Disclaimer: Nope, the package from the stamp shop didn't arrive today, so go read the other chapters...

Chapter 6

Luke and Rory arrived home in Luke's pick-up. There was a single lamp lit in the living room, everything else turned off signaling a sleeping Lorelai. Rory rolled her eyes, dropping her purse on the table with the phone, watching as Luke went to check on Lucas. He came back out a moment later and patted her on the arm.

"Goodnight," he mumbled, taking a couple strides to the stairs. His foot landed on the mini-landing and he turned back to Rory. "Dean's a good man now, Rory. Life hasn't treated him like it should have. If you do chase those thoughts in your head, make sure you're not going to be breaking hearts again. Not yours, not Dean's, and definitely not Lucas'. He cherishes both you and Dean."

He gave a rough nod and continued up the darkened stairs. Rory listened to the click of him opening and then shutting his door before she let herself fall exhaustedly on the couch, too comfy to shift the pillows and only bothered enough to pull the thin blanket on the opposite arm over her tiny figure. She sneezed suddenly, reminded of the saying that somebody's thinking of her. As she falls into a fit-full sleep, she wonders whether the sirens she hears and sees so clearly in her minds eye are just in her head or off on a distant road.

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"You're up early," Luke noted as he entered the kitchen the next morning. He began fumbling with the coffee pot, already knowing Lorelai couldn't have any, but doing it out of habit.

When Lorelai didn't say anything, just sat there in her sweat pants and pajama top staring into space, Luke stopped and turned to her. Normally Lorelai wasn't a very chatty person in the morning, and Luke was fine with that. Then again, Lorelai wasn't a morning person and usually didn't wake before 8:00 nowadays. But if she was up and awake, she usually talked, especially griping about not being able to have any coffee and Luke making it anyway to spite her.

"Lorelai?"

Lorelai shook her head clear and dropped her gaze to the table, scratching the side of her head absentmindedly. "Someone came to the door."

"Who?"

"Babette."

"Figures," Luke muttered, pulling the carton of eggs out of the refrigerator. "What'd she want so early? It's only 6:45."

"Apparently she'd thought I'd know where Clara is."

Luke frowned. "Dean's sister, Clara?"

"That's the one."

"And why would Babette need to know where Clara is?"

Lorelai sighed. "Well, Taylor Doose came knocking on Miss Patty's door this morning asking where Clara was. Miss Patty didn't know, for once -- shocker -- and she called Babette to see if she'd heard anything."

"Crazy town…"

"Tell me about it."

"Did they find Clara?"

"Nope."

"Explain to me why they need to find her."

"Well, the police woke Taylor up this morning, since he is the… whatever he is for this town. They thought he'd know how to reach Dean's family."

Luke, who was flipping pancakes over the stove, stopped and turned to Lorelai. She was playing her short answer detail game, where it took him at least an hour to pull one complete sentence out of her. "Lorelai, what in the world is going on? What's wrong with you?"

Lorelai bit her lip and said quietly, "Dean was in a car accident last night, and Clara's apparently out of town visiting her folks, so…" she trailed off.

Luke collapsed into the chair across from Lorelai. "Jeeze, is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Lorelai shrugged. Her eyes darted to Lucas' bedroom, and briefly down the hall towards the living room before she whispered, "Babette says it sounds really bad. He was side-swiped by another truck."

Suddenly, Luke realized why she was talking so low. "What are you going to tell the kids?"

"We can't tell Lucas. He'll be absolutely crushed knowing Dean's hurt, and as smart as he is, he wouldn't understand it all," Lorelai replied. "Besides, he won't let us alone until we take him to see Dean, and I don't think that would end up well."

"What about Rory?"

Lorelai hesitated. She'd been thinking on that all morning. How to tell Rory? Should she even be told? It's not like her and Dean were friends -- they hadn't spoken since Rory was in Yale. And after last night, with Rory running out of the door after Dean had left, so similar to their harsh goodbyes when the two dated, the answer would clearly seem to be no. Then again, just because of that effect, maybe she should tell Rory, since it was obvious Rory cared about him.

"I don't know," Lorelai muttered miserably, confused and lost.

Luke moved his chair closer and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head as she leaned in closer to him, needing to feel that haven he gave her. There was once when she thought she could leave this safe embrace and find it in another, but she'd been wrong, and she'd come back. Luke had welcomed her back with these open arms, refusing to ever let go of her again.

"I wish I could tell you what to do, but you know I'm a complete doof when it comes to understanding make-ups and break-ups."

Lorelai allowed a small smile as the phone started ringing. She pulled herself regretfully out of Luke's arms and kissed him on the lips, simple yet strong. "The pancakes are burning," she replied, getting up.

She heard him curse under his breath and shoot towards the stove as she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lorelai, it's Clara."

The bit of warmth she'd had while in Luke's arms faded as she knew exactly why Clara was calling.

"Miss Patty called me about Dean."

"Clara, I'm so sorry. Is he going to be okay?"

There was the distinct sound of a strangled sob and sniffle before Clara replied, "I don't know. I'm sorta stuck in Chicago for a while and I can't head back to Hartford to make sure everything's going to be okay with him." Silence. "That's why I called, Lorelai. I was wondering if maybe Rory could check on him for me. I know she and he both have a sort of, troubled past together, but I trust her more than anyone there. No offense."

Lorelai offered a sad smile, although Clara couldn't see it. "Of course not." She eyed Rory waking on the couch. "Um, maybe you could talk to her and ask her? Here…" She covered the mouth piece and took the four steps over to the couch where Rory was just starting to sit up. She held out the phone and mouthed 'Clara.'

As Rory took the phone, Lorelai walked back into the kitchen. She felt bad, having basically thrust the news on her daughter without warning, even if it was Clara offering the news.

Moments later, Rory appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, eyes red and oddly fully awake.

"Mom?" she asked, a sad hitch in her throat. "Can you drive me to Hartford Memorial?"

Lorelai nodded. It was all she could do to keep from crying and embracing her daughter like she was five again and had scraped her knee. Gee, those had been the easier years -- when a kiss and hug could make the pain go away.

Author's Note: Okay, short chapter, I know. You don't know how many times I rewrote this chapter because I just didn't like how I transitioned the whole thing. Before I had it written too OOC for Rory and Lorelai, and I hope this rewriting turned out better than I had it before. That's why it took so long to post, so sorry. Uh, I actually have the whole hospital scene written down (it had been in the rough draft version of this chapter) but I haven't finished tweaking it so give me another day or two. Also, I know it's mostly Lorelai and Luke, but we can't forget about them now, can we?

Author's Note Note: I'm upping Lucas' age to 4 years. I dunno why, just in my mind 3-year-olds shouldn't have as broad a vocabulary as he tends to have (and that's my fault for being lazy and not wanting to type phonetically with his dialogue… since there's so much he says, lol). So he's 4 instead of 3, but that's the only thing that changes. Still 2011, still Rory/Dean tension, still a horrible car accident, still coffee-addicted Lorelai who can't have coffee because she's preggers. XD I have an indecision complex.

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