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4 hours later

Columbia Presbyterian Hospital

Emergency Room

"Dr. Huntsberger. New patient just transported by NYFD. Work accident, bleeding, laceration to the right extremity." a nurse said handing some paperwork over to Logan, from behind a triage desk.

"What room?"

"Right across the way. Room 19." the nurse answered as Logan took the paperwork and stepped away toward the room.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Huntsberger, are you Lorelai Gilmo . . ." Logan began, entering the room and immediately tearing his eyes away from the paperwork in his hand. "Ace! What happened?!"

"Hey Logan." Rory said sheepishly as a nurse and a couple paramedics finished getting her transferred from the stretcher she had been brought in on.

"When I suggested dinner, I didn't necessarily mean today." Logan joked taking in Rory's blood covered appearance.

"31 year old, work accident with a lot of blood loss due to a laceration of the right extremity." one of the paramedics answered.

"Let's get an IV started." Logan directed the nurse to his left. "Is that laceration packed?" he asked, turning to the paramedic to his right.

"Yes Sir!"

"Do you know about how much blood was lost?" Logan questioned.

"My guess is several units." the paramedic answered, gesturing to Rory who was covered in blood.

"Rory, how are you feeling?"

"Kind of light headed. Nauseous. In a lot of pain."

"We're going to fix that right now. Do you know your blood type?"

"A negative." Rory answered softly, closing her eyes, and tilting her head back against the bed as she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"I'm ordering two units of blood. Do a quick draw so we can determine how much we might need. I'm going to start her on one unit immediately to see how she does. Let's also get her some morphine, and Zofran. I am ordering both x-rays and an MRI, so we can determine how much damage has been done, and whether or not she will need to be taken to surgery. Rory, is your mom still in Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You shouldn't be here alone." Logan told her, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "What is her number? Do you have your phone on you?"

"It's in my purse."

"Your name is Rory?" the nurse asked, as one of the paramedics handed Logan Rory's purse.

"It's Lorelai, but she goes by Rory." Logan answered, reaching into the purse to find Rory's phone. "We went to college together."

"Ok, Rory, I'm going to get this IV started for you." she said as she quickly wiped down the inside of Rory's left arm with some disinfectant.

"Hi, Lorelai?" Logan said into the phone. "Hi, this is Doctor Huntsberger at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. I have Rory with me in the ER. She has a work injury, significant blood loss, and a laceration to the right hand. I'm ordering a blood transfusion, x-rays and an MRI. Can you come? She shouldn't be alone . . . Yes . . . Thank you. We'll see you soon." he said hanging up. "Rory, your mom is on her way. I guess they called her from your office."

"Thank you." Rory said softly as Logan dropped her phone back into her purse, then moved to the computer to enter his orders in.

"Thank you guys for transporting her. You can head out." Logan said looking over to the paramedics, then looking back over to Rory. "Rory, can you tell me what happened?"

"It's stupid." she answered, wincing in pain. "I was setting my coffee cup down, and somehow I knocked over the tool caddy with all of my pens and stuff in it. I stuck out my arm to grab things as they were falling, and I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. My scissors went right through my hand."

"Ouch! I'm ordering you a tetanus shot along with pain meds. When is the last time you ate or drank anything?"

"What time is it? Last time I checked it was around noon. I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning."

"But you've been drinking coffee all day. It's about 1:30 now. You weren't drinking the same coffee as when I saw you this morning, were you?"

"No, I've had a couple more cups since then. And some donuts and a pop tart for breakfast before that."

"I see your diet hasn't changed at all in the last 8 years." Logan chuckled. "Unfortunately for you, you won't be able to eat or drink anything until after your test results come back, just in case I have to send you into surgery."

"Ok." Rory murmered.

"I'm going to put a rush on your pain meds. Veronica, can you stay with her until I get back? I'm worried about her passing out."

"Sure, no problem." the nurse answered as she finished inserting Rory's IV and drawing a couple vials of blood.

"Rory, I will be right back. Veronica is going to stay with you ok?"

"Ok." Rory answered weakly.

"Rory, everything is going to be ok. Doctor Huntsberger is one of our best doctors. He's going to take very good care of you." Veronica said as she watched Logan leave the room. "You went to college together?"

Rory slowly nodded.

