chapter thirteen! the heart attack
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"Emily, you've outdone yourself yet again,"
Alan smiled, neatly placing his knife and fork onto his plate,
"Yes, I can't imagine the hours you spent slaving over a hot stove,"
"You're teasing me, Alan," Emily blushed, dismissing the joke.
"It's delicious, Emily,"
"A compliment for my chef is a compliment for me, thank you, Alan," Emily smiled, earning smiles from the rest of her guests.
"I, for once, would like to know where Henry is at this hour. Probably gallivanting around London, like a bull out to stud," Richard complained, shaking his head at the thought of the reckless behaviour.
"Richard, please," interrupts Emily, wishing the conversation would change.
"Well, how is he supposed to negotiate the contract tomorrow morning if he's been out all hours with some cheap tramp,"
"Knowing Henry, she wasn't cheap," Alan grumbled, wrapping his hand around his wine glass.
"This is widely inappropriate dinner conversation, especially in front of young ladies," Emily pleaded, glancing between her granddaughters and her husband.
"Is it unbearably hot in here?" Richard wondered, loosening his bow tie.
"Richard, don't loosen your tie at the table," Emily scolded, Thea's eyes nervously darting to her grandfather.
"So, what are your plans for the Christmas holidays, Rory, Thea?" Holland wondered, turning her attention to the twins.
"I'm volunteering at the hospital," Thea answered, earning proud smiles from her grandparents.
"I'll probably just be hanging out with my mom," Rory answered, a soft smile forming on her lips.
"Oh, it's such a shame she couldn't come, she's always such a kick," Holland smiled, Rory shifting nervously wondering if Emily had mentioned the argument to anyone,
"And where is Lorelai?"
"Lorelai wasn't feeling well, so I suggested she stay home," Emily lied, not wishing to see her daughter.
"It is hot in here, I'm going to lower the thermostat," Richard declared, rising from the table and leaving the dining room under Thea's watchful eye.
"Something's wrong with Grandpa," Thea whispered to Rory, her sculpted eyebrows furrowing together as her sister shook off her concerns.
"Poor thing, what's wrong with her?"
"She has a touch of flu," Emily answered, her eyes shooting to her husband's chair, "Richard, forget the thermostat!"
"I thought you said she was working?"
"Well, she was supposed to work, but then she caught the flu, so one way or another she couldn't have made it," Emily panicked, her voice rising as she panicked.
"Tell her we missed her,"
"I will,"
"Richard! For heaven's sake," Emily cries, pulling herself up from her chair and heading in the direction Richard had a couple of minutes previous, "Richard!"
• • • • • • •
"Did you find out anything?"
Thea asked, tears staining her face as she attempted to focus on her grandmother.
"Please! They run this place like the CIA," Emily complained, spotting Joshua walking towards the Gilmores, "Joshua, thank God! This place is infuriating."
"It's alright I'm here, I'm going to check on him right now. Have you filled out the forms yet?" Joshua calmly asked, offering the girls a sympathetic smile.
"I don't care about the forms I want to see my husband," Emily demanded.
"Is she being obstinate?" Joshua asked Rory and Thea.
"Very,"
"Let me see what's going on, and then we'll take it from there," Joshua dismissed walking away from the Gilmores and through the forbidden doors.
"Maybe I should call Mom again," Rory helplessly suggested glancing beside her at Thea, who had been silently crying since Emily had found Richard unconscious.
"Never mind, I'm sure she's very busy," Emily dismissed.
"That's not true I bet she'd-"
"Rory, take Thea and go get your Grandfather a paper," Emily demanded, quickly silencing Rory's protests, "The Wall Street Journal or Barron's. Whatever they have, he'll want something to read when he gets back to his room."
"Okay, can I get you something? Maybe a coffee?" Rory asked, stepping towards her grandmother and accepting the money for the papers.
"No, dear, I'm fine,"
Rory and Thea took off through the hospital, in search of the small store, silence blanketed them. Silent tears streamed down Thea's face as she walked wordlessly by her twin's side.
"Are you okay?" Rory asked, glancing over at her sister.
"Is he going to be okay?" Thea ignored Rory's question.
"Of course, he will be.
Grandma wouldn't let anything happen to him,"
• • • • • • •
"Thea,"
a familiar voice cried out, breaking the silence that had fallen once again between the two Gilmore twins.
"Alec?" Thea asked, looking around for the boy, who quickly raced over to her and wrapped her in his arms.
Alec gripped tightly onto the girl, kissing the top of her head as she sobbed into his chest. Rory rolled her eyes at the pair, pushing past them and dropping down next to Luke.
"What happened?" Alec asked, slowly unwrapping his arm and leading Thea towards some unoccupied seats.
"His ti-tie," Thea stuttered out, Alec dropped an arm around the girl and used his free hand to hold hers,
"He was t-too warm and he went to turn the thermostat down and he-he collapsed."
"Thea, I'm so sorry," Alec apologised, leaning over and kissing Thea's temple.
"I don't want him to die," Thea cried, her broken eyes looking up at him, "I can't lose him,"
Alec wrapped the girl into his arms once more, her broken pleas breaking his heart into two, "He loves you far too much to go anywhere, I promise."
• • • • • • •
Thea's murky green eyes welled up at the image of her grandfather in the hospital bed. Richard had always been so tall to her, so powerful. But laid, hooked up to all those monitors he no longer looked like the man Thea had grown up with. He looked smaller and weak as if one hug would break him.
"You scared me," Thea admitted, dropping into the chair that had been pulled up beside the bed.
"I'm sorry," Richard smiled softly, his misted eyes focused on his heartbroken Thea, "Where's my tie?"
"Oh, it's here," Thea answered, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the red-spotted bow tie from her pocket, and grasping Richard's frail hand, "I can't lose you, Grandpa."
"I'll never leave you,"