"Everyone who knew Mr.B always recalled him to be a man with a heart of gold," the preacher spoke as they all sat in the pews of the church, silently letting the tears fall as they mourned the loss of an innocent soul.
Given the fact that she hadn't fully recovered, Dani had only been released for the occasion by Dr.S just as long as she promised to be back in the confines of her hospital room by the time it was over. David, on the other hand, hadn't suffered as much as his daughter had, so the only things he had to deal with were his still-healing arm and ankle.
A light squeeze to her hand caused Dani to look down on her left to see her baby brother sporting a pout. She gave him a sad smile as she wrapped her arm around him and pulled him into her side, which he instantly snuggled into. Though he was only five, Frankie had managed to form a bond with Mr.B just as strong as they all had at his age, which made Dani's heart ache even more at the thought of it. It wasn't fair.
It would never be fair.
Henry was gone, but he had still managed to cause them all one last heartbreak before he went, and it just wasn't fair.
"If anyone has any last words to say about Mr.B, you are now allowed to do so," the preacher informed them before sitting down in his chair.
Dani looked around with a frown as no one appeared to be making a move to get up. Though she couldn't say she'd blamed them since they were all still in mourning, it wouldn't have hurt them to say at least one thing or two for his brothers' sake.
She let out a deep breath before slowly rising from the pew, which caused her family's eyes to widen as they looked at her in surprise, and she gave them a look of reassurance to let them know that she would be fine to do it.
Michelle helped her out of the aisle before David took it upon himself to help her in her chair and wheel her up to the front since he'd upgraded to wearing a removable brace around his foot. Dani gave him a small smile of gratitude as he walked back to his seat before she sighed again and looked out into the crowd. Her gaze landed on Dr.S and Mr.W, who both gave her sad, tearful smiles.
Dani let out a shaky breath before she began to speak.
"Um...Hi, everyone. I uh...I didn't think that I would ever have to do this, but uh...I guess life has a mind of its own sometimes," she mumbled before her gaze moved over to a familiar shade of green that caused her heart to jump.
Mikey gave her a small smile of encouragement that she returned with a small smile of her own before continuing, though her nerves were almost completely over the edge.
"Um..Mr...Mr.B was...um...he was actually the one to teach me how to ride a bike without training wheels," Dani managed to say as a small smile graced her features again at the memory.
"Now this right here is the brake," Mr.B explained to a seven-year-old Dani, who looked as if she could pass out.
"You press on this here when you want to stop," he continued to explain.
Dani looked up at him. "But what if it doesn't work?" she questioned with squinted eyes as the sun shone brightly on her face.
The adult male pig let out a deep chuckle. "I don't think that's possible, Dani Dear," he said with a smile.
"I remember I was so afraid, I had to make him promise not to let go," she said and smiled at the sound of small laughter.
"Mr.B, you CAN'T let go, alright?!" Dani told her godfather sternly.
Mr.B gave her a playful salute. "Will do Dani Dear."
She gave him a look.
"Mr.B, this is serious!! You absolutely, positively, can NOT let go!!" she exclaimed with a pout, which made Mr.B nod his head, though it was obvious he was holding back a smile.
"I promise, Dani," he said with a suppressed laugh, and the little girl sighed before she looked straight ahead.
"Okay...I'm ready," she told him, though her tone was uneasy as she tightly gripped the bike handles.
Mr.B gave her a smile of reassurance before he walked behind to hold onto her.
"Alright now, sweetheart. Push on the pedals," he instructed with a hand pressed to her back.
Dani breathed in deeply before she slowly did as she was told, and laughed when she started moving.
"I'm doing it! I'm doing it, Mr.B!" she happily exclaimed as she continued to move forward, unaware that the male pig had let go of her once he'd realized she was able to ride on her own.
"That's it, Dani! Keep pushing forward!!" he told her with a proud look shining on his features.
"You can imagine how angry I felt when I found out that he had broken it," Dani said with a playful roll of her eyes.
