Chapter 21

Dylan stood in front of the fireplace looking at the photo collection that was on display there, numerous photos of Ava through the years which did not come as a surprise to him, however seeing several photos of him and Kelly displayed there did. The one that especially caught his attention was taken around two weeks before his departure during Maddy's birthday party in backyard of Casa Walsh, his hand was resting on Kelly's ever growing belly while she had her back against his chest, they were laughing both oblivious to the fact that someone was taking photo of them.

"She's asleep." Kelly announced walking into the living room.

"Good." Dylan mumbled over his shoulder, still unable to tear his sight away from the photo.

"What are you looking at?" Kelly crossed the short distance and stopped next to him her eyes falling on the very same photo, she loved that snap of them although looking at it always brought her a lot of pain, it represented quite well what she lost upon his departure.

"We were so happy." He could hear Kelly take a sharp breath and turning to the side saw her leaving the place next to him.

"Kel..." He said softly, moving to the sofa where she sat fighting her emotions.

"What do you expect me to say, Dylan?" She asked looking straight up at him. "Yes, we were happy, but I'm not the one who got on the first plane to London to go and see Brenda." She knew she was being petty, what happen to them was way more complicated than leaving her for his ex, but all the emotions and anger that were building up through the years came out in full force.

"Can we talk about this and not fight for once?" He asked quietly.

"I don't want to fight, but it hurts. I can understand why you left, why you thought me and Ava will be in better place without you here, but I can't understand why you went to London of all the places." Kelly said fighting to keep her emotions in check.

"Fine." Dylan let out a soft sigh, sitting on the coffee table coming face to face with her. While he gave her his diary to read, he was fully aware that there were still spaces that he will have to fill and this was one of them. "I was afraid to be alone."

"You never had any issue with being alone, or picking up the right company when you needed it." Kelly reminded him her back hitting the sofa as she inwardly rolled her eyes.

"True." He gave her his famous lopsided smile before turning serious again. "It was however different at that time, I went from what that picture captured so well to nothing in a matter of hours, being alone scared me, being without you scared me. Me and Brenda..." He could see Kelly harden upon hearing her name. "As I wrote in the diary, nothing happened, we never crossed the line. But in the first days, being in London and knowing that there was someone I could lean on helped me tremendously."

Kelly nodded silently, now she understood, yet it did not make her feel any better about it. "Reading your diary just feels bittersweet you know, because while you tried to forget all about me and Ava, I did everything in my power to keep the memory alive." She said finally.

Now it was Dylan's turn to take a sharp breath the words coming out with difficulty. "I thought that after some time, you will give up on me." He looked up at her.

Kelly just shook her head. "How could I? I had Ava, a permanent reminder of you. I never wanted her to grow up the same way I did, with a mother reminding her every waking moment of her life what a jerk her father is."

"Even, if he indeed is a jerk." Dylan said softly unable to look at her for a moment.

Kelly moved forward placing a finger under his chin making him look at her. "Dylan, you are not a jerk. Just remember what you wrote during the first days, you were running because you had to, not because you wanted to."

He smiled at her lightly.

"I would like to read the diary again, with you." Kelly said slowly.

"Are you sure you want to read through that mess of words and feelings again?" Dylan asked surprised by her request.

"It wasn't that bad." A soft smile graced her lips before she continued. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted before, I mean there were words and actions I do find hurtful, but at the same time I feel like we have to work through all of that hurt and pain, both of us, otherwise at some point it will make us come crashing down and I don't want that to happen. That morning when I saw the two lines on the pregnancy test, I promised the little one it will grow up in a loving family and I'll do anything to make it happen." Kelly breathed out.

"It was a rough start, but there are years and years to come when we can make that happen." Dylan smiled up at her.

"Exactly." Kelly agreed moving forward and wrapping her arms around Dylan who mirrored her actions, the two of them sitting there in silent embrace for minutes to come.


"She ran away with a boy? That's just perfect." Brandon said pacing up and down the bedroom after Andrea was finished with the whole story. Despite keeping his voice and emotions in check, he was angry.

Andrea chuckled inwardly; there was a glimpse of Jim Walsh in Brandon's eyes making it clear that Hannah was going to have it difficult with him in the years to come. "She went away to talk to someone who is going through something similar as she does."

"Yes, a boy four years older than her." Brandon validated his previous words.

"Okay, can we leave age and gender out of this discussion?" Andrea asked letting out a soft sigh.

"What would be the point?" Brandon asked stopping and looking at his wife skeptically.

"It would leave us with the important why." Andrea said looking at her husband. "Look Brandon I'm not excited that it was a seventeen year old boy either and if the situation was different the consequences of her actions would be different too, but she is still just a girl whose father decided to leave her life and who was afraid that if we continue the way we did you will be leaving her life too. I'm not blaming her that she felt the need to talk about it with someone who is going through something similar." Andrea explained.

"That does make a lot of sense, though I'm still not sure if I like it." Brandon let out sitting down on the bed next to his wife.

"Sometimes she does act so mature, that I tend to forget she is just thirteen." Andrea said slowly.

"Yes, that happens to me too." Brandon wrapped his arm around Andrea's shoulders.

"You know what was the first thing she said after I told her, you'd be angry with her?" Andrea asked looking up at Brandon who shook his head no. "That if you are angry, she deserves it because you asked her to stay with Isaac and she didn't."

Brandon breathed in and out, the anger gone. "You've raised a great kid, Andrea."

"We've raised a great kid." Andrea corrected him.

"Something is telling me she's going to make this whole having a teen in house thingy very easy on us." Brandon chuckled.

"May your words come true." Andrea laughed along, their laughter interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." Brandon called out, both of their heads turning towards the door they could see Hannah walk in dressed in her night clothes.

"I couldn't fall asleep." Hannah said slowly closing the door behind her. "Then I realized I never apologized to dad and it was keeping me awake."

Brandon took in a sharp breath looking away for a moment before he stood up and headed to Hannah.

"I'm sorry for running away and keeping you worried dad, I won't do it again." She said burying herself in Brandon's arms.

Brandon just held her, his hand running into her dark hair as he kissed her forehead. "I'm glad you are safe and back here with us, Hannah."

"So you are not going to lock me in my room and throw away the key?" Hannah asked looking up at him with a half smile on her face.

"I was considering it, but your mom put in a good word for you so you are off the hook for now." Brandon chuckled softly letting her go.

"Thank you." Hannah smiled. "Good night dad! Good night mom!" She called over her shoulder on her way out.

"You know what we need?" Andrea asked sliding under his arm once Hannah was out of the room.

"A bottle of wine and bubble filled bathtub to help us relax after this stressful day?" Brandon asked looking down at his wife.

"No, another daughter, you are mellowing down with age." Andrea chuckled.

"Well, we can work on that after the wine and bubble bath." Brandon laughed taking his wife's hand and leading her towards the bathroom.


A/N: Only a shorter chapter today, but it hopefully does answer some of the questions in your comments. Let me know what you think and I do hope to have another update for you soon. Stay safe everyone.