In the car, sitting in traffic, still---
Jess began his explanation that he knew would take her mind off her mom, but also eventually further incriminate him in her eyes.
"Well, Jimmy's--- I, uh, my dad's--- wife's brother actually works on the board at Yale, and there was this weird beginning-of-Summer family reunion thing that they had---"
"Ah, so you belong to one of THOSE kinds of families.." Rory said, attempting her old humor with him, to get herself out of the frame of mind she was in.
"Yeah, exactly. And you can probably guess what I was doing while they were all doing that Brady Bunch bit."
Rory managed a small smile. "Reading a book unnoticed in the corner..."
"Basically. Me and my would-be half-sister or step-sister. She's actually a little like me. Anyway, the bookworm act caught the attention of one family member---"
"The bookworm from Yale, obviously," she added helpfully.
"Yes, the bookworm from Yale. We got into a stupid philosophical debate and he was impressed by my knowledge of the Greats, and got into talking about my future plans."
"And when you told him you didn't really have any, he said, 'why, come to Yale! The college for all people who don't exactly care about the future!'"
Jess stopped talking for a moment, and Rory stole a sideways glance at him. She put a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Sorry. Just attempting humor to break the ice. I don't mean that. Go on. What did he say?"
Jess let out a small laugh. "You don't have to apologize. That's exactly what I thought about this whole stupid thing. He basically said that it was a shame for my talent to be wasted, and told me he wanted to talk to me about school if I could get my GED by August. He seemed like.. I don't know... something about HIM wanting me to do well got me going, and I... I don't know, I just figured it couldn't hurt to get my high school diploma.."
"True, true," Rory said.
"So I got my GED and met with him. He basically made me swear my life away to him if he let me in. He pulled his strings up high on the board, and now he pulls my strings. I am his puppet and literally cannot let him down."
Rory looked at him, square in the face. The traffic was moving faster now. "Well Pinocchio, does he know how you are with making deals with people? I believe you made a similar deal with Luke, who bent over backwards for you, and wanted you, also, to graduate high school, but you didn't do it when it was a deal between you two."
Jess took a deep breath and looked at Rory for a moment before turning his gaze back to the road. "I owe Luke an apology. A really big, belated, I-was-the-biggest-ass apology."
Rory allowed herself to give him a small smile and nod in agreement. "I think that would be wise," she eventually said.
She continued on. "So basically you have to work overtime to do well at Yale, because you owe it to this guy who got you in..."
"Right."
"And it's your first day and you're already ditching," she noted, in a 'tsk-tsk' tone.
"I had two classes today. I attended one. And my roommate's in the other. I'll be fine. Besides, this is important."
Rory choked back a sob that was building, remembering why they were heading home to begin with. "Thank you."
Jess just stared ahead at the road. "It's okay."
Meanwhile at St. Marks's Hospital
The nurse ushered a pale and flabbergasted Luke out of the room, and held the door open for the anesthesiologists who wheeled Lorelai past Luke and into the operating room.
"Sir, why don't you just take a seat in the waiting room. I have to see to just a few things, and then I will be right with you and update you on her condition," she said kindly, pointing to the waiting area.
Luke could not bring himself to make eye contact with her.. or anyone at that moment.. and just nodded and walked toward the waiting room. He didn't even see the other people in the waiting room; it was just luck that the chair he fell into happened not to be occupied.
He bent over, putting his head in his hands, with an ambivalence of feelings running through him. That sense that she was somewhere unsafe, with no one she loved knowing where she was, was replaced with an odd sense of relief-odd because the relief was there, and it was practically bowling him over, knowing where she was, but with this relief came a new worry. Something was wrong with her. He didn't know what it was, but she looked so pale... so small... and she needed surgery.
He lifted his head back up, and looked around, seeing various people in the waiting area on their cell phones. He grabbed his phone, suddenly, remembering all the other people involved that, like him, were beside themselves with worry over her mysterious disappearance. He knew that if any of them had found her first and he still didn't know where she was, he wouldn't want them so concerned with their own feelings that they didn't call him and let him know that she was... well, alive and in a specific, known location, if not completely okay. He dialed the number at the inn---
At The Dragonfly----
Sookie sat with her hand rested on the phone in case in might ring and let her know something that would allow her to release the breath she felt she'd been holding for about two hours. She jumped when the phone rang, and answered it somewhere in the middle of the first ring, screaming "HELLO!?....... Luke?"
