Thanks for all the advice everyone! I am new at this, and really
appreciate the encouragement!!
Also, all disclaimers pertaining to each and every character apply. The show and its wonderful town and characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino! (I forgot about that in the other chapters!!)
Length of Time Chapter 4
Rory ran as fast as she could to the parking lot and to her new car, courtesy of Richard and Emily Gilmore. She opened her schoolbag and looked frantically for the keys as a million thoughts crossed her mind. She pulled out pencils, pens, notes, tossing everything frantically to the ground, muttering "where are they?" as tears entered her eyes. She finally located the keys and opened the door, but was stopped before getting in.
"You're not driving," Jess said.
"I have to! I have to get to Stars Hollow now! Something's wrong, and I can't just sit here, with-"
Jess touched her hand though, and handed her back the pens, pencils and notes that she had dropped to the ground.
"Okay. Get in. You can't drive in the condition you're in. But I can."
He noticed she was about to hesitate. "Rory? You know I'm right. This is no time for grudges. I don't know what's wrong, but obviously it's something bigger than our petty issues, so get in. You don't have to talk to me. And I won't talk either. I'm just gonna get you there. I promise."
She looked up at him, barely seeing anything through her watered-down blue eyes, but she realized that he was right. She wouldn't be able to see the road with so many tears in her eyes. "Fine," she said, handing him the keys.
Despite the severity of what was going on, although he didn't know what actually WAS going on---what emergency had set Rory off---Jess smiled a small smile when Rory turned her back to go to the passenger's side. He wanted to be there for her, and this was his chance. He got in the car, started it, looked at her serious, resolute face, staring ahead, looking as though she had no intention of talking to him. He started regretting what he had said. He couldn't break his promise, but he desperately, just then, wanted to ask her what had happened--- who had called. But he just sighed, reversed the car out of the spot, and set off... to Stars Hollow.
At a hospital... somewhere..
"Doctor, she's ready for surgery. Do you think she'll be okay?"
"Well, sure, once we operate, it should be fine, but I just can't understand how it got so advanced without her checking herself in somewhere. Must have been a sneak attack. Have we found out who she is yet?"
"No idea. But let's get her into the OR."
The nurse wheeled an unconscious, dark-haired and pretty woman into the OR, before taking one last look at her, wishing her well before continuing about her day.
Meanwhile enroute to St. Marks's Hospital-
Luke felt as though every elderly driver got on the road at the exact time he set out to get to the hospital. He was forced to drive in traffic a good 20 miles per hour below the speed limit. His heart was racing faster than his truck, and he just sat there--mad with thoughts.
His thoughts tortured him. He still felt horrible about what Lorelai had heard him say to Nicole, but now... now that didn't even matter. He was now beside himself with worry for her. And wondering what could have happened to her. Tears sprung to his eyes at the thought that if something... bad... happened, and her last thoughts of him were that he was not her friend and didn't like her, he couldn't live with himself.
But he banished those thoughts as soon as they entered his mind. He had to remain hopeful. He couldn't allow himself to think the worst right now. Suddenly he jumped at the sound of a phone ringing. It was the cell phone that Nicole had made him buy over the summer. It, like Nicole, had a very annoying ring, Luke mused.
He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. "Nicole." He grunted, before pushing the "talk" button.
"Hello?"
"Hey, hon, what's up?"
"Nothing," Luke said, not willing to talk to Nicole about what had happened just yet, as he knew with his emotions as they were, he might say awful things to her.
"Um, are you okay? You don't sound right," Nicole said, in her perkiest voice, in hopes of cheering him up.
"I'm fine."
Nicole wracked her brain for something to say to make conversation.
"Oh," she started. "Today, on my way to work, weirdest thing. I saw Lorelai's car on the side of the road on Route 58. I thought that was the oddest-"
Luke nearly steered his truck off the road. "What?" Luke said, when he found his control again, sounding much more calm than he actually felt.
"What?" Nicole asked, innocently.
