Dare to Love

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing

A/N:


Chapter 28 (Change for the Better)

Considering Stacy wanted to see Megan as well, she went with Kelly to the woman's house about an hour away. They rented a car, Martin was driving while Kelly sat in the passenger seat beside him. Stacy was wedged in between Art and Mala in the back seat. "Well on the plus side, we get to take her back to her home where Tiffany is," Martin said as he glanced in the rearview mirror. Kelly quickly nodded and glanced towards the small brown house they were pulling up beside.

She was happy to see a young girl of eight years old playing in the front yard, and just a few feet away in a lawn chair was the much older version of Megan. When they opened the door the freckled sandy haired girl quickly hopped up, holding a stuffed bunny in her hand. They heard Megan whistle at her, her daughter's reflection shining in her shades. "Lucy, do not go up to strangers, you know better!" Megan started to rise up. Her hair was now short and angled beside her jawline, she was wearing diamond encrusted, white sunglasses, and had pink lipstick on. Her outfit consisted of a button up brown long-sleeved shirt and blue denim jeans. Resting atop her head was a vanilla crème sun hat with a pink ribbon around the top. She looked like Mrs. Howell on Gilligans Island!

"But momma, Stacy's with them!" Lucy chimed. Stacy laughed and ran over to the girl. Megan stood strong and gently slid her shades down her nose, gaining a closer look at the people getting out of the truck. Kelly spread her arms out, waiting anxiously to see if Megan would still recognize her. She was a little concerned about the stuffed animal, but was pretty confident Megan wasn't nearly as crazy as she was in her teenage years. The butterflies in her stomach grew worse as Megan slid her shades back over her eyes. She was almost disheartened, imagining the worst as Megan didn't seem to respond to her.

Then the woman put her hands on her hips, smacked her lips and tucked them into a cool smirk. "Why I'll be damned, it's really you, Kelly. Dakota always said we'd see you again, I was about ready to give up on you! Get over here and give me a hug!" Relieved and ecstatic, Kelly rushed over to Megan and hugged her. "I guess you found Dakota or Tiffany first?"

"We're actually going to see Tiffany later, we met up with Dakota. She already told me everything that I missed out on…" Kelly breathed in and bounced once, "I can't believe you're married to a hotel manager!" Megan's face brightened and she quickly nodded her head.

"Zachary Martin, we met when I stayed at his hotel after my release. We fell in love, he took me on this brilliant cruise for our honeymoon!" She had to admit, she was almost envious of her friends, but without a doubt she was truly happy for all of them. "He always said he never even thought of working for a hotel, much less managing it. He got his training from an old friend, Mr. Moseby…Oh and his brother is a world famous scientist."

"Scientist, huh?"

"Yep. I'm sure you don't want to hear my stuff, tell me about yourself! It's been so long."

"Technically. For me, it's only been about five days, to be honest." Megan chuckled and nodded as Kelly looked back to Martin and her friends. "I'm dating that guy in the middle," She pointed towards Martin, then moved her finger to Mala and Art. "Those are our friends. I've been wanting to find you guys though, see what's going on with you all."

"Yeah, we all have our own things going on now. Families, jobs, you name it…I think about our teenage years all the time, I'm just amazed any of us made it out of those years unscathed." It didn't take away from the pain of two of their group being deceased now, but at the very least, the majority of them did well with their lives. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I…really don't know. I'm just confused by everything, I'm starting to get used to this future though." Not that there was any other future, for a girl who would have taken her life in another reality. She breathed out a heavy sigh and watched the two kids sit down on the grass. "Who would have guessed I'd start dating someone, anyone."

"Yes, about that…" Megan reached out to Martin, motioning him to come forward. Kelly chuckled as Martin shyly made his way towards the group, she knew exactly what was coming his way. "So. Martin, is it. I've heard some pretty rough things about you, lately." He emitted a nervous chuckle as Megan lowered her shades. "I'm trusting that you won't let your little family get in the way of things, don't let anything happen to her. Got that? Megan gave him a suspicious look and he quickly nodded.

"Y-Yeah, I got that. I wouldn't let anything happen."

