Fanfic: Marry me before Christmas 05/10
Marry me before Christmas 05/10
By Marea67
Starring: Kevin & Scotty (mostly )
Rating: It will undoubtedly have some NC-17 there, what else would be the point?
Disclaimer: As usual, written with love and not for money
Summary: It's a alternative view on the Hallmark Christmas movies TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT and just try to enjoy it ;)
To make it easier to read the 'here and now' will be blue
The alternative will be just in black as it a most of the story.
*****
Quick recap: Kevin has the flu, Scotty has to work on Christmas evening, the kids are at Nora's house. The medicine that Scotty gave Kevin make him sleep and dream his own 'Hallmark Romantic Christmas movie, in which he drunk-marries Scotty and then gets summoned back to the holiday-home of a very furious Nora. After a quick stop at Kevin's own place, K/S travel to Nora's holiday home, where the reception is not as bad as they feared. Scotty gets his own room, but how long will that last?
*****
The next day
*****
If Scotty had expected the Walkers to have a quiet, half-sleepy breakfast, he would be disappointed. Everyone's awake and loud. People talk over each other, requests for food are yelled from corner to the other and the siblings are remarkably good at catching food flying through the air.
Within less than 24 hours Scotty had fallen in love with this family. Everyone is friendly and kind. Though they still have no mercy for Kevin and they continue to tease him with his sudden marriage, no one seems to have the urge to make Scotty feel like a fool. He feels weirdly accepted.
The family treats him like one of their own. Nora is just as sweet to him as she is with Julia and Joe, her daughter-in-law and other son-in-law. Justin is quickly becoming his new best friend and Kevin's nephew and niece, Paige and Cooper, immediately made him 'uncle' Scotty, without a second thought.
"Hey, Scotty! Stop day-dreaming! Pass the strawberry-jam!" Tommy calls out. Scotty quickly grabs the pot. He gives it to Justin who slides it over to Kitty who has to reach out to give it to Tommy when Sarah can't take it because her hands are full.
Nora gets up and raises her hand. Silence falls.
She's just about to say something when a loud explosion thunders through the air, making the windows tremble. Somewhere outside a car-alarm goes off. For a few seconds everyone remains frozen in their places, then Sarah jumps up.
"What the hell was that?"
She runs to the door, followed by Nora and the others. As they look out they see a smoke-plume in the distance.
"That's the McCallister-place." Tommy says.
"Looks like it's on fire." Justin adds.
"Oh, no. Eleanor! She's here with Robert, Jason and Chad! She may need help." Nora becomes white as a sheet.
"Sarah, stay here with the kids! Call 911. Anyone else who wants to come along, get in the cars. We might need to help them..." Tommy orders.
Without a second thought almost all the others grab their coats and they get into their cars. It takes them just a few minutes to reach the house of their neighbors, where the flames are spreading fast. Scotty doesn't know what to do, but he sees Justin run to the barn and grab a garden-hose to connect it. Seems that he knows what he's doing so Scotty follows Kevin.
"Fire-extinguishers are in the hall!" Kevin yells. They break down the door with ease. It would seem that the explosion had already weakened it enough. Kevin opens a door and throws a fire extinguisher at Tommy who knows exactly how to use them. A second one is given to Joe.
"Eleanor!" Tommy yells. "Robert!" He can hear someone yell back. "Kitchen! Quick get them outside, use the backdoor if necessary. Go! Go! Go!"
Kevin moves forward, but at the same moment the door leading to the kitchen opens. Scotty sees that it's Robert. He's dragging a woman with him.
"Take my mom!" He hands over his mother to Tommy. "Take her outside."
"Where are Jason and Chad? Are they still in the kitchen?" Kevin now asks.
"No, they were still upstairs..." Robert coughs. Scotty and Kevin quickly climb the stairs, followed by Robert.
Without hesitation Kevin rushes to the second door on the left and flings it open.
"Jase? Chad?" He calls out.
"Kev! Jason is trapped under the bookcase..." Chad cries out in panic. With united strength Robert and Kevin manage to lift the heavy bookcase, while Chad and Scotty pull Jason away.
