Thank you so much for all the reviews. Because of some slight pressure (looking into FF direction) I wrote the next chapter last evening already. I hope you like it and review.


Chapter 11: Midnight confession

Previously:

"That's not true! You the one who is lying! I'm going to kill you, you stupid whore!", William screamed, jumped of the chair and attacked Lorelai with both hands. First she shielded her face, but then she grabbed his arms and held him, but he wasn't done. " I hate you! You bitch! You're a stupid whore! Everybody says so! They all hate you. They hate you all. I hate you all, because you're a fucking whore", he yelled, completely came unglued.

They all just stared at him and even Luke was too shocked to help his wife and pull William away at first. Lorelai kept a hold on his arms and stared at him as well. They were too stunned and shocked to react.

Understandably it was Logan who reacted first. Quickly but carefully he placed Ellie in the bouncy-chair on the floor and then rushed over to Lorelai and William. William was still screaming insults at his mother repeating the same things over and over. Logan grabbed him from behind and pressed his arms down. He was surprised how strong William was and actually had trouble to keep him under control. The boy seemed to have so much anger in him that he just didn't care anymore. He kicked and Logan pulled him back from Lorelai. Then William seemed to direct his aggressions against Logan and tried to bite him, kick him and get out of his grasp, but Logan wouldn't let him go.

Lorelai was so shocked she was still not reacting in any way and wasn't aware that tears were running down her cheeks and she had a bruise on her jaw, where William's fist had hit her the first time unshielded.

Finally Luke was able to move again and help Logan. William had dropped to the floor meanwhile, kicked his legs, didn't notice that he was hitting with his head against the hard wood floor again and again in his blind state of fury. Logan was struggling silently with the screaming boy, doubting that William would hear him.

Luke took over and Logan stepped back, picked up Ellie protectively. Instead of pushing him down on the floor Luke did the opposite and picked William up, pressed him against his own body. He pressed his son's head to his shoulder with one arm and kept his legs pressed to one of his thighs with the other.

"William!" he said loudly, trying to get heard over his son's screamed insults towards Lorelai. He looked briefly over his shoulder to check if Lorelai was ok and then carried William out of the dining- room. He hurried with his son through the kitchen and then out on the porch. The sun was setting and it looked peaceful. He didn't know why he had gone outside, but somehow he hoped that he would get William better under control in the backyard. He sat down on the swing with William still pressed tightly against him.

"William", he said again, but quieter this time. "Sh, it's ok. It's okay", he tried to soothe him and after a while William stopped struggling against his father and started to cry uncontrollably.

"Sh, its ok Will. It will be fine. Barney will be alright. Everything's gonna be alright", he whispered, loosened his grip a bit on stroked over his hair.

Luke looked up when he heard the door open and close and saw Lorelai coming around the corner towards him. She sat down next to them and stroked over William's back.

She wasn't really angry at him for what he had said. She was shocked and worried about him, but she wasn't angry. From the first second on when she had registered what he said to her she knew that he could impossibly come up with something like that by himself. They all hate you, he had 

yelled and she knew that William had to talk about something that he had to endure at school. If she thought him being the new kid in class was his only problem she had obviously been wrong.

"Mommy", William whimpered and a look of understanding passed between Luke and Lorelai before Luke handed the boy over. Lorelai pulled William on her lap and leaned back against the swing. She tried to soothe him, telling him that it was okay and that everything would be just fine, but it seemed now that the dam was broken William couldn't stop crying anymore.

It saddened her that he had kept all of this in for so long and nobody had been able to get him to open up. She wondered what he would reveal once he would start talking about what happened at school and dreaded it at the same time.

Luke wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her a bit more towards him. Lorelai leaned against him, while she kept placing kisses on William's hair.

They didn't know how long they had been outside, none of them felt the coldness or realized that it was dark already when William finally quieted because he had fallen asleep.

A while before his crying had diminished to soft whimpers and finally to heart-breaking sobs. He didn't once lift his head off his mother's shoulder, but instead buried his face in her neck, seemed to be soothed by the familiar scent of her.

"Why didn't we do anything Lorelai?", Luke asked and took a shaky breath. "We should have done something no matter how busy we were".

"I know", she whispered back and hugged William even tighter.

"I think we should go inside and tuck him in", Luke then said and got up. Lorelai followed him and carried William and it didn't matter that he pretty heavy already, she just couldn't let go of him.

Logan met them in the hallway, carrying a sleeping Ellie in her car-seat.

"Is he ok?" he asked worriedly.

"Not really. We still don't know what happened. He cried himself to sleep", Luke whispered.

"Ok, then I'm gonna get going. Laila and Sara are in bed and asleep already. I didn't know how long you would take", he said.

"It's ok. Thank you", Lorelai replied.

