Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Chapter 15: When Brandon Met Hannah

Andrea pulled into the parking lot of the Peach Pit. She turned to look at her daughter, who was sitting in the backseat.

"You ready kiddo?" she asked.

"I guess," Hannah said, not sounding very enthusiastic.

Andrea was surprised. Last night she'd been bouncing off the walls when she'd told her that she was going to meet her father today. She'd asked lots of questions. Andrea had had a hard time getting her to bed.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Do you… do you think he'll like me?" Hannah asked in a small voice.

"Oh honey, he's gonna love you," Andrea told her, tears in her eyes at the sad look on her daughter's face.

"Really?" Hannah asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Andrea replied, "really."

Brandon was sitting in a corner booth at the Peach Pit, feeling incredibly nervous. He was breathing heavily.

What if she didn't like him? What if she hated him for not being around her whole life? What if he said or did something stupid?

He shot a look in the direction of the restrooms. He felt like throwing up. Maybe it was a bad idea to meet for breakfast. Food probably wasn't a good idea when you were faced with the most nerve-wracking situation of your life.

He heard the door open, and looked up. He saw Andrea coming in, and she was followed by a young girl.

Brandon sat looking at her in awe. That was her. That little girl was his daughter. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

Andrea looked around for Brandon, and spotted him.

"Come on," she told Hannah, and made her way to Brandon's table.

"Brandon?" Andrea said. He was staring at Hannah, and didn't seem to acknowledge her at all.

"Brandon?" she tried again.

Brandon snapped out of it and jumped up, greeting Andrea.

"Hi," he said, sounding nervous and slightly out of breath. He shot a glance at Hannah.

Hannah looked back at him. This man was her dad. He looked nice, but scared, she thought to herself. That made her feel a bit better about how scared she felt.

"Brandon, this is Hannah. Hannah, this is Brandon," Andrea said.

Brandon looked at Hannah and mustered up the best smile he could.

"Hi," he said to her.

"Hi," her small voice replied.

The three of them sat down. There was silence for a minute. Brandon and Hannah kept shooting each other looks, wondering about the other one. Brandon studied Hannah's face for a likeness. Andrea had told her she had his eyes. He felt very proud to see that she was correct. Other than that, she looked like Andrea.

"She's beautiful," Brandon thought.

Andrea felt a bit like a third wheel. This was a big moment for Brandon and for Hannah. They needed to spend some time together.

She stood up. Brandon and Hannah both looked up at her.

"I have some errands to run," Andrea said. "Why don't you two spend some time alone together?"

Brandon shot her a panicked look. Was she insane? Leave him alone with Hannah? What if he did something stupid?

"You'll be fine," she said to Brandon, as if she'd read his mind.

"Will you be okay?" she said to Hannah. Hannah nodded.

Andrea kissed her daughter good-bye, and patted Brandon's arm. She smiled at them both and then turned and left.

Brandon and Hannah were left alone at the table. There was an awkward silence. Brandon had no idea what he was doing. Finally he realised that they were there for breakfast.

"Are you hungry?" he asked Hannah.

"A little," she replied.

"Well, do you want something to eat?" he asked.

She nodded her head.

"You can order whatever you want," he told her.

Her eyes lit up.

"Whatever I want? Really?" she asked, sounding excited.

"Yeah," said Brandon. He smiled, patting himself on the back. Things seem to be going well so far.

Twenty minutes later and a plate of pancakes sat in front of Brandon. In front of Hannah sat a chocolate sundae, a piece of chocolate cake and a bowl of chocolate fudge. Brandon looked at the food she'd ordered. Somehow he got the feeling Andrea wouldn't exactly be thrilled if she knew about this. Hannah seemed happy though, and began to dig in eagerly.

Hannah asked Brandon lots of questions as they were eating. She wanted to know how old he was (28? Wow, you're really old!), when his birthday was, if he and Brenda had a psychic twin connection, what his job was (Hey! Just like my mom!), and lots of other things. Brandon felt overwhelmed by all the questions. He was amused by her enthusiasm though.

After Hannah had finished her food and Brandon had paid the check, he asked her what she wanted to do next.

"Is there a park around here?" she asked.

"Sure," he answered. He stopped a waitress he knew, Jenny, before leaving.

"Hey, is there a park around here?" he asked quietly.

A few minutes later, some rough directions in his head, Brandon and Hannah were on their way to a park.

"Do you like soccer?" Hannah asked suddenly.

"Uh, yeah I do actually," Brandon replied.

"I like it too," Hannah told him.

Brandon wondered if that was a hint of some sort. He made a mental note to buy a soccer ball at the next available opportunity anyway.

