Getting both Jess and Ellie into the car proved to be a feat of endurance and multitasking. She packed up a backpack with a change of clothes for her, Jess, and supplies for Ellie, then got Ellie situated in her stroller. Then, without much memory of it at all, she found herself in the car, Jess dozing feverishly in the back seat next to Ellie's car seat where she babbled drowsily, and they were pulling into the hospital parking lot. It was already getting late when they arrived, and since getting check in, time just seemed to drag on. They sat on the stiff and uncomfortable chairs of the waiting room amongst the other midnight patients with injuries and illnesses of varying severity for what seemed like forever, and Rory was rapidly growing more impatient as they waited for a doctor to call Jess back through the magical swinging doors through which only medical staff and patients were allowed.

"Is this really necessary?" Jess grumbled against Rory's shoulder from the depths of his hoodie.

"Hey, better safe than sorry, babe," Rory said, pushing Ellie's stroller back and forth to keep her asleep.

Jess just groaned, wishing desperately to be back at home in his own bed.

"Drink your Gatorade."

Jess lifted the bottle to his lips and took a reluctant sip.

It ended up being another hour in the waiting room before they finally got called back to triage. Vitals were taken, various bodily fluids were given, and then after a brief listen to Jess's lungs the doctor sent him straight to x-ray, leaving Rory and Ellie alone in the little room.

The air smelled sharp and sterile, and the florescent lights felt especially harsh at the late hour. Rory's stomach was in knots as she repeatedly glanced at her watch, waiting for Jess's return. She chewed on her lower lip, picked at her cuticles, pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail. She felt anxiety coursing through her body, making her hands shake and her muscles tense. She tried pacing the room, taking deep breaths, watching Ellie sleep, but nothing eased the fear. She just wanted Jess to be okay.

After what felt like ages, Jess was finally wheeled back into the room and helped onto the bed. Rory's chest tightened at how pale and frail he looked, how sunken his cheeks were. She turned to the man that had come in with Jess.

"What's the verdict, doc?" she asked with a nervous chuckle.

"I'm just an orderly," he said kindly. "Someone should be in to update you soon, Mrs. Mariano."

Rory offered him a tired but kind smile as he left with the wheelchair, not considering correcting him for a second, especially if the title gave her permissions she wouldn't otherwise get. She wandered over and perched on the edge of the bed, running her fingers through Jess's hair.

"Did you smile pretty for the camera?"

Jess smiled weakly. "You know it," he said before launching into a coughing spree. Rory helped him to a sitting position where he hacked into the crook of his arm for a good thirty seconds. Once the coughing slowed, Rory handed him his drink from earlier.

Jess shuddered as he caught his breath, sipping the cool liquid to sooth his burning throat. He hurt everywhere, his head pounding and abdomen aching more with every coughing fit. The lights in the hospital felt like knives in his eyes and he hadn't stopped sweating ever since Rory dragged him out of bed and into the car, saying that Paris had said they needed to go get him evaluated. He objected the entire time, but as he noticed how worried Rory looked, he started to wonder if he was sicker than he originally thought. Plus, being out of the house made everything feel a hundred times more intense. His lungs itched with every breath, he missed getting to hold his baby, he was overwrought with guilt at making Rory take care of him and leaving Alex alone to handle everything at work.

Lying there in the hospital bed on thin, scratchy sheets, watching Rory out of the corner of his eye as she tried to lull Ellie back to sleep after having woken up from the noise of his coughing, he felt completely and totally worthless.

As Rory's back was turned, Jess wiped away the moisture that had collected in his eyes, hoping to avoid the humiliation that would wash over him if someone noticed. Despite his efforts to calm down, his chin quivered and he squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his palms to his face, willing his emotions to chill the hell out.

His stomach sank when he felt the thin mattress shift next to him as Rory sat down.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Jess just shook his head, not trusting his voice. Plus, he couldn't even really explain what was wrong since he didn't fully understand.

"Something hurt?"

"No," he said, feeling his mouth pull into a frown.

"Do you need something? Should I go get the doctor?"

"Rory."

"Yeah?"

Jess pulled his hands away from his face, feeling embarrassed to his core when he saw the concern and confusion on Rory's face. "I'm fine."

"Jess, you're crying and you're in the hospital, you're obviously not fine," Rory objected.

Jess groaned in frustration. "Fine, maybe I'm not fine, but I don't know why the hell I'm crying, okay?!" he snapped. He felt a wave of regret course through him as Rory's expression hardened.

Rory nodded, standing from her perch on the bed and going back to sit in the chairs across the room.

Jess ran his hands over his face, coughing a little but trying to stifle it.

"I'm just trying to help," Rory said, her voice small.

"I know. I'm sorry," Jess replied as sincerely as his hoarse voice would let him. "I don't know…" He trailed off.

