The next day- 1ish…
"I think I'm in love with Jess." Rory admitted to Dani, sitting by her bed, watching the machines beep. "I've been having dreams." She paused, searching for the right way to phrase it. "Dreams about him." She said simply. "I don't know what to do. I really did," she caught herself. "Do love Dean, just not like that. Not anymore." Tears choked her voice as she allowed them to fall softly onto Dani's bed.
Jess entered the room; unaware on what he had walked in on, not knowing that now was the worst possible time. "Hey. She awake yet?" He said softly.
Rory wiped her eyes before he could see. "Not yet."
Jess walked over to stand beside her. "God, I've been a horrible brother." He eyed her skeptically noticing her red rimmed eyes, finally deciding that she was as concerned for Dani like he was.
"No you haven't." Rory consoled.
"Ignoring her for a week? No good person does that." Jess's voice hardened. "Which is what our mother should have learned years ago."
"Jess." Rory tried to interrupt, but Jess was on a roll.
"Do you know how it feels to be lying in a hospital bed with your sister by your side, knowing your mother is out partying totally wasted? When your little sister is just seven and your mother comes home, stumbling through the door, giggling like a teenager and dragged a half-naked guy behind her? The next morning when your sister wakes up and asks you, why Mom and a stranger were screaming at each other in Mom's room last night?" Jess crossed to the window and stared out. "After that, I never wanted to see a hospital again." He admitted quietly, more to himself than Rory.
Rory moved to stand beside him, hesitantly putting her arm around his shoulders. "After what?" Rory asked, meeting his gaze when he turned to look at her.
"When I got shot." Jess said, smirk in place.
"You were shot?" Rory gasped. "How old were you?"
"I was fifteen. I had slipped into a bar and some drunken guy went wild with a gun, I was one of the lucky people who was hit. I got a pretty scar to prove it as well." He smiled sarcastically.
"Wow." Rory shifted her gaze to the window, a minute later, she whirled around when she heard Dani whimper. "Dani?"
Jess beat her to the bed. "Hey Kris."
Dani managed a weak smile. "Hi." She tried to move and almost screamed in pain.
"What happened?" Rory asked.
"My hip." Dani gasped, blinking away tears.
"They did a bone marrow test." Jess clarified.
"That explains a lot." Dani wiped her eyes and lay back on her pillows. "So….anyone want to tell me where the crap I am?"
"The hospital." Jess offered sarcastically.
Dani glared at him. "Lot of help, Jess."
Rory laughed, glad Dani was able to make jokes. "Hartford Medical."
"Anything else I should know?" Dani asked.
"They ran a pregnancy test and it was negative." Rory offered, having found this out from Dr Shelt.
"Good." Dani closed her eyes, obviously exhausted.
"I'll leave you two alone." Rory quickly excused herself, seeing the duo had something to work out.
"So…" Jess sat on her bed. "How do you feel?"
Dani dropped her friendly demeanor and snapped. "How the hell do you think I feel?"
"Ooh. Cuss words from Danielle. Not good." Jess retaliated quickly.
Dani glared at him, before crossing her arms and staring anywhere but him. "And I have left her speechless." Jess baited her.
"Someday, Jess Mariano, you will learn that your actions have consequences, and for your sake, I hope that day comes soon." Dani told him seriously. When he didn't say anything she took the opportunity to mimic him. "'And I have left him speechless.'" She mocked.
Jess sent a dark glare her way. "Thanks for lecture, Liz." He left her with the wound he had just carved stinging sharply. Dani glared at Jess's retreating back and willed her tears not to come as the door to her room swung open revealing Lorelai and Luke.
When Dr Shelt entered the room, six hours later, all five people looked up from what they were doing, Dani, Rory, and Lorelai were playing Spite and Malice with some cards they had begged Luke to go get. The two men were observing from the hard plastic chairs against the wall. "So how do you feel, Kristin?" He asked as he checked her monitors.
"Like I'm in a hospital." Dani teased. "And it's Dani."
"More specifically please, Dani." Dr Shelt dug deeper, as he smiled at her sarcasm.
"All my joints really hurt, I'm exhausted, my head hurts, and my entire left side hurts." Dani gave in,realizing that she would eventually have to give in to be allowed to be released.
"I see." The doctor pondered this information for a minute. "I'm sorry to be the person to give you this," He paused, looking for the right word. "Analysis. But, the test results came back this morning and they diagnosed you with." Dr Shelt took a deep breath, hating to give this kind of news. "Stage M3, acute myeloid leukemia." After giving them some more information, he excused himself quickly, leaving the stunned group behind.
"I do not have leukemia!" Dani yelled at the closing door. She got out of bed, intending to prove it to them all she was fine. Halfway between the door and her bed, her knees gave out and she collapsed. Jess caught her before she fell and sat down on the floor, holding her in his lap as she struggled against him, hitting him anywhere she could, and ignoring the angry tears that were pouring down her face. The other's just watched her trying to get out of his grip. "Let me go!" Dani screamed at him.
