Author's Note
So I'm not completely happy with this story of mine anymore, I'm going to try my best to finish it with as satisfying an ending as possible, but then I will be happy to be done with it and will be moving on to new stories, hopefully ones I'm slightly more satisfied with myself. ;) I will be ending this as soon as I can with it still seeming relatively realistic and natural, and without me skipping any important events that I think you'd all be expecting me to write. I'm still not quite sure how many more chapters it will be.
Anyway here's another nice long chapter. I think I keep outdoing myself. I seem to be getting into a flow of writing more at a time now. Lol.
Also by the way – I keep trying to do page breaks and nothing is showing up here on this site no matter what I do... any pointers for me, fellow writers? ;)
Chapter 9: Luke's Test Results
Luke woke up the next morning, about 24 hours after Lorelai, Christopher, Rory, Liz, and Jess had left. As he slowly opened his eyes, he realized something was wrong; he felt very disoriented and confused. He looked around his surroundings, and could tell he was in a hospital, but he didn't remember why or how. His vision was slightly blurred and he had a headache. He tried to move, but his whole right side felt awkwardly stiff and he was having some trouble moving it. He didn't know what in the world had happened to him, but he was pretty sure it was something serious, and suddenly he was getting very nervous and scared.
A nurse glanced into his room and saw him waking up, so she came over and warmly greeted him. She touched his shoulder comfortingly as she informed him that it was normal to be confused and disoriented for the first few days after having a cerebral aneurysm burst. She told him that he should try to relax and that she would call his family for him now and get the doctor as well. Luke nodded, swallowed, then tried to stop worrying and just relax, but it wasn't really working for him. I had an aneurysm? He couldn't really wrap his mind around the concept.
Jess answered the phone when it rang because TJ and Liz were busy fussing over Doula, changing her diaper or something. Why they needed two people to do that, Jess wasn't sure, but he wasn't complaining. Otherwise one of them would still be out here, trying to talk to him.
"Hello?" Jess answered hastily, because he was more than ready for news on Luke to arrive, and he was fairly certain this would be the hospital calling.
"Hello, may I speak to a relative of Luke Danes?" said the female voice on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, I'm his nephew," Jess impatiently answered.
"Okay. Your uncle is awake and it'd be good if you or at least someone in his immediate circle of friends or family could come down here to visit him as soon as possible, because right now he is alone and a bit disoriented and confused," the woman informed him. "It would be comforting for him to have someone who knows him here."
Jess bit his lip, then said, "But he doesn't remember the last 20 years of his life, so would it really be comforting for someone like me, who he doesn't remember, to be there?"
The person on the other side of the conversation assured him, "Yes, he might not know who you are, but I've seen cases like this before, and just knowing that there are people who know who he's supposed to be and who care is comforting in and of itself, I swear."
Jess nodded, thinking to himself for a moment and taking it all in. "Okay, well then I'll be sure to be there as soon as I can, and I'll bring a few people with me too probably. Is there anything else that we should know?" Jess desperately added, "He was going in for tests yesterday, don't you have the results now or something?"
"Yes, the results are back, but the doctor wishes to discuss them with you in person, I'm sorry," the receptionist (or whoever it was) told Jess in her 'I-have-to-spell-this-out-for-everyone-and-it-gets-really-annoying-but-I'm-trying-to-still-sound-nice-anyway' voice.
Jess sighed then said, "Thanks." He hung up the phone and went to go tell Liz and TJ. He walked in and luckily Doula was fully clothed now.
"Hey guys, um, that was the hospital calling," Jess said, and he waited for them to react. Liz looked up instantly and TJ looked up a second or two after that. "Yeah, they wouldn't tell me much over the phone, just that it'd be good if people who cared about Luke and knew who he was went down there to visit him, ASAP."
"Okay sounds good," Liz said, and then she turned towards her daughter and her husband. "We could all go to the hospital, right?" she asked her husband, somewhat rhetorically. TJ nodded. Jess didn't really love the idea of TJ and the baby coming, but it probably wouldn't be that bad either.
Jess walked over to the passenger's side of the car and put his hand on the door, then hesitated as he looked behind them. TJ was putting a huge baby bag and stroller in the trunk, and Liz was carrying Doula in her arms and heading towards the backseat, where there was a car seat.
