Prompt 40: Hidden

Crossover: Glee/Dynasty

Author's Note: This will be a niche story, I know. I won't take any offense if you choose not to read it. My rationale is that I've been longing to write such a story for quite a while. As a child of the eighties, Dynasty was a seminal show in my upbringing. It went off the air long before a majority of Glee viewers were even born. For those who, like me, remember with fondness shoulder pads and gold lamé in all their glory, I hope you'll enjoy this.

Krystle Carrington sat across the ridiculously ostentatious formal dining room table, leveling a subtle glare and scowl at her archnemesis Alexis Colby, unfortunately her husband's ex-wife and mother of his four children. The hellhound had been part of her life and a perpetual thorn in her side for almost thirty years.

Alexis offered a smirk and impeccably arched brow in reply. "Krystle, dear, weren't you ever warned that your face might freeze like that?"

Krystle offered a serene smile. "And if anyone would know about new faces …"

Their son-in-law Jeff Colby choked on his orange juice.

"Exactly what are you implying?" demanded a shrill Alexis.

"I wasn't implying anything," Krystle said smoothly. "I was merely commenting that your face has so many fillers, time won't be wasted on an embalmer after your unfortunate passing." She bared her teeth. "Any idea when that might be?"

Blake Carrington suppressed a roar of laughter. Alexis might have been gifted with a clever tongue, but he took tremendous pride that his wife had sharply honed her own over the years. Not that their relentless fighting wasn't bothersome, but it was nice they no longer resorted to fisticuffs. Of course, Alexis had never won those battles.

"Isn't it a little early to be slinging mud?" asked a wry Fallon, smothering a grin.

Krystle rolled her eyes. "Oh, not that again."

Alexis sniffed. "Truly. Will we never live that down?"

"Perhaps Mother shoving your face into the mud over and over again is responsible for your youthful glow?" Krystina suggested.

Krystle twitched her lips at her daughter. "That's enough, young lady."

"Your mother raised you better than that," said a reproachful Alexis.

Krystina blinked. "Wait, what just happened?"

"You're asking the wrong people, dear sister," Fallon said. "I've never understood their relationship."

"None of us has," said her brother Steven. He shrugged. "It's probably better that way. The longer we remain in the dark, the less time we'll have to sleep in shifts."

Jeff snorted.

"Someone really should have closed the gate to your sty, Jeffrey," Alexis drawled.

"As entertaining as all of this is," Jeff said, rolling his eyes, "why exactly are we here? Why weren't the children invited?"

"And why was I?" Krystina added, picking up on his line of questioning. "I'm barely older than Danny, L.B., and Lauren."

They all turned toward Blake who sighed before placing his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands. "Strictly speaking, Adam called this meeting."

The collection of growls and grunts was expected. The eldest child of Blake and Alexis was not held in high esteem by any member of his family. The man had mellowed over the years and was no longer as deviously conniving and hurtful as he had been, but everyone was still wary.

"He has news regarding Amanda."

At once, they all sat at attention.

Alexis' relationship with her youngest daughter had always been deeply troubled and she was responsible for most of it. She had used Amanda over and over again in various schemes to hurt Blake, never realizing the emotional and psychological toll it had taken on the girl until it was almost too late. They had eventually reconciled, or so Alexis thought, but then Amanda had left Denver, never to be seen nor heard from again.

Krystle turned wistful. She had always been incredibly fond of Amanda, who had still been a teenager when Blake learned he had another daughter. Amanda had been a sweet, loving child whose life had been ripped to shreds by her parents' eternal war against each other. Krystle hadn't been surprised when Amanda had disappeared from their lives.

Fallon and Steven stared at one another. Growing up, they were all each other had. Blake had banished Alexis from Denver, and consequently the United States, after their divorce. They often still debated whether it had been the right decision. They loved their mother, certainly, but had never been blind to her ambitions and many faults. Their father had retained custody, but he had also been a father more in thought than feeling. He had spent so much time building his company that he'd had little idea who his children were as people.

They hadn't known Adam until they were adults. Their parents had never confided that they'd had a child before Fallon who had been subsequently kidnapped and then presumed dead. After Adam had barreled back into their lives with a giant chip on his shoulder, they weren't too keen to establish filial ties. Fallon often got along better with him than Steven did, but their relationship was still taciturn. Adam had mostly grown out of his misogyny and homophobia, but Fallon knew he had inflicted deep wounds upon Steven, whom would most likely never forgive him.

Neither they nor their father had known Amanda until she, like Adam, had arrived in Denver as an adult. Alexis had never told her Blake Carrington was her father, nor had she bothered to inform Blake that she had been pregnant when he exiled her. Consequently, Amanda and Blake's relationship had been quite odd.

In his eyes, she could do no wrong. She was his angel, a chance to be a proper parent after admitting his many failures with Adam, Fallon, and Steven. Amanda, surprisingly, hadn't blamed Blake in the slightest for not being there to parent her, laying all the blame at her mother's feet where it truly belonged. Amanda's character was such that, though she was the youngest and the apple of her parents' eyes, she never took advantage of them or played them against each other.

