Eight Months Later
Lorelai is cleaning the house, when her cell phone rings. She stops sweeping and takes the phone out of her pocket. She checks the caller ID, its Emily. She answers the phone:
"Hello?"
She hears Emily sigh, sounding relieved. "Lorelai, thank god you picked up."
"Mom, what's wrong?" Lorelai asks, concerned.
"It's Rory and your father, there's been an accident."
Richard volunteered to pick Rory up from the airport, she was visiting for a few days.
"What? What happened?" Lorelai asks frantically.
"I'm at the hospital, Lorelai. Rory and your father were in a car accident on the way home from the airport. I got a call from the hospital and rushed over. I don't even know how badly they're hurt. No one has told me anything. You need to come here now." Emily tells Lorelai.
"Oh my God, Mom… I'll be there as soon as I can." Lorelai responds.
"Okay. I'll see you soon, Lorelai." Emily says before hanging up.
As Lorelai was pressing the screen to hang up, Luke walked in the front door.
"Hey." He greeted her.
"Oh good, Luke, you're back." Lorelai throws her arms around him, seeking comfort in his embrace.
Luke holds her. "Lorelai? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asks, concerned.
Lorelai shakes her head in his shoulder. "Luke, my mom just called. It's Rory and my dad; they've been in an accident. They're in the hospital." She tells him.
Luke slowly pulls away from her. "What? Are they okay?" He keeps a hand on her shoulder and she grips his other hand in hers.
"I don't know, my mom just told me to go to the hospital. Luke I… need to go. Can you stay with the kids?" Her voice shook a little.
Luke nods. "Of course, go. I'll be fine with the kids."
At the moment, a shout comes from behind them, "Daddy's home!" Sam cries out. Luke and Lorelai both turn to see Sam running down the stairs. Luke smiles as she runs up to him and hugs him.
"Hi, sweetie," Luke says as he picks her up. He holds her in his arms for about a minute then sets her down.
Sam looks up at Lorelai, "Mommy? Why are you crying?"
Lorelai comes out of the trance she was in; she flashes Sam a small smile. "I'm alright, honey. I have to go out for a little while, and Daddy is going to stay here with you and Will, okay?"
Sam just nods and reaches up and grabs Luke's hand. "Daddy, come see the picture I drew today."
Lorelai picks up her purse, which is on the entryway table.
"Hey, they'll be fine, Lorelai. Call me when you hear something." Luke whispers.
Lorelai nods. Luke lets Sam pull him away and Lorelai steps out the door. She drives as fast as she can to the hospital. When she got there, she found Emily waiting near the entrance.
"Lorelai, come, let's go wait in the waiting room." Emily gestures for Lorelai to follow her.
"You still haven't heard anything?" Lorelai asks.
"No, I would have told you if I did." Emily replies.
Once they got to the waiting room and sat down, Lorelai asks: "What happened exactly?"
"Well, a police officer told me it was a drunk driver that hit your father's car. Can you believe it? A selfish person did this to my husband and granddaughter… I don't even know what condition they're in." Emily tells Lorelai, her voice a little hoarse.
Lorelai nods. She knew all they could do now was wait for news. After twenty minutes in silence, Lorelai saw Luke coming down the hall. She stood up.
"Luke? What are you doing here?" She asks him.
"I knew I had to be here, so I left the kids with Babette and Morey, I hope that's okay."
Lorelai gave him a small smile and a nod. They both sat down, Luke on the other side of Lorelai. Emily was too stressed to greet Luke.
"Here." Luke whispers.
"Huh?" Lorelai replies. She felt him touch her hand and looked down to see he was holding his hand out to her. She smiles the tiniest smile and places her hand in his.
They sat in silence for another ten minutes before a doctor came out and looked around the waiting room. He cleared his throat and said: "I'm looking for the family of Richard and Rory Gilmore." (Emily had told the staff Rory's name)
Lorelai immediately stood up, "Yes, that's us." She told the doctor. Emily and Luke also stood.
"Um well, I'm afraid I have some bad news, but good news also…"
Emily raised her voice, "Oh for heaven's sake, just tell us."
