So... I'm back! with a pretty new chapter! not one of my favourites but still;)
I think I have to dedicate it to Rachel .. you know why chick!
Thank you soo sooooo much for all the reviews! they made me update this fact!
Finding disco: Just read and trust ;)
Steph: hahah you haven't seen? well that's good, just keep reading, I can't tell you anything cause that would ruin the suspend;)
gilmoregiloxo: you will soon know the truth...
javajunkie34 : I'm really happy you're not disapointed about the first chapter:) hopfully it will stay this way with the whole story.
and of course THANK YOU to Kari for the great beta!
ok go on with the story!
Luke burst thought the hospital door like a hurricane. He arrived in Hartford in record time, not caring about the speed limit. The moment Miss Patty told him which hospital Lorelai was in, he was out of the door.
"Lorelai Gilmore!" Luke hurled out as soon as he found himself at the front desk.
"Wait a second," the nurse replied, showing him that she was still on the phone.
"I don't have a second! You have to tell me where I can find Lorelai Gilmore," Luke replied in a harsh voice, slamming his hand on the desk, causing everyone around him to stop what they were doing and look at him. Everyone, but the nurse who was still on the phone. Working in the ER for years had tought her a lot about people's reactions.
"Just calm down sir," she told Luke, finishing the call and finally looking up at him. "Now, how can I help you?" she asked him.
Luke already felt he was about to blow up at her. He clenched his fists and teeth, breathing heavily through his nose.
"Lorelai Gilmore," Luke breathed out, more calmly than anyone could have expected. "Tell me where is she, please. She was in an accident last night and I just need to find her. Now!" His voice started to get more and more desperate.
The nurse looked at the man standing before her. His chest was moving fast with his every breath, his eyes were pleading; his knuckles went white from clenching them so hard.
"Just give me a second, I'll check," she replied with a small smile.
"Thank you," Luke said just above a whisper, massaging his temple with one hand, trying to keep his nerves down.
'Please let her be all right, let it be nothing serious. She has to be all right, she just has to…' Luke was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the nurse calling him.
"Sir! Sir! Sir are you all right!" She asked for the third time.
"What!" he snapped out of his thoughts. "Have you found her? Have you found Lorelai?" he asked immediately, his eyes pleading for an answer.
"Yes, Miss Gilmore was delivered here last night after a car accident. They had to operate her right away. I don't know the details, but she should be in the ICU by now, if the operation is completed.
Luke just stood there frozen, taking all in.
She was there, the accident happened. Operation. They were operating on her.
"Ok," Luke finally managed to get out. "Thank you.. hmm.. Where's the ICU?"
"Second floor. The elevator is down the hall. But they won't let you in if you're not a relative, sir."
"Thank you," was all what Luke could say. Ignoring the last comment, he didn't waste more time, making his way to the elevator.
After probably the longest elevator ride of his life, Luke finally found himself in the ICU.
It was more calm there than in the ER of course, but still Luke felt really uncomfortable surrounded by sick, injured people.
"Oh Jeez," he mumbled, breathing out heavily. He really did hate hospitals. Now he just needed to find the information desk, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to deal with this again.
"Don't you dare to tell me what I can and cannot do!" Luke heard a very angry and very loud female voice. A voice that sounded oddly familiar.
"You will tell me what's happening to my daughter and you will tell me now! Our family founded whole left wing of this hospital! We deserve some respect here! We're been sitting here for 4 hours and still you have the same reply for us!" The woman was almost screaming now
"Mrs. Gilmore, really… I will tell you as soon as I know something…" The nurse tried to calm her down.
'Gilmore?' Luke thought. 'Emily, of course it's her!'
Emily Gilmore was probably the last person he wanted to see right now, but Lorelai was more important, so he would have to deal with her parents.
"Mrs. Gilmore," Luke called to her as he finally found himself next to her at the information desk. Her head snapped at him, a dead glare in her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Emily asked him right away. Apart from her attitude towards people that she thought were standing socially lower than her, she looked nothing like the Emily Gilmore that Luke had met a few times before.
She had dark circles under her eyes and her always perfect hair looked messy. It was obvious she had spent hours in the waiting room.
"Mrs. Gilmore, hello. I'm came here as soon as I found out. The hospital called Sookie, but obviously she's still on her honeymoon. She will be here as soon as her and Jackson will catch a flight. She called Miss Patty, who told me. So here I am. Is Rory here? They were going to call Rory, but I couldn't look after that, I just.. I just had to be here," Luke breathed out as Emily looked at him in amazement. She didn't know Luke well, but from her daughter's stories she knew he was more of a monosyllabic type. Yet, here he was talking mile a minute.
"Oh well," was her only reply as she turned back to the nurse, who was no longer there. "Just wonderful! You let her get away!" Emily glared at Luke.
