Brandon's Hotel Room

Brandon stood with his hand on the doorknob not sure if he really wanted to hear what she had to say, or if he just wanted to erase all the feelings he ever had for her and walk out that door. Of course, she was insistent that he just let her explain, and truth be told, he did want to at least give her that chance. Finally, he brought his hand back down to his side and walked back over to where she stood by the bed.

"Okay, I'm listening… explain it to me." He said sitting down on the end of the bed.

"Yes, I do have a daughter and believe me it was not something I planned… in many ways it was a big mistake because every time I look into her sweet eyes I see the monster her father was. I see the man that I was so afraid of that I couldn't tell him 'no,' no matter how many times I wanted to… he paralyzed me… and I couldn't get away from it." Kelly said as she took a seat next to him and put her hand on his knee.

"What are you trying to say? Who was this guy?" Brandon asked unsure if he understood her correctly.

"His name was Daniel Peters and at first he was nothing but sweet to me… he would go out of his way to make my day special… He made me feel like I was actually a part of his life. He would always tell me that he couldn't live without me and he actually made me think that I couldn't live without him. That was until he started to squeeze a little too tight, and criticized what I wore on our dates." Kelly said looking down, not really sure if she was ready to tell him everything.

"Kel, did he hurt you?"

Brandon asked as he brought her head up to meet his eyes with his hand. He could see that she was ashamed about how far she had let that relationship go. There were tears welling up in her eyes as he wiped a stay tear with his finger. He wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay, but she still hadn't gotten to the part where she apologized for not telling him sooner. After all, they had become rather close over the past few years.

"Never noticeably, just enough to scare me into staying with him and doing whatever he wanted me to do. That was what brought me to that party… where… where everything happened…" Kelly started to paint the picture of that night.

The Night Of The Party…

Everything was going great… the music was perfect and it seemed like Dan was really having a good time. He was hanging out by the keg of beer talking with his buddy's while Kelly chatted with some girls she hardly new. She wished that Donna would have been able to get away from her parent's party long enough to go with her. At least then she wouldn't have to make small talk with perfect strangers.

"The guys look like they are having a good time." One of the girls said watching the guys laugh about something.

"Hey, Kelly you being rather quiet over there… how are things with you and Dan?" One of the other girls asked.

"I can't complain." Kelly said forcing a smile.

Actually she had plenty of complaints, but if Dan ever caught her talking about their relationship he would really make her pay for it. As she let the smile fade a little she thought about what she would have been doing if Dan wouldn't have dragged her to another one of his lame parties. She would have been at Donna's most likely sitting up in her room talking about all the things they would rather be doing.

"Hey, having fun?" Dan asked walking up to Kelly.

"I'd be having more fun if Donna were here." Kelly said receiving a look from Dan as he took her hand and pulled her up.

"What did I tell you about mentioning her around me?" He whispered into her ear.

"I'm sorry… can we please go somewhere else?" Kelly pleaded with him.

"Sure I got just the place…" Dan said as he pulled her over to the stairs gripping her arm tightly.

"Ouch… Dan that hurts!" Kelly said as he forced her up the stairs.

Back In The Present…

Brandon couldn't believe what he was hearing… he couldn't believe that she would even stay with anyone like that. Dan must have had some strong hold over her to make her feel so helpless that she had to stay with him. He brushed a few more tears from her face and pulled her closer to him so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. Kelly put her arms around him as she took his sent in.

"I know this is hard for you to say…" Brandon said rubbing her back with his free hand.

"You have no idea how long I have kept this in… you are the first person that is hearing the full story." Kelly said taking one more deep breath.

"Okay, what happened next?" Brandon asked unsure if he even wanted to hear the rest.

Back At The Party… In The Upstairs Bedroom…

Dan lead Kelly through one of the doors and inside was a bedroom. There was a queen sized bed and a dresser inside and that was when Kelly knew what he was going to do. She didn't want to but she really didn't have a choice, if she wanted to keep from getting hurt she knew she had to listen to him and do whatever he wanted.

"Dan, please…" Kelly wanted to say don't do this, but she couldn't get the words out.

"You are the one that asked for it!" Dan said as he pushed her on the bed.

Kelly let the tears roll down her face as she stared up at the ceiling, unable to stop him, and unable to scream no matter how much she wanted to. Dan had pulled her hands up over her head and held them with his hands. She could feel the pressure of his fingers on her wrists and knew that there would be bruises in the morning. He wasn't being gentle or careful and Kelly just wanted him to take her home, she just wanted this horrible night to end.

