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A Season in Purgatory

Chapter 17

Nathan parked his Navigator in the parking lot of the dealership and reluctantly headed toward his dad's office. The main building in the dealership complex was a nightmare union of glass and chrome, something that always reminded Nathan of some strange Japanese anime movie. Only his dad could build something so totally tacky and functionless, he thought as he opened the door and headed toward his dad's office. He nodded to various salespeople and administrative types who called out to him. Years ago when Nathan had been a little kid, he'd spent most of his weekends at work with Dan. He used to love seeing all the people come in and drive off with a new car, even as his dad's eyes glinted with greed at his healthy profits.

But as he'd gotten older Nathan had more responsibilities with his various activities and then after his mother's death his dad suddenly stopped taking him to work. Nathan supposed someone had mentioned that Dan needed to do something more personal with his son other than share his work. And as his business had grown more successful, his dad had stopped working weekends all together. Nathan knew that his grandparents had complained that Dan rarely saw his son and after that his father had promptly done the only thing he knew: enrolled Nathan in every sport possible.

Dan had gone from being a workaholic to a single parent and team super parent. Nathan supposed that it was a result from Dan's lack of hobbies. He didn't fish, was incapable of sitting through an entire book and found television boring. Sports provided an outlet for Dan that burned his excess energy. Nathan couldn't help but feel sad that his dad couldn't find a girlfriend instead of spending all his free time coaching little league.

"Nathan!" Dan shouted from his office, motioning his younger son away from the reception desk. Nathan obediently trotted toward his father's office, much like a lost puppy that'd found an owner. Slumping into one of his father's opulent black leather office chairs, Nate studied his dad and realized he was nearly…giddy. "Did you have a record number of repossessions today?" he asked, not sure what to think about the broad smile on his father's face.

"Can't I just be happy to see my son?" Dan questioned. As nervous as he was about having both his sons with him at work, a part of Dan was excited. Sure, Lucas would be snarly for while, that was to be expected. He could understand and even appreciate his oldest son's resentment. Dan was known for the fierce grudges he held when angry and a part of him was somewhat relieved to see that Lucas had inherited something from him. Something other than piercing blue eyes and an uncanny ability to play basketball. If his son wanted a battle of the wills, he was going to get one. For once, Dan didn't want to give up on Lucas. He didn't want to take the easy way out yet again. And, if pressed, he had to admit that he didn't want to let Karen down again.

Nathan stared at his father suspiciously. "No, you can't just be happy to see me." Dan's brow creased at his son's words. He didn't understand where Nathan's anger was coming from. "Is this about me making you miss basketball?"

"It's about all of it, Dad. I'm sick of it. This town is schizophrenic and I can't keep up with the Dynasty-esque plot lines," he calmly replied, more shell shocked than angry. "And maybe I don't want to share." Nathan was so tired of the golden boy moving in on his territory. It was bad enough when it had been his team and his women, but Nathan had a secret fear that Lucas and his mother posed a larger threat to his way of life than anything else around him.

Dan's heart clenched, seeing the genuine fear that briefly covered his son's face. "Nathan, this isn't a competition. While I want to get to know Lucas, I'm not going to swap you out for him." He didn't say that he hardly could see Lucas ever fitting in or being happy with them. There was an aloof, independent side to his oldest son that wouldn't play well at the country club, Dan thought.

"It doesn't really matter. I just want to get this day over with," Nathan replied, clearly signaling that the candid moment was over. Dan leaned back against his desk, frowning in confusion. "Wait, weren't you supposed to drive Lucas over after school?" he asked, staring out past his son, his gaze sweeping through the various customers and employees lingering in the lobby. He didn't see the tall, lanky boy anywhere. He shifted his gaze back to Nathan expectantly.

"He said something about having to go over to Keith's to tell him that he couldn't work today. Nathan replied, not really caring where Lucas went or what he did. Seeing his father frown, he hastened to explain. "Lucas said something about being over here when he was done."

