Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Rent. They all belong to the late and great Jonathan Larson. But Kelly and all other characters you do not recognize are mine.

Time Flies

Ch. 1 So We Begin

As Kelly Keaton boarded the flight that would take her back to New York, she couldn't help but be nervous. She had left her little bohemian family behind over four years ago. It was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She wasn't supposed to be gone more than three months but things had happened that made going back to New York nearly impossible. At least she couldn't go back right away, she hoped that time had begun to heal the wounds that had been there for so long. It hurt her to think about how close they had all been. It had been four years since she had spoken to any of them. They had been friends since they were in diapers, and they thought that they would remain friends forever. How wrong they had been.

She always wondered what happened to her them after she left. She wondered if the group had completely dissolved after she left or if it went on with out her being apart of it. She didn't know which one made her feel worse. She had been in L.A for so long she wondered if she would be able to find them still. Did they still live at the loft? If not, then how could she find them now? Well she was just going to have to find out once she got there. No use spending the whole flight worrying about that it would just make her more nervous and that was the last thing that she needed.

God she hated L.A. She was so happy to be going back to New York. She really loved to watch the seasons change in New York. And nothing could beat New York in the fall. Fall was her favorite time of the year.

"Oh God, I can't believe I am actually going back" she whispered to herself. She was so scared but she was also really happy. Maybe everything would turn out ok. She opened her worn messenger bag a pulled out a photo album. She opened the first page and saw a picture of them, the first Christmas in at the loft that they were all there for. They were all on the couch. Maureen sat on Mark's lap, Benny and Collins sat in the middle pretending to fight over a bottle of Stoli. Her eyes finally landed on herself. There she was 19 yrs old, her long dark blonde hair hang down below her shoulders. There was a smile on her face that hadn't been there in a long time. She was sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck while his were wrapped securely around her waist. Kelly just stared at the man in the picture he had short bleach blonde hair and the most stunning pair of green eyes. They had been through so much through out their life together. They had been best friends since the day they were born literally. They were born on the same day and their parents had been good friends for years. They were inseperable throughout childhood and that eventually became something more. The day after graduation they left with their friends off to new adventures in new places. Maureen, Roger and her came to New York while Benny and Mark went to Brown. Of course the groups separation only lasted a year. Mark couldn't deal with being away from Maureen and he decided that maybe school just wasn't for him. While Benny got offered the internship of a lifetime at the Westport group so he transferred to NYU.

"God that was so long ago" she thought to herself. The more that she looked through the album the more she felt her heart break. She gently wiped the tears away and closed the book. Sleep, she thought, was the best option right now. In a few hours she would be in New York and hopefully ready to face her past.