Okay, here it is, the second-to-last chapter. Hope you like it! [And as always, thanks to Len – my official Beta-Reader].

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CHAPTER 10: Broken Legs and New Perspectives.

Lorelai had been standing, banging on the door to Luke's diner for a few minutes when she noticed the lights flicker on inside. Seconds later, Luke was on the other side of the door, quickly unlocking it.

"Lorelai, what's wrong?" he asked, obviously worried.

"Luke, there's been an accident…"


Luke cut her off "What? Is Rory okay? What happened?"

Rory? Lorelai thought. His first thought was of Rory? "No, Luke, it's Jess."

Luke's eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. "What happened?" he asked shakily as he exited the diner and began to lock the door behind him.

"He's okay, I think. Rory called from the hospital. They went for a drive and… she crashed the car, Luke. I'm so sorry." Lorelai waited for Luke to freak out, or rant, or do something, but instead, he just walked towards her Jeep, got into the passenger seat and put on his seatbelt.

Lorelai got into the driver's seat and started the engine in silence. She pulled away from the curb and drove in the direction of the hospital.

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Lorelai and Luke had been driving in silence for twenty-five minutes when Lorelai finally spoke up.

"Are you okay?"

Luke looked down at his intertwined hands, sighed and then returned his gaze to the road. "I think so."

Lorelai glanced at him quickly. She could tell he was scared. "It's okay. Rory said he was okay. She thinks his leg might be broken, but other than that, he's okay."

Luke nodded silently.


"Are you mad?" Lorelai asked quietly.

Luke looked at her as if she'd just suggested that he enter the annual Stars Hollow Swimsuit Model Contest. "Why would I be mad?"

Lorelai felt like crying. I was mad, she thought.

"You're amazing, Luke," was all she could say. She silently wiped a tear that was threatening to fall from her eye and glanced at him once more before looking back at the road in front of her.

Luke was unsure of how to reply to a comment like that, so he decided the best thing to do was to just sit there in silence.

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"Jess!" Luke rushed towards his nephew, who was sitting on a very clean, white hospital bed with his legs lying in front of him, one newly covered in a cast. Rory, whose eyes were red from crying rushed to her mom and hugged her without saying a word.

"Hey Uncle Luke. I didn't know you cared," Jess said in his usually dry, sarcastic tone, but it was obvious Jess was glad to see Luke.

"What happened?" Luke asked seriously.

"Nothin'. I mean, we went to get ice cream and this… I dunno, a cat or somethin' ran in front of the car. It wasn't Rory's fault, it was an accident," Jess shrugged and looked at Rory reassuringly.

Lorelai smiled at Jess. "You okay?"

Jess looked at Lorelai with a slightly shocked look in his eye. "Yeah, fine. Thinkin' of joining Irish Dancing lessons next week, actually," he rolled his eyes, gesturing to his leg.

Before Lorelai could say anything, not that she had anything to say – she was starting to see a side of Jess that she had seen once before but had forgotten was there – a doctor wearing a long, white coat entered the room and cleared his throat to announce his arrival.

"Oh, hey, George!" Lorelai smiled at the same doctor who had taken care of Rory when she'd broken her arm. He obviously missed her joke – as did everyone else in the room – and continued with what he had come to say.

"Ah, you must be Luke," the doctor held his hand out and Luke shook it.

"Yeah, hi," Luke said, obviously a bit uncomfortable about having to be in a hospital. They were awful places – full of disease and sadness. People rarely received good news at hospitals and Luke didn't like seeing people cry.

"Jess is okay. He's broken the tibia in his left leg, but other than that, he's fine. It was only a hairline fracture so we should be able to take the cast of in about six weeks."

"Are you sure you've checked everything?" Everyone looked at Lorelai. Jess, Rory and Luke looked at her as if she had two heads, while the doctor smiled and assured her that Jess was fine and no more tests needed to be done.

"He hasn't got a concussion or anything?" Again – two heads.

The doctor chuckled lightly. "No, Mrs Danes, he's fine. You can take him home now," he said, smiling, before leaving the room.

Lorelai stared at the doctor's retreating figure and then uncomfortably at Luke who was smirking at her obvious embarrassment.

"Aunty Lorelai, can you tuck me in tonight?" Jess's broken leg had done nothing to quash his sarcastic streak.

Lorelai smiled a sweet, sarcastic smile at Jess, ignoring his comment.

