Hi there everyone. Thank you so much for all your reviews, you're all so amazing. Having such amazing feedback makes me want to continue on so fast and I can't write as fast as my head's going sometimes.

No one told me that this was going to be so addictive. I'm constantly running ideas and scenarios in my head now. I've wanted to write for so long and I'm loving it.

Anyway, thank you so so much for all your support and interest. And here we go.

Nobody's Fault But Mine

Chapter 10 – The Moment I Said It

Lucas walked back into the office to be greeted instantly by a woman in a smart suit and clacking shoes. She offered something in the way of a smile as she enquired, "Lucas Scott?"

"Yeah that's me."

She stretched out her hand that held the tell tale brown envelope. "Consider yourself served." He took it from her feeling a little like he had just been slapped in the face.

He knew his marriage was beyond being salvageable. He knew that even if Brooke did want to give their relationship another shot he wouldn't have considered it a wise move. But it stung that a woman who had vowed to love him forever was behaving in the way she was.

Lucas sighed. Since the early hours of the morning he had lost an innocent woman, Peyton and his wife. It didn't fair to be a good day.

"Why the long face?" Mitch asked as Lucas returned to the desk.

Lucas brandished the papers. "I just got served."

"You want to talk about it? I'm an expert on the failed marriage scenario." The attempt of a joke fell upon deaf ears. Both knew the situation was no laughing matter. But even so the reality was worse.

"Not really. But can I ask you something? Is it even possible to do this job and have someone you love and who loves you back?"

"I'm the wrong person to answer that kiddo."

Lucas smiled sadly. It was always a choice of either or. He knew that. It had been that way all his life. A perfect, balanced life seemed so intangible. Being good at his job, saving the innocents and finding happiness were not a combination that Lucas believed would ever truly be. His experience had taught him that they couldn't exist.

"So are you ready to do some work now?" Mitch asked then. That was their only answer to the troubles they both endured.

"Yes sir." Lucas put on his brave face.

Mitch smiled, "well how about we go for a well earned early bird's breakfast special." The man proclaimed he always thought best on a full stomach.

So they made their way over to the diner they frequented and was conveniently just across the street.

Once they had ordered their breakfasts of choice they began to wade through the case notes so far with the new information they had just acquired.

"I think we should do a background check on our Mr Garcia," Lucas said. "Then we can bring in Garcia and his wife to find out if he was with her last night."

"Already done my friend. I have Tina digging into our man's past as we speak. Should be done by the time I've eaten this lovely stack of pancakes knowing how quickly Tina works."

"You know you should really watch the cholesterol old man." Lucas only half joked.

"Don't get cheeky boy." Through a mouthful of pancakes he then asked. "So you want to tell me what's gone on between you and Miss Sawyer?"

"Nothing. Why do' you ask?"

"Oh come on I'm a detective Lucas. I dissect every single detail and action. It's what we do. The way you looked at her. The fact that you volunteered to question her. The fact you called her by her first name during the interview. The fact that you knew before she'd even said anything that Garcia was hitting her." Lucas looked uncomfortable. "I'm just concerned Lucas. You're still just finding your way in your career and you're doing so well."

"I cared about her, that's all Mitch. She's leaving town as we speak. I'll probably never even see her again. That's it."

That seemed to satisfy Mitch as he went back to the subject of the unsolved cases. "Well I'm going to speak to the chief later today, see if I can't persuade him to let me borrow some uniforms to go undercover in Garcia's clubs and watch for drug activity."

Lucas turned his attention to the final CSI report written by its chief Pete Reynolds. The bullet that had killed Mickie Evans had been traced back to a standardised glock pistol just like the one that Lucas had himself. Just like everyone on the force was issued with. He eyed Mitch quizzically. "Hey you see Pete's report."

Mitch glanced over it. After being called out in the middle of the night to Callie he had completely forgotten Pete's late night gift.

"You think we're looking for a cop?" Lucas was the first to utter that chain of thought.

"I don't know," his partner's face clouded. "The skin samples found under Mickie's finger nails couldn't be traced. If our suspect isn't on the police database I guess anything's possible."

"You know, um Peyton was pretty adamant that the system was corrupt."

"When did she say that?"

"When you left the interrogation room. She refused to go to a safe house because she was scared her location would be leaked."

