Title: Casualties of War

Author: Mackenzie

Rating: PG-R

Characters/Pairing: The whole freaking Walker clan, as well as good ole Saul

Spoilers: Everything thus far

Disclaimers: Brothers & Sisters and all the characters therein belong to people who are not me. I make no

profit from this; I just like playing with them. Also, this is an alternate reality. I will take pieces of information that has been made common knowledge, such as Sarah and Joe's marital woes, Justin's being in Iraq and Tommy and Julia's son dying and kind of weave in different things. In other words, Justin is still in Iraq, Saul hasn't come out saying he's gay and Sarah and Joe never went through the whole custody battle over Paige and Cooper.

Summary: Sometimes, the war at home is just as volatile as the war abroad.

-Prologue-

Kitty Walker giggled as Senator Robert McCallister kissed along her abdomen. "Robert, I hardly think that this is what Spencer had in mind when he asked you to read over the Chicago speech."

McCallister groaned as he lifted his head up and looked into his fiancee's eyes, "Kitty, I thought we weren't going to discuss work tonight?"

She laughed and shook her head as the phone rang, "I'll get it."

Robert shook his own head as he sat up, "No, you stay, I'll get it." Reaching across her, he grabbed his cell phone and answered it, "Yes?" Immediately his face went hard as his eyes fell and rested on Kitty, "I see," he said softly, "Where and when?" Sighing, the presidential candidate closed his eyes and nodded, "No," he said, his voice above a whisper, "I'll speak to the family. Thank you." Disconnecting the call, Robert stood up, speaking to the woman in his bed, "Get dressed, we are going to your mother's. Call your brothers and sisters, Saul too, have them meet us."

Kitty felt her heart drop as she stared at him, stunned by how quickly he went from being her playful lover to a serious politician, "Robert?"

Robert stopped at the doorway and looked at her, speaking softly, "Please honey... just do it. I'll have the car waiting for us downstairs."

"What the hell am I doing wrong here?"

Tommy Walker laughed hard as he watched Kevin trying in vain to balance himself on the surfboard, "For starters, you are sitting on the board backwards."

Kevin sighed as he tried to twist his body around, only to completely lose his balance and fall into the surf, causing his older brother to laugh more. "Kev, how can you be a California boy and not know how to surf?"

"I'm gay," Kevin pointed out, "Remember?"

Tommy walked over and held the board steady as his brother tried to climb on. Once he was on, a ringing could be heard, "Oh you've got to be kidding me," Tommy said as he watched Kevin fish through his wetsuit and pull out a cell phone. "Kevin, you brought your phone to Zuma? In the ocean?"

"I'm also a lawyer, Tommy. A lawyer who is waiting for a verdict on a big case." Looking at the caller ID, he sighed softly as he answered the phone, "You are lucky I'm answering this, dirt bag."

Kitty sat on the bed, speaking softly, "Um, Kevin, Robert got a call. I don't know anything about it, he won't tell me, but he told me to call you guys and Uncle Saul and have everybody meet at mom's."

Kevin's head whipped up and he looked at his brother for a moment, "Uh, yeah, sure, okay. Tommy and I are at Zuma so it'll take us a few extra minutes to get there. Do you need me to call Saul and Sarah?"

Kitty sighed softly, "I'll call Sarah, you call Saul."

Kevin nodded, his voice soft, "Yeah, sure. We're on our way." Disconnecting the phone, he handed it to his brother and unceremoniously fell off the surfboard. Reaching the surface, he poked his head through the water and looked at his brother as he ran a hand through his wet hair, "We gotta get to Mom's. That was Kitty. McCallister got a phone call and is being cryptic about it and has called a family meeting."

"Wow," Tommy said as he held the phone above the surface of the water, "Not even a Walker by marriage yet and already calling powwows."

Reaching the shore, the two brothers pulled their surfboards out of the water, "We should change into dry clothes," Tommy said, tossing his brother his cell phone.

Catching it, Kevin merely nodded, "Yeah," he said.

"Sarah, I just don't think that this looks like an apple, it looks more like a pomegranate."

Sarah Whedon sighed as she leaned over her uncle's desk, "Saul, that is so an apple. Look, here's the stem."

"It can also be mistook for the eye of the pomegranate," he said.

Just as Sarah was going to make a rebuttal, her cell phone rang, "Hold that thought," she said as she answered it, "Hello?"

Just as Sarah was starting her conversation, Saul's phone rang. Sighing, he picked it up, "Yes?"

"Okay, Kitty, calm down, what's going on?"

Saul glanced over at his niece before trying to focus on his own conversation, "No, Kevin, Sarah's here in the office. Okay, I'll drive Sarah and we'll meet you there." Without further preamble, Holden hung his phone up and stood up, just as Sarah finished her conversation. "I'll drive you," he offered.

Sarah nodded and sighed, "I hate it when she's cryptic like this. Last time she was this way was when she was trying to figure out how to break it to the family that she was Republican."

"Which I still don't understand her paranoia about that," Saul said. "Your father and brother is a republican."

"I know, I know," Sarah said. "I'm going to grab my purse and coat and meet you out at the car."

Saul nodded as he grabbed his car keys and left.

"Saul and Sarah are on their way over to Mom's."

"Somebody should probably warn mom that we are going to ambush her," Tommy stated with a sigh.

"I'll let you do the honors," Kevin said as he stared out the window, watching the traffic whir by on the 405.

"Gee, thanks," Tommy said.

"Hey, I need to call Rebecca, so you can either make that call or call Mom."

Tommy sighed as he drove down the freeway, "How about we just all show up?"

"Chicken," Kevin muttered as he dialed a number.