Chapter Text
Rory flopped down onto the edge of bed in her hotel room. She was tired, both emotionally and physically. She looked at her phone. She had missed a call and a message from her mother. She just did not have the energy to answer it or return the call.
It had been 6 weeks. 5 weeks of crying herself to sleep, much to the annoyance of her roommate. The first week was spent in Stars Hollow getting ready and going to where she started the campaign trail. It was 6 weeks of having every single thing remind her of him. Logan.
Even her phone reminded her of him. The messages exchanged when he was working in London were still saved. Pictures and selfies of them in various places, still saved on her phone. She just couldn’t bring herself to delete them.
She also never gave herself time to wallow. And not just any wallow, but a good ol fashioned Gilmore wallow.
She sighed at the thought of him and the pain that was in her chest. At times it felt like she just couldn't breathe. She missed him so much. Him and the infuriating ultimatum were the cause. She was tired of the hurt, anger, guilt, grief and regret that coursed through her. But under all of the other feelings, she still loved him.
During the day she could compartmentalize and put it aside, except for those times when she would slip and think of something she wanted to show Logan. The headline from a small town newspaper, being in Omaha, the store with the inspirational plaques and so many more things that she had seen in those 5 weeks on the bus.
Add the fact she was on a bus with a host of other reporters and most of them had more experience than she does. She quickly figured out that life on the campaign trail was not glamorous. The food was far from healthy, which didn’t really bother her. But the hours were long and the places were remote for the most part. Only every once in a while would she be in a large city, but could you really call Omaha a big city? She thought back to wrangling a drunken Collin, Finn and Logan into her car.
What state is Omaha in again?
Nebraska.
Corn, farm animals, football…
Oh, and they love condescension in Nebraska, too. So hit them with that as soon as you disembark.
And later that same day:
Logan, they are closed.
I have to apologize to the folk singer.
She’s not here. Everyone’s gone.
I hurt her feelings.
She’s a folksinger, she’s used to it. Come on.
I don’t want to go to Omaha tomorrow.
I know.
It’s boring.
I know.
And it’s not here.
Come on.
I don’t like steaks, or insurance or anything else that they have there.
You like steaks.
Do they even have electricity there?
Yeah. Yeah, they just got it last year.
Don’t make me go.
I’m not making you go. I am just trying to get you home.
Well, getting me home means that I have to go to sleep and when I wake up I have to go on a plane to Omaha. Where’s Omaha?
Just get in please. Collin. Finn. Guys.
This was not what she had thought it would be, but she also was not ready to give up. She was writing well and Hugo was very complimentary on her work. But she still felt a little empty.
As she was slumped over on the bed, musing over all this, the phone in her hand rang. She was startled and looked at the number, she still was not ready to talk to her mom. But this was a California phone number.
She decided to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hello, may I please speak to Ms Rory Gilmore?”
“That’s me. How can I help you?”
“Hi, my name’s Nic. I am a nurse at Stanford Medical Center. We have a Logan Huntzberger that’s been brought in and you were his emergency contact number.”
“Oh My God. Is Logan OK? What happened?”
“Well, he’s been stabilized, but they’re getting him ready for surgery. He was in a car accident. I don’t know all the details, just what the air ambulance told us. He was trapped for an undetermined amount of time, but they brought him here as soon as he was freed. We need your consent to operate and you might want to come.”
Rory stood from the bed and began to pace around it.
“Well, it might take me until tomorrow. I’m in Omaha currently. Will he be ok? What type of surgery? Was he awake? What exactly do I need to do? I guess I need to talk to Hugo then get a plane ticket and call his parents or family. Oh wait, they probably aren't talking to him right now because of the move. I could always call…” Rory began to ramble on.
“Ms Gilmore, please just breathe.”
Rory stopped in her tracks and stopped her rant. “Sorry about that, I tend to talk when stressed.”
“I understand. I was just calling to let you know the situation. Would you happen to know his wishes?”
