I do not own Dirty Dancing.

Chapter Fifty Three

POV Jake

Medical School

Kellerman's, we come together,

Singing all as one,

We have shared another season's

Talent, play, and fun,

Summer days will soon be over,

Soon the Autumn starts,

And tonight, the memories whisper,

Softly in our hearts

Join hands, and hearts, and voices,

Voices, hearts and hands,

At Kellerman's the memories last long as the mountain stands,

Bursting with pride, Lisa stepped up for her solo. Her high, warbling voice rang out through the theater, "Daytime, night time, any hour,

Wether rain or shine,

Games and lectures, jokes and music,

Happily combine,"

Marje and I shook our heads, with a smile. Our Lisa was certainly something else.

Join hands, and hearts, and voices,

Voices, hearts and hands,

When I see Robbie walking past, I stand up. I was going to help him on his way through Medical School, one Doctor to the next. "Robbie!" I call, reaching into my jacket pocket. The boy turned, and stopped. I pull out the check. "Good luck in Medical School, son." Robbie looked down as I put the check into his hands.

Robbie looked up at me and grinned. "And I wanted to thank you for your help with the Penny situation," He says. What? What was Robbie talking about? "I guess we've all gotten into messes like these," He continued.

"What?" I ask, in a dazed voice that is foreign to me. Please tell me he wasn't trying to say what I thought he was.

Robbie laughed, like it didn't matter. "I thought Baby told you," He says. "Look, I'm not sure." I frowned. "I mean, Penny said so, but you know, with girls like that, they're liable to pin it on any guy around,"

I snatch the check back from him, and stalk back to my seat, leaving Robbie standing there, aghast. I can't believe I was going to help this bastard! How had I been so fooled? He had been dating my Lisa!

No, I knew exactly how I'd been fooled. Johnny had taken responsibility for Penny when he didn't have to. He'd stepped up, because Robbie never would've claimed it. And he knew what I was going to think.

Now, I knew the meaning of those words he'd said to me on the porch this afternoon.

"Don't you tell me what to see!" I shout. I didn't want to hear any more about what he thought of my Daughter. I didn't want to feel guilt in what was going to happen to him. It was just easier to believe he had never cared about her. Easier to believe he had seduced her into his bed, than to believe Baby's feelings for him weren't one sided. "I see someone in front of me who got his partner in trouble, and sent her off to some... butcher, while he moved on to an innocent young girl, like my Daughter,"

Johnny stopped, looking coldly at me. His expression is resigned, clearly stating one thing: Johnny was done here. "Yeah, I guess that's what you would see," He answered icily.

Johnny hadn't gotten Penny in trouble. And he did have real feelings for Baby. He hadn't wanted to hurt her. In fact, I strongly suspected that Johnny was in love with her. And when he'd tried to make nice, to talk to me, for Baby's sake, I'd turned him away. The man my Daughter loved.

I may as well have broken her heart myself.

...and hearts, and voices,

Voices, hearts and hands,

At Kellerman's the memories last long as the mountain stands,

Not a stress or strain is found here

For it must be said,

Here at Kellerman's you gladened,

Stomach, heart and head,

Finally, Max moved out from backstage, and started his solo, "So let's join in just one last chorus,

Visitors, staff and guests.

What we've shared won't be forgotten,

Old friends are the best."

Join hands, and hearts, and voices,

Voices, hearts and hands,

At Kellerman's the memories last long as the mountain stands,

I glance at Baby. Her face was a mask of boredom, but I could tell that she was heartbroken. As much as I tried to deny it, Baby had fallen in love with Johnny. And I had turned him away because of an assumption. I didn't even know him. I hadn't tried to talk to Max. I had all but said to him, "And don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out,"

But all of a sudden Johnny was behind me.

