I'm all in
AN: Here's chapter 4. Thanks so much for all the reviews. This one's got mostly Luke and Lorelai scenes. And again, if any of you have ideas, I'll try my best to work them into the story.
Chapter 4: Superwoman
After sitting in silence for a while, Rory looked back at Sookie. "Hey, Sookie?"
"Huh??" Sookie responded tiredly.
"Before I came in here, the nurse told me the weirdest thing. She said mom was already engaged."
"Oh, yeah, that is weird…" She agreed before letting out a yawn.
"Hey Sookie?"
"Uh huh?" Sookie closed her eyes. She was sitting in the upright position, but that wasn't going to stop her from falling asleep. She was too tired. It had been about three and a half hours since she had arrived and it was very early in the morning.
"How'd you get them to let you in here."
Another yawn escaped her, as she explained to Rory. "Oh, I just told them her and I were together." She said it as if it were nothing.
"Sookie!"
So much for sleeping. Sookie jerked forward, wide awake. "What?! What happened???"
"I was trying to get Luke in here to see her. I lied and told them he was engaged to her and they wouldn't let him in!"
"Well what was I supposed to do? I was scared. I said the first thing that popped out of my mouth and it happened to work." She defended herself.
Rory wasn't really mad at her. Just a little annoyed. Finding out your mother had been shot was one thing. Finding out she'd been shot and also engaged was more then she could handle. "That would explain why the nurse used the words 'major life change'." She concluded.
"Do me a favor?" Sookie asked her.
"What?"
"Don't tell Lorelai."
Rory sighed. "Okay, but it might just come out on it's own. Luke's sitting out in the waiting room now with the false information as we speak."
Sookie stood up. "I'll go tell him."
Rory nodded. "That might be a good idea."
Sookie left the room, leaving Rory and her mother alone. Rory looked to her mother again. "Mom??" She asked as Lorelai's eyes opened slowly.
Lorelai glanced around the room, and then up at her daughter. She felt like crap, and she was so confused. "Good god," She finally spoke up. "Did I drunk or something, 'cause this sure feels like the worst hangover in my entire life."
Rory laughed. "No, mom, you didn't get drunk, you were shot."
Lorelai looked down at her stomach. "Oh…" She thought for a moment. "You know, I always pictured this would happen, but it was Luke who shot me because I wouldn't leave him alone."
"Luke would never do that. He's probably the one who called the ambulance for you."
"He did?" Lorelai started to remember. "Oh, yeah. I drove my car and stopped it in front of his place. I felt so relieved that he was still awake. Without him, I might not be awake at the moment."
"I'll go get him for you, if you want to thank him."
"He's here?"
"In the waiting room. They wouldn't let him in." Rory skipped the rest of that little story for Sookie. But, she'd eventually break out and tell her mom later.
"Um, yeah, go get him." She said, her voice still had that groggy sound to it.
"Kay, I'll be right back." She placed a kiss on her mother's forehead and left the room. With the consent of Lorelai, Luke was finally able to enter her room, and the nurses let him by.
"Hey." Luke told her. Rory had left them alone to go talk with Sookie.
"Hey."
Luke searched his mind. Normally, it would be easy to talk to her. But that was in the diner. "How are you feeling?"
"Pretty good considering there was a metal object imbedded in my stomach."
Luke winced at the thought. "Yeah, well, that's good. You know, that your feeling okay."
"Yeah." She paused. "Hey Luke?"
"What?"
"Thanks."
"Oh, you don't have to say that."
"Yeah, I do Luke. You saved my life."
"Well I know that. But remember, you already thanked me in advance."
"I did?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
Silence fell over them again.
"I think I should go." Luke spoke.
"No, stay." Lorelai begged him. She didn't know why, but she wanted him to be here.
"Okay, I'll stay." He walked over to an empty chair, slid it closer to the edge of Lorelai's bed and took a seat. Lorelai reached out a hand, and he took that as well. They just stared at each other for a while. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence at all. As a matter of fact, it was really nice. Both of them knew what they were doing was inappropriate for their kind of friendship, but neither of them was willing to admit they had feelings for each other. So only moments like this, when Lorelai was in the hospital, would their actions be appropriate. In other words, once she was out of there and they were back to their normal routine, this little moment would forever disappear. That is until one of them had the guts to say what was on their minds.
A while later, Sookie and Rory walked into the room. Lorelai had fallen asleep, and Luke was sitting by her bed. He was holding her hand and watching her sleep. He had pictured something like this moment in his head a thousand times before, but usually he ended up kissing her. In this case, this was as close as he could get. It was no dream, and he and Lorelai could never be together. Could they???
