Lucas struggled to keep his breath at an even pace with his feet as his brother just looked over and laughed.

"What?" he asked.

Nathan shook his head.

"Dude, you're pathetic. Pathetic and out of shape. Look at your ass. Could you run any slower? My wife can run faster than you and she's about to have a baby", he declared proudly.

Lucas playfully rolled his eyes.

"I run fast when I'm actually awake. I mean, who works out at the ass crack of dawn anyway? And speaking of my sister in law and little nephew to be, how are they?"

Nathan smiled widely as he always did when the subject of his growing family came up.

"It's great. I mean, at first when Hales told me she was pregnant, I got so scared. I mean, I freaked out. Kids change everything and I thought I, I thought we weren't ready. But I was wrong and man, I have never been so glad about being wrong my whole life. We have every pregnancy and baby book ever printed and Haley makes me watch all those gross births on the Discovery Health Channel and I have Lamaze on Mondays and Mother/Baby Yoga on Wednesdays but it's cool. It's nice, Luke. I'm excited, dude. I never thought I'd say this but I can't wait to get up in the middle of the night and change shitty diapers."

Lucas couldn't help but grin. The transformation in his little brother was nothing short of amazing. He was so proud of the man Nathan Scott had become. But Nathan couldn't take all the credit. The biggest part of his positive life change, had to do with his wife and Luke's best friend, Haley. The two and their undying, unconditional love could and would endure everything. Lucas was truly happy for them. It was a beautiful thing but at times he couldn't help but be a little envious. To love someone that deeply and be loved back…what could possibly be better? It was a feeling Lucas had craved all his life, always trying to equal the love his mother had given him and the love his father had not. For a while he thought he had found it in Brooke Davis but it wasn't meant to be and Lucas was left unsure if love itself would ever be in the cards for him.

"I'm proud of you, dude."

"I'm proud of me, too", Nathan sighed as Lucas' cell phone rang and the two men stopped jogging.

"It's summer", Lucas groaned. "Don't people sleep in anymore?"

Nathan grinned.

"See? Even if I hadn't woken your lazy ass up for a run this morning, the phone would have."

Lucas punched at him before glancing down at the Caller ID.

"What's up, Larry?"

"Hey, Luke", came the familiar voice on the other end of the line. "Sorry to call so early. Did I wake you?"

Lucas looked over at his brother and smiled.

"Nah. Nate took care of that one earlier. What's up?"

"Nothing much. It's been a few days and I was just calling to see if you heard from our girl yet."

"No. Sorry, I haven't. Peyton hasn't called me."

Larry sighed deeply.

"Dammitt. Me either. Honestly, son, I'm starting to get a little worried."

"I'm sure she's fine. You know Peyton. She's off being independent, doing her own things. She'll call soon."

"I hope so. Not hearing her voice kills me", the father said.

Lucas swallowed hard.

"Me, too", he replied softly.

"Anyway, is the house still in one piece?"

"Looking good. I didn't go yesterday but I'm out on a run with Nathan right now. We're not far from your street. I'll go check things out and bring the mail inside and stuff."

"You're a good man, Luke and I appreciate it."

"No sweat."

"Just give me a call if you hear from her."

"Will do."

"And if you hear from her before I do, tell her to call me."

"Yes, sir."

"And tell her when I see her, I'm gonna kill her…after I hug her to death."

Lucas chuckled.

"Got you."

"I'll talk to you later and thanks again."

Lucas smiled as he hung up.

"What was that all about?" Nathan asked.

"That was Peyton's dad. He asked me to look in on their house while Peyton is in L.A. and he's out to sea."

"That's cool. You heard from her?"

"Not yet. I was hoping Hales had."

Nathan shook his head.

"Nah, she would have mentioned it but I'm surprised you haven't."

Lucas shrugged.

"She was really nervous about going out there and she wanted to do it on her own so she said it would be a while before she called us and stuff."

Nathan chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds like Peyton alright. But I still figured she would have called you."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I think she likes you."

"I like her, too. She's one of my best friends."

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Man, don't make me punch you. You know what I'm talking about. I think Peyton likes you, like really likes you."

Lucas made a face.

"We're friends, dude."

"Luke…"

"What? Peyton's great but that ship passed us by a long time ago. Besides, I like being friends."

"Luke, you're weak. What straight guy wants to be just friends with a pretty girl? What are you guys gonna go do, shop for drapes or some stupid shit like that?"

"Males and females can be friends without sex involved, thank you very much and by the way, I'll leave the drapes shopping to you and Hales. She's got you whipped, boy", Lucas teased.

"I'm telling you, she likes you. I feel it."

"Then why hasn't she said something?"

"How the hell do I know? Chicks are weird. I think I married the last normal one and all those pregnancy hormones has been making that one iffy the last few months. But bottom line, you guys are always together and you're always there to save her."

