Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I have any association with the Gilmore Girls or any of its characters. Dreaming about them is a totally different thing...
This chapter is dedicated to all those who have lost someone they love.
Chapter 23- In Loving Memory
Four and a half years earlier…
Luke jumped out of his truck and ran into the house. "Lorelai!" he called, tossing his jacket over the edge of the couch. "Lorelai, where are you?"
"Up here!" Lorelai replied from upstairs.
Luke took the stairs two by two and nearly fell when he ran down the hall to his and Lorelai's bedroom. "Did you do it already?"
"Yeah. We should find out in a minute."
"Do you think you are? I mean, do you feel different or something?"
"Your questions are making me anxious."
"I'm sorry. I'm just excited."
Lorelai smiled and kissed Luke. "So am I." The timer beside the bed went off. "Ok. It's time. Do you wanna check it with me?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go find out." Luke followed Lorelai to the bathroom. They looked down at the pregnancy test sitting on the counter. "Ok, what am I looking at? What's it mean?"
"It means I'm not pregnant," Lorelai sighed as she headed back to the main room.
Luke and Lorelai had been trying to have another baby for two and a half years now. But for some reason, they weren't having much luck. And when they did happen to conceive, Lorelai unfortunately couldn't hold the pregnancy to term. In the past two and a half years, Lorelai had four miscarriages. The third month usually marked the disastrous event. It wasn't the first time they had trouble having a baby. It took five years, nearly ten false alarms, and three miscarriages before Luke and Lorelai had Katie. Before Mikey, Lorelai miscarried five times. With over twelve failed pregnancies, Lorelai was ready to give up on the idea of another child. But Luke was determined to give Lorelai what she wanted.
"Are you sure?" Luke asked as he kept staring at the stick.
"Luke, the results aren't going to change."
"I know, but are you sure? I mean, these things aren't always reliable. It could be wrong."
"Luke, give it up. I'm not pregnant. Maybe it's a sign."
"Now don't start talking like that again."
"Twelve miscarriages Luke. Twelve."
"Thanks for reminding me of the statistic. I almost forgot."
"God's telling us to be happy with Rory, Kelly, and Mikey."
"Why can't God be telling us to try harder?"
"Luke…"
"You want another baby and we're going to have one. Now, are you sure about this thing?"
"Yes," Lorelai sighed. "It says right here on the box. One line you're not pregnant. Two you are."
"Lorelai."
"What?"
"There's two."
"What?"
"There's two. There's two lines."
"Luke, you're not funny."
"Lorelai, when have I ever been funny? I'm serious. There's two lines."
Lorelai stood up and walked over to the counter. "Luke, I was just looking at it and there clearly was…" She trailed off when she saw the second solid blue line. "Oh my God. There's two lines!"
"So you're pregnant? We're having another baby?" Unable to form words, Lorelai nodded with a large grin on her face. Luke picked her up and twirled her around. "We're having another baby!"
Luke finally put Lorelai down and started to ramble on about what needed to be done to prepare for the new baby- rebuilding the crib, buying new baby clothes, repainting the nursery, baby proofing the house again- things like that. Lorelai laughed at her husband's enthusiasm. He was cute when he rambled and even cuter when he rambled about babies. She smiled and put a hand over her stomach. Things were going to be different this time. She just knew they would be.
Two years later…
One year old Danny pulled himself to his feet and stood in the middle of the living room for a minute before he fell flat on his butt. He knew how to stand on his own, but it was the actual walking part that he couldn't get down. Lorelai walked into the room as Danny made another attempt to walk. She smiled at his determination, but couldn't help but laugh when he fell on his butt again. She put the laundry basket down and headed over to him.
"You're getting there honey," Lorelai said to her son. She picked him up and sat down on the couch.
"I want you to know that it's ok if you don't get it right away because the sooner you learn to walk, the sooner you'll walk out of Mommy and Daddy's life. Trust me, I know. I walked out on your grandparents when I was sixteen." Danny made more mumbling noises. "Oh Danny, I don't know where I'd be if I never walked out on your grandparents and never met Daddy. I'd be worse off, that's for sure. I don't want you to get discouraged Danny. You're going to learn how to walk. I promise."
Lorelai looked at Danny, then at the various family portraits and pictures on the mantle.
