"When we mentioned to Jennie that we had watched both series — both Fox's original (1990-2000) and The CW's new series (2008-2013) simply titled 90210, she was quick to say, 'We don't talk about that one.' Even though Jennie appeared in 20 episodes, she told us, 'We're just going to pretend like that never happened.' "So should we just forget that Kelly and Dylan had a child and Kelly's mom died?" we asked, referring to plotlines from the reboot that infuriated fans of the original series, and she said, 'I think so. I think it's best if we just let that go.'"- Jennie Garth, Hollywood Life, the 21st of May in 2019.
xx
There was a reason the Walshes didn't keep secrets from each other, she realized whilst standing in her hallway at about one o'clock on the first morning of the year.
Neither herself nor her brother took too kindly to being left in the dark on the important events of their respective lives.
Never mind that he nearly once got married without her, just because she couldn't pull out of her third year showcase at RADA.
No, that didn't count, he would say, because he hadn't gone through with his wedding and therefore, she really hadn't missed anything except some reportedly good cake.
Unlike Brandon, apparently, who reacted to their news in the manner of one who had just lost a sister.
"You're telling me that my dear twin sister, the woman I've known for three decades of my life, the one I shared a freaking uterus with, the one I initially shared my prized baseball card collection with!" His nostrils flared as he took a second to breathe, "That sister - got back together with my best friend presumably for life a whole frickin' month ago, mere days after swearing to me that she couldn't possibly do that, and Mom, Dad and Stevie all knew before I did?" He crossed his arms with an accompanied tapping of his feet.
Dylan tilted his head from his relaxed stance against the wall.
"You told B you couldn't 'possibly' get back together with me?"
She noticed the imminent pain in his eyes and squeezed his hand in reassurance before his insecurities could sweep through.
"I told him I couldn't force you to love me. I was still sorting out my own feelings and you were supposedly in love with someone else."
"You didn't force me to do anything, Bren." Wrapping her in the cocoon of his arms, he kissed her forehead.
"Hello? Steve knew? Before me? Can we just discuss that?"
"Steve wasn't supposed to know before the rest of you. He flew back a day early," Brenda defended.
"I can't believe Mom and Dad didn't tell me."
"I can't believe it, either. I was so sure they would."
"My own twin didn't even tell me! Since when do we keep things from each other, Brenda?"
"Brandon, if we had told you, you would've told Kel."
"That's not tr -"
"Then Kel would've told Don, Don would've told David, David would've told Steve," she rattled off, listing the entire grapevine.
"Excuse me. Your fucking, so-called best friend wouldn't have told any of them and I didn't even know!" Valerie glared at Brenda over her rum and Coke float.
"Yeah, speaking of best friends," Brandon echoed, swinging to face Dylan.
"We wanted to tell all of you at the same time, in person," he explained, still holding onto Brenda.
"And don't blame Dylan for this. I'm the one who wanted to wait. He wanted to spill right after it happened."
"But you told Steve, on his own," Valerie continued to glower.
"He figured it out."
Valerie and Brandon then turned their frustration on the mentioned man, who held up both hands to defend himself from Valerie's known kickboxing skills.
"Hey, McKay left his Angels cap under their bed. How many Londoners do you know who would bring in an Angels cap to Bren's place when they're boinking her? Hell, how many Londoners even know who the Angels are?" Steve slowly backed away from the advancing Valerie. "But McKay was supposed to be in Baja, so I only really figured it out when he showed up with a key to her place." He spun around and hightailed out of the room.
The answer did little to calm either Valerie or Brandon, the latter of whom remarked that he never believed Dylan had actually moved to Baja. Valerie inquired why he would want to do so in the first place when Brenda resided halfway across the world from the Mexican state.
"Aren't you happy for us, Bran?"
"Of course I'm happy for you, little sis. I'm just a little peeved that Shane Wachinski knew about this long before I did."
Of all the times for the seasoned actor to slip out of character and forget to feign surprise.
"Tell me you at least waited a week with him. A few days? Anything?"
