Chapter 27: What tells you that a dog is a dog?
The fact that her whole family was sitting crying on a hospital bed, herself included, caused Lorelai to laugh when her tears finally subsided. At first she grinned, then laughed and finally she was laughing so hard that she gasped for air. William was the first to look up at her with a confused look.
"Mommy have you lost your mind?" he asked her and Lorelai laughed even harder because of the comment and Luke joined her, then placed a kiss on William's hair.
"Daddy are you done sleeping?" Laila asked Luke and looked at him curiously.
"Other than at night, yeah, I'm done sleeping" Luke nodded and Laila smiled at him.
"Are you coming home then?" William asked and sat up.
"In a while when I am allowed to" Luke answered.
"But I want you to come home now!" Laila whined and pouted.
"Hey Missy, no whining and no tantrums in here, okay? Otherwise you will wait outside!" Lorelai scolded, what caused Laila to cry.
"I want daddy to come home!" she sobbed and held out her arms for her mother to take her, which she did. She lifted the girl off the bed and took her in her arms.
"He will be home very soon, princess. Don't cry. You can visit him every day until he come home himself, that's something, huh?" Lorelai whispered in her ear and stroked her back. Laila only sniffed in her mother's shoulder. Luke looked up at his daughter who had her arms slung around her mother's neck and her legs around her mother's waist, while his wife rubbed her back and stroked over her hair. He felt helpless and frustrated because he was too weak to take her or soother her himself. Laila had always been a mama's girl though, so maybe Lorelai would have done that no matter what.
"Daddy, does that hurt?" William asked and touched the wound on Luke's forehead with one finger while Sara still lay on top of Luke, grasping his shirt tightly in her fists.
"No. It's okay." Luke said and looked at William. William's hair was a bit too long for his taste and there was something in his eyes which hadn't been there before: Fear, shock, sadness and mistrust. His eyes showed what the boy had been through in the past weeks and it made Luke sad, seeing these emotions in his young son's eyes. He didn't know what exactly had happened while he had been in coma or how Lorelai and the kids had dealt with it, but what he saw in his son's eyes didn't paint a good picture. He made a mental note to ask Lorelai about the time.
"How were your soccer games? You won again?" Luke asked, not knowing what else to say.
"I didn't play. Mommy had no time to bring me to the training and without going to the training I am not allowed to play. I lost my spot in the team" William said and looked down, concentrated on his hands.
"Don't worry, you'll be back in the team in no time" Luke tried to calm William.
"Sure" the boy said and gave Luke a forced smile, which worried Luke even more. William had always been a lot like Lorelai, stubborn, wild, active and hyper, but he had never been hiding his emotions before. Luke's staring at him irritated William and he felt uncomfortable because of his father's strange behavior. The conversation was forced and his father was so different than he remembered. He had always been strong, funny and grumpy. Now he was weak, shaking, and a loss for words. He was staring at him strangely and he had been crying, William had never seen his father cry before. He jumped of the bed, avoided his father's eyes and went over to his mother. He hugged her middle from the side and looked up at her.
"Mommy, can we go?" he asked her. Lorelai was surprised that William wanted to leave and it worried her, but she decided not to force him to stay if he felt uncomfortable.
"Do you want to go to Sara's room?" Lorelai asked him and repositioned Laila, so that she was sitting on her left hip. William nodded.
"Laila, honey, do you want to go with Will?" she whispered in her daughters ear and tickled her with one of the pigtails. Laila looked over her shoulder at Luke and Sara, and then nodded.
"Okay, uhm… Luke I will think I will take them back to Sara's room. I'll be back later, okay?" Lorelai said, still confused and placed Laila on the ground.
"Sara, baby, come on, we'll go back to your room" Lorelai said and stroked over Sara's back. She tried to lift her up, but the girl grasped her father's shirt tightly.
"Sara, come on!" Lorelai said and tried to open Sara's fists. The girl started to scream. No words, just a shrill scream, very similar to the one on the day of the accident.
