Better In Cones
Chapter 23
The day had finally arrived for Luke and Jess to move into their new house, it had been fully fixed, painted and all the furniture and belongings had been moved in.
Despite major protests from both of the new residents, the Gilmore girls overwhelming influence had won, and they were having a small house warming party, one which Lorelai had organised so now there were people milling around the house all admiring the paint job and other aspects of the house. Jess stood uncomfortably to one side of the room, when Rory caught his eye and made her way over to him.
'You want to get some air?' Rory asked taking his hand, he nodded his head and they walked outside into the yard, sitting on the porch swing.
'Thanks it was getting a little crowded in there.' Jess said looking over at Rory. 'Are you ok? You look pale.'
'Yeah I'm just really tired and I feel a bit sick.' Rory shrugged. 'I probably ate too many brownies.'
'And here was me thinking there was no such thing as too many brownies in the Gilmore's philosophy.' Jess joked.
'Well there's a first time for everything.' Rory smiled as another wave of nausea hit her. 'You mind if we go for a walk, I need to clear my head.'
'Of course.' Jess stood up and took her hand, they walked towards the bridge, through the mostly abandoned town. They made it there and Rory squeezed Jess' hand.
'Jess I don't feel so good.' Rory said pressing her hand to her head.
'Do you want to go back home?' Jess asked concerned as she held her head in her hands, before she could answer she started to sway and fell into the lake. Jess jumped in after her straight away and pulled her back onto the bridge, she wasn't waking up despite not having been under the water for more than ten seconds, he panicked. Checking her pulse and that she was breathing, when he was satisfied that she was still breathing her kissed her forehead.
'I'm going to get help, I'll be right back.' Jess said not wanting to leave her but knowing that everyone was at his house and wouldn't hear him, he took a few steps away before reconsidering and went back to her, bending over her picked her up and carried her back to his house, kicking open the door.
'Lorelai!' Jess shouted loudly, she came running through the house and saw Jess put a soaking wet Rory onto the couch.
'Oh my god what happened?' Lorelai dropped to the floor beside her daughter.
'I don't know, she wasn't feeling well she said she felt sick and asked to go for a walk, we went to the bridge and she just collapsed into the water, I got her out straight away but she won't wake up.' Jess said grabbing the phone and calling for an ambulance.
'Baby wake up.' Lorelai shook her daughter carefully, but Rory just laid there looking lifeless and pale breathing shallowly. 'Did she say anything else?'
'Uh she said she felt sick, and tired and then she was holding her head just before she fell.' Jess replied holding onto Rory's hand tightly.
The ambulance started to be heard and the crowds cleared as Rory was taking off to the hospital, with Lorelai in the ambulance and Jess and Luke following closely behind. Once they got to the hospital Rory was whisked off for some tests while they waited in the waiting room.
'Lorelai are you ok?' Luke asked with concern.
'No, I uh…I have to call my parents.' Lorelai said getting out her phone and dialling the number, her mother picked up on the third rings.
'Hello, Emily Gilmore speaking.'
'Mom?' Tears filled her eyes as she spoke.
'Lorelai? What's wrong?' Emily knew immediately that there was something wrong.
'It's Rory, we're at the hospital she uh collapsed today and she won't wake up.' Lorelai explained.
'What happened? Why did she faint?' Emily asked picking up her purse and holding her hand over the phone. 'Richard!'
'They don't know what happened, they're running all these tests but nobody is telling me anything.' Lorelai replied soon after this they hung up the phone with the promise that Emily and Richard would be there as soon as they could.
'I uh need to tell Chris.' Lorelai leaned against Luke for support as the tears started rolling down her cheeks.
'I'll do that, you just sit here and try and stay calm.' Luke took her phone from her and walked away. Jess just stood by the window looking out across the parking lot, his mind was racing trying to work out if he'd missed anything about how she was really feeling.
'It's not your fault Jess, you couldn't have stopped this.' Lorelai said noticing the look of guilt on his face.
'I should have noticed that it was serious, I shouldn't have let her go on a walk when she said she was ill, I should have taken her home.' Jess shook his head.
'Don't do this to yourself, there was nothing either of us could have done, we got her here as soon as we knew there was anything seriously wrong. She said she felt sick, how were you meant to know it was serious she'd just eaten her body weight in brownies.' Lorelai laughed dryly as the doctor approached them.
'Excuse me Miss Gilmore, I need to speak to you in private if you don't mind.' The Dr smiled kindly at Lorelai.
'Is she ok?' Lorelai asked.
'She's awake, but I really need to discuss these test results with you and your daughter.' The Dr insisted, Lorelai shot a quick look at Jess.
'It's fine I'll wait.' Jess said letting out a sigh of relief that Rory was awake. A few minutes later Jess was almost knocked over by two people calling out for a member of staff to tell them where Rory was, he recognised them from pictures as Rory's grandparents and so he took a deep breath and went up to them.
'Excuse me Mr and Mrs Gilmore?' Jess questioned, Emily turned round and faced him.
'Surely they're not hiring teenagers now, you can't be more than 18.' Emily scoffed.
'I don't work here, I'm Rory's boyfriend.' Jess said seeing their shocked reaction. 'The Dr is talking to Lorelai and Rory at the moment, she's awake now but that's all I know.'
'What's your name?' Emily narrowed her eyes at him.
'Jess.'
'I see.' He didn't like the way she said that but he brushed it off as another man approached who he knew was Rory's father, he was wishing that Luke was here, or even Lorelai.
'Emily, Richard where is she?' Christopher asked in a panic.
'We don't know yet, she's awake apparently and the Dr is talking to her and Lorelai in her room, that what her boyfriend told us.' Emily said saying the word boyfriend as if it were leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
'You're her boyfriend?' Christopher sized up the kid in the leather jacket.
'Yep.' Jess nodded his head.
'The one who's trouble?' Christopher said.
'The one who loves her.' Jess said through gritted teeth.
'I don't like that tone.' Christopher said taking a dislike to him instantly. 'Which room is she in?' Richard asked to diffuse the situation, to him he couldn't see anything so wrong about this boy, whether or not he deserved Rory could be left to another time.
'Mom, Dad, Chris.' Lorelai came out and looked at them all, her eyes were shining with tears, but she still felt sympathy for Jess who had to face all three of them at the same time.'
'How is she?' Emily asked.
'Uh I need to tell you all something.' Lorelai said.
'Can I see her?' Christopher asked, Lorelai shook her head.
'Jess she's asking for you, she's in room 108.' Lorelai said holding back tears. 'Uh she wants to tell you the results herself, but she's asked me to tell everyone else.'
Jess nodded quickly his previous worry for her doubling as he went into her room, Rory's eyes were filled with tears but she managed a small smile as he entered the room.
'Hey how are you?' Jess asked sitting beside her on the bed.
'Not sure.' Rory said honestly. 'Tell me something to take my mind off it.'
'Ok, I just met you grandparents and your dad.' Jess said lacing his fingers with hers.
'I'm sorry about that, I'm happy to see you survived.' Rory said her voice choked with tears.
'So your mom told me you wanted to tell me what the tests said.' Jess said tentatively.
'Yeah I did.' Rory said facing him, 'Promise you'll love me no matter what.'
'I promise.' Jess said honestly.
'Jess…I have cancer.'
A/N- This chapter sort of wrote itself, please review and tell me what you think.