Luke

Copyright and Disclaimer: 1. This is a fictional story with fictional characters. 2. No one is to steal this story under any circumstances. 3. This story deals with relationships and not sex, so if you're looking for a story with a lot of sex in it, this isn't the story for you.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Here's part 26, entitled, `The Strip.'

"The Strip"

Benji is sitting uncomfortably in the car, "How much longer?" Him, Ford, Luke, Jackson and Derek are in Derek's 4Runner driving to Vegas.

"About another hour," Derek informs him.

"God, my body is aching," Benji sighs.

"We'll be there soon enough," Luke says.

"Thanks again for driving," Ford reaches from the back seat of the car and pats Derek on the shoulder. "I'm glad you came."

"Yeah me too," Derek replies.

"Plus it's the only car any of us had that can fit my wheelchair in the back," Jackson adds appreciatively.

"Did you go to physical therapy this morning?" Benji asks.

"Yeah," Jackson replies.

"How's it going?" Luke wonders.

"It's whatever," Jackson sighs nervously, he then goes quiet for a moment and thinks about his physical therapy session this morning.

THIS MORNING

Jackson was sitting in his wheelchair having just finished his session for the day.

"You're doing good," Pam, his physical therapist, told him. "You've lost minimal muscle mass in your legs which is a good thing. Are you still not feeling anything in your legs?"

"I don't think so," Jackson replied with a shrug.

"Are you still on the medication your doctors prescribed?" Pam asked.

"Yeah," Jackson replied. The prescription he's on is an anti-inflammatory medication that the doctors are hopeful will cause the swelling in his spinal cord to go down and as a result will hopefully cause feeling to return to his legs.

"Well, let's set up another appointment for Monday at nine, okay?" Pam suggested.

"Fine," Jackson shrugged indifferently.

"You know, with the pessimistic attitude you've had your entire recovery you'll never walk," Pam pointed out. "The longer you resign yourself to being immobile the more likely you'll stay that way."

"I'm not-" Jackson began, but Pam cut him off.

"Yes you are," Pam said. "You've been completely pessimistic. I know what happened is horrible, but you have to stay positive."

"I don't want to get my hopes up, okay?" Jackson retorted. "The doctors said if it was temporary that feeling would have returned in a week or two after my accident. Well, it's been a hell of a lot longer than that."

"If you keep having your sullen attitude then you won't make any progress, physically or mentally," Pam replied. "Just do me a favor and stop feeling sorry for yourself." Pam then pats him on the back. "I'll see you Monday."

Pam walks away as Jackson thinks about what she said. He knows she's right and knows that he has to stay positive, but what if he never walks? Why should he hope for being back to the way he was when the odds are against him?

However, there is something about his recovery that he hasn't told anyone because he didn't want to jinx anything. For the past couple days he's felt a warm burning sensation in his right leg. He wanted to quickly call his doctors and tell them, but he decided not to. He didn't know what it meant and he wasn't going to get himself excited. For all he knows, it could go away the next day.

"Should we split up when we get there?" Luke asks, snapping Jackson out of his thoughts.

"I think we should stay together," Ford replies as he looks out the car window at the sun going down. "Strength by numbers and all."

"It's so weird that we're actually doing this," Derek says. "I feel like we're the CIA on some big rescue mission."

"We practically are," Ford replies. "One of our own is missing. We gotta get him back."

"This is stupid," Benji says. "We were too impulsive with this decision."

"Shut-up Benji," Luke and Ford say in unison. Benji rolls his eyes and looks out the window trying to get comfortable.

An hour later, the guys arrive in Vegas and check into their rooms at the MGM Grand. Luke and Derek had their own room, while Jackson, Ford and Benji checked into another room.

Another twenty minutes later, they all met up at the lobby and headed out on the strip to look for Shane.

"So did any of us think about how we even start to look for Shane? It's not like Vegas is a small area to search," Benji mentions.

