Disclaimer: I still don't own the Gilmore Girls. Although, I wish I owned Luke and Jess.
Chapter 29
Luke, Lorelai, Richard, Emily, Logan, Dean, Liz, T.J. and Kirk were in the waiting room, waiting for word on Jess and Rory's conditions. For some unknown reason, Jason and Nicole had tagged along also. The fact that they were there was irritating Luke. The thing on everyone's mind was: what happened on that bridge? When Luke, Lorelai, the Gilmores, and Kirk got to the bridge, Logan and Dean were dragging Jess's frozen body off the ice. Soon, Sookie, Jackson, Max, Rachel, and Lane joined the group. The rest of the Stars Hollow residents waited anxiously for news in their homes.
Lorelai looked beside her where Luke sat hunched over with his face buried in his hands. He had been a wreck since he found out Jess had fallen through the ice too. She wanted to comfort him, but she wasn't sure what to say. Instead, she stood up and walked over to where Logan and Dean were standing. "Hey guys," she called. "I wanted to thank you for saving Rory and Jess tonight. If it weren't for you two, we'd probably be in the morgue instead of the waiting room."
"Ms. Gilmore, as much as I'd love to accept your praise, it was really our fault they were on the ice," Logan confessed.
"Yeah. We were fighting and when Jess tried to stop us, he got knocked into Rory and they went over the edge. He was the one that saved her. He pulled her out of the water. He asked us to help get her onto safe grounds. We pulled her up and then when we turned around, he fell…"
"Through the ice," Logan interrupted. "The ice gave in and he fell through. We got onto the ice and pulled him out before he was too far under. That's when you guys got there." Dean looked suspiciously at Logan.
Dean continued to stare at Logan. Why was Logan lying for Jess? Better yet, why was he lying for Jess? "Yeah," he replied. "That's what happened. Jess deserves all the credit."
"Oh, well thank you for your honesty," Lorelai said. She gave them a quick smile and headed back to her seat. She looked at Luke again and put her hand on his back. "Hey, you wanna talk?" There was no response from Luke. "Honey. Luke, are you…"
Luke suddenly jumped out of his seat and walked over to Richard. "You were trying to change me weren't you?" he asked.
Richard shifted in his chair. "Luke…" he started.
"Yes or no Richard. Were you trying to change me?"
He remained silent for a minute before answering. "Yes."
"Why? Did you wake up one morning and say to yourself, 'Gee, I've got nothing to do today. How about I mess with Luke Danes's entire way of life?'? Am I just some charity case? Or a bet with the guys down at the club? Pulling a male version if She's All That?"
"I thought I was doing you some good."
"Doing me some good? Look at me! I'm wearing a tux. I hate tuxes! I don't like to use big words. I think golf is a waste of time. And if I wanted to drink scotch or whiskey or brandy in the middle of the day, I'd belong to the AA. You even got me to write a will! I'm not you Richard, so stop trying to turn me into you!"
"Luke, I think you're misunderstanding Richard's reasoning," Emily remarked.
"Don't get me started on you. Everyone knows the only reason, you're nice to me is to get Lorelai to come to your stupid Friday night dinners, which is a pathetic way to force a relationship on your daughter and granddaughter! And the only thing I misunderstood is thinking you accepted me and Lorelai. If you didn't want me to marry her, all you had to do was say so!"
Luke turned around and faced Logan and Dean, focusing on Logan. "I don't care how much money you have or who your daddy is, don't mess with my girl or I will hunt you down like a rabid dog and kill you in the slowest, most painful way I can. And I'll do it with my bare hands." He turned to Dean. "And you. You're a married man and you're still meddling with your ex's relationships. Get a life! Pay attention to Lindsey instead of Rory. Every time Rory gets off her feet with a guy, you show up and screw it up. You screwed it up when you were with her three times! So the same goes for you pretty boy. You hurt Rory and before God, I will kill you."
"Luke, show a little decency and shut up," Liz said.
