Chapter Twenty Five

Kristina sighed as she hung up the phone. Michael had just said that he and Dante and Lulu would be coming tonight for dinner.

The dinner that she was having with her family to finally tell them that she was sick.

No, she had cancer….

….and that she was dying.

Yeah. Tonight was going to be a great night.

"Are you okay?" Molly asked from the couch.

Kristina looked up and forced a smile, "I'm fine. Just wondering about the tension between mom and dad and the tension between Dante and dad."

Molly snickered and put her book down, "I think everything will be okay in the end. Everyone is coming here because you wanted a family dinner."

"Michael also told me that his mom and Jacks were coming over." Kristina said hiding a grin.

Molly's face went comically horrified and Kristina couldn't help but laugh. "You're joking," Molly begged her.

She shook her head, "I wish. But I am hoping that Carly can keep it together long enough for us to get through the main dish before she attacks Brenda."

Molly nodded, her eyes were still wide.

This was going to be hard. She knew that Molly and Michael thought there was something wrong with her. She knew that her mom felt the distance that she was putting between them. And her dad might not be the best, but even he could notice something going on with her.

She was not in a position to judge him, but lately he has been acting weird….like off his meds weird. She didn't know the details, but she knew that it had something to do with Robin.

Robin. Kristina wished for the second time that she could just step back and let her dad take care of talking to her mom and family…but she wasn't doing that anymore. For years she had been chicken and hidden behind Michael and even Ethan. Right now was the time for her to stand up and take charge of her life…while she still had one.

There was a knock on the door and before either of the sisters could get up, the door opened and they were looking at the smiling face of their older sister Sam. "Knock, knock. How are you doing guys?" She asked as she stepped into the house and closed the door behind her.

"I'm good," both girls replied at the same time.

Sam laughed and sat next to Molly. "So why is it that you wanted to do this family dinner? I mean it is nice that you want us all together, but Carly? Brenda? I didn't know you wanted them all here for just a casual dinner."

Kristina shrugged, "I just wanted all of us to get together at least one last time before Michael and I go off to college."

"All of us? Aren't we all going to be at the wedding for Brenda and Sonny?" Sam raised her eyebrow.

Kristina laughed, "Yeah, but now it can be about me."

Molly and Sam joined her in her chuckles and she felt a text message for off from her pocket.

Just wanted to know if you wanted me to come tonight?

Kristina smiled at the message Johnny had sent her.

No, I think I can handle it.

She didn't have to wait long for his reply.

Call me.

Two words. Two words were all it took for her heart to start pounding in her chest and her breath come out in pants. Johnny wanted her to call her. Johnny Zacchara wanted her, Kristina Davis, to call him. Because he cares about her.

If she didn't calm down she was going to have to use a defibrillator.

Hiding her smile she looked at Molly and Sam and told them that she was going to get changed before the dinner and went to her room. They both knew and understood that she takes forever to get ready in the mornings and on special occasions its worse. What they didn't know was that Kristina already had her outfit picked out for the evening and her hair style was easy to put up.

As she scrolled through her contacts she mentally gave herself twenty minutes before she was to be bothered by either one of her sisters.

She pushed the call button and held her breath as the phone began to ring.

"Hey," she head Johnny say once he answered. "You okay?"

She let out her breath, "I'm fine. I have this under control." I think, she thought to herself.

"Yeah, that's what you said before, but I just wanted you to know…" he trailed off and Kristina smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

"Are you concerned about me?"

"Shut up," Johnny grumbled from the other line.

She giggled and stood up from her vanity desk and walked over to her dress. "It would be nice to have someone here for back up. Someone who knows what I am going through and that will support me, but I don't think having you here will calm anyone coming tonight and I didn't want to ask Robin to put herself in the situation. Especially since Carly is coming tonight. There will already be drama and I don't need more."

Johnny was silent for a minute while she held her dress up to herself. "If it gets too much for you, call me and I'll come get you."

