So much left unsaid

Disclaimer: Not mine - never were, never will be.

A/N: Some Helen/Will/Kevin talking for a change. Let me know which pairings you like best and I'll try to fit them in here. I've been thinking about trying out something new like Kevin/ Grace or Adam/ Will. You think that'd work?

Touch Move

Friends

(Takes place shortly after the Kevin/ Joan hair-dryer scene in her bedroom.)

Patiently Kevin waited for the lift to bring him downstairs where he transferred to his downstairs and outdoor wheelchair, the one a little clunkier than the one he used upstairs, but also the one he had gotten more used to. Fitting in. The talk with Joan still spun around in his head. He really hoped that things would turn out fine for her, that she'd make some good friends she'd really connect with. She deserved it. But didn't everybody?

Kevin wheeled to the kitchen where his parents had started breakfast – a weird tension in the air but nothing he could sense that possibly started it. Deciding to ignore it he got the orange juice from the fridge and wheeled to the table next to his father.

"Dad?" he asked and when his father looked up he continued, "Why is it that girls think so much about fitting in? What makes them think that they have to fit in?"

His mother at the oven had obviously overheard him, 'cause she answered instead of his father, "I don't think it's a girl thing, it's a teenage thing. I see all these kids everyday and everyone wants to fit in." She stirred something in a pan and added, "I remember you wanting to fit in."

Kevin raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I was doing sports, fitting in wasn't on my schedule."

"But why did you do sports? Why didn't you join the debate club or the needleworks group?" his mother asked, grinningly, giving away that she knew the answer all along.

"Needleworks? Come on, I'm a guy."

Helen filled the scrambled eggs she'd made on plates and brought them to the table. "I'm just saying that you picked something that'd make you look good." She started to eat and asked between bites, "You talked to Joan?"

Kevin nodded. "She's in a pretty bad I-don't-fit-in-nobody-likes-me mood. That made me remember High school and I don't remember it being that bad with me ever, if I'm honest."

"Because you were part of the crowd, because you did what everybody wanted to do, you had a lot of friends," Will said, for the first time joining the conversation. "Why would that make you feel bad at all?"

Picking his fork into the eggs and staring at his food Kevin shrugged, "Because maybe I already knew back then that all my so-called friends really didn't deserve that title?"

He looked at his parents who seemed a little shocked and saw how their looks met. "Come on, you know what I mean," he told them. "You were right, Dad, everybody was my friend back then, but there's nothing better than crashing your back if you want to find out who's hanging out with you because it's good for their image or because they actually like you. Turned out most of them did it for image reasons."

"Kevin..." Helen started, but he shook his head.

"No, Mom, it's okay, I'm not complaining or whining, I'm just saying. Maybe you can tell Joan and Luke that it's better to have a friend or two that stick with you whatever is happening instead of a bunch of people who run away screaming the minute you're not longer the hero."

Will put his hand on Kevin's back, rubbing him shortly. "You figured it out, so I guess they will too."

"Hopefully without crashing their backs in the process," Helen commented dryly and made Kevin smile.

"Luke never cared so much about what other people think, 'cause if he did he would have given up his science-geek image a long time ago," Kevin said.

"You think we should be worried about Joan?" his father asked, but Kevin shrugged.

"I don't know. Guess she'll be fine." He shrugged again. "Whatever."

Helen nodded and said, "Yeah, when all this teenage depression is over and she already moved out, she might show us a glimpse of how easy living with her could have been."

Kevin and Will smiled but continued eating instead of answering.

"So what's on your agenda for today?" Helen asked Kevin.

"I have another job interview and I'm afraid I'll end up grilling chicken," he said grimacing. "Thanks for breakfast, Mom, but I gotta go."

He pushed back from the table and wheeled towards the door when his father stopped him. "Hey," he said. "You'll be fine too. There is a job somewhere out there that works for you."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah. And I'm on my way out looking for it. Bye Dad, bye Mom."

"Bye, Kevin."

Helen watched him wheel away, then frowned and sighed. "He's right, don't you think?"

"That he'll grill chicken?" Will asked, sensing where this was going and not liking it.

"No, I'm talking about his friends. Do you remember how everybody was coming and going and always sticking around him? Not only the girls but also the guys? He was always out, always having fun and when he was at home there was usually somebody else hanging around too. Then there was the accident and they all disappeared. Andy because of guilt, I assume, and the others..." Helen trailed off, not continuing her sentence. "Do you think, we should have done things differently?" she asked.

"Different how?" Will wanted to know.

"Shouldn't we have taught him how to choose friends? Shouldn't we have been more careful with whom he spent his time?" Helen elaborated.

Will shook his head. "We wouldn't have changed anything. We too considered Andy a good guy and look how it turned out. We are his parents, we taught him values but we're not to interfere with his friends. That is his choice. It's always been and it will always be. Don't blame yourself for it. We all have to start all over again, that's what happens when you move away. New town, new people and maybe new friends. That's how it works. Let's just hope our kids meet people who really care about them."

"Maybe them not fitting in and not having too many friends isn't that bad after all," Helen suggested. "If they have nobody else to be at, they'll stay at home where we can have a look at them."

Will stood up laughing. "You know you can't lock them in their rooms forever."

"I know. I just would like to... sometimes..."

Kissing his wife good-bye Will grabbed his jacket and left for work. "See you tonight," he shouted.

"See you."