didn't feel right to be in there." He spoke, not once looking at her.

"I know you probably want to be alone right now, because I know I did when my mom died, but—I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you." She offered her sympathy, trying to get through to him, but she wasn't sure if it was working.

"I just wish I could feel something." He finally looked over at her.

"What do you mean?" She asked softly.

"I mean I don't feel anything. Not sadness, anger, or regret… I just don't feel anything. I don't know what to feel." He was beginning to open up to her. She seemed like the only person that he could talk to, she was possibly the only person who knew what he was going through.

"It's okay to feel this way Lucas. It just happened, you have to give it time to sink in." He nodded and then turned his gaze away from her. Never had she seen his blue eyes look so cold and lost. It was scary.

"I've never told anybody this, but when I first found out that my mom died I wasn't even sad. I was just angry. I felt like she let me down, you know? It wasn't until a couple days after when I went into my mom and dad's room and realized that she wasn't coming back. I went back in my room and stared at her picture and then it hit me. I cried everyday for a whole year, it was like the littlest thing reminded me of her and then I would just cry." She admitted. She didn't like talking about her mother's death. Even now talking about it made her feel worse. Not because she was sad, but because of the whole Elizabeth thing. Her life was becoming so screwed up.

"Peyton I'm sorry. I didn't even think—" He had almost forgotten about her own problems. He had been so wrapped up in his own. He was being insensitive.

"It's okay, really," She assured him, trying her best not to cry, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Right now you have to worry about yourself, Luke. You're not alone in this."

Without another word Lucas leaned over and wrapped his arms around Peyton. She was shocked by his movement, but hugged him back anyway. She hung on to him tightly, and rested her head on his shoulder. In more ways than one, she needed this hug.

He held onto her just as tight as she held onto him, this was the only thing keeping him sane, the only thing that felt right.

"Thank you, Peyton." He whispered as they still held onto each other.

"For what?" She asked wondering why he was thanking her.

"For everything."

When they finally went back into the hospital Deb, Karen, and Nathan were gone. They must've gone to go see Dan and Lucas was relieved. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Dan, but he just didn't think it was his place to be there. He had never felt so lost.

"You sure you don't want to go?" Peyton asked, referring to going to see Dan.

"Yeah." He assured her, but she wouldn't listen.

"You shouldn't let Nathan intimidate you. You have a right to be here… he was your father, too." And even though he wasn't a very good father to Lucas she kept it to herself. You weren't supposed to talk bad about the dead.

"I know, but I can't help thinking that everything he said was right."

She shook her head, "Nathan—he doesn't know what he's saying. He's just as hurt and lost as you are right now. He has trust issues and he'll get over it, but right now that doesn't give him a right to bitch at you. None of this is your fault Lucas." None of this was his fault. Dan had it coming to him… bad things just didn't last that long.

"Thanks for being here, Peyt." He looked over at her and gave her a half smile. He couldn't ask for a better person to be here with him. She was all he needed; she was his rock in his time of need. Looking at her right now it felt like he was seeing her for the first time. She was beautiful… her flaws made her beautiful. He admired her. With all of her problems and things she was going through she still had time to comfort others. He had never felt so much for someone. Was it love? As much as he didn't want that right now, it probably was. He didn't even know how she felt about him and he had already fallen for her. He didn't want to do that again, fall for someone who probably didn't feel the same way, but he couldn't help it. He needed Peyton; their summer together had made him realize that or perhaps he knew it all along.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted.

"Lucas!" They both turned to see Haley and a tired Brooke rushing towards them.

"Hales… Brooke, what are you doing here?" Lucas rose up from his seat to hug Haley.

"Peyton called me," Lucas broke away from the hug and turned to look at Peyton, who just shrugged, "I'm so sorry Lucas." Haley offered her sympathy to her best friend.

"It's okay." He whispered, but Haley shook her head.

"No it isn't. How are you holding up?" Haley was trying to comfort her best friend, but she wasn't so sure if she could anymore. She missed Lucas she missed him a lot. They hadn't been as close as she wanted them to be lately and that was her fault and now in his time of need she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to make him feel better and that scared her.

"I'm… okay." Lucas didn't really know what to say. He wasn't okay, he knew that, but he had to tell her that. He had to keep on telling himself that.

Haley took this moment to take in Lucas' appearance. He looked tired. This was probably a lot to handle.

"I'm going to go see if I could get some coffee for you or something… you look like you need it." She offered and Lucas nodded.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem," She then turned to Peyton, "Can you come with me?"

Without hesitation Peyton nodded. She knew how much Haley disliked hospital. She was almost sure that Haley disliked it as much as she did, herself. Besides, she didn't want to be alone with Brooke and Lucas because if she were she would probably be forced to talk about what happened earlier. Haley began to walk off and Peyton was about to follow until she saw Brooke hug Lucas. She couldn't tear her eyes off of them because it hurt. She knew that Lucas didn't have feelings for Brooke, but she wasn't sure how Brooke felt. She watched them pull away and begin to talk… what was her problem? Why was she so jealous? Lucas' father had just passed and here she was thinking about her own selfish feelings.

