Thanks for all the comments and favorites!
Just as a heads up, from this point on all the next works in the series are going to take about this long to post. The first four had already been written back at the beginning of the summer and had been posted over on AO3. I haven't posted on this site in a time and half, but I decided to start posting these here as well when I noticed that the Gilmore Girls fandom seems a hell of a lot more active here than on AO3.
Anyway, on to the story…
Jess' one weekend working at the Inn turned into a full summer of working at the Inn. He's not complaining though, the extra paycheck on top of what he makes at Luke's is worth it. If he's being honest, he actually prefers working at the Inn over the diner. All he has to do is sit behind a desk, answer the phone if it rings, and check guests in. Plus as a bonus, if no one's at the desk, he gets to read his book all he wants. It's also pretty nice not smelling like a deep fat fryer all the time. All around, it's a pretty sweet gig.
Another added bonus is that it gets him out of the apartment. For the past two weeks Dean has been staying with him and Luke while his parents went back to Chicago for a visit. Don't get him wrong, Dean's been the perfect guest, but him and Luke have been comendeering the tv the whole time, having baseball blasting 24/7. If he has to hear about one more fly ball, he's going to fly right out the window.
Speaking of the sasquatch…
"Hey, working man. Hi, Lorelai." Dean greets him as he walks up to the desk. Jess sighs as he marks his place in his book.
"What brings you to our neck of the woods? Luke making you wait tables again?" Lorelai asks.
Dean chuckles. "No, he hasn't made me do that since he found out I was lying for Jess." He pointedly says to Jess, who rolls his eyes. "Instead I'm playing delivery boy. Luke noticed you forgot your lunch this morning." Dean hands him a paper sack, which he groans at.
"Not hungry." He mumbles, wishing he could just go back to his book.
He tries to ignore Lorelai staring at him. No such luck though. "You okay? You've been pretty quiet today. Well, quieter than usual."
Jess shrugs. "It's nothing, just not feeling great."
Dean and Lorelai exchange a look at the uncharacteristic lack of sarcasm. "What's wrong, man? You skipped out on breakfast too."
"I told you, it's nothing. My stomach just hurts. It's probably something I ate." He leaves out the part where just the thought of food makes him want to get sick.
"It might be from dinner last night," Lorelai thinks out loud. "Dean and I warned you not to eat the Moroccan from Al's." She rubs his back. "I'm gonna go get a ginger ale from the kitchen, and I'll go put your lunch in the fridge in case you get hungry later." She heads off to the kitchen, leaving him and Dean alone.
Naturally, the phone decides now to ring. Dean gives him an apologetic look as he hands him the phone from the other side of the desk so he doesn't have to get up.
"Independence Inn, Jess speaking." He listens for a moment. "Sorry, we're all booked for Labor Day weekend." He rolls his eyes. "No, I didn't look, but today is Friday, making tomorrow Labor Day weekend and we've been booked for the past month, so… No, sir, I'm not psychic, but-" The guy talks over him again. "Fine." Setting the phone down, he starts hitting random keys on the keyboard, shaking his head at Dean the whole time. He picks the phone back up. "So I just checked and we're completely booked. Yes, I'll call if we have an opening, goodbye now."
Dean finally lets out the laugh he's been holding in as Jess groans and lays his head on the desk. "People are idiots." He says into the desk.
"And yet you're working two jobs where you're dealing with people all day, what's that say about you?" Dean jokes, hoping to lighten the mood.
"That I'm an idiot too." Jess replies, not lifting his head from the desk.
Lorelai returns from the kitchen with Jess' drink. "Here, honey, this should help."
Jess takes one last breath before sitting back up, which he instantly regrets. He inhales sharply as pain shoots from his right side now. He takes slow breaths through his nose as he squeezes his eyes shut, wishing the pain would go away again. Lorelai and Dean are both asking if he's alright, but all he's able to manage is a shake of his head.
