Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it has been such a long time since I've posted anything. I've had some major computer issues and had pretty much lost this entire story. However, thanks to Uncle Sam and three lovely tax deductions, I now have a new computer and after having to go back and start re-writing the chapters I lost on my old useless hunk of junk, I'm finally able to post something new! Yippie! So here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

Usual spiel – I don't own 90210. Wish I did. But I don't. Several of these characters I do own, though, so keep yer dirty mits off! They're mine! All mine! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! Okay… It's a little late. I best keep my insanity to myself.

Chapter Seven

The Silver Stalker

Mar Vista, California

A low, contented moan escaped from Donna Silver's lips as she slowly eased herself deeper into the relaxing bubble bath that David, her husband of three blissful months, had prepared for her minutes after she had finally arrived home after an especially long and stressful day. He had taken one look at her exhausted face and, thanks to having known each other for over ten years, had known exactly what to do.

Now, after Donna had been immersed in the therapeutic suds while listening to a compilation of her favorite love songs for twenty minutes, David entered the steam-filled bathroom wearing only a pair of Scooby Doo boxer shorts. He took a seat at the edge of the tub and began to gently massage her neck and shoulders, erasing some of the day's tension with his magic-like fingers.

"Feel any better yet?" He murmured softly in her ear, his warm breath tickling the sensitive little hairs on her neck, sending marvelous chills down her spine.

She responded with a warm smile followed by a tender kiss. "Getting there. I'm thinking I may need a little more one-on-one treatment a little later." She offered him a saucy grin.

"I think that can be arranged." He grinned back, desire lighting up his eyes. Donna blushed, pleasure surging through her. She was so grateful that after their long courtship, she was still able to ignite those types of feelings in her husband.

"Good." Donna closed her eyes and laid her head against David's leg.

David moved his hands and began to gently massage Donna's face, effectively rubbing the tension away. Donna sighed, wishing she could remain like this forever – all her worries and concerns far, far away. She and David, alone. Together. It seemed as if they never had any time to be alone anymore. Something she wished she knew how to remedy.

"Will talking about it help?" He queried after Donna had sat up a little, turning her eyes to his face so she could study him. Time had been good to David. He was no longer the geeky little dork that had creeped her and her friends out ten years ago. Now he was by far one of the best looking men Donna had ever laid eyes on. No woman could be more blessed.

She shook her head in answer to his question. "No sense in living it twice, right?" She chuckled, lifting her hand to touch his smooth cheek, leaving a trail of soap suds. "Whoopsie. Sorry about that."

"No need to apologize." He lowered his head for a kiss which Donna immediately granted.

After several long seconds, Donna pulled away, her stomach still full of butterflies. "Tell me about your day. I'd much rather hear about yours than think about mine."

"Not much to tell, really." David shrugged his shoulders, unthinkingly running his fingers through his hair and leaving a trail of soap suds in the process. Donna suppressed a giggle. "I've just been bumming around the house all day. Trying to work on my music a little."

"How'd that go?" Donna inquired, knowing that since graduating from college the music just hadn't flowed for David like it used to. Perhaps it was the worries and concerns of being an adult, she didn't know. But lately it seemed that David had to force every note, every lyric, and she knew that killed him.

"Kept getting distracted. First a phone call, then, well…" He trailed off, his eyes going distant.

"Well what?" Donna's eyes widened in alarm, her stomach plummeting. Somehow, without David even having to say, she knew they had received yet another of the mysterious boxes that had been showing up on their doorstep in one way or another for the past month. "Did another box come today?"

David nodded, his expression grim. "FedEx dropped it off this morning."

"This morning? And you didn't tell me when we talked earlier?"

"You were having a bad day, Don. I didn't want to make it worse." David explained, his brow furrowing. "I knew you'd be home soon enough and would have to deal with it then."

"Well, thanks for sparing me." Donna stated darkly, rising to her feet suddenly and nearly upsetting David from where he sat. "Hand me my robe."

Quickly rising, David nodded then passed her the fluffy white bathrobe that he had thoughtfully laid out for her when he had drawn her bath.

"I'm sorry." She hastily apologized, immediately regretting speaking to him so sharply. "I didn't mean to snap. It's just with all the pressures of running Now Wear This, getting The Martin House going, and these boxes… Well, I just feel like I'm ready to start screaming any minute now. I swear, if I didn't have you, I think I'd go completely crazy."

"Well, you do have me." David put it, pulling her into a warm embrace. "And I happen to think you're absolutely amazing."

"Thanks." Donna smiled, holding him tight, enjoying the sense of security she got whenever she was in his arms. Even when they weren't officially a couple, Donna had always felt safe when she was around David. Perhaps that was why she had somehow always known that they would end up together in the end. No one ever made her feel the way she felt when she was with him. No one.

