Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Chapter 22: Meet the Grandparents

Cindy was on edge waiting for Andrea and Hannah to arrive. It was almost 9:30 so they should get there any minute.

Jim was still wary of the situation. Cindy hoped he wouldn't make either Andrea or Hannah feel uncomfortable or unwelcome.

Brandon was nervous too. Not about Hannah. He had a feeling his parents would adore her, even his father once he got a look at her.

He was nervous about seeing Andrea again, after what had happened last night.

It had felt to him like she returned his feelings. She hadn't pushed him away or yelled at him. Hopefully that was a good sign.

Brenda was impatient for Andrea and Hannah's arrival. She felt like she would burst if she couldn't discuss the Dylan situation with someone.

Eventually, the moment each Walsh family member had been waiting for happened. The doorbell rang.

Brandon, Brenda and Cindy all jumped up to answer the door. Jim hung back, although he was suddenly very curious to see Hannah.

Brandon got to the door first and opened it. He greeted Andrea and Hannah and let them in. Hannah ran to Brenda and hugged her. Brenda happily returned to hug.

Cindy was standing on the sidelines, taking in this little girl who was standing in front of her. She was mesmerised.

Jim's reaction to seeing Hannah surprised him. All thoughts of giving Andrea a piece of his mind flew out the window. He approached the little group standing in the hall and stood beside Cindy, enchanted by this smiling little girl.

Hannah noticed the two strangers in the group, and looked up at them with wide eyes. That was it. Cindy and Jim lost their hearts to her.

Brandon introduced them.

"Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet Hannah. Hannah, these are my parents."

"Hello!" Hannah said, sounding cheery. More grandparents! Did that mean more birthday and Christmas presents?

Cindy and Jim were so taken with Hannah that they didn't seem to notice Andrea. Brandon cleared his throat.

"Mom, Dad, you remember Andrea?"

He got his parents' attention. Cindy was embarrassed. How could she forget to say hello to Andrea! She hoped Andrea wouldn't take it as a snub.

"Oh of course, it's good to see you again Andrea!" Cindy cried. "Isn't it Jim?" She turned to her husband.

"Yes of course. Come in, come in!" he said, leading the group into the living room.

Brandon heaved a sigh of relief. Thank God that had gone well.

His parents took seats on the couch and Cindy patted the space in between them, asking Hannah to join them. Hannah bounded over to them. She began to chatter away.

Brandon, Brenda and Andrea looked on in amusement. Suddenly Brandon heard Hannah mention the word "chocolate" and saw his mother look up at him, frowning. Not the chocolate thing again! Was it going to haunt him forever? He hurried over to try to stop Hannah going further with the story.

Andrea and Brenda were left standing by themselves.

"I don't mean to drag you away, but do you think we could talk?" Brenda asked quietly.

"Sure," Andrea replied. "I was going to ask you the same thing myself."

Quietly, they went upstairs and into Brenda's room and settled themselves on the bed.

"So, did you talk to Dylan?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah, I did. And then Kelly walked in on us. She wasn't too happy about it. They got into a fight and left. She came to see me yesterday morning and told me to stay away from him. She was quite bitter about it too."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah I know! But then after she left, Dylan showed up again."

"Oh?" said Andrea, curious.

"We talked more about what went wrong with our relationship, and how I felt about losing the baby. Then we talked about Kelly. He'd seen her car parked out front when he came over so he knew she had talked to me. She didn't see him though. Anyway, Dylan admitted that his relationship with Kelly wasn't going so well, and that he didn't really love her."

"Really? What else did he say?" Andrea asked.

"Well, this isn't something he said, but more like something he did," Brenda began.

Andrea was very interested now.

"Go on, don't keep me in suspense!"

"He… he… he kissed me!"

"What? Wow!" Andrea exclaimed.

"I know. I stopped it as soon as it started. While Kelly's still in the picture I don't want to go there," Brenda admitted.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Did he say anything about Kelly after that?"

"He said he was going to talk to her. I got a message from him yesterday, asking me to call him. I called him back and he said he talked to Kelly, but he wanted to see me. I put him off though," Brenda told her.

"Why did you put him off?" Andrea asked.

"Because I needed to talk to you first," Brenda admitted.

Andrea laughed.

"Well I'm here now," she said.

"It's just; I care about Dylan, a lot. I never stopped loving him. But say he has called it off with Kelly. Who's to say that he really does want us to get back together? What if I'm just the rebound for him? I don't want to get hurt again. I don't know what to do if I see him today and he wants to give our relationship another try."

Andrea thought about it for a minute.

"Okay, let's consider everything. You love him, right?"

"Yeah."

"Would being with him make you happy?"

"Yes!"

"Are you prepared to work to make the relationship work, to make compromises, to make sacrifices if necessary?"

"Of course."

"Is there anyone else you could imagine yourself with?"

"No. There never has been."

"Okay then, so you love him, he makes you happy, you're willing to commit to him and there's no one else in the world you could imagine yourself with. I think you've got your answer right there," Andrea said.

"But what if it doesn't work out?"

"But what if it does? Sometimes you just have to take a chance, even if it seems scary," Andrea told her.

Brenda nodded. She knew Andrea was right. It was scary, but Dylan was the one, she could feel it. He always had been. She'd made detours along the way, with Rick and with Stuart, but nobody had ever meant as much to her as Dylan did. He was her heart and soul.

"Thanks Andrea," Brenda said, hugging her.

"Hey, no problem," Andrea replied.

"What about you? You said you wanted to talk too. How are things going with Brandon and Hannah?"

"She adores him, he adores her, so I think it's going pretty well," Andrea said, smiling.

"What about you and Brandon?" Brenda asked, a twinkle in her eye.

Andrea shook her head.

"He hasn't talked you about what happened last night has he?" she asked.

Brenda sat up straight at that question.

"What happened last night?" she cried.

"Well, we met up to talk," Andrea said.

"Yeah?"

"And well, we were sitting on the sand watching the sunset," Andrea continued.

"Andrea, you're killing me here!" Brenda said. "Come on!"

"And we kissed," Andrea admitted.

Brenda squealed.

"Oh I knew it! You guys are so perfect together!" Brenda said excitedly.

"Hold on there, I'm not too sure about what to do next," Andrea said.

This brought Brenda back down to earth.

"What? What do you mean you're not sure? It's obvious you're crazy about him, and I think he's crazy about you too."

Andrea sighed.

"I don't know. It's just so complicated. What if it didn't work out? There's Hannah to think about. It would hurt her so much if things went wrong between Brandon and me. Maybe we're better off as friends. She's not gonna get hurt that way. None of us will."

"Andrea," Brenda said, "sometimes you just have to take a chance, even if it seems scary."

Andrea laughed.

"I hate it when someone throws my own advice back in my face."

Brenda laughed too.

"I remembered. I thought you could use it though," she told her, grinning.

"I'll make you a deal," Brenda said.

Andrea groaned.

"Can't we have one conversation that doesn't end in us making a deal?" she asked.

"Andrea, I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

"Andrea!"

"Okay, okay. What's the deal?"

"I'll take a chance with Dylan, if you take a chance with Brandon," Brenda told her.

"Deal?" Brenda asked.

"Deal," Andrea replied, and the solemnly shook hands.

"Hey Brenda?"

"Yeah?"

"Remind me never to talk to you again."

They looked at each other for two seconds, and collapsed on the bed laughing.