Author's Note: Thanks AGAIN and always for the amazing level of support. I love you guys! And congratulations to all you for surviving my evil and carefully plotted weekend cliffhanger,lol!

Danielle- Very perceptive on catching what was my muse for the whole Deb/Nathan confrontation in the car. No one else (to my knowledge caught that). Great eye!

RoseRows- Uh, "FG"? Girl, you know how I HATE to toot my own horn but what the hell? Yeah, I can definitely dig that! LOL! J/K! You are way too kind to me...

It was so dark! And so cold! Nathan's heart pounded. Where the hell was he? What was going on? Then his mind began to flash so vividly and so violently that he put his throbbing head in his hands. And the noise! God, where was it coming from? So loud! He was literally shaking all over. Crouching down into the fetal position, he dared to peer up and when he did, he saw a literal movie of his life. The images flashed before him…Deb helping him blow out the candles at his fourth birthday party, Dan coaching him in Little League when he was 7, fishing with Royal at age 9, riding in a race car with his Uncle Cooper at 13, every high school basketball game he had ever played in…he could see Whitey yelling at him and Lucas just looking at him. Then he saw her. He slipped a wedding ring on her finger, she took her wet shirt off just moments before he proposed, she cried over Lucas and Keith's accident, she jumped on his back as they playfully recorded a silly message on the answering machine, he put the bracelet on her wrist down by the docks, she solemnly walked away and handed Chris her bag as she boarded Michelle Branch's tour bus. The pictures played so quickly and he could feel each moment as if he were still there…

"No!"

Nathan awoke with a jolt.

"Calm down, man. It's okay. It's okay. I've got you."

He could hear Lucas' voice and when his vision finally focused, he saw his older brother's face. Luke sat down on the bed, his calloused hands firmly gripping both of Nathan's bare arms.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital."

Hospital? Nathan looked around. The small dark room. The machines beeping. The smell. There was a monitor taped to his chest. Panicking and screaming, he ripped it off, swinging his long legs over the bed as he desperately tried to stand.

"No!"

"Nate, sit down, man. It's okay."

Suddenly the memories came flooding back and this time they were no dream. It was all real. Painfully real. Speeding down the narrow, dark, twisting roads. The rap music blaring. Deb's pleading. The horrendous sound the truck made as it collided with a human body on a bicycle. The spiral that sent the SUV careening towards the ditch bank.

"Mom!" he cried out like a wounded little boy.

"Nathan, don't rip that thing off. They were monitoring your heartbeat because of your concussion. You were lucky man. You walked away with just that and a banged up face. The shiner and the bruises will go away but it could have been worse. A whole hell of a lot worse."

"Fuck me, dude! Is she okay?" he asked, breathless, his blue eyes darting around. "Is Mom alive?"

Lucas took a deep breath.

"She's okay. Her arm is broken and she got a pretty nasty bump on the forehead but other than that, she's alright."

Nathan breathed a huge sigh of relief but it didn't last for long.

"The guy…Luke, there was this bike and…"

"Yeah", Lucas sighed heavily. "Michael Sanchez is his name."

"Did he make it?"

"Yeah…for now. Look, man, I don't want to lie to you. His injuries are pretty bad. The doctors say it's touch and go. Dislocated shoulder, punctured lung, two fractured ribs, ruptured spleen, bruised kidney and he had a lot of internal bleeding."

"Oh my God…"

"He made it out of surgery but now it's pretty much a waiting game."

"Shit", Nathan muttered.

Lucas looked at his little brother, tears in his eyes as his still handsome face bore the brunt of a purple and dark blue marks.

"What happened, dude?"

Nathan opened his mouth to speak but what could he really say?

"I don't know, man", he whispered.

"It's gonna be alright. Just wait for the doctor to come in and check you out."

Nathan nodded nervously. He had really fucked up this time and he knew it. He had nearly killed his mother and another human being. And for what? He closed his eyes. He was just thankful they were okay and any pain they were in or if God forbid they were to die, he'd gladly take their place in a heartbeat.

