Disclaimer: This is an original story based upon the characters of Gilmore Girls. No profit will be made from this story and no copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Thank you all for your reviews on that last chapter. I was a little nervous about that one. I'm glad it went over okay. I am now back in the "real world" so updates may not be coming as fast as I would like, but I'll do my best. As always, I hope you enjoy this next installment.

We drove in silence—the only sound was the world whishing by as Lorelai sped towards Hartford and the garbled sounds of the meeting coming from Rory's cell phone. I had called the police and Richard and Luke—they were going to meet us there.

"Are we close?" Lorelai whispered to Jace—the college boy who had been with Rory and was leading us to her.

He nodded, "Yeah, we're almost there, turn left on that next street."

It was quiet again as Lorelai turned and then suddenly we heard a "Mom?" that nearly caused Lorelai to wreck the car.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm here," she whispered, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine—I think they're done. They're getting up and leaving,"

"Rory—where are you? Can they see you?" I whispered into the phone.

"No Grandma—I'm behind the barrels in the store. They're going out the back way."

"Mom—they're leaving. The police aren't going to get here in time. This may be the last chance to find Alicia. I have to follow one of them."

"Rory—stay where you are. Do you hear me? Stay right there!" Lorelai whispered fiercely.

Suddenly there was a dial tone—a horrible, terrifying dial tone.

"Lorelai!" I cried.

"Where are the police?" she yelled.

"Lorelai…" Jace interrupted. "I can hear them—listen."

Suddenly we heard the sirens of three or four police cars coming towards us.

"Come on…Come on!" Lorelai yelled impatiently and handed me her cell phone. "Mom, see if you can get Rory back."

I grabbed the cell phone and pressed the speed dial over and over again. "Please Rory," I whispered, my hands shaking. "Come on Rory, please pick up the phone." Suddenly I started softly crying, "Please…if there's a God in Heaven. Please let her be alright. Please don't take my girls."

"There it is!" Jace yelled as we turned down the street. The three police cars screeched to a stop just as we started down the street and we watched as the policeman kicked down the door and stepped inside.

Lorelai stopped the car and we all got out of the car running towards the building.

Detective Stevens got out of the car and held up his hands towards us. "Please, get back in the car," he said. "Let us take care of this."

Lorelai paid no attention and charged in to the building. Two policemen grabbed her and held her back.

"Let me go!" she yelled. "That's my daughter in there!"

"Mrs. Danes, please," Detective Stevens said firmly.

"Let me go!" she yelled fighting the policemen.

"Lorelai! Stop!" I cried and went to her.

"We can't go in there right now," I said as I held on to her. We heard the police crashing around inside and time seemed to stop as we waited for the police to come out.

Four of them finally did, wearing helmets and carrying weapons, "The building is clear. There is no one inside at all. We don't see anyone around the outside area either"

"No…No!" Lorelai cried and broke into sobs on my shoulder.

Detective Stevens was running towards the car. "Mrs. Danes, we're going to find them. We're going to find them!"

The police cars started down the road and Lorelai ran towards the jeep.

"What are you doing?" I called.

"I'm going too," she said. "Get in the car,"

"I'll wait here for Dad and Luke," I said.

"No…get in the car!" she yelled.

"Lorelai, I'm staying here," I said firmly.

"Jace, stay here with my mom until my dad get here," she ordered and took off down the road.

As soon as she was out of sight, I turned to Jace. "I'm not getting any reception here," I said lying. "Go down the street and use that payphone to call my husband's cell. The number is 623-7476. Tell him what's happening,"

"Yes Mam," he said, "But…if you were going to call your husband, why did you need to wait her for him?"

"Just do as I say Young Man," I said. He took off towards the payphone.

I waited as soon as he was out of sight and earshot and then I walked behind the store and into an alley.

I looked all around me looking for any sign of movement. It was dark but I wasn't afraid. I wasn't going to be afraid anymore.

"Lorraine!" I yelled. "I don't know if you can hear me, but if you have a fight with me—have it with me! Leave my children alone!" I looked around again seeing if there was any response.

"Lorraine! I'm right here! You want me—I'm right here, come on!"

There was no response, nothing but silence. And then suddenly I heard the sound of footsteps running towards me. I turned towards them and saw Rory running down the alley.

"Rory!" I cried out and ran towards her, hugging her to me, feeling all over for any broken bones.

"Are you alright?" I asked, cupping her face in my hands and bringing her forehead against mine.

"I'm fine Grandma," she breathed heavily, but I lost them. I couldn't follow them anymore.

