A/N: I love reviews…heck I love reviews more than I love George Stults (well ok that's a lie right there) seriously I love reviews because I need to know if you like my writing and want me to continue
A/N: Although I wished I owned 7th Heaven sadly I don't but I do own everyone else except for the following—Annie, Eric, Mary, Sarah, Matt, Kevin, Lucy, Carlos, Simon, Ruthie, David & Sam, Captain Michaels, Ben, Patty-Mary, Kevin's Mom and anyone else I forgot.
A/N: I know that I am kind of dragging out my story but I know where I am heading towards so please be very patient and I'm sorry it took a little longer for me to write this chapter!!!
He quietly opened his bedroom door and walked towards the top of the stairs and listened for any movement from his mom who was still in her office.
He slowly walked back to his room and grabbed a notebook that was lying on his floor.
He opened it up and ripped a page out of it and grabbed the ink pen that was lying on the floor next to it and started to write a quick note to his mom.
"There" he thought to himself after he was done with writing the note. He glanced over to his table by his bed and looked at the clock.
He still had another 2 hours before his flight had to leave. He started to walk towards the door and stopped and turned around and went back to the letter that was sitting on the bed. He picked it up and started to read it out loud to see if it even made any sense.
"Mom" the letter started off. "I hope you aren't pissed that I'm not in by curfew. I hate sneaking out of the house mom, but I had to…I can't take it anymore…everything that was going on with Mindy I needed some time to myself…far away from everyone. I'm going to Glenoak to see Rev. Camden and the rest of his family…I think my visit has been long over due. I'll call you when I get there…Love Always Kevin".
Kevin folded the letter and placed it on top of his pillow and grabbed his bag and walked towards the door again.
This time instead of stopping to see if anyone was watching he walked out of his room and started to head down the stairs when he heard a door slam.
He stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes for a brief moment hoping that it wasn't his mom. That was the last thing that he needed right now.
"Kevin?" said a familiar female voice from the front hallway.
"Where are you going at this hour?" Karen asked him spying the bag that he held in his left hand while looking at the clock as well.
" I...uhhh...well I am...uhh...going to Brian's house to study for our Physics test on Monday" Kevin told her nervously while his hands were starting to get sweaty from holding the bag.
Karen smiled sweetly at her 18-year-old son. He had grown up so much in so little time she thought to her self.
"Ok...just make sure you call me before you come home...I don't want to have to hit anyone with your dad's old baseball bat!" she exclaimed laughing at the old wooden bat that sits near the door.
Kevin looked shocked for a few minutes but started to laugh with his mom
He heard the old grandfather clock start to chime so he knew that he had less than two hours to get to the airport.
"Well...I...uhh...guess I better get going or we won't have that much time to study" Kevin told Karen quickly walking down the rest of the stairs and edging closer towards the front door.
"Well you boys have fun and don't do anything stupid...well don't do anything that your father wouldn't do..." Karen told him opening the front door for him.
Laughing at what she had said Kevin gave his mom a quick hug and walked outside listening for the door to shut.
"Whew" he thought to himself as he walked over to his 1994 blue Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck that he had bought himself the day he got his drivers license.
He opened the door and threw his bag onto the passenger seat and got in and slammed the door. He put the key into the ignition and started the engine.
He was leaving and no one was there with him to tell him he couldn't go. It was now almost 8:30 pm by the time Kevin arrived at Buffalo International Airport.
He parked his truck and paid the car port attendant $36.00 to leave his truck there for two weeks.
He walked into the airport terminal and found the Northwest Airlines ticket booth.
"Excuse me" he said to the women standing behind the counter "I need to check in".
"All right sweetie...what's your name?" the women asked him who name read Kimberly on her name tag.
"Kevin Kinkirk" he replied reaching for his wallet out of his back pocket.
"All right Mr. Kinkirk will you be checking any luggage with us today?" she asked him. Kevin shook his head no and lifted up the athletic bag that had been at his side to signal that all he had was a carry one.
Kimberly then started to punch some more information into her computer system. She asked him for his driver's license and doubled checked to make sure Kevin was who he said he really was and within a matter of moments she was handing him his one way ticket to Glenoak, California.
"Here you go Mr. Kinkirk and thanks again for flying Northwest Airlines" she told him sweetly giving him a big smile.
He reached for the ticket and slowly turned away and headed towards the security checkpoint. After standing in line for not even a minute he breezed through the medal detectors and started walking towards his gate. He stood there looking at the gate that said in big bold black words "Buffalo, NY to Glenoak, CA".
He was really going and his mom wasn't stopping him…now he started to feel worried and turned around to head back towards the food court where he saw a pay phone.
Back at the Kinkirk home Karen was starting to fall asleep at her office desk. She awoke with a jolt to hear the phone ringing off the hook.
"Damn those kids and their friends" she swore to herself getting up from the chair and walking out of her office.