"Leave her alone!" Luke suddenly yelled at Lorelai and she let go of Sara and stepped back.
"Luke, I need to take her back. She can't stay here" Lorelai yelled back, losing her patience, because of the awkward situation.
"Of course she can."
"You are not able to look after her while I am away. She can not stay here with you!" Lorelai screamed. She did not want to leave Sara with Luke, as long as he was this unpredictable.
"But you can? Who jumped in front of that car to save her? Me or you?" Luke yelled back, causing Laila to jump and start crying again, while William stepped in front of his mother.
"Leave mommy alone! You were sleeping for weeks and left us alone, not mommy!" the boy yelled at his father. Luke's eyes were shooting daggers at William and Lorelai became scared over what could happen.
"William, Laila, come on, let's go!" she said, took Laila, when she held up her arms and guided William quickly out of the room, leaving Sara alone with Luke.
The second the door slammed shut Luke held onto Sara even tighter.
"I'm sorry" he whispered into the girl's ear, whose head was still buried in his shoulder.
Sara lifter her head and looked up at him, a second later. She stared at him without saying a word.
"I'm so happy that you are okay, baby. That's all that matters. You are okay and I will be okay and soon we will be able to go home." Luke said and his voice shook with emotion.
"We two, pretty stupid jumping in front of that car, huh? We better not do that again" Luke tried to joke and glided one hand through Sara's curls with much effort.
"There was blood around your head" Sara whispered, still staring at him.
"Sara, I am fine. The blood is where it should be and my head is okay. At least it will be" he sighed.
"Really?" she asked timidly.
"Really!" he assured her.
"You're mad?" she wanted to know then.
"At you? Why should I be mad at you? I am mad at whoever drove that car, but I could never be mad at you or your mother. It was not your fault!" he told her honestly and got a small smile in response.
"Daddy is weird" William said when they had arrived at Sara's room. They entered and William jumped on the empty bed. Lorelai took a chair and placed it in front of the bed, sat Laila in her lap.
"I know Will, but he will his old self again very soon. He just needs time. He's feeling crappy and he did not want to yell at me. When you're sleeping as long as your daddy did you're not feeling good afterwards. The doctor told me that and he also told me not be angry with your daddy. Give him a few days and he will be all sunshine again!" she explained.
"Okay, but if he yells at you again, I will also yell at him!" William said and nodded.
"Will, that's very chivalrous of you, but I am able to yell at your daddy myself." She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"When daddy is back home, he will be the man in the house again, right?" William wanted to know after thinking for a minute.
"Actually he is the man in the family again, Will, so you can go back to being a little boy again" Lorelai said with a serious expression.
"Will I still be your hero?" he asked with a pout.
"You will always be hero, no matter what!" Lorelai laughed and tickled him, before she laid Laila on the bed beside her brother.
"Can I leave you two alone here for a minute? I need to get Sara for her physical therapy" Lorelai informed them and stood up.
"Can we watch TV?" Laila asked.
"Okay, but don't tell your daddy" Lorelai laughed.
"Secret!" both kids yelled and Lorelai left the room after turning on the TV.
She opened the door to Luke's room without knocking. She was still angry although she knew she shouldn't be.
"And that?" she heard Sara's voice when she stepped in and saw her daughter poking her father with a finger.
"No" Luke smiled.
"And that?" Sara asked again and poked him in the stomach this time.
"No again" Luke still grinned.
"Hey, Nurse Sara, you are examining patient Danes?" Lorelai asked her.
"Daddy is not mad at me" Sara informed her mother.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked her Mother suddenly.
"Why should I be mad at you, baby?" Lorelai was confused.
"I am not mad at you" Lorelai said then forcefully, when Sara remained silent.
"Hon' that this is clear, we need to go back to your room for the physical therapy" Lorelai informed her. Immediately Sara threw her self down on her father again, buried her head in his shoulder and slung her arms around his neck.
