A/N: I had this idea a really long time ago, wrote some notes, but never got around to writing the story. Recently, I rewatched all four seasons of this show and suddenly had the urge to make this fic happen. I don't know if anybody but me will really care about it, but I figured, since I took the time to write it, I may as well share it just in case :)
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Danny Jacobson, Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener, ABC, and other folks that aren't me. All original characters belong to me, Ultrawoman.
Two Girls, A Guy, and A Coffee Shop
"Can you believe this used to be a pizza place and that Uncle Berg and Uncle Pete actually worked here?"
"Are you kidding? I'm still stuck on how you think it's okay to come to your parents' big anniversary party dressed like that."
Kitty laughed when she said it, that strange girlish giggle that she probably should've grown out of by now, but then her mother never had, and Aunt Irene was so much older. Anyway, it proved she didn't mean to be, well, mean when she dissed Joey's clothes. It was just that they had very different styles.
"For what it's worth..." said Joey, carefully backing down from the step-stool and checking the banner was straight, "I plan on changing before the party really gets started, but come on, what's wrong with this anyway?"
"Um, you look like your dad." Kitty shook her head, pretty blonde curls bouncing around her shoulders. "Which would be fine, Uncle Johnny is a great guy and all, but this is a party," she emphasised in that over-the-top way that only Kitty could. "At least put a little glitz and glamour into the shirt and pants combo!"
Joey smiled and rolled her eyes. "I promise, I'll look different later. Still me, but different. Right now, I'm more concerned with making this place look party-ready." She sighed, checking her watch. "I thought Brandon would be here by now."
"Maybe he went to see his dad before he came here, or maybe the plane was delayed," Kitty considered, checking napkins and centre pieces on each of the repurposed coffee shop tables. "Maybe he flew through the Bermuda Triangle and we'll never see him again!"
"The Bermuda Triangle?" Joey checked with a frown. "On the way back to Boston from LA?"
Kitty shrugged. "Detours happen. Incompetent pilots, broken navigational equipment. Strong winds can push planes off-course..."
Just before she could really get going with some of the wackier conspiracy theory stuff, there was a tap on the door. Joey saw a familiar smiling face through the glass and eagerly went to unlock.
"Brandon!"
"Hey, Jo-Jo," he greeted her with the same enthusiasm she had for him, the two of them sharing a tight hug. "Wow, look at this place," he said then, eyes moving all around the decorated coffee shop. "You did an amazing job here."
"Hello, Brandon Walker," said Kitty then, tapping him on the shoulder until he finally turned around.
"Oh, hi, Kit," he said, raising his hand in a brief wave before his attention went back to the decor, and to Joey, who he still had his arm around. "You know, I remember my dad bringing me here, the day they were converting it from the old pizza place. He has so many happy memories here."
"I know. He and Uncle Berg talk about it all the time." Joey sighed. "And of course, it's where my parents met..." She slipped out from under his arm to go sweep away the sheet from over the jukebox she had reinstated for the occasion.
Brandon laughed. "That's not the one, is it?"
"No, not the original that Dad faked fixing just to keep on coming back and seeing Mom. God knows where that thing is now, but I managed to hire this one from some guy online, just for old times' sake. It has their favourite song in it that we can play later."
"Very cool." Brandon smiled.
As they continued to chat together, Kitty stood aside just watching and listening. Brandon had been in her life sporadically since they were kids, sometimes staying in Boston with his father, other times living with his mom in California. Uncle Pete and Aunt Ashley had never really made it work, at least, not for more than six months at a time. It meant that Brandon went away a lot, and every time he came back, in Kitty's eyes, he got just a little bit more attractive. She was starting to fear him leaving again any time soon, because at this point, he was bound to return resembling Michaelangelo's David. To her eyes, he already wasn't far off.
"Kitty? Kit? Katherine Charlize Bergan, what is wrong with you?!"
Joey's yelling and physical shaking of her arm finally brought Kitty out of her daze and she had to shake her head hard to keep from falling into another one. She just couldn't keep looking at Brandon or listening to his mellifluous voice or anything. He was just too darn dangerously attractive for words!
"Uh, so I guess I should go. You know, make sure all the parents are on the way. I mean, yes, I know, we told them all eight o'clock, but you know how older people can be!" she said, laughing too much as she grabbed up her jacket and purse and bolted towards the door.
"Hope we can catch up later, Kit," said Brandon, smiling just so.
