The Buddy System (1/1)
Title: The Buddy System (1/1)
Author: WibbleyWobbley
Characters: Kevin and Kitty mostly
Rating: PG
Summary: It's Kevin's turn to be Kitty's chemo buddy.
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~1,990
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
A/N: Happy Birthday, Matthew Rhys!
“Thank you for doing this, Kevin,” Kitty said, grimacing slightly as the nurse fiddled with the chemo port. “I know you have lots of stuff going on right now.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for my turn. Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
“Liar.”
Kevin laughed quietly. “OK, I can think of maybe one or two places.”
Kitty turned her head slightly and smiled at him. “Not at work, I bet?”
Kevin scoffed. “Nowhere near the top of the list, trust me. Your husband is pissing me off. As usual.”
“Mmm. Let’s make a deal.”
“What?”
“No politics today.”
Kevin smiled softly at his sister. “Deal.”
“So are you going to finally show me what’s in the bag?”
Kevin grinned as he reached for the tote at his feet. “I don’t even know myself. Scotty offered to pack it last night when I was trying to finish up some things.”
“Oh goody,” Kitty said, exhaling slowly as she shifted in her chair. “Surprises.”
“We have...” Kevin informed her, pulling items out individually, “A bottle of water. Several teabags, which according to this note here, are a blend that’s supposed to be good for nausea. This month’s Cosmo. Oh, Scotty’s bookmarked an article...uh,” Kevin broke off laughing.
“What?”
“I think that’s for me.”
“What is it?”
“10 Ways to Blow his Mind in Bed.”
Kitty laughed, trying to hold herself as carefully still as possible. “Yeah, I’m going to guess he’s not that concerned about Robert’s satisfaction.”
“I certainly hope not,” Kevin agreed with a smirk. He reached back into the bag, pulling out the last item and smiling when he saw what it was. “Last but not least, a focal point for you.”
He handed the photo frame to a confused Kitty. She turned it, making a small noise as she realized what it was. The picture of Evan was taken about a week ago, when Kevin and Scotty were babysitting-slash-practicing. He was laughing at something and pointing at the camera.
“He’s absolutely adorable,” Kevin said quietly.
Kitty sighed in agreement, holding the photo frame to her chest in a pseudo-hug. “Your husband is amazingly thoughtful,” she told Kevin.
Kevin smiled softly at her. He reached a hand out to her, resting it on her shoulder. “Everybody wants this to be...as manageable as possible for you.”
Kitty wrapped a hand around his wrist, smiling in response. After only a brief moment, however, she spoke again. “OK, you’re starting to freak me out. Let’s do a quiz in the magazine.”
Kevin laughed, taking his hand back so he could open the magazine. “We have two choices: how’s your love life - which frankly, I’m not sure I want to know about my sister and boss - and how strong is your marriage?”
“Hmm,” Kitty said. “I’m exhausted and sick all the time, and we were this close to divorcing only a few months ago.”
“Guess that answers those. Moving onto something else then.”
“Ah-ah-ah,” Kitty interrupted. “You can take the quizzes.”
Kevin sighed loudly. “If I’m taking them, so are you. Deal with it.”
Kitty laughed. “Fine.”
***
“How long did you wait after your first date to sleep with your current partner?” Kevin read aloud. “Two more dates, a month or more, long enough to get to a private location, or what first date?”
“Um, I guess, technically, a month or more. In retrospect, it was our first date.”
“Fair enough,” Kevin said as he marked the answer. Then he cleared his throat. “I guess the best, although not exactly correct, answer is long enough to get to a private location.”
Kitty laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Moving on,” Kevin said sharply. “During your first time, what were you thinking about: how hot he was, whether you were or could fall in love with him, the size - oh my God, who wrote this? - the size of his love stick, or not much of anything due to the alcohol-induced haze.”
Kitty stared back at him with a disbelieving expression. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“All of the above? Except for the alcohol thing.”
“Pick one.”
Kitty sighed. “OK, fine. Truthfully, probably how hot he was. Anything else was too big to think about.”
“Including his love stick?”
Kitty shook her head in amused annoyance. “Big as in complicated, doofus.”
Kevin turned back to the magazine with a smirk. “Yeah, I was thinking of, uh, several of those too, but probably mostly...B.”
“What was B again?” Kitty asked, reaching out and pressing on the magazine to tilt it towards her. “You are such a girl,” she added as she read.
