Authors note: This chapter is a bit long. The others will be shorter. A head's up the next chapter is Mestiny heavy, and by heavy I mean all Matt and Des =)

Chapter 14

Matthew spent the weekend after his conversation with Destiny fighting with himself. If his uncle wasn't about to be charged for Eddie Ford's murder he knew a part of him would have considered, if only for a moment, letting the whole thing be swept under the rug. But the other part of him, the part that had been absent for a better part of the year, could never skirt responsibility for something so serious, no matter the consequences. The latter won out easily. Now he just had to convince his loved ones to let him take responsibility.

Matthew lay in bed for an hour trying to prepare to tell his parents he was ready to confess to Eddie Ford's murder. While he hadn't admitted it to the Destiny the day they talked, he was already prepared to turn himself in, but he had to know if she was pregnant first. Now that he knew the truth, he could confess without a heavy heart and vindicate his uncle Clint before he was arraigned for Eddie's murder.

The sound of his parents moving around the living room served as his cue. Emerging from his bedroom he startled his parents. "Mom, dad, we need to talk." His voice was resolute and his parents immediately took notice.

Nora stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't need to ask what Matthew wanted to discuss, because she knew, she just wasn't sure she was ready to hear it. She glanced at Bo, her eyes pleading for him to take the lead on the conversation.

"What is it son?" Bo asked as the three of them sat on the couch.

"I remember," Matthew said cryptically.

"Remember what honey?" Nora asked. "What happened with Eddie Ford?"

"That and mostly everything else," Matthew continued.

"Mostly? Do you remember who hurt you Matthew?" Bo asked, preparing to drag the punk who attacked his son down to the LPD.

Matthew lied, claiming his memory of that night was still hazy.

"You don't remember anything? Not a voice or anything?" Nora pressed.

"Sorry," Matthew frowned.

"It's okay, it'll just take more time," Bo reassured him.

Matthew shoulders slumped downward at his father's mention of time, because it had run out. He knew it and he was sure they did to, even if they hadn't accepted it yet. Rubbing the back of his neck anxiously he said, "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you guys about."

Nora tried to mentally prepare herself for the next words out Matthew's mouth.

"I'm ready to turn myself," Matthew declared. "I know we've been over this before and I know you guys said you'd figure it out, but I can't live like this anymore."

"You sure son? You know what this means? "Bo asked.

"I know and I'm sure." Matthew said resigned to his fate. "The guilt is eating me alive. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't get that night out of my mind. I can't do this anymore, especially while Uncle Clint is rotting in jail waiting to be tried for something I did."

"This is all Clint's fault!" Nora interjected angrily, springing from the couch as she ranted. Bo tried to comfort her, but she rejected his embrace, pushing him away instead. "No, no!"

"Red," Bo said still trying to calm his wife. "This is what Matthew wants."

"Clint tried to turn Matthew against us!" She bellowed as tears welled in her eyes. "He brought that monster into our lives. He had him to kidnap me, for crying out loud! That pig would have raped me if he gotten the chance. Clint did all that, not Matthew. Why does he have to suffer?" She huffed jabbing her finger into Bo's chest as she reached her breaking point "Why! We just got him back!"

Bo pulled his wife into his arms as she broke down.

Matthew wiped his tear-stained cheeks, hating himself more than ever as he watched his mother break down. He couldn't believe he'd failed them so badly. He wished he could take it all back.

After 10 minutes, Bo finally got Nora to calm down and take seat.

"I'm so sorry mom," Matthew uttered for what seemed like the millionth time.

"I'm sorry, "Nora replied, her voice still shaky. "We should have acted the minute you confessed to us. We only made things worse."

"You can tell them I just confessed to you today," Matthew suggested. "I don't want you guys to get in trouble for protecting me."

"Matthew we can't do that," Bo objected.

Concerned Matthew asked, "What's going to happen to you guys? Are you going to lose your jobs?"

Bo insisted Matthew let them worry about the fallout. "I'm going down to the station to see if there's something, anything I can do about this—Red you coming?"

Nora mumbled something inaudibly before Bo took her hand. "It's going to be okay,"

The three shared a long embrace before Bo and Nora left.

The rest of the day was a blur for Matthew. He wasn't sure if he was awake or even alive; he was completely numb. He vaguely remembered eating and having a phone conversation with someone, possibly David. He'd gotten a few calls from Destiny, but his finger pressed the ignore button each time. He wasn't ready to face her, to break heart, again.