She couldn't remember how many times she had told Ben, Patty Mary and even Kevin that no one is to call the house after 9 o'clock except for emergencies only.
"Maybe it's Kevin calling to tell me his is on his way home" she thought to herself as she slowly dragged herself towards the kitchen.
"Hello?" she answered the phone crossly hoping to make the person on the other line feel guilty.
"Mom?" Kevin said a little stunned that his mom had answered the phone after 9 o'clock
"Kevin…what's wrong? I thought that you and Brian were still working on your Physics?" she asked him while pouring herself a day old cup of coffee.
"Well...that's the problem...I'm not exactly at Brian's house like I told you I was" he said honestly to her cringing while he told her.
"What do you mean you're not at Brian's house?" Karen asked him sitting down in one of the dining room chairs.
"Well...I...am...kind of sort at the airport right now waiting to go to Glenoak" he told her quickly wanting those words to get out of his head.
"Your what?" she exclaimed jumping up from the chair.
"I'm at the airport heading to Glenoak...I need a break mom...I wasn't going to tell you but I figured I might as well...did you even see my note?" he asked her leaning against the glass booth that held the payphone.
"What note are you talking about Kevin?" she asked him walking towards her office.
"The note that I left on my bed...so in case you came up to talk to me tonight you would find that instead of me sleeping" he told her rubbing the back of his neck...he was tired and wanted to go and sit down in the chairs before he had to board his plane.
"Kevin...I...I don't know what to say" Karen replied sitting down in her office chair.
"I thought you had grown up this past summer..." she told him helplessly sitting back in her chair.
"I did grow up mom but this was something that is long overdue...I needed to get away for the week...please?" Kevin begged her hoping that she wasn't too angry with him.
"Kevin...I...I don't know what I'm going to do with you right now...but go and have a good time...when you come back we will talk all right?" Karen told him thanking god that Kevin had at least made a good decision about calling her.
"Does this mean I'm in trouble?" Kevin asked sheepishly over the phone.
"You bet..."Karen replied over the phone.
Kevin looked at his watch and noticed that he had about 15 minutes before boarding time.
"Mom? I got to go...we should be boarding soon...I'll call you when I get there...I love you" he told her hanging up the phone before she got a chance to speak. Karen hung up the phone and started to rummage around her desk looking for her list of phone numbers.
She had a phone call to make before it was too late.
Kevin walked slowly back to his gate to discover that they had started to board the passengers earlier than expected.
Since it was such a small flight he was able to stand in line and board the plane within 5 minutes.
He walked down the aisle looking for seat C-19. He found it and put his carry on luggage in the compartment above him and sat down in his seat. He put the seatbelt on and sat back and closed his eyes.
He was going home for the first time since his dad died. The plane slowly started down the runway and Kevin started to get nervous.
It wasn't that planes bothered him at all...he just didn't like the takeoff or the landing is what scared him the most.
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Back in Buffalo, Karen was still frantically searching for her phone book. It had taken almost 30 minutes since her phone call ended with Kevin and she had to call the Camden's to let them know Kevin was on his way out there.
After another 15 minutes of searching and digging around her office she finally found what she was looking for.
An old, tattered, phonebook with the pages falling out of it even if you picked it up with both hands. It was something that Karen could never part from...it was one of the first gifts that Paul had given to her for her birthday...even though it wasn't anything spectacular at the time it was one of the only things she would never be able to part with.
She opened up the phonebook gingerly praying that it wasn't going to fall apart and flipped to the faded letter "C" and traced the names of family members, co-workers and even friends until she found the name she was looking for "Camden".
She picked up the cordless phone and double-checked to make sure that she was dialing the right number.
As she dialed 555-0119 a million thoughts started to race through her head.
Would they want to know why she hadn't talked to them in a while? Or would they want to know why Kevin was even on his way out there? Would they want to know if she was dating again?
"Too many what if's" she thought to herself listening to the phone ring.
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3,000 miles away the Camden's phone is ringing off the hook and everyone is staring at the phone for different reasons.
Only 6 year old Ruthie didn't care who was on the other line...all she wanted to do was talk on the phone but since she had gotten banned from using the phone after dialing the police and the fire department she didn't want to get into even more trouble.
Finally after what seemed like a really long time Ruthie ignored the eyes that were watching her and she picked up the phone.
"Hello...who is speaking please? She asked the other person on the phone like she had been taught for the last two years of her life.
"Hello? Ruthie is that you sweetheart?" Karen asked over the phone.
"Who is this?" Ruthie frowned at the phone while Annie was watching her facial expressions.
"Its Aunt Karen...remember me?" Karen asked hoping that someone would take the phone from Ruthie...it wasn't that she didn't love Ruthie it was that she was in a hurry to tell someone that her 18 year old son was on a plane by himself coming back to his hometown and she needed someone to pick him up at the airport so she would know he had arrived safely.
