The Broken Road

As soon as the great Gilmore front door clicked shut behind them, Lorelai slumped against the portico wall, staring into space with her arms folded close.

"Well," Rory said. "That was eventful."

"Hah."

"I'm still processing, here," Rory continued slowly. "You yelled at Grandma, told her you loved Luke…and then we stayed for dinner and dessert."

Lorelai shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore, Rory," she confessed wearily. "I'm just…I'm too tired to fight with her anymore. She knows. She can play all the sick little games she wants to, but I'm not going to go crazy second-guessing and double-crossing and anticipating all of it. Because even when I do think I'm ready for her, she just breaks out with something so unexpected and outrageous, and I don't see it coming. I never see it coming…"

"I don't think she's going to make fun of Luke anymore," Rory said hopefully.

"Not behind his back, at least," Lorelai sighed heavily and fished her keys out of her coat pocket. "Here, you're driving."

"It's your car."

"Hey, I've been through emotional hell tonight, kid. You don't want me driving."

"'Kay." They both climbed in and fastened their seatbelts as Rory started the car.

"Tonight was supposed to be special," Lorelai mused as she stared out the rain-streaked windows at the streetlights.

"Why?" Rory asked suspiciously, glancing in the rearview mirror to check for traffic as she backed out of the Gilmores' drive.

"I was going to tell him tonight."

"Mom! What did I tell you about planning?" Rory demanded accusingly.

"There weren't going to be any sunsets and violins," Lorelai protested.

"Yeah, but look what happened, you planned and then you got stomped all over by Grandma."

"That wasn't because of the planning," Lorelai argued. "That was just Emily being Emily."

"It was because you planned," Rory reiterated, starting to smile.

"Oh, you're just a kid, what do you know?" Lorelai teased, some of the earlier shock wearing off.

"A lot more than you, most of the time," Rory sighed melodramatically.

"Ha, ha," Lorelai grumbled, fiddling with the buttons on the radio. She dialed past an evangelical preacher and a bunch of static before music blared out of the speakers.

"Tell him

Tell him that the sun and moon

Rise in his eyes

Reach out to him-"

Lorelai's hand shot out like a viper and punched the power button so hard Rory jumped.

"I think you killed it," she commented.

"You set that up!" Lorelai accused. "That is cruel and unusual torture, you sadist!"

"It's on the radio!" Rory defended, giggling.

"You called the only radio station that has any decent kind of reception in this two-block area and requested it! That's why you took so long in the bathroom, isn't it?"

"I swear, I didn't! That kind of detailed plotting has to be carefully thought out, and I didn't know you were planning on telling him tonight! It was just a very strange coincidence."

"Yeah, right," Lorelai narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Rory rolled her own eyes and pulled her cell-phone out of her pocket. "Here, check the call records. I haven't touched it since we got to Grandma's."

Absently Lorelai scrolled through the phone's menu.

"I was only kidding, sheesh," Rory muttered. "You're actually checking- what, you don't trust your own daughter?"

"I know you too well," Lorelai grinned. "After all, I taught you everything you know."

"Modest of you to say," Rory grumbled, reaching to turn the radio back on. Lorelai reached out and slapped her wrist. "Touch that dial and I sell your books," she warned.

Rory yanked her hand back to the steering wheel. "Mean," she complained. "I need music- I hate driving in the rain."

"Sing."

"You sing."

"About what?"

"What's the first thing that comes to mind?"

"Luke," Lorelai answered immediately, grinning self-consciously.

"Of course, stupid question," Rory acknowledged in amusement.

"Nothing could be finer than, my flannel-covered diner man," Lorelai sang, then winced. "Oh, man, that was bad."

"I completely agree, and thank you for ending it right there," Rory said vehemently. She checked over her shoulder as she merged onto the interstate. "I think that definitely should end the singing attempt."

"Yeah, nothing rhymes with Luke anyway," Lorelai agreed cheerfully, feeling anticipatory butterflies rise in her stomach now that they were moving sixty miles an hour closer to home and the person waiting for her there.

"Duke, fluke, rebuke, kook," Rory listed off the top of her head.

"Okay, smarty, so four words rhyme with Luke," Lorelai accepted reluctantly, peering through the windshield at the red brake lights coming closer and closer. "Crap, why are we slowing down?"

"Maybe there's an accident," Rory shrugged. "Puke."

"What?"

"Rhymes with Luke."

"Oh, real cute. Thanks, Ror."

"Anytime."

Lorelai growled in frustration as they inched along in the traffic, jiggling one foot impatiently. "Can't we go any faster?" she demanded.

"Oh, sure, Mom. Let me just activate the hovercraft feature and we'll fly right on out of here," Rory answered sarcastically.

Lorelai muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "smart-ass kids," and turned to stare idly out of the window. For some reason the list of rhyming words had become lodged in her brain, and she repeated them over and over as the car crawled slowly passed the accident site. "Luke, Duke, fluke, rebuke," she mumbled.

"Yeah, 'cause that's not going to get annoying," Rory commented pointedly.

"Luke, duke, fluke, rebuke, Luke, duke, fluke, rebuke…LUKE!" she suddenly screamed, sitting bolt upright.

