It Never Seems

I sincerely apologize to anyone who is still following this story. Truth is, I got busy with manuscripts for Graduate School and I finished in the beginning of December and I just needed a break from writing. I am back now, that's all that matters, right? Lol. Hope you guys enjoy.

CAli

Chapter 7 – The Birthday

May 12, 2009 – The Northwest

"You're to win," Dante grinned at him. "Supersonics on the bubble for the playoffs. I got a bunch of pussies thinking you can't do a powerful performance three times in a row against the Bobcats. They bet a lot of money against it, so I want 35. You understand?"

Nathan didn't answer right away, but just deadly stared. He felt dead, every day for four years, especially today. God, especially today since all he saw was his boy's would be scrunched up, red face in his mind.

"I'm talking to you!" Dante's voice boomed.

Nathan slowly raised his eyes and made eye contact with his mob boss. He stayed quiet but his jaw slightly clenched. He made sure to show only that physical emotion but kept his stare just blank. He wasn't going to react to Dante or anyone for today. Today was a day of mourning, and he was, even if he had to do it physically in silence.

He grunted a little and moved his weight to his other leg and leaned the majority of his body on the crunch that was under his left arm. He stared at Dante in silence for a few more seconds then spoke in a controlled voice.

"You know I messed up my ankle because of your demands from the last game," he said and Dante tilted his head in a challenge. "I'm not even cleared yet."

"Well, instead of fucking around with your new friend, Tony, you should've been conditioning your ankles better." Dante lifted his legs off his desk and sat straighter in his chair. "You know I need you tip-top all year-round. It's not my fault you got hurt."

"I never said it was."

"Don't talk back to me, boy!" Dante's eyes blazed as he slammed his palms down. He looked to his right and nodded his head.

A large man came out of the shadows the clouds provided in the dank warehouse and sucker-punched Nathan, catching him perfect on his left jaw. Nathan grunted at the hit and by instinct, put all his weight on his bruised right ankle and cried out because of the sharp pain that shot up because his weight pressured the injury. His ankle twisted when the pressure was too much and he crashed to the concrete, his face contorted in a grimace. He landed hard on his ribs and couldn't breathe. He rolled on his back, lifted his leg his right leg in the air in a tight clench and grabbed his side.

He groaned and closed his eyes and all he saw was how beautiful his boy would look as he cradled him then handed him to his wife, where she named him on the spot.

Breathe through your mouth, he told himself.

He heard footsteps like they thundered in his ears then silence. Once the pain subsided, and his boy shimmered out of his mind, he opened his eyes and met Dante's calculating, dark eyes.

"I don't care if you break every bone in your body," Dante seethed in a low, even voice. "Bribe whatever doctor, sweep whatever policy until it disappears, pay whatever fine. You will play tonight. You will score 35 points, not less, not more. Got it?"

Nathan continued to breathe through his mouth and grimaced one more time before he nodded twice.

"Good," Dante said then turned to one of his goons. "Get this worthless gimp out of my sight."

Before he was picked up, Nathan closed his eyes and brought back his memory of his boy. This time, he imagined his boy opening his big blue eyes and smiling his newborn lips. He would smile back and continue to rock his son to sleep while his wife rested, snuggled against his chest. His memory zoomed out when he felt two men grab his arms and roughly pulled him up.

"Happy birthday, son." Nathan mouthed.

5:30 p.m. Key Arena, Seattle, WA

"Hey, Keith. Are you down for tonight?" Tony asked.

Nathan stayed quiet as he rested his elbows on his thighs as he sat perfectly still on the hard bench. His head was covered in the dark his cubby provided as he leaned back. His legs were stretched out as the personal trainer kneeled before him and heavily wrapped his right ankle with an ace-bandage. His fingers were tightly clasped in a prayer-like shape and he breathed through his nose.

All day, his mind plagued of what his son would like and what he did for the past four years. He wondered what personality traits he had and if he even liked basketball or if he took his mother's shy, creative essence. Did his son have his eyes and his wife's hair? Did he have his eyebrows and her lips? Was he obnoxiously charming or was he quiet soul that had too much smarts? Today was his son's due date and what was really fucked Nathan up was that he didn't even know if today was special or not.

He didn't know his son's name or what day he was born.

And his soul cried because of that.

So every day, for four years, a week before and after this date, he would quietly ponder what his son would be like and mouth to himself a happy birthday to his son. Every year, he thought maybe he should send a gift, anonymously, to Lucas' house since he knew his brother would never leave his wife's side, but always talked himself out of it. He wouldn't even know where to begin, and honestly, would cause more pain; to him and to his family.

"Keith?" Tony asked.

Nathan blinked his eyes several times to stop the tears and to bring himself back to reality. He gave an annoyed grunt and leaned forward to glare at his annoying shadow.

"What?" He said his voice voided of any emotion.

Tony was used to his clipped tones and short length and continued without incidence. "I asked if you were down tonight."

He gave his teammate a frown that screamed attitude. "What's tonight?"

"Carl's celebration? His birthday is today and he's also holding a screening party for his niece. Apparently she's on American Idol and her audition episode airs tomorrow."

Nathan shook his head and stared at the trainer until he patted his leg, got up and left. He nodded his thanks and moved to put on his shoes, effectively ignoring Tony. He knew it was a lame attempt to stop any conversation with his teammate because he was just as annoying as an attached puppy that followed everywhere, but he still tried. Everyone got tired of him, right?

Tony shrugged his shoulders and stayed rooted his spot. "Why not?" He asked.

"I don't celebrate birthdays."

"But you watch TV. Come on, it'd be fun, teasing Carl that he really does love that show, niece or not."

