It Happens: Part One

Drake and Megan had gotten home long before either of their parents found out that they had been gone. Drake had left to go hang out with a few of his band mates while Megan knew it was just an excuse to go to bars, get drunk, and hit on girls. Megan laughed because she knew that one day there'd be an angry groupie at their door demanding that Drake pay child support and they'd end up on Jerry Springer or something.

Megan walked downstairs into the kitchen. Like Drake she also had an addiction to junk food, another Parker trait. She grabbed a bag of corn chips, salsa, and sat down on the couch and flipped the channels until she found something entertaining.

Audrey came home a little after 5:30 and started to make dinner.

"Megan is Drake home?" Her mother asked from the kitchen.

"No." Megan replied like she didn't care.

"That boy, sometimes I worry about him." Audrey muttered as she started boiling the water for the pasta.

She sat down at the kitchen table, her head in her hands. Where did she go wrong with both her biological children? Why was it that both of them had started off so promising in their youth? Both of them her 'little angels', Drake was the one who used to win all the school spelling bee's now he couldn't spell anything that didn't have to do with guitar and girls. Megan was always such a happy girl now she'd perfected the teen pout and was off doing God knows what with kids older than her after school. Not to mention she was smoking. Audrey just prayed that Megan didn't end up like Drake, an alcoholic at the age of 24, no college education under his belt, and still living in his parent's house.

She stood up and put the pasta in the pot when she heard Megan's cell phone ring.

Megan picked up the phone and answered it.

"Drake? What you need a ride or something?" Megan asked a tone of worry in her voice because he didn't sound good.

"No…" His voice cracked. "Just…never mind. Meg's meet me at the hospital." Drake coughed as his phone gave out.

"Megan is Drake okay?" Audrey asked as she ran out of the kitchen into the living room.

"I don't know Mom. Just I have to go. I'll call you." Megan said as she headed towards the door, but Audrey beat her too it blocking her. "Mom what the hell?" Megan stammered.

"Megan I have no idea what's up with you these days, or what's up with Drake. All I know is that Drake has thrown his life away to alcohol just like his father and I don't want him to end up like that. You Megan have started down that path and I'm not going to let you go off and bar hop with him because I'm not letting two children fail." Audrey half cried half screamed as Megan shot her a glare.

"He told me to meet him at the fucking hospital Mom." Megan breathed. "I am not an alcoholic like Daddy was and don't you fucking compare Drake to him." She added as Audrey stepped out of her way. "He asked me not you Mom. I'm sure if he wanted you to be there he'd have called you."

Megan stormed out of the front door. She knew her mother had the right to interrogate her. She knew her mother worried about both her children. But this was important; Drake could be hurt or something.

Megan drove as fast as she could there, without running the risk of getting caught. She arrived at the hospital around 6:30, running through the front doors to the reception desk.

"Drake Parker, where is he?" She asked winded.

"Are you family because we only allow family members in the ICU."

'She didn't just fucking say the ICU, did she?' Megan thought as she callously showed the lady her ID.

"Alright Megan that's the third floor room 305, it should be the room on the left." The receptionist said as Megan quickly bolted towards the elevator.

The elevator could not and would not go fast enough. Two floors seemed like a million. Megan ran down the hallway towards room 305 finding the door closed. She leaned against the wall waiting. A few minutes later the door opened and a young George Clooney, from his days on E.R. looking doctor came out.

"Miss." He said as he walked past.

"Can I go in? My brother's the one in there." Megan asked as she started for the door.

"He's on a Morphine drip but sure you can go in. Let me warn you though. It seems as though the car crash has paralyzed him from the waist down, don't tell him that just yet. The shock of the crash has been hard enough for him." The doctor said as he continued on his way.

'This can't be happening. Paralyzed? Drake? This is just…God.' Megan thought as she walked into the room.

She hated to see him lying there in ICU. ICU never meant anything good. Tubes were connecting him to machines that were saving his life. He must have called her from the accident well over half an hour ago.

"Drake?" Megan whispered as she walked over towards her brother.

She watched as his eyes opened partially.

"Meg's do I look pretty bad?" He said barely audible.

"Not that bad for a boob." She joked. He smiled and grabbed her hand.

"Does mom know?"

"She knows you're here. She's probably on her way." Megan said as she pulled up a chair to her brother's side.

"You kn-know something." Drake coughed when he stated that she knew something he didn't. "It's about this isn't it?" He asked softly. "Because I can't feel my legs." He told her as silent tears fell down her face.

Megan sat there. So he knew it was obvious that he did. She couldn't lie to him and tell him that 'No Drake its just shock you'll feel them in the morning.' No she couldn't say that to him.

"Yeah I know something Drake." Megan whispered.

"Is it bad? I mean will I walk?" He asked her hope, fear, hatred all locked in his eyes. Megan smiled that awkward smile you smile when you don't know what else to do and lowered her head.

"I don't know Drake. The doctor said you were paralyzed from the waist down. How the hell did this happen Drake?" Megan said anger and concern mixed into her voice.

Drake laid there a smile on his face. After awhile he spoke again.

"Life's a bitch isn't it? One minute you're king of the world. Next minute they've beheaded you." He laughed as the drugs kicked in and he fell into a deep sleep.

Audrey entered shortly after 7:00. Tears were falling from her eyes because she couldn't bear to see her son in this state. The doctor had told her that it was a speed and alcohol related crash. He'd under-shot a curve and hit a telephone pole wrapping the car around it. He was lucky to be alive. But she knew that he wouldn't want to be much longer once he fully realized that he'd be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. She knew he'd give up on everything because that was what Drake would do. Give up when something got too hard for him or he didn't care about it.

"Megan let's go home." Audrey said softly as she placed her hand on her daughters shoulder.

"Mom, I'm sorry about before." Megan whispered as she hugged her mother.

"I never meant to compare Drake to Daddy." Audrey apologized knowing that both her children were hurt by the man she thought she'd loved.

"I know you didn't mean it. Is Drake going to be okay?" Megan asked as her mother brushed her hair out of her face.

"I think he'll be okay, but we both know that he's got a long road ahead of him."

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For going down that same road. For smoking for lying to you for sneaking out. For doing all the same things that Drake did." Megan cried as she buried her face into her mothers shoulder. "I never meant to make you worry."

"It's okay Megan. People make mistakes and people learn from them. I'm just glad you learned the lesson before you ended up like Drake, or worse." Audrey soothed her daughter. "Go home and wait for me, call Josh and tell him what happened and tell Walter." She added as Megan started to walk out of the room.

"Bye Drake." Megan added as she shut the door slightly.

Audrey sat down in the chair by her son and placed her head down on the bed next to him letting the tears fall freely while gently sobbing. She placed her hand over his and held it. Her baby boy was here in the ICU all because she hadn't done a better job raising him. She'd missed the warning signs. She didn't love him enough, she didn't care. She was a bad mother for letting her son barely graduate high school, for letting him get away with sneaking out and getting drunk. It was her fault that John hurt him long ago.

"Drake, I'm so sorry." She whispered as she brushed the hair out of his face and kissed his forehead. "I should have realized sooner what he did to you."

A/N: I know that this chapter could offend some people and I never intended it to. It's rated M for a reason. If you seriously had problems with Drake's accident because it reminded you of the accident he was really in sorry. It's a work of fiction and is not ment to chronicle real life in anyway. It's not a coincidence he was in an accident seeing as this story was written well after his real one. Just thought I'd put that out there in case people have a problem with it because people are crazy like that.

-Morgan