A/N: Thank you, as always. Reviews equal happiness.

Accompaniment: an additional part, a second player. Accompaniment serves to support and enhance the piece of music.

When she made the rash, uncontrollable decision to kiss him, it was meant to be a final farewell. But it didn't feel anything like she thought it would. The kiss was not a goodbye. It was more of a resurrection. And when his tongue sought hers out, she couldn't fathom ever letting go.

He kicked the door shut behind him, a growl rising in his throat as one of his hands cupped her cheek. His other hand gripped her finger, his fingers digging into her skin. It was as though he was afraid to let go, afraid to lose her.

"Luke," she murmured into his mouth as he backed her up, all the way into the kitchen until her lower back slammed into the counter.

It all happened in a blur, faster than she would have liked, too fast to remember. Before she knew it she was sitting on the counter, her legs locked around his waist. Her shirt was long gone, and she was undoing the buttons of his, pressing kisses to his chest as his hands ran along her thighs.

His hands gently forced her face back up to his, kissing her with passionate intensity that made her heart melt. "Mm," she murmured as he turned his attention to her jaw, and then her neck. She slipped her hands into his hair and tightened her legs around his waist, making him groan.

The feel of him, every single inch of him, filled her with more emotion than she knew how to handle as he buried his hand fist-deep within her curly hair, gently tilting her head back and delving his tongue into her mouth hungrily.

She could have kissed him forever, she really could have. He was her forever, that much had been made clear to her more times than she would have liked. But her hands moved on, making their way to his jeans, unbuttoning the top button with ease, longing for what she'd never had.

She had never had sex with Lucas Scott. That seemed like the strangest fact to her: she was so hopelessly in love with him, and yet they had never slept together. She was attracted to him, and his arousal pressing against her core was evidence that he was most definitely attracted to her, but they'd never had sex. They hadn't needed the physical aspect. The emotion had been enough.

More than enough.

His hands began to work off her jeans, too, unbuttoning and unzipping. He was dropping kisses against her collarbone and it took all of her effort to keep breathing.

"Oh, Luke…" she murmured, tears dripping down her cheeks. She wasn't sure what feeling they stemmed from, but she knew that it was probably a combination of everything swirling around in her heart. "God," she gasped, so mutedly she knew that he couldn't hear her, "I love you."

She'd been right. Lucas didn't hear her, he was busy dropping kisses at the valley of her breasts, but her own words shocked her back to the reality in which they truly existed, and a fresh batch of tears spilled from her eyes as she pushed him away with all the force she could muster.


"Hey, my beautiful boys," Haley crooned, bending down to kiss Sebastian's forehead. All of her children were gathered in the living room, watching TV and playing.

"Mo-om," the twins whined in unison, undoubtedly something they'd picked up from Jamie, "Beautiful is a word for girls."

Haley rolled her eyes. "Okay then, you handsome gentlemen, that better?"

They nodded, content with their answer, just as Jenny walked through in door in capri pants and a halter top, her cheeks red and a few strands of hair sticking to her cheeks.

Haley arched her eyebrows. "What have you been up to?"

Jenny grinned and stuck out her tongue. "Jordan and I were just hanging out at the river court."

Haley nodded, choosing to believe that they were doing nothing more than playing basketball. "You have any ideas for dinner tonight, honey?"

The teenager shrugged. "Anything's fine."

An idea struck Haley. "Hey, why don't we go out? Family night," she grinned.

Jamie tore his attention from the basketball game on the TV for a moment. "What about Jenny?"

She smiled at her son. "Jenny counts as family, you goof. We'll go in half an hour, okay? Jenny, sweetie, will you keep an eye on Sebastian?"

"Sure," Jenny replied happily, scooping Sebastian up and tickling him. His sweet laughter filed the room as she flopped down next to Jamie and asked, "Who's playing?"

He grinned at her and started to fill her in on the details of the game. Haley smiled at their easy interaction, thankful for the peacefulness of her home. She meandered into her bedroom, thinking about what to wear that evening, and was surprised to see her husband stretched out on the bed, lazily watching the same basketball game as his son had been watching in the living room.

