Chapter II

For the tenth time, Rory wonders when Jess is coming. He must have gotten held up with the police. He wouldn't bail, not after what happened tonight. She is walking back from the X-ray room, where she had spent an extra hour and a half just to receive information she already had. Her mom had insisted, and Rory had no energy to put up a fight about it. Suddenly, the accompanying nurse nudges her gently to the side of the hallway. A bed comes rolling around the corner, dashing through the corridor, three people clinging to its rail like sailors on the side of a ship. The nurse had heard its wheels long before Rory had, with the auditory alertness of a cat, trained to know when a hurdling mattress is coming her way.

Rory stares in horror as Jess's body approaches her on the bed, nose and mouth covered by an oxygen mask. He is unconscious with dark circles around his eyes and laid out on the cart like an overworked animal on a farmer's wagon. Exhausted, that's the word that comes to her head to describe him. Exhausted. Rory kicks herself for noting that he is shirtless, and little patches skip around his toned torso, sprouting a maze of tubes. The patches seem randomly placed, though Rory knows they aren't.

She manages to push his name out of her mouth as the bed passes by, though he obviously can't hear her. "Jess?"

Luke walks several feet behind the entourage, pacing faster than he does during a Saturday lunch rush in June. He doesn't seem to recognize her when he goes by, though he looks right at her, and all Rory sees in his blue eyes is worry. Abandoning the nurse, she whips around to follow him, to follow Jess.

"Luke!" she calls, almost jogging to keep up with him. "What happened? What happened to Jess?"

"Oh, Rory. Thank god you're okay. How's your wrist?" He pants out, and his tone is concerned, not evasive. Nevertheless, it is not what Rory wants to hear.

"To hell with my wrist!" She all but screams, earning a brief shocked side glance from Luke. "What happened to Jess?"

Rory feels like she is hyperventilating, or maybe about to cry. She tries to hold it in as Luke stops walking, lightly touching her arm to halt her stride. He says earnestly, "You tell me. Your mother was screaming at me about the accident, but I didn't expect this. Next thing I know, I find him on the bridge choking on nothing but air."

She shakes her head, fear slithering up her spine, its scales rubbing anxiety into her pores. "I- I don't know. He seemed okay. Said he was fine. Twice."

Luke sighs and takes off again, trying to make up ground after the slight delay. Rory follows and hears him muttering to himself. "Dumbass. Smoking on a bridge then can't even breathe right. All those self-help books. All the patches. Waste of—"

"Luke! I'm sorry I don't know what happened. I closed my eyes when we crashed. I'm so sorry!" Rory cries, struggling to keep up as her vision blurs with even more tears. As if she hadn't shed enough earlier in front of Jess, so many that she did not even realize he was hurt. Why didn't he tell her? Why didn't he let the paramedic check him for injuries? Rory knows the answer to both questions, but she doesn't want to let the thought run across her mind. She hadn't asked him, she realizes. He'd asked in the car if she was alright, and she'd answered without returning his question. He had to have been in pain then too. Luke is right. Dumbass.

Luke replies with tenderness and patience, "It's okay. I'll know soon enough."

"Rory, there you are!" At the sound of her mother's voice, Rory turns around and Luke stops next to her. Lorelai is rushing down the hall with, "The nurse said you ran off. Oh, Luke, what are you—"

Luke cuts her off as he backs away with a pointed finger, "I don't want to hear it."

"But, Luke –" she begins but he continues down the hall, yelling over his shoulder, "Lay off!"

Lorelai watches his retreating form, allowed her lips to part in shock. What the…? A few seconds later, she hears his booming voice echo down the hospital corridor. "What do you mean, wait here?! I want to see my nephew! At least tell me he's breathing! What kind of establishment is this?! Don't tell me to calm down…"

She does not know if Luke is speaking softer, they are dragging him away, or her subconscious is filtering out his voice so she doesn't have to hear his panic. Any which way, his shouts fade away and she's left with her daughter and the silence. She finally turns her head to look at Rory.

