Beyond the end

The truth

Kel opened the door even before Brandon knocked.
They exchanged a kiss on the lips. Because it was their way of caressing each other. It had always been. When they were together years ago and even in the last two years that history had resumed.
"Grace and Sammy?" He asked.
"They are Sleeping" smiled weak Kelly "they had a stratospheric day"
"I'm sorry for today.." whispered Brandon
Kelly put her index finger on his lips.
"You were great," she said, "fantastic. It was.. I don't know.. to see you there. All our sacrifices"
Brandon smiled at her and kissed her deeply.
"God Kel" he said when he caught his breath and looked her in the eye.
Then he noticed tears in Kelly's eyes "why are you crying babe?"
"Because I'm happy," she cut short, pulling away the tears from her damp eyes.
"I know we have important things to talk about but my love" he said to her "I haven't eaten anything today.. do you mind?" Brandon pointed to the fridge.
"If you want there's some cold pasta"
"Pasta.. wonderful" Brandon smiled.
Kelly followed him as he made his way to the kitchen and realized that all the good intentions and long speeches she had passed on to mind during that afternoon were no longer valuable.
She also felt how much she missed him. Physically and mentally and his closeness dilated that feeling.
"Do you want something to drink?" She asked him.
'A beer?' He replied " but I help myself."
She sat on the island stools and stared at Brandon.
"what?" He asked
"You look good" Kelly smiled.
Brandon looked at her. His eyes were shining.
"Thank you. You don't know what weight I took off. Now they can also kick me out. It doesn't matter. Anyway, you too, you are so good. My distance is good for you," he joked.
"Don't say that" something went up inside Kelly's soul. Something terrible. The idea that that thread that tied her to him could break permanently.
"What's wrong Kel?"
Brandon approached and Kelly rested her head on her chest.
"I'm tired."
"I'm sorry I didn't come today. They made you struggle.. maybe we can go to bed and give you a massage and then who knows.."
Kel felt herself dying.
"There's one thing I need to talk to you about"
Kelly got up from his chest looking him in the face.
"A good thing or a bad thing?"
"I don't know," Kelly replied.
"Why don't we talk about when we'll get back together i have enough with this Kel. I love you and you love me, why do we live in separate houses?"
Kel smiled "yes I love you" she said.
"It's been weeks"
"I know"
"I miss you"
"I miss you too"
"We can fix things," Bran whispered, "I don't want this family to be divided. We are also able not to fight."
"We didn't do anything else Brandon, from morning to night."
Brandon sighed "I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't think so. I was frustrated and angry. You were always farther away and I had this thing at stake. And bad rumors from work. I'm sorry for everything. Kel, this way of dealing with things is destroying me, we see each other secretly, then we're separated. I'm tired of this game Kel"
"At least is it served?" She asked him "will you have the promotion? In short, the senator's arrest is a nice blow"
"They still have to decide," Bran replied.
"Anyway, I haven't helped you either," she admitted.
"I want to live with children and with you. I want to come back home."
"Oh Bran" she said kissing him suddenly. And the kiss became much deeper and more desperate.
"Kel..."he sighed breaking the kiss "what's wrong?"
"I have to tell you something and you're making things difficult for me, I don't know how you're going to react. So before we talk about your return I think you'll have to listen to what I have to say."
Brandon looked scared. And he sank even deeper when he saw her tears that no longer had brakes.
"What happened?" He approached her and squeezed her, removing with his fingers the tears that were now streaking her cheeks.
"Have you been talking to Andrea lately?"
"Not recently. Why?"
"She came home this afternoon"
Brandon followed her with his eyes.
Kel looked at him for a moment and then continued "Brenda and Dylan are taking some tests, I think you know this, to try to have children"
"Mmmhh" nodded Brandon.
"It turned out that Dylan also has fertility problems, probably due to some kind of poorly treated inflammation. It's hard for him to have children".
"But you two had Sammy."
Kel narrowed her eyes and felt her breathless, there was no way to get out of it without pain, so she decided to overturn everything, scatter it like salt, on that table in front of him. No choice. Unarmed.
"Bran, Dylan may not be Sammy's father"
"What.. what does it mean. How?"
Kel had no strength to respond. She looked at him without courage.
"Did you see anyone else?"
