Warning: This chapter has a bad word and some tense scenes.

A Season in Purgatory
Chapter 44

Nathan ignored the chaos around him, girls running to get into line, fathers in tuxes looking for the right daughter in white dresses, all the while a crazed MC was chatting up the waiting crowd. He moved out of the way as a huge hoop skirt brushed past him and bumped into Brooke, who was hiding out in a corner, still in her robe.

"Brooke, Trey is looking for you. They are already lining up," Nate yelled, fighting to be heard over the din of noise surrounding them. They were beginning to introduce the girls to society and his friend was hiding in a corner. He looked at Brooke for a moment as fear griped him. "You aren't drunk are you?" he asked, looking at her suspiciously calm person.

Brooke gave him a half hearted smile, beyond mellow after the two Valium she'd taken earlier. "No, I'm not drunk. I just don't want to do this thing," she explained, hating that she'd been forced to participate in something so…outdated and fake. Oh, she'd been excited a few months ago. But something was changing inside of her. The expensive dresses and the glamorous parties were losing their appeal to her.

He looked down at her robe in confusion. "Aren't you supposed to be dressed and ready to go?" he asked, totally confused by both her dress and her demeanor. First his dad bails on the party and now Brooke was moving around like a pod person.

"I've got a few minutes. I'm second to the last to be called. You can tell Trey to chill and I'll be out in a few minutes," she distantly replied. At the end of that red carpet was her date for the evening and she just had to figure out a way to avoid spending the rest of the dance with J.J. Her heart lurched a bit, knowing that she couldn't bear touching her step-brother, even if it was for dancing in a room full of people.

Sighing, Nathan watched as she disappeared into the chaos, wishing once again that he'd just stayed at home and invited Haley over to watch a movie. Sighing, he headed toward the club's entrance, determined to get away from this circus.

Brooke moved toward the main entrance to the ballroom, biding her time and ignoring the stares her robe was getting. She smirked and realized that it was all for a good purpose. Taking a deep breath, she heard her name called. Shucking off her robe, she gracefully grabbed her creepy stepfather's arm before he could react to her red sequined mini dress.

Pulling Trey down the stairs she struck a pose as the announcer read her biography, completely ignorant of the shock running through the gathered ranks of Tree Hill's limited old guard society matrons. She found her mother across the room and took in the woman's shocked face. Before she could walk down the red carpet toward her step brother Trey yanked her off to the side, maneuvering her to the foyer. She might have just humiliated her mother but at least she'd not spend the rest of the night dancing with the guy who raped her.

Her mother slowly approached, a look of rage marring her botoxed skin. Smirking, Brooke revealed in pissing the adults off. "I told you I wasn't going to wear that hideous dress you picked out," she commented, not even seeing her mother's hand before it made contact with her face.

"You little shrew," Katherine hissed, humiliated in front of everyone that mattered. "You will pay for this," she said, yanking Brooke's arm toward the doorway of the Club. Paybacks were a bitch.

"Lucas, watch your language," Karen lectured, horrified that he'd resulted to such base language.

Lucas put his hand in the pouch of his hoodie and glared at her and Dan. "I'll watch my language when you get your tongue out of his mouth," he muttered, not caring if he was grounded yet again.

Dan took a few menacing steps toward the boy, intent on teaching him some respect, when Karen pulled his arm back, slowing his march on their son. "Dan, we are here to talk, not fight," she murmured, trying to keep the two men separated. She turned her attention toward her son.

"Lucas, you have to accept that Dan and I have a past together. We were very close at one time, and now we've gotten closer as friends. I don't want you to mistakenly think that you have any right to tell me who I can and can't be friends with," she sternly lectured.

Lucas slumped back against the counter, a sullen look across his face. "I don't think reconnecting with an old friend means swapping bodily fluids with them," Lucas grimly retorted. Karen's eyes widened at his implication, before narrowing again in disapproval.

Before she could speak, Dan leaned over toward his son, anger clearly written on his chiseled features. "You do not speak to your mother like that," Dan demanded, clearly annoyed by his son's treatment of his mother. He poked a finger into the gangly boy's chest, as if to add emphasis to his words.

Lucas brought his arm up and knocked Dan's hand away from his chest. "Don't ever touch me again," Lucas warned, a dangerous glint growing in his eye.