"You SAW her car? What time?"
"I don't know, 9:30 or something," she answered defensively. Then, as sort of an afterthought, she added, "why?"
"You saw her car on the side of the road and didn't stop? Or.. or call someone?"
"As I drove by, I glanced into the car and didn't see her. I thought maybe she met up with Sookie or something on her way to work--"
"WHY would she do that? WHY? I.. I... I mean WHY would she carpool with Sookie for the last five minutes of her trip to the inn and leave her car on the side of the road?"
"Well, I thought maybe her car had died---"
"No, Nicole! You don't like Lorelai, and you didn't care. If you saw her, you would have stopped so you would LOOK nice, but since you didn't see her, you decided to just pass on and forget it. Obviously you didn't call me, because of your stupid CONCERNS over my friendship with her, and if something's happened----"
"Luke! Calm down! She is probably at work right n---"
"No, Nicole, actually she is nowhere to be found right now. The police have no idea where she could be and Sookie hasn't heard from her all day either. And if you had done the right thing and put the police on this this MORNING when you saw the car, they might have found her by now! But no..you know, even if Lorelai didn't like you, she would have stopped no matter what to see if everything was all right, and call around if you weren't inside the car, just to make sure---"
Luke stopped, as he thought of something. "Was the door open or closed?"
"Huh?" Nicole asked, terrified of how he may react to anything else she might say.
"The door to Lorelai's car. Was it opened or closed?"
"It was closed. The car was just sitting there nicely..."
"She was inside."
"I didn't see her!"
"Well then her head was down, or the seat was reclined... but the police found the car with the door open! When you saw the car, she was still inside!"
"Luke, I'm.. I don't know what to say. Let me come see you. Let me come and be there for---"
Luke let out a disbelieving breath and a small, sarcastic laugh. "Don't even think about it." And then he hung up. He beeped his horn in frustration. "Come on! If you're gonna drive twenty miles per hour, get OUT of the left hand lane!"
Meanwhile at the Dragonfly---
Sookie collapsed into a chair in the main lobby and Jackson sat down on his knees, facing her, putting one hand on her cheek.
"Should we cancel the big opening? I can't have this if I can't share it with Lorelai," Sookie said, sobbing still.
"No. You can't cancel it. When we find Lorelai and talk to her and you dare to tell her that you sent all your guests, your FIRST guests home, well... she'll kill you." Jackson smiled at her and kissed her on her forehead before continuing.
"You know, it was no easy task getting this inn," he started.
"No easy task," Sookie agreed, sobbing.
"There was the issue of what to do with the Independence Inn and the finances of opening your own place. It almost seemed like everything went against you guys getting that dream at all." He paused and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes.
"But you guys faced those challenges head-on and worked through it. You made sure you'd see it through no matter what obstacles came your way. And you knew that you owed it to yourselves and each other to do that. Now this is another challenge, and you know as well as I do that Lorelai would NOT want you to throw in the towel right now. Now... I've called into work and am not going in today. I am here to help you with whatever you need. Just let Michel do most of the nitty-gritty details today, and you just sit tight. Okay?"
She touched his chin with her hand and kissed him. "Okay."
And in other parts of town...
"Thank you," Rory said, breaking the ongoing silence between them. "This doesn't change anything, but thanks for taking me, and also for keeping your promise and not talking to me."
Jess didn't say anything, but just managed a small smile, while staring straight ahead at the road.
Rory took a deep breath and continued. "Sookie called and said that my mom never showed up at work today. And today was the big opening. And she would never miss the big opening. Opening her own inn has been a dream for her and nothing would keep her from it. And the police.." She took a deep breath, still staring ahead and made herself continue. "Sookie said the police came into Luke's and said they found her car on the side of Route 58. She wasn't in it. But her pocketbook and stuff was. And... and her car was fine, so she didn't pull over because of car problems. So basically, she is missing and no one has any possible explanation for what could have happened to her," she finished, starting to cry again.
