"Lorelei Gilmore?" She asked frantically.
"Right this way." The nurse led her to the room and Rory wanted to cry at the sight of her.
"What happened?" She asked as she went to her bedside.
"Traffic was a bitch." Emily frowned at the term. "Hi Mom, Dad."
"Hello, Lorelei."
"Construction was terrible and some guy ahead of me slammed on his breaks and I didn't." She said. "The Jeep's broken." She said with a pout.
"The car can be replaced." Richard said. Lorelei nodded.
"It looks worse than it is." She told Rory who touched her face. "They are making me stay overnight just to check everything out, but I can go home first thing in the morning."
"Okay, well, I'll go home and grab some stuff for you." Rory said standing up.
"Hey, and call Luke please. But don't do it until you are done freaking out. I don't want him coming back just for me, there's nothing he can do anyway." Rory nodded and kissed her head lightly, careful to watch the bruises and cuts. As she grabbed her mother's phone and left the room, her grandfather began to talk about insurance. She called Luke's cell phone.
"Hello?
"Luke, it's Rory."
"Hey Rory." Luke said with laughter in his voice. "How are you?"
"Um, fine. Everything's fine." But Luke could hear that something was most definitely not fine.
"What's wrong."
"Well, Mom and I were on our way to Friday night dinner, and there was a little accident. But everything's fine, she's just a little bruised up. She just wanted to let you know so you weren't shocked when you came home."
"What do you mean accident?"
"She's got a concussion and some bruises, but she's going to be just fine. The doctors are going to discharge her in the morning."
"Can I talk to her?"
"Right now she's having an insurance conversation with Grandpa. The Jeep is…well, it died."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I was in my car. I made it safely. Oh and she just won a huge award at the Inn. I'll let her tell you about that though." She said as she waved the phone to Lorelei. She reached out for it so Rory continued. "Here she is." She handed the phone to Lorelei.
"Hey," She said with a sad sniff. "No, no I'm fine, really. Just a little concussion." Rory smiled as Luke freaked out on the other line. "You are not going anywhere. You need to be there. I have Rory."
"I'm going to run home and get stuff. Do you guys need anything?" She asked. They shook their heads. "Okay, see you in a bit."
OOOOO
Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed the number she had been waiting to call since she arrived.
"Hey, how's Stars Hollow?" He said as he answered.
"Um, right now I'm in Hartford. What do you know about concussions?"
"Why? What happened?"
"My mom got into a car accident, she's a little bruised and scraped up, but she'll be fine. I was just wondering if you could tell me about them, I don't really have time to research them and no one here is telling us anything except that she has a concussion and is staying overnight."
"Where are you?" He asked.
"Well, right now I'm on my way back from my place to grab an overnight bag for mom. I'm going back to the hospital."
"Memorial?" He asked.
"Yeah. I'm just pulling into the parking lot."
"I'll meet you there. Don't move." He said.
"You don't have to do that. My grandparents are here, I'm fine, she's fine. I just, I don't like feeling uninformed."
"Ror, if you wanted to call a doctor you would have called Paris. I'm your boyfriend. Sometimes I can be both at the same time." She smiled. "Besides, I'm almost there. I live two seconds from the medical complex. Which parking lot are you in?"
"The ramp, um, level four." She said.
"Alright, see you in a few." Sure enough, within a couple minutes, he was pulling in next to her. "That was fast."
"We get paid more if we are fast." He said with a sympathetic smile as he saw her face. At just the sight of him, she launched himself into his arms. "Hey," She teared up as she hid in his chest.
"I'm sorry." She said as she started to cry for the first time.
"It's okay." She nodded.
"I know, I don't know why I'm crying."
"Relief mostly." He said, rubbing her back. "You can only be brave so long before you have to process the situation."
"I wasn't brave."
"Yes you were." He nodded.
"How do you know?" She said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Wow, you looked just like your little sister when you did that." He said staring at her. She laughed.
"Thank you for coming."
"Of course. Come on, let's get this stuff inside." He said as he wiped the last tear off of her cheek. Taking a deep breath, she watched him pick up the bag and put an arm around her.
"Seriously, what do you know about concussions?" She asked. He smiled at her, but decided to humor her because she was scared.
"Well, every football player in the world has obtained one sometime or another. The reason they are keeping her overnight is because they don't want her to fall asleep and they don't want her to have any long-term effects. This way they can make sure that she stays awake."
"Long-term effects? Like what?" She asked, her reporter face shining through.
"Memory loss, changes in judgement, any cognitive problems. Those are usually in the most severe concussions."
"So, treatment?"
