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Length of Time Chapter 11
The next morning, Lorelai awoke very early in a little bit of pain. She picked up the necklace from the bedside table and looked at it again, rereading the note as well. She smiled, thinking how nice that was of Luke. She contemplated calling Rory to say hello, but decided not to, as she wasn't sure how early it was. She just lay there awake, thinking about the previous day's events, for awhile, until the nurse entered with breakfast.
"Ah, Ms. Gilmore, I thought you might be up," she said.
"Yup, up and at it. Ready for the day. What do you think the chances are of me walking out of this hospital today?" Lorelai said, hopeful and teasing.
"Well, let's stand you up and see, shall we?" the nurse said, calling her bluff, so to say. She placed Lorelai's food on the bedside table and sat a very excited Lorelai up carefully and led her legs slowly and carefully over the side of the bed. She took Lorelai's hands and stood her up slowly. "Alright, Ms. Gilmore, get going," the nurse said, smiling.
Lorelai smiled, relishing the feeling of standing. "You see? I don't know what you guys were talking about saying I needed to stay here for a week practically. I think it's obvious to everyone that I could return to work tomorrow!"
"Well what are you just standing around for? Take a few steps," the nurse said.
She kept her hands firmly holding Lorelai's, knowing what was next. Lorelai moved one foot a fraction of an inch and took a teeny tiny step forward.
"Ah," she grimaced in pain, and then took another tiny step, "ah!" She mustered up enough energy to take one more step. "Ah!" She looked at the nurse coyly. "You're a mean little nurse, aren't you?" she asked, still wincing as the nurse slowly guided her back toward the bed and helped her back into it.
Once she was relaxed back in the bed, the nurse smiled again at her. "Well, I was supposed to stand you up today anyway, I just figured I'd let you think it was your idea."
"That is both clever and mean," Lorelai said. "I'm impressed." Lorelai put her head back, now spent, while the nurse moved the tray in front of her, so she could eat. "What time is it?" Lorelai asked.
"Six," the nurse said, looking at her watch.
"Amazing. I don't have to go to work, yet I'm awake at a completely unreasonable hour. What did you guys slip me?" she asked, eyeing the nurse skeptically.
The nurse nodded her head at the to-go cup from Luke's that was still there from the night before. "If you couldn't sleep, that is not my fault."
"Oh, no, you don't understand. That's not what it looks like----"
The nurse nodded her head, feigning much interest.
"Yes, that is actually fake coffee."
The nurse picked the cup up and sniffed it. "Smells like coffee."
Lorelai smiled at the nurse. "That is the whole point of fake coffee. It's just like the real thing, but it's NOT the real thing, it's a very clever... invention," she finished, unsure of herself suddenly, under the nurse's skeptical eye.
"Well, don't let it happen again," the nurse said, starting to leave.
"No, but----" Lorelai started, but stopped when the nurse gave her an intimidating look. "Oh, hey, Nurse Lady, I have a question, actually."
Lorelai started eating, while the nurse headed back toward the bed. "Yes?"
"How did I get here? Who brought me?"
"We have no idea. I actually found you unconscious outside the ER, alone. We took you in and there was no one in sight that could explain it. A little while later, Mr. Danes came looking for someone who sounded just like you, and it was all worked out. Do you remember anyone? Or anything at all about getting to the hospital?"
Lorelai took a bite of her food and thought. "I vaguely remember a man's voice. But no face or anything."
"Hmm. Well, so long as you ended up here and well. Anyway, I have to check on a few other patients. I'll be back later."
"I know I've only been here for... well, less than a day," Lorelai started, "but I'm really bored in this room! I mean, do I just sit here all day, waiting for visitors? Because this is just cruel! And I'm not exactly ready to run a marathon out of here, as we only saw too well a minute ago. Is there ANYTHING we can do to sort of change things up a bit? Especially if I'm supposed to be in here for a few more days----"
"I'll arrange for you to have a wheelchair brought in here today. We can wheel you around the floor. That'll change things up a bit," the nurse said, to which Lorelai smiled.
"Now that sounds fun!"