"I don't like this." He hears Lorelai say. There's a cool hand on his forehead now, and he leans forward into it a little. "It feels like you have a fever too." Lorelai mutters to herself. "I really, really hope I'm wrong, but I wanna take you to a hospital just to be on the safe side."
Jess starts shaking his head before she even finishes talking. "No… No, I hate hospitals. Just give me a minute."
"If we wait I might have a Jess-shaped corpse in my lobby and the health inspector doesn't look too kindly on those kinds of things."
"Why do you think Jess needs a hospital? I mean, if it's just the flu I'll take him back with me, so he could get some sleep and flu meds. That way he doesn't have to go to the hospital." Dean chimes in. Jess likes that plan, sleeping in a drug induced haze sounds pretty good right now.
Lorelai sighs. "Dean, I don't think Jess has the flu. I think he's having an appendicitis."
"You have a PhD in internal medicine that none of us know about?" Jess grumbles, determined not to move.
"No, but I do have sixteen years as a mother under my belt, so I could diagnose a cough from a mile away. Now up, before I have Dean carry you to my car."
Jess rolls his eyes, using the desk to leverage himself into a standing position. "I just wanna go on the record here that I think this is stupid and a waste of time."
"Noted." Lorelai acknowledges him as she grabs her purse from under the desk. "Dean, call Luke and have him meet us at the hospital, then find Michel and tell him he's in charge for the foreseeable future."
Dean nods, already pulling out his cell phone.
Lorelai keeps a comforting hand on Jess' shoulder as she leads him to her jeep.
During the car ride, Jess only seems to look worse. With every pothole, Jess winces become more and more noticable. Lorelai apologizes for the seventh time as they lurch onto a bad stretch of road.
"Unless you plan on repaving every road in town by yourself, stop apologizing." Jess struggles to say.
"How you doing?" Lorelai glances over at him. She pretty sure he's had his eyes squeezed shut the entire time now.
"Just peachy. Planning on running a 5K after this."
She squeezes his wrist, although she's not too sure if it's to reassure him or her. "As long as you keep that positive attitude."
He laughs a little, but then groans. "Don't make me laugh. Laughing hurts."
"Sorry. Don't worry, we're almost there."
"Fuck, this really hurts."Jess whines. Lorelai could honestly say she's never heard Jess whine before. At least now she knows she made the right call bringing him here.
"I know, sweetie. Just hold on a little longer."
The rest of the ride is just of Jess making low moans and Lorelai assuring him that they're almost there.
The emergency room is busy when they arrive, but Lorelai is able to snag him a seat while she goes to get him checked in. Some baby is screeching behind him and the headache is a welcome relieve, distracting him from the pain in his side.
He's not sure how long he's been sitting alone in the seat, a minute or two or ten, all he knows is that Lorelai was gone and then she's back, appearing in the seat next to him.
"It'll just be a minute, sweetie." She says soothingly as she wraps an arm around him.
"Want... Luke." He manages to say between shivers.
"I know, baby, he's on his way."
A part of him realizes how embarrassing it is, cuddling into his best friend's mom's side, but a larger part of him is so far beyond caring at this point. He's never been in this much pain before, even back when he was seven and broke his arm at recess, and he was screaming like a banshee, this is so, so much worse.
God, of all the days for Luke to take his sweet time.
Luke's heart stops when he gets the call from Dean that Lorelai is taking Jess to the hospital. All the noise around him fades away, and the only sound he can hear is that of his own breathing.
"Luke? Lucas? Are you even listening?"
Luke returns to his senses and realizes there's only a dial tone left on the phone. Hanging up, he looks up at Taylor who's staring at him expectantly.
"Are you alright, hon?" Patty asks from Taylor's right.
"Yeah…" He shakes his head. "Or, um, no. That was Dean. Lorelai is taking Jess to the hospital." He starts looking for his keys. "Keys, keys, where are my damn keys!"