"I don't know an Aunt Karen" Ruthie replied squinting her face trying to remember all of her relatives when suddenly a large hand over took her small hand and grabbed the phone quickly.
"Karen?" said an older female voice.
"Annie...thank god" Karen sighed with relief sitting back in her chair.
"What's wrong?" Annie asked Karen walking out of the kitchen away from Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon, Ruthie and even Eric.
"It's about Kevin" Karen replied too quickly which startled Annie.
"What happened to Kevin? Is everything all right?" Annie said worriedly praying to herself that god would help Kevin wherever he was at the moment.
"Nothing happened to Kevin...it's what Kevin is doing right now" Karen told her honestly as she got up from her chair and walked over to her office doors peaked out into the hallway to make sure that neither Ben nor Patty-Mary were listening to her conversation.
"What is Kevin doing?" Annie is looking very confused as she walked into Eric's office and closed the door tightly behind her.
"As we speak Kevin is on a plane headed towards Glenoak...I didn't know it myself until he called about an hour ago telling me that he wasn't where he said he was going to be...I'm really worried about him Annie...if he wanted to visit you guys all he had to do was ask and I would have given him the money for his plane ticket...but he took matters into his own hands and left town and I don't think that he knows what he should do after he lands" Karen said worriedly.
"Don't worry Karen...I'll go talk to Eric right now and we will leave the kids and run to the airport to meet his flight there...do you know what time he should be here? Annie replied reassuringly.
"No...that's the problem...when he called he told me that his flight was going to be boarding in about 15 minutes and that would have been about 9:45 pm" Karen replied looking at the clock that was on her wall in her office.
Annie looked at the clock on her husband's desk and noted that it was only a few minutes after 8 o'clock.
"Karen...I'm going to talk to Eric right now as soon as I hang up the phone and both he and I will go to the airport...so don't worry about Kevin...he is in good hands" Annie told her hoping that what she was saying would be the truth.
"Annie...I'm sorry for calling you like this but I had no other choice...I'm sorry that I haven't kept in touch like I promised" Karen told Annie as the tears started to drip down her face.
"Don't' worry about it...everyone gets busy once in a while and it happened to you...now go to bed and I'll call you when we pick him up from the airport" Annie told her hanging up the phone and walking out of the office.
"Eric" she said quietly as she entered the kitchen knowing that she had 5 children watching and waiting her every step and move.
"Who was that mom?" asked Lucy who had grabbed an apple while her mom was on the phone and was munching away on it.
Annie sighed in hesitation but decided that she didn't want to lie to her children.
"That was Karen...she called to let us know that Kevin is on his way here...and that she was wondering if we could go and pick up him at the airport and bring him back here so she would know that he is safe" Annie told all of them looking around the room trying to read the messages that were clearly laid out in their faces.
"What time does Kevin arrive?" asked a calm Eric who had read between the lines while Annie was speaking.
"That's the problem...Karen didn't even know that he was on his way here until he called her at about 9:45 pm and told her where he was" she said walking and positioning her self between Simon and Matt.
"Well let's you and I go to the airport and check all of the arriving flights from Buffalo and we will wait until he boards off one" Eric replied grabbing his car keys from the counter.
"Dad?" said a soft female voice.
"Can we come to?" asked Lucy who had stopped eating her apple.
At 13 years old she was quite mature for her age and knowing that Kevin was going to be at their house excited her some more.
"Luce...it's a school night...you guys have to be in bed in another hour" replied Eric who looked at his watch.
"Please dad?" Lucy begged walking over to her dad and giving him a sad puppy dog look that she knew he could not resist.
"Luce..." Eric warned until he the face that she was making.
"Only if your mom says it's ok you can come with us...all of you can come with us" he said looking around the kitchen at his other children.
Annie was about to open her mouth in protest but when she saw the excited expressions on her children's faces she didn't date argue with Eric.
After a half an hour of getting Simon and Ruthie into their pajamas and placing them in the back seat of the mini-van with Lucy sitting in between them to keep the peace while Annie and Mary sat in the seat in front of them so Eric and Matt could sit in the passenger and drivers seat.
15 minutes later they were on their way to Glenoak International Airport going to surprise Kevin and meet him and hopefully would be the right gate.
They pulled up to the parking structure that was located across the street from the airport and they slowly filed out of the car one by one.
Eric picked up a sleepy Ruthie while Matt did the same with Simon. They walked to where an airport shuttle would pick them up and drive them across the street to the main entrance of the airport.
It wouldn't take any longer than five minutes...which was more than what any of the Camden's wanted. They slowly made their way towards the airport and when they did arrive the first thing out of Ruthie's mouth was
"Daddy...I have to use the bathroom" which of course, made everyone laugh and ease the tension that they all felt.
For the first time in 4 years they were finally going to see the best friend that everyone had been missing...and that best friend would be arriving in less than two hours.