Jason's leg is bleeding heavily and when he tries to lean on it, he screams out in pain. With Jason leaning on them, Kevin and Chad carry him down the stairs.
"Come on! Move! Move! Let's get out of here!" Tommy spurs them on from down the stairs. "Robert? Anyone else here? No pets?"
"No. Nobody. Nothing." Robert coughs again. The first fireman enters the house at the same time Robert and Tommy exit it. As the men gather on the lawn in front of the house, Justin starts handing out the blankets they found in their cars. He gives them to Eleanor, Robert, Jason and Chad.
Shivering and shaking from the cold and the fear, the McCallisters watch how the flames get higher and higher until the water hits them and then they slowly extinguish.
"Let's take the McCallisters to our place so they can get something warm to drink and some clean, warm clothes. I'm sure that with all the clothes we have brought with us, we will be able to help them." Justin suggests in a calm voice.
"Christmas is ruined..." Eleanor's tears leaves streaks on her soot covered face. Scotty watches, feeling sorry for the family. He can see that the families know each other quite well. Robert leaves his mother with Justin without thinking twice, though he seems very worried about her. The Walker-men seem to know their way around the McCallister-house.
He can see Kevin with Jason and Chad. They again seem remarkably close to each other. While paramedics attend to Jason's leg, Kevin has put his arms around Chad, half in comfort, half in a way to keep him from Jason so the paramedics can do their job. Chad leans in on Kevin in a way that Scotty can immediately recognize as 'intimate'.
When he looks at Jason, he sees no signs of jealousy, more relief and trust than anything else. Obviously these three men know each other quite well.
"Joe? Is there anything else I can do to help?"
"No. Not that I can see."
"What's going to happen next?"
"The fire-department has advised the McCallisters to get a hotel. There's extensive fire-damage, they think it might the boiler for the central heating system that blew up. It had been acting up these last few days and the repairman couldn't find the problem, but he thought it was fixed last time he came here."
"How bad is the damage?"
"From what I heard the fire chief say, the back of the house is damaged the most. Robert and he are going in to retrieve some personal possessions, such as money, papers and the Christmas gifts. Those were in the living room-area and it's accessible enough. They don't dare to go upstairs though."
"The Walkers and the McCallisters seem to know each other well." Scotty says. Joe follows Scotty's line of sight and sees Kevin with Jason and Chad. He wonders if Scotty might be a bit jealous?
"If you wonder about Kevin...? They're just the best of friends. Kevin first had a relationship with Jason, which was nice, but not entirely what Kevin wanted apparently. From Jason he moved on to Chad, but Kevin and Chad were both ambitious young men and each with a strong desire for a career of their own.
They were good, but it wasn't strong enough to survive as a love-relationship. So they broke up, but remained friends. Kevin then met the love of his life, Hank, and both Kevin and Hank were befriended with Chad and Jason, though Chad and Jason never met in person.
Until 8 years ago, when Chad joined us for Christmas after a bad break up from which he needed some distance to deal with it. And Jason was here at his mother's place, just back from a trip to Malaysia. Kevin introduced Jason and Chad to each other and the rest is history. Those two have been together ever since and no one is more happy for them than Kevin is."
"I see." Scotty replies thoughtfully. He feels weirdly happy about Joe's explanation. Though Kevin had already mentioned it to him, he now has more context and he feels this odd feeling inside subside.
"We'd better get in one of those cars too, before they leave us here." Joe grins and he pushes Scotty towards Justin's car.
"Kev! Are you coming with us?" Justin yells at his brother. Kevin nods and runs up to the car.
"How's Jason?" Justin asks.
"Fine, it's only a big cut, but the blood made it look ugly. He'll live." Kevin replies, sliding in the backseat, next to Scotty.
"Thanks for your help." He says softly to Scotty. "Jason and Chad mean a lot to me. I don't know what I would do if I'd lose one of them."
"You're welcome." Scotty shivers.
"Cold?"
"Yes."
