'Honestly, if it's not one thing, it's another with those two; okay, Buzz is a jerk, a pig, and a fucking oaf but why does Kevin have to take it so damn far?' That was what was on Megan's mind as she and her sister Linnie got ready for bed. Fortunately for the girls, their bedroom hadn't been invaded by their cousins and for that, they were both extremely grateful.

Truth be told, neither Linnie nor Megan had been enthusiastic about this trip, especially since it was a 'treat' from Uncle Frank…..even if the bastard was not footing the bill, which was typical, but they'd come around to the idea of going to Florida for Christmas, but what annoyed Megan the most was how Buzz was causing problems and Kevin was taking it too far.

In her mind, Kevin was just being childish, even if he had grown up a lot over the last year.

Linnie watched as Megan idly ran her comb through her brunette hair. "Worried about Kevin?" She asked.

A sigh. "Yeah," Megan replied, "why is it Kevin takes things so seriously?"

"Don't forget how long Kevin's been working on that solo," Linnie reminded her older sister sternly. "Don't forget he's been spending a lot of time in the tree house and practicing for hours. All of those weeks getting ready for the pageant solo…up in smoke. Okay, I know he went too far, but you can't deny Buzz deserved it."

"That doesn't justify what Kevin did," Megan countered although her heart wasn't in it. When Kevin had started, Megan had rolled her eyes, but only at what she'd believed to be Kevin being melodramatic. Deep down, she felt sorry for him even if she wished he'd done things differently.

Linnie sighed herself. "I know. I just wish Buzz would stop, but we know he won't."

"But he apologised to Kevin-," Megan argued.

"No, I don't think he did," Jeff's voice interrupted them from the doorway, and both girls jumped in fright when they saw their brother standing there.

"What the hell, Jeff!" Linnie had her hand over her heart while Megan took a deep breath, glaring at Jeff. "What're you trying to do, give us heart attacks?"

"Sorry," Jeff apologised.

"Hold on, what do you mean, Buzz didn't apologise to Kevin? He did, we heard him," Megan said when she registered what Jeff had said before he'd walked in, but she said it uncertainly. Like Linnie and Jeff, Megan knew only too well how cruel Buzz's games were, and so she wouldn't have put it passed him to have lied.

"I heard him whisper something to Kevin. Nobody was saying a word and I know I heard him say something, but I couldn't hear what he said."

Megan shook her head, "No wonder Kevin lost it. I honestly thought he was lashing out childishly."

Linnie, meanwhile, was frowning at Jeff curiously. "Jeff, did you know what Buzz was going to do at the pageant?"

Jeff sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I did when he took the candle, but I didn't know he would take it so far."

"Why did you let Buzz do it?" Megan demanded.

"You must have known what was going to happen?!" Linnie only just managed to stop herself yelling; with everyone's nerves tighter than a violin strings' the last thing she wanted to do was yell or scream.

"All Buzz did was take that candle, and I let him," Jeff argued back without any kind of will to be defensive about, "Okay, I admit it; I laughed at the prank, but I realised what I'd done wrong when I fell to the ground, and I was ready after that to admit I hadn't planned to hurt him; trust me, seeing Kevin throw that punch was scary."

Megan closed her eyes and shuddered, thinking about the way Kevin had laughed scornfully to say nothing of how vicious he looked during that confrontation, to say nothing of how he looked like he wanted to rip Fuller's head off his body.

"Meg, you okay?" Megan looked up into her sister's concerned face. "What?" Megan asked before she remembered where she was. "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking of how Kevin looked ready to hurt Fuller, and how he laughed."

Linnie shuddered herself. "I've never heard him laugh like that," she whispered.

Megan looked up. "Where's Kevin now? In the attic room?"

Jeff nodded. "I went to his room, but he wasn't there. Y'know it's funny, a year before he would never have gone near that room, now it doesn't bother him. I tried to speak to him, but he's clearly not in the mood." Jeff looked down at his hands. "I'll try to talk to him in the morning."

Megan and Linnie glanced at each other, deciding to do the same thing.

"What do you think Kevin said to mum, she looked really shaken?" Linnie had to ask.

Jeff sighed, "I don't know."

-8-

"Mum, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jeff asked a few minutes later after he'd left his sisters, and he'd gone looking for his mother.

Kate turned to her son and sighed wearily. "What's up, sweetie?"

"I didn't believe a word of Buzz's apology to us, or to Kevin," Jeff said bluntly without preamble. He knew right now the last person his mother wanted to speak with right now was Kevin; like everyone else, he was curious and worried about what his little brother had said to her, but he needed to get this done with.

