A/N: So guys it finally happened! I'm so excited to present to you the first chapter of Nathan James. I've been working hard on the first three chapters to make sure they all go together from the start, but now I'm almost ready with the third one and that means that this story is ready to see the light. If you want to know what happened with Nate, you have come to the right place. As always if you like it please leave a comment letting me know especially now in the beginning! It won't overlap with the other stories as much as this first chapter, it's just to kind of get you settled into the story…
For anyone who is new to my fanfictions, I'd recommend reading Bullied-The Other Side Of The Window first to kind of get a feel for who everybody is, but if you don't have the time or patience, the short explanation is:
Nathan "Nate" Williams: like a son to Pride
Dwayne "King" Pride: mentor to Nate and Donnie
Donovan "Donnie" Williams: Nate's younger brother.
James and Katherine: Nate's and Donnie's parents.
And Tony is Gibbs's real son, Pride's nephew. Long story short, Donnie was avoiding Pride and Nate got mad at him since he hurt Pride in the process. Nate, mad as he was, caused his brother to desperately fall to the floor crying and eventually falling asleep from exhaustion. After that Nate faced Pride once and then started avoiding him. That's a really bad summary, but it's hard to explain so I'd recommend reading Bullied-The Other Side Of The Window. For anyone who wonders, the original story is Bullied and it features Tony. Donnie is introduced in the twelfth chapter and that's from where his POV is introduced in Bullied-The Other Side Of The Window. Nate's story is starting from chapter 22 in Donnie's story. Hope that made sense!
-AlexJoSkyler
Nathan James: Chapter 1
Nate knew he was in big trouble and he also knew he was late. Those two facts together didn't look good for his future. What was even more concerning was that he was about to meet the man he had tried his best to avoid for a very long week now, and his parents, who weren't too happy with him either. Sighing, Nate opened the front door carefully and slipped in, just in case somebody was inside. Relaxing slightly at the empty hallway in front of him Nate made a quick beeline for the stairs. From his bedroom he had a pretty good view over the back porch where everybody was seated. Hesitating at the sight of his Dad's and King's none too happy faces Nate quickly changed before once again wondering whether if it would be a smart move to go down there or not. He was already an hour late, something the note left on his bedside table along with the alarm clock reminded him of. Surely making a scene in front of their guests wasn't what his parents would want. Sitting down on his bed Nate still had a view of the back porch so he decided to listen to the last voice mail from King and go from there.
"Nathan, I know you are avoiding me, kid. The only thing you are accomplishing by not talking to me or your parents is a greater heap of trouble and being unreachable?! If I don't see you tonight or hear from you tomorrow morning I'm going to track you down, you hear me?! In front of your friends or not you are coming with me. We need to talk kiddo and you are only making it harder for yourself. Your deadline is tomorrow, so make sure it's worth it. "
King's words from years ago rang through his head as he listened to the voice mail: "If I have to track you down I'll only get angrier so the last thing you want to do when you are in trouble is run." Nate grimaced at the words and threw a look outside just as King took a look at his watch. Seeing the expression darken on his mentor, Nate decided that the extra fifteen hours wouldn't be worth it, so he quickly combed his messy hair before forcing his feet to move downstairs. At the door to the back porch he quickly stepped outside before he had a chance to change his mind. It was in a matter of seconds six pairs of eyes turned towards him, almost all of them angry or disapproving. All those eyes looking at him made Nate stand frozen for a couple of seconds taking in the full extent of the blazing looks. He winced slightly when he saw his Mom get up and change seats, no doubt so he would be stuck between the two people that were most mad at him. Sighing Nate forced his feet to once again start moving.
"Agent Gibbs it's nice to meet you again."
"Nice to meet you too again Nate."
"Hi Tony, hi, little brother." Twin greetings echoed at him and Nate bit his lip when he neared his Mom, she didn't look incredibly angry just disapproving.
"Hi Mom."
