A Season in Purgatory
Chapter 60

Haley looked up from the Café's counter as the bell on the door jangled. Brooke sauntered in and dropped her book bag dejectedly on the floor. Haley gave her a sympathetic look, knowing that she'd had a rough few months. They'd started hanging out after the night she'd landed on Haley's door. There was something about Brooke that made Haley want to take care of her. Someone needed to take care of her, she realized, having seen Brooke stay at her house on and off for weeks without a single call from her parents. Then again, based on what Haley had seen of Brooke's parents, maybe she was safer sneaking into her friends' houses at night.

"What happened?" Haley asked. Brooke had been called to the principal's office during last period at school. She wasn't totally shocked, since both Brooke and Lucas had managed to skip school as often as they went lately.

Brooke took the glass of diet coke that Haley offered and pushed her auburn hair back from her pale face. "Apparently Peyton told our cheer advisor that I wasn't a good captain and because I've missed so many practices lately that I was unfit to lead the girls the rest of the season." At some point, Brooke would get accustomed to people dicking her over in life, but the fact that her former best friend was trying to take away the only thing good in her life was sad.

Haley's eyes widened in shock. "I knew that Peyton was mad, but this is a bit extreme isn't it?" she asked, uncertain what a herd of cheerleaders considered friendship to be.
Haley was more comfortable with the Rivercourt guys than most of the females she knew. She'd never really had a close female friend. There was something about their invasive inquiries and gossip that scared her away in grade school and she'd never really cared to find out if they'd grow up in the interim. Brooke was an exception that she'd made for Lucas, though the girl was growing on her.

"I don't know what her problem is," Brooke finally replied, years of loyalty to her best friend still trying to silence her true opinion of the faux curled one. "She told me she didn't want Lucas and now that he's with me, she goes all psycho on me."

Haley considered her words for a moment, knowing that her opinion of Peyton was less than charitable. "Brooke, she's one of those girls that feed on drama. If you broke up with Lucas tomorrow, she'd probably be completely uninterested in him." While Haley was still trying to adjust to Lucas dating a cheerleader, she was smart enough to know that Brooke loved being with him. She might be overly predatory, but she was honest. Haley could deal with honesty over Peyton's games any day.

Brooke pushed her glass away in frustration. "God, enough about the Frizz monster," she decided, putting off another bitchfest about her former friend. "Principal Turner told me that I'm walking on thin ice and that if I continue to skip school without reason, they'll take the captaincy away from me." She'd been captain of the cheerleaders since her sophomore year and the thought of losing her position scared her. There were some days when going to school simply seemed beyond her grasp

"I think you've got bigger problems than that," Haley mumbled, not wanting to discuss her lack of sobriety. She'd tried that once and gotten smacked down in front of their English class. Brooke's penetrating stare forced her to continue. "Brooke, we both know you've got problems. There's a reason you're suddenly missing school."

Brooke evaded her friend's probing comments by staring at the deserted sidewalk outside the Café's large window. She'd managed to put everyone off that night they'd fled her house and her step-brother, but she knew she'd never be able to avoid their questions, especially Nate and Luke's. "I don't want to talk about my step-brother," she decisively stated, hoping to end Haley's inquisition before it got started.

Haley grabbed Brooke's hand to gain her attention. "It's not just your step-brother that's the problem, is it?" she quietly asked. Brooke's eyes widened at her words, before panic set in. "I don't know what you mean," she stuttered for a moment, looking so unlike her ultra hip public persona.

She moved around the counter to sit next to her friend at the bar. "Last night when we went back to your house to get more clothes, I saw you and your step-father," she tactfully stated, knowing that Brooke's problems went much farther than just her step-brother.

"What did you see?" Brooke reluctantly asked, not able to keep all Trey's lecherous acts straight. She avoided Haley's eyes, knowing what ever her friend saw was more than likely humiliating.

Reaching over, Haley lifted Brooke's chin up so she could see her eyes. "After your step- father called you into his office, I got worried. I left your room and went to find you," she explained. "I saw him groping you in his office." Haley had stood outside in the hallway and seen the older man in the elegant suit chasing her friend around his office.

Brooke sat back as if she'd been physically hit. "You have to understand, Haley, I never wanted him to touch me," she whispered, desperate that no one around heard her family shame. "I never wanted him to do that, you have to understand," she softly pleaded, her voice clearly showing the hysteria she felt.