"Hey, you," he said, his voice deep and gravelly from his half-asleep state.

"Hey, sexy," she replied, climbing onto the bed and stretching out beside him. "How long have you been home?"

He chuckled. "All days, Hales. The babysitter had a wedding to go to, remember?"

"Wow, right…I've just been so busy that I…"

"Yeah," he agreed, running a hand up and down her back. "You seem a little preoccupied."

"Just with all this CMC stuff."

"Yeah right," laughed Nathan. "You think that after thirteen years of marriage I don't know you better than that?"

"Nathan…" she sighed, tucking her head into his shoulder. "Brooke called me today. I have a feeling she and Lucas are still struggling with all of this. And she practically started crying when she told me that I needed to take care of Peyton for her."

"I talked to Peyton yesterday; I took her out for ice cream."

"And?" Haley prodded him, anxiously awaiting his answer.

"And she's strong, but she's still being evasive. She'll be alright, Hales."

"I hope so. Even if she is, Nathan…maybe it sounds selfish, but I worry about the rest of us."

"We'll be okay, too."

"I hope," Haley said mournfully, cuddling closer to his body. "God, who knew that one girl could cause so much drama?"

He laughed. "Speak for yourself, Haley James Scott. She was the sole cause of relationship drama in my life before I met you."

Haley laughed, too, rolling her eyes. "You were such a sweet guy back then," she told him sarcastically.

"Never mind then. How am I now?"

"Now…" She smiled, looking right into his eyes. "Now you are everything to me." She leaned in, kissing him as her hands gently cupped his face.

"Mm," Nathan mumbled appreciatively, gently flipping them over so that he was hovering over her. "Jenny and Jamie are with the little kids, right?"

"Yeah, babe, but I told them we'd go to dinner in half an hour," Haley informed him in between kisses.

Nathan smirked loftily. "I can do a lot in half an hour."

"Nathan…Nathan!" she shrieked through giggles as he tackled her into a kiss so passionate and perfect that it immediately shut her up.


"Peyton…?" Lucas muttered in confusion, his lust-filled eyes darkening even more with his puzzlement. He regained his balance from when she'd pushed him and stared at her as though she'd lost her mind.

She slid off of the counter, zipping up her jeans again and redoing the button. "We. Cannot. Do. This."

"Peyt," he pleaded, his mind still hazy from the feeling of her lips on his, her hips against his.

"No! Luke!" she cried. "No!" She looked heartbroken and terrified and he felt like a total jackass. "We can't, we can't. You have a kid, Luke. Hell, I have a kid. We have to be better than this!" she sobbed, wiping at her tears furiously.

The image of Miranda snuck into his head, her big brown eyes – Brooke's eyes – so full of love and admiration and trust when she looked at him. Guilt stabbed at his heart.

"How dare you? How can you live with yourself like this? How can you do this to your wife?"

"Peyton, I…"

She clapped a hand over her mouth for a moment, trying to calm down, and thoughts of the life and the family he'd chosen drifted away. She just looked so good, so beautiful standing there, even with the tears on her cheeks. Her hair was messy, but it fell around her face angelically, and he could see the blotchy areas on her chest – her chest, her shoulders, her hips – from where his lips and hands had been.

"You know, Luke," she said sadly, disappointment shining out of those green eyes that used to captivate him so badly. "When I first met you, you were like everything I wasn't, and I felt so completed by you. You were so good. What happened to that boy?"

You and Brooke, he thought. Two beautiful girls. One that he'd been pining for for years, one that had drifted into his life in an airy, fun-filled breeze. One who was scared of what she felt for him, the other who embraced it and threw a new physicality into a relationship for the first time in his life. And all of a sudden, he lacked the power to make good decisions, and he'd never got it back.

"I loved that boy," Peyton whispered wistfully, but she wasn't talking to him anymore.

And he had loved her, too. He'd wanted everything with her. "Peyton," he said gently, his tone apologetic and comforting. "I –"

"Don't you dare tell me that you love me, not again!" she cried fiercely. "You are such a jerk. You're just confused, like you were when you were a kid. You haven't grown up at all. Let me tell you something, Luke. You don't love me, and sometimes I wonder if you ever did."

