HG AU Normal

Drake was clutching his mother's hand tightly. He nearly jumped when Brandon spoke. He said barely above a whisper, "Hi." He had never felt so vulnerable in his life. He was losing his mother. His mother barely opened her eyes and sent them a weak smile. "Hey," she whispered weakly. Just when Drake thought he might be a bit okay, his father decided it was a good moment to walk in.

Brandon bit his lip, and he gave his friend a small hug. "Hi, Mrs. Sherwood," he said quietly, and he kissed her head before he moved to let Ann take his spot. She deserved to see her mother right then more than he did. He looked over when the door opened, and he almost cursed. Of course Victor had to come in and ruin everything. They seemed to be doing okay, and he knew that once Drake saw his father, he would lose it.

Annalise moved to sit down in the that Brandon was once in before. She took her mother's hand and whispered, "Hey, momma." She had to rub the tears from her eyes. Victor instantly frowned when he saw Brandon. He had never been fond of Drake's friends. "Who invited you, Crawford?" he snapped in a clipped voice. Drake scowled and stood up. "Dad, why are you just now coming in?"

Brandon bit his lip when he heard Victor. "Sorry, sir. I drove them over here," he said. It wasn't a total lie. He rode with them, he just didn't drive. When Drake stood up, he quickly had him sit back down. "Calm down and don't pay attention to him," he whispered, pushing him back down in his seat. He knew Drake hated his father, but he needed to calm down.

Victor's frown deepened. "I believe my children can drive themselves around. I didn't invest money into their vehicles to go off and ride with someone else. Especially you," he snapped in reply. Drake clenched his fist and would have said something, or worse, thrown a punch at his father. However, the heart monitor turned flat lined. The slow rise and fall of his mother's chest ceased. She was dead.

Brandon tried to stop his eyes from narrowing at Victor. He hated Victor so much, but he couldn't do much. Not in a hospital room. It would be insane. He just kept his mouth shut. His eyes did widen when he heard the heart monitor, and he looked behind him at Drake's mother. She really was dead. He didn't want to believe it, but it was right in front of him.

Drake had to do his best to brush the tears away. "Mom, why?" he whispered, then his attention turned to his father. He glared at him and stood once more. "It is all his fault! You never even loved her, did you?" he snapped. His father was many things, but he had never thought he would be a murderer. Now, the tables have turned. He knew his assumption was correct when his father did the one thing a father should never do. He slapped him.

Brandon was shocked when he heard what Drake said. Sure, he knew that he hated his father, but was he really going to go as far as to say that his father murdered his mother? It sounded insane! His eyes widened even more when Victor slapped Drake. He quickly stepped in and narrowed his eyes at Victor. "Don't you dare ever touch him again. There are many things you don't do in your life, and hitting Drake is one of them.

Drake was more in shock than he was in pain. He was speechless. His father had done many things. But before then, he had never laid a hand on him. He clenched his fists and would have went right for him if Brandon hadn't stepped in the way and Annalise hadn't grabbed his shoulder. Victor glared right back at him and stepped up towards him. "How about you stop telling me how to raise my kid."

Brandon was happy that Annalise pulled him back, but he glared at Victor. "Oh how you actually raise your kids right and then I wouldn't have to tell you how to," he said bitterly, but he kept his hands to his sides. He wasn't going to throw a punch unless Victor three one first.

Victor scowled at his words and snapped right back at him, "Like you could have done better. You are worthless, Crawford." He had already lost his temper; so in a way, it wasn't a surprise to Drake when Victor punched him. That was all Drake needed to move forward despite his sister's protest and push his father away from Brandon.

Brandon winced in pain when he was punched. He of course was going to punch him, but Victor was pushed away from him before he could. He held his now bleeding nose, and he looked over at Drake. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he said quickly. He really wasn't, but he wasn't going to say anything.

Drake glared at his father; the sting from his own slap was momentarily forgotten. "Get out of my face," he snapped, glaring at him. He was suddenly glad Angel hadn't come along. There was no way she needed to be around to see all of this go down. He watched as Victor left the room and turned to his friend. "We should get someone to come in here and check that out," he protested.

