Luke POV

I got home just as Rory and Dean came out the front door. Well, Dean walked out, but Rory hovered in the doorway, knowing the rules; she couldn't go out onto the porch alone, and we had to be able to hear her. I nodded at Dean as I squeezed past them and walked into the house. I found Lorelai beaming in the kitchen, obviously very happy with how the evening went.

"Why did I have to hear about this from Patty?" I asked her, curious. I wasn't angry about the movie night with Dean; it was the smart thing to do given the situation, but I was a little upset that I hadn't been informed.

She looked a little guilty for a moment, "It was a spur of the moment thing."

I believed her, knowing what she was like; she did most things on the spur of the moment, leading to a lot of arguments in the past. At this point, I wasn't even surprised, but it didn't stop me from wanting to know when it was related to Rory. I sighed, "How did it go?"

"I mostly left them alone because I knew I could hear everything from here anyway, but Rory complained that she was alone because she felt like a moron, so at some point, I ended up in there with him alone, and I had a small chat. He knows that me and you have to like him to have a chance with Rory, so he's trying to impress all three of us at the same time. And it's working," Lorelai admitted, smiling, "For a first boyfriend, she picked well."

I raised an eyebrow, "He hasn't had a chance to impress me yet, but from what I've seen and heard about him, he's a good kid. Next time you decide to do this, make sure I'm home, too."

She laughed, "I was actually thinking they could have breakfast or something together at the diner, just so there's a change of scenery, and you have a way of eavesdropping without being intrusive."

"They deserve a bit more trust than that," I sighed, "I might let them use the apartment above the diner so they can have a little privacy and feel like they're alone. I can check-in regularly, and there's no way for Christopher to get to her without going through me first."

The next few days sped by in a blur of driving Rory to and from everywhere she needed to be. While Lorelai did the mornings, I took the afternoons, which meant doing school and college trips, along with her monthly visit to the shrink.

On Thursday, I was running late. There had been an accident on my usual route, and I had to change my route while dealing with traffic, making me 5 minutes late. It was only 5 minutes, but it was long enough.

When I caught sight of her, she was frozen, her face a picture of fear. I could only see the man's back, but I knew who it was. I was too far away from her so I started jogging towards her, not wanting to draw too much attention.

He stepped forward, and she stepped back; he violently reached for her arm, and someone pulled her away, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple and whispering something in her ear. I caught sight of his face and realised it was the boy that called her Mary and I was introduced to him at her party; Tristan.

His eyes caught mine, and he smiled at me, manoeuvring Rory around Christopher and heading straight for me. I slowed down but kept walking, with us meeting at the halfway mark. She ran at me, throwing herself into my arms, crying. I held her close, "You're okay, I've got you."

Tristan then spoke up, "I wouldn't normally do what I did, but they all have the same look on their face when they're going to do something bad, and I couldn't stand by and watch it happen, so I did the first thing that jumped into my head, which was pretending to be her boyfriend. I'm sorry if I made things worse or if I made her uncomfortable."

I smiled at him, "Thank you."

Rory pulled away from me, and turned to him, "You didn't make me uncomfortable, it's fine. And thank you, you didn't have to do that."

He nodded, and smiled at her, "You're welcome, Mary."

He went to walk away, but stopped, pulling out a piece of paper and writing something on it, "Here's my number. If you need anything, call me.

She took the piece of paper and thanked him, and a smile lit up his face. He walked off, that smile plastered on his face. He seemed pretty genuine and I suspected that he had a crush on her, but that wasn't important right now.

I got Rory in the car and drove her home, knowing she'd want to get changed before going to the diner. About halfway home, she had me pull over, having the sudden need to throw up. I obviously obliged, and got out with her, holding her hair back.

When we got home, she ran inside, not even noticing that Dean was waiting for her on the front porch with flowers.

"Have I done something wrong?" Dean asked as I walked up to him.

