Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with One Tree Hill, it's characters or it's storylines. Another words, don't sue me cause you won't be getting much

Author's Note: Thanks everyone for the wonderful feedback! I am really proud of this story and hopefully you all will continue to like it. Special thanks to miss HalesBuffCarter (my own Haley) and Amanda (OTHRetard) for always making me want to write more. Everyone else, keep the faith in Brucas. People who are meant to be together, always find their way in the end!

Chapter Two-

At Summers end

Three months later

Lucas stared at the ocean in front of him and kicked the sand under his feet. In the distance, he could make out the faint outline of Haley and Nathan making a sandcastle and a small smile formed on his lips. Beside him, sat Peyton who was too busy drawing to notice him brooding.

It had taken him a lot to get here, he had decided. The summer had been hard, with everyone dealing with Keith's death in their own way. His mothers sorrow had lessened each day as the baby's arrival date drew near. After Brooke had left Nathan had moved back in with Haley and they were working things out as a married couple. Peyton had been struggling to get past her own mothers death to focus on Brooke's absence.

And as the nights started to pass and days became weeks, Lucas's sadness had too lessened. The anger that he had felt just months before had disappeared and he found himself thinking about the moments him and his uncle had been able to share. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't thank God for giving him Keith, and he was sure that wasn't going to ever change.

"Thinking about Brooke?" Peyton questioned, pausing just a moment before turning back to her painting.

Lucas shook his head no and took a seat beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. "Thinking about all of us. We've all been through so much, and summer is practically over." Peyton nodded her head and shifted uncomfortably.

"She's coming home tomorrow you know," Peyton said.

Lucas said nothing, just continued to stare at the view in front of him. He pretended he wasn't effected by her return, just like he had pretended to care about how she left things. Too many times Brooke had been insecure about their relationship and he had been the one to hold them together. He was angry at her for not being able to do the same for him.

Peyton pulled herself away from him and handed him her sketch book. "It's finished. It took me forever, but I finally managed to finish it," Peyton smiled. She had been working for a month on something for him and still hadn't given him a peek.

He took the sketch pad and opened it up to reveal a painting of the heart she had done years ago. A yellow number three was centered in a red heart and there were flames surrounding the heart. On the left side of the heart was Brooke's face and he was amazed at just how well Peyton had captured her. On the right side was her own face and Lucas smiled back at her. Underneath the heart was his face and above it was Haley and Nathan.

Lucas held his breathe as he stared at the drawing. To the outside world it would have been just a painting but to him, it had symbolized so many things. The heart representing the love they all felt for each other and the devotion they all had. It showed their friendship and for a moment Lucas knew that their friendship would survive anything. "It's beautiful," Lucas told her. She nodded her head and smiled back at him.

"Ellie told me right before I died to hold on to life. To stop dwelling in all the pain and start living life," Peyton looked up at the sky for a moment and shut her eyes. "She told me to fight for love and what I believe in."

Lucas shook his head not sure where she was going with her speech. Peyton put her own hand over his and squeezed it. "You should too," Peyton whispered. Lucas looked at her, his eyes locked in her own. They sat there, eyes gazed at each other for several minutes. It wasn't until Haley had walked up that they had broken apart.

"Hey Lucas." Haley motioned for him to follow her and he gave an apologetic smile towards Peyton and stood up. Nathan sat down beside Peyton and chuckled to himself.

Peyton rolled her eyes. "What's funny Nate?"

"You falling for Lucas again," Nathan said sounding as nonchalant about it as possible. Her eyes widened at his accusation and she started laughing.

"I DO NOT have feelings for Lucas," she lied.

Nathan nodded his head. "Right Peyt, tell that to someone who didn't sleep with you half of sophomore year." Peyton said nothing but stared down at the sand. "I just don't understand why you would want to go down that road again. Do you remember what it almost lost you?"

"Brooke," Peyton answered.

Nathan shook his head again. "Yes Brooke. You remember? The girl who has always been there for you. Brooke- the girl who loves Lucas more than anything else in the world? Brooke- the girl that Lucas is crazy about?"

"I get it Nathan. You're not telling me stuff I already don't know. It's just," Peyton turned to him. She stayed silent for a moment and tears entered her eyes. "Have you ever had something that you wanted so bad, but for some reason it never worked out? What if Lucas and I were supposed to be together? What if he was the one for me."

Nathan said nothing but looked at his wife and Lucas in the distance. He put his arm around her shoulder and sighed. "I don't know Peyt, but what if Brooke is the one for him? Do you really want to mess that up?"

……

"What's so important Hales?"

Haley fidgeted for a moment before taking the letter out of her bag. She handed the folded white envelope to Lucas and shrugged her shoulders. "This is for you. Brooke gave it to me right before she left for Los Angeles. She told me to wait until the timing was right and I guess I never knew when that was. With her coming home tomorrow, I wanted you to have it."

"She gave you a letter?" Lucas laughed. "Unbelievable. Does she even remember how mad she was at me for not saying goodbye to her?"

Haley shrugged her shoulders and stuck her hand out. She dangled the letter in front of him and was agitated when he didn't take it from her. After several minutes Haley shoved the letter into his hands and began to walk off. She turned to her best friend and put her hands on her hips.