Patty and Taylor glance at each other, concern written on their faces. "What happened?" Patty asks for the two of them. "Is he okay?"
Luke's mind is going a mile a minute as he remembers what Dean had just told him. "He had a stomach ache that's only getting worse so Lorelai thinks it might be an appendicitis. I need to go meet them at the emergency room, but I can't find my damn keys!"
"Luke, stop!" Taylor stands. "Stop for a moment and look down at your hands." He continues in a softer tone.
Looking down, his keys have been in his left hand the whole time. "Oh."
"Dear, do you want someone to drive you?" Patty asks.
Luke shakes his head. "No, I'm fine." He stresses. "But, uh, do you think one of you could close? I really need-"
"It's no problem. Now go!" Patty shoos him off.
"Right, thanks." Luke throws off his apron and pats down his pockets to make sure he has his wallet on him, then he's out the door.
It feels like his heart's about to pound out of his chest as he double parks outside the hospital. Rushing inside, he scans the busy waiting room until he spots Lorelai waving for him, Jess leaning against her. Heading straight for them, he kneels in front of Jess and rests a hand on his knee to get his attention. The kid looks terrible. His eyes are squeezed shut in pain as his head rests on Lorelai's shoulder, his face is pale aside from his flushed cheeks, and he's sweat through his shirt. Luke exchanges a worried look with Lorelai before focusing on Jess.
"Hey, bud, I'm here now." He says softly, wishing he could do more.
His glazed eyes open slowly at his voice. "Uncle Luke…?"
Luke gives him a smile. "That's right. I came as soon as I got Dean's call."
Jess closes his eyes again and groans. "It really hurts…"
Luke's heart breaks as he brushes his nephew's hair off of his forehead. "I know, someone will be here soon, just hold on a little longer. Can you do that?"
Jess nods into Lorelai's shoulder, reaching a hand out to his wrist as well. Luke lets him and uses his free hand to squeeze Jess' hand. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."
"Luke?" Lorelai whispers. "I hate bringing this up, and I'd do it myself if I could, but the lady at the desk gave me this form to fill out, but I don't know most of it beyond his name and age."
She gestures to the clipboard in her lap. "Yeah, of course."
Taking the seat on the other side of Jess, he keeps a hold of him with his left hand while filling out the form with his right. "I'm sorry. I feel so bad about this," Lorelai apologizes.
Luke looks up, making sure to look her right in the eye. "It's fine, there's no reason you would have known all this stuff about him."
"Still, after this I'm going to memorize everything on that sheet, that way if something like this were to happen again-"
"Lorelai," He cuts her off before she works herself into a panic. "Of the two of us, you're supposed to be the calm one. It won't do anyone any favors if we're both panicking. You got him here. None of this paperwork would even matter if it weren't for you."
"But-"
"Hey. If it makes you feel better, I'll make up some flashcards for you to study off of. Deal?"
She nods, finally calming down a bit. "Deal."
"Jess Mariano?" A nurse's voice rings out over the commotion. Lorelai waves that they're there as Luke helps Jess to his feet. Luckily the nurse is prepared with a wheelchair and holds it steady as Luke eases Jess back down. Now that his hands are free he hands her the clipboard, and with one last reassuring squeeze of Jess' shoulder, the nurse rushes off.
Everything after that happens in a whirlwind. Luke and Lorelai are ushered away to a different waiting room, this one much quieter, and promised that someone will come talk to them as soon as they have news.
Lorelai sits down, watching Luke pace back and forth. This lasts for a solid five minutes before they both freeze at the sound of footsteps. Looking up in unison, they both slouch at the sight of Dean. Luke just goes back to his pacing as Lorelai wordlessly pats the seat next to her.
Dean slumps down with a sigh, jiggling his leg up and down. "He'll be fine." She whispers to him.
Dean continues to let his leg jiggle. "I know, I just- I hate not being able to do anything."