She looked to the carpet, then back up to her brother.
"He found out right after it happened," she mumbled.
He stared, open-mouthed.
"Don't - don't even talk to me right now."
Brandon walked off, leaving Valerie to pick up his place.
"Are you saying Katie Wachinski knew before I did? After how hard I fought to convince you to even consider giving Dyl another chance?"
"And yelled at me," Dylan added, "a lot."
"You fucking got back with Kelly almost immediately after leaving Brenda behind, Dylan. I wouldn't be much of a best friend if I didn't yell at you for that. See? I'm a fucking amazing best friend. Brenda, on the other hand -"
"Look, Katie, Shane, Levi and Benji were just all in the pub that night, alright? Val, can you honestly tell me that if we had told you first, you wouldn't have dropped multiple hints to Bran or called him up just to gloat to Kelly?"
"Fuck." She sighed. "You Walshes know me way too well."
"Yeah. They have a gift." Dylan nuzzled Brenda's neck.
"A fucking irritating gift," Valerie mumbled.
Following them into the living room, she declared that Brenda could make it up to her by labelling her as Maid of Honor in her bridal party, to which Donna argued that the title should belong to her.
"Who told Bren to consider a reunion with her ex?" Donna huffed.
"I did," grumbled Brandon.
"So did I," said Steve.
"I would've, if we hadn't lost touch. I did try it on the Dylan end, multiple times," Erica remarked.
"Every single Christmas," Dylan noted. "She wasn't as bad as Iris, though."
"I tried casually suggesting it in an email after the whole baby monitor thing, but Bren threatened to box my ears and I like my ears," added David.
At Dylan's inquisitive glance, Brenda smiled sheepishly.
"What baby monitor thing?" asked Steve.
"Oh, it's just a thing. With a baby monitor," David brushed off.
"That sounds kinky. Is it kinky?"
They all stared at Steve.
"I mean, I did suggest to Dylan all the way back when we broke up that he should fly over here, but I'm just the boyfriend-stealing ex so I guess that doesn't count," Kelly mumbled.
"Okay, but did any of you go scuba diving with them and that insanely attractive Javier, then repeatedly argue with Brenda over why she should give him another chance?" Valerie countered.
"Bro, didn't you tell me once that scuba diving should be a solo sport?" asked the amused David.
"Not with Brenda Walsh by your side. Nothing should be solo when you've got her." With that, Dylan did indeed tuck her into his side.
"Where the hell was this guy when I was with him?" Evidently having just seen a six-headed cow colliding with a comet in space, Valerie's jaw fell to her knees. "I'd like a refund."
"Oh, this is nothing." Donna flicked a hand. "You should hear about some of the things he did for her in high school. Dyl's always been a hopeless romantic when it comes to Bren. I used to want a relationship just like theirs. That's the first time I've told anyone." Fiddling with the side zipper of her shirt, she frowned. "I don't know why I ever encouraged Kel to reunite with him. Everyone knows Dylan and Kel have never been as happy as they look right now, with the Walshes."
"The happiest." Kelly passionately kissed her fiancé.
Brenda paused the group's argument by pointing out that she and Dylan were merely dating and would not be engaged for some time. Valerie asked why the hell not. Donna remarked that they'd already done the dating thing, twice - three times, the still fuming Brandon reminded her in between Kelly's comfort - and that surely they planned to take their relationship to the next level.
"It's not that I don't want to marry her -"
"- and it isn't like I won't marry him -"
"- it's just -"
"- I want to wait until after Bran and Kel's wedding. Just because we're twins doesn't mean we have to share everything."
"No double wedding for the Minnesota Twins, then?" David joked.
Both twins glowered in his direction.
"I've spent most of my life dreaming of being this woman's husband and I'll happily marry her any day of the week, but she does deserve a season that's all about her and she can't have that right now." Tucking his head into the crook of her neck, Dylan pressed a soft kiss to Brenda's shoulder.
"Well, whenever it happens, I'll happily accept Man of Honor," inserted Steve. "I never doubted you two for a second. Can't say the same for the rest of these peeps."
