Jess wasn't quite sure how he got from watching Alien with Luke to rolling down this hospital hallway so quickly. He knew where he was and if he really concentrated he could remember Luke carrying him to the car and checking him in but it was all kind of a fuzzy mess in his mind. Thoughts seemed to be buzzing around and they were hard to hold onto for more than a few seconds at a time. His head was pounding so much even the slightest movement was torture.

" We're almost there," the cheerful orderly offered.

"Where?" Jess said absently.

"X-ray department"

"Right."

They rolled through another set of double doors and stopped in a quiet hallway outside a door marked x-ray 3. Ahmad helped Jess off the gurney and into the room. A technician positioned Jess in front of the plate and had him raise his arms and hold them up. He was trembling but managed to hold still enough for them to get the pictures.

Once they had him back on the gurney and rolling back towards the emergency department he closed his eyes and tried to focus on lying as still as possible to keep his headache at bay and breathing. The more he though about breathing though, the more he needed to cough. He stifled a few coughs, they were too painful. Okay, just think about lying still. He imagined Rory lying next to him with her head on his shoulder and he had to be still or he would wake her up. He could smell her clean scent next to him and was surprised to open his eyes and realize he was back in the curtained off emergency room with Luke at his side.

Luke gave him an encouraging smile that didn't quite manage to hide how worried he looked. "Hanging in there?"

"I'm hangin'" Jess rasped. "It's cold."

Luke looked down at the thin sheet covering Jess, and immediately got up and went to the nurses' station, "Hi, sorry to bother you, my nephew over there is cold and I was wondering if we could get some blankets?"

The nurse at the desk had long braids, a kind face, and a name badge that read 'Lexi,' "Oh, of course, honey, I'll be right back."

She returned to Jess's bedside with two coral colored blankets. "Fresh from the blanket warmer!" She said, spreading them over Jess.

"Thanks," Jess whispered sincerely. The pre-heated blankets felt so nice. He closed his eyes and savored the feeling. The heat made him feel drowsy and heavy.

Luke smoothed the blankets out over Jess' legs and tucked them around his nephew's feet.

"The doctor is just looking at the X-Rays now and she'll be with you in a few minutes. I'm going to go ahead and start you on some oxygen now, though. That pulse ox is a little lower than I like to see."

The nurse busied herself with the oxygen tank and lifted Jess' head to fit the mask around his face. Luke saw Jess wince as the nurse moved his head.

"What's a pulse ox?" Luke asked.

She pointed to the monitor, where the reading said spO2 88% "This number right here tells us what the oxygen level in the blood is. Normal is between 94 and 99%, so we're just going to try a little extra help to see if we can't get that number up."

She sounded so casual, like it was no big deal to need supplemental oxygen, but the knot in Luke's chest got tighter looking at the numbers.

Jess was pretty sure this was the clincher that meant he wasn't getting out of here anytime soon. The fluorescent lights were so bright, they made his eyes hurt. He put an arm up across his eyes.

"Jess is your head hurting?" Luke's voice sounded so worried, Jess wanted to roll his eyes but he was pretty sure that would hurt too.

"Yes," came the muffled response from under the mask.

"I'll bring you an ice pack for your head, honey," the nurse said, patting him on the knee as she went back towards the nurses' station.

"Knock, knock" said a woman, poking her head into the curtained area. "Hi Jess, I'm Doctor Liu."

Jess moved his arm so he could see the doctor and gave her a tiny nod of acknowledgment.

"Hi, I'm Luke Danes, I'm Jess' uncle," Luke stood up and shook the doctor's hand. She was very petite and she looked young, but she had a strong presence that gave Luke confidence in her.

She sat down on a stool next to the bed, right at Jess' eye level. "Can you tell me how you're feeling right now?"

"Sick."

"Original, never heard that one. Try again, what's going on, where does it hurt?"

"Headache. Worst I've ever had. Eyes hurt. Sore throat. Cough. Hurts to cough. Hurts to breathe. Can't take a deep breath. Freezing. Ribs hurt. Back hurts, hips hurt, knees hurt. I can feel my heart beat in every square inch of my body. Feel like I might shit myself or throw up at any moment."

"That's better, thorough and descriptive, just like I like it. Do you mind if I examine you?"

"Be my guest."

Doctor Liu took her time listening to Jess' heart and lungs. She examined his ears, nose, and throat, and felt his lymph nodes.

"Okay," she said, covering Jess back up with the warm blankets. "So, looking at your X-rays you definitely have double pneumonia, which means it's in both lungs. From the images it also looks like you've fractured a rib on your right side by coughing. Did you have a somewhat recent fracture in that same spot? Jess nodded. "It looks like several ribs were previously broken on that side but only one has been re-injured."

"You're very dehydrated," she went on, "so we're going to get you started on some fluids right away and hopefully that will help make you a little more comfortable. I'm going to prescribe two antibiotics, azithromycin and amoxicillin, to start treating the pneumonia, a steroid to help reduce inflammation, and something to bring your fever down. From your vital signs it looks like a pretty aggressive infection, so I want to treat it equally aggressively so that you don't get any sicker. Lexi is going to get the fluids and meds going, and she's also going to take some blood so we can run some more tests."

"When do you think he can go home?" Luke asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to go ahead and admit Jess so you guys can be a little more comfortable in a room, and based on where he's at right now I would expect him to need IV antibiotics, supportive oxygen and fluids for at least a couple of days if not a little longer. I'm hopeful we'll see some improvement in those vitals once he's got fluids on board, but I want to be sure he's closely monitored for complications."

"Okay, thank you Doctor."

"No problem, I'll check in with you guys upstairs in the morning. Get some rest if you can."

Luke didn't know whether to feel relieved or more worried after talking to the doctor. If he thought he was in over his head before he was definitely well under water now.

He shook his head and looked at Jess. "Broken ribs? When did you break your ribs?"

"Last year, right before I moved here."

"Is that the trouble your mom said you were getting into? Is that why she sent you to Star's Hollow? Did you get in a fight?"

Jess gave an ironic laugh and the winced in pain. "I guess you could say that."

"Who did you fight with? You don't get broken ribs from a school squabble."

"It was Rob."

"Rob who?" Jess was silent. "Wait, Liz's boyfriend Rob?"

"The one and only."

Luke's voice softened. "Jess, what happened?"

Jess looked away. "He put his hands on mom, so I tried to stop him, but I couldn't…He kicked my ass, though. I'm sorry. I wanted to…to protect her," Jess said breathlessly.

"Jesus, Jess." Luke pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry. I tried to take care of her. I know I'm a fuck up."

"Jess, I'm not mad at you. You're not a fuck up, you tried to do the right thing." Luke took Jess' hand, "You're a kid, it's not your responsibility to protect your mom. She should be protecting you by keeping people like that away from you. It's not your job to take care of Liz, she's a grown woman."

Jess swallowed hard, wincing and pulled his hand away. "I've always taken care of her. She needs me. I don't know why she doesn't want me anymore." This was too much. He was too sick and too exhausted for this conversation.

"Kid, you have to stop beating yourself up. Nothing Liz does is your fault. Liz is just…Liz. She's been this way since day one."

Luke sighed, he didn't want to push things any further right now. He hadn't meant to upset Jess in the middle of this whole ordeal and his heart ached over what his nephew had gone through. He said "It's okay. You're gonna be okay."