Caylan sighed dramatically as she stepped inside the shower. It was so small. Besides she had been waiting for over an hour which only added to her already sour mood. Keith and Karen had work, therefore they always got first dibs. Who had ever heard of having only one bathroom anyway? For Caylan it had been yet another inconvenience. She missed the luxury hotels and longed for the spaciousness of Lucas' comfortable, Manhattan loft. She turned on the water, fretting as it took a while to set the perfect temperature. Even then she had only minutes, ten at tops. After that the water would go freezing cold, ruining any hopes she had of a relaxing half hour plus shower. To say the least, Tree Hill had not been what the young beauty had expected. Sure it was a cute, quaint little town but it was more suited for a short two or three day visit, not the lengthy one she and Lucas were anticipating.

Humming to herself and trying to figure out what she was going to do for the rest of the day, Caylan stood under the stream of water, letting her long hair get wet. She lathered the locks with shampoo, massaging her scalp with her fingers, missing the treat of spa day and having her hair washed and styled at one of the upscale New York City salons. Then it happened. There was an awful creaking sound, followed by a significant decrease in water pressure. After a few seconds, it stopped altogether leaving the pouty blonde cursing out loud as she reached for a two towels. Opening the bathroom door, she found her fiancé sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee and reading the local newspaper.

"Luke!"

He looked up and couldn't help but chuckle. Caylan was soaking wet, one large towel wrapped around her tanned, svelte body, the other haphazardly around her hair that still had shampoo in it. The frown on her face let him know she was anything but pleased.

"Baby, what in the world happened?"

"You tell me," she crossed her arms. "Your parents must have forgotten to pay the water bill or something. It stopped right in the middle of my shower and by the way, I see nothing funny about that."

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you, Cay."

"Well, I'm not laughing."

"You should be. You look so adorable, babe."

"Just help me."

Together they walked over to kitchen sink where Lucas turned on the faucet. There was a thin stream then it stopped completely.

"You're right. I guess the water is off."

"Duh."

"I'm sure Mom and Keith paid the bill. They stay on top of things like that. It must be something wrong with the line."

"Call a plumber. How long do you think it will take him to get here?"

Lucas shrugged.

"I don't need to call a plumber. Look, it's probably the water mane. It's no big deal. These pipes are old. It has given us trouble before. It's really not hard to fix at all. I'll swing by the hardware store and pick up the parts. I'll call Keith at work and he can come home on his lunch break and help me dig out where the break is, that is if you don't want to help me," he playfully swatted at her behind.

"No thanks."

"Why? It could be fun," he raised his eyebrows. "It could be sexy. We could get you some cute little overalls and…"

"Lucas, this is no time for jokes. I really wish you would just call someone but if you insist on fixing it yourself, then whatever. Just help me get this damned shampoo out of my hair before it starts falling out."

He noticed her agitation as he pulled several gallons of water in jugs from the refrigerator. She bent over the kitchen sink and Lucas carefully washed the soap from her hair.

"Is that better?" he asked when they were done.

"I guess."

"You look pissed off. I know you can't be happy about the water situation. Things happen and I promise to get it fixed as soon as possible but I get the feeling it's more than that."

She looked away.

"Nothing, it's just that I miss home."

Lucas smiled at her.

"Tree Hill is no New York but it's still a pretty great place."

"I get bored. I run out of things to do."

He pulled her in his arms.

"Then we'll just have to fix that, won't we? We'll find stuff to do. Sweetheart, there are plenty of things to do around here. There's a lot of historic tourism type deals. We can take a boat out on the river. There is always the beach. We can go camping and hot air balloon riding. Anything you want to do."

"Whatever," she pulled away.

"Caylan…"

"Why do we have to stay here? In this house I mean? There is a Hilton right downtown."

"What's wrong with this house? It's my house. It's my parent's house. It's home. There are a lot of good memories here. Cay, I grew up here. Sure I could stay at some hotel or rent a place on the beach but why? That's part of the cool thing about coming back to North Carolina. I always get to hang out here. It's nice. It feels good to relax and be normal."

"Your parents don't like me."

"My parents like everybody. They are like the nicest people. Granted our relationship took them off guard and maybe they aren't too pleased with us sharing a bed every night but it's okay. Mom and Keith are making an effort and you should too. It's just that they're really close to Peyton and this kind of makes for a weird situation."

Caylan rolled her eyes.

"I should have known."

"What?"

"Peyton," she threw her arms in the air. "It always comes back to Peyton."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"She's your ex wife."

Lucas frowned.

"Not technically but we're getting there. What's this about?

"When we were still in the city and I practically moved in with you, that was your way of moving on, of making a fresh start, right?"

"Yes."

"Yet you were always talking to Peyton or talking about Peyton or texting her or e-mailing her or communicating in some way."

"Caylan, Peyton and I don't hate each other. Yeah, occasionally we checked in to see how the other person was doing and you knew that when I met you. Most of the time our talks were about settling business and lawyers and all that stuff."

