Second Chances (1/1)
Title: Second Chances
Author: WibbleyWobbley
Pairing: Kevin/Scotty, Wandells
Rating: PG?
Summary: Kevin and Scotty share their news.
Spoilers: Not really.
Word Count: ~2,250
Disclaimer: Still not mine
A/N: For primarycolors92 for making me laugh for a good five minutes. Thanks for the offer, but you can keep your firstborn.
Scotty exhaled as he rang the doorbell. “Why are we doing this? Why didn’t we just, I don’t know, send a card or something?”
Kevin smiled softly, rubbing one hand along Scotty’s upper back. “I don’t think Hallmark makes a ‘Dear Mom and Dad, your gay son and his husband have hired a bargain womb to carry their offspring. Congratulations disapproving-grandparents-to-be!’ card.”
Scotty snorted. “Never call Michelle that to her face.”
“Do you think I have suicidal tendencies?”
Scotty turned to Kevin, smiling. He was about to respond when the door opened. They both faced forward again.
“Hi!” Scotty exclaimed, somewhat too enthusiastically.
There were greetings and hugs and just a little bit of a jam as they tried to enter the house. Scotty had been running on adrenaline and nerves for almost a week now, ever since they made plans to drive to Arizona. He had hoped he would calm down and enter into some sort of Zen state once they arrived at his parents’ house. That hadn’t happened yet.
Kevin and Scotty had agreed to wait until dinner was almost over before they made the announcement, and so they suffered through some awkward and stilted conversation until then. Scotty talked a little about the restaurant, and his mother described some of the activities she had taken part in with her book club. Kevin answered questions about Kitty’s health and his work with Robert. Wally discussed his own work and even exchanged quail-hunting horror stories with Kevin.
Just when Scotty thought he was going to lose either his patience or his mind, his mother announced she was going to prepare coffee and dessert.
“Mom!’ Scotty interrupted, preventing her from leaving the table. He looked over at Kevin, who nodded imperceptibly and placed a hand on Scotty’s knee underneath the table. “Um, before you do...there’s something we wanted to tell you.”
Bertha sat down slowly, looking back at Scotty warily. He shifted his glance, looking to his father. Wally had an unreadable, but not necessarily discouraging, expression on his face. Scotty cleared his throat, looking down as he reached for his wallet in his back pocket.
“We’ve...uh, we’ve been talking about what we wanted to do next. What was the next step for us as a, you know, as a coup - as a family. And after a lot of discussion and planning and worrying, we decided on...on this.”
He handed Bertha the printed photograph from the ultrasound. To untrained eyes, it was nothing but a blob, but the technician had marked the face and a hand. Bertha stared at the picture, expressionless, for a few moments, and then handed it to Wally. His eyebrows rose high on his forehead as he realized what he was looking at it.
“Are you adopting?” Bertha asked stonily, not looking at either one of them.
Scotty closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. “No. Surrogacy. We found an egg donor, and my friend Michelle is carrying the baby.”
“So, it’s not even something you can get out of.”
“Bertha,” Wally warned.
“Why would we want to get out of it?” Kevin finally spoke up.
Bertha faced him. “Because, Kevin, this is - what you’re doing is - ”
“What, Mom? What is so wrong with starting a family?”
“Well, for one thing, you’ve only been together for a little while. I’ve heard enough about your lifestyle to know playing house is not going to interest you for long.”
Kevin raised a hand to his mouth, turning away while Scotty scoffed angrily. “Our lifest - Mom, I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but we’re not...like that. This isn’t some kind of phase; it never has been! And at least we’re doing things in the right order.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Bertha asked.
“It means, I married the man I love and want to spend the rest of my life with, and then we decided to start a family.”
Bertha opened her mouth to reply, but Scotty interrupted her. “I know how to count to nine, Mother. Get off your high horse.”
“OK, Scotty - ” Wally interjected.
