"Lorelai!" Bang. Bang. Bang! She woke up with a start and groaned. Rolling over to see the clock. Bang. Bang. Bang. "Lorelai, sugar!"
"Oh my god, Babette. I swear if this isn't important..." bang. Bang. Bang. Lorelai rolled clumsily out of bed and grabbed her robe. She poured herself downstairs and shuffled to the front door. Unlocking it and swinging it open harshly. "Babette, it's six in the morning." She finally opened her eyes and saw panic all over Babette's face. "What happened?"
"It's Luke. There was an accident this morning...he's...he's in the hospital! I don't know what happened, Patty called me about an hour ago and she said that Eastside Tilly saw it happen, as she was coming in from God knows where! Then I didn't know if you knew, so I though, well gosh she's probably asleep and doesn't know-"
"Babette!" Babette stopped talking and looked at Lorelai, tears in her eyes. "Which hospital?"
"Hartford Memorial, sugar!" Lorelai raced back inside, putting on the first outfit she could find, running back downstairs she slipped on the first pair of shoes she found, grabbed her keys and cellphone, then hurried out the door and into the Jeep.
"Come on, Rory, pick up." As she drove down the highway, cellphone pressed to her ear. Getting more frustrated by the second she flipped her phone shut and threw it onto the passenger seat. She took a deep shaky breath and picked up her phone again.
"Hey hon. it's me. There's been an accident, I'm heading to the hospital now. Uh, it's Luke. Call me when you get this." She slipped the phone tightly between her thighs and pulled into the hospital parking lot. She turned the car off and ran into the emergency wing. She stopped just inside the door and looked around, spotting a nurse at the station. "Hi, um, I'm looking for Luke or Lucas Danes." The nurse nodded and tapped away on the computer for a moment.
"Ma'am, he's just been moved up to surgery. He'll probably be moved up to the ICU, they only let family in before visiting hours." Before Lorelai could think she took a deep breath and said,
"I'm his wife."
"Oh, well, you can go up to the ICU and wait there Mrs. Danes." Lorelai nodded and took her time going up to the ICU, she thought she'd be more put together than she was feeling. Her mind was blank, except for thoughts of Luke. She found a chair in the waiting area and closed her eyes. She thought about Luke at Rory's caterpillar funeral. She smiled. She thought about the diner and the way that just walking into that place and having that familiar smell of coffee and burgers wash over her felt like home. She thought about Luke at her house, and all the things he's done for her and Rory, keeping them safe and worrying about them. She thought about the way he made Rory a coffee cake and set up balloons for her on her 16th birthday, how he helped her move into her dorm at Yale. She thought about his eyes, his deep blue eyes that made her heart jump every time he looked at her. The way the slightest touch from his made her skin tingle.
"Mrs. Danes?" Her eyes popped open and she stood. Facing the doctor who looks as though he just got out of surgery. She noticed the time and realised that she must have fallen asleep.
"Yeah, yes?"
"Surgery went well...he's in the ICU recovery and will be moved into a room once his vitals normalise. You will have to prepare yourself, he's a little banged up. A nurse will come to get you when he's being moved." Lorelai nodded.
"Thank you. Uh, doctor?" The doctor looked at her expectantly.
"What happened? I was only told he was in an accident. I didn't get the details."
"A car crash, he had a severe head injury, multiple broken bones and internal bleeding. We stopped the bleeding and he'll be in casts for a few weeks, his head on the other hand, only time will tell. We'll have to run some tests when he wakes up, but we're hopeful." He rested his hand on her shoulder. She nodded.
"Thank you." She turned and looked back at the clock, it's been six hours since he went into surgery. She did fall asleep. She looked at her phone and noticed she had 14 missed calls and 3 voicemails. She listened to them, they were all from Rory.
"Mom!" She heard Rory's voice and turned to see her rushing over. They pulled each other into a hug. "I couldn't get a hold of you, I went to three different hospitals! Is he okay? What happened? Can we see him? Are you okay? How did you find out?"
