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

Chapter Eleven: Dad

"He brought me pink roses..."

Drake suddenly heard the noise of his alarm clock. He was dreaming again. This time, about how David gave Christine pink roses for Valentine's Day. Why had this bothered Drake for the past couple weeks? Maybe David couldn't afford red ones? Then again, Christine wouldn't care. She had told Drake herself that a single red rose meant "I love you," so if he could only afford one, it would have been fine. Wait...that was it. If he'd bought her red, she would have taken it as a sign saying that he loved her. She wanted love before she did anything like that. Drake sighed. That was it.

Josh had been sitting on his bed, watching Drake.

"Okay, so, are you just gonna sit there all day or are you going to get out of bed?" Josh asked.

"Huh?" Drake asked.

"Never mind," Josh replied. "As long as you're up, we better get moving. School day."

"Don't remind me. At least it's March. We'll be out of school soon."

"Yeah, finally." Josh paused. He'd gotten into college and was moving to his dorm in August. Drake would be at home, taking classes at a community college because he couldn't get in anywhere else since he'd spent his entire high school career goofing around and not doing homework. Actually, Josh was shocked he was doing this. He'd expected Drake to finally go see Alan Crimm. When Josh asked him what classes he was going to take, Drake had told him he'd be taking the basics and some psychology courses. Josh almost fainted when Drake told him about the psychology. However, Drake explained his reasoning. He told Josh that he didn't want kids who had parents who divorced and felt abandoned to go through that feeling of being alone and that they actually did have people that cared about them and new people would come into their lives as well. Josh pointed out to Drake that even community college courses would be difficult. Drake had said he knew that. Josh wasn't too worried. When Drake wanted something, he went for it. He just didn't want to be the class genius. Josh knew Drake had that kind of potential, but he didn't want it. So, he didn't go for it. Josh was proud of Drake though. For once, Drake had made a mature decision about his career. However, if he did go to see Alan Crimm, well, those thoughts might disappear, but Josh hoped they'd stay with Drake. He could at least write about his experiences in his music and maybe help a few kids who were going through what he had.

The thing Josh was most concerned about was not seeing Drake anymore. Drake would have Christine, but Josh wouldn't have Drake. Drake was the only real best friend Josh had ever had. That was hard to let go. Josh knew that he needed to go though. If he didn't, he might miss out on something great. He didn't want that. Besides, he could always go home.

"What's the matter?" Drake asked.

"Nothing," Josh replied. "We'd better get ready to go."

Drake was puzzled with Josh's attitude, but he decided to let it go. Josh could act strange sometimes.

Drake sat down in English. The bell was about to ring, and he had no idea where Christine was. Mrs. Haifer would show up soon. Then again, she might overlook it because Christine was never late to class. That was Drake's department. The bell rang and Christine finally slipped through the door. Fortunately for her, Mrs. Haifer hadn't shown up yet.

"Hey, where were you?" Drake asked her as she sat down.

"Nowhere," she replied. She didn't even look at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she responded.

Oh, no, Drake thought. Not this again.

Drake found Christine eating lunch alone that afternoon.

"Hey," Drake said.

"Hi," she replied quietly.

"Please don't tell me you're fine. I know something's wrong. And don't tell me to leave you alone either because if it were me, you'd be doing the same thing."

"I know," Christine responded. She looked off to the side. "I guess you'd find out sooner or later. David broke up with me this morning."

"When?"

"Right before class?"

"How?"

"A text message."

"Oh," Drake replied. He blushed a bit at the thought of how he almost broke up with Tori with a text message. Wait a second. David broke up with her. Drake could...no, he had to be here for her now. Drake was upset, though. He had backed away and not said a word to Christine because of David, and he dumped her with a text message? "Jerk."

"He told me he felt like he didn't know me and that things were moving too slow."

"You were in a long distance relationship even if you were in the same state."

"I know."

"I don't think he really did know you that well either, Christine."

"I guess not. He got me a Clay Aiken cd for Christmas."

"Maybe he got confused after a conversation with Josh," Drake joked. Christine smiled, and Drake was glad to see it. "Look, if he broke up with you over a text message, then he isn't right for you anyway. At least you found that out now. You don't deserve that. Nobody does."

"I guess so. He'd been growing distant the past fewweeks. Maybe I'm better off without him.I don't think I'll be doing any dating for a while though. I have to focus on finishing the school year and my classes for my first semester at college."

