Gilmore Girls
These Things I Know
A/N: Boy, am I on a roll or what? I'll just have you know that I have a million different story ideas and one-shot ideas that have probably already been done or will be by the time I finish this but I'm giving them up to work on this. Happy reading! Genevra.
Summary: You might finally have what you thought you always wanted but the truth is this- you don't know what you've got 'til its gone.
Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Gilmore Girls in anyway.
Chapter Seven: Floored
Rory drive the streets, blindly. She felt a sudden stab in her stomach and a sick feeling settled over her. Logan's face flashed across her mind and she froze. She pulled over quickly and pulled out her mobile, dialing Finn.
"Finn," she whimpered.
"What do you want, love?" he answered, angrily. She knew she was the only person he called love and that he was saying it to warn the people around him who he was talking too.
"Is he okay?" she asked, in an urgent whisper. She found she couldn't raise her voice any higher. "Logan… Is he okay?"
"I know who you're talking about, love, and no, he isn't," Finn replied.
"What's wrong?" Rory asked, able to raise her voice now. "Where is he? Is he going to be okay?"
"He's going to be fine," Finn replied, sighing. He could hear how worried Rory was and although he was angry with him, she was still his wife and she obviously loved him enough to sense something was wrong.
"What happened?" Rory asked, tears stinging her eyes.
"There was an accident. A small one. He was driving and a deer ran in front of him and he ran off the road into a dish. We're at Hartford Memorial," Finn explained.
"But he's going to be…"
"He's going to be fine, Rory," Finn said, quickly. "We'll talk later."
He hung up suddenly, in true Finn fashion, and Rory again felt sick. She turned the car back on and began to drive again in the direction she had been going. She pulled up to her mother's house and barged through the front door, knowing it would be open and immediately ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
"Lorelai!" Luke called. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Lorelai yelled from the bedroom. "You're the big brave man. You check it out."
"I'm not that brave, Lorelai," Luke sighed, coming out of the kitchen to meet Lorelai in the living room. He was still wielding the spatula he had been cooking with and Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"A spatula, Luke," Lorelai commented wryly. "Really. How dangerous."
"Lorelai," he warned as they stepped closer to the bathroom.
"No, seriously. I'm shaking in my stylish yet affordable boots," she continued. The stood closer and listened to the movement in the bathroom. Luke turned away as he heard the intruder retching and expelling the contents of their stomach.
"What?" he asked, turning to Lorelai who had a smirk on her face.
"You're actually turning green," she commented with a laugh. She knocked on the door and leaned in closer to yell. "Rory, come out and see Luke. He's actually going green."
"Go away!" Rory yelled, throwing up again.
"That's Rory in there?" Luke asked. "How did you know?"
"Do you not remember the Founders Day punch incident of '05?" she asked. "I only have one kid, Luke, and believe me, the amount of time I spent up with her, I know."
"That's just sick," Luke said, but the concern was etched over his face. "Is she okay?"
"I don't know," Lorelai admitted. "But you know what would help? Oatmeal."
"Oatmeal?" Luke asked. "As in, good for you oatmeal?"
"The one and only," Lorelai answered. "Don't look so surprised. I ate all my vegetables tonight."
"They were covered in ketchup," Luke answered, dirtily.
"Whatever. But you see, when I was pregnant, oatmeal was the only thing that would settle my stomach," Lorelai explained.
"You think she's pregnant?" Luke asked.
"No," Lorelai replied. She looked at Luke and furrowed her brow. "I don't think so. I mean, I hope not."
"Oatmeal it is," Luke said, kissing Lorelai on the forehead. "Good luck."
"Thanks," she answered, turning the knob and pushing the door open. "Babe, I'm coming in."
"No, Mum. Don't," Rory pleaded. "I don't want you to see me like this."
"Believe me, babes, it wouldn't be the first time," Lorelai exclaimed, easing herself onto the floor. Rory rested her head on her lap and Lorelai began to play with her hair. "So, you wanna tell me what's going on?"
"I'm so stupid," Rory groaned. "So stupid."
"Are you pregnant?" Lorelai asked, without thinking.
