I just wanted to say how I hated what happened to Reggie in the new episode and how it was handled. Reggie's father might be abusive and everyone just brushed it aside. Like... what the fuck? I hate that! What the hell Riverdale Writer's?!
Joaquin didn't know how long it had been since he had passed out. He felt groggy when he opened his eyes again and he forced himself to sit up. There were voices from outside of the room, but Joaquin didn't care about them. He cared about Kevin. It was the first thing that came to his mind. He looked around for his fiance immediately, wondering if it had been a dream and Kevin was alive, okay and sleeping directly next to he looked up and saw his fiance still unconscious on a hospital bed. At least he was here. Joaquin wiped away the sleep from his eyes and he grabbed his fiance's hand. Joaquin really wanted for him to wake up. To grasp his hand tightly and for them to kiss away all the pain. But he was still in the bed. Joaquin just prayed that his fiance wasn't in any pain.
Joaquin heard the voices behind him starting to get louder. Joaquin moved his hand and he kept his arm directly over his fiance protectively. He would not let anyone get to him, not after what happened back on that mission. The door to the room opened and the nurse from before walked inside of the room. Joaquin relaxed a bit. "Excuse me sir." she called to him. "Someone is here to see your fiance."
Joaquin puffed out his chest. Who was here? Why did they want to see Kevin? "Who?" he asked protectively. "Who's here?"
"After checking the papers that were sent to us, it's his stepsister and her lover."
Joaquin knew that Kevin had a step sister. He would talk about her all the time. Joaquin thought that she sounded like the sweetest young girl ever. A singer who donated half of all of her album sales to orphanages and low income schools. Joaquin really, really wanted to meet her. But he didn't expect her to her to be here so quickly. Well then again, this was a family matter. Family really knows no bounds. Joaquin nodded and watched as the nurse left the room again. Joaquin moved his head away from the front door and he looked back down at his unconscious lover. Joaquin rubbed his fingers against Kevin's cheek as the door opened again. Josie ran inside of the hospital room and looked inside worriedly. Josie's eyes were bright red and it looked like her cheeks were still wet with tears. Joaquin didn't even look up at her. But Josie noticed him almost immediately. She noticed that he wasn't a nurse or a doctor, because he was still dressed in army green and camouflage. She looked over at him.
Sweet Pea walked in directly next to her and he noticed Joaquin just sitting there in the bedroom. He took Josie's hand and moved her behind him, almost protectively. Guess that their protectiveness was something they had in common. "Who are you?" Sweet Pea yelled at him.
Joaquin turned over and faced the two of them. Sweet Pea moved over to threaten him again, but Josie held him back. "Wait, babe." she whispered to him. Josie took a step forward and looked straight into Joaquin's eyes.
She recognized the bright blue eye color that Kevin had described every time he wrote. "Joaquin… you're Joaquin right? Kevin wrote about you… all the time."
"You're his step sister... Am I right?" Joaquin said, his voice low and almost in a whisper. "He… he talked about you all the time. I shouldn't say that... he's still alive. He still does talk about you all the time."
"Come here." Josie said softly, opening her arms out to him. Joaquin looked back at Kevin for a moment before walking over to Josie. Josie put her hands in his and she walked him over to a seat that was set up right near his chair. Josie looked at him and gave him a small smile. "Kevin talked about you all the time. Whenever he wrote to me, he would talk about you."
"He does?" Joaquin asked with a smile. "Kevin can't stop talking about you and your family. He adores you all."
"So are you the boyfriend?" Sweet Pea asked, moving to stand behind his girlfriend and pressing her hands against her shoulders.
"No. Not boyfriend." Joaquin corrected nicely. "I proposed."
"Congratulations." Sweet Pea said back with a grin.
"Can you… can you please tell me what happened." Josie said, looking over at her brother. She stood up, forgetting what she had just asked. Her thoughts were now on Kevin. She slowly approached his bedside and her hand went up to touch him. She yanked it back. Not wanting to hurt him. Joaquin looked over at her but then at Sweet Pa. Sweet Pea held up his hand to him, signaling that this was just her. Josie leaned forward and ran her hands over the bandage that was resting on his temple. She smiled, telling herself that he would be okay. Josie pressed a comforting kiss onto his forehead and turned back over to Joaquin. Joaquin gave her a smile and gestured for her to take a seat again. Josie sat down, Sweet Pea almost automatically wrapping his arms against her back.
