Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters used in this fanfiction. I don't own Higher Ground, and at the moment I'm not sure who does! HOWEVER if I DID own the show....I wouldn't be a complete MORON and cancel it!

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Okay......I lifted the dialogue out of one of the most powerful scenes in the whole season. It's from the episode close encounters. It starts right after the part where Scott has run and has been brought back to Horizon. I added everything else. I have been on a retreat up in the mountains with my youth group and my boyfriend (Hi, Ty!) and so I haven't been posting and that's the reason. However...I was having writers block....and so....Ty suggested I use the show's script and add in some of my own stuff....so that's what I did....if it sucks.....blame Ty. I have been working on a futuristic Scott and Shelby fanfic and I should be posting the first chapter around Wednesday.....IF you're lucky!

I Can Breathe

It was time. Time to stop the pain. Scott knew it as he walked into Peter's office that day. He knew it with everything he was and he was going to do it. He always worried whether anyone believed him or not...but now it wasn't the issue. It didn't seem to matter. He knew he was telling the truth...SHELBY knew he was telling the truth. He knew what he had to do, and he had to do it alone. Shelby had offered to come along, but he had declined. She had helped him before he had come to this point of decision to tell, and he knew she would be there for him after. But he needed room to breathe right now....room to make his father understand what happened. Room to make HIMSELF understand what happened. He walked through the door of Peter's office.

"Thank God you're okay!" Martin said and pulled him into a bear hug. Scott couldn't bring himself to hug his father back. Not now. Not knowing what he was about to do to his family. Scott pulled away and walked toward the center of the room.

"Scottie, I'm so glad you're alright!" Elaine said and stepped in front of him. She was trying to pretend that what had happened in the hallway just a moment fore had happened.

******Flashback******

"We could do anything that you want" Elaine said and put a hand to Scott's cheek. He pushed her off

"We're done."

******End of Flashback******

She looked up at him with dark, pleading eyes. Eyes that were begging him not to tell. Scott looked away. If he looked in those eyes, he wouldn't be able to do it. He wouldn't be able to tell.

"Uh, Dad, I uh...I.....I need to talk to you" Scott stammered.

"Well, why don't we all go out for dinner." Elaine suggested, desperately trying to save herself from discovery.

"Scott, do you think that's a good idea?" Peter asked him. Scott slightly shook his head.

"No. Now." He commanded

"Alright....um...." Martin said as they all three sat down "I'm listening."

Scott took a deep breath. He couldn't believe he was actually about to do this. He had thought about telling him all the time. He had even worked out a script.....the way he would tell his father. Now as he was about to do it...he couldn't remember anything he had planned on saying. He was on his own. "All this..uh...stuff that's been goin on with me...um...it's about Elaine."

Elaine stood angrily, sighed, and stomped behind the chair her husband was sitting in.

"Elaine again. You have GOT to stop blaming Elaine." Martin said sternly. Scott lifted his hand to his forehead. "She didn't break up your mother and me!" Martin turned to Peter angrily. " Is this the progress you've made on my son in two months?"

"Maybe it is. Let's just hear him out." Peter explained and motioned for Scott to continue. Before Scott could say anything, Elaine interrupted.

"I told you this place isn't helping Scott. I mean, if you love him, you'll bring him home."

"No." Scott said suddenly hostile. If there was one thing he couldn't handle that was it. He couldn't be.....he WOULDN'T be taken away from Shelby...from his friends...from his family. He wasn't ready to go home. He didn't know if he ever would be. Elaine looked at him hatefully.

"You know, Martin, I don't see any point to this, let's just go." Elaine said getting half way to the door. Peter stopped her by saying

"Running away, I don't think, will solve anything. Certainly we agree upon that, don't we Mr. Barringer?" Martin nodded and swallowed hard. Scott stood, tears in his eyes, his chin quivering, and began to yell at Elaine.

"Why don't you just tell him the truth!? Tell him why I was using! Tell him why I had to get high EVERY DAY!"

"Mrs. Barringer, do you have any idea why Scott has these feelings?" Peter asked.

