AN: Thank you for telling me your thoughts on the story, they gave me some good ideas. I am purposely making Christopher a worse guy then he is on the show (I don't think he is really mean, just immature) but for the purpose of this story he is a bad guy. I will try to make this as realistic as possible so it may be a bit of a rocky road for the girls, but don't worry, there will be a happy ending.

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Rory slowly opened her eyes and felt a pain run through her back, then she realized she was on the floor. Why had she fallen asleep on the floor? Then suddenly she remembered, and her eyes began to sting with fresh tears. She looked over to see her mom, still asleep, right next to her. She still looked like she was in pain in her sleep, but nowhere near as bad as she had looked last night. Rory then glanced over at the clock. It was 6:52, that meant the alarm would go off soon. Rory sighed she had wished it was still the middle of the night, since she really didn't want to go to school. That was a first.

Just then Rory glanced over to see Lorelai open her eyes, "Hey kid," she croaked, her voice still tired from sleep. At first she looked confused then Rory saw a look of pain fly across her face, but she quickly covered it up, "I guess I'll go take a shower." Rory knew Lorelai always tried to hide her pain from everyone when she was dealing with problems, but Rory also knew that all that did was lead up to a huge breakdown. Besides, Rory was really scared, she knew she couldn't just sit still and hope for the best. She couldn't even think about being separated from her mom.

"Wait Mom. Could I not go to school today?" Rory asked quietly. She knew she could never focus after last night.

Lorelai turned around and looked at her, the pain had returned to her eyes, "Rory, staying home won't solve anything. I don't want to spend the next 2 weeks worrying."

"But Mom, I'm gonna worry no matter what. It will help if we actually make a plan or something. I mean, aren't you scared?" Rory asked but she already knew the answer to her question, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew she shouldn't have said them. Of course Lorelai was scared, but she was trying to protect Rory, as always. Rory could tell that the question had brought back all the thoughts she had tried to push away for later.

Lorelai looked resigned and tears started falling down her face, "I guess I can't protect you from this one... which sucks since it's really painful, but you know that," Lorelai tried to half joke lamely.

Rory put her arm around her mom and whispered, "Sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault. You're not my little girl anymore," Lorelai said with a half smile.

"I'll always be your little girl," Rory said back.

Lorelai smiled, more genuinely, this time, "You remember that."

Rory's face then turned more serious, "What are we gonna do?"

Lorelai sighed and thought for a moment, "Honestly, I have no idea."

"We'll figure it out. That's what today's for," Rory replied more confident than she felt.

"Rory, you really don't have to stay home today," Lorelai replied, even though she knew that Rory had her mind set on this.

"Of course I do, and what's with the change of heart? You're always telling me to take a "mental health day"," Rory told her, giggling at the end.

"Well who am I to deny you of your mental health?" Lorelai said. She was secretly really glad that Rory was staying home with her today.

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The girls decided to not leave the potting shed all day and changed into their pajamas. Both of them just wanted to spend time with each other and forget about Christopher's letter. It had said that the court date was in 2 weeks and if there was one thing you could count on Christopher for it was that he would use his parents resources to full advantage when trying to get what he wanted. Lorelai knew this, and that made her very nervous because it meant Christopher had one big advantage over her: Money.

After lying around, and watching TV all morning, Rory's mind kept drifting farther and farther from reality. When she looked over at her mom she could see that she was also at of it. Finally Rory couldn't stand pretending like everything was OK. Every time she thought about her dad she felt sick. She figured that at first both her and Lorelai had been in denial that something like this would happen, but now she was ready to deal with it.

"Mom..." Lorelai looked towards Rory, "I know you said we should just use this day to relax and not do anything, but I really think we should do something. I mean..." Rory trailed off and started to shed a few tears, "I don't want Dad to take me. I don't want to lose you!" Her voice rose as she started to cry more.

Lorelai gently pulled Rory's head onto her lap and stroked her hair. Rory smiled a little, this was the way her mom always comforted her, no matter what. "Shhh, it's gonna be OK Rory. You are not gonna lose me," Lorelai said comfortingly. Rory clung to her legs, somehow she felt like if she kept holding on, no one would be able to separate them.