When Dan was done he just got up and left the room. He didn't say anything; he just walked out and left her on the bed. She waited for the door to slam shut before she let the tears stream down her face again, as she brought her knees up to her chest and pulled her arms around them. It was at that moment that she saw the phone on the nightstand and picked it up. She dialed Donna's number hoping that she would be able to come and get her, even though she didn't even really know where she was.

"Hello?" Donna asked picking up the phone.

"Donna… can you come and get me?" Kelly tried to hold back the tears, but was unsuccessful.

"Kel what's wrong? Where are you?" Donna asked noticing the fear in Kelly's voice.

"I'm at a party in Long Beach… Dan ditched me." Kelly said wanting to tell her everything that he had done to her.

"I'm on my way!" Donna said hanging up the phone.

It was about an hour later when Donna opened the door to where Kelly was, and when she saw her she couldn't believe her eyes. Kelly was still holding her knees to her chest, but when Donna saw her she had managed to put her clothes back on. Her face was red and puffy from all the crying she had been doing and her whole body was shaking. Donna knew she had to get her best friend home, but she also knew that she couldn't take her home like this.

"Kel, what did he do to you?" Donna asked sitting on the bed next to her friend.

"Get me out of here…" Kelly cried as she hugged Donna as tight as she could.

Back In The Present…

Kelly could feel herself wrap her arms tighter around Brandon and he just put his arms protectively around her. She felt safe in his arms and that was how she wanted to feel. She was tired of being scared all of the time. Brandon on the other hand was feeling like he wanted to deck this Dan fellow for hurting his girlfriend… and yes, that was what he considered her. It didn't matter that she had lied about her entire life for the past four years, the feelings he had for her where not going to just disappear because she has a kid, yeah she should have told him, but there was nothing they could do about that now.

"Donna took me home and a few weeks later I found out that I was pregnant with Cassie and that I had to tell Jackie… and that sounded a whole lot easier that it really was. She didn't really want anything to do with me so she shipped me off to the east coast to see Aunt Natalie." Kelly said looking up at Brandon.

"Something tells me you two didn't see eye to eye." Brandon said as they both laid down on the bed their legs hanging off the bottom.

"Let's just say I didn't want to keep the baby and she wanted me to as a reminder of my stupidity. She didn't know anything about that night and I never wanted her too either. I just wanted to go home… I just wanted things to be back to normal." Kelly said stopping to catch her breath.

"But you kept the baby… what made you change your mind?" Brandon asked as he watched her smile for the first time since she started the story.

"I changed my mind when the nurse placed her in my arms right after I had her. She was all red and splotchy but she was mine… and I fell in love with her. I couldn't let her go after all that hard work… after seeing that face. In fact I could have sworn I saw her smile when she opened her bright blue eyes. For the next few days I never let her out of my sight." Kelly said wishing she was holding Cassie at that very moment.

"You said her name was Cassie right?" Brandon asked trying to keep her talking.

"Yeah, Cassie Lynn Taylor… My Aunt tried to talk me out of keeping her for the last two weeks I was with her, but I was in love and there was no stopping me. She tried to warn me that Jackie would be furious and I just told her that mom can't stay mad at us forever. I was right about that… It took her a few months but she got use to the idea… of course it helped when I told her I wanted to go back to school in the fall." Kelly said as she yawned.

"I'd like to meet Cassie soon." Brandon said yawning himself.

"I have a picture of her…" Kelly said getting up and grabbing her bag. "See… isn't she beautiful?" Kelly asked handing him the picture she had.

"Picture perfect… just like her mom!" Brandon said holding the picture in his hand.

He couldn't believe how much like Kelly that little girl actually looked. Little Cassie Lynn was the spitting image of her and Brandon could only imagine that she acted just like her too. In fact, he couldn't wait to meet her. He handed the picture back to Kelly and took her in his arms when he noticed the tears coming back to her eyes.

"What is it?" He asked as she buried her head in his chest.

"Nothing… it just feels so good to actually tell somebody the truth…. And I'm glad that someone was you." Kelly said cuddling up to him and closing her eyes.

"Don't worry I'm not going anywhere." Brandon said stroking her hair.

Kelly fell asleep in Brandon's arms, and for the first time in a while didn't wake up with Dan's face etched in her mind. She actually slept all the way through the night and Brandon had played a big part in that. He had made her feel safe enough that she was able to tell him everything and safe enough that she didn't have to worry about what was going to happen to her if Dan found her.

Brandon just continued to hold her in his arms as he too finally drifted off into dreamland. Those dreams filled with Kelly, Cassie and their family and friends. He knew deep in his heart that she was the only one for him, and he was okay with that.