Fanfic: AU: I know the secrets that you keep... 4/9
I know the secrets that you keep... 4/9
By Marea67
About: William, Nora, Kevin, Scotty and a bunch of others.
Rate: G
Disclaimer: Written with love, not for money
Summary: When William Walker dies, his family gets confronted with a secret that he kept, which will have a huge impact on Kevin.
It is an AU, so the usual applies; Things can/will be different. Don't like it? Don't read it.
*****
Tommy is the first to react.
“He what?” He asks, staring at Kevin as if Kevin had just grown an second head. “Gay? Dad? Are you crazy?”
“I’m not.”
“This is nonsense.” Kitty sounds rather decidedly about that.
“I agree with Kitty.” Justin points at his sister with his thumb.
“That’s too bad. Because it’s not nonsense and the sooner you all get that, the better.” Kevin remains calm.
“Mom, why don’t tell you Kevin to stop telling lies?” Sarah asks. Nora winces. Leave it to Sarah to put her finger exactly where it hurts.
“He’s telling the truth.” Nora’s voice is so soft that the others stare at each other to see if they heard it right.
“That is a lie. We... We would have known...” Tommy argues.
“He was… what he was..” Nora says.
“He was a gay man, mom. Just say it. Call it by its name. He was gay. And he lied about it to everyone.” Kevin replies, annoyed with his mother’s reluctance to say the words.
Nora’s eyes fill with tears. She hates it when her children are hurt and angry at her. And they all seem so confused.
“Kevin is right… William…. Your father… He was gay… He … he was in love with another man.. too…”
“The Café 429 guy?” Kitty is the first to connect the dots. “When I was there, I noticed he was gay. And he was upset over something. Dad?”
“Most likely.” Kevin answers.
“What’s his name? What do you know about him?” Justin asks Kevin.
“His name is Scotty. Scotty Wandell. He was a waiter when he met dad. He was working and studying. Getting involved with dad made a few things easier for him. And he became an apprentice sous-chef about 2 years ago. But the restaurant that he worked for had to close and Scotty was unemployed.
Dad gave him the idea to start his own restaurant and he helped Scotty to get the finances for it. He put an extra mortgage on the buildings of Ojai-Foods and became a partner for 40% in the restaurant… I’m not sure what the deal with the 10% is all about. Scotty seemed confused that he inherited the 10% and not the 40%.”
“Of course he was disappointed. He expect 40% and got only 10%. He expected a lot more money.” Tommy says cynically.
“Not exactly. Scotty seemed to have no idea that 10% of Ojai Foods was worth three times more than the 40% of Café 429.”
“So, Daddy’s toy-boy will become a partner? Here? At Ojai Foods?” Sarah is horrified.
“He could. But I’m not sure he would. I think he’s not interested in Ojai at all.” Kevin answers as truthful as he can. “He only wants his restaurant.”
“So… Give him his 40% in exchange for our 10%.” Tommy shrugs.
“We’d have to pay him a substantial amount of money, for the difference in value... We don’t have that much cash right now.” Kevin points out.
“He doesn’t know that the 10% of Ojai is worth far more than the 40% of his bar, does he?” Tommy points out.
“Wouldn’t that be screwing him over?” Kevin doesn’t like the idea much.
“Dad screwed him. Why shouldn’t we?” Tommy shrugs. Kevin feels a little light-headed. This is not what his father would have wanted. And this is not what he wants to do to Scotty either. It would be unfair.
“I… I don’t know.” Kevin stammers.
“I think we need to take a step back and first deal with what we just found out about dad.” Kitty tries to be reasonable. “We need to deal with … it… first…” She can’t admit to herself that William was gay. “We’re upset and I wouldn’t want us to do something we’d end up regretting.”
“A voice of reason.” Nora sighs. “I agree. Let’s all calm down first and…” But before she can finish, Tommy jumps up from his chair.
“I am calm!” He yells, contradicting his words. He clenches his fists and stares at his other siblings before he leaves the office mumbling something about ‘cooling off’.
*****
“Where’s my brother?” Tommy’s secretary looks up at Kevin, who decided to go look for Tommy.
“I don’t know. He said something about having a talk to someone about something. Sounded more like he was about to teach him a lesson. He looked very angry.”
“You don’t think….” Kevin looks at Justin.
“… Café 429? Yeah, I think he could…” Justin nods.
“We have to go there and stop Tommy from doing something very stupid. Justin, I have to go there.”
“Tommy left a while ago. He has a head-start.”
