Nathan sat silently, listening as his name reverberated over and over again in his head. Looking up at Peyton, he could read the panic stricken across her solemn face. Only a flicker of determination was evident in her emerald eyes. He grabbed her hand as she rolled off him and leaned back on her knees next to him. "Hey, Luke."

"Hey, Luke?" he chuckled humorlessly. "You really look like you're working hard here, Honey. I just had no idea that all that overtime you were putting in was underneath my brother. I have to admit, I didn't see that one coming."

Squeezing her hand comfortingly, Nathan tried to let Peyton know that he was still there. He was there to be her strength. "Maybe we should talk about this, Lucas," he suggested evenly. Really, he just wanted to punch the biting sarcasm from his brother's stoic features, but hating Lucas was a big reason Peyton had left him the first time. He had vowed not to repeat the same mistakes.

"You know, funny you should say that," Lucas retorted as his gaze met his brothers. "It sounds exactly like what Haley said that night you walked in on us together. We just wanted you to hear us out, but you couldn't do that, Little Brother. I guess you eventually listened to Hales though, didn't you? I mean, the two of you are still married. Too bad you couldn't extend that same courtesy to your own brother."

Peyton looked in fear between the two brothers. She had been apart of too many Tree Hill triangles for her liking. It had started with Lucas and Nathan all those years ago, but she was determined to make sure that ended here tonight. She was taking herself out of the equation. "Lucas, come on, will you just hear me out?"

He shook his head in disbelief. "Peyton, my love, we have talked ourselves to death over the years. I think it's pretty clear what's going on here," he spat angrily. "He's an ass, you're a slut and I'm a moron. Well and a bastard. Isn't that right, Nate?"

"Don't call her that," Nathan warned. His voice was dark and conjured up the overprotective boyfriend who had been by Peyton's side at the beginning of junior year. A guy could look at her wrong, and he would be ready to pound his head into the cement until he bled. She couldn't help but flinch a little bit, something that didn't go unnoticed by Nathan. He adjusted his tone, softening his voice and bringing down the volume to a more appropriate level. "I understand you're angry, but if you want to blame someone here, blame me. I'm the one who came looking for her."

"No, that's not true," Peyton insisted. She was an equal part in this mess. "It's just as much my fault as it his is."

"Isn't that cute, stand by your man and all that," Lucas spewed sarcastically. "Save it, Peyton. I'm not interested in whose fault it is this time. I don't care anymore."

She lowered her eyes and tried to keep the tears from falling. She wasn't crying over losing Lucas. She was weeping because she knew she had broken his heart. Haley and Nathan had had 'forever and always.' She had let Lucas think she was his forever. "I'm sorry, Luke," she apologized softly. "I know you don't believe that but I am."

"When, Peyt? When did it come to this?"

"It's been over for months, you know that as well as I do," she answered honestly. "We barely ever see each other anymore, and when we do, all we do is fight. You get angry at me, accusing me of something that we both know is true."

Lucas had always suspected that Peyton was in love with someone else, but he had never once considered that other person could be his brother. He'd always thought maybe it was Jake, the great guy that got away. He had never seen her falling for Nathan Scott in a million years. "So, you do love him?"

"Lucas, I love you too," she said softly. "Just in a different way."

"This is it, you know that, right?" he cautioned her. "No coming back to me when he breaks your heart. No friendship. Nothing."

"I understand," she retorted as tears spilled from her eyes. Even though the love had left long ago, remnant of a once-strong friendship remained underneath. It killed her to lose it, to walk away from Lucas, but she knew that it had to be done. More than it hurt her, however, it killed her that she had taken it away from Lucas and Nathan.

Nathan brushed his thumb over her knuckles before regarding his brother. "Luke…"

"I'm not interested, Nate. It's over. This, us, the whole thing, it's over. For good," he stated calmly as he gathered himself and walked toward the door. He looked back at them sadly and shook his head. "What about Hales? I don't understand how either of you could do this to her, especially when you know how much it hurts to have it done to you."

"We're going to tell her," Nathan told him. "Please, don't say anything until we get to talk to her."

"Oh, you can believe that I am not going to say anything to Haley about this," Lucas grimaced. He knew how this was going to affect his best friend and his nephew, and he refused to be the bearer of that news. "I'm not going to break her heart for you. You're going to have to do that all on your own." He looked at them again, long and hard, wanting to cement this moment in his head in case he regretted his words later.

Without a goodbye, Nathan and Peyton listened as Lucas slammed the door to her loft shut behind him. Still gripping his hand, she looked up at Nathan sadly. "Well, that's over."

"One down, one to go," he replied before wiping a stray tear from her soft cheek and looking into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

Peyton nodded as she rested her face in his outstretched palm. "It was just hard."

"Yeah," he agreed, "but one good thing came out of all this."

"Yeah?"

"One less thing is in the way for us now."

Peyton cocked her head to the side and looked at Nathan. Suddenly, her face lit up as she broke out into a huge grin of realization. "Oh, yeah."

"So, what's next then, Peyt?"

She rolled back on top of him, straddling his middle with her legs on either side. Her hands covered his as they rested on her jean-clad hips. "Babe," she whispered as she captured his mouth in a passionate, heartfelt kiss. "I think I'm ready for that picket fence now."