Panic
A/N: This is a preview of things to come in my other story, Lightning. PLEASE READ LIGHTNING.
Jess sat in the waiting room of the ER at Lenox Hill Hospital staring at his bandaged hand. He wasn't allowed to leave until someone came to pick him up, but there was no one to pick him up. He was alone. He had been for years. He didn't really mind being alone. It was just in situations like this that he wished he had someone. Luke and Lorelai had been married for twenty-three years. The wedding was the last time he had spoken to either one of them. There was no bad blood between them. Only time had come between them. Time, what a bitch
He looked back down at his hand, preparing to zone out some more. This was not in the cards, however. For he was ripped from his thoughts when a number a paramedics came slamming through the front doors with a gurney holding a girl who looked to be about twelve years old. She was strapped in tightly with a neck brace and a bloody bandage around her head. He cringed and looked down at his shoes until he heard something that sent a surge of panic through his blood stream.
"Lorelai Gilmore. Aged twelve. Looked like a hit and run." One of the men pushing the gurney read from a sheet. "Here, see if you can find the number for her family in this." He added, handing a pink school bag to another person.
By this time Jess had leapt from his seat to get a better view of this girl. She had caramel skin and dark, curly hair that had been pulled into two, messy pigtails. No. She couldn't be related to his Lorelai Gilmore. How many other Lorelai Gilmore's were there? He was still panicking in his mind when the girl opened her eyes in a hazy manner, revealing two strikingly blue eyes. Oh God.
Without taking the time to talk himself out of it, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number that he had been unable to forget.
"Luke's." The gruff voice on the other end answered.
"Does Rory have a twelve year old daughter?" Jess asked. No time for hellos.
"Jess?" Luke was struck still.
"Yes, it's me. Please answer the question." Jess pleaded.
"Yeah. Lola's twelve." Luke answered with confusion evident in his voice.
"Oh God." Jess nearly whimpered.
"What happened?" Luke asked with growing fear.
"There was an accident. Call Rory and tell her to get to Lenox Hill Hospital immediately." With that Jess hung up.
"Was that Jess Jess?" Lorelai asked from her seat at the counter in Luke's.
"Yeah." Luke was searching through his papers for Rory's number, too distracted to realize that Lorelai would have the number.
"Well, what did he want?" Lorelai prodded with a smile, but the smile disappeared when she saw the panicked look on her husband's face.
"There was an accident. I need to call Rory, but I can't find her number. Where is her number?!" Luke threw his papers across the room. Lorelai had only seen him get this panicked once or twice in her life. Something awful must have happened.
"Luke! I have her number, just tell me what to tell her." Lorelai was trying to stay calm to make up for Luke's panic, but it was very difficult when she didn't have any information.
"Tell her to get to Lenox Hill Hospital immediately." Luke said after taking a deep breath. "Everybody out!" he shouted to the customers. "Lola was in an accident." He told his wife before taking her hand and leading her out to the truck.
Jess was still sitting in the waiting room, but now he was staring at the door. Waiting. Suddenly, a familiar woman came barreling through the double doors. She was wearing a dark business suit. He hair was just above her shoulders and she'd let it curl, but she was unmistakably Rory.
"I'm looking for my daughter, Lorelai Gilmore. I was told she was brought in here. There was an accident or something. I don't know. I just need to find my kid." Rory was on the verge of panicked tears as she spoke to the receptionist.
"Rory." Jess let her name roll off his tongue as he came up beside her.
"Jess." She whispered as she pulled him into a hug. "I need to find my baby." She let a small tear fall down her cheek before she pulled away.
"I saw the paramedics bring her in. They think it was a hit and run." He explained. Twenty-three years of silence fell away. This was too important for awkwardness. "I saw her and knew she was yours." He added for no real reason. "She's beautiful." He said sincerely.
"Thank you." She let a small smile sit on her lips.
"Rory!" A tall, black man called from the entrance of the emergency room.
"Tade." Rory ran into his arms and buried her head in his neck.
