I close my office door for the day and go to Noah's.

His door is wide open and I can see him putting all the patient's files up in the filing cabinet and locking it up.

"Hey Noah are you done for the day?"

He stops what he's doing and answers, "Yup. I finished a little earlier today because I have to go get ready for dinner. Rachel invited me over," he explains.

"Oh she did? Well she invited me too, but I'm not sure that I want to go."

"You should. It would be nice to have you there." He rubs the back of his neck. He often does that when he's nervous.

"If you change your mind. Maybe you can go with me? I don't really like to be a third wheel, so I always turn them down. It's just uncomfortable to me. If we go together we can be each other's company and..." I start to giggle and he stops talking.

"What? Did I say something funny?" He looks at me with a confused face. He is so adorable.

"You're rambling. But I would love to accompany you," I reply.

He gives me a huge smile that's shows his straight white teeth.

"Ok that's great. If you want I can go get you at your room later and we can arrive together," he says.

"Yeah that would be great. I'll see you in an hour."

He nods his head and I wave goodbye.

I go to my room and change into some dark jeans and a nice blue blouse that brings out my eyes. When I'm done I lay on my bed and wait for Noah.

Not too much longer he knocks and I answer.

"Hey are you ready?"

"Yeah let's go." I close the door behind me and he offers his arm and I hook mine through it.

We make our way to the dining hall and into where everybody is seated.

Rachel stands from her seat when she sees us and comes stands right in front of us. "I'm so glad you came," she says as she gives me then Noah a hug.

"Come on sit down."

Noah picks a seat and I choose the one to the left of him. When I look up I'm met with those green eyes that haunted my dreams for years. Pierson is seated directly across from me. Just my luck.

My eyes roam his face. His eyes are emotionless and his jaw is rigid.

"Hello Elena," he says cooly.

"Hi Pierson," I say just as cool.

Rachel takes her seat on Pierson's left.

"Peyton will be down in a second. She had to use the restroom," Rachel tells Pierson, Noah, and I.

I look at her and Pierson. Pierson still has his eyes trained on me. He didn't even acknowledge Noah. Not even when Noah told him hi. He just kept staring at me. Why is he being so rude to Noah all of a sudden? He has done nothing wrong to him.

"How long have you known each other?" The question comes from Rachel interrupting my thoughts.

"We knew each other when Elena lived in the house when she was younger, but we developed a strong relationship about a year ago," says Noah.

"Are you two together or..." Why does everybody think we have something going on?

"I'm sorry. That's none of my business. You don't have to answer. You two look just so close," she says.

"No it's fine, but we're just friends," I say.

I glance at Pierson and can physically see his tense shoulders sag a little.

"Yeah just friends," Noah says looking downcast.

What's that all about?

****************************************

Pierson's POV

When Elena and Noah walked in with her arm in his I wanted to throw the table across the room.

Why are they always together!?!?!

As she took the seat in front of me my heart clenched almost painfully. She looks so beautiful. She always looks beautiful.

When Rachel asked if they were together I held my breath and felt relieved when she said no.

But when Noah agreed that they were just friends I could see in his eyes that he wanted to be more. Well he can't have her. She's mine.

"Mommy," I turn my head to see Peyton running into the room towards her mother.

"Hi sweetie! Wow, you're looking much better," she says looking at her.

Peyton turns towards me next and throws her arms around me.

"Hey bone head," she giggles into my ear. Oh no she didn't. I grab her, pick her up and swing her legs over my shoulder and spin her wildly. Her giggles turn into full on laughter. "You take that back right now," I tell her.

"Never," she yells. I spin her faster.

"What are you doing to my daughter?" Someone says from the doorway.

"Daddy help me he's attacking me," she laughs.

I put her down and put my hands up. "Ok. I give up. I don't want your dad to beat me up," I joke.

"That's right he knows who's the real champ around here," Jake says as he picks Peyton up and sets her down in her seat.

He then walks over to Rachel, pecks her on the lips, and takes the empty seat next to her.

I take my seat again and look at Elena. She looks frozen.

Noah must have noticed her sudden change in mood because he asks her quietly if she's alright. She doesn't answer him at first and looks at me then back at him.

"Actually I'm not feeling well all of sudden," she says while standing abruptly.

"Thank you for inviting me, but I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit," she directs her statement to Rachel.

"I'll walk you back," Noah says as he starts to stand.

"No!" She tells him in a loud voice. She clears her throat. "I can manage," she says more calmer.

"I'll be ok. I'll just see you at work tomorrow," is the last thing she says before she practically runs out of the room.

What happened to her. I look to see everybody's reaction. When I look over at the family of three realization dawns on me.

She didn't know.

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