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Chapter 8
"Well...that was unexpected..." Tristan said.
"Good unexpected?" Olivia asked nervously.
"There's no complaint from me." He smirked.
Olivia blushed slightly. "I just...well I don't know..." She said.
"Would you like to come in?" He asked.
"We need to get to school." She said.
"We have time." He said.
"Well...ok then." Olivia smiled slightly and she followed him inside.
"Well...that was unexpected..." Jess said.
"Sorry." Rory said nervously.
"You don't need to apologise. It was nice." He said.
"Nice? That's all I get?" Rory raised her eyebrows.
"It was the best kiss I've ever had." He smirked.
"That's meant to make me feel better? You've only ever kissed me!" Rory smirked.
"You're still the best." Jess said. "Want to come in?"
Rory glanced at her watch and saw that she had some time. "Sure." She smiled, slightly nervously.
"Well...that was..." Luke said after a moment.
"Unexpected?" Lorelai smiled nervously.
"Yeah...unexpected." He said, glancing at her. "But good. Really good." He added.
"Yeah?" She said.
"Yeah." He said smiling slightly. "Want some coffee?" He asked.
"I'd love some." Lorelai smiled softly, following him inside. She sat down at the counter just as her cell rang. She checked the ID and groaned, declining the call.
"What is it?" Luke said hearing her groan.
"My mother." She said. "She's not ruining this moment for me."
"So it was a moment?" Luke questioned glancing at her.
"Did I just imagine us kissing?" She joked. "Because I think that was a pretty big moment." She said.
Luke smiled slightly. "No. It was." He said softly.
"I think so too." She smiled softly as her cell rang again. "Can't she leave me alone?" She groaned answering this time. "Hello mother, to what do I owe this pleasure?" She said. Luke glanced up as he heard her tone change. "What? What do you mean collapsed? Where is he? No, I'll be right there! I'll leave right now! Yeah ok, bye!" She said hanging up.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"My dad...he's collapsed or something." Lorelai said still in shock.
"What?" Luke said shocked.
"I don't know. My mom just said he collapsed and that he's been taken to hospital. I need to go. I need to be there. I need to call the girls!" She said dialling another number. "Rory, are you at school yet? What do you mean you're upstairs?" She said hanging up. "Rory!" She called.
Rory and Jess appeared from upstairs. "Mom, what are you doing here?" She said.
"What are you doing here?" Lorelai said. "I thought you'd gone to school."
"I..uh..needed to borrow a book from Jess first." Rory lied. "I was just heading to Chilton now."
"Hon, your Grandpa's in hospital." Lorelai said softly.
"What?" She said her eyes widening. "What do you mean, in hospital? Is he ok?"
"I don't know the details but apparently he collapsed. I'm going to head to the hospital now. I can give you a lift to school on the way if you want." She said.
"No, I'm coming with you." Rory said.
"Hon, you shouldn't miss school. Your Grandpa wouldn't want that." She said.
"I don't care. I'm coming with you." Rory said.
Lorelai glanced at her. She knew her daughters had grown close to their grandparents. "Ok. Where's your sister?"
"I don't know."
"She didn't go with you?"
"No." Rory shook her head.
"We'll call her on the way. I'll drive you. Come on." Luke said.
"What?" Lorelai said surprised.
"You think I'd just abandon you when your dad's in hospital?" Luke said. "I know what it's like, remember?"
"Thank you." Lorelai said softly.
"You get to school ok?" Luke told Jess.
"No way." Jess said.
"Jess..." Luke warned not in the mood to argue.
"You're going to support Lorelai, I'm going to support Rory and Liv." He said.
"Jess..." Luke sighed.
"You taught me to always be there for friends and family. Rory and Liv are both. Come on, Luke. I won't be able to concentrate at school." Jess said.
"Ok. Just this once." Luke said. "Come on."
Jess gave Rory a reassuring smile and followed them.
"Oh my god!" Olivia said as she hung up her phone.
"What?" Tristan said concerned.
"My Grandpa's in hospital!"
"What?" He said shocked.
"I don't know. My mom doesn't know everything but her and Rory are on the way to the hospital now. I need to call a cab. I need to get there!" She said worried.
"You don't need to call a cab." Tristan said.
"What? Yes I do! I need to get to the hospital!" She exclaimed.
"I agree. But I'll take you." He said.
"What? No, Tristan, I can't make you skip school for me." Olivia said.
"Since when do you think I actually attend all my classes anyway?" He joked.
"Tristan..."
"I'll give you a lift and then if you want me to leave, I'll leave. Ok?"
