Authors Note: I own nothing. No ownership rights to Beverly Hills 90210.
Chapter Nine
On returning back to the hotel from walking the markets with some of the girls, I'm surprised to have two urgent phone messages from Dylan asking for me to immediately call him. Dylan wouldn't say it was urgent unless it was, and as I all but run to the pay phone I dread what this could mean. Hopefully, everyone is safe, hopefully my father hadn't done something stupid. He answers on the first ring.
"Bren?"
"Yeah it's me Baby, what's wrong?"
"Thank god it's nearly time and well I didn't want to decide something that you wouldn't agree with." Dylan sounds on edge and stressed, two qualities that had crept into his tone in the six weeks before I left for Paris, and that had begun to leave the day before I got on that plane.
"Dylan calm down and tell me what's going on?"
"Jack made parole this morning. His lawyer rang, there are conditions but the one that matters at the moment is that he must either live in a halfway house or with family, the board want supports around him. Bren he'll be on parole for three year's and while the living condition may eventually lift it's not guaranteed. They need to know by 3pm today if he has family to live with or if he needs a place in a halfway house for his release tomorrow."
I can see why he is in such a rush, what a crap day to go to the markets after class, "okay. Is it three year's in Los Angeles?"
"No just California."
"Well that gives us plenty of options for College still, so take that out of it."
"You'd be okay stay-… you could still go away-" This was triggering him, his nightmare scenario's that I'd run away just like Iris and Jack.
"Dylan this doesn't change our relationship it just means if you want to do this then we have to reduce our options but we were already going to do that when looking for a college that had quality courses for both of us this is just another step on that. Take college out of the equation, take your fear of me not being with you out as well- you're stuck with me, all that is left is what do you want to do?"
"It doesn't have to be me us it could be mum."
I don't understand Iris has had nothing to do with Jack legally since their divorce, besides the letter I don't know if they have ever spoken since then. "Dylan what do you mean? I didn't know they have been contacting your mum about your dad's legal matters?"
"I think he got the letter. His lawyer rang me but referenced Mrs McKay and my mum a couple of times in the conversation. Jack must have put her down as someone who can know of his case, who is family. I don't know what that means."
Oh poor Iris she must be going crazy with all the confusing thoughts running through her head, "Dylan I don't want to overstep in your family-"
"You are my family there is no overstepping."
"It's a lot to ask of your mum. It's a lot considering their past, considering the discovery of the impacts of her illness, and considering their current situation. Iris should not be asked to do this, it's a lot to take on. To uproot her whole life for…"
He sounds resigned, "she has been pretty overwhelmed since hearing the news herself. Yeah okay it's me, you and me agreeing to this or it's the halfway house."
"Dylan on this one it's you Baby. I know our first two year's of college may be impacted and I know our life might change but I think we both know that our lives were going to be different from last year anyway-"
It's like the penny drops, "Bren your dad… it's already strained enough there is no guarantee that he is even going to support our relationship in any form when you come home. I don't see him supporting us at all if my Dad is living with me. He already thinks he's dangerous and even with the parole conditions of not associating with his old clients it doesn't mean that he'll be absolutely safe to be around. If I'm fearful of that for you I can only imagine what your parents will be like."
"Dylan from the start I've known about your dad, you have been honest with me since you threw that pot plant. I've known from the start what I'm signing up for with you, and I think you knew from the start what you were signing up for with me- an overprotective and interfering father. I'm under no illusion of what this could mean but I'm telling you that on this I'm wanting you to make the decision for you. I won't let your worry about my dad's interference in us, it can't be a factor here, if this is something you want to do then we will make it work."
He's quiet for a moment, "we can't all fit in this place even if mum eventually returns back to Hawaii it's not big enough even for a year for him and I he'll drive me crazy…"
"Okay so you buy something bigger."
"He'll need a job and transport to get to work."
"So you'll get him a car."
"He can get angry, he-"
On this I cut him off and speak in my no nonsense tone, "Baby he lays one hand on you I'll contact the parole board myself. That's my only condition and it's not up for debate, and believe me I'll be informing Jack of that on our first meeting regardless of if you say yes to the living arrangements."
