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"Hey Lucas, can you do me a favor?" Dan asked.

"Yeah." Lucas yawned.

"Can you wake up Nathan? He has practice later and I'm sick of seeing him wake up twenty minutes before and running through the house."

"Okay." Lucas said, standing up.

He knocked softly on Nathan's door and came into the room.

"Nate…"

Nathan rolled over and mumbled something incoherent.

"What's that?" Lucas laughed, sitting on his bed.

"What the hell it's only 10:00, I don't have practice till 1:00." Nathan groaned, looking at the clock.

"I don't know all Dad said was that he didn't want you to rush." Lucas said, lying on Nathan's bed.

"Why are you laying on my bed?" Nathan mumbled into his pillow.

"I'm tired." Lucas yawned.

"Then why were you up?"

"I don't know…" Lucas said sleepily.

"Don't fall asleep on me, I'll forget to get up."

"What?"

"What?" Nathan mumbled.

Twenty minutes later Dan came upstairs.

"Lucas? Nathan?"

"Who's yelling?" Nathan mumbled.

Lucas didn't respond, he was still fast asleep.

"Nathan, I sent Lucas up here twenty minutes ago." Dan said, knocking on the door and opening it after a moment.

"Lucas is sleeping." Nathan said, finally sitting up.

Dan laughed.

"Guess I shouldn't have sent him up here. Anyways, I want you to get up at least an hour before practice."

"Okay." Nathan said, getting out of bed.

"Lucas." Dan said.

Nathan jumped back on the bed, bouncing it hard and waking Lucas.

"Nathan!" Dan scolded.

"Holy crap, Nate." Lucas said, sitting straight up.

"Sorry." Nathan laughed.

"Jerk." Lucas complained.

"All right, let's get moving." Dan said.

Right when Nathan arrived at the school, it started to rain.

"Great." He muttered, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Lucas.

"I'm still mad at you for waking me up like that."

"Uh huh. So I thought today was supposed to be sunny."

"Apparently not."

"If it's still raining, can you come pick me up afterwards?"

"Yeah just give me a call."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Have fun."

"Oh, I'm sure I will." Nathan rolled his eyes and hung up.

He walked out of the locker room and onto the court, shooting baskets before practice started.

"Nathan can I talk to you for a minute?" Eric, one of his teammates asked.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Well, you're dating Theresa now, right? Boyfriend, girlfriend and everything?"

"Yeah…" Nathan said slowly, not getting the point.

"So would it bother you if I went out with Haley?" Eric asked.

Nathan paused. He never expected that to come up.

"I just want to date, Haley. I want to be a kid."

Obviously, he should have.

"Um, I guess so. I mean…I'm dating Theresa."

"Yeah, and you guys make a great couple." Eric said quickly.

"Yeah…I guess it's alright with me. We did agree to date other people."

"All right man. I just didn't want things to be weird with us."

"No problem."

Whitey came out and blew his whistle.

"All right, let's get started. We have a game as soon as we come back from the break, and we can use all the practice we can get!"

"It's crazy out there." Nathan said, getting into Lucas' car.

"Hell yeah. Hopefully we'll get some thunder and lightning later." Lucas grinned.

"You know, we must be the only people who get excited for thunderstorms."

"They're cool and you know it. So how was practice?"

Nathan shifted in his seat, and didn't respond.

"Nate?"

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, practice was…alright."

"Did Whitey give you a hard time again?"

"Not exactly. We didn't talk much one on one."

"Oh, it was just sucky?"

"Eric is going to ask Haley out."

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not. He asked me if it would bother me."

"That was cool of him. What did you say?"

"I said it was okay, duh. I'm dating Theresa." Nathan snapped.

"My bad. I was just thinking that it might be weird for you."

"Well it's not. Can you stop here?" Nathan said, gesturing towards the drugstore.

"Yeah…"

"Look, I'm sorry for being such a jerk. I'm just…tired."

"No big deal. You mind if I just sit in the car and call Brooke?"

"Yeah, I'll just be a minute." Nathan said quickly.

Lucas pulled out his cell phone and called Brooke.

"Hey Broody I was just thinking about you."

"Hey, did you hear about Haley and Eric?"

"He asked her out finally?"

"What do you mean, finally?"

"Well I told Haley like a week ago that she should start dating."

"Why?"

"So…she's not lonely and depressed?"

"But now Nathan seems upset."

"Really. How very interesting."

"Brooke…"

"Lucas…"

"I don't think we should interfere with Nathan and Haley, or Nathan and Theresa, or anything."

