Disclaimer: I don't own anything Degrassi, except the character of Emily...
Okay, so here's the next story! Just a little background for ya...
Jay and Manny are married and have a baby girl, Emily. Manny has cancer. See how blurred the lines get between grief and gladness, aid and adoration, friendship and love...
"We haven't had the talk yet," she said, her voice weak and tired.
Emma shifted nervously in the uncomfortable chair she'd been sitting in for the last two, stifling hours. This was one conversation she most certainly did not want to have.
"Emma?" Manny questioned, taking hold of her friend's anxious hand. "I need...I need to do this. And I need you to do this with me, okay?"
Emma fought back tears that threatened to explode at any minute. "You shouldn't be talking like this. Not yet."
Manny smiled, albeit half-heartedly. She took a strangled breath and let it out shakily. "I know that he won't ever ask for help. But you know he'll need it."
Emma nodded, peering around the ugly green curtain, out into the drab hallway. He stood there, his back to her, but his slumped shoulders saying more than his face would ever reveal. The weight of the world was on those shoulders. Emma felt exactly the same way.
Manny squeezed Emma's hand, bringing her back to the issue at hand. "I know I don't have to ask, but I will anyway. Emily..." Manny let her voice trail off, telling Emma just how hard this was for her best friend.
Tears trickled out of the corners of Emma's eyes, but she made no attempt to swipe them away. Manny had been asking her not to cry for the past two months and Emma had kept it all bottled up until now. If Manny needed to talk about this so much, then Emma needed to relieve some of her pain along the way.
"My little girl didn't ask for this. Neither did I, but I'm trying to make the most out of this situation. Just promise she'll always have you to go to. For whatever she needs. Promise me?"
Emma sighed heavily, letting some of that weight from her shoulders. "You don't even have to ask."
"And Jay?" Manny probed.
"He has Sean," she answered. When Manny raised an eyebrow, Emma smiled. "And he has me."
Manny took a shaky breath. Her eyes fluttered. Emma watched the machine next to her small frame and felt her heart stop. She didn't realize she had said anything, until she saw Jay turn and run into the room. He took Manny's free hand, exchanged a sorrowful look with Emma, and pressed his lips to Manny's temple.
They sat there, the three of them, hands joined, oddly bonded over the worst possible event in their young lives. And, as Manny took her last breath, it was Emma and Jay, her quasi-sister and her husband, that supported her from one life to the next.
Hope you enjoy! Please review to tell me what you think.