"Not really," Luke says.

"Should we try calling him again?" Ford asks.

"His phone is off and his mailbox is full," Jackson replies. "I just tried calling him." He then looked across the lobby at the nearby casino and gestures to a person standing at a slot machine. "Is that him?!" The guys all look to where he's pointing and see a man who's back is facing them. Same height, same hair color, same skin tone...could it be?

Ford rushes over to the man to get a better look, but as he gets closer the man turns around and reveals himself to not be Shane. Ford halts and turns back towards the guys shaking his head.

"Sorry," Jackson says. "I guess I just got a little excited."

"Let's just walk around and hope for the best," Ford says getting behind Jackson's wheelchair ready to help push him around the strip.

"I think we need a lot more than luck here," Benji groans.

"It Vegas," Jackson points out. "This city is all about luck. He's out there, so let's go find him."

With that, the guys set out onto the strip and began their search for their friend. Little did they know that as they were heading out of the MGM to the strip, Shane was coming inside the hotel having walked around for an hour on the strip thinking about his friends and Jackson. He realizes how selfish he is by being away from them and not calling. He decided this would be his last day in Vegas and he'd head home later that day.

Shane still felt uneasy about everything in his life. He knows when he gets back home he'll have to face the harsh reality. Brenda no longer wants him to see Wyatt. He doesn't have a job anymore and he's still uncertain about what the future will hold for him and Jackson. This little escape he realizes has done very little to give him direction. All it did was prolong the inevitable. He ran away and hid instead of facing the music head on.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Benji complains as the guys walk through The Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. "Are we expecting to find Shane browsing through one of the stores just casually shopping? I don't think he came to Vegas for retail therapy."

"Benji, what's your problem? You've been pessimistic about this thing from the start. Don't you want to find Shane?" Ford asks.

"Of course I do," Benji replies. "I just think it's dumb of us to come all this way without even having a good plan."

"Well it's a little late to rethink this," Luke points out. "We're already here."

"I think that Shane was just overwhelmed and acted impulsively," Jackson says. "He needs us."

"More importantly," Luke adds. "He needs you." Since Luke and Jackson finally cleared the air between the two of them, Luke has become quite fond of Jackson and believes that he's really good for Shane.

"It would be nice to find him soon," Derek mentions. "It would be a shame to be in this city without having a little bit of fun."

"I'll tell you what," Luke says wrapping an arm around Derek as they walk together. "If we find Shane soon then you and me will have a nice night out, just the two of us. Deal?"

"Deal," Derek says giving Luke a kiss to seal the deal.

"Okay, then if we're really serious about finding Shane then we have to be more realistic about where he can be," Benji says. "If he came here to escape the stresses of his life then he's not going to be here shopping. He's going to be at a bar or in a casino."

"You'd think he do something that destructive?" Ford asks. Ford, Luke and Benji all look at each other thinking about it for a moment and it seems that they silently communicated with one another because after a couple brief moments of silence Ford finally says, "All right. There are a million bars in this city. Where should we start?"

An hour later the guys had no luck searching as a group so they decided to try and split up in their search for Shane. Ford, Benji and Jackson went off in one group together, while Derek and Luke went off separately.

As Luke and Derek were walking around together they passed by a little wedding chapel. As they walked by a newly married couple were coming out holding hands and kissing one another lovingly, Luke couldn't help but admire them. He knows he should be concentrating more on finding Shane, however, in that moment he thought about Nick and the future they should have had together. The future he can have again with Derek. In that moment, he knew he had to tell Derek soon. He had to be honest with him.

"Can I ask you something?" Luke asks.

"Sure," Derek answers as the two make their way into a little bar off the strip.

"What do you think about soulmates?" Luke casually tries to ask not wanting to let on the true reason he wants to know.

"Soulmates?" Derek asks curiously. "What made you think about that?"