"Uh, Sookie, I found her. She's at St. Marks's Hospital and they've taken her into surgery.. I don't know what's wrong with her. I will call you as soon as I know something more. Can you--"
"-I know, I know, I'll call the officers and Rory and Emily too. Luke, you shouldn't be there alone... Jackson and I will be right over, but in the meantime, you should call Nicole. She works right near---"
"Uh, no, I don't think so. I'm okay."
Luke looked up and saw the nurse making her way over to him.
"Okay, I'll call you after."
He hung up the phone and looked up at her, fearfully and expectantly.
And at the Hartford Gilmore residence-
Emily sat on the couch, watching her maids positioning a new statue in different places around the living room.
"Oh can't you see that that obscures that wall completely?! It has no appeal over there. Oh, try it in that corner, just move the plant. I cannot believe that Lorelai completely ignored me. I could really have used her help with this---"
The phone rang and one of her maids went over the answer it, while Emily rolled her eyes, annoyed that nothing was getting done the way she wanted today.
"Ma'am, it's for you," the maid said, nervously.
Emily rolled her eyes and walked to the phone. "Hello?" Her expression of stoic solemnity slowly changed to one of fear and concern, as her mouth dropped open slightly, of its own volition. "Well, yes, I understand. Thank you. I... I will be there right away." She hung up the phone, stared ahead for a moment. "Richard!"
At St. Marks's Hospital-
The nurse sat down in the chair next to Luke.
"Sir, you look pale, are you okay?"
He looked at her incredulously. "Am I.. is SHE okay?"
She looked at him, and chastised herself for forgetting herself so foolishly... he had been so concerned. Obviously all he wanted right now was to know the condition of his friend. She cleared her throat.
She began, "well let me just tell you straight off that she is going to be fine. The doctor is positive of this."
Luke let out the biggest sigh of relief he had ever let out before. "What happened? What's wrong with her?"
"Her appendix exploded. That can be very painful and probably caused her to pass out from the pain. She had appendicitis and didn't detect it, it seems. This happens sometimes, that a patient confuses the symptoms with food poisoning and a normal stomach ache, or other such scenarios. And usually people within 8-25 years are the target age range for getting appendicitis, but there are exceptions. It's obvious, actually, why she didn't seem to find herself a candidate. Anyway, the appendectomy is a routine surgery, and usually she would only have to stay in the hospital for about five days after the surgery, but because hers is now ruptured, it complicates things a little. She'll be here for almost a week and then put on antibiotics."
She looked up at him... and saw him take let out a subtle sigh of relief and she felt very happy for him. "I'm just going to need some information about her... name and whatnot."
"Oh, of course, of course," he said, ready to practically climb the walls with joy.
"And your name?"
"My name is Luke Danes. I'm.. I'm a friend of hers."
"Luke? Huh," the nurse said, a smile forming on her lips.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well. Nothing... only that.. well, she regained consciousness momentarily before she went under anesthesia, and said your name."
Luke's breath suddenly caught in his throat. He couldn't believe it.
"Yeah, she said 'Luke'.. and then mumbled something about wanting more coffee. Eh, she was probably delusional from the---"
Luke, despite the entire situation, let out a laugh, a real laugh--- smiling for the first time all day. "No, I don't think she was."
"Okay, well, if you could come with me, I just need some information about her."
He followed her, still smiling.
"Oh, and also, she said something else after the whole coffee thing," the nurse said, looking at him over her shoulder. They approached the counter and she went to the opposite side of, looking for the paperwork to give him.
"What's that?" he asked, now feeling on top of the world.
"She said 'I love you.' Here you're gonna need to fill this out. It's just information about---"
She took one look at him--- he looked like he was hallucinating and she rushed around the counter to steady him. All color had drained from his face.. and it had only just returned.
"Are you okay, Mr. Danes?"
"I.. I... uh," he started, but nothing coherent seemed to form. He felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach.. and it felt sort of great.
