I Don't Want To Be

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

Note: This is AU. Deb Roe is Lucas' mom. Dan and Karen are married with two children – Nathan and Crystal. There are other things, but I'll just let you read and find those out.

------- … scene change/break or indicated flashback

Italics … thoughts

Bold … emphasis

I Don't Want To Be: Chapter 6: New Best Friend

Deb shut the door to her home, leaning against it with a sigh.

Reporters.

She didn't even know that Tree Hill had any, much less so many. For about a week now, they'd been hounding the James' and her son. It had died down to a trickle and she expected that this whole 'Hero' thing would die out completely by Saturday. Running a hand through her blonde locks, Deb made her way to the living room.

"Done?"

"Yeah, there were only three and by now, I can come up with some very short, very vague answers." At least Keith had been here.

"They ever find out who the driver was?"

"No, no one seems to be talking in that department." She shrugged. "At least he footed the hospital bill…." Deb trailed off.

"…and the medication," Keith finished. Why does she have that look on her face?

Deb wasn't really comfortable with the pills her son had to take. But it was for the pain, and she didn't want her baby in pain. It's not crack you know, a voice in her head drawled. Lucas is twelve for goodness' sake! He won't get addicted to his painkillers! He's not like you at all in that respect. The blonde woman crouched by the couch. "My poor baby, he's all worn out. Maybe he shouldn't go to school tomorrow…"

Keith rolled his eyes. Lucas was about two days away from going crazy under his mother's attention. Of course, the boy didn't say a word about it, just watched his mother scramble between the café and home to keep him company. "I don't know why she stays," he remembered the boy saying, "All I really do is sleep. What's so fascinating about that?"

And really, that was all Lucas did. His days since being taken home did not include any sort of activity beyond reading, eating, sleeping, bathing, and using the bathroom. Somewhere in there, he did the homework that was brought to him by Haley. The petite brunette had been impossible to detach from Lucas' side since he'd been released from the hospital. In fact, she was still due to come over and do homework with Lucas today.

Of course, Haley wouldn't be able to do much if Lucas continued to sleep on the couch the way he was. Book covering his stomach, Lucas was sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of his mother and uncle's presences. He had fallen asleep a few minutes before the reporters had popped in.

"I'll just take him to his room. I'm sure he'll be up by the time Haley gets here; he usually is anyway."

Deb nodded, not entirely comfortable with how much time Haley spent with Lucas.

Keith said nothing about the wariness on Deb's face. Any idiot could see how attached Lucas was getting to Haley. Keith was all for it, as the slightly younger girl was doing a great job of pulling Lucas out of his withdrawn state.

Deb, however, wasn't exactly thrilled. She'd prefer it if he had guy friends. Keith didn't really get it, friends were friends and he welcomed anyone willing to take up the painstaking task of easing Lucas out of his shell. The Scott man said nothing about though, knowing he wouldn't get very far. He just accepted it and tried to comfort her as best he could.

Deb liked Haley, really she did. But she was just so used to being the only woman in her son's life, the one he clung to desperately. With Haley around…she had to share Lucas' undivided attention and love. How did she survive with so few boyfriends?

Her son.

His unwavering love sustained her. Knowing that no matter what she did and no matter what she said, he would still love her. Lucas' love was the love of a child that truly loved their parent(s) - unconditional. The knowledge that no matter how many men walked out of her life, Lucas would never leave her...that was what got her through all the heartbreak. Well that and Keith offering to beat the crap out of them all. That was always a great way to cheer her up.

Lucas mumbled something, but didn't wake up as Keith lifted him and carried the lanky boy to his room.

Deb followed, smiling tenderly as Keith tucked her son in and placed his precious book on the nightstand next to him. The blonde woman eyed the door. When they had first moved here, Deb was wary of her son having his own personal exit. But Lucas was a good boy, and far too solemn a child to do anything that other, less responsible children wouldn't hesitate to do.

She hated to think it, but her son's socially-wary personality worked to her advantage, parentally-speaking. Where would he sneak off to? There was no where for him to go really. He wasn't attached to any particular place unless you counted the café.