He stared at her, aghast. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he managed to get out, and was proud of himself for an instant. That was pretty good, considering how dumbstruck he'd originally been. Sometimes being an author paid off, bringing the right words to his lips at the right time.

Peyton paced away from him, brushing her fingers through her hair. She turned back to face him once there were quite a few feet in between them, tears making her eyes shimmer. "People who love you don't hurt you like…if you had ever really loved me, Lucas, you would have waited for me. You would never have made me the other woman, and you sure as hell wouldn't be doing the same thing now. Is it sex? Is that what it is? Then fine, Lucas, let's have sex. Let's get it out of your system so you can let me out of this, and let me move on."

"Peyton," he began angrily. "That's not fair."

"What?" she demanded, gesturing to her body. "You don't want me?"

Years of marriage had taught Lucas that there was no such thing as a right answer to that question, so he avoided it. "I didn't make you the other woman. You were pretty willing, if I remember correctly."

"You don't. I told you to let it go and you wouldn't."

"Because I loved you!" he yelled. "I wanted you because I loved you, but then Brooke found out and you got scared again, and you were the one that walked away."

She shook her head, turning away from him again. "That's so goddamn easy for you to say. You just ran right back to Brooke."

"And you were practically dating Jake!"

She whirled back around to face him, fire in her eyes. She grabbed an oven mitt, the closest item to her, and flung it at him. "Leave Jake out of it! Don't say his name."

"Did you ever love him, Peyton?" he asked her, his voice no more than a whisper. "As much as you loved me?" If she said yes, then he could admit the same thing about Brooke, and somehow they would make it work. Somehow they would find their way back to what they'd had.

A strangled sob escaped her lips. "You jackass. You…" She grabbed a spatula and threw that at him, too. "I don't love me, do you understand me? I haven't in a long time and I'm not going back down that road, because you can't really love one girl. I'm glad you never picked me, or I'd be the one sitting at home right now naively thinking that my husband had given me his heart. Brooke has my fucking sympathies."

"Peyton," he said quietly, feeling a sudden rush of regret. That question had been unfair. His actions were unfair. None of this was fair, none of it was right. And yet, at the same time, all of those wrongs blended together into something that felt so much like true, unshakeable love.

"Get the fuck out of my apartment." Her words were steady and calm, but there was something hysterical about her eyes.

"Please, Peyt –"

"Leave!" she screamed, flinging a plate at him. It missed him narrowly, slamming into the wall and shattering into five pieces.

He held up his hands in surrender, eyeing her in amazement and worry. "Okay," he murmured, backing toward the door. "I'm leaving."


Jenny laughed, clapping her hand over her mouth and nose to keep from spraying her drink all over the table. Jamie, on her left, was laughing just as hard. Haley laughed demurely, snickering behind her hand, while Nathan chuckled, a full-body kind of laugh. Nick and Noah were too young to understand the joke their father had just told, but they giggled nevertheless, wanting to join in the fun. Sebastian, too, giggled in his sweet two-year-old way. Jenny felt whole and full and safe in that moment.

"You're funny," she commented, almost in shock.

"Nice to know you have such faith in me, kiddo," Nathan laughed, punching her arm gently.

She grinned back as the waitress approached their table, distributing food with the automatic ease that came from years of doing her job. "Look at you all," she commented with a smile. "What a beautiful, happy family you have." She threw Haley and Nathan an extra smile before she said, "Enjoy," she walked off.

"See, Nicky, Noah?" Haley asked her twins teasingly, wearing a proud, loving smile. "She called us all beautiful." She shot another smile toward Jenny, expecting her to share in the joke, but Jenny couldn't get her lips to curve upward.

"You alright, Jen?" Nathan asked her, noticing this as well.

"Fine," she lied easily, digging into her food.

She'd let herself get absorbed by the Scotts. Haley loved her, and she knew that – Haley probably had enough love in her for everyone in the world who deserved it. Nathan was really great, Jamie, with his crush, was sweet, and the twins and the baby were so cute that they made her melt.