“Look,” Kevin said, embarrassed. “You weren’t there, OK? If you had been and had heard his...confession, you would have been pretty - ”
“Fine, OK,” Kitty interrupted, laughing.
“Can we move on?”
“Yes.”
Kevin skimmed the next question, groaning before he read aloud, “What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done? Sex in public, sex in nature, sex with a total stranger, or sex in the backdoor?”
Kitty broke into laughter. Kevin closed the magazine. “I’m done with this quiz,” he announced.
“What we should do is write the ‘Cancer Issue’ of Cosmo,” Kitty mused. “10 Great Wig-Styles for Fall.”
“How to lose weight without even trying?”
Kitty grinned. “Ah yes, the Chemo Diet.”
***
“Oh God,” Kitty groaned.
Kevin, perching on the edge of her chair, rubbed her back slowly. “It’s going to be fine. Just take deep breaths.”
“This sucks,” she observed, the tears audible in her voice.
“I know,” Kevin said, sighing. “Do you want some water? Or tea?”
“Mm-mmm,” Kitty said, shaking her head quickly. “Just...talk to me. Distract me.”
Kevin was silent for a moment, trying to come up with something to say.
“The surrogacy,” Kitty said. “What’s going on with that?”
Kevin reached his free hand up, scratching at the side of his eye. “We’re kind of in a waiting pattern right now. We picked an egg donor - ”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you decide who it should be?”
“Well, we both want Scotty to be the biological father.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Yeah, so he had to do some tests. Make sure he wasn’t shooting blanks, you know. And then we thought,” Kevin laughed slightly. “We thought we’d try to find an egg donor that matches my characteristics. Fake out biology, in a way.”
“By your characteristics, you mean sarcastic and stubborn?”
“Look at that. Even in the middle of chemotherapy, she can still bring that biting Kitty Walker wit.”
Kitty laughed breathlessly.
“No, you know. Hair. Eye color. That kind of thing,” Kevin added.
“Should be a good-looking kid.”
“That’s really all that matters,” Kevin joked.
“So then, what’s next?”
“The lab mixes up a bunch of embryos, we wait for a good time in Michelle’s, you know...”
“Menstrual cycle?” Kitty said, rolling her eyes.
“That. And then we hope for the best.”
“Do you want a boy or girl?”
“We really don’t care.”
“Good answer.”
Kevin laughed, then turned serious. “I am...so excited and so nervous.”
Kitty breathed out slowly, finally leaning back in the chair. Kevin moved aside as he helped her rest comfortably.
“Better?”
“Yeah.” She turned her head to look at Kevin. “Of course you are; that’s only natural. But you two are going to be...so amazing.”
“You think so?”
“Mm-hmm.” She paused for a second. “Kevin, I’m sorry.”
He looked at her, tilting his head in confusion. “Whatever for?”
“All those things I’ve said over the years about gay marriage. You two have really proven me wrong.”
Kevin shrugged. “Our relationship isn’t perfect.”
“Nobody’s is. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the right to try.”
Kevin smiled softly. “Don’t worry about it,” he murmured. “I just rolled my eyes and ignored what you said about pretty much every issue - gay marriage, the environment, the war, the economy, the - ”
“Hey! No politics, remember!”
Kevin grinned. “You started it.”
***
Nora hovered around her children as Kevin supported Kitty while they walked upstairs. They slowly made their way into the bedroom, and Kevin helped her sit down.
“Do you need anything, honey? Something to drink, maybe?”
“I’m fine, Mother,” Kitty said. “Just need to sleep.”
“Oh. All right. I’ll go get you some more pillows, OK?”
“Yep,” Kitty nodded resignedly.
As soon as she left the room, Kevin turned to Kitty. “Is she like that every single time?”
“Yep,” Kitty repeated.
Kevin smiled. “To be expected, I suppose.”
Kitty nodded and then took a deep breath. “Well, now all I have to do is wait for the side effects to really kick in.”
“Anything else I can do?”
Kitty shook her head, and Kevin stalled as he stood to leave the room. Before he could move away from the bed, however, Kitty observed quietly, “I don’t know how many more times I can do this.”
Kevin sat down again, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You’re one of the strongest and bravest women I know. You can do this as long as it takes.”
Kitty sighed, staring straight ahead. “I just wonder...when will I know, you know? Will it be obvious when the time is right to just...give up? Let go and just deal with whatever time I have left. I know you don’t want me to think like that, Kevin, but I have to. I don’t want to spend the last moments of my life sick and tied up to a bag full of chemicals. That’s not how I want you guys to remember me.”