Olivia glanced at him before nodding slowly. "Ok." She said quietly. She blinked back tears as she followed Tristan out. "Tristan, I..." She said tremulously.
"I know." Tristan said softly. "Let's go."
"Ok, we're supposed to follow the blue line, around the corner and then we should be..." Luke trailed off as they reached yet another corridor at the hospital.
"Where's the scarecrow when you need him?" Lorelai said.
"Ok, we have to ask someone else." Luke said.
"No! We just have to pick one." Lorelai said.
"Well we can't just wander around here aimlessly." Luke said.
"Luke, listen to me, somewhere in this hospital are my mother and my father. Now I know I don't get along with them but there has to be some sort of intuition, some sort of blood bond that will somehow lead me to them." Lorelai said.
"Mom..." Rory said.
"That's crazy." Luke said just as they heard voices.
"And that's Emily." Lorelai said and they all walked round the corner and found her arguing with the receptionist. "Mom!"
"You came!" Emily said surprised.
"Of course I came! You called me! How's dad?" She asked.
"That's what I've been trying to find out but this woman keeps pestering me with idiotic questions like 'What's the number of my insurance policy and how long have we had it.'" Emily said.
"I need to get this information." The nurse said.
"You need to get sensitivity training!" Emily snapped.
"Well, what if I fill out this information and you can go find someone who can tell us how my dad is." Lorelai suggested.
"I'm not supposed to..."
"Or, I could go and you can stay here and continue to discuss this with my mother?" Lorelai said.
The nurse glanced at Emily. "I'll go." She said.
"Thank you." Lorelai said turning to her mom. "What happened, mom?"
"I don't know what happened. He was hot and he went to turn down the thermostat and then..." She trailed off seeing Luke, Jess and Rory.
"Rory, why aren't you at school?" She asked.
"I wanted to see Grandpa." Rory said quietly.
"You shouldn't miss school. Lorelai, why would you let her miss school?" Emily frowned.
"I didn't want her to. Mom, you know how close the girls have become to dad. I thought it would be ok. As a one off." Lorelai said.
Emily saw the worried look on her granddaughter's face. "Of course." She said her face softening. She glanced at Luke and Jess. "You brought escorts." She commented.
"It's Luke and Jess, mom. They're friends." She said missing the slightly hurt expression on Luke's face. "Luke offered to give us a lift. Olivia's on her way as well."
"Very well." Emily said.
"Is Dr. Reynolds here?" She asked.
"Yes, Joshua got her a while ago. He was supposed to come back the minute he knew something but he hasn't been back yet." Emily said.
"Well let's go find him."
"You can't find him! You can't find anyone! Everyone just keeps disappearing behind those doors!" Emily exclaimed.
"Well come on, let's go." Lorelai said disappearing through the doors.
"I didn't know you could do that." She said following her daughter.
"I'll wait here." Luke said.
"Me too." Rory said and the three of them sat down.
"You ok?" Jess said softly.
Rory glanced at him. "I don't want him to..."
"He won't." Jess said.
"I was just getting to know him. I don't this to take that away..."
"It won't." Jess said putting his arm round her. "He'll be fine."
"Rory!" Olivia's voice called.
Rory got up when she saw her sister rush in, giving her a hug. "How did you get...Oh...hi..." She said seeing Tristan trailing behind.
"Uh..I bumped into Tristan on the way to school. I was with him when mom called. He offered to drive me." Olivia said.
"Oh, well thanks." She said.
"No problem." Tristan said.
"How's Grandpa? Have you seen him?" Olivia asked.
"No. Mom and Grandma have gone to see if they can find out anymore." Rory said quietly.
"I don't want him to..." Olivia said quietly.
"Me neither." Rory said quietly. She smiled tremulously. "He's strong. He'll be ok."
"I hope so." Olivia blinked back some tears.
"Hey, make sure you tell him that when you see him." Luke spoke for the first time. "People like to hear that you don't want them to die." He smiled softly. "I told my dad that." He admitted.
Rory and Olivia glanced at him. Luke never really spoke about his dad. He had died the year before they had met Luke so they had never met him. "Sorry." Olivia said quietly.
"You don't need to apologise." Luke assured them. "He'll be fine."
They nodded and sat back down to wait for news, Rory next to Jess and Olivia next to Tristan.
Later that morning, they were all still at the hospital waiting for the test results to come back. Lorelai, Olivia and Rory came back with some coffee they had found from a machine and sat back down outside the room where Richard was. "Geez, are you ok?" Lorelai asked Luke, who didn't look too good.