“True. But he doesn’t know where it is exactly. I do.”
“You have point there. We’ll take your car.”
“What’s going on?” Nora asks, when she sees her two other sons about to leave.
“We think that Tommy has gone to Café 429 to have a fight with Scotty..” Kevin answers.
“Oh, no! That is the last thing we need! Sarah! Kitty! To Kevin’s car!”
Kitty and Sarah immediately grab their handbags. Kevin raises his hands to stop them, but they walk right passed him.
“Mom….” Kevin sighs, but it’s too late. He will not be able to make Nora change her mind anyway.
*****
Tommy marches into Café 429, grabs the first waiter he sees and pushes him against the wall.
“Where is he? Where is Scotty Wandell?” He asks between clenched teeth. The waiter tries to free himself from Tommy’s hold.
“He’s in the kitchen, but…”
“Where’s the kitchen?” Tommy now asks.
“There!” The waiter points to his left and only now can Tommy see the kitchen behind the window. A tall young man walks up to him.
“Can I help you?” He asks.
“I’m looking for Scotty Wandell.”
“You found him.” Scotty replies, not quite realizing what is going on. Before he can ask anything else, a fist hits him full in the face.
Scotty tumbles backward and he falls towards the wall. He tries to stop himself from falling, but the only thing that he can hold on to is a glass shelf that carries his long-drink-glasses. The shelf cannot hold his weight and it crashes down, taking all his glasswork in the fall. The noise is incredible.
He can hear a woman scream at the sudden attack and some men jump up to come to Scotty’s help, but Scotty spreads his hand and motions them to stay away.
“What is this about? Who are you?” Scotty ask, slowly rubbing away the blood on his face, carefully trying not to cut himself on the glass.
He’s on his guard. Though he’s not a fighter, he has had self-defense classes and he’s not afraid to use violence to protect himself, his staff and his customers.
“Tommy. Thomas Walker. I’m William’s eldest son.” Tommy says, balling his hand into a fist for the next punch.
Scotty nods quietly and calmly says:
“Whatever we need to discuss, we can do that in all calmness, in my office and not here. In front of everyone.”
“The hell I will.” Tommy wants to throw the next punch.
In a fraction of a second, Scotty braces himself for more pain, but nothing happens, because Tommy’s hand gets caught and Tommy himself gets pushed backward with a lot of strength.
“Enough!!!” Justin yells at his brother, pushing Tommy even further away from Scotty.
Justin hardly ever gets angry, but when he does, even Tommy knows not to push it.
“What he did….” Tommy points at Scotty.
“… doesn’t give you the right to come here and start hurting people.” Justin informs him.
“But…” Tommy wants to protest.
“Enough! Stop making a scene!” Nora warns between clenched teeth. “There are people here that I know. I have no desire to explain your attitude.”
“Mom,…” Tommy opens his mouth to protest once again and Scotty closes his eyes. So, this woman, who’s putting herself between him and her son, is William’s wife. Scotty knows that she had made the conscious decision to not want to know anything about him. And suddenly William’s entire family is here in his restaurant. His head is spinning.
“Go home.” Nora orders Tommy. Scotty can see Tommy open his mouth to protest, but then other two women quietly implore him to leave and he lets himself be taken away by them.
Nora turns around. She avoids looking at Scotty, instead she only looks at the pile of glass-ware on the ground. She has to pull all her strength together to not shake like a leaf. She will not lose face in front of William’s boy-toy.
“Kevin, make sure that Mr Wandell get reimbursed right away for any damages.” Her voice is barely audible, but it is perhaps even more menacing because of it.
“I will.” Kevin says slowly. He watches how his mother gathers all her courage and then she looks up, right at Scotty, the only person she had never wanted to see. When she makes eye-contact with him, she’s shocked.
She had expected something else. She’s not sure what. She had known that he was younger than William, but the fact that he’s hardly older than Justin hits her like a ton of bricks…. He cannot be older than her youngest son…. And he looks so hurt… and so vulnerable…. There’s so much pain… Her heart breaks… but she doesn’t want it to.
“I .. am sorry… Tommy had no right to do this…” She says stiffly. Scotty gives her a small nod, but he can’t for the life of him get a word out. He knows a lot about her, William had never kept her a secret from him. But to see her here, in front of him, is just too confrontational.
Nora turns around and manages to remain composed enough to walk out the door, though Kevin is rather sure that she will fall to pieces in his car the moment she gets there.
“I’m sorry, I have to bring them back home… I… ahm… I’ll talk to your later?” Kevin asks Scotty. Scotty only nods.