Dan nodded, realizing that it wasn't late enough to call Karen. School had only been out 15 minutes and he decided to give Lucas another15 minutes before alarming his mother. He knew that Lucas had worked for his brother since he was old enough to hand Keith tools. Dan had always hated that, more because Keith defied his decree that the family not "get involved with the Lucas situation" than out of jealousy. But as the years passed and the town noted the closeness between the two, Dan's resentment had grown. He knew that it was mostly his fault. He could have forced Karen to take child support or at least insisted on helping out. She was strong willed, but she would have eventually taken his money. No, it was Dan's fault for creating a situation where the boy had to take a job just to help his mom get by. Dan had effectively shoved Lucas into Keith's all too willing arms.

"Well, I guess we can put you to work until Lucas shows up. If he shows up," Dan clarified, handing Nate a set of keys and a card with an address on it. Nathan stared at it a second before breaking out in a big grin. "I'm being punished by getting to drive one of the hottest cars you sell?" He could tell from the card that a customer needed their new GT delivered to their home, 25 minutes outside of Tree Hill. Nate was overjoyed that not only would he get to drive a powerful v8 sports car, but there would be no evil half brother in sight for over an hour of their shared punishment.

Dan shrugged his shoulders at his son's disbelief. He hated sending Nathan away, but if Nathan was out of the office when Lucas arrived it would give Dan a chance to talk to the boy alone, to try to work out some kind of peace agreement between the two of them.

"I know you love that car and I've got two people out sick. It would really help me out if you could drive the car over. I can have Rafe pick you up since he's getting some parts from the factory over there." Dan smiled at the grin that covered his son's face. Leave it to a 140,000 dollar sports car to make up for the confusion of the past few days. When Dan was that age all he'd dreamed about was a fast sports car and a pro contract. He didn't have either of those today and yet he'd found some happiness in life. It wasn't the perfect contentment he'd known with Karen when they were kids, but he was perfectly fine with life. Or so he told himself every night he lay alone in his too large bed.

Nodding enthusiastically, Nate grabbed the directions and the keys and headed for the door. "But Nate," Dan added, "I do expect you back at a decent time. Don't waste the entire night trying to avoid your brother." His son frowned at the word but rolled his eyes as he headed for the parking lot. Anything was better than being trapped at the dealership between his angry brother and his overpowering dad.

The tow truck slid to a stop in front of the massive chrome and glass doors. Keith killed the engine, searching for some kind of reassuring words to give his nephew, who looked like a gladiator about to become close personal friends with a lion. "Just remember that the more you speak, the bigger the hole you'll dig for yourself, Luke." Keith knew how stubborn Karen could be when she was on a mission. And from what Luke had told him, she was definitely determined to get Luke to open up to Dan.

Lucas refused to meet his Uncle's eyes, preferring to stare at the busy parking lot in front of him. It was hard to process all the changes: Keith getting married, his mother in collusion with Dan, and his best friend making cow eyes at his worst enemy. About the only good thing in his life was Brooke, he realized.

Keith leaned over and touched Lucas on the arm to get his attention. The boy was known for losing himself in introspection, but Keith was sincerely worried that his nephew was becoming too alienated from the rest of the people around him: his family, his teammates, his own peers at school.

"Do you want me to go in with you and explain to Danny why you are late?" he asked, knowing that Lucas didn't want to talk to his father any more than necessary. Lucas gave a slight shake of his head. He knew that Keith couldn't run interference between him and Dan for the rest of his life. Or at least the rest of the time he had left in Tree Hill.

Dan paused at the receptionist's desk, having pawned a lesser customer off on one of his salesmen. He stared through the huge glass windows at the front of the dealership and noticed his big brother's hulking truck parked in front of the doors. Staring, he saw his son in the front seat next to Keith, who was apparently cajoling his nephew to get out of the vehicle. Even from that distance, Dan could tell that Lucas was tense and unhappy about something. It bothered him to think that just being near his father caused the boy so much misery. Unable to watch his brother comfort his son, Dan abruptly turned around and headed for the comfort of his large office.