"Good. She's a very good friend. I may not have seen her in eighteen years, and a lot of things have changed for me, making me a lot calmer, but that doesn't change the fact that I am still as protective and once helped burn a man to ashes." Kelly shivered at the fresh memory and looked towards Martin, who remained quiet, understanding Megan's words. "Kelly, it's almost time for Lucy's bedtime, you can come in if you'd like."

"Thanks."

They spent a good half hour reminiscing before moving on. Chloe's place was halfway between Megan's and Tiffany's, so they stopped off to see how she was doing. She did live on the outskirts of the city, in a small house with a wooden fence perimeter. Kelly was a little frightened, curious as to whether Chloe had become 'that' type of witch.

When they entered the house, Chloe was standing tall at her kitchen counter. Her blonde curls fell towards her waist, but not nearly as lengthy as Dakota's hair had been. Her diamond eyes and sharp nose were pointed towards a pie in front of her. There was a slice in front of her that she was already eating. She glanced up at the group and lifted her eyebrows, pausing for a minute before dropping her fork onto the table.

"K-Kelly!" Chloe rushed around the counter and hugged her, catching her by surprise. "Oh my god, Dakota was right!" She cleared her throat and took a step back, coughing into her hand. "Not that I ever doubted sending you into the future or anything." Kelly raised an eyebrow at her friend and smirked, folding her arms over.

"I heard from Dakota that you're a bit of a prankster with your magic."

"Oh yeah! Dakota's always checking up on me, though, she likes to ruin my fun." Chloe laughed and pointed to the lattice peach pie on the counter. "You want a slice of pie? It's clean!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well look on the counter." There were two different colored baskets on the counter, both filled with fresh peaches. One was a black basket and one was red. "I wanted to kind of imitate the magic queen from snow white, so I've discovered the art of growing poison fruits, and I went with peaches. The red basket are the poisonous ones and the black are safe. Remember that. If you ever want a peach, take it from the black basket."

"You're having too much fun with magic, aren't you…" She still thought it was a little humorous what Chloe had done in a woman's prison. Perhaps Chloe became the first woman to mass impregnate other women. Granted she had to wonder, who would be the fathers to those children? "Magic should be used responsibly."

"I know, I know. I can't help myself sometimes." Chloe returned to her pie and stabbed at it with a fork. "Dakota keeps me in check, though. So no need to worry about that one. When she sent you here, she became like the mother of the group, always making sure everyone was all right."

"Yeah, I can see that happening. I'm glad all of you are doing well. She uh, told me you put her years on yourself." Chloe pushed the fork through the pie slice and moved it towards her mouth, sighing to herself.

"Yep, I've been free for about two years now. It was worth it though, having Dakota be able to raise her daughter. Quinn's grown very well over the years." It was great seeing Chloe as a loyal friend to Dakota, to know all the girls remained close. They really took the whole 'friends forever' thing seriously. "You know, not many people can reach thirty-six and say they're still friends with their childhood friends."

"True. So two things…how come you never married, and why do you need poison peaches again?" Chloe laughed, then took another bite of her pie. Clearly dessert as there was an empty lasagna pan seated on the stovetop.

"Only novelty, though I always have a tainted pie in the oven should I ever need to use it. Seriously, you'd be surprised how many robbers out there will seriously take up a homemaker's offer of kindness to stop and have a bite of pie." Kelly raised an eyebrow and Martin snickered at the thought of someone being so stupid. "I have the tainted pie in the oven right now, actually." Chloe moved over to the oven and slowly opened it, revealing a pie in a blackened pan on the bottom rack. She looked up at Martin, slowly closing the oven door. "So you must be this Martin guy that Dakota sent Kelly into the future for." Martin smiled slightly and nodded his head.

"That's me…"

"You take care of her then, treat her right. She's been through a mess, and I know you're having some difficulty with your family. She doesn't need another mess, you know." Chloe shut the oven door all the way and casually flipped on the oven light, admiring the pie inside. Kelly took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The older woman turned around, smiling pleasantly. "If you ever hurt her, please remember, Dakota's the nice witch." Kelly moved her hand to her forehead, trying hard not to laugh while at the same time feeling rather embarrassed.

