PASSENGER
Author - Chantelle
Pairing - Rory/Tristan
Summary - Relationships change when Rory is mugged
Rating - PG-13
Disclaimer - I don't own it.
CHAPTER ONE ETHAN HAWKE AND COFFEE ARE NOT ALWAYS PERFECT
"Come on, Luke. You know you want to give it to us," Lorelai pleaded for the eighth time.
"No."
"Please."
"You have already had four cups in the last half hour. I'm cutting you off." Rory was watching the bickering between Luke and Lorelai with only a half interest. Lately, she had become preoccupied by a certain blond Chilton boy and she didn't know why. 'Maybe it is because he makes me feel like a second class citizen. Why does he do that?' She wondered.
"Just one more, Luke. Look at poor Rory. You are depriving her of some very important nutrition." Luke looked at her sceptically.
"That's it. Get out."
"Now, now. That is no way to run a profit-orientated business. The idea is to get customers to stay as long as possible and bleed their wallets dry of all their hard-earned money."
"Well, you are bleeding my sanity and patience dry. So, get out."
"Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." Luke gave her a sarcastic look. "Come on, Rory. Let's go." Rory was interrupted by her thoughts as Lorelai got up and walked out of the door.
"Oh, we're leaving. Okay. Seeya, Luke." Luke turned to Rory with a smile on his face.
"Seeya, Rory. Make sure that your mother doesn't get into any trouble between here and your house."
"I can't promise anything. Remember the 'Great Traffic Stoppage of 1998'? I was sure that she was going to have to be committed that time." Luke cringed as Rory walked out of the door to catch up with Lorelai.
***
"How can there not be anything on television?" Lorelai threw the remote down in disgust. "We have, like, a gazillion channels and all that is on are reruns of reruns and infomercials." Rory looked up lazily from her book as her mother continued to rant.
"And if they took a minute to think about it, they would realise that they are an oxymoron in themselves. If I were to purchase all of those memory pills that they are trying to sell me, I would remember exactly how many times I have seen this episode of the 'Brady Bunch'!" Rory marked her page and put her copy of 'Animal Farm' down beside her. She knew exactly what her mother wanted.
"Happy chick flick or sad chick flick?" Lorelai's pout turned into a smile.
"Happy, of course. I forgot to buy some more tissues and Luke may look at us weirdly if we were to go there again just to stockpile napkins."
"He already looks at us weirdly. Plus, I think he would barricade the door if he saw you coming. So, I'm thinking maybe 'Reality Bites' and..."
"...and 'Three's a Crowd'," Lorelai finished.
"Ooh, Adam Vetri. Yum."
"I thought so too. But do you mind if you go by yourself. I'm dying for a shower. I feel all yicky, sticky and any other word that has the suffix -icky."
"Yeah, that's okay. I'm a big girl now. I can even tie my own shoes all by myself." Lorelai handed Rory some money. "But don't even think about using the new loofah. I want to at least use it once before you do...whatever you do to them."
"You are no fun whatsoever. How will I..." But Rory didn't hear the rest of her mother's complaints, because she had already walked out of the door.
***
It was a cool, crisp evening. A wind was stirring and the lights of the surrounding houses were starting to flicker on. Rory loved this time of the day. Her mind wandered to all the books she had read as a child and how they would describe this time as the magical hour. She smiled.
Rory looked towards Luke's as she walked. 'I should try and talk Luke into giving me some coffee and cake on my way back. Ethan Hawke and coffee. How perfect,' she thought. But before she could take another step, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Give me your money and I won't hurt you."
Feelings of fear and surprise were coursing up and down Rory's body. Never in a million years did she think that this could ever happen to her in Stars Hollow. She did not want to turn around and see the owner of the voice behind her, so she continued to stare straight ahead.
Rory could see Luke wiping a table and wished more than anything in the world that he would look up at that moment and see her.
"Give me your money now, bitch." Rory put her hand in her pocket and with a slow, shaking hand, gave the money to her mugger.
"Thank you, pretty girl," he spoke as he ran a finger down her neck to her collarbone. Rory shivered. "Sorry, but I'm going to need a head start."
As Rory was trying to process those words through her mind, she was spun around. Before she could think or even get her bearings, a fist was connecting with her face. She fell to the ground, hitting her head on the gutter on the way down.
