A/N - I would like to thnk everyone who reviewed, you are all awesome and totally make my day! Once again, I have at least another two stories that I am working on, so expect to hear from me soon :) xx

As always I do not own OTH or any of the characters.

Peyton finally stopped running, but only because she had run out of land on which to run. Pulling off her well worn pair of Converse and rolling the hems of her jeans up around her slim calves, she stepped slowly into the cool water. Her heart was breaking, and her mind had far too much to deal with at this moment in time, so she opted for numbness. At least then she didn't have to feel anything, and this lack of feeling was radiating from her cold feet. With the cool water causing goose bumps to travel up her legs to her back, Peyton concentrated on this feeling, somehow being totally disconnected from the world, whilst at the same time being connected to her father, even though he was miles away.

He had been there, barely ten feet away from her, but all she felt radiating from him was anger and rejection, and that hurt more than anything else. In the distance she could hear the light traffic on the road, but no-one stopped to take notice of the broken hearted girl on the edge of the shore.

Watching the sun set in the distance, she eventually shuffled backwards out of the water onto the dry section of sand, curling her legs into her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees. She wished desperately that people didn't always leave, but she had more evidence to the contrary, and her head wouldn't let her heart believe the lie of 'sometimes they come back'. The only person that had ever returned on a permanent basis was Haley, but that was for Nathan not for her, so she didn't really count.

The temperature was dropping by the minute, causing her worn out muscles to shiver involuntarily, but Peyton didn't have the strength to stand, physically or mentally. Resting her forehead onto her knees, Peyton closed her eyes. In the distance she could hear the throaty rumblings of a car as it passed, which was quickly followed by the screech of brakes and the slamming of a door, but still Peyton didn't bother looking up.

"Peyton?" she heard someone breathe out her name, and she could almost feel the apology he was trying to squeeze into that one word. The soft hair covering her arm flickered as his presence slowly sank down to the sand next to her, and his rough hand hesitantly touched her bare shoulder, but her only reaction was a violent shiver as her muscles tensed under his touch.

"Peyton, honey, your freezing," Lucas eventually stated, touching her shoulder more confidently and she raised her head from her knees. "Here put this on."

Peyton's eyes travelled up from the sand to the large mass of grey material he held in his hands. Unclenching her fingers, she slowly reached out to the one piece of clothing that always make her feel safe and warm. Pulling it over her head, she buried her nose into the fabric to fill her lungs with his scent.

"Come on... let's get you home," Lucas whispered, reaching out gently to move a piece of hair back behind her ear.

"I don't have a home," Peyton fired back, causing Lucas to retract his hand quickly and she concentrated on burying her hands into the sleeves of his hoody, and for the first time looking up into his deep blue eyes before staring out across the water.

"God, Peyton I am so sorry," Lucas whispered, for the first time saying the words out loud.

"For what?" Peyton asked indifferently, as she tried to maintain her nonchalant appearance for the sake of her heart.

"For all sorts of things," Lucas replied, using the words she had spoken a couple of weeks into their junior year, and her eyes swung away from the sea. "I'm sorry I broke all of my promises to you... I'm sorry for the past couple of months, and I'm sorry for walking out on you in LA." Peyton saw how he cringed at the last one, and her heart beat painfully with the memory. She watched as he shuffled the tiniest bit closer to her across the sand, and she couldn't help the hope that flashed through her heart, causing tears to form in her eyes again. This would be the first time she had actually cried in front of him since LA, and she could see the pain flood his eyes as though he was also feeling her pain.

"Peyt," Lucas whispered, running his thumb gently across her cheek as the first of her tears fell. "Let's go home."

Nodding her head, she let Lucas help her to her feet, and he ducked down to grab her Converse out of the sand, before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and gently guiding her back to his car. Sliding down onto the leather seat, she watched through her tears as Lucas fumbled with the ignition, flipping switches until the heater pumped out warm air.

Her heart was still in pain, but with Lucas this close it wasn't hurting as bad. It was back to the usual dull ache she felt during this week.

Lucas turned away from the heater and looked into her tear filled green eyes and his resistance cracked. Running his fingertips gently across the damp cheek, he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, noticing the way she fit perfect into the curve of his neck. He could feel her tiny frame shake as the sobs ripped through her body, and he realized how much weight she had lost since he had last seen her.

Holding her tighter, Lucas dropped his face into her curls, breathing in the smell of her shampoo, and refusing to move until her tears have run dry. The sun was now complete set, but they just sat there in the dark, listening to the sounds of their breathing and feeling the other's heart beat through every inch of their connected skin.

Eventually her tears subsided and her shivers ceased, and Lucas knew from her breathing that she had fallen asleep in his arms, against his chest. A place she had fallen asleep on more than one occasion, as it was a place where she felt safe.

Twisting around slightly, but keeping her tucked safely against him, Lucas slid the car into gear and headed home. Pulling up next to the curb, he could see the bright lights of his bedroom radiating across the porch, and he carefully slid out of the car with Peyton still in his arms. She flinched in her sleep, so he paused for a second to press his lips against her forehead, smoothing out the lines that had formed before continuing up the path. His mom met him at the door with a small smile on her face as she welcomed him back into the house, and she quickly moved across the room to pull back the blankets on Lucas' bed.

