Trouble In Law
Just a little snippet, a Walker family moment. "Missing scene" set during 2.03.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Rating: PG.
Trouble In Law
“Hello?” Tommy walked into his mother's kitchen, jacket over his shoulder. Nora was nowhere to be seen, but Kevin sat on a stool at the island, and saluted him with a glass of wine as he approached. “Hey, Kev.” He grabbed a glass and poured himself some wine. “Mom around?”
“Upstairs with Justin.”
“How's he doing?”
“The same.”
Tommy set his glass down on the island a little harder than he should've. “He's still not taking any pain medication?” When Kevin shook his head, Tommy sighed in frustration. “The damn fool. I get that he wants to stay sober, but... This is his leg we're talking about! Whether he'll ever be able to regain full use of it!”
“I know. We've all told him that, but you know Justin.”
“Stubborn as they come.” He sighed again. “And brave as hell, the little idiot.”
“Yeah.” Kevin clinked his glass against his brother's. “So what are you doing here? Wine better than at your vineyard?”
“You're not nearly as funny as you think you are.” He sat down next to Kevin. “I'm hiding from the in-laws.”
“Wow. Julia's parents are in town?”
“Yeah. There I was, taking the afternoon off so she and I could spend some time together, maybe try to remember what things were like before... everything...” He took a big gulp of his wine. “And I come home to find them there, fussing over Julia and Elizabeth, acting like I'm in their way, like I'm at fault for not making all the bad stuff go away.” He flicked his eyes over at his brother, then looked back straight ahead. “I'll have to sit through dinner with them tonight, I couldn't handle the whole afternoon, too. So I made up a meeting I had to go to and fled here.”
“Brave man.”
“Oh, shut up. You have no idea what it's like. I truly hope one day you get stuck with some really disapproving in-laws. That is, if you ever actually settle down with a guy.”
“Hey. I'm monogamous. Have been all summer.”
“Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts with Jason all the way off in Malaysia.” He shot Kevin a look. “Seriously, though. How are you holding up with that?”
“It sucks,” Kevin said succinctly. “I miss him like crazy. But I'll manage.”
“Let's go grab a beer sometime this week. Get our minds off things.”
“Sounds good.” Kevin sipped his wine. “For what it's worth, I'm on your side. You live with the situation day in, day out. You're trying to handle your own grief and Julia's, while raising a preemie and working long hours. They sweep in for a few days to play doting parents and grandparents - and somehow that makes them heroes and you a screw-up? I don't think so.”
Touched, and feeling a little too emotional, Tommy kept his eyes firmly fixed on the air in front of him. “Thanks,” he said gruffly.
They sat in silence, drinking their wine, until a very tired-looking and disheveled Nora came into the kitchen. She greeted Tommy warmly, kissing his cheek and asking after Julia and Elizabeth. He explained about the sudden appearance of Ben and Beth.
“Oh, that's wonderful! It'll be good for Julia to spend some time with them.”
“Yeah.” If only Julia were half as eager to spend time with him. “I left for a bit, to give them some privacy.” Beside him, Kevin coughed, but didn't say anything. “I hear Justin's still refusing to take anything for the pain.”
“Would you talk to him, Tommy? Maybe he'd listen to you.”
“I tried already, remember? Twice. We've all tried, Mom.”
“I know. I know. But there must be something we can do, some way to get through to him.” She covered her face with her hands. After a moment only, before either of her sons could get up to comfort her, she lifted her head again. “Right. Okay. So how are you two? Oh, Kevin, weren't you about to tell me something before I had to go upstairs?”
“I was? Oh, right. It's not really important.” Tommy kicked him in the shin. Couldn't he see their mother needed a distraction? (And quite frankly, so did he.) After a brief exchange of glares, Kevin caved. “Well, why not. Guess who walked into my office today?”
“If you try to namedrop someone who turns out to be a cast member of Wicked, I'll disown you.”
“Oh, be quiet Tommy. You'll do no such thing. Who was it, dear?”
“Scotty.”
Nora's face lit up with a delighted smile. “Our Scotty?”
“No, Mom, some other guy named Scotty came to my office, and I felt the need to tell you about it. Yes, of course it's the same Scotty.”
“How was he? He did he look?”
“He looked fine. Well, apart from this hideous shirt he was wearing, but then I've never really understood his fashion sense.”
“So why'd he come to see you?” Tommy asked. “I mean, after the last time you two saw each other, I can't imagine you being high on his list of people he wants to hang out with.”
“Tommy, I don't think it's fair of you to needle Kevin about that weekend up in Ojai, when it was what you asked of him that set that disagreement off.” Nora turned to find herself a wineglass.
“I wasn't talking about Ojai. They met once after that.” Kevin smacked the back of his head. “... in his office. You were going to beg for his forgiveness, weren't you Kev, and ended up sticking your foot in your mouth, as usual.”
“Shut up.”
Nora turned back to face them, and poured wine into her glass. “Kevin, you shouldn't hit your brother. And you should realize that whatever it is that I don't know about, I can just ask one of your sisters.”
Tommy smirked triumphantly, as Kevin flushed. “Fine. Okay, I'll tell you. I got set up on a blind date, it was Scotty, I got drunk and ended up in bed with him. The next morning, Chad called. Scotty was not pleased. He felt used, I guess.”
“Well, of course he did! Kevin, why on earth... Never mind. Never mind.”
“I'm not proud of it, okay? But I apologized when I saw him today, and he forgave me. Said it takes two to tango, or words to that effect.”
“So why did he come to see you?” Tommy asked again.
“He had some minor legal trouble that he needed help with.”
“And you're the only lawyer in town.”
“And I'm the only lawyer in town he knows, who might be willing to forgo payment. He's not exactly independently wealthy, in case you've forgotten.”
“In other words, he's using your guilt to get free legal advice.”
“No, he's not. It's not Scotty's style. He was just asking for a favor from an old friend. And it obviously wasn't easy for him to even do that much, but he didn't have much of a choice.”
“Friend, huh?”
“Shut up, Tommy.”
“Stop squabbling, boys. Now, Kevin. What kind of trouble was Scotty in?”
“Oh, just a traffic court issue, Mom, but he was worried about losing his driver's license, and losing his job because of it. Don't worry, it'll take me a couple hours to straighten everything out, if that.”
“So you're going to see him again?” When Kevin nodded, she beamed. “You'll tell him I said hello?”
“Of course, Mom. And he asked me how you were doing. All of you,” he added, gesturing to include Tommy as well as Justin upstairs.
“God, I hope you spared him that litany of misfortunes.” Tommy glanced at his watch. “I'd better get home. Don't wanna be late for dinner with Julia's parents.” He kissed Nora on the cheek, and slapped Kevin on the shoulder. “Tell Scotty I said hi, too. See you later.”
“I'll call you about that beer.”
“You'd better, or I might think you're busy doing more with your 'old friend' than just helping him out!” he called out as he left. The door swinging closed behind him cut off Kevin's protests. Shrugging into his jacket, Tommy steeled himself.
Time to face the in-laws again.