Okay, so…confession. I actually wrote this one while on the clock at work… I was stuck in the fitting room, and the fitting room associate does absolutely nothing; that position is such a waste of an employee. But I had paper and a pen, so I did the only thing that there was to do in that Godforsaken place—I wrote. And this was the end result.

Disclaimer: I don't own Brothers and Sisters or any of its plotlines or characters.

Title: Cartoons, Fish Sticks, and Making Believe

Fandom: Brothers and Sisters

Genre: Romance

Pairing: Scotty/Kevin

Rating: G

Summary: Nora watches her son and his husband sleep. Takes place during episode 3.10.

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Cartoons, Fish Sticks, and Making Believe

Sometimes I wonder if my boys get their kicks out of scaring me to death.

It wouldn't surprise me if it were true. First Justin with his enlisting in the army, then his drug addictions… And I won't even mention all the times I had to take one or another of them to the emergency room for this or that—broken bones, appendicitis, tonsil infections, sudden and intense illnesses… The list goes on.

Now Kevin is about to give away part of his liver, and back to the hospital we've come. At least we were semi-prepared this time, though I'm not entirely sure whether that makes it easier or harder.

What I do know is that Kevin is as terrified as I am. He doesn't show it, doesn't say it, but he is. Who can blame him? There are so many risks…

But he isn't afraid now. Now, in this quiet hour of the night, he is resting peacefully with his arms around the man he loves.

When I first found out about Kevin's orientation, I never guessed that things would turn out this well. Who ever would have suspected that my gay son's marriage would turn out better than mine? Certainly not me…

Of course, I would be the first to say that Kevin deserves this, and much more than I ever did. I mean, my life wasn't always a walk in the park, but…I was incredibly lucky, blessed with five wonderful children and a loyal circle of friends who loved and supported me every step of the way.

Kevin never had those things, not even when he was young. He had his brothers and sisters, of course, and his father and I, but…I know how alone he must have felt. How different. How…excluded.

He did the things that all children do—woke up early on Saturday mornings to watch the cartoons, wanted fish sticks for every meal…and dreamed about Prince Charming coming to rescue him and sweep him off his feet.

It was this last one that got him into so much trouble. The world is a cruel place sometimes, and Kevin suffered the brunt of that cruelty many times throughout his childhood. He was an outsider looking in on his own life.

Then his Prince Charming came.

Scotty has been everything that Kevin missed out on in the rest of his life—shared laughter, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to seek comfort in, a whirlwind romance…and a selfless love that never stops giving.

He took a cruel world and made it beautiful.

As a mother, you never want to see anything lacking in your children, but I have to admit that Scotty has fixed something in Kevin that I never realized was broken.

True, he's still somewhat of a narcissist, a workaholic and woefully lacking in people skills, but…he lives for someone else now. He has begun to embrace life with a fervor that I didn't even know he was capable of, and he does it because Scotty makes him genuinely happy to be alive.

I have a lot to thank Scotty for. We all do. He gave my son his life back, and for that, he will always be a welcome addition to the Walker clan.

None of us has ever properly thanked him, but…I think he knows.

I think, in one way or another, Kevin thanks him every day.