Lorelai POV
When I opened the door, there were two police officers there. They looked solemn, and one of them even had red-rimmed eyes.
"Mrs Gilmore-Danes, can we come in?"
A sick feeling appeared in my stomach and I ignored it, calling for Luke. He came down the stairs and I could just see Jess hovering at the top of the stairs. I decided to leave him there.
"You might want to sit down," One of the officers said, and I slowly sat down, taking Luke's hand and holding it like a lifeline.
"You haven't found her yet," Luke said, looking up at them with almost hopeful eyes. I was confused; was I missing something? How on earth would that be a good thing?
"We located Christopher, and after interrogating him, he gave us directions to your daughter's body. Unfortunately..."
I didn't hear anything else the man said, because I knew what that meant. They found her body, not her.
I sat up, my churning stomach waking me. I got up, my hand over my mouth, and I barely made it to the bin before I started retching. There was nothing to bring up, but my body was determined to try.
"Lorelai?" I heard Luke ask, coming into the room. He didn't seem too surprised, and just handed me the half-empty glass of water in his hand once I was finished.
"The cops..." I paused, "I dreamt that they turned up and informed us that they had found her body."
He joined me on the floor, leaning against the doorframe, "I dreamt of her body in scarily gruesome detail. Like my brain had combined every violent letter ever and decided that he had done it all."
I looked up at him, surprised, "I guess it's our turn to have nightmares, then."
I felt awful for sleeping but it hadn't been the intention. The last thing I remembered was curling up on her bed, trying to surround myself with her scent and belongings. I looked towards the window and noticed it was still light out and I asked Luke what the time was.
"It's only 4 pm," He said, "She's been missing for 4 hours."
"Feels like a lifetime," I said, and it wasn't an exaggeration. When your kid is in danger, every minute feels like forever.
We got ourselves cleaned up and I put on a pot of coffee, knowing I'd need it to get through the night. I found Jess sitting on the stairs, "What are you doing?"
"Waiting," He said, "I don't know what I'm waiting for, but I'm waiting."
"Can you eat?" I asked him, and he shook his head.
"I read that letter, and it looked like there were hundreds more. I can't eat knowing that he could be making one of those letters reality."
"That's not helpful," Luke grumbled, handing me a mug of coffee. I raised it to my lips to drink, but I hesitated. I didn't know why, but I did.
I sipped slowly, unsure of myself. It tasted fine, but I felt wrong for enjoying a cup of coffee. I only drank half, putting it down on the coffee table just as someone knocked on the door. I felt sick again, but I went to answer it anyway.
"Mom?" I asked, surprised. Dad was still parking the car, but apparently, she couldn't wait. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, with red blotches all over her face from where she had been crying.
"The police have already been and I couldn't sit at home, waiting. Not when... not when I did this."
She looked heartbroken, and I wrapped my arms around her, "You may have given him the address of where she went to school, but you didn't make him kidnap her. That was all him."
I didn't know where that came from; usually, I would have found a way to blame her no matter what and this time, it would have been easy. She smiled sadly at me as dad came up to us and handed us a tub of food, "We had the maid make some food so you didn't have to worry about cooking."
"Thanks," I said, "What is it?"
"Butternut squash casserole," He told me.
"Oh."
He looked confused, "I thought you liked butternut squash."
"It's not that..." I hesitated, "It's Rory's favourite."
Before he could respond, a police car pulled into the now-crowded driveway. I called for Luke and he came to my side as the policeman approached, "Mrs and Mr Gilmore-Danes?"
"That's us."
He smiled at us, "We have located your daughter. Would you like to come with me?"
"Yes," Both me and Luke jumped at the chance, and then Luke hesitated, "Jess, he..."
"Jess is here?" My mother asked, and I remembered that she hadn't been caught up on the latest information.
"Yes, it's a long story. Would you mind staying with him until we have more information?"
"Of course we don't mind. Call us the moment you can," Mom said and I smiled at her with appreciation before rushing off to the police car with Luke shoving a pair of shoes into my hands since I was barefoot.
When we arrived at the hospital, we were allowed to see her straight away. She was unconscious due to the drugs that the hospital had used (and Christopher had drugged her previously but she was conscious when they found her) and she had injuries that required surgery, but she was stable enough for us to see her.
I kissed her head and stroked her hair, tears streaming down my face, "You're okay, baby. You're okay."
Luke was more of a mess than I was, but he was also very happy. She was alive and her injuries were nowhere near as bad as we had imagined. He lowered his head, with his lips near her ear, and murmured something that I couldn't quite hear.
The doctors suddenly came in because they needed to take her up to surgery (but it wasn't brain surgery this time), and even though they left us in a very cold and empty room, I felt so relieved. The police officer returned, "You should be proud of your daughter. She fought the entire time; the man has claw marks all over and a head injury so bad that he needs the exact same surgery that she needed 6 years ago. And since he's already confessed, he's going straight to jail once he's well enough. He will likely go to prison for 10 years, minimum, but your family will be issued a permanent restraining order against him."
I looked up at Luke, "She's never going to see him again."
We wrapped our arms around each other, and even though I was heartbroken that this had happened, it seemed to be for the best.
The next morning, visitors arrived in droves. Luke had gone home once she was out of surgery at about 1 am, but arrived with Jess at bang on 9 am when visitors were allowed. My parents arrived soon after, which meant me and Jess had to leave for a bit, and at about 10, Tristan showed. He was in his uniform, but he apparently wanted to see her. I grudgingly allowed it.
"Hey, Mary," he greeted her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek, "You gave us a good scare yesterday. I forbid you from doing it again."
"You're supposed to be at school," She told him and he chuckled.
"I'm taking extensive notes in all of the classes we share, but we don't share this one so I thought I'd skip," He told her, "I've got Paris taking enough notes for the two of us, so don't worry about it."
"Go," She said exasperatedly, "Come back after school. I'll still be here."
He laughed, "Okay, I get it. I'll see you later, Mare."
He kissed her softly before leaving, a big smile on his face. I followed him, letting Sookie and Babette into the room.
"Christopher was arrested and is going straight to prison. She's getting a permanent restraining order against him, and she's going to be safe from now on," I told him and he furrowed his brow at me, so I explained further, "You don't have to watch out for her anymore."
"I've been doing it because I wanted to, not because I had to," He said with a small chuckle, "I've been in love with her since the day I met her, and I turned to third-grade tactics because I've never been in love before. And when I saw the thing with Christopher, I changed my tune because it wasn't working anyway and she needed a shoulder to lean on. And this whole experience has taught me to be a better person in general, and I love her more for it."
He paused, "She deserves everything good in this world, and she definitely deserves better than me, but all the time she wants me... I'm not going to turn her away because I'm in love with her. And I hope that's good enough for you."
"Don't change yourself too much for her, because that's not what she wants for you," I told him, and he nodded.
"I have to get to school. Mary's orders," That last part was said with a wink and it caused a fit of laughter, something I truly needed.
AN: So that storyline has been wrapped up. There are still some loose ends, obviously, but the worst is over and Christopher only has one more appearance, but behind bars this time. Please review.