Haley put an arm around her friend and pulled her in for a quick hug. "Of course you didn't want him touching you, Brooke. That much was obvious by how hard you were fighting to get away from him," she gently explained. Haley could tell that Brooke evidently blamed herself for her step-father's actions. "I saw you shove him away, Brooke. And I heard him tell you that it didn't matter because he had 24-7 access to your bedroom."

Unable to stop the tears from falling, Brooke opted to hide her face in her arms. "No one was supposed to know, Tutor Girl. I've tried so hard to just stay away from the house," she muttered, grateful that the Café was not full of people. Brooke had spent years carefully crafting an artificial world, one that included glamorous parents and exotic vacations. Her real world was like an exquisite snow globe, full of fake images of an idealized scene. And now even that façade was crumbling around her.

"Brooke, you aren't supposed to avoid home because your step-family is abusing you. We need to tell someone," Haley decided, sick of seeing this girl suffer so much. What she'd seen last night clearly explained Brooke's tendency to get drunk on a regular basis. She was fighting off people in the place she was supposed to be safest. Haley had to give Luke a bit of a break. She'd given him grief about sneaking Brooke in and out of his room, when he all he was doing was trying to protect her. What Haley viewed as Lucas deliberately trying to piss his mother off was actually him trying to help Brooke escape that house.

Brooke sat up and attempted to wipe some of the mascara off her face. "I told him that if he didn't leave me alone that I'd tell someone and Trey said that they'd never believe me because of my reputation," she sniffled. She'd lived a lot in her 16 years, but she wasn't the town slut or anything. A part of Brooke was relieved that Haley believed her. She'd tried to tell Peyton, who wrote off her uneasy feelings toward her step-father several times.

"That's not true, Brooke. If you told someone, the police would get involved and they'd make sure you were safe," Haley concluded, knowing that there had to be a way to fix this situation. She just didn't know who to tell that could help, without humiliating Brooke.

Brooke stood up and began pacing in front of the counter. Her heart was pounding so hard that she could barely hear anything around her. She clenched her fists, desperately wishing she could walk around the counter and pull out a bottle of beer. Finally she turned toward Haley and tried to explain. "My father doesn't want me to move in with him, Tutor Girl. My mother will send me off to boarding school if I say a word about Trey." Katherine had been very clear about that point. If she had to chose between her wealthy, young husband and her daughter, Brooke would have a one way ticket to obscurity.

"Wouldn't boarding school be safer than living in that house?" Haley asked, trying to show Brooke the logic of telling an adult the truth. As mature as she was, Haley didn't know what to do in this situation.

Brooke stood there looking like a lost child. She glanced over at Haley in fear. "If I leave town then I won't have anyone in my life that cares about me. No Lucas, no cheer team, no Nathan," she counted off the few people who would care if she went away. She looked over at Haley with a look akin to helplessness on her face. "I'm so afraid, Haley. There are so many things I'm not telling Lucas and Nate, so many things that would scare them off if they knew."

Haley shook her head at the girl's words. "They both love you, Brooke. They would never think that you wanted these men to assault you," she tried to explain, but the fear on Brooke's face was clear. She reached out and grabbed Haley's hand in mild panic. "You can't tell them what's going on, Hales. Promise me you won't tell them."

Her voice was getting higher and more hysterical by the second, Haley noted. She finally nodded at Brooke, just so the girl could start breathing again.

With a determined sigh, Haley walked back around the counter. "Then we have to find a way to get you out of your house and make sure that you don't get sent off to school." Brooke looked at her new friend, evaluating Haley's potential to let her down yet again. "I guess I'm open to any plan. I mean, it can't be worse than relying on valium and alcohol."

Haley's eyes widened, not realizing that Brooke was mixing drugs with booze. She buried any thought that this was a huge disaster and smiled at her friend. "We'll find a way out, Brooke."

Lucas dropped the screwdriver on the workbench as he sank against the surface for a moment's rest. He was worn out but had promised Keith that he'd keep some consistent hours in the shop. Love and an impending family had done wonders for Keith's energy levels and suddenly everyone in town wanted him to work on their cars. He'd expanded hours the shop's hours to include late Tuesday and Thursday nights and was now entertaining the idea of working on Saturdays.

Luke wanted to see his uncle happy and successful, but part of him felt isolated by his Keith's new family. He couldn't help but feel like the sands were shifting and his life was now fundamentally different that it had been a mere 5 months ago. His uncle was building his own life and soon he would have a son that needed all of his attention. Luke felt such a loss, a sense that he'd been replace by a baby that hadn't even been born yet. By TWO babies that hadn't been born yet.