"Just curious I guess," Luke replies nonchalantly. "Something to talk about while we're looking for Shane. So what do you think about the idea of soulmates?"

"I don't know," Derek shrugs. "It's a nice idea, but isn't it kind of depressing to think that out of the billions of people in this world that we each have only one soulmate?"

"So you don't believe they exist?" Luke's heart dropped a bit.

"I'm not saying I don't believe it. I'm just saying that it's a bit far-fetched," Derek explains. He then glanced around the bar, "Well Shane's not here. Let's move on."

"Yeah...good idea," Luke answers, a bit disheartened to hear about Derek's thoughts on soulmates.

Meanwhile, Benji, Ford and Jackson are wandering through the casino and bars at the Wynn, but had no luck.

"Is that him?" Jackson asks as he gestures to a man sitting at the bar. The guys hurry over and once again were disappointed to find that it's not Shane.

"Sorry again," Jackson says.

"It's okay," Ford replies.

"This feels like the tenth bar we've walked through in the last hour," Benji moans.

"It is getting pretty difficult, huh?" Jackson agrees.

"Maybe we should just go back to our hotel and grab some lunch and then we'll go back out again. Sound good?" Ford asks.

"Agree," Benji and Jackson answer.

"I'll call Luke and Derek," Ford says taking out his cell phone.

The guys all met up at the MGM for lunch and went to one of the restaurants to eat.

"I don't think we're going about this the right way," Luke says as he takes a bite of his club sandwich. "Everyone at this table knows Shane better than anyone. We should be able to make this easy. First off, what hotel would he check himself into?"

"He wouldn't go somewhere incredibly expensive," Ford starts off, "But he wouldn't go somewhere cheap."

"He'd probably stay somewhere like this place," Jackson adds.

"For all we know he's staying here," Ford says.

"That would be coincidental," Derek chuckles.

"Oh my God," Benji sighs. "We're idiots."

"What?" Luke asks.

"Did it even occur to any of us to just call some of the hotels and see if there's a room registered to Shane?" Benji asks feeling stupid he didn't already think of this.

"Oh shit," Luke rubs his face also feeling like a moron. "That would have made things a little easier, huh?"

"We probably didn't even have to leave San Diego," Benji says.

"I guess it was pretty impulsive of us to so quickly drive out here," Ford admits.

"I told you guys we should think this out more before driving all this way," Benji points out.

"Okay Benji, we get it. You think it was a dumb decision for us to come here." Luke rolls his eyes. "Why have you been so bitchy about this whole thing?"

"I'm not being bitchy. I'm being sensible," Benji defends himself. "This was completely stupid of us to come here. If Shane ran off then he obviously doesn't want to be found. If he wants to be selfish and runaway when he has all of us at home who love him then that's his deal." With that statement, the guys finally understood why Benji was being so cold about looking for Shane. He's angry at him and it's understandable. They all agree that what Shane did was selfish and have caused them a lot of unnecessary worry. Luke leaned across the table and grabbed Benji's hand.

"I'm sorry." Luke gives an apologetic smile to Benji. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Forget it," Benji replies giving Luke's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm just upset."

"And you have every right to be," Jackson says. "We're all upset."

"As soon as we know he's okay we're going to each take turns yelling at him," Luke says.

"Good," Benji chuckles. "I'm going to go to the front desk and see if Shane is registered here."

"I'll come with you," Ford says getting up from the table as well.

"Wait a second," Jackson says looking at a man sitting a couple tables down. "That looks like him."

"You said that twice already," Benji says. "Sorry if we don't believe you this time."

"No I'm serious. Look," Jackson says pointing to the guy. The guys turn their attention towards the guy that Jackson is gesturing to. Again, it's another man who's facing them from the back, so it's hard to tell without seeing his face. The man is on his cell phone.

"Why is it that every guy you think is him has his back faced towards us?" Ford asks.

"He's wearing a blue shirt that looks a lot like one that Shane has," Jackson further explains. When Luke notices the shirt he too starts to wonder.

