Dennis shaking his head as his only reply just made Rory feel worse. He was not dying. Rory wasn't letting that happen, not after everything he'd been through. He didn't even have a word to say, and Rory felt her level of upset rising, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had never wanted her brother dead, not ever. Not even when she had herself convinced she hated him, and she would say everything horrible thing she could think of just to get her family off her back. "I swear, if you die on me, I will never forgive you. You are family, you are not dying." He hadn't said anything, so Rory had to. Every time she placed emphasis on a word, it sounded a tiny bit closer to a sob.
But she wasn't crying. She wouldn't cry. "You were always what they wanted," she said, but she shook her head and immediately added "It doesn't matter. Right now, you are all that matters. Dad didn't leave me, I refused to go with him. He wanted to get our family back together, after Mom died...and I said no. I said I wouldn't leave. Dennis, I should've gone with him in the first place."
This time, when Rory sighed, the exhale was broken with emotion that was threatening to spill over. She held his hand a bit tighter, as if that would help him somehow. As if that could fix what had been stolen from him. "Den..." One tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm..."