Twenty minutes later, Luke was sitting uncomfortably 4 seats away from the Gilmores. After his greeting to Richard, who hardly even knew who Luke was until Emily enlightened him, explaining he was: 'the man from the diner'; there was not even a single word exchanged between the 3 of them.
He had a lot of time to think about what had happened the night before. He could swear that Lorelai came to him. That she had sat on his couch, talked to him. But it was all impossible. She had been here all this time.
He put his head in his hands, trying to block out the image of hurt and injured Lorelai, that now invaded his thoughts. He was already sure he probably had dreamed the whole thing about the night before and blamed it on the tiredness and lack of sleep from the past 2 weeks.
"Grandma! Grandpa!" Luke was shaken from his thoughts by Rory's frantic voice, as she ran to them shortly followed by Sookie and Jackson.
"Luke!" Rory called him as soon as she saw him sitting miserably not far away from her grandparents.
She immediately ran up to him and hugged him and he stood up. Both Emily and Richard looked at her with shocked expressions, seeing that she would rather ignore them and run right up to that 'diner man'.
"Shh," Luke tried to calm Rory a little as she clutched to him sobbing into his flannel-clad chest. "Shh.. Everything is gonna be ok" He stroked her head. He was never comfortable with crying women or just people in general, but when it came to either Lorelai or Rory, he would be always there for either of them.
"Luke?" Sookie asked seeing him standing in the middle of the hallway with a crying Rory. A small smile appeared on her face. She always knew Luke wouldn't be able to stay away from Lorelai, sad though that it had to be proved in such a dramatic way. Just the thought of it made the smile fade immediately.
"How is she? Is she all right?" Sookie stared to ask questions, just as Rory managed to unclutch herself from Luke.
"Yes, how's mom?" she whispered.
"We don't know yet. We know nothing!" Emily chimed in trying to bring the attention on her and Richard.
"What do you mean grandma? They brought her here last night. Don't they know anything by now?" Rory asked hopefully.
"We know that Rory," Richard replied. " But your grandmother tried everything for the last few hours and they always told her to wait."
Just then, as if on cue, a doctor appeared from behind Sookie.
"I'm assuming you're all for Lorelai Gilmore, right?" the doctor asked breaking the moment between the six.
"Yes please tell us what's with her?" Emily almost begged, grabbing Richard's arm for support, just in case.
"Well… Lorelai was delivered here late last night. She lost a lot of blood and had several internal injuries. Her condition was very serious. We had to operate as soon as possible…." The doctor started, but Luke didn't hear it. Only 'serious condition', 'blood loss' and 'operation' echoed in his head over and over again. He couldn't catch his breath; he could feel the blood pressure rising inside of him.
"..She is stable now, but… we're worried she might be in coma…" the doctor finished.
A sudden cry could be heard coming from Rory as Sookie hugged the girl to herself and Jackson put a supportive hand on her shoulder. Emily's face went white just like Richard's.
"What can you do?" Luke demanded. "There's something you can do for sure!" Once again he was clenching his fists. He wanted to know that Lorelai is all right. He needed to know she will wake up and beg him for coffee, and he will be able to tell her how sorry he is for being so cold for her those last few weeks. All she needed to do was to open up those beautiful blue eyes of hers.
"We can only wait. She is stable. We still don't know how much damage has been caused due to the loss of blood, so all we can do is wait. She may wake up in few hours, maybe few days or even few weeks. You just have to have faith," the doctor replied calmly.
"Can we see her? I want to see my mom," Rory asked through her sobs.
"Yes, in few minutes, but only close relatives and only one at a time."
Luke just stood there frozen. Wait. It was the only thing they could do. Wait. Luke wasn't a very impatient person, but this time he hated the waiting. Suddenly he felt that he couldn't stay there much longer. They wouldn't let him see her and everything around him just reminded him of the weakness of a human's life. Lorelai's life.
"I... I have to go... I'm sorry," he whispered, glancing at Rory with pleading eyes, hoping she would understand him. She just nodded at him closing her eyes.
With no more words uttered, Luke walked back to the elevator. He needed to breathe, he needed to forget, he needed to be out of this place.
Now it has been two hours since Luke went back to his apartment. After throwing out everyone from the diner and ignoring all the questions about Lorelai's condition, he just sat in his old, leather armchair drinking yet another beer. There were already 6 empty bottles surrounding him.
Somehow the words from THAT night came back to him:
'Go to hell!'
'Right back at ya'
"Apparently we're both there," he mumbled wanting to take another swing of the beer.
"Have you lost your mind?" Luke was frozen at the sound of the voice clearly echoing in his apartment. After a second he looked up from his bottle and his eyes went wide, thre bottle he had in his hand landing on the ground with a thud.
TBC?
so? still worth reading? or maybe I'm killing this story and idea? just let me know:)