"Ok, here's the plan. I'll teach you the tricks to walking if you promise not to walk out on Mommy and Daddy until you go off to college." Danny looked up at Lorelai and rested her head on her shoulder. "I'll take that as a yes. Ok, the key to the whole walking thing is to put this foot in front of this one and then put this one in front of this one," she said pointing to his feet as she spoke. "You wanna try it again?"
"Momma!" Danny laughed as he looked up at his mom. He squirmed off her lap and back onto the floor. He crawled over to his toys and started to play with one that looked like a colorful, singing ladybug.
Lorelai laughed as she shook her head and picked up the toys Danny wasn't playing with. She put the discarded toys in the toy bin across the room and when she returned to the TV area, she found Danny standing. She was speechless when Danny lifted his chubby little left foot and put it slightly in front of his chubby little right foot.
"Oh my God," she gasped in surprised. "Luke! Luke, hurry!"
Luke came running into the room in a white t-shirt, his boxers, and shaving cream on his face. "What? What's wrong?" he asked frantically.
"Look," Lorelai smiled, pointing to Danny.
Luke looked over the couch in time to see Danny take his first real step. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "He's walking!"
Danny looked up at his parents and started to laugh. "Dadda! Momma!" he yelled as he started moving quicker toward his parents.
Luke and Lorelai walked around the couch and Luke picked Danny up before he fell again.
"You're such a smart boy!" Lorelai said excitedly as kissed Danny's cheek.
"We're so proud of you son!" Luke said, hugging Danny tightly and kissing the top of his head.
"Um Daddy, you got shaving cream in his hair," Lorelai laughed.
"Huh?" Luke looked down. "Ah jeez. Sorry about that buddy. Here, go to Mommy. I'll be right back." He handed Danny to Lorelai and hurried upstairs.
Lorelai wiped the shaving cream out of Danny's hair and smiled again as she hugged him. "Daddy's right. We're very, very proud of you. I lived up to my end of the deal, so you have to keep yours ok? You don't leave Mommy and Daddy until you're eighteen."
A year and a half later…
"Having fun?" Luke joked as he passed his three year old son at the counter.
"Your pancakes are yummy Daddy," Danny smiled, syrup covering his face.
"It looks like my counters had more of the pancakes then you did. Were you just eating the syrup?" Danny just smiled. "I thought so. Tomorrow, you're getting oatmeal."
"Yuck! Oatmeal tastes like poopey."
"How do you know what poopey tastes like?" Danny shrugged. "Don't make a reference if you don't have the goods to back it up kid. Go to the bathroom and clean your face would ya?" Danny started licking the corners of his mouth. "No…no. Danny, don't do that. I said wash up."
"But it's a waste of sugar."
"You become more like your mother everyday. Wash up or I'm spraying you down in the sink."
Danny hopped off the stool and headed to the bathroom to wash up. While he was gone, Luke took the opportunity to clean up the mess. Jam hands were one thing. This was just ridiculous.
"All clean," Danny said cheerfully as he hopped onto a new stool. "Daddy?"
"How come the sign outside says William's Hardware?"
"This used to be my dad's hardware store. I used to help him when I was a little boy. When he died, he left me the his store. I didn't like running a hardware store as much as my dad so I changed it into a diner."
"Did you always want to own a diner?"
"No, not really. I thought about it, but not very seriously. I used to think I'd be a mechanic because I worked for the town's auto shop when I was younger."
"You mean Gypsy's?"
"It wasn't always Gypsy's. Her dad owned it and when he gave it to her, she changed the name."
"How come you didn't be a mechanic?"
"I only became a mechanic to help support your mommy and Rory."
"So what did you want to be when you grew up?"
"I wanted to play baseball."
"You like baseball?"
Luke smiled and sat beside his son."I love baseball. I started play when I was smaller than you."
"Smaller than me?" Danny asked in surprise.
"Yup. Smaller than you."
"How come you didn't play baseball?"
"I met your mom. I loved baseball, but I love your mom a lot more. When my dad died, I was really down and your mommy helped me feel better. She even got me to open the diner. I thank God everyday that I met your mom because she gave me the best present I could ever ask for."
"What?"
"Rory, Kelly, Mikey, and you. I would give up everything for you guys."
