Revelations

Megan laughed as she watched her brothers complain about their boredom. They had been grounded once again and, as it usually was, it was all because of her. Still, it served them right, coming into her room and trying to bust her. Who did they think she was? She would never get busted by some boobs.

She sat comfortably in her bed, eyes staring at the camera she had installed in their room. Man, couldn't they start fighting already? It was no fun to watch them complain.

"Megan!" The girl started at her mother's voice. She sounded close to her room. "I'm ready to drive you to practice!"

Oh no! She had completely forgotten about it in favor of the watching her brothers' misery. Megan gasped softly when she heard footsteps come up the stairs. Mom couldn't come in. She couldn't.

"Uh... Coming! Just give me a minute!" Megan called back.

She immediately grabbed the remote lying on the bedside table and turned to the screen. She lifted the remote but paused. Mom was nearby and Megan didn't want her to suspect anything soon after Drake and Josh made the fuss about her secrets. It was best if she didn't hear it beep.

Her parents believed everything that came out of her mouth but Megan didn't want to risk it. Besides, how could she explain a hidden monitor in her room?

So instead, Megan rushed to the wall and hung the painting that leaned against the wall under the screen. She turned just in time for Mom to enter.

"Megan, you aren't ready yet?" Audrey Parker — Nichols, Megan reminded herself. She could never get used to calling her mother by her new surname — said, taking in he daughter's appearance. "Hurry up, I'm waiting in the car, okay?"

Megan wore her most angelic smile. "Sure, Mom."

Audrey gave her a smile and left. Megan sighed in relief. Grabbing the clothes on her bed, she went ot the bathroom to change.

She didn't remember that she hadn't turned off or muted the camera.

o-o-o-o

Audrey entered her daughter's room and, as she had expected, the sheets were a mess. Still, she wasn't going to yell at her. Megan had had the past few days rough anyways, with the boys taking any chance and thinking up anything to get the little angel in trouble.

Audrey chuckled to herself as she remembered some of the things they had said. Like Megan — sweet, innocent Megan — would have a monitor hidden in her room and cameras all over the house. Really, Megan was the nicest person she had ever seen. She had proven it when she hadn't gotten mad at her brothers for all they put her through.

Shaking her head, Audrey moved to straighten the sheets. What would she do with those boys. She remembered when Drake was little. He had hated having a sister and had been trying to get her in trouble by lying all the time. It seemed he had affected Josh too, because she remembered meeting the latter before the remarriage.

A thunk echoed in the room and made her jump, the sheets dropping from her hands. "I don't believe this!"

Audrey's eyes narrowed. That was Drake's voice. But she had just seen him in his room earlier, so how could she hear him in Megan's room?

"Drake, calm down." Josh?

"You just heard her!" Drake's voice raged. "You guys should be ashamed of yourselves." Audrey remembered the line from the scolding she had just given the boys for starting their little charade again. "How could you accuse your poor little sister like that?"

She could hear Josh sigh. "She doesn't know the truth. We just have to show her and Dad that we're not lying."

A sigh was his response, much softer than anything else Drake had said. "Nah, I give up."

Silence reigned after the statement.

Audrey blinked. Drake was giving up? In his whole life, she had never seen her son admitting defeat. If there was one thing she really liked about Drake, it was that once he set his mind to do something, he never budged until it was done.

Maybe he is learning his lesson, a part of her mind said.

In the other part, however, alarms were blaring. She couldn't help but feel as if there was something she should know.

Suddenly, her mind flashed back to what Drake and Josh had said. A monitor behind the large painting. Her resolve to not believe anything they said about Megan wavered. What if they had been telling the truth?

No, that was silly. Megan couldn't do something like that. She was only nine. And besides, how could a little angel like Megan be so cunning?

Still, her heart didn't want to believe that anymore. She didn't know why but she suddenly wanted to give the boys a chance.

Audrey turned to the painting. She was like a leaf twisting in the wind. Do it, there's no harm, a part of her mind said. No, it's impossible, another said.

"You what?"

Josh's voice was the final straw. Audrey too the portrait and froze at the sight. A hidden monitor... behind the painting. Cameras that showed every room and even the garage... Spying material... Dangerous supplies...

How? How could someone as kind as Megan...?

She swallowed thickly, stumbling backwards until she was sitting on the bed. They had been telling the truth. Megan had been lying. The boys were in trouble for nothing.

