A/N: Thanks for the reviews, they're always welcome:) This is a HUGE update so enjoy!

continue the flashback

Lucas was met with silence from Peyton in response. He opened his eyes to look at her. Her face held a million emotions- concern, worry, anger..

"You- you- you have a life threatening illness that you've been hiding from me? I thought my secret was bad, but it's nothing compared to that!" Peyton said angerly and got up from her seat quickly. She started to storm away when Lucas reached out a hand to stop her.

"I've been hiding it from everyone, Peyton. My mom doesn't even know," he said to her back, watching her perfect curls sway gently in the soft wind.

She turned around to face him and Lucas could see tears in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"I didn't want you to worry. I didn't want anyone to feel bad for me."

Peyton closed her eyes, pushing the tears to drop from them. "You can't be sick, Lucas," she told him, her voice breaking. She opened her eyes, blinking the tears from them rapidly. "You can't- you can't die.. I.. You can't.." He pulled her into a hug, feeling her tears soaking his shirt. They stayed like that for a moment. Suddenly, she pulled back from him.

"If no one knows, then who is getting your medicine?"

He was caught by that question. Lucas was hoping that he wouldn't have to tell her about that part of the situation.

"Dan was."

Peyton shook her head once. "Well he obviously isn't now."

"I know," Lucas told her.

"How much more do you have.. you obviously can't pay for the medicine yourself," she asked him tearfully.

Lucas didn't answer her right away. "Lucas?"

"I haven't had my full perscription for a long time. I ran out the same day of the summer that you found out about your mother."

Peyton made a noise of disbelief. "Lucas!"

"I know. It's a risk, but nobody can pay for it. My mom doesn't have the money, and even if she did, she's in New Zealand.. and there's nobody else to pay for it."

A new flow of tears left Peyton's eyes. Lucas reached up hesistantly, using his hand to wipe them off her cheeks. Peyton closed her eyes involuntarily in response. "Don't get upset about this, Peyton. This is why I didn't want to tell you." His hand lingered on her cheek for a moment before he dropped it quickly. She made another noise of disbelief and her eyes flew open. "Please," he pleaded with her. "And you can't tell anyone about it."

After a moments thought, she nodded her head. "Promise," she told him.

Lucas reached into his pocket, pulling out the cd. "Will you take this now?"

Peyton laughed as she wiped the remaining tears from her face. She extended her hand and grabbed the cd. "Obviously. Better have some good songs on it, Scott."

He put an arm around her shoulder, retriving her things from the beach, before heading back to their respective homes.

end flashback

And Peyton had kept that promise since then.

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The next morning, Peyton was getting ready for her first real day as an intern when she heard a knock at her door. Wondering who could possibly be at her door, she looked through the peephole. It was Lucas. She really didn't want to talk to him right now. He knocked again, harder this time. Sighing in resolve, her hand moved to the doornob and she opened the door slightly, enough to stick her head out.

"Hi," Lucas said as her head appeared outside the door.

"How did you know where I lived," Peyton asked him, her voice cold.

"I kinda asked Nathan," he told her slowly. "Can I come in, please? I want to talk about last night."

"You don't owe me anything, Lucas. There's no need to talk about last night, or anything for that matter."

"Peyton, please. I don't want it to be like this."

"Don't want what to be like this?" Peyton asked him, wanting him to define what exactly they were talking about.

"Whatever you and I are now."

"And what's that?"

Lucas sighed. "I don't know, Peyton."

Peyton shook her head, opening the door farther. "Fine."

He entered her apartment, taking a look around. It was basically empty, her stuff was still in her bags. "Not unpacked yet?" He laid his backpack down on the couch. Apparently he was on his way to school.

"No.." Peyton said. "I was tired, just went to bed. It's only a couple of bags anyways."

Lucas nodded. "What about the rest of your stuff?"

"Elizabeth is shipping it out to me today."

"You're still in contact with her?"

"Yup," she told him. "Enough small talk. Get it out, Lucas."

Lucas' brooding face appeared. Peyton looked it over, having to reprimand herself to keep from saying something about it. It was funny that she actually missed that face.

"Last night.. didn't go very well."

"Obviously," Peyton blurted, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"I'm sorry about what I said," Lucas told her softly, his eyes glued to the floor.

Peyton heard his earnesty, and suddenly all of her anger disappeared. She never could stay mad at him for long. "Me too. I was way out of line. I was just... caught off guard, that's all."

Lucas was quiet was a moment. He looked up at her a second later. "We should start over. Ignore what happened yesterday."

Peyton nodded. "Sure."

"Let's try to move on from the past. From what happened that summer."

"Good."

Lucas spotted a cd on her table. In an instant, he recognized it. The mix he had made her that summer. He remembered he made it for two reasons. First, to pay her back for the cd she made him for his first away game. Second, he did it because he had realized he was falling for her again. At the time he didn't know it... but he was. Lucas took the cd in his hands, opening it. Inside, he found the picture of the two of them. The one from his box and the one that spurred the argument that ended at the beach. He looked up at Peyton, but she had disappeared from the room. Confused, he got up and found her in the bathroom, playing with her hair.

"You always follow people into the bathroom?" she asked, trying to distract him from what was still in his hands.

"I remember the day I gave you this, Peyton," he said, his face reminiscent.

"Yeah, me too. But like you just said: time to move on."

"I did say that didn't I?" he asked, watching Peyton brush her fingers through her long blonde curls. It was almost mesmerizing.