Jess furrowed his eyebrows, while focusing on driving. He couldn't believe it. He licked his lips and, while he was concerned for Rory's wellbeing, he couldn't help thinking about Luke. "I bet he's going out of his mind," he thought.
"Jess, you can talk. In fact, I would very much like it if you could talk right now. We are sitting in the worst possible traffic, miles still from home, and I need to think about something else right now. Just tell me."
Jess cleared his throat. "Tell you what?"
"How did you get into Yale?"
He gave her his signature half-smile, full of mysteries and life, and she looked into his eyes, expectantly, hoping to get her mind off the horrible things that were torturing it.
"Well..." he started.
At St. Marks's Hospital-
Luke burst through the doors of the Emergency Room and practically bore down the first nurse he could find. She looked intently at him, but he couldn't speak. His heart seemed to be caught in his throat, preventing him from speaking. After what seemed like forever, he managed to say, "I.. I am looking for someone."
The nurse ushered him to the waiting area, to take a chair. She sat next to him, allowing him a moment to calm down before continuing.
"She... she has black hair, shoulder-length. Mid-thirties. Pretty. I think if she came in here, she would be Jane Doe..."
"Is that her real name?"
"No... no... her name is Lorelai Gilmore. But she wouldn't have had any ID with her."
"There is a woman here who fits that description actually. But going on that description alone, a lot of people could fit it. It COULD be her... but then again, it might not be. The unnamed woman I am thinking of is actually just heading into surgery."
Luke swallowed. "Could.. could I see her? Just to see-"
"Right this way," the nurse said, ushering an overly-eager and jittery Luke to the OR prep room. "She was JUST about to be wheeled in to surgery. You'll have to say whether or not it's her and then don't expect to stay in there."
Luke just nodded as they stopped outside a door. The nurse opened the door and he stepped in, his breathing growing even more labored. Two steps in and he looked at the unconscious woman on the stretcher. His breath caught and he was unable to remove his eyes from her pale, slight form. He forced himself to look away, however, long enough to say one thing to the nurse.
"That's her."
Also, all disclaimers pertaining to each and every character apply. The show and its wonderful town and characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino! (I forgot about that in the other chapters!!)
Length of Time Chapter 4
Rory ran as fast as she could to the parking lot and to her new car, courtesy of Richard and Emily Gilmore. She opened her schoolbag and looked frantically for the keys as a million thoughts crossed her mind. She pulled out pencils, pens, notes, tossing everything frantically to the ground, muttering "where are they?" as tears entered her eyes. She finally located the keys and opened the door, but was stopped before getting in.
"You're not driving," Jess said.
"I have to! I have to get to Stars Hollow now! Something's wrong, and I can't just sit here, with-"
Jess touched her hand though, and handed her back the pens, pencils and notes that she had dropped to the ground.
"Okay. Get in. You can't drive in the condition you're in. But I can."
He noticed she was about to hesitate. "Rory? You know I'm right. This is no time for grudges. I don't know what's wrong, but obviously it's something bigger than our petty issues, so get in. You don't have to talk to me. And I won't talk either. I'm just gonna get you there. I promise."
She looked up at him, barely seeing anything through her watered-down blue eyes, but she realized that he was right. She wouldn't be able to see the road with so many tears in her eyes. "Fine," she said, handing him the keys.
Despite the severity of what was going on, although he didn't know what actually WAS going on---what emergency had set Rory off---Jess smiled a small smile when Rory turned her back to go to the passenger's side. He wanted to be there for her, and this was his chance. He got in the car, started it, looked at her serious, resolute face, staring ahead, looking as though she had no intention of talking to him. He started regretting what he had said. He couldn't break his promise, but he desperately, just then, wanted to ask her what had happened--- who had called. But he just sighed, reversed the car out of the spot, and set off... to Stars Hollow.
At a hospital... somewhere..
"Doctor, she's ready for surgery. Do you think she'll be okay?"
