A/N: I must first let everyone know that the very first episode I ever watched was last week's. I have always seen commercials for "One Tree Hill" and I thought it looked really really interesting. I absolutely adore shows, books, movies, etc. that have a strong focus on familial relationships, especially between brothers. So I have no idea why I never turned it on before now. That said, please do understand that I have only seen one episode. So maybe I shouldn't have written a fan-fic while I am so new to all this, but I just couldn't help this bunny. Wouldn't leave me alone. I had to write it, and once it was written I had to share it. So any mistakes I make please forgive. Feel free to let me know, but I ask that you do so kindly. Thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, or even the situation they find themselves in here. I made no profits from writing this.
Loose Strings
"Hey, baby, you okay?" Nathan Scott asked his girlfriend, turning to face her as she continued to stare at the television in front of him. They were halfway through the movie they'd turned on and hadn't said a single word to him since before it started.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied absently, sighing heavily. Haley was still reeling from what she'd found out earlier: Nathan had only been interested in her to get to his half-brother, Lucas, Haley's life-long best friend. How should she react to this? She liked Nathan, had thought him a nice guy. A part of her wondered why she had thought that after all the horrible things Nathan had done to his brother just to hurt him. So why wouldn't he go after Lucas' best friend? What better way to stick it to him?
Nathan realized he was not going to get his girlfriend to talk when she never moved her gaze from the television screen. Shrugging, he returned his attention to the movie, wondering why he was getting such cold, distant vibes from Haley. Not five minutes passed before Haley's cell phone rang.
As Haley reached for it, Nathan paused the movie so she wouldn't miss anything and waited patiently.
"Karen? What's wrong?" the concerned tone in Haley's voice caught Nathan's attention. He looked over to her, listening for what she would say next.
"Oh God… are they okay?" Haley's eyes had widened nearly to capacity and he could easily see the fear in them. Leaning forward, he put a hand on her shoulder as she listened.
"Karen," Haley said slowly, her voice trembling and her eyes watering. "Tell me Lucas is alive. Please."
As a tear trickled down Haley's cheek, Nathan sat back a little, startled by the revelation that something had happened to Lucas. Most likely a car accident, he surmised. A shocking turn of events; he honestly hadn't seen it coming.
"Yeah, I'll be there soon," Haley promised her best friend's mother before hanging up and rising to her feet. Nathan stood up with her. "Lucas and Keith were in a car accident on the way to the airport," she told him with an unsteady voice as she grabbed her purse and jacket. "Lucas is in surgery, I have to get to the hospital."
Seeing how much Haley was shaking, Nathan decided he was not letting her drive herself. "I'll take you," he offered, grabbing his keys and following her out the door. Even though he knew better, a part of him felt like Lucas had ruined his plans yet again.
***
Following Haley through the hallways of the hospital to get to the OR waiting room, Nathan cursed the set up of the hospital. It was more like a maze than anything else, and the quiet disturbed him slightly. He hated hospitals, he decided. Nothing good happened in hospitals.
Turning a corner, Haley heard Keith's voice and quickened her pace as she rushed into the waiting room. Keith, Karen, Brooke, and Peyton were all there looking somber. After a mere second Haley was within inches of Karen's tear-streaked face.
"How is he?" she asked fearfully as the two hugged.
"Still in surgery," Karen explained softly, her eyes traveling to the person who had come in behind Haley.
Nathan shifted his weight uncomfortably under Karen's surprised gaze. He knew she hadn't expected him to be there. The only person in the entire town less likely to be there was his father.
"He has a good chance of making it, doesn't he?" Haley inquired, needing to know Lucas' odds of coming out of this.
"Oh, of course he does," Karen replied unsurely. "He's a strong boy. We won't lose him."
Nathan took a seat next to Brooke and looked into her grim face. She and Lucas hadn't been a couple for very long but it was obvious she cared a great deal about him, and from the look on Peyton's face, she did too. How had things become so entangled? How had Brooke and Peyton, Nathan's friends, become so involved in Lucas' life? Nathan supposed Lucas might feel the same way about Haley. One thing was for sure, the brothers' lives were much more entangled than Nathan cared for them to be.
