Nathan considered arguing, but in his father's face right now he saw no mercy, so he knew he'd just be wasting his breath. Asking for some time to dry off and get dressed would be equally pointless, Nathan knew, so he snatched up yesterday's boxer shorts, then squeezed past Dan with a sick feeling in his gut, heading directly for the stairs and the ass-kicking that awaited him. In the private office on the ground floor of the mansion, he let Dan push him into the room but resisted the urge to push back. He could take what was about to happen. He'd done it before so he could do it again. And no way in hell was he going to act cowardly or beg. He'd rather die first.

He stepped into his shorts and pulled them up quick under the towel, then straightened up, tossed the towel aside and faced his father squarely.

Dan stared back at him for well over a minute before he spoke. "Your mother tells me I should go easy on you because your actions last night were fueled by desperate love. Is that right?"

Nathan raised his chin high, refusing to react to the water dripping from his hair and creating irritating rivers down his spine. "Yeah, Dad, it is. Haley's still my wife and I love her."

"Do you now?"

"Yes. I just said I did, didn't I?"

Dan nodded and took a step closer, crowding him on purpose. "Well, son, my actions are also fueled by love. Love for your brother whose fever spiked so high last night your mother and I were this close to dialing 9-1-1."

"What?" Nathan took a step back and lost the attitude, confused and cold all at once. "Wait a minute. You almost took Luke to the hospital?"

"Yes. While you were sleeping across the hall without a care in the world, your brother – my son – was dying."

Nathan paled, realizing his dreams about Lucas needing an ambulance hadn't been dreams at all. He looked at his father guiltily, his shoulders beginning to slump. "Dad ... I'm sorry."

To that, Dan shut the door decisively and locked, then sat in the leather chair and glared at up at him. "Prove it."

Nathan swallowed hard, knowing exactly what meant. Love or no love for Haley, he wasn't going to get out of this. That had never been the plan no matter what he had hoped upstairs with his mom. When Dan Scott was in a mood like this, he saw and heard nothing if it conflicted with what he'd already decided, and what he had decided hours ago was that the younger of his two sons deserved a spanking.

Frankly, after learning what he just had, Nathan wasn't so sure anymore that he didn't deserve one, so he sucked it up, took a deep breath and bent over Dan's lap, wincing and tightening his cheeks seconds later as the first slap landed to ignite his skin right through his boxers. Another spank followed and then more followed after that, and with each one, Nathan bit down hard on his lower lip to get through it, trying to breathe shallow breaths and to focus on the end goal like he would during any other workout. This wasn't just a regular workout, though. It was punishment from his dad for being a bad boy, and it hurt.

Man, did it hurt!

Unable to help his feet from kicking, Nathan grabbed Dan's ankle to keep from throwing a hand back, which he knew would only anger his father more. He ordered himself to keep quiet and take the spanking he was getting like a man, but the little boy inside him insisted that he wasn't a man yet and told him it was okay to cry if he needed to. Nathan tried to ignore him but a whimper escaped before he could stifle himself and that was it for holding back. He let out a sob that led to another, and then he was bawling full on, crying not only for himself but also for the loss of Haley and for Lucas too, who was bedridden upstairs much sicker than Nathan realized. It killed Nathan to think that his selfish pursuits had played a hand in making his brother worse, and the continuous, burning slaps to his bottom seemed to punctuate his many, many missteps of the day before. Soon, he couldn't help but cry out and try to apologize.

"Da-ad! I'm sorry! Please, Daddy, I'm sorry! I never meant to hurt Luke!"

On the verge of delivering ten more slaps then taking Nathan's shorts down so he could really teach him a lesson, Dan stopped. The repentance coming from the son across his lap was genuine, he could tell; the choked tears and the kicking were not ploys to get the spanking lessened in any way. Nathan didn't need any more punishment, and if Dan continued to spank him, he wouldn't be doing it for Nathan's benefit. He would only be doing it for himself, to release his own pent-up frustration.

Since Dan was determined not to be that kind of father anymore, he worked his jaw a moment then removed his arm from Nathan's back, which he'd been using to pin the teenager in place over his knees.

"Stand up and get in the corner," he ordered.

Nathan did. It hurt to walk and it was even more humiliating to be caught rubbing his sore butt and wiping a snotty nose in front of his dad at the age seventeen, but Nathan tried to console himself with the fact that there would be no more spankings for him after this one. Whatever he had to do, however good he had to be, this was it. He just hoped his parents didn't feel the need to mention his final punishment to his brother. He didn't want Lucas to ever know that he'd hurt him so badly their dad had felt compelled to hurt him in return.

Truly, this had been the worst sixteen-hour period of his entire life.

Behind Nathan, Dan was thinking much the same thing. He gave the younger of his two boys another ten minutes to reflect on that fact before he unlocked the door then called him from the corner.

"Come here, son."

Nathan didn't want to, not if it meant facing his dad. He couldn't postpone this moment forever, though, so he turned around slowly but kept his eyes trained to the floor, feeling like child of six instead of a kid about to start his senior year in high school.

Dan waited until he was a foot away. "You got off easy," he said, "and it had nothing to do with your mother pleading your case. It was you who changed my mind, the remorse I heard when you were over my knee. Remember that, son."

Nathan didn't know what to say, so he stuck with the obvious. "Uh ... thanks, Dad ... can I go now?"

"Yes, but don't even think of leaving this house. You're grounded for the next week, and I want your keys and your driver's licence before lunch today, understood?"

Nathan wasn't surprised. He nodded and moved past Dan, but in the doorway, he paused and raised his eyes to meet his father's. "Dad."

"What?"

"I know I screwed up yesterday, but I meant what I said. I would never put Lucas in the hospital on purpose. He's your son and you love him, but you're not the only one ... I love him too. He's my brother."

"Yes, he is and you only have one, so how about you remember that the next time your little head tries to convince you to put him in danger over some girl."

Nathan wanted to argue that Haley wasn't just "some girl" but he refrained, understanding his father's underlying point. "Yes, sir."

"Good." Dan softened his tone as he nodded toward the door. "Now get upstairs and go relieve your mom. Lucas may not be awake just yet, but I'm sure he stills want your company."

Nathan was more than willing to do that. He left the office, went upstairs and headed straight for Luke's bedroom where an exhausted Deb was indeed grateful to get a break. Well aware of what had just happened in Dan's office between father and son, she gave Nathan a hug of sympathy, but then left him with instructions for Luke's care as long as his arm, desperate to get some sleep. Nathan didn't think he would need most of his mom's instructions, but he didn't dare tell her that, of course. He waved Deb out of the room, then piled some cushions on a chair to sit on while he stared at his patient and remembered how badly he used to treat his own brother.

Thoughts of Lucas pre-Ravens inevitably led to thoughts of "Tutor Girl", as Brooke used to call Haley once upon a time, so it wasn't long before Nathan got up to fetch the 300 page notebook hidden behind the night-table in his room. Once he returned to Luke's bedside, he settled himself comfortably on his cushions again, then flipped toward the back of his notebook where he still had a few unused sheets. Haley had never read any of these letters yet, but she would someday. Nathan was sure of it.

He uncapped his pen, glanced over at Lucas with a smirk, and then began to write.

"Guess what, Hales?

I'm sitting here with your best friend right now (who's completely passed out by the way), and all I can think about is how totally uncool you two were before you met me. Okay, okay, it was really before Whitey recruited Luke to the team and changed all our lives, but still.

Hey, whatever happened to that ugly-ass poncho you used to wear and that weird green hat? I told you before those things were a pretty big eyesore, but I gotta say I still wish I had them right now because then I could sort of be close to you ..."