Thanks for the reviews, this is quite short but prepare for huge drama in the next chapter! So please leave a review and tell me what you think, reviews make me write faster lol

Karen watched as her son stretched out on the couch his eyes fixed on the TV screen as he watched the basketball highlights. She smiled slightly to herself, she loved her son so much and she just wanted to help him; she wanted him to be okay and to be happy again. She swallowed and dropped the damp dishcloth back into the sink, she needed to talk to him. Haley was right; she needed him to know that she was there for him. She slowly walked over and watched as he lifted up his head, turning his face to her and offering a smile. She returned one weakly.

"Um…Luke?" She began questioningly as her son drew his unfocused gaze away from the TV again and looked up at his mother.

"Yeah?"

She suppressed a sigh and looked down at her hands before meeting his questioning blue gaze.

"We uh…we need to talk." She said lowly. Now she had his attention, he wore a slight frown as he slowly sat up, swivelling his legs around so he was sitting up properly and facing her.

"Is…is everything okay?" He asked worriedly…What had he done? Maybe she was going to kick him out…

"Well…not really I…I'm worried about you Luke." She said her brow furrowing with concern as he swallowed and looked down at his hands. He sat there in silence not knowing how to respond, he should have known she would think something was up.

"Lucas…you don't eat anymore. I hear you getting up in the middle of the night and you don't come back to bed, you look exhausted all the time. You…you can't even mention her name Lucas and everytime she comes up in conversation you change the topic." She said the words flowing easily from her mouth as she voiced all the worries she had been hiding for the past few days.

"I…I don't think you're grieving properly. I need you to just talk to me." She finished softly still looking at him as he kept his gaze determinedly to the floor. Silence fell upon the room for a few seconds before Lucas looked up at her, his eyes shining slightly but she couldn't tell whether it was a trick of the light or if she had actually evoked something from him.

"So now there's a proper way to grieve? I'm dealing with this in my own way okay? I don't want to talk about her because it hurts mom! Everytime her name comes up it means I have to think of her and it reminds me that she's not here, that I don't have her with me anymore. She's gone and as much as I want to change it, I can't! I want to be able to get past this but it's hard." He said loudly, his voice cracking slightly.

Karen blinked, slightly taken aback by her son's sudden response, by the emotion pouring out of him as he looked at her, his eyes wide and desperate.

"I'm sorry if the way I'm handling this isn't how I'm "supposed to grieve" but I'm just trying to make it through the day okay? If you want me to eat, I'll eat. If you want me to sleep, I'll sleep." He finished before looking away, his cheeks slightly flushed. He knew he was being unfair but he couldn't stop himself. It was hard enough being back here let alone having to deal with all of this. He just wanted to forget.

"Lucas, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried about you, it's okay to cry and it's okay to talk about her. You can talk to me Lucas, you don't have to keep it all bottled up or you're gonna get sick. I love you and I know you're going through something terrible but I just want you to be okay, you can't keep pretending that you're fine, because you're not." She quietly replied, her eyes brimming with tears as Lucas kept his gaze on the floor.

"You can't push me away Luke. You can't pretend that this isn't happening, you have to face it and deal with it and then get past it. Hiding it and bottling it up isn't going to help. As much as you try to push me away I'm still going to be here so try all you want Luke, but I love you and I will get you through this." She said strongly.

Lucas blinked quickly, trying to rid the warm moisture of tears from his eyes as he looked slowly up at his mom. She softened upon seeing his expression and moved closer.

"I don't want to push you away…I'm sorry mom. It's…its just hard." He said softly. Karen wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer.

"I know sweetie, but I'm here okay. Talk to me when you have things on your mind"

"I'll try." He murmured.

