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Kevin the Comforter Chapter Three- Waters Run Deep

This takes place, on a Saturday, a few days after Kevin comforted Joan after her nightmare.

Will is away on urgent police business.

Joan and Luke are on a double date with Adam and Grace, to the local swimming pool and left the house earlier this morning.

Setting- the Girardi's kitchen, around 10:15 a.m.

Helen and Kevin are having breakfast together.

"Kevin, are you going anywhere today?" Helen asks inquisitively.

"Rebecca is coming over later on." Kevin replies, trying to sound casual.

Sensitive as she is, Helen hears the excitement in the undertone of his voice.

She smiles, but doesn't let on, that she knows how he really feels about Rebecca visiting.

"Oh that's nice. I like Rebecca, she's grounded and she has her goals set and it seems as though she has positive influence on you!" Helen says serenly, giving Kevin an encouraging smile.

"Just what do you mean by positive influence mom?" Kevin looks at Helen, quizzically.

"Well, she has you challenging yourself within the journalistic field, letting you explore your qualities doing research and writing articles, instead of just make due being the fact checker.

I admire the way she gets through to you where your dad and I don't, also I'm very proud of the result, meaning your well written articles" Helen replies, looking proudly at Kevin.

"Mom, you mean to tell me you actually read those articles I wrote?" Kevin inquires surprisedly.

Looking deep into her son's eyes, Helen replies "Yes Kevin, I read everyone of them! I realize that you, like me, have an artistic talent eventhough it's in a different field." I am so proud of you being a talented writer, the big comforting brother, but mostly, I am proud of you being our son! Don't you ever think otherwise, not even when we scold you, okay!"

"Um, you better leave that 'our' out our son, I don't think dad's proud of me as a son or anything else!" As he says this, a hurtfull look appears on his face.

"Ofcourse your dad is proud of you Kevin, what makes you think he isn't?" Helen asks, sounding concerned.

"Dad and I always hung out, he always had a camera around his neck, ready to take snap shots of me doing this or that, proudly showing the pictures off to everyone. Since the accident, he hasn't hung out with me once and the few pictures that have been taken, he certainly hasn't shown anyone!" Kevin replies, his emotions a mix of hurt and anger, he tries to wipe a tear from his cheek so his mom will not notice. The always observant Helen sees it anyways, gets up from her seat and gives her eldest son a big comforting hug. Thinking about it, she realizes to her dismay that there might be some truth in what Kevin just said, Will indeed didn't hang out with him anymore, not that he hung out with Joan or Luke instead. Maybe he was just too busy with his job here in Arcadia. Yet, maybe there was more to it, Helen would try to bring up the subject later that evening, when they had a moment to themselves.

Setting- local swimming pool, approximately 11:20 a.m.

Joan is sitting on the edge of the pool, resting after they have been swimming and playing in and out of the water for 2 hours, when suddenly she's pushed into the pool by Luke, as she comes out of the water she says "Geek Boy, I'm gonna get you for this!" As a reply Luke just smiles at her. Grace is standing on the edge of the pool laughing at Luke pushing Joan in when Adam gives her a shove, which lands her in the water right along side Joan. Joan and Grace look up at the two boys and both send them an angry glance. Grace whispers a plan to get even with Adam and Luke to Joan, which laughs and nodds her head vigurously agreeing to participate in its execution. Luke and Adam look at eachother and then jump into the pool making a bomb, almost landing themselves on top of the girls, which in return dunk them and then climb onto their shoulders to complete their vengence. Luke comes out of the water; with Grace still on his shoulders; coughing as he has swallowed some water. Then Adam jumps up with great force making Joan shake like a rag doll and lose her grip, landing her in the water with a big splash, a bit away from the others. "Adam, that was fun, mind doing it again?" Joan asks with a hopefull look on her face. "Sure Jane, hopp back on and I'll catapult you, maybe Luke and Grace want to join in too?" Luke looks at Grace whom nodds in reply, then the girls climb onto Adam and Lukes shoulders and the fun can begin.

Setting- A dirt road, just outside Arcadia, round about 9:05 a.m.

