A Season in Purgatory
Chapter 61

November

The crisp fall air swirled gently around the bleachers at the River court, and Brooke snuggled deeper into Luke's strong shoulders. The fall weather had its cool grip firmly on Tree Hill as fall gave into winter. It was late on Thursday night, with curfew long ignored and school only a vague notion looming on the horizon.

Brooke slowly exhaled, having missed Lucas while he was out of town. "I'm glad you are back," she whispered, feeling a warmth she associated with alcohol and Lucas. Karen's increasingly difficult pregnancy had caused Dan to seek advanced medical advice. He'd insisted that both Nathan and Lucas accompany them to Chicago, where he'd found an expert in high risk pregnancies. They'd finally met up at the River court and had gone from kissing to substances in less than an hour.

Luke nuzzled her hair in an attempt to forget the past three days. "I hate him," he confided to his girlfriend.

She pulled away and looked at him a moment. "Chicago isn't the worst place in the world," she admitted, knowing the shopping was first rate. Brooke loved the anonymity that big cities offered. It was so different from the judgmental people in Tree Hill, who always knew too much about your business. "Besides, he did take you and Nate to a Bulls game."

"The game was awesome, but everything Dan does is a calculated action," Luke replied. "He doesn't do anything without expecting something back from it." Dan loved flashing his credit cards and money around, much to Luke's dismay. He'd insisted on first class airplane tickets and an exclusive hotel suite for his "family". The word made Luke cringe nearly as much as Karen revealing that he'd never been on a plane before. It was like he was a charity case that Dan and Nate pitied. "The city was awesome, though. Especially the architecture."

She tenderly held his hand while he talked, knowing that he needed to vent. It was better that he talked to her rather than the beer bottle he currently held. Brooke frowned, wondering when he'd begun out drinking her. "What did the doctors tell Karen?" Brooke curiously asked. "Is she going to be okay?"

Lucas considered how empathic Brooke was, especially since Karen had never shown an ounce of concern for his girlfriend. "They say she has something called preeclampsia," Luke slowly explained, not sure if he really understood what Dan and Karen had patiently tried to describe to their sons. Part of Lucas wanted nothing to do with the devil spawn baby, but the other side of him couldn't help but be concerned for his mother's health. She was too old to be having babies anyway. "She's got really high blood pressure and swollen ankles and some kind of protein in her blood that she shouldn't have."

She surreptitiously snatched his beer bottle and drained it. "What did the doctors tell her?" She wasn't up on baby conditions and she didn't know if this was a serious mom killing thing or not. After all, she didn't know Deb was having problems until she was standing beside Nate at her funeral.

"Dan said something about medicine, diet changes and bed rest," Lucas said, scared that these changes would bring Dan into his life on a more regular basis. Just spending three days trapped in the same hotel suite with the guy stressed Luke out. He was starting to lose his buzz with all this talk about his parents.

"I really needed something stronger than this," Lucas commented, looking in disdain at the bottle of pills he was washing down with his new bottle of beer. He'd only had two of the Oxycontin and it was barely helping him get to that sweet place of numbness that he'd become so dependent upon the past few months. His mother was barely able to get out of bed and Dan was practically living in their small house. Nights like these were Luke's attempts at escaping the insanity at home.

Brooke agreed with his assessment of the situation. "It's not the best buzz in the world, but it's better than nothing," she commented, dizzily leaning back into Broody's warm shoulders. Her smaller body was affected more than his even if she'd built up years of tolerance. "Besides, we can't do X every night." As flush as she was, that was one habit that threatened to drain her spending money.

Lucas attempted to stand up, before his balance or lack there of got a hold of him. Before he could fully recover, a bright light flashed into his eyes, followed by a set of white and blue lights from a Tree Hill police car.

"Everyone needs to slowly put their hands up now," a harsh sounding official police voice demanded.

Dan settled in front of the plasma television with a bowl of potato chips and a bottle of imported beer. "I'm glad that we're getting some alone time together, Nate," he said, looking over at his boy with fondness. It was great having both his sons with him in Chicago, but the underlying tension between him and Lucas wasn't conducive to bonding. It was nice to just focus on Nate and not worry about how Lucas interpreted every word he said to his youngest son.

He'd really started to miss being around Nathan. Karen's health had really pushed all of them into new roles and relationships, he decided. Nate was hanging out with Haley almost every second of the day. Brooke and Lucas were out at all hours of the night. The kids were really growing up and developing their own personalities and lives.

"It's nice to have you at home after work," Nathan carefully said as he leaned over and nabbed a few of the chips from his dad's bowl. He wasn't a total idiot, like Lucas. Nate understood that his dad and Karen were doing the best they could. But there were times that he was almost jealous of the attention his dad was giving Karen. It's like he had a limited supply and she was leaching Dan's time with Nate. They'd managed to miss the first half of the NBA season and Nate was privately happy that his dad had finally been able to hang out with him.

