Title: Faded Paper
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Rating: PG
Character(s)/Pairing: Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer
Summary: What the difference between a faded memory and faded piece of paper?
Warnings: none

Peyton walked into her room after her shower and lay down on her bed. She was so happy with Lucas. She had always loved him in some way, shape or form, since the moment they met. She could remember the night she stayed up late drawing picture of him wishing he were there instead of some piece of paper.

She smiled at him as he came in the room still dripping from the shower. "I want to show you something."

She rolled off the bed and went to her closet. He sat down on her bed and watched her fumble through things. Finally, she found an old leather bound notebook and came back and sat down next to him. She handed him the book, "This is for you."

He opened up the book and was amazed to find pictures of himself that Peyton had drawn. "Peyton? These are great, guy isn't to bad looking either," he joked.

"Yeah, but I didn't get his head big enough."

"Seriously these are great, wait," then he noticed they were dated, "you were drawing these back when you were dating Nathan?"

"Yeah."

"You loved me back then?"

"Yeah, I did."

"You might not remember this, but do you remember about 2 years ago, you drew a picture of me, making fun of how much I brood, remember?"

"How could I forget that? It started Brooke calling you Broody," she laughed.

"So that's why," he rolled his eyes, "anyway, let me see something here."

He got off the bed and walked over to his pants, which were lying, on the floor. He bent over and trying not to let the towel fall, picked up his pants and pulled out his wallet. He walked back over to the bed and pulled a piece of paper from his wallet. He handed it to her and she unfolded it to find the picture she had drawn 2 years before. "Lucas? You kept it?"

"Yeah, I couldn't throw it away."

"Why not? It wasn't my best work."

"Peyton, you saw the real me. I was broody, but it wasn't because I was mean, it as because my whole life I had felt like I never would measure up to Nathan or be what Dan wanted me to be. You saw the pain I was in."

Peyton leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. She pulled back, "You saw the same thing in me. You saw the little girl who missed her mom behind the fake cheerleader smile I wore. You saw the anger and the pain; you saw the potential in me, even when I didn't."

"I love you Peyton."

"I love you too Lucas."