Season 7 - Episode 713 - Last dance
By Marea67
About: Brothers & Sisters general
Rate: Can’t go higher than PG-13 as this American Television.
Disclaimer: Just escaping from reality here, not created for financial gain.
Summary: It’s my own season 7. Go with it! If you believe you can do better, write it yourself! I dare you
*****2/8*****
“Mom? It’s me!” Kevin enters through the kitchen-door.
“Hi, sweetie,” Nora enters the kitchen, looking a little nervous. “Why don’t we go to the livingroom, we’ll have everything we need over there..”
“Is everything alright with you? You look nervous.”
Nora merely smiles and enters the living-room. Kevin follows her, too pre-occupied with his entangle car-keys, to notice immediately that they’re not alone. When he finally notices he’s quite surprised to see who have gathered in the living-room. One of the couches are Sarah, Kitty and Saul. On the other Scotty, Browne, Lena. Justin is on the ottoman.
“What it this?” Kevin asks.
“Call it an intervention.” Sarah answers.
“For who?”
“For you, Kevin.” Kitty now replies.
“For me? Why?”
“Because we worry.”
“I’m fine, mom.”
“You’re not, Kevin.” Saul says.
“And you guys would know this better than me, because…?”
“We’ve been keeping an eye on you since Scotty gave voice to his concerns…” Saul starts.
“So, this comes from you? Well, thanks a lot, sweetheart.” Kevin turns to Scotty.
“Kevin, I thought I had good reason to be concerned.”
“I’m fine, Scotty.”
“We disagree.” Nora says determinatively. “Once Scotty told us, we kept an eye on you, as Saul said, and then we put our heads together and we didn’t like what we discovered.”
“Kevin, you’re gone with the kids before I wake up, you make sure that you’re with kids by the time they get home. The only one allowed, by God’s grace, to give a helping hand is Jordan, but that’s only because of Billy…. You practically cut me out of the lives our kids!”
“That’s not true!”
“But it is! We’ve watched you Kevin….” Saul says.
“You work the weirdest hours at the office.” Browne adds.
“You have little catnaps at the office, but they barely last 5 minutes… That’s not enough.”
Kevin can’t really get angry at Lena, because she seems genuinely concerned for him.
“Listen! Listen to me, all of you. I’m grateful for your concern, but I’m okay!”
“Kevin are you using something?” Justin asks bluntly. “To stay awake, I mean, or do you take something to go to sleep?”
“No!” Kevin seems horrified at the idea alone. “No. I’m not. I swear, I’m not…” He sees quite some disbelief on the faces around him.
“We’ve heard that before… Well, not from you, but….” Sarah stops mid-sentence, knowing that to go on would be unnecessary, because Kevin isn’t Justin.
“Kevin, I’ve looked through your recent files. And over the last few weeks Lena had to come to me several times, because she suspected something was wrong. You’re lucky that we have a secretary who’s good at her job, because right now you make mistakes, that a lawyer of your caliber and your experience shouldn’t make.” Browne insists.
“I’m sorry, but in case it eluded everyone… Tommy is dead!”… Kevin’s sarcasm is taking over. Sarah shakes her head.
“Don’t blame your erratic behavior on Tommy’s death….” She says, in an attempt to not let Kevin get away with a lie.
“I’m not blaming him for anything. All I try to do is cope as best as I can. And it has been a couple of hectic weeks. And I’m sorry of if I screwed up here or there. I’m only human! I try…. That’s all that is ‘wrong’ with me. I try to be the best I can be…. So sue me.” Kevin makes a throw-away motion with his hand.
He turns around and walks towards the door, but Nora stops him.
“You’re not yourself … Please, if you’re on something, tell us what it is. Let us help you. We’re all here for and for Scotty. We want to help you with the kids, with the restaurant, with the hotel, just tell us what you need. You don’t have to do this alone!”
“I know that! And I’m not trying to do this alone!” Kevin protests, aware that Justin is watching him with great interest.
“You could have fooled me.” Scotty says cynically.
“Fooling people is your department, not mine.” Kevin lashes back.
“Excuse me?” Scotty gets up from the couch. “What is that supposed to mean?” Anger is rising in Scotty, concern over Kevin’s health changing into anger over his stubbornness.
“Three years you couldn't handle that I was in a dark place, though I didn’t realize it that at the time, and you felt sooooo neglected by me that you had to cheat on me.
And now that I’m back in dark place, that I know I am, and I’m trying everything I can, to not make the same mistake as I made before. And I am trying to not make you or our kids or my work or my family a victim of my darkness. I try to be a husband and a father and a lover and a brother and a son and a lawyer.
And what do I get I return for all my hard work? You go behind my back and start some bullshit story about me being addicted to drugs?!” Kevin furiously tears into Scotty, who doesn’t accept this.
“You have no idea how frustrating it is to….” But Kevin doesn’t let Scotty finish.