"Yeah, I'm just not big on hospitals you know the smell, people being wheeled by with tubes sticking out of them, you know, drainage, fluids, gaping holes..." He said.
"Ok, listen, why don't you go home?" Lorelai said.
"You want me to go?" Luke asked.
"Well no, but you don't look so good." She said.
"Thanks." He said dryly.
"That's not what I meant. You know you always look good." She said.
"Yeah?" He said smiling slightly.
"I mean you always look...healthy." She said blushing slightly.
"Ok." Luke smirked, enjoying teasing her.
"But you don't look so healthy now. Now you look..."
"Unhealthy?"
Lorelai smiled slightly. "Yes."
"Ok." He chuckled.
"Oh what? So I said you look good. We're not in 5th grade. You look good. Big deal." She blushed. "Stop staring at me." She said.
"How are you holding up?" Jess asked Rory.
"I'm ok." She said. "It was nice to see him. To see he was ok. Well, not ok. You know what I mean."
"I know." He said.
"I'm sorry we didn't get to talk about...earlier..." Rory said quietly.
"It's ok. We can talk later." Jess assured her.
She glanced at him. "I'd like that." She smiled shyly. "I..uh..I talked to Olivia about us."
"Yeah?" He said intrigued.
"Yeah. I wanted to make sure that she was ok before anything potentially happened between us. I needed to make sure she was ok with it." Rory admitted.
"And...what did she say?" Jess asked cautiously.
"That she was happy if I was. If this is what would make us both happy, then why should she stand in the way." Rory said.
Jess glanced over at Olivia who caught his eye for a moment before going back to her conversation with Tristan. "That's sweet." He said.
Rory smiled. "It made me feel a bit better about my decision." She admitted. She glanced at him. "I think we may have something."
"I think it could be something great too." Jess smiled. He glanced around. "But now's not the time. Let's wait until we find out your grandpa's going to be ok."
Rory smiled. "Ok." She said softly. She glanced over at her sister who was smiling at something Tristan had obviously said to her. "I feel like something's going on between those two." She said.
Jess glanced over. "Yeah?"
"I don't know. I could be wrong. But she does spend a lot of time with him and she was coincidentally with him when mom called her this morning." Rory said. She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's twin intuition or something. I just hope she knows what she's doing."
"What do you mean?" Jess frowned.
"I don't know. I just...I never thought she'd go for someone like Tristan. I know she's said he's got this other side to him but I've never seen it." Rory sighed. "I just don't want her to get hurt."
"I'm sure she knows what she's doing." Jess said glancing over at them. "Liv has good judgement. You'll just have to trust her."
"Yeah...I guess..." Rory said.
"So...we didn't get the chance to talk about earlier..." Olivia said, glancing at Tristan.
"We'll talk later. Now, I'm just here for you. Whatever you need." He said.
Olivia smiled softly. "Why are you only like this with me?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" He said.
"You're never this nice to anyone else. Why me?" She said.
"Thought that was obvious." Tristan smirked.
Olivia rolled her eyes. "And there's your cocky side again. Can't you just be genuine for once?"
"I thought I was being." He said. He sighed when she gave him a look. "Ok fine. I like you. Ever since I first saw you at Chilton, I knew you were different." He said.
Olivia glanced at him. "You have quite the rep at school..." She said.
"I know." He said, glancing at her. "But I feel like you might be able to look past that seeing as what happened this morning..." He said.
Olivia blushed slightly. "I don't know. I enjoy spending time with you. I really do. There's just some...things I need to work through." She said glancing over at Jess.
Tristan followed her gaze. "Ok." He said.
"Ok?" She questioned.
"We can take it as slow as you want. You're worth the wait." He said sincerely.
Olivia smiled softly. "I feel like you may be as well..." She said, leaning her head on his shoulder, just as Emily appeared.
"Mom? Is everything ok?" Lorelai asked.
"It was angina." Emily said looking very relieved. "With a change of diet and exercise, Dr Reynolds believes he will be just fine." She told them.
"Oh thank god..." Lorelai said, letting out a breath.
Emily watched as her daughter and both granddaughters sought comfort from their so called respective friends. She saw the closeness between them all and she realised that she really didn't know much about them at all. She smiled softly as her granddaughters came to hug her and she even returned the smile Lorelai sent in her direction. For now, she was just relieved and grateful that Richard was going to be ok.
So I hope you enjoyed it! :) Please keep reviewing as I love reading what you all think! Thanks again for all your support! It really does mean so much to me! :)