"We didn't. I just told Haley that she should start dating if Nathan was going to. How he reacts is up to him. I can't control it."

Lucas sighed.

"Nathan really likes Theresa."

"I know, but he was married to Haley."

"I just don't want any more drama than there already is."

"Baby, we live in Tree Hill. It's all about the drama." Brooke said.

Lucas laughed.

"I suppose you're right. Just…let's be supportive of whatever both of them want, alright?"

"You got it. So I'll see you tomorrow night?"

"Dinner and the movie of your choice."

"Excellent deal. See you tomorrow, boyfriend. I love you."

"Love you too Cheery." Lucas said, hanging up.

He leaned back in his seat and waited several more minutes.

"Hurry up Nate…" He said out loud.

After waiting a few more minutes, Lucas decided to brave the rainstorm and look for Nathan.

Nathan was standing against a wall, looking down at the money in his hand. This seemed irrational to him. There had to be better ways of dealing, but he couldn't come up with any at the moment. Did he really want to do this? It would just be one more thing of pills, right? He just wanted to forget about what just happened in the gym, then he could go on tomorrow with Theresa like nothing had happened.

"Nathan?" Lucas said, finally finding him.

Nathan jumped. He hadn't realized he had been standing there for so long.

"What are you doing?"

"Look…I'm fine. You can go, I'll be alright."

"What's going on?"

"I'm…" Nathan couldn't bring himself to say it.

Lucas felt a sense of dread building up inside of him.

"Please…tell me you're not…"

"Lucas, wait."

"How long?" Lucas said, starting to lose it.

"How long what?"

"How long since you've gotten back have you been using? What happened? Why didn't you just talk to me about whatever it was?"

"Lucas, I haven't been doing drugs. I just…everything with Haley, I just want to move on, but everytime I try to…I can't..."

"Why? Why now? You have Theresa now, aren't you happy, doesn't she make you happy? Please…I can help you Nate. Just let me help you."

Nathan sat on his bed, watching television. He shifted uncomfortably, trying to get comfortable with his knee propped up and wearing a cast. There was also the fact that Lucas had fallen asleep with his head on his shoulder.

The bottle of painkillers was on his bedside table…just out of reach.

"I don't need it…" He said to himself.

Yet the anxiety building up inside him proved otherwise.

Except under Lucas' weight, he couldn't turn to reach the bottle.

He could wait until Lucas woke up. He wasn't that desperate. He would just sit here, watching television.

Instead he moved out from under him and reached for the table.

"Ouch." Lucas said shakily.

Nathan put the bottle down and turned to Lucas. He didn't realize he had pushed that hard.

"Head injury, Nate. Jeez." Lucas said, gently touching this cut on his forehead.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Nathan said quickly, reaching over to Lucas.

Lucas pulled away and started to get up.

"Luke, I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to reach the table." Nathan said, pulling him back down.

"It's okay." Lucas sighed

Lucas began to settle back on the pillows and closed his eyes.

"Exhausted, are we?" Nathan grinned.

"Yeah." Lucas yawned.

Nathan watched him for a moment, just wishing he could tell Lucas about how guilty he felt, and about the fight he had with Haley, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had caused them both to get in a car accident and now Lucas was seriously hurt too. He just couldn't stop screwing up.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nathan asked quietly.

"Don't worry about it." Lucas mumbled sleepily.

As soon as Lucas was asleep, Nathan reached over and took two pills.

"You can't seriously be doing this." Lucas said in frustration.

"Look, just let me do this one thing. I'll be fine after that."

"No. I can't let you do this to yourself again." Lucas said, grabbing Nathan's arm.

Nathan felt something inside of him snap.

"You mean you can let me do this to you." Nathan said, shoving Lucas off him.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas shouted, brushing his now soaking hair out of his eyes.

"All you think about is how things affect YOU. What if I just need this once?"

"You don't need this Nate. You're stronger than that."

"Just…just shut up. Please. I don't need you to tell me that I'm stronger than this, or that I'll get through this. Just go home. I don't need you."

"Nathan, how did you slip again?"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nathan screamed.

Lucas started to back away.

Then he changed his mind and ran forward, tackling Nathan to the ground with a surprising amount of force.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nathan asked, still in slight shock.

"Look familiar, Nate?"

"What-"

"It's raining…we're fighting…"

Nathan swallowed hard; this is exactly the sight that never left his mind while he was in rehab.

"Well at least you're not punching me." He said flippantly. He immediately regretted it.

