Somewhere in North Carolina, Sunday Morning
Lucas knew something had happened with Nathan the night before, but he'd been a little busy and hadn't made it back to their room until late. Regardless, in the morning, Nathan was acting even weirder than before as they geared up in safety suits and listened to Ray review the safety talk of the previous day. As Ray informed them that when their tachometer hit six, they'd be going around 140 miles per hour and that no one goes to seven.
With four cars on the track, the race was going to be three laps long. It was Lucas, Nathan, Cooper, and Daytona having some friendly competition (not that the Scott boys ever really did friendly competition). Lucas was buzzing with anticipation. When Ray announced time to start their engines, Lucas listened to the sound with a great big smile. It was better than he'd imagined. As Garrett drove the pace car to guide them onto the track, Lucas could hear and talk to the others in his headset.
"This is stinking great!" Lucas enthused as Garrett pulled off the track to let them pass him.
"You sure you boys wanna be humiliated?" Cooper asked over the comm.
Daytona smirked into her headset, "Notice he didn't say girl?" Lucas couldn't help smiling. She was some girl.
As they raced, Lucas was rather cheerful. He was cool with taking turns being in the lead for the first lap or so, but Nate was taking the race very seriously while Cooper made cracks about driving in reverse to make the race close.
After passing up Luke and Daytona, Nathan came up fast on Cooper's car, but Cooper slows his car down and blocks Nathan's attempts to pass. From behind them, Lucas had a great view and could hear every word on the open channel.
"Alright, last lap, Nate. You'd better bring it," Cooper announced, prompting Nathan to try to overtake him on the left. "The low line is closed my friend." Nathan moved right only to be blocked again. "And the high side." But suddenly Nathan swerves to the left and passes Cooper's car.
"Oh, well, well, that was almost impressive, even for a man like you," Cooper teased, realizing he might have some actual competition. Daytona and Lucas laughed, enjoying watching Cooper and Nathan's head-to-head.
"Lock and load, Nate, he's yours!" Daytona told him.
"You've got him, Nate!" Lucas said, despite Cooper's increasing proximity to Nathan's bumper.
"Go check time, nephew." Cooper manoeuvred his car extremely close to Nathan's. "Nathan, I love you but I sure hope you bought a change of shorts." Cooper grinned wickedly, shifting up a gear and zooming forward to bump Nathan's car. Nathan swerved, lost his speed and fell back behind the others, shaking his head.
"Oh no, Cooper, you did not just bump him!" Daytona wasn't really surprised, but Lucas certainly was as he watched Cooper wave goodbye to Nate.
"Rough is racing, Nathan!" Daytona said conciliatorily.
Passing the finish line in first, Cooper remarked, "Looks like another chequered flag for me! Thank you very much!"
With Daytona in second and Lucas in third, Nathan ended up dead last.
"Good try, Nate. Nice run, guys," Daytona said cheerfully.
"Tony, were you in second place or third from last?" Cooper asked, not having any trouble rubbing it in.
Ray announced time for them all to come back into the pit and three of the four cars slowed down as they headed to their pit stops. Rather than stop, Nathan accelerates, shifting up a gear and zipping back onto the track.
Ray was furious, "Nathan, you not only missed your pit stall, you just broke a half a dozen pit road rules!"
Cooper was still in a good humor after his win. "Nathan. That's the first victory lap I've ever seen for last place. I like it."
Lucas didn't know what to think of this display. As Nathan continued, he grew more and more concerned, hopping out of his car when he was cleared to do so and watching as Cooper talked to Nathan. Of course, he didn't know that the night before while he was busy, Cooper and Nathan had had a talk about love and divorce.
Nathan didn't respond to any hails.
"Hey, Nate, you alright?" Cooper was getting worried as he ran up to the podium to see what Nathan was doing.
"Nathan? You reduce your speed and you come in!" Cooper ordered.
"You know what I need, Coop? Some of that two hundred mile therapy we were talking about." Nathan finally responded, but it certainly didn't make Luke feel any relief. His little brother was out of control.
"Nathan..." Cooper's voice was restrained, trying to hold back the concern that was obvious on his face.
Luke and Daytona looked at each other anxiously.
"Nobody goes past seven on the tack, right?" Nathan asked gruffly, his speed increasing as he shifted up another gear. "Let's see about eight."
"Oh god, too fast!" Ray exclaimed.
"NATHAN!?" Cooper shouted into the headset, completely ignored by his nephew.
"You're right, Coop, this feels pretty damn good." Nathan sounded strangely calm to Lucas. It was creeping him the hell out, but all he could do was stare as his brother's racecar slid along the wall, orange sparks flying in what felt like slow motion. The car jerked sharply, going backwards and sideways before careening head-on into the wall. Lucas didn't remember screaming Nathan's name. He didn't remember running forward even while the car was still spinning and smashing into the wall.
Coming up on his brother's flame-engulfed car, Lucas could barely hear himself screaming Nathan's name over and over again as he tried to push past the heat to help get Nathan out. Cooper managed to fight the heat enough to pull the barrier down and help Lucas drag Nathan's limp body out of the car.
Near tears, Lucas was screaming, panicking at the blood and soot and unresponsiveness of his brother. "Nathan! Nathan! Come on! Come on! Hold on! HOLD ON!!"
Cooper looked around, distressed, waiting for the ambulance while Lucas sat on the track, holding his unconscious brother, just whispering, his voice dead. "Come one. Hold on, man. Hold on. Hold on, Nathan."
~~~
The gurney sped through the hospital entrance, Lucas and Cooper jogging to keep up with the medical staff who were spewing technical jargon Lucas couldn't even pretend to understand as he saw Nathan's eyes open.
"You're gonna be okay, Nate," Cooper promised.
Lucas bent down over his little brother, relieved to see him awake at all. "Hey, we're right here, buddy."
Nathan looked up at Lucas and spoke, his voice hoarse, "Promise me..."
"Anything," Lucas said, meaning it as he heard the doctors calling hurriedly for more blood.
"Don't. Call. Haley." Nathan said, his eyes serious, staring up at Lucas as the doctors rolled his gurney out of reach.
Lucas sighed, Nathan's his brother. Haley's Nathan's wife and Lucas' best friend. He didn't know what the hell to do.
[Part 1|Part 2| NFI. NFB. Very Spoilery, yes. And OMG, that is actual dialog, I'm so sorry.]