"Well, anybody else have anymore brilliant ideas?" Brooke asked sarcastically.

It was the first words spoken since Nathan had stormed out of the house and Deb had insisted on chasing after her son. The room had been deadly silent, no one quite knowing what to do or say.

"Well, uh, I guess I should be going", Coach Bickerstaff sighed. "My wife is waiting for me. I'm sorry we couldn't do more for Nathan but let's hope everything settles down in a few hours when hopefully he cools off. I'll deal with him tomorrow at practice and we'll take it from there."

They murmured their good byes to him as he left. Despite their best efforts, they had failed. Grossly. Miserably. All of them.

"We shouldn't have let him leave like that", Lucas mumbled.

"Like we could have stopped him, Broody. You saw how mad he was."

"I don't care. We just shouldn't have let him go. He was mad and drunk…not a real good combination."

"We did our best, honey", Karen tried to comfort him. "Let's just hope Deb can talk some sense into him."

"I can't believe she got in the car with him, Mom. I'm worried. Maybe someone should call…"

Dan sighed loudly as he whipped out his cell phone and dialed his wife. Their hearts skipped as it rang back loudly from her purse, which was still placed nearby on the floor.

"So much for that", he shrugged.

Karen rolled her eyes.

"Can we be spared your comments, please, Dan? Some of us are actually worried about your lost, depressed, enraged, drunken son who is behind the wheel of a vehicle right now with his mother, your wife, in the passenger seat."

"Concerned, eh? How did you expect Nathan to react after this ridiculous ambush? You're as much to blame as anyone."

"Damn you, Dan!"

"Shorty, you mind putting a muzzle on your woman?"

"Look!" Andy shouted, jumping up.

"Okay, okay, okay", Keith waved his arms. "Everybody just stop. This isn't helping matters. We need to calm down. No use in attacking each other."

"You tell them, Boozy", Dan smiled as he stood with car keys in hand. "Now I'm going to look for my son."

"That's not a good idea, little brother."

"Oh? And just who are you to tell me what to do?"

"Dan, this isn't about you or me. Right now it's about Nathan and Deb."

"I know that. That's why I'm going to actually look for my family instead of standing around here talking about it. Now if you'll excuse me…"

"Mr. Scott, I don't if that's such a great idea", Jake spoke up. "With all due respect sir, and I'm not trying to butt in family business but you saw how Nathan was when he left here. He probably felt like we ganged up on him. I just don't think it would go over well if you went running after him right now."

Dan smirked.

"You say you don't want to butt in family business, is that right, son?"

"Well, yes sir…"

"How about this? Then don't."

Jake lowered his head.

"Don't yell at him", Peyton scoffed at Dan.

That was the problem. Everybody was yelling at everybody. In their concern and desperation, nerves and tensions were high and on edge.

"This is all my fault", Lucas said in a barely audible voice.

"That isn't true, dear", Mae put her arms around him.

"Yes, it is. This was my idea. All of it. Brooke begged me not to but I didn't listen. I called Peyton and I convinced her to go along with it all and we called Meg and put this whole thing together."

"It's okay, Lucas", Jules sighed. "You were just looking out for your brother."

"Wonderful", Dan rolled his eyes. "As we all sit here and praise and comfort each other, in the meantime, what the hell do we do about the idiot running loose on the streets right now?"

"Someone should try Nathan's cell phone", Laurie suggested.

"The idiot I was referring to is Deb but okay…it's a plan, right?"

Brooke shook her head in disgust as she dialed the numbers.

"You know, I've just about had enough of 'evil Dan'", she rolled her eyes. "Damn. He's not picking up."

"This isn't your fault, Lucas", Megan said softly. "If anybody, it's me. It's my fault."

"Meg…"

"No. Think about it. Nathan wasn't his bad before we got married. I drove him to see this. He's this way because of me. And he's only with me because of the baby. I'm not stupid. You all know it and I know it, too. I've known for a while now but I was just grasping at straws because I love him so much and because I wanted our baby to have a father and because I was so damned concerned with having the perfect image. But nothing is perfect anymore, is it? All the image and the money and the talent and so called perfection in the world isn't enough. Nathan is miserable. He hates everything about his life. He hates me."

Lucas moved over to his sister in law and put an arm around her.

"Don't go beating yourself up, Megan. Nathan doesn't hate you…he hates himself."

Laurie ran her fingers through her hair.

"Well, this is absolutely ridiculous. Someone needs to find him. The both of them, especially before Nathan goes off and does something stupid to embarrass us again. My husband has a reelection to think about."

"Unfuckingbelievable", Brooke said out loud. "It's nice to know you're more concerned with stupid politics than the welfare of your own son in law. That'll go over real well on your next little family values rant. Why don't you put that in your campaign?"

"Brooke, calm down, babe", Lucas grabbed her.

Megan put her head in her hands. It had turned into a circus. No one could get a decent, logical word in edgewise for everyone else yelling over top of them. It was a real madhouse.

"This isn't helping", Whitey tried. "Let's speak one at a time."

Even his booming voice and normally commanding presence was ignored. Nothing could get anyone's attention…that is until the telephone rang. Everyone stopped in mid sentence, hearts racing as they looked at each other. Finally snapping out of the initial shock, Megan practically ran to answer it.

"Hello?" she said nervously into the receiver.

"Is this the Scott residence?"

"Yes, it is."

"May I please speak with a Megan Powell Scott?"

"This is she", she replied nervously. "May I ask what this is about?"

"Mrs. Scott, my name is William Mann and I am with the North Carolina State Patrol. If you don't believe I am who I say I am affiliated with, I'd be more than happy to give you the number so you can call me back."

"No. No, that won't be necessary. Please. Tell me what's going on. Is this about my husband? Is he okay?"

Mann took a deep breath. He had been on the job over 20 years and phone calls like that never got any easier to make.

"Ma'am, there has been an accident."

"What kind of accident? Oh God…"

"Your husband was apparently behind the wheel of his SUV when he struck another a young man on his bicycle."

"What? Oh no! No! Is he okay? Is the man okay? I want to talk to Nathan!"

"The cyclist, Mr. Scott, as well as his mother, have all been taken to the hospital."

"Are they okay?"

"I'm sorry. I can't release that type of information. You might want to head on over to the ER."

"Please! You can't just call and tell me something like this! I have to know! At least tell me if they're alive."

"I'm sorry, ma'am", he hung up the phone.

Upon hearing Megan's end of the conversation, everyone had flocked around her. She dropped the receiver, tears in her eyes, hands shaking, pale as a ghost.

"Meg, what's going on?" Lucas asked, out of breath.

"I…oh my God. Oh my God."

She began to cry and lose her footing, Royal being nearest to her to help her onto a nearby chair.

"Megan, get a hold of yourself!" Dan snapped. "What happened?"

"There was an accident. Nate…Nathan hit some man on a bike."

"Are they okay? Are they alive?"

She looked up with a horrified expression on her face as her entire body began to tremble.

"I don't know."