Lorelai gets an idea, digging into her purse. Finding what she was looking for, she pulls out a few dollars. "Think you can go get me a coffee?"
Dean jumps up, glad that he has something to do. "Yeah, of course. Hey, Luke, you want anything?"
Luke stops to look at him, but then just shakes his head. "Thanks though." He mutters before going back to his pacing.
Dean nods, rushing off.
As soon as he's out of earshot Lorelai sighs. "Luke, please sit down. I don't think burrowing your way to China is going to solve anything."
Luke ignores her. "Why haven't they told us anything yet? They said they'd talk to us, why haven't they talked to us?"
"Remember what you said earlier? About me being the calm one? Well, I'm doing my job now and I'm telling you to sit, so sit."
Luke huffs, but ultimately does as she says, taking a seat next to her. He rests his elbows on his knees and buries his face in his hands. Without hesitating, Lorelai rubs his back. "I should have known." He mumbles.
"What was that?"
Luke sighs again and drops his hands from his face. "I should have known something was wrong. He was acting weird all morning and I just told him to grow up. I thought he was just trying to get out of working today, and now he's in the hospital and it's all my fault!"
Luke's hands are shaking and Lorelai steadies them with her own. "Hey, this isn't your fault. I was with him for hours before I realized something was wrong." He still doesn't look any better so Lorelai tries a different approach. "Remember what I told you about parenting back in April?"
"That every kid gets emotional scars that last well into adulthood?"
"Technically, yes, I did say that, but I meant the other thing. Not one parent knows what they're doing. Every single day you have to wing it and hope for the best. Sometimes you'll make the right calls and other times you won't. Unfortunately this was one of those lose-lose situations. Even if you brought him here the second he felt something wrong, we'd still be sitting right here waiting to hear what's wrong."
Luke takes in a shaky breath. "Yeah?"
Lorelai gives his hand one last squeeze. "Yes."
A doctor walks up at that moment, clearing his throat politely to get their attention. "You're the family of Jess Mariano I presume?"
They both leap to their feet, meeting the doctor half way. "Yeah, I'm his uncle. Is he going to be okay?" Luke speaks up first.
"I'm glad you brought him when you did, his appendix is about to burst and we need to take him in for emergency surgery to remove it. Now, since he is a minor I need consent from a parent or guardian in order to go any further."
Luke nods. "Yeah, of course. I have sole custody so I'll sign whatever you need me to."
The doctor continues to talk Luke through what's going to happen and the risks of the surgery before he's allowed to sign anything, but Lorelai stops listening at that point. Sole custody? She couldn't have heard him right, because he would have told her if he had spent the summer fighting for custody. Right? He confides in her with everything when I comes to Jess, big and small. And taking over sole custody of Jess is not a small thing.
She's brought out of her thoughts as Luke thanks the doctor, motioning for her to sit back down with him. "Jess' doctor seems like a nice guy. He sounds like he knows what he's doing and that this happens a lot-"
"You have sole custody of Jess?" Lorelai blurts out. Well, her mom always said subtlety was lost on her.
Luke winces. "Yeah, I was hoping you missed that part."
"Very much not missed. Might as well have had it dressed up in a neon pink leotard, because it was that much not missed. When did this happen?"
He adjusts his cap, looking everywhere but at her. "Ah, jeez, do we really need to talk about this now?"
"We have nothing but time. Now talk, at least so I know when I was supposed to go out and get the 'It's a boy!' balloon."
Luke sighs. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone about this, especially Jess."
Weird contingency, but she agrees, wanting the full story here. Before he gets a chance to start though, Dean arrives back with her coffee, causing Luke to clam up again.
"Sorry it took so long, I had to go to a different floor since the machine on this one is out of order." He sticks his hands in his pockets after she takes the coffee with a smile. "So, any word?"
Lorelai nods after a small sip. "He's in surgery getting his appendix removed. The doctor said it's very routine and he'll be fine."
