"In retrospect, I do regret leaving. Understanding what I do now about story and character, I believe that [Aaron Spelling] was pushing the story in a direction that would have had Brandon and Kelly end up together at the end of the show and I think I probably should have stuck around to its fruition." - Jason Priestley, CNN, the 14th of May in 2014.
That's okay, Priestley. This is what fanfic is for.
xx
She awoke in utter elation, with only one thought on her mind: her brother was getting married.
Then a second thought: her sleeping boyfriend refused to release her so that she could start to prepare for the most important day of her brother's life.
Second most important, she reminded herself; the first would occur at the end of the year.
She had reluctantly extracted herself from Dylan's daily spooning, to his disappointed moan and flip facing the other way - until he, too, had awoken at the touch of Brenda's lips on his shirtless chest.
Since Brandon had first informed her of Erin Silver's refusal in Kelly's request to wear a dress, Silver had agreed to a casual ensemble in a similar shade to Donna's Maiden of Honor dress - though, unlike Donna, she would not be in solid peach. Brandon had still kept Brenda as the only member in his side of the wedding party, both because she had been beside him longer than anyone else and to avoid the decision of choosing between his two brothers.
Realizing he had held his own wedding without his best friend as his Best Man, Steve had reluctantly accepted the idea with a reminder to Brenda that he was still available to be hers. Dylan had mainly focused on murmuring earlier that morning her level of attractiveness in her selected ensemble.
She had twice needed to put it back on again before they had made it to the church.
"Are you nervous?" She adjusted Brandon's tie in his room, smoothing out the creases in his suit jacket.
"I'm nervous about being the husband that Kelly deserves. I'm nervous about being the father - or stepfather - that Sammy deserves, that my new son or daughter deserves. I doubt I'll ever be Dad -"
"You don't want to be Dad," she reminded him.
"- Okay, so I wouldn't want to pick up some of those aspects of Dad's parenting style on you if I have a daughter myself, or treat her boyfriend the way Dad kept treating Dylan, but he is an all-around good guy who raised an obviously awesome son," she rolled her eyes, "and an incredible daughter." She smirked. "I can only hope I raise a kid half as good as us, sis, so yeah, I am nervous about that. But am I nervous about marrying Kelly?" He grinned that dorky smile of his that cheered her every time it appeared, the one she had missed immensely for three dreadfully long years. "No, Bren, I'm not nervous. Not at all."
"Both Walsh twins decent?" called out Steve, who popped his head through the door along with Lottie, Melody and Valerie.
Three other kids from Minnesota who had all moved away, Brenda thought, either to chase after their own dreams or because of their parents' decision to relocate.
"I think Bran's decent. I'm still in my bra," she told Steve.
"Fuck! Dylan is gonna kill me." Steve quickly removed his head, banging it against the doorway. "Shit."
"I'm kidding," Brenda laughed. "We're both fully dressed."
"You're so gullible, Steve," Valerie commented, pushing her way in with the two other women at her heels.
"I am not," he glared.
Surveying her cousins, Brenda wrapped an arm around Valerie's waist and took a moment to acknowledge how much everyone standing near her had grown in multiple ways - both emotionally and physically.
"Val isn't ordering you about, is she?"
"Hey!" Valerie turned her head to frown at Brenda. "I do not order people about."
"Yes you do," corrected the five others in the room.
"Okay fine, so I do," Valerie reluctantly conceded, "but how else is shit supposed to get done?"
Considering Valerie's role as the first female CEO for a major East Coast company, Brenda decided that she may have somewhat of a point.
"Aww, look at our little Raisin Bran, all grown up and in a suit about to become someone's husband," Melody said, messing with his hair.
"Melody," he caught her hand with a firm stare, "Do. Not. Touch. The. Hair." He added with a glance to Brenda, "I had to sit in the barber shop for two whole hours before they got it looking like this. Only Kelly can touch the hair." He turned back to Melody. "And besides, you're younger than me."
"I remember when you and Bren would come over to our place when you were still in diapers and you would whip off yours to throw it at her whenever she made you mad," Lottie pretended to cry.
