Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me. Just wanna have some fun.

A/N: I never meant for this to be longer than one chapter- and the two parts don't really need to be one story- but it just happened, and I'm not gonna change it. Just enjoy!!

I've only watched a few episodes so far, so if the characters are not drawn right, I'm sorry. I also don't know the storyline, so let's just say this takes place a few weeks after Kevin got a new job.

This is about Kevin and him finding some happiness and comfort.

Reclaiming Life

"Morning!" Joan ran down the stairs and grabbed an apple. "Where's Kevin? I could use a ride since you have to be at school an hour later."

Helen looked up from where she was reading the newspaper. "No idea. I thought he was getting ready." She ignored the last statement of her teenaged daughter.

"Nope, he wasn't in the bathroom."

"He has to be at work in twenty minutes." Helen stood up and hurried up the stairs. The door of the room of her eldest son was still closed. She knocked twice. When there was no answer she opened it. "Kevin?" Frowning, she entered. He was still in his bed.

"Kevin! You need to get up, you're gonna be late for work!" She had reached the bed. "Come o... Kevin?"

"Mmmphh." He rolled his head towards the sound of her voice, prying his eyes open, but groaning at the light.

"You're sick!" Helen stated, one hand coming to rest on his forehead. "You're burning up!"

Kevin just coughed in answer, his features twisting in discomfort.

"I'll be right back."

Helen rushed down the stairs. "Kevin's sick. You'll have to take the bus."

Joan groaned. "What's up with him?"

"I don't know." Helen hastily grabbed a glass and filled it with water. "Can you please make tea?" She then reached for Tylenol and all kinds of medication she kept in stock and thought might be useful. Then she rushed back upstairs.

"Kevin? Swallow these, come on." She supported her son's head as she guided the pills into his mouth, then offering him the drink. Suddenly it felt like a deja-vu. For weeks she had helped her son perform those everyday-tasks. She knew that he was past that, that this was a completely different matter. But it still brought back the bad memories.

"I'm gonna call eh hospital."

"Mom," Kevin spoke for the first time, his voice raspy. "It's just a cold. I'm not going to hospital."

"But what if..."

"No, no what ifs. Everybody has one of those once in a while. I'm gonna be fine." Another coughing fit didn't exactly help to proof his point.

But Helen nodded. "Okay, you're right."

"Hey, tea's ready!" Joan stood in the doorway, a cup with steaming tea carefully between her hands.

"Thanks, honey. Could you stay with Kevin while I call school?"

Joan stepped closer. "Why do you have to call school?"

"To tell them I can't come to work today."

"Mom, you don't have to..."

"Kevin, I agreed on the hospital issue, but I'm not gonna leave you alone like this." With that she was gone, leaving no room for an argument.

Joan's eyes fell on her older brother. "You look like shit."

"Gee, thanks."

"Welcome." She offered the cup. "Want some?"

"No, thanks. I don't feel like sitting up."

"I could help..."

"It's okay." He smiled at her groggily. "Damn."

"Look at the bright side. Today is Friday, so you won't miss too much work."

"That's helpful, Joan."

Joan frowned at his dilated pupils and the sweaty forehead. "Seriously, you don't look too good."

"We covered that already. I'm just gonna need to sleep it off."

"Well, then. Min dif I leave you alone? My bus..."

"Just go. And thanks, for the tea."

"Bye. Get better."

She slipped out of the room and rushed back downstairs. Her mom was on the phone, just saying her good byes.

"School's gonna open without you?"

"I guess. But that was Dr Buckhannon. He told me to be careful with the fever."

"Why is it such a big deal when Kevin's sick? I had a cold the other week- and you even made me go to school!"

"Joan!" Helen sighed. "First of all, Kevin's really sick; second of all, he's never been sick since...and we don't know how his body is gonna react. Dr Buckhannon just said that he is gonna have a harder time getting the fever down. His body can't regulate its temperature like it used to."

Joan took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, that was childish."

"Glad you see it that way. Have fun at school!" Helen kissed her daughter and then headed back upstairs. She understood that Joan and Luke were jealous. After all, Kevin was the oldest and supposed to lead his own life by now. It would have been their turn in a fair world. But what was fair about a world where the life of a twenty-year-old guy was destroyed in one second?

Helen returned to Kevin's room and watched her son for a moment from the doorway.

"Kevin, honey, you need to use the bathroom."

He just groaned in answer.

"I mean, I did this before...if you don't feel like getting up," she offered hesitantly.

"Mom, I'm not gonna have you...forget it." He took a deep breath and shakily grabbed the trapeze to heave himself up. Helen supported his back and efficiently helped him slide into the wheelchair. When he had placed his feet on the footrest, he breathed hard, his hair damp with sweat, his face white like a sheet apart from two red spots on his cheeks. "Be right back," he mumbled.

"Just...don't lock the door!" Helen finished the sentence, acknowledging her son's need for privacy. Of course she had helped him after the accident, but back then he hadn't really had a choice, now that he had, he of course wouldn't want her to be there and treat him like a helpless invalid. He just had a cold, she reminded herself. This was completely different to back then.

Sitting on her son's bed she waited for him to return. "Do you wanna come downstairs, la yon the couch?"

"Nah, I'm fine up here." He coughed and took a few laboured breaths before he was ready to transfer back.

"Hey, sports. How do you feel? Mom said you were sick."

"I guess I'm better. Just really hot and groggy." Kevin tried to smile at his Dad.

"Good. You need anything?"

"Nope."

"Okay, then just get some more sleep. Night."

Will returned downstairs to where his wife was preparing dinner. "He's sleeping again," he announced, starting to set the table. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Helen looked up. "It's just...it's been so much like back then. He...he was so vulnerable, Will." She sat down, wiping her hands on the towel that lay across the back of the chair next to her. "And this morning Joan complained about how I worried so much about him – but not about her or Luke. And she's right. I treat him like a little kid. He's 20!"

"He is 20, alright. But he also had that accident, Helen. Of course, he needs our help more than he, we or his siblings would like to admit. This is new to all of us, and we'll all learn, and he'll become more independent again. It just takes time."

TBC

OK, this chapter doesn't have much to do with what will come next. Hope you liked it!