"No thank you for everything. But I guess we will have this talk another time. Keep me updated on William please. And if they hurt him in any way then call me before you go and beat those little punks up", he said to Luke.

"I will", Luke nodded. They watched Logan and Ellie leave and then walked upstairs.

"I think we should let him sleep in our bed tonight", Lorelai said and turned towards their bedroom.

"I agree. We should change him though. He is all sweaty from his temper tantrum. I will get his pjs", Luke agree and went into William's room.

Lorelai carried William into their bedroom and lay him slowly down on the bed, careful not to wake him. William was dead to the world though. She went into the bathroom and wetted a washcloth with warm water and put a little bit of soap on it. She wiped the tear streaks off his face and dried it with the towel she had brought. She noticed that his forehead was wrinkled in his sleep, his eyebrows close together, his lips pressed tightly together. He didn't look relaxed. For how long had he been sleeping this way?

She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and unbuttoned the shirt he wore, threw it in the direction of the laundry basket and then lifted his head to get him out of the T-shirt he wore.

When she had pulled the shirt over his head and looked down at his chest she gasped and took a step back. She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep herself from screaming out.

"Got him the blue one", Luke said quietly when he came into the room just at that moment.

"Luke look at this", she said in a loud whisper and pointed to William.

"Oh my god", Luke said when he saw the several bruises William had all over his chest. Some were more yellow already, others still dark blue. Carefully Luke lifted him up and looked at William's back, which looked just as bad.

"That looks like a footprint", Lorelai said and pointed to one large bruise on William's lower-back.

"Yeah and it's a small footprint. Some of these little jerks are beating up our son !", Luke said and his face was red with anger in a mere second.

"But why? William never had any problems. Not in pre-school or kindergarten. He always got along fine with other kids. Why is he suddenly being bullied?" Lorelai asked and pulled William's jeans off. His legs weren't as badly bruised as his chest and his back, but on his shins one could see some bruises as well. Lorelai had mistaken the bruises on his shins for normal soccer bruises when he had walked around in shorts, but now with his chest and his back looking that way, it was clear that they weren't.

"I swear to god, I'm going to kill these little punks!" Luke gritted through his teeth.

"I think this has to do with me", Lorelai said suddenly and looked up at Luke with a sudden realization.

"With you?" he asked confused.

"Remember what he said. He said that I was a fucking whore and that everybody would say so and hate me. Who is everybody Luke? I don't think six year olds get the sudden idea that one of the moms is a whore and beat up her kid. This, Luke, is no bullying. This is agitating a kid against another kid. I don't know who he or she is and I certainly don't know what I have done, but I don't think that William would ever call me a whore, no matter how angry he is at me, if it isn't that someone told him something about me".

"That is crazy", Luke said and tried to digest this.

"I know. But it's the only thing that makes sense", she said. "Why didn't he talk to us? He knows he can always come to us. Doesn't he trust us at all?" Lorelai asked then.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good for us at the moment. I will get some of the sports gel from the fridge. It will help the bruises to heal better", Luke replied and hurried downstairs again.

Lorelai stroked with the fingertip of her index-finger over his back and softly traced the outline of the footprint.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she whispered and couldn't hold the tears in anymore. They dripped on her hand and his back and she pressed her hand to her mouth again, because she didn't want to wake him up.


"Oh Lorelai", Luke said when he found her sitting crying next to their son when he came back. Lorelai didn't say anything, she just let him take her in his arms and hold her for a while.

"We should get him dressed", Lorelai said when she pulled back after a while and Luke nodded, kissed her softly. Luke opened the gel and then applied some to William's bruises before Lorelai 

dressed the boy in his pajama. Luke handed Lorelai the gel as well and she applied some to her chin, so she wouldn't have a blue bruise there in the morning.

Before they both went to the bathroom to get changed Luke placed his son in the middle of the bed. Quietly they brushed their teeth and changed before they walked hand in hand back into the bedroom in got in on their respective sides of the bed. They both lay down close to William and closed their eyes.


Around midnight Lorelai heard William whimper in his sleep. She hadn't been able to sleep yet and by the sound of his breathing neither had Luke. They hadn't talked though because they both needed time to think about what had happened.

Lorelai couldn't get over the fact that William was covered with bruises and they hadn't noticed and he hadn't said anything. She had questioned them as parents, but what stunned her was that William not only didn't open up to them, but that he didn't say a word to anybody else. He hadn't talked to Emily or Richard, to his hero Logan or his friend Davey. All of them would have told her, so she was sure that none of them knew. Maybe they had threatened him? Maybe he had been too scared to talk to anyone?