Baby sat up straight, watching him, Brown eyes wide. I couldn't decide if she was afraid, or just shocked. Johnny looked down at us. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," He said. Johnny offered Baby a hand. "Come on,"

My Daughter stood up unquestionably and followed him down the aisle. I abruptly stood in an attempt to follow him. Just because I knew the truth about Johnny didn't mean that I thought he was worthy of Baby. I honestly doubted I would ever consider anyone worthy of her. I needed to know what Johnny wanted out of their relationship. I wasn't going to just let him take my Daughter, though in reality it had been a fight that I lost long ago.

I feel Marje's hand on my arm. "Jake," She said softly. "Let them go. Let her do this," Reluctantly, I sat.

As Johnny and Baby climbed the stairs to the stage, The anthem steadily silenced, Lisa being the last to stop singing. Johnny and Baby stood at the center of the stage in front of a whole theatre. "Sorry about the disruption, folks," Johnny said. "But I always do the last dance of the season. And this year, somebody told me not to. So I'm going to do my kind of dancing, with great partner, who's not only a terrific Dancer, but somebody who's taught me that there are people willing to stand up for other people, no matter what it costs them. Somebody who's taught me about the kind of person I want to be. Miss Frances Houseman."

Baby couldn't dance. I had seen her dance with Neil, she was awful. I knew firsthand from having her step on my feet. She didn't like to dance, she didn't know how.

Baby couldn't dance.

Well, dammit, no man was going to make a fool of my Daughter in front of a crowd this size. No matter how smitten she was with him. I stood up, feeling an immediate desire to protect my Daughter, my Baby. But Marje stopped me. "Sit down, Jake," She said sternly.

"Why?" I ask. "Why should I? Why should I let that man take Baby? Why should I let him make a fool of her in front of all these people?"

Marie gazed up at me, eyes sharp as daggers. "Because he loves her," She says. I look down submissively. "He loves her, and she loves him, and you knew that. You knew it for a long time. You knew it before he left, when he tried to apologize. And you turned him away,"

I sit. Marje wasn't going to let me up there, and as the lights dimmed and everyone scooted offstage, I knew I had missed my window. I was helpless to do anything but watch.

"Isn't this exciting?" Lisa whispered fiercely, having just gotten back here from the stage. Quietly, she sat down in a chair next to Marje.

"Did you know about this?" I ask her accusingly.

Lisa glanced furtively to me. "Do you mean what's going on now or that they were seeing each other?"

"You knew they were seeing each other before Baby confessed!" I hiss.

"Shh!" Marje and her scold.

"Lisa-"

"Shh!" My eldest Daughter hissed again, pointing to the stage, where the music had started. Baby stood in the center of the stage, watching Johnny, who was off to the side. Beckoning, he walked over to her.

I know that once the dancing starts, there will be no chance of saying anything, so before it can, I mutter in a hushed tone the one thing I thought she needed to hear, "Robbie-"

"Yes, I know," Lisa insisted, not bothering to look at me through her explanation. "Robbie's a scumbag. Now, shut up." Quickly, I turn to the stage. No one wanted to hear me, now that Baby and Johnny were up onstage.

Johnny stepped closer to Baby, hands settling in at her waist, her's at his shoulder. Then, in one swift motion, Johnny dipped her back. Behind me, I hear a chorus of cheers, catcalls, and wolf whistles coming from a crowd of staff kids in the back.

Steadily, Baby rose, and turned to face the crowd, Johnny stepping behind her. Delicately, he guided her arm up behind his head. Johnny's hand slipped down Baby's torso, brushing the side of her breast. As a Father, I felt a surge of protectiveness run through me, and then it passed.

As Johnny's hand settled into an embrace around my Daughter, Baby's hand fell into his. Baby looked up at him, and for a half second, I could see that her whole world was in Johnny's eyes. Delicately, Johnny kissed her nose. The gesture said one thing, that he loved my Daughter.

And then they started to dance.

