So…how much would you despise me if I gave you a filler chapter and then disappeared for a week on Spring Break?

…That much? Really? Well, I don't blame you.

All I can say is "Patience, Grasshopper." And I'm not at all enjoying this power I have to keep you in suspense. If you don't believe me, just ask my flying monkeys. :D

I promise, next update: Luke's fate revealed!

Happy Easter!

Storms and Surrender

The automatic glass doors of the emergency room hissed open, letting in a gust of cold wind, rain, and Emily Gilmore. She marched threateningly across the room to the reception desk, her eyes focused on her target, not even glancing around the room.

"Where is she? Is she going to be all right? Can I see her?" Emily barked to anyone in the vicinity. The gray-haired nurse cursed inwardly at the echo of the hysteric words she had heard earlier that night.

"Mom?" Lorelai looked up in bewilderment, but Emily's mind was fixed on a single track and she didn't hear her.

"My daughter is in this hospital and I demand to see her," Emily instructed authoritatively, the tone of her voice just daring the nurse to disobey. Whatever slight inclination the nurse may have had towards being accommodating vanished faster than you can say 'General Hospital.'

"Ma'am, you need to calm down or I can't help you," the nurse said obstructively, folding her arms in a silent challenge to a battle of wills.

Emily narrowed her eyes. "I want to speak to your supervisor," she ordered.

The nurse just smiled smugly. "I am the supervisor," she informed her.

"How dare you be so uncooperative!" Emily spat accusingly. "My husband's grandfather helped to pay for the very wing of this hospital that you view as your own private dominion, and I spend months of my life organizing fundraisers to help support it! I can get you fired faster than you can photocopy a chart, you secretary with delusions of grandeur! Now tell me where my daughter is!"

The nurse's jaw dropped open and she stared at Emily, agape.

"Mom!" Lorelai said again, this time in a worried voice that attempted to reign in her out-of-control mother.

Emily finally whirled around, summarily dismissing the speechless nurse behind her.

"Lorelai!" she exclaimed in astonishment. She clutched her purse in confusion, her eyes darting back and forth from Lorelai to Rory and back to Lorelai again.

"Why aren't you unconscious?" she asked stupidly.

Lorelai blinked. Her mind instinctively catalogued: ridiculous question. Requires ridiculous answer. "Because it's no fun without the hallucinatory drugs, and I got busted breaking into the pharmacy."

Emily rolled her eyes, admirably hiding the overwhelming rush of relief she felt that Lorelai was safe and well and standing before her cracking stupid jokes. Her relief soon faded into annoyance, however, as she realized that she'd driven like a mad-woman, with her heart in her throat, and both Lorelai and Rory were standing there in full working condition looking at her like she was mental.

"Then what on earth are you doing here? More to the point, what am I doing here?" she asked irritably.

Silence. "There was an accident," Lorelai began with difficulty.

"Yes, yes, I know that, Rory said so on the phone," Emily interrupted bluntly. "But it's not Rory and it's not you, so you'll have to give me a better explanation than that."

Lorelai nodded, to indicate her acknowledgement despite her sudden incapacity for speech. "It's Luke," she said in an extremely unsteady voice. "It's- Luke." And with that one sentence all the wild emotions and fears and anticipations and denials of the night came crashing down, and she burst into tears.

Emily stared at her, dumbfounded. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her daughter cry. She'd seen her angry, and sarcastic, and uncooperative, and highly annoyed, but Lorelai worked hard to keep her vulnerabilities hidden. Emily was the same way.

Now all the walls and shields and defenses were gone, and all Emily could see was a frightened little girl in a terrible amount of pain. Some long-subdued maternal instinct stirred weakly within her, and she considered Lorelai for a moment. Then she made a decision, and like all of Emily Gilmore's decisions, once it was made it was swiftly and irrevocably executed. She crossed the space between them in three quick strides and took her daughter in her arms.

Lorelai let Emily hold her, uncontrollable sobs tearing through her and piercing her heart. The painful irony wasn't lost on her when she felt Emily tenderly cradle her head with her hand, the same way Luke always did. She didn't think about what this unprecedented moment of comfort and compassion meant for her relationship with Emily. All she knew was that right now she needed her mother more than at any other time in her life, and for once, her mother was here.

The emergency room's automatic glass doors slid open again not five minutes later to admit yet another Gilmore. Richard marched commandingly in, obviously piqued.

"I parked the car," he announced to the room in general, oblivious to Rory's gentle attempts to bring his attention to the drama unfolding in front of him. He continued on, completely unaware, "It's only about a mile away. I must write to the hospital board to commend them on their excellent idea to restrict the number of parking spaces near the emergency room, since it is commonly known that it is better for people who are deathly ill or injured to spend more time in the fresh air, getting exercise on their long journey from the car to the door. I myself thoroughly enjoyed the vigorous marathon in this perfectly lovely weather."

He glared around at any hospital employees in the vicinity to ensure that his sarcasm was not lost on anyone. His baleful stare finally took in the picture of his wife clutching his daughter tightly.

"Lorelai?" he asked curiously, staring at her over the top of his glasses. "I thought you were supposed to be unconscious."

Lorelai sniffed, finally pulling away from Emily, albeit reluctantly. "That's a common misconception," she apologized wryly, clearing her throat self-consciously.

"Luke was in an accident," Rory explained at Richard's elbow, at last succeeding in securing his attention. "I think I may have forgotten to mention that when I called."

"I see," Richard said. "And what is his prognosis?"

Lorelai sighed with weariness and resigned frustration. "Isn't that the sixty-four-thousand dollar question," she mumbled.

"We don't know anything yet," Rory translated. "They don't know anything, either," she indicated the nurses with a nod of her head, "so it's no good bullying them. They'll only give you more forms to fill out."

Richard looked befuddled. He and Emily had rushed to the hospital, in the terrified belief that Lorelai had been seriously hurt, and he was still adjusting to the change of situation. Lorelai wasn't hurt- it was just Luke. Or was it just Luke? Did Lorelai's revelation earlier that evening mean that Luke was now to be considered an obligatory family member? And if so, did that mean that Richard should stay? For Luke? Or for Lorelai? Staying would be a conscious and overt acceptance of the relationship that he so heartily disapproved of, but he acknowledged to himself that perhaps his decision had already been made for him. Emily was staying, that was obvious. She was staying for her daughter. For Lorelai. The importance of family existed for a moment like this.

"So what are we to do now?" Richard inquired; both Lorelai and Emily noted the 'we' with unexpressed gratitude.

"We wait," Lorelai said simply, sinking back down into her chair. "We wait."