A Window to the Past – Chapter 3
Washington, D.C.
Brandon divides his time between work and hanging out with Amy. They had finally spent the night together and he smiles to himself thinking of how wonderful it was to be in an easy relationship.
He had started cooking dinner and was in the middle of it when he hears a knock at his door.
'Hi Brandon,' Amy says, kissing him. 'Something smells fantastic in here.'
She walks into his apartment and puts her bag down. She brings a grocery bag into the kitchen and takes out a pie she had bought from the store.
'Dessert?' she says showing it to him.
'Oh, that looks great,' Brandon says.
'So, what are we doing tonight?' she asks him, putting her arms around his waist as he stands at the stovetop.
'Ah, well, we are going to enjoy some fine dining with a nice bottle of wine, eat some pie, and,' he says.
'Talk about our past,' she finishes for him.
'Huh?' he says.
'We've been spending a lot of time together, Brandon, but we don't know that much about each other. I figured that enough time has gone by that we should feel comfortable talking about our families, our friends, and our lives,' she suggests.
'Well, okay, but there's not a whole lot to tell,' he says.
'Somehow I doubt that,' she says with a smile.
She helps him set the table and lights some candles. He opens the wine and pours her a glass.
'Wow, this is a nice bottle of wine,' she says.
Brandon smiles at her as he puts the food on the table.
'Shall we?'
London
Brenda wakes up slowly and looks around the room for a few seconds. She tries to remember if she dreamed the fact that Dylan showed up or if he was actually here. She hears the bathroom door open and footsteps going into the kitchen and sighs to herself.
'I guess I wasn't dreaming,' she says out loud.
She rolls out of bed and goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She walks out into the kitchen and sees Dylan making a pot of coffee.
'Good morning,' he says with a smile.
'So, you are real,' she says. 'I thought I was dreaming there for a minute.'
'Ooh, maybe you are,' he says stepping toward her. He puts his arm around her body and pulls her close. He drops his head down kisses her lightly on the lips.
'Mmmm, definitely not dreaming,' she says with a smile. She takes a few steps back and looks at him with sleepy eyes.
'Bren,' he says, 'you look like you're still asleep.'
'Yeah, touring brings out the best in me,' she says with a yawn.
'What's that like anyway?' he asks her as they wait for the coffee to brew.
'It's grueling actually. The company spends a day or two putting up the set, focusing the lights and getting all of the costumes and props in place. In between doing that, we work out the blocking and rehearse the important scenes, since all the stages are set up differently,' she tells him.
Dylan nods and lets her continue.
'We play for a half week or a full week, depending on where we are, with a show every night and two shows on the weekend days. After that we tear it all down, get back on the bus in the middle of the night, drive to the next city to do it all over again,' she says.
'That does sound exhausting. Are they all like that?'
'No, not all of them. This was a short run, only two weeks and four cities,' she tells him.
'I don't know how you do that,' he says, shaking his head and pouring her a cup of coffee.
He hands her the cup and watches her bring it up to her nose and smell it.
'Ah, I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee,' she smiles.
'So, Bren, what's next?' he asks her as they move from the kitchen to the table.
'I'm not sure. I have to call my agent and see if he has anything lined up for me,' she says opening her computer and checking her mail.
After reading a message from Brandon, she starts to laugh and closes her computer.
'What's so funny?' he asks her.
'I just got an email from Brandon. He's in D.C. at an internship position at one of the local papers,' she tells him.
'Wow, good for him,' Dylan says.
'Yeah, well, he writes and tells me that he's all settled in to his apartment and that his new job is great and challenging, and oh, yeah, he met someone and she's great,' Brenda says.
Dylan smiles and nods his head. 'Of course.'
Dylan picks up the newspaper that was dropped outside of Brenda's door that morning and starts to read it as Brenda calls her agent.
As she is talking, she writes Brandon's address on the envelope containing the letter she wrote him while she was on tour in it and leaves it on the counter to put it in the mailbox.
Washington D.C.
Brandon and Amy sit on his couch drinking wine and talking about themselves.
