** Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Gilmore Girls. If I were that all powerful then Jess would be staying put! So, in summation... Please don't sue me!**

Lorelai rubbed her eyes as she plodded down the stairs. The loud banging started again.

"Alright, alright… I'll be there at 7:03." She shouted, looking at her watch and seeing that it was 6:59am.

She finally reached the door and opened it, leaning on the door handle to stay standing.

Luke rushed in past her and headed for Rory's room.

"Morning to you to." She frowned, closing the door and following him. "Hey… what are you doing?" She asked as he burst in.

"Oh god. This is great!" He said, opening her wardrobe and drawers and seeing that a lot of her stuff was gone.

"What's going on…" Asked Lorelai. She noticed Rory's bed was empty. "Where's my kid?"

"Probably with Jess." Sighed Luke, looking for hints as to where they'd gone.

"Helpful. Where's Jess?" Asked Lorelai, following Luke around the room.

"He ran away."

"He what?!" Said Lorelai, her voice rising. She was now fully awake.

"I woke up this morning. His stuff, gone. My truck, gone." Said Luke, taking his cap off and rubbing his forehead.

"And he took my daughter?!" Yelled Lorelai.

"It looks that way!"

"Why?!" She said, tears coming to her eyes.

"Because his mother was coming today to take him home. So I'm guessing they decided to get out of here before she got the chance."

Lorelai wasn't even listening. She walked over to Rory's bed and sat on it. She couldn't breathe.

"Hey, hey. Calm down." Said Luke, rushing over to her and kneeling beside her.

"I… How…" She gasped, gripping Rory's bed spread.

"Just… breathe." Said Luke, breathing in and out slowly to demonstrate.

Lorelai looked him in the eyes and tried to breathe in time with him and eventually she managed to.

She looked down at Rory's pillow and saw the note. She picked it up and opened it, but couldn't read it through her tears.

Luke took it and read it aloud for her.

Mom,

I'm so sorry I'm doing this to you, but I have to go. I can't be away from Jess and if we stay, that's what will happen.

I love you, very much. And hopefully you'll understand why I have to do this.

Please don't call the police. We'll be ok, and we will come back as soon as we can. I promise. Just… wait. I'll call you whenever I can.

All my love,

Rory.

Luke folded the note and placed it on the bed beside Lorelai.

"Jess… left me a note too. Asking me not to call the cops." He sighed, taking Lorelai's hand in his.

"I don't understand. Why didn't she come to me? We could have fixed this!" Cried Lorelai desperately, knowing it wasn't true.

Luke hugged her tightly.

"What do we do? I can't… I need her back." Wept Lorelai, gripping Luke's shirt as he held her. "They could be anywhere. She could be anywhere."

"We'll find them." Luke reassured her.

"How?! We don't know where they were going. We don't know… what time they left. They're gone Luke!" She said. Hearing the words come out of her mouth, her eyes grew wider and she started to cry more.

*****

Luke and Lorelai sat in the diner. Lorelai was still in her 'Hello Kitty' pajamas and slippers and she was crying into her coffee.

The blinds were closed, the diner was empty, it was just the two of them.

"Is there… anywhere Rory would be… drawn to going?" Said Luke, having exhausted any other ideas.

"Harvard." Sniffed Lorelai, wiping her eyes.

"And?"

"Harvard." She repeated.

"I thought she was into travel and…"

"Yeah, to Europe." Sighed Lorelai.

"Oh."

There was a loud banging on the door.

"We're closed!" Shouted Luke, rubbing Lorelai's back gently.

The banging continued.

"We're closed." He called again. But the banging continued.

Luke got up and stormed over to the door, opening it.

"Kirk, for the last time, we're closed! Family emergency!" He yelled.

"Family emergency? Would that be avoiding your sister?"

"Liz." He sighed.

"Yeah, it's me. Think I was bluffing about coming here?" She said, raising an eyebrow and pushing past him into the diner. "Who's this?" She asked, thumbing at Lorelai.

"That's Lorelai Gilmore."

