Thought I'd treat you to one last chapter since you've all been so lovely before I'm away for a week. :) Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 17

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Luke Danes and April Nardini! Do you know where they are? Are they ok?" Lorelai asked frantically as they reached the front desk at the hospital where they had been taken to.

"Are you family?" The receptionist asked.

"I'm his fiancee." Lorelai said. "Do you know if they're ok?"

"I'm sorry but I can't enclose any information if you're not family." The receptionist said sympathetically.

"What? But I'm getting married to him in like a month! We're basically family!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"I'm sorry but it's hospital policy." The receptionist said.

"Please!" Lorelai begged.

"Mom, look." Rory interrupted her.

"What?" Lorelai turned to her daughter.

"Jess." Rory said nodding towards the seating area where Jess was sat, hunched over, his head in his hands.

The three of them, Lorelai, Rory and Tristan all headed towards Jess. "Jess?" Lorelai said.

Jess looked up. "Hey.." He said gruffly.

"They called you too?" Lorelai asked.

Jess just nodded.

"Have they told you anything?" Rory asked, concerned about Jess' demeanour. It wasn't like him at all. She had never seen Jess like this.

"Um..not about Luke..." He said quietly. "April's ok, I think. Sprained or fractured wrist or arm or something. I think they're checking her over and then we can see her. I'm sorry, I kind of wasn't all there when they were talking to me." He said rubbing his hands through his hair.

"They didn't say anything about Luke?" Lorelai asked worried.

Jess shook his head. "They didn't really know much but I think...uh...I think he bore the brunt of the crash." He said quietly.

"Oh god..." Lorelai said trying to blink back tears.

Rory sat down next to Jess. "Are you ok?" She asked softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine." Jess said gruffly.

"Hey Lorelai, why don't we go find some coffee or something? It looks like we're going to have to wait a while before we find out something." Tristan said sensing that Jess might want some space.

"Yeah...uh...ok..." Lorelai said quietly, walking off with him.

Rory gave Tristan a grateful smile before turning back to Jess. "Are you really ok? Or are you just saying that?" She said softly.

"Were you scared?" He asked.

"What?" Rory asked confused.

"When we got into the accident and you had to come to the hospital, were you scared?" Jess asked quietly.

"Oh..uh..a little but not much. I knew I didn't have a serious injury." She said.

"I should have come with you." Jess said gruffly.

"Jess..." Rory said softly.

He rubbed his hands through his hair again. "I keep thinking about how scared April must have been coming here. She obviously saw Luke and considering the doctors won't tell us anything, it must have been bad. They say she's ok but she must have been scared. And it just...it just made me think about our accident. I should have come with you to the hospital." He said quietly.

"Jess.." Rory said softly. "You stayed with me until the ambulance came. You made sure I was ok before they took me. That was enough. I never blamed you. For not coming to the hospital or for the accident. I never blamed you." She reassured him.

Jess looked across at her. "I never apologised for it. For the accident. I'm sorry."

"And like I said then and just now, it wasn't your fault. It was an accident. You don't need to apologise." Rory assured him.

"I'm scared now." Jess admitted.

Rory sighed. "Luke's strong. He'll be fine." She said, trying to convince herself as well as Jess.

"I can't lose him." Jess said. "I know I never tell him this but he..he means a lot to me."

"I know he does." Rory said softly. "And he does know."

"He asked me if I would be his best man." He said.

"He did?" Rory smiled.

"Yeah." Jess said giving him a small smile.

"Well I can't think of anyone better to do it." She said.

"Yeah." Jess said. "If I actually get to do it..." He added quietly.

Rory glanced at him and sighed. She'd never seen Jess like this before. He looked really shaken. "Hey, give me your phone." She said.

"What?" Jess asked confused.

"Just trust me." Rory smiled.

Jess looked at her for a moment but then got out his phone from his pocket and gave it to her.

"I'll be back in a minute." Rory said getting up and heading outside the hospital for a moment. She scrolled through Jess' contacts and found the name she was looking for. She took a deep breath before calling the number.

"Hey!" A female voice answered chirpily.

"Oh hi..uh..is this Hayley?" Rory asked.

"Yeah. Who is this?" Hayley asked confused.

"Uh..it's Rory. Rory Gilmore." Rory said nervously. There was a silence on the other side of the phone. "Ok I take by that silence that Jess has told you about me."

"That you dated? Yeah..." Hayley said just as nervously. "Uh..why do you have Jess' phone?"

"I know this is awkward.." Rory laughed nervously. "But I promise you that you have nothing to worry about with Jess and me. It's in the past."

"Ok.." Hayley said awkwardly.

Rory sighed. "Look, Luke and his daughter's been in a car accident. We don't know much but it's looking like Luke's not in great shape and Jess isn't coping so well. I thought...well he'd probably kill me if he knew what I was doing...but I was wondering if maybe you could get here? I think he'd probably appreciate you being here." She said.

"Oh god! Absolutely! What hospital are you at?" Hayley said quickly.

"Pennsylvania Hospital." Rory said.

"I'll leave now." She promised.

"Ok. Good." Rory said. "Uh..so I guess I'll see you soon."

"Yeah." Hayley said. She was quiet for a moment. "Hey Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for calling." She said.

Rory smiled. "Jess needs you." She said softly. "See you soon."

"Bye." Hayley smiled.

Rory let out a breath she was holding and then headed back inside. She saw that Lorelai and Tristan had returned from getting coffee and they were talking to a doctor. She saw the the doctor leave so she walked up to them. "Hey, any more news?" She asked.