XxxxX

Lucas grabbed the damp dishcloth from the table and began to wipe down the surface of the counter. He kept thinking about the conversation with his mom earlier. He didn't want to push her away but he hated talking about his feelings, it wasn't exactly his strong point. He knew she was just trying to help but…if he talked about it, he couldn't pretend it wasn't happening, he couldn't pretend that he would go home in a few days and find her at home waiting for him. Singing in the shower or cleaning the kitchen, watching her naff TV programmes or sleeping on the couch…

He looked up and realised he had been wiping the same bit of the counter over and over and sighed. He heard the bell over the door sound and looked in that direction to find Peyton and Brooke strolling into the café. Brooke shot him a smile whilst Peyton struggled to look anywhere but at him, he smiled back at Brooke who immediately bounded over, Peyton trailing behind.

"Hey! A mocha latte for me and a black coffee for curly." She said nodding in Peyton's direction as she smiled weakly. Lucas nodded.

"Sure." He said as he turned away, busying himself with the coffee and glad to get away from Peyton's uneasy gaze. He was glad neither of them knew, he hated the looks of pity he got back at work after it happened and he didn't want that here.

"So I heard you got a job?" Brooke asked questioningly causing Luke to turn around, wearing a quizzical frown. Brooke smiled.

"I spoke to Karen earlier, I bumped into her at the grocery store." She said explaining. Lucas nodded and turned his back to make the coffee.

"Yeah it's just fixing cars and stuff really." He said over his shoulder. Brooke nodded whilst Peyton looked down at her nails as she tapped them on the counter.

"Oh right, so…Getting a job? Peyton told me you were looking for an apartment…sounds like this is pretty permanent." She said with a slight smile, fishing for gossip. Lucas looked at Peyton and Peyton swiftly kicked Brooke under the table, hard in the shins.

"OW" Brooke cried rubbing her shin and quickly smiling at Lucas.

"Sorry about that, banged my foot on the table. Clumsy ME" She said kicking Peyton back with her last word. Lucas smiled slightly as he watched the pair exchange glares but his smile soon faded when Brooke next opened her mouth and asked the question he had been dreading.

"So, what about Callie? I mean I thought her job was in New York, that's why you moved there right?" She asked sipping at the coffee Lucas just handed to her as he quickly handed one to Peyton, swallowing as he felt both pairs of eyes on him.

"It is I mean…I, she…"He stammered as both girls watched him curiously as he tripped over his words. He looked across at Peyton who was watching him furiously and he opened his mouth.

"Lucas?" He heard his mom call from the back room, he sighed inwardly and relaxed. Saved by the bell…or the mom. Whatever.

"Uh, I gotta go, talk to you later." He said before hurrying into the backroom.

As Peyton and Brooke watched him hurry out she sighed and turned to her blonde friend, raising an eyebrow.

"What did I tell you P. Sawyer? There's obviously problems on the marital front." She said airily, obviously pleased with herself. Peyton rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee.

"You don't know that Brooke, anyway can we talk about something else?" She said as Brooke pouted slightly, obviously put out before she smiled again and sat up straighter, laying her hand down on the counter.

"Fine, So do you think Lucas will move in next door? That would be so totally awkward. He might pop around for a cup of sugar and maybe you'll just fall into bed or something? I mean he's practically divorced by the looks of things." She said with a mischevious grin, her eyes glinting. Peyton laughed to herself.

"Okay, first you don't know that and second I think you missed the point. I don't want to talk about Lucas okay? It's hard enough as it is." She said looking down into the steaming black liquid that was swirling in her mug.

"But I thought you were over this…unless…Oh my god you don't still have feelings for him do you?" She said in a hurried whisper. Peyton gasped.

"No! No of course not!" She said quickly avoiding Brooke's gaze.

XxxxX

Lucas pulled off his wedding ring and set it down next to the sink as he began to wash the dishes in the warm soapy water, the dishwasher was playing up again and his mom needed some help. He sighed and swallowed, if his mom hadn't have called him he didn't know what he would have said. He knew they thought something was up, who wouldn't? He was here and his whole life including his wife had been in New York.

