Here We Stand - Chapter 6

"He Said It Was Just A Cold"

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, or anything else mentioned.

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"Would you like something to drink sir?"

"Sir?"

"SIR."

Jess snapped out of his daze and turned to face the lady standing next to him, "What?"

The stewardess motioned toward her tray and smiled, "A drink?"

Jess shook his head and as the stewardess began to walk away, and slumped down into his chair. He surveyed his surrounds, looking at the people surrounding him, silently wondering what story each of them where hiding. Wondering if they were as bad as his, and wondering if anyone even cared.

He had taken an even earlier flight, wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible before he changed his mind. But now that he was on the plane, he questioned if what he was doing was right. Running away from your wife and daughter sounds wrong, no, it is wrong no doubt about it… but he had good intentions. If she would just wait for him, then she would see why he had really done it. He hoped she would wait.

Continuing to look around, and attempting to get his mind off things, he spotted an old couple a few seats away. They had obviously been together for years, by the looks of it, and had been arguing over the amount of luggage they had brought when Jess began listening. The man had thought his wife brought too much, while she argued saying he would never understand how much luggage a women needs. Under his breath, the husband mumbled that women always come with to much baggage. The wife had overheard him but instead of taking offense, just smiled and playfully smacked his arm.

Jess caught himself smiling for the first time since he had left, then quickly looked away. A young family caught his eye.

A woman, a man, and their young daughter sat together in the middle row of the airplane. The father was asleep, the mother was reading a book, and the daughter was drawing a picture. The daughter reminded him of his baby, his Lorel, his everything. And the mother couldn't have reminded him more of Rory even if she had tried. The way she was engulfed in the book that she had been reading since the plane took off, the way her hair gently hung before her eyes as if she was hiding behind it… God how he missed them.

Jess caught himself frowning for the millionth time since he had left, and turned his attention out the window. He leaned his head against the cold glass and closed his eyes, but every time he did, all he could see was Rory and Lorel. The way he felt his heart being ripped out of chest when they left, the way his head pounded from the argument, the way his pride restrained him once again from following the only good thing in his life.

The way he wondered if they would ever be together again.

*~*

Rory had driven around for hours, crying and trying to figure out what had just happened. But she couldn't, she couldn't understand a damn thing that happened in that house. Whatever it was, it drove her away, far away, and as she stood in front of the Holiday Inn Express, she wondered what she was doing.

At first, she was going to go to Lorelai's and stay there and talk to her Mom and know that everything was going to be Ok. Because when she went to Lorelai, somehow things just worked themselves out and they would always get through. But this time, Rory wanted to do it on her own. She wanted to find herself without her mothers help and learn how to deal without being given advice and talked to as if she was still a child. Not that Lorelai always did that, but she had a tendency to.

But standing in front of a hotel, tilting her head back to read the sign, and wondering if she had even brought enough money for a room quickly changed her mind. She had to think of Lorel, who would need a crib to sleep in, and she had to think of Jess. No matter how much they were arguing, he would be livid if he found out that they stayed in some cheap hotel.

"A-cho!" Rory turned her attention to Lorel, whose head was resting on her shoulder and smiled.

"Aw Lorel honey, are you still feeling sick?" She asked her while she walked back to the car, "Do you need some more medicine?"

Rory wondered why Lorel wasn't getting any better. She had kept her on the prescribed amount of medication for God knows how long, and it seemed like she hadn't improved. When Rory called the doctor, he just told her this happens all the time and to give it a few more days. Rory had wearily agreed, but was still cautious about the whole idea. She hated pumping Lorel full of medicine, but she trusted the doctor and decided to wait until at least tomorrow to see if Lorel had improved at all before she called again.

"There," Rory finished buckling in Lorel and sighed. She didn't want Lorel to grow up the way she did, without a father. Not that she was complaining, Rory loved her life, but at the same time she always secretly wished her mom and Christopher would have gotten together.

Getting into the front seat, she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot… the tears starting to flow once again.

*~*

Lorelai opened the door to find Rory standing there, Lorel in hand, and tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Rory, baby, what happened?" Lorelai asked, shooing Rory in and taking the baby bag off her shoulder.

Rory sniffled and gently rocked Lorel, who hadn't woken up the whole time, "Mom, it was horrible…"

The two made there way into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Last time Lorelai had checked, Rory and Jess had been doing great. They stopped arguing, they started getting along even better, and he seemed like his old self again. Now, as the two sat in silence, Lorelai was wondering why she had tearstains on her face and puffy red eyes.

Lorelai watched Rory, studying her every move. She wasn't sure if she was studying her movement, or studying her face… expecting to see bruises hidden behind poorly applied make-up and tear streaks. She couldn't find any, and was satisfied before she caught herself once again wondering if someone had beat her daughter. Lorelai couldn't help it; she didn't think she'd ever be able to.

"What happened?" She whispered as gently as she could, knowing she had to be calm in order for Rory to talk.

"Mom, I'm just… I'm so tired and I can't think. Do you think we could talk about this tomorrow?"

Lorelai nodded, then leaned over the table and kissed Rory's forehead. No matter how old Rory was, no matter how many children of her own she had, Rory would still be her little girl. She even left Rory's room exactly the way it had been when she lived there. Except now, it had a crib and a multitude of baby toys and accessories.