A noise at the door caused Luke to turn back toward the office. Keith smiled at his nephew, attempting to disguise the fear he felt. Luke looked totally lost. He seemed to amble about the shop most days, lacking focus. "Come on and tell me what's going on, Luke," he said, motioning his nephew away from the car and into his office.

Luke dropped warily onto the hideous plaid couch that dominated the office. It was threadbare and gross, but was oddly comforting to Lucas, as he'd spent years napping on it when his uncle babysat him.

"You've not said much about Dan and Karen," Keith noted, knowing that Luke's parents were at the source of most of his pain.

Luke frowned at his words. "You mean since they dropped the bombshell about the impending bundle of joy?" he sarcastically replied. No one really knew what to say to him about Dan and Karen. What could anyone say?

Keith shook his head in agreement. He was so happy that Anna was pregnant and he was going to have a baby. He couldn't imagine such a great blessing being twisted and contorted. "It's definitely a shock, Luke," he slowly replied, not wanting to fan the flames of anger that so clearly burned within the boy. "All you can do is try to make the best of it."

Luke sullenly stared at a spot on the grey concrete floor, a reminder that he'd probably be stuck in a garage the rest of his life. "I don't want to make the best of it," he announced, being brutally honest. "I hate Dan. He's tainted everything in my life and now he's taken my mother away from me."

Keith leaned back in his chair, not shocked by the anger he heard in Luke's words. "Karen loves you, Lucas," Keith slowly began, knowing that his words sounded hollow. "She's just trying to do what's best for you and the new baby."

Shrugging his shoulders, Lucas attempted to avoid another 'accept the baby' speech. "Did you ever just want to get out of this town?" he abruptly asked his uncle. Keith looked over at him, hearing a new desperation in his voice.

"I went to Europe for a few months. That really helped," he offered. Tree Hill was home, for better or worse. Keith had accepted that years ago.

"I just want to get away from all of it. Dan, Mom, the impending brat," he caustically replied. "Basketball."

The last word shocked Keith. Basketball had always been Luke's refuge from the world. "Are you thinking about quitting the team?" he asked.

Luke stared blankly at the wall for a moment. "I'm tired of it being used against me," he replied. "If I don't do what Mom wants, she threatens to ground me from basketball. It's what started this mess with Dan in the first place." If he wasn't playing, his mom couldn't force him to do things, he reasoned.

Keith realized this was worse than just anger. Lucas seemed nearly depressed. "Lucas, you can't just quit life," he gently reminded his nephew, knowing that he hated high school as much as Luke did. "You just need to find a way to get through this sober." His tone was chastising as it was loving. He'd seen the signs that Lucas was drinking. He'd opened the garage a few times to find his nephew sleeping in the unheated office. Karen had called numerous nights asking Anna and Keith if they'd seen her son. However, Keith didn't know how to intervene without offending his brother or Karen. No one liked being told that they sucked at being parents. Keith was going to talk to Anna and see if they could find a way to help Lucas without causing an all out family war. The last thing the Scott family needed was war with two new babies on the way. Anna and Karen deserved a calm pregnancy. Keith just couldn't see things calming down anytime soon.

Things seemed to be getting worse and for once, Keith had no idea what to say or do.

Dan carefully leaned over the spreadsheets and ledgers that littered the top of Karen's kitchen table and attempted to balance the books for Karen's Café. The numbers danced before him, darting in and out of balance before another column would bring chaos to his end of month book reconciliation. Exhaustion was setting in. He'd spent most of the day with Karen, fetching her crackers and drinks to soothe her morning sickness away. He frowned at those words. Her "morning" sickness had lasted for weeks and seemed to make her weaker with each passing day. He insisted she make another appointment with her obstetrician who had patiently listened to her complaints and suggested a modified diet and rest. Karen had finally fallen asleep and Dan had kept his promise to sort out her business accounts. He realized that at some point, he needed to hire a CPA to help with both businesses. Dan just didn't have time to devote to the more mundane aspects of his business now that he was helping Karen with hers.

Glancing up at the clock, Dan saw it was nearly midnight. He leaned back in the rickety chair and contemplated his options. He didn't want to leave Karen alone, but Lucas was nearly two hours late for curfew. He frowned at the implication. If he couldn't trust the boy to come home, why would he trust that Luke would make sure his mother was properly hydrated? Luke's behavior had worsened in the wake of the announcement of the new baby. Dan knew that he had to do something soon, before the boy self-destructed.

