Dani knew instantly what had happened. "Who heard?" She asked Jess, who was sitting beside her.
"Babbette." Was the answer that she knew had been coming.
"Danielle?" Taylor peered at her, the question everyone wanted to ask, plainly written across his face.
"Yes, Taylor?" Dani answered without a hint of patience.
"Is it true?" Taylor asked.
"Is what true, Taylor?" Dani was purposely goading him and everyone knew it.
"Do you have a life threatening illness?" Miss Patty asked bluntly.
Dani went up to the front and sat on the stage and began her story. "About five months ago, I was raped by my mother's boyfriend." She told them, without preamble, wincing at the gasp that swept the town.
"Who do we have to hunt and kill?" Andrew, the bookstore owner, called.
"No one, Andrew. It's just part of my story." Dani explained, her patience returning. "Anyway, almost a month ago, I was at Lorelai's house and fainted. She, Rory, Luke, and Jess took me to the hospital, where-" She took a deep breath, struggling a little bit. "Where I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Leukemia. The rape severely weakened my body, so I will be starting chemotherapy next week in an effort to contain it." The town immediately gasped and began to whisper amongst themselves, some of them not even bothering to whisper.
"Are you going to die?" A little girl, who looked to be about four and who's parents had obviously just explained Dani's illness to her, came up to her.
Dani picked her up and sat her on her lap. "What's your name?"
"Emily." Emily stuck her thumb into her mouth.
"Well, Emily, I hope not." Emily started to look worried, so Dani tickled her gently. The girl giggled and scampered back to her parents.
"What are your future plans?" Gypsy asked.
"Future plans?" Dani glanced over at Jess, who nodded encouragingly. She hadn't expected the all the questions.
"Yeah, like college and stuff like that." Babbette clarified.
"I plan to make it through high school, pinch myself to make sure I haven't died from SATs." Dani paused as the town laughed. "And to see where it goes from there. I'm not dying anytime soon, at least I hope not. I just have a…." She searched for the right word. "A slight weakness."
"And I'm Elizabeth Taylor." Lorelai quietly scoffed to Luke.
"Honey!" Babbette called to Dani, attracting everyone's attention. "Morey wants to know if you'll sing with him when his parents come to visit!"
Dani looked taken aback. "Um, of course, Babbette. Any time."
"Thanks sweetie!" Babbette shouted hoarsely, worming her way through the crowd and leaving.
Dani looked confused for a second, before someone else caught her gaze.
Dani fell onto her bed after escaping the chaos that was her town. Luke and Lorelai were downstairs talking and Jess had to run an errand. "I hate people." She told the empty apartment, before pulling a pillow over her head.
"I feel so special." Jess's sarcastic tone reached her through the pillow.
"Shut up." She pulled her pillow of her face, glaring at him. "Why are you so happy?"
To the normal person, her brother would have masked his happiness well, but to his sister, forget it.
"You can't tell anyone." He started, sitting on her feet.
"Ooh, intrigue." Dani pulled her feet out from under him and shifting into a sitting position.
"Promise?" Jess asked warningly. Dani rolled her eyes, but promised anyway and took a sip of her soda that Jess had gotten for her. "Rory and I are dating."
Dani coughed, sending her soda everywhere. "What?" She wiped her streaming eyes. "What about Dean? What will the town say? How long-?"
Jess cut her off by clapping his hand to her mouth, pulling away in disgust when she licked it. "Gross, Kris."
"Deal." She told him sharply.
"I won't tell you any more details." He threatened.
"I take it back, I take it back!" She lay down on her stomach, head almost in his lap, looking imploringly up at him. "Please tell me more."
"It was the day you came home from the hospital." He started, making Dani shriek in happiness and climb into his lap, hugging him quickly.
When Dani and Jess came out of the apartment the next week and found Rory and Lorelai, Dani had to work hard to control her giggles. Jess sent her a warning look that only increased her laughter. He dragged her back upstairs, where she howled with laughter.
"I'm going to kill you." He threatened teasingly.
"I'm sorry." Dani forced out.
"Are you done now?" Jess asked impatiently.
She nodded, only to turn back at the bottom of the stairs, still laughing.
Jess shook his head and wandered downstairs, hoping against hope that the Gilmore Girls weren't still there. They were.
Wanting to slam his head against a wall, he grabbed his jacket, calling to Luke that he was running an errand for Dani, he left.