"It's okay, Jess. You're sick, you're bound be a little emotional."

"I don't like it," Jess grumbled.

"No one does," Rory giggled before succumbing to a large yawn.

"Why don't you go get some coffee? No reason we both need to feel like passing out."

"But the doctor—"

"Will be here when you get back. If he's even here by the time you get back, I'm not sure he will be with how long we've already been here."

Rory's body felt heavy with exhaustion, so it didn't take much convincing for her to take Ellie on a little walk in search of caffeine. As soon as she left, Jess slumped down further into the bed, chills coursing through his body. He curled into himself, closing his eyes in a desperate attempt to get some rest.

He was so ready for this to be over.

A knock on the door alerted him to the presence of the on-call doctor of the night and he opened his eyes and forced himself to sit up a little. A tall, slightly portly man in his mid-forties with wire-rimmed glasses and graying hair entered the room.

"Hi, Mr. Mariano?"

Jess nodded, pushing himself to a sitting position.

"Are you here alone?"

"No, my—"

At that moment, Rory and Ellie returned, coffee in hand.

"Oh, hi, are you the doctor? I accidentally called the orderly the doctor earlier. You look pretty doctorly. Do you have news? Can we get out of here soon? No offense but the coffee here sucks." Rory rambled.

The doctor smiled politely. "Unfortunately, no. Mr. Mariano—"

"Jess, please."

"Jess, you are severely dehydrated and have a nasty case of double pneumonia. Alone, those are things we don't want to mess around with, and combined are definitely worrisome. I'm afraid I'm going to have to admit you."

Rory's heart sank. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He should make a full recovery."

"'Should'? What does 'should' mean?" Rory snapped at the doctor.

"Rory—" Jess interrupted.

"No, I want a promise that he's going to be fine!"

"Mrs. Mariano, I promise we are going to do everything we can for your husband. After a few days of IV fluids and a strong antibiotic and steroid cocktail, he should be able to go home. He will be laid up for a while though. I want you all to be prepared – pneumonia really takes a toll on the body and it can take a while to fully recover."

"How long?" Jess asked.

The doctor tilted his head back and forth as if weighing out his options. "It can be as much as a month."

Jess swallowed thickly. "And if I don't have the freedom to take that much time off of work?"

The doctor frowned. "If you absolutely have to go back to work, ease back into it as slowly as possible. But we'll talk more about your transition back to normal life when you eventually get discharged, alright? For now, let's focus on getting you set up in a room."

It was all a blur from there. Before they knew it, they were shown through the twists and turns of the hospital and set up in a personal room and Jess was all hooked up to various tubes and an oxygen cannula which sent Rory's blood running cold when saw it. The hospital staff was very kind and accommodating, bringing in a cot for Rory and a porta-crib for Ellie. Rory had been crossing her fingers that Ellie would stay asleep through the commotion, but the hustle and bustle of medical professionals, the unfamiliar environment, and the transfer from the stroller to the crib made her fussy and she refused to go back to sleep.

At one point, a nurse had come in with a nebulizer treatment for Jess. The machine had been surprisingly loud and Ellie balked at it, crying at a volume that made it seem like she was competing with the medical device, and Rory hurried her out into the hallway where she sat on the floor with Ellie in her lap. She wiped the big tears off her baby's soft cheeks, feeling her own eyes burn.

"It's okay baby girl. I know this is all so scary and loud and different, but we're good, right?" she said, forcing herself to smile.

"Dada?" Ellie whimpered.

Rory blinked hard against the tears that welled in her eyes, quickly wiping them away. "Dada's right in that room, he'll be okay. The doctors are taking good care of him."

Ellie seemed to understand at least the gist of what Rory was saying and laid down on her chest, tucking her head under her mother's chin and holding onto a fold in Rory's sweatshirt like it was a security blanket. One Ellie's breathing evened out and Rory could hear her daughter's tiny snores, she wriggled her phone out of her pocket and dialed a number she'd known for most of her life.

It was answered with a groggy, "hello?"

"Mom?" Rory half said, half sobbed. "How soon can you and Luke get to New York?"

Rory did her best to sleep. She really did. But between worrying about Jess, interruptions from nurses, and the rock-hard mattress, she really only dozed off and on for a few hours. Ellie had woken up when Rory was on the phone but then thankfully conked out in the crib after being fed and showed her around the hospital room and getting to see Jess when Rory told him Luke and Lorelai were coming, and Jess seemed to fall back to sleep almost immediately every time he was woken up to check his vitals, but every time someone came in, Rory felt like she'd only blinked before being startled awake by another nurse. Seriously, weren't sick people supposed to sleep as much as possible? How was it helpful that someone came in to poke and prod at him every hour?

