A/N: Some of my reviewers have asked for more Brandon/Kelly scenes, and more Brandon/Brenda bonding scenes. Hopefully this part will please those reviewers. Also,

I know I've gotten several reviews looking for a Donna/David reunion. I personally am a David/Valerie fan, but if people are more interested in seeing Donna/David, it does fit into the plotline a little easier. SO I propose a vote for my readers: Donna/David, or David/Valerie (even if the latter means some strange and contrived plot twisting)?

Get your votes in – and keep in mind that I have a vague idea of doing a sequel or an epilogue type thing, so the couple that ends this story might not end up together in this author's universe. :D

Part Eleven

Brandon sank into the sand by the water's edge outside Kelly's apartment, and watched the few surfers attempting to tackle the waves. He'd heard that surfing after dark was an incredibly dangerous thing to do, but there were at least two people on the water who appeared not to have gotten the memo. On the other hand, the sun hadn't quite sunken into the sky, so maybe surfing at sunset wasn't as dangerous as surfing at night. Of course, surfing in January at all seemed alien to Brandon, who was, somewhere very deep down inside, still a Minnesota boy waiting for below zero temperatures and blizzards to signal the true start of winter.

"Hi stranger," Brandon looked up to see his girlfriend standing over him, a concerned smile on her face. "Claire said you didn't want to come in."

"Yeah, I was hoping we could spend some time alone."

"That sounds nice," Kelly said as she sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, and Brandon automatically wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head. It seemed like it had been forever since they'd had any couple time. With the fire, Emily Valentine and Kelly's recovery, and then with Brenda's unexpected return home, and the seemingly endless battle against her illness, not to mention the trouble between Donna and Ray, both Kelly and Brandon had been wrapped up in obligations to their families and their friends. "It's been awhile."

"Yeah."

"I missed you," Kelly said, turning in his arms to face him. "God knows I love Brenda but I was really counting on having time alone over Christmas break."

"I know," Brandon leaned forward to kiss her gently. The kiss quickly got out of hand, and when they pulled apart for air, Brandon saw a teenage boy down the beach giving him a thumbs up. "We have a fan."

Kelly turned, causing the teenager to blush bright red, and they both laughed. Turning back to face each other, Brandon and Kelly leaned their foreheads against each other and smiled.

"I missed you too."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Placing the phone back in its cradle, Dylan looked at Valerie, sitting across the room at the combination desk and vanity, and sighed. He could hear the disappointment in Brenda's voice when he'd told her that he would be in Mexico (with Val) at least a few more days, but he didn't see what else he could do. Brenda certainly wouldn't approve of his abandoning Erica to Kevin and Suzanne.

"Trouble in paradise?" Val looked up with a smirk.

Sometimes, Dylan wondered how in the world Brenda and Valerie had ever become friends in the first place. Brenda was at home, sick and waiting for him, and Valerie looked downright pleased to find out that she was unhappy.

"Sorry," Valerie muttered, obviously catching the look on his face. Her own face fell. "I know things are… I know things are bad, okay?"

It was clear for several minutes that Valerie had more that she wanted to say, but something held her back from saying it. Dylan knew that feeling all too well, especially when it came to Brenda. Especially now, when there was so much to be said, but he wanted to avoid hurting her any more than she was already hurting. Finally, Valerie spoke.

"Dylan, can I ask you something?" Valerie looked down at her hands, and Dylan realized he hadn't ever seen her nervous before. Valerie Malone had always seemed steady and confident; she'd reminded him of Brenda, in that regard. If she was ever anything but sure of herself, she didn't let other people see her doubts. Of course, the myriad of connections between her and Brenda had been part of Val's allure. "How bad is it, really?"

"It?"

"Brenda," Valerie stood up and walked over to the room's only bed, sitting at the end of it. "Is she dying?"

God, I hope not.

"I don't know."

"I was there, when her Aunt Sheila died," Val looked close to tears. In that moment, Dylan realized that he hadn't ever really known Valerie at all. The confident, manipulative, self-assured and sexy woman who'd come onto him in the pool hall was a front for a woman he'd never even met until this exact moment. "It was awful."

Dylan didn't know what to say. He could tell Val that they caught it early, that Brenda would be fine, except that Dylan and Val both knew that so far every doctor had agreed that the brain tumor had probably first appeared sometime last winter at the latest. That meant that the original tumor had been there even longer. So instead of comforting each other, they sat in a silence that was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. It just was.

