December 4, 1998 Washington Post

Brandon was sitting at his desk thinking about the past few months and how everything in his life seemed to be passing him by. His friends were all back in California... his family was either in Minnesota or Hong Kong... and he was stuck in DC... the place he thought all of his dreams would come true. The fact was, his dreams weren't coming true! He moved here to become a great journalist and so far all he had managed to do was write a few articles here and there... mostly he was just a fact checker for the rest of the writers... he was the one that worked so hard to get the facts but they were the ones that got the credit.

It was only seven thirty and he had to be there until eight that night... and had been there since four. When he was able to go home he couldn't sleep... he had way too much on his mind to sleep... he wanted to see his friends and the one that meant the world to him for Christmas, but his boss was making him work on Christmas day. The paper would be closed but that didn't mean there wasn't important stories that could be dropped because of the holiday... as Mr. Harper had told him the day before. The phone brought him out of his self loathing state of mind.

"Brandon Walsh..." He said into his headset.

"Hey long time no talk!" The voice of his sister could be heard on the other end.

"Yeah... sorry about that but they have me working like a dog day and night here." Brandon responded in a dull tone.

"Okay what is the matter?" Brenda asked picking up on his tone like always.

"Nothing... so how's Dylan and my nephew doing?" He asked not wanting to get into his problems... Brenda had enough of those for both of them.

"Well, J.J. is doing great... he is crawling all over the hotel room... Dylan is resting like the doctors have been telling him to do... his surgery went great and we are just waiting for them to day that we can all head home... it shouldn't be too much longer now!"

"That's great." Brandon was trying to sound happy but Brenda wasn't buying it.

"You didn't answer my question! Is it Kelly?" Brenda wasn't going to let it go this time.

"I think I made a mistake taking this job." Brandon stated... it was just enough to answer her question but not enough to get her to stop prying.

"How so? I thought you loved it!" Brenda continued.

"I did when I was the one writing the articles... but I'm not even allowed to do that anymore... I just get the facts and the other guys write the articles. I don't even get to go home for Christmas!"

"No offense but you are home... you live there... not Beverly Hills!" Brenda explained.

"I just miss the gang... it's not the same without them... I miss hanging out at the Peach Pit and the After Dark... I miss the beach... I miss..."

"You miss Kelly... just admit it! You're sorry that you decided to call off the wedding and now you are making yourself miserable because you realized what a dummy you were being... What happened is not going to change... no matter how badly you want it too... what is done, is done... you can't change the past so just forget about it and move on!"

She couldn't believe what she was saying... she knew how much Brandon loved Kelly so why was she tellying him to forget her? Maybe it was because Dylan had told her that Kelly was pregnant with Brandon's child, but didn't want him to know because she wanted him to get his chance at becoming a great journalist. Maybe it was because she was still, in a way, angry with her because of what had happened between them with Dylan... she didn't know and wasn't about to try to understand it either. She was just tired of her brother getting hurt because of stupid things that had been said and she wanted it to stop.

"Is there a reason you are be so snappy?" It's not as easy as it sounds! Brandon thought hurt that she would even think that he wasn't trying to move on.

"You know what I think?" She asked dodging his question.

"What do you think miss opinionated one?" Brandon was getting even more annoyed with her.

"If you want to see her than screw your boss and just go!" She was trying to make things right again.

"I gotta go... I have a lot of work to do... I'll talk to you later." He said as he hung up on her.

After that call the day seemed to go by a little faster but it still wasn't passing nearly fast enough... He wanted to go home and call Kelly, but he didn't know what he was going to say to her. It was six in the evening and he only had two more hours, but that was two more hours than he wanted to be there for. He was seriously debating about just leaving when his boss popped his head in the door frame.

"Walsh do you have those notes on the Jousteine case? Henry needs them ASAP..." John Harper asked quickly.

"Top file... left side of the door." Brandon said looking up and pointing to where the folder was sitting.

"Thanks... something wrong?" John asked grabbing the folder.

"Nope just looking over some notes for Jerry." He said looking back at the the pile of papers in front of him.

"How long have you been here?"

"Since four this morning..."

"Good God, go home!" John explained as he walked out the door.

Brandon wasn't going to wait for him to change his mind as he grabbed his coat and keys and headed out the door... before anyone could stop him he was at his car. He had no idea why he wanted to go home so bad, but he did. Maybe it was because he had been at the office for so long that he was just getting bored with it. Whatever it was it didn't matter anymore... he was going to his apartment and wouldn't have to be back at the office until Monday.