'So, you have a twin? That's amazing. What's it like being a twin? Do you have that connection to each other that everyone always talks about?' Amy asks him after he tells her about Brenda.
'Um, kind of, it's not like I feel it when she has an emotion or something, but there have been times when we've had entire conversations with each other without saying a word,' he says.
'That's incredible,' Amy says. 'I never experienced that, being an only child. So, tell me more about Minnesota. I've never been there. Is it as cold as they say it is?'
'Absolutely it is. I kind of enjoyed it though, California doesn't really have seasons. It's mostly warm and sunny, and then a little rainy, and then back to sunny,' he says.
'Yeah, but living in Los Angeles must have been quite a shock from Minnesota,' she asks him. 'What was that like?
'Are you interviewing me or something?' he asks her with a smile.
'Kind of, I want to know about you. I'm intrigued,' she says.
'It wasn't that shocking, it just took a while to get used to. I kind of felt like I fit in right away, although Brenda had some trouble there in the beginning. You know how girls can be,' Brandon says.
'Ah, yes, I do. Nasty little bitches,' Amy says and then immediately puts her hand over her mouth.
'Do I sense some unresolved issues?' Brandon asks her.
'Maybe a few,' she says.
'So, tell me, what was it like growing up in Connecticut?' he asks her.
'Oh, you know, pretty normal. My mom was a homemaker like your mom and my dad worked in New York City on Wall Street,' she tells him.
'Did you live that close to the city?'
'Fairly close, he took the train in to work most of the time,' she says. 'It wasn't too long that they started to drift apart with him not being around a whole lot.'
'Oh, I'm sorry,' Brandon says.
'It's okay, Brandon,' she says smiling.
'How old were you when they split up?' he asks.
'Um, nine or ten, I think,' she says. 'Let's not dwell on that. I'm over it and I'd like to talk more about your family.'
'What about my family? My parents are still together after twenty years or so, I go to school at California University, and my sister lives in London and works as an actress.'
'Sounds like the perfect life, Brandon,' she says with a smile showing him her empty wine glass.
Brandon huffs a little and fills her glass. 'Yeah, well, we're only just talking about my family, wait until you meet them, it's an entirely different story,' he says.
Amy smiles wide and takes a sip from her glass. 'So, you want me to meet the family already?'
Brandon laughs as she puts her glass down and moves to sit as close to him as she can get.
She lifts her face and puts her hand on Brandon's cheek. He smiles down at her and she moves in to kiss him.
London
Brenda gets off of the phone with her agent and goes back to the table to join Dylan.
'So, does he have anything for you?' he asks her.
'Not yet, but he thinks there might be a few possibilities coming up in the next few weeks,' she says.
'What about you, Dylan? What are your plans?' she asks him softly.
'I don't know, Bren. I was kind of hoping you'd just agree to go home with me and then my problems would be solved,' he says with a smile, trying not to start a fight.
Brenda smiles at him and shakes her head.
'Well, that plan is busted, huh?' she says.
'Yeah, now I need a new one,' he says.
'Well, you can stay here for awhile if you want to, but I'm not going back,' she says.
'I don't want to get in your way, Bren. I just want to make sure that there are no lingering effects of this thing we went through out there,' he says.
'I know you're concerned, Dylan, but Marchette disappeared, just like he promised he would. I don't think he'd be willing to tempt fate again after what we saw in his study that night,' she says.
'I want to believe that, Bren, I really do, but something's just not right,' he says.
'Are you still having nightmares?' she asks him sincerely.
Dylan nods his head and says, 'No, those have pretty much stopped. It's a good thing too, because I think it was driving me slowly crazy,' he says.
'Yeah, I can't imagine what that must feel like,' Brenda says.
'Bren, if it's okay with you I think I'll stick around for a few more days,' he says.
Brenda smiles at him and nods her head.
*****
Dylan spends the next week with Brenda at her apartment. He listens to her talk to her agent and some other people she knows in the theatre scene trying to find work.