Jess began his explanation that he knew would take her mind off her mom, but also eventually further incriminate him in her eyes.
"Well, Jimmy's--- I, uh, my dad's--- wife's brother actually works on the board at Yale, and there was this weird beginning-of-Summer family reunion thing that they had---"
"Ah, so you belong to one of THOSE kinds of families.." Rory said, attempting her old humor with him, to get herself out of the frame of mind she was in.
"Yeah, exactly. And you can probably guess what I was doing while they were all doing that Brady Bunch bit."
Rory managed a small smile. "Reading a book unnoticed in the corner..."
"Basically. Me and my would-be half-sister or step-sister. She's actually a little like me. Anyway, the bookworm act caught the attention of one family member---"
"The bookworm from Yale, obviously," she added helpfully.
"Yes, the bookworm from Yale. We got into a stupid philosophical debate and he was impressed by my knowledge of the Greats, and got into talking about my future plans."
"And when you told him you didn't really have any, he said, 'why, come to Yale! The college for all people who don't exactly care about the future!'"
Jess stopped talking for a moment, and Rory stole a sideways glance at him. She put a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Sorry. Just attempting humor to break the ice. I don't mean that. Go on. What did he say?"
Jess let out a small laugh. "You don't have to apologize. That's exactly what I thought about this whole stupid thing. He basically said that it was a shame for my talent to be wasted, and told me he wanted to talk to me about school if I could get my GED by August. He seemed like.. I don't know... something about HIM wanting me to do well got me going, and I... I don't know, I just figured it couldn't hurt to get my high school diploma.."
"True, true," Rory said.
"So I got my GED and met with him. He basically made me swear my life away to him if he let me in. He pulled his strings up high on the board, and now he pulls my strings. I am his puppet and literally cannot let him down."
Rory looked at him, square in the face. The traffic was moving faster now. "Well Pinocchio, does he know how you are with making deals with people? I believe you made a similar deal with Luke, who bent over backwards for you, and wanted you, also, to graduate high school, but you didn't do it when it was a deal between you two."
Jess took a deep breath and looked at Rory for a moment before turning his gaze back to the road. "I owe Luke an apology. A really big, belated, I-was-the-biggest-ass apology."
Rory allowed herself to give him a small smile and nod in agreement. "I think that would be wise," she eventually said.
She continued on. "So basically you have to work overtime to do well at Yale, because you owe it to this guy who got you in..."
"Right."
"And it's your first day and you're already ditching," she noted, in a 'tsk-tsk' tone.
"I had two classes today. I attended one. And my roommate's in the other. I'll be fine. Besides, this is important."
Rory choked back a sob that was building, remembering why they were heading home to begin with. "Thank you."
Jess just stared ahead at the road. "It's okay."
Meanwhile at St. Marks's Hospital
The nurse ushered a pale and flabbergasted Luke out of the room, and held the door open for the anesthesiologists who wheeled Lorelai past Luke and into the operating room.
"Sir, why don't you just take a seat in the waiting room. I have to see to just a few things, and then I will be right with you and update you on her condition," she said kindly, pointing to the waiting area.
Luke could not bring himself to make eye contact with her.. or anyone at that moment.. and just nodded and walked toward the waiting room. He didn't even see the other people in the waiting room; it was just luck that the chair he fell into happened not to be occupied.
He bent over, putting his head in his hands, with an ambivalence of feelings running through him. That sense that she was somewhere unsafe, with no one she loved knowing where she was, was replaced with an odd sense of relief-odd because the relief was there, and it was practically bowling him over, knowing where she was, but with this relief came a new worry. Something was wrong with her. He didn't know what it was, but she looked so pale... so small... and she needed surgery.
He lifted his head back up, and looked around, seeing various people in the waiting area on their cell phones. He grabbed his phone, suddenly, remembering all the other people involved that, like him, were beside themselves with worry over her mysterious disappearance. He knew that if any of them had found her first and he still didn't know where she was, he wouldn't want them so concerned with their own feelings that they didn't call him and let him know that she was... well, alive and in a specific, known location, if not completely okay. He dialed the number at the inn---
At The Dragonfly----
Sookie sat with her hand rested on the phone in case in might ring and let her know something that would allow her to release the breath she felt she'd been holding for about two hours. She jumped when the phone rang, and answered it somewhere in the middle of the first ring, screaming "HELLO!?....... Luke?"
