The Man Who Was His Father
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the One Tree Hill characters.
Authors Note: Sorry about the delay between chapters. Finals and school are finally over for the summer, so now I can concentrate on writing. Thanks to all the readers who have stuck it out with me.
Chapter 8:
After flipping through the same Sports Illustrated for the fourth time Lucas Scott was beginning to let his nerves get to him. He'd been stuck in the undersized hospital waiting room with Peyton for nearly an hour. He tossed the tattered magazine onto the cheaply made coffee table and watched as it slid across the top and fell to the other side.
"Dammit" he muttered under his breath as he stood up to grab the magazine and then angrily tossed it onto the table.
"Why don't you get a cup of coffee or something, you need to get out of this waiting room for a little while." Peyton said tossing her own magazine near his.
"No, I'm ok. Nathan should be coming out in a few minutes, and I just want to get this done now." Nathan had met them earlier at the hospital and agreed to go in and talk to Dan, and let him know that Lucas was there to talk to him.
To Lucas it seemed they had been waiting there forever, the more minutes that passed the more anxious he was becoming. He paced the room for what seemed like the hundredth time, before Peyton urged him to sit down. He finally sat down next to her and grabbed her hand in his.
"Thank you for being here Peyt, you know I couldn't have done this without you."
"I'll always be here for you." She said leaning over towards him to lay her head on his strong shoulder.
It was another fifteen minutes before Nathan would finally emerge from their father's hospital room. The pair stood to meet him, but Nathan didn't have much to say. The younger Scott's face showed serious signs of stress and fatigue, and Lucas couldn't help but feel bad for him.
Over the years Nathan became the only person who was willing to visit with his father, even if it was only to see how the old man was doing every so often. The new of Dan's disease hit him harder than he expected, like Lucas he grew up hating his father only for much different reasons. Nathan spent his younger years growing up under the iron fist of Dan Scott, and he hated who he had become under his father's influence. But seeing Dan slowly dying changed the way Nathan felt, and he was glad that Lucas was willing to forgive his father as well.
"He's waiting for you, say whatever you need to say. The doctor's say he doesn't have much more time." Lucas acknowledged what his younger brother had said, and gave his wife and brother a quick hug before walking into the hospital room and saying goodbye to the man who had never been his father.
Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted have Dan and Lucas' conversation be a complete chapter by itself. I plan on having that chapter up by the end of this weekend. Thanks for reading and reviewing.