“What do you mean?” She suddenly stopped pacing and stood still.
“As in DNR or an advanced directive….”
Rory felt light headed, this couldn't be happening. She had to sit back down quickly on the edge of the bed.
“NO, He didn’t have any of those that I know of. But please do everything possible to help him. I will be on my way out there as soon as possible.”
“We’ll take care of him. You can call me on this number if you have any questions or just message me. I’ll let you know what I can and keep you updated. He’s headed to surgery now. He was awake for a little when he first came in, but the medics said he was unconscious from the time they arrived at the scene to the time of transport. He was pretty out of it and was rambling. He would say Ace and Honor, but also I’m sorry.”
This broke Rory’s heart to hear.
“He has a possible concussion with other head trauma, a broken left ankle, tibia and fibula from being pinned in the car. Some broken ribs with a punctured lung, some abdominal bleeding which is requiring surgery.”
“Ugh! That is about what he had after that Costa Rica accident!”
“He’s had similar injuries?”
“Yes, about 18 months to 2 years ago. He cliff-jumped in Costa Rica and the parachute almost didn’t open.”
“Good to know. I’ll send you updates. Thank you for your help Ms Gilmore.”
“Please call me Rory. I have a feeling we’ll talk quite a bit.”
“Yes, Rory. I’ll keep you up to date.”
After the phone call ended with the nurse, Rory was on the phone with Hugo letting him know she had an emergency and needed to go to California. Hugo was concerned about it being her family, but Rory let him know it was about Logan. He told her to take a few days off, calling in a temp reporter and arranging a flight. It would leave in 4 hours. Hugo repeatedly told her to let him know if there was anything else he could do. He really liked Logan and knew that there was something that had happened with the couple and wished they could work it out. He was on their side. He reassured her that he wanted to work with her and since it was the start of the campaign trail, it would be slow.
Rory was exhausted.
She held the hot cup of coffee in her hands and inhaled. She needed the caffeine. The 5 hour flight had left Omaha at midnight, so her body was saying it was 5 in the morning while the clock read 3 AM.
She had been messaging Nic before and after the flight. Logan had just been moved out of surgery into recovery when her flight landed. All had gone well.
She found a taxi to take her to the hospital.
As she walked through the Emergency doors, the only ones still open for the night, she was hit with a wave of memories of the time Logan helped her through her grandfather's heart attack. He was there for her. They had been through so much. She was beginning to spiral in the sadness, anger and regret spiral when a blonde nurse walked up to her.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I am not sure where to go. I got a call that my…. Well I am not sure what he is, was in an accident and they brought him here. He was in surgery and he just got out. So, I guess he’s in recovery. And there was a nurse that I’ve been messaging about him. His name is Logan. Logan Huntzberger…..”
The nurse placed her hand on Rory’s shoulder and said, “You must be Rory. I’m Nic. I can take you to go see Logan, who is in the ICU. He’ll look a little rough and is still on a vent. But you can go in to be with him. We can go over everything when you’re ready.”
“ICU, that is pretty bad, right?”
“Well, It’s to keep a closer eye on him. Like I said we can go over it a bit at a time.”
They walked together up to the ICU. At the main desk was another nurse who was talking to 2 doctors, or that is what Rory thought by the way they were dressed.
“Logan’s right here” Nic motiionsed with her hand, showing Rory the 2nd door on the right.
Rory walked in and first laid eyes on Logan.
He was in bed with a tube helping him breathe. He had wires winding over his upper chest. His left leg was uncovered and had wrapped from just below the knee to over his foot with his toes showing. He had red cuts all over the left side of his face. His left hand and wrist were bandaged. He looked pale and the beginning of bruises were starting to form from his hairline all down his left side of exposed skin.
Rory just silently took him in for a second. She felt the tears prick her eyes. She placed her tote bag on the floor and walked over to Logan. She carefully placed her hand on his right forearm. There were so many wires and tubes with beeps and monitors. She slid her hand over his and gently grasped it.
