Chapter Ten

Her gasp filled the room as she looked around trying to remember where she was. Kristina didn't find this room familiar at all; she had never seen it before. Thoughts of last night came flooding into her brain; how she had talked to Michael and how she had gotten upset and went to see Johnny. After that it was blank. She rubbed her eyes as she thought that she must have fallen asleep.

That meant that Johnny must have brought her upstairs to sleep in his bed. That thought gave Kristina a butterfly feeling in her stomach. Shaking her head she shook them out of her thoughts and tried to remember if she had called her mom. No, she hadn't.

Great, just great, this meant her mother was probably worried about her. Getting up from the bed she moved over to the door and cracked it open. There was no noise coming from down stairs. Thinking that Johnny must not be home and praying that Anthony wasn't around, she crept down the steps.

As she reached the bottom step she didn't see in anyone in the living room or at the piano. She walked towards her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She had three missed calls. Odd, she thought, her mom would have blown up her phone already. As she checked the calls she saw that two were from Michael and the other was from Mrs. Reese.

Sitting on the couch, Kristina called Mrs. Reese back. She wasn't ready to deal with Michael at the moment. Maybe she would give him a call sometime later, but today…she needed a break, for just a little while.

"Hello?" Came the voice of Mrs. Reese over the phone, there was a lot of noise in the back ground.

"Hi, Mrs. Reese, this is Kristina."

"Oh, hey. I'm sorry; I'm a little distracted all the girls are trying to help me cook breakfast." The woman said with a laugh.

Kristina smiled then came serious again. "Did Molly have any nightmares?" She prayed that her younger sister had slept the whole night threw. But for some reason, Kristina knew that Molly had had a nightmare.

The noise from the other end disappeared as she heard Mrs. Reese say, "It was just a mild one. I was able to get her to go back to bed after a glass of warm milk. I was surprised your sister didn't know that it helped people sleep, since she seems to know a whole lot in everything else." The woman joked.

Kristina laughed. "Yeah, she does know a lot. When would you like me to come and get her?"

"Oh, they're fine here for now. Not many of the girls are leaving until around three. So when Molly is ready to come home I'll have her call you."

"Thank you Mrs. Reese, you've been amazing." Kristina said with a sigh. She meant every word. When she had told Mrs. Reese that Molly had been having nightmares she didn't act like she had thought she would. She waved her hand and said that Molly would be just fine.

"It was no problem. Molly is a sweet girl, it was no chore. I think she gets it from her caring sister."

Kristina thanked the woman again and then hung up with a sigh. She was glad Molly was having fun for a once. And it was a good thing that her nightmare wasn't as bad as it could be. Sometimes Molly doesn't even blink after someone of them.

Those are the nights that scare her the most, seeing her sister lying there in the dark, staring off into space, looking at nothing. Whenever Molly does that, she looks haunted, like she is this shell or ghost of the girl she was before. When Kristina sees that far off look in her sister's eyes, she knows that she is playing the bus accident. And for the millionth time, she wished that her sister had never seen that man die, was never on that bus.

Molly was too gentle for all of that, she was too nice to sit around and think about all the traumatic stuff that has happened. It wasn't fair that her sister had to go threw all this bad stuff when her father isn't the mob boss. She shouldn't have to deal with this.

"Molly okay?"

Kristina jumped off the couch and spun around to see Johnny in the door way from the patio. "Yeah, Mrs. Reese, the mother of Molly's friend, said that she was just fine."

Johnny walked over towards her and crossed his arms. Kristina remembered unloading on Johnny like she had never unloaded before. It had felt so good to have someone to talk to, to listen to her problems and not judge or try to take action to fix it. Johnny was everything she needed last night, someone who was able to keep and open mind, even when she had told him about everything that had been going on herself. He had let her cry on his shoulder and not once tried to make her go home.

"Thank you for last night. I shouldn't have intruded like that on you. It was stupid and then I just…dumped all my baggage on you. I'm sorry, Johnny. I know that you have a lot going on yourself and I just-"

"Kristina, it's okay. I honestly didn't mind. After all, what are friends for?" He smirked at her.

Kristina smiled back. What were friends for? For so long Kristina only had her family and Ethan, it made her feel good to know that she had another person she could talk to and know that it wouldn't get around. Johnny wasn't the type to go around and blab about her business.

"Did she have another nightmare?"

Kristina sighed and sat back down on the couch, "Yes, but Mrs. Reese said that it wasn't a problem and that she was about to get Molly back to sleep with a glass of warm milk."

"That's good." He said as he sat next to her.

"Yeah, but I was hoping that…she wouldn't have a nightmare. That she would be happy, and wouldn't get bad dream, at least, for one night." Kristina sighed. "Wishful thinking I guess."

"No, you're just worried for your little sister. Because you care about her and want her to get back to normal, it's only natural." Kristina looked at him and nodded.

"You're right, I guess."

"But…that's not the only thing bothering you, is it?" Johnny asked trying to get her to look him in the eye.

She shook her head. "I've been thinking about the cancer. And what kind it might be, if it's treatable, or….if I'll survive."

Johnny laughed. "You can't be serious right now." When Kristina just looked at him he grew serious, "Okay, from what I've heard about you and your family, you Davis woman don't give up easily. Your mother beat cancer a long time ago; Sam has been threw a lot with Jason, nearly losing her like in the bomb meant for Brenda. Molly will get threw her nightmares and you will get threw this. Just because you have cancer does not mean it is the end of the world."

"I know…but I'm not as strong as Sam and my mom. I'm not sure if I can do this."

"I am. I KNOW you can. You know why? Because when Kiefer beat you, you survived. You handled it better than anyone I know. You are tough too, not many people I know would stand up to your father like you do all the time. I believe that you are one of the strongest women I know. And I know a lot of them. You are persistent and caring. This, Kristina, is nothing."

Kristina looked away, he was being honest, she knew it and she believed him, but there is something about hearing it and believing it that is a problem. She wasn't so sure, but after hearing Johnny say all those wonderful things about her…she was beginning to think that he might be right, for once….or twice.

"I don't know how you do it, but somehow when you tell me things like that, I feel like I can almost believe you." Kristina said after a moment.

"You should, because I'm right." Kristina laughed and he smiled. "You hungry," Kristina nodded. "Come on, I'll take you to Kelly's."

I know there isn't much drama going on, but next chapter will have the first look into Carly and Jacks.

Still taking count on who Spinelli should be with….let me know.