Will arrives at the scene, where he is informed by Officer Hall that they have found a body belonging to a 27 year old male dead behind the wheel of his car, there is no apparant reason for his death, as his body doesn't show any gun or stab wounds or any other signs of violence. As Will leans into the dead man's car, the smell of beer is overwhelming, he expects to find some empty beer cans or bottles but doesn't find any.

After the photographer has done his work on the scene, the body is taken to a forensic lab to establish the time and cause of death and if anything indicates foul play, hopefully the forensic detectives findings will lead to the killer or killers.

After the body has been taken away, Will and his men continue searching the car and the surroundings for clues which can lead to the young man's death. In a ditch, about a quarter of a mile north of the crime scene, Will finds a few empty beer cans which he collects, they will be tested in the lab for traces of DNA, which then might explain the strong smell of beer in the young man's car. Officer Hall, finds a pair of tracks going in the opposite direction of which the dead man's car had been heading and then double back over a field next to the road, just 400 yards short of where the diseased had been found. She alerts the rest of the squad about her findings, as it might be significant to their research as to how and why this man died.

Setting- the Girardi's kitchen, about 10:50 a.m.

Helen and Kevin let go of their embrace, as the bell rings.

"That'll be Rebecca!" Kevin says nervously. Helen opens the door, stepping aside, she allowes Rebecca to enter. Kevin wheels himself over to the two woman and greets Rebecca with a broad smile, in return she greets him with a gentle peck on the cheek.

The three of them sit down at the kitchen table for a cup of coffee and a friendly chat, after that Kevin and Rebecca excuse themselves and take off to Kevin's room.

Helen has some art work to grade and tends to that, sitting at the kitchen table.

Setting- Kevin's room, somewhere around 11:15 a.m.

Rebecca's eyes glimmer with affaction as she looks at Kevin, waiting for him to reach the top of the stairs as she doesn't know which room is his, not having been any further than the living room on her previous visits. He quickly transfers from the chair lift into this wheel chair and leads Rebecca to his room.

Entering the room he turns on the light switch next to the door, revealing a room a lot different than the one Tracey(see Curiousity Killed the Friendship chapters one and two) entered some six months earlier, as there are posters up on the wall and a few family pictures to personalize it and instead of dimly lit, the room is bathing in light.

Rebecca looks around the room and walks over to the pictures hanging on the wall to the right of the door, to seek out Kevin, the first one she hits upon was taken in a local park, where the rest of the Girardi's are situated around a rather sad looking Kevin. "Why do you look so sad in this one?" Rebecca asks, looking at Kevin for a sign of withdrawal in case he doesn't want to talk about it. Matter of factly Kevin answers, "that one was taken after we just moved here, I hadn't come to terms with us moving or my disability back then." Rebecca nodds understadingly and moves on to the next picture, which reveals Joan, Luke and Kevin working happily on the boat situated in the garage. The happines of the three Girardis radiates from the paper, giving Rebecca a warm feeling. Smiling at Kevin she says, "I really like that one, it's so full of positive energy!"

Cheerfully he replies, "Yeah, one of the few times the three of us actually got along! It's a good thing mom took this picture or no one would have believed us!"

The next picture that catches Rebecca's attention isn't hanging on the wall but is standing on a shelf to her left. Kevin follows her glance, his heart all of a sudden beating in his throat instead of his chest, as he doesn't want Rebecca to see that picture, at least not yet. Quickly he wheels over to her and grabs her hand, leads her to his bed, gestures for her to sit down, which she does looking back over her shoulder at the shelf with the picture, which Kevin obviously doesn't want her to look at, as he wheels back to the shelf and puts the picture in question into a desk drawer.

"Why don't you want me to see that picture?" Rebecca asks curiously, as Kevin wheels back to her.

"Umm. It's not the right time. I'll show it to you someday, when I feel okay about it. Okay Rebecca?" He looks at her pleadingly, wanting her to let the matter rest for now.

Taking his hand, stroking it gently Rebecca replies, "As it seem to mean so much to you, I'll let you have your peace of mind for now."

"Thanks Rebecca." Kevin says, sighing in relief.

Rebecca is sitting on Kevin's bed, looking straight into Kevin's eyes which is seated opposite her and in return is looking deep into her eyes, for a moment they seem to be in trance, as they awaken, Rebecca seats herself on his lap and they fall into each other's arms and let their emotions flow.

