I wasn't planning on updating tonight, but physics sucks and I needed a break from it...Anyways, thanks for R&R-ing! Chapter 17 was basically just a run down of all the potential 'suspects' who had a reason to kill Dan (or to keep it a secret). Another thing I should clarify…at the end, Andy saw two people in the fire, Whitey and Dan…so it was Whitey who set the fire. Keith wasn't involved with setting the fire…I hope this chapter will clear that up.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything OTH related

Chapter 18

As the casket lowered into the grown all Deb could think about was that night – the night of the fire. The guilt inside her tormented her mind.

Flashback

The day after the fire, Deb found herself at Whitey's house. She had no idea what was going on. All Keith told her on the phone was to get to Whitey's house as soon as possible. So there she sat in the small living room with Whitey, Keith and Andy.

"Does anyone mind telling me what's going on?" Deb finally asked.

Keith looked over at Whitey, who stared angrily out the window. When neither of the two men spoke up Andy cleared his throat.

"There's something you should know about the fire, Deb,"

"What? What is it?"

Andy glanced over at Whitey. Whitey mumbled to himself for a bit.

Suddenly Keith began, "Last night, I was on my way to see Dan. When I got there the dealership was already on fire. I saw Andy running in. He pulled Whitey out,"

Deb's gaze fell onto Whitey, "You set the fire?"

"Dan wasn't supposed to be there. I was going to teach him a lesson…but apparently someone already did,"

Deb's body tensed up, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Whitey looked directly into Deb's scared eyes, "I wasn't the one who drugged ol' Danny boy,"

"Deb," Andy began, "we know it was Whitey who set the fire, but we don't know who drugged Dan,"

"And you think I did?"

Keith threw a white card onto the coffee table. It was the size of a business card. Deb hesitantly picked it up and turned it over, "For all that you have done," she read.

"Dan had that in his hand when I pulled him out," Keith stated, "I recognized the stationary,"

Although anyone could have the same stationary, Deb didn't deny it. Instead her face fell, she was guilty. She was the one who laced the bottle of wine and left it on his desk.

"Well looks like I wasn't the only one who thought Dan should have been taught a lesson," Whitey smugly remarked.

Deb ignored the remark. She was more concerned with the consequence, "So what happens now? Are you guys going to the cops?"

"That's what we're here to discuss," Andy stated.

"Cops? Are you crazy?" Whitey bellowed, "Danny-boy got what he deserved. You all know it and I know it. The world is a better place without him,"

"Whitey…" Deb was feeling remorseful for what she had done. No matter what Dan had done to her or to anyone, it still didn't give them the right to do what they had done.

"Don't 'Whitey' me…look at what he did to you, Deb…to Nathan...that boy will turn into a better man without Dan influencing him. He was a disease that needed to be stopped. He infected everyone he came into contact with…Karen, Lucas, you…" Whitey looked directly at Keith, "All your life, you've done nothing but help him out, Keith. And what did he do in return? He walked all over you…treated you as if you meant nothing to him. He played you…he played all of us. Danny-boy liked playing with fire and this time he got burned,"

The room became silent again. Nobody dared to look at each other. They all knew the old man was right, but were too scared to admit it.

"Alright fine," Whitey finally said, "if we go to the police, I and I alone will take responsibility for this," he sat back into his couch and folded his arms.

"Even if you take full responsibility, they're going to wonder about the drugs. They're going to wonder where you got them," Andy pointed out.

Keith cleared his throat, "We're not going to the cops," All shocking eyes gazed upon him, "I'm not saying what you two did was right...but Nathan shouldn't be the one who pays for your mistake," he directed his last comment to Deb.

Andy leaned forward, "Alright. I guess it's agreed then. No cops,"

End Flashback

She had lost sight of him for a split second. Standing in the Scott's garden, Peyton scanned the crowd of people gathered on the patio. Finally she spotted him entering the house.

Her heels tapped loudly against the expensive hardwood floors. As she passed each door along the hallway, her eyes scanned inside the rooms for him. Alas she found her boyfriend in Dan's office.

Lucas stood in front of his father's trophy case which displayed his most important trophies and pictures. There was one picture that caught his eyes. It was a picture of Dan, Deb and Nathan – a family picture.

He felt her arms slide around his torso and her chin resting gently on his shoulder, "How you doing?"

Lucas let out a sigh, "I'm ok…but I still can't believe he's really gone,"

She nodded her head and loosened her grip, allowing him to turn to face her.

"I know I didn't want anything to do with him, but at the same time, I still had hope, you know…hope that one day maybe he would accept me,"

Peyton understood, "He was your father…it's normal to think that,"

"Yeah, but now that he's gone…"

"Lucas, don't beat yourself up over this. You know the kind of man he was and I saw the kind of father he was to Nathan. You didn't miss out on anything…and you know what? You turned out to be a pretty good guy. You should be proud of your mother because she did a pretty good damn job,"

Lucas smiled down at her. He couldn't agree more – his mother did a 'pretty good damn job'.

He had missed his own father's funeral. A flight delay made him over an hour late and now there he was, standing at the foot of the freshly buried grave.

Nathan's eyes were narrow and cold.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling right now. I'm trying to thing of good things to remember you by, but right now I can't remember any…For as long as I can remember, you were always on my case about basketball…morning, day and night,"

Nathan let out a bitter laugh, "You know if it weren't for basketball, I'm not sure if we would have had a relationship,"

Tears began to form in his eyes as his face became serious, "Maybe that's why I tried so hard. But no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried it was never good enough…It was like you were never proud of me,"

He held back his tears and collected himself, "You want to know the crazy thing? Even with the screwed up relationship we had…I know you loved me…and I love you, dad,"

A/N: Alright, I think this will tie up the Dan/Fire/Killers storyline...unless you guys think there should be more explaination. Right now I'm working on wrapping up the B/N/H and B/L/P storylines to wrap up the story.