"Lottie!" Brandon groaned, dropping his face into both of his hands.
"Oh, that's gold. Filing that away for future use," Valerie cackled.
"What the fuck, Brandon? I never knew that!" Brenda scowled with a gentle whack to the upside of his head, just enough to pay him back without causing serious injury which would derail his second attempt at the altar.
"Ow! Bren, I can't be held responsible for whatever actions I took when I was a freaking baby," a perturbed Brandon replied, rubbing his head.
"Oh, don't worry, Bran. Bren isn't so innocent, either," Lottie said deviously.
"You and I will talk later," he answered, much to Brenda's annoyance and curiosity of what she may have done in retaliation.
"That reminds me of something Mads did once," Steve smiled wistfully. "I was proud. Janet was upset."
"If you were proud and Janet was upset, then I don't think I want to know what Maddie did," Valerie shuddered before tucking a sprig of some plant Brenda did not know by name into Brandon's lapel.
"Knock knock. Looking for two kids from Minnesota. Anyone fit that description?"
"We're all kids from Minnesota!" Valerie yelled, eliciting giggles in the four girls.
"Also a boy from SoCal!" Steve added before he, too, could be associated with the Midwest.
"Yeah, that's definitely the wrong Minnesotan kid. One of them might be moving to Boston as the Globe's new ace reporter and the other might be a fucking sexy little thing in London."
"Oh come on! I am not that little," Brenda glowered.
"Yes, you are," said all in the room and Dylan as he swept towards her.
"Well of course I'm little when three already tall women are wearing heels," she countered, glaring down at the heels in question, "and when men look like this." She gestured to the three longtime brothers, who all towered above her in various heights of their own.
Steve, of course, stood the tallest and broadest, followed by Dylan and then Brandon.
"Yeah, babe. You're still little," Valerie said, with the agreement of Lottie and Melody.
"But you're my fucking sexy little thing," Dylan added, pecking her lips. "C'mon, Walsh twins. Photographer's looking for you."
She posed for the obligatory family photos, then a few with her cousins, then a couple of the Minnesota Twins goofing off. Steve, Dylan and David popped into one, allowing Brenda a photo of just herself with her favorite American men.
Madeline ran into another, in which both Walsh siblings bent to give their favorite girl a cheek kiss each.
Brenda caught the photographer snapping additional shots as she and Dylan engaged in a makeout session against a kumquat tree, with Dylan swatting at the air to gesture the photographer away.
Her lips automatically dropped to his neck as he turned his head towards the interloper, causing Dylan to groan and return his intoxicating lips to hers.
It was Lottie who cleared her throat to separate them, reminding Brenda of the exact location she needed to be for a ceremony set to begin in five minutes as Lottie pulled out a lipstick from her clutch and touched up Brenda's evidently smeared makeup.
Kissing Dylan once more, she sprinted into the church and over to Brandon's side.
"Ready, bro? Last chance to change your mind," she teased, holding out an arm.
"No cold feet, except for hers when she steals my socks. No freaking birds on a wire," he murmured as if to himself whilst gazing at the doors, "No trying to convince ourselves that we're better off as friends. No triangles, no squares, just a human being in some other shape currently growing in the woman who is finally about to become my wife. My mind is set." He straightened his posture. "I'm ready. Let's do this, little sis."
She walked into the chapel with Brandon, noticing the way that Dylan's gaze instantly connected with hers and then followed her down the aisle.
He was one to talk about her appearance when he wore a fitted blazer over a T-shirt tucked into navy blue trousers.
There were too many people in the chapel, she decided as she attempted to keep her stare from continuously drifting to her bloody gorgeous boyfriend and instead on the beautiful floral decorations spaced throughout the room.
She watched as first her parents entered, then Mel and Jackie. Her mother was attired in a lovely mint green pantsuit, with a bit of mint green in Jim's tie to match. Jackie, on the other hand, had, in true Jackie Silver style, selected a much bolder blazer which showed that she continued to reign supreme on the unofficial list of Beverly Hills' Best Dressed.
