LCH13

LCH13

"Wow, this is a really nice club." Lucas said in awe as he entered the main room of the club.

"You got that right kiddo, so when is the kid due?" Sean, the boss said.

"Beginning of May, he'll be a Taurus." Lucas said with a smile as he admired the red shiny walls.

"Astrology...what are you?"

"Aquarius, you?"

"Virgin – if you'll believe it." he snorted.

"Ah, well, we all have our jinxes." Lucas teased.

"Brat – how old are you anyway?" he asked curiously.

"I'm sixteen in a few days." Lucas replied. Okay, so it was just shy of a month/

"And what could have caused you to take to this profession? Leah said you were off to Harvard in the summer."

"I am, I just need a hell of a lot of money first."

"I thought you got a scholarship."

"I did, but babies are expensive."

"So you're keeping it?"

"Yeah. He's a part of me, y'know."

"Boy?"

"I can feel it – or a rowdy girl. Definitely takes after its father no matter which gender." Lucas said and pressed his hand to his stomach, forcing the nausea down.

"A troublemaker?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. I just hope the mean streak isn't hereditary. If it is, I've got a hellion on my hands." He said with a weak chuckle.

"So who is it? – if you don't mind?"

"I don't mind, but you're better off not knowing."

"So he's that kind of guy?" Sean said with mild amusement.

"Mhm,"

"That's why you didn't hang around?"

"Also why my parents kicked me out. It's a huge mess, I promise you."

"Try me."

Lucas arched a brow at the older man, but threw himself into the short version of his tale anyway. "His little brother killed my big brother – no witnesses besides my dad who lets him off the hook in court, then he goes and gutts him good and proper. Does anyone let me know before I'm in too deep, oh no. Little Lucas can't bear the truth of his brother's brutal murder - it's not like I ever liked the fucker – and you know, my parents never told me I could get pregnant. They've known for ten years, and they told Brendan, but did it cross their mind to tell me? No…" Lucas was breathing heavily when he finished his rant. "God, it felt good to let that out. Sorry I went all hormonal on you."

"Don't worry about it kid," Sean said and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder, "I totally get why that needed to come out." How did a kid like him come from such a screwed up family. Leah had told him absolutely everything she knew about the boy, including his rather messy affair with the Gang Lord of the east. He had just wanted to know what Lucas would say. It wouldn't be good if he suddenly said something that Lucas hadn't told him.

Billy Darley had climbed ladders in these past few months. After he put a bullet through his old mans head, he'd turned his business into a gold mine. The little gun-slinger deals were out the window. He'd stumbled on a huge deal and was now playing with the big boys. He was an arms dealer – with drugs on the side. It helped that the guy was fucking terrifying. It was beyond him that a little wraith of a boy like Lucas had torn him apart so thoroughly. He'd heard rumours of that Darley, after his breakdown and near suicide, he had dived head first into his work to keep himself busy. That he hadn't touched a woman with passion or even lust in forever. Diagnosis; heartbreak and denial – the ocean, not the river.

It was late March and Lucas was tired as hell. His hands shook as he struggled with the keys to his apartment door. He sighed deeply, trying to force back the tears of exhaustion. Sean had sent him home when he saw that he was practically dead on his feet. He was eternally grateful for that he still got a full shifts pay, but without the tips, it wasn't all that much.

He sobbed in relief as the key went in and the door slid open. Warm – well, warmer air hit him as he entered the messy apartment. Clothes and books were stewed all over the place. He hadn't bothered to unpack most of his things. His main room was a right mess and there were pizza boxes and shit all over the place.

He'd made it look as shitty as possible on purpose. He was only too aware of the break-in rates of New York and he figured that if the living room looked shitty enough, they wouldn't bother to go to the bedroom or the kitchen.

The kitchen wasn't all that fancy, it was pretty run down and old actually, but he kept it clean. If there was something he needed then it was proper nutrition, and he did his best. In ways he supposed he was glad for that Billy never had a sweet tooth because apparently the cravings matched the likes and dislikes of the father of the child. Odd, but in this case true.

His bedroom was the nicest room in the apartment. It was pretty big and he'd painted the walls in a deep red colour. Again, it was a pregnancy thing, because he didn't like red, Billy did. It pissed him off that the entire pregnancy seemed to be programming him to be attracted to anything Billy-like. Wouldn't the bastard have a good laugh about that one? Lucas scowled. Boxes were piled up against the walls and were stacked on top of one another. He didn't have a bed, just two mattresses on top of each other.

Sometimes he liked to think that his mother would have been outraged if she knew how he was living, but another part of him, the seemingly realistic part, thought she couldn't really give a shit. After all her whining about not loosing another son…good fucking riddance.

He grabbed a carrot from the fridge and pressed the 'on' button of the water boiler. He was too damn tired to cook something proper and it was almost midnight. Well, for such a short night he'd made plenty of money. 300 dollars. The Kalix was a downtown sort of place were the rich kids liked to slum. For some reason they liked him.

