Rory was normally not happy about Saturday lectures. But when scheduling forces it, sometimes it's just a reality. Considering the lecture was one for the class her Grandpa was giving she was quicker to forgive it. She was surprised at how good of a teacher he was, she was never really interested in economics before, but he was making it fun. She took her usual seat, smiled when her Grandpa winked at her, and began taking notes.
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Emily was enjoying a nice brunch with some of the ladies in her Bridge Club. They were chatting about grandchildren and how they wanted to take advantage of the meals at the club before they started charging for food.
"Oh Emily," Joan Montgomery said, "My daughter sent James and I to a lovely Inn for our anniversary."
"Well that's nice."
"It was the Dragonfly Inn. Emily, the place is incredible! The food was to die for, the room was gorgeous, and the town was adorable."
Emily smiled and nodded, "Yes, Lorelai built a beautiful destination in that little town. I'm very proud of her."
"You should be!" Joan nodded. "She was there and such a doll. It was so clear that she's YOUR daughter."
"What does that mean?" Emily asked.
"Well, she had everything under control, people kept coming up to her with questions or problems and she solved them all so diplomatically. I could see a lesser person being frazzled by the job. She was clearly the boss, but so poised and friendly. Honestly Em, it was like looking at you just a few years younger."
Emily smiled and blushed from the compliment, "Yes, just a few years," she joked as she took a sip of her mimosa. "Well thank you for such a lovely compliment. I will let Lorelai know how much you enjoyed the stay."
"Isn't that Logan Huntzberger?" one of the other women asked.
Emily turned to see Logan approaching their table. She stood to greet him when she noticed his concerned face. "Hello Logan."
"Hi Emily. Rory sent me, Richard collapsed in class. She's at the hospital but couldn't get ahold of you."
Emily went white and Logan watched the terror on her face quickly fade to rage, "This damn club and their no phones, rule!"
"Well, I took a taxi here," Logan told her as he began to lead her to the door. "I can drive you in your car if you want to go grab your things."
"Thank you, Dear. I'll just be a moment, I'll meet you at the front door."
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Rory's phone rang, she answered it without checking who was calling.
"Hello?"
"Hey Kid, how are you doing?"
"I've been better, Mom." Rory sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm in the hospital. Grandpa collapsed in class! I just got out of the ambulance and was going to call you."
"What?! No! Please tell me you are at Saint Francis."
"Yes! I'm in the ER waiting room."
"Okay, I'm stepping into the elevator now, I'll be there in a second!"
"I love you, Mom."
"Love you too."
When Lorelai reached the waiting room, Rory was with Emily and Logan. Rory ran into Lorelai's arms, "Mom!"
"What happened?" Lorelai asked,
Rory explained to Lorelai about Richard collapsing in class, the ambulance ride, and how the club doesn't allow cell phones so she had to send Logan to find Emily. She finally exhaled and asked. "How's Luke?"
Just then a doctor approached them, "Are you the family of Richard Gilmore?" he asked.
"I'm his wife," Emily's voice shook slightly so Lorelai placed her hand on her mother's back for support. Emily reached down and took Lorelai's other hand.
"Mrs. Gilmore, I'm Dr. Goldstien, The blockage is worse than we'd hoped. I think the best course of action - really the only course of action - is to do an emergency bypass surgery."
"Surgery," Lorelai gasped.
"We'd like to go into surgery as soon as possible. So now would be the time if you'd like to visit him."
Rory jumped in, "Yes, yeah, we'd like to see him."
Dr. Goldstein nodded and indicated they should follow him, "Feel free to ask me any questions you might have."
Emily, who was on his heels, used that opening to fire questions at him causing Rory and Lorelai to smile at each other.
A little while later, after joking with Richard in his room about rather being in Philadelphia, crooners and teasing Emily a little bit, the three Gilmore girls were in the cardiac care waiting room. Lorelai's face lit up when she heard some familiar voices.
"We should have asked that nurse!" Sookie whined.
"It's a heart thing, they are going to be in the cardiac unit. I know what I'm doing!" Babette insisted.
"You two should both quiet down, we're in a hospital" Patty insisted in a hushed voice.
"Hey, you guys." Lorelai waved.
The trio rushed to her carrying bags and containers of food. The women hugged Lorelai and Rory and Patty even got Emily.
Sookie placed some containers, paper plates and cutlery on the table. "You all must be starving, please eat something. And I'm taking orders if you want something else for dinner. Now you eat, I'm taking some of this to Luke, Lorelai, what room is he in."
"I'll come with you," Lorelai said. "I've been gone so long, I want to check in on him." She turned to Rory, "I'll be back soon. I have my phone. If anything changes, call me."
"I will. Give Luke a hug from me."
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"You have to tell the police!" Liz urged.
"Rory's grandfather had a heart attack in front of her. How do you think she's going to feel when she finds out her father hit me with his car?!" He took a breath and lowered his voice, "Especially if I don't know if it was an accident or not."
"That's why you have to tell the police! I know you love Lorelai and Rory, I do too. But this is bigger than that. If it wasn't an accident you have to tell the police. If he is capable of this what else would he do? What if he comes after Lorelai next?"
Luke went white, he never even thought of that. The idea of violence towards a woman was so foreign to him that he didn't even think of it. Of course Liz did, she knows about that all too well from one of the scumbags she used to date. "Okay," he said softly, "Call the police."
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Rory looked around, Logan had gone to do some chores for Emily, Lorelai had gone up to check on Luke, and Emily was distracted by Babette and Patty. She got up quietly and pulled out her phone. She knew there was drama with her father, but he always liked Richard and Emily, and he was still family. She took a deep breath and called him.
"Rory?" Chris answered nervously.
"Hey Dad. Look I know you and Mom got into it last night, but something bad happened and we're at the hospital. Can you come?"
"Kid, I'm at the Atlanta airport."
"What? Why?" Rory asked incredulously.
"Your Mom and I -"
"I know about that! I know about your lie! I thought you might hang around to try to explain things to me or to apologize to Mom."
"Why are you in the hospital?"
"Grandpa had a heart attack. In class. In front of me, I watched him collapse! But you know what? I don't know why I'm calling you. It's not like you've even been there for us when we've needed you. Only when you want Mom!"
"Rory, please. I love you."
"Right, let me guess, you're in Atlanta to catch a flight to Paris to be a Dad to Gigi. Right?"
"I thought some time away from you guys would be good. I can get on the next flight to Hartford and -"
"Don't! Just go to France and stay there. Luke was right, he's always been more of a Dad to me than you ever were."