The doctor looked distressed, but he continued, "Rory is going to be fine. She only suffered a broken leg, a couple fractured ribs and some cuts and bruises. But, uh, Richard… his air bag malfunctioned and we couldn't help him by the time he arrived, it was too late. I'm sorry, he didn't make it."
"What do you mean?" Emily shouts.
"Mom…" Lorelai whispers.
"My husband is… is dead because your…your incompetent doctors can't do their jobs properly." Emily shouts her voice a little frightening.
"Mom, stop, please." Lorelai walks over to Emily and puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Lorelai…" Emily mutters, then the tears start rolling down her cheeks.
"You're Rory's mother, I assume?" The doctor asks Lorelai.
Lorelai nods at him. The doctor nods back and says: "Rory is awake; she asked if you were here. And, Mrs. Gilmore," He looks at Emily. "Richard's license indicates that he is a registered organ donor. We need to stop harvesting them soon. I know this must be very hard for you, a lot to deal with, but you can say your goodbyes to him now… if you're ready."
Emily just stares at him and nods. "Okay, follow me please." The doctor leads the three of them to a room.
"You two should… go see Rory and break the news to her. I'll… I'll be here." Emily tells Lorelai and Luke. The doctor opens the door for her and she steps inside the room. Luke notices that Lorelai has started crying. He puts his arm around her and she leans into him. They follow the doctor to Rory's room.
"Here we are. I trust you can find your way back?" The doctor asks.
Luke nods, "Thank you." He reaches for the door handle, "Do you want me to come in with you?" He asks Lorelai.
Lorelai nods, "Yeah. I need you." She wipes her tears with her thumbs. Luke opens the door and they both step inside the room, Luke shuts the door behind them.
"Mom?" Rory calls from the bed.
"Oh, hon." Lorelai practically runs to the bed and she sits carefully on it without disturbing Rory, whose leg is in a cast. Luke sits down in a chair. Lorelai cautiously hugs Rory and asks her if she's okay. Rory nods and asks how Richard is.
"Rory, listen, um… Grandpa he didn't make it… the doctors couldn't save him." Lorelai tells her.
"What?! He's… gone? No, Mom… he can't be…" Rory sobs.
"Shh. I know. Come here." Lorelai pulls Rory back into her arms. They hold each other cry. Lorelai pulls away, "So, um Grandma is in his room right now, saying her goodbyes and I'm gonna go too. Luke can stay here with you, okay?"
Rory nods, knowing she can't leave her room right now. Lorelai gets up and so does Luke. He reaches out and takes her hand and pulls her to him. He quickly places a kiss on the top of her head. She leaves.
"Um, so how are Will and Sam?" Rory asks Luke.
"Rory…" Luke says warily. She changed the subject, and he doesn't want her to feel like she can't talk to him.
"Please, Luke, I want to think about something else."
Luke nods, seeing her hurt expression. "They're great and so is your mom. She's missed you, of course, we all have."
Rory forces herself to smile. "I missed you guys too… and Grandma and… Grandpa," Her voice breaks on the last word.
"Rory," Luke whispers. He walks over to Rory's bed and puts a hand on her shoulder. Rory gives him a small smile, thankful to have him here.
A half hour later, Rory falls asleep; Luke figures that the painkillers must have made her drowsy. Luke leaves the room to look for Lorelai. He sees her down the hallway, walking towards him. She looks up and sees him, then starts walking faster. "Luke." She says simply. He opens his arms and she falls into them. He hold her tight, she presses her face into his shoulder. His hands rest on the back of her head and her back. A sob escapes her and he rubs her back. He holds her until she stops crying.
A week and a half later, Richard's funeral takes place. Emily wears sunglasses to hide her puffy eyes. Luke keeps his arm around Lorelai through the service, and Lorelai hold Rory's hand. Lorelai and Rory stay to thank the guests for coming.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Luke asks.
"Yeah, go home to the kids, honey, we'll be fine." Lorelai tells him.
Luke nods and gives her a quick hug and kiss on the forehead before leaving.
Author's note: Thank you for reading. Sorry if that was sad, but I felt like Richard would have to die, since Edward Herrmann is dead (RIP). I figure they'll have to deal with Richard's death in the revival/Netflix series…
Please feel free to leave a review (Thanks, Nancy, for reviewing almost every chapter.)