"Mom will have hot drinks and food ready once we get back home." Kevin assures Scotty and Scotty gets a fuzzy feeling inside over the word 'home'. It's nice to have a 'home' to go to, even if only for a few days.
*****
"Kevin, Scotty, can I talk to you both?" Nora motions them to come with her and because they're curious, they follow her to the kitchen where it's more quiet. "Boys, I need your help."
"Whatever you need, mom." Kevin answers.
"I feel bad for having to ask this, and you have every right to refuse, Scotty, I can't force you to go along with this, but..." Her face clearly shows that she has issues with what she wants to ask.
"Like a band-aid, mom, just rip it off." Kevin smiles.
"Alright. I want the McCallisters to stay here, but with Eleanor in one room, and Chad and Jason in the other, I'm one bedroom short, for Robert. He said that he would sleep on the couch, if necessary. But... I wanted to ask you, Scotty, if you could give up your room and move into Kevin's room?"
"Mom, I only have one bed in my room."
"Scotty and you are married and... you did share a bed before?" Nora reminds her son. Kevin looks at Scotty. "And you're both adults. I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't important to me."
"Do you mind, Kevin?" Scotty asks.
"Not really, I just thought you might."
"The McCallisters have been friends of your family for so long, I feel like they more rights than I have..." Scotty says.
"Oh, this isn't about more rights or not. You're completely entitled to say 'no'. You and Kevin aren't really a couple and I can't force you to sleep in one bed with him. I can't make you. And Robert did say that he wouldn't mind sleeping on the couch, as long as his mother was in a safe place..."
Scotty hesitates and looks at Kevin again.
"Are you sure you wouldn't mind? Your mother has a point and we can't really ask Robert to sleep on the couch... And I guess that asking him to sleep with you in one bed is not an option either." Scotty finishes cheekily. Kevin laughs and shakes his head.
"If it's okay with you, it's fine with me. I'll help you move your things to my room."
"Sure?" Scotty asks.
"Yes. I'm sure." Kevin answers. "In that case, we'd better move along and start, if we wish to be ready before dinner."
*****
"I can't tell you how grateful I am for this." Robert says for what must be the 10th time.
"It will be just fine. I'm just glad that we could help." Scotty tries to convince Robert once again.
"I mean, I know that you and Kevin aren't really ... 'together'. So it must be awkward."
"I'm pretty sure that nothing can be more awkward that realizing that, in a drunken state of mind, you got married to a total stranger. We passed the awkward-stage pretty early on." Scotty laughs.
"You got a good point there." Robert replies, equally smiling.
Having said that, Scotty goes into Kevin's room and closes the door behind him as he presses his hand to his stomach. Why had he said 'yes'? He should have let Robert sleep on the couch. He looks at the bed that he'll be sleeping in tonight... with Kevin... and it frightens him a bit. He's not sure he's ready for this.
The door opens and Kevin enters.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asks when he sees the look on Scotty's face. He looks less heroic now. "Feeling a little weird after all?""
"Yes. Please don't take that personal. It's not you, it's... it's..."
"...Us." Kevin finishes the sentence for him. "We may be a couple on paper, we don't really know each other. And while we both want to be there to help the McCallisters, it does feel 'off' that we should sleep together?"
"Yeah, that about sums it up."
"What do you remember about us getting married?" Kevin now asks. Scotty shrugs.
"It's all blurry. I have no idea what my memories really mean."
"The next morning, we received a dvd. I had our wedding filmed... Well, I wanted my wedding to Scott filmed, to show the family, who hadn't been there..."
"I haven't seen the dvd."
"I have. It somehow made it more real to me. What we did. I can see how drunk we were. It was kinda funny and pathetic at the same time. You see, I kept wondering why the people at the chapel allowed us to go through with that joke.
But, after watching the tape, I could understand. We were all over each other. You couldn't even tell we were drunk, we were kinda coherent and all - I don't know - lovey-dovey with each other?"
"We were?" Scotty asks, clearly shocked. "I'd like to see that tape."