Elaine looked frightened. She knew she was about to be discovered. She knew her lies were almost over. She looked at Peter. He provided no comforting look. She looked at Martin and told yet another lie. She had been lying so much lately she hardly saw the difference anymore. "Martin I have no clue."

Scott pursed his lips and shook his head as he fought back tears.

"Scott..." Peter urged.

Scott turned to his dad, still fighting tears unsuccessfully. "Uh....Dad.....I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. She would come into my room at night....." Martin sat up straight, suddenly interested in what his son had to say. "and she would get into bed with me...."

Elaine decided she had to stop him. She didn't actually expect him to go through with it. To tell the whole story...but here he was....about to do the unimaginable. "Scott, when will the lies stop?!" she yelled as she balled her hands into fists and shook them at her sides.

Scott knew he had to take his chance to say what had to be said now. Elaine was getting hysterical and he wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise. "WE HAD SEX, DAD!" he blurted out.

"That's enough----no." Martin shook his hands and stood up. He was finding this hard to believe.

"Do you hate me so much, Scott?!" Elaine squealed still trying to save her tail. Scott was getting increasingly angry with her. He was trying to do the right thing, and she was busy trying to stop him. How selfish could she be?

"Would you shut up?!" he yelled raising his hands to his face.

"Please- -everyone just...." Martin started hysterically and then calmed himself. He looked at Scott. "I never thought it could go this far. I never thought the lies could become so hateful."

In that instant, Scott felt so low. He had told the truth.....and no one believed him. And he hated Elaine. Hated her for what she did to him. Hated her for lying right now. Scott choked out "You don't know her, Dad. You don't- -you don't know what she- - - "

"You know this is really sad, Scott, really!" Elaine interrupted.

"Shut up!" he yelled again.

"Can't we just accept the truth?" she asked persistently. She was making it look as though he was lying. Scott turned to her.

"THIS IS THE TRUTH!" he screamed.

"Stop it now, PLEASE!" Martin yelled over everyone, silencing them. Elaine looks away as Scott fought back the tears that had been drying to come through since he entered this room, knowing what was to come. Scott took a deep breath, glanced at Elaine, and went on.

"It's the truth, Dad. Everything...it is." He cried. Martin raised up his hands to stop him.

"Scott....you are my only child....and I love you," Scott knew where this was going. There would be a 'but'. A reason why he couldn't believe him. Scott looked away. Martin grabbed his son's vest and shook him violently. "LOOK AT ME!" Scott snapped his head up and looked at his father through frightened eyes. His father studies his face. "I don't know you anymore. I don't know who you are." A tear slid down Scott's cheek.

"It's me, Dad. Just me. I know that you can't believe it and I know that you don't want to...but it happened, Dad. It happened. I'm sorry, okay?" he finished. He couldn't stand being in the room any longer. Not with Elaine, who hurt him. Not with his father, who hurt him more. He got to the door.

"Scott- -" Peter said, but Scott paid no mind.

"Let him go." Martin commanded. "The damage has been done." But Peter followed Scott out into the morning sunshine anyway.

Scott sucked in the fresh air and tried to overcome the feeling that his heart was going to burst inside his chest. He leaned on the railing. Peter stood next to him. "Do you think I'm lying?" he finally asked Peter. Peter put a comforting arm around his shoulders.

"If you say it I believe it, man" he said.

Scott took a deep breath. "For the first time...in so long...I feel like I can breathe." With that, he turned and walked down the path in pursuit of Shelby. HE walked down the path towards the bear statue and found her sitting alone. She heard him and met him halfway. She saw that he had been crying. She sighed and touched his cheek lovingly, then touched his chin. She let her hand brush his chest as she slowly dropped it to his hand and they interlock fingers. They stood like that for several moments until Shelby asked

"How do you feel?"

"Like I can breathe." She squeezed his hand.

The truth had come out, the smoke had cleared. It was time to start over. Together.

The End

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Okay.....weird, huh? Please review. I have one other story already written called Hero and I have another chapter story. If u want them

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE REVIEW!