Setting- local swimming pool, around 12:30 p.m.

Joan is jumping off the edge of the pool doing backward summersaults together with Grace, Adam and Luke judge them on the execution to see which of the girls is the best; as Adam thinks Joan is the best and Luke thinks Grace is the best they are both winners. Now it's Luke and Adam's turn to compete, they both try to make the most splashing bomb. The girls face the same dilemma the boys have, they favor their own 'partner', so again two winners are declared.

Joan says "I'm hungry, let's see it they have anything reasonable to eat here!"

Adam replies "they have some awsome fries and burgers here."

"Then what are we waiting for, let's eat before I faint!" Joan says, hurrying the others along. Reaching the restaurant area Joan says, "Oh no, look at that long line infront of the counter! I'm really gonna faint before it's our turn to order!"

"You think you're the only hungry one here, think again Girardi!" Grace says sarcastically as her stomach too is growling.

A janitor standing a few feet to the left of Joan, beconds her over to him, she obeys, knowing that it's God.

God tells her, "Joan, I want you to help your mother cook dinner today for the six of you."

"Who's the sixt person, or shouldn't I ask?" Joan asks, her curiosity awakened.

With a smile Gods says "It's Rebecca" with that God leaves waving at her over his shoulder.

This assignment puzzels Joan, as she doesn't understand what good will come of it.

When she returns to the others, Grace says "what did the janitor want from you?"

Quickly Joan says, "uh nothing." She hates lying to her friend about her conversation with God but she doesn't want to be called a psycho either, which would surely be the case if she told the truth.

Having gotten their order, the four friends sit down at a vacant table to enjoy their lunch, while they talk about what they have done so far that day, people at school and people they now see around them.

Setting- Arcadia Forensic Institute, round about 12:30 p.m.

Will is on his way over to the forensic institute along with Officer Hall, as the investigators have found a few clues as to what may have been the cause of death, of the young male found in his car that morning. The investigators tell Will and Officer Hall, that they aren't yet certain what the cause of death is, as there is more than one possibility. The alcohol level in his blood could indicate that he died of alcohol poisoning. Other than that though, his blood also held a large enough amount of morphine to be lethal. Within his trachea the investigators have found a third possible cause of death, a bullet! The only way for the bullet to end up there, is if it had been shot through the victim's mouth! The investigators have yet to rule out suicide. Will hopes the poor man lost it and took his own life; though with his luck and the tracks they have found so close to the young man's car; he doubt that is the case. Which means that he has a killer on the loose in his durastiction and he or she has possibly used three different methods to kill one person! This is too creepy to just shake off and say it's all in a days work, even for Will.

Setting- the Girardi's laundry room around 11:20 p.m.

Helen enters the laudry room and begins ironing the clothes in a pile close to 4 feet tall! After ironing away about a quarter of the pile, Helen hears the chair lift's motor running, shortly after that, she hears her eldest son and Rebecca laughing happily. Helen hearing Kevin laughing so heartily sheds a few tears, as she now realizes how much she missed the sound of his laughter which she used to take for granted, as it was so much a part of Kevin as he always seemed to be laughing. Then she hears the two of them entering the garage, Kevin is probably going to showing off 'their' boat to Rebecca, with that thought in mind she smiles and resumes ironing.

Setting- the Girardi's garage at 1:45 p.m.

Kevin has told Rebecca about the boat, a family project which is located in the garage but when they enter the garage and she sees it, her mouth falls open, it's a lot bigger and more professional looking than she could ever have imagined.

"Oh my goodness, Kevin it's a master piece! How much of this boat is your doing?" Rebecca says looking at Kevin, admiration written all over her face as she gently strokes one of the boats smooth edges.

"I have put in a few hours every now and then, but Joan was the one who started the project, mostly to get me into doing something else than sitting in my room and wasting away, so in a way, me working and you being here is her doing!" Kevin replies, a bit ashamed as he just now, realizes that Joan is the one responsible for him getting his life back on track.

"Well I guess I'll have to thank your sister then for getting you out off your self-inflicted imprisonment!" Rebecca says semi-seriously, semi-teasingly.

Slightly blushing, Kevin replies a bit timidly: "Well, I just now realize, that I haven't thanked Joan myself yet." .