Danny smiled. "Daddy?"
"Yeah son?"
"When I grow up, I wanna be just like you."
Luke smiled, remembering when he had said the same thing to his own father many years ago. He had a good feeling about Danny.
Six months later…
"Happy birthday Dad," Lorelai said as she gave Richard a hug.
"Why thank you Lorelai," Richard said with a smile. He noticed she was carrying her purse. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah, we're about to head home."
"What? No. Stay."
"We can't Dad. It's getting late."
"Exactly why you should stay. Spend the night. You, Luke, and the kids. You shouldn't be driving home this late."
"We'll be fine Dad. Besides, Luke has an early delivery tomorrow and Danny's not feeling well."
"Well then let Kelly and Mikey spend the night."
"I don't know…"
"Please Lorelai. I'd really like them to stay. I'll take them out tomorrow and drop them off in the evening. It'll make up for Rory not being here." He looked at his daughter with pleading eyes.
"I guess they can stay," she sighed. She looked at her father and laughed. "Now I know where I get it from." Richard laughed and they walked into the livingroom. "Kelly, Mikey, guess what?"
"What?" Kelly and Mikey asked at the same time.
"You two are spending the night here and spend tomorrow with Grandpa. That's ok right Daddy?"
"I guess so Mommy," Luke replied. It wasn't as if he could say no now anyway.
"Bye Grandma," Danny said giving Emily a hug and a kiss.
"Bye-bye Danny," Emily said as she hugged him back.
Richard walked over to Danny. "I have something for you," he said.
"But it's your birthday," Danny remarked.
"Yes, but I would like to give this to you now." He pulled a gold cross on a chain out of his pocket. "Your mother told me you weren't feeling well. My father gave this to me when I was a boy and wasn't feeling well. When I wore it, it magically eased my pain."
Richard put the cross around Danny's neck and Danny gave him a hug. "Thank you Grandpa."
"You're welcome." He placed a soft kiss on the top of his little head. "Goodbye Danny."
"Goodbye Grandpa." Danny kissed Richard's cheek before running over to his parents.
As they left, Richard felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a bad feeling and he didn't care for it at all. He went to the kitchen for some ginger ale to settle his stomach.
Luke was driving down the highway very carefully. Today was supposed to be the last snow fall of the season and it was coming down heavily. Danny was in center seat in the back, sitting in his booster car seat sleeping. "My mother was freakishly pleasant to me today," Lorelai stated.
"What are you talking about?" Luke asked.
"She only criticized me four times before dinner."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Hello, it's Emily Gilmore. Her life mission is to criticize her only daughter and make her feel like dirt for not turning out the way she wanted."
"You're exaggerating again."
"Your dad loved you. He was always proud of you."
"Your parents love you Lorelai."
"Only for the grandchildren."
"Stop it."
"It's true. They want to turn our kids into the kids they never had. Dress them up in nice fancy clothes, give them expensive cars, bring them to the club…I always got my nice fancy clothes dirty, I crashed the expensive cars they gave me, and I hated that club. Dad wants Danny to take over for him when he gets older."
"What?"
"Yeah. Dad said that he sees himself in Danny."
"Ok, let's talk about something else now. You wanna do something tomorrow?"
"What about the diner?"
"My son's sick. I can take the day off."
"But I thought you had…Oh my God, Luke look out!"
A car headed in the opposite direction was all over the road and got into their lane, speeding toward them. Luke hit his brakes, but the car kept moving because of the slick road. They were hit head on- hard. Because of the speed of the other car, their car was being pushed back a couple hundred yards. A big rig that was coming to the stop sign entering the highway slammed on it's brakes when the two cars passed right in front of him, but it couldn't stop. The truck slammed into the back end of Luke and Lorelai's car.
When the carnage stopped, the two smaller cars were on the side of the road and the big rig was a few yards away. Luke and Lorelai were in complete pain. Their air bags went off, but they didn't seem to do much. Lorelai was the first to come to. She looked over at her husband. Luke was hunched over the steering wheel, his face looking in her direction. He was still unconscious. Lorelai tried reaching out to him, but her arms were in too much pain to lift. She tried to stay awake, but it hurt too much to try. She shut her eyes again, slipping into unconsciousness.