By the time Matthew emerged from his daze, the incandescence of the afternoon sun had given way to the soft radiance of the moon. He glanced at his watch and saw that is was nearly 7pm. In 12-hours he'd be turning himself in at the LPD.

He'd resigned himself to his fate, but he wasn't the only one who'd be doing the right thing in the morning. He was going to make sure of that. He rose from the couch and disappeared into his room, emerging minutes later with his cell phone. "We need to talk. I'll explain everything when you get here."

Nate had been sweating bricks ever since his encounter with Matthew at the Buenos Dias, but he flew into a full-blown panic after Matthew called and said he wanted to talk. Nate knew by the serious tone of Matthew's voice that the conversation wasn't going to end well. Despite his reservations, he agreed to meet him after his shift ended.

He stood outside the Buchanan apartment for nearly 20-minutes, unable to find the courage to knock on the door. He considered leaving, but forced himself to knock on the door. He was immediate greeted by a sullen Matthew. Nate followed Matthew inside and was offered a seat. He declined, lingering instead next to an end table. "How are you doing?"

"Okay," Matthew shrugged indifferently before adding, "I got my memory back."

"Oh," Nate swallowed hard not sure what to say next. "So you —"

"Remember what I did to your father…and what you did to me? Yeah I do."

Nate's stomach twisted into a million knots as Matthew revealed that he knew he was the one who hurt him. "What are you going to do?"

Pointing at himself Matthew replied, "Me? I'm not going to do anything—you are. You're going to tell the authorities what you did to me, tomorrow morning."

Nate couldn't breathe; it felt like the walls were closing in on him, but he couldn't go down without a fight. "I was pissed off, that's why I hit you Matthew. I never meant to hurt you."

"Maybe, but that doesn't change what you did," Matthew replied. "Just like nothing changes what I did."

"You can't compare the situations, they're not the same," Nate sneered. "You killed someone and were willing to let me and my mom go down for it!"

"You're right, I did and I'm not proud of that," Matthew said taking full responsibility for his actions. "I'm disgusted with the guy I was back then. You know what though, I got it back in the end; karma hit me, literally."

"You deserved that punch," Nate said unapologetically.

"I did," Matthew conceded, "And you were right about me being a coward for running to my uncle after I killed your father. The thing is, you're a coward too Nate. You stood by silently, for weeks, while my loved ones grieved. You're no killer, but you're really no better than me."

"I was scared," Nate said, trying to make Matthew understand his point of view.

"I was too, but we can't run from the things we've done anymore." Matthew shot back.

"We?"

"I killed someone Nate!" Matthew said, repulsed with the fact. "I can't just get away with that— I need to pay."

Nate sank into the chair across from Matthew. 'Oh my god!' His mind raced as the gravity of the situation soaked in. "So this is really happening? We're going to jail? All because of a man that everyone hated? A son of a bitch that used my family as his personal punching bag? He ruined our lives!"

"We made the choices that led us here!" Matthew exclaimed, his voice rising in anger. "We did this to ourselves!"

"Maybe not. Maybe we can, I don't know, work something out? Nate knew he sounded desperate, but he was. He had so much to lose. His family, Dani, his scholarship to LU— his freedom. He couldn't give it all up and he hoped Matthew felt the same way. "No one has to know what either of us did."

Matthew scoffed inwardly. He and Nate really weren't all that different from each other. The thought had crossed his mind a thousand times over the past few days. "I already considered that, but I can't live with what I did and I would hope that you can't either. Besides my uncle is going on trial for something that he didn't do. I can't let that happen— I won't."

"So we're just supposed to give everything up, and what, go to jail?"

"We don't know what the police are going to do," Matthew reminded him. "My parents think I can get a lesser charge and reduced sentence because of mitigating circumstances and I'm sure my mom will help you too. My dad's not a vengeful man. You probably won't even do any time."

A sarcastic chuckle escaped Nate's lips. "There's no way in hell your parents are going to go easy on me after they find out what I did."

I'll vouch for you."

Nate couldn't believe his ears. "You're gonna vouch for me? Why?"

"Because it was an accident." Matthew said. "Not the punch obviously, but you didn't intend on putting me in the hospital. After you explain everything I'm sure my mom be willing to work out something with Tea."

