Ever Need

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Rating: M

Spoiler: This is an episode tag to 6.05.

Song: "Don't Leave Home" by Dido

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Like a ghost don't need a key
Your best friend I've come to be

When he slips into the house, it's already passed ten. The kitchen is dark, so he doesn't notice the untouched place settings and the half empty bottle of Merlot. Naively, he figures the evening went so well that she became exhausted and decided to wait for him in bed. The feeling of being home relaxes him considerably; not just because it was a somewhat long day, but because he knows that when he gets home, he gets to be with her. Somehow, it doesn't matter where his home is anymore only if she is there.

He missed her since the morning and he wonders if it's possible to care about a person so deeply, so wholly that you miss them after just one day of absence. Of course, as he makes his way to the bedroom, stripping clothes off on the way, leaving a shoe here and a shoe there, his jacket thrown haphazardly over the back of the couch, he knows this feeling is entirely possible, because it's Peyton.

His heart constricts with anticipation as he realizes yet again that he's lucky enough to come to her every night and with that thought in his mind he pushes the bedroom door open and slips inside, only to be halted by the faint but completely recognizable sobs coming from the bundle on their bed.

Please don't think of getting up for me
You don't even need to speak

He stands frozen for a few minutes, simply because he isn't sure how to react. Granted, in high school he used to be the guy who would save her and catch her in every peril that affronted her, but since then he finds himself to be the one causing all the trouble in her life, so for a split second the insecure part of him lingers by the door, unsure of whether his presence would intensify the situation or not.

Then his mind takes him back to this afternoon in Lindsay's office when his fiancé called him and he walks towards the bed resolutely, because Peyton said earlier that she always felt better when she talked to him and he trusts her enough to slide under the covers with her and wrap himself around her in hopes of alleviating her ache.

When I've been here for just one day
You'll already miss me if I go away

IIIIIIIIII

She thinks she must be dreaming, because suddenly a warm and very familiar pair of arms encircles her and she feels his toned chest pressed into her back, spreading warmth through her entire body.

She shivers involuntarily but continues to lie motionlessly, still unsure if it's real. If Lucas is really there besides her, holding her, burying his nose in her hair, breathing warm air into her ear.

She knows she's crazy, because he's obviously real besides her, she can feel him and she knows he's there, but as she takes a deep breath, her cheeks contort and dried tears stretching her skin mummify her in place.

Point blank she is embarrassed that she is so weak in comparison to him. Her mind flashes through all the moments in Lucas's life where she would have crumbled had she been in his position and finds her heart swells with more appreciation for the man besides her. In that moment, as she thinks about those painful memories, she turns around in his embrace and kisses him, because she just doesn't think words will do her feelings justice.

She can't just tell him how much she appreciates him, she has to show him.

So close the blinds and shut the door
You won't need other friends anymore

Lucas responds immediately to her kiss, eager to taste her, but he proceeds with caution, because despite their commitment to each other, Lucas Scott has never been the kind of man to take advantage of a vulnerable girl and that's what Peyton is at the moment.

She's vulnerable, she's teary eyed, and she's holding onto him for dear life. Yet as she slides half on top of him, wrapping one of her incredibly sexy, long legs around his waist, his first thought is to abandon his principles and just make love to his fiancé. However the other thought is more rational, so he gently detaches her lips from his.

She frowns so deeply, he sees it through the dimness, but before he can even ask her what's wrong, she places a finger on his lips,

"He never showed up." She whispers and he instinctively kisses the finger pressed to his mouth.

"Peyt-…"

"Can you just not say anything?" She asks almost suggestively and he's momentarily comforted by her openness, but a part of him worries that what they're doing is not the right way to comfort her and that she'll be angry in the morning.

Oh don't leave home, oh don't leave home

But he lets her kiss him anyway and he responds eagerly and suddenly it doesn't matter any more if she's angry with him in the morning, or that he has no clue what this Mick guy looks like, but is already planning ten different ways for him to experience excruciating pain, because Peyton Sawyer is in his bed again, in his life, and she's agreed to be his wife and like the stupid, smitten, 17 year old boy he once was, he'll give her the world if she promises to stay with him forever.

In the darkness, her senses are heightened and she moans out involuntarily when he suddenly flips them over and she finds herself sinking into the plush mattress, pressed deliciously against his hard length.

