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Life's Lessons

Chapter 3

What's Wrong With Me?

Jess had been reading to Rory for three hours now. It was getting late and dark outside. Both of them hadn't moved at all since they had been there and Jess was starting to feel stiff.

"Ror, let's head to the house now. You're tired." Jess closed the book and moved slightly.

"Alright." Rory reluctantly replied and slowly stood up. She turned around and watched him as he got up. She was hurting and she wanted Jess to be near her, to hold her and keep her safe.

"You alright?" Jess asked gently wrapping his arm around her.

"No." Rory whispered, tears forming in her eyes. She blinked and the tears came pouring down.

Jess hated seeing Rory cry. It made him hurt and feel uncomfortable. He loved her, but it was still hard to deal with other people's feelings. He tightened his grip on her and kissed the top of her head.

"It's ok Rory." He tried encouraging her, to make her feel better, but it didn't.

"Why Jess? Why can't we have a baby?"

"Who said we can't?"

"Me. We have been trying, been wanting this, but we can't get pregnant." Rory cried.

Jess knew she was taking this way out of proportion, but he had to support her. They walked to the house in silence, the only sound was the noise of Rory's sniffles and quiet sobs.

The door opened as they reached it and Lorelai cheerfully greeted them, noticing Rory she frowned and glared at Jess.

"Rory, what's wrong? What did Jess do?" Lorelai accused.

"Jess didn't do anything." Rory sobbed even louder.

"What's going on?" Lorelai looked at Jess as Rory walked to the bathroom and locked herself in there.

"Lane is having another baby. Rory is upset." Jess sighed, knowing that it would have been hard for Rory to tell her mom what happened.

"So my son-in-law isn't getting busy enough for my daughter? You need to work harder!"

"Oh I'm sure that getting busy almost every night isn't enough. We're not you and Luke." Jess snapped. He was upset too, and Lorelai's sarcasm and teasing wasn't helping anyone.

"Alright, alright. Images in my head that I don't need there. I'm scarred for life now." Lorelai raised her hands in surrender and covered her eyes with one hand. Jess smirked and walked to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Rory." Jess knocked on the door.

"Go away Jess. I don't want to talk to anyone!" Rory called from inside.

"Rory. Come on."

"No!" She shrieked.

Jess sighed and walked away. Lorelai walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off and stepped into Rory's room.

"I see the old Jess is still inside there." Lorelai muttered under her breath as she approached the bathroom door. "Rory, honey, let me in."

"I-I don't want to talk." Rory stuttered.

"Come on. You need to talk about this." Lorelai grabbed the door knob and waited for Rory to open the door.

Rory crawled across the floor and unlocked the door. She looked up at her mom as she entered the bathroom and then looked away. Lorelai sat next to her daughter and sighed.

"So what's bothering you?" Lorelai questioned.

"I don't know. I mean I know I should be happy for Lane and all, she's having a baby. But I am also so mad at her. I know it's not her fault, but I still feel like blaming her. Why does she get to have a baby? She already has twins. It should be Jess and me. Why can't we have a baby?" Rory began crying and her mom wrapped her arms around her comfortingly.

"Hon, you need to stop stressing about this. Maybe the stress is making it harder for you to get pregnant. It could put a strain on your body. Just give it time. You can't expect it to happen right away." Lorelai tried to calm Rory down.

"Mom. Where's Jess? I should apologize for not opening the door."

"He went into your room a few minutes ago." Lorelai said as Rory stood up and opened the door. She turned around and hugged her mom. "Thanks mom."

Lorelai smiled. "Any time kiddo."

- - -

Jess had been sitting in Rory's room waiting for her. He knew that her mom would be able to get into there and talk to her, but he wanted his wife to talk to him. To deal with their problems together. He stood up, grabbed his jacket and a book, and headed to the bridge.

Rory walked into her room expecting to see Jess, but he wasn't there. "Jess?!" Rory checked the whole house and finally decided to check town. She ran to Doose's, the gazebo, Luke's, and the bookstore when she finally snapped.

The bridge! Rory thought. She ran to the bridge and found Jess sitting there, book in hand. She slowed her run to a jog and finally stopped next to him and sat down.

"Hey."

"Hey." Jess replied closing the book and setting it down.

"So what are you doing?" Rory asked knowing all to well what he was doing.

"Just thought I'd get some fresh air and read." Jess raked his fingers through his hair and looked at Rory. "Look Rory, if you just came for some small talk, I'm not in the mood."

"Jess. Jess, I'm sorry I flipped out back there. I don't know why I did." Rory looked away and hid her face from him.

Jess stared at her and finally spoke. "Rory, what's going on?"