Dean sighs in relief. "Good, that's good. I'm glad he's going to be okay." He frowns. "Rory's going to be disappointed though. We were all going to surprise her at the airport today."
Rory! How could she forget Rory! "Oh, shoot! What time is it?" She sets her coffee down at her feet, then checks her watch. "Shoot, shoot, shoot! Her plane lands in an hour! I need to get to Hartford and pick her up, or I'll never hear the end of it!" She gathers her bag, already digging around for her keys.
"I'll do it." Dean offers. She begins to tell him that she can do it when he cuts her off. "Seriously, it's no problem. Like I said, I'm not good at just sitting around, and it'll give me something to do. Let me do this for you."
Lorelai caves. "Has anyone ever told you you're a lifesaver. Here, I'll give you money for gas."
"No, you don't need to-"
She shoves the cash in his hands. "Take it, or you'll be on my bad side. You don't want to be on my bad side, now do you?"
He smothers a laugh as he pockets the cash. "No, course not. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Drive safe."
Dean waves that he heard as he heads down the hall.
"I'm gonna go find a restroom." Luke says as he stands.
"Oh, no, mister. You're not escaping that easily, now spill." Lorelai grabs his arm and pulls him back down.
Luke collapses back into his seat. "You won't mention any of this to Jess?" He makes sure one last time.
"You have my word." She promises.
Luke nods, biting his lip. The sight of it almost makes her want to laugh. In all the years she's known Luke, he's never had that habit before. The only other person she knows that does that is Jess. "It wasn't my intention to get custody of him, I want to be up front with that. It all started back at the beginning of summer, when Liz was visiting and Jess freaked out that she might try and take him back to New York. I couldn't stop thinking about what you and Jess said, about her having the power to do that, so before she left I went out to lunch with her and told her how great he's been doing here. I then mentioned his fears of being pulled out of here without any warning and how much he would miss everyone."
"What did she say?"
Luke shrugs. "That she understood and agreed with me, so I thought that was the end of that. A few weeks later though, and this is where the plot twist comes in, I get this letter from a law office. I open it, and it's these papers saying Liz is signing away all her parental rights and handing them over to me. Completely confused, I hide them from Jess and tell him I need to run to the bank. I went to every family attorney between here and Hartford, and they all told me the same thing, the papers are legit. She got a judge to sign off on them under some clause about 'the better interest of the child', which means basic needs are met, good education, and that he's in a more stable home."
"What about Jess' father? Wouldn't he need to sign off as well?"
"Not sure how they found him, but they did and got him to sign an abandonment form. He left when Jess was only a day old and never in the last seventeen years tried to make any contact."
"Wow." Lorelai manages to say. "That is a lot of information to process."
"And that's not even all of it." What else could there be?! "Legally, since both of Jess' parents gave up their rights, the judge strongly recommended that I, uh, adopt him. The only problem was that, in Connecticut, kids thirteen and older need to give their consent as well."
Lorelai's pretty sure she sees where this is going. "Oh, no, Luke, you didn't."
"It was stupid of me, but I didn't want him to know his own mom gave him up so easily. He's been doing so well, and the only time he acted out was the last time Liz was brought up, so I just… didn't tell him. I mixed the papers up with some other things he had to sign and told him they were all insurance papers for the diner. This is why you can't say anything to him. For all he knows, I'm just his uncle."
Lorelai sighs. "But you're not just his uncle, not anymore. By adopting him, for all intents and purposes, you're his father now. I really feel this is something you need to talk to Jess about."
"He's going to be eighteen soon. At that point, none of this will matter, so there's no reason to get him involved."
Lorelai shakes her head. "I think you're wrong about this. He's in the center of all this, he needs to know what's going on."
"And I disagree. Maybe that's how you parent, but this is how I'm going to parent." He says in a tone leaving no room for argument. "I, uh, I need to go call Liz. Tell her what's going on."