"Tea's not going to represent me, not after what I did…" Nate's words trailed off, unable to form the words to explain the lengths he went to, to keep the truth hidden.

Matthew noted Nate's uneasiness, but didn't care enough about what he was hiding to push any further. "For what it's worth, I understand why you hit me and I don't blame you."

Nate responded with a shrug. Not like that helped matters at all, but he guessed it counted for something. "So tomorrow?"

"I'll be there…I hope you are too." Matthew said solemnly.

Nate rose from his seat and slipped on his black leather jacket. "If we're done I need to go see Dani."

"Nate…" Matthew called out as his former foe walked away, "I'm sorry."

"So am I," Nate turned around long enough to reply then shut the door behind him."

Matthew thought he'd find some comfort in knowing that his parents would a get a little justice for what was done to him, but he actually felt worse. He was potentially ruining someone's life and for what? Something they did in the heat of the moment? Nate wouldn't have even hit him that night if he hadn't been so willing to let him take the fall for something he did.

Matthew convinced himself that the time for regrets were over. Nate made a choice, just like he did and every choice has consequences. Besides that, his parents wouldn't rest until they found out who hurt him. 'Nate would have eventually been found out anyway,' he reasoned.

Matthew's parents returned home before his thoughts drove him crazy.

Everything was set. Thanks to Senator Dorian Lord, Nora was able to postpone Clint's arraignment, due to a new development in the case. She, Matthew and Bo would meet with the assistant district attorney and the LPD's lead detective John McBain, in the morning. She knew they would be subjected to a litany of question, some they was prepared for and other's she wasn't, but Nora knew they get through it the best way they knew how—together.

After discussing the game plan for the morning, Bo did his best to make the night seem like any other night, catching the end of the Phillies game and eating cold pizza.

Despite her best efforts, Nora wasn't able to put up false pretenses as well as her husband. "Are you sure you're ready to do this?" She asked Matthew after Bo went to bed.

"No, but I have to," Matthew admitted before changing the subject to Nate. "I have to tell you something. It's about what happened to me."

Nora listened intently.

"It was Nate who hit me that night." Matthew studied his mother's face after his admission; she was shocked, but there was also something else there that he couldn't name.

"Nate Salinger?" She asked. After Matthew nodded yes she continued, "Why did he do it?"

"He was angry that I was willing to let him take the fall for killing his father."

"How did he find out?" She questioned further.

"He overheard." Matthew was intentionally vague in his response; he didn't want his mother to know Nate overheard Destiny's conversation with Dani. He knew things were fine between the pair, but he didn't want to risk it. "It was an accident though mom. He was pissed off and I don't blame him. I would have done the same thing."

"But he could have said something. If we had known—"

Seeing the anger rising in his mother, Matthew cut her off at the pass. "Yeah he should have told you, but he was scared—just like I was." His last comment effectively neutralized her. "Eddie may have been a terrible person, but he was still Nate's father, and I killed him. If that wasn't enough, I let his mother get arrested for it. So yeah, he was pissed off. I would have been too."

"But he could have told us. We would have understood."

Matthew furrowed his brow at his mother, pursing his lips into a disapproving scowl. "Really mom?"

"Really Matthew." Her expression was soft and her tone sincere.

'She was telling the truth.'

"I know your history with Nate is not a good one," Nora began. "I can only imagine how much worse finding out what you did made things. So yeah I would have been pissed off. I might have wanted to throw him under the jail, but he's still a kid Matthew. One that made a terrible mistake. Anybody should understand that."

He knew her last statement was as much about him as it was Nate. "I talked to him tonight," Matthew said. "I told him that I was going to confess tomorrow and I told him to come with me, to talk to you and dad."

"What did he say?"

"He didn't want to at first but, he finally agreed—what's going to happen to him?"

"I don't know honey," Nora answered honestly, "But I'm sure we'll work out something. I don't want to see another kid's life ruined."

"Like mine," Matthew said remorsefully. "Mom I'm so sorry for disappointing you."

"You could never disappointment me Matthew," she cried. "You're my son and I will always love you. Don't you forget that."

"I won't."

Nora pulled Matthew into her arms and he stayed with her until she fell asleep on the couch. He grabbed a blanket out of the linen closet and covered her, then slipped off to his room to grab his jacket; there was another person he needed to see that night.