Epilogue
The bone marrow transplant was done successfully almost a week later. With finals soon approaching, I was cramming to get all my schoolwork done, hoping against hope to pass. I almost collapsed a few times with all the added stress, freaking Jess and Emily out. Emily had come down after the first radiation treatment, figuring I needed the extra support. Thank God for best friends, huh? The bone marrow surgeons didn't not sew Lorelai and me together as she had predicted. I'm pretty sure she was actually disappointed.
Emily frantically ran down the hall skidding to a stop asking for Dani's room when she saw Lorelai and Dani completely drugged out of their minds being wheeled into the operating room. Laughing as she heard Lorelai singing, "All of me, you can have all of me," completely off key and Dani's drunken giggles as they disappeared through the swinging double doors.
That's disturbing." She said to Jess, making him jump.
"Completely!" He agreed once he calmed down. "You should have been here earlier, that was truly hilarious!" He said with a smirk.
Emily's face lit up as she asked, "Why, what happened?"
"Luke and I got a free show from Lorelai and poor Luke was fifty shades of red." He said laughing.
"Do you have pictures?" She asked.
"No. Thank God." Rory answered, walking into the waiting room, coffee in hand, backpack on. "I'm off to school. Call me and let me know how it goes. Bye." She kissed Jess, waved to Emily and headed out.
"When did that happen?" Emily asked waving her finger between Jess and Rory's retreating figure.
"Like five months ago..." Jess stared at her. "Dani didn't tell you?" Jess noticed Emily's hurt expression, "I guess not."
"I can't believe she didn't tell me." Emily looked at Jess. "Should I be mad?"
"Nah, she probably just forgot she hadn't told you." He tried knowing Dani would be in hot water by judging Emily's sour expression. Luckily, he was saved from having to answer as the doctor returned with news that the surgery was over and they could go see them shortly.
"You go first." Emily gestured to the hallway. "I'll wait."
"Thanks Em." Jess said turning to walk down the long sterile hallway to see his baby sister and the woman who he felt in debt to for saving her life.
Emily sank into a chair, battling her crush on Jess and her happiness for him. She frowned as she heard Luke and a doctor talking. "I'm glad we got this done in time, if we had waited she would have gotten worse and there would have been very little hope."
"What are the chances that this won't work?" Luke asked worried not noticing Emily listening to his every word.
"I'd say it's about 50/50 at this point." The doctor admitted.
"Thank you doctor." He choked as he walked toward Dani's room. Emily sat in silent shock as a tear slipped down her face. She felt so...uninformed. Her best friend had been dying and she hadn't even known.
The time passed quickly as both of us recuperated quickly, Emily and I worked things out and she went back to New York. I was given the wonderful news that I appeared to be in remission, the only thing to do now was get Liz to agree to let Luke adopt us. Luke, Jess, and I began our fight for the adoption almost immediately. Jess suggested getting Mom drunk and getting her to sign us over, which Luke and I vetoed instantly. We actually talked to her, she cried, I cried, you get the general picture. Long story short, she agreed to sign us over, knowing that Jess would be an adult in a year's time.
Dani groaned as she watched Luke sign another paper. "Can we stop yet?" She whined.
"Would you chill out?" Jess asked annoyed.
"Bite me." She responded.
"If I weren't your brother I would say where and how hard!" He replied cheekily causing Rory and Lorelai to chorus. "Dirty!"
"Fine, be that way." Dani retorted, crossing her arms grumpily. "Can we stop yet?" She whined. Again.
"Last one." the attorney said sliding the form toward Luke.
"Thank God." Dani sighed, leaning back in her chair.
Luke signed the last paper, giving it back to the attorney cheerfully. "Congratulations Mr. Danes." The attorney started. "You are now the legal guardian of Kristin and Jess Mariano."
"Finally!" Dani sighed impatiently.
The room was filled with various celebrations as Jess just hugged Dani whispering in her ear, "Finally we have a family." Causing her to smile as a happy tear fell down her cheek.
"It's a weird feeling isn't it?" She teased as he wiped the tear off her face.
"Extremely!" He smiled as she noticed that his eyes were watery too.
"Sap!" she teased hugging him.
"Shh!" He covered her mouth. "I need to protect my rep."
Their laughter brought everyone's attention to them. "Hey we wanna laugh!" Rory pouted.
"And?" Jess prompted, bored expression taking over his features.
"Jess!" Rory whined, sitting in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply making Luke uncomfortable.
"Get a room." Dani scoffed.
"Great idea!" Rory said shocking the entire room making her laugh as she choked out, "It was a joke!"
"Very funny." Lorelai said sarcastically. "I don't think so."
"Oh come on 'Mom'!" Jess teased.
"I don't think so." Dani replied, remembering all the years she had been the 'mom' and had pulled numerous girls out of their apartment. Her eyes were stony and cold, even through her contacts. Everyone in the room stopped and stared at the girl with wonder as she stared a hole through Jess making his usually calm demeanor turn to a spineless jellyfish with one statement and look.