“It doesn’t change the fact,” Bertha said loudly over him, “that a child needs a mother.”
“Our child,” Scotty replied testily, “is going to have two devoted parents, who will love him or her unconditionally. Not to mention, a supportive grandmother and wonderful aunts. And uncles.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“How you can say that, as if you’re any kind of mother - ”
Kevin reached out a hand and placed it on Scotty’s shoulder. “Don’t say something you’re going to regret,” he warned Scotty quietly.
Scotty briefly faced him. “I’m not going to regret anything,” he replied before turning back to Bertha. “Where have you been? Since I was 17 years old, and well before that - where have you been? Don’t I need and deserve a mother too?”
“I love you; I always have.”
Scotty laughed humorlessly, shaking his head in disbelief.
“You can’t expect me to just be happy with the choices you’ve made. To just sit by and watch while you warp and expose an innocent child to your sick - ”
Scotty pushed his chair back abruptly and stood. “Thank you for dinner. We’re leaving. Bye Dad.”
He walked out of the room, ignoring Kevin’s and Wally’s calls. He was almost to the car by the time Kevin caught up to him. Scotty paced quickly, trying to release some of the tension and anger coursing through his body. Kevin grabbed an arm and pulled him into a hug. Kevin could feel Scotty relax in his embrace, before his shoulders started to shake. Scotty took a deep breath, suppressing the sobs before they came out, and stood straight.
“Let’s go to the hotel,” he said quietly.
***
Kevin wasn’t even sure how much time had passed since they checked into the hotel. Shortly after the door to the room closed, Scotty’s resolve was lost, and he broke down into tears. Kevin held him as tightly as he could, rubbing his back, whispering soothing words in his ear, kissing the side of his head. But nothing helped, because none of it would ever fix the real problem.
Scotty clutched at him, his emotions overtaking him again every time he tried to find words. Finally, he simply passed out asleep, exhausted not only from the crying but from the sleepless nights leading up to their visit as well. Kevin continued to hold him, feeling completely powerless, wishing there was something he could do.
There was a knock on the door, and Kevin looked up at it. He quickly looked down at Scotty, who shifted in his sleep but thankfully didn’t wake. Kevin carefully slid out from underneath him, pausing when Scotty moaned and moving again once he settled. Finally making it to the door, he opened it cautiously. It was Wally.
Kevin quickly stepped into the hall, pulling the door closed behind him. “He’s asleep,” he said firmly.
Wally nodded. “How is he?”
“How do you think?”
Wally sighed, shaking his head. “I’ve tried to talk to her. She’s just...”
“If it were up to me,” Kevin interrupted, “he’d just...give up. Believe me, I know what it’s like to try and try and try to get a parent to...love you again and just accept who you are. My dad never met Scotty, and while I’d like to think he would have...” Kevin shook his head. “But Scotty won’t stop. He can’t stop, no matter how much it kills him every time.”
Wally swallowed. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what else I can say.”
Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know either. But you have to believe me - I may not be able to protect Scotty from it, but I will not let her say those things in front of my child.”
“No,” Wally agreed.
They were silent for several beats, staring at each other. Finally, Wally spoke up again. “Please don’t let them leave things like this.”
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek, shaking his head as he looked away. He breathed out harshly. “I’ll do my best, but I won’t force him into anything,” he eventually replied.
Wally nodded. As he was about to turn away, he gave Kevin a small smile. He held out the picture they had left behind. “Congratulations, by the way.”
Kevin glanced at him, startled. Soon, he returned the smile with a quick nod. “Thanks,” he said quietly. “We’re pretty excited.”
“How far along?”
“Just into the second trimester. We wanted to wait - it’s Scotty’s, by the way. He’s the biological father.”
Wally grinned, looking at the picture again.
“You can keep that one,” Kevin said.
***
After much indecision the next morning, Scotty finally agreed to stop by his parents’ house on their way out of town.
“If she even so much as breathes the wrong way...” Scotty muttered as he waited for someone to open the door.
