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Brooke walked back out to the car and found Lucas in the passenger seat with his eyes closed. As she got in the car, he sighed and opened his eyes. Brooke leaned over to kiss Lucas on the forehead and then started the car.

"That was a mess." Lucas said after a few minutes of driving in silence.

"You can say that again."

"I'm so sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay. It comes with the territory, I suppose."

"I don't understand what happened in there."

"I do."

"You do?"

"Nathan worries about you like crazy, Luke. He knows you weren't trying to hurt yourself, he has to know that deep down. But you do have a tendency of letting your own wellness slip to help others."

"It's not on purpose."

"I know, baby. I love that you want to be there for people. I can just picture you rushing over so you could be with Nathan, and it's so incredibly sweet. But your medication is important. It's not like skipping a vitamin. This isn't something you can let slide, ever."

"Yeah, you're right."

"He'll calm down."

"I take my HCM seriously. I hope you know that."

"I know you do. But I also know you don't like to talk about it. That makes it hard for those of us who love you to know how you're doing."

"I don't want to think of myself as a ticking time bomb. That's not how I want to live my life."

"And you shouldn't. You should live your life the way you want to, but not at the cost of your safety, not even for a second. If not for you, think of me, think of Nathan, and everyone else who loves you."

"Those are very good reasons. I'm sorry, Brooke. I wasn't thinking. I promise to be more careful."

"I know you will. And I will make sure you do."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"It does scare me."

"HCM?"

"Yeah. It's not something I really want to talk about, but I've never actually said it out loud before. I wanted you to know that it scares me too."

"Oh Lucas…"

"I just wanted you to know." Lucas said quietly as they pulled in the driveway.

"Thank you for telling me. I know that wasn't easy for you."

"Of course. I love you Brooke. You mean everything to me, I hope you know that."

"Right back at you, boyfriend."

Nathan groaned as his phone rang for the third time that hour. It was Lucas.

Again.

"Damn it, Luke." Nathan said, tossing his phone on the floor.

"Who was that?" Dan asked from the doorway.

"Lucas. Before you ask, I'm not calling him back."

"You don't have to. It's probably best that you don't talk to him now."

"It's bad enough my best friend had to drive himself into a tree on a beer run, but my brother doesn't care enough about himself to take his heart medication? Is this really what my life has come to?"

"Nathan, it wasn't intentional."

"Dad, I read all about HCM before Luke and I took the test. Some people just drop dead without any warning. It makes me sick to know that could happen to you two."

"That is incredibly rare. Both Lucas and I take our medication. Lucas wasn't skipping his to hurt himself, I really can't stress that enough."

"I know…"

"Then why choose to be angry with him?"

"I don't know."

"Well, you don't have to call him right away. But you should call him when you're ready to talk."

"Maybe. I shouldn't have dropped that bomb on you about the fire. He really didn't want me to tell you."

"Why?"

"I'm not really sure. I think it's because he…"

"He didn't know why he did it at the time." Dan finished for him.

"Well, yeah."

"I guess I can understand that."

"I'm glad he was there though."

"Me too, son."

"I wish I understood what he was thinking. With all of this. I feel like I lay everything out on the table but he's so hard to read sometimes."

"Nathan, your brother does things his own way in his own time. You and I might want answers right away, but that does not mean Lucas is ready to give them."

"That's true."

Nathan's phone began to vibrate on the floor. Lucas's name appeared on the screen.

"How many is that?"

"Fourth time this hour."

"Do you want to talk to him?"

"Not yet."

"Okay. Just remember, we have been made painfully aware that life is short. Don't let this get in the way of your relationship. Your brother loves you more than anything. He would never try to do anything to hurt you."

Nathan sighed and watched his phone light up for the fifth time.

Lucas hung up his phone and sighed.

"What's wrong baby?" Karen asked.

"Nathan won't talk to me."

"Oh honey, he's probably still hurting. This is such a hard thing to go through."

"I feel terrible. He was so angry with me. I don't think I've seen him that mad at me in a long time. I really hurt him this time, Mom. This is exactly what he doesn't need right now."

"He'll come around. Just give him time."

