Chapter 8
Taking the drink from the barman Brandon looked around the filled club, it felt ironical that most of the kids there were probably half his age and shouldn't be there at all. Things certainly went downhill after Dylan and few months also David stepped away from the club, he would have left but this was the only place he was familiar with as this was no longer that kind of establishment that he and his friends were looking for on a rare night out.
After Kelly left the beach he spent another half an hour sitting down by the shore. It gave him the chance to clear his thoughts coming to the conclusion that he overreacted and Andrea as well, but they both needed to cool down, that's why he decided to come to After Dark. Ready to take the first sip of his bourbon he spotted a familiar figure, letting out a barely audible sight. He could easily avoid him in the filled club, but that was not how Brandon operated. Something good could come out even from the most unpleasant meeting, he moved in his direction.
"Hey!" Stopping on the other side of the table that was occupied by his former best friend his eyes fell on the bunch of empty glasses standing there. The drink in Dylan's hand was certainly not the first one that evening, nor the last the glassy eyes that were now looking in his direction were the confirmation of it.
Without a as much as a greeting Dylan again looked down into his glass again. Brandon decided to take it as an invitation and sat down across from Dylan.
"I heard you were back in town, was not expecting to meet you here considering the years of alleged absence." Brandon sat his still untouched glass on the table.
"Old place, old habits." Dylan shrugged gulping down the contents of his glass and setting it to the site, grabbing another one with the same intention.
Leaning forward Brandon stopped his hand before he could drink it. "I'm going to say this only once so you better listen to me, if you want her back than stop acting like an immature teenager whenever things are not going your way. Show her she can trust you, especially now when Ava's not doing so well and they both need all the support they can get."
Letting go off the glass Dylan let out a forced laugh. "As always you think you know it all, but you have no idea."
"Really, I don't? I just spent half an hour down at the beach listening to her woes." The words just fired out before Brandon could really think about them or the impact they were going to have.
"So this is what it is all about. Happily married with a side chick?" Dylan irrationally accused him pushing the chair away and standing up wobbly on his feet.
"If that's would you like to think, then so be it. There is no point in reasoning with you when you are completely wasted." Brandon spat back standing up equally livid.
"You are so full of it." The rage just kept growing and with full force Dylan launched his fist towards Brandon's face.
Brandon saw the movement and jumped aside watching as Dylan wobbled but surprisingly found his footing quickly and attacked again this time hitting the target. Brandon felt the bruise growing, seeing and hearing nothing, in rage he returned the punch.
He had no idea how much time has passed or how many blows he got and returned before he felt a pair of strong hands dragging him away from Dylan. Breathing heavily he caught a glimpse of Dylan's face, he was not looking very good and judging by the pain and swelling he felt around his right eye he was probably not looking that hot himself.
Boy, they were both so in trouble.
An hour later the front door closed behind Brandon with a soft thud. Losing no time he kicked his shoes off in the entry hall and continued straight for the freezer grabbing a bag of frozen peas and placing it on his eye cursing silently at the coldness and pain.
He had to admit they got off very easily. No police involved, only signed confirmation that they will never return, which he had no issue with. He never planned to return to After Dark anyway.
Andrea, on the other hand, was for sure not going to be so merciful once she will find out about the fist fight they've showcased that evening. He had no idea what had gotten into him, he was not the type that would lower him to physical attacks or provoke one. In hindsight even though meant differently his words to Dylan were a pure provocation. Maybe it has been the built up rage of the past days that he took out on him, the fight with Andrea, meeting with Jesse in New York and everything else that was going around, not that any of it justified his actions.
Opening the freezer he threw the bag of peas back in before heading upstairs. He opened the bedroom door almost noiselessly finding Andrea curled in the bed with the light on and an opened book next to her. Taking the book he turned off the light finding his way to the bathroom in the moonlight lit room. He needed a shower and something for the nagging pain.
Returning back minutes later, he found the light in the bedroom back on and his wife waiting for him. Luck was not on his side that day.
"What happened to you?" She asked spotting his right eye, that he could barely see through and the bluish bruise that kept growing on the left side of his chin.
He could have lied, but that would do him no good. "I got into a fight." He mumbled sitting on their bed. Reaching forward Andrea turned his head to fully observe his colorful face.
"We should head to the ER, that eye does not look good." She concluded.
"It will be fine." Brandon mumbled, he just got back home and the idea of spending hours in ER did not sound very appealing.
