A/N: Hey all! I'm SO sorry this took so long. Mel and I wrote this chapter twice and I formatted my laptop in the middle of it, so I still don't have all my info, but we will try to get the next one out sooner than this one.
Reviews would help all that…please?
--Briannen
Taylor banged his gavel at the town meeting three days later, bringing everyone's attention up to him. "That's better." He announced pompously.
"You need popcorn every time you're around him." Dani muttered to Lorelai and Rory, both of whom nodded fervently.
"I would like to bring your attention to the next item on the list." Taylor told the group. "I have received word from certain...sources around the town that several of our young people have been partaking in certain activities around town, especially in some of our finer establishments His gaze found Rory and Jess, both of whom seemed to know he was talking about them.
"What did you do?" Dani asked, leaning across Lorelai to talk to Rory.
"Nothing, I swear." Rory protested, shrinking under the gazes she received.
"Jess always does something." Gypsy announced. "He came into my garage and rearranged my tools!"
"Dirty!" Lorelai and Rory shouted in unison.
"You can't prove it was me." Jess pointed out sarcastically. "Freak." He muttered under his breath, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Rory.
Taylor banged the gavel on the podium, "I would like to call the first witness, Dean Forrester." Dean walked to the podium with an evil glint in his eye.
"Oh my God." Rory whispered, immediately putting the puzzle together.
"I will kill that bas-" Jess started.
"Jess!" Rory stopped him before he could finish
"Don't even think about finishing that sentence." Luke told his nephew.
"Mom, what am I suppose to do about this?" Rory asked starting to hyperventilate.
"Just tell the truth." Lorelai said with fury in her eyes
Dean stood at the podium and cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen of Stars Hollow." Dean started.
"Boy, he is laying it on thick." Luke commented adjusting his cap.
"Oh boy." Dani muttered, steeling herself for whatever Dean could throw at her family.
"Recently I was in Doose's working and was distracted by to local teens pawing one another. Personally I am appalled that one of the parties involved was acting in such a manor." Dean started, "Rory Gilmore was once a good girl, however now she has turned into nothing more than-" Dean was interrupted by Jess standing violently to his feet.
Rory's face was turning red from embarrassment as Jess's turned from anger. "Don't you dare finish that if you want to live." Jess said through gritted teeth.
Rory had tears flowing freely down her cheeks as Lorelai's face was contorted in disgust and anger trying to calm her sobbing daughter down.
"I was only speaking the truth buddy." Dean smirked.
"Jess, sit down!" Dani pulled him back into his chair and sat on his lap, ensuring that he wouldn't do that again.
Jess waved off Dani's attempt to make him calm down and stood marching toward Dean with a purpose. "You are just angry that Rory chose me, someone who cares for her and can keep an intelligent conversation going for longer than a minute!
Dean laughed. "You only care until you get into her pants."
A sickening crack was the only thing heard as Jess landed a punch to Dean's nose effectively breaking it in the process. Luke was there in an instant pulling his nephew off of Dean.
Dani jumped to her feet, standing in between Jess and Dean. "Don't you dare talk about my family that way." She said dangerously, her eyes dark with anger.
"What are you going to do?" Dean asked mockingly. "Are you going to hit me?"
"Nope." Dani said calmly. "I'm going to make sure you never reproduce, so I don't have to put up with two of you." She swung her foot hard into his groin causing him to whimper and double over in pain. She hurried back to her seat, putting her arms around Rory while Luke yelled at Jess.
"The guy's a jerk!" They heard Jess point out loudly.
The occupants of the town were murmuring amongst themselves and pointing to the parties involved.
"And you think that gives you an excuse?" Luke demanded.
"I'm sorry, but did you hear what he was saying about my girlfriend?" Jess yelled.
"He had no right to make up things about either of you, but you don't just go around punching people." Luke tried. Hesitantly he added, "No matter how much you wanted to and how much he deserved it."
"Whatever." Jess went over to where Rory was drying her tears. "Hey." He said softly, shoving Dani out of the seat beside Rory and sat there.
Rory wordlessly wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close.
Rory walked onto the bridge, her footsteps sounding hollow. She had known she would find him here. "Hey." She greeted him quietly.
He flicked the cigarette butt into the lake. "Hey." His voice was equally soft.
"So, tonight." She started timidly.
He exhaled, releasing the last puff of smoke from between his lips. "Tonight. I'm sorry he did that." Jess tried, noticing her tear stained cheeks.
"It isn't your fault! Dean is a jerk!" Rory said, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.