"No, that was nothing to do with you. She's had a really rough day and probably didn't notice you; I don't know what you know about her situation so I can't tell you what's going on, but you'd be better off coming by the diner in a few hours if you want to talk to her," I told him, "I'll take those flowers and put them in water, though; she'll love them."

He looked a little sad, but he nodded, "Thanks, Luke."

He handed over the colourful bunch and left, his hands in his pockets.

I went indoors and found the old vase Lorelai had, filling it and putting in the flowers. I then looked in on Rory who was sat on her bed with tears running down her face. I went and sat next to her, gathering her in my arms, letting her cry it out.

Once she had calmed down, she kicked me out so she could get changed, and I called Lorelai.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked; I rarely called her at work.

"Christopher showed up at the school today. He got there before I did and almost got Rory; I don't know what his plan was but that Tristan kid that she keeps complaining about got her out of the way. I'm not even sure how he managed it."

"I can't believe he found out where she was going to school because they don't give that type of information out," Lorelai said, "Is she okay? Do I need to come home?"

I shook my head even though she couldn't see me, "No, I think she'll be okay. She's getting changed and then we're going to the diner. Oh, and Dean was waiting for her with flowers when she got home and she didn't even notice the poor kid. I told him to try again later, but I did take the flowers; I'm hoping they'll cheer her up when she notices them."

She chuckled a little, but she sounded sad, "I hope so, too... Look, I've got to go, but call me if anything else happens."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you too."

I put down the phone as Rory came out of her bedroom, wearing my blue flannel shirt again. I thought I had got it back, but apparently, it didn't last very long. She looked at the flowers, confused, "Where did they come from?"

"Dean," I told her, "He was waiting for you when we got back but you barely noticed him. I told him to try again later."

She sighed, "Why is today going horribly wrong?"

"I don't know," I told her, "Come on, let's go."

I easily got her settled at the diner since I had brought down her rocking chair at the beginning of this, wanting her to be as comfortable as possible while having very little freedom. I ran up and brought down her blanket since she would probably need it today, and once she was wrapped up in her blanket with a book and a cup of coffee, she seemed a lot better.

Dean showed up an hour later and spotted her in the corner. Even though they weren't even an official couple yet, he looked so worried. He walked over and said hello, a little unsure. But she smiled and told him to sit down, promising to tell him everything.

"Dad?" She called, and I walked over to them, preparing to write down whatever comfort food she wanted and whatever Dean wanted, too. She smiled at me, "Can you get my first article from upstairs, please? It's easier than explaining how all of this started."

"Are you sure?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Everyone else in town has read it," She reminded me.

I ran up and grabbed the article, which I had framed when it was first published. I had folders of all of her published articles, but I always framed my favourites. I ran back downstairs, passing her the frame, and went on with my job, keeping an eye on the pair.

When he finished reading it, he placed it down on the table and started asking questions about her abilities and whether the surgery was why we were so protective. And then she told him about the box of letters we had from Christopher, all of which were threatening her.

She explained how the restraining order had expired when his parole ended, and that we had only started being so protective two weeks ago because of the risk. She told him about this afternoon, how he had shown up at school and called her a bitch, and told her she would pay, and a 'friend' had helped her out by pulling her out of the way when he tried to grab her.

Dean seemed pretty understanding, but he made a comment that upset her, "I didn't know Luke wasn't your real dad."

I gritted my teeth and glared at the back of his head, and Rory didn't seem too happy, either, "Christopher being my biological father doesn't make him my real dad. He is my father, but only biologically; he doesn't even have parental rights. Luke is my real dad because he is the one who raised me."

Even though Dean's comment had pissed me off, her response made me smile at her. I heard Dean apologise, and then he left 'for work', but I suspect he was a little embarrassed about that. I walked over to her and kissed her forehead, "Proud of you, baby girl."

AN: Dean is never going to form an actual relationship with her but I wanted a bit of flirtation between them since he is quite sweet at first. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review.