Sorry for the delay. Just when I thought things were calming down, they got all crazy again. I guess that's just life though. I will do my best to get chapter ten out much quicker than I got chapter nine out. Anyways, I tried to make most of this chapter light since if I write them correctly, chapters ten and eleven will be pretty intense. That's all I'm saying on that front though ; ). As usual, thanks to all my reviewers. Enjoy!

Chapter 9:

"Hey," Kelly said as she opened the door for Brenda.

"Hi," Brenda gave her sister-in-law a hug. "Where is everybody?"

"Sammie's sleeping over a friend's house and Silver is at the Pit with Annie," Kelly replied. "I was thinking, I'm just gonna call Ryan Matthews and tell him I changed my mind."

"I know you want to do that, but I also know you want him to leave you alone," Brenda said.

"And I have no guarantee that he will actually leave me alone from now on," Kelly said. "Yeah he said he would, but given the fact that his persistence borders on obsession, I have a hard time believing it."

"You'll never know if you don't go tonight," Brenda argued. "It's one dinner. Just a few hours, and then you can come back here and forget that it ever happened."

"Okay. Okay," Kelly sighed as she gave in. "We'll do this your way. Promise me you'll still be here when I get back."

"I can't," Brenda informed her. "I'm supposed to meet my agent later. He says its to celebrate the ER guest spot, but I think he wants me to do more TV auditions."

"You deserve it," Kelly did her best to hide her disappointment.

"Thank you," Brenda replied. "Now let's go get you ready."

With that Kelly followed Brenda up the stairs and into the master bedroom. Once inside, Brenda headed straight for the walk-in closet and started flipping through some of Kelly's clothes. Noticing a pile of stuff in the corner, Brenda curiously began to ruffle through it while Kelly simply stood in closet's doorway.

"What's this?" Brenda noticed a box at the bottom of the pile. It was taped shut.

"Ummm," Kelly's face flushed red as she realized exactly what Brenda had found. "Those are all the things that I bought for Brandon's eyes only."

"Oh," Brenda stated simply, not wanting to think about that aspect of her brother's marriage. Still, curiosity got the best of her. "Why are they in a box buried in the closet?"

"After the accident, I had a hard time keeping them out knowing that Brandon wasn't here so there was no use for them so I buried them," Kelly explained. "That is one of the few things that has changed in this house in the past few years. Of course no one would know besides me and Brandon, if he were here."

"I'm sorry Kel," Brenda said once she noticed that her friend had gotten upset.

"It's okay. You didn't know," Kelly reassured her.

"This dress is beautiful," Brenda referenced a little black dress that hung near the back of Kelly's closet. "How come I've never seen you in it?"

"Because I've intentionally stopped wearing it," Kelly answered with a shaky voice. She really didn't want to keep having to get into this stuff. "It was Brandon's favorite. Of course he while always seemed more interested in helping me get out of the dress." Kelly let out a small chuckle while Brenda made a face.

~*~*~

"Did I get all the tags?" Kelly asked, husband as he walked into their bedroom. She spun around so that he could get a better look.

Instead of looking for tags Brandon just stared at her, taking in the beauty that was before him. The black velvet dress stopped a few inches below her waste, and the low-cut top accentuated her breasts while revealing just enough while the straps criss-crossed across her checks, wrapping around her neck.

"Well?" Kelly impatiently asked as she reached for the necklace that she had left on her dresser. They had planned on leaving already.

"I think so," Brandon said even though he wasn't really sure.

"Good," Kelly replied. "Can you help me with this clasp?"

"Sure," he said as he walked up behind her. Once the clasp was fastened though, he stayed. Wrapping his arms around her waste, he pulled her into him and began kissing her neck.

"Stop it," Kelly fought to get out in between moans. Brandon had immediately gone for her sensitive spot. Swatting him away, she continued. "We're already going to be late."

"I have a better idea," Brandon said as he kissed her again. "Why don't we skip dinner, stay in, get you out of this dress…" His voice trailed off suggestively.

"Why Mr. Walsh, I do believe your head is in the gutter," Kelly teased him.

"Only where you're concerned," he replied.

"Seriously though, the babysitter's already here," Kelly said.

"No distractions for us then," Brandon said sheepishly.

"Brandon," she swatted him again. "I don't think it's appropriate to hire a babysitter just so we can have sex. Besides, we haven't been out since Sammie was born, and we have reservations at Spago."

"Spago can wait," Brandon tried to persuade her.

"I promise you, it will be worth the wait," Kelly told him.