Rory was crying even harder now, "But how do you know? Dad's rich, right? Don't the richer people always win in court even if they are horrible criminals who should go to jail forever!?" Rory was getting close to being hysterical by the end. Lorelai guessed it must be all the pent up feelings from the morning coming out. Maybe ignoring the problem earlier that morning hadn't been the greatest idea, but Lorelai didn't know what else to do. If she thought about it at all, she started to break down. She knew that she should start calling lawyers and setting up a defense, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that, at least not today. Lorelai really just wanted one more normal day with her daughter, who may be torn away from her in 2 weeks. Obviously, that was impossible, but she was still in denial. Well, she was, at least until Rory's break down. Now all Lorelai could focus on was keeping herself calm enough to comfort Rory.

Lorelai just kept stroking Rory's hair and rubbing her back to comfort her, it also helped keep Lorelai calm. She could not have a melt down in front of her daughter. That would just add to Rory's stress since it would signify that she had a right to be really worried. Lorelai knew how bad it would look to the judge when they found her and Rory lived in a potting shed, and had lived there for the past 10 years. They both may not have minded, but Lorelai knew that Rory did deserve a real house. It killed that they could afford a house right now. Hell, they could have afforded to go out and by a house this weekend, but after lawyer bills and court fees that whole idea was out the window.

Why had Christopher decided to go for custody now? Lorelai knew it wasn't for Rory's well-being. If he had cared that much about her, he would have actually shown up for all her birthdays and called when he said he would. If he had been worried about their living situation he would have done this 10 years ago. It pissed Lorelai off beyond belief to know that Rory was just part of one of Christopher's schemes.

Lorelai looked down at Rory to find that she had fallen asleep. Poor kid, the only thing that could have tired her out was all that crying. Now that Rory was asleep, Lorelai started crying more openly, but made sure stay quiet. "What the hell am I going to do?" was the one thought that kept running through her head before she finally fell into a restless sleep.

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A few hours later both Lorelai and Rory woke up to the sound of knocking at their door.

"Who's that?" Rory asked groggily, sitting up on the couch.

"I'll go find out," Lorelai said as she stood up to walk over towards the door.

When she opened it, there stood a very relieved looking Sookie, "Oh good you're here. I was worried when you weren't at work today and didn't call in. I came straight here after I finished my shift to check on you."

Just then Rory came to the door, "Oh, hey Sookie," she said with a small smile.

Sookie then noticed the girls rumpled pajamas and tearstained faces, "Are you guys OK?" she asked concerned.

Lorelai and Rory looked at each other, "You should probably come inside," Lorelai said as she held the door open for Sookie.

Now Sookie was really worried. This meant there was a real problem and Lorelai hadn't just decided to take a "mental health day". She sat down on the couch just as Lorelai started talking, "It's Christopher..." She managed to choke out. Of course, Sookie thought, she really hated that guy.

Lorelai tried to continue but just couldn't seem to say it, "He... He's..." Saying it made it seem so much more real.

Before Lorelai could try to continue, Rory walked over to Sookie with Christopher's letter, "Here," was all she said.

Sookie read the letter and a look of shock came over her face, "But, but... he can't do this," She managed to stutter. Lorelai and Rory just looked at each other sadly. "What are you gonna do?" Sookie asked as she regained some composure.

Lorelai suddenly looked even more tired than before. Whenever she thought about actually dealing with Christopher she got super stressed out. "I was going to figure that out tomorrow."

Sookie reached out to give her a hug, "I'm sorry Honey. I'll help you out with whatever you need."

"Thanks Sookie," Lorelai replied. She did feel a sense of relief now that she realized it wouldn't be just her and Rory alone, vs Christopher.

After about a hour later Sookie left. She had promised that Lorelai could could call her for whatever she needed. Lorelai was grateful for that because she still had no idea what to do.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Rory walked over, with a book in hand, "Mommy... could we read?" Rory used to ask this all the time when she was little and couldn't read. As she got older, obviously, she could read by herself, so she didn't always need her mom to read books to her, but when she had really bad day or was extra tired she still liked having Lorelai read.

Lorelai also enjoyed reading to Rory. It made her feel like Rory was still her little girl, "Of course," Lorelai responded to Rory's question, smiling. They both climbed into bed and as Lorelai started reading there minds drifted farther from Christopher and into the world of books. Lorelai knew they would have to deal with him tomorrow, but at least they could have a few more peaceful moments before that.

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AN: Thanks for reading =) If you have any suggestions or things you would like to see happen please tell me in reviews.