bsc8

[A/N: Hi, this is the author again. (Duh.) As some of you asked in the reviews, I decided to tell you: Shannon and Logan will not be featured. Logan, well, since he is Mary Anne's husband, he will be mentioned here and there. But he won't be featured in a section of his own. Shannon, I decided not to include her, because she isn't one of the main members but mostly it's because that would complicate the plot and give me more work. (Also, I don't like Shannon!) I hope you enjoy this part…it's the reunion…no more individual BSC members chapters. Please review…I always do whatever you request, as best as I can. Just ask CNJ (a constant reader and reviewer).]

Two weeks later

Dawn Schafer opened the front door of her house. She was back in L.A. with her family, and Chris was staying overnight until the wedding was over, when they would return to Chris' apartment in San Diego.

"Wow, fresh air," she murmured as she bent down and picked up the newspaper from the front stoop. The robins were chirping, and the flowers were back in bloom. Spring had begun.

"Good morning, Sunshine," her dad said from behind her. Dawn whirled around and said, "Hi, Dad. You're up early."

Mr Schafer took the newspaper from her and tucked it under his arm, then checked his watch. "It's eight o'clock. That's not early."

Dawn gave him a hug, and answered, "Well, it is Saturday morning."

Mr Schafer sipped from his steaming cup of coffee. Carol, Dawn's stepmother, came up behind him and kissed him on the cheek. "Morning, Jack."

Dawn followed Jack and Carol into the kitchen, where Carol began making a breakfast shake.

"So, Dawn, what are your plans for today?" Carol asked, peeling an orange and dropping it into the blender.

"Well, all my friends are coming today. I'll be picking them up at the airport. Then we'll probably go for a drink." Dawn added grapes, strawberries and pineapple.

"Cool. And tomorrow is the big day, right? Are all the arrangements underway?" Carol opened the refrigerator and removed a tub of mint ice cream. She spooned out two scoops and dumped it into the blender.

"Yeah. Chris assured me." Dawn hit a button and watched everything mix up in a whirl of colors. "Mom and Richard are coming in the night. They'll be staying at the Royal Princess Hotel." She avoided her father's glance, knowing that her mother and stepfather were a sore topic.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dawn. Hi, Dad," Grace greeted with a yawn, entering the kitchen. She was wearing her silky pink robe. Dawn smiled at her stepsister, now already fifteen. Grace got out a carton of milk from the fridge and grabbed a glass.

Carol switched off the blender and poured the mixture into two mugs. Dawn took one and tried it. It tasted fruity and minty, and extremely delicious.

Chris was the last to arrive. He was the only one dressed, since the rest of them had simply tossed a robe over their pajamas or nightgowns.

Mr Schafer folded up his newspaper and began making sandwiches. Since all of them ate only health food, meals were easy.

After a huge breakfast of shakes, sandwiches, coffee, toast, yogurt and eggs, they were full. Dawn wiped her mouth with a napkin and pulled Chris away. "Bye, Dad! Bye, Carol! See ya, Gracie!"

"Where are we going?" Chris called as Dawn hurried upstairs and changed into casual clothes, jeans and a sweater. She came downstairs again and dragged Chris out to the car.

"The airport. My friends are coming, remember? I have all their flights written down somewhere." As they backed out of the driveway, Dawn searched frantically through her bag (denim, since she hated genuine leather and insisted fake leather was harmful to the environment). She found a piece of scrap paper, where she had scribbled down details.

Arriving at the airport, Dawn rushed into the arrival hall and Chris dashed after her. "Flight 198 from Seattle will be arriving in three minutes time," someone announced over the intercom.

Dawn took a pencil from her bag and put a tick next to Mallory's name. She wandered over to the television screens where there were lists of arrivals.

"Let's see…Flight 526 from Chicago arrived ten minutes ago…that's Claud! And Flight 43 from Washington, D.C. is scheduled to land in about a minute at Gate 67…Kristy!" Dawn was practically delirious with happiness as she marked off more names.

Half an hour later, Dawn had assembled Kristy, Claudia, Mallory and their families. She introduced them to Chris, then let them all mingle among themselves while she checked out the other arrivals.

"Flight 398 from New York has just arrived," the announcement said. Dawn checked her list. "That's Stacey…no, Jessi…no, both of them!"

Fifteen minutes later, Stacey emerged. Jessi was right behind her with an African-American man and a little girl who looked exactly like her.