"Monitoring her overnight is the best thing that the doctors can do to assess her. They will probably send her home to a bottle of Tylenol and a heat pad." He smiled.
"So it's not as scary as it sounds."
"No, it's not."
"Rory, there you are. We have to go, your grandfather has a very important meeting in the morning, but if you need anything, please let us know." Emily said. "Who are you?"
"Tristan DuGray ma'am." He said, taking his arm from around Rory and shaking her hand.
"Janlan's grandson." Richard remembered. "Haven't we met before at Rory's birthday party?"
"Yes sir, I believe we did." He said with a fond smile. Rory noticed his teasing glance and refrained from rolling her eyes.
"I remember because you're the spitting image of Janlan when he was younger."
"Yes, he is, isn't he?" Emily stepped back and noticed.
"Well, I've got to get this to Mom." Rory said as she stepped around the three of them.
"It's been nice meeting you Tristan." Richard said.
"Yes, I'm sorry it's under such conditions."
"Yes well, hopefully you will join us for dinner some evening?" Emily asked. Tristan nodded.
"I would like that."
"Goodbye." Tristan watched as they left and then turned to follow Rory back to Lorelei's room. He stood in the doorway and watched for a minute as Rory and Lorelei began to talk. Noticing him in the doorway, Lorelei motioned for him to come into the room.
"Hey," She said. "Tell me that is him." She muttered a little too loudly to Rory. She nodded.
"Vicoden." She explained.
"They are so amazing."
"Oh, I know." Tristan said with a smile as he sat down. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better now that you're here." She smiled to Rory. "Isn't Rory pretty?" She said with a smile.
"Gorgeous. Just like her mother." Tristan said with a wink. Lorelei giggled. Rory hit him playfully under the table.
"Don't encourage her." She whispered.
"Oh, come on. I never get to play with the high people." He pouted.
"The nurses are nice, they got rid of my parents for me. As a doctor, do you think that I could have a nurse come home with me?"
"If nurses could get rid of parents, I would have become a doctor a lot sooner. And I don't think the doctors on duty would appreciate that." He said.
"I'm tired." She said, laying down.
"You can't fall asleep, the doctor told you that."
"I'm not going to, I'm gonna just lay here for a second." She said. Rory glanced at Tristan.
"Ror, why don't you go get you and your mom some coffee from the cafeteria?" He said, handing her some change.
"Coffee is good." She said. "It is our friend." Rory smiled and squeezed his hand.
"Hey, Lorelei, I have a question." Tristan said, putting her bed up so that she was at a ninety degree angle.
"Hmm?"
"What was Rory like as a kid?" She smiled.
"She was a good kid, just like she is now."
"What was her favorite food?"
"Mac and cheese when she was sad, coffee when she was happy. You make her happy."
"She makes me happy too."
"Let her say it first okay?" Tristan paused.
"Say what first?"
"I love you, let her say it first. Trust me." He sat back and thought about what Lorelei was saying.
"Coffee's here." Rory said as she emerged back through the door.
"Great." Tristan said. "Can you do me a favor Lorelei?"
"Hmm?" She was barely conscious.
"Drink up." Rory watched as Tristan put the coffee under her nose. He was taking such good care of her and of her mother…she was kind of falling for him.
OOOOO
"Above and beyond." She whispered to him as they sat in the waiting room while the hospital staff okayed Lorelei to sleep. Tristan had recommended it.
"Excuse me?"
"Once again, you are saving the day. I'm starting to think you're my own personal superhero." She said.
"You're exhausted…and slightly delusional." He said as he felt her forehead.
"You were great with Gigi, you stood up to Logan, you took care of me, you kept my mother awake, you were amazing with my grandparents. You're a superhero."
"Well when you put it like that."
"On the other hand, ever since I've met you I've needed to be saved. Maybe you could be bad luck." She gave him a sidelong glance and they both started laughing. "You're right, I'm exhausted."
"Hey, if you needing to be saved means that I can spend time with you, then I'm more than willing to do some saving." Rory looked into his eyes and her heart stopped beating.
"She's asleep." The nurse said as she interrupted the moment. "You two should get some rest yourselves. Something tells me she's going to be a handful once she wakes up." Rory smiled.
"She's right. You should go home and sleep." She said as she patted his thigh.
"What about you?" He said.
"I'll just snooze here. I want to be here if she wakes up."
"She's not going to, not with the Vicodin in her system. I'm not going to leave you stranded to sleep in a hospital chair. Come on," He said, pulling her out of her chair. "Hot shower, your own warm bed…you know you want it." She sighed.
"Just for a few hours." She said, giving in.
"Okay." He said, practically carrying her out of the hospital.