The family that came out of that night was a broken one… strong, but broken none the less. Lucas Scott had arrived just a hour after his daughter was born, finding his wife's best friend standing outside the nursery windows staring at a little girl. She spoke the name and he knew that she hadn't made it.

Then, when he asked where the others were, Brooke Davis just mumbled a short direction of "upstairs" and he knew that there was more to what had happened that night that just losing his wife and gaining a daughter.

The weeks went by and blame was passed. To God. To each other. Every now and then even to the small children that had only been in their lives for such a short time. But every time, they would realize that there was no one to blame for what happened that day.

The months went by and the hurt went away little by little. Caring for a baby took up more time than he had known, and grieving over losing a son or a best friend took up a lot of time as well. By the end of the third month, they could each speak their names without tears flowing freely down their cheeks.

The years passed by and the hurt stopped, and was replaced with a longing that no one understood. It wasn't sad or tragic, it was just there. Haley and Nathan welcomed a new baby into their lives, naming her Beth Peyton Scott, a combination of the girl they lost and the woman they all loved. Lucas and Anna lived a quiet, but amazing life, and honestly everything that they had talked about before she was born was something Lucas was bound and determined to give his daughter.

Yes, there was sadness, because let's be honest, with death comes sadness. However, there was unbelievable joy.

They never spoke of that year where moments were missed and friendships were tested.

Instead, they told stories of road trips to Texas, or going into labor in the middle of graduation. They talked about the craziness that was a high school love triangle and the novel that made everyone take pause.

And five years after the greatest hurt that they had known, Lucas Scott published a third novel… a success that no one knew he had been working on.

There are moments that make a person. They are moments that shape the lives of those who are in them. A birth. A death. A romance. An attack. A loss. Welcoming arms. Someone wiping a tear away.

Yes, these moments make us. And there are even moments that are missed. Maybe you were away. Maybe you turned your back for a split second. Maybe you blinked. Those are moments that can shape us as well. Last words you'll never hear. Last breaths you never saw. Not being the comforting shoulder to cry on.

These moments have shaped my life, whether I was in them or not.

I am thankful for them. Even those that have taken so much away from me, because I have realized something very important.

Whether it is a moment that you have missed or a moment that has passed. There is no moment greater than the one that you are living right at this second.

Seeing your niece smile at a woman who has been your best friend for years. Seeing your daughter running around the yard as her godmother and your brother chase after her. Realizing that you are going to be okay. Realizing that there are people that you have loved that are gone but are still looking in on you.

Live in these moments, these moments that you are having right now, and love them… whether good or bad, because they are a blessing. They are a blessing for you to take hold of.

The dedication page reads: We are living the moments that you have to miss… and loving you both every step of the way.

Yes… it was a bittersweet day that day in the hospital, when two lives were lost, but the ones that lived on from that day realize more and more how blessed they truly are because of it.

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And THE END.

I know that some of you HATED the fact that I killed both of them off, and I'm sorry for that… please don't hate me!! I'm sorry that some of you didn't like how the story ended, but I honestly couldn't write a happy ending to this one. I felt like it wouldn't be right for some reason. But hopefully the epilogue made up for it.

P.S. I posted it so quickly so you all wouldn't hate me forever!!!

Review… let me know what you think… and… I'm sorry!!!!