A Season in Purgatory

Chapter 65

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way

Anna Karenina –Tolstoy

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Dr. Andrews leaned back in his chair and watched as Lucas Scott nervously shifted in the overstuffed leather in front of his desk.

"So how's your week going?" the older man casually asked, realizing that the boy in front of him would rather be in a dentist's chair. He needed to go slow in order to get the boy to talk.

Lucas frowned at the man, knowing that his attempt to create a laid back environment was fake. The guy was just fishing around for information to tell Dan and his mother. He looked up at the doctor and smiled an equally fake smile. "Oh things are just swell. I'm all better so I can stop coming to see you."

The doctor laughed at his sarcasm and decided against telling him that he was very much like his father. "But if you stop coming to see me what would I do with my Friday afternoons?"

Shifting in the large chair, Lucas shrugged his tense shoulders. "Probably prey on the rest of my family since you are probably making a fortune out of all these counseling sessions." Besides the family counseling session on Tuesday nights, the good doctor was seeing all four members of the Scott family individually.

The doctor nodded at the boy. "Thank god someone's helping me pay the bills around here." He'd found that the ability to diffuse angry teenagers was an invaluable tool for his practice. He motioned Luke around his desk and pulled open his top desk drawer. "Would you like some gum? A lot of clients feel like it helps the anxiety," he revealed, attempting to create some kind of conversation with this very quiet boy.

Luke peered into the drawer at the copious amount of gum, noting the variety of brands.

Dr. Andrews poked around the various packets before asking, "What do you think?"

Lucas walked back over to the leather chair and sat down. "I think you like to upset people and steal their gum," he sullenly replied. The doctor laughed as he picked up a pack of gum and offered it to the boy. "Would you like a piece of Mrs. Brown's Juicy Fruit?"

A frown crossed Luke's face for a moment. "I thought you weren't supposed to discuss your patients or what goes on in this place," he replied, concerned that the man was talking about Luke and his family to other patients.

Dr. Andrews dropped the gum as his demeanor grew serious. "It was a joke, Lucas. I don't have a patient named Mrs. Brown. I don't steal gum from patients either," he calmly explained. "I'm trying to stop smoking and the gum actually calms me down." Some times it helped people see that the doctor had flaws, too.

Leaning back into the chair, Luke motioned to the box of tissues on the table. "Those aren't the same ones from earlier this week," he noticed. Luke realized early on that the more he could deflect from actually talking to the doctor about his family, the faster these sessions went.

Dr. Andrews smiled at his lame attempt to run down the hour. "I think you are a very observant young man," he replied, smiling at his own pun. Luke stared at him suspiciously. "Do you make a lot of people cry?"

The older man leaned back in his chair and considered the boy's question. "Sometimes. But I have allergies and I tend to use them more than anyone," he casually replied. "Are you finished with running down the clock or should we add another fifteen minutes on to this hour?"

Luke scowled at his words and slumped down in the chair, knowing that the doctor wasn't as stupid as he appeared. The guy spent so much time asking questions and restating what was said in sessions that Luke thought he was a bit daft. Clearly, the guy wasn't as slow as he initially thought.

Dr. Andrews silently watched Lucas for a moment, before getting up out of his chair and grabbing his coat. "Come on, let's get out of here," he stating, moving past a confused Lucas. He stopped in the doorway, and motioned toward Luke's coat. "Let's go."

Brooke moved stealthily across the marble entryway, wincing as her kitten heels tapped lightly across the hard, cold floor. She glanced around furtively; making sure no rogue maid was lurking around Trey's office. Brooke swiftly moved toward Trey's massive oak desk, intent on finding her Daddy's new cell number. She frowned for a moment, wondering why he'd change the number and not tell her about it. Of course, he was in Europe by the looks of his last postcard, which complicated matters greatly.

She'd been so overwhelmed lately. Her fear was like a blister that never quite healed when you still wore shoes. It was raw and growing by the day. Brooke couldn't help but think that there had to be a better solution to her situation. Although she had her gun in the top drawer of her nightstand, Brooke still felt uneasy in her house. She just needed to call her Daddy and convince him to get her an apartment. He had to understand that living with both her mother and stepfather was difficult at best. She fumbled a moment, wondering why her Daddy seemed to be in contact with Trey and not her.

She slammed Trey's address book down on the desk, before the filing cabinet in the corner caught her eye. Brooke threw open a drawer and thumbed through the file folders until she saw a manila folder with her name typed neatly on the tab. Falling into Trey's leather desk chair, she quickly flipped through the documents. Most were bland forms related to school or medical visits. A page with an official looking letterhead caught her attention. Staring at the paper, her hands shook. The address under the official looking seal set her heart racing. Brooke managed to carefully re-file the folder, before racing out the door. She had to find Lucas.