"I'm not watching."

"You know I'm just gonna keep asking."

"Leave me the hell alone, Tony."

Nathan grunted as he got up and slightly grimaced at the pain the pressure gave him when he put his full weight on his ankle. At that moment, the coaching staff came out of the conference room and entered the locker room to rally the players for pre-warm ups. His coach yelled at everyone their time limit and he was relieved at the welcomed end to his conversation.

He slightly limped towards the entrance and never paused as he grabbed a basketball from the rack and subconsciously led the way for his teammates. He was in the tunnel when his coach brushed his hand against his upper arm and gave him an expected look.

"What did the doctor say about your ankle?" His coach asked.

He smirked and popped his chin up once. "I'm good to go, coach."

His coach grinned wide. "Atta boy. Just give me the note when we come back from warm-ups."

May 12, 2009 – The South

"Momma! Is it tomorrow yet?" Jamie practically screamed in her ear.

Haley barely contained her gritted teeth and was about to yell at her son when she made eye contact with Lucas. He gave her a pointed look with his eyes as he raised his coffee cup to hide his smirk. She held her breath, glared at her best friend, and exhaled while rolling her eyes shut.

Patience, she told herself.

"No, Jamie. Not for another 12 hours." She said with her best fake, calm voice.

"How long is 12 hours?"

"You'll be asleep by then."

"But that doesn't answer my question."

Haley bit her bottom lip and her facial expression dead-panned to a "really?" look. She really tried not to be annoyed with her son but it seemed like Jamie snuck in a double-shot expresso in his chocolate milk this morning. The boy was all over the place; never spending more than 20 minutes on an activity and bounced between the TV and her, yelling in her ear asking how long until tomorrow. When her son was impatient, he was impatient.

She understood it was double-excitement for him. Tomorrow was his birthday and it was also when her episode would air her audition. Jamie of course wanted to celebrate both but on top of a birthday party and keeping him in front of the TV with enough attention span with all the sugar (oh God, all the sugar,) she had to pack for herself and Jamie for an early flight to Los Angeles. She felt it in her veins that her son wouldn't want to sleep tomorrow night and it was his first time on an airplane which meant nine times out of ten, he would be restless and uncomfortable once the air pressure got to his ears.

And don't even get her started on the time-difference.

Understatement: Haley was dreading the next 48 hours.

She had to adjust her son with their new home that wasn't even a guarantee for three months and compete in a singing competition on national television. She confessed her concerns and described the tight feeling in her chest every time she thought about the future to Lucas and all he had to offer was to take it one day at a time. It was good advice, but she was slowly becoming hysterical. So anything her best friend had to say was just worthless to her mind at the moment, which heightened her irritation.

And her son's excitement, unfortunately, was not helping. Thank God, Lucas found all this amusing and took her snaps as a barely-there bounce to his chest and swooped in when Jamie decided to tug on her sleeve because she didn't answer fast enough.

Lucas guffawed inside his coffee cup which distracted Jamie for just a second. She glared at his blue eyes that danced in laughter and he set his cup down. His smile was full-blown as he rested both hands on the kitchen island.

"Hey Jim-Jam!" Lucas called. "What do you say I take you on a pre-birthday present?"

"What do you mean, Uncle Lokus?" Jamie asked.

"I mean…" Lucas grinned as Jamie abandoned bothering her and ran around the island to tug on his pant leg. Jamie craned his neck up and jumped up and down when Lucas just smiled at him.

"Uncle Lokus! What do you meaaan?"

Lucas bent down at his level and mocked glared as he stared in the identical blue-green eyes. "I mean go-kart racing!"

He picked him up in a sudden swoop, swung him and held him snug on his side. Jamie's affectionate laugh filled the room and Haley had to smile a little bit at the pure glee on her son's face. Jamie's head whipped back and forth once he heard what he got and squealed while repeating the same question.

"I have a go-kart?!" Jamie practically yelled.

"Lucas!" Haley said once the word caught up in her mind and promptly brought her out of her stupor.

"Hales, have some faith," Lucas said once he saw the panic in her eyes. "I didn't buy him a go-kart. I know he's too young."

"Aw!" Jamie's bottom lip pouted.

"I got him the next best thing, a box car that I built last night!"

"Really?!" Jamie's grin re-appeared like his emotions were bi-polar.

"Yessir! It's outside in the backyard if you wanna see it. And we can take it to the biggest hill and drive it down!"

"Smallest hill," Haley sternly corrected.

"That's no fun," Lucas scoffed.

"Middle hill, momma?" Jamie asked in pouty voice that she swore he knew was everyone's weakness. "Please?"

"Great compromise," Lucas said as he shrugged and rocked Jamie a little bit. "Please, momma?"

Haley grimaced. "Don't call me, momma," she said to Lucas but then sighed. "Fine, but be careful! I mean it, Lucas, don't break my son."

"I won't!"

"He won't, momma!" Jamie chirped up. "I'll be extra careful, momma. I'll even wear a mouth guard!"

She and Lucas laughed and Lucas set down Jamie and instructed him to get his helmet, elbow and knee pads from his room. Jamie took off racing and he walked around the counter to give her a hug. She reciprocated the hug and sighed big.

"Take a nap," Lucas said. "I got him and you need to get rid of those nerves. We're gonna be in Los Angeles safely, I'm gonna take care of Jamie while you make America fall in love with you."

End of Chapter 7.

I personally think the ending is a little weak so I really need to go deep with this story. Hope you guys liked the light-ness with Haley and hope somewhere you found the foreshadowing ;). Shit will get real next time around, I promise.

Review if you'd like.

CAli