"I don't understand some of these men." Lorelai said to another one of the dancers in the dressing room, "If I get asked out by one more man tonight…"

The other girl nodded and said, "They think they have a chance, those balding, fat old men thinking that we have a thing for them just because we dance for them."

It was halfway through Lorelai's shift, before she was going to get up and striptease for them again. Well, she hoped not again. Because if someone was still in the club after three hours he would be drunk, probably passed out, or just a real creep. But she always came back down a few minutes before she performed to make sure everything was in place. Fixing her wig after pulling her crop top over her hair, she slid into her short skirt again. The other girl left the dressing room because it was her turn to dance before Lorelai did.

Reaching in to put her earnings into her purse, she grabbed her phone out of habit. Opening it she saw she had three missed calls and two new voicemails. Immediately she knew something was wrong. The calls were all from Sookie, and Lorelai's heard pounded as she willed the stupid message to load so she could listen.

"Lorelai. It's Sookie. Um, I think Rory's sick. She's running a fever, says her stomach hurts, and she feels like she might throw up. Um… when you get this, and you have time, give me a call. Rory wanted to talk to you. I was going to give her some children's Tylenol, but I couldn't find any. Ummm… so yeah, give me a call when you get this message, ok? Bye."

Lorelai just wanted to be with Rory right now. Her little energetic baby was so sad when she was sick. She just wanted to cuddle, snuggling up with Lorelai when she was sick.

Lorelai started to call Sookie when she remembered the other voicemail. So she quickly listened to it. And her heart started to pound as she heard Sookie's grave tone.

"Lorelai, we're at the hospital. Rory's fever hit 104.6 and she was crying her stomach hurt so much, and then she threw up, and well… Lorelai I called the ambulance because there was blood in her vomit." Sookie's voice was shaking as badly as Lorelai's hands were as she held the phone listening. "They said her appendix burst. She's in surgery right now. They need you to get down here as fast as possible, to make medical decisions and everything. Lorelai, you need to hurry." And then the voicemail cut off.

Lorelai stood there for about five seconds, her mind trying to process the fact that her little girl was in the hospital. In surgery. A ruptured appendix. Even Lorelai's non-medical brain told her that she needed to hurry, and that it was bad.

And Sookie's voice – so horribly unstable and serious.

Lorelai had never stripped so fast in her life, pulling her shirt and jeans on. Her mind was completely on what Sookie had said, that they needed her to make medical decisions. What did that mean? She pulled her wig off, throwing it into her locker, grabbed her purse, and was pulling her coat on as she walked out of the dressing room only to run into Oscar, who grabbed her arm.

"Lorelai, why aren't you…"

She couldn't take time to explain. "It's my daughter. Rushed to the emergency room. I have to go."

The understanding on his face soon came, and he let go of her arm. "Is there anything I can…"

She was almost out the door, and she said, "No, not now. I am sorry."

"Go be with your kid, Lorelai. We'll be fine here."

She was thankful he hadn't gotten mad. But it wouldn't have changed the fact that she was leaving. Even if he would have fired her, Lorelai would not leave her child in surgery to stand up and strip and dance.

The whole way to the hospital, Lorelai wove in and out of traffic, calling and calling Sookie's phone, only to go straight to voicemail. She honked on her horn more than she had ever done. She couldn't imagine how scared Rory had been. Just the thought of her child in pain made her want to cry, but then to think of being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance without Rory having her mother, it made Lorelai feel like a horrible mother. What mother leaves her children at night anyway? And this happened? And Lorelai knew that Rory would have been terrified being wheeled into surgery alone, surrounded by strangers but not by her mother.

Lorelai cussed someone who pulled out in front of her speeding by, causing her to slam on her brakes. Swerving around them, she sped into the hospital parking lot. She almost forgot to put the car into park before she was running into the emergency room. Practically falling onto the receptionist counter, she started talking, only to hear Sookie's voice behind her.

"Lorelai, over here." Turning around, she found a frantic Sookie pacing back and forth, and a scared Jess sitting in the char watching the frantic Sookie.

"Sookie, I came as soon as I heard." She ran over to her friend, who pulled her close into a hug.

Her voice was going a million miles an hour, and Lorelai tried to get some semblance of real information from the long strings of words. "I checked her temperature before I put her to bed. It was only 101.5, which is a fever, but the books say that it isn't a high-grade fever. She said her stomach was hurting, but I thought it might have been something she ate, because the food at that school is atrocious…"

Lorelai had to keep her somewhat on track. It only took one "Sookie!" to get her talking again.

"Sorry. She went to sleep around ten, but then woke up about an hour later, screaming that her stomach hurt so bad. And then I took her temp again and as I watched the numbers go up and up until it reached 104, I knew something was wrong. And then she threw up, and it was all really dark blood in it. I called the ambulance right away."

Lorelai was breathing hard and asked, "What did the doctors say? Where is she? Did they tell you what they thought she…"

"Her appendix burst, and they said that they were taking her to surgery to try and keep her from getting… oh, what was the word" Sookie stopped to think, but Lorelai knew.