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?", Peyton asked him, feeling his eyes boring into her.

"Oh-" Lucas said startled. "Yeah. I'll see ya later, Peyton."

"I do owe you and Brooke a dinner, don't I?"

"Dinner sounds good," Lucas said as he left the bathroom akwardly. Crossing the room quickly, he grabbed his stuff, put the cd back down on the table, and left the house without another word.

Peyton stuck her head out around the doorframe of the bathroom in time to see him close the door. She let out a deep sigh. Peyton didn't think she could stand the tension anymore.

On the other side of the door, Lucas did the same thing. He hurried to his car, late for his class.

After a long day at her new job, Brooke dragged Peyton back to her place for dinner. She didn't even give her a chance to get changed or anything. Nathan was there when they got in the house.

"Don't you ever stay in your dorm?" Peyton asked him, laughing.

Brooke laughed too. "The answer to that would be a no."

"Where's Luke? We're supposed to be shooting some hoops tonight?" he said he spun his basketball on his finger. Peyton, who was coincidently standing in back of him at the time, knocked the ball off his finger and back into his chest.

"Ow," he complained, grabbing his chest. Peyton laughed.

"Not tonight, Nathan. We're having dinner with Peyton. Make-up from last night."

"Thanks a lot, Peyton," Nathan said jokingly. "Not only did you give me a bruise, but you ruined my plans."

"You want more than a bruise?" Peyton asked him sweetly.

"No- no that's okay," Nathan responded quickly, scrambling off the couch to get away from her. "I'll just get going, then."

"No, why don't you stay?"

Nathan hesitated. "Whose else is coming?" he asked Brooke. Peyton knew what the real question was: is Haley going to be there?

"Lucas and Haley, duh," Brooke responded.

"Oh. I really should get back to sch-"

"No," Brooke interrupted. "You are not cutting out on dinner just because Haley is going to be there."

Nathan opened his mouth, looking for an excuse. He knew that nothing was going to work, so he just shut it. Peyton put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll get through it, Nathan. You're a strong boy." Peyton said, a smile on her face.

"Ha-ha."

The dinner, to say the least, was going interestingly. Peyton had ended up next sitting with Haley on one side of the table so Nathan wouldn't have to sit next to her. The only problem with that was it sat her next to Lucas and Nathan across from Haley. Peyton noticed more than once that the two kept looking at each other when the other wasn't looking. Rolling her eyes, she put hers on her own food. She was determined not to bump arms with Lucas one more time that night. Each time she did, the meal got more and more uncomfortable. She remembered a the last time that her and Lucas had eaten together...

start flashback

About a week after the argument about the picture, Peyton was letting Lucas lead her to somewhere. He had his hand over her eyes, but little known to Lucas, she could see perfectly.

"Don't look," he warned.

"I would never dare" she told him with a laugh.

He was taking her to some resturant along the beach. They were in Charleston. Lucas had driven her out to see a show that night there, and was determined to find somewhere that was open at one in the morning.

"Ha- found one. I told you," he said as he removed his hand from her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Peyton replied as he pulled her arm towards it. He had been very touchy-feely tonight. "It is very beautiful, though Luke."

Lucas approached the front desk of the place. "You guys still open?"

The person at the desk glanced up at the clock. "For another five minutes."

Peyton gave him 'an I told you so' face. "Can we have some food to go?"

"Everything's closed down for the night, sir."

"There's nothing?" he asked desperately.

The woman behind the desk smiled. She nodded towards the back of the place. "There is that ice cream machine, back there."

Lucas smiled back as Peyton looked back at it. "Ice cream sounds good." Lucas payed for it and the two got their ice cream. Since the place was closing, they couldn't sit in it, so they ended up sitting in the sand once again.

"We always seem to end up on the beach," Peyton observed. "Even if we are in Charleston."

"Ends up that way doesn't it?" Lucas responded as he licked his fastly melting ice cream.

They sat in silence for a few moments, taking their time to eat their snack. The wind was blowing furiously around them as the waves crashed upon the shore. "It's gonna rain," Lucas commented quietly.

Peyton was looking up at the stars, her eyes reflected the light from above. "Let it," Peyton responded. "I don't think anything could ruin this night."

Lucas smiled widely as he watched her. He hadn't seen her this happy since her times with Jake. Reminding himself of that, Lucas turned away from her, putting his eyes back onto the waves. "I'm glad I could get your mind off of things for a night," he told her. "Off of your- Elizabeth... off of Jake.." he added. "Have you heard anything from him?"

Peyton shook her head. "I'm not expecting to," she said, surprising him. "I think your plan to move on worked. The longer he's away, the more my feelings for him lessen."

Lucas was staring at her. She was never this open about her feelings before and it shocked him.

"I can't believe I just told you that," Peyton said, obviously unnerved. She ran her free hand through her curls.

"Thank you," Lucas replied.

Peyton scrunched up her face, confused. "For what?"

"Being open with me. For letting me in," he said as he looked at her. To Peyton, it was like he was looking into her soul, seeing all of her. He was the only one that could do that. It scared Peyton. She looked away from him quickly as he continued. "It means a lot, Pey.. more than you know."

"For some reason, I can't help it with you," Peyton told him, her voice barely audible.

"And why's that?" Lucas asked.

She didn't get to answer as the sky opened up and the rain started to pour down. They were soaked within moments, and the two scrambled up.

"Lucas- it's like a mile back to the car!" Peyton yelled over the rain.

"Then let's get going," he yelled back, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward.