Come on, Kev. Pick up the phone." Joey sighed in frustration as he paced around the room. Clint's surgery was now less than a week away and he had still been unable to reach his brother.
He'd tried everything. He'd called the house, BE, his cell. He'd left messages with no returned calls. He'd even tried to call Kelly, but even she seemed to be screening her calls lately. How was he supposed to keep him updated about their father if he couldn't even get in touch with him.
The sound of a whispered voice on the line startled him. "Hello," Joey repeated, unsure if perhaps he was getting some sort of interference. It was an international call after all. "Kevin?"
"Uncle Joey?" Zane whispered, his voice slightly louder this time.
"Zane?" Joey sat down at the desk in front of him. This wasn't the type of news you wanted to relay via a twelve year old. "Hey Zane, I want to catch up with you, but I really need to talk to your Dad for a minute first. Is he there?"
"No. He's not here right now," Zane answered succinctly. He'd become pretty good at that over the past few months. At first he'd had a hard time lying to people. It was difficult to pretend that everything was fine-to go around day after day with a fake plastic smile. One day he asked her how she did it. She told him the secret, the art of living a lie.
"You don't have to lie, sweetie," Kelly had whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "We just don't tell all the truth all of the time."
Even now, as he thought back to that conversation, he wasn't sure about the plan. Yes, not telling the truth helped his father, but it didn't help him and it certainly didn't help his mother.
As he waited for Joey's next question, he could hear the familiar sounds from the room down the hall. At first she'd tried to hide her sobbing sessions from him, but now they were too frequent. Listening to her soft sobs, he took a deep breath.
"Uncle Joey," he said hesitantly. "There's something I need to tell you."
The flight to London had never seemed longer. Zane's words echoed in his head the entire time. He hadn't said much, in fact he'd refused to answer any of his questions, but the simple fact that he told him anything meant that things had to serious-serious enough for him to notice, serious enough for him to worry, and serious enough for him to ask for help.
Joey grabbed his bag, thankful to finally be on solid ground again. As he headed through the private terminal, he eyed the car he'd called in advance. The house was a ten minute drive from here, he realized, carelessly tossing the bag into the back seat before climbing in himself. In ten minutes he'd have the answers he needed.
He was watching from the window, his face mere inches from the glass. Before he even had a chance to knock, Zane met him on the doorstep.
"Zane," Joey smiled, reaching out to give the young boy a hug. Everything in him wanted to push past him and barrel down the hallway. He needed to see her-with his own eyes. He needed to ask her all the questions that had been screaming inside his head since the moment he hung up the phone, but he couldn't. As Zane pulled away, he could see the look in his eyes, the look that meant he needed to talk as much as Joey needed answers.
There were so many questions. Questions that needed answers, but for now he needed to get inside. Putting one arm around Zane's shoulder, he stepped towards the door. "We should get inside," he whispered, forcing himself to smile down at the young boy. "It's cold out here."
They walked inside and headed for the living room. "What is all this?" he asked. His eyes scanned the sofa, which was littered with newspapers and magazines. Empty liquor bottles littered the floor and broken glass, the remnants of a snifter perhaps, lay haphazardly in front of the fireplace.
"Where's Neville?" Joey asked, unsure of what else he could say.
"Dad fired him," Zane said sadly, "Weeks ago."
"He fired Neville?" None of this made any sense. Kevin loved Neville. He'd worked with their family for years. He practically was family. "Why? Why would he do that?"
Zane looked up at him, his eyes green and wide. They were so much like Kelly's. "He poured it out," he said quietly. "You know his stuff...the whole cabinet full...he poured it all out."
Drinking. He figured as much. In a way, it was almost a relief. Being drunk could explain some of this behavior, but some of it...some of it was inexcusable.
"Zane" Her voice was so soft and timid that he wasn't sure he would have recognized it if he hadn't seen her descending the stairs.
"Who are you..." She stopped. Her mouth went dry as she instinctively pulled the robe tighter around her. "Joey," she breached, reaching out to clutch the banister in an effort to steady herself. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"
He wasted no time closing the distance between them. Stepping up onto the bottom step, he looked at her, the tear stained face and bloodshot eyes both clear indications of just how bad things really were. "I guess I could ask you the same thing," he said.
The silence was answer enough. As the awkward moment lingered, Joey stared into her eyes. Without even trying he could recall hundreds of times he'd looked into those eyes, but he couldn't recall them ever looking like this.
"I'll be in my room," Zane said quietly squeezing past them on the stairs.
Kelly closed her eyes. He'd become so accustomed to that-to hiding in his room so he didn't have to hear the arguments, the breaking glass, the truth. Sometimes she wished she could do the same.
Joey watched him walk away, waiting until he heard the bedroom door shut before he spoke again. "Why don't you come sit down?"
She just nodded. She could fool the people at the office, she could make excuses at the school, she could even ward off the meddling neighbor's questions, but she knew her efforts were futile with Joey. He knew her too well. He always had.
The moment she sat down and turned to face him she felt the tears begin to flow. All the lies, all the stress, all the built up anger and hurt and fear-it all came flooding out.
"Kel?" He reached out, touching her face gently, at a loss as to what to do to comfort her. He'd known it was bad. That much was obvious from the bits that Zane had told him, but seeing Kelly like this scared him. Kelly was strong, opinionated, and brave. She'd been through more in her life than most people experience in a lifetime and she'd come through it stronger. For something to break her like this... The thought of it terrified him and yet he had to know. He had to ask.
"Kel, where's Kevin?"
She looked up at him, her body still shaking with sobs as she struggled to catch her breath. "He...He..." She dropped her head, covering her face with her hands.
Joey reached out, pulling her hands into his. "It's okay," he whispered. He could hear his own voice shake slightly as he spoke to her.
'Pull it together' he reminded himself. 'She needs you right now. You have to be strong for her.'
"Come on Kel...just tell me where he is?"
"Jail,"she whispered, her voice so low he could barely hear it.
He froze, his hands falling away from hers for a moment. This had to be a mistake, a misunderstanding...something. "My brother is in jail? What the he'll for? Why?"
Standing up, he reached for his coat, fumbling for his phone. Whatever was going on, he had to fix it.
"Because of me," Kelly whispered, feeling her hands shake harder as Joey whirled around to stare at her with wide eyes. "Kevin's in jail because of me."