"Here," Lorelai hands him her cell phone. "Save some quarters."
"Thanks." He mutters, heading off for some privacy to make his call.
The room is thick with tension when Luke returns. They exchange quiet pleasantries as Luke hands her back her phone, but that's the extent of the conversation.
God! She can't believe Luke is doing this! Why can't he get it through his head that this is the wrong call? Now she's stuck alone with Luke for at least an hour while they wait for Dean to get back with Rory, but until then they have a no buffer. Where's a Bop It when you need one?
"Fine, say what you're thinking. I can tell it's killing you keeping it all in." Luke grumbles after ten minutes of silence passes.
"I just think he should hear it from you. Imagine how he's going to react if he finds out you were trying to hide this from him." Lorelai says in a steady voice.
"And how's he going to find out!?" Luke jumps out of his seat. "There are only four people in the entire world that know about this! I'm not going to tell him, and he sure as hell won't hear about it from either of his parents, Liz and Jimmy aren't exactly known for their great communication skills! The only way he'd find out is if you tell him! You promised you wouldn't say anything!"
"And I'm keeping that promise!" Lorelai fires back, jumping out of her seat as well. "I'm not even going to tell Rory. I'm lying to my daughter for you!"
"Then don't lie to her!"
"No, I have to now! Because I'm not going to put her in this position where she has to lie to her friend every day!"
"And I'm just trying to keep Jess from having his heart broken over his mother, again! It's my responsibility to keep him safe and this is how I'm doing it!"
Lorelai growls. "God! You are impossible!"
"So are you!"
She bites her tongue to keep from yelling more insults. "I so wish I had a Bop It right now." She mutters under her breath instead. "I'm gonna get more coffee."
After that, the two get into a sort of rhythm to avoid one another. When one returns, the other finds a convenient excuse to leave. So far, Lorelai's gotten three cups of coffee and left for the bathroom twice, while Luke's gone to the bathroom two times, checked if there's news about Jess two times, and went to talk to Liz again when she called Luke back on Lorelai's phone.
He wordlessly hands Lorelai her phone back when he returns and slumps into his chair three away from her own with a heavy sigh. With a sigh of her own, Lorelai closes the magazine she was flipping through and turns to Luke. "What'd Liz have to say?"
Luke shrugs. "She sends her love, told me to call her when Jess is out of surgery, and that she hopes for the best."
Lorelai is speechless. "What does that mean? Doesn't she want to see her son? If it was Rory, I'd be moving mountains to get to her."
"She wishes she can, she's busy with work, she can't afford the trip out here. Take your pick, that's the excuse she's using." Luke sounds so defeated at this point, like he's not even surprised that she won't come out to see her only son when he's in the hospital.
Getting up, she comes over and takes a seat next to him. "I know we're in a disagreement right now, but I vote we put it on hold until this is all over. Deal?"
Luke nods slowly, staring at a spot on the floor. "Deal."
"Good. Now get up, I want to give you a hug. You look like you could use one, Angelina Jolie." Luke chuckles lightly, getting up and letting Lorelai hug him. "Jess is so lucky to have a dad like you. You're saving his life, I hope you know that." She says into his shoulder.
Luke pulls back, rubbing the back of his neck. "Eh, I don't know about that."
"You are." Lorelai says firmly.
Luke looks about ready to argue more when they here running footsteps. "Mom!"
Lorelai spins around with a giant grin. "Rory!"
"Mom!" Rory tackles her with a hug, the force sending both of them crashing to the floor in laughter. "I've missed you so much! I'm never leaving home again!"
"That's my emotionally stunted girl!"
"How's Jess? Is he okay? Dean was saying you think it's an appendicitis?" Rory gets straight to the point, not even getting off the floor.
"George Clooney agreed with my diagnosis and Jess has been in surgery for about an hour now to get his appendix removed."
"So he'll be okay?" Rory double checks.