How didn't I see it? How did I—?

"I give up." Drake was sitting on his bed, staring out of the window. From his own bed, Josh was staring at him, loosly holding a pen over a book. "Mom and Walter think Megan's the sweetest, most innocent, perfect little angel who couldn't possibly do anything wrong. They are never going to believe us. They don't even trust us."

Audrey's stomach twisted. The way Drake said it made it seem like it had been going on for a long time. Had they been right all along? All those incidents they blamed Megan for, was it all really true?

Josh stared for a moment. "They will if we can find some proof that she won't be able to erase."

Drake sighed again, this time with a bitter edge to it. "They blame us for everything that happens without any proof other than Megan's claims."

Audrey winced. The thought of proof never crossed her mind when she punished the boys.

Drake shrugged, finally turning from the window. "They won't believe us. And even if they do, they will never do anything about it. She's their favorite. She's always been."

His voice had gained a forlorn tone at the last sentence, one Audrey had never heard her elder son use. She had a feeling he wasn't only talking about after the remarriage or even after her first husband died.

"Parents don't have favorites."

She wanted to agree with Josh but she couldn't bring herself to. Audrey thought back to the last few days. Everything they had accused Megan of... Audrey wasn't sure what to believe. Even now, it was hard to think her nine year old daughter could do half of those things. But Drake and Josh had been right about one thing. What if they were right about everything else?

They always believed what Megan said but never gave the boys a chance. That was favoritism.

"I stopped believing that a long time ago."

Audrey had never heard Drake sound so dejected. She swallowed again. It was somehow even more difficult to do than before.

They had punished the boys when they were telling the truth. Had they ever done that because of something Megan did before? It obviously hadn't been the first time. Did Drake think they didn't care about him? Or... Or that they didn't love him as much as they did his sister?

Her hands were trembling. How did Drake forgive her every time? She could hardly fathom forgiving herself if she had been in his position.

On the screen, Josh got up and settled next to him. "Come on, you know they love us."

"Maybe, but if they ever had a choice between one of us and Megan, they would probably pick her."

It was hard to imagine that Drake would have so many doubts and fears. He always appeared so confident and self-assured that it had never occurred to Audrey that her son could, in fact, feel afraid.

How had she — no, how could she have made him feel like that?

"Do you really believe that?" Drake didn't reply but he also didn't have to. Josh sighed. "I don't. The choice would be hard for them." He paused. "Well, they would probably have lesser trouble and they wouldn't be angry as much as they are now, but I don't think they could just let us go like that."

Drake didn't answer. Audrey knew better than to hope for one.

She swallowed the small lump that was forming in her throat but she couldn't help but smile. Josh was emotionally the strongest person she had ever known. He had a maturity in him that would shame most adults. Oftentimes, the carelessness that was normal for a teenager would rise to the surface, but Josh knew better than to make that his permanent state.

Drake, on the other hand, didn't care for truly important things. That was one of the many things people noticed when first meeting him. Still, Audrey knew her son better than that. Drake could be selfish and greedy, but he was also kind and caring. You just had to dig it out of him.

"Hey, what happened to your arm?" Audrey jumped at Josh's voice. He was staring at the said arm with worry.

"Huh?" Drake twisted his arm to take a look at something on the skin. "Oh. Megan threw me out of the window."

"What?" Audrey finally managed to say, her voice coming out as nothing but a breath. Her eyes were wide, her hands clenched. Megan had...

It seemed almost impossible. Drake was much older than her. No nine year old should be able to throw a fifteen year old out of a window. It had to be, at the very least, very hard and Audrey had never seen Megan do something combative.

Then again, there was a lot she hadn't seen about her daughter. And Drake was, despite what first glance might say, frail.

"When she was five?" What?! "Yeah, you mentioned that."

A sharp pang hit her stomach and Audrey didn't know why. Was it because she hadn't known even back then? Or because he had told Josh and not her?

You wouldn't have believed it anyways, her conscience said. He probably knew that.

Drake shrugged. "Yeah. Because I went into her room to get a ball without asking."

Audrey's mind reeled. Megan had thrown her brother off a first floor window just because he had entered without permission? What kind of a five year old did that? Scratch that, what kind of a person did that?

Josh smiled sympathetically. "That's harsh."

"She told Mom I fell."