Mitch rubbed the back of his neck, his voice was now low. "If that's true then we're in hot water with this. I need to talk to the chief."

Once back at the station Lucas worked over Tina their resident computer whizz. "Hey, you got anything good on Mr Garcia."

"Sorry Lucas. There's not too much on him I'm afraid. He married a rich woman, and once he came into money he opened a whole bunch of businesses. But criminally, aside from a punch up in a bar with a police officer there really isn't much to go on. He's been brought in a couple of times in connection with missing persons, people that worked for him. But nothing more than that."

"That's it. Not even one drugs raid?" Lucas was having a hard time believing a man who walked around stained with his vast array of criminal activity hadn't at least attracted some police interest.

Tina smiled, "sorry Lucas. I wish I could be of more help. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yeah actually. The cop, can you find out his name."

"Already did. Donnie Richards. He was a rookie. He was stationed here from 2003. He left three years ago."

"Where's he stationed now?"

Tina shook her head in answer, "no Lucas he left the force altogether."

-- --

Peyton paid the cab driver and rushed into her apartment. She marched straight to the bedroom and hauled her suitcase from its place under the bed. She threw her clothes into the case not bothering to fold them. She needed to get away and couldn't worry about neatness now. Her heart thundered in her chest. She knew Antonio was out of town and yet at every sudden noise or even the sound of her own breathing she was just a split second from jumping out of her skin.

She tossed hangers on the floor and dumped shoes on top of dresses and jeans. Then she moved to her drawers emptying out her underwear into one pile, which she then flattened into the case. She then began a frantic search for her I-Pod. Peyton Sawyer could live with a wrinkled shirt but not without music. She found it in the bathroom; she liked to listen to it whilst soaking in the bath. She uttered a sigh of relief and then grabbed some toiletries and packed them too.

After throwing in her passport Peyton zipped up, anything else she could replace. As she lifted the case she felt a sharp pain in her wrist. In her haste she had forgotten it's delicate state. She cradled it for a few seconds waiting for the hurt to subside. Then she pulled the case over to the door.

She then picked up the phone and dialled Jake's number. He answered on the first ring almost as though he knew to expect her call.

"Hey Peyt, everything ok?" Her oldest friend sounded concerned even before she uttered a single word.

"I need to ask you a favour. Can I come stay for a while?"

"Yeah, of course you can. Just let me organise a sitter for Jenny and I'll come get you."

Peyton bit her lip, she couldn't wait that long. "No, it's fine. I'll drive to you."

"Peyt, you can't drive all that way with a broken wrist. Just wait for me, book yourself into a motel." He known her far too long and knew that she was afraid. "I'll get to you as soon as I can."

"Ok, thanks Jake. Hurry ok." She hung up, grabbed her case and left the apartment.

-- --

Lucas looked over at Jennifer Garcia as she sat across from him waiting to be interviewed. The elusive wife of Antonio was dressed in a tailored black pantsuit and crisp white shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight knot, not a hair out of place. She sat rigidly, her expression stern. She was a high-powered businesswoman; she worked for a leading branch of real estate agents.

She was not what Lucas had expected. In truth Lucas was not sure what he expected. Someone frail and vulnerable. Maybe a trophy wife. But certainly not this bolshie, abrupt woman who sat there watching him with a look of irritation that he dared to waste her time.

"Sorry for the delay Mrs Garcia," Mitch said entering the room.

Jennifer Garcia shot daggers in his direction. "Well make it brief. I've already had to reschedule my 11 o'clock appointment. I don't want to do the same with my luncheon."

Mitch was not the most tactful man at the best of times when dealing with difficult witnesses. He shot her a glare, "fine, then can you please tell me where your husband was between the hours of 11 and 2 last night."

"With me. He came home from his little party and his whore at 11:45. I was unwell."

"You knew he was having an affair?" Lucas blurted before he had time to think.

She pursed her lips together as she turned her gaze to him. "So the boy does speak. Yes I know Antonio has affairs. I certainly don't have time to deal with his crap. We have an open marriage. He sees whomever he wants."

"I see," Mitch muttered. "And what was wrong with you last night if you don't mind me asking."

"I'm a diabetic. My blood sugar levels got to low for me to administer my insulin. So I called Antonio back."

Mitch notched this down on his pad.

"Is there anything else," she asked impatiently. "Or can I go about my busy day now."