"Come on, let's go home," she said, heading for the door. As she walked past Jess, Lorelai smacked his cast lightly, causing him to wince in pain. She smiled to herself and walked out of the room, letting the door swing closed behind her.

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A few days later, Lorelai was sitting on her couch in front of the TV, talking to herself.

"Come on Liv, go for the drummer. Go for Guy. We love Guy. Guy is our hero! I now proclaim this new land in the name of Guy!"

She was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. She pressed the 'stop' button on the remote, threw it in the direction of the couch and quickly walked towards the door. When she opened it, she saw Luke standing there, looking like plain old Luke with his slightly dirty flannel shirt, his old, warn jeans and the baseball cap that she'd given him.

Whatever happened to his old one? The thought flickered through her mind and was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

"Hey Luke, what's up? How's Jess doin'?"

Luke pushed his mouth into a slight smile and nodded, replying "Good, yeah, he's okay. Still havin' trouble with the whole 'crutches-up-stairs' thing, but other than that, he's fine."

Lorelai had been doing a lot of thinking since the car accident. More thinking than was usually required of her, and her head had started to hurt. She'd realised a few things, though. She realised how much she loved and needed Rory. A realisation that was quite surprising to her, however, was that she actually, sort of, a teeny tiny bit cared for Jess's well being. But the realisation that freaked her out the most was that she might actually have a 'thing' for Luke.

Luke stood looking at Lorelai. "Ah, can I come in?" He gestured towards the inside of the house.

Lorelai laughed uncomfortably, as if he'd been able to tell what she had just been thinking. "Yeah, sure, sorry." She opened the door and moved aside to let him enter. As she watched him walk past her, a strange feeling entered her stomach. It was somewhere right down the bottom, not quite butterflies and not quite PMT. And her legs were a little wobbly for a few seconds. That had certainly not happened before.

"So, what's up?" she forced herself to say as steadily as possible.

"Ah, nothin' much. Just had a break at the diner, got kinda quiet, and thought I'd come see how you were doin'."

Lorelai smiled and raised her eyebrows. "I'm good, I'm fine. Yep, totally dandy here."

"What I meant was…" Luke sighed, trying to think of how to say what he needed to say next. "Just, thanks for being there and… just tell Rory that it wasn't her fault."

Lorelai smiled again. "Yeah, she knows. She was convinced for a while there that she was going straight to hell, but she knows now that accidents happen." Again, there was that word – accident.

Lorelai cleared her throat, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence that had somehow made its way into her house. "Ah, did you want a drink or something?" she asked, heading into the kitchen.

"Sure. Thanks." Luke followed her and sat at the kitchen table while she took two glasses from the cabinet and placed them on the table.


"What'll it be… juice, coke… okay, maybe not coke… milk?" Lorelai looked over her shoulder at Luke, who was smirking at her.

"Ah, water'll be fine thanks."

"Ah, again, my speciality!" Lorelai smiled at Luke and pulled two bottles of water from the fridge. She then sat in the seat next to him and unscrewed the lid to her bottle.

"So… how've you been coping with the whole Jess thing?" Lorelai asked, looking at Luke with quiet contemplation.

"Yeah, fine. Actually, it's kinda good in a way. He can't just go 'out' anymore – he can't hobble too far on crutches." Luke smiled to himself as he unscrewed the lid to his bottle of water.

Lorelai looked at Luke smiling, and the funny wobbly feeling returned to her stomach. For some reason, him smiling like that made Lorelai do something she never thought she'd ever do… ever. Meeting his eyes, she leaned over slowly and kissed Luke very softly on the lips. The kiss was over before it had even really started, but the implications of the kiss were far more important than the kiss itself.

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There you go… hope you liked it! There's an epilogue to come – it's teeny tiny, but it has a bit of a twist to it, so I hope you enjoy it.

I have a theory as to why scenes where Luke and Lorelai get together are always crap – it's because it hasn't actually happened yet. For instance, I was reading a fic a while ago where Jess said something like "You're crazy" to Luke while chewing on a hamburger or something. And I could totally picture it, but then I realised it was because Jess has actually done that on the show – spoken with his mouth full. Anyway, my point is that until they actually do get together, everyone's gonna be sceptical when Luke and Lorelai get together in fanfics. Hope my version was slightly acceptable…

Epilogue up within the next day.

And please review! I've had 3 reviews since posting the last 3 chapters! I love reviews – they brighten my day and make the hours of slaving in front of a computer screen, typing thousands upon thousands of words worthwhile! So please, REVIEW!!!