At The End of the Tunnel
An OTH FanFic
By AlexB
Fourteen
"You get your sorry ass away from my establishment, and you stay away from my boy. You hear me, Scott?"
"Your boy, your boy." The man repeated. "You and Keith go on about how Lucas is yours and how you love him so much. Thieves, that what's you are."
"And what are you?" Lucas raged. "A coward. That's what."
"Lucas, you go inside now and get off your feet. Those burns need help to heal and you need to rest. Go on inside."
"Not leaving you here with him."
The woman laughed. "You're a good boy. But you go inside now like I told you. I'm the one with the gun remember?"
"This is not done, Lucas." Dan said to him. "You need to be with your family. This thing with you and Nathan, the both of you are just going to have to swallow it."
"Like you and Keith?" Lucas countered. "Seems to me like you're still choking."
"That's my point exactly." His father said to him. "I don't want you and your brother to end up like me and mine."
"Not possible," Lucas told him. "And you want to know why? Nathan doesn't matter to me. Not the way, not even with all the bullshit you pull, you still matter to Keith. That's the difference. Keith, a part of him still loves you while the rest of him can't stand to look at you. I feel nothing for Nathan. The two of you are the same. You're still trying to beat us."
"He's your brother."
"And Keith's yours. Yet you still want to put him under your foot and step down. Says a lot about you. Don't it?
"This is done, Dan," Lucas went on. "I won't be like you. Fight it if you want, but it is over. I'm not backing down. I'm asking you right now to let me be."
Dan shook his head. "You are my son and you're going to be with me. You and Nathan are going to bury this-"
"This has gone up in flames." Lucas eyes went dark to almost black.
Dan pointed a finger at him. "You're brother had nothing to do with that."
"What about you?" He wanted to know. "People could have died. Do you understand that? Do you care? Keith could have died. Jake could have died. I could have died."
"None of this would have happened if you were at home!" The man raged.
"That an admission?"
"That is fact, little boy. I am you father," Dan went on. "I am your blood. I am your family." He shot a look at the woman with the gun.
"If my mom hadn't died," Lucas spoke. "I'd only know what you look like." He looked to MJ. "I'm going inside."
The woman nodded. "Haley's off in half an hour, she'll take you home. If you need to go sooner-"
"I can ask Peyton."
"He shouldn't be by himself."
"Oh you know me better than that, Daniel. Jimmy will beat us al home, so don't you go getting any ideas. That handsome husband of mine already wants to put a hurt on your sorry self for taking up space. Final warning. Carry yourself off my property and you stay away from that boy."
-
She liked holding him. Lucas burn was bad enough to have him taking pain medication for it. When his bandage had been changed, she had been able to see the damage. His back wasn't nearly as bad as his shoulder. His shoulder was burned down to the top of his bicep and as bad as it as, he wasn't going to need skin graphs much to Lucas's relief. He would be scarred, but he said that he could live with that.
They were in the James's den. A show was playing on the television, but neither one of them were paying it any attention. Reclined on the floor in front of the couch, Peyton idly stroked her fingers across Lucas's forehead. The whole concept was foreign to her sitting like this, touching without the pressure to make out or even the added pressure of having sex.
Being in love.
She liked feeling this want, and knowing that Lucas wanted her the same way and it wasn't just about sex. It was about them wanting to be together. It felt good knowing that he wanted her that away just the same as she wanted him and he wasn't pushing her to it.
"Nathan came to my house."
Lucas tried to move, but she stilled him. "When I stepped out of my house to come see you today, he was there."
"What did he want?"
"For me to tell you to leave his family alone before they start fighting back."
"They're coming after him because he has motive." Lucas blinked his eyes trying to stave off sleep. She wouldn't be here when he woke up. Her dad was home. Lucas wanted to savor the moment they were in right now. He liked being with her like this. He liked how she had to touch him. Breathing her in was going to spoil him, but he didn't care dammit. She was warm. She was soft. Her breath on him sent chills down his spine, her heart beating against his back was better than any massage.
Peyton may not say it, but she wanted to believe that one day her dad would come back. Just like he wanted to wake up one morning and to have it have all been a dream.
What he wouldn't give to wake up to his mom making him breakfast.
-
"This is bullshit, Dad."
"What have I told you about your mouth?"
Nathan stopped pacing and turned to look at his father. His face was etched with incredulity. "We had nothing to do with that place being torched to the ground, but the police and Lucas are determined to make it so. We did not do this."
"Where were you, Nathan?"
"What?" His eye grew wide. "Dad-"
"You know that I will protect you, but you need to tell me the truth. If this was an accident…" The rest of his father's words didn't even compute.
Nathan could feel his heart beat in his temples. His father didn't believe him. He had picked him. He had chosen him and he didn't believe him. He shook his head in disbelief. He was taking Lucas's side and the side of the F Troop over him?
"Screw you."
