Everlasting Cloud
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls. I own whatever isn't actually in Gilmore Girls unless specified.
Summary: Rory is about 26, works for the Boston Globe. Lorelai and Luke are married. Everything happened in the show so far plus a bit more. If it's important I'll tell you.
Please enjoy, and thank you!
Chapter Three:
She looked at her watch. 7:45am. She sighed and shifted her eyes between the different stacks of newspapers. New York Times, Hartford Gazette, Philadelphia Inquirer, etc. They even had The Yale Daily News. She bit her lip and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, trying to remember the paper she always saw her grandfather reading. Why didn't she pay more attention? She picked up a New York Times and a Yale Daily News and headed to the cashier.
"You wouldn't by any chance know what kind of paper a 77 year old man would read, do you?" Rory asked. The woman shook her head apologetically and rang up the two papers.
"Will this be all?" the clerk asked. Rory looked around and grabbed a lollipop from a small stand and placed it down.
"That's it." She said handing the woman a ten-dollar bill, collected her change, picked up her purchases and headed towards the elevators. She'd been in and out of the hospital for the past week, and when she spoke to Dr. Mason yesterday, he had told her there was a good chance she'd be allowed to see him today. She was slightly nervous about what she would see. Would he have tubes in him with machine's making noises all around him? She took a deep breath and approached the desk.
"Hi Rory." The woman said, smiling warmly at her. Rory smiled to herself. By now, with all the time she spent there, almost the entire hospital staff knew her by name.
"Hey! Umm...I was wondering if I could see my grandpa today." she asked, her eyes full of hope, pleading. The woman pursed her lips and then cringed.
"You know what sweetie, I actually don't know. Hang on, lemme call up." She said picking up the phone, dialing a few numbers and then tilting her head to the side as she waited for someone to answer.
"Ahh yes, I have Rory Gilmore here. She wants to see Richard Gilmore…Yes…okay I understand that, but she's been in and out all week, just let her see him for a few minutes at minimum…Appreciated." She hung up the phone and smiled at Rory.
"Do you know where it is?" she asked Rory. Rory smiled gratefully at what the woman just said, and shook her head in response.
The kind nurse nodded and pointed down the hall. "Room 416. That should be behind this wall actually. Just follow that hallway, turn right as soon as you can." Rory nodded, and started to speed walk. She rubbed her stomach and pleaded for it to behave. Her nerves were once again on autopilot.
411, 413, 415, 417…she looked around, confused at not finding the room. After a few seconds of panic, she stopped and mentally berated herself. She turned around and saw 416. She unconsciously bit her lip and touched the handle. She hesitated for a moment before slowly turning it, opening the door, and slipping inside. She turned around and her stomach dropped at the sight in front of her. His heartbeat and oxygen levels were being monitored. She could see the IV sticking out of his arm. She was surprised. He looked a lot better then she thought he would. She walked over to stand next to the bed and gasped when she saw his face. There were bruises and cuts everywhere. A tear fell down her cheek as she sat in the chair next to the bed. All she did was stare.
"Grandpa, if you can here me, I want you to know that I love you so much, and you have to make it." She let out a soft laugh. "I was just thinking how I've been in and out of this hospital just waiting for you to get better, but this is the first time I've been allowed to see you." she paused for a moment thinking of something else to say. "Mom really wanted to be here, but she's with Luke in Maine. They needed to do something…something about a boat I think. Anyways, we can't really reach them right now, but she should be home in two days. If you…if you can't make it through, just…please wait for mom." She trailed off as she began to get choked up. The possibility of him not being able to make it was too much for her. She sat there and stared at her hands for a while, forcing back the tears. She didn't know how long she'd been in there, but when she sat down it was light out, and now she saw the sun setting. 5:18pm the clock read. She stood up and ran her hand down his cheek. She sighed and let a tear fall down again.
"Please hold on. Please…" tears started to fall faster.
"Oh sorry! I didn't know anyone was in here. I'll…" a familiar voice said. She turned around eyes widening at person standing before her. She took in his face and he didn't seem as surprised.
"Oh my god…" she breathed. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here," he said calmly. "So…long time no see, huh Mary." As soon as the words left his mouth, he mentally slapped himself. He noticed her tear stained cheeks, and he was suddenly filled with concern. He pushed away his uncertainty and slowly walked over to her, reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. Her body started to shake slightly before she buried her head in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and gently rubbed her back. He carefully walked them out of the room and to the main area.
