Based on the wonderful "Gilmore Girls" television series and characters created by…not me!

Accidents Happen

Chapter One Message Delivered & Received

"She was in an accident," Luke explained, quietly hissing into the telephone. He was afraid Lorelai would hear him and wake up. He was on his cell and standing in a hallway.

"What do you mean an accident?" Jess asked, stunned. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She was being Rory! She saw a dog that had been hit by a car on the side of the road and she stopped to check on it. She was on the phone with Lorelai to find out Paul Anka's vet's number when she was hit."

"She was hit? By a car?"

"It was a hit and run," Luke tried to explain. It was so hard because he didn't know much. "Lorelai heard the accident over the phone, so the police, ambulance, fire department, and National Guard showed up within minutes of the accident."

"Where is she? How is she? Where's Rory?"

"She's in the hospital – in Hartford. She's in ICU. She's unconscious – in a semicoma according to the doctors. She keeps talking, mumbling gibberish mostly, but she's more coherent when her grandfather is reading to her and while Lorelai is eating around her. The last couple days, she's been talking more clearly and she keeps saying your name."

"My name?"

"Yeah, Jess. She's calling for you."

"Why? Why me? Why now? What about her boyfriend, Logan or something, right? That ass – what about him?"

"They broke up."

"What?"

"At Rory's graduation party, he proposed. She told him no and he wouldn't take no for an answer. He left. He moved to San Francisco."

"Really? That sucks."

"You sound so broken up about it. Now, listen to me carefully, Jess," Luke said in his serious business voice that always got Jess' attitude up. "You will take some time off work and you will get into that hunk of scrap metal you call a car and you will drive your ass to Hartford and you will come and talk to Rory."

"I don't know," Jess started, but Luke cut him off.

"Jess, I know you as well as I know myself. You still love Rory."

"That doesn't matter anymore."

"Is there someone else?" Luke asked, already knowing the answer.

"No," Jess replied adamantly.

"Then what?"

"She doesn't love me."

"She keeps asking for you," Luke told him. "She hasn't responded to me, Lorelai, her grandmother, her dad – anyone. She wants you, Jess."

"She can't."

"She can and she does. Jess – come home."

"Okay, so I come home and then she wakes up. What happens then? I'm back to being the ex-boyfriend in Philly? I've done that already and it's not my favorite gig, if you know what I mean."

"Lorelai and I are back together. Anything can happen."

"When?"

"About a month ago, right before Rory's accident."

"A month?" Jess yelled. "She's been unconscious and in the hospital for a month and you're just telling me now?"

"Things were happening here that had to be taken care of."

"I need to finish up my shift here tonight. I'll get on the road first thing in the morning."

"She's at Hartford Hospital in Room 213. We'll be in the family room at the end of the hall. Lorelai's completely relocated there. She hasn't left the hospital since Rory was admitted."

"I'll keep in touch, Luke. She'll be okay."

"She better be."

Jess sat in stunned silence for minutes that quickly turned to hours. He was in shock. Rory, his perfect Rory, hurt, injured, broken, probably confused that thinking God-knows what.

In a semicoma: what the hell was a semicoma, anyway? The way he saw it, a person was either in a coma or not – none of this semicoma crap. He decided to Google it and, thanks to WebMD, he now knew that this wasn't an imaginary diagnosis.

Rory. She had been hit by a car. Rory Gilmore, a girl, no, a woman, who had never hurt anyone in her life was unconscious. She was probably really hurt – he kept thinking of questions he should have asked Luke when they were on the phone.

He did what Rory always did – a habit he picked up from her, one of many – and he made a list. He started jotting down questions for Luke and Lorelai and the doctors. On another sheet of paper, he started listing books and CDs to pack. He got on the phone with his partners at the publishing house and explained the situation.

"Man, do what you've gotta do."

Jess took the advice he'd been given and he ran with it. He threw his stuff into his trusty Army surplus green duffle and packed a box full of books, notebooks, CDs, and journals. Lugging the box and carrying his duffle over his shoulder, Jess made his way six blocks from his apartment to the parking lot where he kept his car. After a quick stop at the ATM and then at the gas station for fuel for the car and himself, he hopped on the highway northward bound: to Connecticut, his past and, with any luck, his future.

He drove straight through, stopping only once for something to eat and to use the bathroom.

When he arrived in Hartford, Jess went straight to the hospital to see Rory. He parked and entered the hospital from the opposite end from Rory's room, so he walked for what seemed like miles before he found himself standing at a set of glass double doors leading to the ICU.

Jess froze. He couldn't walk through the doors. He was afraid of what he would see and how she would look. He wanted to see her how he saw her in his mind. Rory Gilmore, the most beautiful girl in the world with smooth, soft skin, dark brown hair, and huge blue eyes. He was scared. He didn't want to see her the way he expected to: bruised and cut skin, broken bones, and hooked up to tubes and machines.

"Jess," a voice called from behind him. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Lorelai, I'm so sorry," Jess said, turning to look at Lorelai. She looked exhausted, not the full of life woman he had always known. The stress of the past weeks showed on her face and in her voice.

She walked to him slowly and the faintest hint of a smile fluttered to her lips for the briefest of moments. She pulled him to her into what could only be described as a motherly hug.

"What the hell was that?" Jess asked when Lorelai pulled herself away.

"That was a relieved mother thankful that there is a new glimmer of hope."

"How is she doing?" Jess asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet, recovering from the open display of affection.

"Come on. You can see for yourself."