Kevin puts his laptop on the table and fishes a DVD out of his briefcase. Scotty braces himself and he watches the screen where their ceremony unfolds slowly. They were giggly, but as Kevin had mentioned, they hadn't appeared to be too drunk. They kept laughing and looking at each other.
They seemed.... giddy with love and filled with desire to get married.
"You may kiss your husband." Scotty gasps as he can see himself lean in, as Kevin does the same, and they can clearly be seen kissing each other.
"Did we...? We kissed?"
Scotty is astounded, his face reddening as a terrible thought occurs to him. If he can't remember that kiss, which they clearly had, what else can't he remember about their wedding and subsequent wedding-night? What had they done that night? In shock he looks at Kevin.
Kevin sits down next to him and puts his hand on Scotty's. It feels comforting.
"Nothing happened that night. It took a while for me to gather the pieces together, but that night, when you and I ended up in the hotel-room together, I believe we kissed, but we didn't take it any further than that, because you fell asleep and I thought that was a pretty good idea and so I did the same..."
"You remember?" Scotty asks.
"Bits and pieces. I don't believe I did more than that. I know myself, I know my body. We didn't have sex."
"No. I didn't think so either..." Scotty agrees.
"I'm not trying to make you more uncomfortable than you already are. I just wanted you to realize that if we could restrain ourselves while intoxicated, then I'm pretty sure we can do the same while we're sober." Kevin points out and a little smile appears on Scotty's face.
"Yes. I think so too."
"So... Are we going to do this thing where we put pillows in the bed to create a border between your side and mine."
"Oh, no! That is so rom-com! And it never works anyway." Scotty laughs.
"Good, because I'm not sure that my mom would appreciate it to have to dig up more pillows." Kevin jokes and Scotty laughs too, suddenly feeling more at ease with the whole situation. "Which side of the bed do you want?"
"The middle." Scotty teases.
"Greedy little bastard. And hogging my duvet in the process, I presume?" Kevin fakes outrage.
"Naturally..." Scotty admits without missing a beat. "But seriously... I have a slight preference for the right side, but I can sleep on either side."
"I can live with you sleeping on the right side. Hank would always sleep on the right side too." Kevin says with a shrug. "And .... you can put your clothes here. I've removed all of Hank's stuff. It feels a bit weird, because I hadn't done it so far. But it's alright. Time to close that certain chapter of my life."
Kevin helps Scotty clear up his clothes. The closet is big enough to put Scotty's clothes in as well and if either of the men feels weird about seeing their clothes hanging side by side, they don't mention it. They view their hard work with satisfaction.
"Are you ready for dinner now?" Kevin asks and Scotty nods.
*****
"Angie? Can you close up?" Scotty asks. Angie nods. "Don't make a fuss. Just make sure that after the last customer has left, that you check if everything is turned off and that everything is back in the kitchen. Never mind the cleaning up. I'll do that tomorrow morning. Just make sure that all the glasses, dishes, cutlery etc are out of the restaurant and in the kitchen."
"I'll do that. Don't worry. Go to Kevin." Angie gives Scotty a hug. "Merry Christmas."
"You too. And if something doesn't go as planned, if you need my help..."
"I'll call you.... but that won't be necessary." Angie smiles. Scotty quickly says his goodbyes and rushes up the stairs to his apartment.
When he walks in he finds Kevin in a deep sleep. He feels Kevin's forehead. It's hot. Very hot. And it makes him nervous. So nervous that he takes a drastic decision.
"Nora? Hi, it's Scotty. Listen, I'm worried about Kevin. He's burning up..." He's not sure what he's asking for, but Nora reads between the lines.
"I'll make some arrangements here. Kitty and Sarah had planned to stay here tonight as well. They've both been drinking, so no driving. They can take care of the kids. Then I'll grab a few things and I'll come over to you. Could I sleep on the couch?"
"You can take Olivia's bed. Or Daniel's."
"Oh. Yes. Of course. He finally has his 'grown up-bed' now too. I forgot." Nora smiles. "Fine then. I'll be with you in about half an hour."
"Thank you, Nora." Scotty says with a sigh of relief. He switches off the tv and looks at Kevin again. His fever may be high, but at least he has a smile on his face.