***
Luke looked up from his cleaning when something flashed by out of the corner of his eye. He walked towards the window and looked out, but could not see anything. His heart stopped, however, when he looked in the other direction and saw Rory lying on the ground. The dish rag dropped, forgotten, to the floor and he flew out of the door to her.
"Rory!" Luke called out hoarsely as he ran to her. His hat flew off his head and was caught by the wind, which rolled it up against a streetlamp. But he did not notice anything else other than his destination. When Luke reached her, he fell down to his knees.
"Rory! Come on, honey. Just talk to me." He was more afraid than at any other time in his entire life. Luke looked at her face and could see a large bruise forming on her right cheek. His breath stopped short and his heart froze when he saw the pool of blood forming behind Rory's head.
"Rory! Oh, god. Someone call an ambulance! Somebody help! Call 911!" Luke mentally kicked himself for his stupid rule about mobile phones. He was sure going to go out and buy one now. He wanted more than anything to be able to pick up Rory and hug her to him, but he didn't know if that would be safe or not with her head injury.
"Someone call 911!" Luke yelled again. 'Where the hell is everybody in this town?'
"Luke, what are you yelling about?" Babette asked as she walked up behind him. But she stopped short when she saw Rory on the ground. Luke looked up at Babette with a lost look and some unshed tears in his eyes.
"Call 911," he choked out.
"Okay, honey, okay." She quickly pulled her mobile phone out of her bag and dialled the three digits.
"Yes, the main street of Stars Hollow, outside of Luke's diner...hardware store...whatever. Hurry." She listened to the operator for details and then she hung up and looked into Luke's waiting eyes.
"They're coming. She is going to be taken to Hartford County Hospital." She eyes drifted back to Rory. "Is she okay? What happened?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," Luke kept saying. He tried to move Rory's hair out of the blood pooling on the pavement, but he only managed to get his own hands covered in the thick fluid. 'Why won't she wake up?' Luke thought. He whispered something.
"What was that, Luke?"
"Ring Lorelai." Babette dialled the number, but there was no answer.
"She must be in the shower or something. Do you want to go over and get her or should I?" But she didn't even need to wait for an answer, because Luke never took his eyes off of Rory.
Babette started jogging to the Gilmore house as the ambulance pulled up beside the other two. The last thing she saw was Rory being placed carefully into the ambulance with Luke jumping in after her.
***
"Thank god for that loofah. Who make Rory 'Queen of the Loofah' anyway? I am destined to be with the loofah. I love the loofah. Loofah, loofah, loofah, loofah," Lorelai said to herself as she emerged from the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of blue sweat pants and a white singlet. She began to walk down the stairs when she heard sirens going in the direction of Hartford.
"What in the..." But she never got to finish her sentence because Babette came rushing through the door, out of breath. Lorelai didn't even need to hear the words to know what she was going to say.
"Rory...ambulance...Hartford...County Hospital...with Luke." Before Babette had even finished speaking, Lorelai had grabbed her keys and was headed towards the car.
"Call my parents," Lorelai spoke, as if she was in a trance, from the driver's seat. She quickly pulled out of the driveway to catch up to the speeding ambulance which was headed towards Hartford.
Babette turned to the phone, with tears in her eyes, and spoke a quiet prayer.
***
"Sir, please. You have to let us do our job." The paramedics had been wrestling with Luke for the whole drive so far. They had been monitoring Rory's injuries and even though her wounds seemed serious, they were in fact superficial. However, they still had some concerns.
"Don't let anything happen to her. She's like a daughter to me." The younger paramedic saw the anguish in the man's eyes, and even though he had seen it many times before, he still could not even begin to fathom what Luke was going through.
"Sir, her wounds are not life-threatening and we've stopped the bleeding from the laceration on her head. However, we are concerned by the fact that she hasn't regained consciousness." A panicked look entered Luke's eyes.
"Is there anything I can do?" There was a pleading tone in his voice.
"Just hold her hand and talk to her. Apart from doing that, we just have to wait until we reach the hospital to find out more about her condition."
Luke carefully shifted so he could reach Rory's hand without her having to be disturbed too much. As he looked down at her small hand engulfed in his much larger one, a fierce wave of protectiveness washed over him. He knew from that moment on, he would never take another easy breath unless he knew she was safe.
