A/N:: I'm glad [most of] you liked the first chapter. That really gives me confidence to continue on with the story. I was unsure, kind of, since I haven't been writing for months [as some of you know]. I got some more reviews, but they apparently got deleted or something when ff.net was messed up, so...oh well. ;) As to those of you who didn't like the "unnecessary background information" I put in, I was trying for something different. I thought it was a different way to pull you into the story, especially since I'm using first person and all. Its called being unique. Trying something not every other person does. That said, on with chapter 2.

Chapter 2 – Helpful Words

I made it back to Stars Hollow the next night. I had told Paris to go on without me, because if I stayed, I wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway.

She informed me that if I left now I would probably regret it forever, but I told her I'd take that chance. I had to get home.

So here I was at the airport. As soon as I walked through the gate, Mom jumped out at me and gave me a hug, causing me to drop the bag I was carrying.

"Hi!" I laughed. "Okay...okay, Mom, you can let go now. I can barely breathe."

She pulled back and looked at me. "Did you grow?" she asked. I shook my head. "You look taller," she said thoughtfully.

"I don't think I noticeably grew since the last time you saw me," I pointed out.

"Hm. Turn sideways a minute."

"Mom, keep this up and I may decide to go back to Washington."

"I'll be good, I swear," she promised, even though she knew I wouldn't actually go back. She put an arm around me. "Let's go get your bags."

An hour later, I was in my room, unpacking my bags, when Mom burst into the room.

"Ready for Luke's?" she asked.

"Ooh, Luke's. I missed Luke's," I announced.

I abandoned the rest of my unpacked bags, and we headed off to Luke's. As soon as we entered the diner, Luke glanced up and hurried over. He gave me a hug, a warm smile on his face.

"Hey Luke," I greeted, smiling back.

Luke is like a second father to me. I've known him about as long as I've known how to read. That is why I'm really sad that he and Mom are fighting. I know it was to do with me and Jess's car accident, but apparently it doesn't have to do with me personally, since Luke had given me such an affectionate greeting and all just now. I just wish I could help snap them out of it, you know? I feel like it's my responsibility to get things back to normal, since none of this would've happened if it weren't for me. They don't see it that way, but it's the truth.

Anyway, back to what's happening now. Luke went back behind the counter to take Babette's order. That's strange, I just realized that I almost never see Babette at Luke's. Hm. I guess she's just not as addicted to Luke's coffee as Mom and I are. I could hardly imagine such a thing.

I nudged Mom, motioning for her to talk to Luke. I know how much this fight thing has been bothering her, and how sorry she is for whatever she did or said. From what she's told me, she's tried to end the feud many times, but he acts so cold and uncaring, it's 'damn near impossible' [her words, not mine]. I, on the other hand, feel it's totally possible. How long could those two stay mad at each other, especially when something like Jess falling into a coma, happens?

Mom finally stepped in front of me and leaned on the counter. She watched Luke until he finally gave in and met her gaze.

"The coffee will be ready in a minute," he told her tonelessly.

"That's not what I was going to ask," she responded.

"I'm not talking about—"

"No," Mom cut him off. "I don't want to talk about 'us'. I'm through talking about 'us'. 'Us' is not a subject anymore as far as I'm—"

"I got it," he said darkly.

"Luke, come on, I said I was sorry. Why won't you just accept my sincere apology, and we can—"

"Go back to the way things were a month ago?" he finished.

"Well, yeah," Mom answered. "That was nice, right?"

"Nice," he repeated.

"Yes, nice. When we were friends, you told me how unhealthy I eat, and—"

"That's what you want?"

"Yes," Mom said, exasperated.

"That's it?" he pressed.

"That's it," she confirmed.

I watched Luke as his face fell slightly. Mom noticed, too. Luke turned his back to her, checking the coffee.

"What?" Mom glanced at me and I shook my head. "Luke?"

"It's not that easy, Lorelai," he told her, placing two cups of coffee in front of us.

"Why?" she countered. "All you have to do is accept my apology and then we can—"

"Mom." I placed my hand on her arm. "Let's go," I told her softly.

She saw the situation totally different from how I saw it—how it really was. She is baffled by Luke's behavior, but I understand where he's coming from. He wants to be with Mom. Being 'just friends' isn't cutting it anymore. He either needs to be romantically in her life, or not at all. At least that's what I think he thinks. Wow. I need coffee.

I took another sip of my coffee as Mom stood up.

"Fine," she declared. "This conversation isn't going anywhere, anyway." She threw some money on the counter and stormed out of the diner ahead of me. I glanced at Luke sympathetically before I followed her. Luke looked like he had just lost his best friend.

"You're going to have to do it sooner or later."

"Will not," Mom argued.

"Good argument. Ever thought of becoming a debater?"

She and I were on our way to the hospital, and I was trying once again, after many failed attempts, to open her eyes to Luke. It's not looking good, though. She pulled the Mom card.

"Funny. But this is not a discussion. I'm not asking Luke out on a date, and that's that. End of discussion."

"That is so not end-of-discussion," I retorted.

"I'm the Mom, Ror, I get to decide when it is end of discussion, not you. Me. And I say it's end of discussion."

"You don't even have to phrase it like 'Will you go out with me, Luke?'" I continued. "You could say something like 'Are you busy tomorrow? No? Well, would you like to do something?'"

"But I guess I got overruled," Mom muttered.

I grinned, leaning back in my seat and staring out the window. I had a feeling that by the end of the week, I could get Mom and Luke talking again. I'll get them together if it kills me.

* * * * *

"Can I help you?"

Mom told the woman behind the desk near the waiting room that we were here to see Jess Mariano.

"Ah, Mr. Mariano. He has had a lot o visitors in the past few weeks."

