[karana]

Chapter 18: Don´t go there, doll


The second Lorelai´s piercing scream echoed over the gazebo people started running. Running towards the car, which had finally stopped after crashing into an empty booth. Running towards Luke and Sara.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Laila´s and William´s screams joined Lorelai´s. Sookie held back William and Rory had taken Laila in her arms without thinking about it. There were audible gasps when the first people reached Luke and Sara, and started to examine them.
Lorelai started running, she wanted to see her daughter, she wanted to see her husband, see that they were fine, that they were breathing and alive.
When she reached the crowd that had formed around the two people on the street, Babette held her back.
“Don´t go there doll. It´s not a plea... just don´t go there.” She told her and started crying. That was the moment when Lorelai heard Sara whimper and she pulled her arm away from Babette and made her way through the crowd, frantically shoving the people aside.
She glanced at Luke, who lay on his stomach, people surrounding him, trying to get him into a stabile side position, but she didn´t see them. All she could see was the pool of blood in which his face lay. He didn´t make a sound, not even a whimper. She looked away quickly and rushed to her daughter.
Sara was lying a few meters away from Luke on her back. Her right leg was twisted in a weird way, blood covered her face, while she was staring into the direction of her father, mumbling something barely above a whisper.
“Sara, Sara!” Lorelai yelled and kneeled down beside her and stroked her curls from her face.
“Sara look at me!” She demanded, but Sara kept staring in the direction where Luke lay. Lorelai leaned forward, placed a kiss on her bloody forehead and understood for the first time that Sara was repeating “Daddy, Daddy” the whole time. Her voice got weaker and weaker and although Lorelai tried to get her attention, she didn´t succeed. Sara´s whispering stopped, her eyes closed.
“Sara.” Lorelai screamed when the girl slipped into unconsciousness.
The next few minutes passed in a blur. The paramedics arrived only a minute after the accident, and Lorelai stayed at her daughter´s side the whole time. She was relieved when they told her, that Sara was only unconscious. When they put her on the stretcher Lorelai dared to look at Luke for the first time.
They had turned him around, intubated him, and hooked him up to several infusions and machines. His face was covered in blood and Lorelai doubted that he had any left inside of him. She heard that they asked for a helicopter, because he wouldn´t survive a long transport. While the paramedics put Sara into the ambulance Lorelai went over to him, but didn´t dare to touch him.
“Cardiac arrest, defibrillator!” The doctor suddenly yelled and they shoved Lorelai aside, while they worked on Luke.
“No! Luke!” She whispered and stared at the scene in front of her.
“Mam, would you like to come with your daughter?” One of the paramedics asked, and snapped her out of her daze.
“Yes, but Luke.... my husband.” She stammered helplessly.
“You can´t do anything for him. But your daughter is awake again, she needs you.” He told her and led her towards the ambulance, while she kept glancing over her shoulder to the team of people surrounding Luke.
When she sat down in the ambulance she remembered Laila and William, so she stood up and walked to the still open back door.
“Will? Laila?” She yelled. Rory ran up to her and hugged her for some seconds.
“Sookie and I have got it covered. I will come with my own car. Now go!” She said to her mother, hugged her again, with tears running down her cheeks and then stepped away from the ambulance, so they could leave.


The medication they gave Sara against the pain worked quickly and she calmed down a bit. But still the only thing she mumbled from time to time was the word “daddy.” Lorelai didn´t get her to respond to her questions, her soothing talk, or her caresses.
Lorelai felt torn. She knew that Sara needed her, but how could she take care of her daughter when she didn´t know if her husband was dead or alive?


At the hospital they rushed Sara into an emergency room, asked Lorelai to fill out some papers and sign some stuff, which she was barely able to do. They took x-rays of nearly every part of Sara´s body, and performed ultrasounds and several other tests.
Lorelai was pacing in front of the emergency room door, trying to get a glance inside, but wasn´t successful.
After nearly an hour a doctor came out to talk with her.
“Mrs. Danes?” He asked. She only nodded, her lips pressed tightly together.
“I´m Doctor Anderson. I examined your daughter. I think I will give you the good news first: Her life isn´t in danger. She has a concussion, several jolted ribs, a broken wrist, some scratches, a wound on the head that needed some stiches. Now the bad news: We need to operate on her because she broke her leg in a very complicated way and we need to fix it, put some screws or nails in. But she is young and injuries usually heal well at that age. Does your daughter have any allergies you know of ?” He asked then.
“No, I don´t know... she never needed anything, no stiches, no narcosis, nothing.” Lorelai shook her head.
“Okay, then we will operate on her right now. I think we will need around two hours and it would be good if you are here when she wakes up. We need your permission to operate her, would you sign it?” He asked her and held out a paper which a nurse had given him. Lorelai numbly nodded, took the pen and signed, without even reading what she was signing.
“Would like to see your daughter before we bring her into the operating room?” The doctor asked her. She nodded and walked inside the emergency room. Sara looked dazed, and didn´t really realize that her mother was with her. She kept staring at a point on the wall and Lorelai doubted that she did really see her.
“Hey baby. They have to fix your leg, because this isn´t healthy. I will be there when you wake up, okay? I love you, honey.” She said and placed another tender kiss on her daughter's forehead. Sara didn´t react.
“Be good and see you in two hours.” Lorelai said, kissed Sara a last time before they wheeled her out of the room and into the elevator. The doctor followed the bed with the little girl in, but before he could step into the elevator, Lorelai held him back.
“Do you know anything about my husband? He was in the accident also.” Lorelai asked with hopeful eyes.
“I´m sorry, I don´t know anything. Maybe the nurse will be able to help you.” The doctor said and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before he stepped into the elevator and the door closed behind him.