Hearing a noise on the porch, he turned toward the door as Lucas attempted to sneak into the back of the house. His son had the good sense to at least be sheepish about his late return home before anger took over. "Why are you here?" Lucas demanded, unnerved by the sight of his father in his kitchen looking like he owned the place.

Dan didn't miss a beat before answering. "Why are you two hours late?" he demanded, unsatisfied that the boy's recalcitrant response. "The safety chain stopped me from using my door," he admitted as he attempted to head straight for his room. Dan leaned back in his chair and blocked his son's retreat. "Yeah, I put the chain up just to make you come through this door." Dan was sick of tiptoeing around the boy and his tumultuous mood swings. Karen might be willing to let the boy sulk about, but Dan was more confrontational.

Lucas glared at the arm that blocked his retreat and reluctantly leaned back against the worn refrigerator next to the door. He nodded toward the ledgers that covered the small table. "Are you planning to move in on Mom's business too?"

Dan considered his words for a moment before answering. "Someone has to look out for your mother and you apparently don't care enough to do it," he casually replied, happy to see a bit of disbelief on his son's face at those words.

"Where was all of this concern when she was preggers the first time around?" Luke asked, genuinely interested in why Dan was so interested in this baby.

Dan gave his son's words serious thought before he finally answered. "You don't have to let the mistakes you make as a kid haunt you the rest of your life." His meaning was clear to Lucas, who was obviously making so many mistakes right now.

Lucas laughed at Dan's words. "Nice to be referred to as a 'mistake'," he simply replied, knowing that no matter what Dan said, Luke would always be his mistake.

Dan winced at his words. "I wasn't referring to you as a mistake but rather my actions at the time," he explained. "Why do you always chose to interpret everything I say as an insult?"

"Maybe because every thing you've ever said to me or about me is an insult," he dispassionately said. "You know, all those things you said to Keith about never wanting me to be born?"

Dan wanted to strangle his older brother. "Keith shouldn't have repeated those things to you." Dan had once been an angry young man who ran his mouth off about an unexpected baby. Keith should have known better than use Dan's frustration against him.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have said them in the first place," Luke countered. He moved around Dan's hulking form, intent on getting away from this toxin in his life. "I'm sick of this conversation."

Dan followed him into his room, not wanting to wake Karen up with more discord between them. "If you ever listened, you'd see that I'm trying to create a new conversation." Dan took a moment to look at the boy's room. Even though he'd spent a lot of time in Karen's house, it was rare that he ever got a glimpse of Luke's inner sanctum. Unlike Nate's room, there were few electronic devices but rather books spread out on every surface. It was more akin to a monk's cell than a teenage boy's room and the mismatched furniture didn't help the décor.

Luke tossed his shoes on the floor and maneuvered his way around his father. "Of course you want to create a new conversation because the old one doesn't help worm your way into Mom's good graces."

Dan threw his hands up in disgust. "I give up. You just want something to argue about and I'm sick of providing it," he announced as his seemingly disinterested son got ready for bed.

Turning to face his father, Lucas sighed in agreement. "Hey, that's the first thing you've provided for me since I was born," he declared. "I guess I should be happy with that."

Dan turned to leave, realizing that his moment with his son was over and that he had to get home so he could see Nathan before he went to bed. He was running himself ragged going between his home and Karen's, as well as their businesses. He silently wondered how he'd manage once the baby arrived. He paused at the door and looked back at his son. "You need to make sure your mother is drinking enough fluids. And you might want to be careful with Brooke. I saw her leaving the other morning."

Luke's face grew stormy at the mention of his girlfriend. "Leave Brooke out of this."

"Drinking and girls is always a mistake, Luke. You need to make sure she's on the pill so she doesn't get pregnant," Dan suggested, hoping that his son was being smart about birth control. "It's hard to use a condom when you're too drunk to think."

"Dan Scott giving birth control lectures? That's a bit ironic, don't you think?" Luke commented as he leaned back against his dresser for a moment. "Not that it's any of your business but that's not why she's staying here," he said, not sure why he felt the need to clarify the state of his sex life to Dan.

His son's words caught his interest. "What is going on with Brooke then? Why doesn't she ever go home?" There was something about Dan's question that resonated with his son. He could see that there was a perfectly good reason that both his boys were protecting this girl. But from what?

"That's the question of the year," Luke softly replied before shutting the door in Dan's face. And it was a question Luke desperately wanted more information about.

As always replies are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.