Stone pulled up to the house, and Manny stepped out of the car first. He followed the sullen kid inside. Hopefully, Luca's surprise had arrived already, which might lift the kid's spirits. The music shop said they'd deliver it today.

Ava looked up from the table as they walked in. "You're back early?"

"Loni wasn't feeling well enough for visitors today," Stone explained, her face filled with understanding.

"I'm sorry," she said softly as she stepped closer to Manny. "Rest is important for her, though."

"I'm not mad I couldn't see her. I'm worried. They say she's not feeling well; what does that even mean? Why are they just watching her get worse? Why aren't they fixing her goddamn heart!"

"Manny!" Ava exclaimed as she raised a hand to her heart.

"I didn't mean it. I'm sorry I said that," Manny muttered.

"You are understandably upset and worried, but Loni needs us to keep our faith now more than ever. She needs our prayers, not our anger."

He faltered at that, and his lip quivered as he nodded.

"Loni would appreciate how much you care, Kiddo," Stone offered.

"I haven't known her that long. But it doesn't take long to see how special Loni is. When I walked into Leo's to apply, I was so nervous. Luca was sitting at a table, looking so intimidating. The restaurant was so big and beautiful, and I thought I couldn't work at a nice place like that. I almost turned and left."

He paused for a moment as a wistful smile crossed his face. "Then Loni comes out of the kitchen, and, wow. She was so pretty. She looked like she belonged in the movies or something. And she looked at me and smiled, and said, hey come on in, and it wasn't just any smile. I felt welcome in a place I'd never have before. Once I started working there, she always went out of her way to make sure I was good. I heard her telling her dad to be nice to me, and he was too. But not like Loni; no one is as sweet as her." 

"I just... I need her to be okay. This isn't fair, mom." Manny's eyes filled with tears, as were Ava's, as she pulled him into her arms. "It's so unfair. Why her?"

"I know it's not fair, Manny. I know," she soothed him. "Somethings don't make sense. Let's go to the church and say some prayers for Loni today. How does that sound?"

He pulled back and wiped at his eyes. "Maybe a little later. I'm going to go lay down for a bit. I need some alone time."

"Okay, we'll go after lunch."

"Wait." Stone stopped him before he walked up the stairs. "You know who you remind me of?"

"Who?"

"My son-in-law," Stone said. "That's how he always spoke about my daughter. With that same conviction and I knew right away that he was family. And now, so are you; you're part of this family. So I don't ever want to hear you saying you don't belong.  We got you, okay? And we're all going to make sure Loni pulls through. We have to."

"Thanks, Stone." Manny stood there momentarily and then surprised Stone by throwing his arms around him.

Stone noticed Ava watching with teary eyes as they hugged. When they parted, Manny darted upstairs.

"That was very kind of you," Ava said softly.

"It was true." He entered the kitchen and pulled a box of Easy Mac down.

"Let me make lunch." Ava stopped him. "I picked up a few things today."

"I have the cash I keep in a coffee can in the cabinet for food and stuff. Replace whatever you spent with it, and next time grab money from there." Stone frowned, she couldn't afford to be doing that.

"My son and I are eating the food too." She took some chicken, seasoned it, and placed it in a pan. "It's the least I can do after you bought Manny a guitar."

"It did arrive!" Stone perked up. "Good, that'll cheer Manny up."

"I put it in the closet for now. So you can gift it to him. I shouldn't accept it; you've already done too much."

"It's from Luca, and he told me to tell you it's as much for Loni as it is for Manny."

"How so?" She turned to raise a dubious eyebrow.

"It's been bugging Loni that he had to sell his guitar," Stone explained. "Luca thinks it'll be a big cheer-up for her if he can go in and play it for her."

"Since it's for Loni," she agreed with a smile. "I'd have already said yes anyhow, though. I feel bad about him having to sell it, to begin with. Their creative outlets are so important."

As she spoke, she leaned over to put the chicken in the oven, and Stone quickly averted her eyes from her shapely butt. She was slightly older than Kit and Luca but was probably ten years younger than Stone. He had no business checking her out, and he knew it.