"Well, sure, once we operate, it should be fine, but I just can't understand how it got so advanced without her checking herself in somewhere. Must have been a sneak attack. Have we found out who she is yet?"
"No idea. But let's get her into the OR."
The nurse wheeled an unconscious, dark-haired and pretty woman into the OR, before taking one last look at her, wishing her well before continuing about her day.
Meanwhile enroute to St. Marks's Hospital-
Luke felt as though every elderly driver got on the road at the exact time he set out to get to the hospital. He was forced to drive in traffic a good 20 miles per hour below the speed limit. His heart was racing faster than his truck, and he just sat there--mad with thoughts.
His thoughts tortured him. He still felt horrible about what Lorelai had heard him say to Nicole, but now... now that didn't even matter. He was now beside himself with worry for her. And wondering what could have happened to her. Tears sprung to his eyes at the thought that if something... bad... happened, and her last thoughts of him were that he was not her friend and didn't like her, he couldn't live with himself.
But he banished those thoughts as soon as they entered his mind. He had to remain hopeful. He couldn't allow himself to think the worst right now. Suddenly he jumped at the sound of a phone ringing. It was the cell phone that Nicole had made him buy over the summer. It, like Nicole, had a very annoying ring, Luke mused.
He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. "Nicole." He grunted, before pushing the "talk" button.
"Hello?"
"Hey, hon, what's up?"
"Nothing," Luke said, not willing to talk to Nicole about what had happened just yet, as he knew with his emotions as they were, he might say awful things to her.
"Um, are you okay? You don't sound right," Nicole said, in her perkiest voice, in hopes of cheering him up.
"I'm fine."
Nicole wracked her brain for something to say to make conversation.
"Oh," she started. "Today, on my way to work, weirdest thing. I saw Lorelai's car on the side of the road on Route 58. I thought that was the oddest-"
Luke nearly steered his truck off the road. "What?" Luke said, when he found his control again, sounding much more calm than he actually felt.
"What?" Nicole asked, innocently.
"You SAW her car? What time?"
"I don't know, 9:30 or something," she answered defensively. Then, as sort of an afterthought, she added, "why?"
"You saw her car on the side of the road and didn't stop? Or.. or call someone?"
"As I drove by, I glanced into the car and didn't see her. I thought maybe she met up with Sookie or something on her way to work--"
"WHY would she do that? WHY? I.. I... I mean WHY would she carpool with Sookie for the last five minutes of her trip to the inn and leave her car on the side of the road?"
"Well, I thought maybe her car had died---"
"No, Nicole! You don't like Lorelai, and you didn't care. If you saw her, you would have stopped so you would LOOK nice, but since you didn't see her, you decided to just pass on and forget it. Obviously you didn't call me, because of your stupid CONCERNS over my friendship with her, and if something's happened----"
"Luke! Calm down! She is probably at work right n---"
"No, Nicole, actually she is nowhere to be found right now. The police have no idea where she could be and Sookie hasn't heard from her all day either. And if you had done the right thing and put the police on this this MORNING when you saw the car, they might have found her by now! But no..you know, even if Lorelai didn't like you, she would have stopped no matter what to see if everything was all right, and call around if you weren't inside the car, just to make sure---"
Luke stopped, as he thought of something. "Was the door open or closed?"
"Huh?" Nicole asked, terrified of how he may react to anything else she might say.
"The door to Lorelai's car. Was it opened or closed?"
"It was closed. The car was just sitting there nicely..."
"She was inside."
"I didn't see her!"
"Well then her head was down, or the seat was reclined... but the police found the car with the door open! When you saw the car, she was still inside!"
"Luke, I'm.. I don't know what to say. Let me come see you. Let me come and be there for---"
Luke let out a disbelieving breath and a small, sarcastic laugh. "Don't even think about it." And then he hung up. He beeped his horn in frustration. "Come on! If you're gonna drive twenty miles per hour, get OUT of the left hand lane!"
Meanwhile at the Dragonfly---
Sookie collapsed into a chair in the main lobby and Jackson sat down on his knees, facing her, putting one hand on her cheek.
