Thanks for all of the great reviews…keep them coming! "Accidents Happen" is based on the wonderful "Gilmore Girls" television series and the amazing characters created by…not me!

Accidents Happen

Chapter Eight Dinner and a Movie

Jess came back into Rory's room about twenty minutes later pushing a hospital bed.

"What's this?" Rory asked, smiling.

"A way that you and I can have dinner and a movie in comfort," Jess said with a deep chuckle. "I want to be close to you and I want you to be comfortable."

"Where did you get this?" Rory asked. "You didn't steal it, did you?"

"I'm not the Dodger anymore, Rory," Jess assured Rory with a smile as he carefully moved Rory and her bed over so that the other bed would fit up close beside it.

"You'll always be Dodger to me, Jess."

"Cute. I asked the nurse if I could move this bed in and she said yes, after a lot of begging, anyway. I think she likes me!"

"Did you say dinner and a movie?"

"I heard you ask that nurse for a pizza earlier," Jess confessed, smiling. "And it got me a little sentimental, remembering our movie nights. So, I checked with that nurse, who talked to both of your doctors. Verdict is we can have pizza for dinner as long as the hospital cafeteria makes it."

"Really?"

"Really. I don't know how good it is, but it's pizza. They'll probably make you eat some salad or something, too. I managed scored a DVD player, too. An orderly is going to bring it up with the pizza along with some DVDs."

"Jess, you're amazing," Rory said, smiling. "Thank you so much!"

"I wouldn't go that far," Jess said, still shifting the bed around so that they could both see the TV and so that he could touch and kiss her without hurting her. He climbed onto the bed and snuggled as close to Rory as he could and carefully wrapped an arm around her.

"I would," Rory said. "You helped make me feel better the best you knew how. For that, I'll always be thankful."

They sat in silence for a little while watching the crappy shows on the hospital TV. Jess was watching Rory more than he was watching the television. He leaned toward her and carefully kissed her on her bruised and stitched cheek.

"I hate that you're seeing me like this when I haven't even seen myself like this," Rory told him. "Mom wouldn't let me see a mirror."

"Then I won't let you either," Jess said firmly. "Your mother is not a woman I want to mess with, especially right now. She's got enough Mama Bear in her to do some real damage!"

"Lorelai is all bark," Rory said with a laugh.

"Yeah, okay," Jess said with a sidelong glance. "Now I think you've had some serious brain damage, Rory."

"That's mean," Rory said.

"That's kidding," Jess said with a laugh.

The food and the entertainment arrived about fifteen minutes later. There was enough food for a traditional Gilmore feast with all the trimmings. In addition to the pizza, they had salad, pudding, milk, and juice with fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies. As promised, the orderly brought a DVD player to their room along with an assortment of DVDs. The only DVDs the orderly could find were from pediatrics, so they had every children's movie ever made.

Jess helped Rory eat her first real meal in a month. In theory, pizza had been a good idea, but in reality, it was nearly impossible for Rory to eat with only one arm free. Once Rory got through the pizza, she started on the pudding, which she could manage on her own.

"It's time for a movie," Rory said. "What are the choices?" she asked.

"Let's see," Jess said, perusing the titles. "We've got Finding Nemo, The Incredible Journey, Mary Poppins, Shrek, The Parent Trap, and The Little Mermaid. What do you think?"

"Ooh, Mary Poppins! Mary Poppins, please, Jess!"

"It's a good thing that I love you," Jess said under his breath as he opened the case and popped the disc into the DVD player.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Nothing," Jess said. "Nothing at all."

"Okay," Rory said. She hadn't heard what he said, but she knew that it wasn't nothing. She also knew Jess and that he would tell her what he was thinking in his own time.

"This movie is so stupid," Jess said while Dick Van Dyke was dancing with cartoon penguins on the TV.

"I used to watch it all the time when I was home sick when I was little," Rory said.

"Times have changed, Rory. You're not a little girl anymore."

"I know that. I'm just enjoying the movie, Jess."

"That's not how I mean it. When we first met, that first time I saw you in your room, you looked like an angel, so sweet and innocent."

"And now I look like an evil whore now? Gee, thanks, Jess."

"I'm just not very good at this stuff, Rory. I just mean that you're different now. And that I'm different, too. We've both changed. We've both grown up. We're both in such different places this time. You've graduated from Yale, I've got my job and I'm working on another book."

"You're working on another book? Jess, that's fantastic!"

"A lot of time that has passed, other people have been in our lives."

"Are you trying to tell me that you have a girlfriend?"

"No, Rory, it's nothing like that. I wouldn't be here if there was someone else. That wouldn't be fair to either of us."

"So there hasn't been anyone else?"

"Well, I haven't been a monk, if that's what you mean, but I'm not seeing anyone now and I haven't seen anyone in a long time."

"Jess, I have to tell you something," Rory said quickly.

"I know about Logan. I know that you broke up and I know that you lived together. I don't want any details."

"Okay, but you don't know about Dean."

"Dean? What about Dean?" Jess snarled through gritted teeth.

"We got together again, before I met Logan."

"Didn't Dean get married when he was, like, nineteen?"

"Yeah, he did."

"Rory, when did you get together with Dean?"

"While he was still married," Rory admitted. "I was the other woman," she said regrettably. "I felt terrible. It was my first time and he was married!"

"Rory, why are you telling me this?" Jess asked quietly.

"I wanted to be honest with you. I made a mistake and I wanted to be up front about it."

"Rory, you do realize that I'm not a virgin or anything, right? That when I told you I wasn't a monk, you knew that I meant that there were other women, right?"

"Yeah, I knew that. But, I don't know those girls and you knew Dean. If we're going to start over, I mean really start over, then I need to go into this with a clean slate."

"Rory, you said it before, we can't go back. I can't go back and treat you better and you can't go back and not have sex with Dean."

"Back then," Rory said, "when we were together."

"What? What about it?"

"Well, before you left, actually, for prom," Rory babbled.

"Spill it, Gilmore."

"I was going to have sex with you."

"What?"

"I was going to have sex with you. I was going to lose my virginity to you, Jess."

"So, if I had stayed a few more days?"

"Yup. You'd have gotten yourself a Gilmore girl."

"Can't I still get myself a Gilmore girl?" Jess asked. "Or has that boat already sailed?"

"You've already gotten yourself a Gilmore girl, Jess. You've always had a Gilmore girl."