He begins to get restless when he realizes that every time he tries to talk to her about their situation, she ends up changing the subject to something else. He knows deep down that one way or another they would find a way to be with each other again, but that seemed so far away that he was about to give up.
'Hey, Dylan?' he hears Brenda say as she comes out of her bedroom and walks into the living room.
'Yeah?'
'I just talked to Paige and I haven't seen them since I got back from the tour, I was thinking of throwing a little dinner party and have them over. Are you up for that?' she asks him.
He narrows his eyes a little bit at her. 'All of your friends?' he asks her.
'No, not all of them, Dylan. Just Paige, Wyatt, Brent, who you've already met, and then some friends from the show I was working on before I had to leave,' she says.
'What about you know who?' he asks her.
'I haven't actually spoken to him since he called that day and when I talked to Paige, she didn't mention him at all,' she says.
'Don't you think that's weird, Bren?'
'No, Dylan, I don't. She's been very busy too over the last few weeks. I'm sure she hasn't seen him either,' she says.
'Uh huh,' Dylan says.
'Come on, it'll be fun and it'll give us something to do other than sit here and stare at the walls,' she says.
Dylan smiles at her and nods his head. 'Okay, what do you need me to do?' he asks her.
Brenda smiles back and looks around the house.
The Peach Pit
Donna walks into the Peach Pit to pick up some food for her and Kelly.
'Hey Donna,' Steve says.
'Hey, Steve, what's going on?'
'Nothing much, just finishing up. What are you doing?'
'Picking up some food, it's like impossible to get Kelly to leave the house. She goes to class and then comes right home again,' Donna says.
'That doesn't sound like Kelly to me. What's going on?'
'I don't know, Steve. I think she's convinced herself that Brandon is her soul mate and that while he's in Washington, she's just going to sulk.'
'Ooh, that's not good. Haven't you talked to Brandon since he left?' he asks her.
Donna shakes her head.
'I think he's seeing someone, Donna. He told me that he's been hanging out with someone that he met at work a lot,' Steve tells her.
'Of course he is,' Donna says and sighs.
'It's not his fault, Donna, he doesn't know that Kelly is stuck on him,' Steve says.
'Whatever we do, we cannot tell her,' Donna says firmly.
'My lips are sealed,' Steve says putting his hand over his mouth.
Donna grabs her food and walks out of the diner.
Washington, D.C.
Brandon sits at his desk waiting for George to come in. He looks over some research he did a few days ago trying to summarize it so that he can tell George what he found.
'Hey, Brandon,' George says, coming around the corner.
Brandon looks up as George sits down in his cubicle.
'I need you to take my appointment at the National Archives today. I have to go up to the Hill to meet with a source and I won't be able to keep my appointment,' he says.
'Okay, sure, no problem. What am I looking for?'
George hands him a piece of paper. 'I've requested to look at these court case files,' he says as Brandon looks at the paper that just has a bunch of numbers on it.
'Um,' Brandon says.
'I don't want to tell you too much, since I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at yet. Look through the case files, make copies of anything and everything that looks important to the defendant in the case. You'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about once you get there,' George says, looking around the office.
'Okay,' Brandon says. 'I'm on it. What time is the appointment?'
'Twenty minutes, so you better get moving,' he says with a smile.
'Thanks, George,' he says, grabbing his things and walking quickly out of the office.
London
'Okay, Bren, the hors d'oeuvres are in the oven,' Dylan says closing the door to the oven.
'Great, thank you. How do I look?' Brenda asks him.
Dylan looks up from the oven and opens his eyes as wide as they will go.
'Wow, Bren,' he says, whistling at her. 'You look incredible.'
Brenda plasters a huge smile on her face. 'Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself,' she says.
Dylan looks down at his shirt and tie. 'Well, you know, I bought it special, just for you,' he says with a smile.
She laughs at him. 'Did it come with the dish towel on the shoulder or is that your own personal flair?'
'Funny,' he says as the door bell rings.
'Oh, Dylan, they're here, will you light the candles, please?' she asks and runs to the door.
