So this is just a little imagining of where Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer could have headed on their road trip at the end of season 6. I have a few more of these etched out but without a specific timeline.

"Oh, Lucas, I think I'm in love," Peyton says. Her voice is melodic. More Southern toned than ever. Jubilant.

Lucas watches as she whirls without abandon, taking in the sights and sounds of Beale Street, Memphis. She hadn't needed to tell him she loves it here, that much is clear.

Music leaks from every doorway and every window down the neon lit street. Live music. Raw, undiscovered and real. It's the kind of music that Peyton's been chasing and romancing her whole life.

"Is this what it's like inside your head?" Lucas asks his wife, grinning to her at the very thought.

She turns her head back, over her shoulder and speaks through a laugh, "Kinda. Sometimes."

Lucas nods in the information, not surprised at all. He glances down to the baby carrier strapped to his front, to gauge what Sawyer is making of the place. Again he's not surprised to see that the other blonde girl in his life is also transfixed by the place.

Seeing him checking Sawyer out, Peyton steps back to delight in the little girl's expression, "She loves it, Luke."

He rolls his eyes upward and shakes his head through a grin, "It's the lights."

"It's the music," Peyton gasps back, wounded. She strokes her hand along Sawyer's cheek, and her eyes glaze with something Lucas recognises as motherly love.

"Come on," Lucas says, taking his wife by the hand and leading her towards a bar.

A Greeter smiles towards them, menu outstretched, and then coos at the sight of Sawyer. "Oh, starting young. You have good taste, Little One."

The little girl relishes at the attention and giggles to the guy complimenting her.

"Here, you go, M'am," The greeter hands a menu to Peyton and waves a hand towards the doors, "Find a table, take a seat and let us do the rest. Enjoy the music and feel free to dance."

Peyton smiles warmly and follows his instruction, finding a table on the far side to the bar but in good view of the band. She takes a seat and orders two Whiskey Sours from a passing waitress. Lucas takes a seat beside her, unclips the baby carrier, and passes Sawyer to the awaiting arms of her Mom.

"What do you think, Baby Girl?" Peyton asks her daughter, holding the little girl up above her, "Do you like, Memphis, huh?"

In response Sawyer babbles a little and reaches for one of her Mom's curls. She has a new found likening for pulling her Mom's hair.

The drinks arrive and Lucas passes some bills to the waitress who sends a smile over the Mother-Daughter scene.

Peyton sets Sawyer on her lap and the little girl happily reaches now for her Mom's necklace instead of her hair. The two parents watch her happily for a moment, drinking in the moment, to a backdrop of music and chatter.

"I'm so glad we did this, Luke," Peyton says, looking up to her husband through a quilted expression.

The idea of a road trip had begun from nothing. One morning over breakfast Peyton had listed the cities she's always wanted to visit, most of them with a musical history woven through them. By that evening Lucas had a road map and pins dotting out a journey. Peyton had laughed at his pragmatism and the notion that he would even consider the idea.

Yet just a few weeks later they had packed their bags, some travel guides, and all the essentials they could think of for travelling with a baby. Then they had headed out to their first destination; Memphis, Tennessee.

"Me too." Lucas smirks back, watching as his two girls dance together in their seat to the gravelly voiced singer, thinking that he's never been happier.

...

Later that night, they return to the apartment they've rented, Sawyer soundly asleep in her crib from all of the excitement.

"You want another?" Peyton calls across to her husband from the kitchen, lightly shaking a bottle of whiskey in his direction.

He considers and then shakes his head, "I think I'll have a coffee."

"Oh? " Peyton arches a brow back at him but goes to begin him a pot anyway. "That must mean,"

"I don't have to," Lucas cuts in before she can finish her sentence.

She shakes her head lightly, "You should write if you want. I know how fickle inspiration can be."

He loves her for that, for getting it. But this is a family adventure, his writing is just a by-product. He never wants to sideline his girls in favour of his laptop.

"Honestly." Peyton implores. "I'm going to shower, find a record that suits tonight and maybe sketch a little."

"You're sure?" He pushes.

"Completely." She assures, and leans up on her toes to kiss him before pouring both of their drinks.

Lucas takes his coffee gratefully and hugs the mug in his hands, watching her saunter away towards the bedroom. He shakes his head and thoughts away, and pads to the small balcony that adjoins the open plan living space.

He takes a seat and opens his laptop, straight back the page he'd been working on previously. The day in the city, exploring leisurely and enjoying each other's company has ignited his muse.

He writes furiously for a time, not pausing to edit or worry about the craft; not whilst its all so fresh and clear in his mind. His thoughts are only broken when he hears the opening bars of a Bluesy record drifting out from inside. The choice is perfect, naturally. A soundtrack to the day.

Lucas leans back in his seat and wonders when she's going to tease him with her presence. He feels lucky for countless reasons, but not least because he gets her all to himself for a while; this trip is about them - Him, Peyton, and Sawyer, of course - just them. For a while, at least. They have plans to meet up with her Dad and his Mom, but for a while they're each other's indulgence only.