Slowly resting her softly against the mattress, Lucas was surprised when her fingers curled into a section of his shirt, stopping him from moving away from the bed, and she half woke from her sleep.

"It's okay baby, I'm not going anywhere," he whispered into her ear to reassure her. "Not this time," he added on for his benefit, whilst sliding into bed next to her. Moving in her sleep, Peyton shuffled across the bed to rest her head against his chest, and the sound of his heart beat lulled her back into a deep sleep.

Lucas spent the next couple of hours just watching her sleep, and stroking her back softly every time her brow furrowed or she mumbled nonsense words in the dark. Sometime in the early hours of the morning she flipped over on the mattress, pulling a pillow against her chest and burying her head into the fabric. He reached out to pull her long curls away from her face, before shuffling to the edge of the bed to reach into one of the drawer.

There, buried under a pile of his socks, was a large brown envelope that had yet to be opened. Ripping open the packet, he reached inside to gently prise out the contents, placing it carefully against the sheets, whilst sliding out of bed and searching his desk for a pen and a notepad. Chewing on the end, he spent the next hour debating what to write, and finally he stopped thinking and wrote what his heart was telling him.

Groaning quietly as she turned over, Peyton's whole body ached and her mind was fuzzy. Trying to recall the events of the day before, she grabbed a section of the duvet to pull it closer to her body, but something felt weird. It didn't feel like one of her blankets, and for the first time in a really long time she felt safe.

Suddenly the previous day came flooding back. The fight, the beach, the tears, the heartache and the healing. Yanking her eyes open, fighting the remains of her dried on mascara, Peyton was met with an empty room and the awful sense of déjà vu.

"Luke?" she whispered softly, hoping that the memories where not just a dream, Peyton quickly sat up, pulling the blankets up into her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something slide down the pillow, and she prayed that it wasn't another one of her CDs.

Reaching out, she realized that it was a book. 'An Unkindness of Ravens' was embossed neatly on the front, and she knew exactly what this was. Wedged in between the pages close to the back was a folded piece of paper, and Peyton slid her finger in that point to carefully open the stiff new spine. The additional page was filled with Lucas' familiar untidy handwriting, and she took a shaky breath before reading.

Peyton, I received this book through the mail a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't bring myself to open it until now. I knew what the contents were, and it was a dream come true, but I knew it would mean nothing unless you were by my side. I told you once that I was going to love you forever, and even though we have been physically separated, you have never left my heart. Every word in this book is for you, and if you still don't believe me then the first paragraph of the chapter behind this page should be proof.

Love always, Lucas.

Peyton felt her heart beat painfully inside her chest. She has never been able to resist Lucas' words, and she nervously removed the loose piece of paper, carefully resting in on the bedside table before focusing her attention on the paragraph.

'Chapter 16 – State Championship' Peyton read, and she instantly relived that moment from the year before in her mind, before she continued reading. 'Suddenly it was as if the roar of the crowd, the echo of the final buzzer, and the cheers of my team-mates were sounding from a thousand miles away, and what remained in that bizarre, muffled silence was only Peyton. The girl, whose art and passion and beauty, had changed my life. In that moment, my triumph was not a state championship, but simple clarity. The realization that we had always been meant for each other and every instinct to the contrary had simply been a denial of the following truth: I was now... I would always be in love with Peyton Sawyer.'

"Peyton?" she heard her name begin called, and she ripped her eyes away from he page, quickly blinking back tears. Damn that boy and his words. Looking up, she saw Lucas leaning against his bedroom door frame with a look of concern mixed with embarrassment on his face. Meeting his deep blue eyes, he subconsciously moved closer to her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Did you mean it?" Peyton asked quietly, dropping her gaze back down to the book for a moment and touching the words with her fingertips.

"I do mean it... I've always loved you," Lucas replied, gently taking the book out of her hands and placing it on the table with his note, before touching her chin with his finger so that she looked up again.

His deep blue eyes told Peyton everything she needed to know, and with a trembling hand, she reached out to gently touch his cheek. He leaned into her touch, giving Peyton her strength and fire back. Sliding her hand around his neck into his short blonde hair, she leant forwards and her eyes fluttered shut as he met her halfway. The instant their lips met it was as though the past couple of months had been washed clean. Peyton felt one of his hands ghost across her hip to her back, and she moved closer to him to deepen the kiss.

Lucas pulled back for a moment, giving her a chance to catch her breath, before pulling her flush against his chest to kiss her again. Reaching up with her free hand to his shoulder, she applied a gentle pressure, and he responded instantly by falling backwards onto the mattress and pulling her with him. Peyton's long messy curls fell forwards around her face, and she pulled away with a small giggle as she moved them over her shoulder.

"I love you too," she whispered into his ear, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest and pressing a kiss to her forehead. With her ear pressed against his heart, she could hear its rapid beating in time with her own, and she knew that this is where she belonged. And this time, nothing was going to tear them apart.