"Yeah. We're hoping to come here one day soon and find nothing but an empty bed," Mom replied.

"Mom!" I stared at her with wide eyes.

"No, no, I meant we hope that he'll wake up and be able to go home soon. Not that I hoped he'd die and be moved or something," she corrected herself.

"God." I shook my head, glancing over at the families sitting in the waiting room. They all looked so sad...I felt sorry for them. They were probably waiting for news on the health of a family member or a friend. Then I thought about why I was here, and I went back to feeling sorry for Jess.

I had tuned Mom and the receptionist out, but apparently, judging by the way the woman was glaring, Mom had put her foot even further in her mouth.

Thankfully, the woman let us go see Jess. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had just kicked us out of the hospital right then and there.

Mom and I walked down a wide hallway, and she stopped in front of one of the doors near the end of the hall. She motioned for me to go in.

I hesitated. I was having second thoughts. I thought back to the time my grandpa was in the hospital last year, and I remember how scary it had been, not knowing if he was going to be okay. I didn't know if I could go through that again—I needed time to think first.

But evidently Mom had other ideas. She opened the door for me and gave me a slight push. She followed me into the room, and the door slammed closed behind her with a thud.

She gave me an encouraging smile, and I walked over to Jess's bed.

He looked so lifeless and vulnerable. I barely recognized him. I pulled up a chair and sunk into it, staring at the boy who had stolen my heart.

"Talk to him," Mom urged.

"I—"

"Want me to leave?"

I didn't answer, so she walked over to me, kissed the top of my head, and left the room. I watched the door close after her.

Turning back to Jess, I placed my hand on his and started talking.

"I don't really know where to begin, or what to say," I started. "But I'll do whatever it takes to wake you up, so...here goes." I paused. "I missed you. I know I wasn't gone that long, but I did. I am sorry I ran away after I kissed you, but I didn't know what else to do. I was still with Dean at the time—I'm not now, though—and you know me...I couldn't handle it. I couldn't just go up to Dean and tell him it wasn't working. No, that would be the sensible thing to do." Hot, bitter tears formed in my eyes, and I fought to hold them back. "No one expects something like this to happen, though. I don't even know if you can hear me. I don't know what it means that you have been in a coma for three weeks. It's not good, I'm guessing. So just wake up, Jess. You can do it anytime. Come on," I pleaded.

Just then the door opened, and Mom reappeared. "Hey hun," she said softly.

"What if he doesn't wake up soon?" I wanted to know.

"Well—"

"Should we be really worrying right now, or—"

She put her arms around me. "Don't worry, he'll be fine," was all she said.

After our stop at the hospital, when we were on our way home, I started to get really tired. I guess the stress of everything was finally catching up to me. I fell asleep in the car almost immediately.

I awoke to Mom's voice. I opened my eyes to see her hovering over me, announcing that we were home.

Home. Such a relief to finally be home. To sleep in my own bed. To—worry about whether or not Jess would be alright.

I sighed. Home sweet home.

* * * * *

A week later, I had settled into a routine. I wake up, have breakfast at Luke's, head over to the hospital to talk to Jess [in hope that he would wake up], make it back to Luke's in time to eat lunch, go to Lane's to hang out for an hour or so, and head home to wait for Mom to get off from work.

Such a rut I was in. The highlight of my weeks, however, were movie nights. Mom would leave work early and come home and—well, we'd watch a movie.

Tonight was going to be fun. We rented 'Grease' and 'Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'. We rented Willy Wonka just about every week. Mom has a thing for the Oompa Loompas.

I sat on the couch, reading my book, waiting for Mom to come home so we could go to Doose's and stock up on every kind of junk food imaginable.

A few minutes later, she came home. I ran over to greeted her at the door.

"Mom!" I cried, giving her a hug.

She hugged me back. "Miss me?" she teased.

"I had an unbelievably boring day. I was literally counting down time until you got home so the fun could begin." I grinned.

"What fun might that be?" she asked.

"Grease, Willy Wonka..." I was a little disappointed that that which I had been looking forward to all day, Mom had completely forgotten.

"Oh no..."

"What?" I asked.

"Don't hate me."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I completely forgot. I called Luke earlier—"

"But you're not talking to Luke," I cut her off.

"I know, but I asked him if he'd meet me so we could talk."

My eyes lit up. "You're going on a date with Luke?"

"No, not a date, per say—" She started upstairs, and I followed.

"This is great. Go on, talk. Make up with him, and don't forget anything! I want all the details when you get back." I picked out an outfit for her.

Mom laughed, disappearing into the closet to change. She came out a minute later. "So you think this is a good idea?"

"It's about time," I answered, handing her some jewelry. "Are you excited?"

Her face broke into a grin as she put on a pair of earrings. "I think I am. Is that weird? I mean, it's Luke."

"It's not weird at all," I told her. "When are you meeting him?"

The doorbell rang.

"Now," she told me, grabbing her purse. We headed downstairs. "Sorry about the movies—"

"It's fine, Mom," I insisted. "Now go out with Luke." I pointed toward the door.

"Thanks." She smiled, going over to the door and throwing it open.

I watched as Luke's mouth dropped slightly. He regained his composure and managed a greeting.

"Hey," Mom returned. She glanced at me. "I'll see you later, hun."

"Bye. Have fun, guys."

And then they were off.

I went back into the living room and lay down on the couch and turned on the TV, absently flipping through the channels for about ten seconds, before turning the TV right back off.

"There's got to be something better to do..." I said to myself.

Suddenly, I had an idea. I stood up, grabbed my coat and my purse, and headed out the front door. I was going to the hospital.

A/N:: I hope you liked this chapter...please review!! I would've had it up sooner, but ff.net wasn't letting me upload it. ;)