"Ror, what happened? Where is she?" He was rapidly growing more panicked.
"Jess said they think it was a hit and run. I don't know where she is. The receptionist didn't tell me." Rory answered with fresh tears spilling from her eyes.
"Jess? Jess Jess?" he asked. "Why is he here?" Tade was completely confused now.
"I don't know. He was just here and he saw Lola and called Luke." By this point, Jess had wandered in their direction a bit. "Oh, Jess this is my husband, Tade. Tade, this is Luke's nephew Jess.
"Hello." Jess greeted. Wow. Husband. This was Rory's husband. He was not what he had expected, to say the least.
"Hi." Tade nodded. "Alright, I'm going to speak with the receptionist. You should call Blue." He kissed his wife's head before walking over to the front desk.
"Blue?" Jess asked without thinking.
"My son." Rory filled in the blank as she took out her phone.
"Oh." Jess exhaled. It really had been a long time.
"Blue," Rory spoke into the phone. "Honey, I'm at Lenox Hill, your sister was in an accident. I need you to stay with Frankie." There was the garbled sound of a voice on the other end. "No, don't come here. Blue!" she closed the phone. "Kids." She shook her head at Jess.
"Yeah, I hear they're a handful." He sympathized.
"Yeah. You never know what kind of trouble they're going to get into." Rory let a sob escape from her throat as more tears began to fall.
Tade saw her crying from across the room and sat down beside her, pulling her into a warm hug. "Lola was taken to the operating room. There was some internal bleeding, but she said that we shouldn't get too panicked." He informed his wife as he gently rocked her back and forth. They sat in relative silence for what seemed like hours, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes.
"Mom! Dad!" All three looked up from their somber staring. Jess watched as a tall, dark boy with short, curly hair and bright, blue eyes ran up to Rory and her husband. He had a seven or eight year-old boy in tow behind him. Rory got up and pulled her older son into a hug. "Is she ok?" the sixteen year-old boy asked with a look of panic in his dazzling eyes.
"Oh, honey, we don't know yet." Rory replied honestly. "Oh yeah, this is Jess." She added with a gesture towards where he was sitting.
"Hi." Blue greeted.
"You're Jess?" the small boy who had crawled into a chair on the other side of Jess asked in a gravely voice that one wouldn't expect to come from a boy of his size.
"Yeah." Jess answered. The small boy had a look of awe on his face. Soon Jess did too, because the longer he looked at this boy, the more spellbound he became by his intense godliness. This boy was so beautiful that he even rendered Jess speechless.
"Luke must have told him stories about you." Rory broke into their staring. "Frankie fancies himself to be somewhat of a rebel." She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at her youngest child.
"Hey," Frankie pulled on Jess' shirtsleeve. "I stole all the pencils from school last year. The teacher had to go to the store before she could start class." He whispered before letting out a ruff giggle that brought a smile to Jess' face. Blue shot them a look that told them their laughter was inappropriate at the moment and they both quieted down. Jess watched as Frankie took a tattered copy of The Old Man And The Sea out of his pocket and began to read. Jess smiled again.
At that moment Luke and Lorelai came running into the waiting room. Jess looked up at his uncle. He was still wearing flannel, but now the hair poking out of his hat was gray and the lines around his eyes and mouth had become more defined. Lorelai had gone a little gray and she had developed some lines around her bright eyes, but she still showed the some vibrancy she had always had. They both looked more panicked than not.
Frankie watched as Jess stood up and went over to his uncle. The two men stared for a moment before the older man pulled his nephew into a short hug.
"It's been a while, kid." Luke said gruffly.
"That it has, old man." Jess replied with a smirk.
"I just wish this wasn't the circumstance that brought you back into our lives." Luke added as he watched his wife hug Rory, Tade, and Blue. Frankie was still sitting a few seats over. Jess followed his uncle's gaze to the small boy with the black eyes, sharp features, and long, wild hair.
"That one is something." Jess said indicating Frankie.
"He sure is." Luke agreed with a small smile before walking over to gather information about his granddaughter. Jess sat back down next to Frankie.