Lucas slowly made his way toward the large circular desk that dominated the immense showroom. A few stiffs in suits glared at him with narrow, disapproving eyes, taking in his shabby basketball shoes and faded grey hoodie. Lucas met their gazes defiantly, not caring if they clearly expected him to rob the joint. He shoved his clenched hands into the pouch of his sweatshirt as the receptionist wearily greeted him. "May I help you?" she asked, her tone clear that help was the last thing she had in mind for him.

He thought about leaving, opening the door and walking home despite what his mother would do to him . . . for a second before muttering a response. "I have to see Dan," he petulantly stated, making it clear from his tone that he wasn't there by choice. His downcast eyes watched absently as his worn rubber soul rubbed a spot on the shiny black marble floor.

The receptionist watched in fascination a moment, before answering. "Perhaps someone else could help you? I have an office manager that would be happy to take any request for money that you have," she offered, convinced the boy in front of her was there to ask for a donation for a sports league team, or perhaps a ward of the state home across town.

Luke's eyes narrowed at her inference that he wanted anything from Dan Scott or his business. "Look, I don't need to see an office manager, I need to see the arrogant ass who owns this place," he articulated slowly, enjoying the stunned look she gave in response to his crass description of Dan.

The raised voices in the showroom drew curious stares from around the room that were magnified when Dan magically appeared beside the poorly dressed teen. "Kathy, I see you've met my son, Lucas," he explained, noting the boy's reaction to his use of the word son.

The woman blanched at her boss's words, clearly not expecting the boy to be a relative. She'd only lived in town six months, and while she'd heard…rumors about another son, she'd never seen a picture of him. Or expected such a grungy looking individual to actually have ties to the impeccable Dan Scott. "Oh course," she stumbled, not sure how to explain that she had refused the boy entry to his father's office.

Dan watched in some confusion, not sure why Lucas was smirking at the woman or what the boy had done to upset his normally implacable receptionist. "Lucas, why don't we head back to my office?" Dan smoothly said, wanting to move this freak show away from his curious staff and customers. Lucas physically recoiled as Dan moved in close and attempted to put his arm around his shoulders. Dan smiled for the people in the showroom, the unsuccessful move still managing to look good from a distant. Dan had managed to avoid bad press regarding Lucas in the past and he didn't intend for half the town to hear the boy complaining now.

Grabbing his worn backpack off the floor, Lucas reluctantly followed the older man down a smooth hallway, to an even more ostentatious office. Not knowing much about décor, Lucas safely assumed that the style was early tacky revival. He stood there awkwardly, noting that Dan seemed almost as uncomfortable as he felt.

Settling himself behind his massive dark wood desk, Dan pointed to the black leather chairs that littered the floor space in front of his office. "There are chairs in case the standing aloofly thing gets old," he commented, only slightly satisfied when the boy sat with a thud.

Silence enveloped the room, as neither Dan nor Lucas attempted to start a conversation. Dan watched with interest as the boy stared at a spot on the wall, clearly bored and bothered with being trapped in the same room as his father.

"Nathan's not here," Dan awkwardly started, shattering the silence of the room. Lucas finally moved his gaze from the spot on the wall to look at Dan's face. "I mean, he was here, but then you weren't so I sent him on an errand." The words were slightly rushed and uncharacteristically rambly for Dan Scott.

"You mean I'm sitting here being tortured while Nathan roams the county, free to do as he wishes?" If he was angry before, he was growing furious with each passing moment. Luke hadn't even noticed his younger brother was missing, his mind still preoccupied with the news Keith had given him. Then again, he'd spent most of his life NOT noticing when Nathan was around.

"I just thought that we could hang out until Nathan returns," Dan offered, nearly cringing at how desperate his own words sounded. Lucas raised an eyebrow at the older man, fighting the urge to laugh in his face. "Hang out? I wouldn't 'hang out' with you if you were the last person on earth," he honestly retorted. Dan had made his life a living hell and Lucas didn't care what regrets the man now felt. Or supposedly felt. There had to be some motivating factor behind Dan's sudden interest in him, and it would only be a matter of time until Lucas figured out what that was.