"Hey." Rory interrupted the silence.
Luke jerked back from what he was doing and looked at her. "Hey." He said back.
Rory smiled. "How long has she been out?" She pretended as if she had saw nothing, but it was only for Luke. The truth was, she didn't mind at all. She always knew he had a thing for her mother. She just wasn't so sure if they would work out as a couple.
"Not long. Ten minutes maybe." He sighed and stood up. "I should probably go."
"Oh, okay." Rory said. "You don't have to, but I guess if you want to get some sleep before you open up the diner, that'd be fine."
"Rory," Sookie began. "What about school? I don't think it'd be a good idea if you skipped the whole week just to stay here with your mom."
Rory frowned. "I know, but that's what I planned on doing. One week won't hurt me too much, I think. I just want to make sure she's alright. I don't care if I have a lot of makeup work to do. I'll be fine."
"Well I can stay with you mom, sweetie. And Luke…" Sookie looked at him. "I'm sure he'd be willing to help out a bit? Right??"
Sookie dragged him in, but he didn't really mind at all. He'd love to spend all the time he had helping Lorelai. "Sure, yeah."
Rory looked hesitant. It wasn't supposed to be a decision she had to make. School wasn't half as important as being with her mother. "…I don't know. I don't want to leave her."
"You can do school this week, and then come home on the weekends. You wouldn't be leaving her, and you don't have to leave this second. Stay with her a while. I just don't want you to stress yourself out. Don't you agree Luke?"
"Yeah."
"Well, okay. I guess I'll talk it over with her later then."
"That would be a good idea." Sookie yawned. "I'm going to head home and change, and maybe get a little sleep, but I'll be back." She gave Rory a hug. "Do you need anything?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine. You two just go get some rest." Rory told them.
"Okay, then. Bye." Sookie left first, then Luke.
Luke paced around in the waiting room. He didn't want to leave. He had sleep to get and a diner to run, but he didn't want to leave. He sighed and took a seat. It was then he realized just how tired he was. His eyes lids wouldn't stay open no matter how hard he tried to keep them that way. Soon, he fell into a deep sleep.
When he awoke, the entire waiting room was clear, except for a couple of people. He stood up and rubbed his eyes. His watch read 5:47. He had taken just about a two hour nap. Now, he was confused and disoriented. But then he remembered Lorelai and he knew exactly where he was.
He walked down the hall towards her room. He expected Rory to be in there when he arrived, but she wasn't. However, the woman of his recurring dream was. And this time, she was turned on her side, so he couldn't tell is she was awake or not. He walked further into the room, which was dark. The nurse must have turned off the lights for her. Although, the lights shining in the window were bright enough. Tomorrow was today, and Luke had spent basically his entire night at the hospital.
Lorelai, who was sort of in and out of sleep, heard footsteps behind her. She breathed in deeply, and turned around to find out who they belonged to. She was surprised to find Luke staring at her. "Luke? What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He apologized.
"I was already awake. These damn hospital beds are so uncomfortable." She smiled at him. "What are you doing here again?"
"I never left. I've been sleeping in a chair for the past two hours. I think I might have just injured my back."
"Oh, you should see a doctor about that."
"I would but then I'd just end up in one of those hospital beds, and I'm guessing that probably isn't going to help it very much."
"Yeah, your probably right." She let out a little yawn as she spoke. She was tired, but then she wasn't.
"You can go to sleep if you want." He told her.
"Hey, you know what I learned the other day?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Every time you yawn, it means your not getting enough oxygen to the brain. I yawn at least 500 times every day. My poor brain."
"That would explain a lot." Luke joked. Lorelai smirked at him, then continued.
"I always thought that it just meant that you were tired."
"It does. But when you lose sleep, you don't get enough oxygen to the brain, which makes you yawn." He explained.
"Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to drink even more coffee then, huh?"
"No, coffee just holds caffeine in it, which gives you a little power, but when it wears off, your even more tired then you were before. I'd stop with the coffee and go with getting more sleep. How does that sound?"
"It sounds like you don't know me. No coffee. That's like saying your going to run me over with your truck. Coffee is my life. It's my oxygen."
"That's pathetic."
"I resent that."
"I know you do." He said, a smile crossing his lips.
"Luke?"
"What?"
"Umm…well, I'm kind of thirsty, and seeing as how your already up and everything, could you…."
Luke interupted. "Lorelai, I'm not getting you coffee."