"You wanna talk about decency Liz? The decent thing for you to have done four years ago with Jess was handle it! If you tried to control your damn kid, you wouldn't have had to send him here! But no! Liz always has to take the easy way out, so you dumped the world's most out of control teen on me! Because, of course, big brother Luke would never say no to anyone! Then you wouldn't even take him for two lousy weeks for Christmas." T.J. was about to defend his wife, but Luke turned to him and spoke first. "And you can't be an escrow you idiot! Look it up in the dictionary! Stupid, short, tights-loving loon."
Lorelai jumped out of her seat and ran over to Luke. "Ok, let's step outside and talk for a minute," she said, pushing Luke out of the waiting room.
He started to pace back and forth. "They're all crazy. Every last one of them!" he said. "The only normal ones in there were Lane and Kirk. You know it's bad when you can say Kirk is normal."
"Ok, just calm down. Take a deep breath and calm down."
"I can't calm down! The diner's always hectic. Taylor's on my case about some kid on a skateboard passing the ice cream shop. Michel is always bothering me. We're getting married in two weeks. Rory and Jess are in the hospital. It's all just…I can't handle all of this at once. I just want everything to go away."
"This is a stressful time for all of us, but you really need to keep a cool head. This whole 'losing it' bit really doesn't work for you. I need you to be Luke." He opened his mouth to speak, but she didn't let him. "I need you to be that backward baseball cap, flannel man that was good for a few monosyllable grunts. The one that would have told me, 'When I die, you get everything.' I need my Diner Guy. My Coffee Man. My Burger Boy."
"I'll pay you fifty dollars to stop calling me those names right now."
"I need that Luke. The old Luke."
"I get it."
"Good. Let's go back inside so you can apologize to everyone." Luke shook his head and followed Lorelai back into the waiting room. "Can I have your attention please? Luke has something to say to everyone."
They all turned their attention to Luke, but before he could say anything the doctor walked in.
"I'm looking for Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes," the doctor said.
"That's us," Luke said.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Bell. I've been attending to your daughter and nephew. They just got out of ER. There was no serious damage, just a few cuts and scraps. We had to pump water out of their lungs, but they'll be fine. They'll need to stay the night so we can keep an eye on them. Miss Gilmore would like to see her mother and Mr. Mariano asked for his uncle."
"That's us," Lorelai said to Luke.
The doctor brought Lorelai to Rory's room first. When she walked in, she froze. Seeing Rory lying there in a hospital bed with beeping monitors surrounding her did something to Lorelai. It made her feel weak. Although she knew everything was going to be ok, she couldn't help but feel scared for her daughter. It was a mother's curse. One Lorelai felt blessed and cursed with. Rory stirred a little and slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey kiddo," Lorelai smiled as she walked over to the bedside. "How you feeling?"
"Cold," Rory joked. "Mom, I have never been so scared in my life. The water was so cold. The minute it touched me, I panicked. I remember thinking, 'Oh my God. This is it. I'm going to die.' I really thought I was going to die." Rory tried to hide the fact she was crying, but it was no use.
Lorelai hugged Rory. "It's ok honey. You're ok. Everything's going to be fine now. Don't cry. Thanks to Jess…"
"Thanks to Jess? What do you mean 'thanks to Jess'?"
"Jess pulled you out of the water. He saved your life."
"Jess?"
"Yeah."
"Jess pulled me out."
"Yes."
"Jess pulled me out of the water and saved my life."
"Ok, the story isn't changing hon."
"What was he thinking?"
"He was thinking you were in trouble. I thought you would have been more grateful he did."
"I am grateful, but he really shouldn't have."
"Babe, if he didn't you'd be dead. If Logan or Dean stepped on the ice, it would have given in and you'd all be gone. I'm not sure what happened between you two on New Years that made everything all weird…"
"Nothing's weird!" Rory snapped. "Nothing is weird between me and Jess. Nothing's going on!"
"I'm just saying…"
"Well don't. Nothing happened between me and Jess. I asked him if we could run away that night because Logan and I had just broken up, but he said he had to be here. He had to be here for the wedding and more importantly, for Luke. We stayed up all night and talked. It was the most meaningful, wonderful talk I've ever had. So nothing happened ok? Nothing is ever going to happen between me and Jess."