Lucas's partner gave the woman a forced smile. "We're done." Once she was out of the room he added, "no wonder the man looks outside the nest."

-- --

Peyton booked herself into a motel just outside of New York City. She paid the leering man behind the counter and then made her way inside. She text Jake to let him know where she was and then decided to get some sleep as she had a good number of hours to kill.

She changed out of the gown she'd been wearing since yesterday and then walked to the bathroom. After wrapping her arm in protective plastic casing so she wouldn't ruin the bandaging she stood under the shower for a good ten minutes just wanting to rinse away all the memories and pain of the past 24 hours. Closing her eyes she could still she Callie's face staring up at her when she had found her dead. Peyton bit back tears as she leant her head against the tiled wall.

Once she had cried out her tears for the death of her friend Peyton climbed out of the shower. She wrapped her bathrobe around herself. She lay down tired and weary not caring if she went to sleep with wet hair. She curled herself up tightly into a ball; she was out of it as soon as her head touched the pillow.

She dreamt of him again. They were on the beach this time. It was early morning, the sun rising from beneath the ocean. She had been standing at the shores, watching the waves crashing against the rocks. The wind playing with her curls. His arms circled around her waist letting her know that he was there and she had turned to him. His gorgeous blue eyes gazing at her. His embrace so warm and safe. His lips against hers. She smiled at him; she never wanted him to leave like everyone else always had.

He stroked her jaw line, his touch becoming rough; the skin on his hand was hard.

Peyton's eyes snapped open; she was already sitting before she fully came to.

"Whoa," his voice rang out. "Peyt it's me."

She looked up to see it was Jake standing over her. Jake with his croaked smile and kind brown eyes. Relief washed over her then as she reached up to hug him burying her face in his shirt, the familiar smell of his cologne comforting her.

"Hey, what's got you so spooked?"

"Things have just gone from bad to worse. I thought it would take you longer to get here. I thought when I woke up it was….. I guess I was just surprised."

"Except I spoke to you yesterday morning Peyt. It took me all night to get here."

"Oh, I guess the pain killers the doctor gave me are still having a good effect." She couldn't believe she'd lost over a full 24 hours.

"Why don't you get dressed and we'll get out of here ok. There's coffee and breakfast back in the car. And judging by the fact that you look even thinner than you did two weeks ago I'm guessing you haven't eaten in a while."

"Ok," Peyton got up to grab some clothes for her suitcase.

"It was just prescription drugs right? You're not using? Or drinking are you?"

That stung a little. She knew he had to ask because of his obligations to his daughter. That coupled with the fact that right now she must look like an absolute wreck right now made it a question that he had to ask. It was a bad time of year, she had to deal and fight the temptations more than usual.

"No," Was all she offered in way of an answer. She moved into the bathroom to change.

"Ok lets hit the road." Jake grabbed the case and within a few minutes of her checking out of the motel they were away.

She had to admit she felt better now that they were on the road. She looked out the window at the busy morning rush hour traffic. She zipped her coffee and took a pastry to keep Jake happy.

"So how's Jenny doing?"

"She's good. She's looking forward to seeing you again."

"Me too." Peyton loved Jake's little girl like her own. Jake had had Jenny way too young and Peyton remembered back to the days when they were both struggling through mid terms and the troubles of being a teenager and Jake was also having to deal with the prospect of raising a new baby whose mother had abandoned them. Peyton had loved to hang out with them, not just because Jake was her childhood best friend but also because seeing father and daughter together was the closest thing to a reminder of what it was like to belong to a loving family she had.

"Do you have a picture?" she asked. Jenny would be five now. Peyton was eager to know what she looked like now.

"Sure. My wallet's in the glove compartment."

She reached over; the black SUV distracted her however. It came speeding round the corner and straight for them. "Jake, look out!" she screamed.

The vehicle hit them on the passenger side; its size and speed sent their smaller car into a spin. Jake lost control of the wheel. The car bumped into a street light before coming to an abrupt stop.

Dazed Jake watched the SUV drive off. Onlookers and cars stopped at the scene.

Groaning at the pain localised in his neck Jake turned his attention to Peyton. Her head was turned to face him. The side of her head was bleeding; her hair flattened and soaked red with her blood. Her eyes closed.

"Oh my god," Jake struggled out of the car and around to her side. "Someone call 911."