Concerned about the growing animosity, Karen hastily interjected herself between the two men. "Okay, everyone needs to take a deep breath and calm down," she said, waiting for Dan and Lucas to stop glowering at each other. A figure appeared at the door to the kitchen, distracting her from her impending lecture.

Haley stared at the trio uneasily, realizing she'd interrupted something important. She had found Nathan outside the Café and insisted they go inside for something to eat. Now she was regretting his suggestion that they go to a movie instead. Glancing behind her, she noted that Nathan was watching the group with growing apprehension. "Uh, Karen? The delivery guy is in back. I think he needs for you to sign the invoices."

Karen nodded at the girl, pasting a smile on her face. As she walked by Nathan, her smiled warmed a bit. "You look nice, Nathan," she said, motioning toward his tux. He'd rushed from the party without going home to change. "Thanks," he muttered, still concerned by the tension in the dining room. Following Haley toward the counter, he offered a greeting to his father and half brother.

Dan withdrew a bit from Lucas, seeking distance from his earlier anger. "Son, I thought you were at the dance over at the club," Dan questioned, knowing it was much too earlier for the party to be over. He watched as Haley gathered some food from behind the counter, noting that his son was glued to her every movement.

Snapping out of his Haley trance, Nate turned back to his father. "It was boring, so I left early to see if Haley wanted to see a movie or something," he ventured, knowing that his every word was agitating his half brother.

"What? There weren't enough girls at the snob ball for you to lust after?" Lucas asked, knowing he was pushing the limits of polite conversation. But he was tired…of Dan of Nathan…of always being inferior to rest of his family. The last thing Lucas needed was seeing his best friend fall for his jerk of a brother.

Pushing himself away from the counter, Nate moved closer to Lucas. "No, actually I was spending time with your girlfriend, who was very upset. I guess you wouldn't know that fact because you are too busy being pissed at the world to care about anyone else." His words struck a chord with Lucas, but the older boy refused to show it.

He got up in Nathan's face. "Don't tell me about Brooke. I know more about her than you ever will," he retorted, angry that Nathan would lecture him about Brooke.

Dan watched the two boys exchange heated words a moment before injecting himself into their argument. "Stop fighting," he commanded, used to being listened to as an authority figure. He really did want peace between his sons. Instead of reaping the rewards of fatherhood he was harvesting the results of years of hatred.

Lucas turned toward the older man. He was growing more upset with each passing moment. Karen was still in back, leaving him surrounded by his enemies. "Shut the fuck up, Dan. No one asked you for your input." His words resulted in a deathly silence, as if time itself stood still. Dan stood there a moment in shock, realizing that no one had spoken to him that way since he was a kid. Dan was increasingly losing his tolerance toward his wayward son.

"Do not disrespect me like that," Dan said, his tone so low that the hair on the back of Nate's neck stood up. He'd never seen his father so angry, so…uncontrolled in his emotions.

Lucas snorted at Dan's words, not heeding the warning looks that Nathan was attempting to send him. He recklessly plunged forward, determined to speak his mind before his mother returned and started sugarcoating them both. "Whatcha going to do, Dan? Hound me and my mom into the grave like you did your wife?" he asked, bitterness seeping into each word he spat out. Dan took a step backward, as if physically struck. He sucked in a shallow breath, attempting to calm his anger. No one spoke of Deb in that kind of disparaging manner.

Nathan spared his father the trouble of forming a retort. "You leave my mother out of this," he shouted, even as he watched Haley's reaction to her friend's vicious words against his long dead mother. Haley dropped the plate of cookies she'd been carrying on the counter and moved toward Lucas. "Luke, you really need to leave before something bad happens," she cajoled, sensing that Dan and Nathan were beyond furious at the blond haired boy.

He turned his friend. "Why, Haley? We all know it was Dan's persistence that killed her. Why not just be honest about it?" he asked, seeing the impact his words had on the older man. Dan momentarily seemed to shrink in size under the assault of Luke's words. The room seemed shocked at the callousness of Luke's comments.

Dan finally spoke, in a calm, cold tone. "Why don't you just say it? Why don't you just accuse me of killing my wife because of my own greed? That I pushed Deb into having another baby when she didn't want one, and that I wasn't there for her when she was pregnant because I was at work all day and night?"

Dan's words stunned Nate, since he'd never really heard his father talk about his mom's death. And he NEVER spoke about Daniel. At that moment, Nate's heart went out to his father. Dan could be overbearing and pushy, but he didn't deserve to be called a murderer. His mother had died in childbirth and it wasn't anyone's fault. Haley's eyes met Nate's in sympathy as both realized they were watching a train wreck in progress.

