Title: Thus, With a Kiss

Author: newyorkgurlie

Rating: PG-13, just to be safe.

Summary: The events after the accident.

Author's Note: It's been a year and a month, and I'm, well, you know. I hate that I haven't written anything and that all I've been giving you are empty promises about updating. I suck, and I wouldn't be surprised if none of you are reading anymore. So, no more broken promises. I'm not going to say that I will update soon, because I don't know if I will. I'm planning on posting these stories on in the Chilton Library section. I hope I get renewed interest.

Chapter 11: Do You Realize?

Light, bright and hazy, developed in front of her shut eyes. She heard the distant beeps of hospital machines, too weak to assume they were the only things keeping her alive. The soft padding of feet pacing caused her to open her eyes and sit up, and then the pain seared, incredible and disabling and so intense that she felt the world would burst. She moaned, and the padding stopped, then started again, growing louder and closer, until it reached her side.

"Rory? Rory, what is it?" a deep voice filled with worry said, comforting, yet scared.

But she could not answer, because of her bout of discomfort. She motioned to her right side and whispered, "It hurts, Tristan," shut her eyes and began to cry softly.

"Oh, Rory," he breathed, dispirited, "Nurse! Can I get a nurse in here?"

Rory lay still, opened her eyes and watched him; his face, full of contradicting emotions, each trying to prevail over the other – sick with worry, hard with anger, steeped in sadness at being able to do nothing to help the one woman he ever truly loved, and he hadn't even gotten the chance to tell her. She had mistaken his shocked silence as indifference, and the moment was lost before it even had a chance to be born.

"God, where in hell is that nurse?" he asked, exasperated.

"Tristan," He looked to her. "Come here," She tried to pat the bed beside her, but winced. Walking over, he chose to sit in the chair so he would not bother anything.

"Tris, what happened to me?" He could not answer.

===================================

Jess sat with Chloe in the miniscule waiting area, head in his hands. How could this be happening, he thought. Chloe rubbed small circles into his back as he sighed loudly.

On the other side of the room, Lorelai rested her head on Luke's shoulder and cried quietly, every now and then whispering, "My baby…" and wringing her hands in despair.

She sat up and stared numbly down the hall. "Right now, I just got the feeling that she was going to walk down that hall, everything perfect, like always," Lorelai looked at Luke, "Well, as close to perfect as things could get in my life, because it is me we're talking about here, isn't it?" Her voice cracked, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Luke pulled her into him, hoping that his embrace would give her the strength that the words he lacked could not.

"God, I hate this, just sitting here!" Jess fumed, "I feel so useless. I mean, Lorelai is over there weeping and Luke can barely comfort her, because we all know he feels just as horrible! Rory is like his daughter. Tristan is inside that room, waiting for her to wake up so he can tell her that he loves her too, more than any thing," he breathed deep, looking at the floor, saying quietly, "You know, the only thing he could tell me on the ride over here was, 'It's my fault, how could I have let this happen to her?' over and over again. He looked so hopeless and I felt like such a horrible bastard because I couldn't fix it,"

Chloe removed her hand from his back and placed it on his knee, "But what could you have done, Jess?"

"I don't know, something. Anything to make this any less worse than it is," his words hung stale in the air.

"Look, I know it's really difficult, this thing we're all going through, but we're going to get through it. Nothing is set in stone; from the little I know of Rory, I know she's a fighter, and I know she will make it through," Chloe assured him.

Jess looked down at her with anger on this face, "She's my best friend. Come to think of it, my only friend, actually, and I can't believe this happened to her. It's impossible that I'm sitting here, in a room that smells devoid of anything but disinfectant, hoping that she doesn't – " he cut his tirade short, not able to even think of the possibility.

"She won't," she looked him in the eye forcefully. Softening, smiling, "And she's not your only friend,"

Jess turned and gave Chloe a hug, the brightness in his never-ending dark.

==============================================

Tristan stared at her. He had sat in silence for about two minutes, trying to formulate something that he could say to her that wouldn't hurt, but nothing came.

"Tristan, just tell me… I can handle it," she said quietly, looking up at him intently.

Avoiding her questioning gaze, he asked, "What do you remember about tonight?"

"Well, we were at the cast party. I lost you. Some guy started hitting on me and was being a real jackass," she smiled then, "and I have the distinct feeling that I kicked him in the balls."

Laughing, "Yeah, you're right about that one," Tristan grinned.

"Then we left the party and went back to your house. We were pretty quiet in the car; listening to some mix CD you had burned. We got to the house and we were on the steps and – " She went pale, then started to laugh nervously.

"Go on," Tristan said, sticking it to her about the kiss that she had initiated.

"I think… I kissed you, " she hid behind her long, brown locks, "and then Jess came with some girl,"

"Chloe, my cousin. Go on," he told her, wanting her to get to the part where she confessed she loved him.

"Then, I had a mental lapse and confessed to you that I loved you, which I'm afraid I can't take back, no matter what," she smiled. I thought this would be more embarrassing, but it's really not that bad, she thought. "And that's all I can come up with," she looked up at him.

Tristan sighed. She doesn't remember the accident, he thought.

"Rory, after you said that you loved me, I think you thought that I wasn't going to reciprocate your feelings, because you freaked and ran. I started running after you… but then it happened," Tristan said.

"What did? What happened?" she asked, almost afraid.

It pained him to be the one saying this to her. I wish she didn't have to know was all that ran through his mind. "Rory, you ran into the street, but you weren't looking, and before anyone could stop you, a car… it didn't stop in time, and it - "

He looked down at her and realized he didn't have to say anymore; her tears of knowledge already flowed, and all he could do was hold her.

"Ror, please don't cry. Please… I feel so guilty. I should have done something, I mean, I wish it would have been me," Tristan desperately pleaded.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she vehemently disagreed. "No, Tristan. Don't ever say that! You don't need to feel guilty for anything, because you're here, and that's all I need," she shook her head and started to cry again.

This was it – the perfect moment in a sea of jumbles.

"Rory, despite what you were afraid of before the accident, do you realize that I… love you?" Tristan whispered, content smile on his face.

"Yeah, Tris. I think I do," she sighed, happy with the outcome of this confusing puzzle.

The End

Author's Note 2: For now, this is the end. If you want me to continue, then leave a review. If you don't, leave one anyway. The reason I was inspired to finish this was because I was looking around and I saw that I was on one person's favorite list. I wanted to finish, not for me, but, if anything, for her, because that simple gesture made me feel really appreciated. So, I want to say thank you to sweetberrybabe. You made my life as a writer…