Jess sighed. "Yeah he is. But I shouldn't have punched him like that."
"I think it was kind of sexy having you defend my honor like that." She replied with a small smile gracing her face.
"Really?" Jess smiled leaning in to kiss her.
"Yeah." She replied huskily after he pulled away.
Meanwhile in the diner Luke walked around and poured a cup of coffee and wordlessly placed it in from of Lorelai. "Thanks." She said glancing up to give him a small smile.
"Anytime," was his monotone response.
"What possessed Dean to do that?" Lorelai asked.
"How do I know?" He replied.
"You're a guy. Duh." She said it as if he were an idiot for not getting it right away.
"Well how silly of me not to have known." Luke said sarcastically.
"Yes it was." She teased.
She watched as Luke walked around the counter and sat beside her. "Rory looked so hurt." He said.
"She was." Lorelai said matter-of-factly.
"I know that, but how can I make it not hurt her?" He asked removing his hat and repositioning it atop his head.
"Unfortunately you can't, she has to come to terms with this on her own." Lorelai said placing her hand on his thigh.
Luke immediately stiffened under her touch and hesitantly leaned in and kissed her. She leaned into his kiss, deepening it.
When they broke apart, Lorelai stared at him. "Will you go out with me?" The words spilled out of Luke in a rush.
Lorelai gently kissed him again. "Yeah." Suddenly she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the diner. "Come walk me home."
Dani climbed the stairs up to the apartment. She flopped on her bed and groaned as the phone immediately rang. "Hello?"
"Somebody's cheerful." Emily greeted her.
"You called right as I lay down." Dani lay back down, sighing as she steadied herself.
"You're okay?" Emily sounded concerned.
"I'm fine, just exhausted." Dani reassured her.
"Well get back up and let me in." Emily's tone was teasing.
"Very funny, Em." Dani replied, not believing her for a second.
"I'm not kidding." A rap was heard from downstairs, at the same time Dani heard from the phone.
"Oh. My. God." Dani got up slowly, then hurried as fast as she could downstairs. She screamed, hanging up the phone, as she saw Emily waving through the glass.
As soon as she got the door unlocked, Emily hugged her tightly. "Move over, Em." Jess spoke from behind her. As Emily let go of Dani and moved over, Jess smiled. "You like?"
Dani put her arm around Emily and hugged her close. "I love, but why did you come?'
Emily stared at her. "Think, Dan."
Dani looked horrified. "I forgot my sixteenth birthday!"
Jess's arms wrapped around her. "Happy birthday, little sis."
"You set this all up for me?" Dani whispered. She laughed as she turned in his arms and hugged him. When he let go of her, she jumped up and down and shrieked. "I can get a driver's license now!"
"Did you help?" Dani turned to Rory, who had been standing behind Jess. She nodded sheepishly. Dani hugged her too "Thanks so much, I don't deserve this!" Dani exclaimed.
"I'm glad." Luke spoke from behind Rory.
"I feel so spoiled." As Dani set one of the upturned chairs onto the floor and sank into it, she laughed dryly. "At least until I remember my chemo appointment tomorrow."
Emily stiffened and stood over her. "Chemotherapy, Miss Mariano?" The others edged upstairs, giving the two some privacy.
Dani grimaced as she remembered she hadn't told Emily about her leukemia, wanting to do it face-to-face. "Yes?" She squeaked.
"Care to explain?" Emily asked.
"No?" Dani tried.
Emily laughed humorlessly. "Care to try again?"
Dani sobered quickly. "I didn't know how to tell you. I wanted to tell you in person."
"D." Emily sat beside her. "That's when you call me and say: 'Emily, get your butt down here, I have something life-changing to tell you!'"
Dani stared at her hands, whispering. "I have leukemia."
Emily looked, understandably, stunned. Tears filled her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to- I just didn't know how." Dani responded.
Emily hugged her, eyes overflowing. "I love you."
Dani closed her eyes, knowing that this would start to be a rare occurrence. "I love you too."
"And now for your birthday present." Emily went behind the counter and pulled out a box.
Dani gasped playfully, wiping her eyes. "For me?"
"You better believe it."
Dani grabbed the box and opened it to find another box. "You got me a box? Shut up!"
Emily laughed. "Open it, dummy."
Dani quickly opened it to find, yet another box. "Two boxes? I'm so spoiled!" Emily just rolled her eyes as Dani opened that box. "Hey! A wallet!"
"Open it!" Rory called, the group having snuck in without them noticing.