"Nate." Nate winced a little at that, but focused on the hard part ahead and the small smile she had given him, after all he had showed up. He was only steps away from his Dad and knew that running now would only take him so far, so Nate forced himself to keep on moving. Every step was a battle but in the end, he made it to his seat and glanced quickly at both men, muttering a greeting, before taking his place and starting to fill up his plate quietly. As soon as his plate landed on the table again two hands squeezed his shoulders just a bit harder than necessary causing Nate to wince a little. His whole body tensed though when he felt King lean close to him and suddenly whisper in a low deadly voice:
"Don't even think about moving an inch without one of us by your side."
"Yes sir." Nate's voice was quiet and forced, but he knew he had been heard when both men let go of his shoulders with one final squeeze. Nate was grateful when Gibbs started asking questions about his deployments and other marine stuff so he got something else to think about. To his big surprise Nate found himself really enjoying his talk with Agent Gibbs and relaxed ever so slightly. Right until his brother asked for Tony and him to be excused from the table, that was. A thick silence fell and Nate tensed up again at every single movement. The air seemed to cool once his brother and Tony went inside and Nate shuddered involuntarily. Even though Nate knew that neither King, nor his Dad, would confront him with guests in the house it still wasn't too comfortable sitting in between the two angry men. To make it worse he didn't have anything left on his plate to distract himself with. He had barely served himself anything to begin with so it had taken him only a few valuable moments to eat it. Nate felt like a fool sitting there, staring at his empty plate, but knew he wouldn't be excused. King had made that fact painfully clear.
"If you want dessert you'll need to eat more than that." King's quiet voice was stern and Nate closed his eyes for a moment to keep the tears that had threatened to fall for a week now from actually falling. The whole situation was eating him up, and he knew it.
"I'm not hungry, sir." Nate's words were spoken softly and carefully to keep any hint of attitude out of it, but at the same time not reveal how close to tears he was.
"Nathan…"
"I truly am not, sir." Nate's voice held a hint of despair in it and King backed off. Thankful, Nate replayed yesterday morning and wondered what would have happened if things would have played out differently. Maybe he actually would have been able to enjoy dinner a bit more this evening.
-Flashback-
"You are crazy Nate!" Donnie muttered heatedly Thursday morning studying Nate's phone.
"What time is it?!" Nate groaned tiredly before suddenly jerking upright after a look at the alarm clock. He was late, so late. "And what are you doing with my phone?! give me that!" Nate roared angrier than he had intended.
"Seven missed calls from King, Nate you are crazy."
"Might be, but right now I'd rather not face him." Nate muttered with a grimace, wincing when he saw the screen.
"What did you do?" Donnie asked curiously.
"Sorry kid, I'm not going to tell you."
"Nate…"
"Donnie, I really need to get going. I'll work it out with King okay, just not today or tomorrow. I have other things I need to take care off first." With those words he started searching for clothes. There was a small chance he'd still be able to sneak out undetected even if his parents more likely than not already were awake.
"You do know Mom and King decided that we all are going to eat dinner here tomorrow with Tony and his Dad?!"
"What?! Since when?!" Nate asked shocked, he had counted on having a few more days to gather his thoughts before facing his mentor.
"Since yesterday, besides, running from him only makes him angrier."
"The rules huh?!" Nate asked with a knowing smile, stopping in the middle of his frantic search of clothes to take a good look at Donnie. King had definitely been good for the kid, Nate thought happily as he watched the relaxed kid.
"King told me you had the same rules." Donnie said almost accusingly making Nate grimace.
"I do kid." Nate reassured him. "And I will talk to him, I just haven't seen my friends in forever so I'm meeting with a few before going over to talk with him."
"Where?"
"Dream on kid, the last thing I want for you is to be put in a position where you have to choose between me and King."
"Why don't you just talk to him? Is it that bad?!"
"I'm sorry for worrying you buddy, it's nothing terrible, I just want a couple of days with my friends and haven't checked in with King yet." Not entirely the truth but Nate wasn't about to tell his brother that, not when the kid already was so worked up.
"I know you Nate it's not that easy. Is this still about you ordering me to pack my bags?! I saw your expression big brother, I don't even want to begin to imagine what kind of lecture would be behind that level of insecurity."