Baby twirled away from Johnny like a ballerina, and in half a second was back in his arms. They step to the same pattern, back and forth. Johnny twirled her again to face the crowd. Arms around their shoulders, coy grins on their face, they repeat that same rhythm. Two, three, four.

After several spins, the pair danced over to the other side of the stage. "This is catchy," I hear Lisa muse in regards to the music, who smiled and bopped her head to the beat. Johnny and Baby synchronized their hand movements, and then danced back and center. Johnny lead her in front of him, changing directions as they walked, seeming spontaneous.

Baby twirled again, and then stepped to the side, once left, once right, curls swaying with her motion. Next, the pair came back into that same, two, three, four, motion. "I think she gets this from me," Marje grinned. I glance back at her, not quite sure to what she had been referring. I didn't remember Marje ever mentioning being involved in the performing arts in her youth.

Simultaneously, each of the Dancers spun, Johnny moving around Baby while she twirled at the center. Together, they swiveled in a circle, making even that odd motion look graceful. An underarm turn followed, next by them spinning as one.

And then the frame dropped. Baby's hand rested at the back of Johnny's neck, his arm around her waist, and gracefully, they turned in a circle. Baby twirled once separately, and was pulled back to Johnny. He froze onstage. I could see that even from the back of the room. Johnny stood there, breathing hard, face an inch from my Daughter's, desperately looking like he wanted to kiss her.

Somewhere in the back, one of the staff kids whistled.

Thankfully, he thought better of it. The stage was no place for that, not in the middle of a performance, while everyone was watching. In a flash, the moment was over, Baby being spun furiously back in and out. This time, when she came in, my Daughter laughed, looking up at the tall Dance Instructor with a look of pure and utter adoration on her face. In all my years of being her Father, not once had I ever seen her smile like that. I had never, ever made her that happy.

At Johnny's insistence, she moved to the other side, and back into the basic. They broke twice, once facing the crowd, once not. Then yet another underarm turn. Johnny pulled her to him, and, I shuddered, pressed his hips into hers, swinging them to the music.

The staff loved it.

The pair turned together, then Johnny picked her up and twirled her around. He brought her around to the other side and twirled her again. I imagine that by now, she was incredibly dizzy. With barely a moment's notice, she was back on the other side, Johnny kissing her hand like a gentleman. And then, like some wild thing, Johnny lept off the stage.

I smiled. Baby could dance. Not only that, but she was amazing. This was what he had shown her, among other things. But why was it so obviously choreographed? This wasn't the type of thing you just improvised. Baby would have no reason to learn anything choreographed, unless she'd been performing, and it wasn't as if she'd had this planned. The expression of shock on her face at Johnny's appearance tonight was proof of that.

Johnny twirled in midair, and landed in the aisle. Quickly, he glanced back at Baby, who laughed at his antics. At his own pace, Johnny strutted down the aisle, incorporating kicks, side steps, and yes, dirty dancing. Johnny looked back at her again, as if searching for some sign of approval, or like he had sensed her smile and laughter, and had only wanted to see it.

Johnny sunk to his knees and spun around the floor on said joints. He tipped his head back and shimmied to the music, really getting into it. Then, Johnny jumped to his feet excitedly, and began rallying the staff, who had been cheering him on this whole time. Soon there was a mob of dancers behind him, all doing the same steps in sync.

About three quarters down the aisle, Johnny stopped, while the rest of the staff worked their way up to the stage. Johnny gazed up at my Daughter, asking her some question that the rest of us didn't understand. Like he was planning to do something inherently risky. I tense when Baby grinned down at him, and nodded.

While the staff helped Baby off the stage, Johnny ran backwards, putting distance between him and my Daughter. Once he stopped, Baby ran for him, gathering speed. When she was in arms reach, Baby leapt, and Johnny lifted her into the air, over his head. Baby beamed brighter than the sun, and so did Johnny, proud of her in ways I doubted I comletely understood.

'Nobody puts Baby in a corner,' he'd said. '... my kind of dancing...'