"What?" Rory cried. "No."
"How do you know?" Lorelai asked, calmly.
"I took a test. A blood test. I'm not pregnant."
"But you thought you were?"
"Yes, I thought I was," Rory answered. "Why else would I be crying all the time?"
She walked over to the sink on her knees and squirted toothpaste on the toothbrush she kept at her mother's house and brushed her teeth.
"Umm, I don't know, hon. Maybe because you left your husband for a man who doesn't love you," Lorelai replied. She paused. "Did you want to be pregnant?"
"No," Rory said, sinking back down onto the floor and putting her head back in Lorelai's lap. "I don't want to bring a baby into this mess."
"Okay," Lorelai said. "Good."
"Oh, Mum," Rory groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and making her hands into fists. "I am stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Care to explain?" Lorelai prompted, helping Rory sit up.
"I'm stupid. I'm worse than stupid. I'm an idiot. An imbecile. A butt-faced miscreant," she said, giggling slightly at the memory.
"Butt-faced miscreant?" Lorelai asked. "Don't you think that's a little Reese Witherspoon in 'Legally Blonde' just ten times worse?"
"Mum," Rory begged.
"Right. Sorry. And why are you all these things?"
"Because I stupidly, ridiculously, dumbly, selfishly, horribly, terribly left my husband, who loved me, for an arrogant jerk who never loved me and whom I never loved," Rory cried. "And that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that the jerk I left my husband for was still sleeping with his ex-wife or maybe that part didn't come until after I'd entered the picture. I don't know. I don't care. It doesn't change the fact that I'm an idiot and I couldn't even read him the riot act because that would be hypocritical of me."
"Hindsight's a bitch, huh?" Lorelai asked before pausing. "Hang on. Back up. Back right up. Dean is still sleeping with Lindsay?"
"Yep," Rory answered. "Now I know how Logan felt when… Oh no! Logan."
"What's with the 'Logan'?" Lorelai asked as Rory paled and clapped her hands over her mouth. Lorelai pointed to the toilet. "Aim that way, kid."
"Logan is in the hospital. I had a bad feeling about him so I rang Finn on the way and he's in hospital. There was a deer and a ditch and he's in Hartford Memorial. Do you know what that means?" Rory asked.
"That you've passed on your bad luck with deers to him?" Lorelai asked, ignoring the glare her only daughter gave her. "I don't know. That the ambulance drove a long way? Or that he was visiting Colin and Finn and things got a little crazy?"
"Oh," Rory said, looking away. Lorelai mentally smacked herself.
"Rory, I'm so sorry," she said, immediately.
"It's okay. I was being stupid anyway. I just thought…" she said, her voice dropping off.
"That he was on his way to see you," Lorelai finished, sympathetically.
"I'm so stupid," Rory moaned.
A knock came at the door and Luke opened it. He handed Rory the oatmeal and her phone.
"It's the crazy Australian," he shrugged. "Don't know what he wants. I couldn't understand him."
"What's new?" Lorelai asked, wryly.
"Thanks, Luke," Rory smiled as Lorelai got up and followed him out of the bathroom. She sighed and held the phone up to her ear. "Finn?"
"You should get down here," he said, coldly. "I need you to sign some things."
"Okay. I'll be there soon," she said.
"Rory, I need you to sign them and then leave," Finn ordered.
"But, Finn…" she started.
"You made a promise," Finn said.
"But he's my husband. He needs me," she babbled. "And besides, I've made my decision."
"Rory, Logan doesn't need you anymore," Finn said, suddenly. "So I'd rethink your decision."
He hung up so suddenly that Rory was stopped, mid-syllable. She pulsed herself off the bathroom floor and brushed herself off. She walked into the lounge-room where Luke and Lorelai were cuddling on the couch, pretending to be interested in an episode of CSI.
"Your suitcases are in your room," Luke told her, helpfully.
"Thanks," she said, smiling gratefully at him. "I have to go down to the hospital and sign some things. I should be back by 12."
"But hon, it's already after 9," Lorelai said.
"From what Finn says, I'll only need to walk inside the hospital, raise my pen and then I can leave."