Dani giggled as she continued to ride on her bicycle until she made the mistake of looking back, which caused her eyes to widen as she turned back around and began to swerve the handles.
"Dani! Press on the brakes, sweetheart!!" Mr.B yelled with eyes full of concern as he watched his goddaughter start to lose control of the bike.
"Ahh, Mr.B! Help me!!" Dani shouted as she completely lost control over the bike and crashed to the ground.
"Hold on, Dani!! I'm coming!!" Mr.B called out while rushing to her aid.
"There was one thing I remember him telling me that stuck out the most that day..."
"Mr.B...you broke your promise," Dani mumbled with a sniff as he carried her back to his brother's barn to fix her injured knee.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. But you did so well without me! You kept right on moving and didn't even know I had let go until you looked behind you!" he proudly exclaimed as he sat her down on a stool once they'd made it back to the barn.
Dani pouted as he walked back over to her with the first aid kit. "But you still broke your promise," she grumbled as he placed the bright pink bandaid over her injured kneecap.
Mr.B sighed and placed the kit to the side. "You wouldn't have known that I'd broken it if you would've kept doing what I had told you to do," he told her with a stern eyebrow raised.
Dani tilted her head to the side as her face scrunched up in confusion. "What'd you tell me to do, Mr.B?" she questioned as she tried to think back over everything he had said.
"I told you that you had to keep pushing forward," he told her and poked on her nose.
Dani giggled at the action before she brought him into a hug. "I love you, Mr.B," she mumbled into his shoulder.
Mr.B smiled and kissed her head. "I love you too, Dani Dear."
"Keep pushing forward...Those three little words stuck with me up to this very day, and it's something I always repeat to myself when things get tough," Dani said and looked back up to the crowd with tearful eyes. "Some days are much harder than others, but even on those days, you can't give up on yourself...Mr.B was the epitome of that. No matter how tough life had gotten for him, he had always managed to keep pushing forward."
Dani's next words had failed to ever leave her mouth as her mind had gone foggy once she caught sight of a familiar man sitting at the back of the church.
"And uh...um," she stammered as she continued to stare into the pair of eyes she hadn't seen in six years. "Um...I...um..."
Finally noticing he had caught her gaze, the man frowned and furrowed his brows as he leaned forward.
"I..uh," Dani continued to stutter as she struggled to move her eyes away from the man's intense stare and over to a pair of emerald green that had concern swimming through them as he got up and moved out of the aisle to walk towards her.
"It's okay. You don't have to finish," Mikey softly whispered in her ear and gave her a comforting kiss on the cheek as he walked them back to the pew.
Dani's cheeks burned with embarrassment as her family all gave her looks of concern.
"Dani sweetheart, are you alright?" Michelle questioned as Mikey helped her back to her seat.
Dani gave her mother a quick nod as she sat down. "Peachy," she muttered and turned around to see the same pair of brown eyes already staring back at her, which immediately caused her to turn back around.
A tiny squeeze to her hand then caused her to look down to her left to see her brother with a small smile on his features.
"It's okay, sissy. I'm right here," Frankie reassured her.
Dani laughed softly as she squeezed his hand back and kissed him on the head before averting her attention back to the preacher, who had made his way up to the stand again. Though her mind was focused entirely on the man in the back of the church.
That wasn't him, Dani. It was just your mind playing tricks on you, she thought to herself, That wasn't him...He stopped caring, remember? It's not him.
✧
An hour later, Dani found herself back in her hospital room as a nurse helped her back into bed. There had been a ceremony after the service, but she had lied to her parents and claimed she was tired so they would let her go back to the hospital instead when in reality, she just hadn't wanted to be around for it. She had done her official goodbye to Mr.B. Doing another would only cause more heartache that she didn't need.
"Alright, Dani. Back into bed you go," her nurse Jackie instructed as she lifted Dani's casted leg onto the uncomfortable mattress.
Dani sighed while moving around. "Can you guys please invest in a different kind of mattress?!" she mumbled.