The event finally clicked. Megan had rushed into the kitchen, where she and Richard had been, saying that Drake entered her room without asking and fell down the roof. He had broken his arm.

Did Megan even realize what she had done? What could have happened? She could have killed Drake.

Or maybe she didn't care. Audrey didn't like the sound of that. The thought felt foreign. She would never have imagined Megan hurting someone intentionally before.

"I broke my arm. I tried to tell her but she didn't believe me about it."

"And your Dad?"

Audrey winced. Josh couldn't have picked a worse topic. Drake hated talking about him. She had never heard him say anything about him, not even after he had been told of his father's death.

"He didn't believe me either. Said I needed to stop blaming my sister for everything."

Audrey blinked. Her mouth parted slightly but she couldn't say anything. No one had ever been able to get him to to talk about his father. Not the doctors she had consulted, not his friends, not his cousins and not even her.

Wait, had she ever talked to him about it?

Audrey had been a wreck after that and didn't notice much those days and when she had gotten better, Drake seemed to have moved on. He had never said anything about him or the accident either, so she had thought that it didn't bother him.

That wasn't the case with Megan, her traitorous thoughts said.

The thought that maybe Drake trusted Josh more than her made the feel nauseous. Still, she knew she deserved it.

"And Megan didn't own up?"

Drake chuckled but it was nothing like the ones she had heard from him before. It was humorless and bitter. "She wouldn't own up even if her pranks get one of us killed one day."

Josh fell quiet at that. Audrey had no doubt that he believed it too. Even she believed it now. After all, Megan had thrown her brother off the first floor for a really trivial reason.

"Hey, maybe we should try to bust her one more time," Josh said.

Drake shook his head. "Nah, don't want to get electrocuted again."

Electrocuted? Audrey resolved to talk to her daughter when she came back. What was Megan thinking?

"We're home!" she heard Walter call. Audrey jumped.

Footsteps raced closer to the room and Audrey turned just in time to see Megan freeze at the door, paling as she stared at the monitor. Her eyes traveled to her mother and Audrey got up, glaring at her daughter.

"Mom, I don't know any—"

She fell silent when Audrey raised a hand. The latter really tried not to burst out shouting but it was impossible to keep her anger completely inside. Her hands were trembling and her voice shook as she spoke, "Get your brothers."

"Mom, I—"

"NOW!"

Megan flinched. Audrey had never yelled at her. Still, the mother was not sorry. Megan deserved more than just shouting.

The nine year old raced down the hall. Audrey sighed to herself. She would have to talk to the boys too. She needed to apologise and she needed to earn their trust back. Especially Drake's. Josh seemed to forgive them already.

"Boobs, Mom's calling."

Drake and Josh shared a look. Josh started to get up but Drake crossed his arms. "I'm not falling for it, you little demon."

Megan glared and stomped her foot on the ground. "Fine! But when Mom yells at you for ignoring her call, don't blame me." With that, she left.

Josh sighed. "Come on. She can't get us in more trouble than we already are."

"Hey, I heard shou— AHHHHHH!"

Audrey jumped and turned to face Walter, who was staring at the screen with wide eyes. She gave him a smile that she knew didn't reach her eyes. "I know."

Footsteps raced across the hall yet again and the kids came into Audrey's view. "What happened?" Josh asked. "We heard screamin— AHHHHHH!"

Drake's jaw dropped. "You... You found it?" A grin made its way to his face as he turned to an ashen faced Megan. "You are so busted."

Megan spoke quickly. "Mom, I don't know what this is or what it's doing here. Drake and Josh must have—"

"Don't blame us now," Drake snapped, grin vanishing.

Josh was too eager to get mad. "Face it, Megan. You are done."

"Alright, fine!" Megan stomped her foot on the ground, her face turning a little red. "They were telling the truth! I have cameras around the house. But it doesn't prove that I did anything else they blame me for."

Did Megan really think they were idiots? She seemed nothing like the perfect angel Audrey had seen in her up until now. If anything, she seemed like the little brat Drake and Josh made her out to be.

Walter crossed his arms. "We'll be the judge of that. Megan, give us all the recordings for the past few months."

Megan blanched again. "I–I... I don't have them."

Audrey narrowed her eyes. "Megan."

"Fine!" Megan said, glaring at her. They would have to set that tone and attitude straight.

