This season, one of the first things that struck myself and most of the other posters on the 7th Heaven boards at Television Without Pity (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/) was how completely wooden and inauthentic the emotions of the character Kevin Kinkirk are. While the cause of this on the show itself is almost certainly just bad acting and bad writing, the effect has been to cause much speculation that the character of Kevin is emotionally off in some way. Many have speculated that Kevin fits all the warning signs of a future abuser, and this has in turn prompted a number of fine fanfiction stores depicting the future married relationship of Kevin and Lucy as an abusive one.
But the kind of total emotional disconnection displayed by Kevin can have many causes, so I thought it would be interesting to explore another possible reason why he comes across the way he does. I warn the reader here that there are themes in this story that are pretty intense, so if you are bothered by unpleasantness, you should probably stop reading now.
As always, these characters are owned by the WB, Brenda Hampton, and other Hollywood big shots. I'm only using them because this story needs to be told in some form or another and 7th Heaven is a good way to do it. The story itself is of course (c) 2002 by Hans the bold.
ONE
* * *
You think my name is silly.
I know you do; everyone does. Everyone hears it and they do a double take and they ask to hear it again. A silly name, they say, and you wonder what my parents must have been thinking to give it to me.
I don't, though. I have more serious things to do.
For the record, it isn't Patty Mary. It's Patricia Marie, affectionately shortened into a joke. This started with my brothers, I suppose, when we were little. There were just the three of us: Kevin, Ben and I. A good Irish Catholic family from the East Coast. The Irish part doesn't really matter to me; I've never been to Ireland and have never really cared to go. I'm an American and so are my brothers.
You want to know why I'm writing this, I suppose. I suppose I want to know too. Maybe it's because I just have to; have you ever thought about that? Maybe it's because there comes a time when you can't keep things hidden anymore, a time when you have to get them out or you will lose it.
I don't want to lose it. I don't want to wake up crying anymore.
#
Kevin understands.
People look at him, at my big brother, and they wonder what to think. He's flat, they say. No emotion. You never know what's going on in his head. He scares some people that way, and I guess I can see why. Kevin never emotes, never seems to really react to anything. He's like a cyborg; remember that second Terminator movie, the robot made of liquid metal? Like that.
This makes it hard for him to make jokes, though he tries to. It's a little easier for Ben, because Ben is like our dad and smiles come more easily to him. But at least Ben is all right; Ben isn't all torn up inside.
Not like me and Kevin.
This is hard. I'm sorry, but it is.
Because Kevin, you see, is going to get married. He just called me the other day and told me. It's to that girl Lucy Camden, that daughter of the Minister. I met her once, her and her sister and some of the other members of her family, when I went over to their house to get Kevin and Ben and try to get them to go home and help Mom. Lucy has a big family and all I remember from talking to them was how crazy they all seemed.
Lucy was the craziest. I swear, that girl is a ditz.
A ditz who is going to marry my brother.
I have to talk to him first.
I have to make sure he knows what he is doing.
But the kind of total emotional disconnection displayed by Kevin can have many causes, so I thought it would be interesting to explore another possible reason why he comes across the way he does. I warn the reader here that there are themes in this story that are pretty intense, so if you are bothered by unpleasantness, you should probably stop reading now.
As always, these characters are owned by the WB, Brenda Hampton, and other Hollywood big shots. I'm only using them because this story needs to be told in some form or another and 7th Heaven is a good way to do it. The story itself is of course (c) 2002 by Hans the bold.
ONE
* * *
You think my name is silly.
I know you do; everyone does. Everyone hears it and they do a double take and they ask to hear it again. A silly name, they say, and you wonder what my parents must have been thinking to give it to me.
I don't, though. I have more serious things to do.
For the record, it isn't Patty Mary. It's Patricia Marie, affectionately shortened into a joke. This started with my brothers, I suppose, when we were little. There were just the three of us: Kevin, Ben and I. A good Irish Catholic family from the East Coast. The Irish part doesn't really matter to me; I've never been to Ireland and have never really cared to go. I'm an American and so are my brothers.
You want to know why I'm writing this, I suppose. I suppose I want to know too. Maybe it's because I just have to; have you ever thought about that? Maybe it's because there comes a time when you can't keep things hidden anymore, a time when you have to get them out or you will lose it.
I don't want to lose it. I don't want to wake up crying anymore.
#
Kevin understands.
People look at him, at my big brother, and they wonder what to think. He's flat, they say. No emotion. You never know what's going on in his head. He scares some people that way, and I guess I can see why. Kevin never emotes, never seems to really react to anything. He's like a cyborg; remember that second Terminator movie, the robot made of liquid metal? Like that.
This makes it hard for him to make jokes, though he tries to. It's a little easier for Ben, because Ben is like our dad and smiles come more easily to him. But at least Ben is all right; Ben isn't all torn up inside.
Not like me and Kevin.
This is hard. I'm sorry, but it is.
Because Kevin, you see, is going to get married. He just called me the other day and told me. It's to that girl Lucy Camden, that daughter of the Minister. I met her once, her and her sister and some of the other members of her family, when I went over to their house to get Kevin and Ben and try to get them to go home and help Mom. Lucy has a big family and all I remember from talking to them was how crazy they all seemed.
Lucy was the craziest. I swear, that girl is a ditz.
A ditz who is going to marry my brother.
I have to talk to him first.
I have to make sure he knows what he is doing.