Kevin flashed him a small smile. “This doesn’t change anything, you know,” he reminded Scotty. “We’re still madly in love and about to have a baby. That’s what matters.”
Scotty looked to him, nodding as he smiled. “I know.”
Wally opened the door, and they both turned to face him. He gave them a grim smile before saying, “She’s in the kitchen.”
Scotty took a deep breath. “OK.”
“Do you want me to - ?”
“No,” Scotty interrupted. “Can you please just give us some time? Both of you?”
Kevin acquiesced against his better judgment, and Wally nodded in agreement as well. Scotty gave his father a quick hug as he passed him, and then walked towards the kitchen. He found his mother standing, looking out the patio door to the back yard, as she drank a cup of coffee.
“Hi Mom,” he said shortly.
She turned to him briefly, then looked away again. “Scotty,” she said quietly.
Scotty sighed, walking closer and then resting his back against the wall next to her. She turned towards him again, pressing her own back to the wall. Almost simultaneously, they slid down until they were both sitting on the floor, a position Scotty remembered well from his childhood. Sitting like this, talking quietly, was how she would comfort him after a long day of teasing at school, back before either one of them realized why he was different, why he got picked on so much.
He leaned forward, exhaling as he ran a hand along the back of his head. “I’ve run out of ways to try to fix this, Mom. It’s been more than ten years. How much longer is it going to take until you realize this is who I am?”
Bertha released a shaky breath. “Every time I think I’ve...accepted it, something like this happens, and I feel like we’re right back to the beginning. I just wish I could figure out what I did wrong.”
Scotty sighed, tilting his head back against the wall. “You didn’t do anything, Mom. Do you honestly think you made me this way or even that this is a choice? That I’m purposely trying to punish you or something? If there was any way, at least before Kevin, that I could have stopped...been who you wanted me to be, just so I could have you love me again, I would have. But there is no way to change things, and I wouldn’t even if I could. I won’t give him up for you, Mom. I won’t give up our life together, and if you want to take that as some kind of ultimatum - ”
“It’s not that,” Bertha said quietly, shaking her head. “I’m actually glad you found someone. I’m not blind; I see how much you two care about each other. And I do love you.”
Scotty swallowed. “No, you don’t,” he finally said aloud. “You don’t, Mom. You love the boy in your head. You don’t love me.”
They were silent for a few minutes, and then Bertha spoke again. “When I realized I...was going to have you, I was so upset. I had other plans, and I resented you and your father, and I was so angry at my own stupidity. But from the moment I saw you, from the moment they put you in my arms, you became my whole life.”
“And I failed you,” Scotty said tonelessly.
Bertha lifted a hand to wipe at her eyes. “No, I know I failed you. I know I’ve been a bad mother, but I can’t...I can’t get past this. I even started going to a therapist, but - ”
“You have?” Scotty turned to her, surprised.
She nodded, looking straight ahead as she added, “And a PFLAG support group.”
Scotty continued to stare at her. “I didn’t know that,” he said quietly.
“Do you think I like not having a relationship with my only child?”
Scotty laughed once in surprise. He sniffed, before asking, “Would you want to talk to Kevin’s mom? She might be able to help.”
Bertha shrugged. “Maybe.”
Scotty turned his whole body to face her, blinking quickly. “When I was little,” he said softly, “you were so much fun. And so...just so loving. I want my baby to have that woman as a grandma.”
Bertha nodded. “Me too,” she whispered.
Scotty leaned forward to hug her, feeling very much like a scared, sad little boy. He felt their tears mingle on his cheek, even as he felt a single, quite unexpected ray of hope. He took a deep breath, smelling his mother’s familiar perfume, and he exhaled slowly.
The End
A/N2: OK, yes, so this is probably a touch idealized, but I have this strange feeling, based on speculation from episode descriptions, that we might not actually get to see Bertha’s reaction at all. So I wanted to be a tad nicer to her. So there.