"If it makes you feel better, my daughter, at one point, was putting every scrap of extra money into savings to send my nephew Jase to college." Stone offered. "I had custody of him after his folks died."

"Because you couldn't afford to?" Ava asked as she put a pot of water on the stove.

"No, I screwed up and lost his inheritance money at the casino."

"Oh!" Her eyes widened at that.

"I was not a great parent, but Kit and I still had a tight bond. It was just her and I, until we moved here for Jase."

"I understand that. Manny and I have been alone since before he was born," Ava said. "His dad took off when I was still pregnant."

"Asshole," Stone muttered. "Stacey waited until Kit was two. I wake up one day, and she's gone; all she left was a note."

"My word," Ava sighed sadly. "How does a mother leave their child? I can't fathom it."

"I was angry at her for a long time, but eventually, I had to brush it off and keep going. Kit needed me."

"Well, good for you raising a daughter all by yourself," Ava said, not a hint of sarcasm, just genuine honesty in her tone. "It's not always easy, but when it's just the two of you, you do form a special bond. You are a good dad, Stone. A little unconventional, but a good one."

"Thanks. My point wasn't for you to make me feel better, though."

"Well at least you had a roof over her head."

"Ava, don't do that. There are bad parents out there who make bad decisions. You aren't one of them. You were doing everything possible, and Manny was trying to help."

"Thank you for that."

"What is that!?" Stone asked as she dumped some black stuff into the pot of water on the stove.

"Rice."

"Why is it black?"

"Because it's wild rice, it's better for you."

She then pulled a big head of broccoli from the fridge.

"What is that now!?"

"Don't tell me you're never seen broccoli? It's called a vegetable," Ava said in a mocking tone. "It's in the cabbage family. It's full of vitamins and-"

"I know what it is. Why is it on my counter instead of Mac and cheese? Or mashed potatoes or something good."

"It's green, you should like it," Ava teased.

"I'm not eating that crap."

"Stone." She turned and gave him a stern look. "Your daughter is going through a nightmare. She can't have you getting sick too. It's time to start taking care of yourself better."

"You're shaming me again!"

"Call it what you want; you know I'm right," she quipped. "A few vegetables aren't going to hurt you."

"Fine, but I'm not giving up weed," he sulked.

"I wouldn't dare ask that." A smirk tugged at her lips. "Although you could consider switching to edibles."

He looked up with a thunderous look, and she held her hands up in surrender.

"Okay, one battle at a time."

🌹🌹🌹

"Lissa, what are you doing? Loni asked as Lissa pulled her socks off.

"I'm panting your toenails."

"Why?" Loni whined irritably. "My feet are all swollen and gross; leave them alone."

"Because they can be swollen and gross and still have pretty nails," Lissa declared. "It might make you feel better."

"I doubt toenail polish is going to make me feel better."

Loni had woken up feeling awful. She'd been sweating all night and was dehydrated with a terrible headache. Her chest felt heavy, like when you had a chest cold, but different, worse.  Then as the day went on, she kept getting small pulses of pain, almost like cramps in her chest near her heart. Dr. Morgan was extremely concerned about it. Doctors had been in and out all day. They had just taken her in for more chest X-rays and were studying them next door.

All this was taking a toll on Loni that panicky feeling she woke up with never went away and it was making her feel so crabby. She was glad they sent Manny and Andrea home, she'd not be good company today, she'd been snapping at Lissa all morning.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Gus had just walked in. "My sister always said a little color goes a long way."

"Yes! That!" Lissa agreed eagerly. "Which one, blue or pink?"

"Pink," Loni and Gus said at the same time.

"I knew she'd say that," Lissa said gleefully as she got started.

"What did Dr. Morgan say about the scans? Is she talking to my parents?"

"No, she sent them to the cafeteria to get lunch. She's going over them with my dad on the phone now." Gus came over to check the machines as he spoke. "He got on a direct plane last night. He should be here today, soon, hopefully."

"Their bad then?" Loni guessed.

"I didn't see them, Loni," Gus said softly. "Just keep your-"

"Yeah, yeah, keep my spirits up," Loni sighed.

