Lucas had just parked his car. He was staring up at her house, Peyton's house… thinking about the night he was there last. The broken window by the door had been replaced now, and the house seemed just like normal. But it wasn't normal. Something was missing.

He continued to stare at the house, lost in his own mind. He wasn't sure he had the strength to go in there again, to face what he could have prevented from happening, but he had to. Larry was expecting him.

He'd just barely talked to Larry right after he came home, because Larry had been too busy going to the police station demanding answers, and after that, Lucas just hadn't gotten himself to visit. He knew his mom had already visited Larry, and she'd looked very sad after returning from the visit.

What would happen when he saw Larry? What if he blamed Lucas, like he blamed himself? What if he started yelling at him? It was all Lucas' fault, after all.

Well, he had to face him eventually.

He took one last glance at the house, imagining Peyton being up there, blasting loud music… And then he left the car, walking up the front porch.

He looked at the doorbell. He never used to ring it, as Peyton would never hear it anyway. There were all these things he didn't realize he missed, until they were gone… He slowly rang it, and expected the worst. There came a loud crash from inside, like glass falling to the ground breaking, and then he heard fast footsteps coming closer. The door opened, and then Larry stood there, looking disorderly and mournful.

"Hi Lucas. It was nice of you to come visit." Larry wasn't smiling, but he didn't look angry either. He only looked sad. He had dark rings under his eyes, and his skin was paler than usual.

"Hey Mr. Sawyer," Lucas said.

"Come in, Lucas. I just need to clean up…" Larry hurried back into the kitchen. Lucas supposed he meant clean up whatever he had broken when the doorbell rang.

As he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to see the mess. There were dirty plates filling up the sink, and old meals of pizza, burgers, and other things spread over the table.

Larry was bowing down, picking up pieces of a broken plate, and looked up at Lucas. "Excuse the mess, I haven't really… I've had other things on my mind."

"That's fine, Mr. Sawyer." Lucas sat down by the table, worrying about him. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm… I don't really know how to handle this."

His voice was shaking.

"Peyton has always been the one to take care of me in bad situations… Even if she wasn't really handling it too well herself. I should have been taking more care of her, that's how it should have been. I don't know how to do this…" Larry turned his back on Lucas, facing the sink. "It's so quiet… All the time. I- I keep going to her room. I always end up just turning her music on, so that it'll feel like she's here. She would be pissed if she knew I was snooping around in her holy ground of a room-" Larry laughed loudly, but the laugh turned into a sob. As he stood there, Lucas could see his shoulders tense, and it was obvious that he was crying.

"Mr. Sawyer, I-"

"Think about how scared she must be right now," Larry interrupted unhappily. "My little girl is all alone out there, and I'm not able to protect her. That's my job as a father, to protect my daughter, and I can't even do that. I should have been here. I shouldn't have been to work all the time… I should have been here to protect my girl from the world, so she wouldn't have to be alone… And now she's gone." He started breathing heavily, and tried to keep from crying.

"This isn't your fault," Lucas said sadly. "You've been working to give Peyton a good life, and she knows that. If anything, this is my fault. I came here too late… If I had gotten here minutes earlier, I could have stopped it." Lucas looked to his feet. Larry turned around, but now he was angry.

"Is that what you think, Lucas?" he said angrily. Here it is, Lucas thought, expecting to be yelled at.

"How can you think that, after all you've done for her… for us?" Larry breathed heavily, and Lucas looked absently at him. "You've been here for Peyton more than anyone else. The times I should have been here to support her, you were here. You saved my little girl when she was all alone at school that day…" Larry let out a tremble at the thought. Lucas stared at him, surprised at his words. Larry looked him right in the eye. "If it hadn't been for you- You've been here for Peyton all the time and you have no idea how much that has meant to this family, Lucas. Thank you."

To hear this meant more to Lucas than he could even explain. Not that that the guilt was gone exactly, bur hearing Larry say these things gave him new hope, new strength.

"Mr. Sawyer, thank you… thank you for that," he said weakly.

Larry nodded.

"We can't give up on Peyton, we just can't," Lucas said, his voice growing stronger. "I'm going to do whatever I can to get her back. I-I just need some clues. This guy, this so-called Derek guy"-Lucas made angry fists at the mention of the name, and Larry's face hardened- "I know nothing about him. Absolutely nothing. I just need a lead, so I'll have something to start from. I will find something., it's just taking some time."

"Thank you Lucas, that means a lot."

They got quiet for a moment. Lucas now realized how truly quiet it was, with no music, no nothing sounding from the house. It reminded him of the same quiet there had been when he last arrived at the house, when Peyton had just disappeared. The thought gave him a lump in his throat, and he tried to shake it off.

"I think we should have some sort of gathering," Lucas suddenly said inspired.

Larry looked curiously at him. "What do you mean, Lucas?"

"I mean… We should have a gathering for the people in town- for people to come and show their support. We could alert the media… so that this case will get more attention. And we'll show our love for Peyton- we'll show her that we haven't forgotten about her. If it makes the news, more people out there will keep their eyes open. Maybe someone has seen something… We need all the help we can get." He looked eagerly at Larry, and Larry smiled for the first time.

"That would be lovely," he said, wiping a tear from his eye.