Author: WibbleyWobbley
Pairing: Kevin/Scotty, Wandells
Rating: PG?
Summary: Kevin and Scotty share their news.
Spoilers: Not really.
Word Count: ~2,250
Disclaimer: Still not mine
A/N: For primarycolors92 for making me laugh for a good five minutes. Thanks for the offer, but you can keep your firstborn.
Scotty exhaled as he rang the doorbell. “Why are we doing this? Why didn’t we just, I don’t know, send a card or something?”
Kevin smiled softly, rubbing one hand along Scotty’s upper back. “I don’t think Hallmark makes a ‘Dear Mom and Dad, your gay son and his husband have hired a bargain womb to carry their offspring. Congratulations disapproving-grandparents-to-be!’ card.”
Scotty snorted. “Never call Michelle that to her face.”
“Do you think I have suicidal tendencies?”
Scotty turned to Kevin, smiling. He was about to respond when the door opened. They both faced forward again.
“Hi!” Scotty exclaimed, somewhat too enthusiastically.
There were greetings and hugs and just a little bit of a jam as they tried to enter the house. Scotty had been running on adrenaline and nerves for almost a week now, ever since they made plans to drive to Arizona. He had hoped he would calm down and enter into some sort of Zen state once they arrived at his parents’ house. That hadn’t happened yet.
Kevin and Scotty had agreed to wait until dinner was almost over before they made the announcement, and so they suffered through some awkward and stilted conversation until then. Scotty talked a little about the restaurant, and his mother described some of the activities she had taken part in with her book club. Kevin answered questions about Kitty’s health and his work with Robert. Wally discussed his own work and even exchanged quail-hunting horror stories with Kevin.
Just when Scotty thought he was going to lose either his patience or his mind, his mother announced she was going to prepare coffee and dessert.
“Mom!’ Scotty interrupted, preventing her from leaving the table. He looked over at Kevin, who nodded imperceptibly and placed a hand on Scotty’s knee underneath the table. “Um, before you do...there’s something we wanted to tell you.”
Bertha sat down slowly, looking back at Scotty warily. He shifted his glance, looking to his father. Wally had an unreadable, but not necessarily discouraging, expression on his face. Scotty cleared his throat, looking down as he reached for his wallet in his back pocket.
“We’ve...uh, we’ve been talking about what we wanted to do next. What was the next step for us as a, you know, as a coup - as a family. And after a lot of discussion and planning and worrying, we decided on...on this.”
He handed Bertha the printed photograph from the ultrasound. To untrained eyes, it was nothing but a blob, but the technician had marked the face and a hand. Bertha stared at the picture, expressionless, for a few moments, and then handed it to Wally. His eyebrows rose high on his forehead as he realized what he was looking at it.
“Are you adopting?” Bertha asked stonily, not looking at either one of them.
Scotty closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. “No. Surrogacy. We found an egg donor, and my friend Michelle is carrying the baby.”
“So, it’s not even something you can get out of.”
“Bertha,” Wally warned.
“Why would we want to get out of it?” Kevin finally spoke up.
Bertha faced him. “Because, Kevin, this is - what you’re doing is - ”
“What, Mom? What is so wrong with starting a family?”
“Well, for one thing, you’ve only been together for a little while. I’ve heard enough about your lifestyle to know playing house is not going to interest you for long.”
Kevin raised a hand to his mouth, turning away while Scotty scoffed angrily. “Our lifest - Mom, I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but we’re not...like that. This isn’t some kind of phase; it never has been! And at least we’re doing things in the right order.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Bertha asked.
“It means, I married the man I love and want to spend the rest of my life with, and then we decided to start a family.”
Bertha opened her mouth to reply, but Scotty interrupted her. “I know how to count to nine, Mother. Get off your high horse.”
“OK, Scotty - ” Wally interjected.
“It doesn’t change the fact,” Bertha said loudly over him, “that a child needs a mother.”