"Hey!"
"Right, except you, Val."
"Well, it may have taken us a bit, but I think we can all see now that Bren is Dylan's swan," Donna smiled.
Everyone looked at her, confused.
"Wait, you don't know about swans? Oh my God, I know something all of you don't know!"
"Don, would you just tell us why you called Brenda a swan?"
"Hold on, Brandon. Let me take this in for a sec."
David rubbed her back.
"It's from a documentary I helped a friend put together," he explained.
"Swans mate for life. They even grieve when they lose their mate," Donna said. "No matter what has happened in their lives, no matter how many people they've been with or how far apart they've lived, Dyl and Bren keep returning to each other and that, Brandon, is why Brenda Walsh is Dylan McKay's swan. Which, I guess, would make Kel yours."
The Silvers left for their hotel around quarter past one, where Leslie Dixon would bring their undoubtedly sleeping girls and Sammy Taylor, who was to spend the night with his cousins. Steve frowned upon hearing that Hannah and Madeline had both requested to sleep over with the Wachinski grandchildren, one of whom had apparently become Madeline's newest friend. Valerie left shortly after the Silvers. Brandon and Kelly remained for an hour longer, in which she and Brenda found themselves eyeing a snowstorm in the making.
"Kel," Brenda said, tucking her hair behind her ear, "why did you encourage Dylan to go after me?"
The woman who had been her best friend, her rival, her frenemy, then nothing at all - yet somehow always remained her sister - surveyed her for a full minute before responding.
"Well, two reasons. First, I was worried he'd rebound with that godawful Gina who would inevitably lead him back to the narcotics and second," she paused, watching a snowflake drift towards the window, "Bren, did Dylan tell you why we broke up?"
"He said you said Brandon's name in your sleep and that he said mine."
"He told you he said your name in his sleep? That's a significant minimization," she laughed.
"What do you mean?"
"Brenda, I woke up to him freaking sobbing. Tears rolling down and everything, screaming your name. He was a total wreck. I swear he woke up in the middle of the night thinking you'd died or were about to or something, but he didn't remember it the next day. And this was after he got clean."
Brenda never liked to imagine the thought of Dylan's tears, even if they were over her.
"Two nights later, I had an awful dream about Brandon in the same vein. Woke up shaking, with an unexplainable urge to find him in Washington. By the end of that week, Dylan and I broke up for the final time. We both know we should've never gotten back together. We regret it more than you or my gorgeous fiancé will ever know." She twisted her engagement ring, which sparkled through the frost. "If we'd realized it before, we could've saved you and Brandon from a lot of pain."
Before Brenda could respond, Kelly turned around with an earnest expression.
"I thought I needed swinging chandeliers or whatever, but the thing is Bren, I don't. Because if I asked for the moon, I know Brandon would call up his contact at NASA to figure out how to get me a piece of it. What I really needed was your brother. All I needed was my best friend. I promised myself when he was gone that if he ever came back, I wouldn't let anything stand in the way of our future. He makes me happier than I've ever been, Bren, and I hope I do the same for him." She took Brenda's hand. "I swear to you that I will always fight to make your brother feel as loved as he does me. I've spent my life searching for the kind of love I only saw in the movies and I've found it with him. I'm so sorry I tried to take yours."
"Treat him right, Kel."
"I swear on my life, Bren."
And then both women embraced. Perhaps their friendship would never bounce back to the way it had been before betrayal, deceit and Kelly's ancient - but still hurtful - insults. Perhaps all they could ever be were polite sisters-in-law with a score of mutual friends, but, walking away, Brenda felt an immense amount of relief that she no longer needed to be concerned about the blonde looming in the shadows, waiting to dash to Dylan the second things broke down with Brandon.
Maybe happily-ever-after did exist for the Walsh twins. Maybe their respective marriages could last as long as their grandparents Beevis; maybe they could last longer.
Becoming emotional, she stopped upon overhearing the two men currently occupying her thoughts.
She had already eavesdropped on Dylan's conversation with Steve. One more couldn't hurt.
