Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Sorry for long gap between updates but I had a case of writers block. That and a teething six month old. Here is chapter eleven. Enjoy!
Chapter 11
The door was knocked and as on cue, Rory ran to it, money in hand to give to Joe in exchange for the pizza.
She closed the door and took the pizza into the kitchen. Lorelai got busy adding extra cheese to the food while Rory went to wake Jess up.
She walked in quietly and made her way to the bed. She bent down slightly and called his name. "Jess" she said softly but he didn't answer. "Jess" she said a little louder. Lorelai could hear her daughter calling the teens name pretty loudly.
Rory touched him lightly on the arm and could feel that he was pretty warm. She shook him gently and again called his name again but he still didn't move.
"Mom" Rory called. Lorelai came into the bedroom to see what was going on. "You ok?" Lorelai asked her daughter.
"Mom, he's not waking up and he's hot...I shook him and he won't wake up" Rory said panicking.
Lorelai walked over and moved her daughter out of the way. She knelt down next to Jess. "Jess" she called him. She didn't get an answer. She reached out and put a hand on his forehead then moved it to his cheek. He was hot, very hot and he was sweating.
"Go and phone Luke, tell him to come here right away" Lorelai told Rory. Rory looked like she was about to burst into tears but swallowed her fear and ran to the phone to call the diner owner.
"Jess" Lorelai tried again. She laid a hand on his chest to make sure he was breathing. He was but it was slow and laboured. What the hell was going on?
She then felt for a pulse on the kid's neck. She could feel a slow soft beat under her fingers.
Luke burst through the front door a little while later and followed Rory into the bedroom.
He knelt down next to his nephew and began to check him over. "Call an ambulance" he told Lorelai. Something was wrong. He felt guilty as hell. He had fought with his nephew earlier and now he was having to call an ambulance for him.
"Jess, wake up, c'mon" Luke spoke to his nephew. Jess was laying slightly on his side so Luke carefully and slowly rolled him flat on his back, it was then that he noticed a small dark patch on the clean white pillow.
He turned Rory's night light on and saw that the blotch was red and it was still wet. Luke looked at it further and noticed that it was blood.
"He's bleeding" Luke told Lorelai. "What" she said back to the shocked older man. "Look" he told her while pointing the blood.
"Where is he bleeding from" Lorelai asked as her own panic began to increase. Luke started looking around his nephew to see for any cuts or open wounds but found none. He checked his mouth but it wasn't coming from there either.
Luke then noticed that the kid had blood slowly running from his ear. "Oh god" Luke whispered.
"What, what's wrong" Rory asked stepping forward. "He's bleeding from his ear. That's...that's a common sign of...bleeding on the brain" Luke said trying to hold back the tears.
"But the doctors said there was no bleeding on the brain, they checked three times" Rory practically shouted.
A nock on the front door broke the conscious members of the room out of there staring and to the sound.
Lorelai went and opened the door, showing them to Rory's bedroom.
"Hi there; my names Don; Ok what seems to be the problem here" asked the paramedic. "My nephew, he was in hospital recently...he was beaten by his mother's boyfriend and thrown through a mirror. The doctors kept him in and said he was ok to go home now he won't wake up and he's bleeding from his ear" Luke told them while rubbing his hands together in a nervous motion.
"Alright, let's have a look here. How old is he and what's his name?" he asked. Luke told him.
"Ok, Jess can you hear me?" he asked the teen while rubbing his knuckles on the kids chest. Nothing.
Don then unfolded Jess's arms and listened to his heart and his breathing. "Ok; I'm not liking his oxygen levels or his blood pressure. How long has he been bleeding from the ear?" he asked.
"We don't know. He was sleeping for hours. I came in here at about six because he had a nightmare but he was ok. He went back to sleep then I came in here at about a quarter to seven and he wouldn't wake up" Rory told the paramedic.
He took out a flash light and shone it in Jess's eyes. "Ok, were going to have to take him in" he told them while grabbing his radio.
