I Don't Want To Be

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

I've decided that I should start thanking my reviewers in the author's note as a sign of my appreciation. You guys, and ladies, rock! So thanks to all my reviewers from Chapter 1 and on.

Thank you to reviewers, or reviewer rather, of the last chapter: nemo123489.

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

Italics … thoughts

Bold … emphasis

I Don't Want To Be: Chapter 12b: A Mystery and Its Lies (Part II)

Haley stared down at Lucas, having shot up as soon as that name passed his lips.

"N-Nathan? Like Nathan Scott?" This was really bad. Nathan hated Lucas as it was. If it turned out that his father had Lucas on his 'People I Do Not Like' list too then it'd be over for her best friend. No one ever escaped scott-free (no pun intended…no really!) when it came to that man disliking you.

"Yeah. I think, no, I know that he's Nathan's dad. There's no mistaking it." Sure, he had only been able to make out some dark-haired kid coming out to stand beside the man, but he was pretty sure that that had been Nathan.

Besides, Nathan had been the only one still in the gym when Lucas walked – or limped rather – out. I think… That day was a little fuzzy to him, but Luke trusted his gut feeling here.

Haley voiced her earlier thoughts. "This is really bad, Luke."

The blond frowned and sat up. "What do you mean?"

"…You know how Nathan, um, isn't the nicest kid around?"

Wow, understatement of the year. "Yeah?"

"Well, he probably got it from his dad because he isn't the nicest person either." Her dad had told her about the man once. Okay, so he was talking/complaining to her mother and she had overheard him – but whatever!

Both had the same result: she knew things about that man. Haley proceeded to tell Lucas these 'things' she'd heard from her father. Her mother had agreed with them all, having met the man before too. This made everything completely golden.

Her parents were weird people, but good. Sometimes neglectful, sometimes very childish, but overall…they were good people. They liked to see the good in most people, but each had people on their 'People I Do Not Like' lists. Few of those people were on both lists. Now, if her parents agreed whole-heartedly about something bad about another person – together – then that person was definitely bad news.

Dan Scott could most certainly go under the 'Definitely Bad News' category.

Now onto what Haley told Lucas.

Dan Scott was an "evil man with no heart". He was mean, "arrogant" (whatever that's supposed to mean), had a "'holier than thou' attitude" (again, whatever that's supposed to mean), and a bunch of other things that were probably adjectives of several other things.

Lucas listened to these things in what was really close to horror. The man had seemed bad enough right off the bat – now there was all this? Was this why his uncle didn't like him? It seemed logical enough. Lucas couldn't see very many people liking someone that was so mean.

"Is he this way with everyone?"

Haley nodded. "Seems so."

"But why?"

There was a silence as Haley stared at her best friend. He always had to ask the hard questions. "I don't know, Lucas, I don't know."

Lucas frowned, unsatisfied with the answer. He'd have to accept that 'I don't know' for now though.

"So that's why I did it. Dan was starting to ask too many questions and that was all I could think of to throw him off. Any resemblances can be written off to Scott Family traits by me being his dad."

"It could still draw attention to him though! The feud between you two, even though it's died down over the years, is still big gossip-worthy news here!" Deb was still upset, obviously.

Keith sighed. "I know."

"And you know Dan is willing to take any shots at you that he can. A wife and kid that he doesn't know about? He'll still ask questions. You know howhe hates to be the last to know things like this. His older brother tying the knot and having a kid Lucas' age without his knowledge? That's not going to fly with him and you know it!"

"What was I supposed to do?!" Keith didn't mean to raise his voice, but this was wearing on him. He had done what he had thought was right in the situation. It was the only way to throw Dan off the trail immediately. "If I had said nothing or that Lucas was just some kid I had grown attached to, he would have snooped around even more! The first would have set off his alarms and he'd be determined to unravel 'the mystery'." Keith used air quotes for 'mystery'. "And the second option? Deb, I couldn't even bring myself to write off Lucas as 'some kid I had grown attached to'."

Deb's expression softened a little, but she was still mad. Well, Deb really wasn't mad so much as she was in a terrified-and-lashing-out mode. Her son, her only son, her whole freaking world was in danger. It was only natural that she'd react this way to the perceived cause of this danger. "You could have said you were picking him up as a favor."

"For who Deb?"

"A friend from the garage."

