Chapter 25: A Promise Made

"Lorelai, go get something to eat. You're not doing yourself any good by not eating. Go get some coffee and take a break I'll sit with him for awhile. He'll be fine. Go."

Lorelai took one last look at Chip, rubbed his little arm and kissed the top of his head with her fingers.

"You'll find me the second John comes back with his test results?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, now go take a break."

Lorelai and Luke shared a small kiss and whispered, "I love you," to each other before parting. Luke sat down in the rocking chair and pulled out his wallet.

"Hey buddy," he said quietly. "You need to get better and I'm going to show you pictures of all the people who want you to get better."

Opening his wallet he pulls out one of the several pictures of Lorelai he has in there. Placing it against the glass of the incubator he begins to talk again, "This is your Mommy. She loves you so much and wants you to get better."

Luke looks around the room for a roll of tape so he can tape up the pictures and doesn't see one. He pushes the nurse call button. A nurse in colorful scrubs comes in.

"Can you bring me a roll of tape?" Luke asked. "I want to tape up pictures of his family so he will be surrounded by familiar faces."

The nurse nodded and brought him the roll of tape from the nurse's station. He taped up the photo of Lorelai and then moved on to one of Rory. "This is your big sister Rory. She's going to be gone for a few months. She's going to be teaching kids in Paris, France. It's a long way from Stars Hollow."

Luke carefully pulled the next picture from his wallet and held it up to Chip. "This is Grandma and Grandpa Danes. You haven't gotten to meet them yet because they're in heaven watching out for you."

Luke painfully put up that photo. He taped up a picture of Richard and Emily next to the one of his parents.

"Christian, when you get better I'm going to teach you how to play baseball and you're going to be the staring pitcher for the Yankees. You're going to go to Harvard and be anything you want. And I'm going to be there for you cheering you on. But in order for you to do that you need to get better. You can't leave me in a house full of girls. Come on Christian, you can do it. I know you can." Luke continues to talk to his son. He tells him all about how to run a diner and how to fish. He even told him that when he's eight they were going to go on a long fishing trip to Canada.

Lorelai watched from the window of the room. She couldn't help but think that this was all her fault. If she had taken it easy while she was pregnant maybe he wouldn't be struggling so much. Maybe she and Luke shouldn't have danced at the marathon. She shook her head, hoping to shake out the thoughts. This wasn't her fault, it wasn't Luke's fault either. She smiled happily at how much Luke was connecting to his son. She was afraid that Chip was going to be too much of a Mommy's boy. She could see that it wasn't going to happen.

"Mrs. Danes?" Dr. Gregory said softly, breaking the silence in the hallway.

Lorelai gasped and leaned on the wall. "Oh! John you scared me."

"Can I speak with you and Mr. Danes for a moment. I'm afraid that I don't have good news."

"Just let me get someone to sit in with Chip. I don't want him to be alone," she said.

Walking out to the waiting room Lorelai saw the faces of the concerned citizens of Stars Hollow waiting for her. Lane, Sookie, Miss Patty, even Taylor were huddled together.

"Patty? Will you go sit in with Chip while Luke and I talk with John?"

"Of course honey. How is he doing?"

"We'll know more after we talk to John."

Lorelai led Patty into Chip's room and pulled Luke away, explaining that John needed to talk to them. They began the long walk to Dr. Gregory's office. Sitting down in the overstuffed chairs made the worry in Lorelai's mind become greater. She clutched Luke's hand.

"I'm afraid I don't have good news for you," John began. "Christian is not improving. He is not getting enough oxygen to his brain and it is causing his heart to work harder than it has to. I think it would be wise to put him on a ventilator to help increase his circulation. The reason he looks so blue is because he is not receiving enough oxygen throughout his body. Putting him on the machine will help him get sufficient oxygen to his systems and decrease the risk of permanent damage." "Don't put him on a machine," Lorelai whispered softly. "Luke please don't let him put Chip on a machine."

"Shh. Lorelai shh. It's ok. John is there another option besides putting him on a machine?"

"We could put him on continuous oxygen by a mask. We could try that first and see how he takes to it. If that doesn't work we'll have to put him on the ventilator."

Soft tears dripped from Lorelai's eyes. She didn't want to have to see her precious baby boy attached to any machine.

"He's not going on a machine. No machine is going to help my son breathe because I don't ever want to have to make the choice to take him off it, if it doesn't work. I'm not doing it."

"I think you know what route we're going to try first John," Luke said, being strong for the woman falling to pieces next to him.

"I understand Mr. Danes. We'll monitor him on continuous flow oxygen for a few hours and see where he's at."

John got up and left his office and let Lorelai and Luke have their privacy. Lorelai hung her head and let the tears fall. Luke knelt in front of her and took her hands.

"Lorelai, honey, talk to me. Don't bottle this in. Lorelai."

"I want you to promise me that no matter what happens you won't let them put Chip on a machine. I heard you talking to him. I want to be able to read in the papers that Christian Danes pitched a no hitter against the Red Sox. Promise me."

"I promise Lorelai. I promise you," he said. He began to kiss away her tears to seal the promise.