"Oh, you should be in a toothpaste ad," said Kitty helplessly, before literally running away.
Brandon frowned a little. "Is it just me or is she getting..."
"More like Aunt Irene with every passing day?" Joey finished for him. "Yeah, it's a little scary sometimes, but Uncle Berg usually straightens them both out if they start to spiral. You know he has access to all the good stuff at the private clinic."
"Yeah, my dad mentioned that." Brandon laughed, though the way he did so suggested he wasn't so sure if Joey was really joking when she talked about the free drugs. "He and Mom decided they wanted some alone time, which is when I made my escape to come here right away."
"Alone time to yell at each other, or the kind of alone time I really don't want to think about when it comes to Uncle Pete and Aunt Ashley?"
"With my parents, who the hell knows?" Brandon shrugged. "Probably a little of both."
Joey shuddered at the thought, then pushed it firmly from her mind. "So, you got your mom to come back with you. Has to be the first time in, what? A couple of years? I don't remember seeing Aunt Ashley in Boston in forever."
"It's been a while," he agreed, pulling himself up to sit on the counter and watch her replace the covering over the jukebox. "She has been super-busy, you know, having her own practice now and everything. Obviously, she has other consultants there, but she trusts them about as far as she could throw them."
"Huh. With Aunt Ashley, I just figured that'd be pretty far." Joey smiled.
Brandon loved how her face lit up when she did that. There was a part of him that had always felt so close to Joey, which probably wasn't surprising, since they were raised together, off and on. Of course, with him being away on the west coast so much, he got the chance to miss his friends and family more than most people did. To him, Joey stopped feeling like a cousin a long time ago. For all her tomboyish ways sometimes, she was always beautiful to him, as well as being funny and smart and just so endearing. He knew he should probably tell her how he felt at some point, it was just that, all things considered, tonight probably wasn't the night.
"What?" asked Joey, catching him staring.
He opened his mouth, half-thinking maybe he could just tell her, when suddenly the bell over the door proved they had incoming.
"Brandon! How's it going, kid?"
"Pretty good, Uncle Berg," he said, hopping down from the counter for a manly hug.
Of course, Aunt Irene wanted a hug too, and to tell him what a naughty boy he was for getting so tall and handsome like his father. Those kinds of remarks never failed to disturb, though Brandon tried not to let it show on his face.
"Oh, honey, look!" Sharon gasped, hands immediately covering her mouth, as she spotted the banner, under which Joey was now standing.
There was a general cheer of 'Happy anniversary' from all those present and, finally, the party got started.
"Sweetheart, did you do all this?" Johnny asked his daughter, an arm around her shoulders. "I hope you didn't spend too much," he added in a lower voice.
"I promise I haggled on everything, Dad. A lot," she swore, reaching up to plant a kiss on his cheek.
"That's my good girl," he told her happily. "But let's just have your mother think it all cost a fortune, okay?"
Joey dutifully nodded her agreement, just as Kitty returned with Uncle Pete and Aunt Ashley on her heels. If the two of them looked at all dishevelled, Joey decided she didn't want to know why. The look on Brandon's face and the way he went right to the alcoholic beverages proved he knew exactly and also wished the thought hadn't occurred to him.
"Ooh, Pete, I love that shade of lipstick on you," said Berg with a smirk.
Pete struggled to rub the pink stain from his mouth and cheek, just as Irene looked up from the food. "Oh, no, Peter, that's really not your colour at all. You know, you're really more of a spring than an autumn."
He rolled his eyes, but of course, she didn't notice and just carried on talking to him.
"Ash, how's the liposuction biz?"
"Better than anything you're doing, Berg," she said acidly, reaching by him for a mini quiche. "I see you still can't keep your wife from chasing after your best friend."
"Hey, she may chase him, but she always comes home to me," Berg said firmly, before wavering just a little. "More or less," he added, rushing after Irene and Pete a split-second later.
"Johnny, Sharon, happy anniversary," Ashley told them then. "Wow, has it really been more than twenty years since you guys got married on that roof?"
"I hope so, given how old Joey is," said Johnny with a look.
Sharon whacked him in the chest without missing a beat. "It seems so weird to think of that day when we all found out we were pregnant at the same time. I mean, look at our kids now, they're grown-ups! I feel so old!" she wailed, turning to hide her face in Johnny's chest.
"Aww, sweetie, you're not old," he assured her, kissing the top of her head, before looking over the top of it at where Joey, Brandon, and Kitty were gathered at the counter. "And even if you are, I promise, I still love you, laughter lines and all."