"He does have a shirt like that," Luke says. "It's a Ben Sherman shirt. I bought it for him for Christmas last year."

"Do you think it's him?" Ford asks the guys.

"Call out his name," Luke suggests.

"Shane," Benji calls out. The man visibly tenses up.

The guys wait in tension seeing what will happen. Slowly the man hangs up his phone and slowly turns around. This time...Jackson is right. It is Shane!

"What are you guys doing here?" Shane asks in shock.

"What do you think dumbass," Benji says as he rushes over to give Shane a hug.

"Jackson!" Shane exclaims realizing that he came all this way in a wheelchair. He gets out of his seat and rushes over to him giving him a hug. "You're here!"

"Of course I'm here," Jackson says. "You just took off without saying anything. I was worried."

"I'm so sorry," Shane apologizes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jackson replies. "A little pissed, but I'm glad you're in one piece."

"I'm sorry. Things got so fucked up at home and I just had to get out for a bit," Shane explains. "But I was going to come home today."

"Yeah, yeah," Benji says sarcastically. "We believe that."

"I was," Shane promises. "I was going to come home and apologize to you guys. I'm sorry for skipping out on you all and avoiding your calls. I was actually just listening to your voicemails now. I didn't mean to scare you guys. I can't believe all you guys came here."

"Well when you just take off without telling us it caused us to worry a bit," Luke says.

"Again, I'm sorry," Shane says. "How about I buy your lunch?"

"You're going to be buying our lunches and dinners for the next two fucking weeks," Benji says.

"We're just glad you're okay," Ford adds diplomatically.

"I am," Shane nods. "Well...I will be."

"Is everything okay?" Jackson asks. "I'm sorry if I've been too much trouble."

"No," Shane quickly replies giving Jackson a kiss. "It wasn't you. It was my job and Brenda got really mad at me and it all just got to be too overwhelming. I'm really sorry."

"You're forgiven...this time," Jackson says. He's just relieved that Shane is okay.

"I can't believe you guys all came here," Shane says as he sits down at the table with the rest of the guys. "You even came too, huh Derek?"

"Well, when my boss went missing it got me concerned," Derek says.

"Former boss," Shane corrects him.

"That's right," Luke remembers. "You quit your job."

"Yeah. It was a bit impulsive, but I needed to," Shane says. "That job was killing me."

"So have you solved your problems?" Derek asks.

"Not exactly," Shane says. "I came here to runaway from it all instead of facing it. So that's what I need to do."

"Good," Luke says.

"How did you guys even know I was here?" Shane asks.

"We remembered you mentioning that you wanted to escape here," Ford says. Shane nods his head remembering when he told them that.

"Well now that we found you I think we can finally have some fun," Luke says. He then turns to Derek. "So we're on for our night out together."

"Excellent," Derek smiles.

The guys spend the next couple hours at lunch talking to Shane and finding out what is going on in his life that made him run. They didn't realize he was so unhappy with his job and that Brenda wants to remove his visitation rights. They began to understand why Shane ran away.

After lunch, Shane and Jackson went back to his room to talk some more, Benji and Ford went to their room to rest a little bit, while Luke and Derek went out to have some fun in Sin City.

"Again, I'm sorry about everything," Shane says as him and Jackson enter his hotel room.

"It's okay," Jackson replies. "You were scared. It's understandable...to be honest, there's something I've been afraid about myself."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Shane asks.

"Well, I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid it wouldn't mean anything or it would go away," Jackson begins as Shane tries to follow along. "My physical therapy and medication has been pretty aggressive since my accident and I didn't think anything would help. I figured that I'd just be stuck in this wheelchair for the rest of my life."

"It's okay if you are," Shane says. "I'll be here for you."

"I appreciate you saying that," Jackson smiles, "But that's not what I'm trying to say here."

"Then what is it?" Shane asks.

