Author's Notes: A few things. This is the longest chapter so far, but I think it sets up an important relationship in the story nicely. What relationship? You'll see if you keep reading. There's also some background information via flashbacks that reveal a bit more about what happened between Brandon and Andrea 10 years ago. Flashbacks are in italics.

Another thing, I know Gabrielle Cateris was about 42 in 2003 (when my story is set) but in my story Andrea is about 27/28 and she looks it. That part is very important. ;-)

Also, Brandon left Beverly Hills in season 9 to work for the New York Chronicle, but I did a quick Google search and I couldn't really find anything on it. I'm not American, but I do know that American writers often make things up that approximate something that actually exists in real life but goes by a different name in their universe (West Beverly Hills High and California University being two examples). I came to the conclusion that the New York Chronicle was something that was supposed to be like the New York Times. I'm not entirely sure of course, but I took their lead and stuck with the New York Chronicle under the belief that it is indeed the New York Times by another name.

Finally, I wasn't sure if this story would appeal to anyone, given it's heavily skewed towards Brandon and Andrea (although there will be A fairly big Dylan/Brenda subplot later, I'll add that to the summary when I get that far), so it's nice to know that someone was reading. Thanks for the reviews Crystal, Shannen1 and angmid36.

Disclaimer: See Prologue

Chapter 3: A Familiar Face

After checking in for their flight, Andrea and Hannah headed to the gate to wait for the flight to board. There was barely anyone there. They sat down, Hannah taking a seat opposite Andrea. Hannah took out a comic book from her backpack and began to amuse herself with it. Andrea had a magazine in her bag too, but it stayed where it was. She was soon lost in her own thoughts. It had been a long time since she'd been in California. Ten years. She hadn't gone back since she'd left for college, and when she had left, she'd said she'd never go back.

She woke up and for a few moments, assumed she was at home on the couch at Grandma Rose's house. She stretched out her hand and was surprised to realise she wasn't on the couch at all, she was in a bed. In a flash she remembered where she was. In the hotel room… with Brandon!

She smiled to herself as she remembered what had happened last night. Finally, she wasn't a virgin anymore! And even better, she'd done it with Brandon!

She knew she shouldn't be thinking like this, but she couldn't help but wonder if maybe this meant that she and Brandon finally had a shot at being a couple. She'd always liked him, but for some reason they never seemed to be on the same page at the same time when it came to having a relationship. Maybe things were about to change?

She sat up and looked across the bed, expecting to see Brandon there, but the bed was empty, save for her.

"Maybe he's in the bathroom?" she thought.

She got out of the bed and walked over to the bathroom door. It was pulled over, but not completely shut. She knocked.

"Brandon?" she called, but there was no answer. She gently pushed the door and it opened. It only took a moment to realise that the bathroom was empty.

She was confused. Where could he be? She looked around to see if he had left her a note, but there was nothing.

A horrible feeling crept into the pit of her stomach. What if he'd left? What if he'd woken up this morning and was horrified to see her lying next to him.

No, that couldn't be it. Brandon was her friend. He wouldn't do that to her.

"Then where is he?" a voice inside her head asked.

Andrea could feel tears prickling at the back of her eyes. He was gone, she knew he was. He'd left her here, unable to face her.

"Unable to face you because he's sorry he slept with you," the same voice as before said.

She tried to fight the tears, but she couldn't. As she stood in the middle of the room she could feel hot tears running down her face. She'd tried to ignore the pain that was forming in her chest, but she couldn't. She felt like someone had taken a knife to her heart. She gave in to the grief, and sank to the floor, crying bitterly.

"Andrea Zuckerman?"

A voice calling her name snapped Andrea out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw a woman of about her own age, with shoulder-length brown hair. She looked familiar, very familiar in fact. Andrea began to feel panicked. She shot a brief glance at the little girl who was reading a comic book on the seat opposite her, before responding to the woman.

"Brenda!" she said, mustering up as much enthusiasm as she could.

She stood up, and the two women hugged briefly.

"Oh my God. I can't believe it's you!" Brenda replied. "You look fantastic!" she added.