"Mr. Scott? How are we feeling, sir?" a young man dressed in scrubs asked as he entered the room.

"Like ass", Nathan muttered.

"I'm Dr. Brown, the attending that treated your injuries. I must say, you're a very lucky man."

"Yeah? That's what I keep hearing."

"Just keep an ice pack on that eye and the facial X ray came back negative for a broken nose. You should heal pretty quickly."

"Doc, I know the cops have been asking questions and they wanted a blood test", Lucas spoke up. "What…"

"Am I going to jail?" Nathan asked matter of factly.

Dr. Brown shook his head.

"Talk about lucky days, Mr. Scott. You must be a cat with nine lives and you've already used up two of them. The tests came back and your blood alcohol point was at 0.07."

"What does that mean?"

"The state limit is 0.08. That means you were under. Legally, you were not drunk."

Nathan and Lucas exchanged relieved glances as De. Brown completed his exam and left to make the discharge arrangements.

"Oh man", Nathan groaned out loud.

Lucas slumped back in his chair, exhausted.

"You want to see your mom?"

Nathan shook his head. Of course he had wanted her to be okay and he was glad she was but he didn't want to see her. Not just yet. He wasn't ready. He couldn't.

"No, man."

"Okay."

"I don't want to see anyone. Please. And Luke please don't let Dad in here. I…"

"Alright. Just try to relax, Nate. I'm gonna go and check things out and see when we can get you out of here."

The door shut and Nathan was once again left alone with his thoughts, thoughts as eerie and dark as the room he was confined to. They had called him lucky but he didn't feel anything but. In fact, he felt awful. The emptiness and the anger inside him continued to fester and it was uncontrollable. He wanted to curl up in a little ball and just die. Thank God no one had been hurt but he couldn't help but question why he, himself, had survived? Maybe he'd be better off dead. Maybe they all would be better off without him.

"Luke, are they gonna let me out of here?" he asked as the door opened again.

"They're filing the paperwork now", a soft voice that didn't belong to his brother, answered.

"Meg…"

She just stared at the broken, battered body laying before her on the bed.

"Hey."

"Hey", he said back.

She cleared her throat as tears welled in her eyes.

"You okay?"

He looked at her for the first time.

"No."

She nodded. Of course not. How could he be?

"Nathan", she began after many moments of dead silence.

"I'm sorry, Megan. I didn't know. I didn't mean it, any of it. It was an accident. You've got to believe me."

"I know you didn't mean for it to happen but it did. You hurt yourself and Deb and another innocent person."

"I know. "I'm sorry and I know."

"And for what? To run away from your life? Your parents and your career? Me…yourself?"

He looked away.

"Yeah. Yeah…I guess I was running from all that."

"Now what?"

He winced in pain as he shrugged.

"I don't know."

There was a soft knock on the door followed by Luke's entrance. He nodded at his sister in law as he stood over his little brother's bed.

"They're gonna let you go tonight but they have a list of instructions a mile long about what to do to watch out for that concussion for the next 48 hours. You're gonna need someone to help you."

"Yeah", Nathan sighed.

But who? Who would help him? This was all his fault and probably no one wanted to be around him. Could he even blame them?

"I'll get a hotel room", Lucas suggested. "I'll take care of you, man, stay with you and all."

"Thanks, bro…"

"That won't be neccasary, Lucas", Megan interjected.

"What?"

"You don't need to get a room. Stay at the house. You and Brooke. You're family and despite everything that has happened, she may as well be."

"What about…"

"Nathan, too. He's my husband and I…we took vows, remember? You know, it's easy to stick around when things are good but it's a real testament to keep hanging out for the bad stuff."

Nathan looked up at a woman he had loved, hated, hurt, taken care of, disrespected, cherished, insulted and admired sometimes all at the same time. That fierce "stand by your man" love and strict Catholic upbringing. So many times it had annoyed him but at that moment it endeared him. In his darkest hour when he had nothing, like always, he had her.

"Meg…"

She put a finger to his lips. One sentence said it all…

"For better or worse."