"Look, D, I'm sorry. I wanted to discuss it with you before we sent out the save-a-dates, but -"
"B, what are you talking about?" Arms immersed in soap bubbles, Dylan stood cleaning grease off of the pan she had used to cook dinner for the gang. The sight appeared so strange that she almost believed it to be a mirage.
Then again, their entire reunion still seemed a mirage.
"May seventeenth, bro."
Flummoxed, Dylan shrugged and continued to clean.
"You really don't remember?" Brandon, too, began to help tidy the mess covering the kitchen counter.
"Not sure what I'm supposed to remember."
"That means you really are completely hung up on my sister." Brandon scraped the gunk from a knife into the garbage disposal, his signature triple-dimpled grin heard through his voice.
"Yeah, no shit," Dylan replied. "She's incredible, man. Talented as hell and has the biggest heart of anyone I know, including Donna."
"Well I could've told you that during my visits, if you hadn't done that thing where you left the room like your ass was on fire any time I started to talk about Bren."
"It just hurt too much, Bran." Rinsing off a bowl, he set it on the dish rack. "I really fucked it up with her."
"Yeah," Brandon replied quietly, "We both screwed up pretty royally with the women we love."
"And with my brother. I fucked that up, too." Dylan sighed, towel drying a mug. "I should've never hooked up with the woman you almost married. I should've never left Bren."
"And I should've never agreed to call off our wedding or convinced myself that Kel and I were just platonic when we both knew that was a lie. So unless you harbor a secret desire to be an adulterer, Kelly wouldn't have been yours to take from Matt if I'd fought for her instead of raced off to Washington."
"Look, Brandon, can we just pretend the whole thing between me and Kelly never happened? The entire thing was a giant fucking mistake that hurt Brenda, hurt you and it's gonna take me decades to undo."
"You want to forget you ever desired the woman I'm in love with? Hey, I'm all for that," Brandon joked, nudging Dylan's shoulder with his elbow.
"All I want to do is be the one who gives your sister everything she's ever wished for. If Kel gives you a quarter of the happiness Brenda gives me, then I'm genuinely thrilled for both of you. I can only hope I do the same for Bren." Dylan turned off the faucet, angling to face Brandon and, in turn, Brenda's viewpoint. "I broke my promise to you a few times about taking care of your sister and I'm gonna keep making it up to you and her as long as I've still got breath in my lungs."
"D, the first time you hurt my little sister, I stayed your friend. The second time you hurt her, I stayed your brother. Hurt her one more time and I won't be as nice. Got it?"
"Loud and clear, B."
"Good." Brandon examined Dylan's dish cleaning skills on a spoon, dunking it back under the suds. "Think you two will be the next to get married?"
"I hope so, man. I'd elope with her right now, but I want her to have the wedding she's always imagined and I doubt that's in front of some guy in a wig."
"Some guy in a wig?"
"You haven't seen that much of British TV, have you, Jones?"
"No, I haven't." Brandon set a dry plate in the cupboard. "Well, brother, whenever it happens, you have my full blessing and if you need my help getting the Big Guy to give you his, all you have to do is ask."
"Thanks, man."
The two men embraced with a clap on each back.
Appearing not even the slightest bit exhausted, Steve opened the door as he brushed past.
Her hiding spot exposed, Brenda tried to glance away from the men.
"Hey, baby." Gesturing for her to come closer, Dylan granted a dimpled, entertained smile. "I think we should really stop this eavesdropping thing."
She blushed and allowed him to intertwine his arms underneath her chest. Looking at her brother, she asked the question plaguing her mind.
"Brandon, what's so significant about May seventeenth?"
"Nothing, apparently." He glanced at Dylan and then back to his sister. "Someone once made a choice on that day, but I guess it isn't a touchy subject anymore."
"Someone else made a choice on November twenty-fourth - the wrong choice," Dylan murmured into his girlfriend's hair.
And then she realized for the first time that the evening he returned to London one month prior happened to be nine years to the afternoon when he left - the twenty-fourth of November in the second-to-last year of the nineties.