"No," she replied.
"So who is the father?"
Silence again, a barely hinted look from Kelly, until Brandon's mind did the math backwards. The days retreated until he had seen her appear on the Washington stairs. The blizzard. The horror movie marathon. The table set. The laughter. Kel's steps, She lifting the blanket and lying on him, took her to him. Her plane to Rome and hers to Los Angeles.
"Do you mean it could be me?"
Kel made a very weak and painful nod .
Bran loudly put the glass on the table.
"How long have you been aware of, Kel?"
"From this afternoon," she replied, avoiding the real answer.
"How long have you been aware of Kel?" He repeated.
"I wasn't sure. I had returned to Los Angeles. You were in Rome. I didn't know where to find you. My life was here. And I was back with Dylan, a week after my trip to Washington. I thought it was his. I didn't know."
Brandon was evidently angry.
"Didn't you know or didn't you want to know?"
"This is not true," she replied, holding back the desperation and planting her eyes on him, "You were gone. You were gone Brandon"
Brandon took a few steps back and his voice broke into small shards.
"You have no idea how i suffered I was when I found out that you were back with him and that you were expecting a child. How much I missed you. It's the only reason it took me so long to get back. Just that. No one else."
"I know ," Kelly said in a broken voice.
Brandon turned his back in a snap of anger that dispersed in the air. He tried to calm down.
He held himself at the kitchen counter clutching his fists to hold back his anger. She was behind him. He couldn't look at her.
"Dylan knows that?"
"Not yet"
"I can't believe it. How could you...how could you do this to me."
"I was scared, I wanted to tell you Brandon, but the more time passed the more a chasm was created."
"You took five years of his life from me and probably his whole life if I hadn't returned. He doesn't recognize me as his father"
"I wasn't sure Bran. My life was a mess. I was a mess"
"Now what has changed? Andrea found out your little secret?"
Kelly was crying and didn't answer
Brandon was with his head bowed. He struggled to keep the pain in his chest at bay. He struggled to breathe.
"Andrea would like to take the paternity tests with your consent." Kelly said.
"Is that what you want?"
Kel nodded with her head.
"I'll think about it, but I think you have to tell Dylan first, because it's obvious that if it's not one it's the other."
"Bran" she whispered.
He looked at her.
"I just want to know why," he asked her.
"I thought I was doing the right thing. I wanted to tell you about the doubt, talk to Dylan about Washington, you were gone, I was afraid of being left alone. And I didn't know where to find you. Time has passed"
"I would be back, I would have done the right thing."
"I know," she replied. She tried to grab his hand.
"Eight Kel, five without him and two at home with me. Pregnancy, childbirth. You took everything away from me."
"I was terrified" she kept repeating "I never told Dylan about my trip to Washington"
"But you preferred to make him believe he was the father, didn't that terrorize you?"
"Yeah, but I didn't know what else to do"
Brandon stopped and stared at her seriously.
"I can't deal with This right now" Brandon shook his head And went to the door.
"Bran.."
"Isn't that what you wanted Kel? I'm out of your life. It won't be difficult for you to move on. See you Kel," he said, opening the door without looking at her
"Bran.. " she whispered to a man who didn't want to listen to her anymore.
Bran loudly slammed the door behind him. Kelly could only feel the engine of his car turn on and escape away.
McKay' s house
"The doctors say a series of bullshit you know too" Dylan was trafficting nervously with his motorcycle. It wasn't known exactly what he was doing near the gears but for him it was kind of a stress therapy. Every time he was in a bad mood he would go out on the patio and put the bike in place even though he had nothing to put in place.
"Dylan is not a problem, Andrea said it can be solved or in any case that it can improve" Brenda watched him leaning against the door.
Selfishly she felt almost relieved by the idea of not being the cause of all evils. She knew he didn't have to think so, but she thought so.
"I have no problem the doctors are wrong."
They heard the ringing at the door and Brenda watched Dylan in a bad mood not betray any intention of going to open.
"Okay, I'll go"
It was a surprise when she found Kel in front of her.
"Kelly"
"Hi Brenda"
Brenda looked at her and immediately noticed that something was wrong. The face was contracted and had tired features. Red eyes.
'The children?'
"They are with Erin. I needed to come and talk to you. Both."