But she'd been reminded by the waitress' words that this was not her family. She hadn't been part of a family in this sense in a long time, not since her dad had disappeared from her life. Still, she had a family in her mom and her mom alone. Together, they fought the world, getting through it all. Sometimes Jenny missed the normalcy and simplicity that her life had possessed before, but Peyton was her mom, and she loved her. She missed her, and she felt bad for letting herself get sucked into another family and leaving her mom alone.

"Nathan?" she asked quietly. Haley was deep in conversation with Noah, so she wouldn't hear.

"Yeah? Are you okay?" he asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Yeah, I just want to go see my mom. Is that okay? I mean, I know you paid for my food and everything, so I should probably eat it, but…"

"Don't be ridiculous," he said kindly, and she saw something like pride in his smile. "You go. I understand; Haley will, too."

"Thank you," she whispered, and slipped out of her seat and out of the restaurant, looking forward to another night spent in the bubble she and Peyton had always been able to create around themselves.


Once Lucas shut the door behind him, Peyton struggled to get control of herself. She took several deep breaths, trying not to think too much. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it back on, doing up a couple of the buttons. She bent down to pick up the oven mitt and the spatula before she gingerly picked up the five pieces of the plate. As she went to throw them away, one of them slipped against another, cutting into the skin of her hand.

She stared at it as blood seeped out of the cut, a dark red that spilled out against her skin. She threw that last piece of the plate into the garbage before running her hand under water. She grabbed a dishtowel and curled it around her hand before gingerly sitting down on the floor, unsure that she could move any more.

She took a peek at her hand under the dishtowel. It was still bleeding, but she couldn't even feel it. It hadn't hurt when her skin had been penetrated, and it didn't hurt now. She clutched her hand to her chest, curling into a ball as she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin on one bony knee. She wondered why she wasn't feeling pain. She wondered if she'd ever be able to feel again.

Without even realizing it, she'd started to cry, and only noticed it when it became difficult to catch her breath between sobs. She choked on something that may or may not have been her heart, and the gross acidity of vomit rose from her stomach to her mouth for the briefest of seconds. Every time she swallowed her throat stung, and then all of a sudden her hand started to throb.

"Mom?!"

Through her heartbroken haze, she saw Jenny's startled face staring down at her. She wanted to apologize, to comfort and reassure her daughter, but she had finally hit rock bottom and she honestly saw no way up. All she could see was the bright red of her blood seeping through the dishtowel and the anxiousness in her daughter's eyes.


Haley burst into the apartment above Tric, her heart pounding with worry as it had been since she'd received Jenny's babbling phone call for help. Jenny looked up at her the moment she walked in, her eyes full of tears and almost palpable relief. She looked panicked and frightened. "Aunt Haley!" she cried, that unadulterated relief filling her voice. It was the first time she'd addressed Haley as her aunt.

"It's okay, honey," Haley told Jenny automatically, crouching down next to the stricken mother and daughter.

Peyton was a bona fide mess. Haley took in her hastily – and incorrectly – buttoned shirt, her messy hair, her tear-streaked face, and the angry-looking new cut scarring her hand. "Oh, Peyton," she said sadly, confused and concerned about whatever had happened to her friend. "Sweetie, I'm sorry," she apologized quietly, gathering Peyton into a hug.

Peyton sank into her arms, sobbing, and Haley felt her heart constrict. "Shh," Haley hushed her soothingly. "Whatever it is, I'm here, and it'll be okay. Jenny…sweetheart, why don't you go back home? Explain the situation to Nathan and tell him I'll be home when she's ready, okay?"

"I want to stay," Jenny said, her voice full of raw emotion. She was clearly afraid, in the way only a kid can be when they witness their parent, the strongest person in their life, breaking down. She'd seen Peyton crack a few times throughout the week, more times than ever before, but she hadn't yet seen her break. She blinked harshly, uselessly, against her tears.

"I know, Jenny," Haley replied softly, keeping her voice steady and calm. "But Peyton and I need to talk, and it's going to be harder if you're here. I promise you – on my behalf and your mom's – that we'll explain everything else to you later. Okay? Honey?"