"On the plus side, that's a fabulous shade of pink," Gus offered to make Lissa giggle, and Loni smiled slightly.

"Her feet are still so swollen," Luca's voice was full of worry as he and Kit walked in.

"Oh, uh, Gus hey," Kit looked nervous as she glanced at Gus, and Luca nudged her, but she ignored him.

"I know." Gus was jotting down some stuff from Loni's machines on his clipboard. He set it down and reached for his phone.

"I'm going to make sure my dad has a car ready to pick him up at the airport," Gus said. "I'll be back."

He ducked out of the room quickly. One of the things Loni had observed here was how fast doctors walked, it was seriously impressive.

"Will you just ask him and quit being all weird," Luca said as he glanced at Kit.

"Ask him what?" Lissa asked as she carefully held Loni's foot while applying the nail polish.

"Luca, stop," Kit groaned. "What am I supposed to do, corner him and say, is Stacey Woods your mom?"

"Well yeah.." Luca said as Gus suddenly walked back in.

"Forgot my clipboard," Gus explained as he went to grab it.

"Who is Stacey Woods?" Lissa asked.

"What?" Gus froze and looked at her with questioning eyes. "How do you know my mom's name?"

"Ding ding!" Luca exclaimed, to which Kit glared at him.

"What is going on?" Loni asked curiously.

"Congratulations, you just got an uncle," Luca quipped.

"What!?" Gus and the two girls all asked at the same time.

"Luca, seriously." Kit shot him a dark look and then looked at Gus. "Ignore my husband. His humor has terrible timing."

"What is going on, Kit?" Gus's eyes flashed with the same confusion Loni was feeling.

"Stacey Woods is my mother too," Kit said, causing, Loni and Gus's jaws to drop.

"What?" Gus breathed out in a stunned tone. "I don't understand. How?"

"Dr. Blake is our uncle?" Lissa questioned as she put the top back on the nail polish. "How, come we never met him or your mom then?"

"Because she left her as a baby," Loni explained.

"No. My mom wouldn't do that." Gus was shaking his head.

"I know this is confusing." Kit looked at Lissa for a moment and then back at Gus. "It all came to me when you said your name. The one time I spoke with her, her two kids were in the background, and-"

"Stacey Woods is not an uncommon name," he cut in. "This is probably a mistake."

"Then why do I look just like your sister?" Kit questioned. "You said it yourself. You said eerily so."

"It could be a coincidence," Gus's tone was faltering.

Dr. Morgan burst into the room with several interns and Dr. Gupta, interrupting the tense moment. Her grim face made Loni's gut twist.

"What is it?" Loni asked.

"Lissa, why don't you go outside, hon?" Dr. Morgan suggested.

"I want to hear too!"

"It's fine. Just tell us what's going on." Kit walked over and gave Lissa's shoulder a squeeze as Luca came to clasp Loni's hand.

"The damage to Loni's heart is getting much worse. The left ventricle is showing severe inflammation. We can't allow the damage to get any worse."

"What does that mean?" Luca asked, tightening his grip on Loni's hand.

"We need to repair it," Dr. Morgan said.

"Surgically?" Kit questioned in a frightened whisper.

"You have to do surgery on my heart?" Loni repeated as Luca's grip became tighter. "Dad, loosen up."

"Sorry." He loosened his hold, but his jaw remained tense.

"Yes, we do. Loni, I know you're scared. I've done this procedure many times," Dr. Morgan said gently. "Dr. Blake Senior is on his way and will scrub in with me when he arrives. In addition, Dr. Blake Junior will be right there too."

"Oh god," Kit sobbed.

"Mom?" Lissa whimpered.

"Dr. Blake Junior will keep you two updated throughout this whole thing." Dr. Morgan promised.

"You have put her through heart surgery?" Luca finally spoke, his voice hardly a whisper.

"When?" Loni asked nervously.

"Right now. We can't waste any time."

🌹🌹🌹

"Why are we in here? Why did they tell us not to bring Lissa? It's bad. That means it's bad." Luca was firing off questions as he paced Dr. Morgan's office.