Yes, her relationship with their mother had been fraught with tension, but Alexis was mostly to blame. She had dumped her youngest child with some distant cousin so she could continue her jet-setting lifestyle and relentlessly add conquests to her long string of lovers. Amanda really hadn't known how to be a daughter or to deal with her parents' expectations of her.

"I miss her so much," Fallon whispered, choking on a sob in her throat. She shook her head. "I wasn't a good sister to her. We were more like cordial acquaintances. I never spent any time with her, never tried to get to know her as a person and not just an extension of Mother and Daddy."

Jeff wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her against him. "You did the best you could. Things were very difficult when Amanda came to town and she understood that." He leaned over and pressed a kiss against her temple. "Regardless, she knew how much you loved her."

Fallon bit her lip and shook her head, tears now streaming from her eyes. All of her life she had wanted a sister and, when she finally had one, she had ignored her. And then Amanda had simply walked away.

Steven stared down at his breakfast, his appetite long gone. He had been closer with Amanda than Fallon, but still had regrets. The truth of the matter was that, while he and Fallon regarded Adam and Amanda as their siblings, they hadn't done much to make room for them in their lives. He and Fallon had been raised together and were only a year apart. They couldn't have been closer than had they been twins.

They had always defended each other, especially to their parents. It was often the case that one or both was feuding with one or both of their parents, but Steven and Fallon had never exchanged a cross word. She had been the only one who not only accepted he was gay, but loved him even more for his honesty and bravery. In the early eighties, when homophobia and the panic surrounding AIDS was at its height, her unwavering devotion had literally saved his life.

His dedication to her was just as strong. He had always defended her against their mother's continuous harping and nagging, and constant complaints that Fallon was Blake's little princess. He always took her side during her marriages and divorces to Jeff. He loved Jeff dearly and considered him to be his brother, certainly more than Adam, but Fallon was his other half and had his unyielding loyalty. He could admit when she was wrong and would chastise her for her mistakes, but in private. Publicly, he was her stalwart support.

"No, Stevie," Fallon said kindly. "You were good to Amanda and she saw that. You two would've been closer but …"

He gave a tight nod. He didn't like reliving that time. He had been trapped on an oil rig when it had exploded. He woke up weeks later, not even knowing his own name, and looked in a mirror to see a stranger gazing back at him. It wasn't until his memory had finally been restored that he realized he hadn't recognized his face because it wasn't his own. It had been drastically reconstructed after the fire.

So much pain. So many surgeries. So much uncertainty and fear.

Then he had finally come home. His mother and father were … his mother and father. But then there was Fallon. Always Fallon. Amanda had been a surprise, and not an unwelcome one, but neither had she been a priority. And then she was gone.

Krystina had only vague memories of her half-sister, but she remembered loving her. She remembered Amanda playing with her when her older siblings were busy or consumed with their own children. Adam had never liked her, but he was always jealous of Blake's other children.

Amanda had been sweet and kind, always making time for her, never making her feel that she wasn't as much a sister as Fallon even though they only shared one parent.

"She was so beautiful," she whispered. "I remember thinking I had never seen anyone so beautiful. She looked like a princess."

Alexis anxiously cleared her throat and looked at Blake, eyes filled with fear and concern. "Did Adam say anything about her?" she desperately begged. "Is she all right?"

Blake sighed and shook his head. "He told me nothing. He said it was best to wait until we were all together."

"And I believe that to be true," Adam said, rushing into the room. "I am sorry to be so late," he said, honestly contrite, "but there was a pressing matter that demanded my attention."

"What's her name?" Krystle gently teased. She often got along better with Adam than the others did, though they'd had their moments over the years.

Most were very surprised when a blush blossomed across Adam's face.

"Dana," he said softly.

Blake and Krystle smiled. They had adored Adam's wife and were terribly sad when the two divorced. Alexis held her tongue; she had not been kind to Dana and had interfered far too often in her son's marriage, much to his detriment. The advantage of hindsight offered the opinion that Dana had been a good woman who had been made to suffer much. If Adam and Dana were reconciling after all of these years, she would support it unconditionally. She wanted her children to be happy.

"How is she?" asked an interested Fallon.

Adam's blush deepened. "She's well, thank you, and sends all of you her regards." He cleared his throat. "But that's not germane to this meeting." He placed his briefcase on the table. "I am very sorry to say that the news is not good."

Alexis gasped sharply as tears sprung in her eyes.

Blake closed his eyes and reached out blindly for Krystle's comforting hand.

"What do you mean?" Fallon asked, voice shaky.

"She's dead," Steven whispered. He raised his eyes to meet Adam. "Isn't she?"

Adam's breath caught. "Yes."

"Oh, my god," Krystina murmured, leaning against her mother.

"How?" Alexis demanded. "When?"

Adam sat down. "Not long after she left Denver. She changed her name and the paperwork was buried. I'm sure it cost a considerable amount to make that happen, but she made sure it did." He slowly exhaled. "She didn't want to be found."

He held up his hand in a silent plea for patience. "As to Mother's question, Amanda died of ovarian cancer eleven years ago," he imparted, tone heavy and rife with regret. "She was thirty-two."

"Jesus," Jeff muttered, holding tightly to Fallon.

"She also had a child."

Heads swiveled sharply in his direction.

"A son," Adam continued. "His name is Kurt."