"Yes, well, I will be back to see you later. Eat up."
"This is so unfair," Lorelai pouted. "It's too early to really bother anyone."
The nurse just looked at her, shaking her head, before walking out of the room.
As soon as Lorelai was alone, she started thinking about how early it was, and rationalized calling Rory. "Well it IS her second day of classes---- she's probably already awake," she decided, picking up the phone near her.
And at Yale----
Rory awoke from a sound sleep to the sound of a piercing ring. She sat up groggily and answered it.
"Hello?...... Mom?......... no, my first class is at noon.... did I ever wake up six hours before class to meditate?........ how much sense does that make to you, really.... why are you so happy?......... it's too early to be chipper, especially for Lorelai Gilmore.. yes, get in touch with your roots and go back to sleep... okay, love you, bye mom," she mumbled, pushing the 'off' button, and throwing the phone and her head back on the pillow, grunting tiredly.
And at Luke's Diner-----
Luke was just getting the orders for a few of the early-arriving customers, when he heard the phone ring. He threw a cloth over his shoulder and headed for the phone. Before he could even say hello, a flutter of noises began in his ear, and he had to pull the phone away from him for a second, making a confused face. He put the phone back to his ear.
"Lorelai?"
"Luke! I knew you'd be awake! I am too! You know, I got in trouble with Nurse Lady because of your Fake Coffee, thankyouverymuch!"
"Slow down. Why do you sound like Florence Henderson on speed?"
"It's this so-called Fake Coffee, Luke, it's got me wired. But listen, so here's the plan. You find an hour to get over here, come in through the window or something and get me out of here! I am bored, Luke! I need to get out, see the sights, I forget what sunlight looks like!"
Luke glanced out the window of the diner, at the bright glare of the early morning sun. "It's bright."
"Yeah, Luke? If all I have to go on is YOUR description of the beauties of life, you surely can see why I NEED to get out of here. NOW. This room, it's dark, it's bleak, it's boring, it's lonely. They won't even give me a roommate-----"
"----well, they've met you," Luke added, now writing orders on a piece of paper while he talked.
"Well I am glad to see you are working today. So, what time are you bringing me coffee?"
"Nice try."
"Fake coffee?"
"Later," he said, with no humor in his voice, even though he was now in a better mood than he had been since he'd woken up. "So, how's the stomach?"
"Not bad. It would feel so much better, though, if----"
"---Lorelai," Luke warned.
"Luke!" She took a deep breath. She saw the nurse come in, leading an empty wheelchair. "Ah! Gotta go, my wheels are here!"
Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "Your wheels?" he asked. "Lorelai," he started, in a cautious tone.
"Yup! Okay, gotta go, Luke! Bye!" she said.
He smiled and shook his head. "Bye," he said, hanging up the phone.
Back at the hospital-----
Lorelai hung up the phone and smiled at the nurse.
"Ah, Luke," the nurse said. "Coffee Luke."
Lorelai looked at her confused. "How did you----"
"You give away a lot when you're in a pain-induced delusion," the nurse explained.
A thought dawned on Lorelai. "What did I say, exactly, before the anesthesia?"
The nurse smiled. She brought the wheelchair close to the bed, and started moving the only half-eaten food out of Lorelai's way.
"Well," the nurse started, taking Lorelai's hands, and going through the same motions as before, to get her standing up. "You said 'Luke' and then you said you wanted more coffee----"
"----doesn't sound like something I'd say," Lorelai said, deadpan.
The nurse stood Lorelai up carefully. "And then you said 'I love you,'" the nurse finished.
All color left Lorelai's face, before she knew it she had tunnel vision, and she would have fallen backwards on the bed, if the nurse wasn't there to hold her up.
"I... I said... I, ohh..." Lorelai stammered.
The nurse couldn't help but laugh.
"That's uncanny! Mr. Danes did the same thing when I said that!"
Now Lorelai lost all control of her body, and would have fallen limply to the floor, if the nurse didn't move her arms under her armpits and support her weight, placing her back onto the bed. Lorelai couldn't breathe. She looked up at the nurse, incredulously.
