A/N: I'm sorry this took so long to get out. Hopefully the next chapter won't take near this long. Also, I hope that even though this part on the show is long over that there are a few people out there who are still interested in seeing my version play out.

Comments very much appreciated as always.


Lorelai woke bleary-eyed and disoriented early the next morning. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked around at the darkness. She let out a slight whimper as she squinted over at the clock. She fell onto her back with a loud groan and pulled the pillow over her head. It soon became apparent, though, that her five measly hours of sleep were all that she was going to be given and she flung the pillow to the side. She winced at the crash that resulted seconds after and forced her eyes open to survey the damage. The lamp was askew, having been thrown against the wall when the pillow struck it. She peeked over the edge of the bed and saw the alarm clock and her glasses on the floor. She rubbed her eyes and maneuvered herself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, waiting for the morning fog to clear from her mind.

She looked up in surprise when she heard a soft knock on the bedroom door and saw Rory peek her head in seconds later.

"Hey, babe," she said, her voice still raspy with sleep. "What are you doing awake?"

"Couldn't sleep. I was making coffee and heard a noise. Everything ok?" Rory walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to her mother.

"My pillow attacked the nightstand," Lorelai explained as she eyed Rory with suspicion. "You're already dressed."

"As are you." Rory's voice was filled with sympathy as she took in her mother's rumpled clothing from the previous day.

Lorelai looked down at herself. "Huh. I am at that."

The two sat in companionable silence a few seconds before Lorelai shook her head slightly. "Well, we can see why I'm still dressed. But you were not wearing that yesterday so unless you changed into that last night and managed to sleep without even moving an inch, what's your explanation? It's barely even 5 am."

"I got up at 4," Rory said a little sheepishly. "Didn't sleep well, seemed pointless to continue laying there. Plus, the ballerina wallpaper was creeping me out a little."

Lorelai grinned, a tiny hiccup of a laugh escaping her amidst a large yawn.

"Coffee should be ready, you want some?" Rory asked.

"God, do I," Lorelai said. She stood up and headed towards the bathroom. "Pour me a cup? I'll be down in a sec."

"Sure," Rory called out before heading back downstairs. "I'm gonna call Grandma and get an update. See if she wants us to stop by the house for anything."

"'K!" came Lorelai's muffled reply from behind the bathroom door.

The next hour passed quickly and before they knew it, the sun was out and the morning was half over as they stumbled through the front doors of the hospital.

"Did they decide to just move them both in indefinitely? He is leaving here, right?" Lorelai grumbled as they made their way to the elevators, in search of Richard's new room. They had learned when Rory checked in with Emily that Richard was being moved out of ICU during the next couple of hours, which was a little ahead of schedule. She readjusted the two hanging bags slung over her shoulder while regaining her grip on the two duffel bags. Her purse strap was slung unattractively around her neck and her precious coffee mug was balanced precariously under her chin. She leaned against the wall to allow Rory time to catch up. Rory herself was loaded down with two rolling suitcases and another duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She refrained from commenting aside from a slight grunt as she stumbled past.

"Where's a big, strong, burly man when you need one, anyway?" Lorelai said, coming up beside her. "Hey, I don't suppose Logan is here, is he?"

Rory looked at her mother in slight amusement. "You consider Logan a big, strong, burly man?"

"Well," Lorelai sighed, trying to keep one of the hanging bags from sliding to the ground. "He's a man at least." Rory just smiled and shook her head.

Lorelai gasped in mock alarm. "He's not a man?! Rory, sweetie, do you have something to tell mommy?"

Rolling her eyes, Rory said, "No, I meant he's not HERE."

"Hmm," Lorelai said with a smirk, ignoring her daughter as they trekked down the seemingly endless hospital. "I always knew there was something odd about that kid. Hon, I just want you to know, I will always love you. No matter who you like to kiss."

"Mooomm," Rory whined with impatience. "I know this conversation is going to get really obnoxious and annoying quick so can we reschedule it for later please? Like when I can walk and talk again at the same time without ending up a patient alongside Grandpa?"

"Fine. Just keep in mind that while I'm full of supportiveness and I'm nothing but open-minded because I recognize 'Hey, it's your life so whatever,' your ultra conservative grandparents are likely going to disown you when they find out. You might as well say goodbye to that trust fund of yours. I just hope she's worth it!"

"Good God," Rory muttered under her breath in response from behind her. The pair trudged along in silence before she spoke again. "We should have asked for one of those luggage carts or something."