"Oh, yeah," Drake replied. He sighed. This wasn't going to work in his favor, was it?

Mindy walked by on her way to the table where Josh was sitting.

"What's the matter?" Mindy asked.

"David broke up with me," Christine replied.

"Oh, that's awful," Mindy said, taking a seat next to Christine. "When? How?"

"This morning. With a text message."

"Gee, that sounds like the ideal way to end a relationship," Mindy said, shooting Drake a look that said "See?"

"Right," Drake replied, shooting Mindy a look as well.

"I should go," Christine said. "Mrs. Haifer wanted to talk to me about being late today."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Mindy said. "She likes you. She likes everybody, actually. It's just Drake that she hates."

"Thanks for reminding everyone," Drake responded.

"No problem," Mindy said.

"See you two later," Christine said, relieved to get out of that conversation. She'd rather hear what Mrs. Haifer had to say than those two snapping at each other.

Drake watched her walk away and sighed.

"Something wrong, Drake?" asked Mindy.

"Huh? No, of course not," Drake replied.

"You know, David wasn't the only one acting distant in that relationship," Mindy replied. "Sometimes it was like Christine's mind was somewhere else."

Drake gave Mindy a puzzled look. She shrugged and headed over to where Josh was sitting. What had she meant by that?

Drake arrived home to find his mom baking cookies. She never baked. If anyone baked, it was Josh. Something wasn't right.

"Drake," Audrey said, glancing up from her cook book.

"Hi mom," Drake said. "You don't have work?"

"No, not today," she replied.

"What's going on?"

Audrey sighed as Walter walked into the kitchen.

"What's the matter?" Walter asked.

"Ford called me and said he'd be able to come next month," Audrey said.

"April? That's nearly four months after we told him we'd talk to him," Drake responded, angry. "Does he really think he can be 'Dad' again? God, why did I ever agree to talking to him again." Drake left the kitchen in a huff.

"Drake!" Audrey called after her son.

"Don't," Walter said. "I'll go talk to him."

Walter left the kitchen to find Drake watching television. Actually, Walter could tell Drake wasn't really watching it. Drake's expression was emotionless and blank, plus the show that he was watching was the Teletubbies.

"Drake," Walter said, sitting down on the couch.

"What?" Drake asked.

"Um, I know Ford coming back into your life is probably very difficult, especially after the past few years, but I really think you need to talk to him."

"I did," Drake replied. "He was everything I despise."

"Did you even let him talk much?"

"Look, I've got a new life and so does he. I just want to end it there." Drake got up and began to walk toward the stairs. Walter watched him and sighed.

"Don't push him away because of Josh and me," Walter said. Drake slowly turned back around.

"It's not that, it's just, things are fine now, and I really..." Drake felt a tear slide down his cheek. Great, he was crying.

"Drake," Walter said, "Josh and I care about you. We love you, but I don't want you to push out your real dad without giving him a chance. I know he ran away from you guys, but I think he wants to explain himself." Walter paused. "Someday, he's going to have helped you out even if you don't think he ever will, and he's going to need you in return. You never know what will happen."

"I don't know if he can do anything for me. I know it didn't seem like it at first, but when you and Josh moved in, I guess I was happy. Mom was happy. I had a dad again. A dad that I hoped like hell wasn't going to walk out on us, but after a while, I found out that you weren't like Ford at all."

Walter felt his own eyes grow teary.

"Do you know how happy I was the first time you called me Dad and meant it?" Walter asked.

"You are my dad," Drake said. More tears fell. Drake wanted to hide them. It was partially because of Walter and Josh that he hadn't been completely willing to listen to Ford. He wanted to keep what he had because it was good.

Drake looked at Walter. Then he did something he'd only ever done to get his mom off of their back, he hugged Walter, and this time, he meant it.

Walter was a bit surprised at first. Drake was a senior in high school, and showing this kind of affection was odd for him, but Walter accepted it wholeheartedly. After all, he hadn't known Drake when he was a little boy to give him these kinds of hugs.

"Please, Drake, listen to what he has to say at least."

"Okay," Drake replied. "I will."

A/N: So, a number of things happened in this chapter. Some things in this chapter that Walter said will be relevent at the end, and they will carry on to part three. For now, part two only has two chapters to go.