Devilc's Den 2.0

Title: Kilroy Blues
Rating: Teen (language)
Character: Luke Cafferty
Spoilers: All of Season 4 so far

Author's Note: Written for FNL Laundrylist Challange #36 -- 5. What's Luke's story? We've met Vince's mother, Jess' father and of course Becky's mom, but we know nothing of this star running back who popped out of nowhere. Where has he come from. Was he on the Panther's last year? How long has he been hanging with J.D.? Did Tami break up the next Jason/Tim pairing on us?

I fully expect everything I just cooked up about Luke to get jossed, but that's the fun of fanfic. Also, this means I can finally read fleurlb's take on this prompt.

Legalese: Friday Night Lights is copyright its respective owners. This is a loving labor of whatiffery, not a labor of lucre.






Luke runs fast and he's got moves and he knows this.

Last year he busted his ass and was still only JV. Try as he might, he just couldn't get Jamarcus Hall's spot, and that plain sucked, because everybody knew the Halls would be leaving Dillon come the end of June, so why was Coach Taylor wasting time developing him?

Try for Tim Riggins's spot? Pull the other one, it plays jingle bells.

But Wade Aikman had paid attention to the JV team.

And when he and Joe McCoy showed up at the Cafferty house back in May and explained that it looked like the town was going to split in to two districts, and just to be sure that Luke played for the Dillon Panthers, he should file the paperwork to switch his home address to 2268 Oakdale ASAP.

It's not like the Caffertys are piss poor and have a mile long hard luck story. Land's cheap on this side of town and you can get a 1940s two bedroom house on a huge lot with big trees that shade the house and help keep it cool in summer (and help Dad add that second bathroom down in the basement the summer you turn 10) for a price that would get you a hell of a lot less over in West Dillon. Dad explained that it's all about "Getting the most bang for the buck." Mom explained it in terms of the bible and being a good steward to those blessings granted you by the Lord.

Living in Kilroy lets them have chickens -- roosters even, if they want -- and four big dogs, and mom gets that huge vegetable garden she loves so much. (And the McCoys sure as hell loved the piccalilli and salsa she made for them.)

The ends meet in the Cafferty house. There's even some to spare.

It took all of two minutes for his parents to agree and go along with the plan (of course, they thought Coach Taylor would be leading the Panthers come fall). A big part of Luke's future rides on his earning a football scholarship -- hell it's why he spent all summer hanging out with JD McCoy, running and training. And it's paid off. He's taken his skills and talent to the next level. He and JD were going to make an unbeatable team this season. He could smell State after the first game. They all could.

Luke wants to go to college. His mom and dad have good jobs -- dad is a shift boss at the feedlot, and mom's a manager at the local Kroger -- but they've all sat down and talked about having a career. His parents do good, but they want him to do better than they did, at least have chances that they didn't. And going to college, on a scholarship, is a part of that.

They're not happy about cheating.

But they're a lot less happy about the dent that redistricting just put in Luke's future, and they're all willing to roll the dice.

It's a crappy pouring down rain day when Tami Taylor calls him over to the sidelines during practice to give him the news. A part of Luke can't believe she's doing this. A part of him understands exactly why she's doing this. He's never seen Coach Aikman so mad. He leaps into the golf cart and zooms away so fast that he nearly wrecks it as he rounds a corner on the way to the field house.

Dad shows up as always to pick him up and he and Coach Aikman talk for about 5 minutes while Luke sits in the idling truck, listening to the wip-wop of the wipers and fights back the tears.

It's a long drive home and Dad's mouth is pressed into a thin, tight line and he doesn't say a word, and that's just fine by Luke, who'd rather listen to the wip-wop of the wipers, and the plinking sound of the raindrops smacking into the truck, and the splash of the puddles they drive through. They're all such normal things, and that's good on a day when the world has turned upside down.

For the next two days, the mood in the house is like somebody died.

What sucks even more is that the East Dillon Lions have a bye this week, so there's not even a game to get psyched for, and practices are canceled for some reason, except for a special one this Saturday Night, that Coach Taylor sent Tim Riggins by to tell him about.

Luke lounges on his bed Saturday evening, mom's meatloaf sitting like a rock in his stomach, and thinks about not going.

But life isn't fair, and you can play the hand you're dealt, or you can fold and walk away.

Rufus, their grizzled bloodhound-pitbull mix comes up and shoves his head under Luke's hand, insisting on being petted.

Moving's just not in the cards. Not over football.

And if they moved somehow, they'd probably have to get rid of Rufus, and since he's a 10 year old cantankerous, half-blind old-coot of a dog, that means he'd get put down almost for certain.

Rufus slobbers all over his hand, and wipes dog snot on his shirt, and Luke laughs and skritches his big floppy ears. It's not all bad living in Kilroy. He gets up and changes his shirt. Yeah, you don't go to practice to stay clean, but he can't show up with big smears of dog snarse down his front. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

"You going to that practice, Son?" dad asks, looking up from working on his model airplane at the kitchen table. Mom's out playing Bunko with her friends.

"Yessir."

Dad smiles at him and says, "Good. I didn't raise a quitter."

Nobody wins by folding, Luke thinks as he starts jogging through the warm September evening towards East Dillon, and not losing isn't the same as winning.