Jackie laughed as she adjusted the pillow behind Dani's back. "Sorry, Honeybunch. We're trying though," she said before reaching into her pocket to pull out an envelope.
"This came for you while you were gone," she informed the girl while handing her the letter.
Dani's eyebrows furrowed as she began to examine it. "Who's it from?" she asked as she'd noticed there was no return address on it—only her name.
"Uh...You sure you want me to tell you?" Jackie asked, and Dani narrowed her eyes as she instantly took notice of the hesitance in the woman's tone.
"Miss Jackie," she dragged. "Who sent me this letter?"
Jackie sighed. "Your father, sweetheart...He had his secretary drop it off for him...some red-haired little lady," she finally said.
Dani's eyes widened as the letter dropped into her lap. "My...My dad?" she asked. "No...No, that's-...I mean he hasn't-"
"Oh, honey, don't you let that go messing up your mood now," Jackie said while rubbing Dani's arm. "If you don't want to read it, you most certainly don't have to. Just know that it's there whenever you're ready to."
Dani nodded. "Okay," she said. "I'll do that...Can you um...Can I be by myself for a few minutes?"
Jackie nodded and said, "Alright, sweetie. If you need me just call, okay? And I'll be right back here in a jiffy."
Dani nodded and waited until the door was closed to look down at the letter with a scowl.
"Why?!" was all she could say before gasping as the door suddenly opened again.
Quickly shoving the letter behind her back, Dani looked up and frowned as she was met with the sight of her boyfriend walking into the room.
"Well, it's good to see you too, babe," Mikey mumbled with a playful smile as he walked over to kiss her on the head.
"What are you doing here? Don't they still have to do the spreading of the ashes?" Dani questioned as she watched him sit down with the frown still etched across her features.
Mikey gave her a light shrug. "Eh, I didn't want to stay behind for that," he said while fiddling with his fingers.
Dani's frown only deepened at his actions as she knew the boy only did so when something was bothering him.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she questioned softly while reaching out to grab his hand.
Mikey sighed as he shrugged and looked up at her with tears threatening to fall.
Dani's features fell with sadness as she sat up on the bed and murmured, "Mikey...what's the matter, babe? Tell me what's wrong."
Mikey sniffed and looked at their hands. "I just...I'm sorry, Dans.."
"Sorry for what?" Dani questioned, slightly confused as to what was going on.
"Mikey, why are you sorry? What happened?!" she then asked when he stayed silent, and she'd be a liar if she'd said she wasn't worried about what he was going to tell her.
Mikey sighed before he finally decided to answer his girlfriend, though his answer did nothing to calm her worry for him.
"I didn't-... I could've-... You died, Dani. You died, and that's all I can think about," he finally said as he looked up at her.
"Mikey. It wasn't your fault," Dani told him sadly while squeezing his hand.
"I know that," he mumbled. "But it still happened, and it was the worst thing I've ever had to experience."
"Mikey," Dani murmured. "I'm here. Now. Isn't that what matters most?"
Mikey sighed. "Yes, but...but I just keep thinking," he said. "What if Dr.S couldn't save you in time? What if the police found you and Mr.R a second too late? What if Henry had-"
"Mikey, baby, those are only what if's," Dani softly cut him off. "None of that happened, and I'm so sorry I put you through that heartbreak, but I'm here now. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere else ever again."
"You don't know that-"
"And you don't know that I'm not," Dani said. "So, what's the point of dwelling on it when we could appreciate the fact that I was given another chance at life."
"I lost you!!" Mikey exclaimed. "We all did, and we all thought it would be forever. So excuse me if I'm being a little paranoid about losing my girlfriend again."
"But you're not going to lose me!" Dani said while shaking her head. "That's my point! Why are you trying to blow this up so badly?"
Mikey sighed and looked away from her as he said, "I'm sorry. It's just...with Mr.B gone...I keep thinking about you finding him and I-...I'm just scared, Dans."