“What have you done?’ she thought to herself.
Seeing him like this was hard, just as hard as watching him turn his back and walk away.
She gulped down a sob, but a tear slipped down her cheek.
Nic quietly walked into the room with a doctor following. He has light brown hair with gentle brown eyes.
“Rory, this is Dr Conrad Hawkins. He is an Internal Medicine doctor and is the head of Logan’s care.” Nic spoke to a statue like Rory.
But when Rory turned to look at her, something must have told her that Rory needed some help. Nic gently guided Rory to one of the two chairs against the wall next to the bed. She stood slightly behind her, lightly holding her shoulder.
Dr Hawkins came and pulled the second chair in front of Rory and sat, leaning forward with his elbow on his knees.
“Rory, I am Dr Hawkins. I was the first to see Logan off the helicopter. He has quite a bit going on and it will be a long road ahead, but we need to focus on one thing at a time right now. He did well in surgery. The surgery was to stabilize his ankle and leg. He now has a plate with pins in each. He also had a procedure to fix the collapsed lung and stop some internal bleeding. Right now, I am worried about the concussion and other possible head trauma.”
Rory looked the doctor in the eyes, “Will he make it?”
“He’s young and strong, but I am not going to lie to you. He is not out of the woods yet. Plus going into surgery we had to treat him for elevated blood alcohol levels.”
Rory squinted her eyes, and shook her head. She put her head into her hand. “You mean Logan was drunk. He was driving drunk. Did he cause the accident? Did anyone else get hurt?”
“Actually, he was just inebriated. His Blood Alcohol level was half of the illegal level. But, yes, he had been drinking when the accident occurred. But he was the only one hurt. He evidently over corrected when an oncoming driver came into his lane. He went off the road and crashed into a tree. His car was wrapped around the tree. The fire department had a difficult time getting him out. Plus they were not sure how long he had been there. But he was lucky and now he is here.”
Rory looked at the doctor with watery eyes in shock. “He was lucky? Logan is laying there with a tube breathing for him and now has metal holding his bones together. But he was lucky?”
Rory was trying to process what was being told to her.
Dr Hawkins looked at Nic. It was like they had a silent conversation.
Nic replied, “Yes, Logan survived. He’s still fighting and will have a long way to go. But I have a feeling he’ll need your help. I get the feeling that you two have a story or definitely mean something to each other.”
“Rory, this won’t be easy, but it is possible. We are here and I will help manage Logan’s care and team of doctors. But you are part of that team. You might also want to call others to help too. We are going to closely monitor Logan for the next couple of days. He will be sedated and on the vent to help him breathe. It will help his body to heal. Your job will be to let him know you’re here. It will make a difference.”
Just then the doctor’s pager beeped. He pulled it out and took a look. He gave Nic the same look as before.
“I have to go check on another patient. But do you want Nic to stay with you?”
“Umm. Can I be alone with him for a while?” Rory replied.
Dr Hawkins both stood. Dr Hawkins moved the chair he had been sitting in back into it’s place. Nic moved to stand next to Dr Hawkins. “I’ll come back in about an hour to check on you guys.”
And with that they both walked out the glass door.
Rory scooted her chair next to the bed. She slid her hand gently under Logan’s right hand, careful not to disturb the IV tubes on his arm or the white plastic monitor on his finger. She just wanted to touch his skin. He was warm, not too cold or too hot. She knew he was alive. So much was running through her head. So many emotions and feelings. She took a deep breath in through her nose and out her mouth.
“Ok, get yourself together. No matter what we are to each other right now, this man needs you. And you can do this,” she told herself. She sat there for a while just watching and listening. She watched Logan’s chest rise and fall, breathing with the help of a machine. She heard the whoosh and beeps of monitors. It became hypnotic. She allowed herself to get lost in it all.