"Rory, honey. It's time you woke up now." He tried to stay light-hearted. "You know that your mother is probably going insane right now because she hasn't had any more coffee tonight. I would bet that you were coming to plead with me to give you some. She is going to be bouncing off the walls by now."
Luke's thoughts drifted to Lorelai. He hoped that someone was driving her to the hospital. He wasn't sure if he could handle it if the two people who meant the most to him in the world were both in the hospital that night.
"Mom..." Luke's attention was ripped back to Rory, as she turned her head a little and lightly squeezed his hand. Tears gathered in his eyes and one made its way down his cheek as he squeezed back in reply.
"Sorry, kiddo. It's only me."
"Luke..."
"Sir, we need you to move now so that we can get her into the hospital." Luke was surprised because he hadn't even felt the ambulance come to a stop.
"Luke..." The scared sound in her voice and the look in her eyes tore at his heart
"It's okay, Rory. I'm going to be right here."
"Luke..." she said again as they wheeled her into an exam room. Someone knocked into Luke as he tried to make his way closer to her.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait over there," a nurse said to him. He turned to look in the direction of which she indicated and saw a well-dressed elderly couple walking towards him. The woman spoke first.
"You're Lorelai's Luke, are you not?"
"You could say that. You must be her parents."
"How is Rory? What happened?" Lorelai's father asked. Luke could tell that they were just as worried for Rory as he was. But he wasn't sure he was ready to talk about what had happened to Rory just yet. He was about to open his mouth to speak, when Lorelai rushed towards them.
"Where's Rory? Where's my baby? I need to see her." Luke raised his hands to calm her down, but all four of the adults just stared at his hands which were covered in Rory's dried blood. Richard Gilmore looked away, while Emily stifled a cry. Lorelai shrank away from Luke as her face turned a paler shade of white.
"Oh my god...my baby." She began to cry.
Luke turned around in a daze to try and locate a washroom. When he found one, he went in and vigorously scrubbed his hands under the scalding hot water. He watched as the blood washed down the drain until the water ran clear, but he kept on scrubbing.
When he decided they were clean enough, he turned the water off and looked at himself in the mirror. Only now did he realise that his hat was missing and that his hair was pointing in all directions. Luke flattened it out, whispered one final prayer and left to join the others.
***
As Luke approached the three Gilmores, he noticed that they were talking to a doctor. He paused in the hallway and just stared at Lorelai to gauge her reaction. A large smile appeared on her face and she hugged the doctor with all her might.
Luke let out the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding and began to walk towards the group. Lorelai turned to him.
"Did you hear that, Luke? She's going to be alright." He matched her smile as Lorelai threw her arms around his neck. He held her close as they each cried happy tears. Both Emily and Richard looked on in confusion. Lorelai let go of Luke and turned back to the doctor.
"Can I see her now?"
"Yes. But only one of you for tonight." He saw three faces drop in disappointment. He hated to be the bad guy in these kinds of situations.
"Rory is a tough girl, but she's been through hell tonight. I'll get a nurse to set up a bed for you, Ms. Gilmore, so you can stay near her. She's fine, but we would still like to keep her here for three days of observation.
Lorelai nodded her assent and followed the doctor to Rory's room. The remaining three adults were left to stare at each other in an awkward silence. Emily again spoke first.
"Luke, could we drop you off anywhere?"
"No, I'll be fine. But thank you very much for the offer, Mrs. Gilmore."
"Okay. Alright. Alright." Emily was torn about leaving her daughter and granddaughter, but finally decided to turn around and head towards the car. As his wife left, Richard walked up to Luke and shook his hand graciously.
"Thank you for being there for my granddaughter tonight. I will not forget this." Before Luke had a chance to answer, Richard had already walked off to catch up with his wife.
***
Luke was left standing in the middle of the hospital hallway, with no idea of what to do. He really wanted to go and visit Rory so that he could see with his own eyes that she was really okay. He did the only thing he could think of, which was to look through the glass partition into Rory's room.
She looked so small and pale that his eyes watered thinking about how they all could have lost her that night. Luke spied Lorelai with her head resting beside Rory's chest. He took a deep breath and sat down in the hard plastic chairs that were placed beside Rory's room. It was going to be a long night for all of them.
