Disclaimer: I don't own Brothers and Sisters or any of its characters. I can't even be sure I actually own this plot. You may sue me if you wish, but you won't get anywhere. All I have is my Cal Leandros book series, which you will not get because I will keep them clutched firmly to my chest and away from the authorities as I am shuffled from prison cell to prison cell.

Title: Cry Ophelia

Fandom: Brothers and Sisters

Genre: Romance / Drama / Hurt/Comfort

Pairing: Kevin/Scotty

Rating: T

Summary: Kevin and Scotty aren't cat people. Really, they aren't.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 2—Jitters

The rest of the Walker family arrived a little after ten, straggling in one-by-one—first Kitty and Robert, followed by Justin, then Nora again (this time bringing Saul with her), then Tommy and Julia, Sarah with her children, and finally Rebecca.

Kevin accepted their hugs without comment and answered their questions as best he could, but as no one had been out to tell him anything yet, there really wasn't much he could say.

He didn't know whether he should be relieved about that or not.

He lost track of how many coffee runs he made that night.

The first one was after the doctor came out to talk to them the first time. Kevin only managed to catch snippets of the conversation—"serious head injury," "blunt object," "stab wounds," "transfusion"…

Kevin wanted to strangle him.

The doctor left, and Kevin turned to his family and asked (quite calmly, he thought), "Anyone want some coffee?"

Anyone happen to be a blood type match for my nearly-dead husband?

The second one was after Kevin tried for the fourth time to contact Scotty's parents. If anyone would be a match for Scotty, it was them.

They didn't answer. Kevin idly wondered if they were screening his calls.

The third one was after Justin was found to have the same blood type as Scotty, and went off with a nurse to have his blood taken. It was probably a good thing that it was Justin, Kevin decided, because Justin was used to having needles in his veins.

That wasn't nice. I should apologize.

It wasn't, and he did. Justin looked at him like he was insane, and Kevin realized that his brother didn't know what he was apologizing for.

After that, all the coffee runs blurred into one long, endless stream of black liquid and button pushing. He seemed to spend more time in front of the vending machine than with his family. That didn't seem right, so he abandoned his umpteenth cup and went back to them.

XXX

It was around two in the morning when the doctor saw fit to return to them again. He looked tired, and there was blood all over his scrubs.

Scotty's blood.

This time, Kevin was more focused, and he managed to keep up his half of the conversation with the doctor. The rest of the family stayed back and watched; Tommy and Saul appeared to be holding Nora back.

"How is he?" The words echoed hollowly in Kevin's ears, but he was certain he'd been the one to speak them.

"Well, the surgery went as smoothly as can be expected. The lacerations in his chest and stomach required some pretty serious stitching, and there was some internal bleeding, but we managed to stop it. It looks like he was beaten with some sort of blunt instrument—it could have been anything from a baseball bat to a crowbar, it's hard to tell—and then stabbed with your everyday, illegal switchblade."

"God…" Kevin hadn't said that. Someone behind him had—maybe Kitty? Or Sarah?

"We've also done a transfusion using your brother's blood. All in all, he's…stable."

"Well…that's good, right?" Yes, that one was me. I'm sure of it. Kevin congratulated himself on having the presence of mind to ask the right question.

"Well…yes, Mr. Walker, stable is good. But…"

Kevin waited patiently.

"Well, the head injury… It's a serious one."

"But…but he'll be fine, right? He just needs some rest, right?"

"Rest wouldn't hurt, no, but…that rest would be better taken after he wakes up."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," the doctor began, then hesitated. "I'm saying, the sooner he wakes up, the better I'll feel about his chances."

His…chances?

The rest of a conversation was the same blur as the first one had been. The doctor finally left, and Kevin turned back to his family and told them they could go if they wanted to—he would be fine. In fact, he demanded that they go, so go they did—though Nora had to be herded/dragged out of the room by the combined efforts of every male in the family and Kitty's indignant squawking in the background.

Later, Kevin found out that he had "held it together remarkably well." According to his family, he had said things he didn't remember saying, done things he didn't remember doing…been extraordinarily self-possessed the entire time. Talked about legal things, or some such nonsense.

He hated himself a little for that.

Now, with his family gone, he stood against the wall on shaking legs, staring down into a paper mug from the vending machine and wondering absently if anyone had ever drowned themselves in a cup of coffee.

The sun came up, and Kevin fell asleep curled up in a chair.

He was shaken awake at around four in the morning by a nurse, who finally allowed him to see Scotty.

XXX

Scotty was feeling…rather pleasant, actually. Whatever he was lying on was soft, and friendly, and there was a nice, blurry sort of haze to everything. He wasn't floating—he was sure of that—but he was light enough that he could, if he wanted to.

He wanted to.

Why can't I?