"You.. you.. said.. to him.. that I..oh, I..." she couldn't get anything out.
The nurse stopped laughing. "But, isn't he your boyfriend or something?" she asked.
Lorelai couldn't speak, but just shook her head, her mouth hanging open.
"Oh my, I.. I'm so sorry, Ms. Gilmore," the nurse said sincerely. "I wasn't thinking logically. I mean, after you said that, and then the way he was acting, how much he seemed to care.. I just thought it was more than.." she dared a look at the pale Lorelai. "I'm really sorry. Are... are you even dating?"
"No, never dated, never kissed, and definitely, never said 'I.. I...'"
"-----'love you'" the nurse said, in an attempt to be helpful, but which only invited an evil glare from Lorelai. Lorelai started to position herself back on the bed, in a lying position. The nurse tried to help, but Lorelai held a up a hand to stop her, and slowly and more painfully did it herself.
Embarrassment, humiliation, fear and shock stung Lorelai to the core of her bones and she couldn't do anything. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak... couldn't even blink.
She put a hand on her face and just slowly shook her head. "So Luke thinks.. that I love him," she barely spit out.
"Well, don't you?" the nurse asked, confused by the whole thing.
"Not if he doesn't love me!" she said, and then she gasped. She had no idea why THAT was her answer. Her natural inclination wasn't to deny it? To say 'of course not! It's LUKE!'? She suddenly remembered more pieces from the car ride, and her thoughts, before she passed out. She had been thinking of Luke in this context, that much she remembered. She had been upset that he said that they would never date. She was really upset by it, she recalled. She was taken from her reverie, when she noticed the nurse was talking now.
"-----and the way you'd muttered his name, and the words 'I love you' and how completely frantic that man was when he came in here, and then when he saw you... I just assumed..." the nurse said guiltily.
But Lorelai quieted her with a wave of the hand. "Okay, so we got it, you made the asinine mistake of telling... Luke... that I lo-----" she was choking on that word. "---love him.. and he did.. what, exactly?"
"Well he looked positively nauseous-----"
"----- yes, I often have that effect on him----"
"---like you just did. And, like you, he couldn't speak either. I'm so sorry, I just thought it was so obvious."
"Did you?" Lorelai was at least smiling again now, even if it was in a mocking way. "And this was going by what... a conversation you had with an unconscious woman."
"In retrospect, it wasn't the best way to make that judgment," the nurse agreed.
Lorelai nodded, now feeling her cheeks go a deep scarlet. But she was a little calmer now.
"Okay, so this, this is... I don't even have thoughts anymore. Not coherent ones anyway. I have no coherent thoughts at all!" she said, growing panicked again.
"Well," the nurse said, now feeling very guilty and upset at herself, "were you gonna ever say that to him? I mean, I don't want to think that I did something REALLY bad."
"Nurse Lady, you didn't do something really GOOD," Lorelai stated, putting a hand on her forehead. "Let's just say that if I ever was going to say.. that.. to someone I would want to be conscious for the moment. And present too."
The nurse sat on the edge of the bed. "Okay, well, maybe this is a good thing---"
"--- ah, this should be interesting. Let's hear it."
"Well, this could be the nudge you guys need to say it for yourselves," the nurse said, proudly.
"I mean, talk about attacking the defenseless---- I had organs exploding inside of me and I was delusional! And now Luke thinks I'm pining for him!"
"I wouldn't say PINING----" the nurse said, to which Lorelai shot her a look. "I just mean, well, I don't know either of you that well, but he doesn't seem to act like he thinks you're pining for him."
Just then, the nurse's beeper went off, and she glanced down at it. "I'm sorry. I will be back in a little bit," she said, quickly making an escape.
"Yeah, run out of here!" Lorelai said after she was gone. "You KNOW I can't run after you!"
A million thoughts raced through her mind, as she slowly got an idea. She slowly, carefully, and painfully sat herself up, held onto the bed, and stood up, and then took about ten tiny, painful steps to the wheelchair. She flopped down into it, wincing, and headed out of the room.
