A/N: Yeah it's kind of a bullshitty way to get back into everything and I'm not the happiest with this chapter, but I was stuck and I wanted to give you guys SOMEthing. These next couple of chapters will do some time jumping. This chapter takes place 3 years after the last chapter and the next chapter will take place 24 hours before this chapter.

It's funny, but Bliss has really taken over my writing time. I only meant to write Bliss as a fluffy oneshot, to take a break from the angst of Journey, but it's one of those things that took on a life of its own. I've gotten such great responses from it and I apologize to all the loyal fans of the Journey fic. Ideas come faster for Bliss than this one. But I am still very much committed to this story and to finishing it. Thanks again to all my loyal readers and for all the awesome reviews that you leave me. Again if anyone has any ideas or things you'd like to see in this fic, let me know. I already know how it will end. It's just a matter of finding a way from point A to point C.

3 years later

Lucas

The door to his apartment opened and then slammed, but he barely flinched. He was staring blankly off into space, his thoughts solely on seeing her tonight at Tric, how she could possibly come to hate him as much as she did, and how pissed he was that he still fucking cared.

It had been three years almost to the day since he last saw her, standing in the parking lot of Tree Hill Mercy Hospital, breaking his heart in a manner no doctor could ever fix.

"Where did you go?"

At the angrily tossed question, he shifted his eyes to look at her gold strappy shoes. The heated voice went on and his eyes remained in the direction of the ground as she began undressing and flinging clothing onto the bed. "I looked everywhere for you! Rachel had to drive me home."

"Sorry," he replied. It was weakly given and the lamest reply he could possibly come up with, but it was all he could say. He was sorry about a lot of things. He had barely spoken to his mother who was now, much to his disgust dating Dan Scott, in those three years, barely spoke to any of his friends, preferring to hole himself up in his studies...and in a moment of pure loneliness and desperation allowed this woman standing in front of him to seduce him and call herself his girlfriend. The only person that could make him halfway smile was his nephew, Jamie.

"Sorry? Lucas, you abandoned me there! Was it her? She comes back and suddenly you can't even knock two brain cells together? LUCAS!"

Soft hands roughly grabbed his chin and forced it up to make her look at her. She scoffed.

"Why don't you go then? Go to her!"

His first thought was, Why don't you go?He really didn't understand why she stayed. He was a bastard to her at best and all they did was fight. He stared at her for a long time and wondered how in the hell he'd gotten here. How had they fallen so far? He hated himself.

He hated himself for being this way for her after she stomped all over his heart for what must have been the millionth time. He hated himself for shivering at the memory of her lips on his only hours before and for the desperate way he'd clung to her. And he hated himself for not being strong enough to walk away from the brunette who was standing in front of him. He hated her for staying.

"Brooke…Don't."

"She doesn't want you?" Brooke scoffed as though she found it unbelievable. She was mocking him, of course and Lucas ground his teeth trying to keep anything hateful from spilling out of his mouth.

"No," he whispered, harshly, blinking away the tears that burned the backs of his eyes. Brooke shook her head in disgust and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Taking his red eyes away from the place she had just been standing, he picked up the bottle of Jack Daniels and took the first of countless, desperate swallows. Lucas Scott was no more than a ghost and all he wanted to do was disappear.

Peyton

From the moment Jake had set down the last of Peyton's luggage, three years ago, in the spare bedroom that Peyton would call her home she'd felt a strange calm come over her. She sighed. The last week had been an emotional one and not only due to the goodbyes Peyton had to give.

When Jake had finally made it back to her house after the hospital, he'd found her in a miserable heap in the middle of her bedroom, crying so hard she was practically screaming. It was terrible to see, yet he knew there was nothing he could possibly do or say at that moment to make it better. She probably wouldn't have heard him anyways.

Her pain had only been rivaled by the broken man's he'd just left in the hospital parking lot. It was enough to drown one's self in forever.

Peyton had slept for the rest of the day and most of the next. Physically and emotionally drained, she couldn't entertain the thought of getting out of bed to face a world so cruel as the one she found herself living in. Maybe she was being over dramatic, but she couldn't help how she felt. And she would have given anything to not feel it and to erase the memory of seeing Lucas and Brooke together and the tears that fell down Lucas's face when she walked away from him.

"You're all set up."

Peyton had looked up at Jake from her spot on the couch and smiled. "Thanks for doin' this Jake. You've…..you've really-"

"Hey," Jake had shook his head and sat down beside her. "Don't even mention it."

Peyton nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

They were in a different place too. Jake was still very much in love with her and it would probably be agony living in the same house as her, but he knew she couldn't possibly think about another relationship right now. What she had gone through with Lucas had done a number on the curly haired blonde and Jake didn't know if she would ever recover.

Even now, she seemed not quite herself. The walls around her and her heart were as high and as solid as they had ever been. She rarely laughed or smiled genuinely. It was painful to see her this way .

"I'll start looking for an apartment soon so I can get out of your hair."

"Peyton, you know you can stay here as long as you need to. Forever if you want," Jake had joked. He'd frowned because the joke had fallen flat and Peyton's face had taken on a far away look.

She didn't believe in forever anymore. Lucas hadn't tried to contact her and she had not run into him at Nathan and Haley's while visiting them and the baby. She still wasn't sure if she was upset about that or not. Merely thinking about Lucas Scott was like being on a roller coaster.