"I'm sorry, I fell asleep. Babette woke me up and told me. He's still asleep from the surgery...he's got broken bones, car crash..." Lorelai took a deep breath to calm herself. "He was in a car crash this morning. He has multiple broken bones, severe head injury and internal bleeding. He had surgery, bleeding has stopped...they don't know about his head yet. Oh Rory!" A sob burst from her body and Rory pulled her into her arms.
"Oh mom. It's going to be okay. Shh." Rory soothed her, rubbing her back. "Have you had something to eat? Coffee?"
"No and no. I got here at like six thirty and then I must've fallen asleep. Oh my god, I have to call Nicole...he must've been on his way to the diner from Litchfield...oh shoot!" Rory looked at her questioning. "I told the nurse I was his wife. That's why they haven't called Nicole..." she looked wide eyed at Rory's.
"Mom! What are you gonna do? She'll be upset that it took 6 hours...and that you said you were his wife..." Lorelai's face dropped.
"Ugh, I have to call her." Rory nodded. And stood up.
"I'll go find coffee...you do what you need to do."
"Thanks hon." Lorelai sighed heavily and sat back in the chair. She watched Rory walk away and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She dialled the only number she knew that she could possibly find Nicole on.
"Nicole Leahy." Lorelai's heart sank when she heard her voice. She took a deep breath.
"Nicole, its Lorelai."
"Oh, hi. Uh..."
"Luke was in an accident...he's in Hartford Memorial. Can you get here?" She heard Nicole gasp and the phone hung up. She sat back in her chair and waited. Rory came back with coffee and sat next to her as the nurse came over.
"You can go and see him now. He's still asleep but-"
"Thank you." The nurse nodded and turned away to show them to his room. Rory stopped and stilled. "You coming?" Lorelai asked.
"No...uh, you go ahead...I'll wait out here for Nicole." Lorelai nodded and turned to follow the nurse. As she stepped into the room, she heard the beeps from the machine and looked over at Luke. There were tubes running from his arms and wires hanging everywhere. Her eyes welled with tears and she swallowed hard. She tentatively walked over to the bed and pulled a chair over. She took him in. The casts on both of his legs, and one on his left arm. The foam around his neck. She sat down and took his right hand in hers, the only hand that wasn't in a cast.
"Oh, Luke." She squeezed his hand lightly and the heart monitor started beeping faster. Her brow furrowed and she stared at his face. Bruises covered most of it, cuts and scrapes plastered his cheeks and forehead. She looked at the small curl of hair that peeked out from under his bandage wrapped around his head, she smiled a small sad smile. "I was so scared, Luke. I'm so sorry this happened to you. You didn't deserve this." She heard the door open and Nicole stood at the door. Lorelai took her hand away from his and stood up.
"Hi. Uh, he's doing okay...I'll give you a minute." Nicole gave her a small smile and began to leave.
"Lorelai." They both heard a groggy voice call. Nicole looked at Lorelai and Lorelai swallowed hard, not making eye contact with her. "Lorelai." He seemed to be dreaming. Nicole stood still and watched her.
"Well, he doesn't seem to want me here..." Nicole said bitterly and gestured toward her husband.
"Nicole, don't be like that." Lorelai said softly.
"How should I be? I didn't find out he was in an accident from the hospital, I found out from you...six hours after it happened...and I'm standing here listening to my husband call your name in his sleep...what am I supposed to do?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know why he would do that..." Nicole just nodded and dropped her head.
"I do." Nicole slipped out of the room and walked down the hall. Lorelai stood still in the middle of the doorway.
"Lorelai..." she heard again. She looked to Luke and saw his eyes slowly flutter open. She rushed over to him and took his hand again.
"Hey sleepyhead." She said in a whisper. "How do you feel?" He winced as he tried to move his head. "Don't move, Luke."
"What happened? Why am I in the hospital...where-" he stopped talking when he noticed his legs in casts. He looked at the monitors and he coughed.