"We've been friends for fifteen years," Valerie let one tear slide down her face, but no more. Even now she was shielding herself from him, leading Dylan to wonder what she was hiding. "Longer than me and Brandon, even. She was the only person who believed me when my father… Never mind."

She trailed off after that, and Dylan didn't push for more information. He knew what it was like to cut yourself off from talking about your father. It never meant anything remotely good. The silence returned, and for longer this time, until finally, it was Dylan who broke it.

"Val, if you've been friends for so long, why did you come after me the way you did?"

It was probably the wrong thing to ask, but he'd been wondering for a long time; actually, he'd been wondering since he dropped her off at the Walsh house that first time. And Dylan had a feeling that if he didn't ask her now, he wouldn't ever get an honest answer.

"At first, I was testing you," Val shrugged, trying to seem casual, but Dylan could see the guilt on her face, and the gesture seemed forced to him. "To see how much you really loved her, if you did."

"And?"

"From the way you kept trying to turn me into her?"

"I didn't…"

"You did," Val smiled sadly. "Maybe not on purpose, but you made it clear that she was the one you wanted. Of course, by then, I had started to see what she saw in you."

"I'm sorry," Dylan looked away. He'd spent so long feeling guilty over how he'd treated Brenda that he hadn't stopped to think about how he'd treated Valerie. Using her to replace her best friend hadn't been one of his finer moments. Neither had using Kelly to replace the same best friend.

I've really got to get Brenda to stop going to Europe, he thought. Or at least I have to get her to bring all her female friends with her next time. Or me.

"I knew what I was getting into," Val answered. "Think she'll ever forgive us?"

"I think she'll come around," Dylan smiled. "If we grovel first."

"Even if I'm dating Stuart Carson and I haven't told her about it?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Something's bothering you," Kelly gently ran her hand across Brandon's face and she leaned down to kiss his eyelids. They were lying on her bed, after a disastrous attempt at skinny dipping that had left them both laughing hysterically and shivering so bad they'd taken a very long hot shower and were now curled up under every blanket Kelly owned. "Something's been bothering you all night."

Brandon made a soft sound of agreement but remained silent. It had been like this between them for too long, Kelly decided. First she'd been keeping her own insecurities and then later Brenda's secret from him, and he'd kept his… whatever it was with Emily from her. Now they were both dancing around the topic of Brenda's illness without ever saying anything. It would be one thing if she thought he was talking to someone else, but she knew he and Brenda weren't talking about it either. Brenda had mentioned several times since she got home that Brandon was distant and that most days she barely saw him. It all left Kelly almost as worried about her boyfriend as she was about his sister.

And if the new, distant and non-communicative Brandon was some kind of defense mechanism over Brenda's being sick, well… she was only going to get worse before she got better, and Kelly had not broken up with Dylan because she enjoyed having a boyfriend who was being distant and non-communicative because of Brenda Walsh. Whether Brenda was the guy's sister or ex-girlfriend didn't matter. Kelly had both been there and done that and she wasn't about to let Brandon get away with it.

"Please talk to me."

"You know there have been studies that say twins usually die ten or more years apart?" Brandon spoke softly without opening his eyes. "Ten or more years without Brenda…"

"You don't know that she's going to die, Brandon."

"The metastatic breast cancer survival rates…"

"Are just statistics," Kelly interrupted him quickly. "Brenda's been the exception to most rules as long as I've known her."

"Maybe," Brandon opened his eyes and met Kelly's. "But even if she survives this, Kelly, she's never going to be the same person again. She's had brain surgery; she's had a piece of her breast removed. In a few weeks she's going to go into chemo and she'll go bald and she'll get sick and she'll never be Brenda again."

"That's not true, Brandon," Kelly sat up and let the blankets fall to her waist, turning her back to Brandon so that he could see the scars from the fire clearly. "You said that this," she waived her hand awkwardly at her back, "didn't change who I was. Cancer doesn't change who Brenda is, either. She's still Brenda."

"No, she's not."

"Brandon!"