Sammy Taylor, dressed in a tiny tux and bowtie, proudly displayed two wedding bands atop a silken, heart-shaped pillow. Brenda heard Joni Silver whispering a rhythm as she tossed petals over the floor, with Brielle Silver shortly grabbed onto by David when she ran out of their pew to give the petals back to her older sister.
Donned in a denim dress tie-dyed with both peach and lavender, Silver entered next, aiming a childish expression at her brother who made one back to her with a subsequent roll of his eyes. Donna walked behind her sister-in-law, carrying the biggest smile which caused Brenda to wonder how her old friend could have possibly had an even brighter one during her own wedding.
Then the doors opened to reveal Kelly on the arm of her father, the silver-haired Bill Taylor, and though Brenda decided that she did appear quite stunning in her off-white A-line wedding dress embroidered with tiny lace and flowers - a Donna Martin Silver original - it was Brandon who instead caught Brenda's attention, for the look in his eye and stretched smile on his face reminded her exactly of her father's in her parents' wedding album which they had both perused on numerous occasions.
Kelly handed her bouquet of carefully arranged peach roses intertwined with lavender and white roses, as well as bits of different greenery, off to Donna, who stood smiling at Brenda.
It felt right, she thought, the three girls from West Beverly standing at the altar the way they had all stood as bridesmaids at the first wedding of Mel and Jackie Silver, when the sassy teenager standing across from Brenda with a wide smile of her own had only just become a thought in her parents' mind and a gymnast in her mother's womb.
Even if Brenda was standing next to the groom, instead of the bride - the same groom whom she had once tackled down in a playpen when he snatched her board book, if a story often told by her uncle Simon was to be believed.
The minister kicked off the ceremony by confirming that Kelly's parents and stepfather all gave her away to Brandon. He followed up the inquiry with a few jokes and a bit of Scripture, which Brandon had included in the ceremony as tribute to their late grandfather Brion Walsh's Catholic background and for the Presbyterian background of their maternal Beevis side, despite neither Walsh twin nor Kelly being particularly religious.
"I wasn't used to being rejected, Brandon," Kelly began when asked to give her vows. "I could make any guy fall at my feet just by smiling at them. You were different. During the spring formal, when you told me all we'd ever be is platonic, I was crushed. I had to see you with so many girls - so many girls, I mean so many girls -" the guests laughed.
"Kel," he whispered, squeezing her hand.
"I don't know, Brandon. I thought I wanted you because I couldn't have you. But when I do get something, too often I regret getting it in the first place. Not you, Brandon. Never you. Getting you to square dance - or follow instructions, whatever - was when I got to see you really open up and it was then that I realized I loved you. I've loved you ever since, even when life kept ripping us apart." Kelly beamed through her tears. "I love that sparkle that lights up your entire being when you're working on a story. I love your love for your family, for my family and especially for our family. I love your master chef talent in the kitchen. I love the way you can give an entire dissertation on Frank Capra. I love that you never stopped being my best friend. I love that when I crumble, you help me gain back the strength to stand. I even love your hockey obsession, just because of the childlike glee it brings you. Brandon, when it comes to you, the only regret I've had was letting you go, twice."
She turned to survey the guests.
"So this is me, Kelly Marlene Taylor, telling every single woman here today that Brandon Jameson Walsh is very much taken. Sorry, ladies. You've lost your chance." She turned back to Brandon. "Because I'm never letting go of him again."
Brenda glanced at Dylan's spot in the pew, realizing that his focus was not on the bride or the groom, but on her.
"Never," he mouthed with a smile that made her heart palpitate until she swore it would interrupt the wedding.
But it didn't. Instead, Brandon began to speak.
"What can I say about you, Kelly Marlene Taylor? Well, let's see, how many girls would fly off to DC and order room service to tell the guy they like that they adore him?" He grinned, that triple-dimpled Brandon Walsh special which made the women sitting in the chapel clutch at their chests. "That adorable little crinkle you get in your nose; yes, that one, right there," he nodded to the crinkle currently forming on Kelly's nose, "the way you held on to our ring for thirteen whole years until I could finally get you back up here. You're one of the only people who can get me to relax -"
"Isn't that the truth," Brenda mouthed to Dylan and Steve sitting beside him on the groom's side, who both stifled their chuckles.
