Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter. To recap, this takes place during Thanksgiving 2009 (the Thanksgiving in the Miguel episode), a little while after Kevin stormed out with the Pilgrim Rick hat. This chapter features Randall giving Kevin a much-needed take down about being an asshole not just to Miguel but to Rebecca too, Tess' first steps, more Rebecca and Miguel, and a little bit more info about Kevin and Sophie's divorce and how the family coped with certain world events around that time period. Reviews are highly appreciated if you have a moment.
Randall walks into a bar and rolls his eyes when he sees Kevin chatting it up with a pretty blond in a sorority shirt who looks to be at least 7-8 years his junior. Undeterred, he walks right over and interrupts.
"Excuse me…"
"Sami," the girl says cheerfully. "Well, Samantha, but most of my friends call me Sami, or just Sam."
"Sorry, Sam/Sami/Samantha, but can you excuse us, please? I need to have a chat with my brother."
"Oh, you didn't tell me you were in a fraternity! Which one?" the girl asks Kevin.
"I wasn't," Kevin says, confused by the question. But Randall immediately picks up on the fact that the girl is assuming he meant fraternity brother because he and Kevin are different races.
"I'm adopted," he explains tersely.
"Oh, so you mean, like, real life brother? Wow, that's cool!"
"Yeah, it's cool," Randall says sarcastically. "Now, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak to my real life brother now. So if you'll excuse us, please."
"Um, okay. It was nice meeting you, Kevin. A bunch of us are going to Floods later if you want to come," she says with a wink.
"No, you don't have to…" Kevin starts to say, but the girl saunters off.
"What the hell is your problem, man?" Kevin snaps.
"Funny, I came to ask you the same question," Randall says angrily. "Mom is happy, like, really happy, for the first time in over a decade. Who the hell are you to try to make her feel guilty about it?"
"Dude, are you serious right now?" Kevin asks in disbelief. "You're honestly not disgusted by what we just witnessed?"
"No, and I don't understand why you are. You're the one who's been telling Mom for years she needs to get back out there, even when she clearly wasn't ready."
"I told her to get out there and have some fun, not shack up with Dad's best friend. It's wrong and you know it. Hell, Mom knows it too. Why the hell else would she finally take off her wedding ring after refusing to for all these years?"
"Mom's been trying to take off her ring since last year's Super Bowl," Randall says with disbelief at his brother's attitude. Kevin looks a little surprised. "She said it had been 10 years and she felt like it was time, but then she kept waking up in the middle of the night looking for it and having nightmares about it getting lost or destroyed, so eventually she decided she wasn't ready and she'd give it another shot in a year. Maybe reconnecting with Miguel on Facebook helped her take the plunge this year, but she didn't do it for him, something you would know if you ever bothered to call her on Super Bowl Sunday – or any other day of the year, for that matter – to see how she's doing."
Kevin opens his mouth to argue but sighs instead, realizing Randall may be at least partially right.
"Look, man, I know you're going through a tough time," Randall says, his voice softening a bit compared to his previous tone. "But Mom deserves this, she deserves our support, and she doesn't deserve to have you storm out and ruin Thanksgiving. So you are going to get in the car, come back to the cabin, and if you can't find it in you to be at least a little bit happy for her, then it'll be a great opportunity for you to practice your acting skills before pilot season."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Rebecca asks Kate. "Honestly, out of the three of you, you're the one whose reaction I was the most worried about."
"Yeah, I'm okay," Kate says, somewhat surprised herself that she is taking it so well. "I mean, let's be honest, I could have done without walking into a big public display of affection and hearing about exactly when you started 'hooking up', but yeah…I'm happy for you. I remember how sad you were when he moved away and…it's been a long time. You deserve this."
"Thank you, sweetheart," Rebecca says gratefully, giving Kate a hug.
A moment later, the door opens, and Rebecca is grateful to see Kevin walk in behind Randall. There is an awkward silence for a few moments, but eventually, Kevin approaches Rebecca.
"Look, Mom, I'm…I'm sorry about before. I wasn't prepared to see you and Miguel making out when I walked in the house, and if I'm being perfectly honest, the whole thing still feels weird to me. But I shouldn't have stormed out the way I did. I want you to be happy, Mom, I do."
"Thank you," she says softly. She goes to hug him but senses a bit of resistance, so she backs off.
"Hey mom?" Kevin asks.
"Yeah?"
"Is he going to wear the hat now?" Kevin asks.
"I don't know…I hadn't really given it any thought," Rebecca responds. "Do you not want him to?"
"No. Not yet, at least," Kevin says quickly, displaying anxiety that is very rare for him.
"Ok. That's okay. I'm sure he'll understand," Rebecca agrees.
"Success! Got two jars of cranberry sauce!" Miguel announces as he reenters the house. Rebecca laughs at his cheesy smile as he holds up the jars. "Oh, Kevin, you're back."
"Yeah. Look, man, I'm sorry about earlier."
"It's okay. I understand," Miguel says patiently. "My son didn't react very well either, to say the least."