"What are you writing?" Peyton asks a moment before she appears through the veiled curtain, baby monitor and sketchpad in hand. She's in one of his shirts and not much else, by the looks of it.

He looks back at her over the top of his laptop, "Nothing now, not with you looking like that."

She laughs and perches on a seat opposite him. She stretches her long legs out, rests her feet on the balcony railing, and then sets her sketchpad atop her thighs. "Yes you are. Your coffee's gone cold, you're mid-flow."

"Today's been inspiring." He shrugs.

"Oh yeah?" She smiles softly, looking down at her page now as she begins shading something out on the page. "A new book?"

He considers the idea. He's hadn't been thinking of a new novel. "Maybe."

...

"Luke, she's too little," Peyton laughs from behind the video camera.

Ahead of her, in front of Graceland, Lucas has Sawyer by each hand so that she's stood precariously on her toes.

He tears his eyes from his little girl to give his wife a lop-sided grin, "We can't miss this opportunity, Peyton. She could take her first steps in Memphis."

Peyton shakes her head back but presses record on the camera and watches as Lucas tries to inspire Sawyer to take some steps.

"Come on," Lucas encourages, "Sawyer, you wanna be Walking in Memphis?"

In response Sawyer bends and straightens his knees, bobbing up and down on the spot.

"She doesn't want to be a cliché!" Peyton calls out over the recording.

She watches Lucas exhale huffily and then scoops Sawyer up in defeat. He sets her on his hip and pads back towards Peyton. "This isn't over. Maybe she wants to do it in the mansion."

"Sure." Peyton laughs again and closes the camera. She grabs the diaper bag and swings it onto her shoulder and they pace towards the famous residence.

"It's going to be here," Lucas insists, his voice firm and determined, "I'm sure of it."

Peyton looks her daughter in the eye, "Sawyer, if you pull this off, we will never hear the last of it. Your Daddy will do his Elvis impression every time he tells the story of your first steps."

In response Lucas does his best impersonation, curling his lip and grinning through it.

Peyton arches her brow back at their daughter, "You have been warned."

...

Lucas returns from the grocery store to find Peyton and Sawyer curled on the couch engrossed in a book. Curious, he sets down his keys and the brown paper bags on the kitchen counter and pads closer to hear the story being told.

"Diego and Frida got married. He was a big man in a large floppy hat." Peyton reads aloud and Sawyer watches on, seemingly gripped.

"She looked tiny beside him. People called them 'the elephant and the dove'." Peyton pauses to imitate an elephant and dove as best she can, to which Lucas has to suppress a chuckle. "Frida painted hundreds of beautiful self-portraits during her life, often surrounded with the animals and birds she kept."

Lucas frowns then, realising this isn't a fairytale as he'd first supposed, "You're teaching her about Frida Kahlo?"

Peyton and Sawyer glance up simultaneously, with mixed expressions. Peyton looks pleased to see him, but Sawyer looks more confused at the interruption to the reading.

"Yeah," Peyton confirms, as though not sure why he would think she'd be doing anything else. Sawyer squeals in some kind of agreement to which Peyton shrugs, "We're nearly done too."

"Go on then," Lucas laughs.

Peyton licks her lips and her eyes search the page for her place, "The bright blue house where she lived has been kept just as she left it, full of colour and joy and flowers. The End. What a nice ending, huh, Sawy? Colour and joy and flowers."

Sawyer garbles in response and Peyton lets her take the book from her to chew on.

"What is that book?" Lucas asks, squinting through his frown, trying to read the title as Sawyer twists the hardbook about in her chubby hands.

"It's Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls." Peyton answers, and looks up at him through her lashes, smirking lightly.

Lucas chuckles, "Sounds about right."

"I found it in that second-hand book store you lost yourself in yesterday; before me and Sawyer got bored and went for ice-cream." Peyton explains, laughing back at him with her eyes at the memory.

He blushes a little but enough for his wife to notice. "I got a book for Haley, she'll appreciate my searching."

"I'm sure." Peyton nods, "You both get off on that whole dusty book thing."

Lucas rolls his eyes, but chooses not to try and deny it. "Are you sure this book's age-appropriate for her though?"

Almost wounded, Peyton shrugs, "Sure. From birth. It says on the back."

"It does not."

"Whatever. There was just a little brush with polio and a bus crash before Frida's happy ending. Sawyer loved it." Peyton argues, "You know why? Because she's a rebel too."

He walks to the couch and gathers Sawyer up, book still grasped in her hands. He holds her up over his head and she giggles gloriously as he throws her up and catches her again. "Is that right? Are you gonna be rebel girl? Are you gonna make my heart stop and beat twice as fast at the same time, huh?"

"All the best girls are rebels." Peyton says as she makes a note in her sketchpad that Lucas reads to say 'colour and joy and flowers'.

Lucas shrugs and pulls Sawyer back towards him so that he can kiss her cheek, "I can't argue with that."

...