"Kelly, she's exhausted all the time," he sat up, wrapping an arm around Kelly and pulling her close to him. "She goes to bed by ten every night and some days she still doesn't wake up until noon. She hardly eats and she barely ever goes out. She doesn't cry or shout or throw fits at anything, even though I know she's in pain and I know my mother constantly crying and or cooking is driving her crazy and my father suggesting she get a job to pass the time isn't helping either! As long as I can remember, Brenda has overreacted to every little thing that has ever happened, but when she has cancer, she's just… she's just quiet."

Brandon's voice fell to a whisper, and he sank back onto the bed, away from Kelly, although she followed him, laying her head against his chest and kissing every inch of skin she could find.

"She's depressed, Brandon," Kelly whispered quietly against his skin. "It's not just the cancer. She went through a lot with Dylan this fall, stuff we don't even know about. And because of the stuff with Dylan, she doesn't feel like she can trust anyone; not him, not me, not Valerie, and not any of our friends because no one stood up for her. And on top of that, she had to give up everything she's worked for. I remember her talking about the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts back in high school, Brandon. That place was like the Holy Grail to her. She never thought she had a chance. And then when she got in, she had to leave after one semester. And then there's the cancer, and the fact that she's afraid to let your parents see how scared she is, or how sick she is, because she knows how hard this whole thing is for your Mom."

"I didn't think about all that," Brandon gave Kelly a small, sad smile that broke Kelly's heart. "Have I told you yet that I'm glad you two are friends again?"

"You haven't," Kelly answered, leaning up to kiss him softly. "But I know the feeling… or I would, if you two could be friends again."

"What should I do?" Brandon shook his head. "She won't open up to me."

"Oh Brandon," Kelly sighed, one hand reaching up to his face once more, stroking his cheek with care. She would give anything to be able to fix this for them, both Brandon and Brenda. She would give anything to see them as close as they'd used to be, back when she'd felt that being Brenda's best friend meant competing with Brandon, in a way. They'd both chosen their respective relationships with Dylan over Brenda, and they'd both lost big because of it.

"All I can tell you is that you have to try," Kelly said finally. "If she can open up to me, and to Dylan, she'll open up to you."

"I'll talk to her," Brandon announced after a few quiet moments. "Tomorrow."

He leaned up to kiss Kelly, rolling them so that she was more fully on top of him. Kelly let out a squeal of laughter before their lips met, and the laughter turned into a moan.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I'll get it," Brenda announced, getting up from the dining room table to answer the door. After yet another awkward dinner with her parents, the distraction was more than welcome. Cindy had barely spoken throughout the meal, except to tell Brenda to eat more, and Jim had been overcompensating. He tried so hard to find something that would distract everyone from Brenda's illness that it felt like cancer was sitting right at the table with them, not saying anything, just glaring at each member of the Walsh family in turn, refusing to be ignored.

I wish I was dating Kelly, so I could escape like Brandon does, Brenda thought with a sigh, as she pulled open the door.

Her jaw dropped.

"Brenda!"

"Stuart."

Wait a minute, he sounded surprised… why's he here if he didn't expect to see me?

"I, uh, um…" Stuart was actually blushing, which almost caused Brenda to smirk. He hardly seemed like the suave guy who'd swept her off her feet last year. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Stuart," Brenda heard her father's voice behind her, and turned to see her parents standing in the archway between the hall and the dining room. Catching her mother's questioning look, Brenda shrugged, raising an eyebrow, trying to convey that she had no idea what her ex-fiancé was doing in their house. "This is a surprise."

"Well, see, why I'm here… is Val home?"

"Val?!" Cindy exclaimed before Brenda even registered the question. Jim's eyebrows shot up his forehead. "How do you know Val?"

"She hasn't told you, has she?" Stuart shifted from one foot to the other. "See, we've kind of been seeing each other," he said, all in one breath. "She told me to pick her up on the corner, but I've been waiting and she didn't show up so I thought…"

"She's in Mexico," Brenda answered, biting back a less than polite comment about Val and street corners. "She left a few days ago."

"Oh, uh, well… I'll go then," Stuart turned to walk back the way he came, but he quickly turned back to face Brenda again. "Don't be mad at her. She didn't know who I was until a few weeks ago, and she felt really bad about it…"

Brenda just watched as he turned again and left the Walsh property. She made sure to keep a calm exterior – the last thing she needed was for her parents to think that she was pining over Stuart on top of everything else. Inside, though, she was fuming.

First Dylan, now Stuart… what the Hell is Val's problem????

~*~*~*~*~*~*~