Thank you for all the fantastic reviews! Just a note, there's a flashback in italics.
Lucas woke up from a deep sleep a little while later. He blinked a few times to focus his eyes, and saw his parents were sitting on opposite ends of the room. Dan was filling out paperwork, and Karen had fallen asleep in her chair.
"Lucas." Dan said, noticing he was awake.
"Hey." Lucas said quietly.
Dan got up and sat besides Lucas' bed.
"I thought you might have gone home by now." Lucas said.
"Your mom and I needed to talk."
"She's so mad, isn't she?"
"Mad at me? Yes. I think she is more hurt by the fact that you didn't tell her."
"Well last year…I knew you wouldn't care if I still played."
"Well last year, I was an idiot. And for many years before that, I was an idiot."
"You're doing better now."
"I hope so. Except your mom doesn't think so."
"She'll calm down." Lucas said half-heartedly.
"Maybe. I guess I should get home and check on Nathan. I'll be back early tomorrow." Dan said, drawing Lucas close.
Lucas buried his head in Dan's shoulder, enjoying the comfort that had been absent from his life all these years.
20-year-old Dan Scott was in Rite-Aid, buying some cold medicine for Deb. He rounded the corner, almost colliding with a dark haired 20-year-old woman, carrying a sleeping toddler.
"Dan." Karen gasped.
"Hey Karen. I'm sure you heard from my lawyer…about the custody case." Dan said, looking wistfully at the blonde boy snuggled up in Karen's arms.
"Yes…yes I did." Karen said. She had been relieved to find out she wouldn't have to fight in court for custody of Lucas.
"He told me that I wouldn't have a case, seeing as Deb also was pregnant at the time."
"I see."
"So...I have to get going..."
"Alright. Goodbye Dan."
Dan began to walk off, but turned abruptly back to Karen.
"Karen, I just need a favor. Just one last thing." Dan said quietly.
"What's that?"
"Can I hold him? Just once."
Karen hesitated for a moment, but gently lifted Lucas up and Dan carefully held him close.
Lucas stayed asleep and even snuggled into Dan's arms.
Dan hugged the little boy tightly then gently returned him to his mother, and left without a word.
He returned home that night to his wife and youngest son, but everyday he slipped deeper and deeper into a depression that made him cold and unemotional for almost 15 years.
His anger towards Karen turned into resentment towards Lucas, which he also projected onto Nathan.
It took 15 years after that to realize that allowing himself to love again and to make amends was the best thing he could possibly do.
Now here he was, able to be close to his son, the son he never knew and pretended for so long not to care about.
Neither knew how much they had missed each other in their lives right in that moment.
"I'll be seeing you." Lucas said, pulling away eventually.
"Yeah. Go back to sleep, you still look tired." Dan said, smiling.
"Bye Dad."
"Bye." Dan said.
Lucas yawned and was back asleep almost instantly.
Karen waited a moment and followed Dan. She woke up when he heard him close the door.
"Dan."
"I was just leaving." Dan said.
"I see."
"Deb's home with Nathan, I want to check on him." Dan said quietly, thinking about their meeting in the drugstore all those years ago.
"She's not going to be happy with you, keeping Lucas' condition from her."
"That may be true, but right now I would rather have your forgiveness, because you are Lucas' mother and deserved to know." Dan said.
"I can't help but feel like you're trying to draw Lucas away from me, and keeping this big secret from me just proves that."
"Karen, last spring when he told me, I honestly was willing to let him do whatever he wanted. I didn't allow myself to care then. I do now, and I wanted him to tell you himself. I'm sorry he didn't, and I probably should have told you before now. But at least now he has medication and he isn't doing basketball."
"Dan you say you have his best interests at heart, but you let him be in danger for so many months."
"Karen, I have apologized, but if you really feel the need to have it out, can we wait until another time? It's late; I want to go see Nathan. I'll come and pick up Lucas tomorrow." Dan said exasperatedly.
"Like hell you will! I'm not letting you take him home after all this."
"Karen," Dan said firmly, "we have a legal agreement. It's still my week with Lucas, and I won't let you draw him away from me."
"We'll see." Karen snapped.
"Yeah we will..." Dan sighed.
"Hey son." Dan said quietly. Nathan was lying on the couch, his knee propped up.
"Hey. You've been gone awhile. Is Lucas alright?"
"Yeah, fine. Karen and I needed to talk about some things."
"She's pissed off, right?"
"Yeah. Hopefully she'll calm down. So…how are you feeling?"
"Pretty good, now that I got some painkillers." Nathan grinned.
Dan chuckled.
"These are pretty strong." Dan observed, looking at the bottle.
"Yeah, they are. They got Luke pretty out of it."
"He was barely awake most of the time." Dan agreed.
"Doctors said he'd need a lot of rest."
"You both do. Starting now." Dan said, turning off the TV.
"I don't want to move…can I just sleep here?"
"Are you comfortable?"
"Yeah."
"I guess its okay then. Call up if you need anything."
"Night dad."
"Night son."
Dan shut the car door and opened Lucas' door. When he had picked up Lucas that morning, Karen was at the café. He studied his son's face. Lucas still looked tired.
He gently grasped Lucas' arm without the cast and helped him into the house, where Nathan was still camped out on the couch, eating from a box of Cocoa Puffs and watching MTV.
"Hey buddy." Lucas said, sitting next to him.
"Where the hell have you been? Brooke is here and she won't give me the remote back."
