I love you more than all the stars,

The rain drops from the sky,

My love for you is

taller than any mountain

Deeper than any ocean

Higher then the moon

Love for you does not stop at the why or how

It unconditionally exists for you

She spun around in a circle and long flowing white skirt swirled along with her. Her long chocolate hair floated in the air. Her eyes lit up like dancing lights. She danced to some unheard beautiful music playing in the background. She stopped, took deep breaths, and locked her eyes on Lucas.

Lightening spanned its long fingers across the sky.

Lucas looked at her like he never seen her before. He found his eyes wandering and coveting her small framed body. He ached for her. Everything in him wanted her but for some reason knew she could never be his again. A sadness nagged at his heart. He wanted to hold her tightly and never let her go.

He stepped closer to her and she took a step back. Lucas looked at her funny. With no emotion on her face, she took another step towards a cliff. Lucas saw the background and tried to beckon her to come closer to him but no words came out. He was not surprised by this for some reason. He just insisted using his body language to come towards him. When she shook her head and took another step, he stepped backwards hoping that she would follow him. Nope. She took yet another step watching him. She brought out her hand towards the cliff.

Tears filled his eyes as nothing he would do would work. He wanted her to be safe but could tell his actions would not stop her from walking towards the edge of the cliff. His watery eyes bounced from her face to her feet.

When she arrived at the edge, she kept her eyes locked on him but balanced her left foot in the air. The tears stuck in his eyes fell down Lucas's face.

The once big ocean of a sky was full of comets and shooting stars dancing across it.

"Kate." Lucas mouthed.

She went to take the leap off when Lucas leaned forward on the couch. He called her name over and over with the real tears falling down his face. He reached in front of him trying to stop her falling body but failed once again terribly.

Ava Joy sat on her aunt's lap half asleep, but heard her daddy. The noise did not cause ripples of uneasiness to run through her because she had heard the noise before. It was not a pleasant noise though. She watched him buried in Haley's chest as her own chocolate eyes started to water. She tried to bite down on her quivering bottom lip.

The little girl convinced her aunt she couldn't fall asleep in her bed and needed to stay out in the living room where her daddy was. Normally Haley could see right there what she was planning, but let her stay as long as she tried to sleep. Ava Joy was pretty shook up after seeing her daddy in so much pain that she cuddled with her aunt for comfort. Haley's warm chest provided not only comfort but ability to fall asleep. Almost. Until Lucas's medical induced hallucination began.

Haley, thinking Ava Joy was asleep, tried taking the child off her lap and attend to her best friend. Ava Joy still had some sort of grip on her. Haley took her eyes off of Lucas and looked down at his daughter.

"Oh baby, I didn't know you were still awake."

Ava Joy went to speak but the tears spilled down her face. She remained focused on her daddy as he continued to the air thinking his wife was right there.

"Why does he do that?" she asked with her voice shaking.

Haley wiped the tears off the little girl's face, cleared her throat, and opened her mouth "The medicine your daddy takes is really strong and causes him to talk in his sleep. Like Jamie did that one time, remember?"

Ava Joy smiled regardless of the tears, much like rainbow reaching across a still raining sky, pouring down her face. The funny memory of her cousin in his sleep being insistent about riding the purple unicorn made her laugh for a second.

"That's what your daddy is doing right now." Haley continued instantly realizing the drinks he had at dinner had probably made the hallucination so much worse. Irritation instantly filled inside of her at both herself but also him.

Sure, she couldn't blame herself entirely for this situation. She didn't know his pain was so bad that he would have to resort to the injection. But she should have known in the back of her mind that just in case a problem should arise, he should limit his alcohol intake. He did not drink the whole bottle but he definitely made a dent in helping.

"I should be used to seeing him like this." Ava Joy whispered interrupted Haley's thoughts.

Haley eyes furrowed and looked down on the child. "What do you mean, buttercup?"

"I see daddy like this a lot." Ava Joy confessed without holding back not knowing she just revealed a big secret her daddy was holding from everyone including her.