"April's ok. She's sprained her wrist and has to wear a cast for a few weeks but other than that, she's ok." Lorelai said.

"And..Luke?" Rory asked hesitantly.

"He's in surgery." Lorelai said quietly, her voice shaking a bit.

"Is he ok? What's he in surgery for?" Rory asked.

"They didn't really say much. Just that he was in surgery and they'd come and tell us when he was out." Lorelai said.

"Oh. Ok." Rory said.

"I should call Anna." Lorelai said quietly.

"What?" Rory asked surprised.

"The hospital won't have known to call her and she deserves to know. I'd want to know if you were in hospital even if I was across the other side of the world." Lorelai said.

"Yeah. Are you ok calling her?" Rory asked knowing what Lorelai's history with Anna was like.

"I'll be fine." Lorelai asked.

"Ok well..." Rory said but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Lorelai! Rory!" April called.

They turned to see her rushing towards them.

"April! Oh thank god!" Lorelai said relieved, giving her soon to be step-daughter a hug, being careful to not knock her cast. "Are you ok?"

"I think so." April said quietly. "Where's dad? Have you seen him?"

"Uh no, not yet." Lorelai said quietly.

"Is he...dead?" April asked, her voice shaking and her eyes brimming with tears.

"Oh no, sweetie, no." Lorelai said giving her a hug again. "He's in surgery, the doctor said."

"He wasn't moving. I tried to wake him up but he wouldn't." April sniffed.

They led her to a seat where Lorelai sat down next to her and Rory on the other side, then Tristan and Jess next to them. "What happened? Can you remember?" Lorelai asked softly.

"He was driving so carefully." April said. "We were listening to music and laughing and then suddenly we saw headlights coming towards us. I don't know why it was driving in the wrong direction but it was and dad tried to swerve but it was too late and the car crashed into dad's side of the car. Someone must have called for an ambulance because I heard sirens pretty quickly. I tried waking dad but he wouldn't wake up." She sniffed. She looked up at Lorelai. "He will be ok, won't he?"

"Oh honey..." Lorelai said bring her into a hug again. She felt tears prick her eyes as she knew it didn't sound good for Luke. She had to stay strong for April though. "Your dad's the strongest man I know. He'll get through this, I promise."

"I can't lose him." April said finally giving in to her emotions, crying into Lorelai's shoulder. "Not when I've just gotten to know him. I can't lose him."

"You won't." Lorelai said quietly. "We won't lose him."


The five of them had been sat there for about an hour. Lorelai had made a call to Anna. It had started awkwardly but it ended on a civil note and Anna had actually thanked Lorelai for calling her.

"Jess..." A female voice said.

Rory looked up as did Jess. "Hayley?" Jess said surprised. "How did you...?" He said but then it clicked when he saw Rory looking guilty. "You called her?" He asked surprised.

"Busted." Rory smiled sheepishly.

"You called her?" He repeated.

"I thought you looked like you might need her. I know I feel better having support." She said sending Tristan a small smile who squeezed her hand in response. "I'm sorry...I just thought you might like her there."

Jess gave her a small smile. "Thanks." He said quietly.

Rory smiled as she watched Jess go over to Hayley and hug each other.

Suddenly a doctor came over to them. "Are you family of Mr Danes?" He asked.

Everyone stood up immediately and Jess and Hayley joined them. "Is he ok?" Lorelai asked worried.

"Mr Danes had some internal bleeding but we managed to stop that and it was stabilized. He has a broken shoulder which will need to be put in a sling for six weeks and will be painful for a while but we can give him painkillers to help with that. Other than that he has some minor scratches and bruises but he should make a full recovery." He said.

"Oh thank god!" Lorelai exhaled a breath. She saw the doctor hesitate though. "What is it? Is there more?"

"Well the thing is, Mr Danes hasn't woken up yet." The doctor said. "We did some scans and they were all clear so it's probably just a matter of time but I wanted to warn you." He said.

"But he will be ok right? He'll wake up?" April asked.

"We're fairly certain he will make a full recovery but in these circumstances we refrain from making any promises." He said. "You all may see him now though. He's in room 201 so you can head over there when you're ready." He smiled sympathetically at him.

Rory saw April's concerned face. "He'll wake up." She assured him. "Won't he?" She nudged her mom.

"What?" Lorelai said coming out of her daze. She had been so happy when she'd heard the doctor say Luke should make a full recovery but her heart dropped when she found out he was still unconscious. Is that normal? She turned and saw April's face and tried to regain composure and forced a smile on her face. "Of course. He'll be up before you know it, nagging you about homework and telling me not to drink so much coffee." She joked.

April gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Let's go see him." Jess said. "Come on cuz, he'll want to see you when he wakes up." He said giving her a small smile.

Tristan and Rory started to follow Jess, Hayley and April when Rory realised her mom was still standing in the same spot. "Mom? Are you coming?" She asked softly.

"Uh..yeah..in a minute." Lorelai said quietly.

"Are you ok?" Rory asked.

"Yeah..I just...I need a minute." Lorelai said wiping a stray tear that fell down her face.

Rory nodded understanding. She went over and hugged her. "He'll wake up and you'll be married before you know it. He'll be fine." She said softly.

Lorelai let out a shaky breath. "Thanks hon." She said quietly.

"Come when you're ready." Rory said giving her a small smile.

Lorelai nodded and watched her daughter take hold of Tristan's hand and head off down the corridor. She hoped her daughter was right. She really did.

So there's the next chapter done! Hope you liked it! Please keep your reviews coming as I really love reading your comments. I really do appreciate your continued support so thank you! :)