Rory and Lorelai entered the house talking and laughing about Luke. He had just served a new dinner that was, well.. awful. They had to have pretended to like it. "Hey, do you want some coffee??" Lorelai asked. "Of course," Rory said eagerly. Lorelai searched the kitchen with no avail, then turned to Rory. "Rory, honey." "No! no way.. It's like 9:00 in the evening.. I'm not going to get you coffee." "What if I buy you a book?" Lorelai asked, stalling for suggestions already. "If it's a book, sure." Rory replied, as she started to get her jacket on. "You're the best, sweetie." "I know, I know.. ok, I'll be back soon." Rory said. "Bye," Lorelai answered as she left.

Rory wandered down the street and into Taylor's market. Lane was there. "Hey Lane," Rory grinned at her. She hadn't seen Lane since last week; because Lane had been grounded. "Oh hey Ror. Watcha getting?" Lane replied. "Coffee.. what else?" Rory joked. "Hey, want to come over for a bit? I'm sure mom won't mi"- she got cut off by Lane. "Hey, have you seen that guy before?" Rory thought about it for a sec. "Nope." They both mused at it for a bit, but decided to pay for their things. Suddenly, the man turned around and whipped out a gun. "Nobody move! You're not going until I say you are. If anyone disobeys me, they'll have to deal with me. Understand?" he yelled.

Beside Lane, Rory closed her eyes. "Oh my God. I can't believe this is happening. This can not be happening. Mom's waiting for me at home.. Oh God.. please don't let him shoot me. Please," she thought. Rory gripped Lane's hand. It was freezing cold. Lane's hands always got cold when she was nervous. Taylor kept his mouth shut.. for now at least. They settled down for what seemed like a horrifying evening. Rory kept glancing at the guy and thinking about her mom. She wished she would get out soon, but knew that wasn't possible.

Back at the house, Lorelai was getting a bit impatient. She wanted coffee. Instead she wandered into the living room and turned on the news. "We have just received ground breaking news of a grocery store in Stars Hollow that is being held captive. The people in the store are two teenage girls and a middle aged man. We'll have more on the story later on."

Lorelai felt as if she was going to faint, but instead quickly called Luke. "Luke?" she said as he answered the phone. "Yea?" he replied. "Rory, Lane and Taylor are being held captive in Taylor's market. I need you to come over here, before I lose my mind." "I'll be right there. And Lor?" "Yea?" "She'll be alright."

Lorelai sighed sadly as she plopped on the couch. Her heart was racing uncontrollably. A few minutes later, Luke let himself in and walked into the living room. He sat beside her and put his arm around her protectively. She relinguished in his embrace, but felt restless. Lorelai wandered around the house, and came upon Rory's room. Luke let her go by herself. She ventured inside, and took everything in. Rory's endless amounts of books, her pictures. Just.. everything.. .

Lorelai sat on sat Rory's bed, and finally began to cry.



Back inside the market, Taylor was trying to talk the guy out of doing this. Rory and Lane were both awaiting the results. The guy pushed the barrel of the gun on Taylor's head. Rory closed her eyes in horror. Taylor didn't deserve this. Nobody here deserved this. She thought about her mom, and wanted to see her. To hold her. A person who would stroke her hair and whisper to her that everything would be okay. But this was here and now. Her mom wasn't here. Beside her, Lane was in her own thoughts. Rory whispered to her, "Lane..we're going to get out of here, don't worry."

"You know what?" Lane whispered back to her. "I had a fight with mom before I left.. now I might never see her again." A few tears slipped down her cheeks. Rory put her arms around Lane and held her best friend. Hoping. Hoping that they would get out of this alive, because neither of them didn't think that the guy with the gun wouldn't use it.

At home, Lorelai got her coat from the door hanger. She was going to go see if Rory was okay. Luke stopped her. "Lor, what are you doing?" "I'm going to find my daughter. That evil bastard isn't going to hurt her." "But how? You can't get in the shop." "I'll hide in the bushes by taylor's place." Luke was about to stop her, when Lorelai said, "She's my baby, Luke. I can't let anything happen to her; I have to go and watch. You would do the same thing if you had a child that was as precoious to you as Rory is to me."

She left, and then jogged over to near Taylor's market. Lorelai crouched behind the bushes. She could see Rory holding Lane in a protective embrace, and Taylor trying to reason(she thought) with the gunman. The gunman suddenly went over to the girls. He was talking to Rory, it looked like. She didn't answer him, and he got really angry and pushed the barrel of the gun on Rory's head now. It looked like Rory was going to faint. She looked really pale. Lorelai swore under her breath, and turned her head as she heard footsteps coming up from behind. It was Sookie.

"Luke told me you'd be here. Oh my God," she said as she saw everybody inside. "Lor." No words were said as they hugged. "Sookie, I'm so scared for her. I'm scared for everybody, but Rory is my heart and soul." Sookie tried to reassure her friend as best as she could.

Inside the market, Rory felt petrified. She was shaking, and was having trouble breathing. She quickly looked at Taylor and Lane, who both looked scared for her. "So this is what it feels like to have a gun pointed at your head."Rory said to herself. She started to cry, and covered her face with her hands. Suddenly the gunman pulled the gun away from Rory's head. Rory was afraid even to look at him now. Instead, he pulled them farther away into an isle, and randomly shot at something. The girls screamed. Taylor was silent. Rory and Lane held each other, both crying hard. "This night is horrifying. He's probably going to shoot us somtime tonight. I want Mom. I need Mom." Rory thought as she and Lane tried to calm down. The weather was getting awful. It was raining and there were a few thunder and lightning strikes too.

Back outside, Lorelai heard the shot and heard the screams. She tried to look for them, but they had dissapeared out of her eye reach. She thought her heart had stopped beating, and was only vaugly aware of Sookie holding her in a tight hug. "Oh my God," Lorelai thought. "Don't let it be anyone he shot at. Don't let it be Rory. Please God.. I'll do anything." Inside it was quiet. Too quiet. Outside it was too quiet. The trees were rustling in the wind. You could hear people laughing inside their homes.

Suddenly, both inside and out, they could hear police cars arriving. Rory and Lane held their breath. Could this really be happening? The police suddenly broke through, as they pointed their guns at the gunman. The gunman reluctanly put his gun down, seeing as he was outnumbered. As they dragged him out,kicking and screaming, Rory and Lane released each other. Lane promised Rory that she would call her tomorrow. Rory nodded, and said goodbye to Taylor. She wouldn't be coming to this market for a long time, she knew that for a fact.

When Rory left the market, she saw her mom standing a couple of feet away from her. For a moment, they just stood there, looking at each other. Than they ran into each other's arms, both crying, their tears mixed up with the rain. "I love you, sweetie," Lorelai said after a few minutes. "I love you too mom," Rory replied, clinging to her like she'd never let her go. They let go of each other, and hand in hand, started walking home.

Lorelei knew that she would have a tough time helping Rory go through with dealing with the aftermath of this, but they would do it together. Together. Like it should always be. Mother and daughter, best friends, forever.