Chapter 163

"Ms. Kim?"

"Yes?" Lane said, scrambling to get up several hours later. Rory shook Lorelai awake, and they all stood to face the doctor.

"Your mom made it through surgery, and she's in recovery now. The procedure was successful."

Lane exhaled an enormous sigh of relief. "Oh my god. Thank you."

"We have more to discuss. Would you like to sit?" Lane exchanged looks with Rory and Lorelai, but nodded and sat back down. The doctor looked at her sympathetically.

"Ms. Kim, your mother's collapse was the result of a small heart attack. You got her here in the nick of time. She's probably alive because you took quick action," the doctor said bluntly. Lorelai breathed deeply, and Rory grabbed Lane's hand.

"The heart attack was not random. When we examined her, she showed clear signs of coronary heart disease. When was the last time she saw a doctor?"

"I…have no idea. She's never liked them," Lane said faintly, "And she's sort of a stubborn person."

"…yes, we got that impression," the doctor said, finally smiling, "She wasn't a fan of us for the few moments she was conscious." Lorelai smiled at this.

"…coronary heart disease. What does that mean?"

"It's common, but serious. It means her life is not immediately in danger, now that she's made it through this cardiac episode, but that she will have serious health concerns to treat. Hers is very progressed, so…there's time. But it's very serious, and she will likely need a full time caretaker, especially at her age. She's going to have to have her diet and exercise monitored- it's a disease that runs hand in hand with high cholesterol levels, which can exacerbate it. The most common risk factor is usually poor nutrition or sedentary lifestyle."

"How is that possible? She's the healthiest person I know," Lane said disbelievingly, "I mean, she's not running marathons…but she's incredibly active, and keeps a vegetarian Korean diet."

"A family history, age…there are several factors that make coronary heart disease more likely," the doctor replied, "There are many things you can do to support her and improve her quality of life. But, at the level things are, she should not be living independently anymore." Lane looked down, the real consequences of this fully setting in for her. Lorelai put her arm around Lane.

"We'll figure all of that out. When can we see her?"

"She's sleeping and in recovery now. You can see her briefly in about an hour, when they finish up what they're doing on that side, and then she'll need to rest for quite a while. It'll be a few days at least before she can come home."

"I…"

"We've got it from here. Thanks, doctor," Lorelai said, nodding to the man.

"Thank you. You operated on her?" Lane asked. The doctor smiled.

"Yes, I did."

"…thank you."

"Of course. It's my job," he nodded kindly, and headed back behind the double doors. Lane immediately sat back in her chair. Lorelai shared a look with Rory that both immediately understood.

"You guys…I don't…"

"We have time to figure out everything. We're not going anywhere," Lorelai promised, Rory nodding firmly behind her.

"But you have the Inn, and Luke and the…"

"They'll survive, I promise."

"…and you have Jess, and your job…"

"It's time I took a day off for a good reason, for a change. And Jess will be just fine," Rory said firmly. "Like Mom said, we aren't going anywhere."

"Did Luke…"

"I haven't heard anything yet," Lorelai answered. Lane sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Lorelai. I'm just so…god, I'm so tired."

"Why don't you rest for a minute, hon? We'll wake you up when it's time to see your mom, and then we'll go to the hotel down the block and get a little sleep."

"But…"

"I know you want to be here for her, and we'll wait. But you have both of us. And you're going to need some sleep."

"What about the boys?"

"What about them? Sookie has it completely covered," Lorelai promised. "Martha is probably losing her mind having Steve to herself for a while."

Lane cracked a smile.

"Thanks, you guys. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'll never have to," Lorelai promised. Lane snuggled into her shoulder and bgan dozing off.

Once Lane was asleep, Lorelai and Rory began to speak in hushed tones.

"So Luke hasn't found him?"

"I haven't heard from Luke. He said he had an idea and that he might be out of cell range, but he'd get a hold of me as soon as he could."

"…I mean, I never really liked him, but I can't believe he'd do this to her."

"Neither could I," Lorelai admitted, "God, I hope Luke helps him see straight."

"Do I want to know what that means?"

"Not if you're familiar with the idea of plausible deniability."

"Touché. So…can you really get away from the Inn that long?"