About five blocks later, hands shoved deep in her pockets, Rory caught up to him. "Hey." She pulled him into an alley and kissed him quickly.
"Hi." He said quietly.
She bit her lower lip and looked at him. "Does Dani know?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"I figured." She sat on the ground, pulling him down beside her.
"So…" He played with her hair, slipping an arm around her shoulders.
"Are we going to keep this a secret?" She asked.
He looked down at her. "Do you want to?"
She glanced away, "I don't know. Yes, no, maybe."
"Well, at least I have my answer." He teased.
She suddenly turned to face him. "Please don't tell my mom."
"Why?"
"She's…not exactly your biggest fan."
"She hates me."
"Not really." Under her boyfriend's gaze, Rory caved. "Yeah, she hates you."
Chuckling, Jess kissed her head and smoothed her hair. "Dani thinks the world of you." He told her randomly.
"That's always good to hear." Rory grinned, the smile disappearing with Jess's next sentence.
"She used to ride horses, you know."
"No, I didn't."
"It was her biggest dream to become an equine vet."
"What happened?" Rory asked, picking up on the past tense.
"She fell." His voice sounded thick. "She was going over a course of jumps that were 3 foot and her horse refused at a one of them with a lot of poles built on top of one another, she went through it and one of the poles fell on her. It shattered her confidence."
Jess's tone changed to regret. "She never went near another horse again."
Rory slid her hand into his that was hanging around her shoulder, intertwining their fingers. "I'm sorry."
He grinned ruefully. "You're sweet."
She kissed him quickly. "It's my job. That and keeping you in line."
He faked an offended look. "I don't need help, I have Dani."
"It's nice to know I'm needed." She teased, before kissing him again.
"Actually, there is something I could use your help with." He told her, pulling away.
"What?"
"This." He kissed her, a lightheaded feeling sweeping over the both of them.
"Don't make me barf." Dani was leaning against the wall of the building opposite them, Luke's truck behind her.
"What do you want?" Jess asked aggressively.
"Just to let you know, that Lorelai is looking for Rory and I'm going to the hospital." She twirled the keys around her finger. "I also need someone to come with me, because I only have my permit." She paused, looking at the two. "So, which victim will it be?"
"Why don't you take my mom?" Rory suggested. Dani looked at her, bewildered. "Take my mom to chemo with you. She can drive you back and it will be legal and everything." She elaborated.
"Do you know where she is?" Dani asked. After Dani caught up with Lorelai and convinced her to drive they pulled into the hospital parking lot and turned off the car.
"Why do I feel like I'm walking into the seventh ring of Hell?" She asked Lorelai, cracking a smile.
Lorelai smiled sympathically and opened her door. "Let's go."
"Goody." Dani muttered.
As they walked into the doors of the hospital Lorelai wrapped an arm around Dani's shoulders. "Everything will be ok kiddo"
"Easy for you to say." Dani muttered, giving Lorelai a quick hug as the nurse called her name.
"I'll be right here." Lorelai promised, picking up a magazine and taking a seat.
"Wait," Dani paused. "Come back with me."
Lorelai looked surprised. "Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly.
Dani held out her hand. "Positive." She grinned as Lorelai took it and they disappeared into the examining room.
"We have to get Indian food!" Rory protested as Jess took the menu out of her hands.
"No way!" He retorted obviously disgusted.
"Please?" Rory added the puppy dog eyes.
Jess threw his hands up in the air in defeat, sending the take-out menu flying. "Fine. But, we might as well start getting the house ready to be torched. It is the only way to get the smell out!" Jess said, only half teasing.
Rory stood there somewhat astonished that Jess caved so quickly and made a mental note of what worked. "Okay, anything that you don't want or like?"
"Nope" Jess replied as he bent to pick up the fallen menu. Rory was caught staring at his butt as he turned to ask her, "So what are your favorite dishes?" Jess's smirk caused Rory to flame bright red.
"Uh." Rory was momentarily speechless. "I like-" She could only get that far, before he pulled out a book out of his pocket and started scribbling in the margins.
"What are you doing?" She asked, scandalized. Jess shot her a 'Duh' look.
"Writing, Doogie."
"Oh." She blushed, again, her face showing just how flustered Jess made her, as she tried to peak at what Jess was writing in his book, "Whatcha writing?" Rory's face showed just how flustered Jess made her, as she tried to peak at what Jess was writing in his book.
