Finding Mia

VI

A lump formed in Kevin's throat, he knew exactly what this was, and turned around to leave. Mia blocked his path, however, and was frowning up at him as if she were judging him. She, who had practically forced Kevin to come here, was judging him.

'I'm not doing this, Mia.' Kevin snapped. 

'Yes, you are,' Mia said back. She gripped his upper arm and turned him around. 'I'll stay with you if you want, but you are doing this.'

'You don't know how to actually help people, do you?' Kevin accused, ripping his arm out of Mia's grip. She stood in front of him with her arms folded across her chest. 'This doesn't help, Mia.' Kevin was slightly mad. She had no right to force this upon him. 'A lot of these people will go home after this and pull out a bottle or two or seven and drink themselves unconscious.'

'And you want to fall under that category?' Mia had a way of turning something that was supposed to be an insult to others into an insult of the insultee. 'Listen, Kevin, I'm just trying to help you. That's all I've ever done since I told you I would protect you. This,' She turned and pointed at the room. 'This helps.'

Kevin ground his teeth. What if they recognise me? What if someone tells news reporters that Kevin Day is an alcoholic? Eventually Mia grabbed his arm again and steered him towards a seat. Kevin stared at his fingernails and began picking at them. He'd become better since leaving the Nest, but they were still bitten down to the cuticles. Mia batted at his hand without a second glance at him. Kevin stopped, only to begin bouncing his knee up and down. His anxiety was spiking. He couldn't do this. I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't-

'Stop it,' Mia hissed from beside Kevin, breaking him out of the trance he was in. 'Breathe properly, asshole, you sound like a time bomb.' Kevin focused on his breathing and slowed it, forcing himself to calm down. 'That's better.' Mia whispered, still not looking at Kevin.

Does she really care? Kevin wondered. Or is she just doing this for Neil's benefit? 'I sent her to protect you, Kevin,' Kurt's words echoed in his ears. 'You have nothing to worry about. Artemisia has never gone back on a deal before.'

]|[|]|[

'So, how was it?' Mia asked. She and Kevin were sitting in a diner eating pizza - even though Kevin insisted he could only have one slice, he'd eaten almost half of the large they'd ordered - and it was mostly empty except for an old couple eating scones and drinking tea.

'It was,' Kevin paused, trying to find the right words. 'Not as bad as I thought it would be.' Mia nodded, taking his answer and eating another slice. Nobody had forced him to talk about his issues, but there had been a lot of information thrown at Kevin from the speaker and the other members. Mia had even created a fake story of her own so that Kevin didn't feel left out. But best of all was that nobody had seemed to recognise him as "Exy Star Kevin Day".

'Good, good,' Mia said. 'Okay, so I know you met Kurt last weekend, but there's someone I want to go see this afternoon, and it would be good for you to meet her.' Kevin frowned. The pizza in his stomach turned. Who is so important that Mia wants to take me to meet her?

'Who is it?' Kevin asked, voice tense and muscles tenser.

'Her name's Delia,' Mia said, wiping her mouth and hands. 'She's your grandmother, of sorts.' Kevin's world froze. Grandmother? This was all too much. 'Obviously, if you don't feel up to meeting her today, that's fine, I can take you another day.' Mia said. Kevin swallowed and shook his head. This was all too much, but Kevin wanted to meet her. He wanted to meet any family he had. They were proof he was real, that Kevin Day existed out of Exy, even if that existence was a mob family.