Dylan McKay had spent most of his life being angry. He had been angry that his parents got divorced, that his father went to jail, that his mother ended up in Hawaii, that Brenda never came back from London, that Kelly fell in love with his best friend, that his wife died, that life just wasn't fair. He had been dealt a privileged but rough hand from the start. Between losses and addictions, vices and heartaches, things hadn't been so easy during his thirty-five years on the planet. And yet, he somehow managed to end up happy.

It started when he was just around thirty, the last time he got sober and this beautifully complicated brunette walked into his life. He had no way of knowing how Gina Kincaid would change, or even really that she had, until a few years after she left. Things with Kelly went south pretty quickly after David and Donna's wedding, and he ended up where he always did – alone. It was then that he had regained control of his future, realizing that he had to find it in himself and not some romantic notion of love.

When he had first considered what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, Dylan had made a short list of the things that he loved. Besides travel and surfing, the only other thing he had ever really cared about was writing and driving. Worried that the minute his passion became work, he elected for the second option and bought a fleet of cabs. It was the last thing anyone expected, but he was happy behind the steering wheel. It was uncomplicated. People got in the car, gave him some money and then they left. His life was a lot like that, and in some strange way, it came to make sense.

Back on the East Coast, Gina had done everything that she could to forget Dylan. She never went back to Los Angeles to visit Donna or Felice, preferring instead that they see her when they were in New York and then eventually heading to Japan once the Silvers settled there. She had went through a hard transition after the breakup and losing her father, forced for the first time to build a life on her own without a coach, an agent or a trainer to tell her what to do. Living in New York had been perfect for her. She had become incredibly independent quickly and found her life's passion by covering lifestyle pieces for an online figure skating magazine.

That's what brought her back to Los Angeles that September morning. She was there to cover the latest "next big thing" to hit the skating world. It was just supposed to be a couple days in the city, her first in a decade. No one knew that she was coming, not that any of them would care. However, as a cruel twist of fate would have it, they would soon all know. That twist of fate came in the form of Dylan McKay.

"Where to, miss?"

Gina hadn't even bothered to look at the cabbie but was taken aback when she heard a distinctly familiar voice. Her eyes darted immediately to the rear view mirror where she met Dylan's steady gaze. She could read the surprise in his look as well, knowing that he hadn't recognized her behind oversized dark sunglasses and a floppy red beret.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Dylan laughed humorlessly and shrugged. "Gina Kincaid, well, this is certainly unexpected."

Her walls were already up. "You're telling me," she muttered. "You're a cabbie now? What happened to all of your money, Dylan? Did it run out? Or maybe Kelly spent it all. Either way, I guess I shouldn't be surprised this what you ended up doing with your life."

It wasn't the first time someone had a misinformed opinion about his situation, but he was a little shocked at how angry she sounded. It had been a long time, and unlike most of his former flames, they had actually parted on good terms. They had both been in different places at that time. "It's good to see you too," he joked lamely before smiling at her in the mirror. Age and time had been kind to her. She was still as beautiful and graceful as she had been a decade ago when he had been lucky enough to hold her in his arms. "Where are you headed, Gina?"

"The Beverly Hills Hotel," she answered while pretending to look busy with her phone. The last thing she wanted was any reminder of her past – their past – there. She hadn't exactly asked to be put up there but also hadn't argued against it when her manager made the arrangements. "You can just drop me off at the front entrance. Thank you."

Her curt, formal tone did nothing to deter Dylan's singular mission of finding out why she was here. "So, Beverly Hills Hotel? I haven't been there in awhile," he lied. The truth was that he was still living there. He had never really acclimated to having a place of his own again, too used to housekeeping and room service taking care of his every need. He just knew that if Gina knew, there would be no way that she was going to stay there. Her hostility was enough to indicate that honestly wasn't necessarily the best policy with her, at least not yet. "What has you back in LA?"

"A story," she answered shortly before putting in her earbuds. The sounds of U2 drown out her ex-boyfriend as she leaned back in the seat and watched the Los Angeles skyline pass her by. Once she was satisfied that he wasn't going to ask her any more questions, she pulled a notebook from her handbag and started jotting down a rough outline of her article. When she realized Dylan's eyes were more interested in her than the road, she pushed down her sunglasses and glared at him critically. "Pay attention, Dylan. I would like to get there alive."

The past year had been wrought with bad news. She had lost her mother after a long battle with cancer and had barely seen Donna or Felice since leaving California. They had tried for awhile to act like family, but life had gotten in the way of itself and made that nearly impossible. Donna spent most of her time in Japan with David and the baby trying to work on their relationship. She really didn't have time for a cousin-turned-sister that she hadn't been close to for years. Gina had made her few close friends in New York her family but had never entirely gotten over the huge gaping hole left in her life.

The only thing that had really been her sanity was her work. She had learned to love the sport all over again when she had taken on the second career, writing about something she had once known better than she knew herself. There had been a time when Gina hadn't known who she was without skating. Now, she had found a balance where she could still be passionate about it without letting it take over her entire world. She was even flirting with skating again, just touring as part of an exhibition or possibly coaching.

"So how is everyone?" she finally asked. Curiosity was an unfortunate thing that made her care more than she wanted. "How are Steve and Janet? Maddy must be so big by now."

Dylan smiled softly at the mention of his goddaughter. They had gotten off to a bumpy start, but he was a good godfather. She filled a place in his life that his sister had once occupied. "Maddy is amazing," he admitted proudly. "They have another kid, a little boy named Cooper. He's six. Donna and David are his godparents actually. Janet is a great mom, and Steve, well, Steve is still Steve."

Gina laughed knowingly. Steve was impossible not to like and was one of the few people in the close-knit crew she had never had a problem with really. "And Noah, is he still around?"

"Yeah, he married Ellen a few years ago. He is running the After Dark again. I don't see him much but he seems good. They left town for a while, you know, but he is good."

"I still see Matt sometimes," she said of her former boss. Dylan hadn't wanted to like the lawyer but had seen why Kelly and even Gina liked him so much. "He is still in the city, helping his sister-in-law. We have dinner every once in awhile to catch up. He's doing pretty well at district attorney's office in Manhattan. I realize that you don't care but he's the only one I still see." What they were both avoiding, what she didn't want to know and what he couldn't really tell her about, was Kelly. Finally, biting on her bottom lip with an ounce of feigned courage, she asked the question. "And Kelly? How is she?"

"She lives in Washington."

"Washington the state or Washington the city?"

"The city…" he answered shortly.

"With Brandon," she finished for him. "Wow, when did that happen?"

"When I got strung out on drugs that summer in Mexico when I was 19," he answered bitterly. He had never really had Kelly since then, not since she chased his best friend across the country to watch him meeting the president. "No, uh, we broke up a few months after Donna and David got married. The chemistry was still there, but it was just as explosive and toxic as ever."

"And so she went back to Walsh."

"Indeed, she did," he confirmed. He knew that Kelly was happy with Brandon. They had gotten married four years ago and adopted a set of twin girls from Mongolia two years after that. Dylan had been there for the wedding and had even danced with both Brenda and Kelly. "That's where she belongs. She was always going to end up with him, I think. Just like Brenda was destined to be a stage actress in London and I was supposed to end up here in LA, driving a cab."

"And what was I destined to do, Dylan?"

"Run into me here, at this moment, in this cab, so that we could fall in love all over again."