When he saw Kate clam up and was about to change or close the subject, Jeff hurried on, "Mum, Buzz didn't stop with his prank and took it too far; yeah, I laughed as well, but when I was knocked to the ground I realised I'd made a mistake. And when Buzz 'apologised'," Kate blinked when Jeff actually made air quotes, "I didn't believe a word of it. Since when has Buzz ever been sorry for what he's done? And then he whispered something to Kevin. I heard him say something."

He didn't bother adding his suspicion Kevin wouldn't have apologised even if Buzz had 'apologised' since he would be furious after being humiliated like that in front of the whole school.

Kate sighed. She was too tired, too fed up and not in the mood. She was still reeling from the confrontation she'd had with Kevin up in the attic; in hindsight, she had made a huge mistake telling Kevin to take some time to cool down and come down to apologise. She knew Kevin wasn't going to apologise for being humiliated. "Jeff, at this point I don't feel up to speaking to Kevin, but believe me," she added, glaring at him, "I will get to the bottom of this, even if I have to tear Buzz's ear off to get to the truth. What did you do when you were two people along from Buzz?"

Jeff sighed, "Okay, I admit it I gave Buzz the candle, I admit it I laughed, but I realised we'd overdone it. I am sorry, Mum, really. I want to apologise to Kevin, but I can't get upstairs."

"You're going to have to wait until morning, Jeff. We both do; I don't really want to speak to him right now, but let me sleep on it and I'll probably have something to say to him," Kate said. "Right now, the next time Buzz tries to rope you into a cruel, spiteful trick like that, don't go through with it, no matter what. I don't care what Buzz does, says, or thinks. Don't do it, especially around this time of year."

-8-

"You okay, hun?" Peter asked Kate later as she got into bed.

"More or less. Oh, I just want to get this night over and done with," Kate replied as she slid into bed.

"What happened with you and Kevin?" Peter was worried about his wife; like everyone else, or at least he thought everyone else had picked up on it, but Kate had been shaken.

"Oh, he told me Buzz had called him a trout sniffer in a whisper," Kate sighed with relief when her back lay on the bed, "and that Buzz was sucking up to us. But when I went to see him upstairs, I made a mistake."

"What mistake?"

"I told him to cool down and to come down to apologise to everyone else. Kevin's grown up in the last year, yeah, but he has always lashed out whenever someone has done something to him and nobody believes him," Kate shook her head, "and I'm starting to think Buzz wasn't sincere at all."

"What makes you say that?"

"Jeff. He came to me, and told me he'd heard Buzz whisper something to Kevin that made him go off like that."

Peter thought about what his wife was telling him and he came to a decision. "We'll have plenty of time tomorrow and during the trip to Florida to talk to them. To tell you the truth, tonight, I was more angry with Buzz than I was with Kevin because Buzz was the one who made Kevin throw that punch, but I still wanted Kevin to accept responsibility. I think if we'd spoken to them differently, approached them differently, then we wouldn't have this trouble."

Kate sighed. "I don't want to ruin the holiday, even if I'm a bit dubious about Frank treating us when we're paying for it. I agree with Kevin about that, Frank is a cheapskate."

"He's the one giving us the golden opportunity to go to Florida in the first place," Peter refused to let either his wife or his son insult his brother even if deep down he was resentful that Frank wasn't even trying to foot even a third of the bill, leaving it all up to him and his wife. "But what else happened with Kevin?"

Kate sighed. "I blew it, Peter. I told him to stay up in the attic for the rest of the night, and he went off saying he wished he could get his own vacation without any of us. I told him he got his wish last year and he might get it again this year," she added.

"Oh, you didn't?!" Peter put his book down in irritation.

Kate closed her eyes. "I hate myself for saying that to him, but I want to make it up to him. He scared me, Peter when he laughed in the living room and in the attic."

"Why, what happened?" Peter asked defensively. "What did he do?"

Kate was beginning to wish she hadn't brought this up. "He leapt off the bed, furious when I told him to apologise, and I'd had enough of him at the time," she began babbling in her worry, "and that's when he said he wished he had a vacation of his own, and I told him he had his wish last year, but Peter," she turned to him in worry, "he was so angry he scared me. I honestly thought he was going to attack me."

Peter wrapped his arms around his wife, debating on what he needed to say or do to Kevin. Hopefully, they could have a father/son chat (and they were few and far between even if their relationship was better) before anything happened around the time of the holiday.

"It'll be okay, we can talk to him," Peter said.

"I hope so, Peter. I want to make it up to him."