Author's Note: Yes, I'm still going on with these themes. It's a pretty large load, but one thing I like about them is that they're drabbles, and as such, can be any length I want. I'm hoping to make most longer than the last three were, though. I may have to up the rating, because I'm thinking some might be more serious than the current rating warrants. We'll see.
Theme 4: 44 Two Roads
Character: Kevin
This was nothing new to him. He had come to a fork in the road once more, and he had to decide now. Otherwise, this time, it would be decided for him.
Kevin sighed, reclining his driver's seat as far as it would go. He was parked in front of Gwen's house, and had been for the past hour. He was just sitting there, thinking.
"I'm glad you came to our side. You don't have any regrets, do you?"
And that was where the problem started. He had paused, not really sure what to say. Gwen had sprung the comment on him out of nowhere, just as he was dropping her off from their latest adventure.
The issue was that he did miss some things about his convict lifestyle. Obviously, the null void was not one of them. But the adventure the lifestyle had offered had been amazing, sometimes even more thrilling then paling around with Ben and Gwen, defeating aliens.
He had been in control then. He was the leader of most of the operations, and when he wasn't, he usually double crossed the leader. No one back then acted surprised if he pulled a double cross (unless they had just met him, of course). Back then, he had been known, he had been feared, but mainly, he had people's respect.
He stared down at his hand, watching it in the moonlight. That hand had been behind so many schemes, but that wasn't what he was thinking about now. What he was thinking about was how deformed it had been at one point, when he'd had that horrible transformation that he couldn't change back for so long.
Was that his only reason for staying on the good side?
"Kevin, you're not answering me. …Do you really miss it? You're not…you're not going to go back to them, right? Kevin, answer me!"
Gwen's voice had been so desperate. She had seen the signs. She knew Kevin was getting restless, that he'd lately increased on trading. She didn't know he was trading weapons, but he'd bet anything that she suspected it.
Her eyes filled with tears as she pleaded for him to answer her. When he couldn't find a response, she'd run into her house.
But she'd forgotten her purse.
That was the kicker. If she hadn't left that purse there, Kevin could easily have driven off, back into his old life, telling himself he had no reason ever to get involved with the Tennyson cousins again.
All the time they had spent together made it impossible for him to just run off with her things. He still had some morals, whether or not she would be able to believe that.
And so his mind wandered, carefully trying to weigh the arguments. He'd been down this road before. It hadn't ended well. So why should it this time?
But then, now that he was acting on Ben's side, everyone seemed to expect him to start acting more like a hero. To play the good guy no matter what, and that just wasn't him. He was getting sick of people and aliens staring when they found out his past, wondering why Ben and Gwen trusted him so much.
Ben had been able to believe he'd go down the wrong path again. And no one knows you better than your best friend, right?
But Gwen had believed in him. She'd somehow known that Kevin had a good reason for the double cross. And she and Ben had saved him, figuring out that Kevin was acting for their sake.
He leaned his seat forward and stared at the purse. He could just leave it on the porch, ring the doorbell, and run for it. Drive until he got to California, New York…anywhere but Bellwood.
Or he could take it to Gwen, quit the deals, especially the weapons deals, before someone got hurt by it.
He sighed, and leaned forward, resting his hands on the steering wheel and then his head on his hands. That purse was mocking him. He scooped it up and threw it in the back seat to try to forget about it.
He slammed his fist on the dash board. No, he couldn't just leave it back there. Not making a decision would be the worst thing he could do. That would mean he kept up the double life still, and sooner or later, the two sides would meet up and tear each other to pieces, and he would be left with nothing.
Kevin leaned back and scooped the purse up, then looked in disbelief at what was on the floor of his car. Lying there was the handkerchief he'd used to wipe the sweat off when he'd fixed the Rust Bucket. He knew Gwen had tracked him with it back then, but the fact that she'd kept it….he put the purse back in the passenger's seat, carefully studying the handkerchief.
On the back, in Gwen's tidy print read "Don't ever forget – he came back."
"Aww, man, Gwen," Kevin tucked the hanky back into her purse, and clutched the bag under his arm. "It's not fair to do that to a guy." He got out of the car, stretching out. He didn't know how long he'd been in there, but his body told him that it had been far too long.
Ignoring his muscles cries against it, he briskly walked to the nearest tree and swung himself up, branch by branch. He landed as gently as he could on the roof. He was about to go knock on Gwen's window when he heard the crying. Looking around, he spotted the bright red hair on the other side of the roof.
"Hi," He said, holding her purse behind him.
Gwen whirled around, looking confused. The tears were still in her eyes when she looked at Kevin, but she still managed to glare at him. Kevin's heart gave a jump. How long had he made her cry for?
"What do you want?" She demanded, turning away from him as though his answer didn't matter.
"To tell you something," Kevin made his way towards her, sitting as close as he dared when she was in this bad a mood.
"And what's that?"
Kevin threw the purse at her. She caught it, and held it close, looking bewildered. "I came to tell you…I made my choice."
"And?"
"And," Kevin said, leaning towards her, cupping her chin in his hand, "I decided that I'm done with the trades. Completely."
Gwen hugged him. "So, you're staying with us?" she whispered in his ear. Kevin hugged her back, relieved that her anger had been rather easily abated.
"Yeah. Looks like you and Ben are stuck with me."