Kristina thought that this was becoming too much and she might start crying so she made a joke, "Are you sure that's safe, what with all the drinking you do?"

She could almost hear Johnny roll his eyes, "You know I am a great driver."

"Whatever you say."

"I am," he argued.

"I have driven with you before, John."

"And I have driven with you, Speed-Racer." He shot back.

Kristina grinned, "It is not my fault people don't drive the speed limit."

With an almost tortured sigh, Johnny changed the subject, "Alright, but I want you to text me or call me either way. I don't care if tonight went prefect or if there is about to be world war three, you let me know."

"I will," she promised him as she hung up the phone and turned to her dress. "Okay, let's get through this night. I've been through worse."

…..

…..

….

The room was quiet. Way too quite.

Kristina could almost cut the tension in the room with a knife.

Carly was glaring at Brenda who had hugged Jacks for a little longer than necessary. Sonny was trying to get Dante to act like the son he never had, which is pissing Michael off. Lulu is trying to comfort Dante who is throwing daggers and Sonny any chance he got. Her mom looked like she was about to have a heart-attack at any moment. Molly and Sam were trying to keep the piece and not one person asked her why she called this dinner.

This was going swell.

She cleared her throat, "The reason I—"

She was cut off by Carly. "You're not even family. Why the hell are you here?"

Brenda looked up and smiled at her, "I was asked to come over by Kristina."

"And you just had to take it right? You should have known that this was not a place for you here and yet you came here anyways. Why is that Brenda? Are you so insecure that you don't have your own family, you have to come here and steal ours?"

Brenda laughed as Sonny stepped in, "Now you listen to me, you cannot disrespect my future wife like that."

"Can we all just not start an argument in my home?" Alexis whispered and gave them all the look. This was a look that she was familiar with from growing up as her daughter and getting into many fights with her little sister and this was her scolding face. The one that could always make Kristina, Molly and sometimes even Sam look contrite.

"I'm sorry, Alexis. Sometimes Carly just can't help but act like a complete and utter bitch in my presence."

Carly choked on her laugh and folded her arms, "Right, but I would have to wonder what is it about you that makes it like that."

"Carly, can we please not cause a scene?" Jacks asked softly. "Kristina asked us here for a reason and I would be very interested in hearing what it is."

She smiled nervously at Jacks as him and Michael and Dante all looked at her. "I was about to say—"

"You act like I'm the bad guy here." Carly said to Jacks with a frown.

"Mom, please." Michael snapped from across the table. "Krissy is trying to say something important."

"Fine," Carly held up her hands and leaned back in her chair. "I was just trying to point out that this is a family matter.

"Here we go again," Dante whispered to Lulu.

Brenda leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. "I am about to marry Sonny and that means that I will be their step-mother."

Michael and Dante each shared a look that would have had Kristina giggling if she were not so annoyed.

"Oh, and how long is this marriage going to last?" Carly snapped.

"Excuse me?" Sonny said.

"Oh, just back off Carly." Brenda said.

"Not here. Not at my house." Alexis tried to say.

"Mom, everything is going to be okay," Molly tried to comfort her.

"Can we not fight tonight? Look, Kristina asked us here for her." Sam said, talking for the first time this evening.

No one was listening. They were all still arguing. They didn't look like they were going to be stopping any time soon and she might have to tell them later.

No. She wasn't going to tell them later. She wanted to tell them all together where she didn't have to talk about it over and over again.

She stood up, "I HAVE CANCER." Everyone stopped speaking, they stopped moving. They all turned and looked at her. "I found out about a month ago. It's a tumor. A brain tumor. Robin, my doctor, has asked someone to come in and consult. The tumor is so small that they don't know if they can actually do surgery. So I might die from a brain tumor. Or I could die from the surgery. Either way…. It's not in my favor."

No one said anything. They just kept looking at her. Her poor mother. Kristina almost lost it just looking at Alexis' face. "I wanted to tell you. But I was scared and I didn't even know how to deal with it myself. Robin gave me this medication that is helping fight it off, but I don't think it's working so well."

