Haunting
By klutzykay
They're haunting him. They're in his thoughts, his dreams, both waking and sleeping, and most of all they're in his heart.
He doesn't know why or how, but they are, and no matter what he does to get them out he can't seem to stop them from being there.
Because at the end of the day, despite how high the sales rates were at the Dealership or how well Nathan played during his latest game, they're still there...
...He sees them everywhere... At the store when he's trying to get pain medicine for Nathan, confined to a bed ever since he busted his elbow, at the park when he's out for a morning jog to clear his head, at the school when he's heading for the principal office because of Nathan's latest misadventure... All the places they shouldn't be simply because he's there.
It's because of moments like those Dan realizes they don't seem to care about whatever it is that he's doing when they decide to remind him of what he's done to them, and for some reason Dan can't really blame them...
...And it's because of them haunting him that when Dan Scott looks at his son all he sees is the things he didn't do. Not the accomplishment or the stature, just the mistakes of the past.
Because once he gets past the success and the power all that's left is how he got there...
...They haunt his thoughts especially at night when he lies awake next to Deb, thinking about all the things that have gone so horribly wrong.
He thinks that he never should have left them and how he shouldn't have let Deb step in his way when he tried to go back. He thinks about forcing himself onto Karen when he'd asked for custody and how he didn't regroup and try a different approach instead of just giving up, disappearing from their lives.
But most of all he thinks about how they're doing. He wonders if they need anything, and soon for the thousandth time he has somehow convinced himself that he'll go over to the Café to ask the next chance he gets.
The tragic thing is even when he's thinking it he always knows it's a lie.
...They're haunting him. And the ironic thing is they don't even know it.
End.