"Keep her from getting sepsis?" She asked, praying that wasn't what they had said. but she watched Sookie's head nod, Lorelai put her hands on her head, pacing through the waiting room as she tried to wrap her mind around this. "Did they say when they would be done in surgery?"

Sookie just shook her head, and sat down in the chair next to Jess. "She's been in there for two hours." The number flashed through her mind. Two hours. Two hours that Lorelai had been at work while her daughter had been in surgery. Two hours that her little girl was laying there on the table fighting for her life. Two hours that Sookie had been pacing this hospital waiting room. Two hours that Jess had sat there wondering what was going on with his little sister.

Jess. His face was pale, and he didn't look at her, he just stared off into space.

Lorelai went over to him and pulled his little body to hers. His head buried itself into her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Honey, are you doing ok?" She asked. He just nodded. She knew he wasn't.

Him watching his sister taken away in an ambulance, in the middle of the night, in such pain – Lorelai knew that he was just trying to protect her by being brave. But he was probably just as scared as she was.

She tried to file things away in her mind as she ran her fingers through her son's hair. Rory was in surgery because her appendix burst. The doctors were rushing to keep her from getting sepsis. Sepsis, something Lorelai only knew a little bit about, was when the body became toxic. And it was not good. So what if Rory had that? Would they be able to take care of it? Would they be able to give her medication to help it? And if she didn't, was everything else going to be ok? And was there a chance that Rory wouldn't make it? Lorelai couldn't sit anymore.

"Jess, you sit here with Aunt Sookie, ok? Mommy's going to go see if there's any word on Rory, ok?"

He nodded. His lack of speech would have concerned her at any other moment, but right now she was focused on finding out what she needed to know about her daughter.

Walking to the receptionist's desk, she said, "I need to see if there's any information about my daughter, Rory, I mean Lorelai Hayden?"

The receptionist didn't even look at her computer, didn't even rifle through some papers, didn't even pick up the phone to make a call. She just looked at Lorelai and said, "I'm sorry ma'am. I am not the one that gets the updates on patients. I just check them in."

"Well could you find me someone who can tell me?" She asked, the fear of not knowing overriding any inhibitions about what words were going to come next. Tears were rolling down her face as she allowed the fear to take over.

The receptionist shook her head, and said, "I'm sorry ma'am. When the doctor has news, he will come out and give it to you."

Something snapped in Lorelai's mind. She knew that this woman probably had no idea what was going on with her daughter, much less had new information to give. She knew that the doctor wouldn't intentionally leave her in the dark. That there would be information given to her when it was given to her. But something snapped. And she started yelling.

"If you 'I'm sorry, ma'am," me one more time, you're going to wish you hadn't. I need to see my daughter. I need to hear from someone's mouth what is going on here. And if you can't seem to find that for me, you should be able to find someone who can. And if you can't you should try and find a new job because you sure as hell aren't doing a good job with…"

"Lorelai?"

She turned around and through the tears she saw Camille. A tired Camille. A worried Camille. But Camille. And behind her, Zeke. Lorelai had no idea what they were doing here. They both looked extremely tired, Camille's hair a curly mess and Zeke had what looked to be sweatpants.

Confusion must have shown on her face, because the woman came running over to her, and pulled her into a hug.

"How, what?" Lorelai stumbled with the words. These were the last people she thought would show up here at the hospital. In the middle of the night. When Lorelai had just gotten there.

Camille just rubbed her back and said, "Sh… Jess called us." And then this wonderful woman whispered, "We're here. It's going to be ok."

And at that moment, Lorelai had never felt so weak. So vulnerable. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and sobs shook her body in Camille's arms and she choked out, "My baby girl… she's…" Lorelai couldn't finish her sentence as she pictured Rory laying on a stretcher, her face so scared, calling to her, but Lorelai hadn't been there. Camille just held her tight, and let her cry.

Lorelai didn't understand how she had gone from scheduling a lunch with this woman, so scared about what Camille was going to think of her – to falling into her arms and sobbing about her daughter being in the hospital, drawing comfort from this woman. Since that day in the park eight months ago, Jess' grandparents had come to see him at least twice a month, taking him and Rory out to different sites around the city, to the zoo, taken a picnic to a park, to the statue of liberty, and, Rory's favorite, the library. They had become a regular part of Jess' life, much to Lorelai's excitement. They still hadn't been to the apartment, and Lorelai was keeping it that way for a reason. But still, it made Lorelai happy to see Jess and Rory waiting for them to come, sitting outside on the steps to the apartment, waiting and watching for what next adventure they would have that day.

Lorelai knew that they had been there, had wanted to get involved, for Jess, to see Jess. And Lorelai could see the love that they had for their grandson every time they were around the boy. He loved them, loved throwing the baseball around with his Grandpa and Uncle Luke. He also loved sitting and watching his Grandma knitting, talking with her about anything and everything that would come to his mind. It had brought out a whole new side to her little boy – he felt loved by someone other than just his mother. And that was perfectly fine with Lorelai.