"It's okay to be scared, Mikey. You know that. He taught us that," she softly said. "But we can't let that fear override our way of thinking things. He taught us that too."
Mikey scoffed lightly. "Did you tell yourself that before you decided to go after Henry?" he asked as he turned back to look at her. "Or does that only apply to people who aren't Dani Richards?"
"What?" Dani asked with furrowed brows. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the way you found Mr.B in the first place," Mikey said. "You were in his house when you were supposed to be in your own. And the only person you told you were leaving was your five-year-old brother, that's what I'm talking about."
Dani averted her gaze to her hands as she said, "Henry told me that he had my dad and I-"
"And you got scared," Mikey said with a nod. "Yeah. I get it. But what I don't get is why you didn't practice what you preached. Wasn't it you who told Greta and me that we couldn't go after Henry?"
Dani clenched her jaw. "That was before he-"
"Dani, you didn't even start calling Mr.R your dad until after everything happened. Cut the bullshit. You were a hypocrite."
Dani narrowed her eyes and said, "Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you're talking to?!"
"To the girl that thinks it's okay to tell people not to risk their lives for her, only to turn around and die trying to fight for said people," Mikey said. "You're a hypocrite."
"He took my father-"
"He took you!!" Mikey shouted as he stood up from his chair. "He took you, Dani, and we almost lost you!!
"But I'm right here-"
"And there was a time where you weren't," Mikey cut her off. "There was a time where we were all heartbroken because we thought we would never see you again. What aren't you understanding?! He killed you!!"
"And I told you I was sorry for that-"
"But that doesn't change the fact that you were dead, Dani!"
Dani's features softened as she looked away from him in shame.
Mikey sighed and said, "You were gone, baby. And I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen, but you know that was a huge risk the second you decided to go after Henry without telling anyone."
"He took him," she mumbled. "He took my dad. The person who saved me from him the first time when I was ten. I couldn't just sit there and let my dad die, Mikey. Not when he saved me first. I owed him that."
Mikey narrowed his eyes. "So this is some weird superhero fetish?" he asked. "We used that tactic for imagination, Dani. It doesn't work like that in real life."
Dani scoffed and said, "So what was I supposed to do oh wise one? Tell you and have you get killed right in front of me too? Because that makes it so much better."
"Did I say you were supposed to tell me about it? My brother's a fucking Police officer-"
"Yeah, because they're so trustworthy," Dani cut him off with another scoff. "Why don't we call on fucking Aquaman since you want to bring up useless people to help."
"And you were the better option?" Mikey asked. "Because we see how that turned out."
Dani scoffed and said, "You're being an ass."
"I'm being an ass because I'm telling you the truth?" Mikey asked and tilted his head. "Or can you not handle being in the hot seat for once?"
"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
"It means that you can't be the savior that you so badly want to be, Dani. I know you, and I know why you're doing this," Mikey said and shook his head. "It wasn't your fault."
"This has nothing to do with that-"
"It has everything to do with that, and you know it," he said. "So stop lying. Especially to me."
"I'm not lying," Dani said. "I went after Henry because I was tired of his bullshit and it was clear that he wasn't going away anytime soon with the Police Department kissing his ass. So I took matters into my own hands."
Mikey narrowed his eyes again. "You're a horrible liar."
"Believe what you want," Dani said with a roll of her eyes. "But I know what I'm saying."
"And I know what I'm hearing," Mikey said.
He then sighed and walked over to sit on the bed. "I didn't come in here to fight with you, Dans. I came here because I wanted to know the truth. Just tell me the truth."
"He took my dad and killed my Godfather. That's the truth. Now get out of my face!" she exclaimed.
Mikey clenched his jaw. "I'm not going anywhere until you stop being stubborn and tell me why."
"Why what, Mikey?"
"Why you decided to leave me!" he said, and she frowned at the tears in his eyes. "Why you decided that the risk of you dying was worth more than the risk of you living. Why my love for you, our love for you wasn't enough for you to tell someone that your father was in trouble."