"Whatever I got I deserved." Nate replied shortly. Yeah, it had been a lecture he'd rather forget about, but he did think he deserved it.
"You talked with King at least, have you talked with Mom and Dad?"
"Yeah, Mom and Dad aren't too happy with me right now, but I talked with them before I talked to King." It was the truth, but not really the way it sounded.
"Whatever this is about you'll need to face them sometime Nate, you can't keep avoiding them."
"Avoiding who?" James asked coming into the room in search of his older son. Seeing the shoes in the entryway had given him the small hope that his son hadn't already left.
"Nobody Dad" Nate answered quickly and pulled the first T-shirt he could find over his head followed by a pair of jeans that laid deserted on the floor. "I'm late so I really have to go." With those words he tried to make it to the door but was stopped by James's hand on his shoulder.
"You aren't going anywhere right now son."
"Dad! I already made plans and I am late." Nate whined, desperate to get out of the house without talking to his parents or worse, King.
"Nathan." The tone wasn't one Nate wanted to mess with but he was desperate.
"Dad, come on, you told me too keep my commitments, I promised to be there."
"Fine, but you'll need to check in with King before you go."
"I'm late, I'll do it on the way." Nate tried.
"Nathan James." His Dad said in a tone he knew not to question. "Call him now or don't go at all."
"Yes sir." Nate answered defeated, for a moment seriously contemplating his options. Deciding that King no doubt would find out if he stayed at home and come looking for him, Nate sighing dialed the number he knew by heart. Nate felt his heart beat faster and faster by every second. After 30 seconds with no answer Nate sighed out in relief and ended the call.
"You go on, but you better answer King when he calls you back, son, and don't make any plans, King, Tony and Agent Gibbs is coming over for dinner tomorrow."
"Too late Dad" Nate yelled over the shoulder as he scurried past his Dad and down the stairs. He knew full well his Dad wouldn't appreciate his comment, but that was the least of his worries right now. He felt the phone in his pocket vibrate but didn't make a move to answer the call that he was sure was from King. He contemplated turning it off, but he knew that King would get livid if he didn't answer his messages at least every now and then. Going totally off the grid would mean that he was prepared to take the consequences that followed and right now he was in enough trouble without doing so.
-Flashback ending-
Nate was brought back to reality by the sudden voice of his honorary big brother greeting the rest of the people at the table. Anxiously he followed his big brother's movements from the corner of his eyes feeling his entire body tense when Chris at last walked up to him. Chris was angry, he knew and expected as much, but how angry was the question.
"Nathan."
"Hi Chris." Nate replied lowly, focusing on his big brother's jaw instead of his eyes.
"I have half a mind to deal with you right here, right now, but I believe both King and your Dad are angry enough and quite frankly I don't want their anger redirected at me, so count yourself lucky kid." Nate nodded appreciatively as Chris straightened up again after having leaned in to say the words quietly. It took barely ten minutes for Chris to clear his plate as well and Nate was more than shocked when Chris all of the sudden asked if he could take Nate with him to play with the boys. Nate, having heard King's words, knew the chances were slim and didn't expect to be given permission so he didn't even hear his Dad's reply at first.
"Nate." James tried again. "I said it's okay, go play with Chris and the boys." Nate's head snapped up in surprise and he met his Dad's gaze for the first time that evening.
"I can go?" He asked carefully in case he had heard wrong.
"Yes. Go on."
-Nathan James-
Pride followed Nate with his gaze as the young man filled with relief almost sprinted from the table towards the boys and wasn't surprised when Gibbs a moment later excused himself and made his way towards the kids as well.
"I'm getting a feeling our company isn't appreciated right now by our youngster, at least not if the happiness I saw over him being excused really was that big."
"It was." James answered. "But he knew what to expect and he did it anyway so I don't feel bad for any uncomfortableness he feels around us right now. Besides, he defied us both. I told him multiple times to call you and answer if you did, but clearly he didn't."
"So that's why the kid believes you are going to rip his head off."
"Hate to tell you King but he didn't look less nervous around you. So how do you want to handle this?" James asked.
