Chapter III

Rory is the first to stand up, the first to break the silence. She is angry, confused, frustrated, and she would ball her hands into fists if one of them weren't in a cast. Pacing around the small lounge, she yells, "When did he even have time to sprain his ankle? I saw him! He was walking and being snarky and joking about swimming! He was fine! He said he was fine! He said everything would be okay... He doesn't get to change his mind and have a delayed reaction! That isn't fair!"

She slams her good hand against the lopsided vending machine, running solo in their tiny lounge, and a bag of potato chips falls from the shelf. The blow hurts her good hand, but she can't care now. She runs it over her face to stop the tears before they make another visit. They're like unwelcome relatives. Persistent, showing up without warning, and difficult to get rid of. 'Huh', Jess would say, 'How ironic'. Then they could talk about Mark Twain's use of irony in Huckleberry Finn and he would smile, maybe even with teeth.

Lorelai says, "I know you're upset, sweets, but let's just sit and talk about this. Actually, hand me those potato chips first."

As Rory reaches into the slot of the vending machine, she hears Luke say, "There's nothing to talk about. You guys don't have to deal with this. You should probably head home."

Lorelai says, "Luke, I'm happy to stay with you, at least until you know more."

Rory hands her mother the bag and tells Luke, "Me too."

Luke shakes his head. "This is a problem, a big problem, but… it's my problem. And you should rest, Rory."

The word 'rest' triggers a sensation of tiredness in Rory's body, from the dulled pain in her wrist to her groggy head, but that only reminds her of how exhausted Jess looked when they rolled him by on the bed. She doesn't want to leave him. She needs to see him, to make him talk to her. But she also doesn't want to be a burden to Luke or get in his way. Perhaps Luke is mad at her, for letting Jess get hurt, for not seeing that he needed help.

Rory is conflicted, but Lorelai answers for both of them as she offers Luke a chip. "We'll go if you want us to go. I need to check Rory out at the front desk, but then how about I get you some coffee? Then whatever you need from your place? Maybe a change of clothes or something?"

Luke doesn't look up as he takes the chip. "Coffee…" He clears his throat. "Coffee would be good. Don't worry about the rest. I, uh, have to open the diner in the morning."

Rory is astounded that Luke is thinking about work right now. She supposes it's something to think about besides his nephew alone and unconscious on a white bed in a white room wrapped in white bandages. Lorelai raised her eyebrows at the comment but she responds, "Sure. … The phones are down the hall if you want to call Jess's mother."

Luke chuckles at that, takes another chip. "Great, that's great. I have to tell Liz about this."

Lorelai presses, "She's his mother."

Luke is silent, and so is Rory. She's certain they are thinking the same thing. From what Rory knows about Liz, that title doesn't mean anything. After all, she sent him away, and Jess said she didn't want him home over the holidays. Rory can see that night in her mind, when he jumped onto the sled with her and gave her that piece of himself. Let her know that he didn't have a choice about staying in Stars Hollow instead of going home to New York City. He doesn't tell other people about himself, she is sure about that. Then she smiles thinking about the snow sculpture that Jess had commented on while they were pulled around the town square, its majestic figure 'mysteriously' collapsed the next morning.

Luke relents, "It's late. I'll call her tomorrow. I'll need some information from her anyways, I'm sure."

Lorelai nods and hands him the bag of potato chips. "We'll be back."

He is silent and Lorelai puts her arm around Rory's shoulders as she guides her away. Rory feels numb as they leave Luke behind, as she leaves Jess behind. She will come back in the morning, not that she has a car to drive there. She winces at the thought. When they reach the front desk, Chris is waiting in a chair.

"Dad!" she calls and runs to give him a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom called me. Said you were in an accident. Are you okay? You sure they checked everything?"

"Yes, Dad," she giggles as he gives her an up-down and makes her turn around in front of him. "I'll just have the cast for a couple weeks."

Lorelei trails behind and gives Chris a hug. "Chris, what are you doing here?"

"After you called, I came as fast as I could. They said you guys went off somewhere and to wait here until you came to check out. Where were you?"