“Oh, you are frustrated? Is that why you had to get my entire family and my business-partner involved in your insane thoughts? … You know, why don’t you simply fuck one of your waiters like you did last time? It’s what you do best!” Kevin’s replies with so much venom that Scotty is completely taken aback.
“Kevin!” Nora is shocked.
“I’ve heard enough nonsense. I’m out of here!”
“No! Don’t let him go!” Nora warns the others, but before any of the others can stop Kevin, Justin places himself so, that no one can go after Kevin.
“I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.” Scotty is furious, but Justin easily pushes him back.
“No. You’re not.” He says with determination.
“How dare he talk to me like that!?!?! I’m not accepting this. Never!”
“Yes, you will. This is not about you. This is about something else. It’s about all that ‘you always hurt the one you love the most’-thing. Don’t take it personal. Once he’s cooled down, he’ll be the first mortified over what he said to you…” Justin tries to calm Scotty down, while Nora suddenly has to ask the question that is on her mind.
“Why did you let him go? Haven’t you learned anything from what happened to you?”
“Mom, I was on drugs. I needed the intervention to stop me from ruining my life and destroying others in process.”
“But Kevin….”
“.. is not on drugs, mom. I don’t know what his problem is, but he’s not using anything, well, perhaps only too much coffee to stay awake.” Justin tries to take the tension away.
“You can’t know that.” Kitty disagrees with her brother.
“Look, Kit, I’ve seen drugs-addicts, during their highs and lows, I’ve seen them sniff it, smoke it and shoot it up their arms, I’ve seen those who lose themselves in alcohol as well. And not only when I was using, but also now that I’m a paramedic. And, take this from me, Kevin is not using anything!”
“You think I’m wrong?” Scotty can’t help but feel disappointed that Justin doesn’t support him in this.
“No. I think you’re right about the fact that there’s something wrong with him and that he needs help.
I’m just saying that he’s not on drugs, but I do believe that he’s completely at the end of his rope…. He needs help. And he needs it fast or he will break, I’m sure of that.”
“What can we do? He’s gone now. You let him get away.” Lena says.
“I know Kevin, this wouldn’t work.” Justin shakes his head.
“We all know Kevin, why shouldn’t this work?” Nora asks. Justin looks at the others, wondering why he’s the only one who sees it. Doubt starts to nag at him. What if he’s wrong? Sure he knows drugs, he knows the effects and the signs, he knows how it could all end, but what if he made a mistake here, with Kevin?
Scotty, who had taken back his place on the couch, raises his head.
“I think you’re right.” He says softly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on his way to the hospital to get a blood-test done so he can irrevocably prove that he’s not using anything…”
“Exactly. If we’ve wrongly accused Kevin, as I think we did, than he will do all he can to prove us wrong.”
“And then he will withdraw in himself even more and I only have myself to blame for that.” Scotty sighs.
“Make no mistake, Scotty, you were absolutely right to call for help, because I do believe Kevin is in a bad place…”
“I’m just scared that, sooner or later, his heart will give up, or something… This much tension just cannot be healthy.”
“You’re right. It’s not. And your fear is justified.”
“What do we do know?” Browne asks, still shocked by the explosion between Kevin and Scotty.
“I’m going to look for him.” Justin decides.
“We have no idea where he is.” Scotty says with a miserable look on his face. Justin isn’t entirely sure about that, but stays quiet. “I think I’d better go home. The best I can hope for is that he went there….”
“We’ll go back to the office and see if he’s there.” Browne decides.
Lena takes her purse and follows Browne, but Nora stops them at the door.
“Thank you both for being here and trying to help us… I’m sorry you had to see this terrible fight…. We all meant well and so did you two…”
“It’s alright. I’m just glad that we could help.” Browne takes Nora’s worries away.
“We were concerned about him too.” Lena adds. “So, speaking for myself, I’m just glad I could do something. I hope he will be alright.” In her eyes Nora can see that she’s genuinely concerned about Kevin.
“I hope so too.” Nora sighs.
“So, where do we go look for him?” Sarah asks Kitty.
“I don’t know… Scotty is going home and Browne covers Kevin’s work… I don’t know what we can do, but perhaps we could try to call him and ask, no, beg him to call us.” Kitty suggests.
Sarah nods that she agrees, but Justin doesn’t hear more of the conversation. He’s at the door, giving Scotty a hug.
“Listen, don’t worry. He’ll be back. He loves you.” Justin says.
“I tried to do the right thing, is so backfired on me.”
“No. Don’t even think that. You did the right thing. We all agree that this was needed. I just hope that Kevin can see how worried we are about him and that he will come around and not be so angry at you. Or all of us.”
“I hope you’re right…” Scotty sighs.
Nora watches how, slowly, everyone leaves. Saul, Jonathan and Scotty leave for Café 429. They say goodbye to Kitty, who goes back home, and Sarah, who returns to Ojai Food and Wine. When finally the last of her guests is gone, Nora leans against the door, runs her fingers through her hair, while desperation mark her face.