Length of Time Chapter 11
The next morning, Lorelai awoke very early in a little bit of pain. She picked up the necklace from the bedside table and looked at it again, rereading the note as well. She smiled, thinking how nice that was of Luke. She contemplated calling Rory to say hello, but decided not to, as she wasn't sure how early it was. She just lay there awake, thinking about the previous day's events, for awhile, until the nurse entered with breakfast.
"Ah, Ms. Gilmore, I thought you might be up," she said.
"Yup, up and at it. Ready for the day. What do you think the chances are of me walking out of this hospital today?" Lorelai said, hopeful and teasing.
"Well, let's stand you up and see, shall we?" the nurse said, calling her bluff, so to say. She placed Lorelai's food on the bedside table and sat a very excited Lorelai up carefully and led her legs slowly and carefully over the side of the bed. She took Lorelai's hands and stood her up slowly. "Alright, Ms. Gilmore, get going," the nurse said, smiling.
Lorelai smiled, relishing the feeling of standing. "You see? I don't know what you guys were talking about saying I needed to stay here for a week practically. I think it's obvious to everyone that I could return to work tomorrow!"
"Well what are you just standing around for? Take a few steps," the nurse said.
She kept her hands firmly holding Lorelai's, knowing what was next. Lorelai moved one foot a fraction of an inch and took a teeny tiny step forward.
"Ah," she grimaced in pain, and then took another tiny step, "ah!" She mustered up enough energy to take one more step. "Ah!" She looked at the nurse coyly. "You're a mean little nurse, aren't you?" she asked, still wincing as the nurse slowly guided her back toward the bed and helped her back into it.
Once she was relaxed back in the bed, the nurse smiled again at her. "Well, I was supposed to stand you up today anyway, I just figured I'd let you think it was your idea."
"That is both clever and mean," Lorelai said. "I'm impressed." Lorelai put her head back, now spent, while the nurse moved the tray in front of her, so she could eat. "What time is it?" Lorelai asked.
"Six," the nurse said, looking at her watch.
"Amazing. I don't have to go to work, yet I'm awake at a completely unreasonable hour. What did you guys slip me?" she asked, eyeing the nurse skeptically.
The nurse nodded her head at the to-go cup from Luke's that was still there from the night before. "If you couldn't sleep, that is not my fault."
"Oh, no, you don't understand. That's not what it looks like----"
The nurse nodded her head, feigning much interest.
"Yes, that is actually fake coffee."
The nurse picked the cup up and sniffed it. "Smells like coffee."
Lorelai smiled at the nurse. "That is the whole point of fake coffee. It's just like the real thing, but it's NOT the real thing, it's a very clever... invention," she finished, unsure of herself suddenly, under the nurse's skeptical eye.
"Well, don't let it happen again," the nurse said, starting to leave.
"No, but----" Lorelai started, but stopped when the nurse gave her an intimidating look. "Oh, hey, Nurse Lady, I have a question, actually."
Lorelai started eating, while the nurse headed back toward the bed. "Yes?"
"How did I get here? Who brought me?"
"We have no idea. I actually found you unconscious outside the ER, alone. We took you in and there was no one in sight that could explain it. A little while later, Mr. Danes came looking for someone who sounded just like you, and it was all worked out. Do you remember anyone? Or anything at all about getting to the hospital?"
Lorelai took a bite of her food and thought. "I vaguely remember a man's voice. But no face or anything."
"Hmm. Well, so long as you ended up here and well. Anyway, I have to check on a few other patients. I'll be back later."
"I know I've only been here for... well, less than a day," Lorelai started, "but I'm really bored in this room! I mean, do I just sit here all day, waiting for visitors? Because this is just cruel! And I'm not exactly ready to run a marathon out of here, as we only saw too well a minute ago. Is there ANYTHING we can do to sort of change things up a bit? Especially if I'm supposed to be in here for a few more days----"
"I'll arrange for you to have a wheelchair brought in here today. We can wheel you around the floor. That'll change things up a bit," the nurse said, to which Lorelai smiled.
"Now that sounds fun!"