The stress and exhaustion were making Rory incredibly irritable. Everything made her irrationally angry and it took everything in her to not snap at the hospital staff just doing their jobs. The thought of having to stay here for multiple days was beyond overwhelming and she had to do her best to just take each moment as it came. Otherwise, she was pretty sure she'd end up having some kind of breakdown, and she needed to keep herself together.

When the sun started peeking through the thin curtains, Rory finally gave up on sleep and slipped into the ensuite bathroom to try and freshen up as much as one could in a tiny sink. She went to the bathroom and as she was washing her hands she looked up into the mirror, her reflection catching her by surprise; yesterday's makeup made the purple circles under her eyes seem even more dramatic, her hair was frizzy and knotted, and she had formed what appeared to be a permanent worry line between her eyebrows. She manually relaxed the muscles in her forehead, but a faint line remained. Great. She rolled her eyes. Just something for her grandmother to single out.

Emily had started doing that recently. They didn't get to Hartford often, but they made sure to see Emily and Richard any time they went to Connecticut, and every time without fail, Rory's grandmother would voice outrageous concern about something to do with Rory's appearance. Her hair was too flat or too dull or too frizzy. She looked tired. Too thin. Not thin enough. That color didn't look right with her skin tone. Those shoes aren't flattering for her calves. Rory chalked it up to Emily picking up on how Rory's body had changed with motherhood – which Rory had totally come to terms with, she loved the body that created her daughter – but she was starting to develop some serious empathy for Lorelai.

Rory did her best to rinse off her face and tame her hair into a ponytail before exiting the bathroom. A nurse was present, taking Jess's temperature and listening to his lungs.

"How's our patient doing today?" Rory asked the nurse who, according to her name tag, was named Sarah.

"Fever went down a little."

"Good!" Rory said excitedly. "That's good, right?"

"Right," the nurse said with a smile. "And he seems to be far less dehydrated than he was last night."

Rory felt the knot of worry in her chest loosen the tiniest bit.

"The patient is currently being made very aware of his hydration, so if I could…" Jess said, gesturing vaguely toward the bathroom.

"Oh, sorry, yes, let me help you out with all this tubes so you don't get tied up."

After figuring out how to walk with his IV stand, Jess shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

"How is he really?" Rory asked quietly.

Sarah gave Rory an understanding look. "He's about where we want him. It's gonna take a little while for the steroids and antibiotics to kick in, so do your best to be patient."

Rory nodded. "I've just… I've known him since we were seventeen. I've never seen him sick, especially not like this, but then our daughter had a bug…"

"How old's your daughter?"

"A year next month."

Sarah smiled. "Congratulations. Babies her age are serious germ carriers, so it doesn't surprise me that she passed it along."

"How come I'm not sick though?"

"Are you breastfeeding?"

Rory nodded.

"Research shows it can help boost your immune system."

"Oh, yeah, makes sense…" Rory mumbled, stifling a yawn.

Sarah looked on in compassion. "Do you have any kind of support system around?"

"Not close, but my mom and Jess's uncle are on their way from Connecticut. Or would be once they figured out some work stuff. My mom's inn had a big function today and Luke – that's Jess's uncle – had a big delivery at his diner that he had to organize with Caeser, and then they'd be on the road."

"Together?"

"Oh, yeah, funny story, they're married."

Rory saw something like confusion and concern flash past Sarah's eyes. "But it's not like – Jess and I weren't raised together. I grew up in the same town as Luke and he was our friend and our coffee guy, and then Jess came to Stars Hollow in high school and we dated, but then we broke up, and while we were broken up my mom and Luke started dating, and then they got engaged and that's when Jess and I kind of found our way back to each other, and then yeah, wedding for them, and then Ellie was a bit of a surprise – that's our daughter, Ellie – and—" Rory stopped herself, her cheeks hot. "It's not weird, I promise."

Sarah laughed. "Don't worry, I've heard weirder."

"Seriously?"

"I can't share, but yes."

"Officially intrigued," Rory laughed. "Hey, is it safe for Jess to have visitors? Like, in terms of contagion?"

"Yeah, they should just keep their physical distance. No hugs or anything, but the room has a special pressurized air system to help with filtration of bacteria and such and the antibiotics should kick in soon."

Rory smiled and nodded. They were then interrupted by the bathroom door opening and Jess struggling to push it open and wheel his IV pole out with him. As Sarah helped Jess get settled back in his bed, Rory's phone started ringing across the room. She rushed to answer it before it woke Ellie up.

"Hello?"

"Rory, finally, thank God," came Lorelai's voice, harried and frazzled.

"What do you mean, 'finally'?" Rory chuckled. "You just called."

"I mean, this hospital is a maze and I finally have hope of finding wherever the hell you are."

"Where are you? I can try to give you directions."