Andrea considered this last comment. She had acknowledged many times before that she'd been slightly, okay very, nerdy in high school. The proverbial ugly duckling she used to say to herself. Maybe it was the New England air, or maybe motherhood just agreed with her, but when she moved out to New Haven she certainly seemed to have blossomed into a swan, judging by the number of interested men she'd encountered anyway. If it wasn't for the fact that once most guys had discovered that she had a young daughter they'd run away as fast as their legs could carry them, she might have actually had a successful love life.

Andrea thanked Brenda for the compliment, and returned it. She meant it too; Brenda looked a lot happier than when she'd last seen her, debating whether to leave Beverly Hills and return to Minnesota. No doubt to get away from Dylan McKay. Boy did Andrea understand where Brenda was coming from back then!

"So, are you going to the reunion?" Brenda asked.

"Reunion?" Andrea repeated.

Of course! It had been ten years since they'd graduated from high school, so naturally the alumni committee were holding a reunion. Andrea had never kept in touch with them. She knew that something had come to her grandmother's house a few times from them but she'd always told her to throw it out. No wonder she didn't know about any reunion.

"No, I'm not going," she answered Brenda.

"Oh," Brenda replied.

"I have some family stuff on so…" Andrea added, trailing off at the end. She didn't particularly want to get into the Grandma Rose stuff right now. Hannah was still engrossed in her comic book. The last thing she wanted was for a mention of Grandma Rose to get her attention.

Brenda nodded, understanding from Andrea's tone that she didn't want to say anything more on that subject. She decided to try another topic.

"So, what brings you to New York? Do you live here?"

"Yeah I do. I moved here about five years ago wi…" Andrea began, but then stopped. She'd almost said, "With Hannah." Brenda gave her a look, so Andrea continued, hoping it would gloss over her near slip-up.

"I moved here five years ago for work. I write for the New York Chronicle," Andrea told her.

"Seriously? So does Brandon!" Brenda told her.

Andrea froze. Brandon? But she'd never seen him around the office. Oh God, what if he was on his way here too to meet Brenda at the airport…

"Well, he works in the D.C. office," Brenda continued. She couldn't help noticing Andrea's sigh of relief. She was curious now. She wondered if she should ask Andrea about the last time she spoke to Brandon, but Andrea's attention was taken by someone else.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?" Andrea said automatically, and then cursed herself.

Brenda's eyes had shot open at that, and she looked across at the little girl sitting opposite her and Andrea. Now that she was looking at her closely, she did look a lot like Andrea.

"I'm bored," Hannah continued. "When are we getting on the plane?"

"Soon sweetie. Here," Andrea answered, and took her magazine out of her bag. "You can look at this if you want."

Hannah sighed heavily, but took the magazine.

Andrea turned back to Brenda. She noted the surprised expression on Brenda's face.

"Wow, Andrea. I had no idea you had a daughter," Brenda told her.

"Yeah, well, I doubt anybody from Beverly Hills knows. She was born after I left so…"

"What's her name?"

"Hannah."

"How old is she?"

Andrea hesitated momentarily, and then answered.

"She's nine," Andrea told her.

"Nine?" Brenda thought. They'd graduated from high school ten years ago, and Hannah was nine. That meant she was born about a year after they'd graduated. Brenda wondered when Hannah's birthday was. Exactly how long after they graduated was Hannah born?

"Brandon? Where have you been all night?" Brenda asked her twin brother.

Brandon looked annoyed. She'd caught him tiptoeing into his room. Their parents weren't awake yet, and ordinarily Brenda would be asleep too, but what had happened at the Prom last night had kept her awake. She'd waited for Brandon to come home for hours, wanting to talk to him, but he never came. Not until almost 8 o'clock in the morning that is.

"Bren, I'm tired. I'm just gonna go to bed, okay?" he told her, before walking into his room.

Brenda followed him.

"That doesn't answer my question. Where were you? I looked around for you at the Prom for ages but I couldn't find you, or Andrea," Brenda told him.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Something happened Brandon. Donna got really drunk off that champagne we had at David's dad's place and Mrs. Teasley caught her. Brandon, she might not be allowed to graduate!"