Sharon's head came up so fast, an inch closer and it would've broken Johnny's jaw. "Laughter lines?!" she echoed crossly. "I do not have laughter lines."
At that moment, Irene stormed by, with Berg right on her heels.
"It's not my fault that you only play at being fireman and Pete and Johnny actually save lives!"
"Hey, I save lives! I'm a doctor!"
"Yeah, because operating gowns are so sexy!"
Irene's sarcastic reply was followed by the slamming of the bathroom door as she stormed through it, almost flattening Berg's nose. Of course, he complained, as he re-opened the door and gave chase.
"You find it strange that it's only my parents - you know, the ones who were never even officially a couple - that haven't gotten into a fight at this party yet?" said Brandon with a smirk.
"Give it time, sweetie," Kitty told him, her hand tapping his knee.
If said hand slid a little higher on his thigh and gave a squeeze before she finally removed it, that was probably purely accidental. Brandon was going to choose to believe so anyway.
"Okay, I'm going out back to change," said Joey then, lowering her voice to a whisper, even though there was no way she would be heard over the general chatter, music, and added door slamming as Aunt Irene and Uncle Berg returned, still pissed at each other. "When I give the signal, I need you to announce me."
"You got it, Jo-Jo," Brandon assured her, tipping her a wink as he watched her disappear out back. "Man, she gets prettier every time I see her," he said, realising belatedly that Kitty seemed to be trying to blow in his ear. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know," she said innocently, fluttering her eyelashes. "I saw it in an old movie and I just thought... Doesn't matter," she told him, turning and practically running away again.
"Definitely getting more like her mom all the time," Brandon muttered.
Five minutes later, when the lights flickered just slightly, he realised that was his signal to announce Joey's entrance.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" he called, turning off the music and clapping his hands until everyone paid attention. "And now, for the highlight of the evening, Miss Josephine Donnelly!"
His eyes went a little wide as Joey reappeared, still wearing a shirt and pants rather than the kind of froofy dress that Kitty went for, but with glitter and spangles that belonged on the stage, from her mousy brown bob to her rhinestoned shoes.
"Wow, I'm thinking you guys had a hand in this," said Sharon to Irene and Kitty, who both nodded madly.
"Oh, but doesn't she look just divine?" Irene enthused. "And I know she sounds even better."
"Sounds?" Johhny echoed. "I don't-"
He stopped talking then as Brandon made the reveal of the old jukebox and Joey put in a coin and plugged in the numbers for the track she wanted.
"Mom, Dad," she said, finger hovering over the play button. "This one is for you."
With a click, the jukebox came to life, laying down the record and beginning to play the opening bars of a love song. Where the singer should have come in, Joey took up the lyrics, singing her heart out for the parents she adored. At the chorus, when the whole assembled crowd joined in, she moved closer to her dad, encouraging him without words to ask her mom to dance.
Before long, Sharon and Johnny were in the centre of the floor, their arms around each other as they danced the way they had the first night they met in the very same spot. It wasn't long before Berg and Irene joined them, their fight long forgotten, and then, even Pete and Ashely had to give in and admit one dance probably wouldn't be so bad.
When the song ended, Joey had another lined up ready to go, but she was done singing, putting her microphone aside for now as she pulled herself up to sit on the counter, beside Brandon.
"So, you think maybe you want to...?" he began to ask, but she immediately shook her head.
"Wrong girl," she told him with a smile. "Not that you're not great, Brandon, but I'm pretty sure Cinderella is over that-a-way," she said, hiking her thumb towards a brave-faced Kitty, standing alone by the door, clearly wishing she was in the thick of the dancing already.
"Seriously?" Brandon checked.
"Even if it's just for tonight," Joey urged him. "Go on. Be the good guy I know you wanna be."
Rolling his eyes, he took a second to kiss Joey's cheek, telling her she was awesome, before jumping down and going over to Kitty, asking her to dance. From the sound of it, he barely got one word of the question out, before she was in his arms.
Joey sighed happily as she looked at all four couples dancing. It didn't matter to her that she was alone tonight, because she actually felt like she was at the centre of so much love, family, and togetherness. The way her parents and aunts and uncles so often fought like cats and dogs, there were times she was sure that she and Kitty, and to an extent Brandon, were the glue holding everybody else together. That was fine by her. So long as everybody was happy, at least most of the time. They clearly were tonight.
The End