"Ah, so that's why you are blushing! Well I'll let you thank her before I do then, just for good measures."

"Yeah, sure, better late than never huh?" Kevin says giving Rebecca a shy smile.

"Oh, don't you go soft on me here, with that shy smile of yours!" Rebecca says teasingly.

"Me soft, no way! That smile wasn't a shy one, I was trying look cute!" Kevin says trying to sound tough and self-assured.

Rebecca knows better but lets the case rest, as she knows that Kevin's pride won't let him admit to being sensitive, especially not to her as she is his girlfriend and boss, therefor she just nodds and says "Okay, I rest my case!"

"Thank you, for letting me convince you of my non-soft character!" Kevin says a bit exaggeratedly.

Rebecca laughs, shakes her head and then embraces Kevin, cherishing the intense moment that they share, she closes her eyes and takes in the intense fresh smell of wood and the soft smell of Kevin's cologne.

The Girardi's kitchen a little after 1:15

Helen is smiling as she grades Adam Rove's art work, she is impressed by his ever developing talent, his abstract forms and never ending flow of ideas. However much she admires his work, it worries her too as there's always a sinister undertone present in his work, which leads her to the conclusion that Adam might be suffering from a form of depression.

Having finished grading all her art students work, Helen clears the kitchen table and starts making french toast for the three of them. About fifteen minutes later, she calls on Rebecca and Kevin for lunch.

Helen observes the two of them as they scatter in from the garage; she can tell that Rebecca is truely in love with her eldest, as her eyes are gleaming and she doesn't let him out of her sight. Kevin's cheery mood, broad smile, shimmering eyes watching Rebecca constantly and a bit jittery moves, are dead give away signs that he's in love. Helen can't take her eyes away from them, as their intense feeling for one another releases emotions of happines and contentment which she hasn't felt for a long time, as there has been too many hardships to deal with the past two years starting off with Kevin's accident, his and the rest of the families acceptance of his paralysis, the family dealing with his mood swings and depressions, their move to Arcadia, Will losing his job as a police chief, Joan and Luke attending a new school, at first having trouble making new friends and therefor being moody, snappy and accusing her and Will of moving to Arcadia against their will.

As Rebecca and Kevin take their seats at the kitchen table, Helen snaps back to reality.

"I made a lot of French toast so I hope you are both hungry." Helen says informatively. "Believe me mom, I'm starving!" Kevin replies, but then that's nothing new, as he always seems to have a good appetite. Actually, Helen judges his health by the amount he eats, if he doesn't eat too much she knows that he might be coming down with something

"Mrs. Girardi, though I am hungry, please don't expect me too eat half what Kevin does, because I couldn't!" Rebecca replies laughing.

Helen shakes her head and smiles. "Rebecca, I don't expect that of you or anyone else!"

Setting- Arcadia Forensic Institute, round about 4:20 p.m.

Will and Officer Hall, find themselves in the forensic lab for the second time that day, as the investigators are about to reveal what caused the young man's death and wether it was murder or suicide.

One of the investigators explaines to Will and Officer Hall, that the young man had committed suicide. He had first intoxicated himself, then taken the dosis of morphine, these two measurements not working fast enough, he had finally taken a gun and put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger!

Will is shocked and asks "what could cause a young man to become so desperate, that he'd use three different methods to make sure he died on his own accord?"

The investigator has a very disturbing answer ready for Will: "The diseased had a malignant tumor the size of a ping-pong ball, growing along side his spine in the neck area, which would paralyze him within a short time span, my guess is that he couldn't live with this prospect and decided to end it all before it got that far."

Will for once has gotten 'lucky', there isn't a killer on the loose in his durastiction, but the likely reason for the young man ending his life gives him cold shivers and goose bumps, as he realizes that Kevin too has been playing with the idea of suicide after his paralyzis, though thankfully has never gotten around to actually attempting an effort, at least not yet!

Will and Officer Hall thank the investigators for the time and effort they put into solving this case and then leave the building. As they head towards their trooper, Will asks Officer Hall to drive them back to the station, as he is feeling a bit queasy.