"I don't know what to do until then. He barely came out of his room after finding out about Tim, and then we had that blowup after the funeral. There's nothing I want more than to make this better for him. I just wish he understood how important he is to me. I've been thinking that I don't let him know how much I need him."

"It's possible. I think you are very good at telling people how much you love them, which is wonderful. But it's also nice to feel needed too. Nathan is very open with his feelings, and I know it's not as easy for you."

"That's true…"

"He's just scared honey."

"I am too, Mom."

"Do you think he knows that?"

"It's not something I like to talk about."

"Yes, I know. I know it's your heart condition but don't forget that we are all affected by this too."

"I forget that sometimes. Or maybe I don't like to think about it. I don't know. Nathan needs to understand that I do care about it, though."

"I'm sure he does. But if you're worried about it, why don't you tell him?"

"It's hard to do that when he refuses to talk to me."

"Leave him a message. It's not the same as talking to him, but it might be the best option right now. Going to see him might be too much at the moment. You tell him how you feel, and he can listen to it when he's ready."

"Do you really think that will work?"

"I do."

"Okay. I'll do it. Thanks Mom."

"Of course."

Lucas wandered up to his room and started pacing back and forth. What to say? He felt a little strange getting ready to bare his soul on voice mail. Maybe it would be easier than doing it in person.

Nathan's voicemail greeting came on immediately. Lucas sighed.

Great, Nathan was outright rejecting his calls now.

Later that evening, Dan decided to call Karen and check up on Lucas. He decided to call the house phone, hoping Lucas himself wouldn't answer.

"Hello?" Andy answered.

"Hey Andy, it's Dan. I was just calling to check up on Lucas."

"Luke is okay. He went straight up to his room to get his medication when he got back from the funeral. He feels awful about what happened with Nathan though. How is Nathan doing?"

"It's been a rough time for him. Tim has been his best friend for years and they had started growing apart. I'm sure any time that Lucas forgot his medication would make Nathan worry, but it was just that much worse since he just lost his friend."

"Understandable. I think Luke is up in his room if you wanted to talk to him."

"Oh, that's okay. I just wanted to make sure he was doing okay." Dan said quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I should get going. Thanks Andy."

"No problem Dan. See you later."

"Bye."

"What's wrong?" Deb asked from the doorway.

Dan sighed. It was hard for him to admit he was scared of talking to his own son.

"Nathan told me today that it was Lucas who saved me from the fire. Lucas made him promise not to tell."

"Oh my God." Deb gasped.

"I'm still in shock."

"What did Lucas say?"

"He was pissed off that Nathan told me. He wanted it to be a secret."

"Why keep it a secret?"

"I don't know. He bolted pretty quickly."

"Oh Dan…"

"It's okay. I have no idea what to say to him. He clearly doesn't want to talk about it."

"Well, you have to take your own advice. Give him time."

Nathan woke up the next morning and looked across the hall at Lucas's empty bedroom. Like always, he missed Lucas when he went back to Karen's. It was so much worse knowing how badly they had left things.

He really wished Lucas hadn't gone back to Karen's now. They had a routine. Nathan would go and wake Lucas up early, Lucas would whine about being tired, then they could talk about their real problems. Problem solved.

He has just lost one of his best friends. Why was he pushing the person he was closest to away?

Nathan sighed and picked his phone up off the floor. Lucas had given up after call number six, but had finally left a message. He stared at the screen for a long time, but finally hit play and held the phone up to his ear.

Hey Nate, it's me. Again. Look, I get it, I really do, and I'm really sorry. I should have remembered my meds and I didn't. I'm not going to forget again, ever. That's a promise. I don't take you or my life for granted, I really hope you understand that. You are one of the most important people in my life, Nate. The truth is that HCM scares me too. I realize that I've never told you that. Maybe I should have. Anyway, call me back please? I want to talk to you in person. I really miss you. I know you were working through everything, but we barely talked this past week. I don't think we've gone more than a few hours without speaking in a very long time. Basically, I'm not sure what to do without you. Your voice mail goes on forever, by the way. I thought I would have been cut off by now. I hope you're getting all of this. Otherwise I'm just talking to myself. Okay. I love you little brother. More than anything. Bye.

