"Do you want a drink?"

Kevin looks up at him, and Scotty sucks in his breath. Kevin's usually bright blue eyes are cloudy. Despite his attempts at detachment and stoicism, Kevin's emotions play across his face like a movie, Technicolor hurt and betrayal. "No. I'm okay."

"I can see that." Scotty takes the pen from Kevin's hand and sets it on the coffee table, ignoring Kevin's protest as he divests him of his notepad and case file as well. "You're done working for the night."

"I can't be done. I have too much to do if I'm going to even hope to make up for the Ojai loss. Not to mention replace the whale."

"You're never going to replace the whale, Kevin." Scotty sits beside him and wraps his arm around Kevin, tugging him closer until Kevin's head is resting in his lap. He grazes Kevin's short curls with his fingers, petting him slowly. "Besides, this isn't about the whale."

"No," Kevin says softly after a long silence. "It's not."

"You want to talk about it?"

Kevin shakes his head, but it doesn't keep him from talking. "It's not just that we lost the account, you know? It's that I lost the account."

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know." Kevin sighs and rests his hand on Scotty's knee, the soft light of the lamp giving his bare forearm a golden glow. He runs his hand up Scotty's leg to where his head is resting on Scotty's thigh then back down. A soft, familiar tremor echoes through Scotty's body and he lets his free hand stroke down Kevin's side. "But what kind of message does it send when I can't even keep my own family's business in the business?"

"It's not though really anymore, is it?" Scotty keeps the question light, but he can feel Kevin tense. "I know it's what you had to do, but with Holly as CEO…"

"Yeah." Kevin's voice is so soft, so defeated. "But it wasn't Holly. It was Tommy. So it was family business. Of course, maybe that is our business - stabbing each other in the back."

"That's not true." Scotty threads his fingers with Kevin's so that their rings touch. "Trust me, coming from a family that's nothing like yours…"

"But see, there's a difference." Kevin sits up, putting distance between them. Scotty's still not used to the abrupt walls that go up unannounced whenever Kevin gets defensive or upset, even after all this time. He'd though maybe being partners might change that, but he hasn't seen it so far. Maybe he's wrong to expect Kevin to change, but that doesn't keep him from wanting it.

"How? How is it different?"

Kevin looks at him, relenting slightly as if he knows they're approaching dangerous territory. "Your family relationship is clear. They love you. They don't approve of your lifestyle, and they don't support us, but they're up front about it. Lines are clear and decisive."

"Your family loves you, Kevin." Scotty manages to keep smiling despite the cracks he can hear in the very thin ice they're walking on. "You're a damn good lawyer, but you'll never convince me otherwise."

Kevin laughs and rakes his fingers through his short hair. "Don't worry, I wasn't even going to try to dispute that. It's just… Tommy didn't let the fact that I'm his brother or that Ojai was my biggest client bother him. Kitty didn't care that what she wrote in that book hurt, regardless as to whether or not it's true."

"It is true, Kevin."

"I know, but…your family doesn't pretend. They love you and they'll tell you that, but they'll also tell you that they hate your lifestyle, they don't believe in it and it's forbidden, verboten." Kevin holds up his hand to forestall any comment. "With my family, they act loving and accepting until it's in their way. Until I'm in the way."

Scotty reaches up and catches Kevin's hand, kissing the tips of his fingers. "You Walkers are honest to a fault, Kevin. A very big fault. San Andreas fault size." He turns Kevin's hand over, palm up, and traces the fine lines in his skin. "You all assume you know best, and so you charge in full speed ahead and damn the consequences. Tommy, Kitty, Sarah, Justin, your mother. You. So sure you're in the right that you all take liberties you shouldn't."

"Is lying better?"

Scotty can feel the frown furrowing his brow. "Sometimes. Not…not lying, necessarily, but yeah. Sometimes."

Kevin's eyebrow goes up and he watches Scotty closely. That intense scrutiny always makes Scotty feel like he's under a microscope, like Kevin's looking to find all the things that prove Scotty doesn't measure up. "What do you mean, 'not necessarily lying'?"

"Well…like this thing with Tommy."

"This thing? You mean the potentially career destroying firing of my firm that is also effectively removing me from the family business?"

Scotty sighs and nods. "Yeah. I was sort of taking it as a given you'd know what I was talking about, but that's indicative of the problem, Kevin." He keeps his hold on Kevin's hand, refusing to let him pull away completely. "I know you're hurt, and I would imagine that, under his guilt, Tommy is too."

"Good."

"Not helping." Kevin's shoulders slump and Scotty takes advantage of the breech in his defenses to pull him close, wrapping his arm around Kevin's waist and holding him against him. "Would it have hurt less, hurt you less if he'd let Holly take the blame?"

"Yeah. Maybe. For a while. But, see, the thing you're forgetting, in my family? Secrets never stay secret. Between well-meaning siblings and vindictive mistresses, everything comes out. Including coming out." Kevin smiles slightly and Scotty kisses the top of his head. "In the long run, I'd rather know the truth from the beginning."

"Says my husband, the lawyer." Scotty laughs softly. "They do love you."

"I know." Kevin nods and rubs his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's why it hurts."

"I know." Scotty reaches down and catches Kevin's chin, tilting his head up to meet his eyes. "I love you too."

"I know." Kevin smiles and leans in, kissing him softly then again, a little harder. "That doesn't hurt at all." Kevin snuggles against him, warm in the protective curve of Scotty's arm. "There's not anything that you're keeping from me, is there? No 'not necessarily lying' that you're doing?"