Dan couldn't think of an appropriate response to that. He'd basically just told the ingrate that he wanted to spend some one on one time with him and gotten totally shut down. Dan hated when negotiations didn't go his way, but the idea of being out maneuvered by his own kid was nearly humiliating. "Well, for better or worse, you're stuck here until closing, so you might as well get used to the idea."

Slouching even lower in the plush leather chair, Lucas apathetically shrugged his shoulders. "You can force me to be here, but you can't force me to ever get used to the idea," he tersely stated. His eyes focused behind Dan, on the wall of pictures of him and Nathan. A lifetime of memories on a wall with no room for himself, he noted silently, stock piling the reasons for hating this man inside him.

Dan tried to find some appealing aspect of this situation to talk about. "This is a good chance for you to see how a business is run." Dan was one of the most successful businessmen in the state and he turned away dozens of requests a year for interns seeking to watch him in action. "Don't you want to be your own boss one day? You could learn a lot hanging around here," he noted. The Scott family was proven entrepreneurs, each generation making a success of their own ideas and business goals. Luke's own mother was cut from a similar fabric, having made a modest success out of her cooking skills with the Café.

Lucas died laughing at Dan's sense of self-importance. "You think highly of yourself, don't you?" he asked, not really wanting an answer to the rhetorical question. "You sell cars, Dan. You haven't discovered a cure for cancer or done anything other than help contribute to the size of the hole in the ozone layer."

Wincing at his words, Dan sat back in his chair, realizing what this boy was. "You're one of those tree hugging, granola eating, Birkenstock wearing environmentalists," he spat out, nearly sick at heart that he'd spawned a tree hugger.

Lucas smiled, knowing he'd found an area that could serve as future ammunition against the man. "I don't eat granola, but the rest is fairly true. You drive and sell SUV's that destroy the planet. I plan on going to college and doing something respectable for a living, something important." Anything that didn't involve manual labor or getting dirt under his fingernails, he thought.

"Fine. Go save the world while I make tons of money and employ dozens of people," Dan taunted, not liking how competitive he felt around his own child. "You'll find out that you can spend a lot of money getting an education to 'serve the world' and still struggle to pay the bills and eat."

"I've already faced that struggle most of my life, while you were off making 'tons of money," Lucas quietly observe red. "But it's nice to know that you had 'tons of money' to pay child support, but you just didn't care to."

His words were biting and vicious and totally accurate, Dan reflected. Paying child support would have been easy, if he'd just done it and not used it as leverage against Karen. He looked away, knowing he could never meet the boy's eyes on this topic. This childish arguing had not served any of his goals.

Their tense standoff was interrupted when an older man stuck his head in the door. "Dan, staff meeting in five," he said, before noticing Lucas. "Hey, Lucas. Great game against Somerset last week."

Lucas stared at the guy in confusion, not recognizing him as any of his teammate's fathers. "Rick Miller, Ashley's father. You came over last year to help her with that government project," he reminded, seeing the lack of recognition in the kid's eyes.

Ashley, the cute and quiet cheerleader he'd had class with last year. Lucas had only gone to her house twice, but he'd been amazed by the sheer number of rooms, and all the expensive furniture the place contained. Ashley wasn't flashy and he'd not been aware that her family had that much money. He just knew he didn't want a classmate coming over to his tiny house. The notion that her father worked for his nearly nauseated Luke.

Dan waved Rick off. "We'll be there in a few minutes." He didn't necessarily want to take Lucas into such a high level meeting, but Dan was afraid of what the boy would do in his absence. He grabbed his notes and headed toward the large conference room, toward the back of the building. "Let's go. You can stop and get a drink or some snacks on the way," he offered, hoping that food might make his son behave.