Jenny nodded and stood slowly, keeping her eyes trained on Peyton. She grabbed one of Peyton's sweaters from some clothes messily thrown over a chair and slipped it on before she exited the apartment, her footsteps barely making a sound. She paused in the doorway, and asked, brokenly, "You'll call me?"

"I promise," Haley swore again.

When the door closed behind Jenny, Haley exhaled gratefully. This would all be just a little easier with Jenny gone. "Okay…" she murmured. She let go of Peyton, who had sobbed herself into exhaustion, just for long enough to grab some couch cushions and pillows to settle them on. She sat next to her friend, propping a pillow between her back and the wall and placing a cushion in her lap. She patted the cushion lightly, indicating that Peyton should rest her head there. Peyton's head of blonde curls fell softly into her lap, and Haley's hands automatically threaded into her hair soothingly. "Shh, sweetie. Take a deep breath."

When Peyton's tears calmed and her breathing evened out a bit more, Haley reluctantly launched into her questioning: "Listen, honey, I know that…clearly, something bad has happened, and it's hard and it's messy. But I need you to talk to me. I need you to tell me things. I didn't mean anything I said; I want to be here for you. But I can't help you if you keep hiding things from me, Peyton."

Peyton's only response was a strangled sob, and Haley delicately pushed the strands of hair that had been stuck to Peyton's cheeks by her tears out of her face. She rubbed Peyton's arm soothingly, knowing that she had no more options but to wait and hope.

"Haley," Peyton finally said, her voice rough and raw. "I'm an idiot. I'm so sorry."

"Shh," Haley said firmly, dismissing her apology. "It's okay. It's okay," she repeated, waiting for more. When Peyton remained silent, she sighed. "You're not an idiot, okay? You're not and you never have been. You don't have to be sorry. Peyton, please, just talk to me."

"I…I don't even know where to begin. It's all been going on for too long. It's so fucked up – nothing should last this long. Only me, right?"

"I don't understand," Haley whispered, smoothing down Peyton's messy ringlets.

"Luke," Peyton got out, the single syllable mangled by her tears. "Me and…I, Luke and I…oh, God, Haley, we almost had sex."

Haley could feel her eyes widening more than she'd ever thought was possible. Lucas and Peyton? As far as she knew, there was no length to their love story. Lucas adored Peyton throughout school, had his eye on her since he and Haley began discussing their respective opposite sexes. Junior year, Peyton and Nathan broke up, Lucas had his chance. He went for it, she got scared. She regretted her decision and ran back to him, but he was with Brooke. That should have been the end.

But of course, it wasn't, and they'd hooked up when Peyton was emotionally vulnerable and Lucas, though he'd denied it, was as in love with her as he'd ever been. They continued to hook up behind Brooke's back, broke it off out of guilt, and Brooke found out anyway. The girls got bitter after Luke's brief, random encounter with Nicki, and decided to band together in their hatred of him. He returned and they all forged a friendship, which had ended in a Brooke-Lucas relationship while Peyton got together with Jake. As far has Haley had ever known, that had been the end. Roughly half a year – that, as she knew it, was the extent of the saga of Lucas and Peyton.

Apparently, she'd been very, very wrong.

She felt the same way she had in junior year when she'd found out about their clandestine little romance: ashamed of them both, but a little more disappointed in Luke. He was married to Brooke and they had a child. Brooke had told her that they were thinking of trying for another baby. God, he was such an idiot. Peyton, too. Brooke had been her best friend, and she had Jenny to think about…yet Jake had mysteriously disappeared from the picture. Where the hell had Jake gone?

"Peyton," she said softly.

"Don't hate me," her friend begged, so sadly that Haley felt guilty for her attitude.

"Oh, honey, no…I don't hate you. But Peyton, I know you've said over and over that you don't want to talk about it, but I need to know. It's killing me, and I can't understand anything unless you finally give me this vital piece of information. What happened with you and Jake?" She could hear the desperate curiosity in her own voice.

Peyton made a strangled, bitter sound that may have been a sob, or even…a laugh. She sniffled and her hand clutched the pillow her head rested on. "Jake's dead, Haley. He has been for years."

A/N: Saw that coming? Knew it all along? Surprised? Let me know!