"Also," Audrey said, "you'll give us all of these things so we can sell them. And if I find anything like this in the house again, you'll be in even more trouble. That goes for you boys too."

The two shrugged, smiles not fading.

"Okay."

"Fair enough."

"Megan, we'll decide the rest of your punishment after we watch the recordings."

Megan gave her a look. "You mean there's more punishment? But this is—"

"—Nothing compared to what you've been putting your brothers through for years." Megan opened her mouth to protest and Audrey crossed her arms, speaking before her daughter could. "You threw Drake out of your bedroom window when you were five for no real reason."

"He fell," Megan said.

"Quit lying," Drake retorted.

"I'm not."

"You so are. And Mom and Walter won't believe you now either."

Megan opened her mouth but closed it. Furiously, she turned to Audrey but her mother just gave her a stern look. "Dad would have listened to me."

Everyone froze. Audrey tried to push away the grief that came with the memories. "Megan, don't pull this. It came to this because we listen to you too much."

"Yeah, no kidding," she heard Drake muttered and a pang of guilt hit her again.

"Don't you have something to say to your brothers?" Walter asked. Audrey mentally smiled at his change of subject.

Megan crossed her arms and glared at him. "No."

"Megan!" Audrey said, feeling her patience snap. She grabbed Megan's upper arm and forcibly turned her so she was facing the two teens, ignoring her cry of pain. "Apologise to your brothers." She let good her arm, thrusting it forward. "Now."

"No." Audrey opened her mouth but Megan beat her to it. "I'm never going to say sorry to these two." She glared pointedly at Drake. "Especially not you."

"MEGAN!"

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had to see Dad die."

Audrey's hands flew to her mouth as everything went still and silent.

Drake flinched, eyes widening at the accusation. Hurt flashed in his eyes and he took a few steps back, swallowing thickly. His eyes didn't leave Megan's though his face lost color.

Drake and Megan had been in the car before at the time of the accident. They had seen their father die right in front of of their eyes. Audrey had been at home when she had gotten the call. She remembered the fear that had gripped her heart when she heard that the three were in the hospital.

"You were arguing with him," Megan continued. As much as Audrey wanted her to stop, she couldn't say a word. "That's why he wasn't focusing on the road. That's why he died. Because you were too selfish to actually think about someone else!"

Stomping her foot once more, Megan tramped away.

Drake's eyes didn't leave the spot she had been at. Audrey noticed for the first time that he was shaking and that his eyes were wet. He was breathing heavily, not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Drake?"

Drake jumped at Josh's voice. He stared at his brother for a moment and then turned to their parents. He looked between them for a while, much like a cornered rabbit.

Suddenly, he moved and hurried down the hallway.

"Drake," Audrey called but Drake slammed the door of his room.

"I'll go after him," Josh said.

Audrey nodded to him even thought he had already taken off. She could feel Walter's comforting hands on her shoulder but she couldn't bring herself to smile.

o-o-o-o

She found Megan later that night, sulking in her room. Any other day, her heart would have gone to her daughter. But today, Audrey couldn't bring herself to care. Megan's words from the afternoon were still fresh in her mind. Drake hadn't left his room since then. According to Josh, he hadn't said a word either.

"Go ahead," Megan said once she noticed her. "Shout. That should make you feel better."

Audrey crossed her arms. "No, that won't make me feel better."

"What do you want then?"

"I want you to apologise. For getting them into trouble and for what you said."

"I didn't do or say anything wrong, okay?"

Audrey scoffed. "You didn't do anything wrong? Megan, you blamed them for every wrong thing you did. You threw Drake out of the window for no reason."

"That was years ago."

Audrey ignored her. "You made your father and I ground them for telling the truth."

Megan shrugged. "That's not my fault."

It was getting hard to ignore her nonchalance. "You hurt Drake."

Megan's eyes flashed. "He deserved it. It's his fault Dad died. It's all his fault."

"It's not!"

"He was the one who was arguing with him while he was driving."

Audrey sighed. Megan's reasoning was questionable but she couldn't get her to see it that way by arguing. "Megan, what would you do if this was our last meeting?"

Megan paused and blinked. "What?"

Audrey sat on the bed. "What if our last meeting was an argument? How would you feel to know that the last words you ever said to me was in anger?"

Megan frowned. "Mom, is this going somewhere?"

"Just answer the question."

Megan stopped and Audrey could almost see the gears turning in her head. "I... I don't know. Awful, I guess. I don't think I could live with myself."