"…I will. It's not going to be easy," Lorelai admitted, "I need to make some longer calls to Sookie and Michel after we see Mrs. Kim. Are you really able to get away from work?"

"…I'll make it work. This isn't like the other times, they know I love what I do and how hard I work. And I trust my team. I don't like to leave anybody else in charge, but I'll do it."

"You sound like me," Lorelai said, a hint of admiration in her voice. Rory blushed.

"…and Luke?"

"He'll be fine. I think at this point he's as invested in wringing Zack's neck as we are in being here for Lane. Jess?"

"I think he's…he'll be okay. Probably bury himself in work to stay busy," Rory said, "…I hate being away from him. But he knows how important this is."

"…and so do you. You're a good friend."

"Oh crap."

"Weird reaction to that compliment."

"I owe Paris a call. I have to go make it."

"…like I said, good friend."

"Well, I'm a few hours overdue."

"And what about her?"

"She's got a couple weeks of baking left. She's due shortly after your wedding."

"How funny would it be if she went into labor there?"

"Hysterical," Rory replied, deadpan. "I'll be right back."

Rory stepped away with her phone.

"Paris?"

"…you remembered."

"…I know I'm late, sorry. I'm in the hospital with Lane."

"What? Are you okay?!" Rory could hear Paris scrambling, "Just tell me where you are and I'll…"

"Relax, we're both okay. Mom's here too. It's Lane's mom, she had a heart attack."

"Oh," she heard Paris exhale, "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah…it's bad. Apparently she has coronary heart disease and it's pretty progressed."

"Do you want me to talk to the doctor?"

"…I'll offer that to Lane. Thanks, Paris. They say with her age and the progression she's going to need to not live alone anymore."

"Is Lane going to have to move in with her? Are Zack and the boys there?"

"…a lot of complicated stuff is happening. I'll update you when there's more to share. But I assume you're okay rescheduling our catch up?"

"Of course," Paris said immediately, "Look, take all the time you need. And I won't show up, but which hospital are you at?"

"Glenwood Memorial."

"That's a good team. She's in good hands," Paris said. "If you need anything, I'm around, and we'll talk after. Is Jess with you?"

"No, he's at home. You guys talk about the Truncheon stuff yet?"

"We're supposed to tomorrow. But I can…"

"No, you guys should. I'm gonna call him shortly, but he'll still be there, I think, and if not he'll make it work."

"Okay. Thanks, Rory. You didn't have to call."

"I did so," Rory replied gently, a small smile crossing her lips, "Talk soon, Paris."

"Talk soon."

"How's Paris?" Lorelai asked, as Rory sat down.

"Very understanding," Rory said, "We were just due to catch up. She's actually starting some work with Jess on some things tomorrow."

"With Jess?" Lorelai said, confused, "How did that happen?"

"She's teaching a contemporary fiction class at Barnard as part of her new job," Rory explained, "It's not really her field of expertise, so she's working with him to get a better handle on the landscape of that field, and hopefully going to integrate with him a little bit to give her class an insight into the independent publishing industry."

"Will it do anything to help Jess?"

"I…hadn't really thought about it," Rory admitted, "I don't think he has either."

"Paris probably did."

"…you're right," Rory said, realization dawning, "It's a room full of potential authors who are now going to be familiar with him and Truncheon. She asked him for a favor, but really, it's doing them one as well."

"You said she got along well with the Truncheon folks?"

"Famously," Rory nodded, "Well…Doyle didn't help at the shower."

"What did he do? I looked over and could've cut the tension with an axe."

"He was rude, arrogant…he implied that running Truncheon wasn't really hard work, and then made some presumptive and nasty comments about Hannah being a teacher."

"Really? I can't believe he'd be that callous."

"What's worse is that I don't think it was intentional. I think he's that clueless and un-self-aware," Rory said.

"What did Paris do?"

"Well, I took him away before he could make it worse, and Jess said later that she apologized for him and was going to tell him off, had I not already steered him away. Apparently she made clear she was embarassed by his actions and that she didn't agree with anything he said."

"I'm sure that him doing that was really helpful to how their marriage is going," Lorelai sighed.

"Yeah, but at least he'd be here," Rory said quietly, looking at Lane. Lorelai sighed.

"Yeah, he would."