AN: I know this concept is a little out of the ordinary for me. If I had it my way, the show would have ended similarly to my stories The Santa Ana Winds or Connected. However, I thought about this idea quite a bit and figured it would make for an interesting alternative universe. So, I hope it's something different and entertaining for my lovely DK fanbase. Let me know what you think in the reviews :))
Blast From The Past
"Well... here we are! What do you think?" Brenda turned to her 16 year old son once her, Dylan and their son James arrived at Dylan's old bungalow.
"Strange house, strange country, strange town, new school, no friends... I'm psyched." James rolled his eyes, slumping himself on the couch after tossing his luggage aside.
"Come on, Jimmy." Dylan pleaded, "I grew up here. It's paradise."
"Well, I'll be the judge of that." James sighed, "I'm beat."
"You go and get some sleep, honey. We'll figure everything out tomorrow." Brenda assured her son. She then turned to Dylan once James was out of earshot, "I hope this wasn't a mistake."
"Come on, Bren. We've been over this." Dylan warned
"Fine... Time will tell." She shrugged and headed off to bed herself.
"Pamela Marlene Sanders!" Kelly yelled from the kitchen, "You're going to be late for school!"
"I'm coming!" Pamela ran down stairs huffing and puffing. "I'm ready." She now stood in front of her mother
"Shoes?" Kelly asked,
"Oh crap!" Pamela rolled her eyes looking at her bare feet. She then quickly turned on her heel to find a decent pair for school.
"I take it you're not having breakfast then."
"No, mum. I've gotta go." Pamela rushed out the door.
"Put gas in the car!" Kelly yelled before her daughter slammed the door shut.
"Hello?" Daniel Silver headed over to the broody 16 year old who was sitting on the grass pitch reading a book
"What?" James looked up from his book
"Hi, I'm Daniel. Are you the new kid James Baud... umm..."
"James Baudelaire McKay." James answered
"Right. Well, I've been assigned to show you around the school." Daniel affirmed
"Oh right..."
"Interested?"
"I'm hungry."
"Oh okay." Daniel nodded, "We could go get some lunch."
"Sure..." James chuckled, "Let's do lunch."
"Who's she?" James asked as he and Daniel sat at the benches eating lunch
"That's my cousin." Dan replied before calling out to her "Pam!"
"What?" She snapped, making her way over to them
"You're in a mood." Daniel scoffed
"Well.. I had a rough start."
"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" Daniel asked
"Something like that... Where's Del?" She asked
"Delilah... I don't know. She's probably still in class." Daniel concluded, "Oh! By the way, this is James. He just moved here from London."
"Hi." James held out his hand but Pamela didn't shake it
"Hi." She said coldly, barely looking at him
"Pam!" Daniel scolded her for being impolite
"I'm sorry. I'm not in the right mood." She sighed
"You look just fine to me." James smirked and she finally turned to look him in the eye
"If you're from London, why do you have an American accent?" She folded her arms
"My parents are American, I just happened to be born and raised in the UK." He answered
"Right... Well, I'll leave you guys to it. Dan, if you see Del, tell her I need her."
"Pam, I barely see my sister at home, let alone at school." He chuckled. Pamela walked off which prompted James to stare until she was out of sight.
"Your cousin is a goddess." James acknowledged
"Don't tell her that. She hates that." Daniel warned
"So, Delilah is... your sister?" He asked
"Twin sister."
"Oh no way! My mother's a twin." James grinned
"I've got a cast dinner tonight." Brenda explained as she headed into the kitchen
"Okay..." Dylan said between mouthfuls as he ate cereal at the table
"Really? Cereal for lunch?" She shook her head disapprovingly
"Do you need a ride to the theatre?" Dylan asked, ignoring her comment
"No that's alright. My new American agent's picking me up.
"Hey!" James said meeting Pamela at her locker
"James, is it?" She asked, unamused
"James... Jim... Jimmy. Any of them sound great coming from your lips." He smirked
"Look James... I've heard it all. Not interested." She said firmly
"Alright... I get it, you're probably used to guys hitting on you all the time. But there's one thing you don't know."
"What's that?" She asked
"How about I pick you up at 8, then you'll find out."
"I'm not going out with someone I barely know."
"You should." James assured, "I'm worth knowing."
"Alright kids, so your reading list is as follows: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The age of innocence by Edith Wharton, A midsummer night's dream by Shakespeare, and I'm going to allow one student to pick the final novel."
"Oh come on, Miss Janet." Joey Miller pleaded
"Seriously? Not a single person is even remotely enticed by the idea of picking one of the AP english reading list books?" Janet shook her head, until a hand popped up. Causing the rest of the class to look over in astonishment
"I'd be honored." James grinned
"You are..." Janet checked her papers. "McKay... it's your first day."
"Yes, ma'am." James nodded
"I would love for you to pick a novel.' She smiled
"Ham on rye... Bukowski." James suggested
"Why that one?" Janet asked
"It's a coming-of-age story... arguably his best."
"Hmm..." Janet paused, "I'll allow it." She said intrigued.
"Guess I should thank you for the extra homework." Pamela said once she caught up with James
"I'd volunteer as your study buddy." He smirked
"I'm sure you would." She couldn't help but grin at his effortless charm
"Man... I gotta say, there's no girls like you where I come from." He eyed her from head to toe. She felt a little flustered after his comment. She bit her lip before exhaling loudly
"Alright, fine." She finally breathed out
"Fine what?" He asked
"Pick me up at 8. Let's see what you're about" She confirmed
"No. Absolutely not." Steve put his foot down
"Come on, dad! I won't be long." Pamela pleaded
"It's a school night and the guy is picking you up on a motorcycle." Steve shook his head
"Mum, please talk to him." Pamela urged
"Alright, alright!" Kelly stepped in, "Pam, give us a minute."