"Would you like me to drive?" Jess offered. He was a little nervous that if Liz or TJ drove, the baby would be a big distraction for them.
"Sure hun, you can drive if you want," Liz said. She was standing outside of the vehicle with her head, arms, and upper body completely hidden in the car, buckling her daughter up. She leaned back out of the car and dug the keys out of her pocket, then tossed them to Jess. He caught them and started heading over to the driver's side.
TJ came into the car and sat in the passenger's seat, and Liz climbed into the back with her daughter. Jess started driving towards the highway, but then Liz said, "Shouldn't we stop by Lorelai's and tell them to follow us there too?"
Jess really hated this idea; he didn't want to face Rory, and it would be very awkward to explain to Luke who Lorelai was – his ex-best friend and ex-fiancé who is currently married to another man. He tried to figure out a way to convince his mother that stopping by the Gilmore's house would not be the best idea. "I'm not so sure we need so many people in the room at once, it's already the four of us, if you count Doula..." he said, trailing off.
But his mother shook her head. "Nonsense, Luke loves Lorelai more than anyone and despite the whole Christopher situation, she still loves him too, everyone knows it. If anyone would be able to comfort him, it'd be her. She should be there." Jess wondered when his mother had gotten so wise, and he realized Liz really did have a point. So he turned towards the Gilmore residence, hoping Rory wasn't there. Maybe he'd be lucky and she would have spent the night with Lane, and still be over at her house – it was still pretty early in the morning after all.
The whole entourage got out of the car, and Jess rolled his eyes as he watched his mother going through all the trouble of unbuckling his sister. Then they went up to the door, where Jess took the lead and knocked. Chris answered the door; he looked like he'd been up for a while. "Hi," he said, a bit taken aback by the sight of all of them. "I'll go wake Lorelai," he said, and Jess could tell from his tone of voice that he wasn't exactly in a good mood today. "You guys are welcome to come in and sit on the couch while you wait," he said, and then he hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom.
Jess looked around; the house looked quite a bit different from the outside, probably because it had been remodeled. He hadn't been in the house for over 3 years, but the living room essentially looked the same, although the TV was very different... That must have been Christopher's doing, he thought to himself.
Lorelai came downstairs about 5 minutes later, and she seemed to have dressed and gotten ready in more of a rush than Jess would have thought possible for her. She was ready to go to the hospital, although no one had specifically told her they were doing that – she just assumed correctly, apparently. She grabbed her purse off the table and seemed to be ready to follow Jess and his family out of the door, when she suddenly turned back and looked at Chris. He had slowly followed her back down the stairs, and he was uncertainly glancing back and forth between his coat and Lorelai, silently asking her whether or not he should come with her. Lorelai twisted her mouth and seemed to be considering what to tell him, and looked at him meaningfully. What exactly the look was supposed to mean Jess wasn't quite sure, and apparently Christopher couldn't tell either.
He sighed and said, "Lor, please, just tell me what you want me to do." He glanced at their company quickly, then avoided eye contact with everyone by turning his line of sight to the floor. "I can be there for you, or I can be out of the way for you. I'm willing to do whatever," he said in a very resigned tone.
"Chris, I think it might be better if it was only people who really know Luke, that's all," Lorelai said, trying not to hurt his feelings. "It's not that I need you out of the way, not at all, but..." she trailed off, slowly turning her head towards her feet, before she quickly looked back up at him. "I just think it'd be more awkward if you were there. You understand, right?"
Chris nodded. "Yeah of course," he said. She turned to leave with everyone else, finally, but then Chris called after her for one last thing. "Um Lor," he started, "What about Rory?"
Lorelai looked back at him, and said, "I'll call her and tell her... everything." She smiled sadly at him, and then finally left the house with Jess, Liz, TJ, and the baby.
/
Once the door had closed behind Lorelai, Jess briefly explained that it'd be good for Luke to see as many people who cared about him as possible. Liz offered Lorelai the last seat in their car, but rather than squeeze in the backseat Lorelai insisted she could drive herself. She then got out her cell phone and hit her speed-dial for Rory aS she got into her Jeep.
Lorelai was glad to have privacy while she summed up for Rory everything that had happened with Christopher the previous afternoon. She drove as she talked, explaining how remarkably understanding Chris had been, and how it sort of seemed like he half expected her to say the things that came out of her mouth.
