A/N: Yes, I know, I really do not need to be writing and/or posting a fourth GG fic, and yet! So, I originally had this idea a long time ago, and actually started writing in October... 2016! lol Then I realised I had no idea where to go after Chapter 1, and there were all these other stories that I wanted to write more, so I shelved it. Then not long before Christmas 2017, I pulled it out again and realised I suddenly knew where I wanted to go next. Much planning and plotting later and I'm in a position where I feel confident enough to write the entire story and to share it with all of you. So, here goes, people. You ready for another Literati adventure with me?

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters (and any recognisable dialogue) from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks who aren't me.

Chapter 1

"I love you."

It was maybe the very last thing Rory ever expected to hear from Jess in that moment. She had run a million different scenarios in her head over the last six months, picturing when and where they might see each other again, what each of them might say or do. This was never how the scene played out, not once.

Before that, when they were together, she had waited for the day when these three magic words would pass his lips, when he would finally tell her he felt that much. She was pretty sure she was feeling it too at that time and would have said it back, but now? Now after everything, Rory could hardly process what she was hearing, or what she was seeing.

Jess was running. Again. No sooner had he finished speaking than his legs carried him from her, over to his car and then he was gone. The headlights flashed past her and it was done. He had left her standing alone one more time, and she hadn't even been given the chance to think of a reply, a response, anything.

It was Lorelai who found her, what might have been five minutes or an hour and a half later, Rory really had no concept of the time. Her mom asked what had happened, and Rory told her, all in monotone, all without feeling. She didn't know what to feel, not anymore. So much had happened with her and Jess, and she had spent what was probably way too much time going over and over it in her head. Just when she thought she was okay, that she had it all figured out, he threw her a curveball with 'I love you' written on it.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with that?" she asked, finally looking and sounding like she was having an emotional response. "I mean, who does that? Just blurts it out and then runs away? That's... that's not normal!"

"I'm sorry, hon," said Lorelai, looking pained.

There were a hundred things she could say about Jess' behaviour before, but now was different. Now things had changed. He told Rory he loved her, and that was pretty huge. It'd be a big deal for anyone, but for all that Lorelai knew about Jess, she knew damn well it was a much bigger thing that a guy like him had said those words than say Dean, for example.

"I can't. I can't talk about it anymore. I don't even want to think about it," said Rory then, brushing the whole situation aside with a wave of her arm. "We came here to have fun and that's what we're going to do."

Lorelai wanted to stop her. She wanted to tell her it was unhealthy to bottle up what she was feeling or pretend what just happened with Jess never occurred. That would probably be good advice, but when it came to Rory's love life, Lorelai already knew she had meddled way too much. She hadn't helped when her daughter was caught between devotion to Dean and attraction to Jess. She had tried to be of use when the little hoodlum ran away, but it was tough to find the right way to be supportive and positive all of the time. She never liked Jess, she was glad he was gone, and yet at the same time, Lorelai hated that he left like that, because she saw how it broke Rory's heart.

If Rory wanted to talk of other things, Lorelai would comply, for now at least. She hoped rather than believed that Jess and his love confession was so easy to brush aside, highly doubting it was really true.

They were on their third hotdog each when Luke came to find them. Rory was pitching balls at bottles and going insanely wide. Lorelai was trying to encourage her to aim better, but the third ball went sailing over the top of its target just like all the rest.

"Lorelai, have you seen Liz?" Luke asked her desperately.

"Er, no. I thought she and T.J. left a while back," she told him, forehead furrowing at the almost crazy look in his eyes. "Luke, what happened? You look like you're about to have a seizure."

"It's... It's Jess," he blurted out, mindful of Rory being present, but also knowing he had to speak the truth here. "He was in a car accident."

"Oh my God!" Rory gasped, her gloved hand covering her mouth, food falling to the ground unnoticed. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "He's alive. The hospital called me. They tried Liz's number but couldn't get through, and I was listed on the records as his guardian from before, so they tried the diner. If I hadn't been in there at that exact second..." he trailed off, shaking his head.

Lorelai gripped his arm.

"Luke, it's okay," she promised him. "It'll be okay. C'mon, I'll drive you to the hospital."