"Your family and your friends won't accept me. They never will. I don't stand a chance fitting in as long as Peyton is lurking around."

"She isn't lurking around. This is new for everyone just like it's new for us. I told you this wouldn't be easy. I told you it would take a little time and it will. But eventually it will all come together. You are an amazing young woman. I see that and pretty soon so will everybody else. But we can't force or expect my family and friends to just choose sides. I don't want them to. Peyton has been around forever and they all love her. There are bonds and relationships there. I have moved on and I want them to accept you but accepting you does not mean them severing all ties with Peyt. That's not very fair."

Caylan was not convinced.

"Are you still in love with her?"

"What? Cay, come on. I mean, what kind of question is that?"

"An important one you need to answer."

"No, it's a ridiculous one. Look, Peyton and I have been wonderful friends for like ten years. She is a special person to me. I can't just throw that all away. For four of those years, we've been married. At one time yes, I was very much in love with her but it didn't work out. That part of our relationship is over. Of course I care about her as a friend but I am not in love with her. Baby, I'm in love with you and it really bothers me that you question that."

"Well it really bothers me that I have to. God, Lucas. From the first night we got here, all you've talked about, all you've been concerned about are Peyton's feelings. Is she gonna be upset? Is she gonna care? How will she react? Blah, blah, blah. It's so stupid."

"It's not stupid."

"What about me?"

"What about you? Caylan, I don't get it. I love you. I proposed to you. You have been constantly by my side the last few months and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I am with you and that should be enough. You don't have to wonder. But I know this, us, surprised everyone and it may have hurt some feelings, Peyton's included. I was just trying to be sensitive about it. What's so wrong with that?"

"The night at Haley's dinner party you expected me to wait outside like some stray puppy you were waiting to see if it was okay to bring in."

"That's not how it was. I asked you to wait and you agreed so I'd have time to explain and introduce you."

"You didn't even introduce me as your fiancée."

"You didn't give me much of a chance."

"I felt like you were ashamed of me, Luke."

"That's not the case and I never want you to feel that way."

"Peyton couldn't get over herself, couldn't get over the fact that you two are almost divorced. She had the nerve to get mad and storm out like a spoiled brat and you had the nerve to start after her."

"No, I didn't."

"Oh yes you did until I stopped you."

"I didn't want her to be mad, okay? I didn't want anyone to be upset."

"What about the other night at that Burning Boat thingy?"

"It's a small town. We ran into each other. It was awkward. Damn, babe, what do you want me to say? Plus, Jenny was there. You don't understand, Cay. Jen is like a daughter to all of us. I wanted to make sure she understood what was happening. I also didn't want Peyton's feelings to be hurt."

"See? See what I mean? Once again, like always, it's about her now. It's about your ex wife, not your current girlfriend."

"Why are you acting like this? You know what? I really love you, Caylan, I do. You are an incredible person. We have a great relationship. You are everything I have ever wanted and being with you makes me so happy, in fact, it makes me better but I can't stand this. I cannot stand it when you get like this."

"Like what?"

"Immature and inconsiderate and difficult and jealous."

He was at his wits end. He did love Caylan, why was it so hard for her to understand his point of view? He hadn't done anything wrong. Tensing up, he was on the verge of walking away. It was the best move possible before he became angry. The last thing he wanted was a fight where something would be said and they would both end up regretting it later. He turned away, looking for a basketball, the River Court his destination in mind. But he stopped before reaching the front door. That's when he heard it. Sniffles followed by sobs. He closed his eyes. It broke Lucas' heart to hear her cry. He loved her. She was his fiancée. He was supposed to take care of her, not hurt her. Turning on his heels, he quickly retraced his steps where he found her crying softly at the kitchen table. He put a hand gently on her bare shoulder but she recoiled.

"It's okay. You're mad at me and I get that."

Lucas sighed.

"I don't want to be mad. Baby, I don't want to fight at all. I love you."

"I know," she whimpered. "I love you, too, it's just this is really hard for me. You're so busy trying to make sure everyone else is taken care of and okay with this but you're forgetting about me. Maybe I'm having a hard time too and sometimes it feels like you don't even care."

He wiped her tears away.

"I guess I never thought of it like that. I'm sorry, Caylan. I didn't mean to forget about you, honey. This is hard for everybody but I promised you we'll get through this together and we will, okay?"

She nodded as he leaned in and kissed her face. She had been honest with him about her fears but no matter what, she stilled despised Peyton Sawyer Scott and any other woman too close to her man. That was viewed as competition. It was hard to control her disdain a lot of times but she couldn't risk Lucas getting too mad. What if he walked off and ran right back into Peyton's arms like everyone wanted? So to exercise a little control, she did what she had to do in that situation and luckily turning on the water works did the trick every time. All she had to do was make it through the rest of the summer through Nathan and Haley's wedding. Then they would go back to New York and forget all about Tree Hill. They could get married right away and perhaps move out west to L.A. far away from Peyton and everyone else. That was Caylan's plan. All she had to do was hold on a few more months.