"If you come in the kitchen I'll fix you something for that." He opened his eyes at the sound of the voice and saw Lily standing close by. He shook his head to clear his vision and looked closely at her. She was wearing a pair of doctor's scrubs and a spaghetti strapped tank top. Her unruly hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Kevin thought she looked incredibly beautiful. During the time that he had known her, he had always desired her. The only problem was that he always felt incredibly guilty for it. But now, looking at her, he felt his heart jump as he realized that she wasn't Brian's anymore. She was his. His wife.
"Lily." he sighed quietly. He stood up and walked slowly over to her as to not make his head spin. He stood in front of her and gazed down at her lovely face. "You're so beautiful." he muttered as he placed his hands on her hips and lowered his head to hers. He caressed his lips gently with his own and kissed her tenderly. He moaned at the happiness he felt at being able to touch and hold her again after nearly two years of being separated from her. For a moment he wished he could hold her like that forever, without ever letting go.
Lily broke away from him but remained in his embrace. "Jeremy's awake." she said, her voice quivering slightly. Kevin dropped his arms from around her and motioned for her to go. After she left the room Kevin tried desperately to shake the fog from his head, induced half by the drink of last night and half by the intoxicating desire he felt for Lily. He'd been so caught up by her that he hadn't even heard Jeremy start to cry in the next room. The fact that Lily did told him that she wasn't nearly as effected by him as he was by her. Cursing silently, he left the living room and entered the kitchen.
Sitting down at the kitchen table he felt his hangover coming back full force. He groaned aloud again as another wave of nausea washed over him.
Kevin mentally cursed himself because only minutes earlier he was so enchanted by her that he'd been foolishly thinking of remaining married to her for the rest of their lives. Although he wasn't immediately going to get the marriage annulled but forever definately wasn't an option. His plan was to stay married for a few years, five or six at the most, until Jeremy was old enough to make the decision of which parent he wanted to live with. Kevin knew that he'd made a mistake, acting so impulsively but he also know that he had no restraint when it came to Lily.
He lifted his head from his hands and tried to focus as Lily walked in the room, carrying Jeremy. She looked at him in his obvious misery and sat Jeremy down in his highchair then moved to the refrigerator and started pulling things from it. Kevin watched as she blended and mixed several different ingredients together and poured it in a cup and set it in front of him.
"Drink this. It'll help." she said and then turned to start cooking breakfast.
Kevin stared down into the cup and frowned. "You're not going to get better unless you drink it." Lily said from the stove, without turning around. Kevin sighed and took a large gulp of the foul-tasting liquid. Making a face, he swallowed it and looked over to see his son laughing at him. Kevin smiled and forgot about the way the drink tasted.
"What are you going to do today?" Lily asked tentivly, fearing she was out of line asking the question.
"I have to go see the guys first. We'll probably have to have a press conference sometime or have a public announcement to let everyone know...that I got married." he told her as he played with Jeremy.
Lily turned around and looked at him, saying "Kevin, you can't be serious. I know that this marriage was a sort of spur of the moment thing but you can't mean to stay married to me. We could get this marriage annulled and no one ever has to know."
"No." Kevin said simply and clearly, frowning. He turned to look at her and saw her open her mouth to speak but interrupted her. "Just drop it Lily. We are not getting an annulment." He stood up to face her and said "You're just going to have to face it. You're stuck with me for a while. So get used to it." And with that he stormed out of the kitchen and out of the house, heading to the hotel where he knew the rest of guys were staying.
***************
Kevin stood outside the door of the hotel room and took a deep breath. He reached out to open the door but his hand dropped before it reached the knob. It stayed there, suspended for a moment before he dropped his hand back by his side. For the life of him he could not figure out a way to tell Brian and the rest of the guys what he had to tell them. He brought a hand across his eyes and dragged it down it's face, groaning. It was easy the night before when he told AJ after a few drinks. But now he had to face Brian. Kevin shuttered involuntarily at the thought of having to tell his cousin that he'd betrayed him.
Finally, he forced himself to turn the knob and he opened the door. He opened the door to find AJ and Howie in the front room. He gave AJ a pointed look to try and see if he had told anyone anything and AJ and he gave a barely noticeable shake of his head, indicating that he'd said nothing.
Kevin took a deep breath again and said to Howie "Where's Brian?". Howie looked up at him and motioned toward the back room. AJ noticed Kevin's distress and stood up, offering to fetch Nick and Brian who were playing video games in the other room. Kevin sat down on the couch and waited for them to come out and they did a few moments later.
"What's up, Kev?" Brian said as he sat down in a chair not far from the couch.
"I have to tell you guys something." Kevin said nervously as he wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans.
"Is everything all right, Kevin?" Brian asked, concerned.
Kevin avoided the questions and Brian's concern. "I...um...have to tell you guys....I got married yesterday." He finally spit out. He looked around and saw three surprised faces waiting for him to tell them more.
When he didn't elaborate Howie said "Who did you marry, Kevin?"
Kevin drew in a shaky breath and looked at the floor, unable to meet anyone's eyes, least of all, Brian's. "I...married...Lily." he said slowly and looked up to see the looks of surprise on their faces turn to looks of complete shock.
"Lily?" Brian asked. "My Lily?" Kevin nodded and restrained himself from saying No, MY Lily. "Why?" Brian asked, astonished.
Kevin gulped, as he knew that this was the hard part he'd been dreading. Taking yet another deep breath he made himself force it out. As he did so, he kept his eyes pinned to the floor and his words were barely heard, he was speaking so quietly. "The little boy you saw at her mother's house. He's my son." After that he remained silent, letting the guys draw their own conclusions. He looked up from the floor and met the eyes of all of the guys. In AJ's eyes he saw sympathy for the difficultness of what he was doing. In the eyes of Nick and Howie he saw complete and total shock. Last of all he met the gaze of Brian who looked at him first with shock and then Kevin saw his anger growing.
Kevin sucked in a sharp breath as he realized that this was going to cause a rift between him and his cousin. Kevin watched the fire in Brian's eyes focus on him for several minutes and then it slowly cooled. Brian looked at Kevin in the eyes with nothing but calm indifference and stood up slowly. "Congratulations on your marriage, Kevin. Offer my congrats to your wife." he said tightly and slowly left the room.
Kevin clenched his jaw and slowly looked from the door Brian had just closed to Nick, Howie and AJ. Looking into Nick and Howie's eyes he saw that they had already condemned him for his betrayal. "How could you, Kevin?" Howie asked. Kevin had no answer for him and didn't try to defend himself against their anger.
AJ watched Howie and Nick stare daggers at Kevin and stood up. "Come on, guys. So Kevin was wrong in what he did, but he's still our brother. Neither one of you can sit there and tell me that you haven't made any mistakes. So Kevin made a mistake but atleast he's trying to fix it. Give him a break." Kevin listened to AJ's face and looked in admiration to his only ally.
"Thank you AJ" he said quietly and stood up to leave. He dared one last look back at Howie and Nick and saw that they were no longer looking at him, lost in their own thoughts. He glanced back at the door through which Brian had gone through and decided to wait for another time to try and make things right between them. Looking away from the door he opened the front door and exited the hotel room.