"You were in an accident. You don't remember?" He shook his head. Footsteps were heard and the doctor came up behind Lorelai.
"Ah, Mr. Danes. You're awake." The doctor took his clipboard and wrote a few things down. He watched the monitor for a moment and scribbled a few more things and then turned to Luke. He took a light pen out of his pocket and checked Luke's eyes. "Well, your light sensitivity looks fine, your vitals have more to be desired but that will come with time." The doctor moved to the foot of the bed and tapped the top of Luke's toes that stuck out from the cast. "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah." He moved to Luke's left and squeezed his fingers.
"That?"
"Yeah." Luke looked over at Lorelai. She smiled at him and nodded.
"Okay well, I'll get the nurse to check on you in a little while. Get comfy, Mr. Danes. I'm sorry to say but you'll be here for a little while yet." Luke rolled his eyes and rolled his head to the side to look away from Lorelai.
"Luke? Do you remember anything?" He slowly rolled his head back to centre and sighed heavily.
"The last thing I remember is Nicole and I having a fight, I got in my car and drove around for a few hours. Where did I crash?" Lorelai sat down and looked at her hand in his. His fingers wrapped around hers, showing no signs of letting go.
"I'm sorry. I don't know." Luke just stared at the opposite wall.
"I need to get this thing off my neck." He cranes his neck to try and loosen the foam support. Lorelai stood and reached over him to unclasp the Velcro.
"I don't think I was supposed to do that." She placed the foam at the foot of the bed and she sat back down. She rested her hand on the bed, near his and sat in silence. He reached his fingers over to hers and pulled her hand into his. She smiled to herself and looked at him. He was still not looking at her. "Luke?"
"Yeah?" Lorelai waited a moment and swallowed.
"What did you fight about?" She whispered. Luke turned his head and stared at her. Silence filled the room, only the beeping from his monitor was heard.
"You."
"Me?"
"I fell asleep." Lorelai looked confused. She didn't say anything. "I fell asleep at the wheel. That's why I crashed..." he waited a moment to see if she was going to speak. She didn't. "I went to Nicole's place last night, we were supposed to have dinner but...you came into the diner so I stayed..." she opened her mouth to say something but he squeezed her hand and kept talking. "When I finally got there, she was angry. I knew she would be but I didn't care. We both went to bed early." Once again she was about to say something but he continued. "She woke me up at about three and started yelling at me because I had said your name in my sleep. So I left, I drove around, I must have fallen asleep and veered off the road." He pulled her hand closer to him and held it a little tighter, afraid she was going to leave.
"Well, you still have your memory." She whispered, she kept her eyes on their interlocked hand. "Nicole was here."
"What?"
"I had to call her. She didn't know." He nodded his head gingerly. She finally looked up at him. His eyes wandered the room.
"Where is she?" He asked.
"She left." Lorelai whispered.
"What? Why?" He chuckled bitterly. "God. I knew it, she doesn't give a crap about me. I get it. Why did she even come in the first place then? If she wasn't even going to wait." Lorelai pulled at his hand to get his attention.
"Luke...she does care. She came in and I was here. You said my name, three times..." she could feel his eyes boring into her. She felt sad for him but she felt something else too, something she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Lorelai, I-" he started to say something when the nurse walked in.
"Hi, sorry. I just have to check his stitches." Lorelai let go of his hand and stood up.
"Oh sorry. I should go check on Rory. I'll be back." She said to Luke.
"Rory's here?" She smiled at him and nodded.
"Yeah. I'll come back in a bit." She gave him a little wave and stepped out of the room. She waited to turn the corner as she burst into tears. Rory stood up from her seat and saw her mom crying.
"Mom? Hey, what's going on? Is Luke okay?" She grabbed Lorelai's shoulders and tried to get her to look at her. "Mom."
"This is all my fault!" Lorelai said between sobs. Rory pulled her in for a hug and rubbed her back.
"How is this any of your fault?" Rory gave her a minute to calm down and pulled her over to the seats. They sat down and Lorelai took a few deep breaths, and wiped her eyes.
