A/N: I know I took a long time again. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I can promise that I am determined to finish this fic. I wanted this chapter to be Scott-family-centric, and so it is. The next chapter will have more of other characters.

Chapter Eight

Sitting in the dark hospital room, Deb stared at the heart monitor that emitted the steady beating of her son's heart. He'd been out of surgery for two hours, but Deb hadn't seen one sign that he would wake up. But she didn't care; she wanted to sit by his side and assure herself he was all right. Hours of panic and fear had not ebbed away yet.

The doctor had said that Nathan would more than likely be unconscious all night. He had lost a lot of blood and spent hours in surgery. The bullet had done a lot of damage to Nathan's thigh, and had embedded itself deep. Deb wanted him to wake up and talk to her, but she was content with the heart monitor to testify to his life.

Peyton and Haley had both come by separately, as had the members of the basketball team. Deb hadn't seen Dan in the last hour—he had probably gone to the cafeteria, or worse, to the dealership. She hadn't given anything but Nathan a single thought, but she wouldn't put it past Dan to leave the hospital now. Deb wondered how she could have ever made anything more important than Nathan.

She had driven him away. Nathan had run from both his parents; it would be easy to blame everything on Dan, but Deb couldn't. Ever since Nathan was a few years old, she had made work more important than him. She wasn't happy in her marriage and Nathan had suffered the most for it. Now he was emancipated and living on his own and he was barely seventeen. She worried about how he would deal with today's events when he was living on his own. He would need her.

The click of the doorknob caught her attention and she turned to see Dan come in. She blinked furiously as he turned on the lights. His expression looked severe; as he came closer she his eyes fall on Nathan's elevated, injured leg. She looked back to Nathan as Dan sighed heavily.

"I hope this doesn't hurt his basketball," Dan said, his voice loud and stark in the quiet room.

Deb looked at her husband incredulously. "I cannot believe that is what you're most worried about, Dan. Our son almost died today."

"I'm aware of that, Deb," Dan bit back. "But Nathan loves basketball, no one on that team is better than he is. He's worked his whole life for it."

"Because of you, Dan."

"And what would you know about it? You've spent so much of Nathan's life away that you have no idea how much the game means to him."

Deb had to look away to keep from hitting the man. "I am not going to fight with you, Dan. Not here, and not about this."

"For once I agree. Nathan comes first." Dan sat down on the couch at the end of the room, and again the only sound in the room was the heart monitor. Suddenly Deb found it very distracting. After a few minutes she excused herself, gave Nathan's limp hand a squeeze and left. As the door closed behind her, Deb chastised herself for letting Dan chase her away from Nathan yet again.

Visiting hours officially ended at eight, but the hospital must have made an exception because at a quarter to ten, Mouth, Skills, Junk and Fergie all came into Lucas' room. Karen and Keith quickly went for coffee, but Karen warned the guys not to stay too long because Lucas needed to sleep.

"I'm so glad you guys are all right," Lucas told his friends, giving them all high-fives.

"We spent hours looking for you, man," Skills said. "We couldn't find anyone who knew what happened to you. There's a ton of messages on your mom's answering machine."

"Yeah, what did happen to you?" Mouth asked.

"Nathan and I hid in the basement, you know where the administration keeps all their papers and stuff."

"You and Nathan?" Skills repeated, his eyebrows raised. "Wow. No wonder you ended up here."

Lucas chuckled slightly but then was serious again. "We… Nathan told the paramedics we were brothers. And until he was out of surgery, I kept worrying him about him. I still am, I think." He looked up at the guys. "Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, well a day like this changes everything," Mouth said. "Nothing else could have put you two together alone in a room for hours."

The blond nodded, knowing the truth in that statement more than they did. He looked at them again and asked then how they'd gotten out.

"I was stuck in a classroom with a bunch of people for a long time," Mouth replied, his eyes growing dark at the memories. Lucas inwardly shuddered at the look on his friend's face. It did not belong there. "We were there until the police came for us."

"We were in a hallway by the east door when it all started, so we got out pretty fast," Junk said. "We went to the River Court for a little while and waited for people."

Silence fell between the friends. Lucas didn't know what to say; they'd all given the quickest run downs of their experiences, and he knew none of them wanted to talk about it anymore. He certainly didn't.

"Well, we'd better let you sleep before your mom beheads us," Junk finally said.

"You're getting too used to these hospital rooms, man," Skills said as he gave Lucas another five. "Get better soon, aw'right?"

"Aw'right. See you guys."

His friends left but his mom and uncle didn't return. He knew his mom wanted him to sleep but images kept returning to his head; they made him afraid of what he'd see if he went to sleep. The TV remote was within his reach but he knew the stations would all be covering the shooting. He didn't want to see that.