“Our child,” Scotty replied testily, “is going to have two devoted parents, who will love him or her unconditionally. Not to mention, a supportive grandmother and wonderful aunts. And uncles.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“How you can say that, as if you’re any kind of mother - ”
Kevin reached out a hand and placed it on Scotty’s shoulder. “Don’t say something you’re going to regret,” he warned Scotty quietly.
Scotty briefly faced him. “I’m not going to regret anything,” he replied before turning back to Bertha. “Where have you been? Since I was 17 years old, and well before that - where have you been? Don’t I need and deserve a mother too?”
“I love you; I always have.”
Scotty laughed humorlessly, shaking his head in disbelief.
“You can’t expect me to just be happy with the choices you’ve made. To just sit by and watch while you warp and expose an innocent child to your sick - ”
Scotty pushed his chair back abruptly and stood. “Thank you for dinner. We’re leaving. Bye Dad.”
He walked out of the room, ignoring Kevin’s and Wally’s calls. He was almost to the car by the time Kevin caught up to him. Scotty paced quickly, trying to release some of the tension and anger coursing through his body. Kevin grabbed an arm and pulled him into a hug. Kevin could feel Scotty relax in his embrace, before his shoulders started to shake. Scotty took a deep breath, suppressing the sobs before they came out, and stood straight.
“Let’s go to the hotel,” he said quietly.
***
Kevin wasn’t even sure how much time had passed since they checked into the hotel. Shortly after the door to the room closed, Scotty’s resolve was lost, and he broke down into tears. Kevin held him as tightly as he could, rubbing his back, whispering soothing words in his ear, kissing the side of his head. But nothing helped, because none of it would ever fix the real problem.
Scotty clutched at him, his emotions overtaking him again every time he tried to find words. Finally, he simply passed out asleep, exhausted not only from the crying but from the sleepless nights leading up to their visit as well. Kevin continued to hold him, feeling completely powerless, wishing there was something he could do.
There was a knock on the door, and Kevin looked up at it. He quickly looked down at Scotty, who shifted in his sleep but thankfully didn’t wake. Kevin carefully slid out from underneath him, pausing when Scotty moaned and moving again once he settled. Finally making it to the door, he opened it cautiously. It was Wally.
Kevin quickly stepped into the hall, pulling the door closed behind him. “He’s asleep,” he said firmly.
Wally nodded. “How is he?”
“How do you think?”
Wally sighed, shaking his head. “I’ve tried to talk to her. She’s just...”
“If it were up to me,” Kevin interrupted, “he’d just...give up. Believe me, I know what it’s like to try and try and try to get a parent to...love you again and just accept who you are. My dad never met Scotty, and while I’d like to think he would have...” Kevin shook his head. “But Scotty won’t stop. He can’t stop, no matter how much it kills him every time.”
Wally swallowed. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what else I can say.”
Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know either. But you have to believe me - I may not be able to protect Scotty from it, but I will not let her say those things in front of my child.”
“No,” Wally agreed.
They were silent for several beats, staring at each other. Finally, Wally spoke up again. “Please don’t let them leave things like this.”
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek, shaking his head as he looked away. He breathed out harshly. “I’ll do my best, but I won’t force him into anything,” he eventually replied.
Wally nodded. As he was about to turn away, he gave Kevin a small smile. He held out the picture they had left behind. “Congratulations, by the way.”
Kevin glanced at him, startled. Soon, he returned the smile with a quick nod. “Thanks,” he said quietly. “We’re pretty excited.”
“How far along?”
“Just into the second trimester. We wanted to wait - it’s Scotty’s, by the way. He’s the biological father.”
Wally grinned, looking at the picture again.
“You can keep that one,” Kevin said.
***
After much indecision the next morning, Scotty finally agreed to stop by his parents’ house on their way out of town.
“If she even so much as breathes the wrong way...” Scotty muttered as he waited for someone to open the door.
