Alright, I'm back to update! Thanks again for more reviews. And yes, at the moment in this story Lucas and Brooke are together. Don't let that upset you! I did say this was a Leyton fic, didn't I?

I should have another chapter up tomorrow. But in the odd instance that I don't, I'll warn you right now that I won't update on Wednesdays. Sorry, but that's my TV night. I've got ANTM, OTH (when it isn't on a stupid hiatus) and Lost, so my entire day resolves around school and television. :) But I'm pretty darn sure I'll be updating tomorrow. I've already got the chapter completely planned out.

For now, here's a nice update.

Lucas stepped into Karen's Café, the familiar scent of warm food causing his mouth water. Glancing ahead at the counter, he saw his mother washing it off with a wet rag. She looked up as he came in and smiled.

"Good morning Luke," Karen greeted as Lucas took a seat at the counter. "You're up pretty early."

Lucas smiled and stretched his arms out in front of him, his jaw opening in a long yawn. Reaching a hand up to ruffle his messy hair, he replied, "Yeah, I just thought I'd pick something up to eat. I'm starving."

Karen smiled and threw the rag under the counter. "Well luckily for you," she began, "the morning rush just left. And you wonder why I hate weekends." Pulling out a pad of ordering paper and poising a pen above it, she said in a business tone, "So what'll it be?"

Lucas took a deep breath before rattling off his order. "I'll have two set of pancakes, some hash browns, toast, sausage, a glass of orange juice and…some bacon." He paused for a moment to make sure he hadn't missed anything. "To go," he added simply.

Karen raised her eyebrows at him. "Hungry much? You're eating enough for two!"

Lucas laughed. "Yeah, well."

Karen reached across the counter and grabbed his arm. "Lucas Scott," she said in a playfully stern voice, "are you hiding hungry girls in your bedroom?" She let out a loud laugh at her joke, while Lucas shifted uncomfortably in his seat and gave a forced smile.

"Well," Karen smiled, turning away, "I'm never gonna finish this order if I don't start now. It'll be done…when it's done." She walked quickly back to the kitchen to start on his order.

Lucas turned in his seat, gazing at the decorations on the wall. While his eyes wandered, his mind strayed back to Peyton.

His heart ached for the girl. He knew she had left Tree Hill on hopes for a better life. The years she'd spent in Tree Hill hadn't exactly been the greatest. She'd lost two mothers, had an absent father, fallen in love, gotten ditched, lost a best friend, tried drugs, along with the basic drama of being a teenage girl. As upset as Lucas had been when Peyton had left, he had hoped that she would find a happier life. It pained him to know that the six months she'd spent trying to get her life back on track had ended with her covered in bruises and coming back home at three in the morning.

But she'll get better, Lucas assured himself. I'll help her get her life back together and she'll be happier than ever. He truly wanted to be there for her this time. When he had first met Peyton, all he wanted was to be there for her. But the drama of everyday life had caught up with him and he found himself wrapped inside his own problems, so much that he forgot be there to support her. Lucas mentally made a promise to himself to never let that happen again. Peyton didn't have many people in her life she could trust. He didn't want to lose that role to her because he was too caught up in how his relationship was going.

"Hey boyfriend," a quirky voice whispered in his ear.

Lucas jumped and turned to see Brooke standing behind him, looking stylish as usual. She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips, her long hair tickling his cheeks. Pulling back, Brooke smiled.

"How're you doing this morning?" she asked happily, taking the seat next to him. "Aren't you up a little early?"

Lucas grinned. "I'm doing fine," he replied. "And aren't you up a little early? Last I checked you slept past noon on weekends."

Brooke laughed and punched him lightly on the arm. "Well I usually do," she smiled. "But today I am meeting up with Haley and getting some breakfast, then maybe going shopping." She gave him a satisfied smile and crossed her arms. "But while we're on the subject of plans, is your night open? Because I was thinking maybe we could have another great evening to top off the week."