Five minutes later the doctor and Lucas were walking by the waterfront, taking in the last rays of the shortened fall sun. "Why are we out here?" Luke demanded. "Shouldn't I be stretched out on your couch or something?" He surreptitiously slid his new cell phone out of his hoodie pouch, concerned as he read a cryptic text from Brooke.

Dr. Andrew's cleared his throat and motioned toward the cell phone. "I detest those gadgets," he said, insisting that clients turn the damn things off when in session with him.

Luke reluctantly pulled his focus away from Brooke's message. "You should complain to Daddy Dan. He got all of us phones on the 'family' plan," Luke bitterly retorted. He hated the electronic leash his parents had tethered him with, but he did like the fact that Brooke could contact him 24/7. It was merely the price of doing business with the devil. It figured that his first cell phone would be given to him by his greatest enemy.

The doctor leaned against the rail of the pier and smiled at the boy. A change of setting was a good way to throw him off balance and attempt to get the boy to open up. "We can talk out here just as well as in my office," Dr. Andrews said.

Luke slowly exhaled, sick of the constantly changing rules in his life. "Whatever. Let's just hurry up so I can go see my girlfriend."

"Tell me about your girlfriend," the older man casually asked, having heard Karen rail against the girl for weeks.

Luke's eyes narrowed at the question. "Why, so you can psychoanalyze what I say and then use it to get her out of my life?" His tone was bitter, as it was with most adults in his life these days.

The doctor took in his vitriolic words and realized that the kid felt attacked on all sides. "I'm not here to pass judgment or attack anyone. I simply asked about your girlfriend. She seems like an important part of your life."

Lucas walked over to a bench and sat down. "She's a great person," he slowly began, knowing that the shrink wasn't going to let him get away without some kind of a conversation. "I totally trust her and can depend on her."

The doctor walked over and sat down next to the boy. "It's good that you've got someone dependable and trustworthy in your life," he replied, taking in the boy's defensive posture. "Everyone needs someone like that."

"My mother doesn't seem to think so. She hates Brooke," Luke replied, his words nearing begging the man for a fight about his girlfriend's value.

Dr. Andrews stretched slightly and looked over at Lucas. "Parents often find ways of blaming others for their own shortcomings," he carefully replied. He didn't need to start a war between himself and Ms. Roe. Or give the boy something else to argue about with his mother. "Is there anything particularly wrong with Brooke from your mom's point of view?"

Lucas considered the man's words. Karen blamed Brooke for so many things that it was hard to figure out what really bothered her about the girl. "Mom thinks she's making me drink and skip school."

"Is there any truth to that?" Dr. Andrews asked, knowing that Karen's opinion of the girl was at least partially true to some extent. He needed to show Lucas that he was at least open to discussing the positive attributes of his girlfriend.

"I mean, she drinks," Lucas stumbled out. "We all drink, it's not like she's an alcoholic. She can go weeks without drinking." He felt the need to protect Brooke and prove that she wasn't the one wrecking havoc on his life.

"Genetics play a strong role in substance abuse, Luke," Dr. Andrews explained. "Some people can drink a keg and not have a problem and other people can take a sip and be addicted."

"We're not addicts," Lucas practically yelled, drawing the attention people walking by their bench. "Brooke's not had anything to drink in a while and I just drink to relax."

The doctor gave him a critical look. "Drinking to relax is a classic sign of substance abuse, Luke."

Luke fell back against the bench and crossed his arms across his chest. "You'd be drinking too if your life was this fucked up," he spat out. Drinking was the only way he could stop himself from running Dan Scott over. Well, that and the fact that he didn't own a car.

The doctor listened to his words and encouraged him to continue speaking. "What is so fucked up about it?" he quietly asked.

"Like my mom and Dan haven't told you already," Luke complained. "I hate Dan and they can't force me to get along with him. I don't care if my mom pushes out five more Satan spawns, I will never be part of that sick family." He leaned back, content that he'd adequately expressed his disgust.

"I agree," Dr. Andrews said, drawing Luke's attention. "No matter what your mother says or does, she can't force you to forgive Dan." His words gained Luke's interest. It was the first time any adult had validated his anger about Dan's abrupt presence in his life. "You will either forgive Dan or you won't."

He looked at the doctor suspiciously, not knowing how to take his words. "I think you need to tell my mother that."

"I told your mother that last week," the older man revealed. "Look, I don't care if you decide to hate Dan until one of you drop dead of hypertension. However, I do care if you drink yourself into a stupor and drown your pain in your girlfriend."