Haley stared at the door to the kitchen and wondered what was taking Karen so long. Karen was always able to calm people down and they desperately needed that before Luke started something he couldn't finish with the older man.

Dan continued yelling at Lucas, eight years of displaced grief fueling his willingness to discuss the death of his wife and son. "Well don't think you can make me feel guilty because no one blames me more than myself. It's my fault that Deb and Daniel are dead."

Lucas stopped dead in his tracks, not thinking that Dan was capable of feeling anything even close to guilt and remorse. The realization that he'd accused his father of something that Dan himself had obviously felt responsible for killed any momentum that Lucas had built up.

Nathan walked slowly toward his dad, seeing the near tears that attempted to form in his dad's deep blue eyes. "It's not your fault, Dad. And mom would never want you to blame yourself or feel guilty for wanting another baby." He tried to reach out to his father, but Dan evaded his son's arm and turned away from the other people in the room.

"The truth is Nathan, that if I'd been a better father and husband your mother might not have had such a hard pregnancy and maybe they'd both have lived," he conjectured, not sure he fully understood what had gone wrong to this day.

"Some times pregnancies go badly, Dad. It wasn't anything you did to cause all the problems with the baby," Nathan said, wanting to relieve his father's pain. "I know you never talk about this, but you've got to stop feeling guilty for it. Mom wouldn't have wanted you to feel that way. And neither would Daniel." Part of Nathan was thankful that they were finally talking about that day so long ago. He'd wanted to discuss this since he was a kid but felt it was just too painful for his dad.

A snort from across the room disrupted their father and son bonding moment. They both turned toward Lucas, who had a look of incredulity on his face. "Sure, let's all feel sorry for Dan Scott, perfect father and model citizen." Haley reached out, attempting to restrain him. There was a particularly sullen look on her friend's face, one that she'd never quiet seen before. "Lucas, you need to stop…" she was cut off as Lucas shoved her hand off his arm.

He continued across the room, getting closer to where Nate and Dan stood. "Sure, let's all feel sorry for a guy who can only spare emotion and feeling for people who are dead and in the graveyard," he spat out, his voice rising in conjunction with his anger. "I don't know if it's sad or pathetic that you've shown more love to your dead son than you've ever given me."

The room was stunned into silence, the only sound coming from the hum of the industrial strength refrigerator in the back room and Dan's breathing, which had become particularly labored under his oldest son's latest verbal assault. Haley watched the anger spread across Dan's face and was worried. Lucas had crossed a line with the older man, and Dan wasn't about to back down. Dan slowly began stalking across the Café's main room, closing the distance between he and his son. Lucas stood his ground, meeting Dan toe to toe.

Dan seemed to tower over Lucas in that moment, his fury adding to his larger frame. "If you are smart, you won't ever bring up my son again," Dan carefully said, wanting nothing more than to flat out hit the kid. As much as that would quell his growing anger, that single action would destroy his fragile relationship with Karen and any attempt to build a family. No amount of satisfaction was worth that. And more than likely, that was Luke's main goal, to goad Dan into something so hideous that Karen would once again banish him from their lives.

Lucas smirked at him, satisfied that he'd finally found the one chink in Dan's emotional armor. "What? You don't want everyone to know about all the time you spend at their grave sites talking to their tombstones?" He was recklessly ignoring the danger signs that Dan was giving off like a neon sign in the dark. He'd once followed Dan to the cemetery, interested to know why he was on the poor side of town. He'd stayed hidden behind a huge oak tree, watching his father spend time with his dead family.

"Why not tell everyone? I mean, you've already humiliated me my entire life. Why not tell everyone that you mourn a son that's been dead for his entire life but haven't given me a second thought?" Luke's fury had been building for 16 years and he finally felt free unleashing his anger toward his father. The pain of his life long rejection had an outlet and for once he wasn't going to avoid confronting the man responsible for leaving him to grow up feeling worthless.

Dan remained motionless, oblivious to Nathan's attempts to get in between them, Lucas being the sole focus of his attention. His hand unconsciously curled into a fist, itching to knock the smirk off Luke's face. The action didn't go unnoticed. Haley grabbed Luke's arm, once again attempting to drag him away. Luke gently pushed her aside, inching even closer to Dan. Nathan shook his head, sad that it had come down to this. He ignored the cell phone that continually vibrated in his tux jacket. At that moment in time, nothing was more important to him than protecting his father.