"You mean the kind at hotels or airports? This is a hospital, Rory. I don't think they have those here."

"They've got to have something, though, don't they? Maybe they have one of those spare carts they carry medical supplies on? We should have asked."

"This is ridiculous," Lorelai said a little later when they finally came upon their destination and paused outside Richard's room to catch their breath. "Nobody needs this much stuff in the hospital. This is your fault, by the way."

"What? How so?" Rory demanded as she dropped her bags to the floor, rubbing her sore shoulder as she leaned against the wall.

"You called her!"

"You were the one to offer last night!"

"No, actually, you did the offering if I'm not mistaken."

"Well," Rory huffed, "you agreed, if I'm not mistaken."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Peeking her head around the cracked door, Lorelai spotted Richard sitting up slightly in his bed. Emily was speaking quietly to him, her tone so hushed she couldn't make out the words from just a few feet away. She smiled at the sight. The two were holding hands as Emily gently caressed his hair. Richard was awake but his eyes were heavy with still needed sleep. He was listening intently to whatever Emily was whispering and Lorelai saw a slight smile cross his lips in response.

She knew her parents loved each other in their own special way, a way she had never understood. They never seemed to touch or kiss but there was always this closeness that could literally be felt between them that Lorelai had secretly envied even growing up. It was a rare thing to witness such a sight as this with them, both of their guards lowered significantly. She couldn't help but want to linger in secret just a minute more to appreciate it. However, Rory made an impatient sound behind her and Emily looked up at the noise.

"Lorelai," she frowned when she spotted her daughter in the doorway. "Why are you skulking over there in the doorway? Come in."

Richard turned his head in her direction and she gave him a bright smile as she and Rory stumbled through the door, dragging their burdens behind them. "Look who's finally awake!"

"Yes, and he should be sleeping," Emily said, glaring down at him.

"Nonsense," Richard said, his voice raspy and low. "I feel like I've been asleep for years."

"Good to see you awake and talking, Grandpa," Rory greeted her grandmother with a kiss on the cheek before going to Richard's side and doing the same.

"Hello Rory," he said, pleasure at seeing his granddaughter evident clearly on his face. "Thank you for being here."

Lorelai motioned to the bags. "Do you want me to put these somewhere, Mom?"

"What is all that?" Richard asked.

"Just some things I felt we needed here from the house while you're here," Emily replied.

Richard's eyes widened a little. "I knew it. You are lying to me. I'm worse than they said. I'm not going home am I?"

"Richard! Of course you are. Why would you say that?" Emily demanded, marching to his side.

"You've got enough bags here for a month's stay in Europe!" Richard smiled, his tone of voice ensuring his wife he was only teasing her.

"I only wanted to make sure we had everything we possibly needed. I don't trust this place."

"Gee, Mom, not something you want to say to a man just out of heart surgery," Lorelai quipped, winking at her father.

Emily ignored her daughter and motioned to the bags. "Just put them in the closet. I'll go through them later."

"Aye-aye, Cap'n," Lorelai saluted, receiving a glare from her mother but a small smile from her father. Rory helped her mother find room in the tiny closet for their belongings, what wouldn't fit they stored in a corner of the room. When they finished, Lorelai noticed Richard had seemingly drifted back to sleep.

"Finally," Emily said softly as she slumped back into her chair.

"You ok, Mom?" Lorelai asked, her voice tinged with concern.

"I'm fine," she replied, waving her hand in dismissal.

"You don't look fine," Lorelai said, coming over to stand in front of her. "You look exhausted. Did you sleep at all?"

"Like you can sleep in a place like this? Please."

"Well," Lorelai said, glancing over at Rory. "If you want to take a break, we're here. We can sit with him."

Emily shook her head. "I'm not leaving."

"Ok, but if you change your mind," Lorelai said as her mother nodded. The room fell silent for a few minutes as they stared at the sleeping man in front of them. "So, it's good news that Dad got moved to his own room earlier than scheduled, right?"

Emily nodded without speaking.

"So what's the ETA on him coming home?" Lorelai asked.

"2 or 3 days they think."

"That's good." An uncomfortable silence returned. Lorelai looked at Rory, begging silently with her eyes.

"Grandma," Rory asked. "Have you eaten? I can bring you up something if you like."

"Yeah, Mom," Lorelai said. "You are probably starving. Why don't I sit with Dad while you and Rory go down and get something from the cafeteria? Or there's a few places nearby you guys could go if you want to get out of this place for a bit."