END OF PART 05/10
By Marea67
Starring: Kevin & Scotty (mostly )
Rating: It will undoubtedly have some NC-17 there, what else would be the point?
Disclaimer: As usual, written with love and not for money
Summary: It's a alternative view on the Hallmark Christmas movies TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT and just try to enjoy it ;)
To make it easier to read the 'here and now' will be blue
The alternative will be just in black as it a most of the story.
*****
Quick recap: Kevin has the flu, Scotty has to work on Christmas evening, the kids are at Nora's house. The medicine that Scotty gave Kevin make him sleep and dream his own 'Hallmark Romantic Christmas movie, in which he drunk-marries Scotty and then gets summoned back to the holiday-home of a very furious Nora. After a quick stop at Kevin's own place, K/S travel to Nora's holiday home, where the reception is not as bad as they feared. Scotty gets his own room, but how long will that last?
*****
The next day
*****
If Scotty had expected the Walkers to have a quiet, half-sleepy breakfast, he would be disappointed. Everyone's awake and loud. People talk over each other, requests for food are yelled from corner to the other and the siblings are remarkably good at catching food flying through the air.
Within less than 24 hours Scotty had fallen in love with this family. Everyone is friendly and kind. Though they still have no mercy for Kevin and they continue to tease him with his sudden marriage, no one seems to have the urge to make Scotty feel like a fool. He feels weirdly accepted.
The family treats him like one of their own. Nora is just as sweet to him as she is with Julia and Joe, her daughter-in-law and other son-in-law. Justin is quickly becoming his new best friend and Kevin's nephew and niece, Paige and Cooper, immediately made him 'uncle' Scotty, without a second thought.
"Hey, Scotty! Stop day-dreaming! Pass the strawberry-jam!" Tommy calls out. Scotty quickly grabs the pot. He gives it to Justin who slides it over to Kitty who has to reach out to give it to Tommy when Sarah can't take it because her hands are full.
Nora gets up and raises her hand. Silence falls.
She's just about to say something when a loud explosion thunders through the air, making the windows tremble. Somewhere outside a car-alarm goes off. For a few seconds everyone remains frozen in their places, then Sarah jumps up.
"What the hell was that?"
She runs to the door, followed by Nora and the others. As they look out they see a smoke-plume in the distance.
"That's the McCallister-place." Tommy says.
"Looks like it's on fire." Justin adds.
"Oh, no. Eleanor! She's here with Robert, Jason and Chad! She may need help." Nora becomes white as a sheet.
"Sarah, stay here with the kids! Call 911. Anyone else who wants to come along, get in the cars. We might need to help them..." Tommy orders.
Without a second thought almost all the others grab their coats and they get into their cars. It takes them just a few minutes to reach the house of their neighbors, where the flames are spreading fast. Scotty doesn't know what to do, but he sees Justin run to the barn and grab a garden-hose to connect it. Seems that he knows what he's doing so Scotty follows Kevin.
"Fire-extinguishers are in the hall!" Kevin yells. They break down the door with ease. It would seem that the explosion had already weakened it enough. Kevin opens a door and throws a fire extinguisher at Tommy who knows exactly how to use them. A second one is given to Joe.
"Eleanor!" Tommy yells. "Robert!" He can hear someone yell back. "Kitchen! Quick get them outside, use the backdoor if necessary. Go! Go! Go!"
Kevin moves forward, but at the same moment the door leading to the kitchen opens. Scotty sees that it's Robert. He's dragging a woman with him.
"Take my mom!" He hands over his mother to Tommy. "Take her outside."
"Where are Jason and Chad? Are they still in the kitchen?" Kevin now asks.
"No, they were still upstairs..." Robert coughs. Scotty and Kevin quickly climb the stairs, followed by Robert.
Without hesitation Kevin rushes to the second door on the left and flings it open.
"Jase? Chad?" He calls out.
"Kev! Jason is trapped under the bookcase..." Chad cries out in panic. With united strength Robert and Kevin manage to lift the heavy bookcase, while Chad and Scotty pull Jason away.