*****
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
/
By Marea67
About: William, Nora, Kevin, Scotty and a bunch of others.
Rate: G
Disclaimer: Written with love, not for money
Summary: When William Walker dies, his family gets confronted with a secret that he kept, which will have a huge impact on Kevin.
It is an AU, so the usual applies; Things can/will be different. Don't like it? Don't read it.
*****
Tommy is the first to react.
“He what?” He asks, staring at Kevin as if Kevin had just grown an second head. “Gay? Dad? Are you crazy?”
“I’m not.”
“This is nonsense.” Kitty sounds rather decidedly about that.
“I agree with Kitty.” Justin points at his sister with his thumb.
“That’s too bad. Because it’s not nonsense and the sooner you all get that, the better.” Kevin remains calm.
“Mom, why don’t tell you Kevin to stop telling lies?” Sarah asks. Nora winces. Leave it to Sarah to put her finger exactly where it hurts.
“He’s telling the truth.” Nora’s voice is so soft that the others stare at each other to see if they heard it right.
“That is a lie. We... We would have known...” Tommy argues.
“He was… what he was..” Nora says.
“He was a gay man, mom. Just say it. Call it by its name. He was gay. And he lied about it to everyone.” Kevin replies, annoyed with his mother’s reluctance to say the words.
Nora’s eyes fill with tears. She hates it when her children are hurt and angry at her. And they all seem so confused.
“Kevin is right… William…. Your father… He was gay… He … he was in love with another man.. too…”
“The Café 429 guy?” Kitty is the first to connect the dots. “When I was there, I noticed he was gay. And he was upset over something. Dad?”
“Most likely.” Kevin answers.
“What’s his name? What do you know about him?” Justin asks Kevin.
“His name is Scotty. Scotty Wandell. He was a waiter when he met dad. He was working and studying. Getting involved with dad made a few things easier for him. And he became an apprentice sous-chef about 2 years ago. But the restaurant that he worked for had to close and Scotty was unemployed.
Dad gave him the idea to start his own restaurant and he helped Scotty to get the finances for it. He put an extra mortgage on the buildings of Ojai-Foods and became a partner for 40% in the restaurant… I’m not sure what the deal with the 10% is all about. Scotty seemed confused that he inherited the 10% and not the 40%.”
“Of course he was disappointed. He expect 40% and got only 10%. He expected a lot more money.” Tommy says cynically.
“Not exactly. Scotty seemed to have no idea that 10% of Ojai Foods was worth three times more than the 40% of Café 429.”
“So, Daddy’s toy-boy will become a partner? Here? At Ojai Foods?” Sarah is horrified.
“He could. But I’m not sure he would. I think he’s not interested in Ojai at all.” Kevin answers as truthful as he can. “He only wants his restaurant.”
“So… Give him his 40% in exchange for our 10%.” Tommy shrugs.
“We’d have to pay him a substantial amount of money, for the difference in value... We don’t have that much cash right now.” Kevin points out.
“He doesn’t know that the 10% of Ojai is worth far more than the 40% of his bar, does he?” Tommy points out.
“Wouldn’t that be screwing him over?” Kevin doesn’t like the idea much.
“Dad screwed him. Why shouldn’t we?” Tommy shrugs. Kevin feels a little light-headed. This is not what his father would have wanted. And this is not what he wants to do to Scotty either. It would be unfair.
“I… I don’t know.” Kevin stammers.
“I think we need to take a step back and first deal with what we just found out about dad.” Kitty tries to be reasonable. “We need to deal with … it… first…” She can’t admit to herself that William was gay. “We’re upset and I wouldn’t want us to do something we’d end up regretting.”
“A voice of reason.” Nora sighs. “I agree. Let’s all calm down first and…” But before she can finish, Tommy jumps up from his chair.
“I am calm!” He yells, contradicting his words. He clenches his fists and stares at his other siblings before he leaves the office mumbling something about ‘cooling off’.
*****
“Where’s my brother?” Tommy’s secretary looks up at Kevin, who decided to go look for Tommy.
“I don’t know. He said something about having a talk to someone about something. Sounded more like he was about to teach him a lesson. He looked very angry.”
“You don’t think….” Kevin looks at Justin.
“… Café 429? Yeah, I think he could…” Justin nods.
“We have to go there and stop Tommy from doing something very stupid. Justin, I have to go there.”
“Tommy left a while ago. He has a head-start.”
“True. But he doesn’t know where it is exactly. I do.”