"I'm fine, Lorelai. And thank you, Rory but maybe later."

"Just let me know, Grandma," Rory said, giving her mother a slight shrug as she took a seat in the chair next to Emily.

Lorelai sighed in frustration as she took a seat on the other side of the room, her arms crossed across her chest. Her foot tapped impatiently on the linoleum floor as she stared at her father sleeping deeply across from her. She noticed Rory get a book out of her purse and begin flipping through the pages, searching for her last stopping point. Emily was sitting stoically, her eyes closed but head held high and body stiff, like a statue.

Her worry over her father was lessening more and more which made the sitting and watching and waiting all the more difficult to bear. She felt useless and was already growing bored and restless. She checked her watch and inwardly groaned realizing it hadn't even been half an hour since they pulled into the parking lot.

With nothing to occupy it currently, her mind drifted to places she had no desire to deal with at the present time but was hard pressed to push it away. So she did her best and forced herself to focus on all the mundane and predictable life stuff, such as the jeep's upcoming oil change, a list of items she needed from Doose's before the week was over, the baby shower next weekend that the Dragonfly was hosting. Anything and everything that would keep her mind off her crumbling marriage. She stilled a bit at the word choice her mind came up with. Was it really crumbling? Couldn't this just be a very bad fight? Christopher would calm down in a day or two and he and Gigi would come back home. Though one of the biggest advantages of getting married, she had always thought, was to give both parties assurances that the other couldn't just take off in troubled times. And while she hadn't ever read it specifically, she guessed that it usually included packing up one's kid in the middle of the night and taking off without a word.

She frowned, picking at the loose thread unraveling from her sleeve. She should call him, she thought. It was probably best to just get that conversation over with. She reached down and dug around inside her purse, searching blindly for her cell phone. Her eyes happened to meet Emily's and they held the gaze for what felt like an eternity.

Emily cleared her throat. "Will Christopher be joining us today?"

Lorelai dropped the phone she had finally curled her fingers around and sat back in her chair. She knew she wouldn't be so lucky that her mother would be so preoccupied and worried that she wouldn't even think of her MIA husband. But still, she had fruitlessly hoped. She glanced over at Rory who was pretending to read but Lorelai could tell by her unmoving eyes she was instead waiting for Lorelai's answer. Clearly, she would be no help. She looked back at her mother, who was staring at her expectantly with her lips pursed.

With a sigh, she decided to go with an honest answer, and damn the consequences. "You'd have to ask him that to know for sure but if you want my guesstimate, I'm gonna go with doubtful."

Emily's eyes widened but she said nothing. The silence that fell across the room was heavy and confining and made Lorelai nervous. She waited for the typical Emily response she knew was coming. She counted to five. "Wait, that's it? You just accept that answer?"

Emily stared unblinking at her daughter. "I asked a question. You gave an answer. I'm not sure what more you expect."

"Well," Lorelai smirked. "I don't know. The usual 'Lorelai is nothing but a disappointment and can't do anything right' lecture, I guess."

"Lorelai, I hardly think this is the time or place," Emily warned with a frown. "And please keep your voice down."

"Fine," she sighed. She sat a moment longer, trying to ignore the agitation that had been building ever since this drama had begun but it finally grew too much so she grabbed her purse and made a flimsy excuse about needing to check in at the inn. She hurried out of the room and briefly leaned against the wall in the hallway, taking a quick, not so calming breath before hurrying towards anywhere that was far away from that room.

She finally found herself in an empty waiting room several floors down. Shutting the door behind her, she made her way to a nearby chair and sunk down into the cushions. The stress was definitely catching up to her, not to mention the lack of sleep. She closed her eyes and let the sound of her breathing soothe her frazzled nerves.

Gathering what courage she had deep down inside her, she finally pulled out her phone and dialed Christopher's cell phone number. She was fully expecting him not to answer so when he picked it up after the first ring, she was struck silent with surprise.

"Lorelai?" he asked when she didn't acknowledge his initial greeting.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," she replied, rubbing her eyes. "I guess I'm surprised you answered is all."

"Learned that lesson yesterday."

"Right," she sighed. "Guess you did."

When he made no move to speak, she felt the anger that had been simmering inside of her for the past day and a half come to a fast boil. "So what happened to 'In good times and bad'?"

"What?"

"You know, that whole marriage crap? The 'In sickness and health, for better or for worse, good times and bad'? I don't recall 'Husband and wife fight so husband takes off in the middle of the night' being mentioned in that mantra but maybe I'm just old fashioned that way."

