Author's Note: The long awaited chapter has arrived! Sorry for the wait, I was so incredibly busy with this musical I was heping out with that I barely had time to breath. You know the drill by now... But I'm mixing it up a bit. I'd like fifteen reviews, not ten. Up to the challenge? Read on, and Review please!!

Chapter 12:

Logan was sitting on a bench at the airport, staring at his feet. Had that just really happened? Had Rory just broken up with him? He was willing to fight for their relationship. Why wasn't she? Had he done something wrong? He loved her, and she was just ending things at the first sign of trouble. Wait- love? No, Logan Huntzberger didn't fall in love. But then again, Logan Huntzberger didn't do relationships, either. Did he love Rory? But he didn't need to think about that one at all. Yes, he did. He loved her, and she had just shot him down. He should hate her. But that was impossible, because even though he didn't agree with her, he knew her Gilmore Girl logic was telling her that it was best to break up with him.

He sighed loudly, and heard his cell phone beginning to ring.

Lorelai was frantic. Rory should have been home two hours ago. Where was she? What was going on? She had called Jess and Lane first, in hopes that she had stopped by one of their houses on her way home and lost track of time.

She had thought about calling Logan, but she knew of Rory's plans to end her relationship with him. She wasn't sure she approved of this, because she could see how good the two of them were together. She had then called Stephanie, Rosemary, Juliet, and Paris, who all reported no sightings of Rory since school. Her worried tone made all of Rory's friends concerned too, and they proceeded to call their boyfriends, who had also not seen Rory since school. Lorelai grew desperate and called her parents, but they hadn't seen or heard from their precious granddaughter either. She finally gave in and dialed the number of one Logan Huntzberger.

"Hello?" Logan said, not bothering to check the caller-ID.

"Logan? It's Lorelai. Have you seen Rory?" she said.

Her name pierced a knife through his heart, but he managed to choke out: "No, I haven't. Why, is she ok?"

"I don't know! She was supposed to be home 2 and a half hours ago, and I can't find her anywhere. I've called everyone I could think of… I just don't know…" she broke off, letting the tears she had been holding back fall. "What if she's not ok? What if something happened?"

Logan was shocked. "I- I'm on my way. Meet me at Luke's." he said, getting up and hanging up with Lorelai.

She couldn't be hurt. This was his Ace he was talking about. He called a taxi and was speeding off through Stars Hollow before he let himself think about what he was doing.

Jess and Luke were up in the apartment, pacing back and forth, passing each other each time they crossed the tiny room. It probably would have been comical in any other situation, but under the circumstances, it wasn't funny at all. Jess finally went over to his bed, grabbed his jacket off of the mattress, and headed toward the door, calling back to Luke over his shoulder.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'm gonna find her."

"Rose, what if we can't find her?" Stephanie said, talking to her best friend on her cell phone.

"Don't worry, Steph. She'll be fine. I can feel it. It'll all end up ok."

"Hold on, I'm getting another call," Stephanie said, switching calls and talking to her new caller.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Steph," Juliet said.

"Any news?" Stephanie said, crossing her fingers.

"No, I'm headed to Stars Hollow right now. I've called everyone I could think of."

"Sounds good. I'm meeting Colin, Finn, and Rose at Logan's house and we're gonna drive slowly toward Rory's house, taking the roads she would have, and see if we can find any evidence of a crash or something," Stephanie admitted. She didn't like that they had to consider the possibility of Rory lying somewhere injured.

"Good idea. I'll call you if anything changes," Juliet said, hanging up the phone and sighing. She leaned heavily against Tristan in the back seat of the car that Paris was driving towards Rory's hometown, where an anxious Lorelai waited for Logan and a frustrated Luke wished for the millionth time that Jess had a cell phone.

Logan burst through the door of the diner, making eye contact with Lorelai, who shook her head minutely. He simply nodded and left the diner, looking around frantically for Rory.

Jess, in the mean time, was in his old beat up car, on the outskirts of Stars Hollow. He drove into the surrounding forest and slowed down, trying to find his best friend. He couldn't remember ever being this scared about anything. If something had happened to her, he didn't know how the town and all of her friends would cope. It would kill him. A flash of a rusty red, unnatural color caught the corner of his eye. He slowed down and took in the sight in front of him, his eyes bulged as he realized what it was he was seeing.

Before he could take two steps toward the wreck that was Dean Forrester's car, he heard voices behind him.

"Oh, God!" A frantic Juliet said, running right past Jess and up to the car. Tristan and Paris ran after her, and Jess snapped out of his trance and walked cautiously up to the car.

"Rory?" Tristan called out, his voice hoarse. "Rory, are you here?" he said, looking around the wreck, nervous as to what he would find.

Pain. Pain everywhere. Where was she? Who was she? What was going on? Rory let her mind adjust for a few minutes as she slowly remembered. Logan- the taxi, Dean, the tree… darkness. Oh, God. Was she dead? No, there was too much pain for this to be heaven. And… there was someone calling her name. Who was it? A voice she recognized. Logan? Her heart contracted painfully at the thought. No, it wasn't Logan. It was another blonde boy, another friend. Tristan!

"Mmmm?" Rory attempted to make her mouth work, and she heard a shout and suddenly there was someone at her side, his face up next to hers.

Tristan? No, it wasn't.

"Rory? Rory, oh, God, please answer me," she heard. Jess. What was he doing here?