Brenda noted to shocked look on Brandon's face. He sat down on his bed.

"Is Donna okay?"

"I don't know. Mrs. Teasley called her parents and they picked her up. Her mom looked furious. You know what she's like," Brenda said, taking a seat next to him,

Brandon nodded at this. He knew exactly what Felice Martin was like.

Brenda noticed that the suit he was wearing looked very crumpled. Again the question of where he had been popped back into her head.

"Brandon, come on. Where were you? What happened last night?"

Brandon sighed. He looked at Brenda, and she saw a look in his eye. Shame? Regret?

"If I tell you this, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else," he told her.

"Okay," she replied, curious.

"You promise?" he asked.

"Brandon, I promise! Now tell me."

Brandon exhaled slowly, and then began.

"Last night, Andrea and I ended up in a hotel room," Brandon told her.

"What!" Brenda asked, very surprised at this piece of information.

"Tony Miller gave me this key… anyway; Andrea and I went up there to check it out. One thing led to another and…"

Brenda was stunned. She'd always thought that her brother and Andrea would make a good couple, but knowing that last night they'd actually… Wow! It seemed crazy. She remembered the look in his eye though. He didn't exactly look happy.

"So, how do you feel about it?" she asked him.

He had been looking at her before, but now he turned his gaze onto the floor. He took a deep breath.

"When I woke up this morning, I just felt like… what am I doing here? I mean she's Andrea, my best friend. What was I thinking?"

Brenda was disappointed to hear this. She was hoping that maybe, finally, he and Andrea might get together. She sympathised with her brother too though. It was a big step to take in any relationship, but particularly with someone who had only been a friend up until that point.

"How did Andrea feel?" she asked him.

Brandon looked at her again, and again she saw that glimmer in his eye. Shame. He turned his gaze back to the floor.

"I just panicked. I didn't know what to say to her. I mean it was a mistake; the whole night was a mistake. And there she was, lying there. It was just too much to deal with."

"Brandon…" Brenda began, the truth dawning on her. "Did you leave Andrea in the room by herself? Brandon!"

Brandon nodded, sheepishly. He didn't look too proud of himself.

"How could you? How do you think Andrea's gonna feel when she wakes up and you're not there? I thought you were better than that!" Brenda told her brother, her anger audible.

"I'm sorry Brenda, but I didn't know what else to do."

Brenda looked over again at the little girl, again noting her similar features to Andrea. Her dark, slightly wavy hair, her skin tone, her nose... There was one area where they differed though. Her eyes. They looked familiar, but they weren't Andrea's eyes, Brenda thought to herself, glancing from mother to daughter.

Brenda wanted to ask who Hannah's father was. She almost blurted out the question but stopped herself in time. She couldn't help wondering. Maybe it was just her being paranoid, but Andrea did isolate herself from the rest of the group after graduation. She was supposed to be working with her and Donna at the Beverly Hills Beach Club but at the last minute she'd gotten a job in a restaurant near her parent's house and had moved back in with them. Nobody had seen her for the rest of the summer, although Brandon had tried calling her. Andrea hadn't wanted to talk to him though. At the time Brenda didn't blame her. Things between Brandon and Andrea seemed strained and awkward after the Prom. Brenda was the only person who knew why, but she swore to Brandon not to say anything to anyone else, and she'd kept her word.

Could it be possible? Could the reason Andrea suddenly cut Brandon and all her friends out of her life be because she was pregnant? If she had become pregnant after what had happened between her and Brandon, she would have told him, right? She wouldn't have kept it a secret from them. Or would she?

Andrea could almost see the wheels turning in Brenda's head. She saw the way she was looking at Hannah. If Brandon had told her what had happened between them it would be easy to put two and two together and come up with Hannah. Of all the people to meet it had to be Brenda Walsh! The only person worse to meet would have been Brandon himself. She shuddered to herself. At least it wasn't him sitting in front of her.

"Andrea," Brenda began, unsure of how exactly to approach this, but knowing she had to say something. She paused, trying to think of something not too intrusive to say.

"Are you in a relationship with her father?" she finally settled on.