"You know, there are still a few of Erica's pastries in the fridge." His hands roamed over her bare waist an hour after the departure of Brandon and Kelly. His lips danced over her ear. Neither had slept, choosing instead to greet the new year repeatedly, in heated fashion both in and out of their bed. "We could share them."
"God, that sounds incredible."
They barely made it down the stairs before they heard one of the three individuals who accepted Brenda's offer to stay in their place: the concerned bark of Steve.
"Where have you been?"
"Out with Keith. Oh, we had the best time!"
"Andrea. It's four fucking a.m."
"Aw, Stevie, were you worried? You don't have to worry about me. I'm a grown woman in one of the most wonderful places on earth!"
"Are you drunk? Did that asshole get you drunk?"
Dylan glanced at Brenda, who nodded and quietly sank down onto the darkened stairs. He sat beside her, linking their hands.
"No, I'm not drunk!" Andrea dragged out. "Well, maybe a little tipsy." She giggled.
"Should we be listening in on their private conversation like this?" Dylan whispered.
"Probably not, but someone might need to step in," Brenda whispered back. "And it is our house."
"You can't fucking date Keith Christopher, Andrea."
Brenda's bewildered glance swung to Dylan.
"And why not?"
"Because - because," Steve paused.
"Is he actually gonna say it?" She could just barely read Dylan's quietly moving lips in the light of the silvery moon streaming through the window.
God, she hoped so.
"Because of Hannah!"
Bloody hell.
"I can't date anyone because of my daughter?" Andrea's tone dripped glacially, in rare form for the ordinarily calm Andrea Zuckerman.
"Fucking hell," Dylan muttered. "Way to screw that up, Sanders."
"I didn't say anyone. I'm talking about Keith. He isn't good enough for you or Hannah."
"Wait, so Keith Christopher is good enough to be your friend, but not good enough to date me? Oh and Steve Sanders gets to decide who is?"
"Look, Andrea, you know how much you and Hannah mean to me and Mads. You're one of my best friends, for fuck's sake. I'm just looking out for your best interest."
"You think I can't look out for it myself?"
"No, I just - I -"
"I've raised my daughter largely on my own for the past seven years of her life," Andrea bristled, with perfect clarity. "Jesse and I separated seven years ago. We've been divorced for three. This is the first time I even consider dating again and you tell me I can't because of my daughter?"
"Andrea! Fuck, would you just listen to me? Look, I - I -"
Brenda held her breath.
"I just think Keith doesn't know the first thing about dating a single mother. Andrea, I've known the guy for twelve years and he can never keep a steady girlfriend. He'll lose interest the second another pretty woman catches his eye. Hannah deserves some stability. You - you deserve some stability."
"Oh, so now you're saying I'm so colorless that I couldn't possibly keep an attractive man like Keith Christopher interested in me?"
"That is not what I'm saying. Would you quit twisting my words!"
"And that's our cue," Brenda murmured, jumping to her feet.
She comforted the irate Andrea with three scoops of eggnog ice-cream whilst Dylan talked to Steve, but by the time the gang flew back to Los Angeles, Steve had tried to return the Christmas gift he purchased for Andrea without her once knowing.
He told Brenda that there was "no fucking way I'm giving her two tickets to this nineteenth century literary tour just so she can go on it with fucking Keith."
Instead, he exchanged it for an additional gift for Hannah, who remained just as confused as Madeline why their normally close-knit parents were barely on speaking terms and continued to walk far apart during each tourist activity Andrea dragged the group to - complete with history lessons.
Valerie seemed to enjoy the lessons just fine, but she usually had a drink in her hand that caused her to giggle every time Andrea mentioned someone called Henry.
Just when she thought they were in the clear, David recalled directly before their flight that he had won the group's unofficial bet and, therefore, he expected to be named godfather to their first child.
Brandon and Steve, however, were quick to argue against the idea.
Then the Silvers shared their own news: they were once again expecting and both felt confident that their fourth child would be a boy.