Lucas's mind immediately shot into overdrive as he tried to think of an excuse. Stuttering slightly, he responded, "Actually, I was going to stay in tonight. I just got a new book from the library, thought I'd get a head start on it." Looking up at Brooke, he smiled innocently, praying to God she didn't know what was going on. He wasn't quite sure if Peyton wanted him telling Brooke anything, so he thought it would be better to keep his mouth shut.

Brooke rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're such a nerd sometimes, Luke. But fortunately for you, I like nerdy." Hearing the door to the Café open, Brooke turned in her seat. Haley stepped through the doorway and began walking toward them. "Anyway," Brooke continued, "I'm about to start my amazing day. See, unlike you, Haley's actually pretty cool." She smiled.

"What's this I hear?" Haley asked, taking a seat on the other side of Lucas. "That I'm cool? You're so sweet, Brooke." She looked at Lucas, a warm smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Hey loser. What're you doing up so early?"

As Lucas groaned at Haley's words, his mom walked back over, a large paper bag in her left hand. She set the bag on the counter in front of Lucas and greeted Haley and Brooke with a welcoming smile. "There you go," she said to Lucas. "Pancakes, hash browns, sausage, bacon, and orange juice to go."

Brooke's mouth opened in awe. "Someone's starving, eh Luke? How can you eat all of that?"

Lucas smiled at her and grabbed the bag off the table. Turning back to his mother, he said, "Thank you." He got to his feet, switching the bag of food to his right hand. "Goodbye ladies. I hope you all have a great day."

Brooke leaned up to give him a quick kiss. "Love you," she smiled.

Lucas paused. "I love you too," he said after a moment.

--

Peyton wrapped the fuzzy white towel snugly around herself as she stepped out of the bathroom. Lucas's house was completely empty but she still found herself tiptoeing down the hallway, as quiet as possible. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of dark sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt. Peyton wasn't sure why she was so keen on covering up. Lucas had seen her bruises; he knew there had to be more. But somehow she felt so much more comfortable without him seeing the purple and blue marks up her arms, legs, and stomach.

She pulled the shirt over her head just as the door opened. She could tell it was Lucas just by the sound of the footsteps- light and far apart. Glancing quickly at herself in the mirror, Peyton bounded down the stairs to the kitchen. Lucas was already there, setting up two plates and some silverware for breakfast. Smiling at her, Lucas gestured for her to sit down.

"That smells delicious," Peyton commented, taking a seat in front of the large bag. "Thank you."

Lucas sat down across from her and began to pull the food out of the bag. "You're welcome," he responded, handing her a small box of pancakes. "Now let's get eating. You look starved."

Peyton nodded happily and dug into her food. For a long while it was almost completely silent as the two munched on their breakfast, both their minds wandering aimlessly. Finally, Lucas broke the quiet.

"So I saw Brooke at the Café," he said, glancing up at Peyton.

Peyton choked slightly on her food at she stared up at Lucas in shock. Swallowing hard, eyes watering, she coughed out, "What did you say to her?"

Lucas was immediately thankful he had chosen to keep his mouth shut about Peyton. He could tell right away that she didn't want Brooke knowing yet. "I didn't tell her anything," he explained. "Just gave her some excuse why I had to stay home tonight. I didn't think you'd want to me to mention anything."

Peyton eyed him thankfully as she raised a napkin to her mouth. Wiping her lips clean, she replied, "Thank you."

There was another long silence as Peyton look a long sip from her orange juice. Lucas watched her, his mind now starting to wonder why she didn't want to see Brooke. As Peyton put her glass down, wiping her mouth this time with the back of her hand, Lucas spoke. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," Peyton responded.

"Why don't you want Brooke to know?" he asked. "Why don't you want to see her?"