“You have point there. We’ll take your car.”
“What’s going on?” Nora asks, when she sees her two other sons about to leave.
“We think that Tommy has gone to Café 429 to have a fight with Scotty..” Kevin answers.
“Oh, no! That is the last thing we need! Sarah! Kitty! To Kevin’s car!”
Kitty and Sarah immediately grab their handbags. Kevin raises his hands to stop them, but they walk right passed him.
“Mom….” Kevin sighs, but it’s too late. He will not be able to make Nora change her mind anyway.
*****
Tommy marches into Café 429, grabs the first waiter he sees and pushes him against the wall.
“Where is he? Where is Scotty Wandell?” He asks between clenched teeth. The waiter tries to free himself from Tommy’s hold.
“He’s in the kitchen, but…”
“Where’s the kitchen?” Tommy now asks.
“There!” The waiter points to his left and only now can Tommy see the kitchen behind the window. A tall young man walks up to him.
“Can I help you?” He asks.
“I’m looking for Scotty Wandell.”
“You found him.” Scotty replies, not quite realizing what is going on. Before he can ask anything else, a fist hits him full in the face.
Scotty tumbles backward and he falls towards the wall. He tries to stop himself from falling, but the only thing that he can hold on to is a glass shelf that carries his long-drink-glasses. The shelf cannot hold his weight and it crashes down, taking all his glasswork in the fall. The noise is incredible.
He can hear a woman scream at the sudden attack and some men jump up to come to Scotty’s help, but Scotty spreads his hand and motions them to stay away.
“What is this about? Who are you?” Scotty ask, slowly rubbing away the blood on his face, carefully trying not to cut himself on the glass.
He’s on his guard. Though he’s not a fighter, he has had self-defense classes and he’s not afraid to use violence to protect himself, his staff and his customers.
“Tommy. Thomas Walker. I’m William’s eldest son.” Tommy says, balling his hand into a fist for the next punch.
Scotty nods quietly and calmly says:
“Whatever we need to discuss, we can do that in all calmness, in my office and not here. In front of everyone.”
“The hell I will.” Tommy wants to throw the next punch.
In a fraction of a second, Scotty braces himself for more pain, but nothing happens, because Tommy’s hand gets caught and Tommy himself gets pushed backward with a lot of strength.
“Enough!!!” Justin yells at his brother, pushing Tommy even further away from Scotty.
Justin hardly ever gets angry, but when he does, even Tommy knows not to push it.
“What he did….” Tommy points at Scotty.
“… doesn’t give you the right to come here and start hurting people.” Justin informs him.
“But…” Tommy wants to protest.
“Enough! Stop making a scene!” Nora warns between clenched teeth. “There are people here that I know. I have no desire to explain your attitude.”
“Mom,…” Tommy opens his mouth to protest once again and Scotty closes his eyes. So, this woman, who’s putting herself between him and her son, is William’s wife. Scotty knows that she had made the conscious decision to not want to know anything about him. And suddenly William’s entire family is here in his restaurant. His head is spinning.
“Go home.” Nora orders Tommy. Scotty can see Tommy open his mouth to protest, but then other two women quietly implore him to leave and he lets himself be taken away by them.
Nora turns around. She avoids looking at Scotty, instead she only looks at the pile of glass-ware on the ground. She has to pull all her strength together to not shake like a leaf. She will not lose face in front of William’s boy-toy.
“Kevin, make sure that Mr Wandell get reimbursed right away for any damages.” Her voice is barely audible, but it is perhaps even more menacing because of it.
“I will.” Kevin says slowly. He watches how his mother gathers all her courage and then she looks up, right at Scotty, the only person she had never wanted to see. When she makes eye-contact with him, she’s shocked.
She had expected something else. She’s not sure what. She had known that he was younger than William, but the fact that he’s hardly older than Justin hits her like a ton of bricks…. He cannot be older than her youngest son…. And he looks so hurt… and so vulnerable…. There’s so much pain… Her heart breaks… but she doesn’t want it to.
“I .. am sorry… Tommy had no right to do this…” She says stiffly. Scotty gives her a small nod, but he can’t for the life of him get a word out. He knows a lot about her, William had never kept her a secret from him. But to see her here, in front of him, is just too confrontational.
Nora turns around and manages to remain composed enough to walk out the door, though Kevin is rather sure that she will fall to pieces in his car the moment she gets there.
“I’m sorry, I have to bring them back home… I… ahm… I’ll talk to your later?” Kevin asks Scotty. Scotty only nods.
*****
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
/