"What school did you go to?"

"Yale." Rory answered softly after a brief silence.

"Yale is a great school! What did you study?"

"Journalism . . ."

"Oh, you're a writer then! I was never very good at writing. I mostly got Bs and Cs in English. I just couldn't get into it. Math and science were more of my thing. Are you married? Do you have any kids?"

"No." Rory answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I have a 6 year old son. He's so smart. He loves to read!"

"I have twin Godsons . . . They just turned 8."

"That is awesome! Boys are so fun! Do you see them a lot?"

"I see them a few times a year when I go home."

"Where are you from? I heard Doctor Huntsberger asking if your Mom was in Stars Hollow? Where is that? Is that where you are from?"

"Yeah. It's a tiny little backwards town in Connecticut. About two hours from here."

"Do you like it there?"

"I do. Stars Hollow is the best." Rory murmered, taking a deep breath. "It's like they say on that really old show, Cheers. It's somewhere where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad that you came."

"You talking about Stars Hollow?" Logan asked as he stepped back into the room.

"Yeah." the nurse answered as Rory briefly smiled. "Have you been there?"

"A few times." Logan answered smiling himself. "It's a fascinating little place! Full of character. Literally!"

"You're off your rocker." Rory smirked.

"I think Stars Hollow is fascinating! Is Taylor still running the place?" Logan asked her.

"Until either he dies, or someone assassinates him. Whichever comes first!"

"The town Mayor is this crazy old man in a sweater vest that thinks he runs the place with an iron fist. Everyone in town actually kind of ignores him, and does their own thing. He likes to come up with insane ideas for different town events, and it drives people up the wall." Logan explained to the nurse.

"Especially my Dad. Luke can't stand the guy! They still fight almost daily." Rory added.

"I didn't know Luke was your dad? Lorelai finally got married?" Logan asked.

"A few months ago. It was a huge town event."

"Oh, I can imagine." Logan smirked, briefly chuckling. "And every character in town was there."

"Every single one." Rory smiled, opening her eyes, looking over toward Logan. "It was amazing!"

"Speaking of amazing. You are about to feel a whole lot better. I've got your morphine."

"You're my favorite person right now."

"And you haven't even gotten any drugs yet." Logan laughed as he took a seat on the stool next to Rory's bed, and reached for her IV. "Let's see how you feel in another 5 minutes. Your blood is on its way."

"Thank you Logan." Rory murmured as Logan pressed the contents of the syringe in his hand, into Rory's IV.

"You should be feeling the morphine within the next few seconds. It might feel like you're suffocating for a few seconds as it hits. It's usually an overwhelming warm heaviness in your chest. Let me know once it passes."

Rory squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to focus on breathing as the medication hit her.

"Kind of feels like a heart attack for a few seconds. It'll get better." Logan told her. "Just breathe through it. It's going to knock the pain out. You will be feeling a lot better in about 30 seconds.

Rory slowly started nodding her head, then opened her eyes, inhaling a deep breath.

"Better now?"

"You weren't kidding about the suffocating." Rory answered.

"Morphine is some good stuff. Short acting, but good stuff. I just need to keep you comfortable long enough to get you thru x-rays and an MRI. I've got a rush on everything. I won't put you through any more trauma than absolutely necessary. And I have someone coming down from upstairs to sit with you. You might hate me for it, but I think you'll be grateful for it in the end. I just don't want you left alone until your mom gets here. I don't need you blacking out without anyone here to call me."

"Do you do this for all your patients?"

"Actually I do. Well, I at least have a nurse sit with them. But I saw that there was someone on staff today that you know, so I thought maybe having a friendly face would help you relax."

"Paris . . ." Rory slowly breathed out as the door opened.

"I already instructed her to be nice. I figured you know how to mellow her out way better than I do, but I also know how protective she is over you." Logan explained.

"Gilmore, what in the world have you done now?!" Paris Gellar asked as she walked in the door to Rory's room.

"I totally forgot you work here. I'm so sorry Paris!" Rory whined.

"Are you kidding me?! You wouldn't dare go to another hospital, and risk me finding out!"

"Paris, remember what we talked about . . ." Logan warned.

"Blah blah blah, Doctor Huntsberger is incharge. She's not my patient, just my best friend. I'm only allowed to consult. You suck Huntsberger!"