"It will pass, and I don't believe it's fair to ask Agent Gibbs and Tony to give up the house once more." Katherine said.
"The office will do just fine. If you don't mind though I think it'd be good for him if we spent the night here. It might just get it through his head that he can't sneak out whenever he wants to."
"Damn right he can't! I'll sleep in front of his door if I have to. He should never have gotten that habit in the first place." James said heatedly.
"I was thinking more along the air mattress and sleeping in his room, but you are welcome to join us outside the door if you want to." King replied with a small chuckle.
"Thanks, but if you are playing guard dog I believe he is uncomfortable enough. The floor, on second thought, doesn't seem too comfortable. Save a piece of him for me though, as I said he defied us both."
"So, you don't mind?"
"You know we don't."
"Do we know why?" Katherine suddenly wondered.
"No, but he knows better than to not answer me when I'm this displeased with him so I'll call you when he is asleep."
"Thanks King."
"Don't mention it James, after all this mess started with me."
"Nate makes his own decisions."
"I know, but still, if I'm not too wrong the kid is trying to avoid our longer talk about what happened with Donnie."
"Do you really think it's that easy?" Katherine wondered.
"Whatever it is we'll fix it."
-Nathan James-
"How about we switch things up a little: Nate and Tony against me and Donnie?" Chris proposed once Nate and he reached Tony and Donnie. "This is the perfect opportunity for, you buddy, to get to know Nate a little." Chris continued with a look at Tony.
"We've met." Tony answered a bit shortly, surprising Nate for a moment until he realised that the short tone was meant for Chris.
"He won't bite you." Donnie said teasingly. "If it was me maybe, but he won't do anything to you."
"Would you like to test that theory buddy?" Nate challenged advancing on Donnie with a smile, happy the kid had broken the tension that was starting to build up.
"No thank you I'm perfectly fine with Chris here." Laughing, Donnie spurted towards Chris and hid behind him, causing Nate to laugh.
"Nathan James, don't you dare touch your brother." Chris said in a mocking tone. Nate straightened up to stand at attention before he saluted Chris and answered:
"No sir. Never sir" causing everybody to laugh.
"What are you troublemakers up to?" Gibbs asked, joining the group.
"Messing with Nate." Tony answered.
"Sounds good to me. Straighten up marine!" Gibbs roared in his best Marine officer voice, causing Nate to do so, not sure if the man was kidding or not. "Relax cadet, I just want you to explain the rules of the game so this one" Gibbs pointed at Chris "plays fair and according to the rules."
"I always play according to the rules" Chris stated, trying to look innocent.
"Yeah right!" Tony snorted. "Your rules." Nate quickly agreed causing his brother to laugh.
"Help me here Donnie, I can't help that we play it a bit different in Alabama, can I?!"
"Poor Chris, has to ask Donnie for sympathy." Nate teased.
"Shut up Trouble. Last time you only won with one touchdown and that was because King didn't like my tackle." Nate whistled low at Chris choice of words.
"Better not let King hear that, brother."
"Are we going to play or are you five-year-olds going to bicker the whole time?" Donnie asked.
"Play." They both answered at the same time causing Gibbs to roll his eyes good naturally. By now Nate had started to relax in Gibbs's presence.
"Nate, rules." Gibbs ordered, making Nate compose himself enough to recite the rules so the game could begin. In the end Nate and Tony won and Chris as revenge picked up Tony and headed for the pool.
"Chris! What are you doing?! Let me down!" Tony yelled.
"Foul!" Nate in his turn yelled, following the pair along with Donnie. Chris didn't listen though, instead threw Tony into the water before heading for Donnie. Donnie hid behind Nate thinking his older brother would protect him, making Nate's heart swell a little. His brother had truly forgiven him and it felt really good. Even if he was just about to turn on his brother, that was.
"Wait Chris. I have a better idea." With that Nate took a hold of Donnie's hands and nodded for Chris to take a hold of the feet. Once Chris had a good grip they started swinging Donnie sideways.
