Peyton woke up to the smell of coffee, and saw Lucas walk into the room with a mug of the steaming liquid in his hands. It wasn't an unexpected or rare thing for him to do, but she still smiled at him as she sat up in their bed.

"It's decaf," he informed her.

"Luke," she said, with a tilt of her head.

"Hey, I'm not taking any chances," he replied with a grin.

She took the mug from him and brought it to her lips while checking the clock. "You let me sleep too late!" she complained. "If I don't look my best today, Brooke will walk ten paces in front of me."

He let out a small laugh and sat down next to her on the bed, brushing a curl away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "I know you were really tired. And you just looked too cute laying there."

"Cute?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"OK, fine. Beautiful, stunning, sexy, gorgeous," he said, rolling his eyes. "You need me to go on?"

"Stop it," she said, swatting his thigh. "Smart ass." She set her mug on the table beside her.

He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. "I'll go start the shower for you."

"Hey," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to her. "Come here." She brought her lips to his and kissed him passionately. His hands found their way to her hair and he moaned when her hands slipped beneath the fabric of his tee shirt. When they finally parted with the need to breathe, he smiled at her and pressed his forehead to hers. He looked down just in time to see her bite her bottom lip gently. He'd seen that before. He knew what that meant.

"What happened to needing to get ready?" he said softly, rubbing the spot below her ear gently with his thumb.

"You did," she said as she looked into his eyes and kissed him again.

----

Brooke arrived to pick Peyton up just before 1:00. She and Haley went to the door and walked in without knocking to find Lucas sitting on the couch watching sports highlights. He turned to see who had come into his house before the TV took his attention again.

"Doesn't anybody knock anymore?" he asked sarcastically.

Their door was always open to their friends. It wasn't odd for him to come home to see both Haley and Brooke sitting at his kitchen table with his wife, all drinking tea and venting about their days at work. Nor was it unprecedented that Peyton would come home to find Lucas, Nathan, Skills and Mouth on her sofa, shouting at the television as they watched a game. Invitations were scarcely necessary.

"Hi Luke," Brooke and Haley said in unison.

"One minute!" Peyton shouted from the bedroom. "I need one more minute!"

The three of them chuckled at Peyton's frantic voice and overused statement. She always needed 'one more minute'.

"Luke, can you come in here?" she yelled.

Lucas stood from the couch and smiled at the two women standing in his living room before walking to the bedroom to see what his wife needed him for. He closed the door behind him and put his hands in his pockets.

"What's up?" he asked nonchalantly.

"You're not going to say anything to Nate, right?" she asked in a panic. Her back was to him as she looked for something in their closet.

"Not till we know one way or the other," he said and she turned to face him. He was stricken by how gorgeous she looked. She was wearing jeans and brown leather boots, and a tight black tank top. She was holding a white sweater in her hands, and her hair was framing her face just perfectly. She'd put on minimal makeup, which was how he loved to see her - letting her natural beauty stand on its own. He stared at his amazing wife and wondered how he got so lucky.

"What?" she asked with a confused look, confused by his blatant staring.

He shook his head gently as if to pull himself out of his daydream. "You look incredible," he said sincerely, walking towards her.

"I look...normal," she said, glancing down at her outfit. He placed his hands on her hips.

"Gorgeous," he whispered into her ear and placed a kiss just beneath her earlobe.

"OK, Lucas, our friends are in the next room. Try to control yourself," she teased, pulling away from him.

"Easy for you to say," he said as she walked past him and towards the dresser. "You aren't seeing what I'm seeing."

"Stop!" she insisted, spraying perfume onto her wrists. He smiled at the blush that was creeping to her cheeks as she pulled on the sweater she'd been holding. He loved that they still had that effect on each other; stealing glances or getting that redness on their faces when they caught the other looking.

"What'd you call me in here for?" he asked with a chuckle, clearly having forgotten her initial question.

"Don't tell Nathan," she ordered and he responded with a nod. "I have to go." She kissed him quickly and swung the door open, walking out with him behind her. Brooke and Haley both noticed that her face was red.

"See you girls later," Lucas said, watching his wife grab her purse off the table. He shot her a wink when she looked back at him.

"Bye Luke," Brooke and Haley said in unison, both laughing that they'd greeted him and said goodbye in stereo.

The three women climbed into Brooke's vehicle and Brooke wasted no time pointing out her friend's red face.

"So, what's with the blushing, P. Scott?" she teased.