There were still so many things I didn't understand about Johnny Castle. So many things I probably never would. But I understood this. This was the thing he'd made so blatantly obvious: he loved Baby.

Johnny's kind of dancing was modern, yet still had the charm of ballroom. Thrown into it were a hodgepodge of other styles, Cuban, and Mambo, and dirty. It was gracefull, and he made it look classy even through the dirty moments, and combining it all together just made it into a style all his own. Another thing any fool could see about 'his kind of dancing': it completely idolized my Daughter.

For so many years, Baby had rarely been the center of people's attention. Even I was guilty of putting her on the back burner from time to time, because I knew she could handle it. Then came along Johnny, who quite literally danced into her life. And he kept her at the center of his attention, something the both of them appeared all too happy with. Johnny had been able to tap into Baby's hidden talent, one not Baby or anyone else but him could see. And she had loved him for it.

I was now certain, this was Johnny's way of telling the world he loved Baby. Even if he hadn't told her yet. This was Johnny expressing just what he thought about Baby: that she deserved to be kept front and center, something none of us had seen until now.

The whole crowd burst into applause. As gently as possible, Johnny lowered her back to the ground. The couple hugged each other tightly before launching into a more simple, and far less choreographed, dance. "That was amazing!" Lisa exclaimed.

"She's wonderful!" Marje agreed joyfully.

I could only smile. There was nothing more that needed to be said.

"Doctor Houseman!" A voice called behind me. When I turn, it is Penny I find behind me, grinning brightly. Her hair was nicely pleated, and she wore an off the shoulder red shirt with black polka dots. I was pleased to see that she looked much better than the last time I saw her. "I just wanted to thank you, before you leave Tomorrow. I can't stress enough how grateful I am to you and Baby for doing what you did."

"It was nothing, dear," I smiled. "I'm glad that you're okay."

"Anyway, I hope that you and Baby stop fighting after this," She grinned, "And I know you might not believe what I'm going to say, but I owe it to them," Penny nodded to the side, where Baby and Johnny were dancing, "To tell you. I know you think he's the one who got me in trouble, but he's not. We've been best friends since we were kids, so being a couple would be like kissing a Sibling. Johnny's the closest thing I have to family, which is why he took responsibility for me. It's not like the Father was going to-"

"I know it was Robbie," I stop her, before she can get too much into the defense of her friend. "And, believe me when I tell you how sorry I am,"

Penny threw her arms around me in a tight embrace. "Thank you," She smiled. The gesture startled me, but I return it after a few moments, responding to her affectionate gesture. I truly was glad she was alright. Penny had to have been right around nineteen or twenty, the same age Lisa was. It would have been too hard for me to sit by and not look after her. Like letting one of my Daughters suffer.

"Any time, my dear," I assure her. "Any time,"

Upon spying Johnny and Baby hurrying to the door, I walk after them, hoping to catch them before they left. Johnny and Baby were young and in love, and each of them wore identical, stupidly lovestruck, anticipating grins. I highly doubted they were going to take a walk together. In fact, I doubted that if they walked out that door, I wouldn't see either of them until tomorrow, and my chance to apologize to Johnny would have ended.

Just before they make it out, I catch Johnny's arm, stopping the pair. "I know you weren't the one who got Penny in trouble,"

"Yeah," Johnny said in response, face not betraying one thought going on behind his eyes.

"When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong," I concede. And I could not have been more wrong about Johnny Castle. He was none of the things I had originally thought about him. I look to Baby. I could never have taught her the things she had done up on that stage. Only Johnny could have, which was probably one of the reasons why she loved him. "You looked wonderful out there," I say to her. It is all I can say, because I didn't have the words to communicate just what I thought about her dancing. My Daughter beamed up at me, and gave me a hug.

When I release her, I excuse myself, saying, "If you'll excuse me, I need to speak with Max," And walk away to do so.

I needed to get Johnny his job back.