"If I hadn't gone into the diner last night none of this would have happened."
"What are you talking about?" Rory pleaded with her, confused.
"He was supposed to go for dinner with Nicole, but I had to get coffee last night after the town meeting...he was late and they fought and he got in the car and...god, it's all my fault." Rory shook her head.
"Mom. This isn't your fault." Rory handed her a cup of coffee. "Sip." Lorelai drank the coffee and sighed deeply.
"He's glad you came." Rory smiled.
"Yeah? Of course I came...he's special." Lorelai smiled at Rory.
"Yeah. He is. Do you want to see him? I think he'd really like that?"
"Where's Nicole?" Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"She left." Lorelai said with a scoff. She felt angry at herself and Nicole. For years people had told her that Luke had feelings for her, she ignore that fact because she didn't want to deal with having to face her own feelings for Luke. She never admitted it, not even to herself. She cared for him a lot. She was terrified after she heard the news, terrified that Luke could possibly not be around anymore. She needed him more than she realised. She couldn't come to terms with the fact that her heart broke when he told her about his cruise and that he'd married Nicole.
Rory didn't ask her mother what had happened. She didn't need to know because deep down she knew her mother was the one that needed to there. It was just a technicality, the Nicole situation. Rory knew it, Nicole knew it. Luke and Lorelai should know.
"I should go back in. You want to say hi?" Rory nodded and stood up. The women walked back into Luke's room as the nurse stepped out. He looked over at Lorelai and Rory.
"Hey." Rory said, getting a little closer to him. "How you feeling?" Luke smiled.
"Bit of a head ache." He said sarcastically. Lorelai watched the two as they chatted. She never took her eyes off him and every few moments or so he would glance over at her. Rory decided to go back to school, she told Luke that she'd come back and see him before the end of the week, she hugged him gingerly so not to hurt him and told him softly that she was glad he is okay.
Lorelai took a deep breath after Rory had left and she sat back in the chair by his bed. Neither of them said a thing. Luke turned his hand, so that his palm was facing up and he flexed his fingers motioning her her hand. She smiled to herself and slowly laced her fingers with his.
"I was so scared." She said softly. Not really saying to him but just putting it out there. He squeezed her hand.
"Lorelai. I'm right here." She laughed.
"You're the one all banged up in hospital and you're trying to comfort me!" She couldn't hold it back, she let a tear fall and let out a sob. He tried to move but all he could do was lift her hand to his bruised lips and kiss the back of her hand lightly.
"I care about you." That was all he said, she stood up and lightly leaned over him and draped her body over his torso, fingers still laced at his side, she buried her face in his neck. He let her hand go and he wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her back softly.
"I'm not hurting you am I?" She asked against his neck.
"Not at all." They stayed like that for a while and finally Lorelai pulled away when her back began to hurt. She looked over him and noticed he was asleep. She sat back down and watched him sleep for a while. A nurse came in with a tray of food and sat it on the table near the wall.
"I'll let him know when he wakes up." Lorelai said quietly. The nurse nodded and walked out. Lorelai lifted the lid on the tray and looked over the food. She grimaced at the slop on the plate and covered it back up. She quickly went to the side of his bed and took the notepad from the table, she scribbled something down and placed the paper into his hand. She grabbed her phone and keys and left. She drove back to Stars Hollow and stopped at Sookie's.
"Sookie! Jackson!" She knocked on the door. Sookie opened the door after a few more knocks and frowned when she saw Lorelai's face.
"Aw honey. How's Luke?" Lorelai cried for the third time that afternoon as Sookie ushered her inside and over to the couch. She brought her some coffee and Lorelai explained everything that happened, including the scene with Nicole.
"He was saying my name, Sookie. He said my name." She said distantly.
"He's been saying your name for years, sweety." Lorelai looked at Sookie and gave her a sad smile. Sookie pulled her in for a hug.
"Can you do me a favour?"