"Dawn!" Stacey put down her suitcase and zoomed over, hurling her arms around Dawn. "Ooh, you look just the same as ever!"

Jessi walked over and said calmly, "Hi, Dawn. It's so great of you to invite me to your wedding. Who's the lucky guy? Oh, and Stacey and I met on the plane. We did a lot of catching up, trust me."

By noon, all her friends except Abby were here. Dawn instructed her friends to take taxis to their respective hotels, then meet at her house in an hour. Only Mary Anne and her family followed her, since they would be staying with Dawn.

They got into the car, with Dawn chatting away with Mary Anne. Mary Anne gushed so much about Logan, Anne Rose and Hamilton that Dawn's ears were ringing.

Chris had nearly turned into the exit when Dawn yelped, "No, wait! Turn left, not right!" Chris looked at her quizzically, but did as he was told.

"Where are we going?" Mary Anne asked, confused. "International Arrivals," Dawn replied. Chris pulled up and Dawn hopped out of the car.

Abby, a handsome man and a beautiful little girl were waiting patiently. Dawn greeted her with a hug, then told them the arrangements. After they agreed, Dawn got back into the car and they returned to the Schafers'.

In an hour, all the BSC members and their families were in Dawn's living room. Mr. Schafer and Carol were out, so only Grace was home. The whole place was chaos and noise.

After some shouting and yelling, the husbands decided to stay in the kitchen and get acquainted. Grace offered to take the kids up to her room to babysit. So Chloe, Anne Rose, Hamilton, Marissa and Ophelia followed her. Claudia left Mimi with Alan. Then the eight of them trooped upstairs to Dawn's room.

Closing the door, Dawn flopped down on the edge of her bed. The rest of them found seats, some on the bed; others on the floor. Kristy settled down in Dawn's dressing table chair.

"So, what do we talk about?" Kristy began. But Mary Anne held up her hand. "Hold on. Where's Shannon?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I called her on Thursday night but she was really too busy to come. She's a successful lawyer now, and has five kids," Dawn told them. "Oh, and Kristy? You're not gonna like this…" she paused dramatically and said, "Shannon married Bart. That's right, Bart Thomas. Your, uh, ex-boyfriend."

Kristy rolled her eyes. "That ugly frog? Come on, Dawn, that was more than a decade ago. Besides, I dumped him, not the other way round."

"Okay, okay. Let's begin." Mary Anne turned to Abby, who was lounging on the floor. "How about alphabetical order?"

"Sure." Abby took a deep breath, and rattled off, "I guess I might as well tell you guys. Ophelia, my daughter, isn't Rob's."

"What!" Jessi gasped.

"No, it isn't what you guys think. Let me explain. When I met Nathaniel, I thought he was perfect. He told me he would marry me, but that was all a lie. He already had a wife. Anyway, we broke off, and I was pregnant. One day all the stress got to me, and I just collapsed right there in the street. That's where I had Ophelia, on the sidewalk. And Rob was the one who came to my rescue. We fell in love, and got married less than a year later."

"In the street?" Mallory echoed in disbelief. Abby nodded and said seriously, "It was horrible, I realized after. It was snowing, so freezing cold that day, and so many germs in the air. The baby could have been infected. But I don't know why, everything turned out okay."

"Wow, great story," Kristy whistled in admiration. Mary Anne's eyes were teary. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Okay, I'm done." Abby turned to Claudia. "You're next."

Claudia yanked the scrunchie out of her long black hair and said thoughtfully, "I don't have much to say. You guys all met Mimi and Alan…" she raked her fingers through her hair and then gathered it up into a ponytail again.

"I still can't believe you married Alan Gray!" Kristy cut in with a giggle.

They all started to laugh. "Remember the time he wore pantyhose over his head in high school?" Mary Anne reminded them, smiling.

Kristy snickered, and said, "How could I ever forget? How about the time he brought dead worms in ketchup for the class picnic and said it was a new kind of spaghetti?"

They all cracked up. Claudia grinned and tied the scrunchie around her ponytail. "Okay, okay. I know Alan used to be really lame, but he's grown up a lot ever since he became a husband and father."

She told them a bit about what she was doing, then it was on to Dawn.

[A/N: Okay, this is it. Decided to publish it first because I know all my fans out there are dying of suspense. Should this be a cliffhanger, or the end of the chapter? You tell me!]