"But I need it."
"No you don't. You just yawned, which means what you need is sleep. Coffee will keep you up, depriving you of what you need and you'll be even more tired later. I thought I explained this to you already."
"I don't listen to nonsense like that. Coffee is the best thing ever invented, besides bubblegum."
"I thought you hated bubblegum."
"Yeah, well, I hate the fact that it makes my jaw pop, and how it takes forever to get into the flavor, and how the flavor goes away really quickly and how it can dislocate my jaw sometimes and…wow, I really hate bubblegum." She looked back up at him and gave him the puppy dog lip. "Can I please have coffee?"
"No. And I'm sure they don't even allow it here anyways."
"That's for the sick patients, not the injured ones."
"Still, I don't think it would be a great idea."
"You never think it's a great idea Luke. The only difference now is that I'm lying in bed begging you for it. So pleeeeaaassseee bring me some."
Luke was going to stand his ground, but he couldn't resist giving in to her. He sighed, and left the room. "Thankyou!" She yelled at him before he disappeared into the hallway in search of 'the cup of death', as he so oftenly referred to it.
As she was waiting for him to return, Lorelai tried her best to sit up in her bed. It was then she discovered the buttons that were on the side of the bed. She was having so much fun, moving herself up and down that she didn't even notice Luke coming back in. "What are you doing?"
Lorelai laughed a little. "Did you know that the beds moved? I can move into any position I want. It's so cool. I can't lay flat out, and have my feet propped up." She demonstrated for him. Luke rolled his eyes.
"Okay, Lorelai, I'm just going to place your coffee on the table now. If your even interested in it anymore."
"Okay, thanks. Just let me get this out of my system first, then I'll be good." The next position Lorelai found herself in was the weirdest position yet. She was in the upright position, but she also had the bottom end of her bed going up as well. She immediately stopped when she felt an increasingly agonizing pain in on her stomach. "Oh…" She squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to find the buttons again to get her into a more comfortable position. Luke noticed what had happened, and pressed it for her. Putting her bed back to how it originally was.
"Are you okay?" He asked, thoroughly concerned.
"Yeah, I think I just…" She rubbed her stomach. "….almost ripped my stitches." She finished.
"I'd lay off the buttons for a while." He warned her. "Do you want me to get the nurse for you?"
"No, I'm fine now. Where's my coffee."
Luke grabbed it off the table and handed it to her. "Here."
"Thanks." She took one sip of it and she was in heaven. "Oh, so good." She said to herself.
Luke took a seat in one of the chairs. "So, where's Rory?"
"Oh, I told her to go get some sleep at the house. She'll be here later today, and then she's going to go back to school."
"That's good. Did you ever see Sookie?"
"No, I didn't. I've got to thank her too. Knowing her, she was probably freaked."
"You have no idea."
"Well, I would have been the same way."
"Yeah." Luke nodded in agreement.
"It's already 6 something. Are you planning to open the diner today?"
"No, I think I'll stay here with you."
"You don't have to do that. I'm fine. I'm a big girl."
Luke smiled. "Really. Do big girls play with their hospital beds?"
"Oh, I knew that was going to come back and bite me in but."
"No, but anyways, I guess since you need company, and I need a break, I could take the day off. Since Rory's leaving to go back to school and Sookie's busy at the Inn, who are you going to talk to. I don't think the town knows about this yet."
"We both know Sookie's probably not going to work tomorrow and I really don't think she can keep a secret that long. She's probably told at least half the town already. I think I'll have a few more visitors probably within a few more hours."
"Yeah, I guess your right." Luke paused. "Hey, we forgot to tell your parents."
Lorelai shook her head. "Forget it again. I don't want them to find out about this."
"They're going to wonder when you don't show up for Friday night dinner." Luke informed her.
"I think I'll be out of here by then."
"But you won't be out of pain. Your going to have to do a lot of resting before you can start you normal everyday routine again."
"I'll be fine. I'm superwoman. No bullet's going to stop me."
"You are aware of the fact that your laying in a hospital bed right now, aren't you?"
"Okay, well, maybe it did stop me, but I'll recover quickly. When I broke my leg, I was walking on it only a week after they put the cast on."
"This is different."
"We'll see. I bet you five dollars I'll be completely better by Wednesday."
"Lorelai."
"No, come on. Five dollars."
He sighed. "Okay, fine. But don't hurt yourself, or push yourself to much. You'll just end up back here again."
"I won't. I'll be fine." I hope, she thought to herself.