"Just wait." Lucas muttered.

"We both know you wouldn't do it. In fact you can't because-"

Nathan never finished his sentence because Lucas punched him hard across the jaw.

Nathan touched his face, pushed Lucas off of him, and spit out the small amount of blood that was in his mouth.

"Keep pushing me Nathan."

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that. So you're finally telling people how you really feel?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I always have to wait until you reach your breaking point to finally know what's really going on with you."

"I tell you stuff, what the hell are you talking about? You're the one who's never honest."

"Lucas-"

"I'm so sick of you right now!" Lucas fumed.

"Look, I'm sorry, it's just what I've been thinking."

"Whatever. You want to know what I really think? You piss me off. You have this amazing future in basketball, and you're going to turn to drugs and alcohol again to deal with your problems? That's what made you almost lose this chance before."

"Listen, it was just going to be one-"

"Is that what you said to yourself last time? Oh, it'll just be one extra pill. Well look how that turned out!"

"You've got to be kidding me. I thought we had moved past this."

"You're the one waiting to buy more Nate. Tell me why we're here, then."

"I don't know. I don't…I wasn't even sure I was going to buy them."

"You don't know? Well that's just great Nathan. I guess I'll just continue telling you why I'm here."

"Right. You were telling me why I piss you off."

"Well I can add the fact that you're a smartass to the list. You waste opportunities. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be as gifted as you are? You are an amazing player, and you're doing so much better in school. Colleges want you; they're going to offer you scholarships. And you want to throw that away? I wish I had those kinds of opportunities. You never appreciate anything. You always complained about how life was unfair, how Dad used to push you-"

"Shut up! JUST SHUT UP! Now you've gone too far. Dad pushed me too hard; I took amphetamines and could've DIED just to please him! You may be right, I might take advantage of some opportunities, but don't ever tell me I wasn't justified in what I said about how Dad used to be. He was a nightmare, and you know it!"

"I'm sorry, what? How the hell would I know how Dad was, I didn't know either of you!"

"That's right, you didn't know. So shut the hell up, you freaking hypocrite. And don't even try to put the way we grew up all on me. It wasn't my fault."

"Yet you never failed to take the opportunity to throw it in my face, did you?" Lucas hissed.

Nathan clenched his fists, he was getting so frustrated.

"That's who I used to be. That's who Dad used to be. Well at least you and Dad are now close, right? He finally got the smart son, the one who always listens to him and does exactly what he says. Daddy's got himself a new little puppet."

"What the hell are you talking about Nathan? Is that how you really feel about Dad now? Is that what you think about me?"

"No, no, you're right. He isn't like that. But you're so afraid of screwing up in front of him, its ridiculous. You don't want to let anybody know how you feel, you're just so scared all the time of making someone mad." Nathan fumed.

Lucas didn't respond, but instead shoved Nathan back down on the ground. Nathan gasped as he was pushed into a freezing muddy puddle.

Lucas was still staring at him intensely.

"Nathan. You are so, so stupid. In the past few months, we were in a car accident, I watched you go off to rehab, I had a heart attack, my girlfriend dumped me for one night and I punched a wall, and now you're thinking about using again. It's all just too much for me. If anyone should be using some kind of substance to get over their problems, it should be ME. Did you honestly think it was a good idea to push me? Because I have news for you, I may have dropped the ball on keeping an eye on you the first around, but-"

Lucas leaned in really close as Nathan did his best to pull away.

"I'm watching you this time. Every single day." Lucas said so quietly, Nathan could barely hear it.

Nathan just stared.

"Well as long as you're shutting up, let me just tell you that unless you do in fact want me to be beating the crap out of you here, let's just get up and go home." Lucas sighed, standing up.

Nathan got up slowly and followed Lucas home.

They were both covered with mud, and soaking wet. When Nathan come downstairs after taking a shower, Lucas was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, wrapped in a blanket. A book was open in his lap, but he wasn't even looking at it. When he saw Nathan coming, he furiously wiped away the tearstains on his cheeks.

Nathan looked at Lucas and was about to say something when Lucas coughed, quickly picked up his book and started reading.

Neither one could entirely wrap their mind around what had just happened before. All they knew was that once they had said everything that they'd ever wanted to say but were too afraid, they were having trouble coming up with anything.

Nathan watched as Lucas flipped through the pages without reading them. He continued doing this for a few more minutes. The pages flipping and the fire crackling were the only sounds in the otherwise silent house.