But they had also taken and interest in Rory, the little noise bucket that they always asked to tag along on their adventures. Lorelai had pulled Camille aside one day and told her that they didn't have to take Rory with them when they were going shopping with Jess. But Camille had assured her that they loved taking Rory with them, that she kept things interesting, and that she was very special to them too.

And as Lorelai felt another hand resting on her shoulder and looked up to find Zeke with tears in his eyes, she knew that they must really love her little girl. To drive two and a half hours to come see a girl that was no relation to them – it warmed her heart so much to think that they would do something like that for Rory.

"She's strong, Lorelai." Zeke's gruff voice was full of emotion. "She's gonna pull through." Camille let her go, and she soon found herself engulfed in Zeke's arms. He was so tall, she was up against his chest, and he just rubbed her shoulders while she continued to cry. She didn't know how long she stood there.

She heard Jess' voice through her tears. "Grandma, Grandpa!" And he ran into his grandmother's arms. "You came!"

Knowing she had to be strong for her son, she pulled away gently from Zeke's hug, and wiped her eyes before talking to Jess, "How on earth did you know your grandparent's phone number, buddy?" She was still amazed that they were here. That they would come. And that Jess would have the wherewithal to call them.

Busy getting a hug from his grandma, it took him a minute to answer her. His eyes met hers just for a second before he ran over to hug his grandpa, and he said, "I memorized it in case of an accident."

That cleared nothing up, in Lorelai's mind. And she asked him, "Why did you think to do that?"

He just shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal. "If something happened to you, I wanted them to be able to come and help me."

It was just too much right now. Too much to think that her eleven-year-old boy was memorizing emergency phone numbers in case something happened to her and he was left alone. Too much to think that her little girl was laying on some operating table, cold, scared, alone. Too much to think that Zeke and Camille had gotten up in the middle of the night to drive almost three hours to come be with her in the hospital.

But it wasn't too much to have someone around her when the doctor came out and called, "Mrs. Hayden?"

She practically ran to stand in front of him, so he would see her and not leave without giving her information. Ignoring the name slip up that had come from assuming that Rory's last name and her last name were the same, Lorelai tried to focus on what he was going to tell her. Tried to steel herself for what was coming. Nervous, she pulled the sleeves of her coat down over her hands and wrapped her arms around her chest. She asked, "How is she?"

The doctor just looked at her and said, "We're still working on her." His voice sounded defeated, "There were some complications with the removal of the appendix."

And all that Lorelai heard was the defeat in his voice. Her hand went up to cover her mouth, trying to keep the tears from blocking her view of the doctor. She wanted to ask questions, wanted to know. But she couldn't get over the fact that something was going wrong in there and Lorelai couldn't be there with her baby.

"Because of the rupture, there were fluids displaced throughout her body cavity. In order to keep her from going into sepsis, we have to remove all of those fluids so they do not contaminate anything else." He looked down at his clipboard in his hands.

Trying to find the words to say, she could barely utter, "So is she going to be ok?" And she willed with all her might that he would say that it was just going to take longer, that she would be fine it just would be more time. That there was no added danger, just that Lorelai would have to wait longer to see her little girl.

But his eyes found hers, almost in a practiced way, and he said the least comforting words that could have come at that moment. "We are doing everything we can." And then he looked down at his feet and said, "But we do need you to be prepared."

She gasped as she realized what he meant. He was saying there was a possibility that her baby wasn't going to be ok. That she might never get to see her little girl again. That he was saying that something had gone wrong and if they couldn't fix it – she couldn't finish her thoughts as she sank to the ground on her knees. And she cried. Not a soft, quiet, lovely cry. But a gut-wrenching tearing of her soul as she realized what could happen. Her head fell to her chest as she wailed, the silence of the waiting room pierced through with the cries of this mother in distress. Because there was nothing she could do. She couldn't go into that operating room and fix the problem. She couldn't make everything better by talking her way out of the situation. She could do nothing, and the helplessness seemed to rip her apart, and her cries were the only thing that showed just how broken she felt at the thought of what could happen.

She heard, somewhere in the distance, the doctor's voice say, "I will let you know as things progress." And then he walked away.

Leaving her there, on the floor of the waiting room, still reeling from what he had left her with.

But someone hadn't left her. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She didn't even look up to try and find out who it was. Because her fear would not be stopped by anything anyone said or did. That nothing could change how she was feeling until that doctor walked back through that door and told her that Rory was going to be fine, that she was going to recover, that she could go see Rory. Until that came, she would not feel any comfort from anyone.

"Lorelai." But it was the way he said her name. The word, something she heard so many times during the day, it was her name. Yet, as her name met her ears, she heard the pain she felt, she heard devastation, confusion, fear, apprehension – she heard it all in there. And the hand went from her shoulder and wrapped around her arm as she fell into his arms. Flannel engulfed her, as she buried her sobbing face into his chest. Strength that she didn't have surrounded her. And she didn't know how long they sat there on the ground, her entire body shaking with her sobs as she just wanted to hold her little girl. And his head resting on her hair, his breathing the one thing that started to calm her down, as she struggled to find the breath torn out of her by the news of Rory.