Nathan flipped his phone shut and chuckled at his brother's tangent.

"Damn, he's good." Nathan sighed.

"Heading out?" Deb asked as Nathan passed by.

"Yeah."

"Where to?" Dan asked.

"I'm going to find Luke and apologize."

"Good for you, Nate."

"Thanks Dad. And thanks for earlier."

"You're welcome. What changed your mind?"

"Luke left me a pretty convincing voicemail."

"He does have a way with words, doesn't he?"

"Most of the time. But to be honest, I woke up and I wasn't mad at him anyway. You were right, I shouldn't have chosen anger."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Out with Jake. Luke doesn't know I'm coming."

"That should be interesting."

"I think so. But I figure why wait until he gets back to Karen's? Why am I wasting any time being mad at him?"

"I think that's a good attitude to have."

"Right. So I'll be back later."

"See you."

Jake sat down outside the cafe and handed Lucas a cup of coffee.

"Thanks, man. I really need this."

"No problem. So how are you feeling today?"

"Much better. I took my meds and took it easy the rest of the day."

"Good, good. You scared me a little bit yesterday."

"Scared myself a little bit too."

"I'm glad it wasn't anything worse."

"Me too. I'll be extra careful from now on. Plus Brooke won't let me slip up again."

"Now that I believe. Any word from Nathan?"

"I've become very well acquainted with his voicemail."

"That sucks. But he'll come around."

"I hope so. I just wish I could fix this for him. I hate that he has to go through all of this."

"Me too. He's lucky to have you though."

"As long as he'll actually let me be there for him."

"I have a feeling he will." Jake said, casually looking down the street.

"Lucas!" Someone yelled from across the street.

Lucas's head snapped up. It was Nathan.

"Nate." Lucas said quietly, standing up.

"Luke!" Nathan yelled, rushing over and hugging Lucas.

"Buddy, I've tried to call you. I'm so sorry about yesterday." Lucas said, holding his brother tight.

"I know. I probably should have answered, but I was too pissed off. For someone who is so afraid of losing people, I sure do know how to push them away, don't I?"

"Nate, it's fine. Really."

"No it's not. I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I definitely shouldn't have told Dad about the fire. I broke a promise to you. I wasn't thinking. Did Brooke even know about that?"

"Don't worry about it. And yes she did. I told her after you found out."

"I feel really bad about that. I was pissed off at you and wanted to punish you."

"Listen, I swear that I will try to take care of myself better."

"I know, I know."

"Brooke has also made it her mission in life to make sure I'm taken care of."

"I have nothing to worry about then."

"I'm sorry I worried you."

"It's okay. Truth be told I'm always worrying about you."

"I'm sorry I took that for granted."

"Luke, I really overreacted. But to be fair, we just got home from my best friend's funeral. Just hearing that you were off your meds made me think of losing you too, and I swear that I could not live through that, so I panicked."

"I understand. Just so you know, I need you in my life too. More than I think you realize."

"Good. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"We're okay?"

"We're okay, Nate."

"Good. Your voicemail was really nice by the way. Until the end when you started rambling."

Lucas laughed.

"I was really nervous and then I kind of lost steam."

"It was good. You did good."

"Guys we're in public and you two have been hugging for like five minutes straight." Jake interjected teasingly.

Nathan laughed and let go of Lucas.

"Whatever Jake, you're the one who told me to come here."

Jake smiled and shrugged.

"Wait, what?" Lucas asked.

"I can't have my best friends fighting. It's inconvenient for me."

"That's touching." Nathan said, smiling for the first time in a while.

"What can I say? I'm a sensitive guy."

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"You're a good friend Jake." Lucas said.

"So what's this about a fire?" Jake asked.

Lucas sighed and glanced at Nathan.

"Well it's a long story…"

I have some stories in mind for when Lucas and Nathan go to school, so I was thinking of ending this story in a few chapters and starting up a sequel. I thought that would be easier than making this story a billion chapters. Thoughts?

Thanks for reading! :)