She heard what sounded like a sigh on the other end. "Look, I'm sorry. Leaving was wrong. I shouldn't have done that. But I just got so mad on the way home and by the time I pulled into the driveway, I knew when you got home we'd just end up yelling at each other again and figured it was best if we both had some space. Some breathing room. So I took Gigi to my mom's."

"I get that, Chris. I do. I wasn't really relishing the thought of it myself but that's just kind of the way marriage works. It's all part of the package deal, don't you get that? Or maybe I just watch too much Dr. Phil."

"Look, we'll be home tonight. We can talk then, after Gigi goes to bed? I assume you're at the hospital today?"

"You assume correct," Lorelai said. "Emily asked if you would be joining us today," she couldn't help but add.

"Oh, well," Chris stammered, clearly unsure how to reply.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and cut off whatever he was about to say. "Don't worry about it. Just send some flowers or something all proper and etiquette like and all will be forgiven I'm sure."

"Flowers," he said, drawing out the word slightly. "Got it." She heard a rustling in the background, like pages being flipped and a book shut.

"Did you just write that down?" she asked, incredulous. His silence was all the confirmation she needed. "I can't believe you had to write down "Send flowers." Is your life that busy you could possibly forget that you should send flowers to your father-in-law in the hospital?"

"Lor," Chris pleaded. "I'm just trying not to screw up even more, alright? Give me a break."

She shook her head, not sure why that invoked the exasperation it did. "Fine. Look, I gotta get back up there. I will see you tonight, right?"

"Yeah, you'll see me. I promise."

She said goodbye and punched the OFF button and held the phone tightly in her hand. She felt as if she should feel relieved or something. They'd talk, starting tonight, and get back on track. They had to, she thought with a frown. She couldn't screw this up was all she knew. So why, she wondered, did she not feel just a little bit lighter? If possible, she was more fearful and worried now than she had been last night.

She was so deep in thought, she jumped when the phone rang in her hand. Figuring it was probably Christopher calling back, she answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Yeah?"

"Lorelai, hi."

"Luke," she exclaimed in surprise. "Uh, hey."

"Is this a bad time?" he asked.

"Oh, no, it's fine. What's up?"

"I just wanted to check in, see how things were going with your father. See if you needed anything today. I've got Lane and Caesar covering for the afternoon so I can get out there if you need me to."

Lorelai shifted nervously in her seat. She tried not to dwell on the reasons for her nervousness. It also didn't escape her that once again, her ex was more concerned about her family than her husband appeared to be.

"Oh, well, that's really kind of you, Luke, but I think we'll be ok today. Dad was moved out of ICU this morning so things are definitely looking up. And it's not quite as crazy as yesterday, knowing he'll be ok and all. So I think between the three of us, we can handle things. But thanks, you know, for calling and offering. That was really sweet. I really appreciate the offer. So…thanks."

She could practically hear Luke smiling at her rambling. She rolled her eyes in annoyance at herself.

"I'm glad he's doing better today," he said simply.

"Yeah, me too."

"Well," Luke said after a few seconds of awkward silence, "I just wanted you to know I was thinking of all of you and would be happy to help in whatever way I can."

Lorelai felt her chest tighten in response and found herself having to concentrate on taking an actual breath as she whispered a simple thanks and after a few more consolatory words, they hung up. She sat, staring down at the phone clutched tightly between her trembling hands. Luke's call so soon after Christopher's seemed to have triggered something inside of her. She felt something inside her shift just slightly, almost too subtle to notice. Thoughts and feelings seemed to click back into place, as if they had been jostled out of their rightful positions for some time. She closed her eyes in a vain attempt to ward off the overwhelming feelings that rushed at her head on. Dread, guilt, worry, concern and fear all warred amongst themselves inside of her, causing her to gasp in response and she bent down, placing her head between her knees and concentrated on getting past the dizziness. There was something else, though. A niggling feeling in the back of it all. She sat up straight as she recognized the emotion. Relief. Nope, she hadn't imagined that. She actually felt a touch of relief amongst all of it. Odd, she couldn't help but think. Just minutes before, she was struggling with her own emotions and how best to handle the situation and then suddenly, it all made sense and she knew exactly what had to be done.

Brushing away the stray tears that had slipped onto her cheeks unnoticed, she quickly dialed Christopher back. She stood up and headed back towards her family as his voice came over the line.

"Chris, leave Gigi with your mother tonight. I think we need to talk, no distractions."

to be continued...