"However," Lorelai added, "He did seem quite sad about it all, and I feel so awful about everything." Lorelai didn't want to start crying while she was driving, so she took a deep breath and tried to keep her composure. "Yes, we did still both sleep in the same bed last night and we didn't officially break up or anything yet. Yeah, you're at Lane's still right? Good, because I'm here now," Lorelai finished, pulling up into Lane and Zack's driveway.
Lorelai parked and waited for her daughter, who in no time ran out of the house and up to the car. "Mom! What? Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming to pick me up?" she asked incredulously.
"We have to go to the hospital and visit Luke, he's awake. He needs lots of visitors to comfort him and show him how much he's loved. So get your butt in the car, Missy." Lorelai tried to sound light-hearted and joking, but wasn't very successful. Rory got into the passenger's seat and they drove off towards the highway.
"Mom," Rory said, "Does April know that Luke is awake?" Lorelai shook her head 'no', so Rory got out her cell phone and started dialing.
"You've memorized April's phone number? Since when?" Lorelai asked.
"Since this morning when I looked it up on Lane's computer. I figured it'd be useful to know, and sure enough, well... it's ringing so shh," Rory said, putting the phone up to her ear. "Hi, is this April?" she asked. "Yeah, it's Rory, we met once... good. Well your mom told you about... um... your dad, right? Yeah I know. Uh huh. Well, if you wanted to visit him in the hospital, now would be a totally acceptable and good time to do it. Yeah. Yeah ask your mom. I hope so too. I'll see you there. Bye April," she finished.
Lorelai smiled at her daughter, glad that she remembered to do that. It would be good for both April and Luke to see each other, for different reasons, but they both really did need this.
/
Jess looked for Luke's doctor, and when he saw him, went right up to him.
"Oh hi, you're Luke's..."
"Nephew," Jess finished for him.
"Right. Hi. I'll be with you in just a second," he said.
Jess inched back slightly, giving the man some space. He was usually a remarkably patient person, but he was finding it difficult to keep waiting and waiting for information on Luke. He felt like he'd been waiting for days, and the days were the longest days he'd ever experienced.
Finally the doctor came over to Jess and Liz and wasted some time shaking hands with TJ and complimenting Doula, which kind of made Jess want to strangle him. Could you just get on with the information, please? He silently begged him. After the pleasantries were out of the way, the doctor explained that aneurysms have really difficult and lengthy recovery periods, and that they should be prepared, but that in Luke's case things looked pretty good. Jess nodded, bracing himself for what he was about to hear.
The doctor continued, "Luke is one of the best possible examples of a patient after a ruptured aneurysm and stroke. We tested him and he is able to speak, read, and write still, even though many people in his situation wouldn't be able to do those things. His vision is only slightly impaired, and that had a good chance of improving with time. Even if it doesn't improve, Luke will be able to adjust to it; he still has the ability to see. Which is a very good thing," the doctor assured them. "He has some weakness on his right side, and so he'll need to go to physical therapy for a while, and until he regains enough strength in his right leg he will have to stay in a wheelchair." Jess and Liz looked at each other, pretty upset by this prospect. "However," the doctor noted, seemingly trying to downplay Luke's condition, "It's really a considerably minor weakness compared to what it could be, and Luke is actually very lucky."
"Wow," Liz said. "So this is what it's like when everything goes well?" Jess had never agreed with his mother more.
"Yeah and what about his memory? He still doesn't remember the past twenty years?" Jess asked.
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid so. And also, and this is quite common with post-aneurysm patients, he's having issues with his short term memory. Both of these things usually improve over time, and he should slowly remember the past and eventually he will be able to remember short term things better too. But for now, you'll need a lot of patience with him. He probably will wake up every day for the next few weeks and need to be reminded of where he is and that he had an aneurysm." Jess was horrified, Luke's memory was even worse than he thought.
"I know it's really daunting to hear all of this all at once," the doctor said. "If you have any questions, I'm always happy to answer them. Now, I think Luke has been alone in the room for long enough; I think now would be a good time to go in and say 'hi'," he said, smiling slightly and gesturing towards the room.
/
If you're reading the story, please review and let me know so that I feel more encouraged to write the next chapter! ;) I don't really know that anyone is reading it if I don't get reviews, it's not like on my fanvideos where at least I can look at the view count, you know? ;)
