Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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RORY

"Mom!" her arms were around me as she rocked me back and forth while my dad accepted a bow from Slydar then put his hands on his hips, giving my man the once over. And five - four - three—

"What do we have here?" Dad asked, sitting on the sofa in front of Slydar's Djembe. His hands started a beat on the drum, and Slydar pulled me into a dance. I laughed at him and stepped back, bouncing my hips and snapping my arms up just like my mom was doing. That's how Slydar learned to dance Bhangra like the Shurwinn: by copying me and my mom bouncing about.

Dad was playing a beat from our home world that wasn't really meant for Slydar's drum, but it still worked for dancing. Until Slydar showed him how Dliptonians played the Djembe, and it was too wild for Bhangra, so we stepped into something more of a combo Florian and Shurwinn. A mad dance of freedom and passion.

Sly let the beat die. "Anybody hungry? I know a diner."

So we went to a little diner on the edge of town and ate simple food served by a skinny kid who brought us cinnamon pie and hot coffee. My dad entertained us with silly stories of his latest music students: a ten-year-old boy had gotten sick during rehearsal and puked into his guitar, so he'd taken off all the strings and cleaned the vomit out of the inside so it wouldn't stink for all eternity.

Yeah, my dad was an entertainer. I have no idea if there was any truth to the story.

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Mom updated me on everything she'd packed for me: all my winter gear and then some, plus my favorite jammies which I'd left in the dryer at home. I rolled my eyes at that because they were the oldest thread-bare short shorts and cami, and like, I so didn't want them. That's why I'd "forgotten" them at home.

In the simplicity of that diner, with my parents around me, being my parents, and sweet cinnamon pie, and hot, steamy coffee, I almost forgot that Muller was having surgery the next day.

SLYDAR

"Hey little Tyke, all's okay," I bounced my one-year-old nephew, soothing his mind, emotions, and croupy body. Yeah, he was a sick kid, and we were in the cybernetics surgery waiting room like we had been for three days. His croupy crying slowed, and little Tyke started to go limp in my arms. Finally.

His mom was asleep on the floor, earbuds in. His dad, my brother Dav, went out for a smoke break twenty minutes ago. Odd for a man who doesn't smoke. My other sibs and their spouses were in various stages of apoplexy like me, and Rory'd gone down the hall to take a call from a client. Her emotions felt like she was trying to calm a tantrumming toddler.

Yeah, it was a stellar day for the Joon family at Nineton Hospital. Tyke fell fully asleep, thank the Cosmos, so I kept rocking him until the door opened. Soft smile lighting her face, a tired Dr. Marks came over to us and spoke to my dad.

"The surgery went well, Slick. It'll be a bit before he's settled in his room, so the nurse will come and get you when it's time. You've already gotten news from the oncologist, right?"

Dad nodded. Dr. Samsen'd said that the early reports on the lymph nodes were good, only one affected, the others clear. It'd felt like the first hopeful news we'd had in weeks. Muller would need chemical treatments, but for Stage III, it wasn't terrible.

"So, you've already been through cybernetics surgery once. I'm not going to tell you how difficult it is; you already know. But I can say that it went well, and I expect Muller to heal quickly."

"We can't thank you enough, Dr. Marks. Please, go home and rest. We'll be grateful to you for the rest of our lives."

"Sunshine, Joon family."

It was another couple of hours before my dad woke up, and three days of hospital waiting room hadn't prepared us for how that went.