A/N: I'm SO sorry this has taken so long! I've had writer's block and my AMAZING beta has helped me, so here this is! I will have the next chapter up ASAP.
Please review! They help me update faster. My cat was mauled by a dog and has been in the hospital for a week, hence the writer's block.
-Brianne
Dani looked out at the crowd, she smiled slightly seeing Jess, Lorelai, and Rory in the crowd. Jess held a video camera. So that's what he had to go get, she thought I'm so going to bust him for it. "Thanks for coming everyone." She paused as the crowd cheered. "I'm Dani Mariano and we are the Untamed Mares!" She started to strum and began to sing, they had decided to start with 'Whiskey Lullaby." She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette,
She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget,
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time,
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind,
Until the night" She could hear Emily and Becca doing backup behind her.
"He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger,
And finally drank away her memory,
Life is short but this time it was bigger,
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees,
We found him with his face down in the pillow,
With a note that said I'll love her till I die,
And when we buried him beneath the willow,
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby"
Dani stopped and listened to her best friend. "The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself,
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath,
She finally drank her pain away a little at a time,
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind,
Until the night,
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger,
And finally drank away his memory,
Life is short but this time it was bigger,
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees,
We found her with her face down in the pillow,
Clinging to his picture for dear life,
We laid her next to him beneath the willow,
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby." Emily sang, hitting every note perfectly, as usual.
The two ended the song together. "La, la, la, la, la…" They sang softly.
As the song ended, the crowd cheered. Dani smiled and started a new song. "I'm so close to you baby,
But I'm so far away,
There's a silence between us,
And there's so much to say,
You're my strength, you're my weakness,
You're my faith, you're my doubt,
We got to meet in the middle,
To work this thing out"
After that song ended, they played 'Rush', 'Not Ready to Make Nice', 'Goodbye to You', 'Breathe', 'Redneck Woman', 'Traveling Solider', and 'Walking on Sunshine'. The crowd cheered, louder than before.
"Thank you all for coming." Dani felt like her face would break in two, she was smiling so broadly. As the band was putting up their instruments, Jess came up and hugged her.
"You were awesome, Kris." He said quietly. As they separated, Dani started to tease him about the video camera, than put her hand to her mouth and rushing to the bathroom, knowing she was going to be sick.
Lorelai entered behind her. "The show's over, no more need to be nervous." She kidded.
Dani smiled weakly. "Tell that to my stomach." She said, not really feeling like laughing. She threw up again, grateful to have Lorelai.
"Have you been okay? You've been looking incredibly pale." Lorelai asked as Dani sat up. "Ever since, you know."
Dani nodded. "Yeah, I've been okay." She rinsed her mouth and led the way out of the bathroom. "Let's go meet the crowd."
"Whee." Lorelai said sarcastically. Dani grinned and stuck her tongue out at the woman behind her.
"You don't have to." She pointed out. "I'll meet them all, and I'll be the one with all the adoring fans and cute guys."
"Wait." Lorelai hurried after her. "I changed my mind." As Dani laughed and walked faster, Lorelai started to laugh and started to chase her down the hallway. Dani turned the corner and slammed into Jess.
"I'm sorry." Dani held his arm steadying herself, the room was spinning.
"You alright?" Lorelai came up behind her.
Dani blinked trying to clear her head, no such luck. "Yeah." She lied, getting even more dizzy.
"You sure?" Jess asked, visibly concerned.
Dani smiled weakly and attempted her former strut. "Let's go meet the crowd." She walked away, a bit unsteadily. Jess and Lorelai watched her go.
"That was so freaking awesome." Dani collapsed against the seat. "Now that my adrenaline is gone, I feel like crap."
"Join the club." Rory slid into the seat beside her, leaning her head on Dani's shoulder.
"What time is it?" Jess spoke up from the front seat.
Dani checked her watch. "Ten thirty."
"I should not be tired." Rory decided, thinking about making an effort to sit up.
"It was all that cheering for me." Dani grinned, poking Rory's side slightly, causing the older girl to groan and slap her hand away.
"Someone needs their ego deflated." Jess spoke up, smiling slightly.
"Mean." Lorelai gasped, starting the car. Dani leaned her head onto Rory's shoulder and let the rocking of the car lull her to sleep.
Dani woke up the next morning in her bed, sunlight pouring over her. She jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom feeling sick again. "Kris?" Jess called, entering the apartment.
"In here." Dani called weakly.
"You alright?" Jess entered the bathroom, kneeling beside her and holding back her hair.
Dani nodded. "Yeah, I just have a little bug or something."
"Whatever you say, sis." Jess helped her stand up. "You feel like eating?"
Dani nodded and shoved him out of the apartment before she pulled on some clothes and headed downstairs. Thank God today is Saturday, she thought with a smile. "Good morning." She entered the diner to the usual rush of the morning.
Lorelai entered with Rory in tow demanding coffee. "Hey Dani." Dani waved from across the diner, where she was taking an order. "She was out like a light last night." Lorelai informed Luke.
"I heard." Luke barely glanced up from the toaster he was repairing, or trying to at least.
"Today's the basket auction." Lorelai turned to Dani who had come behind the counter. "Are you entering?"
"Yeah." Dani smiled at the two. "I'm entering and then begging Jess to buy my basket because Kirk or someone that I don't like will be bidding."
"Sounds like you have your day all planned out." Rory remarked.
"Duh!" Dani playfully exclaimed.