Jackson takes a deep breath, "It's hard to say because I feel that I'll be jinxing things once I say it out loud..." Jackson grew quiet, still unsure if he wants to say it out loud, but he knows he has to, he can't be afraid. "Lately, I've been having this sort of burning sensation in my leg." Jackson touches his right leg and massages it a bit.

"What?" Shane asks in alarm. "So what does that mean?"

"I don't know." Jackson looks down at his wheelchair bound legs. "But it's been hurting and I've never felt anything in my legs before."

"You're regaining feeling in your legs," Shane says out loud. It was the statement that Jackson wanted to scream from the rooftops, but was too afraid it would go away once he said it. "Babe, that's incredible!"

"Don't jinx it," Jackson worries.

"Jinx it? Jacks, we should be celebrating!" Shane enthuses.

"No!" Jackson quickly objects. "I don't want to celebrate to only be let down."

"Babe, I know this whole thing has been a scary ordeal for you, but this is a good thing. It's something to celebrate," Shane says holding Jackson's hands.

"But what if it's only temporary?" Jackson asks.

"Did you talk to your physical therapist or doctor?" Shane looks intently at Jackson, hopeful that this is a sign of good things to come for them.

"No," Jackson replies. "You're the only one who knows."

"Well you have to talk to them," Shane tells him. "They can explain what's going on."

"I guess you're right," Jackson nods. "It's just scary, you know?"

"I know," Shane says. "I know a thing or two about running away scared." Jackson gives a little laugh. "When we get back home let's talk to the doctor and see what he says."

"Deal," Jackson replies.

Thirty minutes later, Ford and Benji are relaxing in their room watching TV and contemplating going out.

"We should go to a gay club!" Benji laughs.

"Nah, I don't really want to," Ford objects.

"Oh that's right, I forgot. You and Pacey are back on," Benji replies.

"Yeah," Ford shrugs unenthusiastically.

Benji raises an eyebrow to that reply, "Isn't that a good thing?"

"It is," Ford replies simply. "It's fine."

"I know that tone of your voice," Benji says. "It's obviously not fine. What's wrong? Do you not want to be with him?"

"No. I do," Ford insists. "I'm just still confused about the situation."

"Honey, it really sounds like he thought you guys were broken up. So technically he wasn't cheating," Benji says.

"I know," Ford nods his head. "Logically it all makes sense and I should be fine with it." He then points to his heart, "But in here, I still feel angry and betrayed."

"Why haven't you ever said anything to us about it?" Benji asks. "You usually always come to us and talk about these things."

"I know, but it's hard to express how I feel when I'm not even sure about how I feel," Ford replies.

"It seems like you haven't fully forgiven him," Benji says.

"I guess not," Ford realizes. "It's hard."

"I know it is," Benji says. "And I know first hand how hard it is for you to forgive someone. Took you years to forgive me."

"Do you think I'm too hard on people?" Ford asks.

"I think you're extremely guarded," Benji says. "And when your guard goes up on someone, it's hard to bring it back down."

"That sounds like a bad thing." Ford gives a little frown.

"It's not a bad thing necessarily," Benji explains. "You're just a wound a little too tightly."

"You're right," Ford answers as he gets up from his bed and puts on his jacket, "I need to loosen up a bit. I went from being so up tight to being wild and free and now I'm wound tight again. I need to find a good middle ground."

"Exactly," Benji nods.

"So let's go," Ford says grabbing Benji's arm.

"Go where?" Benji asks.

"Let's go to a gay club, or go to a strip club," Ford replied. "Let's do something. We're here in Sin City. Let's make it a night to remember."

"Are you serious?" Benji asks.

"Absolutely," Ford enthuses. "Let's go!"

Benji hops out of bed and puts on his jacket and the two head out for a night of fun.