"Then how do you think Drake feels about your father?"

"But..." Megan trailed off. "He never talks about it! He just... He acts like it never happened! He doesn't regret it at all!"

Audrey sighed. "Megan, do you remember when you pushed Drake out of the window and he broke his arm?"

Megan scoffed. "It's not like you let me forget."

"Do you remember if Drake cried? Or if he said something about how much it hurt?"

Megan's eyebrows scrunched. "No. He didn't. He acted like it didn't even bother him."

"Exactly," Audrey said. "Because that's the kind of person he is. When something hurts Drake and he can't make it better, he tries to avoid it. He bottles it all up until he can't hold it anymore."

Megan's eyes widened. Audrey could see realization and guilt swimming in them. "He... And I... What have I done?"

"Apologise," Audrey said softly. She could feel some of her anger fade now that Megan had seen it.

"H–He won't want to see me."

"He will. And besides, I'm going to talk to him." She forced her voice to be stern again. "You cannot watch us on the cameras. A guy will be here tomorrow to remove them."

"Okay," Megan said, much more compliant than before.

Audrey got up and walked out of the room, bracing herself for another tough talk.

o-o-o-o

Drake was curled up in his bed, hugging his guitar close to him. Audrey couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips when she saw that. Josh blinked at her for a second but then left. Good. She wanted to be alone for the talk.

Drake didn't react even when Audrey sat down on the bed. She couldn't see his face which was buried in his knees that were drawn up to his chest. "Drake?"

"I'm sorry." His voice was hoarse and his arms tightened around the two pieces of the guitar. Audrey blinked at it, recognising it as his very first one. It was the only guitar Richard had bought for him before he died, but it had broken in the accident.

Audrey sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault."

"I–If I hadn't... He would have..." Drake's arms around it tightened even more.

"You don't know that."

Drake was silent for a moment but he then said, "Why aren't you angry at me?"

"Because there's no reason for me to be. It wasn't your fault."

Drake finally looked at her and Audrey froze when she saw his red eyes. "You actually don't believe Megan about something?" His voice had a bitter edge to it.

Audrey shook her head. "Megan was wrong and she knows that now."

Drake blinked at her. "You talked to her, didn't you?" Before she could reply, he said, "Never thought I'd see the day you wouldn't listen to your favorite child."

He was avoiding the issue, she knew, but she wasn't going to force him to talk about it. Besides, that was something she wanted to talk to him about too. "Who said Megan's our favorite?"

Drake scoffed, though it didn't sound as it usually did. "I'm not an idiot. I can see how much you guys favor her."

Audrey sighed. She wanted to say that he was wrong but she couldn't bring herself to. She had just seen how much they did favor her. So instead, she said, "I'm sorry."

Drake stared at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry. We both are. We never realized how much we sided with her. But believe it or not, we don't have favorites between you three. Especially not now."

Drake fell silent and Audrey didn't expect him to say anything either. He usually didn't know what to do in such moments.

"You know," Audrey said, "I never blamed you for it." Drake's arms tightened around the guitar once more. "And Megan doesn't believe it either, not really. She just wanted someone to blame."

"And as usual, she picked me." Audrey paused, unsure of what to say. She hadn't expected him to talk. Meanwhile, Drake sighed. "Thanks, Mom. I needed to hear that."

She smiled, pulling him into a hug. To her surprise, he hugged her back. Drake had never been the hugging type, not as far as she knew. But it seemed Josh knew her son better than she did. They would have to change that.

Eventually, they let go of each other. Drake didn't say anything but Audrey knew what he wanted, to have some time alone. So, she got up to leave. "Dinner will be ready in a while. You haven't eaten anything almost all day."

"Okay."

As she walked out of the room, Audrey couldn't help but think that everything would be okay. Sure, it may take some time before he forgave Megan but if there was one thing she had learned about her son, it was that he was extremely forgiving.

First thing was first. She needed to get rid of all of Megan's gadgets.

Although having cameras around the house wasn't such a bad idea.

o-o-o-o

Okay, I have no idea how this turned out to be so... angsty? It was just supposed to be Megan getting in trouble but it just felt right. This is my Drake and Josh fanfic so any kind of feedback would be much appreciated. I think I made Megan more of a brat than she really is.

Was everyone in character? Was it believable? Please comment.