"You know I love you Luke- but you haven't always done the right thing. Brooke is a good person. You should read the letter. You owe her that much," Haley said.

She walked off, before giving him a chance to reply. Lucas looked at the letter in his hands and sat down on the beach. As he looked at the envelope he noticed the number 84 written on it and he couldn't help but smile. It seemed that after a year, they had landed back in the same situation. She was off in California and he was at home dealing with her rejection alone.

Lucas ripped open the letter and unfolded it before pride and his ego stopped him. He saw the date and knew that she had written it the last time she had seen him. She had seemed so desperate that night, begging him to let her in. And still, he couldn't figure out why he didn't. He loved her. That should have been enough.

Dear Lucas,

I wasn't sure when it was the right time to tell you this, but between Peyton's mom dying and then what happened to Keith… I never had the chance. I got accepted to a program for the summer and it's something that I really wanted to do. At first, I had decided to stay here in Tree Hill, I didn't want to face us all growing apart next year and I thought it would be an amazing summer vacation.
If there was one thing your Uncle ever taught me it was to follow your dreams and your heart no matter where it takes you. I need to do this for me. I need to see if I can make something of myself. I am really sorry about how we ended things. I know I was the one who said we could take a break- I was just not expecting you to agree. I don't know what life has to offer any of us, but I know I love you. It might not be the type of love we need to make it through, maybe we're not Nathan and Haley. But I still love you. So much.
So I am asking you to do me a favor. Find out what makes you happy, find out and seize it. There's too much pain in this world to not take a chance at a little happiness. You were my happiness Lucas and I will never stop loving you for that. But as much as I know that, perhaps we weren't right for each other. Maybe you need someone else. Someone better. I guess I am starting to ramble and it's probably no use considering I might not even get this to you. Take care Lucas Scott.
Yours forever.
Brooke.

Before he could decide how he felt about the letter he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, to see Peyton staring down at him. "You wanna get out of here?" She asked, looking over her shoulder to her car. He nodded his head enthusiastically and jumped up, ready to erase the day and Brooke's letter. "What's that?" she questioned him, but he shoved it into his back pocket.

"It's nothing. Let's get out of here."

……

"Are you sure I should be here Brooke?" Jake asked, turning towards her. They were standing outside Peyton's house and he was about to ring the doorbell when his heart began to beat louder. "The way I left things…" he began.

Brooke cut him off. "Don't be crazy! Of course you should be here Jake, Peyton will be so happy," she said with a huge smile. It had amazed her that while in Los Angeles, she had run into Jake. Turns out Nikki had actually given Jake their daughter since she didn't want to jail.

"What if she's not?" He asked.

Brooke smacked him lightly on his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Whatever Jake. Peyton loves you, you know that." She tried to open the door but it was locked. Brooke raised an eyebrow and turned towards Jake. "She never has her door locked."

"Maybe she's not home," he offered. Truth was he was nervous about seeing her again.

Brooke rolled her eyes and bent down to the ground. She grabbed the house key from under the mat and jumped up excitedly. "Jackpot, let's go inside!" Brooke said.

As she slid the key in the door she turned towards Jake and smiled. "Maybe you should go first." She pushed Jake inside the house and walked behind him until she bumped into him. "Why'd you stop?" She questioned as she moved out of the way to see what was wrong.

"Oh my God."

……

"Are you excited about Brooke coming home?" Karen asked Haley as she sat down on the couch. It had become a habit of Karen's to stop by and see Haley and Nathan.

Haley nodded her head and stirred the pot of macaroni. "I'm just worried she won't have a place to stay anymore." When Brooke had left she had insisted that Haley move Nathan back in and Haley hadn't wasted anytime. She loved Brooke, but missed her husband.

"Maybe she'll stay at Peyton's," Karen suggested as Nathan entered the room. He grabbed the soda that Haley had poured for him and laughed to himself.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said.

Haley and Karen both turned to him in confusion. "Peyton is Brooke's best friend." Karen reached out and touched her stomach before looking up at Nathan. "Is there something we should know?"

"I just don't think that Brooke will want to stay there. All things considering," Nathan turned to his wife. "Maybe you should talk to Peyton." Nathan ignored the glare he was getting from his wife and sat down on the other side of the couch. "Let's just say that feelings shouldn't be suppressed."

Karen nodded her head. "Lucas."

"Yeah, I don't really understand it but whatever."

Haley folded her arms at her chest and stared at Nathan. "What do you know? Are Lucas and Peyton…?" Nathan shook his head no and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't think so."

Karen and Haley both looked at him in confusion. "Then what the hell are you talking about?" Haley asked. Nathan knew that Haley's friendship with Brooke meant a lot to her and he wasn't sure if he was right. He didn't want to get Peyton in trouble for nothing and he definitely didn't want to start problems between Haley and Lucas again.

"Peyton still has feelings for Lucas."

Karen and Haley both looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Oh my God."

TBC.
well, what do you think? I know. I am actually writing L/P? But what better way forLucas to realize just who the ONE isfor him. Feedback as always is appreciated.