"I can drive," he insisted, but Lorelai shook her head.

"In this state, no you can't. Now come on, my Jeep is right over here."

"I'm coming too," said Rory, rushing up behind them. "Mom, I have to," she insisted when Lorelai looked set to argue.

"Okay, no time for arguments now," her mother agreed, encouraging her daughter to hurry.

Heaven only knew how much time they had. Lorelai never liked Jess Mariano, but she wouldn't wish a car wreck on the kid. Besides, Luke and Rory both cared about him, and that was reason enough for Lorelai to want Jess to be okay. Until they got to the hospital, they wouldn't know for sure what they were dealing with.

Strapping herself into the driver's seat, she started up the engine. A quick check to see that Luke had his safety belt fastened and a call to Rory in back for the same, and then they were off. Lorelai ran the one red light that Stars Hollow had without even caring. Taylor could kiss her ass, she had bigger things to worry about.

The whole way to the hospital, Luke was using Lorelai's cell to try to call Liz, but no luck. Either she had her phone turned off or was getting no reception. He left a couple of messages, but when he tried to leave a third, even more frantic and panicked than the other two had been, Lorelai reached to take her cell back from his hands.

"She'll call back if and when she can," she insisted, trying to keep her eyes on the road so they weren't the next ones landing up in hospital. "No use giving her multiple reasons to panic until we know how bad the situation is."

Lorelai glanced in the rear-view and saw tears in Rory's eyes. Her baby girl had already been through so much thanks to this little punk, and now one more thing. Not that Lorelai could necessarily blame Jess for the car wreck. These things were called accidents for a reason, otherwise they would be called on purposes. Still, she kind of wished Luke's nephew had never set foot in the Hollow. Probably would have saved a lot of heartache in the long run.

The hospital came into view and Lorelai prepared to pull into a space in the lot. Last time she had been there, Luke had been driving, and it was Lorelai herself with a relative in critical condition. It made her feel bad for her negative thoughts about Jess. There were plenty of things she could say about her father that weren't so nice, and were well deserved, but when he was lying in that hospital bed two Christmases ago, she would have given anything to switch places with him and not have him suffer like that. A quick glance at Luke proved he was having very similar thoughts about Jess. Lorelai took a deep breath, got the Jeep parked up and turned off the engine.

"Let's go," she said, moving to get out.

Luke and Rory followed, and they piled into the building, all at a quickened pace. The nurse at the desk was shockingly helpful and directed them to the right place. Within seconds a doctor appeared, asking if they were the family of Jess Mariano.

"I'm Luke Danes, I'm his uncle," Luke confirmed. "Where is he? How is he?"

"He's stable," she informed him. "Your nephew has been very lucky Mr Danes. Initial checks show no broken bones and no internal injuries. The only concern will be if he doesn't wake up in the next few hours"

"Wake up?" Lorelai echoed. "He's unconscious?"

The doctor nodded. "He has been since the impact of the accident, but as I say, he's stable and there are no other injuries, at least nothing beyond minor scrapes and contusions."

"But he hasn't woken up yet," said Rory, eyes wide and face ashen. "That's not good."

"It's fairly normal actually," the doctor told her. "The body and the brain need time to recover from the shock and impact. We're keeping a close eye on him and if all goes well, he'll wake before too long. Of course, even then he will need to stay here for at least twenty-four hours so we can assess his condition, but really we're working on ifs and buts until he comes around."

"Can I see him?" asked Luke then, adjusting his hat and clearly still reeling from the shock of it all.

"Yes, of course," said the doctor, calling to a nurse to please show them the way.

"It should really be no more than two at a time," she said awkwardly at the door.

"It's fine," said Lorelai. "You go, Luke," she insisted, putting an arm round her daughter. "We'll wait right here."

Rory opened her mouth to protest then changed her mind. She wanted to see Jess, to see he was okay. At the same time, the thought of facing him as he was now terrified her. She wasn't sure how she would react to seeing him injured and unconscious. She backed up from the door and out of Lorelai's grasp.

"Rory, sweetie?" her mother said worriedly.

"I... I, er... You should go be with Luke. He needs support," said Rory shakily. "I'll go look for coffee."

