Authors Note: I own nothing. No ownership rights to Beverly Hills 90210.

Chapter Ten

I always wondered how they closed in on him in LA, why he even came back to the States from South America once he left. I know his assets here were frozen leaving me broke by staying here but Jack even now I imagine had nest eggs on nest eggs hidden in secret accounts across the globe. He avoided tax and committed insider trading using confidential business information to choose his stocks; he never stole from investors or ripped people off directly, he just rigged the game to win. He was too smart to get sloppy and let them catch on, and he had no need to turn himself in unless… he gave up.

Was it coincidence that coming up on the ten year anniversary of my mother and his divorce he hands himself in? At the same time it had been less than a year after we had just started talking again after he had kicked me out. Once he left the States I had traveled to see him a few times in sophomore year meeting him in Mexico. I didn't know where he was staying but he had wanted to see me in person a few times so I had gone when he asked. For a man who was able to go a year without talking to me was it strange that he wanted to see me so badly whilst on the run? We had been better back then but not good, he was still capable of triggering me to drink then, especially when he got angry.

While I drive the rest of the way home I'm stuck on the thought that he was too smart to get sloppy, too smart to make such large investments that would send flags. He had always mixed legitimate investments in with his fraudulent ones making his portfolio look natural in its increase because it was offset with some loses. Why would he have stopped that? Why would he have begun to take crazy risks and piss people off by shining a red flag on what he was doing? It's not like we needed the money, even now with him being declared bankrupt because of his tax bills I know it doesn't add up; he made more than he could ever spend in three lifetimes. Had he self destructed? Where I went for booze did he just go for the easy money? Had his financial downfall been him hitting bottom? His cry for help in a life he hated?

As I drive into Beverly Hills I can see him get antsy, well our hereditary version of it. He's scratching imaginary itches and running his hand through his hair. "Do you need to stop for anything before we get to the house? Mum's making lunch, and she bought you some clothes yesterday just to get you started before I can take you to the family storage locker for your personal items." He shakes his head in reply.

"I should warn you that once we get to the house we may be stuck there for a bit, the media is out full force since it hit the news last night, and they've seen Mum so it's even more intense than usual."

"They always loved pictures of us together. She hated the intrusion of it, it's why I bought the estate it gave us a chance to be in the garden, swim and entertain without worrying about cameras capturing us."

"Yeah even pushing past them last night and this morning is enough to say I want a gate to keep them out. My bungalow isn't exactly big and it's not private, when Bren gets home in nine day's she will help me look for something bigger and with better security. I'm sure the attention will die down but with Bren visiting frequently and Mum currently staying with me, I need to know they are both safe as much as possible, and I don't want them being photographed unawares."

"Brenda is still away?"

We had spoken weeks ago but I hadn't given the details of Bren's trip, it had mainly been about him getting a parole hearing. "Yeah it's a long story but her Dad sent her away from me for the summer, he thinks we are too serious."

He looks over at me, "how are you coping with her being away?"

"I'm going to a lot of meetings. Mum came to help sort out the stuff with Brenda's parents but now…"

"I'm stuffing any chance of that happening aren't I?" He sounds remorseful.

"It was already going to be a battle with Mum having closed the Trust. Jim, Bren's dad was managing it and well he threatened to freeze it along with a few other things if I didn't get Bren on a plane to Paris. On hearing the threat Brenda encouraged me to call Mum and well she's been here ever since."

"Your Mum came straight away?"

"Yeah she was here within twenty-four hours. Though she was ordering Bren and I about before that, making sure we didn't tip Jim's hand off that she was coming to shut down his power over me." I look at my Dad who is wearing a proud smirk on his face. "She didn't like me being threatened and she loves Bren, they talk regularly."

"I look forward to finally meeting her."

"Yeah you may not want that. She knows everything-" I immediately feel his eyes on me.

"She's what I imagine then? She's it?" Jack and I keep secrets, from an early age he taught me discretion to a McKay is everything. I know he suspected before but he knows if she knows everything then she's beyond important.

"Yeah."

"Then I really can't wait to meet her."

"Yeah well when I spoke to her about doing this she had one condition. You don't manage your anger then she is calling the parole board herself. She is serious about that."

"Dylan-"

"We are here." Once I park in my driveway after almost ramming the photographer's I look over at him. "We'll cover that another day. You ready?"

"No but it's been eleven years since I laid eyes on her, nearly eighteen since I've seen my wife."

"Look, I don't know what you are expecting, but like she tells me you did she has changed as well."

He nods. As we open the car doors I reach in the back and grab his bag. While I don't talk to the media Jack has always fostered a different relationship, he is naturally more charismatic but even he today keeps his words brief and a request for some private family time while he gets settled.

I hear the key in the door and immediately pick up the tea towel to dry my hands. Taking some calming breaths I move out of the kitchen to meet them. Dylan is closest to me and gives me a sympathetic smile. Taking one more breath I look past him to the man who I felt since he got on the street. We hold each other's eyes but don't move, we are unsure of what the protocol is for greeting each other. Dylan finally breaks the silence.