"A hallway somewhere? I don't know."

Rory rolled her eyes and heard Luke grumbling in the background. "Mom, give the phone to Luke."

There was a shuffle over the phone. "Hi, Rory."

"Luke, can you give me any idea as to where you are?"

Luke gave a much more thorough description of his and Lorelai's whereabouts and Rory was able to give them some general directions to where they were along with Jess's room number. After ending the call, Rory peeked into Ellie's crib and found her still sleeping soundly, her little hands all splayed out on the mattress next to either side of her head. Rory just stood and watched for a second, trying to absorb some of the peace Ellie seemed to be basking in. It kind of worked, taking a moment to just watch her baby sleep and breathe with her.

When she turned around, she found that Sarah had gone, and Jess was back in his bed dozing a little. Rory crossed the room as quietly as possible and slipped onto the mattress beside him.

"Don't," Jess mumbled hoarsely. "You'll get sick."

"I have a feeling I'd be sick already. Plus you're on antibiotics now, you're not contagious anymore."

"I don't think it works that quickly," Jess said with a hint of a smirk.

"Don't care. Miss hugging my man," Rory said, tucking herself into his side.

Jess huffed a wheezy laugh against Rory's hair which, in turn, irritated his lungs and he had to turn away before he coughed all over Rory's head. Rory hopped off of the bed and reached for his water cup. She tried handing it to him but was waved away as Jess continued hacking into his arm. Rory hated how helpless she felt, how little she could do to make anything better. Deep down she knew he'd be fine eventually, it just sucked watching him suffer in the meantime.

The coughing fit unfortunately woke Ellie up quite rudely and the hospital room was suddenly full of noise. Jess hacking his lungs out on one side and Ellie crying at the top of her lungs on the other. Rory quickly lifted Ellie out of the crib and tried to calm her, shushing her softly and rubbing firm circles on her back.

As the chaos continued, a quick knock sounded from the door before it was opened. Lorelai's head popped in, looking concerned.

"Wow, sounds like a party in here."

"Oh, yeah, welcome to the revelry," Rory said with a weak chuckle as Ellie finally started to calm. "Keep your distance from sicko over there but you guys can come in. I need to go change Ellie but I'll be right back." Rory hoisted Ellie up on her hip, slung the diaper bag over the opposite shoulder, and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Lorelai watched with a look of admiration on her face before turning to Jess. "So, how're the lungs?"

"Been better."

"Seriously, kid, how are you?" Luke asked, voice laden with concern.

"They got me on the good drugs to kick this infection so apart from the moments where it feels like I'm going to cough my lungs up and out of my mouth, I'm okay."

"Wow, so didn't need that visual," Lorelai said with a grimace.

"Try living it."

"I'll take your word for it."

The trio fell into a semi-awkward silence.

"You guys don't have to just stand around, you can sit down," Jess said, gesturing at the stiff hospital chairs across the room.

"Right, right…" Luke said with a short nod. Still, nobody moved.

The silence was interrupted by Rory exiting the bathroom with Ellie who was now happy and giggling.

"There's my girl!" Lorelai said, reaching out to take Ellie from Rory.

"I thought I was your girl?" Rory laughed.

"Yeah, well, then you popped this one out. You've been replaced. Sorry kid."

Rory shook her head and chuckled, turning to the other guest in the room. "Hey, Luke, thanks for coming."

"Of course," Luke said with a small smile.

"How long are you guys gonna be here do you think?" Rory asked, trying not to let her nerves affect her voice. Secretly and selfishly she was hoping they'd be able to stay for a couple days. For what, she wasn't quite sure. But having some kind of support helped her feel a little less stressed.

"As long as you need us, kid," Lorelai said with a smile. "We may have to make trips to the Hollow here and there for work, but we'll do our best to help out."

Rory had to swallow past the lump in her throat before she could try talking again. "Thank you," she said, muscles melting with relief.

Just then, another new nurse knocked and entered the room, this one's nametag reading Fern. "Whoa, hey there, full house!" she said in a thick southern accent. "It's time for Mr. Mariano's breathing treatment. Now, y'all are welcome to stay, but it is pretty loud so I don't know if you'll want to."

Rory took Ellie from Lorelai and tucked her into her stroller with a toy. "Let's head down to the cafeteria, Ellie hates the noise and I need breakfast. Need anything, babe?" she asked as she turned to Jess who was having a plastic mask fitted over his nose and mouth. He shook his head and smiled at Rory, already looking tired even though he'd only been awake less than an hour. Rory offered him a weak but loving smile, mouthing I love you before stepping out of the room and entrusting the medical staff with Jess's care.

A/N: Look at me posting on time! What a concept! Sorry this one's a little shorter than the others and not a ton happened, don't worry, plenty more coming soon. Thank you for reading and reviewing!