Chapter Two: It Was a Heaven Sent Saturday. Then Heaven Sent it to Hell.


"Mom! I gotta go meet Dean at Luke's, I'm gonna be late and we only have an hour before he has to go!"

From upstairs Lorelai heard Rory's call to and poked her head out of the bathroom where she was still drying her hair. "All right, I'll meet you there! You can take the car if you want it'll get you there faster. Make sure Luke has a whole pot ready, I'm gonna need it!"

"Okay," Rory called back as she grabbed her purse and book from the table in the hallway. Running out the door she hopped in the car, started it, and pulled out of the driveway. Ever since Max had left for Toronto Lorelai and Rory had been staying up every night working on planning the wedding. Every morning they were exhausted. It was a short ride to Luke's Café and in no time at all she was sitting at the counter of the crowded café chatting with her boyfriend.

"I still can't believe you were gone for a week!"

"I know; it's a record. Mom was practically livid when Grandma made us stay for three more days. She was sure we were going to get robbed or something. That's why I only have an hour, after this I have to spend the rest of the day cataloging everything in the house and making sure its all still there. It's going to take all weekend," Dean lamented.

"Here you go. Basket of fries, two coffee's."

Both of them smiled at Luke. "Thanks!" they said in unison. Nodding at them he glanced out the window, for the fifth time since Rory had gotten there before moving to refill someone's coffee.

Going up to Miss Patty to refill her mug Luke asked if there was anything else she wanted. "No, thank you Luke." He glanced out the window again as he turned to leave her table. "Luke? Are you waiting for someone? You keep looking out the window."

"What? No."

Turning away from her curious eyes Luke moved two tables down to take the couples order. He wrote it down on his pad and then moved back to the kitchen to make it, his morning cook had called in sick and that left Luke to do everything today. It wasn't so bad; at least it kept him from thinking about Lorelai every minute. Now he only had time to think about her every other minute.

Luke sighed.

Ever since that Max creep had proposed Luke didn't know what to do. He'd wanted to tell Lorelai but he was afraid she'd laugh at him and think it was a joke, or worse yet, take him seriously, feel awkward, and avoid him all together. But now, now that she was officially engaged to him, Luke felt as though he'd been hit in the chest with a hammer. After a few minutes the order was complete and Luke brought it out to the people who were waiting. As he passed by Rory he saw that her mug was almost empty. Grabbing the coffeepot he stopped behind the counter, glad for a moment away from Patty's ever-curious eyes.

"Fill up," he announced and poured fresh coffee into both of the mugs.

Rory smiled at him and reached out to grab her drink, ready for another taste of her favorite brew. Luke glanced out the window and his stressed expression softened. There, walking down the street towards his café was Lorelai, 'Looking as beautiful as ever,' Luke thought to himself. No sooner had the thought crossed him mind did his heart stop in his chest. Stepping out into the street to cross it Lorelai smiled as she neared Luke's, ready, oh so ready, for that first sip of the angelic drink. Her eyes on the door she didn't see what Luke saw until it was too late. The coffeepot dropped from his hands as Luke rushed from behind the counter, futilely hoping he could get there in time. He threw open the door and had one foot on the step when it happened.

Too quickly to brake, too quickly to sound the horn, the car that had been racing along the quiet street caught Lorelai mid stride, tossing her up into the air like a rag doll. Too late brakes squealed, horn sounded, warning the entire city of what had happened. Watching the woman he loved fly through the air Luke raced to her, forced to watch as she dropped to the grass, bouncing once, before laying deathly still. Falling to his knees at her side Luke drew her into his arms, his hand caressing her bloody cheek as her eyes flitted up to his face, those beautiful brown orbs that were now filled with pain and sadness, before closing.

"Help!" he roared his voice thick with fear and concern as she slacked in his arms. "Somebody get help!!"


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


He hated hospitals. Ever since he was a little kid he hated hospitals. They smelled like death. Sickness, disease, death. Despair, hopelessness, sadness. Mourning, outcry, pain.

He hated hospitals.

But here he sat, with Rory in his arms, in a hospital waiting room on a tan couch, waiting. Always waiting. Waiting for some word, some sign, some news of what was happening in the room that the doctors had holed up in, standing around, working around a gurney that held Lorelai, bloody, broken. Was she in pain? Was she dying? She'll get better right? She'll be okay? Why won't anybody tell them? Why is everybody so quiet? Why did everyone keep calling him Sir? Wasn't that what they did when someone was dying? They called you Sir, or Miss.