Lorelai smiles and takes both of her daughter's hands in her own. "He'll be fine."
"Everyone is fine, now would you two get off the floor? You look ridiculous." Luke ushers them to their feet.
Dean finally shows up at a slower pace, obviously not having run through the halls like Rory did, but freezes at the sight in front of him. "Why are you guys on the floor?"
Rory and Lorelai collapse into each other in giggles. Luke rolls his eyes, giving up on trying to get the two off the floor.
It's another hour until the doctor returns with good news. He leads the group to Jess' room, where he tells them that Jess is awake, but still a little out of it from the anesthesia and the painkillers.
The doctor pulls Luke aside to talk about how it went and all the aftercare information he's going to need. Not wanting to miss anything, he asks Lorelai to listen in as well. Lorelai agrees and has Rory and Dean go be with Jess as, "The grownups talk."
"Hey, bro." Rory greets him.
Jess smirks, remembering a similar conversation in reverse. "Hey, sis."
"We really need to stop meeting like this."
Jess shrugs lightly. "What can I say? You're a trendsetter. I told you I loved the new look." He gestures to the hospital gown he has on, making Rory laugh.
Dean chuckles as well, not fully getting the joke. "How are you, man? You're looking better than this morning, I can tell you that."
"I'm feeling grrrrrreat." Jess snickers to himself. "Oh! Can you get me some frosted flakes? They're my favorite. Uncle Luke got 'em for me when I first got here, but then he became a big meanie and made me eat the gross cheerios. He wouldn't even let me put a spoonful of sugar on them to make 'em taste good."
Rory fakes a gasp, playing along. "Scandalas!" She then turns to Dean and drops to a whisper. "Loopy Jess is fun."
"Yeah, I wish I had a video camera." Dean whispers back. "Don't worry, Jess, I'll sneak in some frosted flakes for you tomorrow."
Jess rests a hand on his arm, a serious look on his face. "You're a great friend, Dean. You're like, like… The BFG!"
Dean glances at Rory. "The BFG?"
"It's from a kids movie. It stands for the big friendly giant." Rory answers, trying to smother a laugh.
"Whizzpop, whizzbang, feel the bubbles go down…" Jess quietly sings to himself.
"...And we lost him." Rory says.
"Guess the doctor wasn't kidding when he said Jess is a little out of it." Dean comments.
Luke and Lorelai come over after they finish talking with the doctor. Luke puts a hand on Jess' shoulder to get his attention. "How you doin', nephew?"
"Tired. And hungry. I'm really, really hungry."
"Well, you take a nap and I'll track down some food for you."
"Can you get me a cheeseburger? A really big cheeseburger. Oh! And fries. And a milkshake? But not chocolate or vanilla, I like strawberry. Strawberry is my favorite."
Luke laughs softly, not used to his usually quiet nephew this talkative. "I'll see what I can do. For now though, I want you to get some rest, got it?"
Jess nods, already falling asleep. Luke runs his hand through Jess' hair, turning to Lorelai. "Can I borrow your phone again? I should call Liz back, fill her in on how it went." Lorelai nods, handing him the phone. Luke thanks her, stepping out into the hall.
"We better get going, Mom. I wanted to shower off all the plane on me before we head to Grandma and Grandpa's." Rory whispers.
Lorelai waves her off. "Don't worry about it, I got you out of that. I told Mom yesterday that you don't come home until tomorrow."
"Really?" Rory's eyes light up.
"I figured you'd want to spend your first day back with the boyfriend at the End of Summer Festival."
Rory tackles her in a hug, luckily this time they both stay standing. "Yes, I would. Thank you so much!"
"No problem, Sweets. Just remember, you owe Mommy one. Now get outta here, Jess is fine and is probably going to be in dreamland for the rest of the day anyway."