Who would he sneak off with? No one. Haley was his only friend and she wasn't exactly the type to try anything. Besides that, Haley – despite Deb's reservations– was a good girl. Her parents were a little…eccentric though. They were good people, just…odd.

Lucas was reading a book when he heard a knock at his door. He didn't think too much of there being a door directly to room, but Haley thought it was really cool. The blond boy said nothing as the door opened and closed, but did look up as his bed shifted under new weight.

"What'cha reading?" Haley couldn't see the cover due to the way Lucas was holding the worn book. The HUGE, worn book.

Lucas closed the thick book, hand covering the title, and its sound seemed to echo. Or maybe that's just me, Haley thought to herself. "War and Peace," the blond replied easily.

There was a silence as Haley tried to determine if the boy in front of her was as serious as his solemn tone indicated. They were in sixth grade; he couldn't possibly be reading such a hard book. But he's really good at English…and seems to breeze through it so easily. And he does like to read a lot. A whole lot. "Um...oh. Okay."

The corners of his mouth shifted upwards slightly for a small smile that told her he was only playing.

"Hey!" she said indignantly.

Lucas shook his head at the pouting brunette, amused. Haley always seemed to believe what he told her if he had a straight enough face. "So what do you have there?"

She seemed to space out on him for a few seconds before saying, "Oh!" She placed the work down. "Homework!"

Haley giggled at Lucas' non-plussed look, an expression that he just seemed to have down perfectly. "Oh come on, it's not that bad." She sifted through the work. "It's just some English and math…" She trailed off before adding, "..And a little science, history, and health." The blonde boy groaned and she beamed at him as if she hadn't heard it. "See? Not so bad!"

"Yeah, yeah…" And so the two set to doing their homework. You know, in between talking, complaining about particularly hard problems, and such. Actually, Haley did most of the talking, but what's so surprising about that?

"So…you ready?"

Lucas threw his best friend a sideways glance. "We're halfway there," he said in his customarily quiet voice, "and you decide to ask me that now?"

After much begging from Lucas and a lot more persuading from Keith, Deb had finally agreed to let Lucas go back to school.

"But it's just a trial run! If you feel any pain or get tired quickly or something like that, you just go to the nurse okay? Then have her call either Keith or myself and one of us will come and get you. Nothing is more important than you recovering properly so don't hesitate to call if you have to okay baby?"

After assuring her – seven or eight times he believed – that he would have the nurse call one of them at the slightest sensation of pain, his mother had let him go. The boy had resisted the urge to run out of the door. Not that he would have gone far; Haley had been waiting at the end of his driveway.

And so here they were, Haley and Lucas, walking to school. "Well…yeah, now I'm asking."

"You could have asked earlier."

"I know…I just, um…"

"You forgot?"

Haley looked mortified, though he had no idea why. "No!"

"Um, okay…you didn't forget then. ... So why didn't you ask me before?"

"You asked me a question first."

"And what was that?"

"You asked me if I was ready to go." A technicality, but she was using it.

"Are you serious? That shouldn't even count."

There wasn't even really a point to them having this mini-argument. Neither really cared, it was just something to take up time. And besides that, Haley had made a sort of sport out of seeing how much she could get Lucas to say in one day. The two stood before school grounds, staring at nothing in particular. Well, Haley stopped. Lucas had kept walking.

He turned around. "Come on." What was she waiting for?

Haley walked to his side. The two headed for the entrance. As they reached Lucas' locker, she spoke. "So…are you ready?"

Lucas sighed. Haley never was one to have a question go unanswered.

"Yeah Hales, I am." As ready as I'll ever be in this place.

And there's another chapter for ya! I could make my excuses for the long wait, but I won't. I couldn't figure out what to write – plain and simple. So many new ideas keep popping into my head, but I really want to do one major fic at a time. My friend, a writer you may know as Anime-05 (that '-' should be an underscore, but the document manager won't allow it) here said that the reason she had to just stop writing was because she kept starting so many new projects. Instead of finishing out one or two at a time, she'd start up the new idea immediately, get out two or three chapters, and then think of something new. It wrecked everything for her. So forgive me, I'm just trying to stay on track.

So there you have it. Read, review, and I'll do my best to stay focused and get another chapter out to you in more reasonable timing.