"Don to dispatch. I need urgent assistance. I've got a seventeen year old male. Recently released from hospital for abuse; Bleeding steadily from the ear and has unresponsive pupils. Pulse and breathing slight and laboured" he said into his radio.
"Dispatch over. Ambulance is on its way. ETA six minutes" a female voice said back. "Roger that" Don told her.
"Alright, let's get started here" Don said aloud.
He moved the pillows from under Jess's head to lay him flat. He then tilted the kids head back to open up his air ways.
He began sorting through his bag and took out a cannula to fit into Jess's hand. It took a few minutes to find a vein but eventually managed to get one.
Luke couldn't believe that this was happening. Hadn't his nephew gone through enough?
While Don was getting Jess ready for transportation a second knock came from the front door. Rory ran to it and let in two male paramedics who had bags and backboard with them.
Don explained the situation and helped the paramedics loads Jess into the ambulance. Luke took a seat next to his nephew and held his cold hand; Lorelai and Rory followed behind in the jeep.
Once at the hospital, the doctors and nurses made Luke and the girls wait in the family room while they checked Jess over.
Luke was pacing and it was driving Rory insane. "Luke, can you please stop pacing, you're making me dizzy" she told the older man.
"Cant, it helps" he replied. Lorelai huffed at his response. Rory was getting more and more agitated as time went on. "Why would they send him home and tell him that he was ok, only for this to happen. Did they not check his injuries properly?" she said, her voice rising in anger.
"Sweetie, the doctors also said that brain bleeds don't always show up right away. He'll be ok, Jess is strong, don't worry" Lorelai told her daughter.
"Don't worry?" Luke shouted. "How are we not supposed to worry? That kid has been through hell and just when he was starting to put it behind him and show signs of improvement he's back in here with far worse injuries and you're saying 'don't worry'?" He stared at Lorelai before turning away.
Lorelai stayed quiet. It was obvious that Luke still had some anger towards her for the whole situation.
As Luke was about to speak again, a female doctor walked into the room.
"Hello, I'm Dr Cartwright. Are you family of Jess Mariano?" She asked Luke who nodded. "Ok, we have given Jess some scans and there is a bleed on the brain" she told them. Rory let a squeak of fear and upset.
"Now, I don't want you to panic. It looks as though the bleed has stopped itself and there is no more bleeding from the ear; we'll keep him on twenty four hour watch to make sure that it doesn't start again and we will be doing regular scans. After giving him some medication we managed to bring him down. He's very confused and not very happy so when you see him, make sure there is no stress" she told them sensing the bad atmosphere in the room.
She showed them to Jess's room and left them to see that he was alright. They entered the hospital room quietly and looked at the occupant of the bed who looked exhausted and frustrated but still managed to hold a nasty scowl on his pale face.
Once near the bed they stopped and looked at him. "Either sit down or get out but don't stand there staring at me" he told them.
Lorelai left the room feeling as though she wasn't needed or wanted in there at that moment in time. Rory and Luke however did as Jess instructed and took a seat by his bed.
"You scared me" Rory said while taking Jess's hand in her own. "Sorry" he mumbled.
Luke looked at him and said "Jess, I'm so sorry. For everything that I said; I didn't mean it and I know it hurt you. I was way out of line and I'm just...sorry" he said sadly.
Jess nodded but said nothing. He didn't want to have this particular conversation right now.
After alot of tense and uncomfortable silence a timid nurse came into the room to tell Luke and Rory that visiting time was over. They left Jess who looked more miserable then before and walked outside to Lorelai.
They drove back to stars hollow. Luke went back to the diner and the girls went home. Rory knew a few things for sure:
1 – Luke had really screwed up with his choice of words.
2 – Jess was not ok.
3 – Relationships, both romantic and friendship had been put under strain.
4 – It was going to take a hell of a lot of effort from all four people to get back to normal.
And then Rory thought...would things ever be back to normal again?
To be continued...
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