Luke wanted to cry, or scream. Hit something, someone, until he knew what was happening. But he couldn't. He had to hold Rory so that she could cry. She was so small, curled up against him, her tears streaming from her red-rimmed eyes. He held her tightly, trying to block the world from getting to her like it had gotten to Lorelai. They weren't alone in the waiting room. Sookie was there with Jackson, she was crying too. Miss Patty had come, she was sitting on the other side of Rory, patting her leg, and tears were in her eyes as well.

They'd been there for almost an hour when a man in green pajamas finally came into the room. He saw Rory and came over to kneel before the young girl. Meeting Luke's eyes for a moment he put a hand on Rory's shoulder.

"I'm Doctor Stevens, I too care of your mom when she got here."

"Where is she? Is she okay? Can I see her? She'll be okay right? When can I..."

"Please! I'll answer all your questions." Looking around he took in everyone waiting in the room and finally looked to Luke. "I assume you're all here together?"

"Yes. Now tell us about Lorelai," he demanded.

"She's in her room, resting comfortably. She suffered a broken wrist and a concussion. Her third rib was bruised but not broken. She's really banged up but all in all she was quite lucky. From the way the accident was described she could have been hurt much worse than she was." Motioning to a nurse who stood in the doorway he continued. "This is Nurse Marie. She'll take you to see your mother, Rory. Ma'am," he looked to Miss Patty. "Why don't you go with her?"

The three women left the room, Sookie following them and Luke stood to follow as well but was stopped by the Doctor. "It was pretty bad. We'll need to keep her for a few nights to make sure about the concussion and she'll need to be woken up every hour to avoid a coma. Your friend was a very lucky woman, Mr. Danes. She could have been killed."

Paling a shade or two Luke nodded and stepped into the hallway, moving as fast as he could to catch up to the women. He entered the room and his eyes were riveted on Lorelai, her skin pale and a long angry red scar traveling down one of her cheeks. He felt the bile rising in his throat and swallowed before it could complete its path. Her wrist was in a cast and what wasn't covered in plaster was bruised a colorful rainbow of blues, purples, blacks, greens and yellows.

Luke felt the tears begin to sting his eyes. Seeing her purse on a chair by the door he grabbed it and left the room. Needing something to do he found a phone, pulled out her address book, and began making calls.

"Hello?"

"Is this the Gilmore's?"

"Yes this is Emily Gilmore, what did you need?"

"Nothing ma'am. I'm calling about Lorelai."

"What about her? Is everything okay?"

Though he tried his best to remain detached Luke could feel his breath catching in his throat, closing it off and making his voice almost impossible to hear. Clearing his throat he tried again.

"There's been an accident."

Silence. Had she heard him?

Then a gasp. "Oh my god!"

Luke could hear a man in the background and the phone as it was transferred. "Hello? Who is this? What did you just say to my wife?"

"Mr. Gilmore, this is Luke, a... a friend of Lorelai's. Lorelai...there was an accident, you need to come to the hospital."

"My god. We'll be right there. Tell me... is she okay?"

"The doctor's say she'll be okay. She was very lucky."

"Thank god. Was Rory hurt?"

"No, she's here fine but she's very worried and needs her grandparents."

"We'll be right there."

Luke hung up the phone and flipped over a few pages to the M's. He didn't want to make this call, but he owed it to Lorelai.

"Hello, you've reached Max Medina. I can't answer the phone. Leave me a message and I'll return it as son as possible."

'Voice mail. Thank god,' he thought. "This is a friend of Lorelai's. She's been in an accident and is in the hospital. She's okay."

Hanging up the phone he glared at it. God he hated that man. Making one more call, to Michele at the Inn, he headed back to the room. On his way he was topped by the head nurse, there were a few things she needed to tell him about the hospital policy. Listening to her he said he would take care of it and continued on to the room. Lorelai was still asleep; Rory had stopped crying, though from the looks of her she was barely holding on. Making his way to Rory's side he put an arms around her, pulling her away from Lorelai's side. They went out into the hallway. With the door shut Luke pulled Rory into a hug, holding her tightly for a few moments before pulling back to meet her eyes.

"Listen to me kiddo. I called your grandparents; they'll be here pretty soon. When they leave I want you to go home with them."

"Luke no!"

"Rory, you have to. Lorelai has to stay here for a few nights so that the doctors can keep an eye on her, make sure she's really okay before they let her go home. They let you see her now but you can't stay here at the hospital with her, they're policy won't allow it. Go home with your grandparents, okay? They're going to need you as much as you're gonna need them."

"But Luke..."

"I'm sorry Rory, if I had it my way I'd let you crawl into bed with her but you're not allowed. You can come back first thing tomorrow."

"That's not fair."

Holding to him again he stroked her hair. "I know."