Claudia was being tickled by Chris as Lucas and Brooke walked in. Lucas was glaring at his best friend, while Brooke smiled politely- refraining from saying rude. Claudia looked at them before she shoved Chris off of her.

"Lucas! Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed laughing with shock as she hugged him.

"Oh, well, it's about time the tribal leaders came to collect their squaw." Chris said ruining the moment, Claudia pulled out of her hug with Lucas and looked at Chris.

"Oh, shut up, Chris." Claudia said standing beside Lucas.

"Yeah," Lucas glared at Chris before he crossed his arms, "shut up, Chris." Lucas warned angrily.

"Alright, I'm going." Chris said as he walked up to Brooke."Oh,... I see you couldn't stay away from me." Chris smirked as Brooke looked on with disgust. Claudia shoved him. 

"Out!" She said laughing before she walked over to Brooke. "Oh, it's good to see you too, Brooke." Claudia smiled over at Brooke.

"Yeah, you too, fugitive girl." Brooke joked and they both laughed. 

"Well, so what're you guys doing here?" Claudia asked smiling.

"We bought your English assignment." Lucas said and Claudia's smile fell.

"Oh my gosh, finals! Oh, god, that just feels like a totally different life." Claudia exclaimed shock as she buried her head in her hands, there was a knock on the door and it was Joey. 

"Let's go, Boho Spice!" He shouted as he walked in to see Lucas and Brooke.

"Hey, Joey D, this is, um, my friend Lucas and my friend Brooke." Claudia said and Brooke held up her hand in greeting. 

"What's up, guys? Ah, sorry I gotta drag her away but we've got three meetings and a satellite radio interview. You ready?" Joey asked Claudia who coughed falsely.

"I am feeling really ill." Claudia faked groaned before she coughed really badly.

"Claudia!" Joey grinned smiling. Brooke coughed as well and Lucas looked over at the girls.

"It's totally going around." Brooke grinned and Claudia shrugged. 

"Cover for me?" Claudia asked smiling sweetly. Joey groaned. "Really, because I'm just, I'm sick as a dog here." Claudia coughed before she pulled them out of the doorway. 

"No, no, wait Claudia, no, no, wait... guys?" Joey shouted put it was too late. He just sighed.

___

Claudia opened the door and they walked into her and her mum's hotel room.

"Come on in! What do you think?" Claudia asked smiling and Brooke smirked appreciatively. 

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Brooke shouted looking at the big room decorated sparsely. Lucas off his shoulder bag.

"So,... what-... what do you guys wanna do today?" Claudia asked turning to face her friends and Lucas spotted the tear stained papers of annulment and sat down in shock.

"I was thinking maybe we could just talk." Lucas replied and Claudia nodded her head.

"Yeah." She said unsurely as she sat down. The atmosphere was uncomfortable and Brooke could feel it.

"Um,... I'm in New York city and my parents have resumed allowances; I would be crazy not to shop right now so I'm gonna leave you two alone. OK?" Brooke replied quickly as she stood up. "Good luck, see ya, bye!" She said energetically before she ran out. 

"What you walked in on in the dressing room was innocent." Claudia said truthfully but Lucas wasn't convinced.

"Sure!" Lucas exclaimed sarcastically.

"It was, look, I'm not with Chris, OK? We were just kidding around like..." Claudia said but Lucas jumped in.

"We used to do?" Lucas asked bitterly. Claudia realised that she did not just leave her husband behind but also her best friend who she spent everything with.

"Yeah." Claudia replied and Lucas broke eye contact as he smiled to himself. Claudia sighed as she stood up and walked up to him. "I missed you so much." She cried before she hugged her best friend on thirteen years. He smiled contentedly. 

___

Claudia an Lucas were walking side by side in the park. Claudia broke the uneasy silence.

"I'm guessing you're here because of Nathan." Claudia said slipping her hands in her back pockets as they walked.

"Kind of." Lucas said and Claudia looked up at him.

