Title: Kevin's Blue Christmas
Rating: K
Spoilers: none
Pairings/Characters: Kevin, Nick, Joe, Tom, the Big Man
Summary: Pure Horace Mantis Community Challenge #3. Kevin feels sorry for himself on being away from home on Christmas Eve, but finds out he doesn't have it so bad.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Disney Channel, the show JONAS or anything related to all that. Sucks to be me…
Author's Notes: I give up. I'm addicted or something. I guess you can say I can't resist a challenge! Heehee! Anyway, since the first one featured Joe, and the second one had Nick as the central character, this one would obviously feature Kevin. I couldn't figure out what to do at first and considered possibly using a word off La Paige's prompt like suburbs suggested, but I'm stubborn. Then this idea came to me. There's just something, I think, about the idea of palm trees and Christmas time for those of us from the northern states – or at least me in here in Oregon – that makes it seem not Christmas-y (is that even a word?) And Kevin seems so child-like sometimes that I could picture him feeling the way he does in throughout this story.
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Christmas in Florida was odd, in Kevin's humble opinion. It wasn't that he didn't like Florida, or like performing Concerts. But at Christmas time? Really? He missed the snow on the ground and the pine trees in New Jersey. Florida was nice, but it didn't feel like Christmas. Or actually Christmas Eve.
Kevin stared out the window and heaved a sigh. He and his brothers had agreed to do a special benefit concert for the children's hospital in Miami. Which was great and seemed like a good idea… at the time.
Now Kevin just hoped he could shake the off the melancholy he was feeling in time for their performance that night.
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Hours later, Kevin found himself still feeling down. And he felt bad for it.
He and his brothers were scrubbing up to enter the cancer ward and he wanted to be bright and cheery for them. He wanted to be excited for this. After all, the kids in the ward were stuck here for not only Christmas Eve, but Christmas too. But he, his brothers and their dad could fly home tonight to be with their mom and Frankie to open presents in the morning.
Okay, he could do this.
Kevin mustered up as bright as a smile as he could and followed his brothers into the ward.
And he had to fight to keep the smile on his face. But now it wasn't because he was homesick for Christmas.
It was because the ward seemed so bleak and plain. There was no Christmas tree with presents waiting.
That wasn't Christmas for these kids.
He turned to whisper to the Nurse that had been their guide through the hospital. "Why isn't there a Christmas tree?"
She gave him a small, sad smile. "The same reason you couldn't bring in your guitar. These children have immune compromised systems. We can't have anything in here that isn't sterilized. They could get sick."
"That's not fair."
"I know."
Kevin looked at his brothers and they looked just as heart-broken for the kids as he felt.
He looked around the room again. At least there were windows so they could see outside.
Something caught his eye out the window and he wandered over to get a closer look. An idea popped into his head.
"Kevin?" Nick asked as he came up behind him. "You okay?"
Kevin turned around with a genuine smile. "Yeah. I think I have a plan."
He motioned Joe over then explained his plan to them in quiet whispers. Smiles spread across his brothers' faces.
They hurried over to the Big Man and their dad to explain the plan to them and their hospital escort.
The Big Man gave him a thumbs up and left the ward. Their dad gave Kevin's shoulder a squeeze and followed the Big Man.
"Okay," Joe said brightly. "Do you want to start with a Carol or one of our songs?"
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It was over thirty minutes later when Kevin's cell phone buzzed in his pocket. It was the Big Man telling him it was done. His brothers were watching him, waiting.
Kevin nodded.
Nick smiled and turned to back to the kids. "Hey that was Santa calling to let Kevin know he had a surprise ready for you to see outside the window. Let's go check it out."
The kids followed the brothers to the window.
They all gasped and giggled at the sight before them.
A lone palm tree that stood outside was wrapped up in sparkling Christmas lights and bright bows were tied onto the fronds.
Watching their reactions Kevin decided this was going to be his best Christmas ever.