"Okay." She sighed, not pleased with his answer, but there was no way she could force him to go.
"That's it? You are not going to ask how it happened." He asked surprised by the lack of reaction from her.
Andrea shrugged narrowing her eyes on him. "You are a grown up man, if you think getting into a fight was the right way of handling whatever happened then so be it. I'm just not sure if this is the kind of message we want to pass on to the kids."
"No, it's definitely not that kind of message that I want to pass on to Isaac and Hannah." Brandon mumbled.
Andrea opened and closed her mouth, finally not saying anything.
"You just wanted to ask why I would do it if I knew it was wrong." Brandon smiled softly.
"Yeah." Andrea admitted. "But I do not want to make whatever is going on between us even worse, with starting another meaningless fight." She looked at him hopefully all the rage of the past days finally gone.
"I'm sorry, Andrea." Brandon said finally.
"Me too. I blew it out of proportion." She let out.
"Well, the cold shoulder treatment was a little bit over the top." Brandon joked, inwardly feeling relieved. "But you made several good points."
Andrea raised her brows waiting for him to continue.
"Parenting a threenager and a pre-teen is not the easiest of a job and we should be on the same page to handle it." Brandon smiled.
"That's true, what I got wrong was expecting you to read my mind or be around at all times when it's not something I do." Andrea smiled softly.
"I could have asked as well." Brandon noted.
"Yes, but that's pretty difficult when I'm not talking to you." Andrea chuckled.
"It was a tangled situation to say at least."
"Now that we are talking again, will you tell me how you got these two?" Andrea pointed to his bruises.
"Dang, I should have known we have not closed this topic yet." Brandon shook his head playfully.
"Nope." Andrea replied pushing herself up and resting her back against the headboard.
"Dylan." He said one word and could hear Andrea groan in response.
"I should have known it will come to this earlier or later." She shook her head.
"Hmm, it was my fault. I provoked it." Brandon admitted.
"Why?" Andrea asked, this did not sound like the Brandon she knew.
"It just got too much and he was there an easy target to relieve all the stress and tension. I knew it was not right, but did it anyway." Brandon sighed.
Instinctively Andrea knew Brandon was not telling her everything, even when Brandon was under stress or they were fighting this was not the way he typically relieved his issues, but she had no energy to deal with it at that moment. "How does he look?" She asked instead.
"Hmm, about the same as me, plus or minus a bruise or two."
"I keep wondering if you two will ever grow out of these childish acts." She shook her head slipping back down into the sheets. "We are not done yet, but I need to get some sleep before tomorrow." She yawned.
"That's one thing I'm sure off Mrs. Walsh." Brandon chuckled joining her.
"Zuckermann-Walsh." She corrected him, her eyes already closed.
"Yes, my strong and independent wife."
"Who needs her husband around to have my back." She mumbled in reply.
Brandon breathed in and out cuddling up to her. "And he will." Was the last thing he said before they both nodded off into the land of dreams.
It was around the same time when Dylan made it back to his hotel room. The fresh air outside and long walk back to the hotel did him good and sobered him up. What his clouded mind considered a provocation, his semi-sober one evaluated as a word of advice from a friend.
For the first time in days he felt ready to take Brandon's advice to heart. Kicking off his shoes he continued straight to the bathroom. Stopping briefly in front of the mirror he observed his colorful face concluding quickly he had seen worse. Brandon has never been good at fights, he grinned remembering how they unintentionally broke Steve's nose back in the day. Stripping off his clothes he moved into the shower the droplets of hot water whipping his skin.
Turning the water off he wrapped a white towel around his waist heading into the bedroom. His eyes fell on the bottle of vodka on his night table. Without giving it a second thought he picked the bottle up and poured its contents into the toilet, flashing it up.
Brandon was right, alcohol and self pity were never going to bring him back the family he gave up all those years ago. Being sober and showing Kelly she can rely on him were giving him at least some chance that she might change her mind.
Letting the towel fall on the floor, he pulled a pair of boxer shorts over his lean hips. Dropping into the bed seconds later he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
Kelly has been up for hours tossing and turning in the uncomfortable hospital bed before she gave up and got dressed shortly before the nurse made the first round of the day at 6 am. She has been sitting in the same spot ever since just watching her daughter sleep and letting her thoughts wander freely.