Jason's leg is bleeding heavily and when he tries to lean on it, he screams out in pain. With Jason leaning on them, Kevin and Chad carry him down the stairs.
"Come on! Move! Move! Let's get out of here!" Tommy spurs them on from down the stairs. "Robert? Anyone else here? No pets?"
"No. Nobody. Nothing." Robert coughs again. The first fireman enters the house at the same time Robert and Tommy exit it. As the men gather on the lawn in front of the house, Justin starts handing out the blankets they found in their cars. He gives them to Eleanor, Robert, Jason and Chad.
Shivering and shaking from the cold and the fear, the McCallisters watch how the flames get higher and higher until the water hits them and then they slowly extinguish.
"Let's take the McCallisters to our place so they can get something warm to drink and some clean, warm clothes. I'm sure that with all the clothes we have brought with us, we will be able to help them." Justin suggests in a calm voice.
"Christmas is ruined..." Eleanor's tears leaves streaks on her soot covered face. Scotty watches, feeling sorry for the family. He can see that the families know each other quite well. Robert leaves his mother with Justin without thinking twice, though he seems very worried about her. The Walker-men seem to know their way around the McCallister-house.
He can see Kevin with Jason and Chad. They again seem remarkably close to each other. While paramedics attend to Jason's leg, Kevin has put his arms around Chad, half in comfort, half in a way to keep him from Jason so the paramedics can do their job. Chad leans in on Kevin in a way that Scotty can immediately recognize as 'intimate'.
When he looks at Jason, he sees no signs of jealousy, more relief and trust than anything else. Obviously these three men know each other quite well.
"Joe? Is there anything else I can do to help?"
"No. Not that I can see."
"What's going to happen next?"
"The fire-department has advised the McCallisters to get a hotel. There's extensive fire-damage, they think it might the boiler for the central heating system that blew up. It had been acting up these last few days and the repairman couldn't find the problem, but he thought it was fixed last time he came here."
"How bad is the damage?"
"From what I heard the fire chief say, the back of the house is damaged the most. Robert and he are going in to retrieve some personal possessions, such as money, papers and the Christmas gifts. Those were in the living room-area and it's accessible enough. They don't dare to go upstairs though."
"The Walkers and the McCallisters seem to know each other well." Scotty says. Joe follows Scotty's line of sight and sees Kevin with Jason and Chad. He wonders if Scotty might be a bit jealous?
"If you wonder about Kevin...? They're just the best of friends. Kevin first had a relationship with Jason, which was nice, but not entirely what Kevin wanted apparently. From Jason he moved on to Chad, but Kevin and Chad were both ambitious young men and each with a strong desire for a career of their own.
They were good, but it wasn't strong enough to survive as a love-relationship. So they broke up, but remained friends. Kevin then met the love of his life, Hank, and both Kevin and Hank were befriended with Chad and Jason, though Chad and Jason never met in person.
Until 8 years ago, when Chad joined us for Christmas after a bad break up from which he needed some distance to deal with it. And Jason was here at his mother's place, just back from a trip to Malaysia. Kevin introduced Jason and Chad to each other and the rest is history. Those two have been together ever since and no one is more happy for them than Kevin is."
"I see." Scotty replies thoughtfully. He feels weirdly happy about Joe's explanation. Though Kevin had already mentioned it to him, he now has more context and he feels this odd feeling inside subside.
"We'd better get in one of those cars too, before they leave us here." Joe grins and he pushes Scotty towards Justin's car.
"Kev! Are you coming with us?" Justin yells at his brother. Kevin nods and runs up to the car.
"How's Jason?" Justin asks.
"Fine, it's only a big cut, but the blood made it look ugly. He'll live." Kevin replies, sliding in the backseat, next to Scotty.
"Thanks for your help." He says softly to Scotty. "Jason and Chad mean a lot to me. I don't know what I would do if I'd lose one of them."
"You're welcome." Scotty shivers.
"Cold?"
"Yes."
"Mom will have hot drinks and food ready once we get back home." Kevin assures Scotty and Scotty gets a fuzzy feeling inside over the word 'home'. It's nice to have a 'home' to go to, even if only for a few days.