The newlyweds held one another for several long minutes, neither one of them wanting to break the moment by bringing up the subject of the strange box that had arrived that morning. But Donna knew nothing could be accomplished by ignoring it, though God knew she had attempted to do just that with the other five packages that had arrived.

"You call Detective Willis already?" She asked, finally pulling free from David's embrace, though not quite willing to step away from him completely.

"Right after it arrived." David confirmed, his lips pressed together in a grimace. "I gave him the return address information, tracking number, all that. But he thinks it will probably just be another phony name and address like the rest. And since none of the packages have been threatening at all, there's not much he or the LAPD can do. Otherwise he would."

"I know." Donna let out a long sigh. "It just unnerves me, David. I can't really explain why. It's not like finding a dead rat or something like that, but still…" She hesitated, forcing her thoughts away from memories of when she had been stalked while in college at California University. "What was in this box? Any possible clues as to who they could be coming from?"

David slowly shook his head. "Not really. It was pretty much the same sort of stuff as the last few. A bunch of old pictures of us from back when we were in high school. A few of them had been cut out of the yearbook. One of my old demo tapes. Dried rose petals. That's it."

"One of your old demos?" Donna's eyebrows shot up. "That's strange, isn't it? What songs?"

"Just one, actually." David shrugged. "Precious."

"Precious?" Donna repeated, staring at him. "You mean, the song you wrote while I was in Paris?"

"Yeah."

Donna frowned, hating where her thoughts had immediately led. "You don't suppose Nikki Witt could have sent the boxes, do you?"

"Nikki?" David echoed, his eyes widening. "I don't know. I hadn't even thought of her."

"You did give her a demo of that song that summer." Donna pointed out. "I know we all thought we knew her really well, but honestly, it was only for a couple of months that she was down here. None of us really knew her that well at all. Except for maybe Brandon."

"It doesn't seem like something she would do, though." David argued. "Most of the stuff that was sent was from our junior year. Or even earlier. There was no way she could have even known about you playing Romeo and me playing Juliet the summer before she was in Southern California."

"True." Donna admitted, thankful that her once 'Freshman Buddy' was probably not the culprit of the creepy packages. "It's just strange that it was a demo tape of that song, that's all. I guess I was leaping at anything."

"Look, I want to figure out who this person is as much as you do. But I really don't think we'll do that by calling up all of Brandon Walsh's ex-girlfriends, do you? Besides, it would probably take too long." He quipped, earning him a brief smile from Donna.

"Maybe not Brandon's, but what about ours?" Donna suggested, pursing her lips together. "I know we've never really thought it could be any of them because we only dated one another in the past, but seriously, David, how difficult would it be to get your hands on some of this stuff? The demo tape an ex-girlfriend could have lifted from your room. One of us could have mentioned the Romeo and Juliet thing to one of them. Anyone could have tracked down old West Beverly year books-"

"Yeah, but what about the snapshots of us in the hallway?" David interrupted her. "We've been sent pictures of us that neither you nor I have ever seen before."

A small shiver ran down Donna's spine as she considered her husband's words. He was right. The first two boxes had contained only old photographs of her and David from back when they were in high school. None of the pictures had ever been featured in a yearbook and she couldn't recall ever seeing any of them. Neither could David. It was as if someone had been watching them – stalking them – back when they were just teenagers.

"Look," David interrupted her chilling thoughts. "Let's not worry about this right now. There's nothing we can do and nothing the police can do until there's an actual threat. So far whoever it is has only been reminding us of simpler, happy times. Right?"

"I suppose so."

"So let's put this from our thoughts and think about something else."

Donna let out a long sigh and slowly nodded. "Any suggestions?"

"I got an email from Steve today." David stated with a grin. "He doesn't have much to say, but he attached a slideshow of photographs. I was waiting to open it until you got home so we could see them at the same time."

"Aw, that was sweet of you, David. Thank you." Donna gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Let me get dressed and I'll meet you at the computer, okay?"

"No need to get dressed." David grinned, glancing down at his boxer shorts. "I'm not."

Donna frowned, not comfortable with the idea of wandering around in nothing but a bathrobe when there might be someone trying to take pictures of her. "I'd feel better if I were dressed." Donna explained, running a nervous hand through her short, red hair. "You should get dressed too."

"Alright." David sighed, then turned to exit the bathroom. Donna followed him, forcing herself to keep her eyes on her husband's back and not stare at all of the windows, wondering if she might catch a glimpse of someone trying to peer inside their home. It wasn't fair that she couldn't even feel safe in her own home anymore.

Several minutes later, Donna, fully clothed, took a seat in front of the desk she and David shared in the spare room that they had converted into an office / music room. Normally she was the one using the computer while David was jamming on his keyboard, but the past couple of weeks she had barely had a moment to sit down, much less goof around on the computer.

"You know," David began as he flicked the switch that turned on the computer, "This would take a lot less time if we got that DSL thing I was telling you about the other day."