"Baby, you can come back afterwards. The therapy is important and I am sure the doctors will come any second for my therapy" Luke said.
"You need therapy, too?" Sara asked and looked up.
"Sure, your daddy also needs to learn walking again" Lorelai explained.
"'kay" the girl nodded and Lorelai picked her up.
"Lorelai" Luke said and held her back by the hand.
"Yeah?" he tucked on her hand and pulled her down to him, kissed her lightly on her lips.
"Come back later?" he asked.
"Sure" she nodded, gave him another peck and walked off with Sara.
Lorelai came back in the afternoon, because of Sara's therapies and a talk with the psychologist, who was still warning Lorelai.
"Sorry, I couldn't make it earlier" she said when she steppes into the room.
"These guys are crazy! I am going home today!" Luke yelled upset when he heard her. By his voice Lorelai could here that this was a different kind of yelling than this morning, though. Luke was in ranting mode.
"What happened, Hon'?" she asked him, took his hand and sat down on his bed.
"Do you know what they call tests and therapies? Do you know? This morning one of these loons came by with some cards in his hands. Nice little pictures of animals, houses, people, whatever. He showed me one after the other and asked me "What is this?" How old am I? Why shouldn't I suddenly not remember anymore what a house looks like or what a dog is! And then these stupid questions "What exactly tells you that this is a dog, Mr. Danes? Couldn't it be a sheep?" Mmmh, maybe the fact that this WAS a dog, told me that is was a dog and not a sheep! And he wouldn't stop! I asked him after the second card what this crap is for, but he went on and on, showed me a whole damn comic! I was waiting for Pooh the Bear and Micky Mouse! When I yelled at him and told him to stop already otherwise I would throw him out myself he talked about psychological problems, shock state and mood swings. I am not a pregnant woman! Aw, but you know what? He had more "great" tests for me! I got to draw a circle and cube and other nice forms, before he asked me to write my name and those of our kids. Finished? Noooo! He went on! I got to tell him how to make a burger and fries. If I would have gotten to actually cook them I would have thrown them into his face, which would have been a nice picture to draw!" Luke laughed sarcastically and Lorelai kissed him, shutting him up.
"I love ranting Luke!" she smiled at him when she pulled back.
"Good to know" he smiled and sighed.
"How did the physical therapies go?" she asked him and stroked a strand of hair from his forehead.
"It's exhausting. I had no idea what toddlers accomplish when they learn walking. It hurts; it's exhausting and scary when your legs can't carry you.
"I know. Sara hates the therapies." Lorelai sighed.
"Is she participating now?" Luke asked.
"It was a lot better today. Although she refuses to speak with the nurses and the doctors."
"She will be okay" Luke said and squeezed her hand.
"I know. Can I do something for you? Mom took Laila and William home, Sara is asleep, I have time."
"I don't know, what do you want to do?" Luke asked.
"Mmmhh" she pretended to think about it.
"We could make out on your bed?" she grinned then and he laughed.
"I'd like that, but I feel kind of disgusting, because I need to take a shower and shave." He told her then.
"We could do that" she shrugged.
"We can not shower together in here" Luke shook his head.
"Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, burger boy. I can help you showering and shave you afterwards. And maybe, if you are a good boy, we can maybe do something to ease your dirty mind" she gave him a devilish smile.
"Ah geez!" he said and blushed.
"Come on, sit up and put your legs here and I get the wheelchair" she told him.
"Lorelai, I don't know.." he hesitated.
"Better me than one of the nurses, or? I mean, call me crazy, but the thought of a young hot nurse washing my husband's hot body doesn't make me feel very good. Especially when I think about them washing your chest and your strong arms and your stomach and your p.."
"Stop! Get the wheelchair!" he said and she giggled before she kissed him passionately, leaving him stunned on the bed when she left to get the wheelchair
TBC