"I…2…3!" Chris counted. On three the pair let go causing Donnie to land next to Tony in the pool. Before Nate could react, he was suddenly pushed into the pool by Chris. Sputtering Nate came up to the surface just in time to see Chris being pushed in by Gibbs.
"You…" Nate growled and headed for Chris trying to wrestle the older man under the surface, but to no luck. Chris was still slightly stronger than him, causing Nate to be the one pushed under the surface. Nate tried to get back at him, but Tony tried to climb up from the pool which caused Chris to abandon Nate and instead hurriedly swim across the pool. Once there Chris reached out and took a hold of Tony, throwing him into the air so he landed with a big splash next to Nate causing Donnie to head their way. Nate saw his chance as his little brother came close, so he picked him up and threw him into the air, causing Donnie to land with a splash next to Chris.
"Your brothers aren't volleyballs!" James yelled laughing.
"Watch their heads!" King added.
"Forget them, dessert is ready and nobody sits dripping wet out here so you guys better head inside and at least find a couple of towels before joining us." His Mom's statement was followed by four yes ma'ams and a race between the four to get out of the pool first. Nate and Chris easily held their younger brothers back, and in the end, Nate reached the patio door first, heading into the house and towards the linen closet upstairs. He saw Chris and Donnie linger back which warmed his heart. He was happy for Donnie. He, if anybody, knew what a great big brother Chris was. Turning towards Tony who had followed him upstairs Nate asked:
"Do you think they'll join us today or tomorrow?"
"Well, since it's Chris and dessert, I think we better get a head start if we want anything for ourselves."
"Good plan." Nate smiled, tossing a towel at Tony. "Let's go."
-Nathan James-
Nate was getting ready for bed when his Dad suddenly came into the room carrying an air mattress under his arm and placing it in front of the door, causing Nate to blush and focus on his hands. The adults had let him in on the plan for the next couple of days once Gibbs and Tony had left and even though Nate wasn't happy about it, he had known the whole time how things would play out.
"Good night kiddo." James said and turned to head out of the room, not sure his oldest wanted to talk with him at the moment.
"Dad?" Nate's unsure voice surprised himself just as much as it did his Dad who turned around in the doorway.
"Yeah kiddo?"
"I truly am sorry." A single tear escaped and Nate quickly brushed it away, he was too old to cry, no matter the situation.
"Natey. Look at me." His Dad ordered softly as he closed the distance between them and put his hands on Nate's upper arms. "I love you, kiddo, and we'll talk once you and King work it out."
"Okay." Nate tried hard to not let the disappointment he felt shine through, but clearly failed since his Dad sighed and led them both over to the bed. "Want to tell me why?"
"I couldn't face King and I knew that if I wasn't out of the house before you guys could stop me I would have had to face him."
"Would that really have been so bad that you had to defy me, Nate?"
"It shouldn't have been, but it just seemed easier to keep being mad at myself instead of facing King and doing the right thing. I never wanted to defy either of you, but with King it was a calculated choice, but you…" Nate trailed of.
"Me?" James asked carefully while rubbing his son's back.
"I never wanted to defy you, Dad. I just couldn't bring myself to pick up the phone. And now you don't trust me." Nate said, blinking hard against the tears that threatened to fall.
"Natey, kiddo, look at me. I know. As for us, we'll talk it out and everything will be fine and as long as you promise me to stop sneaking out, even when things get bad, you'll restore my trust a lot sooner than you believe."
"I promise."
"Good. Now dry those tears kiddo, we'll be fine." James said scooting backwards and placing his son's head onto his lap.
"Dad I'm too old." Nate said, trying to wriggle away without hurting his Dad.
"You are fine exactly where you are Nathan." His Dad's voice told him any protest would be futile, so Nate did the only thing he could, relaxed and enjoyed the rare moment between the two of them.
"Yes sir. Thanks Dad."
"Sleep well Natey."
"Love you Dad." Nate said softly, finally falling asleep to his Dad running his fingers through his hair and rubbing his arm comfortably. On the verge of sleep, he could hear his Dad whisper:
"Love you too buddy."