"Save her? Lay off the Lifetime, little brother. I'm not always saving Peyton."

They came to a stop in front of the Sawyer home and Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"Need I say more?"

"So I'm a good friend doing a good neighborly deed? Besides, Larry asked me to do this and not Peyton, so shut your trap and help me look around."

"Whatever", Nathan just smirked as they walked the grounds.

"Looks safe and secure to me", Lucas announced as they headed towards the front.

"Look up there", Nathan pointed.

"What's up?"

"See that curtain blowing? Looks like someone left the window open."

Lucas strained his eyes. Nathan was right and he had never noticed that before.

"That's Peyton's room. Good looking out, bro. I hadn't seen it. Come on. I'm just gonna do a real quick walk through the house and we'll close it when we go upstairs."

Nathan followed his brother inside as they walked though the house. All was well and quiet, just as father and daughter had left it before vacating the premises. Lucas carefully placed the mounting piles of mail on the kitchen countertop beside the others before grabbing the keys and cranking their respective vehicles so the batteries would not die. He returned to the house and the two brothers walked upstairs. Lucas opened the door to Peyton's room and smiled. It still smelled like her although she hadn't been there in days.

"Peyton and her art", Nathan chuckled and shook his head as he looked around. "Damn, I haven't been up here in a while."

"I'm sure your wife would be happy to hear that", Lucas joked as he walked around.

The room was quiet and still. Everything looked in place just as it had the last time he had checked on it.

"Good to go or are we gonna stand here all day with that goofy ass grin on your face? Come on, Luke, I'm ready to hit the River Court and play some ball."

"Whatever and I do not have a goofy grin on my face."

"You're such a little girl", Nathan said before walking over to the window.

His foot kicked against something and he nearly tripped.

"Ha! That's what you get, Clumsy!"

Nathan cursed and rubbed at the sore knee he had just banged.

"I'm not clumsy. If Peyton didn't have all this shit everywhere."

Lucas walked over.

"Now who's a little girl? Did you hurt your knee? Want me to kiss it and make it all better?"

"I have something you can kiss."

Lucas' smile faded.

"What the…"

"I was just joking, dude. Now let's get going", Nathan closed and locked the window.

"Nate…"

"What?"

Lucas walked over to what his brother had tripped over. It was luggage. It was Peyton's luggage.

"These are her bags", he whispered.

Nathan shrugged.

"Newsflash, we're in her room."

Lucas shook his head.

"Look at them. They're all packed and ready to go. Look at the tags. They're Delta. That's the same airline Peyt was flying to California on, I saw the itinerary."

"It's just her name and address. Maybe they're from another, old trip."

"Yeah but that's still her luggage. She travels with it all the time. I've seen it on the overnight trips we had going to games and stuff."

Nathan looked around.

"Maybe she took another bag."

"I don't know…"

"Or maybe she was in a rush to get her cab and she forgot it."

"Maybe…"

"You okay?"

Lucas nodded.

"Yeah. It's just, I don't know, it's a little weird. No one saw Peyton get on her plane, she left keys in her car parked by the curb and not in the driveway, nobody has heard from her, not even her dad and now all her bags are still sitting in her room."

"What are you saying, Lucas?"

"I, I don't know what I'm saying. I mean, doesn't this seem a little bit suspicious to you?"

"I don't know about suspicious. Weird, maybe. But I'm sure there's a good explanation. Peyton was probably in a huge rush. I'm sure she's fine and she's gonna call her dad or you or Haley any day now."

"I, I don't know, Nate. I have this strange feeling."

"You're just worried and it's making you paranoid. What do you think happened, she got kidnapped or something? Lucas, Peyton is fine."

Lucas pulled out his phone and dialed. It went immediately to her voicemail.

"Hey, it's Peyton. I can't come to the phone right now but you know what to do."

He sighed, goose bumps on his flesh when he heard her voice.

"Peyt, what's up? It's me. I know you're probably having the time of your life right now and I hope all is well but could you give us a call soon? Your dad is really worried and we all miss you. I'm sure you're fine but we still want to hear from you. Larry has me looking in on the house. By the way, you left your keys in the car and your bedroom window was open and your bags are still here. Must have been one hell of a hurry. But everything here is good and everybody is fine but we're worried about you. So give us a call. Later."

Lucas exhaled as he hung up.

"You okay?" Nathan asked.

"I guess."

"You want to call somebody?"

He looked around, still unable to shake that nagging, sinking feeling.

"No. No, it's cool. You're right. I'll, um, just wait for Peyton to call."

Nathan nodded as Lucas followed him out and they locked up. Walking away, he turned and gave the house one last look before glancing down again at his phone.

"Where are you, Peyt?" he whispered to himself. "Where are you?"