He nuzzles her neck as he hugs her tighter to him and she wraps her naked legs around him, reveling in the friction her movement makes. When she presses into him, his eyes snap open and he growls against her neck, because she knows exactly what to do to drive him mad with need, and he's powerless to stop it.

He doesn't really want to anyway.

Slowly, he kisses down her front, her long camisole is punched up around her hips and he pulls at it slowly, pulling it up over her body, pleasantly surprised to find just a pair of thin, silk panties separating him from her skin.

He rubs gentle circles on her bare stomach while placing even gentler kisses on her thighs, almost afraid that if he presses into her harder ,she might break. He knows its cliché and kind of stupid to feel this way, but he's always been protective of her and as he looks up and sees her chest heave in anticipation, her mouth slightly parted, and her eyes shut, he doesn't think about taking advantage of her, he just thinks about how incredibly beautiful she looks right now and decides to keep that look on her face for as long as possible.

If you're cold I'll keep you warm
If you're low just hold on
Cause I will be your safety
Oh don't leave home

He pulls her nighty over her body and discards his own t-shirt along the way. When she sits up and pulls him between her thighs, wrapping her legs and arms around him, his mind becomes so cloudy with arousal he attacks her mouth with vigor and travels his callous hands against the soft skin of her stomach, over her navel, across her rib cage. He pulls back to see her take a sharp breath as his hand runs over her breast, flicks a nipple, and he leans forward and peppers her neck with kisses, still keeping his hands on her, still making her shiver, still making her forget about all that's happened.

She's emotionally exhausted and probably looks like hell, but somehow with Lucas, she always forgets about her shortcomings, about what she lacks or could lack as a daughter, as a best friend, as a lover especially.

There're no words exchanged between them as he lays her down and distracts her with kisses while his hand snakes down passed her stomach and inside her panties. She gasps when he touches her and arches her back from the pleasure of it, her body is already reacting to his touch and he hasn't even been inside of her yet.

I arrived when you were weak
I'll make you weaker, like a child
Now all your love you give to me

The anticipation flutters in her stomach and she feels nearly faint as he leans down and takes her nipple into his mouth, nipping gently like he knows she likes. It almost makes her forget how sensually his hand is moving inside her underwear, but slowly the familiar tension builds inside her, overwhelmed with the feeling of warmth spreading through her body, she doesn't even feel her orgasm coming until it hits her with full force.

As if she's reawakened, her eyes snap open while she comes, only to find his intense, lust filled stare fixed so pointedly at her, her heart swells and she shudders from the aftershocks of a feeling that's becoming frighteningly familiar in the last few weeks.

It's a feeling of simultaneous calmness and thrill that comes with loving and being loved by Lucas Scott.

So far, she's pretty sure she likes it.

"That was amazing." She purrs, moving to all-fours and straddling his body.

Lucas watches her transformation mutely, marveling at the affect he has on her. It is as if she's woken up from a restless, deep slumber, and as her fingers drag lower on his stomach, halting teasingly at the end of his light, brown happy trail, Lucas sucks in an anticipatory breath and fingers her lovely blond hair.

"You always make me feel so good." She murmurs in the darkness, before leaning down against him and running her tongue expertly down his length.

When your heart is all I need

He wants to reciprocate her feelings, he really does, but what she's doing to him, taking him into her hot mouth, stroking him methodically, bringing him closer and closer to the edge, all those movements won't let him speak. They've got him paralyzed from pleasure and ready to explode.

He's pretty sure she knows it too, because he swears he feels her smile against him through the lust filled haze his mind's in.

His entire body feels like it's been lit on fire, but the burn is almost more exhilarating than anything he's ever felt. She's been his bedmate for the better part of a month and a half and he should be used to her by now, but after so much time being apart and so much time spent thinking of what could have been, he doesn't think he'll ever get enough of her.

Not enough of beautiful legs, or full lips, or her bouncy blond hair, or the sterling green eyes that seem to be a window to her soul, but only privy to him, no one else.

At that moment, Lucas decides he's had enough foreplay.

The need for her is so overwhelming; he doesn't give her time to react and flips them over.

Peyton lets out an unceremonious 'oomph' as she lands on her back, but his hand catches the back of her head before it can hit the pillow.

Their eyes connect then and she finds herself blushing profusely.

Lucas nuzzles her neck and kisses the side of her ear, "I need ya, Peyt."