"Oh…" Liz looked at Lorelai. "Uh… sorry to be rude, but we have some family business to discuss so…"

Lorelai stood up and walked over to her.

"Family business?" She said.

"Yes. So, if you'd just give us some privacy…"

Liz didn't get to finish her sentence. Lorelai's fist met with her nose and Luke had to catch her.

"You bitch!" Said Lorelai. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Lorelai, calm down!" Said Luke, sitting Liz in a chair.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Shouted Liz, touching her nose to make sure it wasn't broken or bleeding.

"Me? Me?! I'm not the lunatic who treats her child like a yoyo. I'm a good mother, and I have raised a beautiful daughter and she has fallen in love with your son."

Liz shook her head and looked at Luke.

"Translation?" She sighed.

"Liz, Jess has run away, and he's taken Lorelai's daughter, Rory, with him." Said Luke.

"You let him run away?" Liz asked.

"No, I didn't let him!"

"Oh, yeah. So… my son doesn't want to come home with me, and you don't want to send him back. And then all of a sudden he's just… gone and you want me to believe you had nothing to do with it?" Shouted Liz.

"I don't care what you believe Liz. Jess ran away on his own. I didn't tell him to do it, and I certainly didn't tell him to take his girlfriend with him."

Lorelai closed her eyes, listening to Luke and Liz argue. She sat back down and tried to breathe slowly, the way Luke had told her to before.

"Shut up!" She shouted finally. "This isn't about who was right or wrong." She cried. "Our kids are out there…"

Luke walked over and hugged Lorelai.

"So... we call the police." Said Liz.

Lorelai and Luke looked at her.

"They asked us not to." Sighed Luke.

"So… what? The kids run the show around here?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"No. But we do what is in their best interests instead of our own." Snapped Lorelai.

"I'd say that would be getting them back."

Lorelai's lip trembled and more tears threatened to fall. She wanted Rory back so badly. She wanted to hear her voice, see her smile, hold her.

"If getting them back means Jess having to be subjected to a minute longer with you than he wants to be…" Lorelai looked down. "Then no, it's not."

*****

"Where are we?" Asked Rory groggily.

"Somewhere near Baltimore." Smiled Jess slightly.

"But… we were only just in New York." She said, sitting up and looking out of the window.

"No. We were in New York at 6:30am. Then you fell asleep. Now we're in Maryland."

Rory smiled slightly and took a deep breath.

"You hungry?" He asked.

"I could definitely eat." She nodded.

Jess got off of the interstate at the next exit for a gas station. He filled the truck up while Rory snuck into the bathrooms and changed from her pajamas into some jeans and a sweater.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Jess frowned, coming up behind her in the gas station and putting his arms around her waist.

"Getting some cash." She said, punching the pin number into the ATM.

"You don't need to." He said.

"I should do it now, while we're still on the move." She sighed.

"Wow… that's… a lot of money." He said, slightly shocked when she checked the balance.

"Emergency money. Mom always kept a set amount in this account in case I needed it."

"For what?"

"Anything." She shrugged, withdrawing quite a large amount of money and putting it in her purse.

"So… breakfast." He smiled as she turned around in his arms to face him.

"Coffee." She grinned. "And…one of those."

She pulled away and walked over to a large selection of pastries. Jess took that opportunity to go around the gas station and grab some things for later in the day.

They met up at the cash register, paid and left.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked as they made their way over to the pick-up.

Rory opened the door and got in. She placed her breakfast on the dashboard and opened the road atlas.

"Virginia?" She offered. "We could head for Norfolk and then carry on down the coast…?"

"Sounds good to me." He yawned.

"Ok, I'm driving." She said, waving him out of the drivers seat.

"I'm fine to drive." He insisted.

"You need to sleep." She pointed out, kissing his cheek and pushing him towards the door.

He reluctantly got out and they switched seats. He handed her the keys and she started the engine. After a moment of struggling with driving a different vehicle, she adjusted and they were back on the road.

"I'll wake you in four hours." She smiled. "We should be in Norfolk by then."

She looked over at him and smiled when she found him already asleep.