Disclaimer: All Drake & Josh characters copyright their proper owners. I just wrote this.

Author's Note: Okay, you're all asking a lot of questions about Drake and his dad and what about Christine. The father questions will be answered soon. Alison, your question about Christine will not be answered in part one. You'll have to wait for part two. You will see why by the end of this story. Like I said, if you hate something Drake does or how something turns out, remember it may change in the next story or the last one, but it may not. Just keep that in mind. After this chapter there are four left, and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Eight: And the Past Continues to Haunt

Drake sat on the sofa in his and Josh's room. Wow. Her dad had an affair. What could he do for her? Not much. Just be there for her. Why did things have to be this difficult?

Drake didn't notice Josh walk into the room. He didn't notice that Josh was staring at him for a moment, trying to decide whether to say what was on his mind or not. Finally, Josh decided.

"Hey, Drake," Josh said.

Drake jumped. He hadn't realized Josh was there.

"Give me a heart attack, why don't you?" Drake responded.

"Sorry," Josh replied. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, what?"

"Well," Josh began, "I've noticed you've been acting strange lately."

"What do you mean strange?"

"I mean strange for you."

"How?"

"For starters you haven't gone out with a girl in a month."

"Of course I have. I mean, there was..." Drake stopped. He hadn't gone out with a girl in a month. What had he been doing? Oh, right. Catching up with Christine.

"See?"

"Okay. That it?"

"No, you've also spent all of your time at school with Christine. You don't eat lunch with your friends anymore. You go to her house a lot. The only thing that still seems normal is the fact that you still go to your band rehearsals."

"What does it matter if I spend a lot of my time with Christine? She's my best friend. Of course I want to be with her sometimes."

"But so often?"

"What are you getting at? Are you jealous? Is this like the time you made friends with Drew and I made friends with Jerry and we both got really jealous and..."

"No. By now I figure nothing can keep us apart. I mean, you put up with Mindy for me. But, it's nothing. I'm just a bit concerned. You're not acting like the Drake Parker I know."

"What do you want me to say?"

Josh sighed. He didn't know what to say to that. He'd just hoped to get some form of an answer out of Drake. He took a deep breath.

"I think you have feelings for Christine, Drake."

"What!" Drake exclaimed. "Did that Creature put you up to this?"

"No," Josh replied. "Wait, what? Mindy told you the same thing?"

"A while ago she started bothering me about it. I told her to back off, and she has. Now why are you bothering me about it?"

"I didn't know that. But Drake, if both of us see it..."

"You two don't see anything Josh! I don't know what you're thinking! Come on! She's my best friend! She's going through a difficult time that I can relate to, so I'm trying to help her! She's not going to be more than my best friend! So what if she just so happens to also be my first kiss? So what if she also just so happens to be the only girl I've actually ever really cared about so..." Drake stopped. He was falling for his best friend. That was why he was acting strange, why he was willing to forgive her easily. It couldn't be that simple though. Drake often fell quickly for a pretty face. Why was this one different? Because they were best friends? He glanced up at Josh. He and Mindy were right. Why did they have to be right?

"Drake?" Josh asked, timidly.

"You're right. I have feelings for her."

"So, you going to tell her?"

"No," Drake replied.

Josh looked puzzled.

"Why not?" Josh asked.

"Because she can do a lot better than me. Let's face it, I could still go back to randomly dating."

"You wanted to keep dating Tori."

"Yeah, that went over well. Where is she now Josh? I got sick of her too. I don't want Christine to become that."

"Are you making up excuses?"

"No, I'm not going to tell her how I feel to protect her. Besides, she wants someone else."

"How do you know?"

"She told me."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know, but he sounds like a great guy for her. I guess he's cute and respectful. Oh, yeah. He's smart. Something I'll never be."

"Drake..."

"Don't, okay? This is for the best."

"What's the matter?" asked the young girl.

The small boy wiped the tears from his brown eyes. He didn't want his best friend to see that he'd been crying.

"Nothing. Why would you think something was wrong?"

"You're crying. What's wrong?"

"He didn't write me back."

"Maybe he's busy."