"Let's not scare him, okay?" It wasn't like he was her boyfriend, they were simply dating and he'd yet to vanish on her. "I'd rather him not be scared away." Martin laughed and Kelly started to smile, she knew he wouldn't be scared away so easily. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, I'm glad you're doing well. Still hard to believe you're eighteen years older than me all of a sudden."

"I know, right?" Chloe's eyes dropped for a second, then quickly flicked back up to her. The motion was recognized rather easily, as she always did this right before delivering sad news. "Did Dakota tell you? Your mom's still alive and in LA. She came by while we were all in prison, she was looking for you…" Kelly's chest ached as her heart began to pound, still the thought of seeing her mother was frightening. "Apparently she swam to shore and slipped into a coma, she heard about what we all did, then read about your 'suicide'. She seemed pretty distraught."

"Distraught?" A sudden stab hit her heart once more, still she couldn't believe her mother actually cared all that much about her. She could see it, but she wanted to know why the woman never said anything. Granted, after the whole experience with Martin's mother, she understood how it was possible for an abused mother to be so silenced by fear that they seemed like they didn't care about their children. "She really did care…what did you tell her?"

"Yeah, she never had much choice, I guess. But we told her not to worry about you. Not a lot of good it would do, but, if anything we wanted her to know you were okay at least…"

"So the suicide thing?"

"As far as she's concerned, it never happened. What your uncle believes, we don't know. We've never talked to him." Keme basically disappeared off the face of the earth after the death of his brother, Len. It had been a godsend for Kelly at the time. Now she suspected, if her mom was alive, then Keme had to be somewhere near her. The panic of that realization had yet to set in, but it was coming. Martin's concerned gaze moved over to her, he seemed to realize her fears of running into her uncle. Without Len to control his brother, how dangerous would Uncle Keme really be?

"Dakota told me where mom is, so…I know where to go, but I'm still really afraid. I don't know if you understand, Chloe. For you, all of this…everything happened nearly twenty years ago. For me?" She scoffed, moving her hand to her chest and clenching her eyes shut. "For me, just days have passed by. It's still been three years since I killed my dad and apparently now I'm just learning my mom survived! Comatose! Then my bastard uncle never had the fucking decency to tell me!" She might not have tried to kill her mother again if she knew she were alive, she would have wanted to take care of her! She would have wanted to try and have a life with her mother! "Why did my uncle just vanish?" Not only that, but for her own mother, it had also been eighteen years.

"Kell…" Chloe hugged her close and gently rubbed her back. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I know it's still tender for you, still close. I wish I could say everything will be okay, but you know, none of us know the future that well. Even Dakota was always saying, we wouldn't even know truly if you would be sent to the right place or if we'd see you again. You know what? We had faith. You should too…"

"What? Have faith that things will work out?"

"Yes." Chloe leaned back, smiling confidently as she swept away some of Kelly's tears. "Things will work out, Kelly. Things always have a way of working out." She looked towards Martin, remembering their own conversations from before. It was very true, something she could believe, but Chloe was right. As cliché as it sounded, she just had to have faith that everything would be okay. Chloe motioned to the others in the room, still holding onto her smile. "You've got probably a great guy you're dating, two good friends, and having just talked to Dakota on the phone…it seems you're making friends with Quinn and Stacy. So things are already working out for you, you just have to learn to see that good beyond that bad."

"Yeah, you're right…you are…Not something I usually ever say to you-" Chloe laughed as Kelly shook her head, astonished with the wisdom her friend had gained throughout the years. "-But you are right."

"Prison changes a girl."

"Funny."

After several more minutes of discussion, it was finally time to get Stacy home to her mom. When they arrived, Kelly was stunned by the size of Tiffany's home. It was a large white brick house with a gigantic yard. Stacy had described the back yard as a spacious grassy area with several bushes, trees, and pepper plants. In the middle of this was a large eight-shaped pool with four grey pool chairs that a stone patio overlooked. On the patio was a stone table with six chairs surrounding it.

