Sorry about the lapse in posting. I passed my test!!!!!! Now I have two months to pass the second part of it. I'll keep trying to post chapters.

Happy holidays to everyone!

A Season in Purgatory

Chapter 68

Dan stretched his long legs out, admiring the river from the restaurant's front window.

Fall was turning to winter and his life was changing faster than the trees that lined the water. He'd just left Dr. Andrew's office and was unusually relaxed. While the doctor wasn't surprised that Dan and Karen were getting married, he was a bit concerned how Lucas and Nathan would handle the impending changes in their lives. They'd worked on a plan for how to integrate Lucas into Dan's house and scheduled yet another family session for later in the week.

Seeing Nathan walk in, Dan motioned him over to the table, happy to see his youngest son. "It's good to see you," Dan started, feeling guilty that he'd not been home in two days.

Nathan shrugged out of his coat and slowly sat down. He'd gone over to Karen's house for a few dinners and things were less painful for him. He wasn't happy that she was invading his mother's house, but he could see that Dan was much happier when he was around her. Nathan wasn't comfortable about the circumstances, but his father was eventually going to move on with his own life. In a way, Nathan felt a bit freer, as if his father getting a life allowed him to live in the present and not the past. There was a freedom there that he'd never known and in a way, Nathan had made peace with Karen's role in his life.

"How's Karen?" he asked, looking up from the menu. Nathan was a bit concerned about her health. She looked…smaller than normal the last time he'd seen her. He vaguely remembered his own mother growing weaker as she grew pregnant. His memories were hazy at best. Dr. Andrews had suggested he ask his father about that time but it was hard for Nathan to bring up his mother's problems when his father had yet another high risk pregnancy to deal with. The doctor had encouraged Nathan to talk to his father about the past and his mom in particular.

"She's resting," Dan commented, noticing how distracted his son seemed. "Her last doctor's appointment was good, so we're optimistic that the baby will be okay," he said.

He felt uneasy talking about the baby with Nathan. The topic always seemed to mire them both in the past when it should be a happy event.

Nate nodded for lack of a better comment. They waited in uncomfortable silence for the waiter to take their orders. Dan watched a couple on the beach attempt to shake out the sand from their clothing. He motioned toward them. "Did I ever tell you that your mom had this intense hatred of sand?" Dr. Andrews had stressed to Dan that he needed to find a way to share things about Deb with his son.

Nathan's eyes lit up at that nugget of information. He leaned in closer to his father. "Why sand?" It seemed like a normal enough substance to Nathan.

Dan smiled at the joy on his son's face at hearing something about his mother. "She couldn't stand the idea of sand getting into her house. Deb always said it was impossible to get out of carpets," he revealed. "Once we bought the beach house, she'd spent hours sweeping sand off the porches and demanding that everyone shower after being on the beach." His eyes lit up at the memory of Deb shooing him back to their outdoor shower after a day on the beach with their son.

"She couldn't stand to be barefoot in public, either," Dan said. He watched Nate's face and realized that the doctor was right. The boy was hungry for any information about his mother.

Dan reached out and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "She was a good woman, Nate," he confided to his son. "She loved us more than anything and I know she'd be proud of the man you are becoming."

Lowering his head, Nate surreptitiously rubbed his eyes, hoping to hide the effect his father's words had on him. After a moment, he lifted his head and smiled at his father. "Thanks. I really needed to talk about her," he softly admitted.

Dan nodded at his son, pleased that he'd been able to connect with his youngest son. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. Things were going to be okay. He just needed time.

Brooke leaned against the stairwell, waiting for Grace to return from the lawyer she sent her to. Growing tired, she meandered into the kitchen, which was a part of the house she seldom saw. Her mother had strict edits about staying out of the servant's way while they worked. Not that they had near the number of servants that the house had in the past. Brooke's grandmother had told her stories about growing up in the 1930's when the pool house was the servant's quarters and the house had many layers of domestic help.

Times had changed, Brooke thought. Katherine tended to view any outsider as an imposition so she only allowed the housekeeper to live on site. Years ago, Brooke's nanny had lived on the third floor with her until she had outgrown the need for both a nanny and parents. The house was so empty that she could practically hear her footsteps echo about the large kitchen.

Hearing a noise at the back door, Brooke walked over to great the older lady. "What did he say, Grace?" she asked softly, not wanting anyone to over hear her conversation.

Grace handed Brooke a manila envelope. "I had him write it all down so I wouldn't forget anything," she crisply replied. Brooke grabbed the envelope and immediately headed for the backstairs that led to her bedroom. Hearing a slight cough, she turned around and saw Grace standing there expectantly.

Brooke made her way over to the older lady and slapped two hundred dollars into her hand. "I can assume that no one will know anything about this?" she said, before moving up the stairs. Grace was one of the few people Brooke trusted in the house. She knew that if anyone could go to a lawyer and ask questions without getting strange looks, Grace was the person. Brooke knew that she needed her job too much to risk telling Brooke's secret.

She walked into her room, shutting the heavy double doors behind her. She made sure her security lock was engaged before ripping the envelope open. Sitting at her desk, she studied the papers in front of her intently. She had a lot of work to do.

Keith tossed the dishtowel on the counter and leaned back against the sink, enjoying the relative moment of silence. He surveyed his recently remodeled kitchen with the satisfaction of a man trapped too long in a generic rental unit. It had taken months for the house to evolve into his and Anna's dream, but things were shaping up nicely. Dan and Nathan had helped Keith strip the kitchen of its nasty vinyl flooring and install new cabinets. He'd been pleased to spend time with his family that didn't involve recriminations and angst. They were just three guys, gutting an old kitchen.