Rory jumped a mile. "Mom!" she yelled irritably. "Can it, would you? I 'm getting you there as fast as I can, just-"

"Pull over," Lorelai gasped, with what felt like the last breath of air she had.

"What-"

"Pull over, Rory! Now!"

Completely taken aback, Rory maneuvered the jeep over onto the shoulder, glancing concernedly at her mother. "Are you sick?" she asked worriedly, but Lorelai flung the door open before the car even rolled to a stop. She plunged out into the pouring rain, heedless of the umbrella in the backseat, and scrambled along the unpaved surface, her heels sticking in the mud.

"Mom, wait!" Rory called out, frightened, as she jumped out of the car and followed. Some part of her mind registered that she could run faster because she was wearing sensible shoes, and she caught up with Lorelai just as she was about to fling herself across the caution-tape barrier.

"Luke!" she screamed again, and it was the most desolate sound Rory had ever heard. Time seemed to slow down, so that the raindrops plopped one at a time onto her face and into her hair, and it was like a movie slowed down to one long frame after another as she looked around at the police officer who had grabbed her mother and was holding her back from the wrecked car, as she looked at the pile of twisted green metal flipped over so that its underside was bared, as she looked at the white letters that glinted in the glaring red light from the ambulance that would have read Chevrolet if they hadn't been upside-down.

They were carrying the stretcher to the ambulance now, and Lorelai fought hard against the police officer, kicking and pounding his chest with her fist, but he was immovable. "Ma'am, you can't help him now," he said sternly. Rory could have told him his words were going to have the opposite effect he'd intended, because if he thought he could calm her down and convince her to stand docilely by he had another think coming. Lorelai lost all control and kneed him, and with an "oof!" he released her. Rory ran to her and threw her arms around her, tears pouring down her own face. "Hang on," she whispered, choking. "They have to…they have to get him to the hospital. You can't talk to him now." She couldn't talk to him at all, because he was obviously unconscious, but Rory didn't think it was a good idea to mention that.

Suddenly Lorelai stopped fighting and she stood limply in her daughter's arms; if Rory hadn't been there she would have sunk to her knees in the mud. Rain whipped into her face, and blindly she tried to see if he was breathing as the paramedics slid him into the yawning mouth of the ambulance, and then he was gone, hidden behind the double doors and the flashing lights. Almost immediately the vehicle started up and sped away, and she stared after it dumbly. "Where?" she asked in a voice that wasn't hers.

Rory gulped and let her go, feeling panic flood her and an awareness that if she didn't do something her strength would disappear altogether. And she was going to need it; she was going to have to be the strong one, because Lorelai was gone, just a shell of herself left standing motionless in the rain. Rory seized the police officer's arm and he turned to her sympathetically. "What hospital?" she demanded roughly.

"Hartford Memorial," he answered quickly and compassionately.

Without another word Rory returned to her mother and propelled her back to the car, with out-of-place forethought stooping to retrieve Lorelai's shoes that had come off in the mud. Sprinting to the other side of the car, she hurled herself into the driver's seat and started the engine, pressing the pedal so hard to the floor that mud flew up behind them as they tore away. She couldn't see the ambulance anymore; she was glad, because it meant it was getting to the hospital faster than she was. At least the traffic was moving again. There weren't too many cars on the road at nine-thirty at night in the pouring rain, and the ones that were lost interest in the accident as soon as they passed it. People are so stupid, Rory thought savagely. Everyone has to stop and look, some morbid fascination to see what horrible thing has happened, when they should just get the hell out of the way.

She took a deep breath and tried to stop her hands from trembling; the absolute last thing they needed now was for her to crash their own car on the way to the hospital. She stole a quick glance at Lorelai next to her; she still hadn't moved.

"It's going to be okay, Mom," she said in a tight voice. "He's going to be okay."

"I kicked a policeman in the groin," Lorelai said dully. "Do you think I can be arrested for that?"

"I…I don't know. I don't think so. I hope not," Rory replied stupidly.

They passed the rest of the drive in silence.

You knew something was gonna happen… So how 'bout some Reviewer-Love to make you feel better?

Chmelms: Congrats on being the very first reviewer! You win 100 karma points! Thank you : D

Asta-gilmore: Aw, thanks! And you know she's going to say 'it.' It's the whole point of the story : D

Orangesherbert7: Oh well, it's the quality, not the quantity, that matters. LL banter is my favorite thing to write- sometimes it goes on and on and I have to stop and say "where the heck is this going!" I have a whole riff on fishing puns which I'll have to work into a future story somehow.

LorLukealways: Thanks! The master bows back. Emily is such an awesome and complicated character, and I love divining reasons and motives for her actions. Plus it's fun to write vicious and sarcastic sometimes.

MizJoely: Glad you think I did her justice- more Emily to come!

Rachaellovestoread: Thank you, I appreciate it. Hope you keep reading!

Bellybuttonsrcool: You rock! Updates will be as frequent and regular as possible. Who needs a life when you have fanfic!

Scottjunkie: Yay! You're looking for a committed relationship with my story! Fic, do you take Scottjunkie? Scottjunkie, do you take Fic? Also, kudos for writing in German. I haven't a clue what it's about, but I'm impressed.