*****
“You wanted to see me?” Daisy asks Tyler.
“Yes. Sit down. I have news for you… Cleo has decided that she will retire and she has picked a date… June 30th… This means that, …. if you want… starting July 1st, her job will be yours…”
“Really? You still want me, even what happened, with the stealing and all?” Daisy asks.
“That’s what we’ve been working on with you, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes, but … I thought… I don’t know… I wanted to believe it, but I’ve been disappointed so many times, believing that something would happen for me and then it didn’t…”
“Well, I’m sticking to my promise and …” Tyler gets up. She wants to congratulate Daisy, but then she sits down again as a wave of nausea come over her.. “I think I ate something wrong…. Or something, because I feel….” She becomes all pale and Daisy jumps up to rush in front Tyler to open the door to the ladies room, where she holds Tyler’s hair back….
*****
“Thought I’d find you here. Care if I sit down?” Justin asks.
“Last time I checked we were still a free country.” Kevin shrugs. Justin sits down next to him and he looks at the two tomb-stones. He remains quiet, expecting Kevin to come up with some glib remark over something, but when it doesn’t happen, he knows he has to start this.
“Okay, I’m not the subtle one in this family…. So,…. what’s going on with you? I can see your not on drugs, so… what are you doing to yourself? And I’m not just asking you this as a paramedic, but also as a brother who’s terribly concerned about you.”
“I’m fine. I appreciate the concern, but…”
“You’re not fine. You’re going overboard.”
“Why don’t you simply let me do what I have to do?”
“Because whatever that is, you’re doing it wrong. You have everyone up in arms over this. The family is concerned about you … and so is your husband.”
Justin can see that he just hit the right place by the way that Kevin winces.
“He has no reason to. All I want to do is take those burdens away from him. I know that when we got married, he was immediately interested in having kids, it was mostly me, who wanted one… And now look at us. We considered one child, now we look after 5 kids!”
“I know, it’s a lot to ask of someone, but…”
“I just want to make sure that the affect on Scotty is as limited as possible.”
“You just want to make life as easy as possible for him?...” Justin understands.
“Exactly!”
“And how are you going to accomplish that with you being six feet under the ground because you had massive stress-induced heart-attack?” Justin asks sarcastically. Kevin looks at his brother, surprised by the sharpness that usually his to use. Kevin shakes his head.
“I sometimes wish you were still drinking, you were more fun then.”
“No, you don’t. No, I wasn’t. And … that’s not an answer to my question.”
“You’re very tenacious, aren’t you?”
“I have a brother who’s a lawyer and a pit-bull. Taught me to never let go.”
“I hate him already.” Kevin answers, but a little smile plays around his mouth.
“Come on! Who are you trying to fool here? Talk to me. Talk to someone, anyone, but make us stop worrying about you.” Justin begs softly. For a moment all is quiet between them and Justin thinks that Kevin will not answer him.
“I’m scared.” Kevin sighs as if the weight of the world is coming of his shoulders.
“Of what?” Justin asks. “
I’m scared, that, one day, Scotty is going to wake up and realize that this is not what he wanted and that… he’ll leave me… Justin, when he and I got married, we had a little loft and we both had a fairly steady job. No real responsibilities. We were so carefree… Now we have a restaurant, a hotel, a law-firm, 5 kids and an entire house.
I feel that maybe a lot of a the responsibilities he took upon himself are not what he asked for, but what I shoved upon him…. And one day is going to resent me for messing up his life and … perhaps find someone else who’s more suitable for what he needs and he wants out of life and….”
“Stop!” Justin holds up his hands in clear sign that Kevin should stop. “Okay, this is a clear sign that you’re sleep-deprived, because you’re talking nonsense. Scotty loves you, he loves his kids, and Tommy’s kids, and Mateo. Café 429 is his work and his idea, the hotel is not his concern but Tyler’s and he fully supports your law-firm . He fully supports you ”
“I think he feels it’s more of an obligation… He would never turn his back on the kids…”
“You don’t have much faith in him or in your relationship to him.”
“I do. I love him. I just think that… if he had known then what he know now.. he would have run away screaming instead of accepting my proposal….” Kevin sighs. Before Justin can say anything however, Kevin’s phone starts to ring.
Kevin looks at the display.
“I have to take this…” He apologizes with a frown on his face. “Kevin Walker.” Justin recognizes that Kevin had put on his ‘professional’ voice. Kevin listens intensely, the frown on his face changes to a completely surprised look.
“…I’m on my way… I’ll be with you as soon as I can…” Kevin switches off his phone and turns to Justin. “I have to go. Apparently Julia had been caught in a fight?”
“Julia? Our Jules?” Justin asks flabbergasted.
“Yes, that Julia.” Kevin answers.
*****
End of part 2/8
**** COMMERCIAL BREAK****