Rory swallows and Lorelai takes the lead. "Well, Jess, the one who was driving the car—"

Chris cuts her off. "Did you find him? I need to give that kid a piece of my mind. Jess, you said? I think Dead Meat will do just fine."

Rory shakes her head and objects, "No, Dad, he's hurt. He's… he's really hurt."

Chris looks bewildered. "But, Lor, I thought—"

"I thought so too," she replies while crossing her arms in discomfort. "He didn't get checked out by the paramedics so they didn't know anything was wrong."

Rory senses a pointedness in her mother's words. She knows the statement wasn't meant that way, but Rory can't help but interpret anger in it. In fact, maybe she's a little angry at Jess too. Not for getting hurt anymore, but for getting hurt and not telling her. For getting hurt and not accepting help. It was a stupid thing to do, and it's giving her a headache trying to understand why. She tells her parents, "It's my fault. Not the accident. That's no one's fault. But it's my fault for not making sure he was okay. I should've made the medic check him so they'd force him to go to the hospital. I don't get why he didn't! But I should've talked to him about it. I should've—"

Chris engulfs her in his arms, effectively cutting her rambling short. "It's not your fault, honey. Maybe he's just one of those people. You know, the kind who don't know how to ask for help."

And he was trying to take care of me first, Rory adds to herself, the thought train she had blocked off earlier now rolling in effortlessly. Pulling a load of coal-black guilt with it. She nods against her father's chest. She doesn't want to accept it, but he's right, in a way. And the two of them have never even met. She had grown accustomed to the idea that Jess needed her, as his friend and his tutor, but he didn't even ask for that. Luke did. Jess doesn't want to need anybody, and Rory shouldn't feel disappointed that he couldn't ask for help, even from her. If Jess needs anyone, it's his uncle, and that's the person they need to support right now.

"We need to check out and get back to Luke. Make sure he's okay," Rory says as she pulls away from the shelter her father built out of his arms. She can't run scared to her safe-house with her parents when Jess and Luke are suffering.

Chris asks, "Jess's uncle, right?"

Lorelai nods and the three of them walk to the desk. While Lorelai signs the paperwork, Rory looks down the hallway towards where she supposes Jess must be, though she didn't actually see where he went. A new wave of guilt hits her, followed by anger, confusion, regret. It's like when she went to the beach as a kid. Being so short, she got knocked over by a wave, and as soon as she got up, another one blasted at her, forcing her down into the water. She can almost feel the burn of the saltwater in her throat, stinging at her eyes. She feels her cheeks and realizes she is tasting her own tears. It forces her to remember the way Jess looked at her while she was crying in the car, when he took her hand. She wipes them away before her parents can see. No more tears tonight.

Lorelai asks Chris, "Can you take Rory home? I'm going to get Luke some coffee then I'll be back."

Rory doesn't have the energy to object, and she needs time to figure out what to say to Luke. She wants to explain what happened, but the words are jumbled in her tired brain. Tomorrow. She'll come tomorrow and by then there will be news on Jess. She can't sit in this hospital anymore not knowing anything.

While Chris leads Rory out the hospital doors, Lorelai roams through the waiting room, following her nose to the coffee. The only scent that matters, most mornings. She checks her watch. Might as well be morning. She carries the coffee carefully back to the tiny lounge, where they had left Luke, but the chairs are empty. She peeks out again into the hallway and sees Luke standing down aways, seemingly gazing at the wall. As she approaches, she realizes that she is near the X-ray center, and Luke's stare has been entrapped by an X-ray posted on one of the wall screens.

Lorelai knows what she is going to see; she heard what the doctor said. She keeps walking. Luke barely glances away from the screen as Lorelai slides next to him and hands him the hot paper cup of coffee. She takes in the images of Jess's body, literally stripped down to the bones. She sees an image of his ankle, the absence of breaks proving there is only a sprain. She shifts to his skull, also lacking any cracks. The largest image is his torso, where there are two broken ribs, one of them poking at an odd angle. The broken bones are there, just as she knew they'd be, yet the images are like a punch in the stomach. She blinks for an abnormally long time, but the image is still there when her eyes open again. Jess is still broken. And it could have been her daughter. This is what she had feared for Rory, though Dr. Clooney assured her that nothing else was injured. She insisted on another X-Ray as self-assurance, but there is nothing assuring about this. In fact, she doesn't think it's good for Luke to be examining these. If this is painful for her to look at, it must be tearing him apart.