He watched as two young men came through the front door.
"I was driving at a safe pace." The boy with the backwards cap growled. He was wearing jeans and a white, oxford shirt. He looked like Luke, but he had Lorelai's eyes.
"Will, some fat guy on the side of the road was walking faster than us." Argued the dark skinned boy.
"Boys!" Lorelai called to them. "What took you so long?" she asked as they neared the group.
"Will was crawling." The dark boy grumbled with a shake of his head.
"Toby, I was trying to keep us from getting into an accident!" Will yelled. In response, Rory let out a small sob. "Oh God. I'm sorry Ror." He apologized.
"It's ok." She said as she pulled her brother into a hug.
"How is Lola?" the other young man asked.
"She's in surgery now. That's all we know." Lorelai told her sons.
At that moment, a tall, skinny doctor came into the room and looked over the group.
"Are you with Lorelai Gilmore?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm her mother." Rory said as she stood up. Her husband took her hand and stood beside her.
"Your daughter suffered a lot of hemorrhaging and she receive a blow to the head when she hit the ground, but she seems to be doing better. We had to remove her spleen and she broke a few ribs, but those things will heal. We want to keep her for some tests, however, to make sure that she doesn't have any head injuries that we may have missed." The doctor informed them.
"Thank you." Tade hugged his wife as tears of relief sprang from their eyes.
"Can we see her?" Rory asked.
"Well, she's still unconscious, but I think you can go take a peak." The doctor replied with a warm smile. "Just the parents though." He added as his eyes scanned the large group of people who were watching him.
The entire group crammed onto the elevator and went up to the tenth floor where the doctor had told them they could find Lola. Room 1024. Rory and Tade went in search of the room as the rest took a seat in the somewhat cleaner and quieter waiting room this floor had to offer.
"Ok," Jess said as he stood up. "I think it's about time I left you folks alone." He said as he prepared to leave.
"No!" Frankie shouted a little too loudly.
"Frankie's right. You can't leave." Lorelai added.
"We need you. You're family." Luke added. Jess looked down at his shoes. "You haven't even met my boys yet." Luke realized.
Jess looked up slightly confused. Boys?
"These are my sons, Will and Toby." Luke introduced the boy with the backwards cap and the dark boy. "Boys, this is your cousin Jess." He finished the introduction.
"Oh, the rebel without a cause." Toby smirked.
"I see that my reputation precedes me." Jess nodded.
"So what have you been up to for the past twenty-three years?" Lorleia asked.
"Jeez." Jess ran his non-bandaged hand through his hair, searching for his memories. "I started writing for Rolling Stone about fifteen years ago, and now I'm one of the top editors." He answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Wow." Frankie exclaimed.
"Do you work under a different name?" Blue asked.
"Yeah, I'm J. Holden." Jess told the boy.
"Wow." The adolescent echoed his younger brother's sentiments.
"Do you read it?" Jess asked.
"Yes!" Blue replied.
"So, you're a music fan?" Jess was trying to figure out who Rory's children were.
"Understatement of the century." Frankie interjected.
Meanwhile, in room 1024, Rory and Tade were watching their daughter sleep. She had a large, white bandage wrapped around her head and she lay motionless under the crisp, white sheets.
"I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't ok." Rory sobbed into her husband's chest.
"Don't worry. This kid is a fighter. She's just like your mother." Tade soothed. "A little too much like her sometimes. " he added with a smile. Rory laughed a little. "This little girl has caused me more worrying than anything and she's only twelve. She has a long life of havoc reeking ahead of her. Don't you worry about that." He smiled warmly as he looked at his daughter. "Do you remember when she was born?" he asked his wife.
"How could I forget?" she smiled.
"I had never been so worried in my entire life. I never told you this, but when they told me that I had to leave the delivery room I went out to the waiting room to find Blue and I sobbed until your mother came." He looked down at his hands when he recounted this.
"Really?" Rory asked with wide eyes. She had never seen Tade cry.