Kit meanwhile sat at the extended meeting table, wringing her hands. It had been eight hours since their little girl had been wheeled off to surgery. Finally, Gus, the brother she was still trying to wrap her head around, came and said Loni made it through surgery, but he looked grim. He told them to wait in here. Lissa was passed out, and he suggested they leave her to sleep and talk to her later. In Gus's opinion, whatever they were about to tell them was too much for Lissa to hear. That was terrifying them both.

Finally, Gus came back into the room with two interns.

"What's going on? What's happening?" A panicked Kit asked.

"My dad will be in soon to talk to you." Gus sat in front of Kit. "But I haven't told him yet—"

Dr. Morgan and a tall, dark-haired man in blue scrubs walked in. Luca immediately stood up and walked over to them.

"What's happening!? Talk to us, please."

"Mr. Donato, I assume?" The doctor Kit assumed was Gus's dad Dr. Johnathan Blake responded.

"Call me Luca, please tell us what's going on with Loni?"

"I suggest sitting down, Luca," he said calmly.

Why? Why would he tell him that?

"I'm not doing anything until you tell me what's going on!"

Kit found herself speechless, her heart racing as her stomach knitted with worry.

"I was able to repair the damage to her left ventricle... for now."

"What does that mean, for now?"

"The Brugada syndrome is aggressively attacking Loni's heart, and it's going to continue to do so. I can't control the condition with her heart as damaged as it is. Which means that what I did will only buy her time, and we'll be right back here, again. Each time worse then the last."

He paused, and Kit took in Gus's face, his eyes... they looked so lost. Why? What did that mean?

"So what now, what's next?" Luca asked.

"First, Dr. Morgan will get her on the national donor list."

"What?" Luca gasped as Kit felt a sob escapes her throat.

"I'm sorry to say this bluntly, but time is limited," Dr. Blake continued, his eyes set on Luca as he spoke. "Loni's heart is failing fast, within a month her organs will start shutting down, if not sooner. Not to mention the multitude of other things she's at risk for, including cardiac arrest. We have to act now."

"Okay, okay, than act," Luca cried out. "What do we do? How do we get her a heart?"

"Unforntently, It could take years to get a viable heart. In the meanwhile, there's something we can do to buy her time A surgery we call a hail Mary, because it's often used to buy patients time while on the heart transplant list."

Hail Mary, heart transplant... Kit was stunned silent her eyes darting from one person to the next.

"Dad.." Kit noticed Gus's eyes were wet with tears as he stood up.

"Just a moment, Gus," Dr. Blake looked annoyed to be interrupted.

"But—"

"This is a procedure in which we'd transplant what's called an LVAD into Loni's heart. It's essentially a device that would assist her left ventricle in pumping blood to her heart. We'd still have to monitor her often. But it would—"

"Dad, stop!"

"Gus, what in the world?"

"We don't need it," Gus said. "The Hail Mary surgery. We don't need it."

"Son, I know what I'm doing; this isn't the time to question me."

"Heart transplant? My baby needs a heart transplant!?" Kit finally found words, and they left her throat as a sob.

"Oh, Cricket!" Luca turned and raced over to her, gathering her in his arms "I got you, baby," she collapsed into his arms as he held her tight.

Meanwhile the older Dr. Blake gasped loudly. Kit looked up to find his stunned dark eyes on her face.

"Cricket?" Dr. Blake breathed out. "It can't be.. "

"Dad, that's what I was trying to tell you," Gus said, but his dad hadn't taken his eyes off Kit.

"The resemblance," a stunned Dr. Blake muttered.

"Kit and Gus are brother and sister, and Kit looks just like his sister. We got all that already. Can we get on with what we need to do for Loni? This surgery, when are we doing this? How soon? Please talk to us!" Luca begged as he held Kit tightly in his arms.

"We don't need the Hail Mary," Dr. Blake repeated Gus's earlier words as his eyes filled with sadness.

"What? But you said—"

"We don't need it, because there is already a heart for Loni," Gus explained.

"What where?" Kit asked.

"It'll be easier to show you." Gus rose to his feet and so did Dr. Johnathan Blake.

"Let's go."