30 minutes into the game, Dan's cell phone began ringing. Nathan frowned at the phone, knowing that someone somewhere desperately wanted his dad for something. Frowning, Nate paused the game on their TIVO and tossed the remote to the side table, knowing that his dad was mostly likely about to leave home.

Dan finally returned to the living room and took in his son's sullen mood and the abrupt end of their basketball night. Nate had dumped all the junk food out and was in the process of restocking the beer into the bar.

"Nate, look I'm really sorry," Dan disjointedly said, truly preoccupied with the news he'd just gotten. He slowly sat down and starting putting his shoes on.

Nate looked up from the sofa for a moment. "What? Did you make another big contract sale to someone?" He'd missed a lot of things in Nate's life because he'd been chasing some big business deal.

Dan shook his head and walked over to where his son sat. "It's your brother," he realized, knowing that those words always upset Nate. He looked around a moment, spying his wallet on the end of the end table.

"What did he do now?" Nathan snarkily asked. Dan looked up at him as he grabbed his keys off the counter and headed toward the door. "He's been picked up by the Tree Hill police for public intox and substance abuse." Nate stopped in stunned silence. Dan turned toward him and gave him a look that boarded on desperation as well as anger. "I'll try to be back in an hour, Nate. Maybe we can restart the game then."

Sheriff Chris Durham met Dan at the entrance to the Tree Hill correctional complex and ushered his old friend into his office. Closing the door, the stocky man offered Dan a chair as he moved to sit behind his desk.

"You've got to do something about that boy of yours, Danny," he succinctly said, summarizing the pertinent facts as if filling out an incident report. "This is the third time we've picked him up in the last two months." He couldn't bring himself to actually arrest the boy, having been lifelong friends with both Karen and Dan.

Dan's massive shoulders slumped a bit, knowing that his friend was right. The police would usually hold Luke for a few hours and call Dan to come and get him. The scared straight tactics weren't working and the situation was getting worse. "I honestly don't know what to do with him," Dan slowly began, not wanting to discuss the matter at all.
"He's never been in trouble before." Not that Dan would really know since he wasn't around "before".

The sheriff leaned back in his chair, considering Dan's words a moment before replying. "Dan, your boy has a substance abuse problem." He didn't see any reason to mince words. Danny wasn't a potential vote, he was a friend and as such, he deserved the flat out truth. Other people in town might be afraid of Dan but Chris wasn't one of them.

"He's angry," Dan sullenly replied, as if that excused the boy's behavior. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Chris' help with Lucas. God knows anyone else would have taken him to juvie and tarnished the kid's record. At the very least, the situation was something that Dan desperately wanted to keep away from Karen. She had enough to worry about without more Lucas problems added to the pile.

Chris raised an eyebrow at Dan's assessment of the situation. "Okay, your boy has a substance abuse problem in addition to anger issues. That's worse. He needs some professional help. Have you considered getting him some counseling?"

"In this town? That'd be great. Then everyone can talk about how much I screwed the kid up and now he's seeing a shrink. That'll be good for his self esteem," Dan sarcastically replied.

"Or are you just worried that the town will see this situation as a reflection of you as a person? This issue is a bit more important than your reputation and pride, Dan," he gently reminded the man in front of him.

Chris took Dan's contemplative silence as a sign that he was actually willing to listen to someone else for a change. "The girl's not helping, either," he weighed in. "They are clearly codependent on each other which is why we always find them together and not alone or with other people."

Hearing Karen's constant criticism of Brooke's influence on Lucas piqued his attention. "Brooke's got problems too," Dan confided.

Chris looked at the information sheet in front of him. The kids didn't have an official file as neither of them had been arrested. Yet. "Is she Katherine Davis' kid?" he asked. "All we ever get is a housekeeper when we call her parents." They shared an expectant look. No one had every accused Katherine of being maternal. "We can't legally charge her for the drugs, since she has a prescription for it. But mixing Oxycontin with alcohol is a good way to die." He could tell from their appearance that both of them had taken a steady dose of the pills along with the booze. And he didn't want to know why a doctor had given a 16 year old girl a prescription for pain medication.

"Let me sign her out. If you wait for her parents to get back, she'll be legally able to drink," Dan revealed. He had no hope that he could stop what was going on with Brooke but he was concerned that the police would keep her until her mother eventually showed up to claim her. Not that Katherine would cut short a vacation because her daughter needed her, Dan realized.

Sighing, Chris realized that he was at a dead end. "She's not under arrest, so I can let her go with you," he decided. "But Dan the next time I pick them up, they'll be taken to Juvenile Hall and processed into the system. I can't keep making special allowances because he's your kid."

Dan realized that his friend was serious. He couldn't have asked for more chances. Lucas was burning every bridge in town and Dan felt helpless at channeling the boy's anger into something less destructive. "I understand. And I appreciate everything you are doing for them."