"It's alright Sweetheart," I said kissing her forehead. "The police are on the trail. Tell me about what happened in the meeting," I said, leading her towards the back steps of the building.

"The people came in… the ones with Brittany," she began, still breathing heavily. "One of the guys started yelling at them, telling them that they had exposed Brittany to evil by taking her to a restaurant. It was really weird. The woman pretending to be Brittany's mom started crying and saying they had forgot. The guy then said that they weren't fit and that someone else would be found. Then they told them to leave and they kept Brittany with them."

"What do you think that meant?" I asked.

"I don't know…it was really weird."

"What else?" I prodded.

"Grandma…" she started. "That woman…Lorraine. She was there."

"I know Rory," I answered.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"Jace just went down to call Grandpa on his cell, your mom left with the police. As soon as Jace gets back, you both are going to the McDonald's on the next street over. You are going to stay there until someone comes for you."

"What are you going to do?" she said, her voice shaking.

"Don't worry about that Rory," I said smoothing the hair out of her face. "Everything is going to be alright."

"Grandma…I'm staying with you," she said and clung to me. I reached down and removed her arms from me.

"Sweetheart, I want you to go with Jace, He'll be back any second,"

"No Grandma!" she started cry. "I'm not leaving here without you."

"Rory please…" I pleaded. "Go…go now!"

"You're going to try and find her aren't you…on your own?" she said, searching my face.

"Rory, do as I say!" I said firmly. Suddenly there was a movement in the bushes and we both turned towards it. I watched in horror as Lorraine stepped out and pointed a gun at us. Instinctively I stood up, grabbed Rory and shoved her behind me.

"You wanted it just the two of us, here we are," she said in a low voice.

"Fine…let Rory go. Your fight is with me." I said, my only fear being for Rory's life.

"Sorry, can't do that," she said chuckling.

From behind me I heard a small click and instantly I knew what it was. Rory had used her cell phone again. Now it was up to me to keep Lorraine talking until the police got here.

"So…Rory" she called.

"Don't say anything" I whispered.

"How did you enjoy our little meeting?" she asked and I couldn't help taking in a sharp breath. She had known that Rory was there!

"Lorraine…" I said. "Tell me what this is all about."

"I'm a member of the Children for Christ. I have dedicated my life to serving children and saving them for evil."

I chuckled slowly and shook my head, "You don't really expect me to believe that do you?"

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"That you have dedicated your life to children. Tell me, how does it save children to kidnap them from their parents?"

"Their parents are evil," she retorted.

"How so?"

"They are rich,"

"And that buys them a one way ticket to Hell?" I said incredulously.

"Grandma," Rory whispered from behind me. "Don't antagonize her,"

"Yeah Grandma…don't antagonize me," Lorraine said taking another step towards me.

"Lorraine stop with all of this. Stop with the mask of this stupid cult. Why me? You kidnapped Lorelai years ago, you tried to kidnap Rory, you kidnapped Alicia…Why? What is it that you have against me?"

She shrugged, "I hated you. I've always hated you."

In spite of everything, even though my blood burned with hatred for this woman, her remarks still stung.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you had it all. You had a husband that loved you, a beautiful baby, a beautiful house. I was jealous of you."

"I found George," I said. "He said the baby lived. He said you left him."

"Yes I did, I hated George too. I hated myself, I hated my life. So I ran. I ran until I found the Children for Christ. They gave me meaning."

"So, I lost my daughter, my unborn child, my husband went through years of Hell, and now my granddaughter is gone now…all so that you could have piece of mind?" I said, stepping closer to her.

"I wanted you to suffer. I wanted you to feel as miserable as I did. The Children of Christ told me when I came that it was my duty to make you suffer. My duty and the duty of my child."

Her words sank into me… "April," I said slowly, "April Kelly is your daughter." She nodded.

"Where is Alicia Lorraine?" I asked, taking another step towards her.

"She is with the righteous," Lorraine said.

"Lorraine…I'm not kidding around here. Tell me where my granddaughter is." I said, the hardest stare of my life settling in my features.

She leveled the gun at me. "Don't come any closer Emily,"

"Rory run, run right now and don't stop for anything," I said in a low voice.

She dodged from behind me and ran towards the alley. For a few terrifying moments my heart stopped as Lorraine fired a shot at her and it missed.

I could hear Rory's sobs as she ran down the street.

"Where is Alicia?" I said again, facing Lorraine.

"Emily, I will shoot you," she said, leveling the gun at me.

"And I will end this and end this now," I said in a low voice, "Now where is Alicia?"

Okay—I know I'm evil.  I will be sure to continue tomorrow.