He's amused he always likes it when I take charge, "Yes ma'am."
He then goes quiet for almost a minute I know this is a big decision not just logistically but emotionally for him, "Bren your Dad-"
"No. My parents are not more important than yours."
"But you are more important to me than anyone."
"Ditto. It's why if you want this, and Dyl it sounds like you do then I'll, we'll make it work. Somehow we will make it work."
He's quiet again, "I want you home already I need you with me for this."
"My Loner does not need me, you've unfortunately been forced to take care of yourself for year's and you do it very well, even if you don't know how to cook or clean. Dylan you've got this and if it gets too much you call me, Ben, Brandon or talk to Iris. If I felt it was too much, if even considering this was too much I'd say it."
"You know I'm not choosing a house, I've lived in too many and they all feel like rooms with beds to me. This is the first one that feels like home and that's because it has our bed that I sleep in every night and your stuff laying about here mixed with mine."
"Dylan if my stuff is laying about it's because you've moved it out of it's proper place, especially as most of my stuff is now back at Casa Walsh-"
"Not the stuff that's always been here. Your hairbrush, toothbrush, hair things, jumper's, wetsuit, underwear-"
"The last one is because you stole it."
"Misplaced it when I quic-"
"Well thief you can take all those items with you to your new place, because you know I'll be spending time in any place you live."
"If we decide on CU then it will be your place too, and even if we don't it could be our LA place that we come to when visiting the city. Bren I hate house hunting…"
"Dylan what are you trying to get at?"
"You do it-"
"Dylan what about your mum-"
"I'm not having a zen garden as a house priority, and Jack… I don't want him being tempted to be materialistic that soon."
"Fine I'll help but you are choosing."
"You'll narrow it down to two though?"
"Your aversion to shopping for anything other than surf and bike stuff is hilarious."
"Hey I'm pretty good at buying you presents as well."
I pull on my necklace that I wear everyday, "yeah you are."
"So you'll choose?"
"I'll bring it down to two for you to choose from though you need to make a list of things you want in it and how much spent, but Dylan that's the easy part, it's the expensive part but the easy part in all this. You need to go speak to your mum about your decision, and then call the lawyer. Do you want me to stay on the line while you talk to Iris?"
"No I've got it. Are you going out for the rest of the night or in the morning?"
"No I'll stay close to the hotel tomorrow and catch up on some reading. Call if you need me."
"I always need you."
"Call if you especially need me."
"Thank you Bren. I know it's taking on a lot."
"Well you've taken on way more than you had to with my dad. Who knew our parents would be such hard work?"
"I love you."
"I know. Me too."
He didn't sound good, he sounded stressed and nervous. I hated him being alone for this. Iris I love but this would be a lot for her with her own emotions, and while I know he can do it I hate him being alone. I pick up the phone and add coins for another transatlantic phone call.
When he gets to the phone he is almost out of breath, "Bren what's going on, are you okay I didn't feel any-" I've never called him at the club, and to be doing so from Paris must be freaking him out.
"Brandon I'm fine, breathe." I then launch into the news and swear him to twin secrecy. I'm sure it will hit the news in LA soon but I'm not sure how public the parole conditions will be, and the choice Dylan needed to make. He promises to go check on his brother after work.
My mum had some how channeled Bren and is frantically cleaning since finding out that Jack will be released at nine am tomorrow, by the time I collect him we should be back here by eleven. I've given up on trying to help and have disappeared to my chair to calm down, rereading Bren's letters over again to settle me. It's a reminder to me through all of this change of what is solid- she is, we are. There's a knock at the door at five pm and if it's a bloody reporter I'm going to lose my fucking marbles.
"B, what are… your sister?"
"Of course. She asked me to take her place this evening, I'm on strict instructions to come take you to a meeting and then go for a mega burger. I put my foot down when she suggested the lookout afterwards, even if it was just to 'talk'."
"Yeah you might be her genetic other half but sorry man you just don't do it for me."
"It's because I have better hair than you right?"