Sighing, Keith wished Lucas could have been part of it. He'd practically begged Lucas to help out, but the boy wouldn't budge when it came to spending time with Dan. He'd made up for it by helping Anna set up her laundry room. Brooke had even picked up a paintbrush and helped him with the nursery. The house was in great condition. Keith could only hope that his family could be rehabbed into the same.

"Keith!" Anna's voice drifted down the hall from the study where she kept her office. Sensing something wasn't right, Keith ran toward her office. He opened the door and found her doubled over on a chair.

"Are you okay?" he softly asked, brushing her hair away from her face. She took a deep breath and fought to calm herself down. "I think we're having a baby."

Lucas crept up the back stairs of Brooke's house, trying to avoid the squeaky parts of the old wood steps. He wasn't sure where her parents were, as they tended to slip in and out of town on a regular basis.

He used his key to unlock the security lock and pushed the double doors into Brooke's bedroom. She looked up at him from the small black desk in the corner of her room.

She tossed the papers she was reading on the desk and walked over and hugged her boyfriend.

Lucas nuzzled her head for a moment, taking in the floral scent of her hair, before motioning toward the papers. "What did you want to show me?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her small waist.

She reluctantly disengaged his embraced and picked up the papers from the lawyer. "This is the information Grace got from the lawyer today," she said, her voice trembling at her overwhelming disappointment about their situation.

He picked up the papers and quickly scanned the contents. "So is there any legal way for us to get away from our parents?" he asked, concerned that they'd both be trapped in their destructive homes.

"Well, apparently there are very specific criteria for legal emancipation in this state," she began, going over the information she'd committed to memory. "We can only get emancipated if we can prove that we can support ourselves and if our parents aren't providing the basic necessities for us." While Brooke thought their families were horrible, apparently there were standards for these kinds of things.

Luke stared at her for a moment. "What is their idea of support? I mean, as long as we're eating and have a place to live, that's support?" At this point, Luke was willing to live under a bridge if it meant getting away from Dan and Karen.

"Apparently, a judge decides if you have a good case for emancipation and if you have the ability to support yourself," Brooke explained. "And it's exceptionally rare for a judge to agree to emancipation."

He leaned against her desk in frustration. "What about if we got married? Would that get us emancipated?" He couldn't imagine being married at 16 but he loved Brooke and he wanted to protect her for the rest of his life, just as she would protect him from Karen and Dan.

She shook her head. "The only way we can get married under 18 is to have our parents' permission, unless you enlist in the army."

Lucas narrowed his eyes, wondering if joining the army was worth getting away from Dan. "But you have to have a parent's permission to enlist before 18," he said, seeing the endless loop they were in. They couldn't do anything to get them emancipated without their parent's permission and there was no way either set of parents were going to agree to any plan Luke and Brooke came up with.

She walked over and hugged him, taking comfort in his presence. "Apparently, even though there are criteria, a judge can make an exception at any time." The legalese was confusing to her, but Grace had done a good job of asking the right questions. While the odds weren't good for their case, a judge could override any existing law if he saw fit.

Lucas thought about her words for a moment, before pulling his flask out of his hoodie pocket. He drained it and started rummaging around her room for the booze Brooke tended to hide around the room. "I don't suppose you know any judges who might be sympathetic to our situation?" he hesitantly asked. If anyone in town were connected to the political scene, it would be Brooke's family.

She glanced at the bottle he held in disdain. "If we're going to pull this off, we need to be sober, Luke." She was going to have to clean all the bottles of illicit alcohol out of her room so he wouldn't be tempted in the future.

Lucas dropped the flask unceremoniously on her desk. "I'm not drunk, Brooke. I just needed to relax a bit," he firmly stated, not wanting to hear any more nagging about the alcohol. He could get that from his mother.

"I'm not criticizing you but I've got a plan that I want to focus on," she said, deflecting her concern about his drinking. She couldn't focus on getting them out of trouble if he was hell bent on drinking them back into it. "I've got a contact a few counties away, since everyone in Tree Hill knows my family. We just need to find an exemption to the rules."

He ran a finger gently over a dimple, taking delight in her wicked ways. "I have no doubt that if anyone can figure this out, you can." He loved how smart his girlfriend was. Few people gave her credit for being smart, but Lucas knew that under the dimples was a very smart girl.

She smiled brightly at him, happy that someone saw she had great potential. "You need to just play Dan and Karen until we figure something out." There was no need to cause problems while she searched for a way out of this hell. "And it's going to take a lot of money to get us where we need to go," she said, pulling a drawer open in her lingerie chest. Luke peered around her and saw several stacks of bills lying against the black velvet. It was the culmination of her monthly daddy check and her allowance that she'd been hoarding. You never knew when money might come in handy.

"That's a lot of cash," he slowly replied, knowing that kind of cash could support his meager household for a few months. But since Brooke's plan included legal types, it was a good thing that one of them had access to cash. "Hey, I'll start saving my check from Keith's in order to help out."

Brooke slowly shut the door and pulled him toward her bed. "We have to look at it as an investment in our future," she decided. "We'll eventually find a way to make a better life for us."

Lucas sighed and forced his tense back muscles to relax. He'd been getting horrible tension headaches lately, a fact that he blamed on Dan and Karen. "I can't move in with that man, Brooke. The idea of living with Dan Scott is something I'll never get used to."

She nodded at him, realizing that they were both in the same situation. "We'll find a solution before they get married and before they ship me off." She put as much confidence into that statement as she could muster. Brooke had been researching some ideas but some took a bit longer to blossom than others. They just had to be patience.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply. I always appreciate what my readers are thinking and how badly they hate Karen. I'm thinking about posting the first story I ever wrote for OTH, if there's any interested in that, let me know!