What If

Forget

Early morning New Years Eve, Brian woke up to Jessie's brown eyes staring at him intently. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Jessie?" he said hoarsely.

"Daddy,I'm hungry," she said calmly.

"Hungry?" Brian asked "Jess, its not even time to get up yet."

"I want some cereal."

Brian looked over at Kate who was sleeping with her back to him. "Can't it wait, Jess? Maybe you could go back to bed for a little while and wait for everyone to get up."

"But daddy, I want cereal nooow," she whined a bit, her face showing potential to cry.

"Aww Jess, don't cry...I'm getting up," he said quickly tossing the covers off of himself and jumping out of bed.

Only after the cartoons were turned on and a large bowl of Cinnamon toast crunch sitting in front of her did Brian return to his bedroom. It was probably too late to climb back in for some more sleep but he needed a shower. He was lucky Kat had trudged into kitchen to watch her sister and he didn't have to wake Kate.

But as soon as he walked back into the bedroom, he found Kate, sitting on the bed, a wrapped present in front of her and a wide smile on her face.

Brian stopped, raising an eyebrow at the large gift box.

"Happy Anniversary!" Kate called loudly with an excited grin on her face.

Brian felt terror creep up his spine.

"But before you pull whatever crazy prank you have planned," she said happily "I want you to open my gift first."

Brian mustered up a smile as he looked at the large box. "Maybe I should wait."

She clapped her hands together "No no no...open it now!"

Brian sat on the bed and pulled the box toward him. He hesitated but she encouraged him. "Go ahead!"

He pulled the bow on the box and pulled open the box to reveal a black Schecter Avenger staring back at him. He touched the neck of the guitar gently.

"I found it at Music Go Round for about half the price of the other. It's used but the guy there assured me it still has a lot of life left in it," she replied quickly.

Brian felt his voice get stuck in his throat, overcome with emotion. He'd gotten a lot of gifts in his life but this one...this was perhaps the best.

"You're incredible, Kate. This really is...the best. Thank you."He turned to look at Kate's expectant face, suddenly remembering how truly screwed he is. "Here's the thing. I really hadn't planned on giving you your...uh... anniversary gift until tonight. You know, anniversary's good all day..."

"What are you talking about? You never wait all day," she replied."I know that, but..."Kate looked at him like she was looking into his soul, sadness clear in her blue eyes. "You forgot."

Brian stood there in silence, ashamed.

She continued, "You actually forgot our anniversary."

"I'll fix it. I'll go out right now and get you something. I'll make it right," he insisted.

Tears threatened to spill from those blue eyes. "Jesus, Brian...Is this where we are now? Is this our marriage? Suddenly I'm the wife who has to drop hints two weeks before her anniversary so her husband doesn't fuck it up?"

One single tear spilled down her cheek and Brian felt his heart break. "Please Katie, don't cry."

She wiped the tear away but another trickled after it. Brian approached her, holding out a hand but Kate pushed it away and walked toward the bathroom leaving him holding his guitar and his guilt in his hands.

======================

He took a step out on to the back porch that overlooked the ocean and look a deep breath of salty sea air. He shook his head, a mixture of frustration and self-pity on his face.

"I'm glad you think this is funny," he mumbled to himself. "I messed up. I really really messed up and I don't know to fix this. God damnit Jamie."

He waited to see if she'd appear out of nowhere. She needed to. She was the one who had gotten him into this mess. "How was I supposed to know the date of their anniversary!? I never married her!" he yelled to the sky.

"Dad?" Kat's voice called and he turned to see both of his daughters looking at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"I forgot our anniversary," he blurted miserably.

Kat winced. "Oh dad...I think you better come inside. You look like you could use a drink."

"I don't think that'll help," he said.

"It couldn't make it any worse," Kat offered.

"True," he said taking a deep breath and following them into the kitchen.

He dropped himself into one of the chairs at the table as Kat began to make some chocolate milk for him as Jessie climbed on to his lap and patted his stunned face with her tiny hand.

Kat slid the glass over to him and he lifted it to take a long sip.

"Better?" Kat asked.

He put the glass down, a milk mustache on his lip. He nodded with a halfhearted smile.

"We should have warned you," Kat said and Jessie nodded. "I knew things have been off between you and I shoulda let you know to go big."

"You always do something special," Jessie added.

"Like what?" Brian asked the little girl.

"One year you had a star named after her," Kat replied.

"That's a little lame, isn't it?" he asked bluntly.

Kat chuckled and shrugged. "Mom liked it a lot."

"A whooooole lot," Jessie said for emphasis.

"Maybe there's a jewelry store back at the mall. I could get her a pair of earrings or something," he suggested.

"That's good," Kat said in a tone that told him that isn't that good. "But you did forget your anniversary."

"You did forget," Jessie echoed.

"Right," he sighed "And that is a major thing for chicks..I mean girls...women..."

"Yes, and it will take more than just jewelry to get yourself out of the doghouse." Kat said.

They sat in silence while Brian's wheels began to turn. 

"How about a night in LA? How long has it been since we've done that...maybe food at somewhere really nice, maybe some dancing...we could spend the night there. What do you think?"

The sisters looked at each other and then Kat gave Brian his own half grin. "That just might work."