"Uh, Sookie, I found her. She's at St. Marks's Hospital and they've taken her into surgery.. I don't know what's wrong with her. I will call you as soon as I know something more. Can you--"
"-I know, I know, I'll call the officers and Rory and Emily too. Luke, you shouldn't be there alone... Jackson and I will be right over, but in the meantime, you should call Nicole. She works right near---"
"Uh, no, I don't think so. I'm okay."
Luke looked up and saw the nurse making her way over to him.
"Okay, I'll call you after."
He hung up the phone and looked up at her, fearfully and expectantly.
And at the Hartford Gilmore residence-
Emily sat on the couch, watching her maids positioning a new statue in different places around the living room.
"Oh can't you see that that obscures that wall completely?! It has no appeal over there. Oh, try it in that corner, just move the plant. I cannot believe that Lorelai completely ignored me. I could really have used her help with this---"
The phone rang and one of her maids went over the answer it, while Emily rolled her eyes, annoyed that nothing was getting done the way she wanted today.
"Ma'am, it's for you," the maid said, nervously.
Emily rolled her eyes and walked to the phone. "Hello?" Her expression of stoic solemnity slowly changed to one of fear and concern, as her mouth dropped open slightly, of its own volition. "Well, yes, I understand. Thank you. I... I will be there right away." She hung up the phone, stared ahead for a moment. "Richard!"
At St. Marks's Hospital-
The nurse sat down in the chair next to Luke.
"Sir, you look pale, are you okay?"
He looked at her incredulously. "Am I.. is SHE okay?"
She looked at him, and chastised herself for forgetting herself so foolishly... he had been so concerned. Obviously all he wanted right now was to know the condition of his friend. She cleared her throat.
She began, "well let me just tell you straight off that she is going to be fine. The doctor is positive of this."
Luke let out the biggest sigh of relief he had ever let out before. "What happened? What's wrong with her?"
"Her appendix exploded. That can be very painful and probably caused her to pass out from the pain. She had appendicitis and didn't detect it, it seems. This happens sometimes, that a patient confuses the symptoms with food poisoning and a normal stomach ache, or other such scenarios. And usually people within 8-25 years are the target age range for getting appendicitis, but there are exceptions. It's obvious, actually, why she didn't seem to find herself a candidate. Anyway, the appendectomy is a routine surgery, and usually she would only have to stay in the hospital for about five days after the surgery, but because hers is now ruptured, it complicates things a little. She'll be here for almost a week and then put on antibiotics."
She looked up at him... and saw him take let out a subtle sigh of relief and she felt very happy for him. "I'm just going to need some information about her... name and whatnot."
"Oh, of course, of course," he said, ready to practically climb the walls with joy.
"And your name?"
"My name is Luke Danes. I'm.. I'm a friend of hers."
"Luke? Huh," the nurse said, a smile forming on her lips.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well. Nothing... only that.. well, she regained consciousness momentarily before she went under anesthesia, and said your name."
Luke's breath suddenly caught in his throat. He couldn't believe it.
"Yeah, she said 'Luke'.. and then mumbled something about wanting more coffee. Eh, she was probably delusional from the---"
Luke, despite the entire situation, let out a laugh, a real laugh--- smiling for the first time all day. "No, I don't think she was."
"Okay, well, if you could come with me, I just need some information about her."
He followed her, still smiling.
"Oh, and also, she said something else after the whole coffee thing," the nurse said, looking at him over her shoulder. They approached the counter and she went to the opposite side of, looking for the paperwork to give him.
"What's that?" he asked, now feeling on top of the world.
"She said 'I love you.' Here you're gonna need to fill this out. It's just information about---"
She took one look at him--- he looked like he was hallucinating and she rushed around the counter to steady him. All color had drained from his face.. and it had only just returned.
"Are you okay, Mr. Danes?"
"I.. I... uh," he started, but nothing coherent seemed to form. He felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach.. and it felt sort of great.