"Nothing! Luke was just teasing me," Peyton said, hoping to brush off the focus on her.

"Oh, I bet he was," Brooke said with a grin.

"OK, can we not talk about this?" Haley insisted. "He's practically my brother."

"Fine. I don't want to hear about your boring married sex anyway!" Brooke proclaimed as she steered her SUV down the street.

Both Haley and Peyton grinned and exchanged a glance. They both knew their friend was secretly jealous of their married lives. They each hoped that Brooke would find someone to share her life with sooner, rather than later.

She'd had only a couple of moderately serious relationships - Chase and then Owen - but had yet to find that one person for her who would understand everything. With Chase it was young love; too naive and too fearless and perhaps too fragile to last the long distance. And then with Owen, he simply wouldn't commit, and she simply wouldn't wait. A couple poorly timed remarks from him about a couple of her choices, and she ended it in dramatic fashion and had barely spoken a word to him since.

And with everyone settling down around her, she wanted to think that something was waiting for her just around the next corner. She just wondered how many next corners she'd have to turn.

----

Lucas left his house earlier than he had to and drove to the River Court. He wanted a few minutes alone on the asphalt with his thoughts before everyone else arrived, but apparently Skills had the same idea. He got out of his car and his friend immediately tossed him the ball.

"Hey Luke," Skills greeted him.

"Hey man," Luke responded as he walked toward his friend and pressed their fists together. "Thought I'd be the first one here."

"Yeah, I figured you'd get here early," Skills said. "Look, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?" Lucas replied, freezing the ball at his hip.

"Tell me if I'm crossin' any lines or whatever, but what can you tell me about Brooke?" Skills asked nervously.

"I can tell you a lot of things about Brooke," Lucas laughed. "What do you mean?" He noticed Skills shuffle his feet while looking at the ground. "Do you....are you into her?"

"I dunno," Skills said, looking up at Lucas. "Lately, it's been you and Peyton, Nathan and Haley. We've been kind of tagging along and I've gotten to know her a little better."

"You do like her," Lucas said with a smile.

"She's just....she's a great girl," Skills admitted with a grin. "I just doubt she'd give some dude from the River Court a shot."

"She gave me one," Lucas said with a laugh, throwing the ball towards the net.

"You think I'm crazy?" Skills asked, running to catch the rebound

"Not at all. Go for it," Lucas said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, see, I was thinking you could maybe get some inside info for me," Skills said, sending up a shot as he tried to downplay the significance of his request.

"You mean since my wife is her best friend? I'll see what I can do." Lucas just laughed and clapped his friend on the back. Never had he thought that Skills and Brooke would get together, but it actually didn't seem like a bad idea.

Just as they'd finished their conversation, Junk and Fergie walked onto the court, and Nathan and Jamie pulled up not to long after. Mouth came by after a while and the boys played basketball as they joked and spent their afternoon together. Any passersby could tell how much they all loved the game - even the youngest of the group, wearing his Ravens jersey. Nathan's play drew a small crowd of spectators, as most people never believed he'd play again, and he was almost back to his old self.

After their game, the guys went back to Lucas and Peyton's house to watch a basketball game. They crowded around the living room with beers in their hands and empty pizza boxes on the table in front of them and decided this should be a more regular occurrence. Jamie sat on Lucas' lap while he cheered on the Bobcats, and the older blonde couldn't help but think that that was something he could get used to.

----

Brooke, Peyton and Haley spent their day strolling through the mall, with Brooke being surprisingly calm, compared to her usual shopping intensity. They'd each bought a few things before departing for dinner at their favourite restaurant, then they headed to Haley's house where they sat outside on the deck, taking advantage of the beautiful fall day and chatting over wine, which Peyton had politely refused, using Lucas' suggestion from the night before as her excuse.

"This was a great day, girls," Brooke stated as the sun had almost disappeared.

"It was," Haley agreed, smiling at her friends.

"We should do this more often before either of you ends up preggers," Brooke said nonchalantly. Peyton nearly spit out the cranberry juice she'd just taken a sip of.

"You OK?" Haley asked with a chuckle.

"Fine, yeah," Peyton said, coughing. "Just went down the wrong way."

Brooke's attention went back to the sky above them and Haley shot a curious glance in Peyton's direction, which the blonde just smiled weakly at in return. Haley was onto her, but knew better than to say anything out loud. If Peyton wanted them to know anything, she would have said the words, so Haley decided it best to just wait until something was confirmed.

