"911, what's your emergency?"
"My step-daughter won't wake up. She hit her head yesterday, and we were waking her hourly, but now she won't wake up."
The lie was Lorelai's idea, shouted out between pleads for Rory to wake up. The operator instantly jumped into action, asking me a multitude of questions. I rattled off the answers, being grateful that I had known the girls for years and knew way more personal information than the average person in Stars Hollow.
"The ambulance will be with you shortly, please unlock the front door to save time."
I numbly unlocked the front door, opening it slightly. Within moments, I could hear the sirens, so I hung up, not knowing what else to do. The next few minutes dragged on, especially as several neighbours stepped outside, trying to figure out what was happening. I ignored them, waiting to see the ambulance.
It pulled into the driveway, 2 people hopping out and rushing to get out their things. I led them through to Rory's room, pulling Lorelai out of the way, "Let them work."
They peppered us with questions as they worked, loading her up onto the stretcher and rushing her out into the ambulance.
"We're really sorry, but neither of you can come in the ambulance due to the situation, we're taking her to Hartford General."
They sped off, and Lorelai headed straight for my truck, not even grabbing her shoes or a jacket to cover her pyjamas. I grabbed our shoes since we were barefooted and locked the front door behind me. I pulled on my own shoes as I rushed to the truck, passing over her shoes as we got in.
The drive passed by in a blur, my heart hammering in my chest the entire time. I hadn't been to the hospital since my father had died, and I felt a bit sick about going in, but Rory needed us. Both of us.
We rushed up to the desk, Lorelai practically shouting, "We're looking for Lorelai Gilmore."
"Are you related?" The receptionist asked.
"I'm her mother, he's her step-father," She lied without hesitation. We were sent through to a waiting room, told that the doctor would be out shortly and given forms to fill out.
"Are you Lorelai Gilmore's parents?" The doctor asked, walking up to us. We were the only people in the room, but we nodded, standing up.
"I'm Dr Peyton, I've been working on your daughter. We're managed to bring her around by she's very unfocused, so we're about to take her to CT, but you can see her for a moment."
"Please," Both me and Lorelai said it at the same time as she slipped her hand into mine.
We followed the doctor down the hall and into a room where Rory lay. She looked tiny in the bed, and she was staring up at the ceiling.
"Hey baby," Lorelai said softly, perching on the bed, "How you feeling?"
She was silent for a long minute, thinking. Eventually, she said, "I don't feel well."
"The doctor needs to take you for a scan, but it'll be over soon, and then they can start fixing you," Lorelai explained, worry creeping into her voice. I squeezed her shoulder, unsure of what to say.
"We need to take her now, but we'll come and get you when we know more."
We took ourselves back to the waiting area, but as we sat down, someone approached up, "Mr and Mrs Gilmore?"
"We've just sat down," Lorelai whined, "What do you need?"
"I'm from Child Protective Services, could you walk me through what happened with your daughter?"
The colour drained from Lorelai's face, and I could see that her mind had gone completely blank, so I stepped in, introducing myself as her step-father.
"Yesterday, Rory went to visit her biological father. She did so without our permission, and we spent several hours trying to figure out where she had gone after her school contacted Lorelai. At about 2pm, Rory called me and asked for me to come and get her. She didn't share details at the time, but when I arrived in Boston, she had a split lip and a rather large graze on her cheek and chin. She told me she tripped. When we got home, she revealed that her father had gotten angry that she didn't have any money for him, and thrown her out of his place and onto the pavement. She was unsure whether she had hit her head, so we decided to let her sleep and check on her hourly to be safe. At about 2am, she vomited twice, and we started waking her more regularly at that point. At half 3, we were unable to wake her. After that, I'm not sure what happened as the paramedics and doctors took over."
The social worker wrote everything down as I spoke, not indicating whether she believed me, "Has he ever physically harmed her before?"
I looked at Lorelai, who shook her head, "Not that I'm aware of, and he doesn't see her very often either, through his own choice. I tried to cut all contact a few months ago as he would constantly make plans and he'd never show. She was starting to question his love for her, and whether he cared, so I decided enough was enough... I should have done it sooner, and I should have changed phone numbers so he couldn't leave messages, and I should have..."
"Stop," I said firmly, "Christopher made his choice, you didn't force him to hurt her. Even if he was angry, he should have called you or brought her home himself. There is no excuse for what he did. Ever."
I wasn't just saying it for Lorelai's benefit. Things I could have done to prevent this had been running through my head since I'd picked her up, and while I hadn't told Lorelai, saying that it wasn't her fault also meant it wasn't mine.
"I assume she has been walking to school alone. When did that start?" The social worker asked.
"At the beginning of the school year, so she was about to turn 10. It was a little early, but a lot of the kids were walking to school alone, and it felt safe to do so."
"That's the average age, it's not something that I'd be concerned about unless you were living in a dangerous area or it was a long-distance to school," The social worker said, writing down what Lorelai had said, "So I know you said that her father had never been violent to her before, but does he have a history of violence?"
Lorelai hesitated, "He hit me once when we were 15, but that's all that I know of. However, we haven't been in a great deal of contact since we were 15, and there could be a history that I'm unaware of."
"I don't think there's a problem here, but there will be a few random visits to your home to ensure it's a safe environment as that's the protocol. I will also be putting in a recommendation that his parental rights will be revoked as if something were to happen to her and you were unavailable, it would be him they'd have to legally call first, which isn't safe."
I nodded, but Lorelai looked confused, "Don't you have to speak to Rory first? We could be making this up."
I glared at Lorelai, but the social worker laughed, "I had already briefly spoken to Rory before coming in here. When I asked her what happened, she just said 'Christopher', who I now know is neither of you. While I do need a full statement from Rory, that will wait until she is feeling better."
The social worker left us at that point, and I got up to stretch my legs, "Do you want a coffee?"
Lorelai nodded, "Yeah. I'm gonna call Mia to tell her that I'm not coming in today."
"Mr and Mrs Gilmore?" Dr Payton asked as he stepped into the room, and Lorelai sighed, "We have the results of Rory's CT scan."
AN: If I'm being honest, I thought I was done hurting Rory for the time being, but apparently not. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you thought.