A cool breeze blew softly. The lights of their quaint town bounced off the river. It was just him and the ball. This was his haven. Basketball was his outlet to go beyond all his problems. Here in the world of the river court suddenly everything felt good.

At least, it was supposed to. It always had.

Not today. Something far greater was taking place in his life that not even the river court could solve.

He twirled the ball in his hands for one final reassurance. Nothing.

Angrily, he threw the ball with fervor. With a thunderous roar, the ball collided with the backboard. Lucas was then met with silence and his problems grew louder in his mind.

Running his hand through his hair, he thought back to when it all went wrong. It all unraveled before he could even process it. But then again, he was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. He had buried it in the depths of heart so long ago that for a while he forgot what it felt like.

He walked through the front door of his childhood home. Lucas found himself humming as he jiggled his keys.

"Peyt, I'm home." He said absentmindedly as he rummaged through the mail left on the kitchen table.

When he was met with silence, an ominous feeling swept over him. It might sound silly, but in a house with a six month old silence was a rare occurrence.

"Peyt?" Looking through the house, he made his way down the hallway toward his room.

Slowly opening the door, he was met by his wife. Peyton didn't even look up. Instead, he found her sitting over a pile of letters with tears streaming down her face.

Lucas didn't even have to think twice to register what the letters contained. And that's when his heart sank. How many "happily" married men keep letters of such significance from their ex girlfriend? An ex-girlfriend who by the way he was supposed to have stopped loving seven years ago.

"Peyton." He said weakly as he searched for any words that could change the fallout of what he knew was coming.

"Don't." Her voice was shaky but her jaw was tense. "Why do you have these?"

Good question.

"That's not fair. They're important to me. Do I ask you to get rid of your art? Because if I remember correctly you have a few in there of Jake." He's not sure where he thought that point might get him but he didn't know what else he could say.

She scoffed irritably.

"How can you even compare those two things? All my art shows the progression in my life Luke! It's all my story! But these-" She pauses and shakes the letters wildly in front of his face. "What story do these have Luke? Why are these so important to you?"

Something inside of him snapped. At the time, he wasn't even sure why, but it didn't stop him.

"Your arts important to you Peyton? Well, she was important to me! Everyone in this damn town can pretend like she wasn't. Hell even I did. But those letters-" He closed his eyes as he tried to calm down. "Those letters are all that I have left."

Peyton narrowed her eyes at him as a fresh tear made its way down her face.

"And you still need that evidence of you love Luke? You're married. We have a baby. What are you holding onto?"

"Stop! I love you. I love Sawyer. I'm here aren't I?"

"Yea." She nodded slowly. "You're here. But is there a part of you that's somewhere else?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. It was sure as hell the wrong time to have an epiphany, but low and behold here it was. He did love Brooke. After all, if Brooke hadn't broken up with him he intended to live out everything he hoped for with Brooke. He made the decision a long time ago that his heart belonged to the dimpled brunette. But life intervened and she moved on, and in the process he learned to as well. At least, he thought he had.

Lucas looked at the broken girl standing before him and he thought that he's been in this situation too many times in his life. He loved Peyton and there wasn't a day that went by where he ever doubted that. He married her with every intention in the world to spend his life with her and he still did. She was his life now. Life brought him a new path a long time ago and he took it. He wouldn't leave his wife. Lucas Scott was not that guy. After all, they were supposed to be together.

"No." He shook his head vehemently trying to convince his wife. "No. Peyton, my life is here with you and our daughter."

She breathed almost a sigh of relief. Of course Peyton had trusted his words. He learned a long time ago that Peyton had always believed his feelings for her were far superior to anyone else.

"I really hope you know that. Luke, I love you. We're us ya know? Everyone knows it. Hell, even Brooke did. It's why she broke up with you after I told her I loved you. Nothing can stand in the way of us right?"

She laughed softly at what she thought was a joke. But what came out of her mouth was anything but a joke to Lucas.

'It's why she broke up with you after I told her I loved you' The words resonated in his mind.

"What did you say?" Seriousness washed over his face.

Her smile faded. "What?"

"Why did Brooke break up with me?" Lucas repeated once again.

In that moment, everything he had believed for seven years vanished. He was able to move on because he had held on to the supposed truth that she no longer loved him. But, if she did still love him then he let her get away. He lost Brooke Davis because of a misconception.

