Luke POV

Lorelai had barely parked the car when I got out, not waiting around. She easily caught up, both of us walking as fast as we could. Her hand slipped into mine, and squeezed comfortingly.

As we walked in, I saw Tristan talking to the headmaster and a police officer, and Rory's coat and bag were sat on the bench next to them. Once he saw us, he walked around them holding his hand up to them and turning to us, "I'm so sorry. I should have..."

"A school is supposed to be safe," I told him, even though my anger was directed at someone else, and then I looked over at the headmaster, "Have you located my daughter, yet?"

"Yes and no," The headmaster said, which infuriated me, "Come behind the desk and we'll show you the CCTV."

Lorelai squeezed my hand, and I could tell it was a fear thing, not a comfort thing. I squeezed back before walking behind the desk desperate to see what they had found. They played the CCTV of where we had just parked, and there was an expensive car sat there. A few moments later, I saw Christopher. He had Rory in his arms and she was unconscious. He laid her down in the back of his car and drove away.

"How the hell did this happen? How did he get in and how on earth did he get her out?"

"I don't know," The headmaster admitted, "Those responsible for this will be punished, but for now, we need to focus on finding your daughter."

Lorelai was strangely silent beside me, and when I looked at her, she looked sick. She was very pale and tears were streaming down her face, "What's the plan?"

The policeman smiled at us, "We have the license plate of his car, which I have put an alert out for. I know he is her biological father who almost killed her when she was 10, and I know he has been staying with his parents who live 20 minutes outside of Hartford. I plan on paying them a visit the moment I have a warrant to search the place. We are also going to be sending out an AMBER alert. Is there anything you think could help us?"

"I'm not sure it'll be much help," I said, "But we have 3 years' worth of letters threatening her. They're all different threats and different outcomes, and they stopped when we got the restraining order, but that's the best we can offer."

The officer thought for a second, "If we get nowhere with the parents, we will have a look, but it is likely a waste of time."

"What do we do while we wait?" I asked.

"Go home. An officer will be coming to your home to gather any possible evidence, but you'd be better off waiting there, anyway."

Lorelai went to pick up Rory's things, but the policeman stopped her, "I'm sorry, that's evidence."

I promised Tristan that we would keep him informed, and led Lorelai outside. She had gone into a form of shock and I ended up digging out her keys so we could drive back to the diner.

When we got to the diner, I shouted for Caesar and told him he was closing tonight. I turned to Jess, "We need to go home and wait."

"You're joking, right?"

I tried to respond but I physically couldn't. He took my silence as an answer and walked out, "I'm walking back."

I drove Lorelai back home and got her inside. She stiffened up as her sights rested on the couch, spotting Rory's favourite sweater on the back. And then she moved of her own accord, gathering it up in her hands and bringing it to her nose, breathing in the scent.

"It smells like her," She murmured, not moving from her position, "Can you call my parents? AMBER alerts go everywhere and they deserve to hear it from us."

I picked up the landline and dialled, hoping that Emily would answer instead of a maid.

"Hello?" Emily asked, and I internally sighed with relief.

"Emily, it's Luke," I started, "You may want to sit down."

"Is something wrong with Lorelai? Or Rory?"

"Rory was taken from school," I told her, "The police are involved and they're sending out an AMBER alert because Christopher was caught on school cameras. She was unconscious and we don't know if she's okay."

"This is my fault, isn't it?" She asked after a moment of silence.

I sighed, "We don't know that for definite. He could have found out her school location without your help, you just made it a little easier. Right now, we're not playing the blame game, I'm just letting you know what's happening."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" She asked brokenly.

"Stay home; the police might want to ask you some questions, and it's obviously easier for us to reach you if you're at home. And call Richard; you shouldn't be alone at a time like this."

"Thank you, Luke," She said, and it sounded like she meant it, "Call us if you need anything."

I put down the phone as Jess walked in. He walked straight past us and went upstairs, not saying a word. While he and Rory didn't really know each other, she was still family and this was going to affect him. However, I didn't have the energy to force him into talking and we'd deal with the fallout later.

There was a knock at the door, but Lorelai beat me to it. A policewoman stood there and Lorelai let her in.

"Hi. I need to collect DNA samples from your daughter. Typically, her hairbrush and her toothbrush would be enough to suffice."

I led the woman through to the bathroom, and pointed to her stuff on the little shelf above the sink, "Those are hers."

She took the toothbrush and put it in a sealable sandwich bag (or that's how it looked) and did the same with the toothbrush, before turning back to me, "I was told that there is a box of threatening letters here. May I also take that with me?"

"Of course," I told her, walking out of the bathroom and shouting up the stairs, "Jess, could you bring the box of letters down, please."

He didn't respond but I heard shuffling a moment later, and he came down the stairs with it in his arms. The policewoman looked a little surprised at the size but recovered quickly. She took the box out to her car and put it in the boot. She then turned back to me, "We will call you when we have more information."

As she drove away, Babette approached us, "What's going on, Sugar?"

"Rory's been kidnapped."

The words didn't even sound like me and I sunk down onto the steps, tears suddenly streaming down my face. My daughter has been kidnapped and the last time she was seen, she was unconscious. She could be dead for all we knew. So, I cried because I didn't know what else to do.

AN: I loved writing this chapter, it was my absolute favourite. I hope you're enjoying this, too, and please review.