"Nope." Jess snapped it shut.
"Please?" She begged, employing the puppy eyes.
"No." He said firmly.
'Damn', Rory thought as she watched Jess walk from the room. 'It worked a minute ago!' Jess peered over his shoulder and chuckled to himself to see Rory blatantly staring at him again.
She hurried after him, when she realized he was returning her stare. "Stop that." She ordered, pausing in front of him, trying to break his gaze.
"Stop what?" he said with an uncharacteristic smile gracing his face.
"That..." Rory hesitated as Jess leaned in to kiss her.
"This?" He pulled away.
"No, idiot." She retorted.
"Well then what?" He openly mocked her. She faked a gasp and stepped closer, pulling him to her.
"Staring at me."
"I have no choice." He breathed, right as their lips met.
"Good." She laughed at him as he plastered a fake hurt look onto his face and she leaned in to kiss him again. Just as he began to deepen the kiss, they heard the door open.
Lorelai watched as the nurse inserted the IV needle. Dani bit her lip fearfully. Lorelai walked over to the examining table and held Dani's hand as she started to tell her silly knock-knock jokes. "Does it hurt, honey?" Lorelai asked, as Dani's face whitened.
"Little bit." Dani whispered.
"I'm sorry." Lorelai murmured. Lorelai watched as Dani's white face suddenly turned green.
Dani bolted upright and painfully moaned, "Lore…" She didn't get to finish her statement as she retched all over the floor. Lorelai quickly walked over to the sink and got a few towels and ran them under cold water and returned to Dani's side with the waste basket in hand. She placed the waste basket in Dani's lap as she placed the cool towels on Dani's neck and helped her clean herself up.
"It's okay." Lorelai soothed, rubbing her back Dani's wave of nausea slowly ebbed away as sleep overcame her senses. Lorelai sat beside Dani and gently brushed her hair back from her face as she slept and wondered why such a sweet girl would have to endure this.
"Your daughter?" The nurse asked. Lorelai started to answer and was cut off. "You two look a lot alike."
"Thank you." Lorelai hesitated over the words. "But she isn't my daughter, just a really good friend"
"Oh." The woman blushed. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, I can see how you could make that assumption." Lorelai said with a small smile. "She is a great girl"
"She looks like it." The woman nodded. "How old is she?"
"Fifteen." Lorelai answered, still gently running her fingers through Dani's hair. "About how long do you think that she will be sick like this from the chemo?" Lorelai asked in a whisper.
"It depends." The nurse admitted.
"What else will she have to go through?"
"Um, some patients go through different things. We had a couple of people who had really weird cravings." The nurse smiled gently.
"Like pregnancy cravings?" Lorelai laughed
"Exactly." The nurse nodded, "Some have memory loss or get confused easily"
"Wow." Lorelai turned to the pale girl who was sleeping beside her, wincing at the thought of her enduring that.
"The worst is the nausea. It hits everyone equally and it is something that is hard to control" The nurse said as she looked on sympathetically.
"So, she will definitely have this?" Lorelai asked.
"There is a very high chance she will." Lorelai turned back towards Dani with a tear falling down her cheek as the nurse said. "Just let me know if you need anything else. Ask for Julia."
"I will. Thank you."
"Any time." The nurse left.
"I feel like crap." Dani said, leaning heavily on her.
"I know, honey." Lorelai comforted. They opened the door to the Crap Shack, walking in, finding Rory and Jess in the hallway. Rory sprang away from Jess as her mom and Dani walked in, Dani leaning on Lorelai pretty heavily. "Hi guys." Lorelai greeted, noticing that Rory was flushed, "Um, Ror you ok?"
"Um, sure Mom! It's just a little warm in here." Rory said in a rush. "Dani are you ok?" She asked out of concern and desperately wanting the focus off of her at that moment.
Jess walked over to Dani and wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her to the sofa. "Kris, how are you feeling?"
"Please don't make me answer that." Dani moaned.
Jess sat looking at her intently and gently said "Kris..." Dani just shifted her eyes to him and he immediately understood. "I'm so sorry." He kissed her forehead gently. Rory was surprised at her boyfriend's tenderness around his baby sister. Jess shifted to where he was cradling her as she drifted off to sleep.