"Yes, well, I will be back to see you later. Eat up."
"This is so unfair," Lorelai pouted. "It's too early to really bother anyone."
The nurse just looked at her, shaking her head, before walking out of the room.
As soon as Lorelai was alone, she started thinking about how early it was, and rationalized calling Rory. "Well it IS her second day of classes---- she's probably already awake," she decided, picking up the phone near her.
And at Yale----
Rory awoke from a sound sleep to the sound of a piercing ring. She sat up groggily and answered it.
"Hello?...... Mom?......... no, my first class is at noon.... did I ever wake up six hours before class to meditate?........ how much sense does that make to you, really.... why are you so happy?......... it's too early to be chipper, especially for Lorelai Gilmore.. yes, get in touch with your roots and go back to sleep... okay, love you, bye mom," she mumbled, pushing the 'off' button, and throwing the phone and her head back on the pillow, grunting tiredly.
And at Luke's Diner-----
Luke was just getting the orders for a few of the early-arriving customers, when he heard the phone ring. He threw a cloth over his shoulder and headed for the phone. Before he could even say hello, a flutter of noises began in his ear, and he had to pull the phone away from him for a second, making a confused face. He put the phone back to his ear.
"Lorelai?"
"Luke! I knew you'd be awake! I am too! You know, I got in trouble with Nurse Lady because of your Fake Coffee, thankyouverymuch!"
"Slow down. Why do you sound like Florence Henderson on speed?"
"It's this so-called Fake Coffee, Luke, it's got me wired. But listen, so here's the plan. You find an hour to get over here, come in through the window or something and get me out of here! I am bored, Luke! I need to get out, see the sights, I forget what sunlight looks like!"
Luke glanced out the window of the diner, at the bright glare of the early morning sun. "It's bright."
"Yeah, Luke? If all I have to go on is YOUR description of the beauties of life, you surely can see why I NEED to get out of here. NOW. This room, it's dark, it's bleak, it's boring, it's lonely. They won't even give me a roommate-----"
"----well, they've met you," Luke added, now writing orders on a piece of paper while he talked.
"Well I am glad to see you are working today. So, what time are you bringing me coffee?"
"Nice try."
"Fake coffee?"
"Later," he said, with no humor in his voice, even though he was now in a better mood than he had been since he'd woken up. "So, how's the stomach?"
"Not bad. It would feel so much better, though, if----"
"---Lorelai," Luke warned.
"Luke!" She took a deep breath. She saw the nurse come in, leading an empty wheelchair. "Ah! Gotta go, my wheels are here!"
Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "Your wheels?" he asked. "Lorelai," he started, in a cautious tone.
"Yup! Okay, gotta go, Luke! Bye!" she said.
He smiled and shook his head. "Bye," he said, hanging up the phone.
Back at the hospital-----
Lorelai hung up the phone and smiled at the nurse.
"Ah, Luke," the nurse said. "Coffee Luke."
Lorelai looked at her confused. "How did you----"
"You give away a lot when you're in a pain-induced delusion," the nurse explained.
A thought dawned on Lorelai. "What did I say, exactly, before the anesthesia?"
The nurse smiled. She brought the wheelchair close to the bed, and started moving the only half-eaten food out of Lorelai's way.
"Well," the nurse started, taking Lorelai's hands, and going through the same motions as before, to get her standing up. "You said 'Luke' and then you said you wanted more coffee----"
"----doesn't sound like something I'd say," Lorelai said, deadpan.
The nurse stood Lorelai up carefully. "And then you said 'I love you,'" the nurse finished.
All color left Lorelai's face, before she knew it she had tunnel vision, and she would have fallen backwards on the bed, if the nurse wasn't there to hold her up.
"I... I said... I, ohh..." Lorelai stammered.
The nurse couldn't help but laugh.
"That's uncanny! Mr. Danes did the same thing when I said that!"
Now Lorelai lost all control of her body, and would have fallen limply to the floor, if the nurse didn't move her arms under her armpits and support her weight, placing her back onto the bed. Lorelai couldn't breathe. She looked up at the nurse, incredulously.
