Little children's chatter surrounded Lucas as he sat quietly on the beach and stared out at the ocean. The waves crashed onto the shore and he watched as a little girl and her brother had a splash fight. He was lost in his thoughts, thinking about everything that had gone on. He was upset that Brooke didn't want to stay with him at the beach, and he was mad at Rachel for ruining it all. Pregnant with a bar guy's child…why would he care, as long as it wasn't his? It shouldn't have been his anyway, they never slept together.

"Sir?" a little girl inquired, her wet finger tapping Lucas gently.

"Yeah?"

"You're sitting on my sandcastle"

"Oh!" Lucas jumped up. "I'm sorry"

"Its ok" she smiled and held out her hand which was filled with sand. "Wanna help me build it?"

"Sure…where's your mommy, though?"

"Over there with my baby sister" the girl pointed to a young woman sitting under an umbrella.

"Oh I see well run and ask her if it's ok before I help you, ok?"

"Ok" the girl ran up to her mother and Lucas followed.

"Hi" the young woman greeted. Lucas was shocked- she had to be 25, tops.

"Hey" Lucas smiled warmly. "So your daughter wants me to help her build her sandcastle and I just wanted to make sure it was ok"

"Oh yeah…Sarah, now be good and no throwing sand"

"Can baby play?" Sarah asked. "Please?"

"Sweetie pie I told you Catherine is too young to build sandcastles!" the young woman chuckled.

"So what's your name?"

"Lucas" he held out his hand.

"Samantha"

"Pleasure to meet you"

"Likewise" Samantha smiled. "Thanks for playing with her, Lucas. Her father isn't exactly…there and she needs someone to play with"

"Oh no problem" Lucas said. He noticed subtly that the woman was pregnant.

"How old are you, by the way?" the woman asked.

"I'm 17, almost 18"

"I'm 23" Lucas had to fight to keep his jaw from falling wide open. But his face must have betrayed him, because the woman chuckled. "I had Sarah when I was 18, and Catherine last year…and now there's another one on the way, but its daddy's gone…God knows what I'm gonna do"

"I'm very-sorry" Lucas said. "Come on, Sarah, wanna build that sandcastle?"

"Yes…no diddle doing, like mommy says" Sarah said, grabbing Lucas's hand and pulling him down towards the water.

"Haley" Nathan whispered. "Haley, wake up"

"Mhmm?" Haley asked. When she saw Nathan's faced, she awoke quickly and lifted her head off his lap. "Nathan…I'm so sorry"

"It's ok" Nathan said. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much…look, thank you"

"For?"

"Totally taking care of me and then letting me fall asleep on your lap!" Haley said. "I didn't mean to…"

"Haley, its ok…I still care about you, you know" Nathan said. "And you also know that I hate it when you're sick"

"I know…" Haley ran her hand through her hair. "I probably look terrible"

"Actually you look…really pretty" Nathan mumbled.

"Um thanks" Haley smiled and walked into the bathroom. "Ew I look terrible!"

"Well…people you love always look beautiful to you" Nathan whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing" Nathan called back nonchalantly.

"When in doubt, shoe it out…I've never heard better advice" Brooke confided to Peyton as she made her way through racks and racks of shoes.

"Brooke you have a serious shoe disease"

"SO?" Brooke demanded.

"You'll be broke with 300 pairs of shoes"

"At least they'll be cute"

"Brooke…"

"Fine, fine, let's go goldilocks"

"Finally!" Peyton sighed, following Brooke out the door.

Brooke walked into the apartment and heard an explosion of yelling voices.

"Uh oh…Nathan and Haley are at it again" Brooke sighed. "That's not good"

"Personally, I think Haley deserves it"

"P. Sawyer get over it…she pursued her dreams, she shouldn't be at fault for that"

"But she-"

"Shh…"

"I CANT BELIEVE YOU WOULD LEAVE ME TO BE WITH CHRIS!" Nathan's voice blared.

"I LEFT TO BE WITH MY MUSIC, NATHAN, NOT CHRIS KELLER…YOU HAVE SUCH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX IF YOU THINK EVERY MAN I INTERACT WITH I HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH!" Haley screeched.

"THEN YOU RETURN AND WANT EVERYTHING TO BE OK! I DON'T THINK SO!" Nathan yelled, but Brooke could hear his voice faltering. She remembered whenever she and Lucas fought his voice would falter when all he wanted to do was hold her and not fight.

"Let's not fight, Haley" Nathan said. "I'm sorry…"

"I'm sorry too, Nathan, but you accuse of things that never went on" Haley said. "And that makes me sad"

"What makes ME sad, Haley, is that I love you more than life itself and want you back so bad its killing me- but I can't for the life of me trust you"

Brooke could almost hear Haley's heart shattering all over the floor. That was a serious blow Nathan had packed. Roommate intervention time, she decided. Brooke marched into the room.

"How much of that did you hear?" Haley asked wearily.

"Enough of it for me to say that Nathan, I think its better that you leave and Haley, I bought some hot chocolate…bye Nate"

"Bye" Nathan walked quickly out the room and out the apartment door. Peyton signaled to Brooke that she was gonna leave and left quietly as well.

"Haley…" Brooke put her arms around a sobbing Haley.

"Why, Brooke?" Why can't he trust me?"

"Its not that he cant trust you…he cant trust himself because he's terrified he's gonna fall even harder for you and trust me, Haley…that's a point from which you cant return" Brooke said, looking at the picture of Lucas tacked up on her board.

A/N: Review! You guys are soooo good about it! It makes me so happy! I smile when I read each one :0) Thanks!