Hello all- Forgive me for not updating. I had the majority of this chapter done for awhile now, but needed some time to wrap it up. Hope you like it. -

The years rolled by fast. Life has a gracious way of allowing grief's hold to lessen as the days go by. There were days that hurt more than most. The firsts were always a bittersweet event. Christmas, first steps, first babblings into words, birthdays, anniversaries, first day at school were beautiful times, but were shared with sadness as well. The first year had to be the hardest. Finding a way to be able to provide for his little girl and yet have time with her was more than stressful. The long nights where she cried incessantly and he had no clue how to make her feel better.

They made it work though. Nathan, Haley, and other family and friends were very supportive. They would lend a hand as much as they could. Lucas never felt like he had to face raising his sweet Ava Joy alone. The only time he had a hard time would be the long dark nights alone. He would stare up at the ceiling or at the place where Kate would sleep. He would ache for the love of his life as the night hours went by. There were nights he would have Ava sleep with him so he did not feel so alone.

One day, six years after the accident, Lucas stood in his mom's old café. He ran it being that the schedule did not interfere with being a father. He would work through the school hours knowing he could not be home with the emptiness to greet him. When Ava finished with school for the day, one of the moms, usually Haley would bring her over. The little girl would find a chair to sit on and pretend she was helping her daddy.

Lucas stood behind the counter pouring a cup of coffee for a customer when the door clicked wide open and a bell announced an arrival. He looked up to see his beautiful daughter walking in. The little six year old shut the door behind her and turned around. Her long chocolate brown hair tied in two tight braids, some girl from school must have done, ran past her shoulder blades. She had on a bright orange shirt that had white letters that said "I don't need boys, I've got my daddy." she also wore dark blue jeans and black and white converse shoes.

Ava came over to the counter, jumped up on the bar stool, and dumped her back pack. "Hi daddy!" she greeted with euthuasium.

After taking the payment for the coffee from the customer and putting in the register, Lucas spun around to look at daughter. He squinted at her.

"Um, do I know you?" he inquired.

The little girl let a smile come across her face exposing two missing from teeth. "Daddy, it's me. Your daughter."

Lucas made a confused face. He brought his hand to his chin and rested his elbows on the counter in front of her. He studied her in a goofy way making her giggle.

"Are you sure? My daughter always greets me with a kiss when she comes in. You haven't-"

Just as he rambled, Ava leaned in and kissed her daddy on the cheek. Lucas's face lit up in a smile only she could cause. She was his whole world. He loved her more than life. "Hello Ava Joy! When did you get here?"

Ava giggled. "Daddy, you're so silly!"

Lucas smiled again at her statement. "What time did Aunt Haley say we should come over for dinner tonight?"

"6:00." The little girl responded eagerly.

Lucas nodded as he peered up at the clock. They had about an hour and a half before they would have to leave the café to make it Nathan and Haley's in time. Lucas looked forward to the dinner. He always did. Anytime with his brother, his best friend, and nephew was a guaranteed a great time. They would laugh the night away, especially when Jamie and Ava would do their annual comedy show.

"Listen buttercup! I need you to do some of your reading before it gets too loud in here." Lucas instructed the little girl by pointing her to an empty chair.

"Yes, daddy." The girl replied and slipped off the chair.

Ava scurried over the table her dad pointed out after grabbing her back pack. She instantly sat down and dove into her books. Lucas encouraged her reading early on. So she be could smart, like her mom. As he beamed with pride looking at her, a customer walked in breaking his concretion.

Without looking, Lucas whoever just walked in. He limped slightly around the corner towards his daughter. The limp was because of some left over damage that did not heal after the accident. Honestly, Lucas appreciated the limp somedays. It reminded him not only what happened, but he did not get off free like the other driver did.

The person not only slammed into the Scott's car at fifty miles per hour, but like a coward drove away upon impact. More often than not that fact alone made Lucas's blood boil. The person not only contributed to the most horrendous moment of his life and took his wife and his daughter's mother and twin away, but they drove away from it. Lucas promised many times at Kate's grave he would not let the driver get away with it. How could he though? He had no lead to who it was.

The limp reminded him daily of what had happened. Sometimes it caused extreme pain if he pushed himself too hard. Lucas needed the pain for a reason he would never admit out loud. The pain punished him for letting that car stay on those tracks. He knew if he told anyone that's how he viewed it or that reason alone he choose not to get strong pain killers to dull it or he had flat out refused a surgery that could fix it, they would tell him he was being ridiculous. Ridiculous to him was allowing his family to lose their heart and soul.