Dylan watches her dress move with her as she runs to the door. He lets out a deep breath and tries to calm the knots in his stomach.
He moves to the tables and starts to light the candles that Brenda had placed around the house.
'Hi,' Brenda says and hugs her friends as they come pouring through the door.
'Oh, Dylan, I didn't know you were here,' Paige says to him and gives him a hug.
'Yeah, it's good to see you again,' he says.
She lets go of him and winks in his direction as he shakes hands with Wyatt and Brent.
'Dylan, this is Dave, Jaime, Rita, and Jessica. They all worked on the show you never got to see,' Brenda says with a smile.
'It's nice to meet all of you,' Dylan says politely.
'Oh, Brenda, we missed you. It was never the same without you. Charlotte could not even come close to what you brought to the show,' Jessica says.
'Thank you, Jess, I was really not too happy about having to leave that show. I think it definitely would have caught the attention of some really important people,' she says.
Wyatt, Brent, and Dylan stand in the kitchen talking to each other as Brenda works her way around the room.
Dylan puts out the hors d'oeuvres on the table and watches as the group congregates around the food.
Brenda steps into the kitchen and stands next to him.
'Well, they're a big hit, Dylan, good job,' she says.
Dylan smiles down at her and puts his arm around her waist.
Brenda smiles back at him and moves to the table to join her guests. Dylan watches her interact with her friends and sees her laughing and having a good time.
After a few hours and a lot of food, the guests start to leave. When the last one is out the door, Dylan and Brenda fall onto the couch and sigh together.
'Well, I think we can call that a successful dinner party,' he says holding out his hand.
She takes his hand and nods her head. 'I would have to agree with you on that account,' she says.
She sits up and takes her shoes off. Her hair falls to the side exposing half of her back and Dylan sighs again.
'Bren, I think it's time for me to leave,' he says with sadness in his voice. As he watched her throughout the course of the party, he couldn't help but think that she really didn't need him around. If she wasn't going to entertain the notion of the two of them working something out, maybe it wasn't meant to be.
'What are you talking about, Dylan?' she asks him.
'I came here to make sure that you were alright and from the looks of things, you are,' he says.
Brenda looks at him with a little sadness and confusion in her eyes.
'I think it's time I started living again, Bren. I've been running for a long time, and now that things have kind of settled down, I need to find something to keep me busy,' he says.
Brenda nods her head and takes his hand.
'I don't want to go another long period of time without seeing you, Bren. I don't think I could handle that. Promise me that you'll come back every now and again,' he says.
'Dylan, why does it sound like you're giving up or something? I know that it's been difficult for you since Toni died and if you need more time to deal with that, then you should take it. Don't jump right into something because you're bored or you think that you should,' she tells him.
'I'm not, Bren, it's time. I can't wander forever,' he says.
Brenda knows that he was hoping that she would just uproot herself to be with him or at least be near him for a while. She tries to fight the urge to give in, knowing that it wouldn't help either of them figure anything out.
'Well, if that's what you really want to do,' she says.
'It is,' he says softly.
She takes her hand and lifts his chin so that he's looking at her.
'Then I promise to come back to wherever you happen to be every now and again,' she whispers.
Dylan gives her a weak smile and watches her move in to kiss him. He slowly closes his eyes and enjoys to soft touch of her lips.
Brenda breaks the kiss first and wraps her arms around his neck. He hugs her to him, keeping his eyes closed the entire time.
After a minute or so, Brenda pulls back and smiles at him.
'Now, let's clean this place up so we can get some sleep,' she says.
She gets up and starts bring dishes into the kitchen. Dylan walks around the house blowing out the candles and then joins her in the kitchen to dry the dishes she has already washed.
They go to bed in separate rooms and Dylan lies awake staring at the ceiling.
'She just needs some time to adjust. Maybe she thinks I'm not ready after everything that's happened. Maybe she's just scared. I'll give her a few months to think about what she wants and then bring it up again. Maybe she'll change her mind.'
Dylan drifts off to sleep thinking about how to get her back.