"I-I don't know. I'm sorry." Rory whispered, standing up. "I'll let you read and clear your head."

"Rory." Jess groaned knowing he made a mistake. He stood up just as she turned around.

"I'm sorry Jess. I'm being so obsessive and emotional over this whole situation. It's no big deal, and I'm making it a big deal." Rory began breathing heavily, but tears weren't coming. She was having a shortness of breath. Jess noticed this and moved closer to her.

"Are you ok?" Jess looked concerned and Rory nodded. She tried to take a step closer to him, but she collapsed in his arms.

"Rory? Rory!" Jess picked her up and quickly carried her to Luke's, needing to get her into the warmth. He rushed her into Luke's and called for him. Luke crashed through the door and noticed Rory hanging from Jess's arms.

"What's going on Jess?" Luke rushed to his side.

"I don't know. She just passed out. I think I should take her to the hospital. She was having shortness of breath before she passed out."

"Alright. Let's get her into the truck, get Lorelai, and we'll take her to the hospital." Luke walked away and turned to the customers. "Alright, we are now closed! Everybody out! Free coffee next time you come!"

Kirk was about to complain when Luke stood three inches from his face and glared. Kirk shrunk under Luke's stare and dashed out, following the rest of the townspeople.

"Go get in the car, I'll be right out." Luke ordered Jess. Jess nodded and quickly walked outside and got into Luke's truck. It didn't take him long to close up the diner and rush to the truck. "Let's get Lorelai and we'll head to the hospital."

"Ok." Jess looked down at Rory who was unconscious in his arms. He frowned and looked out the window. He knew that the stress of wanting to have a baby would finally catch up to her. He just hoped she would be alright.

Luke practically sped to Lorelai's house and kept honking until she finally came out.

"What's going on!?" Lorelai angrily shouted.

"Get in the car and let's go! Rory passed out and we're not sure what happened or what's wrong with her." Luke explained in a hurry.

"What?!" Lorelai shouted running to the car. "We're not all going to fit into your car! Let's take Jess and Rory's car." Lorelai ran inside and grabbed their keys. She unlocked the car as Luke helped Jess get Rory into the car.

"What did you do Jess?" Lorelai questioned trying not to sound angry or accusing.

"I didn't do anything. You think I would purposefully make Rory pass out?!" Jess nearly shouted, irritated.

Lorelai sighed, she had to calm down. She knew it wasn't his fault, it was just easier to blame everything on him, even now. "I know, you wouldn't do that to her. What happened?"

"She fainted, what's it look like?" Jess sarcastically replied.

Luke grunted and turned around, glaring at him. Jess closed his eyes and sighed. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and slowly opened his eyes.

"We were talking at the bridge and she started to have difficulty breathing and just collapsed into my arms."

"Is she breathing now?" Lorelai panicked.

"Yes." Jess clenched his teeth to prevent any sarcasm slip through his tone.

The rest of the drive was a silent one, the atmosphere tense and anxious. Upon their arrival at the hospital Rory stirred a bit, but never fully gained consciousness. Jess was getting anxious and wanted to get her checked as soon as possible.

"Any day now would be nice." Jess snapped as Luke and Lorelai were getting out of the car.

"Calm down Jess." Luke shot back.

"I'm going to just leave you behind and take her in without you." Jess gently lifted her from the car and carried her inside. Lorelai and Luke had to speed up in order to keep up with him.

"Slow down Jess. If you aren't careful you might end up tripping or something, then we'll have to kids in the hospital." Lorelai warned.

"I'm not a child. Neither is Rory. She is your daughter, but not a kid anymore." Jess didn't mean to be so rude, he was just worried, and the old Jess started to come out.

"Well excuse me." Lorelai muttered turning away and rolling her eyes. Jess sighed and turned to her.

"I'm sorry." Jess practically whispered. He didn't like to apologize, especially to Lorelai. It was hard for him to do.

"It's alright. Let's get her signed in."

"Fine."

Luke was already ahead of the game. He had her signed in before either of them had time to notice him gone. Five minutes later they called for Rory and Jess carried her in. Glancing back at Luke and Lorelai to see if it was ok if he went in with her.

Lorelai smiled faintly and nudged her head, motioning him to go. Jess returned a small smile and followed the nurse.

"So what happened hon?" the nurse asked, ready to take notes if necessary.

"My wife was starting to get shortness of breath and then collapsed in my arms. She didn't mention feeling unwell or anything. She just kinda fell." Jess informed her.

"Hmmm, alright. I'll get a doctor to come examine her. She hasn't gained consciousness since then?"

"No. She stirred a little bit, but never woke up."