"You know that he told me not to come home, right? You know that?" Claudia asked annoyed. 

"Look, mostly, I'm here because of us, Claudia.  You know, I was... sitting in class... and... I looked over and saw your empty seat... and it struck me; that not too long ago, it was just you and me." Lucas explained and Claudia took his arm in hers.

"Yeah." She replied getting all nostalgic herself.

"Suddenly, it felt wrong; that you weren't there." Lucas stated and Claudia stopped and then Lucas stopped. 

"You think I was wrong for leaving." Claudia muttered sadly and Lucas sat down on the bench, Claudia sat down too.

"Here's what I think: you stood by me when I left the Rivercourt  because a voice in my head told me that it's what I had to do. So I'm here for you, Claudia." Lucas explained before he smiled over at her. "And I always will be. Even... when I don't understand it." Lucas stated sweetly. 

"Thanks, Luke." She whispered sadly before she exhaled harshly. "Because... sometimes I don't understand it either." She muttered, the two fans walked up to them. Lucas watched his give them autographs and realised how much she had changed. How she had adjusted to her new life.

___

"Oh hey, Brooke." Claudia said as her and Lucas enter Chris's hotel room where Brooke was glaring at Chris. "What's going on?" She asked smiling a little.

"She was just hitting on me." Chris replied and Brooke scoffed. "Hey, we missed you at the on-air. How's the flu bug?" Chris asked smirking.

"Oh,... it'll pass, thanks." Claudia shrugged. "How'd it go?" She asked.

"Well, without you, there's more time to talk about me. It went great." Chris replied arrogantly, Brooke looked disgusted before she began to gasp for breath.

"What?" Claudia asked Brooke concerned.

"I can't breathe... there's no room with Chris' ego!" Brooke shouted and Claudia laughed. "Can we go?!" She exclaimed and Claudia nodded her head.

"Yes, let's go. You can show me what you got." Claudia replied laughing.

"Hey, you can show me what you got, too." Chris smirked.

"Chris, shut up." Claudia shouted as the girls left. Lucas slammed the door shut and stormed up at Chris. 

"Wow, yo-you angry or you just hitting on me?" Chris asked and Luca had enough with Chris and his ego.

"You ever tried singing with you jaw wired shut?" Lucas warned glaring.

"I guess you're angry.' Chris muttered.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Lucas asked and Chris looked away. "Because it's not!" He shouted and Chris sat down the guitar."You're messing with people's lives; people I care about!" Lucas exclaimed angrily.

"Messing how?" Chris asked as he stood up. "You mean having sex with Claudia?" Chris asked and Lucas scoffed as he shook his head. He nearly punched Chris. "Coz I never did that." Chris replied truthfully. "OK? Is that what you needed to hear?" Chris asked and Lucas eyed him coldly. "How's Nathan doing, anyway?" Chris asked seriously.

"Don't go there." Lucas warned sternly.

"Oh, come on, man, you don't think I think about the guy?" Chris asked and Lucas looked at him. "I'm a song writer; I carry all that crap around." Chris stated making matters worse.

"WELL, THEN YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW HE'S DOING! HE'S TERRIBLE!" Lucas screamed angrily.

"Well, he should be. Claudia's a great girl. It would suck to lose her." Chris replied honestly.

"AND YOU DON'T FEEL THE SLIGHTEST BIT GUILTY ABOUT THAT?!" Lucas asked shouting.

"No, and I'll tell you why: this is a one in a million chance we're taking here. You gotta be selfish as hell; you're either all in... or you're out." Chris explained and Lucas looked away smirking. "You don't think I've tried to talk to her about it? In the middle of the night on some random bus ride? Hell, man, I've talked to her a lot more than you have these past few months." Chris said correctly and Lucas knew it too. "Listen, Luke, I know she's your friend, so... you can hate me for helping her chase her dream, but... I'm just trying to help her, now. You know?" Chris continued before he grabbed his guitar and sat on the bed. "That same way you are. The rest, it's up to her." Chris finished and he began to play again. Lucas got up to the door frame and Chris called on him, Lucas turned around. "Hey! Tell Brooke I said 'hi'." Chris smirked as he continued to play. Lucas walked out slowly unamused. 