Or maybe, and that was the thought that kept her awake, maybe he had tried to tell them. Maybe he had wanted to say something with his behavior. Maybe they should have listened more closely when he had refused to go to school. Maybe they hadn't heard what he had said because of a hundred smaller and less important things.

Luke's thoughts went into a slightly different direction. Of course he was worried as well, that William hadn't said anything, but he just couldn't get out of his head what William had actually said. He had called his mother a whore and that meant that someone else had called her a whore. If that was the word in William's class then Luke wasn't surprised that William was getting beat up by the others. Kids that age were cruel and honest and if they thought that this was true, or they had found a victim once then there were no boundaries until someone made some.

However, someone was telling others bad things about his wife and his kids and Luke couldn't let that happen. He would find that kid who had beat up William and he would find the person responsible for this and when he had found him or her he would make sure that the person would never again insult one member of his family. He was the husband and the father, it was his job to protect them and he had failed miserably. That wouldn't happen again.

"Shh", Lorelai made and stroked up and down William's back to soothe him. He whimpered again and then awoke with a gasp.

"It's ok, Will. We're here", Luke said, because he saw when William opened his eyes, because the boy was lying on his side facing him.

"Daddy?" he asked sleepily and immediately scooted closer to Luke and snuggled up to him. Luke rolled onto his back and pulled William on top of him so it was more comfortable. Lorelai took the opportunity to snuggle up to Luke's side and stroke over William's back again.

"Go back to sleep honey", Lorelai told him and kissed his cheek.

"Mommy I'm sorry I hit you", William replied though and turned his head to face her. Both Luke and Lorelai knew that William wouldn't go back to sleep that easily now.

"I accept your apology Will, but you have to tell me who said such horrible things to you", she replied and waited. William didn't reply though.

"Will, you have to tell us exactly what happens at school so we can help you", Luke insisted.

"I don't wanna go back to school", William replied.

"William, you have to go to school. But we will make sure that nothing will happen to you, but in order for us to do that you have o tell us what happened".

"Doug is telling everyone that you're a whore", William said slowly.

"Why is he saying that?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. But he says that mommy's a whore because she got pregnant when she was sixteen. He also says that Rory is a bastard and that you are not our daddy. Nobody knows who our daddy is because mommy's sleeping around, stealing other woman's men. And Rory does that also. He told the others that they should better stay away from me because mommy would steal their daddies and have their babies", William finally said.

"William, you know that none of this is true", Luke said appalled.

"I know. I told them that Doug lies. I told Doug to stop saying such mean things about mommy, but then he hit me and I hit him back and Mrs. Gleason saw that I got detention and he got nothing. And then he brought his older cousin the next day and they beat me up in the break and nobody helped me because they all think mommy's a whore", William said and started to cry.

"But what about your friends from soccer or kindergarten? Didn't they help you?" Lorelai asked.

"They don't have the break the same time we do. They start when we're finished," he sniffed.

"Will, you should have told us", Luke said.

"I did! I told you I didn't start the fight at school, but you said one doesn't fight, so I didn't fight anymore and then they beat me up", he replied and sounded desperate.

"Why didn't you tell us that they beat you up even though you didn't do anything?" Lorelai questioned further.

"I told you I don't want to school anymore and you said you would talk to Lulu. You promised that you would tell her to send me to the other class. But you lied, you didn't talk to her", he cried.

"William we're really sorry. We were busy and we didn't know that school was that horrible. We didn't know about Doug or the things he says or does", Luke tried to explain.

"I told you I hate school", William insisted.

"I know and we believe you. But you know most kids just hate school because they have to learn there and can't play anymore all day long. We really didn't know William. But we will help you know. First thing tomorrow we will speak with Lulu and Doug", Lorelai said.

"No! Not with Doug! Daddy don't let mommy talk to Doug! Maybe he beats her up too!" William exclaimed horrified.

"Don't worry. I will protect your mommy and I will protect you. No one will beat you up again or say such horrible things about any of us. I will make sure of that. And now sleep Will. It's really late".

"'kay", Will said and lay his head back down on his father's chest and Lorelai and Luke lay back down as well. For about ten minutes there was silence, but then William spoke up timidly.

"Mommy?" he whispered in the dark.

"Yes honey?" she replied.

"Will Barney be ok? I didn't want to hurt him", he said.

"I don't know, but I hope so", Lorelai replied honestly. William was quiet for some minutes.

"Mommy?" he whispered again.

"Will?"

"Do you still love me although I said you're a whore and hit you?" he asked worriedly.

"Of course I still love you, baby", she replied and stroked over his hair.

"Still to the moon and back?"

"Of course! And even farther", she said and kissed his cheek, rubbed his back until he finally fell asleep with a heavy sigh. Neither Luke nor Lorelai found sleep that night though, too much had happened. They both just clung to each other and to William, to protect him while he slept.

TBC