"DSL? That was that high-speed internet thing, right?" Donna furrowed her brow, biting down on her lower lip. While she had been super busy trying to juggle the boutique and The Martin House, David had been the one playing around on their computer. He had discovered that he could download songs off from the internet and had been complaining about how slowly it took over what he referred to as 'Dial Up.'

"Yeah, that's it. Have you had a chance to think it over at all?"

Donna scowled at him, then quickly smoothed her features. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't nearly as busy as she. Normally it was the other way around. She shouldn't begrudge him his free time. "Not really. But I really don't think it's a good idea. Wouldn't we have to sign a two-year contract or something?"

"Only one year." He corrected her as he clicked on the icon that would connect them to the internet. Immediately, the annoyingly loud dial tone sounded followed by the dialing of numbers. Donna could only hope it would connect after just one attempt.

"Still," She protested, trying to keep her frustration in check. "That's one year. Who knows where we'll be. Who knows how the boutique will be doing. I know it doesn't seem like a very big deal, but it could be. I just don't think it's a good idea right now."

"Alright." David gave up, shaking his head in aggravation as he stared at the computer monitor. "But don't get mad at me when it takes an hour to download one picture of Maddie."

"Dial up," Donna purposely used his terminology, "Isn't that bad, David. Look. We're connected now. Open the slideshow."

David quickly did as she requested. As the download began, Donna skimmed Steve's email to David. Like David had mentioned earlier, Steve really didn't have a whole lot to say. Although he had mentioned they might be heading back to Beverly Hills a few weeks early as Janet hadn't been feeling well lately.

"Janet's not feeling well?" Donna shot David a curious glance. "She didn't mention that the last time we talked."

David shrugged his shoulders. "How should I know. This is the first time Steve has said anything."

"It seems odd that they would be cutting their trip short just because she doesn't feel well." Donna brows knitted together. There weren't too many illness that would force someone to end a trip early and the first one Donna thought of was a strange illness that mysteriously vanished after nine months. However, she wasn't going to say anything to David until she had a chance to talk to Janet again.

"Here we go." David announced suddenly as the screen was filled with a snapshot of the adorable little girl that Donna loved as she would a niece. "She's gotten so big already! I can't believe it."

"Well, little kids change a lot the first few years." Donna grinned, smiling with pleasure as the pictures slid across the screen. Most of the pictures were of Maddie, but Steve had put in several of Janet as well. The few scenic shots he had taken hadn't turned out so well, but Donna had to admit his skills as a photographer had definitely had increased since the last batch of photos he had sent them.

"It would be so nice to have a little one of our own running around the house." David stated suddenly, jarring Donna's thoughts suddenly.

"Wh-what?" She stared at her husband, not quite sure she had heard him correctly.

"One of our own." David repeated, staring directly into her eyes, his expression thoughtful.

"You mean baby?" Donna sputtered, wondering why this conversation was taking her so off guard. She had David had discussed children many, many years ago. However, since they had recently gotten back together it had never come up. Donna almost couldn't believe it was coming up right now.

"Yeah, a baby. I know you've thought about it. I know I have."

"Well, yeah, I've thought about it." Donna felt as if her stomach were turning flip-flops within her. "But not anytime soon. I mean, we just got married. We barely get to spend any time together as it is. Once we have a baby we won't be able to be alone together for another eighteen years!"

"That's not true and you know it." David grinned, trying to make light of the situation. "Just ten."

"Whatever. Ten years. Eighteen. David, it's too soon. I can't believe you're bringing this up right now. With everything that is happening-"

"Yeah, I suppose it was pretty stupid for me to bring up." David growled darkly. "I mean, I can't even get you to commit to a year of internet access. What made me think you'd actually want to have my child."

"David, that's not it." Donna protested, trying to make him see reason. "We're just not financially ready to support a family. Fashion is a very fickle industry! Now Wear This could go under at any time! We barely have any money in our savings account, much less a nest egg and-"

"Just drop it, Donna." David shook his head, rising to his feet and heading towards the door. "Forget I said anything. We have plenty of time to have kids. I mean, look at Mel and Jackie. Erin was born when she was in her forties. Maybe you'll be ready by then."

Donna stared at the empty doorway that David had disappeared through, her head still spinning from the argument. David's statement had taken her completely by surprise. Maybe if she had been somewhat prepared for it she could have voiced her thoughts a little more tactfully. It wasn't as if she never wanted to have children. Just not yet. Especially not with some psycho sending them mysterious packages.

Author's Notes:

So, what did you think? You know I'd love to hear it. I'm still trying to get the hang of writing David and Donna, so if you have any insights on this wonderful relationship, I'd love to hear those too. I know how they were back in high school, but I really haven't seen the latter seasons of 90210 in forever and since those DVDs aren't out yet, don't have much to refresh my memory.

Anyway… !! SPOILERS !!

Coming soon… Chapter Eight: Run Like Hell

Safe sex? What's that?

What's a guy to do?

The coward's way.