"Please tell us what happened." Sweet Pea whispered over to Joaquin.
Joaquin nodded. "There was a rescue mission that we were both assigned to. It was simple. Go in, don't shoot unless shots were fired on the opposite end, rescue our base mates and head back. It was simple. So simple. Me and Kevin both knew that… He promised me that he would be careful. He swore to me. But it was a trap. There were a group of rebels there and they held a gun up to Kevin's head."
"Oh my God." Josie whispered, grabbing Sweet Pea's bigger hand and grasping it hard.
"I froze… they told me to put my gun down. And I should have just shot him. But I didn't. So he shot first." Joaquin sobbed. "I'm so so sorry. I did this to him."
"Everyone freezes. That's just who we are as humans. If we see something happen, we'll freeze." Josie said to him.
"If I had just pulled the trigger and shot the rebel holding him… we wouldn't be here. And he wouldn't be here. Clinging to life."
"Think about it this way Joaquin." Sweet Pea said again. "Let's say that you were the one to the bullet to the brain and it was Kevin how was in your position. Would you blame him for getting you shot or hurt?"
"Of course I woul- oh." Joaquin said.
"See." Josie said. "This isn't your fault at all. Things happen. And you froze because you love him and you care about him."
"He'll be alright man. Just relax." Sweet Pea said with a smile. Joaquin found himself looking back over at Kevin who's breathing was filling the room. Joaquin wanted to get up and take his hand in his. He wanted to kiss him senseless. Sweet Pea knew that he wasn't in a good state right now. He needed to talk about something else. They needed Joaquin to focus on anything other than Kevin or he would go insane. "Hey... how about you tell us a bit about yourself."
"Yeah." Josie said. "Kevin might talk about you a whole lot when he writes letters to me, but we don't anything from you yourself."
"What do you want to know about me?" Joaquin told them, moving and taking his fiance's hand. He rubbed his knuckles and looked back at the people that surrounded Kevin's life. "I'll tell you anything that you want to know."
Tom and Sierra pulled up the car up into the hospital. They had been in the car for hours and hours. Their backs hurt and they wanted to get up and stretch their legs more then anything, but the well being of their child was more important than anything right now. Tom stepped out of the car first and walked over to help his wife out. He took her hand and they walked up the steps to the hospital together. It looked so sophisticated, it kind of made Tom a bit less uneasy about if his son was getting good treatment. Sierra gripped Tom's arm as they walked inside of the lobby. She felt like she was on the verge of passing out or puking or both every single moment that she didn't know what was going on to her precious and pure stepson.
Tom walked over to the front desk and gave the woman there a fake smile. "I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm looking for my son. His name is Kevin Keller-McCoy. He was brought in earlier today? He's an army soldier."
The woman nodded. "Yes. Are you family?"
"Yes." Sierra answered. "I'm his stepmother and this is his father."
The woman nodded and started to type away on her laptop. "Ah yes. Please follow me. I'll show you to his room."
"How is he? I need to know that first, please." Tom pleaded, tears shining in his eyes. The nurse gave him a sympathetic smile. She took out a piece of paper and read out from them.
"Your son has taken an almost fatal gunshot to the temple. The army surgeon at your son's base was able to remove the bullet and we were able to correctly close the skin and damaged tissue." she explained.
Tom curled his hand into a tight fist. Why had he left his son join the army in the first place when he knew that things like this happened everyday. His son ended up hurt. When he was in the army, he watched some of his best army friends get injured and one of them get killed in action. Why had he let his son go out into the dangerous world that was filled with hatred and anger to see him get shot in the temple. He wanted to punch someone in the face. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. Tom wanted his son. He wanted to cradle him again like he was a baby again. Sierra moved her hand and forced it gently into his palm. Uncurling the tight fist that he had just made. Tom looked over at his wife and gave her a calm smile. He pressed a kiss onto her cheek. Sierra turned over to the nurse again and gave her a apologetic nod.