The kids say goodbye, leaving Lorelai alone in the room. Not wanting to disturb Luke as he talks to his sister, she pulls up a chair and sits beside Jess' bed. She can't help but notice how small he looks. There's always something about hospitals and making people look small.
"You caused quite the drama today, young man. No more of this, I forbid it." Jess sleeps on, oblivious to Lorelai. "I mean it. You cause everyone this much worry again, I'll start embarrassing you in public again. Don't think I won't. I'll pull all the classic mom things. I'll straighten out your collar, fix your hair, even the thing where I lick the napkin and wipe your face with it. And if that doesn't work, then I'll have Rory track down baby pictures of you for me to keep in my wallet and pull out in front of any and all pretty girls."
"You left something off your list."
Lorelai spins around, finding Luke leaning in the doorway.
Luke comes into the room, sitting on the opposite side of the bed. "He once told me he hates it when you ask him to do something and call yourself mommy while doing it. Like, 'Get Mommy another refill, would you?' or 'Mommy needs more popcorn'."
"Good to know. How was the call with Liz? You got back pretty fast."
Luke shrugs. "Classic Liz. She didn't answer so I just left a message."
"Sorry." Lorelai says, not sure what else she could say in this situation.
Luke gives a dry laugh. "It's what it is. Unfortunately, Jess and I have gotten used to that fact."
Lorelai hestates, hating having to bring this up again, but it feels wrong not to at least try again. "Luke, I know you won't want to hear this, but just think about it. If you tell Jess the truth now, it will much easier than down the line. Nothing will change if he knows. He'll still be living with you and-"
"No." Luke cuts her off firmly. He then sighs. "Lorelai, please, how many times do I have to tell you that this is my decision. You were the one that told me I had to make the calls, so this is the one I'm making. Do you honestly think it won't break this kid when he finds out both of his parents gave up, just like that?"
"I think you're not giving Jess enough credit here. He's a tough kid, he can handle it. And he won't be alone. He has you."
Luke hesitates, and Lorelai thinks she might have actually gotten through Luke's thick skull, but then he ends up shaking his head. "No. I can't take that chance. If I can keep him safe now, I'm gonna do it."
Lorelai feels her temper flare, but she keeps it reined in so she won't wake the sleeping teen between them. Standing up, she gathers her purse as she shakes her head. "I really wish you would reconsider. Excuse me, I need to head out if I want to make it to my parents' on time."
It's dark out and only the night staff are working when Jess starts to stir again. Luke mutes the tv, turning his attention to his bleary eyed nephew.
"Hey, bud. How are you?"
Jess groans, taking in his surroundings until he settles on Luke. "Like I just had an organ ripped out of me." He croaks.
Luke chuckles. "Pretty on point then." He grabs the cup of water on the nightstand and hands it over. "Here, you should have some water. Small sips." For once Jess doesn't argue, just does as he's told. When he's finished he hands the cup back. "Better?"
Jess nods.
"So, um, I called your mom. She really wanted to be here, but-"
"She couldn't make the trip out." Jess finishes for him.
Luke sighs. Jess shouldn't be this used to Liz's excuses. "Yeah. She wanted me to have you call her in the morning, which you are doing. No getting out of it."
Jess rolls his eyes. "Whatever. She probably won't even answer. I'll leave a message, short and sweet. 'Hey, Mom, how've you been? I'm laying in a hospital bed myself, but other than that, I'm dandy.'"
Luke lets him off with a warning look. There's no point in getting in a fight about that, not when, chances are, Jess is probably right. The whole time Jess' been asleep, all Luke has been doing is thinking about what Lorelai said. He's a tough kid, he could handle the news that his parents gave up their rights to him and handed them over to Luke without a fight. But he's already had so much disappointment in his life, Luke doesn't want to add more to the pile, not if he can avoid it.
He knows Jess is going to find out eventually. Hopefully, though, that eventually will be a long, long time from now.
For now, he leans back and turns the sound back on, watching Twilight Zone reruns with his kid.