When they made it inside, they found Tiffany in the large kitchen. Tiffany was a bit tanner than Kelly remembered, she was wearing a white spaghetti strap top with knee length blue colored jeans. Her blonde hair framed her shoulders as she gazed down at a piece of toast that she was applying peanut butter to. "Mom! I'm home!" Stacy exclaimed. "Also, have someone who you should meet!" Tiffany lifted her head up and gasped upon seeing Kelly, nearly dropping the butter knife in her hand.

"Oh my god! Dakota told me she was just talking to you!" She moved over and swept Kelly in a tight hug. The woman had grown a bit taller over the years, not to mention her arms were a bit stronger and her shoulders broader.

"I'm amazed," Kelly replied, stepping back and studying her friend from head to toe. "You look gorgeous!" Stacy picked up an orange from the counter and began peeling it with her fingers.

"Mom and I do a lot of exercising together. Morning jogs, aerobics, you name it. If we're not working on homework or she's not on some new project, we're doing some sort of exercise."

"It's a good idea to keep in shape," Tiffany remarked. The woman took a bite of her toast and swallowed it down. She was admiring Kelly for several minutes, until it almost felt uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, it's just been so long, but I figure you've heard that enough." Kelly laughed.

"You're the fourth to say it." Stacy cut the orange in half and offered a piece to her, Kelly graciously took it and popped it into her mouth. After letting the fresh fruit go down, she motioned to Martin, Art and Mala, all standing awkwardly in the room and admiring the enormous home. "That's Martin, Art, and Mala. They're my friends here…oh, and you have an amazing house, by the way."

"Thank you, and it's good to meet them." Tiffany set her toast on a plate and leaned against the stone island in the middle of her kitchen, her palms rested firmly on the white surface as her fingers slowly tapped it. "So are you surprised? CEO of Phoenix Airlines, I bet you never expected that from me. My parents decided it wasn't worth losing another daughter, and accepted me back into the family after the whole thing in prison…" Stacy laughed once and cleared her throat, closing her eyes and smirking with confidence.

"Excuse me mom, but I believe I am the reason for that."

Tiffany's eyes lifted towards the ceiling and she gave her daughter a one armed hug, "Of course. They couldn't bear the thought of never having anything to do with their little granddaughter." Stacy lifted two fingers and winked at the group.

"Score one for Stacy Tammy Eros!"

"Now now sweetie, don't go getting a big head." Kelly laughed at the mother and daughter pair. A tear fell from her eye and she quickly swept it away. "Something wrong, Kelly?" There was a little bit of envy towards the pair, the same was said for Dakota and Quinn

"No, it's just…I'm really happy for you. All of you. I…don't think I would trade this for anything, actually. I'm still working on myself, I have a long way to go. I still haven't even communicated with my mom yet." She wanted more than anything to have that bond with her mother. "Do you think…it's too late?"

"Too late for what?"

"To talk to mom…to start fresh with her?" Martin walked up beside her and glanced towards Tiffany, clearly interested in this question. Of course, he was still fighting the whole thing about his own mother's family. Tiffany shook her head without hesitation.

"Even if it took until 2014, my mom and dad finally wanted to make a bond with me. That bond is still strong, Kelly. Aside from Stacy, they're the best friends I could have and the best thing to have in my life. My daughter is first of course."

"Score two," Stacy whispered. Tiffany chuckled, then pat Kelly on the shoulder.

"You're strong, I know things are going to be fine for you. Don't be afraid to talk to your mom, it is never too late to start, and I'm sure that woman has waited long enough." She had to admit, she had always hated when her friends were right. More so, she hated it now because they were right, and that much wiser and more mature than she was. She scoffed and smiled at her old friend.

"I remember when I was the smart one in the group…" Tiffany laughed once more. She was sure, more than anything, that she could at least talk to her mother. Maybe she could see where this would go, she'd just have to have faith. "Now all of you seem…that much smarter…must be age." Tiffany lifted her piece of toast, took a bite, and winked at Kelly.

"Things change, Kelly. Things change."


Score to anyone that noticed Stacy's middle name is after her aunt Tammy. So what did everyone think of Kelly meeting her friends all over again? Indeed they're all wise now, which leaves me loving Tiffany's last line XD