"Nathan-"
"That bastard spits in your face after all the things you've done for him. Bringing him to live here. Feeding him, putting clothes on his worthless back. You nearly lost mom because of it. I nearly lost my mother and you're choosing to believe the crap that Lucas and his 'family' are spouting?
"I do everything for you" Nathan felt damn near tears, but he would be damned if he let it show on his face. He didn't let it show in his voice either. He wanted to beat the hell out of his own father. "Do you really believe that I would do something like this?"
"I didn't believe that you would go after your brother the way that you did," Dan replied. "I was wrong."
Nathan swiped a hand angrily over the top of his head. He threw his fist, swinging at air. He turned back to his father, his steel blue eyes shot ice at the man who sat in his recliner like he was holding court over his kingdom.
"I was with Tim, Dad. Okay? While that house was being burnt to the ground, I was with Tim."
"You told this to the cops-"
"Yeah," Nathan snapped. "They didn't believe me either."
"They didn't believe you because either Tim didn't or couldn't back you. This is serious, Nathan, and your friend lying for you could get him into trouble not just you."
"You're defending Tim?" Nathan raised a brow. "Call the papers." Dan stared his son down until he exploded.
"I didn't burn that goddamn house down, Dad!" He told his father for the last time. "Did you?"
-
Lucas could never stay out of school long. There were the looks and the whispers, but he ignored them. When you were the talk of the town, being the topic of the school district or the object of whispers before you even started pre-school was nothing.
He'd missed too many practices, and with his injury, he could be out for the rest of the season. And that hurt. But what choice did he have. Regulations were regulations and while he wished he had Wolverine's ability to heal just like that, he didn't.
"Hey!"
Lucas's head jerked up and he smiled. He and Jake shook hands like they hadn't seen each other in years.
"Jake-"
"Yeah, don't mention it."
"You saved my life, and Keith's. I owe you."
"You would have done the same for me."
"In a heartbeat." He glanced down. "How are your hands?"
"Good. For the most part." He nodded. "Won't be shooting any baskets for awhile, so it looks like your brother will have to 'carry' the team." They were quiet. "Talk is that Dan or Nathan may have been behind this."
"What do you think?" Lucas wanted to know.
"If this happened ten years into the future, I would put my money on Nathan." Jake told him.
"But not now?"
Jake shook his head. "Now, Nathan is just Dan in training. Today, right now," he went on. "I would put my money on your father. I can't even imagine the lengths that he would go to get what he wants. But I've seen Dan pissed before, Luke. I've seen him blow up at your uncle. My dad had to pull them apart more than once."
"When was this?"
Jake lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "Eight grade maybe. Dan just kept coming. My dad had to physically throw him out of the garage because he wouldn't stop."
"He's not going to get away with this, Jake."
Jake looked Lucas over and nodded slowly. "No," he replied. "I don't suspect he is."
-
He couldn't practice so he watched from the bleachers. But as hard as he tried, Lucas couldn't keep his eye on the game. They kept moving from the scrimmage to the cheerleaders. Jake was over there in the mix watching with avid fascination and putting Brooke Davis on flutter patrol. She tried to play it off, but she couldn't. Not completely.
He watched as Brooke whispered something in Peyton's ear that made her smile. Then he froze. Turning slowly, Lucas locked eyes with his younger brother. He could have looked through him like he didn't matter in the least, but he didn't. He wanted Nathan to see all of it. He wanted his brother to see all the anger frustration that would kick his ass all over the gym if Nathan decided that he wanted to go there.
Tim stepped in the way breaking the standoff pulling Nathan back into the game as Whitey had told him to. Nathan shoved his friend off and Tim surprised them all by shoving Nathan right back. Whitey blew the whistle to stop them, but in the end teammates had to break them up. Lucas kept watching them both a long time after the fun was over.
"You want a ride, Lucas?"
"Please." He waited until they were in her car to ask. "Your dad?"
Peyton just shook hear head.
"I'm sorry."
"I am too." She replied. "Maybe one day I'll grow up and stop wishing for him to come back home."
"Or maybe one day he'll come home and never leave you again."
"I tried talking to him, Lucas, but I don't think that he even heard me. And I just don't know how much longer I can do this." Her voice went weak with emotion making Lucas sorry that he'd even asked.
"Tell me what to do and I'll do it."
She laughed almost sadly. "You can't fix this, Luke." She turned her eyes on him. "But I wish that you could. I wish that I could." Peyton reached out a hand, touching her fingers to his face. "Thank you," she said to him. "Thank you for caring."
"I love you, Peyton."
Every time he said it, it was like she was hearing it for the first time. She looked over at him, not surprised in the least that he was looking at her. They way his eyes moved over her, as if he was taking her in, making a memory, made her heart squeeze in the best of ways. She grabbed the front of his sweater pulling him toward her. The first kiss was merely a brush of lips. The second one more heated. She stopped them before the windows fogged up. She rested her head against his.
"I love you, too."