"Ellen, I'm going to go take a walk." He said to the woman at the desk. She nodded. They came to the bench and he gently sat down pulling her down with him. Since she was holding onto him, she ended up sitting in his lap.
"Rory, it's okay." He said softly, trying to calm her down. She lifted her head and stared into his blue eyes.
"He's gonna die isn't he?" She said wiping away her tears. It came out more of a statement than a question. He shrugged and shook his head.
"We don't know yet," he said calmly.
"Tristan, he can't die." She said, her voice almost a whisper. She was no longer crying, but she was sniffling.
He took in her dejected appearance and tried to think of something comforting to say. "He's lived a great life, he may be on the younger end, but still he's lived a great life."
"Why do doctor's suck at sympathy?" she asked sighing.
"I hadn't really noticed, but I'll try and work on that." he smiled as she nodded, taking what he just said seriously. Suddenly she got up.
"Wanna take a walk? Not sure I want to sit in here. I haven't been anywhere but here today." He nodded and stood up after her. They started to walk down the hallway aimlessly.
"So I haven't seen you in a while." Rory said, her eyes focused on the pattern of the floor tiles.
"Four years?" he answered, nodding his head. Rory mentally did the math.
"Yea around there." she agreed. For a few moments it was silent.
"So what have you been up to since Yale?" he asked, not liking the awkwardness.
She stopped for a minute and looked up at him before answering and continuing down the hallway, "Well Paris' wedding was about a week ago. Other than that, not much. You knew my mom and Luke got married." She paused. "I think that's it." He nodded. "You?"
"Ehh…well you knew I was going for medical school…" he answered.
"I see it's started to pay off. Congrats." she smiled, as she looked up at him.
He returned her smile, "Thanks. So I've been in school, and my uncle told me I should take my residency here with him, and that I could work under him until I'm all done with everything."
"Who's your uncle?" she asked, as she had a confused look on her face. She didn't remember hearing any doctor with the last name DuGrey.
"Jeffrey Mason. He's your grandfather's doctor." he supplied, as he looked at her, to gauge her reaction at the mention of her grandfather.
"Yea, I know who he is." she nodded smiling. "We're practically like friends now." He cocked his eyebrow at her in confusion. When she saw the look on his face, she laughed a little and explained. "I've been here everyday for the past week. He's sort of looked after me, to make sure I've been okay." She said.
He nodded his head, now that it was made clear to him, "Great man, isn't he?" She nodded in agreement. Another uncomfortable silence fell upon them.
"I…think we should talk." he finally said, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Talk? Is that not what we're doing?" she looked at him in confusion.
"No…we are…I mean…it's…it's just things were left unsaid back at Yale. I was hoping for maybe some kind of confirmation, I guess." he exhaled, letting out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.
"About what?" she answered, still clearly confused.
"You know what." he looked at her pointedly, and she remained silent.
"Okay, let's say I do know what you're talking about. What about it?" she finally said, looking up at him
"Was umm…was it…" he said as he rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand.
"No." she said immediately, cutting him off. He nodded sighing. Again, there was silence.
"Look…I don't want this to be awkward. Especially since we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other now." He paused, then took a deep breath. "Can we go back to how we were back at Yale?" he asked. She nodded in agreement.
"Yea, I'd like that." She said allowing a smile to develop on her face.
"Friends." He said smiling and shook her hand. She let a small laugh emit from lips.
"So…as my friend, I want you to tell me everything about what's happened with you in the past 4 years. Help me keep my mind off my grandpa." she said, feeling happier than she had in last few weeks.
He nodded as he began to fill her in. "Well…as you know, after Yale, I went to med school. At first, I was miserable, but it kept getting better and better."
"That's good." Rory said smiling. He nodded and then continued with his story, successfully keeping Rory's mind off her grandfather.
All right! So I had Tristan in this chapter. A lot of him actually! Umm so I know it may be a bit confusing since I never mentioned them being friends or anything at Yale. But they were friends in Yale, really good friends. Sort of like Lane and Rory, but a friendship with Tristan. Make sense? Okay, please review!
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