Dani groaned as the world spun around her. Lorelai remembering, Julia's warnings went to get a bucket and placed it in front of Dani. "Sweetie, do you think you could drink some ginger ale and maybe keep down some crackers?" she asked softly as she sat gently beside Dani.
Dani nodded mutely before giving a weak, "Yeah". Rory went into the kitchen and poured the ginger ale over ice and searched the cupboards for crackers and came up empty.
"Mom, we don't have any crackers, I'll go to Doose's and be right back." Rory announced, entering the living room.
Lorelai looked at Rory knowing that something was up, but decided to question her later. "Okay kiddo, just hurry back!"
Rory nodded and grabbed her coat as she walked out the door.
Jess looked at Lorelai and noticed the glint in her eye that also housed confusion. "Hey Rory I'll go with you" When Lorelai shot him a questioning look, he quickly explained. "I, um, need to get stuff for Luke." He hastily grabbed his jacket and jogged over to the door and followed Rory out.
Lorelai looked over to Dani, "Well that was just weird, or was it just me?" she said with her eyebrow quirked. Dani just shrugged and tried to hide her smirk. "What do you know that I don't?" Lorelai asked.
Dani just looked at Lorelai with as straight a face as she could muster and simply stated, "Nothing", before being hit with another wave of nausea.
Lorelai looked at her with her mouth hanging open. "Not to be mean, but it serves you right to be sick for lying to me." Dani turned toward Lorelai and glared at her, before rushing to the bathroom.
"Well, Mom knows something is up" Rory said to Jess as they walked toward town.
"No kidding. I thought she was going to kill me with her gaze." Rory shoved him for that comment. "Hey!" He protested, stumbling a bit from her shove and started to chuckle.
"What is so funny?" Rory demanded.
"You." He retorted.
"What about me?" She asked, slightly offended
"So what if she thinks she knows." Jess said emphasizing 'thinks'.
"We haven't confirmed or denied"
"Your mother has some creepy sixth sense then." He told her, refraining from wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Yes she is the all knowing Lorelai" Rory retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Jess smirked and nodded.
"She'd like me more if we told her." He grouched.
"Shut up." She retorted, giggling at Jess's serious expression
"You're mean." He pouted
Rory just leaned in to kiss him. "Forgive me now?"
Jess thought for a minute, "You think that highly of yourself?"
She giggled again before saying "Yes" and kissing him deeper.
"You're hilarious when you're trying to get me to forgive you." He told her, before he quickly kissed her, leading her into Doose's. What neither realized was that they were being watched from inside the diner. Luke stood there wearing a large smile.
"And you're a butt when you're trying to be annoying." She told him, weaving through the aisles.
"Seriously, we have to figure out what we do and do not want Lorelai to know." Jess said noting Rory's change in attitude.
"But you're so cute when you're worried." She teased.
Jess scrunched up his face, "Ok no more coffee for you!" Knowing that he would get a reaction.
"Not my elixir of life" She shouted dramatically, and then she gasped. "I hate you!"
He kissed her deeply, almost bending her back. "No you don't, you love me." He smirked, letting her go. She stood in shock, not really knowing what to say. Her shock turned to amusement as Jess suddenly turned pink realizing his slip.
As they bantered and shopped they never realized that Dean was lurking behind the shelves spying. Jealousy was radiating off him in waves as he saw Rory lean in for a kiss with Jess and Jess immediately deepened it. One thought ran through his mind...revenge.
Rory and Jess happily bantered as they paid for their purchases and walked out the door. Dean watched as they left and began formulating his plan.
Dean took his ten minutes and practically ran from the store. Beating on his friend Kyle's front door, he entered the house and began telling Kyle what he had just witnessed. The extended version.
Rory lead the way up to her front door, pulling Jess behind her. "Time to face the music." She murmured, before opening the front door.
"Mom we're back" she called through the house.
Lorelai popped out. "Shhhhh, Dani's asleep and we need to talk"
"Oh boy." Jess muttered, earning him an elbow in the ribs and a glare from Rory, before exchanging a glance and following Lorelai into the kitchen.
A/N: It probably wouldn't do any good to tell you guys that it took forever. Hopefully you guys have figured that out. LoL Melody and I are working on the next chapter, so thank God for IM! We should have this up soon. Sooner than this one though.
Please review, we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. If you have any questions, Yahoo! IM me at LedaLo56 or email me at starwars147(at)clearintent(dot)net.
Thanks!
Brianne