Lucas had been so deep in thought, he had not realized that stopped to rub his throbbing leg over and over again. His top teeth were biting on his bottom lip so hard. The spinning thoughts captured him like a tornado destroying everything in sight including him. Most of the time when he allowed his thoughts to swallow him like this it was late at night. They ravaged through him like a violent storm and left him powerless to do anything, but let them overtake him.

"Lucas?" a familiar voice called bringing him out of the current storm.

Lucas blinked a few times and brought his eyes to the direction of the voice. He found a familiar curly haired and scrawny frame. His eyes met with forest green eyes. He could not believe his eyes who he was looking at. The only one that would be more of shock would be…well, he did not need to go there in his mind.

"Peyton." He blurted. "Hi."

The two stared at one another for awhile. It felt like eternity since they had seen each other but at the same time it felt like yesterday. They shared an intimate history. Kate knew all about it. She begged him to introduce her to the woman who introduced him to some of his music she personally did not care for. He promised he would introduce her next time Peyton was in town which never happened. Till now.

"Hello Lucas." The woman replied softly studying the man in front of her.

He surely was not the man she had last seen over a decade ago. Yes, he still looked good as ever. She could not place it though. He looked tired. Worn out. Like life had beat the snot out of him in a few boxing matches. She looked down at his hands and found his ring finger empty. Funny, she thought she had heard he was married. As she looked down at this hand, he felt her looking at it and dug it in his pocket.

Lucas took a step closer to her. The pain from his leg radiated up his body and caused him to draw a quick breath. Trying to remain focused on his reunion, he inquired "What brings you back to the good ole' Tree Hill?" as he rubbed the pain away.

What a simple question, but not with an easy answer. Peyton did not want to have their reunion start with her usual depressing life bleeding through. Instead, she shrugged as her blonde curls bounced.

"Can't a girl visit her hometown?" she spoke a little more defensively then she had meant to.

"Oh sure, just that you have not been around in a long time. Thought you had forgotten about us hillbillies out there in California." Lucas half teased.

Part of him was teasing. The other part was serious. He did feel forgotten by a once good friend. Though he knew nothing could happen to them again, he wished she would have been around to help him through the agony of his life. Haley made sense of his life most of the time, but Peyton Sawyer had a talent to say the right thing a 100% of the time.

Peyton had been almost offended by the statement. She had her reasons she had stayed away for so long. For him to assume she had forgotten about her home was the furthest thing from the truth. Sometimes it was all she could think about. Her life and its complexities kept her 2,546 miles away. She had no choice now and she hated every minute of it.

Before anyone could say anything, a little Asian girl came up to Lucas with a large book in her hand. She held it up to him breaking his focus off Peyton and on her.

"Daddy, what does this word say?"

Lucas looked intently at the book. As he looked at it, the little girl studied Peyton. She did not know the strange woman talking to her daddy. She probably was another customer. She did not give it much thought but instead looked back at her father.

Lucas worked through with her on sounding out the word. His blue eyes came to life as they interacted. The little girl laughed as he poked a joke at her. They both had wide spread smiles on their faces. She envied the happiness they shared. They looked like nothing could bring them down. Then Peyton started to wonder where this little girl's mother was if Lucas did not have a ring on his finger. She could not picture her once good friend going through with a divorce, but anything was possible.

As the little girl went back to the table, Lucas ran his hand through her hair. He watched her go back to the table and read for a few, what seemed like eternity, seconds. Peyton saw a look come across his face that she could not place. It was a mix of guilt and happiness. Why would he look like that way?

Lucas loved his daughter more than anything or anyone in the world. He would give her anything, but one thing. The life of her mother and her brother Keith. He punished himself for that all too often. Whenever they went to the park, Lucas would catch his sweet baby girl looking onto a child playing with their mother. His heart ached at those sights. He wanted more then anything for her to have a mother figure in her life. Sure, Haley had definitely been the best substitute. Lucas wanted Ava Joy to have someone's undivided attention though. What he really wanted was for Ava to have Kate in her life. The woman would have absolutely delighted in the girl. There was moments, more often then not, Lucas caught himself smiling. He knew in those moments how much Kate would have treasured that moment.

Lucas shook his head and focused back on Peyton. "Sorry about that. That's my um…"

"Daughter?" Peyton finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah."