Haley instantly went from irritation to flat out anger and lack of understanding. What the heck? Why did Lucas, her best friend and brother in law, not tell her about this? It's not like they never talked about his injury. It probably came up a few times a month. But come to think of it, Lucas was always vague and dismissive of the subject. He made it sound like the problem was more of a nuisance that nagged him every once in awhile. But if his daughter had admitted she had seen him like this, a lot not to forget to mention, there was definitely a problem going on.

Trying to keep her voice level and not going to throttle the guy she thought she knew, "What do you mean by that, angel?"

Ava wiped the tears of her face and twiddled her braid. Even though she had seen her father like this many times before it never got easier but she couldn't understand that. Why was it so hard? Why wouldn't it be hard? Why couldn't a doctor fix it?

"I see daddy when he doesn't see me seeing him. He walks around funny at the café. Sometimes he stops what he is doing, grab his leg right here" she pointed to her thigh. "and rub it hard. Then he'll continue what he was doing but a lot slower." She took a heavy breath and sounded much older then herself. "One time, he had a tub of dishes and went to go behind the counter. A customer asked him something and he turned around to answer. He then lost his balance and fell. The whole café looked at him. Even the customer jumped up and tried to help him up. Another lady came and put the broken dishes in the tub. He tried telling everyone he was fine. I came over to see if he was okay and needed my help but once he stood back up, he told he was fine and needed me to continue my reading. I tried to listen, but I was worried. I sat back down and watched him thank everyone, say sorry for the commotion and head in back sweat on his face and with his teeth like this." She clenched her teeth.

The six going on thirty six year old sniffed and continued as her aunt played with her hair. "After staring at my book forever, I just gave up and shut it. I got up and went to look for daddy to see if he needed my help. I found him in the back, sitting on a stool, and grabbing his leg. He was breathing hard. In one of his hands he had that needle you used earlier and was about to put it where you put it but he looked up and saw me. He told me to back to my reading and that he was okay. I didn't move. He then stood up, made a sad face for a second, and then pretty much yelled at me to leave." Ava Joy shuddered at the omission. "I have seen daddy in pain. I have seen daddy miss mommy. I have seen him talk in his sleep even though his eyes are wide open. But I have never had daddy yell at me before."

Haley filled with compassion and sympathy for Ava Joy. The little girl had seen so much that no six year old should ever have to see. Her irritation at her best friend would have to be confronted when he was much more lucid and able to have a conversation. She would have to bring Nathan into it because sometimes she would get lost in the emotion and yell or scream and Nathan had the ability to not only see past it, but navigate the conversation to the right spot. Sometimes she had the skill to say the right thing that her best friend needed to hear, but when her emotions over shadowed her words, his brother would step in and say the words.

"Are you mad, Aunt Haley?" Ava Joy inquired nervously.

Haley snapped back to reality once again, "At what?"

"For me telling you this. I don't think daddy will be too happy I told you."

The car felt like it took years to get to Peyton's hotel not fifteen minutes. There was so much to ask and explain, but either Nathan or her could muster the words. So many questions Peyton wanted to ask about the night, but was unable to form any sentences. When they got to the hotel, Peyton mumbled thank you. Before she could eject out of the car, Nathan held back with a question.

"What does bring you back here?"

The question fell from her head into her stomach. Again, this question left no easy answers. Peyton felt Nathan needed to go back to his home to be with his brother and not be burdened by any of her omissions.

She choked out and left after saying, "I need to right some wrongs."

Hello all! Thank you for your support even though it has been a long time waiting series of updating. Goes to show you that we can't give up on an author for not updating. I thank you for giving me the chance to write and commenting. I do love your affirmation and as you can see my earlier reviewers were harsh. I didn't fall off the map because of that, getting sick did that. I appreciate your support in that. Though life is still not where I would like it, writing is something that is still with me. So bare with me, I got this. (my famous new saying)