To be continued in Chapter Two - The Black Spot and a Mary
Author - Chantelle
Pairing - Rory/Tristan
Summary - Relationships change when Rory is mugged
Rating - PG-13
Disclaimer - I don't own it.
CHAPTER ONE ETHAN HAWKE AND COFFEE ARE NOT ALWAYS PERFECT
"Come on, Luke. You know you want to give it to us," Lorelai pleaded for the eighth time.
"No."
"Please."
"You have already had four cups in the last half hour. I'm cutting you off." Rory was watching the bickering between Luke and Lorelai with only a half interest. Lately, she had become preoccupied by a certain blond Chilton boy and she didn't know why. 'Maybe it is because he makes me feel like a second class citizen. Why does he do that?' She wondered.
"Just one more, Luke. Look at poor Rory. You are depriving her of some very important nutrition." Luke looked at her sceptically.
"That's it. Get out."
"Now, now. That is no way to run a profit-orientated business. The idea is to get customers to stay as long as possible and bleed their wallets dry of all their hard-earned money."
"Well, you are bleeding my sanity and patience dry. So, get out."
"Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." Luke gave her a sarcastic look. "Come on, Rory. Let's go." Rory was interrupted by her thoughts as Lorelai got up and walked out of the door.
"Oh, we're leaving. Okay. Seeya, Luke." Luke turned to Rory with a smile on his face.
"Seeya, Rory. Make sure that your mother doesn't get into any trouble between here and your house."
"I can't promise anything. Remember the 'Great Traffic Stoppage of 1998'? I was sure that she was going to have to be committed that time." Luke cringed as Rory walked out of the door to catch up with Lorelai.
***
"How can there not be anything on television?" Lorelai threw the remote down in disgust. "We have, like, a gazillion channels and all that is on are reruns of reruns and infomercials." Rory looked up lazily from her book as her mother continued to rant.
"And if they took a minute to think about it, they would realise that they are an oxymoron in themselves. If I were to purchase all of those memory pills that they are trying to sell me, I would remember exactly how many times I have seen this episode of the 'Brady Bunch'!" Rory marked her page and put her copy of 'Animal Farm' down beside her. She knew exactly what her mother wanted.
"Happy chick flick or sad chick flick?" Lorelai's pout turned into a smile.
"Happy, of course. I forgot to buy some more tissues and Luke may look at us weirdly if we were to go there again just to stockpile napkins."
"He already looks at us weirdly. Plus, I think he would barricade the door if he saw you coming. So, I'm thinking maybe 'Reality Bites' and..."
"...and 'Three's a Crowd'," Lorelai finished.
"Ooh, Adam Vetri. Yum."
"I thought so too. But do you mind if you go by yourself. I'm dying for a shower. I feel all yicky, sticky and any other word that has the suffix -icky."
"Yeah, that's okay. I'm a big girl now. I can even tie my own shoes all by myself." Lorelai handed Rory some money. "But don't even think about using the new loofah. I want to at least use it once before you do...whatever you do to them."
"You are no fun whatsoever. How will I..." But Rory didn't hear the rest of her mother's complaints, because she had already walked out of the door.
***
It was a cool, crisp evening. A wind was stirring and the lights of the surrounding houses were starting to flicker on. Rory loved this time of the day. Her mind wandered to all the books she had read as a child and how they would describe this time as the magical hour. She smiled.
Rory looked towards Luke's as she walked. 'I should try and talk Luke into giving me some coffee and cake on my way back. Ethan Hawke and coffee. How perfect,' she thought. But before she could take another step, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Give me your money and I won't hurt you."
Feelings of fear and surprise were coursing up and down Rory's body. Never in a million years did she think that this could ever happen to her in Stars Hollow. She did not want to turn around and see the owner of the voice behind her, so she continued to stare straight ahead.
Rory could see Luke wiping a table and wished more than anything in the world that he would look up at that moment and see her.
"Give me your money now, bitch." Rory put her hand in her pocket and with a slow, shaking hand, gave the money to her mugger.
"Thank you, pretty girl," he spoke as he ran a finger down her neck to her collarbone. Rory shivered. "Sorry, but I'm going to need a head start."
As Rory was trying to process those words through her mind, she was spun around. Before she could think or even get her bearings, a fist was connecting with her face. She fell to the ground, hitting her head on the gutter on the way down.