Richard hurried to answer the door. It was far too late for someone to be at his door. When he opened the door, he was shocked to see a police officer on the other side. "I'm looking for a Mr. Richard Gilmore," the officer said.
"I'm Richard Gilmore," Richard said.
"Richard Gilmore, father or Lorelai Danes?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Gilmore, I regret to inform you that there was an accident just outside Stars Hollow. Your daughter, son-in-law, and grandson were hit by a drunk driver and a big rig. They were taken to the Stars Hollow Medical Hospital." Richard couldn't believe what he was hearing. "A patrolman is on their way to inform your granddaughter, Rory Danes, of the accident."
Richard didn't hear anything else the officer said. All he wanted to do was get to Stars Hollow to be with his daughter.
Lorelai was the lucky one. She was going to walk out of this with a few cuts and bruises. Luke was kept in the ER for a while longer. He suffered a mild concussion, a fractured wrist, and had a few cuts and bruises too. His entire body was sore. The doctors allowed Lorelai to go to her husband. She stood beside the bed and his eyes slowly began to open. Lorelai couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She silently let them cascade down her cheeks. Before Luke could say anything, a doctor and patrolman walked in. The doctor checked to see how Luke was doing as the patrolman took statements from the couple. They still hadn't heard anything about Danny.
"My son," Lorelai said. "He was in the back seat. Is he ok?"
Dr. Gordon removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "There's no easy way to say this," he sighed. "Mr. and Mrs. Danes, your son has…he has suffered very severe injuries. I'm sorry, but your son is in a coma and there is a chance that he may not wake up." Lorelai gasped and grabbed onto Luke. "We're doing everything we can, but I have to warn you that the outcome is looking very bleak right now."
"Can we see him?" Luke asked through tears.
"He just got out of ER and they're bringing him to ICU. When he's settled, you may see him. We'll leave you two to be alone. Again, I'm very sorry." With that, the doctor and patrolman left.
Luke and Lorelai sat in silence until Lorelai spoke up. "I need to tell you something," she said. Luke turned his head to face Lorelai. "This really isn't how I imagined doing this. Especially not with Danny…" Lorelai stopped and covered her mouth, trying not to cry.
Luke reached out and grabbed her hand. "Lorelai, what's wrong?"
"Luke, I'm pregnant."
Luke opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by someone yelling. "My daughter!" a man's voice boomed down the hall. "Lorelai Danes! I demand to see my daughter this instant!" Seconds later, Richard burst through the door. He immediately walked over to Lorelai and pulled her into a hug and started to cry. "I was so worried about you."
"Dad, it's ok," Lorelai said as she hugged her dad. "I'm fine."
"When they told me I was so scared I was going to lose you." Lorelai gave him another squeeze before pulling back. "I left your mother and the children at home. I didn't want them to see you like this. Rory's on her way." Richard turned to Luke. "How about you? How bad is it?"
"Not very," Luke replied. "Just a concussion, broken wrist, and a few cuts and bruises."
"But you'll be fine?" Luke nodded. "Oh thank God. And Danny?" Luke and Lorelai looked at each other sadly. "What? What's wrong?"
"Dad," Lorelai called, touching her father's arm. He immediately started to panic. "You might want to sit down for this."
For one month, Luke and Lorelai stayed at their son's beside. They couldn't move Danny up to pediatrics because of his condition. He had to stay in ICU- room 341. They spent everyday sitting with him, praying he would wake up, refusing to leave his side. They only went home at night, when visiting hours were over and they were forced to leave. It was a bright, sunny day when Luke and Lorelai walked into the hospital to see their son. Richard, Emily, Kelly, and Mikey arrived shortly after. On a day like this, you would never think something bad would happen. The keyword is think.
They stepped off the elevator and headed down the hall to Danny's room. The sad looks on the nurses faces made Luke and Lorelai very nervous. Richard, Emily, Kelly, and Mikey stopped in the waiting room. There was a clear shot to the nurses station. As Luke and Lorelai approached the nurses' station, Dr. Gordon, Danny's doctor, walked up tp the couple.
"Mr. and Mrs. Danes," Dr. Gordon called softly. "I'm afraid I have bad news."
"Bad news?" Lorelai asked in disbelief. "What kind of bad news? Is Danny ok?"
"This is always the hard part," Dr. Gordon sighed.