Kevin flashed him a small smile. “This doesn’t change anything, you know,” he reminded Scotty. “We’re still madly in love and about to have a baby. That’s what matters.”
Scotty looked to him, nodding as he smiled. “I know.”
Wally opened the door, and they both turned to face him. He gave them a grim smile before saying, “She’s in the kitchen.”
Scotty took a deep breath. “OK.”
“Do you want me to - ?”
“No,” Scotty interrupted. “Can you please just give us some time? Both of you?”
Kevin acquiesced against his better judgment, and Wally nodded in agreement as well. Scotty gave his father a quick hug as he passed him, and then walked towards the kitchen. He found his mother standing, looking out the patio door to the back yard, as she drank a cup of coffee.
“Hi Mom,” he said shortly.
She turned to him briefly, then looked away again. “Scotty,” she said quietly.
Scotty sighed, walking closer and then resting his back against the wall next to her. She turned towards him again, pressing her own back to the wall. Almost simultaneously, they slid down until they were both sitting on the floor, a position Scotty remembered well from his childhood. Sitting like this, talking quietly, was how she would comfort him after a long day of teasing at school, back before either one of them realized why he was different, why he got picked on so much.
He leaned forward, exhaling as he ran a hand along the back of his head. “I’ve run out of ways to try to fix this, Mom. It’s been more than ten years. How much longer is it going to take until you realize this is who I am?”
Bertha released a shaky breath. “Every time I think I’ve...accepted it, something like this happens, and I feel like we’re right back to the beginning. I just wish I could figure out what I did wrong.”
Scotty sighed, tilting his head back against the wall. “You didn’t do anything, Mom. Do you honestly think you made me this way or even that this is a choice? That I’m purposely trying to punish you or something? If there was any way, at least before Kevin, that I could have stopped...been who you wanted me to be, just so I could have you love me again, I would have. But there is no way to change things, and I wouldn’t even if I could. I won’t give him up for you, Mom. I won’t give up our life together, and if you want to take that as some kind of ultimatum - ”
“It’s not that,” Bertha said quietly, shaking her head. “I’m actually glad you found someone. I’m not blind; I see how much you two care about each other. And I do love you.”
Scotty swallowed. “No, you don’t,” he finally said aloud. “You don’t, Mom. You love the boy in your head. You don’t love me.”
They were silent for a few minutes, and then Bertha spoke again. “When I realized I...was going to have you, I was so upset. I had other plans, and I resented you and your father, and I was so angry at my own stupidity. But from the moment I saw you, from the moment they put you in my arms, you became my whole life.”
“And I failed you,” Scotty said tonelessly.
Bertha lifted a hand to wipe at her eyes. “No, I know I failed you. I know I’ve been a bad mother, but I can’t...I can’t get past this. I even started going to a therapist, but - ”
“You have?” Scotty turned to her, surprised.
She nodded, looking straight ahead as she added, “And a PFLAG support group.”
Scotty continued to stare at her. “I didn’t know that,” he said quietly.
“Do you think I like not having a relationship with my only child?”
Scotty laughed once in surprise. He sniffed, before asking, “Would you want to talk to Kevin’s mom? She might be able to help.”
Bertha shrugged. “Maybe.”
Scotty turned his whole body to face her, blinking quickly. “When I was little,” he said softly, “you were so much fun. And so...just so loving. I want my baby to have that woman as a grandma.”
Bertha nodded. “Me too,” she whispered.
Scotty leaned forward to hug her, feeling very much like a scared, sad little boy. He felt their tears mingle on his cheek, even as he felt a single, quite unexpected ray of hope. He took a deep breath, smelling his mother’s familiar perfume, and he exhaled slowly.
The End
A/N2: OK, yes, so this is probably a touch idealized, but I have this strange feeling, based on speculation from episode descriptions, that we might not actually get to see Bertha’s reaction at all. So I wanted to be a tad nicer to her. So there.