"You wanna watch a movie tonight?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," Peyton had replied, shaking herself from her own mind. She'd mustered a smile for Jake who was being entirely too good to her. How could he still be so kind when she'd basically left him so she could pine over her best friend's boyfriend? She knew Jake knew what was going on, or at least that it had to do with Lucas. She also knew that Jake had still had feelings for her. Neither of them mentioned it and at that point Peyton had preferred it that way. Her heart was just too bruised for that…and as much as she'd hated admitting it, she still ached for Lucas.

She'd looked over at Jake, who was trying so hard and watching her with kind patient eyes. If anything she needed to pull it together for Jake, who was trying so hard to make her feel better. She'd formed a smile in his direction and asked,

"You wanna order a pizza for dinner? I'm buyin'."

Jake had smiled, happy that she was trying. "Sure Peyton. I'm sure Jenny'll love that. I'll go get the menu."

"Okay. I'm just gonna go change my clothes." Peyton had gotten up and walked to her new room, leaving Jake behind to watch her go.

It was a lot smaller than her old room, but she didn't need that much space. Most of her belongings were back in Tree Hill in her old house which was now resided by Nathan, Haley and baby James Lucas Scott.

"Peyton, are you sure?" Haley had asked with, tears already starting to fall.

"Yeah, Peyt this is entirely too generous. I mean can we pay you or something?"

"No way guys. I already talked it over with my dad. Consider it a belated wedding, graduation, baby shower gift all wrapped into one. Besides, my dad and I couldn't bare to sell it and we want someone to fill it with love again. Who better than you guys right?"

Haley had thrown her arms around the taller woman and whispered, "Your room is going to stay there. Just as it is…so when you come visit you stay with us. You can always come back Peyton. You can always come home again."

Peyton had hugged her back, touched by her words, but she knew she could never bring herself to go back; not with him there. Tree Hill had taken so much from her. Her mother, her brother, her best friend, the love of her life, and her sanity. It had been time to leave.

She had not seen him or said goodbye before she left. How could she? He'd broken her heart. He'd been unable to wait for her. He didn't deserve a goodbye.

The second to last person she wanted to see though, she'd ended up running into a day before she left Tree Hill. Brooke Davis.

"Off to break another heart?" She'd asked snottily, while Rachel shuffled her feet beside her. Peyton didn't know why she responded. She should have just kept walking, but instead she replied,

"It's not like that with Jake and I anymore."

"Of course it's not," Brooke scoffed, ignoring Rachel's nudges to let it go. "You went there to propose ended up screwing him over again and then came back to steal my boyfriend and break his heart."

Peyton looked away, angrily, hurt briefly washing over her features. "Well, it doesn't seem like there was much to break, considering what I walked in on at that party."

"You snooze you lose. You're lucky I fucked him back to his senses before your toxic love killed someone else-" SLAP

Brooke held the stinging cheek Peyton had slapped in shock, but mostly she was shocked at the hateful words that had just spilled from her mouth. Rachel was staring at Brooke shocked beyond belief herself at what her partner in crime had just said.

Peyton bit her lip hard, trying to keep her tears under control. "You said you wished I'd burn in hell….well when you get there, make sure you stay on your side."

She stalked away, angry beyond belief. Her heart hurt, more than she thought it was possible. And when she left the next day, it was with bittersweet, but a giant sigh of relief.

She began school, even getting an internship at a local record company. She was always going, always busy, and she liked it that way. It kept her mind from wandering to anywhere painful; to Brooke's hateful words or to the blue of his eyes. She told herself she was over him, although whenever she spoke to Nathan or Haley they both knew, speaking his name was forbidden.

She also never dated. It wasn't that no one was interested, either. Peyton had gotten plenty of propositions, but had turned them all down. As for her and Jake, they remained strictly platonic, although Peyton knew he wanted more. She loved Jake. She really did, but the wall around her heart was as strong and steadfast as ever.

She told herself she was much too busy for anyone. It was the excuse she gave Haley whenever she asked if she was seeing anyone. But after three years of asking, it became clear that Peyton had taken herself off the market. It hadn't bothered Peyton though.

It also hadn't bothered her that she hadn't been back home to Tree Hill in three years. Haley and Nathan pleaded with her, for her god son's sake, but Peyton always managed to make up some sort of excuse to not come. But that had changed.

Peyton found herself back at the scene of the crime, Tree Hill, once again. It was about time Peyton came home to face her demons.

As Peyton packed up Jake's SUV with Haley and Jamie watching sadly from their front porch, Peyton realized it had been a bad idea to come home.

When Peyton Sawyer was a young girl her parent's friends would come over and comment on how tall she was for her age.

"It's her legs," Anna would remark, looking fondly down at her daughter. "Isn't that right baby?"

Peyton would only shrug, shyly, while her father ruffled her curls and called her chicken and her parent's friends would go on to comment that "she would make an excellent basketball player or runner. Did they plan on putting her in either?"

Well, Peyton had come to hate basketball in high school and by the time she left she had a grudging respect for it. But running…..Running had always been her forte.

So she ran. She ran after the huge mistake they'd made the night before at Tric, she ran that morning, until sweat coated her entire body to forget the feeling of his body pressed hard against hers, the fervent kisses, and desperate words; and as she packed up her car with Jake who was sneaking furtive glances at her, she decided once and for all to run from Tree Hill. And she would never ever look back.

The demons had proved too strong to fight and too frightening to face.

Uh-oh! What happened to Luke and Peyton? We'll see what went down at Tric next time. Thanks for reading and don't forget to drop a review!