"Yeah, well, you can just deal with it! I need to go check on some other patients, but I'll be back in a bit. Rory's blood transfusion is on its way. And imaging should be here shortly after for x-rays and an MRI. Maybe if you're nice, I'll let you give Rory her tetanus shot when it gets here."

"Let me?" Paris asked.

"I'll let Rory choose." Logan winked Rory's way. "Rory, hit the call button if Paris gets too overwhelming. Paris, please play nice. I'll be back."

"Bite me Huntsberger!" Paris snapped as Logan left the room, leaving the two friends alone. "So, I hear you got in a fight with a pair of scissors." Paris started, turning toward her best friend.

"And the scissors won." Rory answered, rolling her eyes.

"Way to go Gilmore!" Paris walked back to the door, and pulled it closed, before moving to sit next to Rory on the bed. "So tell me, is this really the first time you are seeing lover boy in the last 8 years?"

"I ran into him at the coffee shop by my office this morning. But yeah."

"For real? You had no idea he was in the city?"

"Apparently either I didn't get the memo, or someone forgot to tell me."

"Oh, I told you. I told you several years ago, you just didn't care."

"Paris, I don't remember that."

"When you were out on the campaign trail, I called and told you that I ran into him at school at Columbia. You just said 'Oh'. You didn't ask any questions, or ask me to pass along a message or anything. I figured if you had any interest in him at all, you would have said something."

"Paris . . ."

"Don't Paris me, Gilmore! I'm telling you the exact same thing that I told Logan several years ago. I will not be your go between! Had I known that you had any interest, I would have given you each other's info years ago. But you just acted like you didn't care, so I dropped it, and moved on with my life."

"How long have you been working together?" Rory asked.

"We had a couple classes together at Columbia, and I helped him study sometimes. I honestly never expected much out of the guy. I actually laughed pretty hard when I ran into him the first time, and he told me that he was studying medicine. Whoever thought that playboy would have any interest in doing something for anybody other than himself?! It still shocks me that he actually made it thru medical school, and then passed his boards. We did our residency together, and I'll never admit this to his face, but that guy is actually a halfway decent doctor."

"Wow! Coming from you Paris, that is as close to a raving review as someone can possibly get. It basically means that he's the best doctor in the state!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here."

"You're a great doctor Paris, and you know that! If I ever get pregnant, I'll be stupid to see anyone other than you."

"And you had better remember that!"

"Thanks for being here Paris. I didn't realize just how hard this was going to be. I feel like an idiot."

"Logan said you were drinking coffee, and knocked your tool caddy over."

"Yeah. I set my cup down, and somehow knocked the caddy off my desk. Then I stupidly tried to catch everything as it fell, and my scissors went through my hand."

"Ouch!"

"You're telling me!"

"Did the paramedics pack that?" Paris asked, looking toward Rory's bandaged up hand.

"Yeah. There is a ton of gauze crammed in there, with medical tape holding it all together. It's probably going to hurt like hell to remove."

"At least you are coherent enough to realize that part is still coming. You would be surprised at the number of idiots that think that they are all fine and dandy just because the paramedics wrapped them up to keep blood from squirting all over the ambulance on the way here."

"Some people's children . . ." Rory laughed.

"For real! Some days I really wonder how certain people even remember to breathe."

"Oh Paris! You will never change!"

"And you love me for it! Oh, you need to come by when you are feeling better. The kids are asking for their Aunt Rory."

"Awww, give them hugs for me, and tell them I love them. Maybe I'll come by one day next week, if that's ok."

"Of course! You have a key. Come by whenever. Doyle is out of town right now, but he should be back in a couple days."

"Where is he this time?"

"Chicago. I told him to bring back some sausage from the Vienna factory out there."

"Score! Party at your house!"

"It won't last very long between the three of us, and the kids." Paris laughed.

"Yeah, well, nothing ever does!"

"How's your mom doing? How is she liking married life?"

"She's great! I've only seen her once since the wedding. I've been too busy to go back to the Hollow."

"Hey, you've got that dream job. Your career is way more important than visiting all those characters back home."

"I know, but I still miss them. Stars Hollow will always be my home. All those loons are my family, just like you, Doyle, and the kids are."