Peyton let a small grin come across her face. "What's her name?"

Lucas caught the grin on his face like it was a contagious disease. "Ava Joy Scott."

Peyton let the smile grow bigger on her face. What a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl. The two of them turned their gazes off each other and looked at her. The little girl sat at a table with several books on the table she sat at. Her legs dangled from the chair unable to touch the floor. Her little feet bounced to the beat of the classical music playing in the room. Feeling the intense stares of both the adults, Ava looked back at them.

"What?" she asked as if she was guilty of something.

Both adults laughed. "Nothing beautiful. Just watching you work real hard on that book." Lucas explained. As he turned to look at Peyton again, he brought his eyes back on his daughter. "Ava this my friend Peyton Sawyer."

"Hi Ava." Peyton greeted rather shyly.

"Hello. " Ava responded twisting one of her braids with her fingers.

Once the introduction was over, Ava went back to her reading and Lucas looked back at Peyton again. Something was not right. Her face looked etched with a permanent sadness. Her once bright and vibrant green eyes were foggy. He began to truly wonder what had brought her back to Tree Hill. It was not a random visit. Lucas did not mind her coming back at all, but it intrigued him.

"What were we saying?" he questioned.

Peyton made a quick thinking face and then realized it. "You were accusing me of not caring about you 'hillbillies'?"

Lucas slightly laughed, but upon seeing Peyton's straight face he straightened up. "Sorry. You haven't been back here in a long time. Beginning to think you forgot about us."

Forget. That was the last thing that Peyton had done. There were far too many sleepless nights staring up at the ceiling, zombie like days were she did the same mundane thing, and her thoughts were never far from Tree Hill.

Seeing her face beginning to pain at the accusation, Lucas cleared his throat. "Let's try this again." He brought his voice to an excited level. "Peyton Sawyer! How are you?"

Peyton allowed a smile to crack through her face. "I'm doing just dandy, how are you Lucas Scott?"

"Oh, same old, same old." He responded. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?"

After she nodded, Lucas zipped around the table to get it. Peyton watched him limp away. Was that a recent injury? So much she did not know. It kind of killed her that so many details of her friend's life were a mystery. Why was he limping? Why wasn't he wearing a wedding band? Who was his daughter's mother? What right did she have to know everything though. Like he had said, she had not been around. She had no right to know.

"Do you still like your coffee the same?" Lucas called behind the counter.

Peyton felt her heart jump a little at the fact he remembered how she liked her coffee. Quickly though she rejected the excitement, who could forget such a simple order. "Yep. Black like my soul." She spoke dryly.

Lucas laughed. He missed her quick wit. As he reached for the pot, Ava asked "Daddy when are we going to Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan's? I'm hungry!"

Again, Lucas laughed. As he poured Peyton's drink into a large Styrofoam cup, he peered up at the clock. "Well, we got about fifteen minutes."

"Can we go now?" the little girl pleaded.

Peyton approached the counter to receive her coffee from Lucas. She was glad and relieved to hear that Lucas still had Nathan and Haley nearby. She took the coffee from Lucas's outstretched arm, silently lipped thank you, and brought it to her lips.

Seeing her dad's uneasiness about going to her aunt and uncle's house, Ava added "Come on daddy!"

Lucas smiled at his daughter. "Hey Peyton, would you like to come with us? That is if you don't have any better plans."

Peyton shifted on her feet nervously. She had not seen Nathan or Haley or their son in years. How can you start up a conversation after all that time? She felt as if she did not belong to their little life.

"Come on, Peyton. We are just having dinner and hanging around their house. We do it all the time. And everytime, Haley tries to convince me to bring a date. You can be mine for the night. What do you say?"

Date? Peyton heard the teasing in his tone, but the word still made her nervous. She did not want her heart to get in the way. Not now. Things were far too complicated. Whether she liked it or not though, she felt her defenses waning. Especially, when she felt a little tug on her shirt.

"Please come. Aunt Haley is very nice. She likes to feed people. Plus, my cousin Jamie and I will be doing a magic show. You could come and see." Ava pleaded with her big chocolate brown eyes.

How could anyone say no to that? Peyton agreed. She knew she would come to regret it. being with Lucas had a way of entrapping you. You come away with wanting more. Not that she did not want more but rather, she did not deserve more.

"Okay, I'll come. It's a 'date'" Peyton relented sending a wink to Lucas.

What did she think she was doing?