"No." He said quietly, holding her tighter. When she realized he wasn't going to let her go, she caved to her emotions and buried her face in his chest and cried. "It'll be okay." Jess murmured, trying not to cry himself. Luke was still sitting there, staring at the wall, obviously in shock. Lorelai put her arms around Rory and bit her lip forcing the tears back while Rory had already lost the battle with her tear ducts and was silently crying.
"Jess." Dani looked up at him, her eyes red. "I'm sorry, for everything I said."
Jess hugged her. "I know."
Dani looked down, something obviously troubling her. "Am I really like Liz?" She asked, suddenly feeling scared and hoping for Jess's support.
"No." Jess said quietly. "I didn't mean it Dani."
Dani buried her face into his neck, ignoring the tears making their way down her face. "Good." She said, her voice muffled, relieved that she and Jess were ok.
Jess buried his face into her hair, crying silently. His baby sister had cancer. What was he going to do? He had a feeling Dani would hunt him down and kill him if he ran. Again. Would she die? 'Probably', his brain answered logically. She was only fifteen, he wasn't ready to loose her, she had lead such a short life. 'She's not dead yet.' His brain reminded him.
He guided Dani to the bed in case her knees gave out again. "You feel okay?"
She nodded, wiping her eyes. "Yeah." She looked around the room, just then noticing that Luke had left. "Where's Luke?" Jess gave her a look that said, 'Don't go there'. "Rory!" Dani called. Rory broke away from her mom and went over to the bed.
"Hey." She said softly, not knowing what else to do. Dani simply sat up and gave her a hug.
"Thanks for being here." The younger girl murmured.
Rory held on tighter, afraid that if she let go, Dani would slip away. "I'm always here."
Dani lay back in bed, the reality of the situation sinking in. Luke, Lorelai, and Rory had gone back to Stars Hollow at Dani's insistence. But, no matter how much she told him to go, Jess would not leave. Luke was coming back the next morning and picking her up, when she was released. Jess entered the room from talking with the doctor. "What did he say?" Dani asked instantly.
Jess looked at her, she could already tell it wouldn't be good by the look in his eyes. "You want the full, uncensored, version?" When Dani nodded, he sighed. "It's cancer, Kris. It's bad every way you look at it." When she glared at him for beating the dead horse, he gave in. "You're possibly going to need a blood transfusion or bone marrow transplant, maybe both, they don't know yet."
"What about chemo?" She asked quietly, already knowing the answer.
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Anything else?"
"Well, the doctor said that younger people usually respond better to the chemo, so he has high hopes for your recovery. You're at stage 3 out of 7, so we're lucky we caught it this early. The rape also weakened your body, so they want to get started with chemo ASAP, before the leukemia starts to spread."
Dani interrupted him. "Do we know why?"
Jess shook his head. "No, they think that living next to all those bars and clubs that exposed you to all that cigarette smoke might have caused it, but we really don't know."
Dani stared at the wall. "So, really we're just clutching at straws, huh?"
"Yeah." Jess kissed her forehead quickly and turned to go. "Night."
He was closing the door behind him when he heard her voice. "Jess, wait." He turned back. "Stay with me." She pleaded. When he came back in, she scooted over and patted the bed beside her. He climbed in beside her and she buried her face in his chest. "I'm scared, Jess." Her voice was muffled.
"Me too, Dani. Me too."
"What are we going to do?"
He looked down at her. "What do you mean?"
"I don't want to be a burden on Luke." Dani confessed. "There is no way we can afford all of this." She indicated all the monitors.
"We'll find a way." Jess said, closing his eyes.
"You're not going to sleep." Dani told him. When he ignored her she poked his arm.
"Quit it, Kris." Jess batted her hand away, still not opening his eyes. She poked him again. "Kris, stop."
"You're no fun." Dani pouted.
"Live with it." He told her.
"I'm tired Jess, please stop keeping me awake." Dani teased, closing her eyes.
Jess wrapped his arms around her and sleep claimed them both.
Dani glanced at the clock. The bright number proclaimed that it was 3 in the morning. She lay there listening to Jess snore and searched her body for something. She wasn't sure what. Some…..feeling that told her the doctors were wrong, she wasn't dying, she didn't have leukemia. She didn't find it. The truth hit her like a ton of bricks. She was dying. And there was nothing she could do about it. Well, there was chemo. But that didn't guarantee a full life, or even a half of one.
It wasn't fair.
A/N: So what did you guys think? I hope you don't hate me for taking so long! The next chapter is in-progress! And for all the Literati lovers, I promise it is coming!! JavaJunkie too!
Please review! Melody(my beta) and I welcome all thoughts, suggestions, and constructive critisim.
Love you all!!
Brianne