"Dan knows everyone there. Their names, if they're married and to whom they're married, if they have kids, who those kids are, what the wife and kids look like – all of the 'basics'." Again with the air quotes. "Calls it 'watching possible competition'. Really, he just wants to see if there's anyone worth stealing from me." Not that it would work, none of his workers would ever ditch him for Dan.

"A friend not from the garage?"

"I don't have any close friends 'not from the garage' besides you."

Oh. "A lady friend you're trying to win over?"

Keith shook his head. "He'd snoop around for women I hang around with a lot. Women with a blond-haired son with blue eyes. Dan would find out the only woman I hang around outside of the garage is you. And then we'd really have a problem." Keith frowned. "Does he even know you're in town?"

Deb fidgeted. "No. No one has the nerve to go up to Dan and just blurt out my being here. They're too afraid of the whole 'shoot the messenger' scenario for that." No one wanted to risk being right there if and when Dan blew up after hearing that his ex-girlfriend, son in tow, was back in town.

"Oh," was all Keith had to say to that.

Deb shook her head. "But back to the main topic. Maybe you're right, maybe that was the only way."

Finally, he was forgiven. Ah, but she's not done yet.

"People see you hanging around Lucas and myself all the time. What about that?"

"…" Keith had nothing to say to that. He didn't know what tosay to that. She had a point. He mysteriously had a wife and kid – fine, but Lucas could easily be traced back to Deb. Writing Deb and Lucas off as Keith's wife and kid – respectively – wouldn't sit well with Dan. There was too much history there… So how could they do it?

I've got it! "Dan never really did believe that Lucas was his son."

Deb looked up at Keith, not sure where he was going with this. He'd better have a good reason for bringing that up though. That very statement had been a source of misery for many years before Deb decided that she didn't care if he didn't believe her. Dan wouldn't ever be a part of Lucas' life anyway. Hers either.

"We could play off that. You know there's nothing that Danny loves to hear more than 'you're right'."

Deb nodded, seeming to catch on. "Common knowledge – so?" Or not.

"Tell him it he was right – tell him Lucas isn't his son. Tell him that Lucas is my son – my son all along."

"So…now that we've solved that mystery, what do you want to do?"

Lucas shrugged, laying back down. "I dunno."

"Don't know."

"What?"

"Don't know. 'Dunno' is not a word."

Lucas groaned. "Haley…"

"What?" Nothing. "What?"

"Come on," Lucas said as he stood. "Let's go see what we can get from the café." The boy brushed himself off as best he could and turned to Haley. He held his hands out to help her.

Haley let out a breath as Lucas pulled her up quickly. She nearly tripped and took them both down. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said while brushing the leaves off of her clothes and out of her hair. "Okay, let's go."

Making sure his very clumsy friend didn't trip up again and fall flat on her face, Lucas started walking. "Right."

As they walked, Haley noticed the difference in attire between Lucas and herself. She was bundled up in a 'bubble' coat, a fuzzy scarf, fuzzy gloves, and a little fuzzy skull cap too. She had on boots to ward off the cold from her thick sock-clad feet. Haley wasn't cold, but still felt the breeze.

Then there was Lucas. The boy only had on loose jeans, tennis shoes, and a hoodie. She assumed that there was a shirt or t-shirt underneath there. He might have been wearing thick socks, but, for some reason, Haley doubted it. His hood seemed to be serving as a substitute for a hat. His pockets were stand-ins for gloves.

Haley frowned at the boy. "Aren't you cold?" she asked him.

"Nah, not really. I like the cold."

Haley wrinkled her rosy little nose. "I can't stand the cold."

Lucas chuckled. "So I guess winter doesn't do it for you then?"

"No. I hate the winter and everything about it."

"So you hate Christmas then?"

There was a silence as Haley realized that she had been set up. "I do like Christmas."

"Uh huh…"

"No really, I do!"

Lucas laughed. After a few paces, the boy realized that Haley wasn't walking beside him anymore. He turned around to see that she was standing there, staring at him with this…look on her face. "What?"

Haley smiled then and shook her head. Coming up to him, she shook her head again. "Nothing, come on."

She smiled as if she had some funny secret and it made Lucas wonder for a minute before he decided that he didn't want to know.

Haley smiled secretively as they walked along. She'd never heard Lucas laugh before…

A little friendly fluff to finish it off. How will Lucas take this plan cooked up by Keith and Deb? Will they even be able to tell Lucas? Review and you just might find out!