Wayne was torn between staying and listening to Kimberly and Garth or following Brittany down into the basement. He decided on the former and waited patiently while Kimberly gathered her thoughts.
"That is what I'm ticked about!" Kimberly said after a moment, raising her voice slightly and pointing angrily at the stairs. "She always does crap like that, and you're always all nice to her no matter what shit she says!" Wayne flinched slightly at the girl swearing, knowing that Garth had rarely sworn for as long as he'd known him, but his friend hardly seemed fazed by the teenager's frustration.
"Kim, you know why she's here," Garth said, sighing. "And…I try to make sure that you both feel loved, while at the same time trying to deal with Dan, and…" He put his arms around Kimberly and pulled her close. "I'm sorry, hon," he said with a sigh. "I guess that even after all this time, I'm still no good at being a Dad."
"I never said you were a bad Dad!" Kimberly corrected hurriedly. "I love you, Daddy." They hugged each other tightly, neither of them speaking for several minutes.
Wayne averted his eyes, feeling as if he was intruding on a private moment. For a moment, his thoughts flashed to the girl in the basement, and before he could even think the words, he was there. He was starting to be disturbed less and less by the abrupt scene changes and tilted his head slightly, watching the figure hunched over the desk. After a moment, she rose and closed a notebook on her desk, stretching and walking over to a dresser. It took Wayne a moment to realize that Garth's basement had been revamped into a bedroom for this girl, Brittany. No wonder they were thinking about moving—the house had been crowded enough as it was with just Garth, his sister, and his parents.
After shaking this off, Wayne—curious little sneak he was—decided to take a stroll over to the desk and look at the notebook. Obviously he was expecting some dirty, juicy journal entries, and obviously he was disappointed to find that it was nothing more than a boring math notebook. Bummer, he couldn't even have opened the book anyways.
Wayne leaned against the desk and watched Brittany flit around her room, hurriedly scooping some clothes up and dumping them into a hamper and making her bed. After a few minutes, she stopped and smiled, satisfied with the quick job. She walked over to her stereo and popped in a CD, turning the volume up. Wayne's blood ran cold as he recognized the song and watched her dance to it for a few minutes. He was practically frozen in place, forced to relive moments from times gone by…
I see a little silhouetto of a man/Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?/Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening me
Wayne gave a chuckle of amusement as she then proceeded to sing "Galileo" in four different pitches and continued singing along with the song. When she reached the familiar "headbanging" part, Wayne felt his stomach turn at how much like him she acted, and how much of himself he saw in the girl.
Suddenly the basement door opened, causing both Wayne and Brittany to jump. Garth came down the stairs and knocked gently on the wall. "Bri…can I come in?"
"Sure," Brittany said with a shrug. She walked over and shut off Bohemian Rhapsody, which was still playing. Garth sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to him, signaling that she should sit down next to him, which she did.
"Brittany…could you please take off that hat?" Garth asked carefully with a grimace. Wayne cringed as Brittany snapped her head up and the fire in her eyes broadcast clearly. Bad conversation opener, man…
"Why?" she asked in a steely voice.
"You know why, Brittany!" Garth said angrily, raising his voice a bit. "You know I don't care if you wear it anywhere else, but please don't wear it here!"
She didn't say a word as she yanked the hat roughly off of her head and threw it backwards onto her bed. Wayne gave a gasp of horror and glowered at Brittany. "Hey!" he shouted at her. "Be careful with that hat! That's my baby you just threw!"
"I'm sorry, Brit," Garth said gently, calmed down now that the hat was gone. He tried to put an arm around her, but she shuffled away.
"Jeez, what's so bad about her being a fan of Wayne's World?" Wayne wondered aloud. "Still…how the hell did she get my hat? I was still wearing it when I died…" He pondered this for a minute. "Oh, wait, I bet I know…I remember that with planning Waynestock, my show started to get popular and they started commercializing my hat…pissed me off, too," he muttered as an aside. "But, no way could that be my hat..."
"It's just…a lot of painful memories from that hat," Garth said softly. "I…I hate seeing it, to this day…" Brittany refused to look at him, so Garth sighed and continued. "Look, Brittany…I know you don't want to move to California…but it's convenient for us, and you'll get to know your grandparents if you live there! Plus, you'll make new friends…I don't say it'll be easy, but it can be done…" Wayne shook his head, watching Brittany get madder and madder with every sentence.
"First off, they're NOT my grandparents!" she shouted, standing up and startling Garth. "They're YOUR parents!"
"Uh, kid?" Wayne thought aloud. "That makes them your grandparents!"
"Second, I will NOT make new friends! My friends are here in Aurora, and guess what? They don't judge me based on who my family is and was!"
"Admirable quality in a friend," Wayne relented.
"And lastly…HOW is it convenient for us?! You're just running from the past, Garth!"
Wayne stood in shock as Brittany's chest heaved and she continued to angrily point at Garth. She…she called him Garth…but why not Dad…? Unless…unless he's not…
Garth sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Brittany…maybe it's true that I'm running, but I'm not very good at facing problems head-on…that was your father, and…I'm not him." He stood and walked out of the room, leaving both Brittany and Wayne stunned.
So Brittany isn't Garth's kid…but why is she here? Why does she live with the Algar family if she's not an Algar…?
Wayne watched as Brittany opened a drawer in her dresser and pulled out a picture. She sat on her bed, holding it for a few minutes and just staring. Wayne stood behind her and blinked in surprise—the picture was one of him and Garth.
"Wow, haven't seen that picture for a while," he thought aloud. "Why does she have it…?"
"Dad," she whispered softly, touching the picture. "Why…why did you have to go and die…and leave me in this hell?"
Wayne froze and looked at where Brittany was touching the picture. She was touching Wayne's face.