"You.. you.. said.. to him.. that I..oh, I..." she couldn't get anything out.
The nurse stopped laughing. "But, isn't he your boyfriend or something?" she asked.
Lorelai couldn't speak, but just shook her head, her mouth hanging open.
"Oh my, I.. I'm so sorry, Ms. Gilmore," the nurse said sincerely. "I wasn't thinking logically. I mean, after you said that, and then the way he was acting, how much he seemed to care.. I just thought it was more than.." she dared a look at the pale Lorelai. "I'm really sorry. Are... are you even dating?"
"No, never dated, never kissed, and definitely, never said 'I.. I...'"
"-----'love you'" the nurse said, in an attempt to be helpful, but which only invited an evil glare from Lorelai. Lorelai started to position herself back on the bed, in a lying position. The nurse tried to help, but Lorelai held a up a hand to stop her, and slowly and more painfully did it herself.
Embarrassment, humiliation, fear and shock stung Lorelai to the core of her bones and she couldn't do anything. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak... couldn't even blink.
She put a hand on her face and just slowly shook her head. "So Luke thinks.. that I love him," she barely spit out.
"Well, don't you?" the nurse asked, confused by the whole thing.
"Not if he doesn't love me!" she said, and then she gasped. She had no idea why THAT was her answer. Her natural inclination wasn't to deny it? To say 'of course not! It's LUKE!'? She suddenly remembered more pieces from the car ride, and her thoughts, before she passed out. She had been thinking of Luke in this context, that much she remembered. She had been upset that he said that they would never date. She was really upset by it, she recalled. She was taken from her reverie, when she noticed the nurse was talking now.
"-----and the way you'd muttered his name, and the words 'I love you' and how completely frantic that man was when he came in here, and then when he saw you... I just assumed..." the nurse said guiltily.
But Lorelai quieted her with a wave of the hand. "Okay, so we got it, you made the asinine mistake of telling... Luke... that I lo-----" she was choking on that word. "---love him.. and he did.. what, exactly?"
"Well he looked positively nauseous-----"
"----- yes, I often have that effect on him----"
"---like you just did. And, like you, he couldn't speak either. I'm so sorry, I just thought it was so obvious."
"Did you?" Lorelai was at least smiling again now, even if it was in a mocking way. "And this was going by what... a conversation you had with an unconscious woman."
"In retrospect, it wasn't the best way to make that judgment," the nurse agreed.
Lorelai nodded, now feeling her cheeks go a deep scarlet. But she was a little calmer now.
"Okay, so this, this is... I don't even have thoughts anymore. Not coherent ones anyway. I have no coherent thoughts at all!" she said, growing panicked again.
"Well," the nurse said, now feeling very guilty and upset at herself, "were you gonna ever say that to him? I mean, I don't want to think that I did something REALLY bad."
"Nurse Lady, you didn't do something really GOOD," Lorelai stated, putting a hand on her forehead. "Let's just say that if I ever was going to say.. that.. to someone I would want to be conscious for the moment. And present too."
The nurse sat on the edge of the bed. "Okay, well, maybe this is a good thing---"
"--- ah, this should be interesting. Let's hear it."
"Well, this could be the nudge you guys need to say it for yourselves," the nurse said, proudly.
"I mean, talk about attacking the defenseless---- I had organs exploding inside of me and I was delusional! And now Luke thinks I'm pining for him!"
"I wouldn't say PINING----" the nurse said, to which Lorelai shot her a look. "I just mean, well, I don't know either of you that well, but he doesn't seem to act like he thinks you're pining for him."
Just then, the nurse's beeper went off, and she glanced down at it. "I'm sorry. I will be back in a little bit," she said, quickly making an escape.
"Yeah, run out of here!" Lorelai said after she was gone. "You KNOW I can't run after you!"
A million thoughts raced through her mind, as she slowly got an idea. She slowly, carefully, and painfully sat herself up, held onto the bed, and stood up, and then took about ten tiny, painful steps to the wheelchair. She flopped down into it, wincing, and headed out of the room.