"Is this what you were upset about the other night?" Michael asked her softly.

She nodded at him.

"And why you've been crying in your sleep?" Molly asked innocently.

Kristina nodded at her.

Her mother stood up, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kristina shrugged. "I couldn't even wrap my own head around it, what was I gonna say to you?"

Alexis shook her head, "I am your emergency contact, and they should have notified me."

"I'm eighteen. They cannot say anything about my health to anyone unless I cannot make sound judgments." She looked at everyone in the room and she could feel her eyes fill up with unshed tears as she saw the faces of her sisters who have loved her unconditionally. Her brother Dante who wants to protect her. Her dad who…was her dad. Her rock that was her brother: Michael. He stood up and came over to her.

"I wish you would have told me sooner."

Kristina could only nod at him and soon she was wrapped in his warm and comforting embrace. Feeling safe in the arms of her brother, she allowed herself to cry. She could feel movement all around her and she could feel small arms wrap around her. She turned a little so she could hug Molly back and soon Sam was there and Alexis and Sonny and Dante.

They all held each other.

They all cried together.

And for the first time in months, Kristina felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

…..

…..

…..

"How did it go?" Johnny asked from the driver's seat.

"Well, Carly started an argument with Brenda and soon everyone started to argue." Kristina told him from her huddle against the passenger seat door. She watched as the moon would drift in and out of view with every tree that they passed. "I had to yell over all of them for them to hear me."

Johnny glanced at her. "How did they take it?"

"Better than I thought they would."

"Really? No screaming or anything." She shook her head.

"No, we all cried it out and then talked about the treatment that Robin was telling me about and from now on mom and Sonny both want to go to the doctors with me for my next checkup and they don't want me to be alone ever again and how I will be under surveillance from now until I die…in a couple months from now or in fifty years."

Johnny grinned at her, "So if they are keeping you under surveillance, how did you escape?"

She grinned back. I waited until mom went to her bedroom and confided in Molly that I needed to get out for a little bit and that I was hanging out with you. For some reason Molly likes you so she didn't ask many questions."

"Hey," Johnny said as he pulled into the parking garage.

She just smirked at him as she followed him into the elevators. "I have to admit." She began looking at him from beneath her lashes, "Your driving has gotten better."

Johnny chuckled as the doors of the elevators opened and he lead her down the hall. "You could have drove."

"No I couldn't have, I have a headache from all the crying I did today and I don't think it would be safe for me to drive." Kristina said as she plopped down on the couch while he shut and locked the door.

He came and sat by her on the couch and looked over at her. "Why did you want to come over tonight?"

Kristina bit her lip and looked at her lap. "When I'm with you, you don't treat me like I am some little girl or some sick girl. You treat me like a friend and I have needed that. For so long I have been treated like a china doll and while it's nice to be cherished, I need someone treat me and see me like and equal. Plus it helps that when I am with you I feel safe."

"Safe?" Johnny asked in disbelief.

She nodded, "I know that nothing bad will happen to me when I am with you. When I am with my dad I feel on edge, like any moment someone will come out a shoot at us. And Dante is still new to me, Ethan and I have grown apart…the only other person I feel this way with is Michael…but the way I feel towards Michael is way different than how I feel towards you."

They were silent for a moment before Johnny asked, "And how do you feel for me?"

By now they were both leaning back on the couch, their shoulders touching. She looked into his dark eyes and felt the familiar tingling. "I feel…butterflies." She whispered.

"Is that good or bad?"

She leaned in a little bit closer and her eyes closed right as she whispered, "Good, very good." Before she finished her sentence, she felt his lips upon hers and the butterflies took off.

Hope you all like this chapter as much as I did. I know there is no Robin, but she really wasn't needed.

Some of you might be upset with Johnny and Kristina, but I like/liked them on the show and I wish they had gotten together but now my wishes can become reality with my story.

Please review!