He couldn't stand it anymore. Lucas looked severely wounded by everything that had been said, and Nathan knew that he felt exactly the same. But how could he break the silence? What could make this right? They were both at fault, but neither one of them knew how to make it right.

While Nathan had been thinking about the situation, Lucas had buried his head in his arms

"Luke?" Nathan said quietly. He sounded like a little kid.

Lucas didn't respond, he just slammed his book shut and left the room.

"Lucas!" Nathan called as he ran after his brother.

Lucas turned around and sighed.

"Not now…please?" Lucas said, obviously tired and upset.

"I can't stand everything out in the open like that, and we haven't talked about it. We need to talk this through"

"I'm done talking for tonight." Lucas said, coughing again.

"You okay?" Nathan said, concerned. He moved towards Lucas.

"Fine…I'm just…" Lucas said, slowly backing away from Nathan and practically sprinting to his room.

Nathan sank down on the floor when he heard the door slam. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

Lucas was sitting in the exact same position, leaning against his door, and taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

The next morning, Deb and Dan noticed a change in the household. Lucas and Nathan barely spoke to each other like they usually did, and when they did speak, they were unnaturally polite to each other.

When they weren't speaking, they both looked devastated.

"Do you boys want anything else to eat?" Deb asked.

"No." They both said, excusing themselves and getting up from the table. Lucas hung back and let Nathan leave the room first and go up the stairs before he followed suit.

"That was extremely uncomfortable." Dan said.

"What do you think happened?"

"They had a fight." Dan sighed.

"Must've been terrible. They could barely look at each other."

"We should go talk to them." Dan said quickly, thinking about what Lucas had told him about how he felt about fighting with Nathan.

"Absolutely." Deb agreed.

"I'll go to Lucas, you talk to Nathan."

"Okay."

Dan softly knocked on Lucas' door and waited a moment before opening the door. Lucas was sitting on the floor, leaning against his bed.

"You want to talk about it?" Dan asked, coming over to his son.

"Talk about what?"

"Whatever happened with you and Nathan."

"I hit him. I yelled at him. I just completely lost it. He wanted to buy some more drugs, he said he just wanted to do it one more time, just to blow off steam. I just wanted to hit him so bad for being so stupid, so reckless. I ended up shoving him to the ground and screaming in his face. I just never expected him to yell back at me. I don't know why, I mean, he loves to argue." Lucas laughed in spite of himself.

"He…did he…"

"No, he was just upset about some stuff. Don't worry…I think I pretty much scared him away from going down that path again by showing him to the ground and telling him I was going to watch him like a hawk. At least I hope I did."

"Okay." Dan sighed with relief.

"I don't know, it was just…awful. We said horrible things to each other, and afterwards I was so embarrassed and so angry with him…now I just want to forget it ever happened."

"Why don't you go talk to him?" Dan said quietly.

"I can't! Not after all the stuff I said to him. It wasn't just me venting all my frustrations, I was just…outright horrible to him. And plus I hit him. He didn't even hit back." Lucas said, starting to choke up.

Dan pulled his son close as Lucas just let the tears fall.

"I just don't want him to go back to rehab." Lucas said quietly.

"He won't. He'll be okay. You two will make up." Dan reassured him.

Lucas was lying with his eyes closed on top of the picnic table at the Rivercourt listening to his iPod as Nathan walked up.

When he saw Nathan coming, he slowly sat up and pulled off his headphones.

"I don't know what to say, but one of us needs to say something or else we're both going to lose it." Nathan said, sitting down across from Lucas.

"We already did, didn't we?" Lucas said quietly, looking down.

"Yeah, we did."

"I don't know what to do anymore."

"I hate that this happened, Luke. It's so…"

"Uncomfortable." Lucas finished for him.

"Yeah."

"Nathan…what happened to us?"

"It was just a fight…"

"Do you really think that? Because I'm pretty sure it was a lot more than some disagreement."

"I want to."

"But it wasn't just a fight was it?"

"No…it was everything we hate about each other, out in the open."

"Yeah…I just…I …no…I can't do this right now. I'm sorry." Lucas said, picking up his stuff and walking away.

"Lucas…" Nathan said quietly.

Hmm…I was feeling kind of sadistic today (real life problems suck :) ) so I decided to screw around the boys a little bit. Well actually a lot, but we all know this story's about the brotherly love, yes?

Hmm…upcoming chapter(s)

-Some more of the newer couples (Nathan/Theresa and Eric/Haley) and of course a bit of our old favorites

-We'll see what Deb had to say to Nathan

-Wedding stuff for Karen/Andy