Thanks to Kylie and Kari for betaing from time to time, I really appreciate it.

I hope that FF is working again, cause from the stats I could see that not all got an alert or something, so you might want to check out the chapter before if you read it already


Chapter 28: Surprise

When Lorelai was entering the hospital a week later she was not sure what she was feeling or what she was supposed to feel. She was happy because both, Luke and Sara, would be going home that day. Her family would be whole again and her husband and her daughter would be where they were supposed to be: Home. She was happy and relieved, but at the same time scared of the time which was lying in front of her.

The worst had already passed and they were both alive, but the problems were far from being solved. Sara was not her old self. She was scared of everything and anything and was only speaking when Lorelai or Luke were talking directly to her. At the nurses, doctors, her brother and her sisters or even her grandparents she just stared with big scared eyes. Since she had found her voice the nightmares had started and were keeping her up every night and caused Lorelai to spend all of her time in the hospital.

Luke was a different case, but not easier. He was participating and he was more than lucky that not much would remain from the accident. Sometimes when he wasn't concentrating he forgot things easily, which added to his frustration of not being able to walk or do a lot of other things. He was getting frustrated with the people surrounding him when they wanted to help him and even more frustrated with himself.

He tried desperately to heal faster, to learn faster, and to remember faster, but his own body and his own health wasn't something he could fix as easily as a broken oven or a creaking door. The strength Lorelai had gained when Luke had woken up faded slowly but steadily with every passing day on which he yelled at the nurses, yelled at the kids and yelled at her. She tried to protect Laila and William from his bad mood as hard as she could, but she couldn't keep them away from him.

The kids were fed up with his behavior and William had told his father straight to his face that he wouldn't visit him anymore if he would keep yelling at him and at his mother. Lorelai had been touched by this gesture, but saddened at the same time, because this was her five year old son, for god's sake and not an adult. So she kept quiet, tried to lighten the mood and laugh the tension away which was hanging so thickly in Luke's room.

He was not all the time in a bad mood. Sometimes when they were alone he let her in and showed her how sad and defeated he felt. He would pull her to him from time to time and hug her like she was his anchor, the only thing left. So she had to be strong again, not only for the kids now, but also for Luke, who depended on her, but pushed her away a second later.


It was a Saturday when she went to pick them up and she had a headache and a stomach ache, which had nothing to do with her caffeine intake or the junk food she ate. It was that one question that kept running through her mind, which caused this.

"Good morning, hon'" she smiled bravely when she entered Luke's room, alone for the first time since he woke up.

"Hey" he greeted her with a small wave from the bed, on which he was sitting, his packed bags beside him.

"You're ready?" she asked him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Yeah, this nurse... Sandy… Sally… whatever insisted to pack the bags, I told her to stop it, but she wouldn't listen," he said annoyed.

"Uhm, yeah, Luke I told you last night that I asked Mandy to pack your stuff so we could get out of here more quickly. After picking up your beautiful daughter, of course" she tried to joke.

"My daughter? I always thought she is our daughter" he shot back, but not in a joking-tone.

"You know what? Let's get out of here!" Lorelai said after taking a deep breath.

"Okay," he agreed, took the crutches which leaned against his bed and stood up. Lorelai eyed him suspiciously and shook her head after seeing him struggle to stand upright.

"Luke, you can not walk out of here! Where is your wheelchair?"

"I can walk and I will walk" he said sternly.

"You can barely stand on these things and now you want to walk. I might be stronger than I look like, but I am not able to carry the bags, Sara and you"

"You don't have to carry me, I can walk" he told her again, louder this time.

"Okay, fine. You know what? The car is downstairs in the parking lot. I will go and get Sara and meanwhile you can walk. I give you twenty minutes, if you're not there, fine then you have to walk, which you told me wouldn't be a problem!" she yelled back.

"Oh, now what is that? If you don't want me home then you just have to tell me, I can stay over the diner!" he yelled.

"Sit down, shut up and I will get that damn wheelchair!" she screamed frustrated and marched off.


When she came back she just pushed the wheelchair in front of Luke and crossed her arms while he struggled to get in. She knew that he could never walk the whole way to the car and he knew it as well, so she couldn't understand why he would start a fight over this. She took the bags and hung them over the handle, while he held his crutches and without saying another word she pushed him to Sara's room.

"Good morning my princess" she smiled when she saw her daughter, who was still lying in her bed under the warm covers.

"Mommy," Sara smiled back and let Lorelai pick her up and kiss her.

"We will now wash you face, brush your teeth and comb your hair and then we will fly out of here, okay?" Lorelai asked her and placed another kiss on her daughter's hair. Sara nodded.

Lorelai stood up and brought her over to Luke, so she could greet him and then took her daughter to the bathroom, left Luke alone in Sara's room. She didn't hurry in the bathroom, maybe took a little more time than usual to get her daughter ready and made her hair extra nice.

When they emerged the bathroom, Luke still had the same annoyed look on his face and Lorelai decided to ignore him even longer. Silently she handed Sara to him, so the girl could sit on his lap, before she took Sara's bags, which she had packed the evening before, and they left the room which had been her daughter's home for two months.

After signing the release papers and saying good bye to the nurses and doctors Lorelai pushed the wheelchair out of the building and to the car. She took Sara, placed her in her seat and buckled the seatbelt, took the bags and threw them into the trunk and slammed it shut. Luke meanwhile sat in the wheelchair the whole time, observing her, but didn't say a word.

When she opened the door on the passengers' side and rolled the wheelchair in front of it, before she stepped back, he looked at her surprised.