Beth, who has been doing standing practice with baby Tess on the floor, points out Kevin to her daughter.
"Looks like your Uncle Kevin got over his temper tantrum and came back!" she says, pointing at Kevin.
Tess then shocks everyone when she takes a step and a half in Kevin's direction before losing her balance, her very first steps she's ever taken without holding anyone's hand.
"Oh my goodness!" Beth exclaims. Randall quickly runs over and picks his daughter up excitedly as everyone else exchanges smiles and heaps praise on the little girl. Miguel smiles at Rebecca and grips her hand, really happy to be part of this special moment. Tess' big accomplishment lightens the mood for everyone, and the Thanksgiving festivities begin at last, to a montage with "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters in the background.
A few hours later, Rebecca is cuddled up in Miguel's arms on the porch bench. "I think that went pretty well, all things considered," Miguel says.
"I'm sorry Kevin was so rude to you," she laments.
"It's okay. I expected as much. Trust me, your kids handled it better than mine. Well, better than Andy did, at least. Amber took it okay for the most part."
"Honestly, I thought Kate was going to be the one to have the hardest time with it. I thought Kevin would be thrilled – he's been badgering me to get back out there forever."
Miguel goes to respond but doesn't, not wanting to tell Rebecca about what Kevin said to him a decade earlier. "So why are your first cell phones a sensitive subject?" he asks cautiously instead.
"Oh. Because Kevin asked me to help him pay for a cell phone and plan and I said no. I figured he didn't need it, and if he had enough money to go out and drink and party every night he had enough to afford his own phone. And then he was in New York right after his 21st birthday to film a commercial and sign his divorce papers, and him not having a cell phone led to the scariest four hours of my life."
FLASHBACK
"Hey guys, it's me. Just wanted to let you know I'm officially divorced. Yay for me!" Kevin says sarcastically on the answering machine. "Anyways, I'm flying back to LA either tonight or tomorrow, depending on what time we wrap. Peace out!"
Rebecca shakes her head sadly and goes onto the next message. She is non-plussed, but the audience is shocked, when the answering machine announces the date and time of the next message: "Monday, September 10th, at 5:52 p.m."
"It turned out that he got a flight back the night before, went out to a bar to lick his wounds after seeing Sophie and signing the papers, got drunk and went home with some girl, and slept in at her place until 10 a.m. west coast time, blissfully unaware that the world was on fire. Meanwhile I'm frantically calling his apartment in LA, I called Sophie, she and Kate called everyone they knew in New York who might have put him up for the night or gone out with him if he had stayed…I had no idea if he was back in LA or still in New York or if he had gotten on a plane that morning…finally around 1 p.m. East Coast time he woke up, found out what was going on, and eventually thought to call to let me know he was okay. I got us all on a family plan as soon as the stores reopened."
"My g-d. That must have been so stressful," Miguel says sympathetically. "And with everything you'd already been through…"
"Yeah," Rebecca acknowledges, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
"I thought about calling you that night," Miguel admits. Rebecca looks surprised. "Actually, for several nights after. I wondered how you and the kids were doing, how you were coping with everything. It was hard on everyone, obviously, but for some reason I was afraid it would be especially hard for you guys after everything else you'd been through."
"It was for Kate," Rebecca agrees. "She was angry about all the fanfare the New York City firefighters got for – according to her – just doing their jobs. I know that sounds awful, but she thought it wasn't fair."
"You mean because Jack wasn't even a firefighter and he ran back into a burning building, and how come the rest of the world didn't care?" Miguel says understandingly.
"Something like that, yeah," Rebecca says quietly.
"Yeah, I remember I had that same thought," Miguel admits. "I'm sorry I didn't call then. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you all those years."
"Miguel, you said it yourself. You had to go," Rebecca says softly. "And you were right. Look at how Kevin reacted tonight, ten years later. I don't think any of my kids could have handled it back then, and you needed to go to Houston and try to make things right with your kids. And the truth is…I wasn't ready then, as much as I wanted to believe I was. I wasn't ready, really ready to let anyone who wasn't Jack into my heart for a very, very long time."
"I know," Miguel says gently.
"I'm just glad…I know you dated a little bit in Houston. Selfishly, I'm glad nobody else…I don't know, swept you off your feet all those years."
Miguel chuckles. "They never had a chance," he reassures her, kissing her softly. "None of them were you. And not being you was pretty much disqualifying."
Rebecca smiles. "I love you," she whispers, kissing him back.
"I love you too."
I hope you enjoyed this installment. Other ideas I have for this fanfiction include Rebecca's visit to Houston that was mentioned in the first chapter, more in-depth coverage of Kevin and Sophie's divorce from their first marriage and the 9/11 story Rebecca told in this chapter, Rebecca and Miguel's wedding, and the 2008 election (which coincides with the period Beth was pregnant with Tess and Randall had his first big nervous breakdown). Please let me know if you are interested in any of these, and please let me know what you think of this chapter.