"Yeah. I thought I was going to lose you two, but I was wrong. Gilmore girls are fighters." He smiled into the top of his wife's head.
"Don't you forget it." Rory mumbled into his shoulder.
Back in the waiting room Jess was still bonding with the new members of the family.
"So, Frankie, Hemmingway?" he began.
"Yeah?" The boy frowned. People were always being patronizing and belittling his reading choices.
"What inspired this choice of author?" Jess asked with a smirk.
"Mom hates him." Frankie let out his soft, rumbling laugh.
"She always hated him." Jess remembered. "I love him." He added.
"Good." Frankie replied.
"So, Will, Toby, how old are you two?" Jess asked.
"I'm nineteen and he's twenty-one." Toby answered for the both of them. "And I know you want to ask, but don't know how, so I'll just tell you flat out that I am adopted." Toby informed with a large smile.
"Thanks." Jess had been wondering. "So where do you guys go to school?" he asked.
"Yale." The two young men replied in unison.
"Of course." Jess nodded.
"I don't want to go to college." Frankie announced.
"Why not?" Jess asked the little boy.
"Because college is for chumps. Right?" Frankie asked.
"Not at all." Jess received a smile from Lorelai for this response. "Harvard is for chumps." He couldn't help but add with a smirk.
Rory and Tade had pulled a chair close to their daughter's hospital bed. They held onto her little hand. He began to sing softly in his sandy voice.
"I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May.
I guess you'd say,
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. My girl. My girl.
Talkin' Ôbout my girl. My girl.
I've got so much honey the bees envy me.
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees.
I guess you'd say,
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. My girl. My girl.
Talkin' Ôbout my girl. My girl." He sang the gentle oohs and turned a smile to his wife. When he turned back to his daughter, he saw her eyelids flutter before they opened to reveal her gorgeous baby blues.
"Hey kiddo." Tade grinned widely.
"How are you feeling?" Rory asked with her own grin.
"Keep singing." The girl requested with a content smile.
"I don't need no money, fortune, or fame.
I've got all the riches, baby, one man can claim.
I guess you'd say,
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. My girl. My girl.
Talkin' Ôbout my girl. My girl.
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
With my girl.
I've even got the month of May
With my girl." He finished the song and gently kissed Lola's hand.
"Am I your girl?" she asked in a quiet voice unlike her own.
"Always and forever." He replied as a nurse came into the room.
"I
see she's awake." The nurse said with a sugary smile.
"Yep."
Lola rolled her eyes ever so slightly at her mother. Rory smiled back.
"I need to take you upstairs for a few tests and then I'll bring you back here to see your family." The nurse explained, never letting her fake smile slip.
"They are going to run tests on your brain!" Tade whispered in a Frankenstein voice.
"Oh no! They might find out that I am a super genius sent from planet Cheese!" she giggled with her father until the nurse glared at the both of them.
"Yeah," Rory cleared his throat. "Let's do some of them tests. We'll be just outside in the waiting room." She added for her daughter's benefit.
"See you kiddo." Tade kissed her hand again before they both stood up and walked to the door. Once they were out of sight of the nurse they made faces at Lola until the smile was back on her face.
They went out and rejoined their family in the now messy waiting room.
"She's awake. She seems fine. They're just going to take her upstairs for some more tests." Rory relayed the information to the rest of the group. They all started talking at once and she had to quiet them. "Why don't you guys go back to our place for the night and you can come back in the morning." She suggested. From the surge of noise that came from the group, she found that this was not something they wanted to do.
"I'm not leaving until I see that little girl with my own eyes." Luke declared the sentiments of the entire family.
"Fine have it your way." Rory shrugged. "I don't know how long a wait we're going to have in store, but if you want to stay, stay." She was actually glad that they were all staying. Company was nice.
Jess watched the family interact from the sidelines. Will had found a pack of cards in his pocket and he, Toby, Lorelai, Luke, and Tade were playing poker. Rory and Blue were playing hangman. Frankie had fallen asleep in the corner with his book on his face.
