A/N: Wow. It has been forever since I updated this story. Many apologies to all of you who were (and hopefully still are) readers and reviewers. My personal life has been pretty crazy lately and I have had very limited Internet access, which makes it difficult to update, but that is still no excuse. The story was just getting interesting, too. So, without further ado, I give you the long awaited chapter 7.

Disclaimers: I own none of these characters or concepts. The story, however, is my own…so don't steal it.

Chapter Seven: Go to him now, he calls you and you can't refuse.

Luke stood by the window in the darkened room looking out over the softly lit parking lot and listening to Jess's labored breathing. He didn't know what he was going to do about Jess. Well, he had the next week or so under control, but once Jess was back on his feet and in fighting form, he wasn't sure how things would go. Sure, he was apologetic and generally docile now, but who was to say that he had actually changed? Then again, who was to say that he hadn't? Luke always tried to think the best about his nephew. Despite their rocky relationship, they really did care a lot about each other.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face. He wished there was someone else around to help him figure out what to do. He hated not being in control of things. He sighed heavily and opened his eyes. In the window, he could see the reflection of a figure silhouetted against the lit doorway. He turned to see Lorelai standing there, gently framed in the artificial light.

"Lorelai!" He said softly, surprised. She had told him hours earlier that she had to go to some fundraising dinner with her parents and couldn't come wait with him. "You came…"

"Of course I came." Lorelai stepped in to the room. "Did you think I was just going to leave my best friend to deal with this by himself?"

"Well…" Luke wasn't really sure how to answer that, but before he had a chance to, Lorelai wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Normally, he hated being shown inordinate amounts of affection, but this time, he hugged back.

"This is scary, huh?"

"Yeah. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him."

Lorelai broke off the embrace and turned to look at Jess. He was asleep and very still in the white bed. The light from the doorway gave his pale skin a bluish cast in the dark room. There were tubes in his nose and IV's in his thin arms. At the moment, he looked so sad and sick that Luke's last statement would have been almost incomprehensible to someone who hadn't known Jess before. Lorelai, however, knew it was the most logical thing anyone in Luke's position could be thinking. But she didn't have any answers. She had never trusted Jess and didn't see any reason to start now, but she also didn't see any reason to bring that up to Luke, who was obviously very worried about his nephew.

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"He looks so sick.

"He is. But the doctor said he should be back on his feet in a week or two. So, I guess I have awhile to come up with a plan."

Lorelai nodded. There was a long silence.

"Where's Rory?" Luke asked, finally.

"She's in the waiting room. She wasn't sure if she was up to seeing him again. Maybe you could go talk to her?"

"Yeah, sure. We'll both go. Jess isn't going anywhere."

They walked down the bright corridor into the waiting room full of pink chairs. Rory sat in the corner. There was an open magazine on her lap, but she was staring off into some other dimension, her brow furrowed with worry.

"Hey, earth to Rory" Lorelai said.

Rory looked startled. "Oh, hey Mom, hey Luke."

"Hi." Luke looked sort of uncomfortable.

"How's Jess?" Rory asked.

"He's pretty sick, but he'll be better in a couple of days."

"Oh. Well that's good. I mean it's good that he'll be better soon, not that he's sick. I didn't mean that it was good that he's sick."

"I know." Luke said.

Both of them looked so uncomfortable that Lorelai felt like she had to step in to the conversation. "So, Luke. What did the doctor say about Jess? You never told me what was wrong."

"Oh, uh, she said he has a really bad case of Pneumonia and then another infection of the chest cavity, I don't remember the name of it, but it basically makes the area around your lungs fill up with fluid."

Rory looked up. The worried expression was still on her face, but something in her wide eyes had shifted slightly. "That sounds really serious," she said, her voice full of compassion.

"Yeah, it is, but they can treat it. He should be out of the hospital in a couple of days."

"Oh." Rory looked back at the magazine in her lap.

"Rory, sweetie, do you want to go see him?"

Rory stared hard at the magazine, as if looking for a sign. "I ummm…. I don't…I…yes," she finally stammered.

"He's in room 12." Luke said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Lorelai asked.

Rory hesitated, and then stood up. "No." she said. "I'll go by myself." She walked out of the waiting room and slowly down the hall, stopping outside of room 12. She put her fingers against the metal room numbers to the left of the doorway and steadied herself before going inside. She stepped inside the room and the stopped again, her courage wavering, before she finally walked over to the bedside. He looked so thin and sick it almost broke her heart to see him like that. She chided herself for being too angry to notice how sick he was earlier. But, then again, she had a right to be angry, didn't she?

She sank into the chair next to the bed and, without even thinking about it, reached out and took his hand. Jess stirred and his eyes opened slightly, just enough to see her face, and then fluttered closed. The slightest of smiles crossed his lips as he fell asleep again.