"Should we cancel the big opening? I can't have this if I can't share it with Lorelai," Sookie said, sobbing still.
"No. You can't cancel it. When we find Lorelai and talk to her and you dare to tell her that you sent all your guests, your FIRST guests home, well... she'll kill you." Jackson smiled at her and kissed her on her forehead before continuing.
"You know, it was no easy task getting this inn," he started.
"No easy task," Sookie agreed, sobbing.
"There was the issue of what to do with the Independence Inn and the finances of opening your own place. It almost seemed like everything went against you guys getting that dream at all." He paused and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes.
"But you guys faced those challenges head-on and worked through it. You made sure you'd see it through no matter what obstacles came your way. And you knew that you owed it to yourselves and each other to do that. Now this is another challenge, and you know as well as I do that Lorelai would NOT want you to throw in the towel right now. Now... I've called into work and am not going in today. I am here to help you with whatever you need. Just let Michel do most of the nitty-gritty details today, and you just sit tight. Okay?"
She touched his chin with her hand and kissed him. "Okay."
And in other parts of town...
"Thank you," Rory said, breaking the ongoing silence between them. "This doesn't change anything, but thanks for taking me, and also for keeping your promise and not talking to me."
Jess didn't say anything, but just managed a small smile, while staring straight ahead at the road.
Rory took a deep breath and continued. "Sookie called and said that my mom never showed up at work today. And today was the big opening. And she would never miss the big opening. Opening her own inn has been a dream for her and nothing would keep her from it. And the police.." She took a deep breath, still staring ahead and made herself continue. "Sookie said the police came into Luke's and said they found her car on the side of Route 58. She wasn't in it. But her pocketbook and stuff was. And... and her car was fine, so she didn't pull over because of car problems. So basically, she is missing and no one has any possible explanation for what could have happened to her," she finished, starting to cry again.
Jess furrowed his eyebrows, while focusing on driving. He couldn't believe it. He licked his lips and, while he was concerned for Rory's wellbeing, he couldn't help thinking about Luke. "I bet he's going out of his mind," he thought.
"Jess, you can talk. In fact, I would very much like it if you could talk right now. We are sitting in the worst possible traffic, miles still from home, and I need to think about something else right now. Just tell me."
Jess cleared his throat. "Tell you what?"
"How did you get into Yale?"
He gave her his signature half-smile, full of mysteries and life, and she looked into his eyes, expectantly, hoping to get her mind off the horrible things that were torturing it.
"Well..." he started.
At St. Marks's Hospital-
Luke burst through the doors of the Emergency Room and practically bore down the first nurse he could find. She looked intently at him, but he couldn't speak. His heart seemed to be caught in his throat, preventing him from speaking. After what seemed like forever, he managed to say, "I.. I am looking for someone."
The nurse ushered him to the waiting area, to take a chair. She sat next to him, allowing him a moment to calm down before continuing.
"She... she has black hair, shoulder-length. Mid-thirties. Pretty. I think if she came in here, she would be Jane Doe..."
"Is that her real name?"
"No... no... her name is Lorelai Gilmore. But she wouldn't have had any ID with her."
"There is a woman here who fits that description actually. But going on that description alone, a lot of people could fit it. It COULD be her... but then again, it might not be. The unnamed woman I am thinking of is actually just heading into surgery."
Luke swallowed. "Could.. could I see her? Just to see-"
"Right this way," the nurse said, ushering an overly-eager and jittery Luke to the OR prep room. "She was JUST about to be wheeled in to surgery. You'll have to say whether or not it's her and then don't expect to stay in there."
Luke just nodded as they stopped outside a door. The nurse opened the door and he stepped in, his breathing growing even more labored. Two steps in and he looked at the unconscious woman on the stretcher. His breath caught and he was unable to remove his eyes from her pale, slight form. He forced himself to look away, however, long enough to say one thing to the nurse.
"That's her."