Dani did as she was told, screaming and dropping it when something jumped out of it. She glared at Emily and cautiously picked it up. "You guys!" She shrieked, when she realized it was a sign, reading: "Happy Birthday Dani!"
"Look in the pockets." Emily urged.
Dani laughed when she pulled out a poster of the Jonas Brothers. "You know me too well."
"Keep looking."
Dani clapped her hands when she found a gift card to a local bookstore. "Hey!" She protested when Jess snatched it out of her hands.
"Thank you." He tucked it in a pocket, spinning away from Dani when she tried to take it back.
"Jess." She groaned, jumping on his back. "I'm too tired for this." She shrieked and wrapped her legs around him as he whirled around. "You're going to make me sick." She warned him.
He stopped quickly. "You can get down now."
She quickly took her gift card back. "Thank you." When she was safely in her seat, card in her purse, she chuckled. "Works every time."
"You're mean." Jess pouted, sitting on her.
"Little sister in pain." She poked him until he got up. When he turned back to look at her, she got up and hugged him. "Thanks." She whispered.
He tightened his hold on her. "Love you."
"Love you too." She murmured.
He snorted. "You better."
"You have no idea."
When they separated, Jess slung his arm around Rory's shoulders and hugged her close, kissing her temple.
"The last part of your gift is a date with the mall." Lorelai spoke up.
Dani shrieked, clapped her hands, and shook her head, sending her hair flying. "When?"
"Tomorrow- 8 in the morning." Emily told her cheerfully.
"But." Dani protested. "My chemo is at 5 that night."
Lorelai dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "We'll catch it on the way home."
"Okay…" Dani looked a little hesitant, then her eyes lit up and she pointed to Jess. "Tonight you owe me a Legally Blonde and a Summerland."
"But Dani." Jess complained. "It's 10 at night."
"Fine." Her sentence was broken by a yawn. "One Summerland."
She and Emily led the way up the stairs.
"Let's go!" Dani pulled Emily and Lorelai toward the mall the next morning.
"So what store do you want to hit first?" Lorelai asked.
Dani thought for a minute. "Forever 21!"
"Good choice."
"And then Limited Too, and Saks, and, oh, we need to go to Claire's."
"It's going to be a long day." Emily muttered.
"Hey." Jess greeted them when they stopped by the diner on their way to the hospital. "How was- what the hell have you done to your hair?"
"Do you like it?" Dani asked, twirling her now brown hair around her finger.
"Um, I guess."
"Hey guys!" Rory came out from the apartment. "Oh my God. What have you done to your eyes and hair?"
"Contacts and dye." Dani mocked her.
"Wow, now you actually look like Jess's sister." Rory surveyed her and then turned to Jess.
"Sadly." He teased, making Dani smack him on the back of the head.
"I'm glad that I don't look so much like Liz anymore." Dani said, her words laced with bitterness. Emily put her arm around her friend, hugging Dani close.
"You sure accomplished that." Jess told her, tugging on a brown curl.
Dani smiled, the smile not quite reaching her newly brown eyes. "We'd better go."
Lorelai noticed that something wasn't right between the two. "Jess, why don't you take Dani to her chemo?" She suggested, quickly forming a plan.
"You'd be okay with that?" Jess turned to Dani, who nodded, looking weaker and more…scared than he had ever seen her.
"Scoot, scoot." Lorelai shooed them out of the diner. "Let's get to work, guys!"
"Hey." Jess stopped Dani before she got in Luke's truck. "You are okay, right?"
"Yeah." She paused, calculating her next words. "I'm just really scared, Jess."
"Good." Dani stared at him, confused. He laughed. "Otherwise, I'd be worried that you were an alien." She smacked his arm, when he started up the truck.
"Hey." Dani greeted Julia, the nurse at the hospital, later that night.
"Hi Dani. How do you feel?"
"Ask me that when I'm done." Dani teased.
Julia turned to Jess who was standing against the back of the wall. "Her body should accept the chemicals better this time, now that they have already been introduced."
"Body, meet Chemotherapy. Chemo, this is my body." Dani teased.
Jess shook his head. "You're so weird."
Dani glared at him. "Watch it. It's my birthday, you're not allowed to call me weird."
"No, it was your birthday yesterday. So today, I can call you what ever I want." Jess corrected.
"Today is my Sweet 16, so suck it up." Dani told him firmly.
"Fine." Jess watched in mixed fascination and horror as Julia inserted the IV needle into Dani's arm.