"What's going on?" Luke asked, getting agitated. "What's wrong with our son?"
"I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Danes. We did everything we could." Luke and Lorelai immediately knew what happened. "He…he's gone. He passed away in his sleep. I hope it gives you some comfort knowing he was in no pain when he went. I'm so very sorry for your loss."
Lorelai let out a heart breaking cry as she buried her face in her husband's shoulder. Luke was too shocked to react. He held Lorelai as she cried, trying his best to keep from crying too. Dr. Gordon took something out of his pocket and handed it to Luke before they headed to the waiting room to break the news. They all stood when Luke and Lorelai walked in. Luke let go of Lorelai and walked up to Richard, who had a frightful look on his face. He placed the gold cross on a chain in Richard's hand.
"He went peacefully," Luke managed to strangle out. "He was in no pain."
Lorelai began to cry again and Emily immediately went to her side. Richard hesitantly hugged his son-in-law. With both his parents gone, Luke had no one to cry to so Richard stepped in. He held Luke as he cried for his son. After a while, Richard let go of Luke and went to Lorelai as Emily now comforted Luke. Luke turned to Kelly and Mikey, who stood to the side shocked and confused about what was happening. Luke opened his arms and Kelly immediately ran into them. He kissed the top of Kelly's head and knelt down so he was eye level with Mikey.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Mikey asked. "Is Danny ok?"
Luke shook his head. "No buddy," he replied sadly. "Your brother…he's…" Luke didn't know how to explain to a seven year old that his three year old brother had just died. "Danny's gone."
"Is he coming back?" Luke shook his head as tears fell from his eyes. "Where'd he go?"
"To heaven. His with Grandpa Will and Grandma Lana." Mikey knew what that meant. He sniffled and hugged his dad as he began to cry.
Rory walked into the waiting room to see her entire family crying. Luke was the first to see her. He wiped his face and stood. Rory shook her head, knowing immediately what was wrong.
"He's gone princess," Luke informed sadly. Rory ran into his arms and started to cry. Lorelai walked over to them and Luke put his arm around her, hugging them both. Kelly and Mikey joined in the family hug and for what seemed like an eternity, the Danes family stood there holding each other as they mourned for Daniel Vincent Danes.
Seconds after releasing each other, Lorelai felt a sharp pain on her stomach. "Ow," she cried as she bent over holding her stomach.
"Lorelai? Lorelai, what's wrong?" Luke asked.
"It hurts," Lorelai cried before nearly collapsing into his arms.
"Lorelai! Oh my God. Help! I need a doctor!" A doctor and a few nurses came running down the hall to help Lorelai. An hour later, Luke was informed that Lorelai had a miscarriage.
The next few months were hell on Luke and Lorelai. Deeply hit by the loss of his youngest son and unborn child, Luke fell into a deep depression and eventually was given antidepressants. He wouldn't eat, barely slept, and stopped shaving. He was a complete mess and if it weren't for Lorelai, he probably wouldn't have survived. But not everything was perfect between them. Even making love was different. Something seemed to be missing when they were intimate. They had began to fight with each other.
At first, it was about little frivolous things. Lorelai was mainly angry that Luke refused to do anything and that he would shrug off or completely ignore the fights. He would sit there and stare at her as she yelled at him. She wanted a reaction from him and he didn't seem to care. There had been one instance that she threw something at him to get him to budge, but he did nothing. He never once yelled back or threw anything at her. Luke had his own problems. He didn't like hearing Lorelai yell at him. Don't get me wrong, they didn't always fight. They did have their pleasant moments, but they were becoming few and far between. Every fight intensified in anger and frustration.
They laid in bed on their back, staring at the ceiling. They were making love when Luke sudden rolled off her and they hadn't spoken since. "Maybe it's the antidepressants. Dr. Weiss said they can have sexual side effects," Lorelai said.
"This is the third night this week I haven't been able to keep it up," Luke said in frustration.
"Maybe tomorrow will be better."
"Whatever." Luke rolled over onto his side and shut his eyes.
"Or you can go see a doctor."
"I'm not seeing a doctor."
"I was just…"
Luke shot up and faced Lorelai. "I said I don't wanna see a doctor, so just leave it alone."