"Peyton are you coming?" Haley asked once she realized Peyton wasn't behind her and she had basically been talking to herself.

"Oh yeah… sorry." She finally tore her gaze from them and went to go follow Haley.

"So how'd you know?" Haley asked as they walked out of the cafeteria where they had gotten the coffee.

"I was with Lucas when he got the call." She admitted.

"So when you left earlier you told him how you felt?" Haley knew Peyton had left to tell him, but she didn't know what really happened.

"No."

"Peyton." Haley sighed, hoping that she didn't back out again.

"It wasn't my fault this time," She assured her, "I walked in at a bad time… I saw him and Brooke together and I just ran."

"Brooke and Lucas? You mean they're back together?" She couldn't believe it. She hoped it wasn't true. Lucas had told her about what happened between him and Brooke before she left for California, but she didn't think he still had feelings for her.

"No—I don't know. He told me that he doesn't feel the same way about her and that they're not together, but I still don't know how she feels." Peyton didn't want to get into every detail of what had happened last night. She really didn't even want to think about it.

"Lucas probably ended things off with Brooke the right way. When this is all over all you have to do is tell him how you feel, but right now all we can do is just be there for him." Peyton nodded. Haley was right. They had to push all their problems aside and just be there for both Lucas and Nathan.

"I know. I just wish he wasn't so reserved. Before you came Nathan had pretty much told Lucas he wasn't family. He was pretty angry."

"Imagine how he'll react when he notices I'm here." Haley whispered, feeling guilty all over again. She didn't like seeing Nathan so angry and hurt because a part of her knew it was all her fault. She broke him and now she couldn't fix him back up again.

"Haley, Lucas is your best friend. You have a right to be here, but as a friend I'm just asking you to try to talk to Nathan." Peyton and Haley both stopped when they saw Deb, Karen, and Nathan back in the lobby.

Haley averted her gaze from Peyton to Nathan. She missed him, she missed him so much, and looking at him just made her heartache.

Nathan turned his head almost instantly and locked eyes with his ex wife. He was speechless. He missed her and he knew that the decision for the annulment was mostly his decision, but it was the only way. It was time for them to move on.

"Come on," Peyton whispered as she gently nudged Haley in her side, which broke her out of her gaze. She watched disappointedly as Nathan snapped his head away and went back to talking to his mother. Why did things have to be so complicated?

Haley hesitantly followed Peyton to where everyone was and kept her gaze fixed on the floor. She didn't want to deal with Nathan, but most of all she didn't want to deal with Deb either. She knew Deb didn't like her and it would take every ounce of kindness Haley had to keep her cool.

"We've got coffee if anyone wants." Peyton announced as they all took a cup and thank yous were said.

Peyton took her seat in between Lucas and Haley and looked around the room. Everyone looked pretty much miserable. It was almost 5 am, so she was sure none of them were going to school or work for that matter in the morning. Everything just turned out to be a horrible turn of events.

"Well… the doctor said the cause of Dan's death was cardiac arrest. On top of that he was already being dosed heavily with medication because of the poison that was already in him so I guess it was a mix of things that made him give up. " Deb finally spoke up and then started to cry. She could barely finish her sentences without her voice breaking. They all sat there practically mortified, after months they still didn't find the person who was responsible for this all.

"It's okay mom." Nathan tried his best to comfort his mother and looked up briefly to glare at Lucas.

Lucas didn't understand it all. Dan Scott was a monster, he played with people's lives just for kicks, he made people miserable, and yet everyone in this room, including him, was sitting here grieving.

"We're making arrangements for the funeral now, so we hope to get it done by Tuesday." We all nodded and wondered how she would get everything done so fast. It was already Friday.

"If you need anything… I'm sure we can all help out with the funeral or something." Haley shockingly suggested. They all nodded although of all people everyone had expected Haley to be the last one to actually help out. She was generous, of course, but Deb wasn't exactly her favorite person.

Deb looked directly at Haley and nodded, "Thank you Haley. That—that would be very nice and helpful." Even Deb couldn't hide her shock, which was evidently heard in her voice.

"No problem." Haley knew it was strange of her to lend out a hand, but they were going through a rough time and she wouldn't hold that against anyone.

"Well I guess we can all go now. There's really nothing else to do." Deb announced as she and Nathan got up from the chairs as well as the rest of them. They said their goodbyes and gave condolences to the family and all went their separate ways without another word. The good die young was just a piss poor expression now.

Don't you wanna see it come down
Death is throwing your arms around
Say it in a moment too soon
Cause I feel low…

And that's the end of this chapter. Yeah, so I killed Dan off. He wasn't really important in my fic anyway, but I felt like he needed to go. He was big enough to impact almost everyone's lives. To all you Nathan fans I know he was such a smug bastard in this chapter, but he was angry. I love Nathan and all, but I was sick of him being so nice. So yeah the tragedy that I said that would bring Lucas and Peyton together… this might be it or something else I have planned. It depends. I can say this many times and still feel the need to say it again, thank you for the reviews. They mean a lot. Next up I'm looking towards Square One.