"Any..." she croaks out before clearing her throat. "Any news on Jess?"

Luke shakes his head mutely, not even looking at her. Lorelai says, "Okay. Um... listen, Luke. You let me know if you need anything, anything at all. If you need me to bring you coffee all night, cover at the diner, whatever. I'm there. I'm going to go home and look after Rory. Do you want me to take you to your place? We can come back in the morning."

Luke just shakes his head again, sips his coffee. Lorelai sighs and turns away. "Okay. Goodnight, then."

She makes it four steps before she halts at the sound of Luke's voice. "Thank you, Lorelai."

She looks back and gives him a smile with a nod before walking away again. What kind of nod was that? she asks herself as she strides down the depressing white hall. Did it tell him, 'Hey Luke, I'm here for you'? Or 'Luke, it's going to be okay'? Or even 'Glad our friendship is intact'? Okay, now I'm over-thinking it. It was a comforting goodnight nod, and that is that.

When she gets home, Chris is waiting for her on the couch, half asleep. He jolts when she steps up, and he says, "Rory? You okay?"

She smiles and touches his shoulder. "It's just me, Chris. How's Rory?"

He rubs his hands over his face as she takes a seat next to him. "She's good. Fast asleep, last I saw. Water and painkillers next to her bed. Extra blankets on the chair. Christmas bell to ring in case she needs us."

Lorelai smiles. "You're very on top of it."

"It's about time, right? So, Lor, what is going on with this Jess kid? I am a little confused, not going to lie. First we hate him and we are mad at Luke; now we don't hate him and we're Team Luke?"

Lorelai sighs. She doesn't want to remind herself of her argument with Luke and the nasty things they said to each other. She replies, "After the crash, Jess made sure Rory went to the hospital and stayed to talk to the police, but he said he would come to the hospital after. Rory was upset that he wasn't there, so I went to find him, but I only found Luke. We got into that huge fight I told you about, and after that is when he saw Jess. Apparently the kid got hurt in the crash and didn't tell anybody, not even Rory. Luke brought him to the hospital and presto."

Chris absorbs the story then asks, "So, will he be okay? I've retracted the Dead Meat label, by the way."

"I think so. Concussion. Sprained ankle. Two broken ribs and one punctured his lung." It is pathetic how casually she can list off the injuries. "It just makes me think... as awful as all of this is, maybe our Rory is the lucky one. I'm not saying better him than her but..."

"Better him than her," Chris affirms with a one-shouldered shrug. "It doesn't make you a bad person to be happy that Rory is less hurt than he is. Or to blame Jess. He did total our daughter's car and she has a fracture. As parents, we can't take that lightly."

Lorelai pinches the bridge of her nose and says, "I'm not taking it lightly. I still think Jess is a bad influence on Rory. I was so angry - until I learned he got hurt. I'm just doubting myself a bit here because... I know it'd be different if it were Dean."

Chris asks with a bitter smirk, "As in, Dean wouldn't crash?"

"No, he could have. Anyone could have. I guess I mean that I'm angry at Jess in a way I wouldn't be at Dean. It's like Rory said, I just don't like him. I wouldn't have hunted Dean down and yelled at his father, you know?"

Chris shrugs. "Talk to Rory about it. Let her visit him, I guess. You can't help that you don't like him. Now, please Lor, let's go to bed. Tomorrow, we can take care of the insurance company and the tow fee then take Rory to the hospital if she wants."

"You're right. Thanks. You sticking around?" She fetches him a blanket and pillow.

"Yeah, I told Sherry I'd be here for the next couple days. I'm going to spend time with you and Rory." He knocks off his shoes and removes his sweater to reveal a tight T-shirt.

As Lorelai starts up the stairs, she turns and says, "Chris, I'm… I'm really happy you're here."

Chris smiles and gives her a nod. A comforting goodnight nod. And that is that.