___

Claudia and Lucas were lying on their backs on the bed. Speaking about life, having one of their chats.

"Oh yeah, sorry about today with the fans, earlier. We were talking and, I just, I'm sorry-" Claudia began to say but Lucas cut her off before she could go into 'Claudia Rambling Mode'

"It's OK. It's OK; actually, it was kinda cool to... see how far you've come." Lucas explained cutting in. "You know, I-I-I'm proud of you." Lucas stuttered awkwardly and Claudia rolled her eyes.

"But?" She asked sighing.

"It's killing him, Claudia." Lucas replied and Claudia looked over at him.

"What about me? This has killed me. First Nathan showed up after being an ass to me on the phone and I told him I was feeling overwhelmed. Then Dan showed up and I just am so confused." Claudia explained, rambling.

"I guess I just don't understand why it has to be one or the other: music or Nathan." Lucas sighed. "I noticed you weren't... wearing your wedding ring." Lucas said and Claudia looked at her empty finger.

"It's not because of the record label." Claudia replied quickly. "And it's not because I don't love him." Claudia stated as she looked up at the ceiling. "I just, I feel like I don't deserve to." Claudia sighed and they two friends looked at each other for a while. "Things were so much simpler when it was just the two of us." Claudia finished and Lucas took Claudia's hand in his. 

"But it's not." Lucas replied and Claudia groaned. 

Later that night as Lucas slept, Claudia stayed up all night writing her paper on loss, a topic she was very familiar to and was succumbing too.

___

"Here, um,... it's my English final. Pulled an all-nighter." Claudia laughed as she walked up to Lucas, Lucas took the paper and looked at it. 

"Aren't you... supposed to be trashing hotel rooms or something? You know, what kind of a rock star spends the entire night doing an English final?" Lucas joked and Claudia shrugged her shoulders.

"Well,... I am still Tutor Girl." She smiled. "Besides, it was... it was a pretty easy topic for me." She said sadly as she looked at the ground. Lucas sat the papers aside. 

"So,... maybe this means you're coming back soon?" Lucas asked hopeful but Claudia looked at him sadly.

"No. I'm not coming home, Lucas." Claudia shrugged sighing. "This is my life, now." Claudia stated and Lucas didn't say anything. He was definitely not happy. "Oh, um,..." Claudia remembered as she walked up to a table and picked up some more papers. Lucas squints as she stuffed papers into an envelope. "I need you to... give this to Nathan for me, please." Claudia stuttered upset. Lucas did not say anything. "Please, Luke." Claudia begged and there is a pain in his eyes as she snatched the annulment papers from her. He stared at the ground because he could not look at her. Lucas walked around he room.

"So I guess this is goodbye?" Lucas asked painfully as he walked up to her.

"Yeah, I guess so." Claudia replied smiling. Lucas hugged her tightly, he pulled away and held onto her arms.

"I... will always be there for you, Claudia." Lucas said and Claudia cried. "You'll always be my best friend." Lucas continued and Claudia nodded her head slowly. Lucas looked down at her upset that she had left him and her husband. 

___

Claudia gets ready to hit a golf ball just liked she used to do with Lucas and Haley when Joey walked in.

"Claudia, the new tour posters are here." Joey exclaimed and Claudia turned her head smiling. "What's this?" He asked as he indicated to the amateur golf set-up.

"Um,... nothing, you know, just... stupid kid stuff." Claudia brushed off as she walked up to see the poster. 

"What d'ya think?" Joey asked and Claudia looked at the professionally designed poster with her and Chris on it. Her smile was very strained.

"Wow." She muttered impressed.