"Paris, call 911!" she heard another voice call. Juliet.

And Paris was here?

"Rory, come on. You have to say something. Don't- don't do this, this is so cliché, don't…" Jess sounded like he was almost crying.

"Come on, Jess is right… you can't leave us, babe." Tristan.

"You'll be ok, hun!" Juliet.

"Gilmore, you're strong- just wake up before I get emotional." Paris.

She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't quite force her heavy eye lids to push themselves apart. She heard footsteps approaching fast. Probably the ambulance people. But she hadn't heard any sirens. How confusing. She could feel herself going deeper and deeper into unconsciousness. The concerned voices of her friends were fading quickly. And then…

"Ace?!"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Lorelai heard the annoying but somehow reassuring sound of Rory's machine, keeping monotonous count of her heart beat. Everyone else was out in the waiting room, but the mother of the patient was sitting in the room, holding her hand. Logan had told her briefly about how he had come up to the group surrounding Rory and had called her name, and how her eyes had opened and he had held her while the solemn bunch waited for the ambulance. The group waiting in the hospital now consisted of Emily and Richard, Luke, Jess, Lane, Juliet, Tristan, Stephanie, Colin, Finn, Rosemary, and Logan. Lorelai had called Christopher, and Rory's concerned father was on his way to the hospital.

The conversation with the doctors had gone by in a haze, but she had been reassured by the doctor's confidence that Rory would be just fine. She had to go through surgery to remove some glass from her arm from the windshield, and had a pretty bad concussion. Her ankle was twisted, but not broken, and she was going to be ok. She was on drugs for the pain, and she was out cold, but she would wake up soon.

She was ok. She was ok. She was ok. She was ok. She was ok. He repeated the words over and over, but it did nothing to help him. Logan could not remember ever being more scared. And the only thing that he could think was that if she hadn't made it, he would only have their last conversation to remember, to cherish.

Lorelai walked out of the room, dried tear tracks on her cheeks. She fell sobbing into Luke's arms, and after looking shocked for a minute, he rested his arms around her and whispered comforting nothings into her ear.

Logan's heart sped up and he stared at the older Gilmore woman until she felt his gaze and looked up. Blue eyes locked with brown, and Lorelai attempted a weak smile to assure Logan that nothing had changed, that his soul mate was still breathing in the next room.

"Can I…" Logan said, his voice hoarse from crying and disuse. Lorelai nodded and Logan walked on unsteady legs over to the door and pushed it open slowly. His breath hitched as he took in the weak form in front of him- a pale body, hooked up to dangerous looking machines and breathing shakily. Rory. Ace.

He stepped forward and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. He grabbed her hand and lowered his head to it, brushing his lips against her skin lightly.

She stirred and mumbled something in her stupor. Then she moved again, and her eyes fluttered.

"Ace?" Logan said, his voice shaking.

"Logan?" her voice was weak, but loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm here, I- I don't know if you want me to be, but I had to come, your mom told me you were missing and I couldn't… I-"

"Thank you, for being here. I want you to stay," Rory said, smiling up at him. Suddenly, her eyes went wide, as if she had just realized what him being here meant. "But- Seattle! Your dad!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going anywhere," Logan said, sitting down in a chair next to her bed and kissing her temple lightly.

She signed in contentment. "Good."

"Lore!" a voice said from the end of the hall. Lorelai quickly jumped out of her place on Luke's lap and ran to Rory's father, throwing her arms around Christopher and hugging him tightly. "How is she?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"She'll be ok, Chris. Our baby will be ok," Lorelai said, laughing through her tears. "You can go in to see her once Logan is done."

"Who the Hell is Logan?" Christopher said. "Is he the punk that got her into this mess?"

"No, no. That was Dean. He hasn't shown up yet. Logan is her current boyfriend, Dean is her ex. Or maybe Logan is ex now, too… I'm not sure."

Chris cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Never mind. Come on over," Lorelai said, leading Chris over to the large section that Rory's group had claimed their own. She was relieved he was here. She needed him.

She curled up in the same chair as him, and for some reason her gaze traveled to Luke, who was staring intently at her. He looked away quickly when he noticed her staring back.

Almost everyone was either asleep or gone. Emily and Richard had headed out early after seeing Rory awake, and had promised to be there tomorrow morning to see her again. Tristan, Colin, Finn and their girlfriends were all gone. Lane was still there, fast asleep. Christopher and Lorelai were curled up in a position that looked somewhat uncomfortable in the same plastic chair, both out like a light. Luke was snoring softly. This left two teenage boys sitting in the dark hall of the hospital at almost two in the morning, staring in to space. They were both aware that the other was still awake, but they refused to make eye contact. What would they say?

Hey man, I'm sorry your girlfriend is hurt.

Yeah, Jess. I'm sorry your best friend is lying knocked out on pain killers, too.

Like that was going to happen. Jess sighed loudly. He tried to turn his eyes back to the book he had in his hands. It had been open for over three hours, and he hadn't read a single page.

Luke woke up and looked around, startled. Where was he? And then he remembered. Rory. The car accident. A sobbing Lorelai on his lap, wrapped in his arms. He remembered that even though the situation was not ideal, it had felt so… so… right for her to be there. He sighed. Why was life so complicated? Two seats over and in another seat across from him, two seventeen year old boys were thinking the same thing.

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