Lorelai immediately walked to the information desk, hopeful that they would know how Luke was, but scared about the answer at the same time.
“Sorry, but can you tell me where my husband is and how he is? His name is Luke, Luke Danes, he was in the same accident as my daughter.” She said, trying to hold up her composure.
“I´m sorry, I don´t know. But adults and children are checked in at two different stations here. I will inform you as soon as I get any information.” The nurse answered politely.
“Isn´t there any possibility to... I don´t know... call someone who knows?” Lorelai asked upset.
“I´m afraid there isn´t. You have to wait, Mrs. Danes.” The nurse told her and left the desk and walked into one of the emergency rooms.
Helplessly Lorelai stood there, not knowing what she should or could do. She needed to know what was wrong with Luke, she couldn´t bare this uncertainty anymore and still it seemed like there was nothing she could do.
She took some brochures from the desk, fiddled nervously with them, then placed them back.
“Lorelai.” She suddenly heard a voice, a voice she knew.
“Mom.” Lorelai said and turned around. The moment she saw her parents she began to sob uncontrollably. She threw herself into her mother’s arms and cried and even Emily and Richard had tears in their eyes.
“What is wrong with Sara and Luke?” Richard asked, while he stood beside his wife and their crying daughter.
“They are operating on Sara´s leg at the moment. It will take two hours and she needs nails or screws or something like that. She has a broken wrist, a concussion, and several smaller injuries, but she will be fine.” Lorelai pressed out and was able to stop crying.
“And what´s wrong with Luke?” Richard took Emily´s free hand when Lorelai burst into tears again.
“I don´t know. Nobody here knows. They said they needed a helicopter and then his heart stopped and they had to resuscitate him. I don´t know if they succeeded or not. I don´t know and everything is my fault. He didn´t wanted to go. I convinced him to, he shouldn´t have left the diner and none of this would have happened. Maybe he is dead...” Her voice broke and she wasn´t able to speak anymore.
“Lorelai, none of this is your fault. I will go and see if I can find out anything. Emily, I will send you a nurse to give her something to calm down.” Richard said and marched off.
“Come on, Lorey. We will sit down and wait for your father.” Emily said in a gentle voice, placed a kiss on Lorelai's hair, and led her to the chairs.
“If he´s dead it´s my fault. I killed my husband.” Lorelai sobbed.
“I´m sure he will be fine. Luke is strong, he will make it.” Emily reassured her.
“Why are you here?” Lorelai asked and looked up from her hands in her lap she had been fixating on. Emily understood what she meant.
“Sookie called us. She said she was taking care of William and Laila together with Rory, but she was worried about you and told us where we would find you.” Emily explained and tucked a strand of Lorelai´s hair behind her ear.
“Thank you mommy.” Lorelai whispered and lay her head on her mother’s shoulder and grabbed her hands. Sobs still shook her body every few seconds and Emily was relieved when the nurse came.
At first Lorelai refused to take anything, but after Emily reassured her that they would wake her as soon as they would know anything she agreed and took the pill. Within a minute she was asleep on her mother’s shoulder.


Richard came back half an hour later and by the look on his face Emily knew that he didn´t have any good news.
“Is he....?” She couldn´t say it out loud. Richard sighed and sat down beside her.
“No, at least he was alive when they checked him in. I talked to John and he said it doesn´t look good. He has very serious injuries, I can´t even remember them all because the list was so long. The most serious I think are his collapsed lung, the kidneys are both damaged, they have to take out a part of his liver, and he has an injury on the head. They don´t know how much his brain is damaged, but John told me that even if he survives, the chances that he will fully recover, meaning he won´t be disabled in any way, are very low. But they can only tell for sure if he survives the operation, which would be a miracle by itself because of his internal bleeding and the high amount of blood he lost.”
“Oh god, Richard.” Emily chocked out, her eyes filled with tears which slowly rolled down her cheeks. Richard hugged her to him and held her for a few moments.
“I promised to wake her up when we have some news.” Emily said when she pulled away.
“Let her sleep. We will wake her up when Sara comes out of the operating room or we get some news on Luke. I told John to call me immediately.” Richard decided.
“Then we should lay her down. If she stays this way she will have a crook in the neck when she wakes up.” Emily said and took a deep breath.
Richard stood up and held Lorelai while Emily took his former chair. Carefully Richard lay Lorelai down, so that her head was lying in her mother's lap. Lorelai stirred and for some seconds they thought she would wake up.
“No... Luke.” She mumbled and looked pained in her sleep.
“Shhh, Lorey, sleep.” Emily whispered, placed a kiss on her forehead, and stroked over her daughter’s curls, like she had done when she had been a little girl.