"You're not going to see Logan?" Lorelai asked.
"No," she answered. "Apparently, he doesn't need me."
"You want me to come?" her mother asked.
"No. I'll be fine. Really," Rory said, firmly. She put on a brave face. "I'm just going to get changed and then I'll go."
"Dress warm," Lorelai called.
"Will do, Mum," Rory yelled back from her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and surveyed the scene. How much longer would she have to live like this? Clothes in suitcases piled on the floor. She knew it was her choice but still, it sucked. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she'd left Logan.
She sank onto the bed and pulled off her brown leather buccaneer boots, letting them drop to the floor with a clank. She left her jeans on but replaced her boots with silver Chanel ballet flats. She pulled off her brown t-shirt and quickly pulled on a white button-up shirt she'd inherited from Logan the night she'd left and added a black cashmere vest. She quickly put on the string of pearls that Emily had given her before grabbing her knee-length black, wool duffel coat and a Burberry scarf. Dressing, even for a hospital visit in the middle of the night, was a task.
She checked herself out in the mirror. Splotchy skin and red eyes would be fixed before she got to the hospital but her hair was a mess. She quickly removed the elastic that barely held her ponytail up and quickly, effortlessly, styled her hair half-up, half down. Perfect. Done.
-
Her legs felt heavy as she made the trek from the car to the well-lit foyer of Hartford Memorial.
"Logan Huntzberger, please," she said politely to the receptionist. She could barely keep the worry out of her voice.
"And you are?" the woman asked, not looking away from the computer.
"Rory Hunt- Lorelai Huntzberger. His wife," she explained.
"You're his wife?" the woman asked, finally looking up from the computer.
"Yes," Rory said, weakly. "I am. Why do you ask?"
"I must be confusing you with someone else," the woman said. "Logan Huntzberger. He's in a private room. 203 on level five."
"Thank you," she said, quickly, before setting off. A sick feeling settled in her stomach, yet again, and she wondered whom the receptionist must have been thinking of. She pressed the button and waited for the elevator to come. The door opened and her question was quickly answered.
"Rory," a tall blonde called, throwing herself at the bewildered brunette. She embraced her before pulling her back into the elevator. "Thank goodness you're here. Logan has been going out of his mind asking for you."
"He has?" she asked.
"He has," the blonde replied. "He was going to see you, you know, when the crash happened. He realized that he was being an idiot just waiting for you to come back. he knows you and he knows how stubborn you are so he decided to take things into his own hands."
"Honor," Rory said, suddenly. "Why was the nurse surprised that I was Logan's wife?"
"Because I have been calling myself Honor Huntzberger all night," Honor laughed. "I find it a most useful name when I need results fast."
"Oh, okay. good," Rory replied, uncertainly. The lift stopped at the fifth floor and Honor dragged her out.
"There's no-one else," Honor said. "Don't worry."
"I'm not," Rory said. She spotted Finn, Colin and Stephanie immediately. She grabbed Honor's arm. "I just need a minute."
"Don't be ridiculous," Honor said. "Look who's here."
"honor, don't," Rory said. "They all hate me."
"They don't hate you," she said, pulling Rory along behind her. "Do we hate Rory?"
"Yes," Finn answered. Rory sighed and slumped into the closest seats. "Don't look so surprised."
"I am not surprised," Rory answered, looking up at them. "I'm just wondering how I got myself into this."
"You must really love him," Stephanie said, sinking into the chair next to Rory and leaning her head on her shoulder. Rory relaxed slightly, knowing that any sign of affection meant Stephanie had forgiven her. "If you're here in front of all us. Willingly."
"She didn't choose to come," Finn spat. Colin stayed quiet, not wanting to get involved.
"I did choose to come, Finn. I didn't have too. Don't think I'm not stupid enough to know that any one of you could probably have signed whatever it is I desperately need to sign. That's the stupid part. And you know, Finn, I don't care what promises I made to you but I kept my promise. I haven't seen Logan. I haven't tried to contact him but I have made my decision and my decision is, if he'll have me, I want him back."
And there. It was done. It was said.