Lorelai eyed her daughter suspiciously and wondered what she meant by her last statement. Instead of asking her about it, she decided to change the subject.
Luke walked into the hospital room and a shiver ran down his spine. He only had bad memories of hospitals. He looked at Jess and his heart broke. Jess looked so helpless. And pale. Something went off in Luke's mind. There shouldn't be this many machines. If he was going to be fine, then why all the charts and equipment? They weren't telling him something.
"Jess," Luke called as he slowly made his way to the foot of the bed.
Jess lifted his head and looked up at Luke. "Hey," he said.
"How you feeling?"
"Like shit."
"Well, at least your sarcasm isn't damaged."
"I'm fine Luke."
"Good. So, they said you wanted to see me."
"Yeah. I did."
"What's up?"
"I need to tell you something, but you have to promise not to get mad."
Luke was confused by the tone of Jess's voice. It didn't sound like he had done something wrong. "I can promise to try not to get mad, but that's the best I can do."
"I don't know how to tell you this."
"This is bad isn't it? Does this have to do with Rory? Did you sleep with her? Is she pregnant?"
"Luke! I never touched her. It has nothing to do with Rory."
"Jess, whatever it is you can tell me. But I'm sure everything is gonna be fi…"
"I have cancer."
Luke froze. Did he hear Jess right? Did he say…no. It had to be a mistake. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I was in school and I started to get sick, so I had to miss a few classes and calling in sick for work. My grades slipped and it kept getting harder, so I dropped out. I went to a doctor and they said it was leukemia. I quit my job because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it. Eventually I was evicted. I ran into Dave Rygalski when I was working at a bar and he let me stay at his place for a while. Then I heard about the wedding and here I am."
"How bad is it?"
"I'm not in a serious stage yet, but they got me taking this pill everyday instead of chemo."
"The chemo could really help. Maybe you should start."
"I don't have the money to take chemo treatments."
"If you're so sick, why did you come here? I would have flown out to see you."
"You're getting married Luke. I had to come. I needed to be here for you. You're not exactly the most popular guy in town. I figured I'd spend time with you and Liz before…"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence. I'll help you get the treatment. I'll pay for it."
"You can't afford it."
"I'll find a way."
"You're getting married. You have to support Lorelai, not me."
"I can't leave you hanging."
"You won't be. All I want from you is to go back to normal. Be yourself Luke. Don't be a Richard Gilmore carbon copy. It's not you and it doesn't fit you. Lorelai fell in love with the real Luke and she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. I can't get through this without you. Please. I'm begging you. Bring the old Luke back. Can you bring him back?" Luke said nothing. "You know, when things like this happen to you, you see the world in a different perspective. You see it for all its beauty. My life has never had so much meaning. I'm finally getting it straight. Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying. Let that day be today. Live like you're dying Luke. Don't wait till you really are."
Luke stared at his hands for a while, then walked out of the room without saying a word to Jess.
Lorelai was waiting impatiently in the waiting room for Luke to return. He'd been in Jess's room for nearly half an hour. Liz and TJ had gone to see Jess five minutes ago. When she spotted Dr. Bell, she decided to ask about Luke. "Dr. Bell," she called. He stopped and faced her. "Hi. Luke's been with his nephew for quite a while now and I was wondering if everything was ok."
"Everything's fine," Dr. Bell replied.
"What's taking Luke so long then? He's been in there for half an hour."
"Mr. Danes isn't in Mr. Mariano's room. He left the hospital over twenty minutes ago."
Lorelai panicked and ran into the waiting room. "Luke's gone," she stated. "I just talked to Dr. Bell and he said Luke left twenty minutes ago. I have to find him. I have to look for him." Lorelai looked down at her hands and realized she was shaking.
"Sweetie, calm down. We'll help you look for him. Come on, get your jacket."
Lorelai nodded and when she turned around, she bumped into Luke. "There you are!" she said, throwing her arms around his neck. "Where have you been?" She pulled back when she realized he was wearing his signature flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap. "When did you change?"
"After I saw Jess, I went home to change," Luke replied.
"Why?"
"Can we sit down?"