Lucas looked down at a dark spot on the worn wood of the pier. The doctor leaned in closer toward him. "Luke, you need to learn to deal with problems in a healthy way. Getting wasted as a way to avoid things that cause you pain is not a good long term strategy."

Luke shook his head in anger. "What I need is a mother who doesn't inflict pain on me," he sullenly replied. Dr. Andrew's ears perked up in interest at his words. "So this is really more about Karen than it is about Dan?" he slowly questioned.

Luke sighed desperately wishing to get the hell away from this town. "I don't understand why she's trying to hurt me like this," he finally said, afraid to continue down that line of thought. He expected Dan to hurt him, but his mother was his rock and her actions had nearly taken his will to live.

He watched the boy in concern. He'd suspected that Lucas was suffering from a mild form of depression stemming from his family drama. It was good that Luke was attempting to talk his problems out, rather than drown the pain in alcohol. "I don't think Karen wants to hurt you. More than likely, she thinks she's easing your pain by providing you with a family and a father."

"But forcing me to hang around Dan isn't what I want," Lucas emphatically stated. Why no else could see this was beyond Luke's comprehension.

The doctor smiled at Luke's words. "I know that. Dan knows that, as well."

Luke rolled his eyes at the man. "I'm so glad that Dan hired someone to be on his side," Luke snidely commented, as he looked around for a clock. It had to be time for him to go, he thought.

"Actually, I think he hired me to be on your side," Dr. Andrews revealed.

The fall weather crept in around Haley and Nathan as they walked toward the Café. Nathan dragged his feet, eager to find any distraction to keep him from meeting his Dad and Karen. Dan's text message had been brief, telling him to be at the Café in an hour or else.

Haley tugged on his arm and smiled at the truculent look on her boyfriend's face. "It's not like you can bail on your dad, Nate," she said, ignoring an older couple on the sidewalk.

"Trust me when I say that Dan and Karen calling a meeting is not a good thing," Nathan sullenly replied. He'd really tried the past few weeks, but both his dad and Karen were getting on his nerves. "They probably want Luke and I to help pick out wall paper for the baby."

Haley wrapped her arm through his and tried to give him as much support as she could. Between Karen, Lucas and Nathan, she was pretty drained. A frown momentarily covered her face. Nothing in the Scott Family drama could match the anxiety that accompanied Brooke Davis. "It seems like everyone's pretty stressed out right now," she slowly replied, not feeding Nate's ambivalence about the impending bundle of joy.

He stopped walking for a moment and gazed out at the river. "It's so deceptive," he said, gesturing to the water just visible in the setting sun. "It looks so smooth on the surface, but you know that the undertow is just waiting to grab you."

Haley considered his words for a moment, never surprised at the deep thoughts that Nathan rarely expressed in front of other people. "Families can have a nasty undertow," she quietly commented. Even her vivacious family had issues. "Maybe having a sibling will be a good thing," she added, attempting to get him to open up.

Nathan had barely acknowledged the impending sibling, which was still better than Lucas, who had refused to discuss it all. For all her drama, at least Brooke was the one person she didn't have to force conversation from. It might not ever be relevant conversation, but at least the girl knew how to carry on a discussion.

"I don't see how this is going to work," Nathan tersely replied, finally breaking his gaze from the water. "Dan can't share a basketball, let alone a baby. Add in Lucas and this is heading for disaster."

She leaned back against the railing of the wharf. "I know he's being difficult right now, Nate, but he's really upset," she said, attempting to explain Luke's behavior.

Nathan's intense blue eyes narrowed at her words. "I'm upset too, Haley. But you don't see me taking it out on my team. He's putting himself before the team and that's unacceptable." In the long run, it might not matter since Whitey had threatened to bench his brother for missing practice and general suckitude in games. But the lack of discipline annoyed Nathan.

Haley looked at him at the low light of the street lamp. "Maybe you also think that Dan is putting Karen and the baby before you," she softly suggested, feeling that Nate's sense of loyalty was being assaulted on more than one side.

He looked away from her for a moment before softly admitting, "Yeah, maybe a little." Nathan grabbed her hand and held it for a moment, trying to find the best words. "My entire life I've felt like a lead weight to my dad. I don't think he wanted to marry my mom. I'm not sure he wanted to be my father," Nathan slowly admitted. "When I was a kid I thought I could show him my value by being a good basketball player. But what if it's not enough?" Dan pretty much sucked as a father but now there were three kids fighting for his attention.