Finally Lucas stood up and lethargically followed Dan out of his office. He'd rather have nails driven through his fingers than sit through any kind of meeting but the offer of food was too much to pass up. He followed docilely behind Dan as the man schmoozed his way through the lobby, greeting customers and lesser employees alike. Sighing, Lucas paused at a table full of food and prepared himself for Dan Scott's next performance.

Nathan bounced into the office, on a natural high after driving the GT around town. He was only 30 minutes later than Dan had given him, but the time had gone so fast as he tested the engine on the back roads of town. Smiling, Nate gave employees and customers alike curt nods of acknowledgement, playing the dutiful sports hero.

Through the huge glass windows on the side of Dan's office, Lucas watched Nathan as he swaggered through the dealership with an immense aura of belonging. While employees and customers had look at Lucas with disdain, those same people were now falling over themselves to greet his half brother. Lucas lowered his eyes and once again felt inadequate. He knew it was stupid, but he was also tired of fighting the town's attitude toward him and his mother. He was a better person than Nathan in many ways, but he was rarely treated better than the Pete, the town drunk and pariah.

Walking into his dad's office, Nathan abruptly stopped smiling as his eyes met Luke's. His half brother sat at the small conference table sorting various glossy car brochures. "I'm glad to see you're handling the important things," Nate remarked, knowing that he was poking an already unhappy beast. Luke stopped what he was doing and glared at his younger brother. "I'd talk, errand boy."

Nate dropped into the seat across the table from Luke and smiled. "My errand involved careening around town in a GT at 90 miles per hour," he said, revealing in the angry frown that cover Luke's features. "I guess that's a bit better than shuffling paper. Maybe if you do a good job, Dad will buy you a burger or something."

Luke leaned back, his menial task already forgotten. "I guess that would be the first thing he's ever gotten me," Luke said, shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't afford to get into another fight with the idiot and there were some points that Lucas couldn't argue. Dan had never provided him for him while he'd spoiled Nathan senseless.

Dan walked into the room and smiled upon seeing his boys together, having a civil conversation. "How was the drive over?" His smile faltered a bit when he saw Luke's angry face. No doubt Dan had offended him for the millionth time that afternoon. The boy was so incredibly touchy that it was impossible to speak without offending him.

Nate leaned back in his chair and smiled at his dad. "The customer is thrilled with the car. I think I need one of those for Christmas," he suggested, frowning when Dan laughed in his face.

Lucas rolled his eyes as he continued shoving brochures down his make shift paper assembly line. "Why make him wait for Christmas?" The sarcasm rolled off his words and he knew he sounded bitter. Not that it bothered him much because he WAS bitter. He'd struggled for most of his life just to have shoes without holes and Nathan had never wanted for anything. Every whim he had was instantly gratified. The silence in the office grew, as Dan shifted nervously before his two boys.

"No way I am buying you a sports car that costs 140,000," Dan retorted, wondering if Nathan knew how long it took to accumulate that many dollars. Probably not, he reasoned, realizing that he'd spoiled Nathan over the years. He could justify the tricked out Navigator because it was a repo'd unit that his son had fallen in love with. That had taken the initial bite off the price. But there was no way he was buying Nathan another new car. And comparing Lucas' simple lifestyle with his younger son's expectations, Dan knew he needed to make some changes.

Trying to change the topic of conversation away from money, Dan nodded to where Lucas kept shoving brochures together. "You've got a few more hours to go, Nate. Lucas can explain what he's doing and you can help him until it's finished. That should eat up the rest of the night," he explained, before walking out the door. It was good to find any kind of activity that required one brother to talk to the other. Basketball hadn't pulled any kind of teamwork out of the boys but hopefully being forced to work together outside of sports would help their on court performance. He smiled at the idea, realizing that Karen was brilliant. He'd always known she was smart, but her uncanny ability to understand what motivated a person really was a great talent to possess. He smiled as he walked through the showroom toward the wife of a powerful local businessman. Yes, Karen was a special person, he thought as he absently walked the woman through the finer details of the car in front of them.

