"Kelly?!" Blair was stunned as she stood at the door staring at the face of her cousin. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you call and tell us you were coming in for a visit?"

"I just felt like coming to see my family…Is that a problem?" Kelly pushed past her gently, sighing as she struggled to pull her luggage behind her.

"No…No…Of course not." Blair smoothed her dress down nervously. This was going to end very, very badly.

Kelly turned around. "What's the matter with you?" Sure, she and Blair had their share of problems, but her reaction to her impromptu visit seemed a little extreme—even for her. She looked around, noting the empty house and Blair's rather formal attire.

"You going somewhere?" Kelly asked. "Don't let me keep you."

Blair sighed. This sucked. Oh, this totally, totally sucked. She didn't sign up for this and, even after everything she and Kelly had been through together—even after everything she secretly held against her, this isn't something she'd wish on her—or anybody.

"Yeah," Blair answered softly. "A wedding."

"I can't believe it," she whispered, looking around the church as the final preparations were completed. "He didn't even tell me."

"Maybe he didn't think you'd want to come." Blair felt bad for her. She knew how much Kelly still cared about Joey and, even though they had their problems, she wanted her cousin to be happy.

"Why would he think that? Of course I'd want to come. He's getting married. He's my best friend. Who doesn't want to come to their best friend's wedding?" She blinked hard, forcing the tears back into her eyes.

"Maybe someone who's still in love with the groom?" Blair watched as her words sunk in. Kelly was stunned, but didn't protest.

"Kelly?" Joey's voice called out from the foyer.

Kelly stepped out in front of Blair, moving forward to close the distance between them. "Joey," she breathed.

"I'll just give you two a few minutes," Blair replied quickly, suddenly feeling incredibly out of place.

Kelly watched as Blair rushed from the room. Her eyes then fell on Joey again. "I guess my invitation got lost in the mail," she sarcastically. She tried not to look as hurt as she felt, but her eyes betrayed her and she knew it.

He'd hurt her—one look into her big, green eyes and he could see that. That was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid. "I…I'm sorry," he said, barely able to look back at her. "I just…I just thought it would be easier if you weren't…"

"If I wasn't here," she finished for him. "You just want to forget about me all together? Is that it? You want to forget about everything we had? Everything we were to each other?" Her voice got progressively louder even as she tried to keep calm. It wasn't the anger that fueled her—it was the pain.

Joey reached out, taking her hand gently. "Come with me," he said quietly, leading her from the room. The last thing he needed was a scene. It was hard enough for him to decide to take this step. He knew he needed to move on—to let Kelly go, but asking Molly to marry him had been more difficult than even he had expected. Every day as they moved closer and closer to the wedding he'd literally had to force himself to believe that this was the best thing for everyone.

"It's freezing out here," Kelly protested, as they stepped outside.

Joey slipped off his suit coat and draped it across her shoulders. His hand brushed the nape of her neck as he straightened the collar and he allowed his hand to linger there longer than he should.

Kelly turned, looking up at him, the moonlight casting just enough light on his face for her to see the look of regret in his eyes. "Why?"

He understood the question, brief as it was. "You know why," he said sadly. "You can't tell me you would have wanted to come and watch this anyway."

"Of course I would want to be here. You….We….I couldn't not be here." She wished she was happy for him. She wanted to be, and she thought she could have been, if she truly believed he was happy, but she knew Joey, better than he knew himself maybe, and he didn't look happy…he looked resigned. "I mean…you're happy right? I'm happy for you."

Joey looked back at her. Was he happy—truly happy? Could he ever be without Kelly? "I..Of course, I'm happy," he said quietly, "I'm getting married."

"We were married once," the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She turned her back to him, shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I shouldn't have said that. I know you probably want to forget all about that time. It was a disaster. I just…" She stopped as she felt his strong hands on her shoulder, gently turning her around to face him.

"I don't want to forget. I could never forget about that…about you." Joey stared at her, trying to remember a time that she wasn't a part of his life. He couldn't. She was as much as part of his world as his family was.

"So," Kelly sighed, feeling particularly uncomfortable sharing a moment like this with Joey—especially on the night he was getting married—to another woman, "This is why you didn't invite me?"

"Pretty much," Joey sighed. "I was afraid if I saw you again I wouldn't be able to remember that I had to forget. I was afraid that seeing your face—being this close to you—would bring it all back."

"And did it?" Her voice cut through the dark of the night.

"No," he said quietly.

Her heart felt as if it had been crushed. She nodded, turning and heading back into the church. She'd find Blair, let her know she was leaving, and head back to the house. There had to be some ice cream in the freezer…maybe not Butterscotch Ripple, but on nights like tonight, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough would do.

"Blair had already called me," he yelled out after her. He felt the air escape his lungs as he saw her stop in her tracks.

She turned around to face him again. "What?"

"Blair…she called me. She told me you were here and that you were hurt that I didn't invite you to the wedding. That was all I needed." He waited for a moment…waiting for a reaction, for a response…for something.

"So…." Kelly was confused.

"So, I called off the wedding. Before you ever got to the church. All I needed to know was that you still cared….that you cared enough to be hurt…that you cared enough to want to be here—that you remembered."

She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she felt his hands take hers. The warmth of his touch was something she'd never been able to forget—just as she'd never forgotten the look of his eyes as they gazed into hers, or the sound of his voice as he softly called her name. "You, Joey Buchanan, are impossible to forget."

The End