"You said he was fine," she states simply, unsure what to think, doubting how she feels. It had been easier to lay blame when her daughter was hurt and he was fine. When her Rory was on an examination table with a prescription for pain medication, while the town prankster was flaking out, as per usual. When she had to rush to the hospital and Luke did not need to worry at all. It had been much easier.

A couple hours ago, when Rory was leaving to go to the X-ray room, she gazed sorrowfully down the hall. When Lorelai asked what was wrong, she said she was looking for Jess because he'd said he'd be there soon. That ticked Lorelai off more than anything, ignited her huntress's vigor more than all the sarcastic comments and pointed glances. No one lied to her baby, and not about something like this. She couldn't think of anything else he could possibly be doing other than kneeling at Rory's side to beg her forgiveness. Internally drowning three feet above water had not occurred to her.

Rory responds, "I thought he was fine. He said he was fine… He just wanted them to take care of me."

Lorelai doubts her words, but for the first time, she chooses to believe what her daughter says about him. He could drive away every other person in this town, but Rory is still his friend. He has not driven her away yet, and her daughter is a smart young girl with a strong sense of character. That has to mean something.

While Lorelai is reasoning through this, she does not notice that Rory had begun to cry. Lorelai snaps out of her thoughts and opens her arms, which are fallen into gratefully. She comforts, "They'll take care of him now too. Everything will be okay."

Rory pulls away and exclaims, "That's what he said after the accident, and now everything isn't okay. In fact, it's rather the opposite of okay! This is horrible, and it's my fault!"

Lorelai takes her hand. "No, sweetie, it's not. Don't blame yourself."

Rory breaks away from her mother with her brow furrowed into a mountain's peak. "Why shouldn't I? I'm terrible! And irresponsible! And selfish! Yet everyone is going to blame Jess no matter what I say, especially you!"

Lorelai steps back with the force of the last two words, but her daughter isn't finished. Rory continues with her rant, "I told him to keep driving, I did that! So the accident is my fault, if anyone's! And afterwards, I didn't even check to see that he was okay. Who does that? I let him carry me from the car and didn't notice he was hurt! I—"

"He carried you from the car?" Lorelai can't help but interrupt, recovered slightly.

"My legs felt like Jell-O, and I was so shaken…" She explains, then pauses a moment before saying, "Mom… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get angry at you. I'm frustrated with myself, and this is all such a huge mess. I already know you don't like Jess."

Now Lorelai has to interfere. This isn't fair to her, or to Rory. She isn't a bad person, a judgmental person, she likes to think anyway, and Rory shouldn't feel unable to talk to her mother about the important people in her life. Even if there are perceptions getting in the way.

"True that may be, but it is not like that. I overreacted with hunting down Jess, and I said some awful things to Luke. I just want you to understand I want the best for you, and Jess has given me plenty of reasons to believe he isn't good for you. I want to believe you when you say I haven't seen every side of him, but I'm not pleased by what I have seen. Nevertheless, I would never want to see him hurt."

Rory is looking silently over Lorelai's shoulder, which is noticed as she finishes her rant. She turns around slowly, and Luke comes into view. How did he even get there? He says, "Last I heard, you were going to kill him. Slowly and painfully, from what I was gathering."

She responds, "No, it would have been quick. I was in a rage."

"No kidding…" Luke says, wringing his worn baseball cap in his hands.

Stalling, she asks, "Where did you even come from?"

"I took a walk around the wing. They wouldn't let me see him. You know… He wasn't trying to hurt her."

Lorelai nods. "I do know. It might not even be his fault, any of it… I'm sorry about what I said, Luke. Neither of you deserved it. He's your family, and you're like my family. And he's Rory's friend. I have to accept that."