Almost an hour later, Dani and Jess left the hospital, Dani falling asleep almost as soon as she settled into the seat. Every now and then Jess would glance at her, wondering what had happened to give them this battle to fight.
When they reached the diner, Jess shook her gently. "Wake up, Kris."
"Go 'way." She swatted his hand away, not opening her eyes.
"Birthday girl." Lorelai had opened Dani's door and was unbuckling her like Dani was four instead of sixteen.
"I feel horrible. Go away." Dani insisted.
"Honey, you need to go inside." Lorelai helped her out gently.
"Fine." Dani slowly made her way into the diner, leaning on Jess, her face ashen. As the trio made their way into the diner, Emily watched them, obviously shocked. Rory didn't blame her, nobody had expected this. "I'm going to bed." Dani told the group sleepily, letting go of Lorelai and Jess and heading up the stairway.
As soon as Dani was out of earshot, Emily turned on Jess. "You!"
He backed away nervously. "Emily, please don't get mad."
"You could have called me. You knew she wouldn't call me, that makes it your job." Emily advanced on him, hands on her hips, looking so intimidating that he was actually starting to cower.
"I was going to." He tried.
"Liar." She scoffed.
"Come on, Em. It's kind of hard to call your little sister's best friend and say that her friend is dying!" He protested.
"Yes, but it's a necessary evil!"
"Emily." He said softly.
She avoided his gaze, blinking away tears. "Is she really dying?"
He nodded, closing his eyes briefly before forcing the word out. "Yeah."
Emily sank onto the floor, leaning against the wall, ignoring the lone tear that made it's way down her face. "How long has she known?"
"Six weeks." Jess admitted.
"It took you six weeks to tell me?"
Jess stood astonished that she was still tearing into him, "Em, I was a little busy trying to console Dani and coping with her diagnosis myself. Don't you think I would have called if I wasn't busy with my own shit!" Jess yelled as he stepped into her personal space.
"Don't give me that line Jess William Mariano, you know that you and Dani are my family too. Get your head out of your ass long enough to care about someone else for a change!" She spat.
Jess was overtaken with anger as he tightened his fists trying to find an outlet for his rage. He stood nose to nose with Emily as he growled in a low terrifying voice. "You know all about selfishness, don't you princess?" He turned on his heel and exited the diner flinging the glass door so hard it shattered.
"That's right." Emily hissed back. "I'm just a spoiled little brat, who always gets her way."
Jess turned around. "Well at least we've solved the mystery of your father's death." Jess's mind was reeling as he strode off unsure of where. The only thing he knew was that he needed to get away.
Emily slammed her fist into the wall before collapsing in a chair, staring at Jess's retreating back
Emily furiously wiped her tears as she heard footsteps coming her way. "Hey what's wrong?" Came Rory's voice, startling her.
"Nothing." Emily stood abruptly and grabbed her backpack, heading up the stairs. "Dan? I have to go."
Rory sat watching Emily wondering, 'What happened?'
"Thanks for coming down, Em." Dani was lying on the couch, flipping channels.
"Anything for you Dani, you just gotta say when and where." The two girls hugged and Emily pulled her keys out of her pocket, jingling them absent-mindedly as she headed down the stairs. "Bye." Emily said with a small wave.
"Bye." Rory replied, "It was nice to see you again".
"Yeah, you too." Emily paused, contemplating her next words. "Will you tell Jess I said bye?"
"Yeah, you too." Emily paused, contemplating her next words. "Will you tell Jess I said bye?"
Rory nodded. "Course."
Emily smiled slightly. "Thanks."
"Sure, but wouldn't you want to tell him?" Rory tried.
Emily shook her head. "I really gotta go." Her tone turned bitter. "He'll be fine without me."
"Emily, I know it isn't my business, but did you and Jess get into a fight?" Rory asked genuinely concerned and curious.
"Little one." Emily shrugged. "Trust me, we've had way worse."
Rory smiled and asked in a teasing voice, "Little One?"
Knowing that she was trying to break the tension, Emily smiled, "Yeah, you have a new nickname. Take care of them for me, huh?"
"Definitely!" Rory said, "Things will be okay with you guys, right?"
Emily nodded. "Yeah."
Rory watched through the window as Emily loaded her backpack into the car and was opening her door as Jess came running up. She smiled as after some talking and ignoring on Emily's part, the two hugged quickly and Jess watched her drive off.
"Everything cool?" Rory turned to Jess as he entered the diner.
"As a penguin habitat." Jess said with a smirk and walked up to check on Dani leaving Rory flabbergasted.