"Kelly... you can't be serious." Steve said once Pam was out of the room
"So she goes on this little date for a couple of hours. What's the harm?"
"Look, Kelly. I know you were once big on motorbikes and reckless dates during your senior year, but I won't let Pammy risk her life with some little adolescent maniac."
"We don't know the guy."
"I know enough, Kelly. What kind of boy was raised to not come to the door and pick a girl up the right way."
"...Let me go out there and talk to him." Kelly pleaded
"Hello..." Kelly and Pamela headed out to James, sitting on his motorcycle.
"Hi, mrs Sanders." James quickly stood up
"Please, call me Kelly." She smiled "So... are your parents okay with this?" She pointed at the bike
"Oh... my dad is... my mum erm... doesn't actually know I took it. She's got a dinner thing"
"Well... at least we're being honest."
"I'm safe, I promise. I'll take good care of your daughter." She swallowed a gulp and Kelly couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth coming from him which caused her to smile.
"Alright... I'll tell you what. You can take Pam on a date as long as you take the motorbike back and travel in a way that your mother approves of."
"Mum!" Pamela scoffed
"Honey, look I get it. But your dad isn't comfortable and he has a reason to be."
"That's fine... I'll borrow my dad's car."
"Can I at least go with him?" Pamela huffed
"Sure, sweetie." Kelly smiled, "You kids have fun."
"Wow! Cool bungalow!" Pamela was stunned
"Thanks. My dad grew up here." James replied before opening the door.
"Dad!" he yelled as he and Pamela headed into his house
"In here, son." Dylan called out from the kitchen table.
"Dad, this is Pamela, Pamela Sanders." James introduced them. Even Dylan was surprised by his son's date's beauty
"Hi..." Dylan eyed her closely, "...Sanders?" He asked
"Yeah."
"Your dad wouldn't happen to be Steve Sanders would he?" He asked
"Yeah!" She smiled
"Oh wow. I actually went to school with him." Dylan smiled
"No way!" Pamela exclaimed, "Sometimes I forget how small this town really is." She chuckled
"You're telling me... so what's he doing now?"
"He's the founder of The Beverly Beat and co-owner of The Peach Pit After Dark with my uncle."
"That's great. Good for him... I remember After Dark.. Had some good memories there." Dylan smiled, "So, who's your uncle running it?"
"David Silver. He's a pretty big DJ in town." She replied
"David Silver?" Dylan paused, before realizing why this young girl looked so familiar. Dylan felt a shiver down his spine... David's her uncle which means... her mother is Kelly Taylor
"Listen dad, we really gotta go. But can I borrow the car?" He asked
"Oh." Dylan was quickly forced out of his day dream. "Sure. Your mum wouldn't be too pleased if she knew you borrowed the motorbike."
"Yeah... Pam's mum wasn't too happy about it either."
She never had a problem with it before. Dylan thought to himself. "You kids have a good time." He waved them off.
"So what made you guys move here?" Pamela asked
"My dad always wanted to come back... I guess he finally wore my mum down."
"She's an actress right?" She asked
"Theatre actress. She gets made when you don't specify." He replied and they both chuckled
"Well that's nice that she moved for your dad." She acknowledged
"You know... If it wasn't for this play, I don't think we would've moved... My parents, you know they put on a good front but I know there's some underlying issues."
"What do you mean?"
"They're not married. They say it's a personal choice but I know the only reason my dad stayed in London was because my mum got pregnant with me."
"How do you know?"
"I found an excerpt from my dad's journal." James sighed
"I'm sorry..." Pamela held his hand. Suddenly feeling closer to him. "If it's any consolation, my parents aren't the fairytale they pretend to be either. Sometimes I feel like they only got married to keep up appearances."
"Why?"
"They put on the happy front too. In fact, my mum is so good at pretended everything is perfect... My dad he's such a jokester, he doesn't care. But my mum's weirdly like this perfectionist... afraid to relinquish control. She used to be so much fun according to everyone else..."
"Must be rough." He concluded
"She's always afraid that I'll make a mistake. It's like she has no faith in me... She claims she's protecting me, but I feel trapped constantly. Sometimes I just want to do something crazy you know, get her to back off"
"I know what you mean." James nodded. They both smiled at each other. Finding it weirdly comfortable around each other as if they weren't strangers at all.
"I don't even talk to my family like this." Pam addressed
"I've never told anyone this either." He grinned, "Perhaps we were family in another life."
"That was fun." Pamela said once they had pulled up in front of her white house
"Yeah it was... I gotta say I haven't found it easy to open up to people and well... it felt like I've known you forever." He smiled
"Pammy!" Kelly came running out, "Do you know what time it is?"
"Sorry Ms..." James interjected, "We were talking and lost track of time.
"Yeah mum. Plus grandma Jackie told us how loose she was with curfew, why can't you just lighten up!" Pam scorned
"Pamela." Kelly warned, "I am not grandma and - " Kelly paused as she got a closer look at the Porsche and the license plate.
"I'm home now, alright." Pamela let out an exasperated sigh
"Your car." Kelly blurted out
"Sorry?" He asked
"Erm... nice car." She quickly answered
"Thanks. It's my dad's."
Kelly stood there in disbelief, trying to shake off the one thought that seemed completely implausible
"Mum?" Pamela asked as her mother stood there
"Oh." Kelly snapped out of it. "Well, erm.. I guess the car is better than the motorbike." She chuckled nervously
"Well it's smoother... as we say in the McKay household." He grinned.
McKay... Kelly couldn't believe it. He's here. After 17 years. He's here
"Night Jim!" Pam smiled at him
"Night ladies." James smiled back before driving off.
Kelly followed her daughter back in the house, unable to process what just happened and a million memories just came flooding back.