"Uh, sure."
He took her hand and brought them over to open seats. He turned in his seat so that he was still holding her hand and looking at her. He knew what he wanted to say, but getting it out was a different story. He leaned forward and gave her a soft, gentle kiss on the lips. "I love you. I don't think I say that enough. But I do. I do love you, with all my heart and soul. I would do anything for you and Rory. I would die so you two wouldn't feel an ounce of pain."
Lorelai felt her eyes beginning to water. "Luke, what's this all about?"
Just then, Liz and TJ walked back into the room. TJ was holding Liz as she cried. Jess told her. Luke faced Lorelai again and took a deep breath before whispering his answer. "Jess has cancer. I don't want there to be a minute- a second- when you have to stop and wonder if I love you."
"That'll never happen Luke. I know you do and I love you too."
Luke smiled and kissed Lorelai once more. "When I die, you get everything."
Lorelai chuckled to herself. "It's good to have you back."
Luke let go of Lorelai's hand and walked over to Richard and Emily. "Mr. Gilmore, Mrs. Gilmore," he called. "I wanted to apologize for my outburst earlier. With everything going on, I just lost it. I was disrespectful and I hope you can accept my apology."
"We should be the ones apologizing Luke," Richard said. "Our pride got in the way of our daughter's happiness. We're more than happy to have a self-made man marrying Lorelai."
"Like we said before, you have our blessing," Emily added. "And call us Richard and Emily."
"I think I'll stick to Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore if that's alright," Luke said. He took a deep breath and headed toward Logan. "I always liked you. Well, not the first time we met, but every other time I did. You're a good kid and you make Rory happy. That's good enough for me."
"Thank you sir. It means a lot to me that you're ok with me. Rory thinks very highly of you," Logan remarked.
"And I think highly of her. You take care of my girl you hear?"
"Yes sir."
"And quit calling me sir."
"Done and done."
Luke turned to Dean and sighed. "I just want Rory to be happy."
"I know," Dean said.
"She was happy with you."
"I know."
"But she's happier with Logan."
Dean bit his lip. "I know."
"You're a married man now. You've got a good thing going with Lindsey. Don't screw it up."
"I won't."
Luke extended his hand to Dean. "We square?"
"Yeah," Dean said, shaking Luke's hand. "We're square."
Luke let go of Dean's hand and walked over to Liz and TJ. "Liz," he called softly. His heart broke when he saw the tears running down his little sister's face.
"You were right," she said. "I'm a horrible mother and not I'm going to loose my little boy."
"Liz, I didn't mean that. You're not going to loose Jess. He's going to survive this. He's got the Danes stubbornness. He's going to live for many, many years. Hell, he'll probably outlive us all.. You made mistakes, but you're making up for them now. I'm just his uncle and I can only do so much. Jess needs you now. He needs you to be strong." Luke looked to TJ. "You're a good guy. The best brother-in-law I've ever had."
"Thanks, that means a lot man," TJ said.
"What about me?" Kirk asked, feeling left out of Luke's praises.
"Kirk, I owe you more than I've ever owed a man. You saved Rory and Jess tonight and for that I am eternally grateful. If you ever need anything, you let me know," Luke replied. "You're the best friend a guy could ask for."
"You mean it? I'm your best friend?"
"Yeah. I guess you are."
Kirk jumped out of his seat and gave Luke a big hug. "Aw thanks Luke. You're my best friend too. When I get married, I want you to be my best man. And don't worry, I don't mind that I'm not yours."
"Kirk…Kirk, let go of me."
"Oh. Sorry. I just get so emotional."
Luke shook his head and sat next to Lorelai, taking her hand again. He was suddenly overcome by a sense of calmness. He gave Lorelai's hand a squeeze. "Everything's going to be ok."
"Yeah," Lorelai smiled. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked down. "Everything is going to be perfect."
Next time on "Meet Me at the Chuppah": Logan makes Jess an offer. Luke and Lorelai make a chastity agreement during the last week before their wedding. Lorelai's bachelorette party is interrupted. Lorelai and Rory are stranded in Hartford and spend the night at Richard and Emily's.