His thoughts drifted back to Jake. He could still see his friend lying on the floor, eyes closed and blood pouring from his head. Lucas cringed. Peyton had told him he'd done the right thing, but he still felt guilty for leaving Jake behind. Shot in the head… Jake didn't have much a chance from the second the bullet hit him. Still, Lucas felt like he should have been able to do something.

He'd saved Nathan instead. Lucas had left a friend he liked and saved his brother who he hated. And despite those three hours in the basement, despite what Nathan had said to the paramedics, Lucas wondered if things between them had changed for real. After all of this, would they just return to hating each other, to faking politeness for Haley's sake? Lucas wasn't sure he could do that, but he also didn't think he could quite manage being Nathan's brother, either.

Karen walked into her house through the backdoor, Keith close behind her. She put her purse on the table and exhaled a deep breath she felt she'd been holding all day. She heard the backdoor close and then a pair of arms grabbed her shoulders.

She wrapped her arms around Keith as he did the same, all the tension between them since the car accident gone. A sob escaped her mouth, all the high emotions she'd been feeling escaping.

Keith rubbed her back comfortingly. "He's okay, Karen," he said. "He made it out, he's fine."

"I just keep seeing his hoodie," Karen whispered, her face wet with tears. "All that blood… And I was scared to death."

"Hey," Keith said as they pulled away. "It wasn't his blood."

"No, it was Nathan's." Karen's voice cracked. "I was so relieved that it wasn't Lucas'… I feel horrible."

"You shouldn't. You didn't wish an injury on anybody. Lucas is your son; of course you were relieved. Besides, Nathan is out of danger now. He's going to pull through. It doesn't matter now, Karen. It's over."

Karen sighed. "No, that's where you're wrong, Keith. This isn't going to be over for a long time."

He nodded his agreement and the two moved to the couch. They sat down and clasped hands. "Luke's will have both of us to count on, just like always," Keith assured her.

She smiled, squeezing his hand. "Thank you. I know I said I couldn't trust you after the accident…"

"Karen, I would never knowingly put him in harm's way."

Karen held up her hand. "I know that. He is going to need both of us after today. I'm glad you're still here for him."

"I always will be. And I'll always be here for you, too, Karen. Always."

Dan Scott wandered the hallways of the hospital, despising himself for wandering. He did not wander. He always walked with direction, purpose. But while he knew where he was going, he didn't know if he really wanted to get there.

Things were awkward with Deb, and Nathan was still unconscious. Deb thought Dan only worried about basketball, but that wasn't true. But he couldn't help it if Nathan's injury threatened his game. Nathan's entire future was on the line.

He couldn't formulate words to describe what he'd felt when he'd been waiting for his son to come out of that school. In the back of his mind, he knew that he'd been waiting for both of his sons, but he couldn't admit that now. He once again had to swallow his feelings for his eldest son and focus entirely on Nathan.

He had spent Lucas' entire life watching him from afar, pretending he didn't care. He'd even forced himself not to ask any questions about Lucas in the emergency room earlier. He'd managed to get a hold of pictures as Lucas was growing up, without even Karen knowing. Today, he'd spent hours waiting for news on Lucas and Nathan, regretting that he played such a small role in Lucas' life. He couldn't change it now.

He stopped at a door and peered inside the door window. It was dark, he could hardly see the occupant in the bed, and he couldn't tell if anyone was in there with him. It was near midnight, and Dan had heard that Lucas was okay. He imagined that Karen and Keith had gone home, so he was probably okay to go inside.

Stepping inside Lucas' room, he watched the blond's breathing. Steady… good. He was slightly pale and had stitches on his brow, but he looked good, better than Nathan did.

Dan closed the door behind him and approached the bed. This was the one moment in seventeen years he was going to get with Lucas. The one time he could express his love without any fallout. No one would hear, no one would know.

"I know what you think of me, Lucas, but it doesn't matter. I've loved you all along. I had to pretend I didn't but I do. And I'll have to keep pretending." He paused. "I'm glad you're okay, son."

His mind brought up the image of Karen holding Lucas' hoodie, and the horror he'd felt came up momentarily. Briefly he wondered how Lucas had lost so much blood, but it didn't matter now. Lucas was okay; Nathan needed him. Nathan was the one Dan had always chosen; Nathan was the one Dan would always choose. He refused to change that.

Dan froze as Lucas stirred. One eye slowed opened and then the other. Lucas blinked, confused. "Dan?"

The father stared down wide-eyed at his son who looked at him in bewilderment. Then Dan cleared his throat. "I'm glad you're okay." He opened his mouth to say something mean, to counteract what he'd just said, but he couldn't make himself do it. Not on this day, after everything his sons had been through.

Before Lucas had given a reply, Dan turned and left the room. This was the first time he had chosen Lucas and Nathan, instead of Lucas or Nathan. But it would have to be the only time.

TBC

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