As he finished up, hoping that Brooke and Peyton would have left by now he emptied the sink and placed the last plate on the drying rack. As he reached over his elbow brushed the side, knocking the silver ring into the sink with a clatter. He watched in horror as the ring rolled into the plughole and disappeared from sight with a dull clunk.

"No no no no…shit…no fuck!" He cried as he reached down the plughole, desperately grasping around through the small hole, hoping to grab a hold of his ring. His heart hammered as he struggled to push his hand further.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed loudly, not caring who heard. He felt his eyes stinging, this couldn't be happening. He couldn't lose it, it's all he had left of her. He pulled his hand back out with difficulty and leant against the wall, breathing heavily as tears burned in his eyes, he willed them back and closed his eyes. Trying to think logically about this…

Karen hurried into the kitchen upon hearing a string of profanities coming from the kitchen followed by a bang and more profanities. She had tried to ignore the alarmed looks of the customers before hurrying into the kitchen and finding her son leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and breathing heavily.

"Lucas?" She asked worriedly as she walked slowly towards him, he opened his eyes and she noticed tears shining in them as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Luke honey what's wrong? What happened?" She asked frowning as he stood up straight and scrubbed a hand roughly over his face.

"My ring…my wedding ring it's gone…I lost it, down the sink." He said realising how pathetic he must sound. Karen swallowed and looked up at her son, she knew how much that ring meant to him and how he must feel right now.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. Look we'll get it out for you okay? We'll just take out the pipes and it should be there." She said soothingly as he nodded.

"But what if it's not? That's all I have left of her" He said lowly.

"We'll get it okay?"

XxxxX

The door in the café jingled again and Jake stepped into the café, he smiled to himself as he saw a familiar dark haired girl sitting with her back to him with another familiar blonde. He walked over and softly tapped her on the back of the shoulder.

Brooke turned around surprised and her expression broke into a grin as she saw Jake standing behind her, a smile on his face.

"Jake! Hey." She said leaning forward and planting a kiss softly on his lips.

"Hey, thought I'd drop by and see how you were…also to say hi to Luke maybe? Hey Peyton." He said smiling at his ex-girlfriend. There was no awkwardness between them even though he was dating Brooke and he loved that they could still be friends.

"Luke's somewhere out back swearing and hitting things." Brooke said with a smile causing Jake to frown.

"Don't worry about it." Peyton added as Jake smiled and sat down next to Brooke, sliding his arm around her waste and pulling her towards him.

"So how was work?" He asked softly as he kissed her cheek softly and she leant into him, enjoying the feeling of his warm arms around her.

"It was okay, but I missed you." She said softly and Jake grinned and kissed her again, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair.

"I missed you too, so I was thinking we could go out tonight or something?" He said softly into her ear. Brooke grinned.

"Well I was thinking maybe we could stay in." She said raising an eyebrow.

"Even better."

Peyton rolled her eyes and sighed. She missed that kind of closeness with a guy…

XxxX

Lucas slid the wedding ring up and down his finger and sighed…he was so glad to have it back, if he had lost it he would have hated himself. How could be so careless. He watched as the rain drove down outside and he smiled softly to himself. Callie always loved the rain.

He looked down at the floor and sighed, he offered to take the graveyard shift for his mom so she could sleep and plus he didn't really want to go home because he knew his mom would want to talk some more and he wasn't up to it yet.

The door opened and he looked up as the sound of whistling wind and rain spattering on the pavement filled the small café and he met the hazel gaze of Peyton Sawyer. She shook off her umbrella and looked up, meeting his eyes. He stared at her for a few seconds before standing up…both meeting each other's gazes whilst the rain pelted down harder...

A/N I know it was a random ending but it's important, it leads to massive drama in the next chapter. I'll let you use your imagination, hoped you liked the tiny amount of Bake lol and please leave some reviews so I know whether or not to post the new chapter! Which hopefully will rock!

Review please!