"It's okay," he says and replaces his blue hat in its rightful spot, backwards and high on his forehead. Lorelai immediately regrets how she phrased it. He's doing that thing where he says something robotically in a monotone. He'll comment neutrally when he's anything but neutral on the matter. Ironic, she realizes. She's standing here in the hospital almost on her knees begging Luke's forgiveness when ten minutes ago, she was demanding the same of Jess for Rory.

"Luke, I'm so sorry," she cries, tears springing to her eyes. She bites her lips to contain the showers with which she's watered him too often. "I'm sorry Jess got hurt, and I'm sorry I blamed him so heavily. Maybe it could have happened to Rory, if she'd been driving. Hell, it probably could have happened to me! I'm really sorry."

Luke nods and lets her embrace him. In an entirely different tone, he repeats soothingly in her ear, "It's okay."

"Mr. Danes?"

Lorelai and Luke separate, though she'd rather hold onto him until all that is bad has disappeared. He gulps and says, "Present."

A doctor in a white coat with a stethoscope hung around his neck faces them. He holds a clipboard in one hand, a pen in the other. He is younger than the Clooney-like doctor who had wrapped Rory's wrist. As long as he is just as experienced. As long as he knows what he is doing. He looks between Luke and the two Gilmores. "Is this your family? Would you prefer to speak in private?"

Luke hesitates then remembers Lorelai's comment that he is like family to her. He wants her here, he acknowledges to himself, and Rory deserves to know what happened. He responds after this pause, "No, that's alright. Go ahead."

The doctor nods then launches right in. "We just finished with the X-rays. The X-ray center is down the hall if you would like to view them. As suspected, your nephew has a pneumothorax injury from a broken rib. You said he was in a car accident, yes? We're assuming it broke in the collision, and it punctured his lung. When he moved suddenly, it sent the broken rib further into his lung, which began to fill with fluids while a significant amount of excess air went into his chest cavity."

Luke blinks. The doctor flips up the first page. "However, it seems the injury was sustained a few hours ago. Correct?"

Rory affirms it for all of them with a barely perceivable nod, and he continues on after another crisp flip sound, "It should have been treated immediately, and we are concerned about the onset of an infection. He is being supplied with a constant flow of oxygen for now, but we will take action immediately with your approval."

Flip goes the page. "We can try to use a needle and syringe to withdraw the air from the chest cavity, but given the delay, this may be unsuccessful. In that case, we will insert a tube into the lungs, drain them and remove the air. Tube suction is a gradual process, and can take up to several days."

Flip. "If that is unsuccessful, and the lung tissue does not begin to heal itself, surgery is the other option. Of course it will be avoided if possible."

Flip. How many goddamn pages are there? "At a glance, your nephew has another broken rib, which can be set, and most likely a concussion on the forward left side of his head, above the temple. Sprained ankle as well, but that is minor. We can discuss the details after beginning treatment. Do you have any questions?"

The words had gone so quickly, and his tone, while not lacking compassion, was calmer than Stars Hollow at midnight on a Tuesday. Luke doesn't know how much of it he managed to catch and process. The doctor finally looks up from his clipboard at him, and he feels his knees shaking in their weakness. He stammers, "May-may I sit down?"

He allows Lorelai to silently lead him to a small lounge off the hallway with a line of rugged seats and a single vending machine. She lowers him into a deflated chair. The doctor and Rory follow, and Luke looks up at the man. "He'll be okay right?"

The doctor replies, "With the proper course of action, I am confident in agreeing with that. Do we have your approval to pursue the aforementioned method? If the needle method is to fail, or tube suction, we will not require your approval to try something else so as not to delay treatment. Of course, you will be updated as frequently as possible. Do you understand?"

Luke nods mutely and takes the pen in his trembling fingers, making a jagged mess on the signature line. The doctor nods and strides out of the room. Lorelai plops down in a chair next to Luke, and Rory descends gradually into the seat on his other side. None of them say anything. Just stare ahead, lost in thought, but not alone.