Andrea was almost sure where this conversation was leading. She sighed, cursing for the second time her bad luck at running into Brandon's twin sister.

"No," she answered.

"Oh. Does Hannah see her father though?" Brenda asked, knowing that this question was probably crossing the line, but hoping it sounded casual enough.

Andrea gave up. Unless she flat out lied to Brenda she couldn't get around these questions without arousing her suspicions even further. The safest thing to do was to just not say anything.

"Look Brenda, if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about Hannah's father. It didn't end well," Andrea said, looking Brenda right in the eye while doing so, hoping it was both a vague enough answer, but also firm enough get the point across that she wasn't going to discuss this further.

It was. Brenda could see Andrea was serious about not discussing it any further. Andrea's answer didn't give much away, but then again it didn't necessarily mean anything. Maybe she was just being paranoid. She made a mental note to herself though to get Andrea's contact details. Maybe at some point down the line, Andrea would trust her enough to open up.

Andrea decided to change the subject completely, hoping it would take Brenda's attention away from Hannah.

"So, you know why I'm here, but what about you? Are you living in New York or just passing through?"

"I've been living here for about a year now. Before that I was living in London," Brenda told her.

"Wow, London! I'd love to go there someday. How long had you been living there?"

"About eight years," Brenda replied. She laughed when she saw the questioning look on Andrea's face.

"I moved there the summer after freshman year of college," she explained. "I studied theatre over there and after I was done I worked on and off in the West End. I loved it there. I didn't really want to leave actually, but a great role opened up over here on Broadway and I had to go for it. One role led to another and before I knew it I'd been here a year!" Brenda told her.

Andrea was impressed. Brenda had certainly gone after what she wanted.

"Have you gone back to LA much?" Andrea asked Brenda.

"Actually," Brenda began, "this will be the first time I've gone back since we left."

"Well there's something we have in common," Andrea thought to herself.

"Any particular reason why you haven't gone back?" Andrea asked.

Brenda hesitated. Her reasons were personal. On the other hand, if what she suspected was true, then of all people Andrea would understand why.

"When I left, things with Dylan were kinda up in the air. He and Kelly had broken up and we sorta got back together. Then I left. He followed me out about a year and a half later. We got back together and things were great. By that time, my parents had moved to Hong Kong, so we went out there a few times to visit them. Dylan didn't particularly want to go back to LA and that suited me just fine."

Brenda paused for a moment. The next part was something she hadn't told anyone yet. She didn't feel ready to talk about it.

Andrea sensed her hesitation, and she respected it. She was the last person to push someone to reveal things they didn't want to.

Brenda noted that Andrea wasn't pushing her, and silently thanked her for it. It still hurt to talk about it. She realised she'd have to give the ending of the story though.

"We broke up, almost five years ago now," Brenda told her. "He ended up getting back together with Kelly. Story of my life, huh?" Brenda finished, chuckling lightly.

Andrea smiled back at her. She could tell that despite trying to make a joke out of it, Brenda was hurt.

A flight attendant started to announce that the plane was boarding. A quick comparison of their tickets revealed they were sitting on opposite ends of the plane to each other.

"Hey, here's my cell number, in case we don't see each other when we land in LA" Brenda said, taking a pen and a notebook out of her purse and scribbling a number down quickly. She tore the page out of the notebook and handed it to Andrea.

"Maybe we could meet up for coffee or something? Catch up properly?" Brenda asked.

Brenda saw Andrea looking at Hannah.

"Just us," she added. "I won't tell anybody else you're in town if you want. It would be nice to see a friendly face while I'm out there though."

"What about Donna and Kelly and everyone else?" Andrea asked.

"Did you know that Donna and David got married three years ago?" Brenda asked Andrea. Andrea shook her head.

"Well, I didn't know either, until Brandon mentioned it. They didn't invite me to the wedding. We haven't talked for a long time. We've grown apart. They all stayed in Beverly Hills, and I left. We're not on the same page anymore," Brenda said.

Andrea nodded her head, understanding. "I'll give you a call when we get out there."

The two women smiled at each other, and then followed Hannah, who'd been tugging on Andrea's sleeve for the last two minutes, to board the plane.