"- the only one who lets me go on and on about the genius of Frank Capra. You're an incredible mother," his eyes lit up in their secret, "the way you care about all those kids, that you went through so many things no one should ever go through and instead of letting those things define you, you let it lead to your career as a caseworker. The way you use words like pith off," a teary Kelly laughed, "the way you love fiercely and without reservation. It's taken us a lot to get to this point, Kelly -"
"Yeah, no kidding!" Steve shouted, to Jim and Cindy's laughter and Brandon's mocking face at his friend.
"- but we did. We made it, together, and we'll keep making it, together. Because new kid Brandon Walsh with the awful mullet that used to be cool," he cringed and Kelly again laughed, "once saw this cute blonde girl at a party, who then helped him try to win student body president, call a girl he liked and taught him that life doesn't always have to be serious - but when it is, she's by his side to get through it all. You're right, Kelly. We do make a cute couple. I like being in your world and I want to stay in it, so God help anyone who tries to come between us again."
Brenda noticed Dylan mouthing Brandon's last line to her, which caused her to blush.
She held her breath when the minister asked to speak now or forever hold one's peace, for two of Kelly's exes sat before them and none of Brandon's.
He was answered with crickets, until Steve announced that they should have just skipped that part, receiving a shoulder nudge from David in response.
She knew promises were made, that the minister said some lines in the exchange of rings and then her brother and Kelly responded, but they were all tuned out as she began to imagine her own wedding.
She realized that she was ready.
She was more than ready to marry Dylan McKay.
She didn't want to wait until he met the age requirements to run for president.
They had waited far too long already.
"By the authority vested in me by the Universal Life Church and by the state of California, I happily pronounce Brandon and Kelly to be husband and wife."
"Brando, that means you can kiss your bride!" Steve yelled at Brandon, who seemed to temporarily stand in shock that they had made it that far.
"We did it, Mrs. Walsh," he murmured before leaning in to capture his wife's lips, which carried a gigantic smile when they broke apart.
Brenda clapped his back, thrilled that her brother had finally achieved his happy ending. That delight further increased when she realized that Kelly Taylor had sealed her choice.
Eighteen years after they had first met and he had attempted to hide his obvious reciprocal crush on his twin sister's then-best friend, Brandon and Kelly Walsh were married.
David and a group of his own musician friends DJ'ed the reception, which took place on the roof of a hotel overlooking the city of Los Angeles for the mere reason that the Peach Pit was too small for the guest list.
That did not, however, stop Nat Bussichio from catering the event, at Brandon's request and Kelly's agreement.
Steve used the evening to dance with his daughter and the girl he considered a second daughter before dancing first with Valerie, then with Brenda. Following his first glass of champagne, he returned to his favorite subject of the night: the audacity that Keith Fucking Christopher had to bail as Andrea's wedding date.
"He didn't bail, Steve. He's working," Brenda explained.
"Look at her! All alone over there," Steve frowned, swirling his still-full second glass.
"Then do something about it."
"Bren -"
"Steve, I swear to God, if you do not go over there right now and ask Andrea to dance with you, then Dylan and I will not hear one more word against Keith Christopher."
Her equally stunned and hurt friend looked at her. "But Brenda!"
"Man, look, take it from someone who knows," Dylan said from behind Brenda as he snaked his arms around her chest. "If you love her, really love her, don't let it take you nine years to put your pride aside and tell her how you feel."
"Fuck. Nine years? Yeah, that's not gonna happen. It was bad enough when you two did it," Steve declared before he stomped off.
"I'm not sure it took you nine years to realize how you felt, Dylan. You did try to call me three years before that," Brenda pointed out, tilting her head up.
"Yeah, but just to be your friend, not to tell you how much I fucking wanted you." He led her to the dance floor, which had opened up to couples of young and ageless following the newlywed's first dance.
Brandon had either figured out how to dance a waltz, or he had fallen so in love with Kelly that he had put on an excellent performance.