She was gone before Lorelai could argue, and though she thought about running after her, there seemed little use in trying. Rory had a point about Luke needing support right now. He was always, always there for them, and for Jess, actually. Now he needed someone and Lorelai knew it ought to be her. Taking a deep breath, she stepped in through the door in time to hear Luke speaking to Jess.

"...and you're gonna be just fine. You're tough, it runs in the family," he insisted, hand on his nephew's arm. "You're gonna be just fine."

"I'm sure you're right," said Lorelai, laying a hand on Luke's shoulder. "I know we didn't always get along, but he is the most stubborn kid I ever met in my life, aren't you, Jess?" she said to the unconscious young man in the bed. "You're not gonna let a little thing like a car crash slow you down."

Luke brought his hand up to rest on Lorelai's own atop his shoulder. She was being so great today, he wasn't sure how he would've handled this moment without her. It was so strange, because Jess looked basically fine. There was a minor cut over his eye, a bruise forming on his cheek, some similar marks on the upper part of his chest that was on show, but mostly he just seemed to be asleep. Luke was tempted just to shake him, yell at him to wake up, like all those mornings when he was going to be late for school or was needed to help in the diner. That wasn't going to work this time.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," he said sadly. "Things were supposed to change when he came here. I was supposed to help."

"You did help, Luke," Lorelai assured him, squeezing his shoulder. "You did so much, and you're here when he needs you, again."

Outside the door, Rory hovered, with paper cups of coffee clasped in her hands. She couldn't go in even if she wanted to, and yet seeing only a glimpse of Jess through the door was enough to bring tears to her eyes again.

Lorelai turned when she heard movement beyond the doors. She patted Luke's shoulder and then left him a moment.

"Rory? Honey, are you-?"

"Can I go in? Please?" she asked urgently.

"Sure. I'll keep the coffee company," Lorelai agreed, taking the drinks from her daughter.

Rory rushed in through the doors and stalled a few steps from the bed.

Luke rose to meet her.

"Hey, Rory. Um, you wanna sit?" he offered her his chair since it seemed to be the only one.

She slowly shook her head and approached the bed, her eyes fixed on Jess' face. He looked so normal, so like himself. It was a relief, and yet so strange. There was barely any sign of the accident on him, and yet he was in danger until he woke.

"He looks so peaceful," she said, shaking her head. "He must be okay, right?"

"I'm sure he will be," said Luke, finding bravery he didn't know he had because he just had to right now. "Um, you wanna stay a while? I should go and try calling Liz again."

Rory nodded without a word, hardly acknowledging Luke was even there. She couldn't think of anything but Jess, she wasn't aware of anyone else.

"I know you have this tendency to say what you want to say and then run away, just to make it impossible for people to respond, but this is taking things a little far, Jess," she told him, the moment they were alone. "Why would you do this? Why would you tell me you love me and then...? Not that you meant to crash your car, I know that," she said, shaking her head, wiping away another tear. "Jess, you have to be okay. You drive me crazy and you make me so mad, but you can't... you can't just..."

Rory stopped talking, physically flinching when she realised Jess' hand just moved. Maybe she imagined it, but watching closely she noticed it happen again.

"Jess?"

His eyelids moved. They didn't open at first, but they definitely moved, and then his hand again.

"Mom!" Rory bellowed out into the hall.

Lorelai immediately came running, in time to see Jess open his eyes, looking more than a little panicked.

"Jess?" she checked. "Hey, don't freak out, everything's fine," she promised him, realising fast that Rory was in no position to calm the guy down in her own state of panic. "You were in an accident and you're in the hospital, but you're gonna be fine, I promise."

"Are you a doctor?" asked Jess, slurring a little, looking out of it still.

"No, Jess. It's me, it's Lorelai," she said, smiling some.

The frown on his face was a little concerning, but not much. It wasn't as if she was a likely candidate for keeping watch at Jess Mariano's bedside so she kind of understood the confusion.

"Jess, we were so worried," said Rory then, getting his attention.

Still the frown remained on Jess' face as he glanced between the girls. His hand went to his head that ached like hell, and then he asked the only question that came to mind.

"Do I know you?"

To Be Continued...