"Mikey-"
"Just tell me, Dans. Please," he said. "That's all I want."
A beat went by as she stared into his eyes, his eyes that begged for her to tell him the truth, before she clenched her jaw and looked away.
"I did," she said. "I already told you why."
The sound of a scoff filled Dani's ears as she kept her gaze on the bed.
"Who are you?"
She looked back up at his question.
"Seriously," Mikey said. "Who are you? Because the person I'm talking to right now?... This isn't my girlfriend."
Dani rolled her eyes. "You're being dramatic."
"I'm being upset because I thought this would make things different," Mikey said. "This isn't who you are, Dans. What happened?"
"I died is what happened, Mikey," she said with narrowed eyes. "Isn't that what you keep bringing up? Or is that fact only convenient for you when you want to use it against me?"
Mikey shook his head. "I wasn't trying to use it against you-"
"But you brought it up multiple times for what?" Dani asked. "To remind me that I wasn't strong enough? That I'm too weak to fight my own battles without help?"
"You're putting words into my mouth that I would never-"
"Get out."
He furrowed his brows. "What?"
Dani clenched her jaw. "I said Get out, Mikey...I don't want to talk to you anymore. I just had to endure the funeral of my Godfather, and I'm tired, and I want to sleep, so just get out. Go."
Mikey's features softened as he shook his head and said, "No. I'm not leaving you like this. I'm so sorry, Dans. I didn't mean to start anything between us-"
"But you did, and I'm mad at you, and I want you to leave," she said. "Don't make this harder than it already is, Mikey now go."
"Baby please-"
"Get OUT!! Get out!! I don't want to see your face anymore, so leave, Mikey!!" Dani yelled at him, but he still refused to listen as he shook his head again.
"Dans-"
"Young man, I think you should be heading out now," Jackie stated as she walked into the room.
Mikey sighed sadly as he looked at his girlfriend with tears threatening to fall. "Dans, please," he begged again, but she refused to look in his direction as tears had also formed in her eyes.
"Go on now. Go and give yourself time to cool off," Jackie spoke again.
Dani heard her boyfriend let out a sigh before he slowly walked over to the door, and the tears finally fell as she heard him close it behind him.
Jackie sighed as she walked over to Dani's bed. "Well, that was a showdown...you doing alright, Honeybunch?"
Dani frowned as she looked up at her nurse. "I just got into a fight with my boyfriend...what do you think?" she sniffed and buried her head in her hands as she began to cry.
"Oh, honey, it'll be okay. You two have been through quite a lot at your age, so it's natural for it to cause a strain on your relationship...but that doesn't mean that it'll be the end," she reassured the girl while giving her a side hug.
"I think I messed up," Dani suddenly said with a sniff. "He only wanted to talk, and I blew up at him for no reason...what if he doesn't want to be with me anymore?!"
Jackie snorted at the question, which caused Dani to frown.
"Are you kidding me?! I ain't never seen a man love a woman as much as he loves you! That boy wouldn't leave even if his life depended on it," Jackie said with a shake of her head.
Dani smiled at the woman's words, though they made her feel anything but relieved as she thought over what had happened between her and Mikey.
"You just give you both time to think after what just happened. Things will get better. I'm sure of it."
Dani's eyebrows furrowed as Jackie pulled out a bowl of ice cream that she hadn't noticed when the woman had walked in.
"In the meantime, you just sit back and eat on this ice cream," she said as she handed it over to Dani.
"How long have you had that with you?" Dani questioned with a laugh while taking the bowl.
Jackie gave her a playful shrug. "Since I walked in," she said as she got up from the bed to walk over to the door. "Now don't you worry your pretty little head about what happened for another second you hear me?"
Dani nodded and gave her a soft smile. "Yes, ma'am."
Jackie winked and closed the door behind her, and Dani sighed before looking down at the bowl of frozen chocolate milk.
"Eh. No need for it to go to waste," she shrugged before feeding herself a spoonful with a hum.