"Your son also just started breathing on his own again." the nurse explained, motioning them away from the desk. The couple followed her hand in hand as they went down the hall. "We will be removing his breathing tube in a few moments and taking him off life support."
"Why?" Tom asked. "Isn't life support supposed to save my child's life?!"
"Tommy..." Sierra said. "She means that they're going to have him wake up on his own so that he can heal."
"Oh... right. I'm so sorry."
"That's alright Mr. Keller-McCoy." the nurse said, tapping a button on the elevator and letting the doors close behind them. "Your daughter is here as well."
"Josie's here?" Sierra asked, holding her husband's hand tighter.
"Yes. She's here with her boyfriend. And there's someone else here for your son. He came along when he was flown in."
"Who?"
"His name's Joaquin DeSantos."
Tom and Sierra looked over and met eyes. The young man that they had heard so much about from their son, was here. He was actually here. And Tom was hesitant about him. He knew that Kevin talked about him a lot in his long letters, but how was this young man really? And what was his intentions with his son? Sierra felt the same about Joaquin? Who was he really? Who was he and what did he wanted to do with Kevin? Was he actually how Kevin described in his letters home?
The elevator door opened and the nurse walked the two down the hall. She walked over to the room and knocked on the door. "Wait out here for a moment. I'll need to tell everyone to exit the room while I remove your son's breathing tube."
Tom nodded and watched as she knocked on the door and went inside. Sierra walked in front of Tom and cupped his cheeks in her hands. "Tommy..." she whispered to him. "What is it?"
"My son is in that room... I don't know if he's okay, my son's... boy-boyfriend? Boyfriend? He's in that room." Tom said. "And I have no idea what to do."
"Just breathe Tommy." she said to him. "Everything will be okay."
The door opened again and Josie was revealed to the two parents. "Mom! Tom!" she cried, running over. The two crashed her into their arms. Tom rubbed his stepdaughter's head.
"Hey Josie. Hey it's okay." Tom whispered as she started to hear her start to cry. "We're right here now."
"Breathe baby." Sierra said to her, raising her head and wiping her tears. Sweet Pea walked out of the room and met eyes with Tom and Sierra. He had met them a long time ago and he was close to the family. Tom didn't really like him at first, but they grew close from their love of sports and craft beers.
"Tom. Sierra." he said, moving his hand forward and shaking Tom's hand, allowing Sierra to hug her daughter. "I'm sorry that he we had to see each other this way."
"That's alright." Tom said. The door opened and Tom turned over. His smile faded as he looked over. Joaquin walked inside of the hall. He met eyes with Tom immediately. Tom looked over at the blue eyes man in army green. Josie moved out of her arms and into Sweet Pea's.
"Um... mom, Tom. This is Joaquin. Kevin's-"
"Boyfriend I'm assuming?" Tom said. "Or is he just a fling?"
"What?" Joaquin said. "No I- it isn't like that Mr. Keller-McCoy."
"Then what is it like?" Sierra asked. "You haven't answered our questions. What do you want with our son?"
"Mom, stop! He's been through a lot!" Josie yelled at her mother and stepfather. "Why do you ask all of these questions all of a sudden?!"
"Because your brother is in a hospital bed and neither of us know if he's going to survive!" Tom yelled. "And on top of that, he's here. And we have no idea what he wants with Kevin!"
"You don't know him like that!" Josie retorted.
"Josie, it's fine." Joaquin said, looking right at Tom and Sierra. "Mr. & Mrs. Keller-McCoy. Look, I know that you don't trust me right now. Especially with what happened with Kevin. But I want you to know that I wouldn't hurt Kevin. I love him. I really do. I'll whatever I can to prove it to you. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. But you should know that Kevin means everything to me. I love him more then I love myself."
Tom looked over at his wife and back at Joaquin. "I don't know if I can trust you. I don't know who you really are."