Brooke ran up the stairs, the sound of her heels tapping against the marble echoing through the ornate foyer. Slamming the door to her room behind her, Brooke dumped her cheerleading bag on the floor and relaxed, knowing that she had the house to herself for a few days. A few days of precious, safe solitude.

She moved around the room, flipping on her CD player to disrupt the oppression echo of her feet on the floor. There was solitude and then there was tomb quality quiet. As the local station blared some inane commercial, Brooke noticed the ornately wrapped present on her make up table. She slowly moved toward the package, as if circling a deadly snake.

Finally tired of the dread that was slowly building inside her, Brooke carelessly yanked the card from the top of the box, plucking it from the cascades of ribbons that suffocated the lid. She slid the heavy card from its expensive linen sleeve, hands shaking when she recognized the handwriting.

Brookie,

Your mother and I will return in a few days. I wanted to leave you with a small token of my affection.

Think of me when you wear it. –Trey

She dropped the note out of disgust, nearly afraid to open the box and find the contents. She watched as the linen note fluttered to the ground, ending face up, the message hounding her from its place at her feet. Snatching the box off her table, she ripped the lid from it and pushed aside the mounds of tissues. Her stomach clenched as the contents of the box were revealed. A lacy demi cut bra and a scandalously small black lace thong lay nestled in there among the layers of tissue. Brooke dropped the box and ran to her bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time to throw up what little she'd had for lunch.

An hour later, she still lay next to the toilet, unable to move from the cold marble floor. From her position in the bathroom, she could still see the box, lying on her bedroom floor, reminding her of the precarious situation she was in. She wanted to move, to take action. But she knew there was no one to call, no one she could tell. Who would understand a stepfather that gave her underwear suitable for a prostitute? Or a stepbrother who still called her late at night wanting to "relive their night of passion."

She finally pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning back against the marble Jacuzzi tub. There had to be a way to handle this, to make sure that Trey stayed away from her and that J.J. stopped calling her. Finally, she couldn't handle it any more. She ran over to the offending box and snatched it up, throwing it into her trashcan. Leaning back into the corner of the room, she finally let a single tear fall, before shutting her mind down by finishing off the bottle of vodka.

"Closing time," Dan cheerfully called out, shutting his computer down. Nathan groaned in relief, flexing his long arms, while Lucas just rolled his eyes at Dan's forced, jovial tone.

Nathan grabbed his keys and rushed to the door. "I've got to go run some errands. I'll be home later dad," he said, only pausing for a second for confirmation that he was free to go. Lucas quietly grabbed his backpack and was almost out the door when Dan's voice stopped him.

"Lucas wait!" Dan said, bringing the boy to a reluctant halt. "Are you planning on walking home? I know you don't have a car. . ." His voice faltered and he stopped speaking. Talk about putting his foot in his mouth, he thought.

Lucas sighed, realizing he'd missed his chance to escape. "Maybe you can buy me a GT so I can get away from you faster," he snarked, before walking out the door. Dan grabbed his keys and some paperwork he needed to finish and ran after him, nodding to his receptionist on the way out the front door.

"Lucas, you can't walk home," he said, his long legs catching up to his son in short time. The sky hinted of a late fall rainstorm making the stray leaves that littered the parking lot dance under the parking lot lights. "It's nearly dark and there aren't sidewalks all the way over to your side of town." He noticed that Luke's shoulders hunched up at the words "your side of town".

Lucas stopped dead in his tracks, allowing the crisp fall air to swirl around them. "In case you haven't noticed, I tend to walk everywhere. It's only a couple of miles," he replied, not wanting to spend another second in the man's presence. His progress toward the road was abruptly stopped as Dan reached out and grabbed Luke's arm.

Dan sighed in frustration and herded the boy over to his new Escalade. "I'm driving you home, no argument," he firmly replied. Lucas had reluctantly complied every time Dan used that authoritative tone earlier in the day, and he decided it was a good tool to use again. "Besides, your mother would skin me a live if I let you walk along side such a busy road."

