In pages 112 to 154 of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, Dana travels back home once and then returns to the past with Rufus eight days later. She ends up going home without Kevin, and she hopes he is still around the next time she is called on by Rufus. When she returns to the past, Kevin isn't at the Weylin plantation, but he has been in contact with Rufus by mail.
Dana is sent home because Tom was beating her. She tends to her wounds and packs a new bag for when she is called back again. When Dana arrives in the past, she sees Rufus fighting with Isaac, Alice's husband. Rufus rapped Alice, so when Isaac found out, he beat him. While Rufus is unconscious, Dana tries to reason with Isaac, but he doesn't want to trust her because she talks too much like the white man.
Dana Gordon by Alice Neel, 1972
White-lined Tanager Tachyphonus rufus male
English: The Rufus Stone, Canterton Glen, New Fore...Alice tells her husband that Dana talks different because she is from "a long way off", according to what Rufus had told her. Dana convinces the two of them to get a head start on running before Rufus wakes up so that they will have a better chance at freedom. Right before they leave, Alice tells Dana that Kevin has gone somewhere North, but she is not sure where exactly.
When Rufus wakes up, he asks Dana where Alice and Isaac are, but Dana plays it off that she doesn't know, and tries to convince him that he was drinking with some white men, and they beat him up. Rufus knows that's not the truth, but he agrees to stick to that story as to give the two of them a chance per Dana's request. Rufus feels bad about rapping Alice, but he says he wouldn't have...