"How is Karen doing?" Chris asked, genuinely concerned for his friend's health. He was as shocked as anyone in town that the two of them were back together and expecting a baby. "Have you told her about any of this?"

Dan shook his head. "She's had such a hard time with the morning sickness that I've not wanted to worry her," he explained. Karen was in her second trimester and as the holidays approached, she was getting weaker instead of moving out of the nausea stage. "We took a trip to see a doctor that specializes in high risk pregnancies."

Chris looked momentarily confused. "She's not particularly old, where's the risk factor?" he asked, having weathered three babies of his own. His wife had been a warrior through all the pregnancies, though. She'd barely paused to give birth and was at work a few weeks later.

Dan leaned back and recanted everything they'd been told from various doctors. "They told her to get off her feet and change up her diet," he explained. "She apparently had a hard time with Lucas and they are concerned that her age will make this pregnancy more difficult with her past problems."

"I know you want to protect her, Dan, but keeping this from her isn't going to be good in the long run," Chris said. "She'll eventually find out. Luke is getting worse as time goes on."

Dan nodded in agreement. "I know. I just don't know what to do about him. He hates me and he's hell bent on causing problems for Karen and I."

"But at the end of the day, you need to do what's best for him and not what's best for you," Chris bluntly stated, knowing that subtlety never got anywhere with Dan. "You remember my middle boy, Ryan?"

Dan frowned a second, before pulling up the image of the boy. "He's the soccer player, right?"

Chris nodded. "We went through a phase with him where we thought the only options were military school or a funeral home. He was doing drugs and running with a dangerous crowd."

"What did you do?" Dan asked, genuinely interested in fixing Luke.

"We tried counseling for a few months and things got worse. We sent him off to rehab and then kept him in a residential program for a few months until the addiction was under control."

Dan considered his words. "He's in college now, isn't he?" Maybe there was hope that he could get some help for Lucas and make sure the kid stayed alive to see his new sibling.

"It was a long road, but he's fine now. He'll always have addiction issues, but it gave all of us a break from the constant battles and he got some space to work on things." Chris pulled his desk drawer open and searched around for a moment. He handed Dan a business card and then called out for an officer to go get the kids.

"This is the guy we used. He's an expert at finding programs that fit specific problems. He's also got a lot of local counseling connections. You could talk to him and see what he thinks," Chris suggested, knowing that he'd at least planted a seed in Dan's mind to get some help.

Dan slowly stood up and put the card in his wallet. He looked over at his friend in something akin to gratitude. "Thanks for the ideas. I guess I really need to try a different approach."

Chris smiled at his words, knowing how hard it was for Dan to express that kind of sentiment. "Just take action, Dan, before he's in a morgue."

Dan watched as a sergeant discharged Lucas and Brooke and escorted them to the door of the station. Lucas sneered at Dan as he slowly approached them. "Hey, there's our ride home," he said, knowing that while his night had sucked, Dan's hadn't been much better. A small part of Lucas was happy that he'd disrupted his brother's basketball night with his father. He'd nearly thrown up as Nate had told Tim about their plans for the night.

Brooke had the good sense to at least look sheepish at her current situation. "I'm sorry that you had to come down here, Mr. Scott," she said, as he helped her into the back of his SUV. He noticed once again that her tiny frame seemed even smaller, as if she were wasting away in front of him.

He turned to look at her once settled his large frame into the driver's seat. "I don't know what to say, Brooke. I will be talking to your mother about this," he decided, having grown tired of this police station routine.

Lucas looked up, not sure if he was addressing Lucas or Brooke with the mother comment. He rolled his eyes for a moment, before Dan caught his reaction and went off.
"You are pushing me, Lucas. And I don't think you understand that I'm getting sick of it."

Luke leaned back against the seat. "What are you going to do, Dan? Leave me? You already did that once and don't think I'll care when you eventually do it again." The pain in his voice touched Dan. His son really thought he was a disposable product that Dan could use and throw away at will. Not that he could blame the boy. Dan didn't have the best track record in the world.

"If you think I'm going to let you use that to justify your drunken escapades, you are totally wrong," Dan finally replied, before starting the car and moving out of the parking lot. "You can both consider this a final warning. Cut the drinking and drugs or else."

Lucas snorted at his attempt to assert some parental control over him, but Brooke frowned at Dan's tone. She knew him well enough to know when he was bluffing and when he was serious. There was a different aura about her friend's dad, something that said he was serious about taking control of the situation. The car grew quiet as they moved toward home.

Things were definitely changing, she though, as they drove into the night.

Back from traveling with a new update! Thanks to Tanya for her awesome edits. She picks up more things than most of the native speakers I know. Now you can't pick on Karen because she's ill . . . LOL. Yeah, I'm sure that will help her image. I appreciate all comments, death threats and notes about the story. Thanks for reading.

I'm learning toward doing the sequel to this story. I was going to end it in an evil place but I'm always up for some good resolution.

Cyn