Over Donna's shoulder, Brenda had noticed Erica's flickering glance to her own.
"What the fuck is this?"
Putting down the novel he'd been reading, Dylan stared at the stack of papers Erica shoved in their faces.
It was strange having just the three of them in a house which had spent a week full to the brim of exuberant children and talkative adults.
"Where did you get this?"
"Don't leave things lying around, Dylan. Now answer the fucking question."
Setting aside her script, Brenda took the document from his hand and skimmed over its contents.
"Why do you have paperwork to give up your rights to my son lying around your desk, Dylan Michael McKay?"
Brenda had never before seen the other woman's eyes dance with the kind of wildfire she sometimes saw in Dylan's. She knew nothing good could come from the infamous McKay temper, that force which led to tube station farewells, to stalking off of lawns, to nine years of separation. To make matters worse, Erica was only two weeks into her planned three-week stay.
"Why were you in my office?"
"Oh no. You're not using a diversion tactic on me. We had a fucking deal, Dylan! I'd let Kelly raise my son only if you stayed in the picture."
"What are you saying, Erica?" He leant forward, keeping Brenda's legs draped over his. "You want Sammy back?"
She shook her head, long curls dancing over her shoulders.
"I wasn't ready to be a mother then and I'm not ready to be one now. He looks way too much like his father. I'd see it every time I looked at him and that wouldn't be fair to Sammy. It's not his fault his dad is a fucking piece of shit." Her voice rose. Her hands gestured wildly. "But there's no fucking way I'm letting fucking Kelly Taylor raise him on her own."
"She wouldn't. Brandon would be his dad."
"I like Brandon. Brandon is great. But Brandon isn't my big brother. Either stick to joint custody with Kelly like you have been or go for full custody. She is not getting full custody of my son. Period."
"Erica," he sighed, grabbing onto Brenda's stockinged feet for support, "Bren and I want to start a family, if we're able, and as much as I love Sammy, I don't want her or our future kids to feel like they have to share me with Kelly. It already damaged us significantly when she thought I really did knock Kel up."
"You aren't sharing him with his ex, Bren." Erica turned to look at her older sister. "Look, Brandon can be in Sammy's life, that's fine, but that little boy deserves to have you in his, too."
"Hey, I'll support my man in whatever he decides." Raising her palms towards the bellicose Erica, she smiled.
Dylan pulled her to him, lifting Brenda's rear to sit on his waist. "Bren, I thought you wanted this."
"I want whatever you want, Dylan."
He searched her gaze.
"I can't," he swallowed, curling her hair between his fingers, "I can't take Sammy from Kelly. She's the only mother he's known for the first two and a half years of his life. I can't do that to the kid."
"I understand." She caressed behind his ear.
He continued to try to read her, then flicked his glance to the still simmering woman standing above them.
"Erica, if I stay his dad, I want my friends to know the truth. I want them to know that Brenda will be the only mother of any children I may have and I really, really want them to know I didn't fucking knock up Kelly."
"Did I say they couldn't know?"
He gaped at her.
"You literally said 'you can't tell anyone you aren't actually this kid's father, Dylan. I mean it!'"
"But you told Bren."
"Because it's Brenda and she was convinced I fucked her brother's fiancée right after he vanished! She was never gonna give me the time of day if I let her keep thinking that."
He wasn't wrong, she decided.
"And Brandon knows," Erica added, placing a hand on her hip.
"Because it's Brandon. I told Kelly I was gonna tell Bren and she said only if she could tell Bran. No one else knows, not even Donna."
"My ex still locked up?"
"You mean the one whose name I still don't know? Yeah. Your friend Lelia said he's in for twenty five to life."
Erica sank into the nearby armchair, palpably relieved.
Brenda wondered if the younger woman's consideration of her as family extended to sharing the events that occurred with Sammy's biological father, or if that kind of trust took time to build after years of a consistent sisterhood.
"Okay. You can tell them. But you're gonna have to work out a different custody arrangement with Kelly, if you're permanently living here and she's living back in the States. I don't like the idea of you just having him for the summers and some holidays."