Brenda looked at her "come in. Is It for Brandon, did you fight? What happened?"
Kelly avoided the question and immediately asked if Dylan was in the house.
"He's there, he's fixing the bike. I warn you he's in a bad mood."
Kelly walked in and waited for Brenda to make her way.
"Dylan is Kelly"
Dylan got up from his position and wiped his dirty hands with a red cloth.
"Are you all right Kelly?" He said as soon as he saw her.
"No," she replied, passed her gaze from Brenda to Dylan "I need to talk to you" then hurried to look at Brenda and tell her that she needed her to stay too"
"I know you went to Andrea's today"
Neither of them answered but they nodded because they were waiting for what else Kelly meant.
Kelly took a break that seemed to last her a lifetime.
"Andrea came to explain your situation to me."
"What?" Dylan was angry but Brenda stopped him with a hand gesture to allow Kelly to continue, because that was not the goal of Kelly's visit. And Brenda felt it.
"Let her end," she told him.
"Andrea came to ask me if I was sure you were Sammy's father"
Dylan didn't move and neither did Brenda, the air was suspended and cut off by a feeling of loss and confusion.
"I'm not sure if you're Sammy's father," Kelly shorted. And there was no other way to say that. She just said it.
Dylan was in shock.
"What do you mean you're not sure?"
"About a week before we got back together, before taking the pregnancy test, I ..." Kelly was hesitating, looking around "I slept with another person".
"I took a short trip to be with him" she said, "when I came back you came to apologize, we got together, and when I found out I was pregnant I assumed he was yours, the years passed..."
Brenda looked motioned and passed her eyes from her husband to Kelly waiting for something to happen but nothing happened, Dylan sat in the chair next to the bike with his head in his hands.
Kelly was in tears and Brenda, for some strange reason we could call female solidarity, was given an arm around her shoulder.
"Kelly the other possible father knew you were pregnant?" Brenda asked.
"No, I never told him. He never knew. I thought it was Dylan's. I was in a very confused time and you know it Dylan..you know it. You were with me."
Dylan pricked his eyes on her "you had to tell me."
"You would have left me"
"It doesn't seem to me that we didn't break up anyway but with the aggravating that you are dishonest."
"Dylan is enough," Brenda interrupted him.
"I wasn't sure Dylan, and I'm sorry, but in the early days we were happy, we were fine and I didn't have the courage to tell you this. I was afraid of being alone."
" and who would be this you fucked with? Or at least do you know who he is?" Dylan was furious.
"Dylan, I said it's enough," Brenda gazed him trying to protect Kelly.
"I'm here to do the right thing" sighed Kelly
"The right thing.. ah great.. of course. Sammy is seven years old almost eight, for years Kelly made me feel guilty, made me love this child and made me believe that I was the father. And you tell me she's trying to do the right thing."
"Could he also be your Dylan you didn't think?" Brenda couldn't believe her own words.
Dylan only turned to Kelly.
"I want to know who he is"
Kelly grabbed Brenda's arm to find a foothold. It was strange how at that very moment she was her only point of reference.
Dylan became more insistent and approached by repeating the question.
"Kelly, Who did bang you?"
"Dylan stop This" Brenda said.
Kelly didn't answer. She was Looking down. She felt trapped.
" WHO IS HE KELLY?"
"It's Brandon," she said in a breath, raising her head.
"oh God" said Brenda in shock and taking some steps back "Didn't you tell my brother that the baby could be his?"
Kelly's legs didn't hold up. The choices made years ago, were going up from the ground.
"And does Brandon know this story?"
Kelly nodded yes with her head "I told him tonight"
At that time, all Brenda could see while looking at Kelly was the undecided and fragile little girl of years and years before, who desperately sought love wherever she saw it or thought she saw it, who detached the skin from the bones of understanding to feed herself. That happiness when she had it at hand scared her.
Brenda didn't feel sorry for Kelly but compassion for how much she would pay for her own mistakes.
She could have continued to remain silent, no one would have questioned anything, yet that drawer opened by Andrea had decided her to make a decision contrary to the one taken years and years earlier even though she knew it would cost her dearly.
Before Dylan's eyes, Brenda approached her and let her hide her face on her shoulders and she could cry, or say nothing.