He looked at everyone else in the room, starting with his uncle. Keith looked distraught, devastated. Karen was barely holding herself together, and Haley was trying to be strong for her. Brooke and Peyton were supporting each other, but there was no masking the fear they both felt.
Then Nathan considered his own reaction. Lucas was his brother—he should have been the most distraught person in the room, Karen aside. But he wasn't. He didn't want Lucas to die, of course. He may have despised his older brother but wanting him dead was completely different. The plain and simple truth, however, was that he was here for Haley. He wasn't sure he would have come otherwise.
When finally a doctor came to fill everyone in, Nathan was shocked to see his father, Dan Scott, rush in to be updated. What was his father doing here? He was so distracted by Dan's presence that he almost didn't hear what the doctor had to say.
"Lucas' heart stopped during surgery. We were able to get it beating again, but I'm afraid he's fallen into a coma. Now if he wakes up soon, his chances of a full recovery are good. He's in recovery right now, we'll move him to Intensive Care in a few hours. You can see him then, but it will have to be immediate family only."
Nathan watched Karen crumble into Keith's arms and he moved to comfort Haley. To his surprise, Haley twisted out of his gentle grasp and glared up at him.
"Do you even care that your brother is in a coma?" she asked icily.
"Of course I—"
"Because if you don't, leave. Just remember that he is the only brother you will ever have."
Haley turned her back on him and went to help Karen. Nathan stared after her in shock. Did she really think he was so cruel a person that he wouldn't care at all if Lucas died? He had more respect for life than that. Sixteen was too young to die, for anyone.
A pang of guilt hit him at that thought. The small voice in his head that he hated so much asked him how he could be so distantly affected by this. If Lucas died, then everything that was ever said and done between them was set in stone. Nathan could never take back any of it, there would never be any peace between them. The thought scared him, because he knew that in ten years he would look back at what a jerk he had been and wish he could take it back. He would wish that he had made peace with Lucas before he had died. Perhaps what scared him the most was that he had never wanted to take any of it back, had never wanted peace with Lucas, until this very moment.
***
Dan Scott took in his son's troubled expression and took a seat next to him. "What brought you here?" he asked, knowing it wasn't brotherly concern.
"I was with Haley when Karen called her. She was too upset to drive, so I brought her here."
"Well that was good of you," Dan replied. "We wouldn't want to have another accident on our hands."
"What about you?"
"I was at the intersection when the accident happened. My cell phone wouldn't work so I had to drive Keith and Lucas here." Dan paused, knowing Nathan might react badly to what he said next. "Karen's plane hadn't landed yet and they needed someone to consent to doing the surgery… so I had to do it."
Nathan clenched his jaw and Dan rushed to mend things. "Nathan, I had to. I couldn't let him die…"
"No, Dad, you did the right thing. What else were you suppose to do?"
This was met with silence. The two had nothing else to say to each other. Their relationship was so strained and Dan knew he needed to make things right or risk losing his son.
Keith approached the doctor, and the two discussed Lucas' condition out of earshot of everyone but Dan and Nathan, and the two shameless listened in. "What if he doesn't wake up soon?" Keith wanted to know.
"For right now, let's not worry about that, Mr. Scott. As I said, if he wakes up soon his chances are quite good."
Keith was quiet for a minute before asking his next question. "What are the chances that he will wake up?"
"It's difficult to say, really. I'd rather not throw out some number, because it is just a number. Now I really must see to a few other patients…"
Dan looked to see Nathan's reaction to this, and his son looked no more or less troubled by what they had heard. Maybe Nathan was already rethinking things. Not for the first time since he'd brought Lucas here, Dan was reminded that right now he risked losing his other son. The son who hated him. The son with whom he had no relationship.
The End
Another A/N:You may wonder about the title of this fic, because I mention no "loose strings." But this situation is so messy and it feels like there's so many loose strings between the father and his two sons that need tying up, so that is what I decided to call this.