The wait for this chapter was a lot longer than I would have liked. Unfortunately, my muse went to the store to buy some milk last week and just came back tonight. Here's chapter ten. I know at least one person that will be happy with this chapter. Happy reading. Reviews are love!!

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Special thanks to everyone that reviewed chapter nine: Loridhhp, Kassandra27, blonde-biatch, Shaolin-Queen, Java, Curley-Q, JessRoryYudaTidusforever, LorLukealways, Jeremy Shane, Starbell, Sailor-Lit, catieXOX, Sophie, gilmoreintraining, Phoebegirl319, Kat Kat B., hollowgirl22, and JESSandRORYforever. Keep the reviews coming. I feast on them. : )

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not mine. Not mine.

Into the Unknown

"They're doing great, aren't they? Lorelai asked as she twirled her coffee cup.

"Yeah, they are," Luke agreed. He refilled her waiting mug and Lorelai thanked him with a smile.

"Rory's coming home tomorrow," she mentioned gleefully. "When are they moving Jess?"

Luke flicked off the coffee maker and sat next to Lorelai. "They're moving him out of intensive care on Wednesday. So that's three days."

"Three days?" Lorelai took a sip of her fresh coffee. "When are they sending him home?" she asked.

"I don't know. He's been in the hospital for two weeks." Luke sighed and shifted in his chair. "He's going to need a lot of help."

Lorelai nodded. "He hasn't been out of bed yet."

"Right."

"Rory's probably going to need physical therapy. Her nurse mentioned that it was something to consider."

Luke nodded weakly. "Yeah, Jess is going to need a lot of therapy."

She looked into her coffee cup sadly before facing Luke again. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Luke shot her a half smile and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"They're discharging me today," Rory said softly as she planted a kiss on Jess's forehead.

He nodded. "I know. I'm glad."

"I want you to come home with me."

"I wish I could." Jess took Rory's hand and pulled her closer to him. "I'm glad they let you in without a wheelchair."

She smiled at him. "Me too. I'd rather walk. I missed walking. I'm never going to bed ever again!" she laughed.

"Not until tonight, at least." Jess smiled at Rory. She had missed his smile every day that she could not see him.

"I'm going to come see you every day," she promised.

"And I'm going to hold you to that," Jess said. He smiled again, which caused Rory to smile back.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too." Jess struggled to sit up. When he was finally in a comfortable position, he slipped his hand behind Rory's neck and pulled her closer to him.

They kissed passionately as the world fell around them. All their problems disappeared as they disappeared into each other.

"Ahem," Lorelai cleared her throat from the doorway. Rory blushed a little as she and Jess broke apart.

"Hi mom."

"I knew I'd find you here. The nurse said you threw some clothes on and she escorted you here. You're walking."

"It's true; I'm walking." She did a spin on her sneakers and smiled.

"I guess that's a no to physical therapy?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't need physical therapy. I need these things out of my arm!" Rory joked as she held her stitched up arm out.

"That's right. I need to make an appointment for the doctor to remove your stitches." Lorelai sighed. "I don't know why they couldn't have used those cool stitches that absorb into your skin."

Rory made a face. "I know why. That's gross!" She looked over at Jess briefly, who had his eyes closed.

"I think we put him to sleep," Lorelai said.

Rory laughed. "I guess we should get going."

"I'll be out in the hall. Take a minute," Lorelai requested.

She waited until Lorelai had left the room to sit on the edge of his bed. "I love you," she said again as she combed his hair with her fingers. "I'll be back. I'll be here a lot. I promise." Jess moaned in his sleep and scrunched his nose up. Rory smiled at him and kissed the tip of his nose. "I'll be back later," she promised again before exiting the room.

"I'm going to need to take care of him," Rory said as Lorelai escorted her to the elevator.

"He's going to be fine, sweets."

"He looks better, but he looks worse. I don't know how else to put it," Rory said softly. She pushed the button on the panel and slumped in the corner of the elevator.

"It's probably because of the spleen thing," Lorelai said.

"Spleen?" Rory questioned. "What about his spleen thing?"