A few hours later and Brandon was worn out. He'd pushed Hannah on the swings, spun her around on a roundabout, and Hannah had spotted an abandoned soccer ball near some bushes and insisted on playing a game. It mostly consisted of Brandon chasing Hannah around. It had been a lot of fun though, and they had both enjoyed themselves.

Brandon had begged for a break, and collapsed down on a nearby bench, panting and out of breath. He sat watching Hannah kick the ball around for a while, before hearing his cell phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brandon, it's Andrea," Andrea's voice replied.

"Oh hey Andrea."

"How are getting on?" she asked him.

"Pretty good actually," he replied.

She chuckled to herself. She could hear from his voice that he was exhausted.

"Good! Where are you?"

Brandon told her where they were, and Andrea told him she'd drive over and meet them.

"Actually Andrea, why don't we meet back at the Peach Pit? I'm starving!" he told her.

Andrea laughed again.

"Sure thing. See you there in about 15 minutes?"

"We'll be there," he told her. They said good-bye and then hung up.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Andrea had gotten there first. She laughed when she saw Hannah bounding in, and Brandon following wearily behind her.

Hannah ran up to her mother and gave her a hug, and began to tell her all the things she and Brandon had done.

"First I had breakfast," she told her mother.

"What did you have?"

"Um, a chocolate sundae and some chocolate fudge and um… oh some chocolate cake!" she told Andrea.

Andrea shot a disapproving look at Brandon. He smiled meekly back.

"Then we went to the park and I went on the swings and on the slide and on the jungle gym and on the roundabout and then we played football until Brandon got tired and then we came here," Hannah finished.

"Sounds like you had a good day," said Andrea, laughing.

"Yeah I did. Brandon's a lot of fun!" Hannah exclaimed.

Brandon smiled.

"You never let me eat chocolate for breakfast!" she added.

Brandon's smile vanished as Andrea gave him another "look".

"Well, what do you want to eat?" he asked hastily, hoping to gloss over the "chocolate" incident.

"No chocolate this time, I think you've had enough," Andrea added, glancing at Brandon briefly, before returning her gaze to Hannah.

Brandon felt like banging his head on the table. That damned chocolate!

A while later and Hannah was happily tucking in to a mega burger. Brandon had also gotten a mega burger while Andrea had opted for a salad.

In the middle of their meal, Nat could be heard at the other end of the room. Nat spotted Brandon and made his way over to him.

"Hey Brando!" he said.

He looked at Andrea, thinking she looked familiar. It came to him in a flash.

"Andrea!"

Andrea stood up, and gave Nat a hug.

"And who's this?" Nat asked, gesturing to Hannah.

"Nat, this is my daughter, Hannah," Andrea told him.

Nat looked surprised for a moment, but then he greeted Hannah.

"Well hello Hannah," he said.

Hannah returned the greeting, but her mouth was full of food so it wasn't very intelligible.

Nat laughed.

"So, where have you been hiding yourself all these years?" he asked Andrea.

Andrea began to tell him about what she'd done since she'd left for college. Brandon listened for a moment and then tuned out.

He was disappointed that Andrea had introduced Hannah as her daughter. Surely he warranted a mention? Hannah was his daughter too. She had his eyes!

He wondered for a moment if Andrea was ashamed that he was the father of her child. Is that why she seemed to want to hide that fact from Nat?

Brandon noticed that Nat had left them. He decided to confront Andrea.

"Why did you tell him Hannah was your daughter?" he asked.

"Because she is?" Andrea replied, confused.

"Why didn't you say she was our daughter?"

Ah, so that's what this was about.

"Because then we would have had to offer some kind of explanation, and I don't want to get into all of that in front of her. You can tell Nat if you want. I don't have a problem with it," Andrea told him.

"You sure?" Brandon asked.

"Yes! I'm sure, really" she told him.

A thought occurred to her.

"Have you told your parents?" she asked him.

"No," said Brandon, realising he hadn't said anything to them about Hannah yet.

He and Brenda had been talking when their parents came home. They'd said a quick goodnight and then had gone to bed. It hadn't occurred to Brandon to stop them and tell them. This morning he'd been out early and hadn't seen his parents.

"Maybe you should tell them first, before you tell anyone else," she told him.

Brandon nodded. Andrea was right. His parents deserved to hear they had a nine year old grand-daughter from him, not somebody else.

"I'll tell them tonight," he told her.

Brandon wondered how his parents would react to the news. He hoped they'd be happy once the initial shock wore off.

"Besides," Brandon thought, "one look at Hannah would win them over completely."

He turned to look at his daughter. This still felt like a dream. He, Brandon Walsh, had a daughter, and with Andrea Zuckerman! He shook his head in amazement.

And to think he almost hadn't come back for the reunion!