"Mom! You are taking money from your children." Toby's large, brown eyes laughed as Lorelai scooped in her winnings.
"It's your fault for insisting that we play for keeps." Lorelai shrugged.
"Dad always tells us to play for keeps." Will said giving Luke an elbowing in the shoulder.
"And I'm sticking to it. Every cent that your mother wins belongs to both of us." Luke said.
"No. This money is going to my secret bank account in Switzerland." Lorelai said seriously. Jess watched as they laughed and threw cards at each other. Nearby, Rory was wrestling the pencil away from Blue.
"You're cheating!" she squealed. For a moment Jess forgot that they weren't seventeen anymore.
"Mom, you didn't get it right. Give up!" Blue laughed.
"That's not a word!" Rory argued through fits of laughter with her son. Son. God, she had a son. Two, in fact. Time changed a lot of things. He still felt out of place though. He didn't belong with these people. He wished he did though. He pretended that he was fine, but he was lonely.
"So Jess," Lorelai began after the boys had run out of money. "You never told us why you were here in the first place." She inquired.
"Oh." Jess lifted up his bandaged hand. "I cut off part of my finger with a cleaver." He said like it was nothing.
"That's horrible." Rory said as she sent a worried glance towards Frankie, who had just woken up.
"Frankie," Jess began, taking his cue from Rory. "Don't cut off your finger. It's not cool. In fact, it is decidedly uncool." He warned the fascinated boy.
"I know that." Frankie lied. Rory sent a gracious smile to Jess.
"Who took you to the hospital?" Lorelai asked. She was still stuck on the no finger thing.
"I went by myself. I took the subway." Jess explained.
"You got on the subway without part of your finger?!" Toby asked.
"No." Jess answered. "I had the rest of my finger in a bag of ice." He explained. "It was perfectly fine. The stupid hospital people don't understand, however, that I am completely capable of getting back home alone. They insisted I wait for someone to pick me up, but I couldn't think of anybody." He said shaking his head.
"You were just waiting around, for no one?" Rory asked in a quiet, sad voice.
"I guess you could say that." Jess conceded. "But I guess you could also say that I was just waiting around for Lola." He added with a shrug. At that moment, the speakers that had previously been playing soft, classical music let out the vaguely familiar strumming of a bass followed by a rock Ôn' roll shriek.
"I've been elected to rock your asses till midnight.
This is my term and I've jammed out my perm, but it's all right.
I solemnly swear to uphold the constitution.
Got a rock Ôn' roll problem?
Well we got a solution.
Set and see who I am.
Let me kick out the jams, yeah.
Kick out the jams.
I done kicked Ôem out." At this break in the Presidents of the United States of America song, Lola took the opportunity to come racing down the hallway in a wheelchair. She popped a wheelie as she circled around the waiting area. She smiled and stuck her tongue out at her older brother.
"I've been selected to orbit the planet in a rocket.
I'm going to Mars, I got a message for the poodle in your pocket.
Mission control, calling supernova.
The nightlife's rockin', you can come on over.
And let us see who we am.
Let me kick out the jams, yeah.
Kick out the jams.
I done kicked Ôem out." The song ended and the speakers went back to spewing out classical crap.
"Miss me?" Lola asked with a mischievous grin.
"Get over here kid." Luke grumbled as he kissed his granddaughter's cheek. Rory watched her daughter for a moment before turning to Jess and pulling him into a hug.
"I didn't thank you before for being there, but thank you." She said with fresh tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Don't worry about it. I owed you." Jess said as he hugged her back. "It's about time that I was finally there for someone." He added mostly to himself.
"From now on we're here for you too." Rory said with compassionate eyes. "Whether you need to be picked up from the hospital or you're just a little lonely, we're here. We're your family." For the first time in Jess' life Family sounded like a nice thing.
"Thanks." He said with a look at his feet.
"It's good to have you back, kid." Lorelai messed up his hair.
"It's good to be back." He said in a joking tone with a roll of his eyes.
It was good to be back.