*****
"Kevin, Scotty, can I talk to you both?" Nora motions them to come with her and because they're curious, they follow her to the kitchen where it's more quiet. "Boys, I need your help."
"Whatever you need, mom." Kevin answers.
"I feel bad for having to ask this, and you have every right to refuse, Scotty, I can't force you to go along with this, but..." Her face clearly shows that she has issues with what she wants to ask.
"Like a band-aid, mom, just rip it off." Kevin smiles.
"Alright. I want the McCallisters to stay here, but with Eleanor in one room, and Chad and Jason in the other, I'm one bedroom short, for Robert. He said that he would sleep on the couch, if necessary. But... I wanted to ask you, Scotty, if you could give up your room and move into Kevin's room?"
"Mom, I only have one bed in my room."
"Scotty and you are married and... you did share a bed before?" Nora reminds her son. Kevin looks at Scotty. "And you're both adults. I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't important to me."
"Do you mind, Kevin?" Scotty asks.
"Not really, I just thought you might."
"The McCallisters have been friends of your family for so long, I feel like they more rights than I have..." Scotty says.
"Oh, this isn't about more rights or not. You're completely entitled to say 'no'. You and Kevin aren't really a couple and I can't force you to sleep in one bed with him. I can't make you. And Robert did say that he wouldn't mind sleeping on the couch, as long as his mother was in a safe place..."
Scotty hesitates and looks at Kevin again.
"Are you sure you wouldn't mind? Your mother has a point and we can't really ask Robert to sleep on the couch... And I guess that asking him to sleep with you in one bed is not an option either." Scotty finishes cheekily. Kevin laughs and shakes his head.
"If it's okay with you, it's fine with me. I'll help you move your things to my room."
"Sure?" Scotty asks.
"Yes. I'm sure." Kevin answers. "In that case, we'd better move along and start, if we wish to be ready before dinner."
*****
"I can't tell you how grateful I am for this." Robert says for what must be the 10th time.
"It will be just fine. I'm just glad that we could help." Scotty tries to convince Robert once again.
"I mean, I know that you and Kevin aren't really ... 'together'. So it must be awkward."
"I'm pretty sure that nothing can be more awkward that realizing that, in a drunken state of mind, you got married to a total stranger. We passed the awkward-stage pretty early on." Scotty laughs.
"You got a good point there." Robert replies, equally smiling.
Having said that, Scotty goes into Kevin's room and closes the door behind him as he presses his hand to his stomach. Why had he said 'yes'? He should have let Robert sleep on the couch. He looks at the bed that he'll be sleeping in tonight... with Kevin... and it frightens him a bit. He's not sure he's ready for this.
The door opens and Kevin enters.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asks when he sees the look on Scotty's face. He looks less heroic now. "Feeling a little weird after all?""
"Yes. Please don't take that personal. It's not you, it's... it's..."
"...Us." Kevin finishes the sentence for him. "We may be a couple on paper, we don't really know each other. And while we both want to be there to help the McCallisters, it does feel 'off' that we should sleep together?"
"Yeah, that about sums it up."
"What do you remember about us getting married?" Kevin now asks. Scotty shrugs.
"It's all blurry. I have no idea what my memories really mean."
"The next morning, we received a dvd. I had our wedding filmed... Well, I wanted my wedding to Scott filmed, to show the family, who hadn't been there..."
"I haven't seen the dvd."
"I have. It somehow made it more real to me. What we did. I can see how drunk we were. It was kinda funny and pathetic at the same time. You see, I kept wondering why the people at the chapel allowed us to go through with that joke.
But, after watching the tape, I could understand. We were all over each other. You couldn't even tell we were drunk, we were kinda coherent and all - I don't know - lovey-dovey with each other?"
"We were?" Scotty asks, clearly shocked. "I'd like to see that tape."
Kevin puts his laptop on the table and fishes a DVD out of his briefcase. Scotty braces himself and he watches the screen where their ceremony unfolds slowly. They were giggly, but as Kevin had mentioned, they hadn't appeared to be too drunk. They kept laughing and looking at each other.