Maybe a little of both, Brenda concluded.
"Wasn't it a beautiful ceremony?" she asked as Dylan twirled her around.
"I guess so, but I was a little distracted," he confessed with a smile.
"By what?"
"Imagining you up there." He effortlessly caught her.
"I was up there, Dylan," she laughed.
"I was thinking of something a little different," he winked, "though you do look sexy as hell in this suit." He stood back to admire her appearance. "Massive flashback to you stealing Brandon's clothes in high school."
"I did not steal Brandon's clothes in high school," she huffed.
"Bren, everyone knows you stole Bran's clothes," he laughed, "or Jimbo's ties or my jackets, just like you borrowed Levi's suit for this wedding."
"He has the best suit collection of anyone I know," she defended.
"He does," Dylan admitted, "but you do know you have to give it back when we return, right?"
"Do I have to?" she pouted, glancing down at the lavender tailored blazer which felt much more comfortable than many women's blazers that she had browsed in the shops.
"Yes, you do," he smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning forward to give her a lingering kiss on her neck.
"Dylan!" she giggled. "My entire family is right over there."
"Now, where have I heard that before?" He raised his eyebrows. "Bren, they know we live together. They know we're in love. They know I can't wait to get you out of this suit."
"Do they really know that?" she asked, blushing profusely.
She didn't particularly want any of her family members to dwell on her active sex life, even if she was an adult who could make her own decisions without their permission.
"They'd probably figure it out," he shrugged. "So, roommate, flatmate, housemate, bedmate, best mate, soulmate, whatever-you-wanna-call-it mate, it's been five months. I think we have this domestic life thing down pretty well again, don't you?"
"I think so," she beamed, tucking her hands under his hair.
"And I get along with Wachinski."
"Get along?" she laughed. "You just let Shane talk you into joining a foosball tournament with him and Levi."
"Well, foosball is fun and with Wachinski on the team, we can't lose."
"Fair point," she agreed, for Shane Wachinski had been the captain of a table football club at Howard Longley's pub when they were students just starting out in the acting world.
Now she was nominated for an Olivier and he had recently been cast in a supporting role alongside the widely acclaimed Emma Thompson.
But most impressive of all, her dear friend Shane had welcomed in the love of her life, Dylan McKay, to their group and that meant more to her than anything else.
As did Shane's pushing of her to California, which had reignited her broken relationship until Dylan returned to London himself and now stood dancing with her at her brother's reception, nearly six months after he had reappeared on her doorstep and offered her a bit of advice.
"And in joining that tournament, befriending Wachinski, hanging out with your own gang of friends - even Vee, though I swear she looks like she wants to kill me half of the time," he shuddered.
She believed that Vee, too, would come around - eventually.
"- going horseback riding in County Kerry, surfing in Cornwall, scuba diving in Pismo, wandering through a castle in Edinburgh, hanging out with your parents," she laughed at the confused face he made that he and her father had actually held pleasant conversation during her parents' unexpected visit, "co-hosting the madhouse that was New Year's, trying really damn hard to learn how to ice-skate, living with you for five incredible months and just generally seeing the phenomenal woman my Brenda has become, have I managed to convince you that I'm not going anywhere? That - what was it Bran said - oh yeah, that I like being in your world and I want to stay in it, as a hell of a lot more than just your friend? That Dylan McKay riding around on this Ferris wheel called life without his fucking talented Brenda Walsh, his girl in the pink dress, is both illogical and unacceptable?"
"Yes, you have." She pushed back his hair to calm her somersaulting heart.
"Good," he grinned, speaking between the tiny kisses he planted on her lips, "that's what I needed to know."
She wondered what that meant, but she was too lost in exploring Dylan's tongue to decipher his cryptic statement.
When they broke for air, she glanced around to see Donna's head on David's shoulder, the latter whispering words which had evidently placed her friend into a state of contentment. Brenda knew that like she and Dylan, like Brandon and Kelly, the Silvers had also had their share of difficulties and heartbreak. Just that year, they had suffered a miscarriage of their fourth child, yet there they were, dancing in each other's arms the way they had at a school dance many years previously. Brenda had once comforted Donna as she bawled over David's own cheating, yet the two had recently celebrated their eighth anniversary with the same smiles they had carried as two teenagers falling in love for the first time.