"Yeah that's what's holding me back."
"Well it can't be my eyes they are better than Bren's- she's always been jealous of them."
"B, my woman's eyes are better than yours. Yours are just one colour her's change depending on her mood, like a hyper colour T-shirt." I go pick up my wallet and then walk over to the bathroom door where my mum is cleaning with what looks like white powder and vinegar. She's off to the store after she finishes in there so decline's to meet us at The Pit for dinner after the meeting.
When we are in Brandon's Stang he looks at me, "I'm surprised there is no media."
"Just wait man it hasn't hit the news yet. McKay's are a tabloid favourite here, from my parents wedding, his affairs, their divorce, Jack's girlfriends, my partying, all of it. Everyone loves a good drama and McKay's know how to give good drama."
"You ready for that?"
"No." I run my hand through my hair, "I've been fighting the temptation to send a ticket to your sister all day- I want her home already."
"She'd come home-"
"Yeah and Jimbo would just lock her up in her room. He's going to do it anyway isn't he? There is no chance he'll accept her being around Jack." He gives me an apologetic look before turning back to the road. "She think's that we can make this work I don't see how."
"You're not thinking of ending-"
"No. B, your sister is a nonnegotiable but I don't see how we can work around-"
"My father. Dylan that's the only hurdle just him."
"Brandon he's right to worry. My Dad associated with some dangerous people and I don't know if that's all resolved and ended on good terms. You know I'll keep her safe but I won't lie and tell you it's not a worry to me too."
"She told me on the phone that she knew everything that you've kept no secrets from her, and she trusts you. That's what she was referencing wasn't it, she was trying to tell me she was going in with her eyes open." I nod, "D, I may not like what it means for her but my sister wants this for you, I guess she wants a chance for your family to heal. Bren would hate for us to second guess her decision. You invited her in to have a say and she did, and she knows Dad better than me. She's always been his little girl. She knows how he'll react and she's still willing to create that war zone to make sure she doesn't hold you and your family back. We've got to trust her."
"She is my family. You and her-"
"So then you focus on working this out with your parents and you trust your family to have your back. Dylan I've got her back at home you don't need to worry about her."
"You've met your sister right? From the moment I met her I've worried about her, if it's not a health scare, someone trying to take her out, it's her terrible driving- she's a magnet for danger."
"Must be why she fell for you."
"Ha ha."
Before I leave the next morning I check in on my mum. She's meditating but looks up when I open her door. "Sorry I didn't mean to break your focus."
"What focus? My mind won't clear today so it's just a lot of calming breaths being had."
"Will you be okay while I'm gone?"
"Yes Darling. I won't leave the house not with those vultures out the front so I'll organise a lunch for when you both get back."
"Something spicy?"
"Your father will hate that."
I give her a cheeky smile, "I know."
"Dylan."
"Hey my relationship with him isn't brilliant either so let me have a little fun."
"I'll make a spicy sauce on the side. Happy?"
"Yeah."
She shakes her head at me. "You better go traffic in LA in peak hour will be terrible."
"Yeah." I scratch my neck, "Bren's hanging around her hotel today so if you need-"
She gives me a thankful look understanding that I'm worried about her being here alone, "I'll give her a call soon."
Jack is quiet as we signed the paper's and walked out past the cameras and reporter's. After forty-five minutes of being on the road back to Beverly Hills I finally have enough of small chat and long silences.
"What story did you give them?" He looks over from staring out the window and lifts his eyebrow like I do. "To the Parole Board. Your lawyer said you had a story."
He sighs, "Son I just told them the truth. I told them how it started, the spiral of bad decisions, and I told them what getting out means."
"What does it mean?"
"It means I get to find out how much of our family is left after fate stepped it and hid my wife behind a cloud of indifference and despair while I was too fucking blind and hurt to figure it out. I get to find out if the angry bastard I became is the only thing left in here."
Yeah he got the letter and in typical Jack McKay style he went big. Choosing to use that anger at my mum's illness and himself for not noticing to fight his way out of prison by securing an early parole. Others would have just written back or called but Jack's way was always to go big.