Brandon shook his head when Drake spoke. "No, I'm good, trust me. I just need to go to the bathroom and wash it off," he said, and he grabbed a tissue from the room before putting it on his nose. "I don't think it's broken," he said, and he looked over at Annalise. He could only imagine what she was thinking.

Drake was still hesitant but he nodded and took his seat once more. He threw once glance at his mother and then dropped his gaze once more. Too much had happened for him to comprehend. In the last few minutes, he had lost his mother and had been attacked by his father. Annalise had never seen her father act in such a way. "What do we do now?" she whispered quietly.

Brandon bit his lip, and he quickly got out of the room. It wasn't his nose or anything. It was that Drake and Annalise needed time alone to sort everything out. Even after he had washed all the blood off and stopped the bleedinf, he waited outside for a few minutes. He would let them get everything together before he entered again.

Drake ended up relaxing at one point, and Annalise hugged him tightly. "There is still a bit of mom in all of us, Drake," she whispered as she pulled away. "You know she would want us to speak at her funeral," she continued as she stood. Drake only glumly nodded. "I can't stay here any longer," he whispered weakly, and Annalise nodded in understanding. "Let's find Brandon and leave."

Brandon sat down in the chair outside of the room, and he looked up as the door opened. He stood, and he bit his lip. "Are you guys going?" he asked. Back at home, Angel was in her room, and she was really worried. She wasn't sure if she should do it, but she wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Plus she still had Brandon's phone. She called Drake.

Drake nodded in response and whispered, "Yeah. I don't think I can stay here any longer." He would cross the breaking point if he stayed. All that was left was his dead mother and his sorry excuse of a father. Too much had happened. When his phone rang, he frowned. When he saw it had Brandon's name on it, he glanced to Brandon. "You are calling me?" he asked in confusion before he answered. "Uh...hello?"

Angel bit her lip when he answered. "I am so sorry if this is bad timing. I just wanted to know when I could return Brandon's phone. I still have it from where I called Ann," she said, and after moment, she spoke again. "I also wanted to make sure that you were okay. You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to. I just want to make sure you were okay," she said.

Drake paused to consider it for a minute. "Uh, maybe tomorrow? Unless, uh, it is needed tonight," he said with an unsure glance at Brandon. He then shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh. He wasn't sure if it were the best time to have a heart to heart with Angel. The fight with his father had riled him up, and not to mention that he was still trying to relax after the fact that his mother had died. "Okay? Yeah, I'm okay...fantastic...great...," he lied.

Brandon quickly shook his head. He didn't need his phone anytime. "Just don't go through it," he said. Angel rolled her eyes. "I wasn't planning on doing it," she said. As she got her reply from Drake, she knew it was all a lie. She was going to have to leave him alone. "Okay. I think I have to go. I'll talk to you later," she said, and she quickly hung up.

A hint of the normal Drake peeked as he spoke, "What, do you have something to hide?" His smirk faded quickly, however. All of this was weighing heavy on his shoulders. "Okay, bye Angel," he whispered before he tucked his phone into his pocket. "Would it be too much to ask if we stayed over tonight? There is no way I am going home, but it is fine if I can't. I could stay with my grandparents or something."

Brandon smiled a bit. For a moment there, he had his old Brandon back, but he was gone as soon as he come. He sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I'll tell my mom. I'm sure she won't mind," he said, and he gave him a tight hug. "Stay for as long as you want, in fact," he said, and he gave him a small smile. He was only hoping that Maddox was gone by the time that they got back.

Drake sent a grateful smile in his direction. What would he do without his friends? It was a wonder his dad didn't drive him insane, and he lost one of the few people who kept him grounded. "Thanks Brandon, I appreciate it," he whispered. He couldn't face his father, not at a time like this. He would hit his breaking point. So home just wasn't an option. "Let's go," he continued, leading the way to his car.