Lorelai got back to the hospital and went straight to Luke's room. She walked in to see Luke sitting up a little further in the bed.
"Hey." She said, putting some things down on the table and walking over to the chair.
"Hey." He smiled at her. He looked over at the bags in her hand. "What's all that?"
"That's dinner. I'm not going to sit here and watch you eat hospital food, Luke." She said matter of factly and pulled the slide bench up so he would be able to eat. She reached into one bag and pulled out a bottle of apple juice and one plastic storage container with grilled chicken and another with salad. She laid it all out on the table in front of him and handed him a fork.
"Wow, Lorelai. Thank you." She smiled at him and nodded.
"Of course." She sat in the chair and pulled out the next bag.
"That's a Luke's bag." He stated. She grinned and bit her lip.
"Well, your dinner is from this fabulous place called Sookie's and as delicious as I'm sure that would be...I felt like something a little more familiar...burger and fries." She grinned at him again and he rolled his eyes but laughed a little.
"Why am I not surprised?" They ate in companionable silence. Making quick glances at each other. Lorelai noticed him having trouble eating a few times but didn't dare ask him if he needed help, she knew he would refuse. A nurse popped into the room and took down some notes and left again and Lorelai picked up the remote to switch on the little over head tv. She could feel him watching her but didn't acknowledge him. She stared at the tv as she flipped through the channels. "You know you don't have to stay, Lorelai."
"I want to." Was all she said. She looked at him and smiled.
"I have some things that I need to talk to you about." He said quickly, as if he didn't really want her to hear it. She looked at him and pressed the off button in the remote. Turning slightly to face him. He rolled his head slowly to the side and looked at her.
"What is it?" She watched his face carefully, noticing him swallowing hard and close his eyes. He sighed and reached his hand out, she took his hand and moved closer.
"If there's one thing that I've learnt from this accident, it's the inevitability of death..." Lorelai took a deep breath, she felt a wave of nervousness course through her body. "I could have died this morning and...I don't want that to happen without you knowing how I feel." He squeezed her hand and ran his thumb over the back of it. He stared into her eyes. "I honestly don't know why I married Nicole. I don't love her, I don't now...I didn't when I married her but I got comfortable with the knowledge that I'd probably never be with you..."
"Luke-"
"Please, let me finish. If I don't do it now, I'll never get the guts to do it again." Lorelai nodded and swallowed. "Lorelai, I've had feelings for you for, oh I don't know...probably seven years or something..." Lorelai gasped at his admission, she knew he felt vulnerable which she could tell was a problem for him. "I think you deserve to know because you're my best friend above all else and I couldn't let you go on being that for me, without knowing." His eyes never left hers, he paused and just looked at her.
"Can I say something?" Luke nodded. She waited for a moment to gather her thoughts. She always knew there was something there. He was one of her best friends, he's always been there for her. She knew that even the most innocent of touches from him gave her goosebumps, she knew that she loved to just sit in the diner and talk to him, she knew that his random acts of kindness like fixing things for her, helping out around the Dragonfly when Tom was busy doing other things, not saying anything to her when she forgets to pay for her coffee, caring for Rory...it all added up in her mind, she knew that he never had an ulterior motive, he did those things because he's a decent and kind man. Lorelai watched the nervousness in his eyes. She felt her face flush. "You know what? I don't have anything to say...I just want to..." her voice trailed off as she stood from her chair, she slowly leaned over him and brought her face close to his, she gently ran her fingers over his bruised face, feeling sad for just a moment. His heart monitor began beeping faster as her mouth descended on his. She kissed him lightly, she pulled away slightly, looking at him, his eyes were closed and his lips still slightly puckered. She smiled and kissed him again, his hand came up and held her cheek. The kiss was so soft and gentle, it sent shivers down Lorelai's spine. She pulled away and waited for him to open his eyes.
"What does that mean?" He asked, his eyes searching hers.
"It means that, you need to figure out what you want to do about that marriage of yours and that...I'll be right here once you do." She placed her hand back into his and switched the tv back on.