The crashing of the thunder had never been anything that had bothered Lucas Scott before. Even as a kid it had never fazed him, actually, it had had the opposite effect. It calmed him down, Peyton used to say it was because it reminded him that there were bigger things then them on the planet. And on the rare occasions when it made him nervous, he loved dragging Haley out into the rain, and down onto the river court to play and watch the rain hit the water. That always calmed him down. But he couldn't do that tonight. He wasn't seventeen anymore, and he couldn't just leave his fiancé in his house to go shoot some hoops in the rain. At least that was what he had convinced himself about an hour ago when he had realized he had a long and sleepless night ahead of him.

Now, he wasn't so sure. It was only 1:38, he realized, looking over at the clock. And after the rough few weeks that he and Haley had both had, maybe a night to be seventeen again was exactly what they needed. And it wasn't like he was just leaving. Lindsay would be with Nate, who was still sleeping on the couch. Actually, though Lucas, as he silently climbed out of bed, careful not to wake his lightly snoring fiancé, he probably should at least tell Nate where he was going.

"Hon, where are you going?" came a muffled voice from the bed, as Lucas finished pulling on an old pair of jeans, one of his favorite TRIC tee-shirts and his Ravens Basketball sweatshirt.

"Linds. You're up. I didn't mean to wake you up. I'm just going out to hang with Haley." He explained quietly as he walked over to her, placed a chaste kiss on her forehead on left before she could refute him. Which she had been doing a lot of lately. It seemed like every time he left her sight she had to know where he'd be, or more importantly, if he would be with Peyton once he got there. But all he could hear was a sigh from his bedroom as he made his was through the dimly lit, fiercely cold, hallway, towards his living room, where he shook his brother awake.

"Nate. Get up. I need to talk to you."

"What could you possibly want at this hour?" asked Nate, in the same muffled tone Lindsay had spoken in just a few seconds prior.

"I need to talk to Haley about something." He replied, thoughtfully choosing each word, as to not offend his little brother.

""Me?"

"No Nate." Lucas said, rather forcefully. "Sorry. It's just been a long week, and I need to talk to my best friend. You don't care, right?" he asked, though it really didn't matter to him whether or not Nate was okay with it. He needed to talk to her.

"It's fine. Just tell her I love her and I miss her and I wish she was here."

"Will do little brother. If Lindsay wakes up and I'm not home yet just make sure she knows I'll be home soon." He said, returning his brothers sad smile as he pulled up his hood, grabbed his keys and cell phone and walked out into the pouring rain.

Thankfully, the walk to his car was short, and mostly under the porch, so he wasn't soaking wet by the time he got into his car and pulled out his phone. Surprisingly, Haley picked up the phone on the first ring, and sounded wide awake.

"You couldn't sleep either Hales?"

"Nah. You know I hate the rain. Always did. Jamie's at Skills and Mouths apartment and Nate's the only one who could ever help me get to sleep at night."

"You miss him." Lucas finished, knowingly. "He misses you too, like crazy."

"Yeah. Well, what are you still doing up Luke? You're getting married! You should be spending these next few nights with Lindsay."

"I needed to talk to someone." Admitted Luke, as he pulled up to Haley and Nathan's house.

"We are so not going down to the river court Lucas." Haley said into the phone before hanging up and appearing in her front door, waving him in.

"Why not?" he laughed, walking into the house that he was so familiar with and hugging his best friend.

"Lucas, it is pouring harder than it ever did when we were kids. I can't miss school, especially now-" Haley said, cutting herself off as she realized what she was saying.

"What's going on now?"

"Nothing. Let's talk about why you're here. What's going on Luke?"

"I need you to tell me the truth. Not as Haley my best friend, or as Haley Lindsay's friend, or Nate's wife, or Peyton's friend. I need you to answer me as Haley the impartial observer in my life."

"I can do that. I think."

"Okay." He said, settling into the couch where they were sitting. "Am I making a mistake?"

"Telling me? No, Luke. I was just kidding. I can be impartial. I swear. I was joking."

"No, I mean marrying Lindsay."

"Do you love her?"

"Yeah, I do. It's just, complicated. All the sudden she's always asking where I'm going, and if I'm going to be with Peyton. And I love that she's so concerned, and I wouldn't mind her asking normally, but…"

"But you're afraid that you're not seeing something that she is. That there's a reason she's jealous."

"I wrote an entire book about Peyton and how much I loved her, and Lindsay helped me edit it. But I haven't been able to save anything from my delete button since I broke up with her. I know that she has something to worry about. But what I don't know is how worried she should be."

A/N: So this is going to be a multi chapter fic, Leyton mostly, with a little bit of Naley, some Brooke x Chase and some Rachel x Mouth friendship. Reviews are always welcome!