Her heart contracted at Nate's words. For such a swaggering jock, he was profoundly insecure about the most important relationships in his life. "For what it's worth, I know Dan loves you," she slowly began, not wanting to be an apologist for his overbearing father. "I think it's hard for him to show you affection because Roy isn't affectionate," she carefully theorized. Dan and Roy were always two topics that could provoke a rant from her boyfriend.

Nate frowned at the convenient explanation. "I think that analysis makes you an arm chair psychologist," he replied, tired of people trying to pick his brain about his relationships. "You're starting to sound like that shrink they make me go see."

Haley ignored the gaggle of girls who passed them on the sidewalk, wishing they were having this conversation in private. "What do you think about Dr. Andrews?" she casually asked, knowing that Lucas wasn't happy about the appointments they were forced to go to.

"He spends more time asking me about my mom than anything," Nathan revealed, having successfully avoided discussing the sessions up to this point. "There are a lot of Lucas questions, too"

"What kind of Lucas questions?" she gently prompted.

Sighing, he shifted his weight, hesitant to talk about the person that caused them so much grief. "Just stupid questions about how we get along and what it's like to play on the same team with him. He thinks we're both too competitive."

Haley snorted at his words. "You think? I've never seen so many generations of testosterone in one family, Nate." She noticed that he didn't wince when people referred to Lucas as his family anymore, which Haley had to think was part of the shrink's goal. "Maybe if you and Luke have brother or sister in common, you'll find your own common ground."

He considered her words for a moment and wondered if he was betraying his mother's memory. "Maybe, but I think Lucas isn't going to accept this without a fight." He just hoped that Brooke didn't get caught up in his brother's anger.

Luke looked over at him in shock. "Lucas, my father walked out on me when I was eight. He went out for a jog and he kept on running." He wanted Lucas to understand that he could personally relate to his father issues.

Luke leaned closer to the man, suddenly interested in what he was saying. The doctor waited a second for a noisy bus to pass before continuing. "It took me nearly two decades and a psychiatry degree to let the anger go."

"You were angry?" Luke slowly asked, feeling a bit better about this shrink. There weren't too many people that he felt he could talk to lately.

"Pathologically so," Dr. Andrews replied. "Nothing he said or did ever totally soothed that anger. I'll probably always be mad at him on some level." He actually understood Luke's pain and sense of abandonment, if not the boy's totally destructive method of dealing with it. "It's okay to be angry, Luke. But it's not okay to destroy yourself in the process. You can't support your girlfriend or get a college degree, or find your own happiness at the end of a bottle."

Luke slumped back into the bench. "So you are telling me to get over it?"

"No. I'm suggesting that your anger not consume you in the process. Be mad at your father. Be upset at your mom's decisions. But find a way to stay sober and go to school so that you can get some distance between you and them. You aren't on a good road, my friend. And you aren't going to fix things by breaking laws to piss off your mom."

"She's too busy worrying about Dan and the new baby," Luke retorted, upset that he'd fallen so far on her list of priorities.

"She's having a difficult pregnancy, Luke. And I can tell you that she's deeply concerned about you. She loves you even if you can't tell that by her actions."

"So you are taking her side?" he asked, incredulous that someone who'd suffered a similar background could judge him for the same thing.

"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm merely suggesting that you find a less destructive way to deal with your anger. Dan realizes that you may never forgive him, but he is attempting to be your father. And more importantly, he's trying to be a good father to your future sibling."

Luke looked down at the ground at the doctor's gently reproaching words. "You don't want another child coming into a world without a father, do you?" Dr. Andrews gently asked. He could tell that Lucas was an empathetic person from their previous conversations. He just wanted to help the boy realize that demonizing the new baby wouldn't make his own life any better.

"The baby isn't my concern," he softly replied. "After all, it will have two parents to look after it, while I'm all alone."

"You aren't alone, Lucas. You have two parents who love you and an extended family who want you to be happy. It's just a matter of finding a way to balance that with your desire to make your father pay for his past actions."

Lucas considered his words for a moment. "Dan will never pay for anything," he finally said, realizing that it was the truth. "He'll continue to do what he wants with little regard for the damage he does."

The doctor nodded, seeing the anger slip back over the boy's façade. He'd planted a spark and that was all that he could accomplish in an hour. "I'll see you Tuesday night," he replied, waving the boy off.

Luke stared at him suspiciously for a moment, before heading off to the Rivercourt. Brooke needed him and that was more important than any propaganda Dr. Andrews was attempting to sell.

Wow...I've been trying to post this since Friday but wouldn't let it go through. Thanks for reading and replying. I always love to hear what you think about a chapter, good or bad.

Have a great holiday weekend!