Lorelai sighed. "That's right. I'm sure Luke wouldn't have told you Jess had his spleen removed."

"My boyfriend had an organ taken out and everyone failed to mention it to me?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm guessing that didn't earn us any brownie points." Lorelai fluffed her hair nervously. "Sorry, kid."

"I'm just tired," Rory said. "I'm sorry I started getting hysterical."

"It's fine. I understand," Lorelai said as she hugged Rory. "Let's get you home. You can sleep in your own bed. Luke will make you mashed potatoes and coffee. Everything will work out fine."

"Right, let's go home."

"So this is great, isn't it?" Rory asked as she sat with Jess. "They're moving you in a couple of hours."

Jess nodded. "Getting tired of all these machines."

"I'm going back to Yale on Monday," Rory mentioned. "Paris informed me that she had accomplices tape lectures and photo copy notes for me."

"Well, shucks. Good ole Paris." Jess fiddled with one of the IVs in his vein.

"You're bitter today," Rory said.

Jess said nothing. Of course he was bitter. Why should he not be bitter? He had every reason in the world to be bitter at this moment. "Jimmy's girlfriend showed up the other day."

"Oh," Rory said softly. She knew all the reasons he had to be bitter. "What happened?"

"The usual," Jess said, waving her away.

"What's the usual?" Rory asked. She was not just curious for curiosity sake; she was curious for Jess's well being.

"Yelling, arguing, that sort of thing."

"Sounds like a real family affair."

"Always is." Jess reached over and pulled open the drawer. The blue envelope has stayed unopened and out of sight. Carefully, he plucked the piece of stationary from the nightstand and handed it to Rory.

"What's this?" she asked. The seal had not been broken, but the edges appeared to have been toyed with quite a bit.

"I don't know. Something Jimmy wanted Sasha to give me." Jess shrugged. "I didn't feel like opening it."

Rory turned the envelope around in her hands. The name Jess had been written in faded letters. "You should open it."

"Nah. Leaves something to the imagination." Jess accepted the envelope as Rory handed it back to him. Promptly, he stuck it back in the drawer.

"It might be important," Rory said.

"It might not be," Jess responded. Rory sighed. She knew Jess was too headstrong to let her win an argument such as that.

"How are you feeling?" Rory asked suddenly.

"Fine," Jess answered quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

"You look pale," Rory said.

"So do you," Jess retorted, "but I'm not knocking you for it."

"Jess," Rory whined softly, "Why are you so stubborn?"

"I'm not stubborn. I'm bitter, remember?" he snapped.

Tears sprung to Rory's eyes. "Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" Jess sneered. "Why are you being like this?"

"I'm not being like anything, Rory!" Jess shouted. They hadn't argued like that in a long time.

Rory shot a look at the clock. "Maybe I should get going. You obviously don't want me here today."

"Christ! That's not it! Why does it always have to be about Rory Gilmore? This has nothing to do with you!" Jess shouted again.

"Jess," Rory started.

"No! You don't get to coddle me after this!" Jess raised his voice higher.

"Jess," she started again.

"Stop, Rory, just stop!" Jess yelled. A machine next to his bed started to beep.

"Jess, are you okay?" Rory asked as soon as she had an entrance.

"Fuck, no."

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"I don't know."

Gabby dashed into the room to fix the beeping machine. "Jess," she said. "They're sending you upstairs and you're setting this thing off. That's not good." She reached around one of the devices to produce a thermometer. "Hold that under your tongue." She eyed her watch until the minute was over. Rory held back against the wall while Gabby did what she had to do. "Jess Mariano," she said quietly. "Shit, Jess Mariano."

"What's wrong?" Rory asked. Gabby turned around quickly. She had forgotten Rory was still in the room.

"He has a fever of 106. I don't know what it is, but something's wrong."

"Jess?" Rory asked quietly.

He didn't respond. Another machine started beeping wildly.

"You need to leave!" Rory was shocked by Gabby's tone of voice. It scared her into thinking there was a real reason she should depart. She hurried outside without a word as another nurse rushed in the room with a crash cart.

"One, two, three, clear." Rory shut her eyes and sunk to the ground.