Chapter 20

Brenda hurried towards the theater. She was running late and being late never sat well with Chester's high standards. Feeling the cell vibrate in her bag she decided to ignore it, she knew Dylan and Ethan were okay and whoever else was calling will have to wait, she couldn't afford to lose another second.

Running into the building she made her way to her dressing room as quickly as she could, only to find Blanche from the costume team waiting for her impatiently. In the hurry she completely forgot that today was their first rehearsal wearing their actual costumes, there was no way she was going to be on time now when she had to change her clothes as well.

"I thought you were not going to make it." Blanche smiled watching as Brenda quickly threw her bag in the corner and began taking her jacket off.

"Busy morning, somehow we managed to sleep in, than the baby was clingy and well the whole universe just turned against me this morning." Brenda chuckled sending the jacket in the same direction as her bag flew seconds ago.

"Not really, Chester called minutes ago he is stuck in traffic somewhere so the rehearsal is postponed by 30 minutes." Blanche said.

Brenda breathed a sigh of relief her eyes narrowing down on Blanche. "You could have told me that when I came running in." She chuckled.

"I wanted to, but you were so quick that there was no way to stop you until now." Blanche replied, taking Brenda's costume out of the bag where it came in. "It looks really good."

"Yes." Brenda agreed. "I just hope it will still fit."

"There is only one way to find out, you have to try it on." Blanche said.

Fifteen minutes later all dressed and ready for rehearsal, Brenda was about to leave her dressing room when she remembered about the call she missed. Returning back she fished for her phone inside her bag. Finally finding it, she was surprised to see a missed call from her mom. Running her thumb over the name on the screen she was not sure what to do, just until her brain reminded her that the rehearsal was starting in 5 minutes, she had no time to call her back. Setting the phone on the table she left the room deciding to call her mom later, or when she would feel ready to talk to her.

"Here we go again, buddy." Dylan said to his son as they walked into the swimming pool for another of his swimming classes. "I know it's not ocean and I know they won't lend you any surf, but it's the best we can get around here so we better be thankful for that."

"Good morning, Dylan!"

"Good morning, Lana!" Dylan replied.

"Oh. Hello there, Ethan!" She spoke to the baby and being the social baby he was he babbled in reply contently.

"He is such a happy baby." She spoke to Dylan again.

"Eh, you should have seen how happy he was at 3am this morning." Dylan chuckled.

"Even the best of us have dark moments." Lana laughed.

"That's true, he has his dark moments but my wife and I do realize how lucky we got with this one." Dylan said ruffling his son's dark hair.

Walking down the stairs Kelly was not surprised by the noise level that was coming out of the kitchen. Cindy Walsh really managed to take the reins of her household in one day and while she was thankful for the help it also made her feel uneasy.

"Good morning!" She called out as she walked into the room. The kids turned to her and talked excitedly. She couldn't help but notice that they were already dressed, Grace's hair neatly braided and they were half way through their breakfast. As her eyes fell on the clock that read just 7:45 she felt her heart sink. No matter what she would do, Cindy could always do it better. She took a deep breath, heading to the counter to get her morning tea ready.

"It's all set on the table." Cindy stopped her mid-movement.

"Thank you, Mrs. Walsh! That's very kind of you." Kelly replied putting a smile on her lips and returning to the table, slumping down into her chair.

Erin looked up from her plate, giving Kelly a questioning look, but Kelly only shook her head and her sister returned to her food. Taking the spoon she stirred the tea before taking a sip of it. Dang, she even knew how she liked her morning tea, this was a lost battle.

Fifteen minutes later the noise level went down as Cindy took the kids to the daycare and it was only Kelly and Erin left in the house.

"Are you okay?" Erin asked coming back downstairs with her backpack, getting everything ready for school.

"Yes, everything is fine." Kelly replied forcing up a smile.

"Kelly." Erin said slowly leaving her backpack in the middle of the table and moving to her sister. "I might be only sixteen, but I'm not stupid. I can see that you are not okay."

"She is just so perfect." Kelly said finally, her words followed by a soft sigh. "Everything is going so smoothly when she is around and she is always two steps ahead of me, it just makes me feel incompetent. Like, I'm failing at his whole parenting thing."

"You are hardly failing at this parenting thing, if we take the two happy and content kids that are moving around this house into account. She is just trying to help that's all." Erin said sitting down on the chair next to Kelly.

"I know and I'm really thankful for it. I mean there are not many mother-in-laws who would fly in to help three weeks before their grandchild is even due, but ever since she arrived yesterday I have a feeling like I have no say in anything."

"Are you sure?" Erin cocked her eyebrow. "If you were not sulking this morning you would have noticed that Cal and Grace were wearing the clothes that you picked for them yesterday evening and eating the blueberry oatmeal that you said you want to make them for breakfast. She is following your wishes while helping you out and allowing you to rest before this little one comes and makes your life a living hell." Erin grinned.

Going back to the morning Kelly had to laugh at her own blindness to it all. "Since when are you so smart?"

"I don't know, happened sometime between the twelfth and sixteenth year of my life." Erin licked her lips grinning.

Kelly just shook her head in amusement. "Oh." She said grabbing her stomach as the sharp pain shot through her abdomen.

"What?" Erin asked worriedly.

"She must have hit some nerve." Kelly explained still holding her stomach as the pain subsided only very slowly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just a powerful kick that's all." She brushed it off, standing up to demonstrate all was well only to feel something warm trickling down her legs. Looking down even with her big belly in the way she could see the pool of liquid that was forming on the ground around her.

Erin's eyes followed Kelly's and went wide once she spotted the same thing that Kelly saw. "Shit!" She mumbled, quickly jumping up and looking for her cell phone. "I'm calling Brandon and his mom. We have to get you to the hospital."

Brandon fished the ringing cell phone out of his back pocket, seeing Erin's name on the screen he quickly accepted the call. "Erin?" He asked before a flood of words came from the other end. "Wow, wow…slow down. I can't understand a word." He stopped the flood of words, listening carefully. Once the words were making sense again, his face went pale.

"Kelly's water broke? When?" He asked jumping to his feet and closing the laptop in front of him, trying to push it into his bag with the one free hand he had. "I'm coming. Tell her I'm already on my way."

Throwing the bag over his shoulder he hurried out of the press room which was not easy given that most of the other reporters were still only coming in for the second to last day of conference.

"Kelly?!" He listened to his girlfriend as Erin decided to hand her the phone over. "It's going to be fine, just wait for mom and she'll bring you to the hospital." He listened to her again, still making his way out of the press center.

"No, it's going to be fine. I wouldn't miss this for the world. I'm already on my way." He smiled finally getting out of the room and running through the entry hall.

"Just remember that I love you and until this day is over we will have our daughter in our arms, alright?" He waited for her confirmation waving at a taxi that would get him to the airport as soon as possible. He had to be there for the birth of their daughter, he promised it to Kelly and Brandon Walsh always kept his promises.