December 12, 1998 Doctor's Office

Kelly was sitting in front of doctor's desk waiting for him to come back in with the information she had been waiting almost seven months to hear. It seemed like she had been waiting for hours but really it had only been a few minutes. About five minutes later the doctor walked in with a photograph in his hand. It was what she had been waiting for... the sonogram picture.

"Congradulations Ms. Taylor... you're having twins!" Doctor Harrison told her.

"Twins?" Kelly was shocked... That explains why I am as big as a house! she thought to herself.

"Yes... A boy and a girl according to the sonogram." The doctor continued.

"Thank you!" Kelly said as she smiled and began to walk out the door.

"I'll see you in two weeks Ms. Taylor..."

"Yes you will, and Thank you again, Dr. Harrison." Kelly said as she turned back towards the door and disapeared into the hallway.

December 25, 1998 Casa Walsh Living Room

Kelly was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper as Steve finished putting all the gifts under the tree. Donna and David were in the kitchen setting the table for dinner. It was four in the afternoon and everyone was there except for Noah and Valerie... of course they had said that they would be driving up the coast so they probably would not make it to Christmas dinner, and Janet had said she would be there as soon as she finalized things at The Beat.

"Well... I'm going to head upstairs to grab the rest of the gifts before Janet gets here!" Steve said heading up to his room.

"Okay..." Kelly said as the doorbell rang. "I'll get that..." She said getting up off the couch.

She had a little trouble getting up but she made it and headed to the door. The doorbell rang again... I'm coming, I'm coming... hold you horses! Kelly thought to herself as she opened the door. She was in for the shock of her life. Standing in front of her was Dylan McKay... little Jacob was in his arms and Brenda was walking up behind them with the bag she had forgotten in the backseat of the car.

"Oh, my God... Dylan! I'm so glad you're here!" Kelly gushed as she hugged them.

"Easy Kel... I have to breathe sometime soon!" Dylan said as Jacob giggled.

"Oh you think that's funny?" Brenda asked walking up to them. "Where's my hug?" She asked looking over at Kelly.

"Get your butt over here and I'll give you one!" Kelly said giving her best friend a big hug.

"Wow you got big!" Brenda said pulling away.

"Yeah... I guess that is because there's two of them in there..." Kelly began.

"Twins... oh my God congrats... boys... girls... what?" She asked as they walked inside.

"A boy and a girl..." Kelly explained as the two walked into the kitchen.

"Have you picked out any names?" Brenda asked.

"Or told Brandon?" Dylan asked as well.

"I have a few names picked out but none that are set in stone... and no I haven't told Brandon and I am not going too..."

"Even if I told you he is miserable at the Post..." Brenda offered.

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked.

"I'm not sure... but he didn't sound happy when I called him a few weeks ago." Just as Brenda started to explain the phone rang.

"Kel, for you!" David said handing her the phone.

"Hello?" Kelly asked.

"Merry Christmas babe..." It was Brandon.

"I'm glad you called... I miss you!" Kelly said turning red as she took the phone into the other room.

"I miss you too... I'm thinking of coming back home..." to you. He thought.

"Really... that's great Brandon... when?" Kelly was excited and terrified at the same time.

"I'm not sure I'm gonna see if work get better but I will deffinatly let you know when I do!"

"Oh..." Kelly's voice shifted and the smile disapeared.

"You Okay Kel?" Brandon asked noticing the change in her voice.

"Yeah great... I was just hoping you were coming home for Christmas but I guess I was wrong... I gotta go... Donna needs my help." She said trying to get him off the phone before she said something she would regret.

"Okay... I guess I'll talk to you later..." Brandon said as he hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" David asked as Kelly walked back into the room visably upset.

"Brandon." She said sitting down at the table just wanting to forget about everything.

"Let's just eat... I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay!" David said as the rest of the gand sat down to eat.

The rest of the night went by fast... but the gang was worried about Kelly. She had been distant since the phone call with Brandon. Kelly had insisted she was fine, so they didn't press her for more, but they were still concerned. It wasn't very often that she was unhappy lately but Brandon had obviously said something that hurt her. Brenda had tried to talk to her but she wouldn't say anything about the conversation. Donna had even pulled her aside but again she was tight lipped about the phone call. It was obvious that none of them was going to get her to talk that night so they just dropped it... they would try again in the morning.