***
Luke looked up from his cleaning when something flashed by out of the corner of his eye. He walked towards the window and looked out, but could not see anything. His heart stopped, however, when he looked in the other direction and saw Rory lying on the ground. The dish rag dropped, forgotten, to the floor and he flew out of the door to her.
"Rory!" Luke called out hoarsely as he ran to her. His hat flew off his head and was caught by the wind, which rolled it up against a streetlamp. But he did not notice anything else other than his destination. When Luke reached her, he fell down to his knees.
"Rory! Come on, honey. Just talk to me." He was more afraid than at any other time in his entire life. Luke looked at her face and could see a large bruise forming on her right cheek. His breath stopped short and his heart froze when he saw the pool of blood forming behind Rory's head.
"Rory! Oh, god. Someone call an ambulance! Somebody help! Call 911!" Luke mentally kicked himself for his stupid rule about mobile phones. He was sure going to go out and buy one now. He wanted more than anything to be able to pick up Rory and hug her to him, but he didn't know if that would be safe or not with her head injury.
"Someone call 911!" Luke yelled again. 'Where the hell is everybody in this town?'
"Luke, what are you yelling about?" Babette asked as she walked up behind him. But she stopped short when she saw Rory on the ground. Luke looked up at Babette with a lost look and some unshed tears in his eyes.
"Call 911," he choked out.
"Okay, honey, okay." She quickly pulled her mobile phone out of her bag and dialled the three digits.
"Yes, the main street of Stars Hollow, outside of Luke's diner...hardware store...whatever. Hurry." She listened to the operator for details and then she hung up and looked into Luke's waiting eyes.
"They're coming. She is going to be taken to Hartford County Hospital." She eyes drifted back to Rory. "Is she okay? What happened?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," Luke kept saying. He tried to move Rory's hair out of the blood pooling on the pavement, but he only managed to get his own hands covered in the thick fluid. 'Why won't she wake up?' Luke thought. He whispered something.
"What was that, Luke?"
"Ring Lorelai." Babette dialled the number, but there was no answer.
"She must be in the shower or something. Do you want to go over and get her or should I?" But she didn't even need to wait for an answer, because Luke never took his eyes off of Rory.
Babette started jogging to the Gilmore house as the ambulance pulled up beside the other two. The last thing she saw was Rory being placed carefully into the ambulance with Luke jumping in after her.
***
"Thank god for that loofah. Who make Rory 'Queen of the Loofah' anyway? I am destined to be with the loofah. I love the loofah. Loofah, loofah, loofah, loofah," Lorelai said to herself as she emerged from the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of blue sweat pants and a white singlet. She began to walk down the stairs when she heard sirens going in the direction of Hartford.
"What in the..." But she never got to finish her sentence because Babette came rushing through the door, out of breath. Lorelai didn't even need to hear the words to know what she was going to say.
"Rory...ambulance...Hartford...County Hospital...with Luke." Before Babette had even finished speaking, Lorelai had grabbed her keys and was headed towards the car.
"Call my parents," Lorelai spoke, as if she was in a trance, from the driver's seat. She quickly pulled out of the driveway to catch up to the speeding ambulance which was headed towards Hartford.
Babette turned to the phone, with tears in her eyes, and spoke a quiet prayer.
***
"Sir, please. You have to let us do our job." The paramedics had been wrestling with Luke for the whole drive so far. They had been monitoring Rory's injuries and even though her wounds seemed serious, they were in fact superficial. However, they still had some concerns.
"Don't let anything happen to her. She's like a daughter to me." The younger paramedic saw the anguish in the man's eyes, and even though he had seen it many times before, he still could not even begin to fathom what Luke was going through.
"Sir, her wounds are not life-threatening and we've stopped the bleeding from the laceration on her head. However, we are concerned by the fact that she hasn't regained consciousness." A panicked look entered Luke's eyes.
"Is there anything I can do?" There was a pleading tone in his voice.
"Just hold her hand and talk to her. Apart from doing that, we just have to wait until we reach the hospital to find out more about her condition."
Luke carefully shifted so he could reach Rory's hand without her having to be disturbed too much. As he looked down at her small hand engulfed in his much larger one, a fierce wave of protectiveness washed over him. He knew from that moment on, he would never take another easy breath unless he knew she was safe.