Peyton looked shocked by his question. "Luke why does it matter?"

"Just answer the question." He said through gritted teeth.

"I told Brooke I loved you at Nathan and Haley's rehearsal dinner. She broke up with you because she knew just as well as anyone that you loved me too."

Her words hit him like a ton of bricks.

"How could you be that selfish?"

Peyton clearly wished she could take her words back because she stood before him speechless.

"Everything we have is based on a lie." He walked over to the letters and traced the words with him finger.
"These meant everything to me. Brooke meant everything to me. You saw how hurt I was after she broke up with me and you still kept the truth from me. You manipulated me Peyton!"

"So" Her bottom lip quivered. "You do still love her."

"I never stopped! I learned to move on Peyton. I learned to open my heart again to you because I did love you and I knew I could make a life with you."

He cursed silently as he dropped the letter to the floor.

"This" He motioned around the room. "Changes everything."

Lucas Scott was not the guy to walk out on his wife. But Peyton Sawyer was a liar.

He turned to walk out of the room.

"Lucas!"

He turned around disappointedly.

"I'm Sorry." She said as if it were the only words she could think to say.

"Me too." In a moment that felt like déjà vu, he nodded and left the room.

Walking over to the picnic table, he lifted up his divorce papers. The words nearly burned his eyes

His signature on the line made him feel weary of the next step in his life. He would be alone and responsible for allowing his daughter separated parents. He sighed as he regretted so much in his life.

"Thought I'd find you here." Looking up he saw his brother approach table.

"What are you doing here?"

Nathan pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and a look of concern grew on his face.

"Luke, we're worried about you man."

Lucas held his hand up to signal for Nathan to stop.
"Look man, not tonight."

"Then when Luke? When are you gonna do something about it?"

"Do something about it? What would you like me to do?" Lucas responded incredulously.

"Haley told me everything."

Lucas looked away and pursed his lips. What right did Haley have to tell Nathan?

"Sure, you had the balls to stand up to what Peyton did, but what are you gonna do about how you feel?"

Nathan looked him right in the eyes.

Lucas laughed bitterly.

"Nothing." He smiled sardonically but his true sadness was evident under his façade.

Nathan folded his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Can I tell you something Luke?" He stopped waiting for Lucas to make eye contact with him.

Shuffling his feet a little, he pushed through with his conversation. "I've stood by your choices because I just wanted to be supportive of no matter what. But I think you can agree with me that your heart's been flawed ever since a certain girl?" Nathan raises his eyebrows to try to further prove his point.

"Now I'm not saying what Peyton did was right. She was wrong in every way man, but you hid how you felt. Yea, Brooke ran because of what Peyton said. But if you stuck around, if you made her see that she was only girl for you, maybe I wouldn't find you brooding at the river court."

"So what I am I supposed to do now?" Lucas looks up at him with broken eyes.

"Stop running. Face it. Do what you should have done then."

Nathan had said it so simply as if there were no obstacles.

"It's over." He shook his head with every ounce of pain he could muster. "She has Julian."

"You know, this is the only time I will ever say this. But, screw it. I know Brooke man. Yea she loves Julian, just like you loved Peyton. She'll always love the guy but at the end of the day her hearts always belonged to one person. I'm not sure Julian or anyone else can change that."

"I want to. Believe me, every day I think about going to her house and telling her that I love her with everything in me. But how selfish does that make me?"

"It makes you a jackass." Nathan smiles and Lucas reciprocates. "But you have two choices. You can bury it and live your life. Watch her get married and have kids and know that you did the honorable thing by letting her be happy with another man. Or you can tell her how you feel. Maybe things don't work out or maybe you get everything you ever wanted and more."

The words hit Lucas as he realizes that people that are meant to be together always find their way in the end. The journey might be long and tedious. Pain and tears will come in the masses but in the end you have found a love that can make all the hardship become a forgotten feeling of the past.

"I gotta go man. Haley needs me to help set up for Jaime's party." Her turns and begins to walk toward his car.

"Nate."

Stopping in his tracks, Nathan turns slightly.
"Thanks."

Nathan nods his head back toward his brother and points toward the hoop.

"Destiny's never wrong right?" He smiles and walks off leaving Lucas to think about the destiny shot that in his mind sealed who would always be in his heart.

-- Please Review! :)