Happy Mother's Day

"The one time I tell you to be home or call me, and you can't even remember that?" Nathan has to check in. Nathan angst abounds. AU.

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The door slammed, rattled the hinges, even, and Nathan didn't care – he was too tired to care. He was exhausted. He'd spent two hours at basketball practice, trying to work off his anger and nervous energy.

Then he'd gone down to his mother's grave. Deb had died two years ago; her death was ruled as a homicide, but nobody knew who killed her.

Nobody, that was, except Nathan Scott. Nathan knew his father killed her. Unfortunately, he had no proof, hadn't seen it, so he remained quiet.

Dan still had his car business; he still had his millions. Nathan had inherited some money because of his mother's death, but it wasn't available to him until he was twenty-five and he couldn't become a legally an adult because of it. How he longed to move out of his whacked household!

The night Deb had died, been murdered, everything had changed. Dan had gone from pretending to be a caring parent to not caring. He abused Nathan, but nobody cared. Except for Lucas, that was; the kid tried to be a friend, but Nathan shoved him away. Every time he talked to his half-brother, he got in trouble. The problem was that through all of this, Lucas was turning out to be his one, true, friend. Lucas and Peyton were his good friends. Brooke was great, too, but he could never really confide in her the way he could Lucas and Peyton.

He sighed as he leaned back against the door. He knew he was going to get beaten up as soon as Dan saw him. After basketball practice, he'd gone down to Deb's grave, since it had been the one-year anniversary of her death. Lucas had gone with him. They'd been silent almost the whole time, except for Nathan's muttering about his jackass father, which Lucas had readily agreed too.

When he'd pulled away in his car – which was his sixteenth birthday present from his mother – he had listened to his father's message.

Dan had been furious, borderline drunk, and Nathan winced at the language he used. Nathan Scott, where the ---- are you? You need to get your --- over here right this instant, young man! You're supposed to come straight home after basketball practice, you -------!

And another one, recorded five minutes later: Nathan, you're supposed to be home!

So on and so forth. And Nathan had only been at his mother's grave for an hour.

"Where ARE you?" Dan demanded, clamoring down the stairs. His footsteps were heavy, indicating he was already furious and was

Nathan rolled his eyes and swore under his breath. At least he wasn't completely drunk. That was very much a relief to Nathan; he never knew quite what to make of his father when he completely lots control. Nathan had found that the best thing was just to get out of there… fast. "Right here, Dad," he said, even though he knew he was risking his father's wrath.

"Where were you? I told you to call me. You know you're supposed to call me as soon as you get out of basketball. Why the hell didn't you call? You know the rules, Nathan, do you want me to call the school and tell them you didn't obey my orders?"

"What, can't handle me yourself?" Nathan snapped, biting back. Anger was Nathan's best defense; when his father attacked him, the emotional shields went up and he said things he either later regretted or wished he hadn't said. "Gotta call the school on me now? Beating me into submission not working, anymore?"

"All I want is for you to call me and let me know where you are," Dan replied, glaring at Nathan. "And yet, you can't even follow that simple, stupid task. How the hell do you make all A's in your classes?"

Nathan bit back a retort, knowing it was only going to get him in more trouble. "Dammit, Dad, don't you even remember what today is?"

"Nothing special," Dan replied, glaring at him. "So why are you late?"

It took everything Nathan had, but he managed to remain silent for a minute before saying, "Don't you remember what today is?"

"It's nothing special, Nathan, stop pressing. Where were you?"

"Your wives' grave," Nathan spat out angrily. He was about to storm out of the house when Dan grabbed his arm.

"What did you just say to me?"

"It's the one year anniversary of when your wife died," Nathan retorted, attempting to shrug Dan off. "Or did you not remember that?"

Dan sighed as he let Nathan go. "You're treading on dangerous ground, Nathan. I'll let you go with a warning because it's today… but don't ever mention her again."

Nathan sank to the floor as Dan left the room. I miss you, Mom.