Sean was half asleep as he and Luke piled into Luke’s car to head to school, which Luke was okay with. His mind was going a million miles a second, and he was pretty sure that Sean didn't want to talk about babies or relationships, even had it been appropriate to do so.

Luke had had a lot of plans for this school year, but they'd been centered around trying a new curriculum and really working his boys hard so they could make it to State. Never in a million years could he have imagined the team would be dominating semi-finals, nearing Halloween, and him with a child on the way and a mate.

Gage was...he was intense. He had all the alpha protectiveness without any of the boorishness. He had the alpha desire to just do something, to fix things, but he knew better than to let his instincts drive him completely. Sometimes that led to indecision. He needed to do something, but he couldn't figure out what the right something was, and he froze. He needed someone to bounce ideas off, to be his counterpoint, to validate or challenge his thoughts. 

Outside of Luke’ areas of expertise, he tended to stay quiet. He liked being comfortable, staying inside his known zones: football and science. Gage pulled him out of his zones without even thinking. Part of that was his circumstances, their circumstances, but part of it was that Gage talked more, he discussed more.

That intensity was physical as well. Luke had never had someone touch his body the way Gage did. Gage made him go from zero to sixty with just one look.

Sean suddenly jerked and Luke glanced at him. He was sitting bolt upright, his eyes staring unseeingly at the road ahead of them. 

"Sean? Sean are you okay?"

When he didn't respond, Luke pulled over as soon as the shoulder was wide enough and put the car in park. By the time he turned back to Sean, he was slumped back in his seat looking tired but alert.

"What happened?" Luke struggled to keep his voice calm. Sean had looked like he was having a seizure.

"A vision," he said. "I'm not sure...it was confusing."

"Just tell me what you can," Luke urged him gently.

He closed his eyes. "We were in a car and there was very little light. Just a little red light. And it was cramped. Something was jammed into my back. And something, before or after that, I'm not sure, something was wrong at the field. I'm not sure if it was a game or a practice." He slammed his hands on the dashboard in frustration. "This is so stupid! Why do I even have this gift if I can't figure out what any of it means?"

"Hey, it's okay, Sean. I know it's hard. But even though your visions are confusing, they give us more information than we have without them, okay? I'll text Gage when we get to school. And if you figure out anything or you have any more visions, come find me. We'll figure it out." 

Sean nodded and slumped in his seat, the image of teenage melancholy.

As much as Luke had tried to project confidence in his words, he understood a small part of the frustration Sean was feeling. What good were such disjointed images? All it would do is make Luke worry more. Maybe he needed to be worried. Maybe he needed to be more alert on the field or in a car at night. But what if it was nothing? Luke knew from him studies as a kid that seers could rarely predict events wholesale, but Sean's pieces of information were definitely more frustrating than helpful. Luke would never tell him that though. Sean had enough guilt riding on his shoulders regarding his visions.

And maybe Gage or one of the Williams would have more insight into Sean's latest vision, though it was so vague, Luke couldn't imagine how. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have Gage start coming to practices, just in case though. They'd see how this afternoon went.

Luke texted Gage about Sean's vision as soon as he got to his office. As he suspected, Gage didn't have anything to add.

What are you up to today? Luke sent Gage as he walked to his classroom for homeroom.

Right now? Vegging. Trying to play mindless video games to distract myself for an hour.

That sounded good right about now. How's that working out for you?

Not very well. I should be putting together bids for my next job, but I just can't keep my thoughts clear enough. And then a second later, I'm meeting Dare over at Alice's house in a little bit. Hopefully Alice or his friend have turned something up by then. Maybe it's too soon, but I just want this to be done.

Me too. I'll be pretty busy playing catch up today, but I'll text or call before we leave.

Luke did by best to catch his classes up on his schedule. The substitute yesterday seemed to have tried to cover what she could, but even with lesson plans, it's hard to fill in the gaps of thought as a substitute. There's often a difference between what the regular teacher puts on the schedule and what they mentally intend to cover additionally. But it wasn't as bad as it could have been. None of his classes seemed to have spent the previous day watching movies, at least. 

The day passed faster than Luke had feared it would, his worries and anxiety taking a temporary backseat to his responsibilities. And then it was practice, and Luke was able to breath with a bit more freedom. His guys may have missed a day of practice, but one day wouldn't set them back physically as much as one day set his science classes back academically.

Charley, the team captain, was the first out of the locker room, catching up to Luke as he headed to the field. "Hey, Coach!"

"Hey, Charley! How'd you break from suicides yesterday?"

"Break? What break?" Charley grinned. "Just because you took a vacation doesn't mean the team did."

"Who lead practice?" Luke could feel tears pricking at his eyes, pride at his boys swelling his heart. Must be the damn pregnancy hormones. He didn't normally get emotional over much.

"I did," Charley said, a giant grin on his face. 

Luke ruffled his hair. "That's great, Charley. The team chose well when they picked you for captain."

His scrawny chest puffed out with pride.

It took a few minutes for the rest of the team to emerge, and Luke felt unrealized tension relax when he finally saw Sean. 

A couple of the guys came to Luke privately to tell him how hard Charley ran them the day before. As if Luke thought he couldn't be any prouder. They were good kids.

After Sean's vision that morning, Luke was hyper vigilant for any accidents, but practice finished without a hitch. He couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was something he was missing, but could only dismiss it as anxiety when nothing happened. Sean and Luke stayed near the middle of the pack as they headed back to the gym and locker rooms, but still nothing. Luke doubted Sean’s visions meant nothing, but hopefully they meant something minor, like someone spraining an ankle.

He doubted it.

It was maddening, not knowing if the vision was warning of something that would happen in four minutes or four years. 

Luke sketched some notes for tomorrow’s practice while he waited for Sean to clean up. Luke would rather just clean up at the house where he had clean clothes. And maybe some fun shower time with Gage...

His car was parked close to the field, as usual. He left spare cones and mesh jerseys in the back just in case he needed them during practice. The parking lot was mostly empty, and there was only a large sedan with an open trunk two spaces down from his car. He clicked the unlock button on his key chain as he pulled out old flip phone to text Gage that they were headed home, his hand resting on the door handle as he did. 

He heard Sean's screech of warning a moment too late. Luke looked up, and then there was a sharp pain at the back of his skull and everything went black.