Luke POV

"She deserves the ability to go to a school dance," Lorelai muttered, "I hate this."

"Does she want to go?" I asked, and Lorelai shrugged.

"I think since she knows she can't go, she hadn't considered whether she'd like to go. I mean, high school dances are much different than middle school dances, and she deserves to be able to go to her school dance with a date if she wanted to," Lorelai told me.

"Ask her," I told her, "If she really wants to go, we'll find a way to get her there and back safely without embarrassing her."

It turns out that she was curious enough to want to go, but not enough to push the issue. So, me and Lorelai started brainstorming ways to keep her safe.

"Safety in numbers," I suggested, "If she and Dean go together, we could see if Tristan and whoever he's taking would double with them, and if they leave, they stay together until Rory gets to us."

Lorelai nodded, "We could stay at Mom's house that evening so we're close by, which wouldn't put anyone out of place. Or we could find a restaurant near and have our own date."

"Sounds good, I'm just worried about this whole thing..." I admitted.

"What do you think about Dean?" She suddenly asked.

I thought for a moment, "He's a good guy and she could definitely do worse, but I don't think he's good enough for her. I mean, no guy will ever be good enough for her, but Dean isn't anywhere close."

Lorelai looked down at her feet, sadly, "I agree. Dean is a great guy and quite easy to get on with, but he's not it. Not for her. If she wants to be with him, I will support her, but I really like Tristan. He's rich and spoilt, but it doesn't show as much as I would have expected."

I was about to respond when I heard the floods of children coming. I looked up as the Chilton gates opened and the kids came out, but I didn't see Rory or Tristan among them. As I was about to say something, my phone beeped. I pulled the cell out of my pocket and saw that there was a text from Tristan; 'we're fine, medina held her behind, waiting for her but will be out soon.'

I showed the test to Lorelai and she smiled thankfully. We had insisted on him taking our number in case something happened during the school day and she wasn't able to contact us, which apparently proved helpful. While I wouldn't have panicked immediately, I know Lorelai would have.

As the crowd of children and parents thinned, I spotted Christopher standing by a tree, only just in my sight. I nudged Lorelai and discreetly showed her where he was, and she sighed.

"What do we do?"

I pulled out my phone and texted Tristan 'stay where you are, don't come out', and then turned to Lorelai, "Do you remember where her English classroom was?"

She nodded, and I locked the jeep, walking towards the school, "We're going to her."

We easily found the classroom and Tristan along with it. He was leaning against the locker opposite the door with his arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the door. When Lorelai said his name, he simply said, "He's here, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's by that big tree," Lorelai told him, "I almost didn't notice, Luke did."

"I'm suddenly glad Mary wasn't paying attention in English today," He admitted, "She seemed exhausted."

I was about to respond when Rory came out with Mr Medina, and he looked at us strangely, "I was going to call you both, do you have a moment to talk?"

"I'll go in," I said to Lorelai, "Stay out here with Rory and don't move."

She nodded as she wrapped her arms around Rory, holding her tightly. While we were nowhere near out of danger yet, I knew she felt better when she was able to physically touch Rory.

I walked into the classroom and Mr Medina shut the door behind us, "Rory told me about everything that's going on with her biological father."

I nodded, "He's currently stood outside the school gates, which is why we came and found her."

"If you need any solid evidence, we keep CCTV records for a year, minimum. The police have to request it and the school will need the date and rough time, but we have CCTV around campus and he should have been caught by the cameras," He told me, which was not what I was expecting, "Get Rory to write about every time she sees him, too, in detail. You and Lorelai need to do that, too."

"Thank you," I said, "Why didn't our lawyer tell us that?"

He sighed, "Because writing about it isn't factual evidence. However, it's something that can be used to convince the police to actually look into getting the evidence. You can call the police after 4 major occurrences or 10 minor occurrences."

I knew that last part, but I ignored that, "Thanks for telling us. Are there any problems with Rory because of this?"

"Her improvement has slowed down a little but she's still on track to become an A student by Christmas, which is surprising given how distracted she's been. However, since becoming friends with Tristan Dugray, his grades have started improving even though they've been pretty stable for the last two years. He's also more focused in class and is no longer going around picking on people. She is somehow coping with Chilton's standards during this time and she's helping another person. I think that's pretty incredible and I wanted you to know how well she is doing, despite everything. I told her that today but I don't think any of it registered, hence wanting to talk to you."

"She has that effect on people; she makes them want to be better," I told him proudly, "Thank you for telling me, and once she's more herself, she'll appreciate it, too."

I said goodbye and left the classroom just as Tristan said, "It's clear."

Rory was stood with her back to the wall in the gap between two sets of lockers, almost perfectly straight. Lorelai was facing the dead-end part of the corridor and Tristan was clearly looking over her shoulder, almost on his tiptoes. I raised an eyebrow at them, and Rory said, "Tristan has fast reflexes."

"He's come looking for her, hasn't he?" I asked, and Lorelai nodded. I swore under my breath and then admitted that I had no idea of what to do.

AN: I started writing this chapter 7 times. I have no idea why it was so hard, but it was. But I hope that you enjoyed it.