Kevin leaned over the side of the bed, reaching into the tote bag again. “Maybe that time will come, I don’t know. And we’ll have to deal with it, if it does. But you have to promise me that you won’t get to that point until after you’ve fought with everything you have. If not for the rest of us, then for him,” Kevin said as he handed her the picture of Evan again.
Kitty’s face scrunched up as she looked at the picture, and soon she began to cry. Kevin put both arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and held him tightly.
***
At the sound of the door opening, Scotty turned away from the computer to face Kevin. He walked into the loft, obviously exhausted.
“How’d it go?” Scotty asked quietly.
Kevin sighed, stretching as he removed his jacket and deposited his keys on the bookshelf. He walked slowly over to Scotty and sat on the arm of the couch. Scotty handed him the bottle of beer he was nursing, and Kevin took a sip.
“OK,” Kevin finally said. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Actually, it was awful. To see my big sister...hurting, and knowing there was nothing I could do...” Kevin broke off, shaking his head as he looked away.
Scotty stood, walked over to the couch and sat down. Kevin slid off the arm and onto the cushion instead, relaxing in Scotty’s embrace.
“You were doing exactly what she needed,” Scotty said softly. “You were there for her. That’s the only part you have to play in this.”
Kevin exhaled, nodding slowly. “I know,” he said. “And it was - it was actually kind of nice. Reconnecting with her. Talking about something besides politics and cancer, at least part of the time. I mean, we even had a little bit of fun.”
“Good.”
“It just really makes you realize, you know? What’s important.”
Scotty rubbed Kevin’s shoulder, twisting his head to kiss the top of Kevin’s. “Family?”
Kevin nodded. “The people you love,” he added.
They sat quietly for a few moments, taking strength and comfort simply from being near each other. Kevin tightened his arms around Scotty’s waist, closing his eyes as he sighed. After a long pause, he smiled.
“She liked the bag you packed.”
“Good,” Scotty murmured.
“I left most of it with her. But don’t worry - I ripped out that article you marked.”
Scotty chuckled. “Good,” he repeated.
The End
Author: WibbleyWobbley
Characters: Kevin and Kitty mostly
Rating: PG
Summary: It's Kevin's turn to be Kitty's chemo buddy.
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~1,990
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
A/N: Happy Birthday, Matthew Rhys!
“Thank you for doing this, Kevin,” Kitty said, grimacing slightly as the nurse fiddled with the chemo port. “I know you have lots of stuff going on right now.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for my turn. Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
“Liar.”
Kevin laughed quietly. “OK, I can think of maybe one or two places.”
Kitty turned her head slightly and smiled at him. “Not at work, I bet?”
Kevin scoffed. “Nowhere near the top of the list, trust me. Your husband is pissing me off. As usual.”
“Mmm. Let’s make a deal.”
“What?”
“No politics today.”
Kevin smiled softly at his sister. “Deal.”
“So are you going to finally show me what’s in the bag?”
Kevin grinned as he reached for the tote at his feet. “I don’t even know myself. Scotty offered to pack it last night when I was trying to finish up some things.”
“Oh goody,” Kitty said, exhaling slowly as she shifted in her chair. “Surprises.”
“We have...” Kevin informed her, pulling items out individually, “A bottle of water. Several teabags, which according to this note here, are a blend that’s supposed to be good for nausea. This month’s Cosmo. Oh, Scotty’s bookmarked an article...uh,” Kevin broke off laughing.
“What?”
“I think that’s for me.”
“What is it?”
“10 Ways to Blow his Mind in Bed.”
Kitty laughed, trying to hold herself as carefully still as possible. “Yeah, I’m going to guess he’s not that concerned about Robert’s satisfaction.”
“I certainly hope not,” Kevin agreed with a smirk. He reached back into the bag, pulling out the last item and smiling when he saw what it was. “Last but not least, a focal point for you.”
He handed the photo frame to a confused Kitty. She turned it, making a small noise as she realized what it was. The picture of Evan was taken about a week ago, when Kevin and Scotty were babysitting-slash-practicing. He was laughing at something and pointing at the camera.
“He’s absolutely adorable,” Kevin said quietly.
Kitty sighed in agreement, holding the photo frame to her chest in a pseudo-hug. “Your husband is amazingly thoughtful,” she told Kevin.
