-After Christmas, Lucas and Anna left to return to New York and things went back to normal gradually. Lucas eventually forgave Karen, Nathan and Haley and they in turned promised to leave him to handle his grief on his own. Sure they kept checking on him regularly and he had probably scared them to death that night but they never once again tried to push him into opening up. Lucas in return started to make more of an effort when they were around to look more happy and joyful. He was pretty sure that they knew he was only faking but they never brought it up again.

-Brooke continued to visit regularly and her and Anna were still very close. Anna had also grown to love all of his friends as well as her cousins, the three of which became inseparable as soon as they were put into the same room. They would visit regularly and the two of them would also go down to Tree Hill as often as they could.

-Lucas' book was doing well and he was considering maybe writing a second one. He just couldn't see himself writing novels anymore, his inspiration for this type of literature gone.

-As the months passed they fell into a comfortable routine. Anna was doing great. She rarely cried herself to sleep and even though she still sometimes had nightmares, she started to have dream about Peyton that had her waking up in a good mood. She still had those moments when she missed her mom and would cry her loss and in those moments Lucas did his best to be there for her and comfort her, but all and all, Anna was almost as normal as could be.

-Lucas was still living for Anna. She was all that mattered to him. His family and friends tried to set him up on dates regularly but he simply refused to go. He wasn't looking to date. He had gained a little weight, mostly to appease his mom, but had still difficulty sleeping. Peyton was haunting his dreams and it was making it hard for him to enjoy his rest or to look forward to it.

-He knew he was the ghost of the man he used to be but he didn't care. He had meant what he had said to them that Christmas eve. His whole purpose had become Anna. He didn't care about himself, or what was best for him, all that mattered was Anna and what was best for her. As long as she was happy, he considered his life complete, he didn't need anything more, he didn't want anything more.

-Soon enough came May 11th, Anna's birthday. That day was a mix of happiness and tears. As he consoled her on missing her mother, he couldn't help but be happy that soon it would be the end of the first year and then things wouldn't be so new anymore. They would be done with 'the first since…", as Lucas referred to them.

-Everybody came to New York that day to celebrate the little girl that Lucas considered a gift. He regarded her as Peyton's gift to him. He was certain that somehow it had been her plan all long, that somehow she had known how much her death would crush him and had sent Anna to him so that she could save him from himself, give him a reason to keep on going. He was immensely thankful for that, Anna's arrival in his life had been a blessing, kept him out of a life in complete darkness.

-Anna's birthday had also marked the first time that Anna and Lucas had talked about Peyton.

-That night as he was putting her to bed like he did every night she had just asked out of the blue.

-"So Ann, happy to finally be six year old." He asked her.

-"Ann?" He had asked again when she hadn't answered him right away.

-"When am I going to meet my prince?" She asked him curiously.

-Lucas was baffled, he had no idea what she was talking about.

-"What?"

-"Like in the fairytales. Mommy, she said you were her prince and I want to know when I'm going to meet mine."

-"Not before you're forty." He had joked earning himself an eye-roll and a 'DADDY!!'.

-He thought about it for a few seconds. She had really caught him off guards.

-"You're mommy really said I was her prince." Somehow to him it sounded very un-Peyton.

-"Huh huh." The little girl nodded. "She said that you had came in on your white horse and saved her from the evil witch inside her, and that after that you had fallen in love and that one day you were going to finally have your happily ever after."

-Lucas nodded slowly. Somehow he had never thought of their history as being a fairytale but he had to admit that it kind of fitted the profile, well except for the happily ever after, that had been washed down the drain 11 months ago. He wiped tears from his eyes focusing back on Anna.

-"Was mommy your one and only daddy?" The little girl asked curious.

-"Yeah baby she was. No one can ever replace your mommy in my heart."

-"But what's going to happen now? You won't ever have your happily ever after?"

-"I hope that some day in a very very long time when I see your mommy again in heaven that I can finally get it then." He answered sadly.

-"What about me? Will I have to wait this long for my prince?" She brought it up again.

-"Longer." She sends him a look. "He'll have to get through me first."

-"But daddy." She wined.

-"If the boy can't beat me one-on-one, he's not going to take the princess anywhere."

-"What's one-on-one daddy?" She asked curious.

-"A mission." He answered very seriously.

-"Like the prince has to do to rescue the princess?"

-"Exactly."

-"But daddy what if nobody wins?"

-"Then I'm going to keep you with me forever, hahahaha." He joked tickling her and sending her into a fits of giggles.

-A month later though as he finally thought that everything was going to get better after they had gotten through the first anniversary of Peyton's death, everything changed.

-It was a little after two weeks after, June 8th, the date that would always be remembered in his mind as the worst day ever, and Lucas was in his apartment working on his second children's book when the doorbell rang.

-He got up, wondering who it could be seeing as he wasn't expecting anyone, and went to the door.

-What he saw on the other side was someone he never expected to see again. Tall, blonde, curly hair, endless legs, deep green eyes.

-His head starting spinning, his pulse was racing.

-"Pey- peyt- peyton." He finally uttered just before everything went black.

-End