He'd though that he would have to stop working by now, because people would find him unattractive with a big belly, but he found that it was quite the opposite. Because of his condition, they didn't even ask him to undress. His dances were slower, more sensual and the crowd loved it. It gave him confidence to know that complete stranger thought he was beautiful even with the beach ball that was his belly. Sometimes he wondered if he – no. Bad thoughts.

The water boiled clicked and he poured the hot water into the box of noodles and cut up the carrot he'd skinned and dropped them in, along with a few other goodies. He closed the lid and padded into the bedroom. He left the food on the mattress and dropped his clothes on the chair by the bathroom door and stepped into the shower. He hissed quietly as the hot water crashed down upon him.

He had allowed himself the luxury to buy a proper make-up remover, skin tonic and moisturiser, because the damage poor skin products would do to his skin would be too expensive to cover up with make-up. For make-up to cover up damaged skin, it could not be the cheapest he could find, which his was, most were things the other girls had given him because they had moved on to a new 'look'. Only the really good stuff hid flaws successfully, and he did like to be able to go without it in daytime when he could without looking like a…sixteen year old attacked by the zit armies. As of this day, he'd only had three, and in his opinion, those were three too many. He had a suspicion of that his little boy – he rubbed his tummy affectionately as the baby rolled – kept them at bay.

Having washed his hair and deemed himself clean, he grabbed a towel and dried off quickly before he pulled on his PJ's and slid into bed. Flipping open his laptop - thanking god for wireless internet – he clicked onto his mail and started to read the e-mails from the people he'd kept contact with back in Boston, like Frasier, Brendan's best friend. They didn't know about his little boy though. They might do something stupid like telling Billy in hopes of getting into his good graces, and Billy, the territorial asshole, would claim what was his, something Lucas was not ready to deal with at all.

He purred in pleasure as the first taste of the spicy noodles hit his tongue. True, he hated his life right now, but it was his life, and he was doing okay. He had saved an insane amount of money and knew that he would need every penny of it in the time to come, as he could not work nearly as much as he did when starting college. He needed to keep his grades up in order to keep his scholarship, and hopefully receive one for Uni as well. It didn't have to be Ivy league, as long as it was a good uni – and it had day care. Lucas rolled his eyes. If someone had told him that "this time next year" he'd be living in New York with a Gang Lord turned arms dealers kid in his stomach he would have laughed at them and said that he and Billy were only friends.

He slurped up the last bit of the hot sauce from the box and put it aside. He wiggled slightly as the baby pressed against a sensitive spot. Someone had sent him pictures…

Opening the file from the strange address, he downloaded the pictures and gasped. They were of him and Billy. They were laughing and having fun. It showed Lucas jumping up on Billy's back in one photo, and it showed Heco in the background laughing his arse off at Billy's expression. In another one Lucas was laying on his back in the grass, with Billy resting his head on his bare stomach. He remembered that day. They guys were making a sale in the park and had made a day out of it to make him happy. They'd had so much fun.

Other pictures showed him and Billy sitting on the swings, or rather, Billy was sitting and Lucas was standing behind him. They had tried it the other way around, but Billy was too tall.

Lucas dried a tear as his eyes swept over the images of tender kisses all those faces full of joy. It could not have all been fake. The guys, besides Spink, who he had in time figured out had been Joe's best friend, liked him. Bodie definitely did. Even the guys at the Body Shop liked him. He could not make himself believe it was all a lie.

Hey little lion. How you doing? Haven't seen you around since forever. It took me ages to threaten this e-mail out of one of your classmates. ;;chuckles;; no really, I was nice, promise.

I know you don't want to hear this, but Billy ain't doing too well. He clams up better than a clamshell, and I know you've had some so, I suppose you get the idea. ;;rolls eyes;; he deserves anything you can throw at him, we all do, but he really does care about you kiddo, so do the rest of us. We miss you – sappy I know, but you lit up our days. Hell, you made Bones (RIP) laugh for fucks sake. We had some good times, even if the reason for hooking up wasn't too honest.

I'm not askin' much, we just wanna know if you're okay. We haven't seen you around town and believe me we've been looking, so we're worried. Even Spink feels terrible. Don't bother replying to this mail. It's a public address. My number is below. Take your time, but please call. I wont tell Billy if you don't want to

Bodie

959-456-432

Lucas dried his tears and snapped the laptop shut. He didn't want to think about it now. He was too tired, too confused and his son was too fussy to let him concentrate on any logical thought. He'd think about it tomorrow.

On the other side of the world, in Moscow, Billy was sitting on his bed, clutching a pendant tightly in his hand. Staring at his reflection in the French door window, the beautiful cursive word that lay between the tribal markings on his skin held his undivided attention; Lucas.

His alarm clock rang and he was snapped out of his stupor. He grabbed a dark green sweater, but halted as he felt the soft and smooth fabric in his hands. His heart pulsed painfully as he once again was reminded of what he had so carelessly thrown away. Billy had only just started to realise how much Lucas meant to him that night. He wondered how it would have turned out if he just said 'no'

He sighed and pulled the cashmere sweater Lucas had given him over his head, gabbed his phone and shut the door loudly behind him, hoping he would live to see the day that he knew Lucas would be okay.

A/N; please review!!