Title: Forever Family

Summery: What if Michelle dies in "Michelle rides again"? How would the family deal.

Author's note: Yes, yes I know. Long time no update. But hey my computer wouldn't let me on the internet so it's not entirely my fault.

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My buddy. My munchkin. My Shorty. My best pal............she's gone. Gone. Dead. Bought the farm. Pushing up the daises. Passed Away. None of them sound right. She shouldn't be dead. She was supposed to grow up, have tons of boyfriends, that if they ever broke her heart, he'd break their jaw. She was supposed to graduate and go to college, get married, have kids, have a very good life. But now, we only have nine years of memories with her. When I first moved in to this house....I was only going to stay for a few weeks. Just so Danny could get back on his feet after the death of my sister. But I fell in love with Michelle and the girls. He couldn't leave even if he tried. Well there was that one time, but he came back as soon as he heard that Michelle was "supposedly" sick.

Jesse walks into Michelle's room. Michelle is standing in her cot looking at him.
"You're up. Here, I drove four hours in the freezing cold on my motorcycle behind a cattle truck to give you this. Here you go." He puts the teddy bear on the bed and Michelle stars at it then. Then she stars at him.
"Not impressed, are you? Michelle, can I talk to you a second? You know, when I first came here I thought was just going to move in for a few months and help out and get on with my life, but you know what? This is my life! This where I supposed to be right now. Come here. Do you realize, young lady what you have put me through tonight?I was with the most incredible woman in the world - over two years old that is. Anyway, from the moment I heard you were sick, all I could do was think of this face. What is it about this face?" He asked. Michelle giggles.
"Good answer. Good night, kid." Jesse says before heading towards the door. He stops half-way and turned around to look at her.

"Can I get a kiss?" he asks. Michelle looks at him and bites her lip.
"You know something, you little munchkin? I love you."

At least she is with Pam now. And Papouli. They are all together. God......God is so cruel. It wasn't enough that He had to take Pam away from the family. It wasn't enough that He had to take Papouli. He now had to take sweet little Michelle. She wasn't even 10 years old yet. She shouldn't be dead. She was one of the few people that he could talk to about anything. He told her some things that he wouldn't even tell Becky.

"Hey, hey Shorty, hold on a second, come here. Come on, Shorty. Level with me. What's really going on?" Jesse asked. Michelle looked up at him.
"Can't tell you." she said to him. Jesse stared at her dumbfounded.
"Can't tell me? We tell each other everything." he told her.
"Everything?" she said skeptically
"Yeah, well... I never told you this, but... I once bought a Kathie Lee Gifford CD. Oh, boy does it feel good to get that out in the open. All right, it's your turn." he said to her, trying to get her to open up. She took a deep breath.
"Papouli was supposed to come to school today to teach my class a Greek dance." she told him, looking at the ground. Jesse nodded as realization cam over him.
"I'm sorry, kiddo." he said, rubbing her back in a comforting gesture.
"I was afraid if I went to school and Papouli wasn't there, I'd feel sad." she said, continuing without looking at him.
"Michelle, its okay to feel sad." he said to her.
"But if I feel sad, I might cry, and then I can't be brave... for you." she admitted. She looked up at him and her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
"Michelle, where did you get the idea that you had to be brave for me?" he asked her. So that's what it's all about.
"From Stephanie. She said that you were so sad; we shouldn't make you worse." she said to him, almost in a tone that it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh sweetheart, Stephanie... she probably thought she was telling you the right thing to do, but she was wrong. I'm going to talk to her about that. Michelle, we should... we should always share our feelings with each other. That's what makes us a family." He explained to her, trying to shallow the lump in his throut. Michelle got up and walked
away from him.
"I really loved Papouli. I was his little Michelle." she said softly, without turning around to look at him.
"I was his little Jesse. He used to always take care of me. Now, he comes to visit me, and I can't even take care of him." Jesse admitted, feeling the guilt wash over him once more. Michelle turned and sat down next to him.
"It wasn't your fault. His heart was old." she told him.
"I know, Michelle, but it still hurts." Jesse whispered to her.
"It's okay to be sad." she said, repeating what he said before.
"I know - I heard that somewhere before." he told her. They sat silently until Michelle spoke up.
"Uncle Jesse?" she asked. She looked up to him, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Hmm?" he asked, his voice chocked up.
"Is it okay to cry?" she asked, her voice breaking.
"You bet." he said. Michelle and Jesse embraced each other and cried.

I don't think I can do this anymore. I keep losing people I love, over and over again. Pam, Papouli, Michelle.
Who's going to be next? Danny or Joey? Becky or Vicky? Nicky or Alex? DJ or Stephanie? Or maybe him? He didn't think he could bear losing another member of his family. A few years ago, he would have never thought that he could be living like he is now. Surrounded by good friends and family. He used to be a player, not really caring about what happened to the girls he dated. He used to be Dr. Dare. Not really caring at would happen to him as long as he
lived life to the fullest. But he did care now. He cared about a lot of things he cursed in the past. And Michelle played a big part in showing him the real side of life, that he ignored and didn't care about.

He just had to take this one day at a time. Just one day.

Just one.

Starting now.

Fin.

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So....how was it? This took forever to write and I hope its good enough. I have a sequel in mind about the Funeral and

a small collection of POV's from Kimmy, Denise.......ect. What do you think?