CHAPTER 17

Tristin sat in the waiting room as patiently and as calmly as he could. He found it quite ironic that he and Rory frequented emergency rooms more often than conventional date spots. He knew that they should find a more typical hangout than this. 'What a depressing place!' he thought.

However, he was fascinated at the comings and goings of the people that poured into the waiting room. There were families and lovers, children and spouses: all of them coming in to grieve or rejoice. He might as well be sitting in a coffee shop witnessing the vast emotions people usually don't hide due to stress.

He saw a fellow student come in to have his hand sewn after cutting himself on a broken glass. On the other side of the room was a woman grieving because her husband succumbed to the cancer that ate him away. The anguish and desperation reflected emotions that he wished he were numb to.

He was worried and tired. It didn't help that the staff, no matter how accommodating they were, just didn't help calm his jitters.

"Can you tell me what the status is on Rory Gilmore?" he asked a matronly looking nurse.

"Your relation to the patient?" she asked automatically.

Lover? Friend? "Spouse," he lied.

The nurse eyed him suspiciously. "The doctor will be out soon to explain everything to you. In the meantime, Mr. Gilmore..." she said.

"It's DuGrey. The wife wants to keep her maiden name," he coolly responded.

"Okay, Mr. DuGrey, her insurance cannot cover out of state expenses so-," she got cut off quickly as Tristin whipped out his wallet and laid a platinum credit card on the counter.

"Take my card. It should cover all her expenses," he barked at her as his eyes narrowed to slits.

The nurse was taken aback and walked away to process his card. Tristin sat back down and rubbed his eyes. He wished Matt stayed behind to walk him through whatever was happening behind the closed doors but he had an early class and Tristin was just grateful that Matt consoled him as much as he could.

"It doesn't look promising," Matt told him after he spoke to one of the nurses.

Desolation overcame Tristin. "What do you mean?"

"They think she's going through something that's known as an incomplete abortion," Matt tried to explain.

"I don't know what you mean," Tristin admitted.

"It's when her body's pretty much giving birth to the baby- cervix dilates, lots of blood and tissue mass passes... the works. It is nature's way of eliminating embryonic and genetic abnormality," he educated Tristin.

The clinical definition of what Rory's going through sent shivers down Tristin's spine. Why among all people would Rory be the one afflicted by it?

"She's lucky to have you around when she passed out. She could've bled to death," Matt said grimly.

The thought of Rory dying was sobering. Tristin never felt so lonely and vulnerable in his life.

"You know, you're right. You cannot be a doctor," Tristin told Matt.

"Why'd you say that?" Matt asked.

"Because your bedside manner sucks," Tristin teased to lighten up the mood.

Matt slapped Tristin on the back.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Matt asked before taking off.

"Yeah. Thanks again," Tristin responded quietly.

"I'm sorry, man. I'll check up on you later on today. Get some sleep," he ordered.

"I will," he promised his roommate. 'After I know that Rory's alright.'

He watched his roommate disappear through the automatic sliding doors. The fresh air that came through left Tristin feeling suffocated and antsy. He felt like running away from it all.

He rummaged through Rory's purse and found her cell phone. He walked outside of the emergency room doors and proceeded to thumb through Rory's phone book until he found Lorelai's number.

The line rang. After a long series of rings, a sleepy voice responded.

"Rory, honey, I know I left you a message saying call me as soon as you get this message but I didn't mean it literally," she whined. "You know mommy needs her beauty sleep."

"Hi, Lorelai, it's me, Tristin," he responded.

He could hear Lorelai on the other end get up to a sitting, more alert position.

"Tristin," she verified. "What are you doing with my daughter's cell phone? Are you at Yale?" she asked.

"No, but Rory's at Princeton," Tristin responded.

"Transferring schools?" she asked, bewildered.

"Visiting," he clarified.

"Visiting... Ha," she responded. "And to what occasion am I privy to that I am informed of this gathering at 'God's not Awake' hour?"

"There's been an accident and Rory's been admitted to Princeton Medical," he informed her.

From the sound of her voice catching on the other end, he knew Lorelai was upset. "I'll be there as soon as I could."

"I'll be waiting," Tristin said, his tired voice turning raspy.

"Is she okay?" Lorelai asked before hanging up.

"I don't know. I really don't know," he responded before hearing the click go off.

Tristin hated being the bearer of bad news but he knew he had to do it. He just hoped that someone would tell him what on earth is going on.

Moments after he walked in, a woman in a surgical outfit came out of the double doors and started talking to the charge nurse. He could see the nurse he spoke to point towards his direction. She then started walking towards his way.

"Mr. DuGrey?" she asked.

"Yes," he acknowledged her.

"I'm Dr. Bennett. I'm the OB/GYN physician attending to Ms. Gilmore. I am sorry to tell you that your wife has lost the baby," she said with a somber tone. "She went through..." she started explaining to him what he already heard from Matt but the confirmation left him shocked. She kept on talking but he already tuned her out. Rory lost the baby. What would Graham do? How will Rory tell him that she lost the child? A part of him was relieved that Rory was spared and the baby was gone but he knew he would have been able to cope and love both Rory and the baby, no matter who the baby's father was.

"... with the combination of her dropping HCG levels and her fever spiking, she was going to abort sooner than later," she ended.

"Will she be able to have another child?" he asked.

"Yes, she could. She just has to be supervised closely for the first couple of months to make sure her hormone levels remain ideal," she answered. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. DuGrey," she sympathized.

"Thank you, Dr. Bennett," he said. "Do I get to see her soon?"

"Yes, after they move her to a room. She is unconscious and sedated. However, you may speak to her and let her know what happened. She went through some shock due to the pain and blood loss," she explained.

He nodded to her before walking away.

"Oh, Mr. DuGrey?" she said once more. "You had a baby boy."