"You can sleep in your old room, I'll take Mikey upstairs with Luke and me." Lorelai offered, walking into Rory's room. Rory thanked her and followed closely behind, watching Lorelai pick up Mikey and hold him close. She smiled; wondering if that was what her mother had looked like with her, then gently placed Lorel down into the crib.

"She's so beautiful," Lorelai whispered, watching Rory.

Rory paused, taking in the sight of her sleeping daughter. "She looks like Jess." Rory replied, silently holding back tears.

"She looks like the both of you." Lorelai offered.

Rory smiled at Lorelai's words, and leaned down to kiss Lorel's forehead. When she did, however, she noticed that it was hotter than usual and frowned. Turning to Lorelai, she asked if she had a thermometer.

"Yea of course, why, is she sick?" Lorelai asked, while backing up to retrieve the thermometer.

"Well she's been sick but now she seems even hotter than she had been. I really think something wrong with her, but the doctors keep telling me no."

Rory followed Lorelai to the bathroom and helped her search for the thermometer. But during the search, Rory's motherly sixth sense picked up Lorel's faint cries and she began her way back to the bedroom.

"Keep looking," she told Lorelai, while picking up Lorel. Feeling her forehead again, Rory began to panic. She was even hotter than before, and she continued to burn up.

"Mom, mom!" Rory hollered, quickening her pace back to the bathroom, "She's burning up! Where's the thermometer?"

"Rory?" Lorelai's worried voice replied, rushing toward her daughter. The two met half way, almost running into each other and stopped short. Lorelai shifted Mikey into her other arm, and he stirred, slowly beginning to wake up.

"Mom feel her." Lorelai extended her arm and placed the back of her hand on Lorel's forehead.

"Oh my God, we need to get her to the hospital." Lorelai turned and began to grab her things as Rory panicked.

"What? The hos… no, Mom, wait! She's Ok; the doctor said it was just a cold, and Jess… Jess isn't here! What if something happens while he's gone!" Rory felt the familiar tears begin to run down her cheeks and panic take over her body as the thought of having something happen to Lorel and Jess not be there took over her mind.

"Honey, we need to go now, grab whatever you need and lets go." Lorelai stared straight into her daughter's eyes and Rory nodded. She knew right now the best thing to do was listen to Lorelai, so while she ran upstairs to wake Luke, Rory grabbed the baby bag and her purse.

"Luke, Luke!" Lorelai yelled in an effort to wake him up. But being the heavy sleeper he was, he didn't move. Frustrated, Lorelai grabbed a pillow and smacked him hard, "Luke!"

Jumping up, he could barely catch his breath, "What the hell!"

"Luke, I don't have anytime to explain, but Lorel is sick and I'm taking her to the hospital with Rory. Here," Even though things were hectic and out of order, Lorelai managed to carefully hand Mikey to Luke, "take Mikey. I'll call you when we get there."

Half asleep, a confused Luke just watched as Lorelai bolted out of the room and heard her thuds as she raced down the steps. A few seconds later, he heard the door slam. He looked at Mikey, who was now wide awake and smiling, then back towards the bedroom door.

"Ok?"

*~*

"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as we pull in for a landing…" The pilot boomed over the speakers but none of it was heard by Jess. He had a feeling. A gut feeling, that something was wrong put he couldn't put his finger on it. Either that or he didn't want to. He didn't want to think something was wrong or would go wrong while he was gone, he didn't want to think that something could happen while he was off trying to be buddy-buddy with his Dad when he had his real family at home, he didn't want to think bad things.

But he did. It was all that consumed him, in his every thought, in his every move… something was wrong and he knew it.

'No,' he thought, shoving the possibilities to the back of his mind, 'nothings wrong. They are fine.'

He sighed and pulled out his cell phone. He had to call; he couldn't go another second without knowing. He dialed the familiar number and it rang once before the stewardess rushed to his side.

"Sir, I'm sorry but your going to have to turn that off. We're landing now."

Jess pulled the phone away from his mouth, and attempted to explain. "Oh, yea but I just need to call my wife really quick. You see, my kid is sick and I ju…"

Cutting him off, the stewardess voice was stern, "NOW sir."

Angrily, Jess flipped the phone down and glared at the stewardess, who was now giving him a fake smile.

"Thanks a lot," he glanced at her name tag, "Jessica." His was angry, and she could tell.

"Sir, if this is going to become an 'issue'," She used air quotations spoke slowly, as if to insult Jess' intelligence. Naturally, he retaliated.

"Actually," he started, cutting her off, "this isn't going to be an - 'issue' as you call it. You see, I'm just a poor guy who misses his wife and kid, who is now getting harassed by a disgruntled stewardess who can't find anything better to do. Hey, look at that," he pointed to a man across the plane from him and she looked, "that man seems to have a little to much baggage in his overhead compartment. If I'm correct, that's against the rules exactly the way me using my cell phone is. So, why don't you skip on over there and bust his balls the way you did me. Sound good… what was it again?" He peered at her nametag, "Jessica?"

She stared angrily at him as grinned widely back. With a disgusted sigh and an eye roll, she turned and made her way over to the man.

Satisfied, Jess pulled out his cell phone once more and dialed, this time, uninterrupted.

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A/N - This is where it's gotta end, so the next chapter makes sense, plus cliffhangers are fun! Hehe… Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been really busy! Your reviews keep me so motivated though, I promise, and that's what keeps me going. You guys rock big time! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of days. Hope you like it so far!