They seemed.... giddy with love and filled with desire to get married.
"You may kiss your husband." Scotty gasps as he can see himself lean in, as Kevin does the same, and they can clearly be seen kissing each other.
"Did we...? We kissed?"
Scotty is astounded, his face reddening as a terrible thought occurs to him. If he can't remember that kiss, which they clearly had, what else can't he remember about their wedding and subsequent wedding-night? What had they done that night? In shock he looks at Kevin.
Kevin sits down next to him and puts his hand on Scotty's. It feels comforting.
"Nothing happened that night. It took a while for me to gather the pieces together, but that night, when you and I ended up in the hotel-room together, I believe we kissed, but we didn't take it any further than that, because you fell asleep and I thought that was a pretty good idea and so I did the same..."
"You remember?" Scotty asks.
"Bits and pieces. I don't believe I did more than that. I know myself, I know my body. We didn't have sex."
"No. I didn't think so either..." Scotty agrees.
"I'm not trying to make you more uncomfortable than you already are. I just wanted you to realize that if we could restrain ourselves while intoxicated, then I'm pretty sure we can do the same while we're sober." Kevin points out and a little smile appears on Scotty's face.
"Yes. I think so too."
"So... Are we going to do this thing where we put pillows in the bed to create a border between your side and mine."
"Oh, no! That is so rom-com! And it never works anyway." Scotty laughs.
"Good, because I'm not sure that my mom would appreciate it to have to dig up more pillows." Kevin jokes and Scotty laughs too, suddenly feeling more at ease with the whole situation. "Which side of the bed do you want?"
"The middle." Scotty teases.
"Greedy little bastard. And hogging my duvet in the process, I presume?" Kevin fakes outrage.
"Naturally..." Scotty admits without missing a beat. "But seriously... I have a slight preference for the right side, but I can sleep on either side."
"I can live with you sleeping on the right side. Hank would always sleep on the right side too." Kevin says with a shrug. "And .... you can put your clothes here. I've removed all of Hank's stuff. It feels a bit weird, because I hadn't done it so far. But it's alright. Time to close that certain chapter of my life."
Kevin helps Scotty clear up his clothes. The closet is big enough to put Scotty's clothes in as well and if either of the men feels weird about seeing their clothes hanging side by side, they don't mention it. They view their hard work with satisfaction.
"Are you ready for dinner now?" Kevin asks and Scotty nods.
*****
"Angie? Can you close up?" Scotty asks. Angie nods. "Don't make a fuss. Just make sure that after the last customer has left, that you check if everything is turned off and that everything is back in the kitchen. Never mind the cleaning up. I'll do that tomorrow morning. Just make sure that all the glasses, dishes, cutlery etc are out of the restaurant and in the kitchen."
"I'll do that. Don't worry. Go to Kevin." Angie gives Scotty a hug. "Merry Christmas."
"You too. And if something doesn't go as planned, if you need my help..."
"I'll call you.... but that won't be necessary." Angie smiles. Scotty quickly says his goodbyes and rushes up the stairs to his apartment.
When he walks in he finds Kevin in a deep sleep. He feels Kevin's forehead. It's hot. Very hot. And it makes him nervous. So nervous that he takes a drastic decision.
"Nora? Hi, it's Scotty. Listen, I'm worried about Kevin. He's burning up..." He's not sure what he's asking for, but Nora reads between the lines.
"I'll make some arrangements here. Kitty and Sarah had planned to stay here tonight as well. They've both been drinking, so no driving. They can take care of the kids. Then I'll grab a few things and I'll come over to you. Could I sleep on the couch?"
"You can take Olivia's bed. Or Daniel's."
"Oh. Yes. Of course. He finally has his 'grown up-bed' now too. I forgot." Nora smiles. "Fine then. I'll be with you in about half an hour."
"Thank you, Nora." Scotty says with a sigh of relief. He switches off the tv and looks at Kevin again. His fever may be high, but at least he has a smile on his face.
END OF PART 05/10