A/N: I really have no excuse for being so late. This'll teach me to do a WIP without being a few chapters ahead. Anyway, this is second to last chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I'm not sure if it seems too short or not. You be the judge. And I apologize for screwing up by posting this and then deleting because I messed up. You might have gotten two notifications about this one.

Chapter Eleven: Confronting the Past

Drake stood in the doorway, trembling. He stepped outside and quietly made his way toward his brother. The older boy was silent. Drake gulped and reached up his hand to tug at his brother's sleeve.

"Aiden...?"

"Don't you touch me," Aiden snarled, yanking his arm from the smaller boy's grasp.

"But...I'm...I'm scared."

"You should be. Dad's gone now, and you know why? Because he just had to go and get you the other day. It's all your fault."

Aiden sounded angrier with every passing moment.

"I didn't..."

"If he didn't have to get you, he wouldn't have gotten in that accident."

"I'm sorry..." Drake said, his voice shaking.

"That won't make anything better."

Drake took a step back. He felt tears well up in his eyes. It was his fault. His dad wasn't coming back, and it was his fault. He ran back into the house as the tears slid down his cheeks. His brother hated him. His mom probably did too, but she would never say it. Neither one would ever forgive him.

Nine years later, Drake stood in the same doorway, looking across the grass at Aiden. The younger boy stood tall and firm. His jaw was set, and he wasn't going to let anything phase him. None of it was his fault.

Drake made his way across the lawn. He took every step with dignity, yet a tiny part of him wanted to turn back and run into the house. He convinced himself that this time would not be like that.

"Aiden," Drake said, standing behind the taller brother.

"What?" he turned around. "Oh, it's you. Going to knock me over again? Maybe kick me when I'm down this time?"

"You mean like you did to me?" Drake growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he snarled. "You made me believe Dad's death was my fault. You made me hate myself. You made me think Mom hated me. Do you have any idea how I've lived these past nine years?"

"Hopefully with the guilt you deserve," Aiden spat. "It is your fault. If he hadn't gone to pick you up that day..."

"If he hadn't been doing what any father would have done, picking up his child from baseball practice. What if he'd been picking you up from school. What then? Would it be your fault or would it have been just an accident?"

"I think you're confusing things here. You were the one with baseball practice. You were the one Dad went to pick up that day. If it hadn't been for you..."

"Just shut up!"

Aiden stared hard at Drake. He had never dared to talk to him that way before.

"How can you be so angry?" Drake asked. "How can you be so hateful? You're going to be a father. Do you even love that girl? I can't imagine someone like you loving someone that way. Not your child, not your child's mother. You need to grow up, Aiden. You need to realize that there are people in this world other than yourself that count. I don't care what you're going to be. I don't care how much money you'll make. I don't care that my path is a shot in the dark. It doesn't change anything. You're supposed to be my brother. I haven't been able to count on you like I'm supposed to count on you."

"When you do things like that..."

"I did NOTHING." He was right, he'd done nothing. Aiden couldn't deny it. "Blaming me isn't going to help you get over Dad's death. Running away from this house did nothing to help you. You claim you hate me."

"Because you played that ridiculous game. That took away Dad!"

Drake suddenly realized. It wasn't that it was his fault; it was the fact that he and their father had bonded over something Aiden didn't. Drake couldn't remember Aiden and their dad doing anything like that together. Megan was right; his anger was all he had. Rather, it was all he thought he had.

"You know," Drake started again; his voice was softer this time. "I feel sorry for you. You should have realized Mom and I cared. You should have realized you and Dad were closer than you thought. You should have realized that being angry with one person could never make this better. Instead you ended up living nine years resenting me, convinced that I was the thing to be angry with because you didn't want to admit that you'd let Dad down. Aiden. The Golden Boy. Let his own father down. That could never be you, could it? And all just because you thought there was nothing in common?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aiden. Whether Dad was alive or not, if you'd kept up your grades and kept making something of yourself, he would have been proud. I think it's sad that you didn't see that."

"You still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Aiden..."

"I think we're finished, Drake. We don't need to see each other anymore if we're just going to argue everytime we get together."

Aiden trudged back across the lawn and slammed the door shut as he went inside the house. Drake sighed. They hadn't come to terms. Drake didn't mind. He had at least seen the truth. He wasn't to blame, and Aiden's accusation had only grown out of something he thought he didn't have. The truth was, at least, a small stepping stone for Drake.

Drake had been facing the gate one moment only to hear a loud yell the next. It sounded like someone who had been taken by surprise. It was the way Drake used to sound when Megan pranked him the first few times. There was no surprise in his shouts anymore, just the realization that she had, once again, hatched an evil plan that worked. Drake turned around to see Aiden, covered in egg nog, water balloons littering the floor around him. Drake didn't even have to guess who was behind that.

Drake sat on his loft bed, looking out at the driveway as his mother said goodbye to Aiden. Shortly after he realized what Aiden was really angry at, Drake felt upset that he'd thought his mother was angry with him. She couldn't be. Drake decided that would be his next focus. He could work on Aiden if he ever saw him again. Aiden could come around. He was stubborn, but he was smart. Maybe someday he would realize he and Drake could work things out. It was a little easier now that Drake understood, but Aiden had to admit what was bothering him. That was something he just wasn't ready to do.

"Hey," Josh said, as he walked into the room, picking up his laptop case.

"Hey," Drake replied, in a better mood than he'd been the entire time Aiden was there.

"Glad he's leaving?" Josh asked.

"No," Drake responded. "It isn't that. I'm glad it's over. I actually feel sorry for him now. Maybe someday we can get along, but right now, he's got some heavy thinking to do. I don't know if he'll do it or not, but time'll tell."

"You know, Drake, I think you've grown up a little bit with Aiden's visit."

"You think so?" Drake asked, grinning. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To the library with Eric and Craig. We're going to get a jump on the big research project in history."

"Josh, that isn't due until the end of January."

"I know, but we want to get started."

"But it's still Christmas vacation," Drake said.

"And your point? When did you plan on starting your project, the morning it's due?"

"Actually..."

"Forget what I said about growing up."

Drake kicked dirt over the box as he stood staring at it in it's small hole. Aiden couldn't let go of the past. He couldn't accept the accidents in his life. He couldn't move from that one spot. He couldn't see that it was no one's fault.

But Drake could.

In a world where he looked like Aiden and sounded like Aiden, Drake Parker had something Aiden didn't. He could see the world through different eyes. He could see that bad things would happen, but good ones did too. Even if he'd been upset that his mom was remarrying in the beginning, wasn't Josh his best friend? Aiden could only see the loss. He could only focus on what he didn't have, what he thought he didn't have. Drake could only hope that Aiden would someday learn. That someday he would realize that their Dad was proud of him.

Drake carefully covered the box of mementos from his angry past with his brother with dirt. He stood up and brushed his hands on his jeans. Things would be easier now.

Now, Drake could remember. All Aiden had wanted was approval from their dad, and that was why he tried so hard. He couldn't see what Drake saw, though. Drake saw their dad smile when he went through the report cards in the mail. Drake saw him get excited when Aiden won a new award. Aiden couldn't see it because he felt he needed something else, something more.

Someday, maybe. Someday.