"So, Brooke, any new men in your life?" Haley asked, changing the subject.

"No one new, no," she said cryptically.

"OK, who is he?" Peyton asked with a grin, leaning forward to show her interest.

"No one! There's no one," Brooke insisted.

"Liar!" Haley shouted. "Who is it!?"

"Ugh!" Brooke huffed. "It's nothing. Just...lately Antwon and I have been kind of the fifth and sixth wheels, and..."

"You like Skills!" Peyton shouted gleefully.

"Shut up!" Brooke demanded.

"You do! You called him Antwon!" Haley teased, singing the name in a way that she knew would embarrass Brooke even more.

"God, forget I said anything," Brooke said, red-faced. The fact that Brooke was reacting that way told Haley and Peyton that she was completely serious about her interest in their long-time friend.

"No, I'm sorry," Peyton said genuinely, reaching out to touch her best friend's arm. "I think you should go for it."

"Seriously, Brooke. He's a great person," Haley offered.

"Really? You don't think it would be strange?" Brooke asked timidly.

"Strange? Why? He's great, you're amazing, you're spending time together and getting to know one another," Peyton said.

"And he's fine," Brooke said suggestively, making the three of them burst into laughter, and Haley and Peyton just shake their heads, trying to comprehend exactly what it was that Brooke was saying. They exchanged a look that basically said that whatever would make Brooke happy, would make them happy, no matter how out of left field it was.

"I'm going to run to the washroom, then we should go," Peyton said, looking to Brooke.

"Yeah, I suppose it's late," Brooke agreed, grabbing her purse.

Peyton and Brooke said goodbye to Haley and were walking out the door just as Nathan was walking up the front steps with a sleeping Jamie in his arms. Brooke kissed the child's forehead, and Peyton offered a small smile as they passed them on their way to the car.

Peyton thanked Brooke for the ride, and walked into her house to find Lucas finishing up the dishes.

"Hey baby," he said, drying his hands and kissing her forehead. "What's wrong?" he asked when he noticed the look on her face.

"I got it," she said softly.

"Got it?" he questioned, squinting his cluelessness, before realizing what she was talking about. "Oh. You got it."

She sat down at the table and he brought her a glass of water and sat next to her. "That's good, though. Right?" he asked tentatively, placing his hand on hers.

"I guess so," she said as a tear pooled in her eye. "I don't know why I'm upset."

"Peyt..." he started, as he rubbed her hand.

"I just...Part of me was just getting used to the idea. All I kept picturing was you holding our baby, then I saw Nate tonight carrying Jamie, and I..." she said, as the tear fell. "I'm sorry."

He pulled his chair closer to hers and placed his hands on her thighs. "Don't you dare say you're sorry," he demanded with a smile.

"I never thought I'd be disappointed," she admitted quietly. "I mean, I'm really loving this time with just the two of us, and I don't want to rush anything, but..."

"You want a baby someday," he finished, and she smiled through her tears because he understood. Of course he did. "Want to know a secret?" he asked, looking to his hands. "I feel the same as you."

Her eyes met his and she smiled weakly. "You do?"

"I love that it's just the two of us, too. But I can't wait to be a dad," he said with a genuine smile. "And I can't wait to see you as a mom." He picked up her hand and kissed her wedding ring. "You're going to be amazing," he whispered.

She placed a hand on the back of his neck and pulled his head towards hers. She pressed her lips to his softly, and he could taste the salt of her tears, and that, right there, damn near broke his heart.

"Thank you," she whispered as she leaned her forehead against his. Lucas pulled away smiling at his wife.

"Someday, Peyton," he said with a smile. "So you want to hear something crazy?" he asked after a few moments.

"I certainly do," she said, wiping her cheeks.

"Skills has a little crush on Brooke," he said, and watched as Peyton's eyes went wide, making his narrowed in confusion. "What?"

"Brooke has a thing for Skills!" she said excitedly.

"Really?" he asked. "He asked me to do some re-con for him. I just didn't think it'd be this easy."

"This is so great!" she squealed, making him laugh at her enthusiasm. "We have to set them up!"

The two of them started laughing at their friends' mutual interest in one another. He loved that her tears had dried and she could laugh with him, but he knew that she was still harbouring some disappointment about the child they weren't having. He didn't want to drag down the mood and make her cry again, so he left the topic alone, but he knew they'd have to have a serious conversation on the topic of children. He started wondering to himself if maybe they were more ready than they'd originally thought.

Something inside him just ached to start a family with her.