"Oooh, the bidding's starting!" Lorelai craned her neck trying to look out the window.
"You're going to be hurt if you keep doing that." Dani told her firmly.
"Let's go." Rory and Dani led the way out of the diner.
"It looks pretty." Lorelai squealed, looking at the gazebo filled with baskets.
"Sold for fifteen dollars to the man in the yellow. Thank you very much. Now the next basket I have here is a lovely green wicker number that would be a charming addition to any room once the lunch is gone. Let's start the bidding at five dollars. Do I hear five?" Taylor announced to the crowd.
"Oh, that's Lane's." Rory recognized the basket first.
"Five dollars." Lane's cousin was the first bid.
After Lane's basket was sold to her cousin, Rory's basket came up next.
"But remember people – good things come in small packages." Taylor said pompously.
"How badly does he want to be hosting a game show?" Lorelai asked.
"He can taste it." Dani agreed.
"Let's start the bidding at three dollars." Taylor said, looking over the crowd.
"Hey!" Rory cried.
"Five dollars." Dean immediately took the bait.
"He's good. He's very good." Lorelai commented.
"Ten dollars." Jess upped the bid.
"Oh no he didn't." Dani was furious, she stalked over to her brother.
"Twenty." Jess ignored Dani.
"Thirty." Dean glared at Jess and Dani.
"Okay, see, you boys don't seem to understand the way this thing works." Taylor looked at Dean and Jess.
"Forty dollars." Jess challenged Dean.
"Fifty dollars." Dean returned the bid.
Taylor made some comment about Rory's basket being tiny that had no affect whatsoever on the two boys.
"Seventy-five." Jess was glaring at Dean and Dani, daring them to take him on.
"You idiot!" Dani hissed, grabbing his arm. "You do not have seventy-five dollars to spend on a basket."
"Now we're not talking cents gentlemen, we're talking dollars remember." Taylor reminded the teenage boys.
"Eighty." Dean was determined to get the basket.
"Eighty? Eighty dollars?" Taylor asked.
"Ninety." Jess was ignoring his sister's obvious fury.
"Ninety dollars, is that correct?" Taylor confirmed. "Okay, we've got ninety going once, ninety dollars going twice. . . sold to the nice young hoodlum in the back for ninety dollars."
"Jess." Dani followed her brother who was walking up to Rory and Dean. "You were supposed to buy my basket and incase you haven't noticed, that's not mine."
"I gotta tell you, of all the nutty barn raising shindigs this town can cook up, this one wasn't half bad." Jess broke into Rory and Dean's conversation.
"Glad you enjoyed it." Dean snapped.
"Yes I did. So shall we?" Jess turned to Rory.
"Shall we what?" Dean asked.
"Shall we go?" Jess spoke to Rory, totally ignoring her boyfriend.
"Go where?" Dean gave up on asking Jess and turned to Rory.
"Go eat." Jess was getting annoyed with Dean.
That got Dean's attention. "Excuse me?"
"The person who buys the basket wins the company of the person who makes the basket for lunch. Basket, basket maker, guy who didn't bring enough money." Jess, all but spelled it out for this guy.
"You think this is funny." Dean accused.
"Well, it's no Lenny Bruce routine but it has its moments." Jess shrugged.
"Bye Jess." Dean said pointedly.
"Where are you going?" Jess asked .
After several minutes of this, Dani dragged Jess away, leaving Dean and Rory to argue in peace. "You idiot!" Dani pulled herself up to her full height of 5' 5". "You were supposed to buy my basket, now Kirk is going to buy it. You were supposed to bail me out here!"
"Nope." Jess corrected her mid-rant.
"What?" Dani paused her rant.
"Kirk just bought Sookie's basket." Jess pointed out.
"Well then pick another stupid person, there are two hundred and fifty to chose from." Dani gestured to the crowd.
Rory showed up at Jess's elbow. "Let's go." She snapped, walking away. Jess smirked at Dani and then walked away.
Dani groaned and whirled around to where Lorelai's basket was being auctioned off. Lorelai had apparently roped Luke into buying her basket.
"Okay, you're not getting the whole saving me here thing, are you?" Lorelai was demanding of Luke when Dani had appeared at their side.
"Fine. Forty-eight." Luke amended.
"Forty-eight fifty." Some guy Dani didn't know, put in a bid.
"Forty-nine." Luke upped his bid.
"Forty-nine fifty." Another guy she didn't know bid.
"Uh, fifty-two fifty." Luke rifled through his wallet, quickly counting his money.
"What? We're just supposed to go to fifty." The first guy complained.
"I have a life." Luke responded.
"Fifty-two fifty going once!" Lorelai cried desperately.
"Hey, hey, that's my job! Fifty-two fifty going once, fifty-two fifty going twice . . ." Taylor started counting down.
"Oh, please God." Lorelai begged.
"Sold for fifty-two fifty." Taylor banged his gavel, motioning for Dani's basket to be brought up.
Lorelai started to turn away to follow Luke before Dani caught her arm, silently begging her to stay.
"Start the bidding at five dollars." Taylor spoke to the crowd.
"Five dollars." Dean, Rory's boyfriend, bid first. All Dani and Lorelai could do was gape.
"Ten dollars." Andrew bid next.
"Fifteen." Dean glared at Andrew, letting him know he was not backing down.
"Going once, going twice, sold for fifteen to the nice boy from the grocery store!" Taylor cried joyfully. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the basket bidding for today. Victors come claim your prizes and your dates. Let the lunching begin!