"I'm not sure Kel's gonna want to discuss a six-month arrangement, especially when Sammy starts school."
"Well, I could always tell the government of California that this adoption isn't exactly legal," Erica shrugged.
He stared.
"Damn, sis. Just because you live in Denmark doesn't mean you have to be so cold."
"I don't like Kelly, Dylan. You know that. I've never liked her."
He ran his hands over his face.
"Okay. I'll talk it over with Kel."
Then Erica became the ball of cheerful energy she had been when she first arrived, treating Dylan and Brenda to more of her excellent baking that even competed with Brenda's own talent in the kitchen.
"Dylan?"
"Yeah, Bren?"
They lay in bed the afternoon after his sister returned to Copenhagen, Brenda memorizing her lines whilst Dylan drafted a proposal to the British Sub-Aqua Club - or BSAC, the United Kingdom's governing body for scuba diving and snorkeling - on behalf of the Baja initiative.
"Why does Erica not like Kelly?"
He glanced at her, setting his laptop on the bedside table. Turning on his side, he tugged her to face him.
"Because she blames Kelly for us breaking up, time numero dos and time numero tres. She thinks Kel cost her her big sister."
"What do you think?"
"Well," he paused, stroking her hair, "for a long time, I blamed Wisconsin and then Wachinski. Think I probably blamed the entire city of Prague, too; maybe even Václav Havel for allowing Londoners into Prague. Plus the team at Hachette Livre for not working with me to get that meeting rebooked."
"And now?"
"Me, Bren." He swallowed. "I blame me and me alone."
She brought their lips together.
"What's that for?" he smiled, swinging her to lay on his stomach.
"Maturity looks good on you."
"Then I shall wear it always, if it brings me a kiss like that, from the fairest maiden in all of the Kingdom and the States." He leant up to kiss her again. Both of his hands slid under her dress.
"Is there another reason Erica doesn't like her?"
"Kelly wasn't the nicest person to Erica when she was a kid and my sister, well," he chuckled, working to peel off her lingerie, "she never forgets when she's been wronged. Kinda like me that way."
"Kinda?" she laughed.
"Okay, so a lot like me that way."
"Was I?"
"Are you fishing here or do you really not remember?"
"I mean, that was freshman year at CU, right? I was a little preoccupied."
"Baby, you and your family were so kind to her that she's regarded all of you with the greatest esteem ever since." His hand slid over her abdomen, up to the crevice of her chest. "Whatever she might've said back then, living here with us is one of the highlights of her life. Like I said, if something is important enough, the McKays never forget. You'll realize that when you finally become one."
His hands continued to glide down the length of her body, over her shoulders, down her back, coming to a rest on her bare bottom.
Oh God, did her body love those hands. She had spent much of her adulthood confident in her curves, but the way he understood every single one of them made her fidget with overwhelming desire.
She doubted the romantic poets of old knew a love like theirs. She doubted a painter could capture a love like theirs. She doubted a musician could pen lyrics half as tantalizing as a love like theirs.
"Exhibit A. You know something I never forgot all those years we were apart?" He grinned, flipping them around.
"What's that?"
"How it feels when I'm inside you."
And he proceeded to enter.
-x
During season 5, episode 30, which aired on the 17th of May in 1995, Kelly chose herself over Brandon's ring or Dylan's world excursion. (Dunno what that date would be in BH time, nor am I inclined to figure it out, so May 17th it is.) Seems fitting for her to marry Bran on that date, solidifying her choice when my personal belief is that she made the wrong one in this episode.
That Erica scene wouldn't have even crossed my mind if not for starlite22. Thank you for the inquiry, which sparked the idea! (Starlite's past inquiries also led to the Toni discussion of the previous chapter, though it did take some time.) Glad you loved that line, Brendamckay61, and thank you!
Well, looks like Erica isn't quite willing to let B/K claim Sammy as their own. Sorry, Brelly fans. What should Dylan do?
As always, thanks a million for the readership, reviews, follows, favourites, discourse, etc.