***

"I still think we should have tipped the waiter," Kelly said as they walked into the house.

"No way. The way he was looking at you and making excuses to come to our table was more than enough," Brandon replied. It had taken all of his restraint not to punch the guy out.

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Walsh," the babysitter greeted them. "Sammie's asleep in his crib. He was a perfect angel."

"I'm glad to hear that Lucy," Kelly smiled while Brandon took some money out of his wallet.

"Have a good evening," he said as he gave her the money.

Once Lucy left, Kelly headed upstairs followed by Brandon. She tried to head towards Sammie's room, but Brandon stopped her.

"I want to check in on Sammie," she said.

"We'll do that later," Brandon said. "I've been patiently waiting all night for this." He smiled as he led his wife towards their bedroom.

~*~*~

"You know, I think I need to stop asking questions," Brenda's voice pulled Kelly back to the present.

"Good idea," Kelly replied as Brenda turned her attention back to shuffling through Kelly's clothes.

"I think I found the perfect pants," Brenda pulled an old pair of ripped jeans with paint stains out of the back of Kelly's closet.

"I haven't seen those in years," Kelly stated.

"What are you so happy about?" Brenda noticed the big grin that had taken over her sister-in-law's face while she wasn't paying attention.

"I was just taking a trip down memory lane," Kelly told her.

"I don't think I want to know," Brenda said, not even wanting to think about the possibilities for where Kelly's head had been.

***

When Ryan arrived promptly at seven, Brenda was still there. In fact, it was Brenda who got the door while Kelly stood in the living room, contemplating running out the back door and standing him up. Before she could though, Ryan was in the room while Brenda stood in the door way.

"Hi Kelly. These are for you," he handed her a bouquet of red roses.

"Hi," Kelly said curtly as she walked towards the trash can and tossed the roses in. There was no way she was keeping them, and hopefully, throwing them out in front him would let him know that this was not nor would it ever become a real date.

Glancing at Ryan, Kelly almost laughed. They'd be getting a lot of strange looks tonight as their appearances couldn't have been any more different if they had tried. Ryan was wearing a suit and tie while Kelly and Brenda had settled on the jeans that Brenda had found in the back of Kelly's closet and a West Beverly Hills Wildcats t-shirt that Kelly had accidentally faded in the wash.

"So where are we going?" Kelly asked. There was no backing out now.

"That's a surprise," Ryan smiled.

"Great," Kelly rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad you like it," an oblivious Ryan said. Checking his watch, he added. "We should probably get going."

Not saying anything, Kelly followed him. She stopped when she reached Brenda though. The sister-in-laws and friends hugged.

"I'd tell you to have fun," Brenda whispered. "But—…"

"I'd rather kill myself," Kelly jokingly replied.

***

They sat in silence as Ryan drove. Kelly looked around uncomfortably. She had absolutely no desire to be in this car, and it didn't help that they were driving through a part of Beverly Hills that she always intentionally avoided even if it meant going extremely out of her way. As they approached a red light, Kelly froze and stared. Her eyes glued to the intersection in front of them. She was surprised by how normal it looked. She had known that it had been cleaned up long ago, but she had never been able to wrap her head around it. She had always felt that it should be different. To any other observer, it looked just like any other intersection with no clues as to what had actually happened there, but Kelly knew better. Why did they have to come this way?

A few minutes later, Ryan turned the car into a parking lot, and Kelly read the sign. Hunan Hills. Closing her eyes, Kelly too a deep breathe. Things had just gone from bad to worse.

"Well here we are," Ryan smiled.

"I don't eat Chinese food," Kelly's voice was shaky.

"Come on," Ryan replied. "You're pulling my leg, right? Who doesn't eat Chinese food? Besides, this place has the best Chinese in town."

"I know it does," Kelly said under her breathe.

"What?" Ryan asked. Fortunately, he hadn't been able to make out what she had said.

"Nothing," Kelly replied. "Can we just go?"

"If you really don't like Chinese, they do have some other stuff. I've never had it, but I've been told its decent," he informed her.

"Look, I can't go in there," Kelly was emphatic.

"Listen Kelly, I told you that if you had dinner with me and didn't have a good time, I would back off. I've made reservations for us so if we're going to have dinner, it's here. I can take you home, but if we do that, I'm not gonna give up on you," if he had to resort to blackmail, he wasn't above it.

Kelly just sat there silently, contemplating whether getting Ryan Matthews to stop harassing her was worth what awaited her inside the restaurant.