"Did they get close to the house? The curtains are closed and the glass door is covered so-"

I look at my son, "they got a little eager and with their zoom lenses and well I didn't like the idea of them taking pictures of the inside of the house. Brenda told me where the tacks were and I just used a spare towel to cover the glass."

"It's a good idea. You guy's speak for long?"

"For a bit." I look back at my ex husband, "Jack come in." I indicate to the lounge area for him to take a seat, "our son was raised by wolves and without Brenda here he is lost at how to be a host." He complies and moves to sit on the futon and I move to sit at the other end.

Dylan keeps standing, "I'd take offence to that Mum but I think it's more a shot at both of you. I'm just going to make a coffee after the drive, Dad would you like one?" Jack nods, "Mum do you want tea?"

"Yes Darling that would be lovely." Once he leaves the room I look at Jack who is still staring at me and who has appeared to have lost his tongue. "It's strange the last time we were in a room together all three of us he was seven, can you believe he'll be eighteen soon?"

"No I've spent the last seven day's going over the last eighteen year's, especially the first seven I can't believe a lot of it." I give him a look, I get the reference that he received my letter seven day's ago but does he think I lied?

He must pick up on my confusion, "I'm not sure how I didn't see it. It wasn't spoken of back then but I remember in Ireland my mum referencing people going strange after birth. One of our neighbours had gone strange and mum used to drop by every morning to visit with her and the baby, another neighbour would go over in the afternoon. I remember as a kid wondering why she never smiled."

He leans forward with his elbows on his knees and runs his hands through his hair before looking at me, they are all action's I'd seen our son make multiple times. "I can't believe I didn't make the connection. I'm sorry I should have asked your doctor rather than assume straight away that you just hated being a mother, eventually that morphed into a belief that you just hated being a mother to my child that you just hated me."

I take a breath, it's clear that he's angry at himself which is of no use to anyone. "Jack it's an unpredictable condition, on every woman it looks and can feel slightly different. It can resolve in a few day's once the hormones are better aligned or like me it can trigger a significant hormone imbalance that leads into a depression. It's no one's fault."

"But if it had been me you would have fought for me-"

"Jack you did, you tried for three years. Look we ended badly, the last three years of our marriage and our divorce were both brutal, but I've had years to reflect on it and you tried. I know you tried and I thank you for that."

"It wasn't enough-"

Dylan comes in then and whatever Jack was going to say is stopped. I'm thankful for the interruption as I don't think I could hear anymore right now. Knowing he got the letter and read it, reflected on it was enough.

Over tea and coffee Jack asks questions about our summer together and smiles when he hears of how we put another height mark on the cabana doorframe. Over lunch of salads and roast chicken with a spicy sauce on the side that Dylan encourages or forces his dad to try, we talk of the plans for what's left of the summer. Dylan discusses what he will be doing when he starts to help at the cleanup the bay volunteer program the next day. His dad is thrilled that he is taking college applications seriously, Dylan then goes onto talking briefly about what he is thinking of studying, his work on The Blaze this year and his idea for McKay House. My ex husband controls his excitement over the idea but knowing his tells I know he likes the idea of Dylan wanting to create something for himself, and create something with the McKay name on it.

Jack insists on doing the dishes after lunch and while I wrap up the leftovers he quietly whispers to me, "is this Brenda's influence on him?"

"Yes and no. Jim, Brenda's Dad doesn't think Dylan is the right man for Brenda, and well it has made him doubt himself and his relationship with her. He made a disgusting threat-"

"To freeze the trust?" I don't want to lie but it's not something Jack is going to take well. I bite my lip as he waits for my reply, "Iris?"

"Jack let's not get into this now-"

"Iris, how was he planning on freezing the Trust?" I move to put the last container away and then to wash my hands, "Iris you would have made a pretty strong Trust not easily dissolved or halted. Iris with your experience with them, of your Family Trust and your personal one from your maternal grandmother you know how they work. Both of yours would definitely still be operational and you know the rules and terms of Trust's better than even I do, you've been under both of them all your life. Iris what disgusting threat did he make?"

"He was going to freeze the Trust and the Trust assets, this house, by accusing me of statutory rape of Brenda. She's three weeks younger than me but as I'm emancipated he was-" at Dylan's voice I had turned from the sink to see him standing by the fridge.

"He was going to ruin your life by making false claims against you? He hate's you that much?" Two hours in and we are already having raised voices, this is not a great start.

"Jack calm down. Jim doesn't hate Dylan he's been good to our son but he's scared of their relationship, has been from the start. Dylan and Brenda got the balance wrong before the summer, Brenda was in a hold up in March and well after a year of some big events they just let their connection take over lost their grip on it. Jim reacted badly to Brenda lying and taking off to Baja with Dylan for a weekend, and when he found out he banned them from each other. Obviously that was never going to work and well it got out of hand from there."