Then, distantly, he felt the brief tightening of a hand around his, and he started to lose his grip on the floaty feeling.

No, wait! I don't wanna go back… It's nice here…

The hand clutched insistently, pulling him back towards the world, and with that world came a distant, achy feeling. The sensation grew steadily more pronounced with each passing minute.

Then, the sensation became a blinding, relentless sort of pain, and Scotty came crashing ruthlessly back to earth.

XXX

Aftershave.

That was the first thing he became aware of—the sharp scent of Kevin's aftershave. Then the softer, more homey aroma of coffee, then the feel of a hand gently holding his.

Oh yeah, that's why.

Scotty forced his eyes open, then immediately regretted it as even that small movement sent brutal ripples of pain through his entire body.

His husband jerked awake immediately, which didn't make sense to Scotty at first, until he realized that he must have whimpered at the pain. Then Kevin was leaning towards him to press a kiss to his forehead; he had opened his arms first—intending to pull his lover into a hug, Scotty knew—before rethinking that course of action. Kevin's lips were moving, but Scotty was having trouble processing the words; by the expression on the man's face, though, and the way he pressed one of Scotty's hands to his lips and trembled, it was obvious that he'd been through quite a lot of stress and trauma in a very short time.

"Kev…what happened?" His voice was scratchy and hoarse, and it hurt to talk, but he managed, though he suspected he may have slurred slightly.

"Um…you were mugged." That wasn't the whole story—it was painfully obvious even to the half-asleep Scotty—but he let it go for now. "How do you feel?"

Scotty closed his eyes. "Peachy. How long…?"

"Twenty-three hours and…" Kevin looked at the clock. "Thirty-eight minutes from the time I found you, if the clock on my cell and the clock on the wall over there are set for the same time. But the…mugging, I think it happened about half an hour before…before we brought you in." He swallowed hard, and stood. "I'll go find a doctor, okay? Is that all right?"

Scotty forced himself to nod, and Kevin left.

XXX

After a thorough examination, Scotty was pronounced "probably out of the woods, for now" and then left alone with Kevin.

The rest of the Walker clan showed up the minute visiting hours started, and by then, Scotty was somewhat more alert. Kevin was sitting next to him, holding his hand tightly and reading a newspaper, when everyone trouped in at once.

Kevin couldn't imagine enjoying a mass stampede by the Walker clan, but it obviously brightened Scotty's day, so who was he to judge?

A happy hour passed with laughter and conversation and a delicious home-cooked breakfast that Nora had brought with her in the largest picnic basket in the known universe, and the events of the evening before slowly began to fade from their minds.

At about ten-thirty, Kevin smiled and excused himself to go use the co-ed bathroom on the other side of the hall, his family's laughter and Scotty's faint chuckles echoing behind him as he closed the door.

XXX

"Kevin's been gone awhile," Kitty commented about half an hour later. "Think I should go check on him?"

"No, I'll go," Nora replied, standing. "You wouldn't want to leave off your completely unjustified and utterly inaccurate political rants. I'll be right back."

The resentful protests followed her out the door.

Nora knocked softly on the door to the restroom and, receiving no response, entered.

The sight before absolutely her broke her heart.

Kevin was sitting on the floor in the corner, his face hidden in his knees, which were pulled up against his chest with his arms wrapped around them. He was shaking silently, and didn't seem to notice his mother's presence.

Walking slowly over to her son, Nora knelt down beside him and reached out to pull him into her arms. He didn't even put up a pretense of fighting; he simply sank against her, buried his face into her chest, and started to sob in earnest. She rocked him gently, making quiet crooning noises in her throat, just as she had years before when he'd come home from school crying and sporting a black eye because a group of older boys had called him a fag and a queer and beaten him up.

"I almost lost him, Mommy," he whispered through the tears, choking on the words.

"But you didn't."

For some reason, that only made him cry harder.

It was at least forty-five minutes before the torrents of tears finally subsided. He hiccupped quietly as he leaned away and resumed his place with his back against the wall, accepting the piece of toilet paper that Nora offered him to wipe his face.

"Are you all right?"

Kevin didn't say anything. He couldn't lie, but telling the truth would only make her worry more, so he settled for silence.

Nora read him like a book, and turned so that she was sitting against the wall, too, putting her arm around his shoulders.

"I didn't tell him I loved him."

Nora blinked. "What?"

"Scotty and I…we were talking on the phone that night. We were supposed to go out for our pre-anniversary dinner, but I was late because I'd gotten pulled into a meeting. Scotty called me wanting to know where I was, and we changed our plans to fit my schedule, and when we hung up…I just said goodbye. I didn't tell him I loved him, or anything..."

The tears came back, but this time, it was only a few of them, and Kevin wiped them resolutely away.

Nora put her other arm around him to pull him into a hug. "He knows, sweetie. I promise. He knows."