Haley understood her friend's anger but was disgusted by Luke's cruel words and aggressive behavior. She alone could hear the jealously, pain and hurt that lingered behind his words. Luke couldn't see his cruelty because he was too lost in his own pain, a pain that was amplified by the knowledge that his own father didn't love him.

"Last warning, Lucas," Dan said, wanting to give the boy every opportunity to back down. Lucas ignored his warnings yet again. "At least the kid didn't live to see what a sucky father you are," he taunted, before a voice stopped him from continuing.

"Lucas," Karen's voice rose out of the back room of the Café. In all the tension surrounding their fight, no one had noticed her standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She's spent the last five minutes listening to her son assault his father with cruel and vicious reminders of his first wife and their little boy. She slowly walked into the room, nearly sick to her stomach from the barrage of hatred in Luke's words.

Sighing, Dan unclenched his fist; grateful that Karen's voice had stopped him from hitting their son. He didn't know if he could have stopped himself without her presence. Luke stared his mother in the eye, not caring if she heard what he said. He'd spent his entire life being battered by Dan's indifference and cruel comments. Where had she been then? Her little speeches of rising above it seemed kind of moot now that his father was invading his life and his family. There was no place to rise above it to. He felt backed into a corner for the first time in his life.

"How could you be so cruel? I know I raised you better than to attack someone using their weakest spots. God, Luke, when did you become so sadistic and uncaring?" she asked, truly confused by where her shy little boy had gone the past few months. Dan took advantage of her moving between them and walked off to a corner for a moment, trying to gather his reserves. Nathan walked up behind him and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, Dad?" His phone went off again, distracting Nate somewhat from his father's pain. He didn't want to check the caller id on the phone and ignore his father, who was literally shaking from the confrontation with Luke.

Taking one last deep breath, Dan turned to face his son. "I've been better. I'm glad Karen walked in when she did, or I don't know what I might have done," he unevenly admitted, not wanting to envision taking a swing at his own child. Nathan looked uncertain, before Dan reached out and mussed his hair. "I have to get out of here." He felt horrible for leaving Karen to deal with Lucas, but at that moment he was suffocating on his own grief and pain. Dan gave Karen a distraught look before walking slowly out of the Café.

His phone vibrated again, so Nathan finally grabbed it from his pocket and answered it in an annoyed tone. "What is it?"

Ignoring the argument that was growing between Karen and her son, Nate's face grew serious at the voice on the other end of the phone. "Brooke….I can't understand you," he yelled, drawing the attention of the room. Nathan's face grew tight with tension as he heard screaming in the back ground of the cell. Brooke was obviously panicked and in trouble, but he couldn't make out a single word she was saying. "Brooke…where are you at?" he asked, his own concern rising with each moment that passed.

Lucas ignored his mother's scathing lecture and moved closer to Nathan. "What's going on with Brooke?" he asked, scared by his brother's reaction. Looking over at Luke, Nathan closed the phone, shaken by what he'd heard. "The connection dropped. I think something is seriously wrong."

Luke's stomach dropped in fear, knowing that very little in life could shake Brooke Davis. "What did she say?" Nathan shook his head, realizing that he had to go find his friend. He headed toward the door but was stopped by Lucas who grabbed his arm and spun him around. "What is going on?" The room was confused by Nathan's actions.

"I don't know she was screaming something and then I heard some guy tell her to hang up," he explained, watching as Karen and Haley's faces frowned at his words. "She's supposed to be at that stupid deb ball," Lucas shouted, thrown off balance by his girlfriend's situation. How could she be in trouble when she was at some party with the richest people in town?

"I don't know what's wrong, I left her at the party an hour ago and she was fine," Nate said, moving toward the door. Lucas followed him, ignoring Karen's orders to stay where he was. "Mom, can it. You can yell at me later, but I'm going to find Brooke." He ran to catch up with Nate, ignoring everything else. At that moment, he didn't care about Dan or his mother.

I should have a poll to see which character is the most annoying right now. Luke was pretty horrible, but some would say it's 16 years past due. Next up, Brooke finds some trouble and someone cues the Barry White music. Yes, I'm sure no one's old enough to get the reference but me! Thanks for reading and replying!