Peyton tilted her head sideways and bit her lip, obviously thinking hard for an answer to his question. After a long moment she leaned toward him. "I guess it's just…our history," she began, her eyebrows creasing. "I mean, I haven't seen any of you in six months. We've hardly even kept in contact at all. And the first thing I do when I come back is go to you." She sat back a little, a sad smile forming on her face as she recalled what had happened nearly two years ago. "After what we did to her when you two first started going out, I know Brooke never trusted me in the same way again. I really hurt her by choosing to mess around with you. But she still took me back and became best friends with me again. If she were to find out that after six months of almost no contact, I went straight to you and slept in your bed, she'd flip out. She'd never trust either of us again." Peyton sighed, leaning on the back two legs of her chair. "It's best if, as far as she's concerned, I'm not back here at all. Not yet, at least."

Lucas took in what she said and nodded in agreement. He still felt guilty about how he had hurt Brooke when they'd begun dating. He wished things had turned out differently. Deep down he knew that if he'd only chosen Peyton from day one, like he wanted to, the situation never would have happened. He didn't feel guilty about pursuing Peyton; he just felt bad that Brooke had to endure so much hurt because of their actions.

"So," Peyton began, diminishing the awkward silence. "About my wrist." As much as she didn't want to bring up herself, she couldn't think of anything else to say. "Do you want to go to the hospital now? Because I'm not sure how long the wait is going to be."

Lucas smiled at Peyton and pushed his chair out. Getting to his feet, he said, "Can we go in half an hour? I just want to take a shower and get changed first." Picking up both his and Peyton's dishes, he walked to the sink and dropped them both in. When he walked back over to Peyton, he held his hand out to help her up. Peyton took it eagerly, beaming.

"That's fine." She stepped closer to him and sniffed. "Besides, you smell terrible. You really need that shower."

Lucas feigned hurt and looked at Peyton with puppy-dog eyes. "You're so mean to me," he whined. Peyton snorted and hit him on the head, then gestured toward the stairs. "Fine, I'm going, I'm going!" Lucas turned and rushed up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

When Peyton heard the bathroom door close, she fell tiredly back into her seat and put her head into her hands. The day had hardly even begun and already she felt exhausted. She had never thought that returning to Tree Hill would be so stressful on her. When she'd left New York she had just assumed that things would be like that had before she had left- she'd be having sleepovers with Brooke, listening to music with Lucas, having fun chats with Nathan and Haley. She never would have suspected that she'd be hiding out at Lucas's house, afraid to talk to Brooke and avoiding seeing anyone else completely.

Peyton lifted her head and pulled up the sleeve on her left arm. She began examining her left wrist. Lucas was right- it was clearly broken. It seemed twisted and oddly angled, causing her a great deal of pain when she left it alone and even worse pain when she touched it. It was completely black from bruises and utterly limp, as though there weren't any bones left in it. Sighing, Peyton pulled the sleeve back down, wincing in pain as it made contact with the injury.

As she waited for Lucas to finish his shower, Peyton began to think of stories to tell the doctors. She was sure they wouldn't buy the simple, "I slipped and fell," excuse for her arm, and it certainly wouldn't cover the various cuts and bruises on her face. She had, unfortunately, forgotten to pack makeup, so she couldn't apply cover up on the black eye. It would be obvious to anyone with a brain that she'd been attacked, but she still wanted to have a different story to avoid the doctors pressing her to get some help.

Upstairs, she heard the shower water turn off. Lucas would be coming downstairs in a few minutes, ready to leave for the hospital. Peyton walked to the bottom of the stairs, where she had taken off her shoes. Slipping back into them, she glanced up the steps. Through a small crack in the bathroom door she could see Lucas pulling a navy shirt over his head. Peyton smiled to herself. Lucas really had been great to her. He'd taken her in, given her a bed and food, even put his whole life on hold to help her out. Making a mental note to thank him again, Peyton walked toward the door. A moment later, Lucas came bounding down the steps.

"You ready to go?" he called, grabbing his car keys off the kitchen table.

Peyton sighed and shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her infamous leather jacket. "Ready as I'll ever be," she responded in a defeated voice.