The room was dark and silent. His breath was slow and heavy. It took a few seconds for the buzzing sound and blue light to wake him up. His hand touched the nightstand aimlessly until he hit his cellphone. He dragged it to the bed and checked the screen. The light almost blinding him, but the picture of that woman with electric blue eyes holding a six-year-old boy finally did the trick.

"Hi..." He heard her voice weakly as he picked up. "Did I wake you?" He took the phone out of his ear to check the time. 3:47. "Of course I did... stupid question... I'm sorry. I know you have this important meeting today, and you're not even in the city-"

"Rory, you're rambling. Tell me what's happening," he interrupted her.

"Ricky is sick," her voice cracked. Jess immediately got up the bed. "He's sick and the doctors won't tell me anything. I don't know what to do..."

"Where are you?" He asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. He was glad she couldn't see him jumping off the bed and looking desperately for his clothes.

"I'm in the waiting room..." She answered, thrown by the question.

"Of which hospital? There are one thousand hospitals in the city alone," He got his pants all the way up just to find out they were inside out.

"Brookdale. Why?"

"I'll be there as soon as possible," he explained as he zipped his pants, now on the correct side. "Where's Lorelai?"

"Mom and Luke are on their way," she replied. Soon after that she processed what he had said before. "Jess, you can't come here."

"Why not?" His phone pressed against his right ear as he put on his socks.

"Because you aren't even here in New York. You have a meeting in a few hours. There's no way you can make it back on time."

"Matthew can cover for me. They don't need us both there. Don't worry about this. I'll see you soon," he said firmly. Rory wanted to protest, but instead all she did was thank him. They hung up and he finished tying his shoes before he picked the hotel's phone to call the reception.

He got there as fast as he could. He was cursing the entire way because the earliest flight available was at six in the morning and when he finally arrived in the city it was rush hour. The slower the traffic, the more anxious he got. He didn't try to call Rory again. He figured it would only make her more nervous. Besides, no news is good news, right?

He went to the first person wearing a uniform that he could find in the hospital.

"I'm here for Richard Gilmore, or maybe it's Rory Gilmore, whose name do you usually use when the patient is a minor?" The man looked at Jess with a stern face.

"Why don't you go ask all that over there?" He suggested pointing at the sign that read Reception. Before Jess could thank the man, he disappeared through the hallway. Jess went there but as he leaned over the desk he spotted Luke sitting in the waiting room. The two men hugged briefly.

"Everything is okay," Luke started. The younger man let out a small sigh of relief. "The doctors said it's probably just a virus, a lot of kids are getting it, he's out of danger, but he lost a lot of liquids, so they're rehydrating him now."

Jess nodded in understanding and sat on the chair relieved. His uncle joined him.

"Lorelai and Rory are in there now, you can go in if you want," Luke explained, pointing to the entrance of the rooms.

"What about you?"

"Ah, no. Thanks. I'm fine," the older man said shifting his legs uncomfortably. " I don't want to see the kid in that bed, with a tube..." He trailed off. Jess patted his uncle on the shoulder as he got back up.

"Sir, what's your name?" A voice asked and Jess looked confused for a while. He hadn't noticed the nurse sitting in a chair with a desk and computer in front of her.

"Jess Mariano. I'm here to visit Richard Gilmore."

The woman kept her eyes on the computer.

"And what's your relationship with the patient?" She asked, looking up.

"He's my... uh... I'm... I'm his mother's girlfriend," he said feeling a little pathetic about the label.

"I'm sorry, sir. But we only allow one support individual and visits outside visiting hours are limited to family members and there's already someone inside." She explained canceling his registration.

"Excuse me?"

"It's the hospital's policy," she said impatiently. Probably because she was very used to that reaction.

"This doesn't make any sense. I've known his mother for over twenty years." He insisted, shaking his hands in the air in annoyance.

"Are you his father?" She asked dryly.

"No..."

"Stepfather?"

"Not legally, but-"

"Brother?"

"No..."

"Son?"

"I got it. Thanks," he snapped. "Look, can't you at least let them know I'm here?"

"I'll call the room," she offered.

"Thank you," he said, still vexed.

"Hello. I'm here to visit Richard Gilmore," a male voice said on Jess' back addressing to the nurse. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. "I'm the father," he explained with a cocky smirk.

Jess looked at the other man, who turned his body so they could be face to face. Neither said anything. The nurse gave the blond man a visitor's card and he disappeared through the hallway. He knew it shouldn't, but it made him angry and depressed to see that man be able to walk through that door while he was stopped at the invisible barrier in the form of a small angry woman with an outdated computer. Luke noticed his nephew's expression and called him to sit in the waiting room again.

Rory had received the call, so when the door opened she figured it would be him. She turned around with a smile and she couldn't hide her surprise when the eyes that met hers weren't the ones she had imagined.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," Logan said harshly. "Hello, Lorelai."

The older woman responded with an awkward wave and excused herself to leave.

"I'm sorry," Rory replied lowering her head. "I didn't expect you, that's all."

"I know who you were expecting," he scoffed. He sat on the chair previously occupied by Lorelai and kissed his son on the forehead. "Hello, champ. How are you holding on?" The boy was sleeping heavily.

"Then why didn't he come in?" She asked getting closer to the bed again. Her right hand holding her son's arm.

"It's not visiting hours and he's not a relative," Logan shrugged.

Rory let her mouth drop for a few seconds before closing it and exhaling heavily. "I know for a fact that your family donates a lot of money to this hospital, Logan. I bet you didn't even have to give them your name for them to let you in. I'm sure you could've pulled some strings if you wanted to."

"Exactly," he smirked, only glancing at Rory, but keeping his attention on the boy.

Rory rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room. She found Jess sitting in the waiting room with Luke and Lorelai each by his side. He was talking to her mother but she couldn't figure what they were saying and by the time she got close enough he noticed her presence and stood up;

"Thank you for coming," she said wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a short kiss.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go in," he replied. She looked at him apologetically but didn't know what to say. He took her by the hand and they walked away from the waiting room to a more private area.

"I love you, Jess," she confessed after they kissed again, this time a little longer.

"Will you marry me, Rory?" He asked nervously. He looked at her, he could see her opening her mouth as her eyes grew bigger.

"Yes."

"I know, this is not the best way to ask this and you probably are not thinking about this right now, but I hated not being able to go in there. I don't want to miss out on anything again."

"Jess!" She called him, and he looked at her confused. "I already said yes," she said feeling a sudden urge to laugh.

"You did?"

"I don't want you to miss out on anything either," she explained with a wide smile. She saw him smiling back at her before he pulled her closer to give her one more kiss.

A.N.: Yay! So, finally it's over. This was actually written for a long time but I didn't post it because I recently found out that they removed this whole "only relatives" law in the whole United States. But I decided to post it anyway, and maybe if this was set in the present, it would be weird, but hey, this is in the future, who knows what crazy stuff will happen then. So, I went with it anyway, I thought it was a good enough reason for Jess to finally take the courage to take their relationship a step further. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I loved writing it. And I would love even more to read your thoughts on it. Also, hopefully soon I'll be posting chapters of The Girls That He Liked, so if you like my stories, stay tuned for that. I hope to see you all again soon and thanks for taking your time to read this.