The talk with Brandon the previous night was supposed to calm her down, yet it set off a different flood of worry. Ever since Ava was admitted to the hospital she was glad that it was Andrea who was assigned as her doctor. She knew she could trust her friend fully and never doubted a word she said or anything she did when it came to Ava's health. Now when she knew how stressful all of this has been for her, she felt guilty that she had not noticed it on her own.
This has been on her mind when the door opened and Andrea walked in. Seeing that Ava was still asleep she walked closer to Kelly. "Good morning." She said quietly.
"Good morning, Andrea." Kelly replied, yawning as she stood up from her sanctuary. "Sorry." She mumbled.
"Didn't get much sleep last night?" Andrea asked, noticing how tense Kelly was that morning.
"No." Kelly replied quickly her eyes on Ava.
"What about our patient?"
"She slept the whole night, woke up after 6 am when the nurse was running her morning round, but went right back to sleep afterwards." Kelly narrated.
"That sounds very good, looks that we finally hit the anti-nausea medication." Andrea smiled.
"Yes, thankfully, I don't think I was going to make it through another wave of nausea." Kelly returned her smile.
"To be completely honest with you, it's something I didn't get used to until now as well." Andrea screwed her face.
"It's not a pretty sight." Kelly agreed.
Andrea looked through Ava's chart which very much confirmed what Kelly has told her before and scribbled down a few notes as well. "We will start with another dose of chemotherapy after 10 am, should be easier this time." He eyes drifted to the little girl who was still asleep.
"Hopefully, it will." Kelly mumbled not tearing her sight away from her daughter.
"Alright, I'll see you two later." Andrea said ready to leave the room, but before she could open the door Kelly's voice stopper her.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Kelly asked.
"Sure." Andrea agreed moving back.
"Privately, if it's possible." Kelly's eyes drifted from Andrea to Ava.
"Yes, no problem." Andrea confirmed the two of them leaving the hospital room and heading to Andrea's office.
"Look, I'm not sure how to say this and if it's going to make sense at all, but I talked to Brandon yesterday." Kelly started.
Somehow this fact did not surprise Andrea, even after everything that happened between the two of them, cancelled wedding and each of them being in love with other people, they always unwittingly gravitated towards each other. "That was before or after he gained new shades of color to his face?" Andrea asked trying to enlighten the mood.
"I'd say before, although it was getting dark down at the shore." Kelly smiled softly.
"So what did the husband of mine do this time?" Andrea encouraged her to continue.
"He told me about your doubts." Kelly bit the inside of her mouth, the words were out.
"Kelly…" Andrea started knowing where this will head and silently cursing Brandon and his big mouth, but Kelly interrupted her quickly.
"Andrea, I just want you to know that I'm grateful for all that you are doing for Ava. Having you on our side while she is battling her illness is very reassuring for both of us, but if you decide that it's too much and you can't keep the distance that you need to make all the decision in Ava's best interest, I'd understand if you hand her over to another doctor." Kelly narrated, feeling happy that the words were out and making at least some sense.
"You would?" Andrea asked surprised.
"Absolutely, you've been like family to us in the past years. I don't want you to stress over this." Kelly confirmed.
"Thank you, Kelly." Andrea said.
"No, thank you. So what happened to Brandon's face yesterday?" She inquired.
"He got into a fight." Andrea said watching as Kelly raised her brows. "With Dylan." She added quickly.
Kelly let out a groan in reply. "Are those two ever going to grow up?" She asked finally.
"I doubt it." Andrea shook her head.
"Hmm, me too. Well, I won't keep you away from your work any longer. There are for sure patients waiting for you." Kelly said standing up.
"I'll see you later, Kelly." Andrea called after her watching as the door closed behind her and she will have to talk to her husband in the afternoon. There were some things that were supposed to stay between the two of them.
Several hours later in the same hospital Dylan made his way upstairs to the children oncology unit. Holding a pink teddy bear in his hand he remained standing still in the hallway in front of the door that he knew led inside of his daughter's hospital room.
Breathing in and out he finally found the courage to face them. Knocking on the door he waited, but when no reply came he pushed the door open quietly only to find his daughter asleep in the hospital bed and his ex-girlfriend curled up and asleep in the armchair in the corner of the room.
His eyes were running from one to another before they were met with the same pair of dark eyes that he saw in the mirror every morning looking directly at him.
"Daddy?" The one simple word said by a five year old melted his heart.