"That's completely fair." Joaquin said. "But I'm willing to show you guys who I am. Kevin always wanted me to meet his family. I'm willing to do anything to show you that I care about my fiance."
"Your fiance?" Sierra repeated. "He proposed to you?"
"I proposed to him. I love him too much to lose him to anything." Joaquin said.
The door to the room opened. "Mr. and Mrs. Keller-McCoy?"
Tom gripped his wife's hand tighter while Sierra took his arm in his hand. The two of them moved away from Josie and Sweet Pea. As they got closer to the door, they both met eyes with the blue eyed soldier. Tom stared down at him and gave the younger soldier a respective nod before walking over to the nurse. "Yes?" he said
"Your son is beginning to wake up. Since you are his parents, we thought that you both would be the first he wanted to see." she said.
"Yes... yes of course." Sierra sad with a nod, trying to hide her excitement to see their child awake.
Tom and Sierra both walked inside of the room. The nurse pointed inside of room and Tom saw his son first. His eyes were shut tightly and soft groans were coming from his lips. Sierra let out a small gasp seeing him here like this. Tom ran over to his child and took his hand in his, Sierra making her way over to him slower and much more carefully. "Kevin?" he whispered. "Hey son. Hey, it's me. It's dad. Can you please open your eyes for me.
Kevin's eyes fluttered and he moved his body around the groans didn't sound painful, just as if he was being interrupted during a really good nap. Tom's smile grew wider. "That's it Kevin." Sierra whispered. "Open your eyes. It's okay."
Kevin's eyes fluttered open and he was met with the faces of his two parents. His eyes widened and he forced himself to sit up. His heart beat monitor started to beep hard. Kevin looked back at Sierra and Tom, fear evident in his eyes. Tom reached out to him, moving to rub the back of his neck so that he was comforted and calmed down. Kevin pushed his arm away and punched him in the face. Sierra gasped in shock, but moved to try and touch her stepson. "Kevin, calm down."
Kevin moved over and jumped off of his bed. His fists raised as he backed himself into the corner of the room. Tom stood up, wiping some of the blood from his lip. His son always had one hell of a sucker punch. He stood up and approached his son with his hands out in front of him. The nurse, noticed the commotion and whispering into the emergency phone, to not scare Kevin even more then he already was. Tom went down on his knees as Kevin slid down to the floor shaking.
"Look at me Kevin. It's me." Tom whispered.
"Why do you keep calling me that?!" Kevin screamed, looking at the two with fear in his eyes.
"Calling you what Kevin? What is it?" Sierra whispered.
"That! That! Why do you keep calling me Kevin?!" Kevin screamed, turning over and looking around the room. He winced from the pain in his head and he yelled out. "Where the fuck am I?! What the fuck is going on?!"
"Kevin calm down." Tom said to his son.
"Stop calling me Kevin! Who the fuck are you two?!"
Sierra and Tom froze. Kevin didn't remember them. Kevin didn't know what was going on. Doctors ran inside of the room and over to Kevin. They pushed the two parents aside gently as they grabbed Kevin by the arms.
"Just... just don't hurt him." Tom said to them, holding his wife close to his chest. The doctor's gently took Kevin's arms and tried to help him stand. Kevin thrashed and screamed.
"Get the fuck off of me! Let me go!" Kevin screamed, moving around and around to get free. One of the doctor's pulled out a clean syringe from his lab coat and he pressed it into Kevin's neck. Kevin screamed louder, punching one of the doctors in her stomach. He pushed himself into the hall before falling down limp. Tom ran over and pulled his child into his arms. He rubbed the back of his neck and he fell into unconsciousness. The doctors walked over to their patient.
"He doesn't remember us." he said to the doctors. "What's going on to our son? What's the matter with him?"
"We'll need to run tests. He might not even know that he woke up, maybe this was just his body reacting to being awake." one of the doctors said as she pulled back her hair. "Don't worry."
The doctors took Kevin in their arms and laid him back down on the bed. Tom and Sierra took their hands in one another's. "Tommy, what's happening?" she whispered.
"I don't know Sierra." he said honestly, pressing her head against her chest. "I... I really don't know."