Much as she had with Dylan, and he had with her.
Much as Brandon had with Kelly, who now swayed in arms which held her close against his own suit jacket.
Although Brenda had overheard Donna's and Kelly's stress over mishaps prior to the ceremony, none of the plans that went awry or flowers that were initially delayed had caused an impactful blow to the beauty of the day.
Her brother was married.
Brandon was finally married and, furthermore, he was expecting a child with the woman he had married.
It would take a while for her to get used to that - just as she had once been shocked to learn that of all the individuals and first loves in their gang, it had respectively been the overly studious Andrea Zuckerman and the party prince Steve Sanders who had been the first to marry, then expand the group with their children.
Those children, sweet Hannah and feisty Maddie, currently sat whispering side-by-side as they watched their parents.
Steve had lost his wife, the woman whom he had greatly loved, the one who had helped to mature a reckless goofball into the fantastic father Brenda had come to know. Andrea had divorced. Yet, they too appeared to find peace in the music and each other in a dance of their own.
Steve had finally listened to her advice.
About bloody time, Brenda thought, turning her attention to her female best friend whilst she and Dylan continued to move in time with the rhythm strummed by David's band members.
Valerie appeared cozy with Andrew, but she had also seemed that way with Kieran in Cork and California's Javier in the pictures she had texted.
Brenda knew that Valerie had been hurt to receive an invitation to David's wedding and regretted giving up the only man whom she had ever loved. Valerie had since recovered in the arms of many a handsome bloke, which was her choice. Women didn't have to marry and have children. Melody currently sought a man. Lottie didn't care, satisfied with her adventures and independence.
Brenda, too, had learnt to be happy in her singlehood. She had stood on her own and built up her career to heights she still could not fathom - to international stardom, as Theo Fletcher had told her she would in a Santa Maria dressing room.
But she was far happier in the arms of Dylan McKay, her one true love who had starred in her numerous journals as both the knight and the villain.
And Brenda, like her new sister-in-law with her beloved brother who had blessedly returned to them all after a long absence, would never let her first love slip away from her again.
Long gone were the Tim Matthews, the Sarah Somethings, the Kelly Taylors, the Rick Something-or-Others, the Stuart Carsons, the Toni Marchettes, the Gina Kincaids, the Graham Dixons, the Emil Söderbergs, the string of women in different hair colors whom Dylan had picked up along the way.
Long gone was his unfounded jealousy over Shane Wachinski and Euston Vaughn or her insecurities that he would bail when life became rocky.
She was his.
He was hers.
God help anyone who stood in their way.
-x
I think this is the shortest chapter in the story yet, but fairly certain it did what it set out to do and evidently, did not take a bit after all once B/K scenes got me going. Hopefully I did B/K justice, Brelly fans.
Thanks goes to my dear Steph, the biggest Brelly fan I know (lilacstar2/lilacstar3 on YT,) plus my little sis who also loves B/D + B/K, for allowing me to bounce wedding ideas off of them until I found a colour scheme I think is Kelly-esque (and friggin' beautiful, according to Google Images.) Sis also let me send drafts of Kel's vows until I got them to this point. Bran's were easy. You'll recognise some B/K quotes in those vows, including my favourite.
Crystal: Excellent points on the custody question. I had initially planned for the B/K kid to come along down the road, but whilst writing chapter twenty-five, that plan changed.
A few future chapters are written or started; however, I'm uncertain of how many there will be. Guess it depends on how long the Illumination movie/TV series in my mind wants to keep rolling lol.
Edit: Thank you, Crystal! I swear I read Kelly's middle name as Marie somewhere, but I can't find it anywhere. Edited to properly say Marlene.
Next chapter sees B/D return to London for the Oliviers, a visit from a redhead and a journey on a train…
As always, thanks a million for the readership, reviews, favourites, alerts, discourse, plot ideas, etc.