As Lucas carried the last of the boxes into the small house he let out a sigh of relief. He had forgotten how big Peyton's record collection was and he was starting to regret not hiring a moving company.

They had found the perfect house, much the same layout as Karen's and only a few blocks away. It had belonged to a middle aged couple and would need some work to get it the way they wanted but that's what had appealed to them. Peyton had been excited when they first came to view it, there were three bedrooms, enough for a music room and an office for Lucas to write in. They would eventually have to move when they wanted to have kids but this was their perfect starter home.

He sat at the kitchen table with Nathan and Skills, popping open a well deserved beer. Peyton and Brooke walked into the kitchen carrying a vanity case and a pot plant.

'Glad to see the two of you pitching in,' sassed Nathan. 'You should be careful you don't hurt your back Sawyer.'

Peyton playfully slapped his arm and they sat with the guys at the table. 'Don't worry about me Nate, bend from the knee's etc... I know my health and safety rules.'

'Thanks for the help guys,' Lucas said seriously. 'We didn't exactly anticipate the amount of stuff that would have to be moved,' he glared accusingly at Peyton.

'Lucas, I only kept the absolute essentials, you should have seen the stuff I threw away.'

'Peyton, I found one box full of birthday cards...BIRTHDAY CARDS!'

'You should always keep your birthday cards Lucas, it's sentimental. Don't you keep anything like that?'

'Yes, but only from you. I don't keep cards sent by my great aunt Barbara in Ohio whom I've never met.'

'Well I do,' she punctuated her words with a quick kiss on the lips. 'Live with it.'

As she stood up and walked away from the table, the other three rolled their eyes at the goofy grin Lucas was now sporting.

'OK you guys, thanks for all the help. We'll meet you at TRIC tonight, drinks are on us,' Lucas said somewhat distractedly.

'I guess that means we're being kicked out?' asked Brooke. 'Broody, you really need to work on your social skills if you ever expect to have visitors here.'

'It's alright Brooke, this will wear off in a couple of weeks. Everything's great when you first move in together. Then you realise that you actually live together and the fighting starts. They're in stage one right now but stage two comes soon enough,' said Nathan smugly.

'This is not a stage,' stated Lucas, 'and it will not wear off.'

'Whatever you say man,' smirked skills. 'We're gonna go and leave you two to play house but don't forget to bring your credit card tonight, this moving can be thirsty work.'

After their helpers had left, Lucas walked from room to room until he found Peyton in their bedroom. She was writing on the walls and he watched from the doorway silently. This was the life he had always wanted, the dream had never changed since elementary school. How many people could say that their dreams had truly come true? He was a published writer living with the woman of his dreams. When he thought back to the fuss he'd made about having to give up full time basketball he felt foolish.

'You gonna stand there all day, Scott?'

'Just watching you,' he came up behind her putting his hands on her hips and burying his face in her neck.

He took a look at the walls to discover what she'd been writing. 'So, these are the possible colours of our bedroom then?'

'Yeah, if you like them. I like purple but it might be a bit dark, this room doesn't get the best light but it is the biggest. Blue is too depressing, pink is the colour of evil, yellow...blah. So I think it's between Green and red. What do you think?'

'I think it will be great whatever colour it is, it's not the shade of the walls that's going to make this the sexiest room on earth,' he whispered in her ear.

'That's great honey,' she chuckled, 'but I would appreciate your input. I don't want it to be a thing down the road where you think I'm making all the decisions and...'

'OK, OK. We'll as much as I like green and red I think we've done them both before. We should do something that shows who we are, what's important. Music, writing..etc.'

'That's a great idea,' she turned in his arms. 'But we already have a music room and a writing room. How about basketball, but not cheesy with a hoop or anything. We could do the ravens colours. Black, White and blue. We could have three white walls and white bed sheets, black drapes and cushions and one blue wall, this one here,' she pointed excitedly.

'That sounds great, honey. You know what sounds even better? A shower.'

'You go ahead baby, I'm going to finish the colour scheme for the other rooms,' she looked away from him and started to wander out of the bedroom. Lucas's face quickly fell.

'But, don't you need a shower too? We just moved house,' he pleaded.

Peyton heard his tone of voice and stopped in the doorway with a smirk.

'But like Nathan said, I didn't really do any lifting.'

He could tell she was teasing and decided to play along.

'Well I didn't want to say anything but you COULD use a shower, your hair looks a little greasy, your finger nails are dirty, and frankly Peyton - you stink.'

'Is that so?' she asked. 'I guess that means I need the shower more than you do. I'll try to leave you some hot water,' she smirked before taking off towards the bathroom at lightening speed.

He was close behind her, however and two minutes later the stumbled into the shower together.

Twenty five glorious minutes later the emerged from the bathroom in towels and made for their bedroom. They dried off and managed to find some clean clothes in amongst all the boxes.

'I can't believe we bought a house Lucas, remember when we decided to rent an apartment?'

'I know, but it just made sense. The market was right, the price was good and we're both good financially.'

Lucas had just received the 75,000 advance for his next book and Peyton's trip to LA had gone great. She'd made more contacts in the week she was there than she had the years she had lived there. She had signed another couple of acts and her little company was starting to generate some real buzz. She had some great producers wanting to work with her acts and bookings for the summer music festivals. She wasn't matching Luke's income but this felt like the tip of the iceberg for her.

'I know, and I'm glad we did,' she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck. 'How's the book coming along?'

'It's good, just waiting for Lindsay's notes back. The changes should take a couple of months and then I'll know whether or not there will be a book tour.'

'That's great Luke, you never did tell me what it's about.'

'What are my books usually about?'

'Me?'

'Of course you.'

'Wow, that must be hard for Lindsay to edit? I can't believe she didn't hand it off to someone else.'

'Me either, but to be fair I didn't realise it was about you until half way through. It's kind of metaphorical, she may not make the connection.'

'Well, I hope it all goes well.'

'Me too, I needed the book tour last time to take my mind off you. It will be a drag this time though, being away from you, away from our home.'

'Well, I'll just have to visit you as often as I can, scare off the crazy book groupies.'

'They're my fans Peyton, my bread and butter! And they're paying for the drinks tonight, you ready to go?'

'Whenever you are.'

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