He says it so casually, so nonchalantly but the phrase reverberates through her entire body and she can do nothing but let him have her.

If you're cold I'll keep you warm
If you're low just hold on
Cause I will be your safety
Oh don't leave home

IIIIIIIII

He slips inside of her with ease and watches for her reaction as her eyelashes flutter against her cheeks and she exhales a pleasure filled breath.

His hands settle on her hips and he begins thrusting slowly inside of her, trying to give her what she wants, what she needs.

As he focuses on her, he almost forgets himself but when she shifts her hips unexpectedly to meet his thrusts, he's almost catapulted into oblivion and everything inside him tightens. All his senses are suddenly awakened and each nerve ending is on fire, reacting deliciously to every ministration of hers.

He suddenly feels the softness of her skin against his, her long legs wrapped around his waist, her hands on his back pulling him tighter inside her, forcing him to thrust with more intensity.

"Luke…" She manages to moan out through her shallow breaths and he just about loses it.

There's always been something about her voice, the southern twang in it, that's sent shivers down his spine and as he reaches between them to touch her, she moans out his name again, with more intensity and he feels himself so dangerously close to orgasm that he's afraid he might outlast her.

But his familiarity with her body doesn't fail him and a few minutes after he touches her overly sensitive flesh, Peyton finds herself swimming in another orgasm, except this time, the feeling is intensified by Lucas's release, and she somehow manages to reach up to him and pull him into a deep kiss, while he clings to her, melting into her body.

They lie panting for sometime after, breath mingling and hands wandering, still unable to get enough of each other.

Lucas eventually lies down besides her, but Peyton moves with him, finding herself under the crook of his neck, situated firmly in his embrace.

It's not strange to her that he doesn't ask her anything about Mick again. In his own way, Lucas is respecting her wishes and it makes her incredibly content knowing he's so confident in his love for her that he knows she'll tell him in her own time.

After an exhausting day, Lucas finds himself drifting in and out of sleep, but Peyton is wide awake. She knows he's dozing off, but instead of it bothering her, it relaxes her as well, his breath becomes her lullaby, but before she lets herself fall asleep, Peyton kisses a spot above his heart and whispers how she feels,

"You're always saving me Luke."

Oh how quiet, quiet the world can be
When it's just you and little me

IIIIIIIIIIII

The overwhelmingly rich aroma of hazelnut coffee wakes Lucas up early the next day.

His eyes flutter open to the sight of his beautiful fiancé sitting against the headboard, in one of his flannel button downs, sipping a cup of steaming, brown liquid.

However, it's not this that makes him smile, but her overwhelming concentration as she sketches something on a pad of paper that makes his heart swell with joy.

He can't resist running a finger against her naked thigh and Peyton looks down at him, smiling,

"Good morning."

She lets go of her coffee mug and runs a hand through his short hair.

"Morning to you too." He replies back lazily, leaning down to kiss her knee affectionately,

"It's early. What are you drawing?" Lucas asks, but doesn't wait for an answer; instead he sits up besides her, sheet falling to his waist, and peeks over at the unfinished drawing.

He recognizes his sleeping form in the sketch, as well as Peyton sprawled out on top of him.

This is enough to make him think he should get this framed, because no photographer could ever capture the purity of that moment; nevertheless, his eyes catch something on the bottom of the sketch. It's written faintly, not yet shaded in, but the letters are visible and he reaches out and kisses her knuckles.

Everything is clear and everything is new
So you won't be leaving will you

"I realized something last night." Peyton says quietly, understanding that he'd seen her writing, "Ever since Ellie I've been searching for the rest of my family. I've always wondered what my father was like and if I have any more brothers and sisters, but last night, when Mick didn't show up, I finally understood something. Something I think I've known all along." She places the sketch on the nightstand and presses her hand against Lucas's cheek.

"You are my family Luke. Even when we were miles apart, you were my family. So I'm done." She smiles softly, as Lucas kisses her palm, "I'm done searching for something I've had all along."

Lucas instinctively pulls her into a hug, cradling her head against his shoulder,

"I'm glad Peyt," He murmurs affectionately, relieved to see a smile on her face this morning.

Peeking over her shoulder, he admires the sketch and thinks the phrase; "All the family I'll ever need" has never looked or sounded more perfect to him…

If you're cold I'll keep you warm
If you're low just hold on
Cause I will be your safety
Oh don't leave home

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