Meanwhile, Derek and Luke are having a nice night out together. They first started by walking up and down the strip, taking in the excitement. They did a little bit a gambling in which Luke won five hundred dollars which he used to take Derek out to dinner at Paris hotel at the Eiffel Tower restaurant.

"Okay," Derek says thinking of his next question. "What is your worst habit?"

"I'm extremely stubborn," Luke replies. "You?"

"I have a bad temper," Derek reveals.

"Really?" Luke asks. "I've never noticed that."

"I do," Derek nods. "I try my best to suppress it, but I do."

"Good to know," Luke laughs. "I'll have to make sure not to piss you off."

"I don't think you could ever piss me off," Derek smiles.

"Hope not," Luke replies. He then begins to have second thoughts about telling Derek the truth... "So how's your dinner?" Luke decides to change the subject.

"It's good. This place is great," Derek says taking a sip of his wine. "Should we get one of the Eiffel Tower Soufflés for dessert?"

"Definitely," Luke nods his head. "I'm glad we were able to go out, just the two of us."

"Me too," Derek replies. "Don't get me wrong, I like your friends and it was nice getting to know them better, but it's nice to go out with just you."

"I agree." Luke takes a deep breath. He's nervous to bring up the subject of Nick with Derek, but he feels he has to, right? If he wants this second chance with Nick to work out then Derek needs to know all the facts. "I also wanted to talk to you about something."

"What's that?" Derek asks.

"Well, you know how I was asking you about soulmates earlier?" Luke brings up.

"Yeah," Derek nods his head.

"So, I've told you about my old boyfriend, Nick and that he died," Luke continues.

"Okay..." Derek isn't sure where Luke is going to go with this.

"This is weird to bring up, but he died eight years ago on June twenty-seventh," Luke brings up.

"June twenty-seventh?" Derek asks. "The day of my accident?"

"Yeah," Luke replies.

"That's a crazy coincidence." Derek shrugs, not giving it too much thought. He still isn't sure where Luke is going with this discussion.

"Maybe not," Luke says.

"What do you mean?" Derek asks.

"You got into your accident on the same day as his death," Luke tries explaining. "Don't you think that's a bit more than coincidence?"

"I guess it's sorta strange." Derek takes another sip of his wine. He then pauses and looks up at Luke. "Wait a second, you're not trying to say that I'm your old boyfriend reincarnated or something, are you?"

Seeing Derek's expression as he asks him that question makes him realize that he can't tell him. Derek's looking at him as if he's crazy. He can't say anything. Not now anyway. He knows how ridiculous it sounds and it seems that Derek doesn't think it's at all possible. "No. Of course not." Luke laughs it off and quickly changes the subject. "So which soufflé should we get?" Derek looks questionably at Luke, but soon dismisses it.

The next morning, the guys meet in the lobby to go back home. Derek and Luke are drinking coffee and debating over who should drive back home. Shane and Jackson soon show up having just eaten breakfast. They have to wait another ten minutes before Ford and Benji come stumbling towards them. They both look exhausted and have their shoulders hunched over. It appears they haven't slept all night.

"You guys look like shit," Shane notes.

"I feel like shit," Benji mumbles.

"We were out all night," Ford replies.

"Ford wanted to be more fun." Benji manages to give Ford a gentle pat on the back.

"And were you?" Luke asks.

"I can't remember." Ford rubs the temples of his head. "I have a headache."

"And why were you trying to be more fun?" Shane asks.

"I don't want to get into it now," Ford replies. "I just want to go home. I've had enough of Vegas for a while."

"Me too," Shane agrees. "Time to go home and face life, right?" Shane looks knowingly at Jackson, who gives him a smile and nods his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I have to go and get things back on track with Pacey," Ford says. "I might head to Denver after we get home."

"Good idea," Benji struggles to smile through high hangover.

"Let's go home," Jackson says. The guys then head to the cars and go home.

To Be Continued...

With any comments, questions or feedback please e-mail me at ilj4ever44@yahoo.com.