"Who put the ants in your pants?" Jess muttered, pushing Rory off his lap, as he and Dani stood facing each other, icy moods penetrating the room.
"Dani," Rory started timidly, "I was just being stupid. Jess and I aren't...well you know!" She finished blushing as she waved her hands nervously.
"Stay out of this." Dani growled, her voice lowering to a harsh hiss, not unlike a snake's.
Rory stepped back as if she had been struck as her eyes filled with tears muttering, "Sorry!" and running from the room.
"Nice job." Jess snapped, staring his little sister down.
Luke looked at the siblings shocked as Lorelai looked to him, "Fix this!" she growled before she slipped from the room to find Rory.
Dani stood almost as tall as her brother without shoes, her heels today giving her an extra inch. "Oh yes, running off people seems to be the Mariano specialty."
"What the hell is your problem Kris?" Jess snapped stepping into her personal space, getting close enough that they were nose to nose.
"My problem?" She laughed humorlessly, almost sounded evil. "You spending more time with your girlfriend than me isn't a problem, but me getting fed up with it is?" That was a lie and she knew it. Jess had spent almost every waking minute at the hospital with her and had just recently started hanging out with Rory a lot. Just, she was used to having Jess to herself, and having to share him, it...hurt.
"What is the real issue here Kris? I still see you every dammed day and I still love you unconditionally, so what is really your big freaking deal?" Jess yelled as Luke tugged him away from his sister.
"The deal is I'm jealous dammit!" She screamed, tears starting to slide down her face. "Everyone else has some special 'other' and then there's me! I'm the school slut because no one wants to stay with me! I'm the one who gets beaten and raped by her mother's boyfriend! I haven't forgotten, Jess." She pulled her shirt up slightly, her low jeans exposing the scar from the transplant and beside it the top of the initials, 'PA'.
Jess's face blanched as he pulled her close to him letting her tears soak his shirt. "Kris, it's ok!" he said soothingly as he rubbed circles on her back and gave Luke the signal to leave.
She pushed him away, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "You don't get it do you? I'm tired of being held and coddled! I want to be out there doing something! I'm tired of being at home all the time! I'm tired of being alone!" She fully broke down now, sliding down the file cabinet into a crouch, her body hunched over.
Jess stood in the center of the room confused. "Then why the hell are you bitching at me?" He asked, loosing his temper making her look up at him, smirking slightly.
She sighed. "Finally, you treat me like you did before this started. I won't break, I just want everything to stay the same!" She sobbed.
"Stay the same as what?" Jess snapped, tired of going in circles.
"Every since I got sick you treat me like I will break! I'm tired of it, just treat me like you did before I got sick!" she said as she wiped her tears.
"I haven't-" Jess began, before Dani cut him off. "I don't want to talk about it anymore." She stood, carefully wiping her tears, trying not to smudge her makeup.
She walked out into the hallway, leaving him standing there, extremely confused.
Things have been a bit rocky between us since then, he's off with Rory a lot more, and I'm still at the bookstore 24/7, still cramming for end-of-year tests. Looking back, I can't really tell a time when my brother and I have ever had a fight as bad as that one, but things will get better, won't they?
Almost a week after the fight, I started feeling stronger. I thought Lorelai was going to cry when I finally picked up a guitar. The first song I played was 'Somebody's Hero' by Jamie O Neal, I made sure Lorelai knew I was playing it for her, sending her fully into tears. When she hugged me after I was done, I whispered: "I meant every word."
A mother-like bond grew and encircled me and Lorelai after that. Liz went back to New York and Lorelai and Luke started seriously dating(and actually admitting it) afterward. When finals were through and summer holidays began, Rory left for Washington D.C. for some thing with her school, leaving Jess and I to work in the diner silently, tension hovering over us like a giant cloud. After almost three weeks, we finally started talking again, albeit like we had never met before, but it was a step in the right direction. Lorelai became my best friend over those three weeks, and remained as a surrogate mother, much to Luke's amazement and to Jess's fury. After he discovered me on the phone with Lorelai for the third time that evening, Jess finally asked, "Where's the Dani who was in New York?"
To which I replied, "That's just the way we were."
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed it! I almost cried when I finished, not sure about Mel…lol We've had a change of plans, we are changing the sequel title from 'Some Hearts' to 'Don't Take the Girl'. Mel and I had a stroke of brilliance and decided to change it. Not sayin' nuffin' about the sequel though. 'Our lips are sealed…' (Cough) Um, yeah, anyway. He-he…
I'll hopefully be posting the trailer for the sequel later tonight, so be on the lookout for that. I might try taking on two stories at once and try to get my High School Musical one up. But if I don't do that story, I will definitely put up an HSM one-shot. (Jumps around and claps, then blushes) I actually did that, didn't I? Oops…
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