"Here's a first- Luke Danes is actually fighting back," Lorelai bit as she sat up.
"Do you want me to apologize? Fine. I'm sorry Lorelai. I'm sorry I can't keep it up and I'm sorry I can't satisfy you."
"I'm not asking from an apology."
"Then what do you want from me?"
"What do you think?"
"I'm not in the mood for this Lorelai. We'll talk about it later." He laid down again and turned his back to Lorelai.
"No, we won't. You always say we'll talk about it later but we never do."
"I'm tired of fighting with you Lorelai. So I'm just going to go back to sleep. Goodnight Lorelai."
"That's just it! You don't fight! I fight and you do nothing!"
"I said goodnight Lorelai!
"What has gotten into you Luke? We used to talk. The man I married always talked to me. You're shutting me out and I'm tired of it. What happened to you? You're not the man I married. I don't know who you are." Luke tossed the covers off and put his boxers on. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to sleep the guestroom," Luke replied as he pulled on his pants and shirt.
"Why?"
"You share that bed with your husband and I'm not the man you married." With that, Luke walked out the door and went to the guestroom, leaving Lorelai shocked and confused.
The next morning, after Kelly and Mikey went to school, Luke and Lorelai sat uncomfortably in the kitchen. "We need to talk," Lorelai said.
"Not now Lorelai," Luke said as he put his plate in the sink. "I have to get to work." he turned and was about leave when Lorelai spoke again.
"I think we should get a separation."
Luke froze and slowly turned around. "What?"
"I can't do this anymore Luke. I can't keep fighting with you. I just can't."
"We had a fight. We can work it out."
"We've been fighting for five months and it's not getting better. I just think we need a break."
"So you want a divorce?"
"No. A separation."
"Do you really want to put the kids through this? They're just getting their lives back to normal."
"We won't tell them."
"I think they'll figure it out when Daddy moves out."
"Then don't move out. Stay in the guestroom."
"So we're going to get separated by a hall?"
"I don't hear you coming up with any suggestions. Look, we'll just pretend that everything's normal and at night, after the kids go to bed, you can just go to the guestroom and sleep there. You're up before anyone else so they won't know you slept in there. It's simple."
"It's far from simple Lorelai."
"I don't want this town hounding us about separating. Please, let's just do this and when we feel the kids are ready, we'll separate for real."
Luke took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "You know, I always read about parents that lose a kid and they're so devastated that they drift apart and eventually split up. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be one of those couples."
"We can't keep living like this Luke. The pressure, the fighting…I can't."
"After twenty years of marriage you want a divorce? We've spent more than half our lives together Lorelai and you wanna end it just like that?"
Lorelai sighed. "We were young when we got married Luke. Your father was sick and Kevin…"
"Our getting married had nothing to do with my father or Kevin. I love you and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I still want that. Don't you?"
"Of course I do, but sometimes what we want isn't what's best. Luke, I'm asking to separate. That doesn't mean we're going to get a divorce."
"It'll lead to one."
"Can we please just get this separation? Then we can see how it turns out."
Luke took off his hat and scratched his head. "I'll start moving my stuff I get home."
"Thank you Luke."
"Don't. Don't thank me after I agree to this. I gotta get to work." Luke headed for the door.
"Luke?"
"What?"
"I want you to know that whatever happens, I…I still love you."
Luke nodded. "I love you too." With that he walked out the door. He leaned against it as his heart broke. If she loved him, then why was she doing this to him?
Next time on "The Broken Road": In 1985- Luke takes Lorelai away for a romantic Valentine's Day weekend. Present Day- Lorelai turns to Luke on the anniversary of Danny's death and they share a night of passion. WARNING: This chapter will have smut everywhere you look...or…read. Whatever. Lol.
A/N: I'm sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter up. My grandmother had to go to the hospital and when she got out, we found out that my great uncle had died. My family and I have been trying to spend as much time together as possible. We're talking about going to the Philippines to be with the rest of the family. The death hit us hard and I haven't really been up to writing because of it. I made the chapter extra long to make up for the lack of updates- I even have three alternate scenes. This actually happened to a friend of mine. His parents and brother were in a car accident and his brother died. Six months later, his parents announced they were getting a divorce. It was horrible. Well, I hope the chapter has met your standards. Until next time, I bid you ado.