"Well if you ask me, I'm willing to bet that now that you are injured, and your mom is on her way here, she'll either be moving into your apartment for the foreseeable future, or packing you a bag, and carting you off back to the Hollow until you are able to function on your own again."

"You're probably right." Rory agreed as the door opened, and the nurse walked in with a bag of blood.

"Doctor Gellar. It's nice to see you again." the nurse greeted Paris.

"Hi Veronica. I'm glad my best friend has you to take care of her, and not one of those new incompetent nurses that they just hired."

"Oh they aren't so bad. Just new. We all need to start somewhere, right?"

"Sure, somewhere." Paris snorted.

"Rory, I've got your blood transfusion all ready for you, and I've got your tetanus shot as well."

"Here, give me the syringe. I'll administer the shot while you get that bag hooked up." Paris offered, holding her hand out.

"Is that allowed?" Veronica asked.

"Am I a licensed doctor?"

"Well, yeah." Veronica answered nervously.

"With practicing rights at this hospital?"

"Logan said she could." Rory interjected.

"Oh! Well, if Doctor Huntsberger said that it's ok, then that's fine. Thank you Doctor Gellar." Veronica said with a smile, reaching into her pocket and handing the syringe to Paris.

"Please, I shouldn't need permission from a subpar doctor that I helped through medical school, in order to give an ER patient an injection that I give to dozens of my own patients upstairs, every day!"

"Oh Paris! Leave her alone! You heard what Logan said. I really appreciate you being here, but I am his patient right now."

"Only because there is no one better on staff at the moment, so I can't really fire him and move you to someone more equipped to handle the situation."

"Paris, you were just telling me that Logan is one of the best doctors in town!"

"I'll never admit to such nonsense."

"We know Paris. You're a hard ass!"

"Shut your mouth Gilmore. I'm about to stick you with this needle." Paris said as she put some gloves on, and quickly cleaned Rory's arm with a cleansing wipe.

"On second thought, maybe Veronica is right. Maybe we shouldn't trust you with that needle. Ouch!" Rory yelped.

"Keep crying Gilmore, it's all over!" Paris said as she removed the needle, and taking the bandaid Veronica was holding out for her, an placing it over where she injected Rory's arm.

"You're mean Paris! You did that on purpose!"

"Maybe, but you can't prove that!"

"Logan, she traumatized me with a needle!" Rory whined as the door opened, and Logan stepped back into the room.

"Whatever! I can just leave you here, and go right back upstairs to my job while you wait for your mom."

"Oh Paris, you and I both know that you aren't about to do that." Logan told her. "I actually wouldn't be surprised if you hung around after Lorelai gets here, just to make sure that I'm giving Rory care that you approve of."

"Keep talking Huntsberger, and you'll get your wish!"

"Rory, as soon as we get this transfusion done, I'll take you for imaging. I just want to get some blood in you first so we don't risk you blacking out while we're moving you."

"How long do you think it'll be before I can eat something? I'm starving!" Rory asked.

"Probably at least a couple of hours." Logan answered.

"Oh stop pouting Rory. That face won't work on him anymore!" Paris snapped, seeing Rory's pouty puppy dog lip coming out.

"Oh please, Paris, that face never stopped working on me, and she knows it!" Logan laughed. "Ace, I would feed you myself if I could. But it's too risky. If I have to send you into surgery to fix your hand. I don't need you aspirating on the table, and suffocating from your own vomit. What kind of doctor would I be if I allowed that to happen?!"

"Doctor Huntsberger, I hear that Doctor Gellar was complimenting you to Miss Gilmore." Veronica said with a chuckle as Paris suddenly shot her a death glare.

"I would never!" Paris snapped glaring at Veronica, then Logan.

"She called you sub par." Rory told him.

"I'm sure she did. What other lies has the lovely Doctor Gellar been telling you?"

"She called you hot." Rory lied.

"Now we all know that isn't true!" Logan laughed. "Paris would never say something nice about me. It might kill her to try!"

"You're right. Rory agreed. She called you 'halfway decent'."

"Now that I'll believe! Thank you Paris! That is as close to a glowing review as anyone could ever get, coming from you!"

"Don't let it go to your head Huntsberger!"

"Oops! Too late!"