"I need to see you," Nathan said again. He knew that he had to say it one more time while he still had the courage. He had to be sure that she didn't just know but that she really knew. He waited for Peyton to say something – anything – but she remained silent for a few moments.

"What?" Peyton asked finally. Her voice was thick with confusion and yearning and sadness and regret. He hated that he had anything to do with any of that. He wanted to take it all away, and he knew that he could. That was what the call was about.

"Can I come there? Or you can come here, whatever you want," he rambled. Nathan had always been known for his cool and nonchalant demeanor. However, with Peyton, that reserved veneer just fell away. "We could meet somewhere else if you want, it doesn't matter. I just need to see you, Peyt."

"Nate, give me a second," she implored breathlessly. Her mind was racing a million miles a minute. "I haven't talked to you in a long time. Just give me a minute to think." Nathan was silent as she took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Okay? What does that mean?"

"I can't come there, and you know why," she replied. Nathan could hear her tugging absently on one of those adorable blonde ringlets from nearly 3,000 miles away. "I was supposed to go out of town for this conference on Monday, but I can probably convince someone else to cover for me. You could come here then. Would that work?"

Nathan smiled as relief washed over him. He couldn't believe that he had been afraid that she would shoot him down when he knew that Peyton would want to see him. "Yeah, that works," he grinned. Peyton could see that smile all the way from California. It was the one that had always made her see Nathan Scott as a beautiful man. "Give me a few hours to make some plans. I'll set up a meeting with a trainer or something so I have an excuse to come out. I'll call you when I have everything worked out, alright?"

"Sounds great," she murmured. "I can't wait…Hey, Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to see you, too," she replied as she hung up the phone.

Nathan couldn't help but jump up and shout in excitement. Strangers passing by stared after him, but he didn't care. Nothing else in the world mattered in that moment other than he was going to see her. On the other side of the country, Peyton flipped her cell phone shut and tucked it back into her handbag along with the photo of Nathan. The stifling emotions were gone, and she felt suddenly revitalized. She was going to see him.

By the close of business that day, Peyton had convinced another junior rep to take her place at the conference. An all inclusive-excursion to Miami in the middle of party season wasn't all that difficult to pawn off onto an underling hungry to be recognized. After quickly canceling her reservations to Miami, she had booked a night in a hotel near her loft for Nathan. She had contemplated just letting him stay at her place, but she didn't want either of them to assume anything. Going into his visit to Los Angeles, she knew that she had to be guarded. It was awkward enough without any assumptions. She'd even asked them to hold the room for a few extra nights in case he decided he wanted to stay there for the duration instead of at her place.

For his part, Nathan had managed to set up a pointless meeting with his agent so that he didn't exactly have to lie to Haley about going to L.A. He would just leave pretty much everything else out when she asked about his trip. With his flight reservations made, he had gone as far to rent a car so that Peyton didn't have to worry about carting him around the city. He didn't want to have to leave her feeling obligated for anything. Now, with those plans confirmed, he dialed her number from the living room of the beach house. Reciting the number from memory, he still couldn't believe that he was calling Peyton. For a split second, it was as if no time had ever passed.

"Peyton, it's Nathan," he said as soon as he heard her pick up.

"I still know your voice, Nate," she giggled. "So, am I going to see you?"

Nathan couldn't help but grinned. He was the one who had suggested it, after all. Still, he knew that she was giving him one last out. She was just as anxious about all of this as he was. "Yeah, I'll be there Sunday night. I had to take a late flight out so that I could spend the day with Jamie," he told her. "I should be in at 8:30. Take a cab; I rented a car so I'll just drive us from there."

"Cancel your car rental, Scott," she insisted, using his last name for emphasis. "I have my car out here. We can just use it."

"Whatever you want, Peyt," he relented easily. "I will see you Sunday night."

"Sunday night," she repeated. "I really can't wait, Nathan."

"Me neither," he admitted, his heart flying at her confession. He tried to ignore the images of his wife and brother as they flashed in his mind. How could something so wrong feel this right? "I've missed you."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she retorted mysteriously before disconnecting the call. Wordlessly, Peyton replaced the phone on its cradle and leaned back in her chair at her desk. He had just admitted that he missed her. She had wanted to hear those words for the past two years, even when she had known it all along. In that moment, Peyton knew she had to figure out a way to let the past (and her present) go. Wherever this visit took her, it was something that just had to be done.

Nathan threw his phone on the side table after hearing Peyton end the call. She hadn't exactly reciprocated what he had said, but he knew that she had missed him. He'd heard it in the very first word she'd said earlier that day. For a minute, he felt another wave of guilt wash over him as he thought about Lucas and Haley. Although Haley had only briefly mentioned it lately, he knew that Lucas and Peyton were still very much together.

Before that night with Peyton and Lucas' night with Haley, his brother had been his best friend. Yet, he could still trace his life back to the exact moment where that ended. Since then, Nathan had mentally forgiven his brother for that night, but he'd never said it aloud. Things would never be the same between them. They could never manage to recapture what they had both lost that night. He'd had to let it go with Haley. It had actually been easier with her. It was easier when he didn't really care anymore. With Lucas, it just wasn't so.

Letting go was also something he couldn't do with Peyton. He wanted, more than anything, to get what they had back that perfect night two years ago. With her, it was like breathing. It was instinctive, automatic and necessary. He couldn't live without her anymore. He hadn't really lived in the past two years without her. On the outside, he was going through the motions. On the inside, other than when he was with his son, Nathan had been dead for those two years, five months and seventeen days. Peyton Sawyer was his air, and Nathan couldn't wait to breathe deeply again.