A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews on the last chapter! Sorry again about the long absence of updates. I'll try not to let it happen again. Thanks to Peets96 for the suggestion about focusing on Luke and Jess.

Disclaimers: All characters property of Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Chapter 8: You're gonna have to get used to it

It was light in the room when Jess opened his eyes again, fully expecting to see Rory sitting there, holding his hand. But instead of Rory's small, childlike hands wrapped around his fingers, there was a large calloused and holding his. He turned his head a bit to see Luke slumped in the uncomfortable wood chair with his head lolling forward, asleep. Jess closed his eyes again. He couldn't decide if he was disappointed that it wasn't Rory sitting there, or happy that Luke had stayed with him. A little of both, he supposed. He felt a little thrill of happiness that there was at least one person who cared enough to come see him, maybe two, but he still wasn't sure if Rory had really been there or if it was a dream.

His sleepy musings were interrupted, however, as another battery of coughs seemed to tear through his chest. He propped himself into a sitting position, tears stinging his eyes at the intensity of the pain in his chest, and continued to cough heavily for some time.

Luke, never a heavy sleeper, snapped awake at the awful sound of Jess's coughing. He watched helplessly until the paroxysms finally ended and Jess fell back on the bed, trying to catch his breath.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to get the nurse?" Luke wasn't really sure what he should do; situations in hospitals were always awkward and unnerving for him.

Jess shook his head. " No, I'm okay," he managed to get out between breaths.

The two shared relative silence for a few minutes as Jess's ragged breathing slowed to a more normal speed. He opened his eyes and looked at Luke, who was pacing. He looked worried.

"Luke?" Jess said, tentatively.

Luke looked at him. "Hm..?" he responded.

"I just wanted to apologize for causing all this trouble for you. I didn't mean to, I just wanted to come make things right and I ended up fucking everything up again, just like I always do."

"You didn't fuck anything up, Jess. It wasn't a mistake to come back and apologize. Not to me or Rory."

"Yeah, but none of this would have happened if I hadn't left. And I didn't want you to be forced to take care of me like this…"

"Jess," Luke interrupted, "We all make mistakes—you owned up to your past and you're trying to change. That's what's important. Besides, I want to stay here with you and take care of you. You're the closest family I have, and I really care about you, Jess." Abashed at his outpouring of emotion, Luke turned away towards the window.

Jess was silent for a minute. "Sorry," he said, finally, "I guess I'm still not so good at this having relationships thing."

"It's okay, neither am I" Luke said.

Just then, before Jess could ask about Rory, Dr. Ballard came bustling in the room. "Good morning!" she said, "And how are you feeling today, Mr. Mariano?"

"Fine." Jess said, suddenly back to his old, taciturn self.

"Not buying it. You've got a hundred and three degree fever, your breathing is twice as fast as it should be and you've got a cough that could wake the dead.  How are you really feeling today?"

"Like shit on toast."

"Excellent. I like it when my patients are honest with me—it make's my job a lot easier. Are you feeling better or worse than yesterday?"

"Worse."

"Ok, let's have another listen at those lungs." She put her stethoscope in her ears and began listening to his breathing, from his chest, and back. Then she put her hands on his ribs and asked him to tell her where the pain was the worst. She moved her hands around, putting pressure on his ribcage. He wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, since all the muscles in his chest were sore from coughing, until she hit a spot on his left side that hurt so much he couldn't hold back a surprised yelp of pain.

"Sorry. That's where you've got fluid building up in your pleural cavity. The best way to get rid of that is to just cough it all up, so I'm going to give you something that will help you cough all of that gunk out of your lungs—it's going to hurt a lot in the meantime, but it'll speed up your recovery. I'll also get you something to help with the pain."

"Okay," Jess said, "Thanks."

"No problem." Dr. Ballard smiled at him. "I hope you get to feeling better. I'll be by later this afternoon on my rounds. Try to get some rest before those new drugs kick in." Jess grimaced at the thought as she left the room and walked down the hall, her tennis shoes squeaking on the linoleum tile.

"Well, I guess I should let you get some sleep then," Luke said. "I need to go check on things at the diner, but I'll be back this afternoon."

"Sure. Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Was Rory here last night?"

"Yeah, she came and sat with you for awhile. I think she was worried about you."

"Oh. If you see her, would you tell her thank you for me?"

"Sure. I can do that." Luke put on his leather jacket and grabbed his keys. As he turned to walk out the door, Jess called out, "Hey Luke." He turned.

"Thanks. For staying with me last night. It really—well, thanks." Jess stammered.

"Sure kid, don't worry about it. I'll see you later."

Jess sank back into his pillows as Luke disappeared down the hall. Even thought he felt like shit, he had never been happier.