Lucas smiled at the idea of Karen literally taking a knife to Dan Scott's over inflated hide before he unenthusiastically got in the plush SUV. It had been a long night and the vodka he'd consumed had made him tired. The walk home would be hard under normal circumstances, but with the impending rain and the late hour, Lucas gave in.

The drive was tense, the only sound in the SUV being the soft 80's rock that poured out of the state of the art sound system. Dan looked over at Lucas, who was staring at his backpack for lack of anything better to look at. "Are you hungry?" Dan suddenly asked, not sure if it was too late for Lucas to get dinner at home. He was fairly certain that after spending all day cooking for customers, Karen probably didn't feel like making dinner for her son. And since Lucas had been with him at the dealership all day, he'd missed the chance to stop by the Café for a meal. "I can stop and pick something up for us, or we could even stop someplace and sit down to eat," he offered uncertainly.

Lucas snorted and finally looked up at the older man. "You can take this personally if you'd like, but I don't want to do anything that means spending an extra second with you," Lucas explained, his voice conveying nothing but contempt. Though his grumbling stomach betrayed him, Lucas ignored the physical pains of hunger, focusing on the fact that he was nearly free. He surreptitiously glanced at Dan and nearly felt guilty at the hurt expression that resided on the man's face.

"Fine, I'll get you home as fast as possible," he tersely replied. He'd tried to be nice to kid; he'd forced Lucas into conversation for most of the day. And instead of being more comfortable around each other, things actually seemed worse. Dan knew he'd hurt the boy in unimaginable ways, and that it was going to take a long time to win his son's trust and affection. But he wondered if it was worth it. Nathan was upset, Lucas was stressed out and he and Karen were emotionally exhausted after only a few days of 'the plan'.

They listened to the radio as the SUV made its way to other 'other side' of town. A smile crossed Dan's face as a particular tune made its way out of the speakers. Lucas studied him for a moment, noting that Dan seemed almost gentle while the stupid pop song played. Realizing that his son was staring at him, Dan attempted to clarify. "There was this awful band that played that song at my senior prom. They played it six times in three hours," he laughed, lost in memories of the past, memories of his time with Karen.

Lucas shrugged, not the least bit interested in Dan's reminiscing. "Is that the night you knocked up my mother and left her to raise your kid alone?" he cruelly asked, not caring if it upset his father or not. When was Dan ever concerned with hurting Lucas?

The SUV stopped suddenly outside Luke's house. He slowly turned to face the angry youth, resigned that perhaps it was too late to make amends. "I know that I've hurt you," he began before Lucas cut him off.

"You definitely have a firm grasp of the obvious," Luke retorted, thinking that was the understatement of the century.

Dan forced himself to continue, despite his son's vicious attitude. "I've apologized to you for that, Lucas. I'll keep apologizing until you don't need to hear it anymore. But you need to understand that you aren't running me off with words," Dan explained, his voice growing softer. He'd made a promise to Karen and for once in his life he wasn't going to disappoint her.

Lucas grabbed his backpack and opened the door, hesitating before slamming it shut in Dan's face. "I don't care what you think or say. I used to think all I needed was a father, but it's too late. I definitely don't need you," he said, before slamming the door and running up the stairs of the house and around the porch to his room. He was safe. He might not have much, but he had his own room, which was his personal sanctuary from Dan Scott.

Dan watched his son's lanky frame disappear and slowly drove off, realizing that tonight's battle was over. But there was always tomorrow. He smiled, knowing he was too tenacious to let Luke run him off. He cranked the volume of the radio up and let himself get lost in the music and the memories of a happier time.

Thanks for reading. I know it was a long chapter. I hate making you all read so much, so I'll try to keep future chapters much shorter!

Next:

Dan gets something for Karen, who isn't very impressed

Lucas and Brooke discuss the similarity between falling leaves and their lives

Haley and Nathan get sweet