Chapter 4:

Lorelai spent her days in a fog, her body consumed with a numbness she didn't have the energy to fight. She worked from dawn until well after dusk, throwing herself into work at the inn. She whirled through the days doing anything and everything to keep herself busy. She did the inn's laundry, made beds, washed dishes in the kitchen, and even one time attempted to clean the manure out of the stalls in the barn. When she was inevitably forced to go home for the night, usually by Tobin who kept finding reasons to check up on her, she stumbled to Rory's room and crashed into her bed. She hadn't managed to sleep in her own bed since that first night after going to Chris'. It was too big, too empty, and reminded her too much of all she had lost. She'd even moved all of her clothes into Rory's closet and her toiletries into the downstairs bathroom, avoiding her room as much as physically possible.

What was once a favorite past time for Lorelai soon became a source of great anxiety; sleep continued to elude her at night. Most nights she managed only three or four hours of sleep. She was still having frequent panic attacks, though she tried her best to force any thought of the night at Christopher's deep into the recesses of her brain. She managed pretty well during the day by working herself to exhaustion, but all that effort seemed to fail when her subconscious took over and she found herself reliving that night over and over in her dreams. It always ended with her gasping for breath as her heartbeat thudded in her ears. Sometimes after a particularly vivid flashback, she was forced to stumble to the bathroom and vomit up what little she had managed to eat for dinner. Afterwards, she would stagger blearily to the couch and spend the rest of the night staring dazedly at the TV.

She hadn't told Sookie all the details of that night. All she told her that she went over to Chris' so she wouldn't have to return to her house alone, how there was a lot of alcohol involved, and somehow they ended up in his bed. She left out the part where she realized she made a mistake right in the middle of sex. She didn't tell her how she had begged and pleaded with Chris to stop. It didn't matter. She was still a cheater. Unfortunately, her mind wouldn't let her forget the pain she felt when he refused to stop or how it felt for him to finish inside her. She couldn't stand the thought that her revelation might actually garner some pity. So, she kept that part of the night bottled up inside her, even though it was eating her alive.

She didn't know how long she could continue putting up a front to Sookie and the rest of the town. Sookie hovered relentlessly over her, constantly asking her how she felt and inviting her to spend the night. While she appreciated the sentiment, she was desperate to keep the insomnia and panic attacks a secret. She hated looking weak in front of anyone. She was supposed to be strong; she was supposed to be Wonder Woman. She wasn't supposed to be that girl who wallowed over a break up.

Even the townies were tiptoeing around her. They noticed how her smile didn't quite sparkle with the brilliance it once did and her makeup couldn't hide the deep bruises underneath her eyes brought on by her lack of sleep. No one dared mention Luke to her and she avoided the area around the diner like the plague. Luckily the diner being closed gave her an extra excuse to stay away. Now, most mornings she stuck with the industrial sized can of Folger's, unable to bring herself to go into town to Weston's for a cup.

"Hey Michel, have you seen Lorelai today?" Sookie asked, wiping her hands on her apron as she approached the front desk.

"Mmmm...yes..." he said, not looking up from the papers on the desk.

"Well, can you tell me where she is?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm not her keeper and can't be expected to know where she is at every minute of the day," he stated dryly.

"Come on, Michel. A little hint?" Sookie asked exasperatedly.

"Mmm... try upstairs. Last I saw she was running around with some linens," he gave a bored sigh as he continued flipping through the papers.

Sookie gave Michel a final glare before turning to head upstairs to find Lorelai. She walked down the hallway, spotting a maid's cart in front of a room at the end of the hall.

"Lorelai? Are you in here?" She peered into the open door, her eyes darting around the room.

Lorelai appeared from the ensuite bathroom, a pile of towels in her arms.

"Sookie?" She questioned, halting in her tracks a the sight of her friend.

Sookie looked Lorelai up and down, frowning as she took in her friend's pale complexion, lank hair, and rumpled clothes. Lorelai normally took great care with her appearance, and it pained Sookie to see her come to work looking so worn.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing?" She asked gently.

"I'm umm... I'm just doing a little cleaning." Lorelai blushed and looked down at her feet, sensing Sookie's close scrutiny of her appearance.

"Lorelai, usually being the owner means you don't have to do the cleaning anymore," Sookie tried keeping her voice lighthearted when she replied.

"I know Sook, I just..." She trailed off, failing to come up with an excuse.

Sookie approached her friend cautiously and reached out to grab the towels from the tight grasp Lorelai had on them. She gently pulled them into her arms and walked them to the cart in the hallway and depositing them in the basket with the rest of the dirty linens. Returning to the room, she walked over to Lorelai, who was still standing in the same spot, staring at her feet.

"Come on sweetie, I just made a fresh pot of coffee and some salted caramel cheesecake. Why don't you sit for a minute in your office and I'll bring you a snack, ok?" Sookie grabbed Lorelai by the elbow and gently lead her from the room.

After depositing Lorelai into her chair in her office and pressing a steaming cup of coffee and a huge slice of cheesecake into her hands, she escaped to the kitchen. It tore her apart to see her friend so broken. She was at her wit's end with what to do. She knew there was only one person who might be able to get through to Lorelai– Rory.

Sookie bit her lip as she nervously waited for Rory to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi kitten, it's Sookie."

"Sookie? Is everything ok with mom?" Rory asked, her voiced tinged with anxiety. She hadn't heard from her mom in almost a week and Sookie calling her ratcheted up her panic.

"Well...no. Your mom and Luke, they uh...they broke up," Sookie explained hesitantly.

"What?! When?!" Exclaimed Rory. "What happened?"

"It happened last Friday, I think after dinner at your grandparents...I think your mom should be the one to tell your what happened, sweetie. I know you are busy at school, but I think you should try and come home. You're mom, well, she's not doing too well. I've tried to help her out, but I'm not getting through to her."

"I... I need to make some calls," Rory's voice shook as she spoke and her thoughts raced at the information Sookie had just told her. Luke. Lorelai. Broken up. "I'll be home as soon as I can Sookie. I need to get some stuff with the paper covered, but I'll be home tonight. I promise."

"I'm sorry to bother you at school, but I just didn't know what to do. Your mom hasn't stopped since the break up and I don't know how much longer she can keep going at the pace she's going at... I've never seen her so run down..." Sookie trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Thanks for calling me Sookie. I was worried something was up because I hadn't heard from her since she called me on her way to dinner last Friday. I didn't know anything was wrong, I just figured she's been busy with work. I should have called her," Rory's voice broke as she thought about her mom going through a break up alone.

"It's not your fault sweetie. I didn't want to be the one to have to call, but I knew she hadn't told you yet and I'm worried about her. She needs you."

"Thanks Sookie, I'll be home as soon as I can."

Rory crashed around her room, throwing clothes in a bag. While she frantically packed, she thought back two years ago to when her mom and Luke had broken up after her grandparent's vow renewal. She remembered Sookie calling her to come home then, but this time Sookie sounded even more shaken. A picture flashed through her mind of her mom sobbing in bed alone. That was the lowest she had ever seen her mom and it frightened her to think what she would find when she got home.

AN: Thanks again for all the kind reviews. Sorry this update took a little while. Things at work have been really hectic and I haven't felt like coming home and writing. Parts of this chapter were a little bit of a struggle, I hope its ok. I struggle a lot with dialogue so hopefully it's not too terrible lol. Updates will be a little slow because I'm still puzzling how to move this story along. I have an idea of where I want it to go, but I don't want to do a time jump so I'm still working out how to get where I want. So please stick with me!