"Lucas?"

"Hey there Peyt. How you doing?"

Peyton didn't know what to do or say. She felt her body begin to tremble as well as her lip quiver. Her son looked at her and pulled her hand.

"Mommy, who's that guy?"

At that point in time, Lucas hadn't acknowledged the little boy that appeared to be at least 4 years of age. The man standing next to Peyton stooped down the boy's height on one knee.

"Hey buddy. I think mommy needs some alone time with the grown ups. Is that ok?"

The little boy shook his head and Russell Peretz picked up the boy in his arms and left the room, but not before touching Peyton on her shoulder. She looked over at him and touched his hand lovingly.

"I…I know this has to be some kind of a shocker of everyone here. Believe me, I'm the one most surprised. I didn't even plan on coming back until about 4 hours ago and even then I wasn't even sure. When I heard about Whitey, I knew the right thing to do was to come home immediately." Lucas looked at everyone and still found expressionless faces. "Look can someone please say something besides my name in shock. This is just as hard for me."

"Why Whitey?" Nathan Scott stepped from behind his wife and came towards his older brother. "You didn't give a damn about the old man. How many times did he ask you to give up your habit? I don't even have enough finger or toes to count them. As far as I'm concerned, you're not welcomed here so why don't you do us all a favor and get the hell out of here before I throw you out."

"Nathan, stop it!" Haley put a hand on Nathan's chest preventing him from getting closer to Lucas.

"Don't tell me you're going to defend him Hales?"

"Well no one is stepping up to the plate. It might as well be me. Well, Luke, we're waiting. Want to tell us all where you've been?" Haley crossed her arms and once again, all the attention was on Lucas. He looked at everyone trying to find a justifiable answer but found it impossible.

"I think its better that I go."

"Like hell you will." Karen grabbed her son by the arm and looked him dead in the eyes. "I think everyone here deserves answers."

"What do you want me to say! That I'm sorry for leaving the way that I did? I'm sorry but I can't. If I wouldn't have left that night, I wouldn't have been able to do it ever. It was then or never. I made a choice and whether you guys agree with it or not is not my problem. You guys stopped being my problem the second you turn your backs on me. I thought everyone would have been happy with the decision that I took but obviously not. If going to rehab wasn't what you guys wanted then I don't know what else to do to make everyone happy. I gave you what you wanted. What else do you want from me?"

"Why didn't you come back after your treatment was over?"

Lucas looked towards Peyton who had finally spoken a word since seeing him. Lucas didn't know how to respond to the question. He knew the answer but he couldn't bear to say it in front of everyone.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

Lucas left the compound and stepped behind the wheels of his car. He pressed his head against the steering wheel and tried to maintain his composure. A couple of seconds later, Haley came running out the house, knocking on his car window.

"Here, take this." She handed him a set of keys.

"What is this?"

"The keys to the apartment. It's been vacant for years, but I'm sure it's better than a hotel. Take it please." Lucas looked at the keys and took them. Haley ran back inside the house and Peyton was waiting for her in the foyer.

"He took them."

"Good. Now all I need is to be able to disappear for 30 minutes without Russell noticing."

"I'll take care of that. Don't worry. Go get your man…I mean go talk to Lucas."

"Smooth Hales…real smooth."

"Couldn't help it."

Haley smiled and Peyton couldn't help but smile too. She hugged her best friend and took her coat from the closet before leaving as well.