"Rory, honey. It's time you woke up now." He tried to stay light-hearted. "You know that your mother is probably going insane right now because she hasn't had any more coffee tonight. I would bet that you were coming to plead with me to give you some. She is going to be bouncing off the walls by now."
Luke's thoughts drifted to Lorelai. He hoped that someone was driving her to the hospital. He wasn't sure if he could handle it if the two people who meant the most to him in the world were both in the hospital that night.
"Mom..." Luke's attention was ripped back to Rory, as she turned her head a little and lightly squeezed his hand. Tears gathered in his eyes and one made its way down his cheek as he squeezed back in reply.
"Sorry, kiddo. It's only me."
"Luke..."
"Sir, we need you to move now so that we can get her into the hospital." Luke was surprised because he hadn't even felt the ambulance come to a stop.
"Luke..." The scared sound in her voice and the look in her eyes tore at his heart
"It's okay, Rory. I'm going to be right here."
"Luke..." she said again as they wheeled her into an exam room. Someone knocked into Luke as he tried to make his way closer to her.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait over there," a nurse said to him. He turned to look in the direction of which she indicated and saw a well-dressed elderly couple walking towards him. The woman spoke first.
"You're Lorelai's Luke, are you not?"
"You could say that. You must be her parents."
"How is Rory? What happened?" Lorelai's father asked. Luke could tell that they were just as worried for Rory as he was. But he wasn't sure he was ready to talk about what had happened to Rory just yet. He was about to open his mouth to speak, when Lorelai rushed towards them.
"Where's Rory? Where's my baby? I need to see her." Luke raised his hands to calm her down, but all four of the adults just stared at his hands which were covered in Rory's dried blood. Richard Gilmore looked away, while Emily stifled a cry. Lorelai shrank away from Luke as her face turned a paler shade of white.
"Oh my god...my baby." She began to cry.
Luke turned around in a daze to try and locate a washroom. When he found one, he went in and vigorously scrubbed his hands under the scalding hot water. He watched as the blood washed down the drain until the water ran clear, but he kept on scrubbing.
When he decided they were clean enough, he turned the water off and looked at himself in the mirror. Only now did he realise that his hat was missing and that his hair was pointing in all directions. Luke flattened it out, whispered one final prayer and left to join the others.
***
As Luke approached the three Gilmores, he noticed that they were talking to a doctor. He paused in the hallway and just stared at Lorelai to gauge her reaction. A large smile appeared on her face and she hugged the doctor with all her might.
Luke let out the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding and began to walk towards the group. Lorelai turned to him.
"Did you hear that, Luke? She's going to be alright." He matched her smile as Lorelai threw her arms around his neck. He held her close as they each cried happy tears. Both Emily and Richard looked on in confusion. Lorelai let go of Luke and turned back to the doctor.
"Can I see her now?"
"Yes. But only one of you for tonight." He saw three faces drop in disappointment. He hated to be the bad guy in these kinds of situations.
"Rory is a tough girl, but she's been through hell tonight. I'll get a nurse to set up a bed for you, Ms. Gilmore, so you can stay near her. She's fine, but we would still like to keep her here for three days of observation.
Lorelai nodded her assent and followed the doctor to Rory's room. The remaining three adults were left to stare at each other in an awkward silence. Emily again spoke first.
"Luke, could we drop you off anywhere?"
"No, I'll be fine. But thank you very much for the offer, Mrs. Gilmore."
"Okay. Alright. Alright." Emily was torn about leaving her daughter and granddaughter, but finally decided to turn around and head towards the car. As his wife left, Richard walked up to Luke and shook his hand graciously.
"Thank you for being there for my granddaughter tonight. I will not forget this." Before Luke had a chance to answer, Richard had already walked off to catch up with his wife.
***
Luke was left standing in the middle of the hospital hallway, with no idea of what to do. He really wanted to go and visit Rory so that he could see with his own eyes that she was really okay. He did the only thing he could think of, which was to look through the glass partition into Rory's room.
She looked so small and pale that his eyes watered thinking about how they all could have lost her that night. Luke spied Lorelai with her head resting beside Rory's chest. He took a deep breath and sat down in the hard plastic chairs that were placed beside Rory's room. It was going to be a long night for all of them.
To be continued in Chapter Two - The Black Spot and a Mary