"Iris out of hand is grounding her for the summer and not letting her leave the house without her parents there, it is not threatening to make criminal accusations against our son and taking his home away from him."

"Yes Jack I'm aware it's why I'm here, it's why I broke the Trust and made sure he has no more leverage over our son."

"Except Brenda."

Dylan looked ready to explode at his Dad, Brenda was off limits to everyone. It was a line he made clear to me early on, a line his father use to have around me. Two hours in I do not want them angry at each other- Jack just doesn't understand.

"Jack when you met me could you ever imagine a world where you'd give me up?"

He looks at me, "Iris we are different. You know that."

"Jack could you?"

He holds my eyes, "not for anything."

"Then know that is what Dylan and Brenda have." He continues to look at me but now I can feel he is trying to gauge how authentic I am. Eventually, he turns and runs his hands through his hair.

"I don't like my son being threatened-" He's exasperated but calmer.

"When it's not you doing it Dad?" I close my eyes I won't help Jack on this one, Dylan has every right and then some to call his father out.

"Dylan, I can't defend it, any of it. I took my pain and hatred at myself out on you, and there is nothing I can do to change that, but please know that I'm sorry. I woul-"

Dylan looks at me, this is clearly too much for him. "Yeah I'm not doing this now… Mum are you okay here-"

"I'm fine you go and blow off some steam, have a surf, just drive safely okay?" He nod's and without looking at his father picks up his keys and wallet and is out the door in seconds.

I move to the dining table and sit down. This day these last few hours have been a lot. "They are really like us?"

"Yes."

"Jim's going to be a problem then."

"Yes. I was hoping that I could help smooth it over once she's back and emotions have calmed down but now-"

"I'm here, and that's a big problem?"

"Jim works in finance he knows of you, it's one of the reasons he instantly was resistant to Brenda and Dylan dating. He won't allow her anywhere near Dylan now and I don't know if I'll be able to fix that."

He sits down across the table from me. "Then why am I here? Why would he let me stay here?"

"Brenda. She told him that she'll make it work, she knows as difficult as this is for him, for me and for you she wants all of us to figure out how to be parents to him, to be people he can count on. She wants him to have a proper shot at that."

"She sounds amazing." He looks over at the cabinet and inclines his head, "that's her right? I only remember the brunette hair from walking past her."

"Yes that's Brenda."

"She's very pretty."

"She's smart, strong, and fiercely protective of him. You're going to like her, she is her own person and isn't afraid to own her actions."

"Is he going to be okay? He's not going to drink?"

"No the closest he's come since stopping last September is at a wedding at the start of summer when he was fighting with Jim. It's a hardline with Brenda. Dylan's good though he goes to meetings, spends time with his sponsor, when Brenda's here she goes with him to some of them. She sent Brandon her twin and Dylan's best friend over yesterday to take him to a meeting knowing that yesterday was a lot for him."

"Would she want him to go to one after today?"

"I have no idea, she knows him better than anyone. She knows exactly when to push him and when he needs to find his own way."

"What's he like with her?"

"He calms her, gives her confidence, she is strong but with him she doesn't need to be so she can breakdown be vulnerable. He isn't searching when she is there, she grounds him, and I'd say he let's down his walls but he doesn't they just disappear for her."

"I'd like to speak to her, could we call her?"

"That's up to Dylan but I'm sure he'd like to be here for that." I look at my ex husband. "Jack this has been a big day so far, and I know you have lots of questions but can we just take a break from it for a while. Turn on some calming sounds and read."

"Yeah we can do that… but Iris what the hell are calming sounds?"

"I've got a tape of wind chimes, or one on ocean sounds if you prefer."

Too his credit he doesn't laugh or roll his eyes, "let's go with ocean sounds."

Dylan finds us a few hours later me in the armchair and his father on the couch both reading and listening to a tape on bird noises. He shakes his head and looks at me, "go on turn it off."

"Thank you. I can handle the ocean one but the wind chimes and birds drive me crazy, like nails on a chalkboard. Anyone ring?"

"No, you expecting Brenda to call?"

"Yeah." He looks at his watch, "she should be back from dinner soon."

"Did you go to the Beach Club?"

"Yeah I went for a surf and then joined a volleyball game with Kelly. I'm going to have a quick shower, if Bren calls-"

"I'll knock on the door."

Once he's out of the room Jack who has stayed quiet looks at me, "who is Kelly?"

"Brenda's best friend."

"You have a tone."

"There's no tone." He lifts his brow telling me he doesn't believe me, "fine she's a nice girl-"

"But?"

"I just got a feeling."

"Okay and what was the feeling?"

"That I needed to be territorial on behalf of my daughter."

He clocks the family title but focuses on the problem, "he wouldn't?"

"No. They are young though and can accidentally put themselves in positions where signals can be misread and emotions confused. I just got a feeling that she thinks he's pretty great."

"And him?"

"He's too absorbed in his connection with Brenda to even know another girl exists."