Chapter 9: Family
What seemed like hours after the doctor told him to wait, Jesse felt Dani squeeze his hand and moan slightly. At first he thought he was hallucinating, but when her eyes fluttered opened then rapidly slammed closed, he knew it was real.
"Dani?" he whispered.
Dani felt like her head would explode if she moved anything so she settled for a barely coherent "Headache..."
"I know but the medicine should help. Look on the bright side, at least we're not going to make you eat green jello!" he said, trying to lighten the mood.
She smiled, remembering the time he made that sacrifice for her and only complained about the choice of food. He knew what to say to make her feel better at any given time, even under these circumstances.
Jesse noticed her smile and was curious. "What's with the smile?"
"You. The way you always make me feel better, even in bad situations." she said half asleep "That's why I love you." she said, then succumbed to sleep.
"I love you, too." he whispered, finally allowing himself to sleep well for the first time in days.
A few hours later, Dani was the first to wake. She had not woken by herself, rather Jesse moaning softly in his sleep. She did not realize that he was having a nightmare about her. About not making it in time, holding her in his arms as she bled out beneath him. She shook him softly, with him finally waking and realizing that it was just a nightmare. No words were spoken as Dani held on to him and eventually he fell asleep. Dani however, was done sleeping so she decided to sit up, making a note to ask Jesse about his nightmare later.
Once she looked around, she saw Mike and Fi sound asleep on the other bed and Jesse once again sleeping contently beside her. She memorized his face, looking at the same face that she had focused on while she was taken. They had only been together for literally two weeks, but the time they had known each other before that made it feel like forever. She looked up to the sound of Fi's voice saying "Hey".
"Hey." she whispered, careful not to wake Jesse.
"You finally woke up, I wasn't sure if Jesse was hallucinating or not." she said laughing softly, carefully climbing out of bed to not wake the man next to her. She poured two glasses of water, handed one to Dani, and pulled up a chair.
"Thank you" Dani quickly said before Fi could get a word out.
"Anytime. Jesse and Sam are like brothers to me, so that makes you like a sister. I admit I don't trust people easily, and I may not have liked you very much when I first met you, but I've seen the way Jesse looks at you. The way he speaks about you, even Michael could see how much he loves you. We're family, in a weird way, but family nonetheless."
Dani was speechless, one of the few times in her life. Here she thought this woman in front of her hated her, but to call her like a sister? She realized then that she had a family. A caring, always there for her, dysfunctional family. And she never wanted to lose them, ever.