Kevin smiled softly at her. He reached a hand out to her, resting it on her shoulder. “Everybody wants this to be...as manageable as possible for you.”
Kitty wrapped a hand around his wrist, smiling in response. After only a brief moment, however, she spoke again. “OK, you’re starting to freak me out. Let’s do a quiz in the magazine.”
Kevin laughed, taking his hand back so he could open the magazine. “We have two choices: how’s your love life - which frankly, I’m not sure I want to know about my sister and boss - and how strong is your marriage?”
“Hmm,” Kitty said. “I’m exhausted and sick all the time, and we were this close to divorcing only a few months ago.”
“Guess that answers those. Moving onto something else then.”
“Ah-ah-ah,” Kitty interrupted. “You can take the quizzes.”
Kevin sighed loudly. “If I’m taking them, so are you. Deal with it.”
Kitty laughed. “Fine.”
***
“How long did you wait after your first date to sleep with your current partner?” Kevin read aloud. “Two more dates, a month or more, long enough to get to a private location, or what first date?”
“Um, I guess, technically, a month or more. In retrospect, it was our first date.”
“Fair enough,” Kevin said as he marked the answer. Then he cleared his throat. “I guess the best, although not exactly correct, answer is long enough to get to a private location.”
Kitty laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Moving on,” Kevin said sharply. “During your first time, what were you thinking about: how hot he was, whether you were or could fall in love with him, the size - oh my God, who wrote this? - the size of his love stick, or not much of anything due to the alcohol-induced haze.”
Kitty stared back at him with a disbelieving expression. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“All of the above? Except for the alcohol thing.”
“Pick one.”
Kitty sighed. “OK, fine. Truthfully, probably how hot he was. Anything else was too big to think about.”
“Including his love stick?”
Kitty shook her head in amused annoyance. “Big as in complicated, doofus.”
Kevin turned back to the magazine with a smirk. “Yeah, I was thinking of, uh, several of those too, but probably mostly...B.”
“What was B again?” Kitty asked, reaching out and pressing on the magazine to tilt it towards her. “You are such a girl,” she added as she read.
“Look,” Kevin said, embarrassed. “You weren’t there, OK? If you had been and had heard his...confession, you would have been pretty - ”
“Fine, OK,” Kitty interrupted, laughing.
“Can we move on?”
“Yes.”
Kevin skimmed the next question, groaning before he read aloud, “What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done? Sex in public, sex in nature, sex with a total stranger, or sex in the backdoor?”
Kitty broke into laughter. Kevin closed the magazine. “I’m done with this quiz,” he announced.
“What we should do is write the ‘Cancer Issue’ of Cosmo,” Kitty mused. “10 Great Wig-Styles for Fall.”
“How to lose weight without even trying?”
Kitty grinned. “Ah yes, the Chemo Diet.”
***
“Oh God,” Kitty groaned.
Kevin, perching on the edge of her chair, rubbed her back slowly. “It’s going to be fine. Just take deep breaths.”
“This sucks,” she observed, the tears audible in her voice.
“I know,” Kevin said, sighing. “Do you want some water? Or tea?”
“Mm-mmm,” Kitty said, shaking her head quickly. “Just...talk to me. Distract me.”
Kevin was silent for a moment, trying to come up with something to say.
“The surrogacy,” Kitty said. “What’s going on with that?”
Kevin reached his free hand up, scratching at the side of his eye. “We’re kind of in a waiting pattern right now. We picked an egg donor - ”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you decide who it should be?”
“Well, we both want Scotty to be the biological father.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Yeah, so he had to do some tests. Make sure he wasn’t shooting blanks, you know. And then we thought,” Kevin laughed slightly. “We thought we’d try to find an egg donor that matches my characteristics. Fake out biology, in a way.”
“By your characteristics, you mean sarcastic and stubborn?”
“Look at that. Even in the middle of chemotherapy, she can still bring that biting Kitty Walker wit.”
Kitty laughed breathlessly.
“No, you know. Hair. Eye color. That kind of thing,” Kevin added.
“Should be a good-looking kid.”
“That’s really all that matters,” Kevin joked.
“So then, what’s next?”
“The lab mixes up a bunch of embryos, we wait for a good time in Michelle’s, you know...”
“Menstrual cycle?” Kitty said, rolling her eyes.
“That. And then we hope for the best.”