Setting- the Girardi's living room about 3:45

Helen, Rebecca and Kevin are enjoying themselves watching the first of two movies they all agreed upon on DVD. Helen pauses the movie about half way, to ask Rebecca to stay for dinner, the latter accepts the invitation gracefully. Helen can tell by the look on her eldest son's face, that he's thrilled that his girlfriend is staying for dinner. Oh he's thrilled alright, as he is experiencing one of the happiest days in a long time and Rebecca staying over for dinner, thus even longer than originally initiated, only adds to his uplifted mood.

Setting- A public bus somewhere in Arcadia at 4:15 p.m.

Sitting in the back of the bus Joan, Grace, Luke and Adam relax after an active yet relaxing day at the pool.

"Hey Adam, Luke and Grace, you doing anything tomorrow?" Joan asks casually.

"No, why?" Adam replies

"I don't think so. You have anything in mind?" Grace asks a bit wearily.

"Maybe the four of us could study for the AP chem exam together? I know you three'll pass anyways, but then I might get something other than an F!" Joan informs them.

Adam replies, "If I can help you pass AP chem, then count me in!"

"Yeah, me too!" Grace says, suddenly a bit more awake than a minute ago. Luke doesn't reply as he is asleep, therefor Grace pokes him between his ribs, getting his attention and says "Luke, can we count you in for an AP chem study session tomorrow?"

"Oh, sure, why not." Luke replies a bit groggily.

Setting- the Girardi residence at 4:45

Joan and Luke enter the house and hear laughter coming from the living room, nothing strange in itself, beside them hearing Kevin's laughter above the others. They look at each other and smile, with Kevin laughing like he is now, they know that what ever emotional damage Tracey(see chapters 1 and 2 of Curiosity Killed the Friendship) caused their older brother it has now been eliminated. Perkily Joan and Luke enters the living room area.

"Hi mom, Kevin and Rebecca!" Joan says joyfullly

"Hi Joan and Luke!" Rebecca replies smiling broadly

"Hi why don't you join us, we are chatting a bit so Rebecca can get to know us better and we get to know more about her!" Helen says happily, producing a broad smile.

In answer Joan and Luke sit down on the couch a long side Rebecca.

Kevin ask earnestly interested how their day at the pool was, this surprises Helen, Joan and Luke, as he been too pre-occupied lately with his work, basket ball practise and emotions, mostly those he feels for Rebecca, to say anything besides "hi" and "bye" and at meal time the occasional "can you pass the salt, pepper ect.?" to his siblings.

Joan starts off by moaning about the guys pushing Grace and her into the pool, then enthusiastically she tells them about their revenge, dunking the guys and climbing onto their shoulders to prevent them getting back up out off the water too easily. Her enthusiasm annoys Luke, as he didn't like the girls form of revenge as he swallowed a lot of water, but it makes Kevin, Helen and Rebecca laugh.

Luke stoppes their laughter by continuing where Joan left off, telling them about the girl's summersault and the guy's water bom competition and how they all declared their own girlfriend or boyfriend the winner, he then tells them about the people they observed while lunching at the pool restaurant, as he gets into his vivid description, which he complements with strange gimmicks, the others can't help but roar in laughter as Luke shows his comic side, a side of Luke that they never before have experienced to this degree!

Will enters the house, he is emotionally and physically drained after a very trying day at work, eventhough he was planing on going upstairs and taking a soothing shower before even saying hi to anyone, the laughter brings him into the living room area, where he finds his wife, sitting on the floor on a big pillow, Joan and Luke sitting next to Rebecca on the couch and Kevin sitting in his chair next to her, leaning onto the right arm rest of the couch, like the others, he is doubled over roaring with laughter.

Will feels a great weight has been lifted off of his back seeing Kevin happy and laughing like that, as the suicide case today has made him extra aware that his eldest son, has been playing with the idea of suicide on and off for two years now and that he has been emotionally down and unstable after Tracey broke his heart and trust.

The rest of the Girardi family members too, feel a certain comfort in the sudden change in Kevin's mood and emotional state as they, just like Will have been worried about him, though the waters still runs deep, they now dare to hope that Kevin really is getting his life and emotions back on track.

Kevin himself is oblivious to the fact that he in one day, has comforted all his family members' minds, as he is to full of thoughts about Rebecca being his girlfriend, her staying over for dinner and the fact that she is coming over again tomorrow.