The nurse nodded and motioned them to enter the room. "Set her on the bed and we'll be in shortly." She walked out of the room.

Jess carefully placed Rory on the bed and sat down net to her. "Rory. Rory, please wake up. Don't scare me like this. It can't be like the accident." He whispered into her ear.

Rory moved slightly and made a small noise, but didn't open her eyes. Jess sighed and combed his fingers through his hair. Ten minutes later the doctor walked in. Jess stood up quickly and looked at him expectantly.

"Hello Mr. Mariano. I'm Dr. Robertson. I just want to ask a few questions and then I'll examine your wife."

"Sure." Jess sat back down as the doctor pulled up a chair.

"So I already have the information on what happened, now I'll ask you some more medical questions." The doctor looked at Jess asking for approval, Jess nodded.

"Ok. So does your wife have any medical conditions?"

"No."

"Alright. Has she been stressed lately, emotional, mood swings?"

"Actually, now that I think about it, she has." Jess answered.

"Ok. Any change in eating habits?" The doctor began scribbling down Jess's answers.

"No."

"When was her last period?"

"I don't know." Jess shook his head.

"Ok. Well I'll take some tests, check her heart rate, blood pressure, and see if we can find anything wrong with her." Dr. Robertson got up and walked to Rory's bed. He took her pulse and nodded, mumbling to himself.

Jess watched uneasily and waited for the doctor to say something. The doctor pulled out a needle and drew some blood from Rory's arm.

"What's that for?" Jess asked cautiously.

"To make sure everything is alright with her blood. Enough production of blood cells or high or low blood sugar." Dr. Robertson walked out of the room and Jess sat down next to Rory again. He was getting a little worried.

What could be wrong? She was healthy and fine. Maybe work was stressing her out, they were trying too hard to have a baby, maybe they should take it easy.

Rory moved again and slowly opened her eyes. "Jess?"

"Rory. Oh you're ok." Jess rushed to her side and took her hand in his.

"What happened? Where am I?"

"You fainted, we brought you to the hospital. You've been out for a good hour or so now. We wanted to bring you in to make sure everything was fine. The doctor is coming in with results soon." Jess kissed her forehead.

"Oh." Rory whispered. She looked up at Jess with big eyes.

"What?" Jess asked raising an eyebrow.

"Last time we were here, well I was here, you left. You're not leaving again are you?" Rory panicked.

"What? No Rory. This is different. We're married now and I'm not leaving you." Jess assured her.

"Ok good. Just making sure." She let out a small sigh of relief.

"You're mom and Luke are outside. You want me to get them?" Jess started to get up.

"No! Stay with me!" Rory held tighter onto Jess hand and he could see the strain in her eyes.

"Ok."

"Did you at least bring a book?" Rory tried to get her mind off of where she was.

Jess checked his pocket, but nothing was there. "Ah, shoot! No, I must have left it at Luke's"

"Oh ok." Rory weakly smiled and closed her eyes. Jess sat down closer to her and began stroking her hair. "I love you Jess."

That caught him by surprise. They had told each other they loved them, but they had almost had a fight earlier and she fainted. He smiled, "I love you too. Don't scare me anymore or no more bedtime stories." Jess playfully added.

Rory giggled. "So Mr. Mariano won't read me his new chapters every night?" Her eyes got wide and she pouted.

Jess couldn't help but laugh. "Of course I will! But you have to be a good little girl."

Rory glared at him and smiled. "That's right Dodger. You'll be a good kid for me."

Jess shook his head and smirked. "You know, that's the second time someone has referred to us as 'kids.' First your mom, now we are referring to each other as kids."

Rory smiled. "Jess, how is your book coming along? I want you to read to me."

"Changing subjects are we? It's coming along. I don't have any new ideas at the moment, but they will come. Where is the doctor?" Jess turned around suddenly remembering where they were at.

"How long has he been gone?" Rory asked starting to sit up, but Jess held her down.

"I don't remember." Jess said turning to the door just as the doctor walked in.

"Ah, I see the patient is awake." Dr. Robertson smiled warmly.

"Yeah." Jess replied.

"So your test results will be in soon. Just relax and try not to let your body feel stressed. The nurse should be in soon."

- - -

Thirty minutes later the nurse walked in with Rory's results. Jess stood up and paced around the room.

"Well?" Jess finally asked, growing impatient.

The nurse looked up at Jess and smiled at his impatience. "It's ok Mr. Mariano. Calm down. Nothing is wrong with her, she'll be fine."

"Well why did she faint then?" Jess demanded an answer.

"Because…"

Cliff hanger!! hahaha! lol Hope you liked it! Please review! I would appreciate it.