"You said you can walk, then you can also get into the car by yourself" she said in a bitter tone, hurt clearly audible. Luke shrugged, leaned on his crutches and tried to get up. Lorelai saw him trying to get up. She wasn't aware that she bit her lower lip or that her eyes welled up until the first tear dropped on her hand. Quickly she wiped her eyes with the back of her right hand and the movement got Luke's attention. Helplessly he looked at her, how she wiped away the tears she shed because he wasn't able to stand up by himself and he felt like crying with her.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly and out of breath and fell back down in the wheelchair. Lorelai took the crutches from him and helped him standing up, like the therapist had shown her. Finally he was taller than her again and reminded her a bit more of the man he had been before the accident. Luke leaned against the open door and pulled her towards him, hugged her close, so that her head lay on his chest. She slung her arms around his waist and sniffed in his shirt. This hug was not for him, but for her and that felt so good.

"Come on, cowboy, let's go home" she said and gave him a small smile, before she helped him into the car.


"Laila and Will are home?" Luke asked when she started the engine.

"Yeah, with Rory, Mom and Dad." Lorelai informed him and drove them back home.

When they passed the town-square and the diner, Luke tensed in his seat and Lorelai took his hand.

"The diner is closed" Luke observed.

"I know, James and Andy wanted to have a free weekend once in a while and Lane has a gig today."

"Okay" he nodded and stared at the place where the accident had happened. It looked like before, like nothing had changed at all. When they pulled into the driveway Luke smiled and squeezed Lorelai's hand, which he still held in his.


"Mom, dad!" Rory and the kids ran out the door, opened the door and tackled Luke in his seat.

"Hey" Luke laughed and hugged Rory, Laila and Will. Rory pulled away after a moment and went to the backseat and took Sara out, hugged her as well.

"Welcome back you two" she laughed and kissed her little sister, who only looked at her.

James and Andy came out of the house a moment later and helped Lorelai with the wheelchair and the bags and wheeled Luke to the house and carried the wheelchair up the steps. Lorelai followed with Laila in her arm and William at her hand and Rory carried Sara inside.

Just when they had passed the doorway a loud "Surprise!" echoed through the house, chanted by all the crazy townsfolk which gathered in their living room.

"Mommy" was the first thing Lorelai heard after the loud chant of the town and she saw Sara's panicked look and took her from Rory. Luke turned around and raised his eyebrows in worry. Lorelai gave him a small smile and handed Laila over to him.

"It's okay baby. Look you know all these crazy people. They are here because they are so happy you're back home" she whispered to Sara, who had buried her head in her mother's shoulder. One after the other inhabitant of Stars Hollow greeted Luke, talked to him, shared some gossip with him and assured him that he could always count on them when he needed any help. Lorelai held a short speech, with Sara still in her arms and thanked everyone for their help during the last months and in the end the whole thing ended like every celebration in this town: with music and lots and lots of alcohol.


Luke had insisted to sit on the couch and not in the wheel chair and when William wanted to show him something he took the crutches and walked slowly and with a lot of effort and pain behind his son and followed him.

"So, Daddy, look what Grandma and Grandpa and Laila and me made for you," the boy smiled proudly and opened the door to the guestroom. Inside Luke's night-table stood beside the bed, along with the photos he had on it. His clothes were in the dresser and basically all of his stuff from upstairs had been brought to the guestroom. Luke stared in disbelieve into the room while William chatted away excitedly, together with Laila, who had joined them.

"Lorelai!" Luke suddenly yelled through the house and William and Laila looked shocked at their father.

"Luke, honey, is everything okay?" Lorelai asked worried when she hurried into the room. She looked around, saw what had taken place and saw the scared looks in her kids' eyes.

"Will, Laila would you go upstairs and get ready for bed. Grandma is already up there helping Sara. I'll be with you in a second" she said and while Laila hurried upstairs immediately, William stayed.

"Mommy…" he started and took her hand.

"Will, please go. Everything is okay" she smiled, gave his hand a squeeze and placed a kiss on his forehead. Slowly he walked outside and Lorelai closed the door behind him.

"Luke, I had no idea" she said as soon as the door shut.

"Of course not. Suddenly our five year old son thinks 'Great, let's move daddy out of his room and into the guestroom'" Luke hissed.

"I don't know what he thinks or what he thought. I can only assure you that I have nothing to do with this" she said and gesticulated wildly.

"You don't wanna have me in the bedroom anymore, just tell me, but don't give me this crap about our kids doing this" he yelled.

"I have nothing to do with this! But maybe if you would look around you could see that they put a lot of thought into this. Will even drew you pictures and hung them up." She yelled back and pointed at the pictures beside the window.

"Oh very nice, but not MY bedroom"

"Maybe there is a reason why they did this? Have you thought about how I am going to get you up and down the stairs by myself?"

"So you did know about this! If I am such a burden to you that you don't wanna have me here maybe you should have left me in the hospital"

"Yeah, maybe that would have been better because there I could leave with the kids when you suddenly decided to attack us, while here we can't escape. I tell you something now and I want you to listen to me very carefully: I lived through two days of not knowing if you would live or die, I went through six weeks of you in coma and Sara not talking, I talked to doctors and psychologist, I managed the Inn and the diner, the kids and the house, even the stupid guinea-pigs all by myself. But ever since you woke up all you can do is yell at me and the kids and I can't stand it anymore! While you were asleep we, meaning Sara, Laila and especially William went through hell and you were to busy grumping and yelling to even ask what happened during those weeks. You can yell at me all you want, maybe I will yell back, maybe I will cry, it doesn't matter, but you will not yell at the kids, do you understand me?" she yelled at him, angry, disappointed, exhausted and hurt, before she turned around, slammed the door shut and left him alone in his new room, asking herself the same question again: How was this going to work?

TBC