“Do you want a boy or girl?”
“We really don’t care.”
“Good answer.”
Kevin laughed, then turned serious. “I am...so excited and so nervous.”
Kitty breathed out slowly, finally leaning back in the chair. Kevin moved aside as he helped her rest comfortably.
“Better?”
“Yeah.” She turned her head to look at Kevin. “Of course you are; that’s only natural. But you two are going to be...so amazing.”
“You think so?”
“Mm-hmm.” She paused for a second. “Kevin, I’m sorry.”
He looked at her, tilting his head in confusion. “Whatever for?”
“All those things I’ve said over the years about gay marriage. You two have really proven me wrong.”
Kevin shrugged. “Our relationship isn’t perfect.”
“Nobody’s is. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the right to try.”
Kevin smiled softly. “Don’t worry about it,” he murmured. “I just rolled my eyes and ignored what you said about pretty much every issue - gay marriage, the environment, the war, the economy, the - ”
“Hey! No politics, remember!”
Kevin grinned. “You started it.”
***
Nora hovered around her children as Kevin supported Kitty while they walked upstairs. They slowly made their way into the bedroom, and Kevin helped her sit down.
“Do you need anything, honey? Something to drink, maybe?”
“I’m fine, Mother,” Kitty said. “Just need to sleep.”
“Oh. All right. I’ll go get you some more pillows, OK?”
“Yep,” Kitty nodded resignedly.
As soon as she left the room, Kevin turned to Kitty. “Is she like that every single time?”
“Yep,” Kitty repeated.
Kevin smiled. “To be expected, I suppose.”
Kitty nodded and then took a deep breath. “Well, now all I have to do is wait for the side effects to really kick in.”
“Anything else I can do?”
Kitty shook her head, and Kevin stalled as he stood to leave the room. Before he could move away from the bed, however, Kitty observed quietly, “I don’t know how many more times I can do this.”
Kevin sat down again, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You’re one of the strongest and bravest women I know. You can do this as long as it takes.”
Kitty sighed, staring straight ahead. “I just wonder...when will I know, you know? Will it be obvious when the time is right to just...give up? Let go and just deal with whatever time I have left. I know you don’t want me to think like that, Kevin, but I have to. I don’t want to spend the last moments of my life sick and tied up to a bag full of chemicals. That’s not how I want you guys to remember me.”
Kevin leaned over the side of the bed, reaching into the tote bag again. “Maybe that time will come, I don’t know. And we’ll have to deal with it, if it does. But you have to promise me that you won’t get to that point until after you’ve fought with everything you have. If not for the rest of us, then for him,” Kevin said as he handed her the picture of Evan again.
Kitty’s face scrunched up as she looked at the picture, and soon she began to cry. Kevin put both arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and held him tightly.
***
At the sound of the door opening, Scotty turned away from the computer to face Kevin. He walked into the loft, obviously exhausted.
“How’d it go?” Scotty asked quietly.
Kevin sighed, stretching as he removed his jacket and deposited his keys on the bookshelf. He walked slowly over to Scotty and sat on the arm of the couch. Scotty handed him the bottle of beer he was nursing, and Kevin took a sip.
“OK,” Kevin finally said. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Actually, it was awful. To see my big sister...hurting, and knowing there was nothing I could do...” Kevin broke off, shaking his head as he looked away.
Scotty stood, walked over to the couch and sat down. Kevin slid off the arm and onto the cushion instead, relaxing in Scotty’s embrace.
“You were doing exactly what she needed,” Scotty said softly. “You were there for her. That’s the only part you have to play in this.”
Kevin exhaled, nodding slowly. “I know,” he said. “And it was - it was actually kind of nice. Reconnecting with her. Talking about something besides politics and cancer, at least part of the time. I mean, we even had a little bit of fun.”
“Good.”
“It just really makes you realize, you know? What’s important.”
Scotty rubbed Kevin’s shoulder, twisting his head to kiss the top of Kevin’s. “Family?”
Kevin nodded. “The people you love,” he added.
They sat quietly for a few moments, taking strength and comfort simply from being near each other. Kevin tightened his arms around Scotty’s waist, closing his eyes as he sighed. After a long pause, he smiled.
“She liked the bag you packed.”
“Good,” Scotty murmured.
“I left most of it with her. But don’t worry - I ripped out that article you marked.”
Scotty chuckled. “Good,” he repeated.
The End