"No, it's been too long."

"You could keep trying."

"What good will it do?"

Drake heard a buzzing noise coming from the alarm clock. He turned over in bed and shut it off. Now he was dreaming about the things his father did, or rather, didn't do. How do you just shut out your own son? Even your own daughter. Megan had been too young to comprehend what was going on, but Drake knew. Their father didn't want them. Why not? It had puzzled Drake for years. Now he was dreaming about Christine telling him to do something about it that day. why hadn't he done anything? Maybe things would have been different. Christine had told him in a rage a little while ago to try to talk to him again. Even though she had been angry, maybe it was the right thing to do. Would it do any good after six years?

School the following day was irritating for Drake. Not because of his dream but because he'd finally admitted to himself the feelings he had for Christine. He wasn't going to tell her. To him, everything he'd told Josh was where he stood. Even if he was hurting himself, it was better than hurting someone he cared about, right?

Drake sighed and leaned back in his chair. Spring break was in two weeks, and he couldn't wait. Nothing to do but be lazy. Drake felt he needed time to relax. Too many things were eating away at him. For Drake Parker had yet another issue to deal with at the moment. Christine was not in a good mood. Fortunately, it was the last class of the day, and he could go home with her to find out what was wrong.

Drake was sitting in Christine's living room as she returned from putting her books away upstairs.

"Is something wrong?" Drake asked, jumping right to the point.

"Why?" she asked.

"You're not in a very good mood today."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" Drake questioned.

"Make my problems yours. You've been doing it a lot lately. It's my life to deal with, not your's."

"It doesn't bother me. I just want to help you. Like you helped me."

Christine sighed and looked Drake up and down.

"My mom's dating someone," she finally said.

"Why is that a problem?"

"How can she do that? After all those years with my dad, she just up and dates someone else?"

"I thought you were angry at your dad. Now you sound like a hypocrite." Drake regretted saying that as soon as he heard the words tumble out of his mouth. "No, Christine, I didn't mean that."

"No, you did."

"I did not," Drake replied. He began to recall how sometimes Christine could be impossible to deal with when she wasn't happy. "I'm sorry."

Christine was sitting on the couch crying. Drake hadn't realized he'd hurt her that much. Guilt and regret ate away at his heart. How could he make her feel like that? The girl he finally admitted to himself that he cared about and he coldly cuts into her heart.

"Christine," he said, sitting beside her. "Really, I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry. Christine. Forgive me, please."

"I do. It's not that," she replied. She looked up at him. Her eyes were filled with tears. "I miss my dad, Drake. I miss him a lot. I know what he did to my mom was wrong, but before we left, he begged me to forgive him and said he loved me. I never forgave him. I feel terrible. I just want things to be the way they were. I want my dad to know I forgive him and still love him."

Drake wrapped his arms around her. The urge to comfort her was unbearable. He recalled being a frightened, small boy knowing his dad hadn't written him back a month after Christine mentioned doing something about it. Only that time, Christine hadn't been there to even attempt to make him feel better. When your dad is missing from your life, part of you feels ripped away. A feeling Drake had spent the last six years trying to hide.

"It's not too late to do something," Drake finally said. "You can still tell him."

"I know, but what if my mom doesn't like it?" she replied.

"That shouldn't matter. He's your father. You should know him."

"A month and a half?"

"It's never too late."

"Josh, I need your help," Drake said, rushing into his bedroom and shutting the door.

"With what?" Josh asked. "You didn't start hitting on other guys' girlfriends again, did you?"

"No," Drake responded, irritated. "I need your help because I'm going to do something. The problem is, Mom will flip, but someone needs to know. But if I tell Mom before, she'll try to stop me. You might too, but at least I'll still get to do this."

"Okay," Josh said, slightly confused. "What are you going to do?"

A/N: Nope, I didn't forget...I decided to be evil and leave it a cliffy. You do get to find out what Drake is doing in the next chapter. Like I said, four chapters to go. I made Drake a bit sensible in this chapter, but I think I also made him a bit foolish as well, and you'll see why by the story's end. By the way, I love reviews. :P