"Gee Nate, I missed you too.." Lucas said sarcastically.
"She's forcing me to watch Laguna Beach." Nathan complained as Brooke walked back into the room.
"Brooke are you torturing my little brother?" Lucas said, smiling.
"Laguna Beach usually helps me relax, but your grumpy little brother kept complaining." Brooke said a little stiffly.
"Relax?" Lucas asked. He sensed something was wrong.
"When Karen wasn't home when I got back from Homecoming, I was a little worried. Then when Jake calls me at 2:00 in the morning and tells me that you two were in an accident, I was terrified."
"Oh…"
"So yeah. I freaked out some."
"Brooke listen there's something else I need to tell you…"
"Oh about how you lied to your mom and everyone else about your heart condition? I know."
"She told you." Lucas said slowly.
"Yes she did. How could you keep this from me?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Only Nathan and my dad knew for the longest time, and Jake found out…and now pretty much everyone knows after last night."
"So that's why you weren't at basketball…"
"Yeah."
"Okay, Lucas Scott I will forgive you this one time because things were weird between us then, but no more secrets okay?"
"Okay."
"Good." Brooke said, and leaned over to Lucas. She kissed his face where there were scratches and then gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"I'm glad you're okay," She said softly. "Both of you." She added, looking at Nathan.
"Thanks Brooke." They both responded. Nathan turned back to the television, his eyes glued to the screen.
"Well, Peyton and I need to go shopping. So I'll come see you later baby." Brooke said, kissing Lucas, and then leaning over him to kiss Nathan on the cheek.
"Bye." Lucas smiled.
After Brooke left, Nathan stuck out the box of cereal to Lucas, never taking his eyes off the screen.
"She was here at like the crack of dawn man." Nathan said.
"Why didn't she come to the hospital?" Lucas asked, taking a handful of cereal.
"Your mom was still pretty fuming about everything so I guess Brooke stayed with her for some time, and then helped her open the café."
"I was kind of surprised she wasn't there this morning."
"Brooke?"
"My mom."
"Oh."
"I'm going to get an earful on Friday when I get back to her house."
"Sucks."
"Yeah, so…how are you?"
"I'm pissed off, I have to do a whole bunch of rehab to my knee now."
"I'm really sorry. Like I said last night, I'll help you anyway I can."
"I just might take you up on that. It's going to be hard to get my knee back in working order when I have to think about this stupid cast on my arm."
Lucas laughed and looked at the cast on his own arm.
"When does rehab start?"
"Next week."
"Tell me when and I'll be there."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Brooke rang the doorbell a few hours later. Deb opened the door.
"Hi Mrs. Scott, how are the boys?"
"Good, Brooke. Still watching that show you put on for them."
Brooke giggled.
"They're watching the Laguna Beach marathon still?"
"Yes." Deb laughed.
Brooke headed into the living room. Lucas was sitting upright and was sound asleep, and Nathan was asleep too, his head resting on Lucas' shoulder.
"Or maybe they're not." Deb said.
"Cute." Brooke smiled.
"I'd hate to wake them."
"Don't worry about it. I'll go help Karen close up the cafe."
"Is she still upset?"
"Yeah." Brooke sighed.
"Lucas and Dan have a lot to answer for I guess."
"Karen will get over it. She's understanding."
"I hope so. I'll tell the boys you stopped by."
"Thanks." Brooke said.
Brooke returned to Karen's house to find her on the phone.
"When will you get here?" She heard Karen ask.
"Okay. I'll pick you up then. Love you, Andy. See you soon"
Nathan woke up and lifted his head from Lucas' shoulder. He glanced at the clock and saw it was past midnight.
"Luke, let's go upstairs." Nathan said, gently waking Lucas up.
"What?"
"It's past midnight and I haven't moved from this couch in 24 hours. Let's go upstairs."
"Okay." Lucas mumbled, and stood up.
Nathan put his hand on the couch and eased himself up. His knee was unsteady under his weight. Lucas used his free arm to steady his brother.
"You alright?" He asked, concerned.
"Not used to walking I guess."
"You seemed fine last night."
"I didn't really put weight on my knee."
"Okay, well here we go…" Lucas said, grabbing Nathan's arm and helping him upstairs to his bedroom.
"You good?"
"I'm good." Nathan responded.
"Alright. See you in the morning."
"Wait, Lucas."
"Yeah?"
"Can you get me some of the pills? It's gonna be a rough night without them."
"Oh right. Here." Lucas said, filling a glass of water and handing it to Nathan.
Nathan took the medicine and finished the water.
"Night little brother."
"Night Luke."
Lucas returned to his own room just as his cell phone began to vibrate on the table. His caller ID told him it was Brooke.
"Hello Brooke."
"Hey Lucas…I need to tell you something."
"Okay." Lucas said, sitting down.
"Your mom just called your stepfather to be…he's coming back soon."
"Do you know when?" Lucas sighed.
"No, I just overheard her talking to him."
"Great…"
"Do you know why he's coming?"
"Well, wedding plans, and there's also the HCM and car accident now."
"Your mom might need someone to talk to." Brooke said.
"I guess, listen thanks for telling me. I need to sleep now, I'll call you tomorrow."
"I have school Broody."
"Right. I'll call you tomorrow afternoon."
"Bye gorgeous." Brooke said, and hung up.
Lucas sighed and fell back on his bed.
"Great...just great." He muttered.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!