A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I haven't updated this in like forever and I don't know if anyone out there is even interested in it anymore, but I'm back and I hope someone will read this new chapter. Hopefully I should be updating again more regularly. I'll see if anyone's still interested. Thanks to everyone who sent me a review. I really appreciate them and they are what made me work so that I could get back to writing and posting this story.

REMEMBER THIS STORY STILL HAS TO DO WITH THE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE CRIME OF RAPE AND PLEASE DON'T READ IT IF IT IS GOING TO UPSET YOU. THAT IS NOT MY INTENTION AT ALL. It is hard to read sometimes, especially because we all love Lorelai and Rory and we hate to think of something bad happening to them. BUT, they will get through this, I promise and life will be good again eventually.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Last time on Gilmore girls and Gunmen

The officers asked a few more questions and then returned to the actual rape.

"No you need to go for this. I'm okay. I'll be okay." She pulled back and looked into her daughter's eyes. "You don't want to hear this and I don't want you to hear this." Tears started to fall from Rory's eyes again and Lorelai hugged her tightly again. "Let me be Super Mom this time." She said quietly and then added. "Please."

Rory stood outside the door to the room with tears running down her face. She stared at the door, as if willing it to open and when it finally did she ran by the police officers, nearly knocking one of them down, climbed in beside her mother and hugged her fiercely.

"Careful." Lorelai said, feeling the pain of her daughter's hug, but she hugged her back and let the tears flow. "It's okay." She said soothingly, but she was worried at how upset her daughter was. "I'm okay." She pulled back a little and looked into Rory's eyes. "See I'm fine and you're fine. We're both fine."

Rory nodded and hugged her mother tightly again.

Chapter 7

It was about an hour after the police had left and all was quiet in Lorelai's room. Lorelai had her arms around Rory and her head buried in Rory's shoulder. Rory was facing her mother on her side and was gently rubbing her mother's back. Her head was resting on the pillow and her chin was touching the top of her mother's head. Neither of them were sleeping, but they weren't talking either. Luke had his eyes closed and was leaning back in his chair, his head resting on a pillow Rory had given him.

Rory squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to erase the thoughts that were swirling around in her mind, but it had no effect. She couldn't help but replay the events over and over. She couldn't shake the images of her mother being dragged off to be brutally assaulted, or of the sight of her mother when she returned, with her clothing half off and that terrible man pulling her along by her hair. She couldn't shake the feeling of absolute terror that had been with her since the gunmen had first entered the bank and how she didn't think she could get anymore terrified than that. Boy, had she been wrong. She didn't know how to describe the feelings that had come with the rape of her Mother and the way she felt when she thought her Mother might die. She wanted to shout out to everyone how unfair it all was. She wanted to go to the roof and take a megaphone and let everyone in the whole world know how much she loved her Mother and how she had done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve this and yet it had happened. She wanted to tell the whole world how loving and kind and wonderful her mother was. She wanted to tell them how she had sacrificed her life to make sure her daughter was happy, how she had put her daughter first, before everything else, even herself. She wanted to scream and shout and get angry, but most of all she wanted to go back in time and stop herself and her Mother from ever entering that bank. She opened her eyes wide and stared at the wall in front of her. She was worried that something was going to happen. What if her mother was sick, what if she contracted HIV or some other disease they didn't know about. What if she lost her. She couldn't live without her Mother. She shivered as she thought of it and she felt Lorelai hug her tighter and she responded by removing her hand from her Mother's back and running her fingers gently through her Mother's hair.

Lorelai felt her daughter shiver and she hugged her tighter, trying to remind Rory that she was here with her and that they were both safe now. She sighed when she felt Rory run her hand through her hair. It felt good and it calmed her a little. She thought about what she was trying to convey to Rory through her hug. She didn't know what she would do if Rory wasn't here to hold her. She smiled a little bit, because she probably wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for Rory standing up in that bank and demanding that they let her go. If it wasn't for Rory she would probably be dead. She felt her eyes get wet as she thought about that gunman looking at Rory and threatening to hurt her the way he did. She knew she couldn't let that happen and she had prevented it, but at what cost. How were they supposed to go on from here? How did they get their lives back? How… She stopped and took a deep breath. She didn't even know what questions to ask. She didn't know what to do. She was always one to control every situation she was in. She would laugh and joke and babble on and on until she got things back to where she knew what was happening and what she was going to do next, and if she couldn't control the situation, she could leave, but by leaving she really was still controlling things. She shook her head a little, it was all an illusion. She didn't have any control. She didn't even have control of her own body. In the blink of an eye all of her so called control had vanished the minute that man had violated her. Nobody really had any control. They all thought they did, but really there was always someone or something stronger just waiting to take it away.

Lorelai heard the door to her room open and she snuggled in closer to Rory. Why did they have to keep bothering her? All she wanted was to hold onto her daughter and let the world pass her by. She didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone, she just wanted peace and quiet. Why couldn't everyone understand that? She felt Rory turn her head to see who had entered the room. Rory sighed and put her arms around her Mother and whispered into her ear.

"Mom, the doctor's here." She said quietly.

Lorelai didn't move right away, but after a minute she took a deep breath and let go of her daughter. She slid her arms back to her side and clasped Rory's hand firmly in her own as she slowly turned onto her back and faced the doctor.

Luke, who had stood up as soon as he heard the door open, waited until he was sure Lorelai was okay, then he quietly slipped out the door and closed it behind him. He paced up and down in front of the door to Lorelai's room. He was trying not to think, not to get angry. It was taking all of his concentration not to let his anger get the better of him. The more time he spent with the girls the angrier he became. He saw how hard it was for them, how everything terrified them and he just wanted to make it all better. He sighed and looked at his watch for the umpteenth time since he had been in the hall. He didn't like being away from them. He wanted the doctor to leave.

"Luke."

He looked up, a little startled at the sound of his name, and saw Sookie almost running towards him. He put his finger up to his mouth to tell her to be quiet. This was a hospital, she shouldn't be yelling down the hallway, besides he didn't want Lorelai to hear her and get upset. He walked towards her and he noticed the concern in her eyes. Her lips were pressed tightly together and her eyebrows were crinkled with worry.

"What's going on?" she asked as he neared her and he looked away. He knew he couldn't ease her worry. "Luke?" Sookie didn't understand why he wouldn't tell her anything. "Is Lorelai okay?"

Luke looked back at her. He had to say something. "She's not okay." He said and Sookie gasped. "But she's not gonna die." He added quickly. "She should be home in a few days."

"What happened?"

"I can't tell you." He saw the confusion on Sookie's face. "Lorelai has to tell you." He said softly.

Suddenly he remembered why she was here, why he had asked her to come and told her where Lorelai was. "Did you bring it?" he asked and looked down at the bags in her hand, knowing that she had.

"Yeah." She said as she gave him the three bags in her hands. "This ones for Rory." She pointed to the first bag. "And that ones for Lorelai." He looked into the third bag and smiled. He hoped that this would help the girls relax a little.

"Thanks." He said quietly.

"Can I see her?" Sookie asked just as quietly.

Luke didn't answer her for a minute, but when he looked up into her eyes and saw how worried she was, he said he would ask Lorelai. "She might say no." He warned her. "She might not be ready to see anyone."

"Okay." Sookie said quietly, looking at the floor.

"And if she says yes, you have to promise me one thing."

"Okay." Sookie said again. She was willing to agree to anything, if she could just see Lorelai for herself, to see what was wrong.

"You have to promise me that you won't touch her. You can't hug her or anything unless she makes the first move."

"Why?" Confusion was again displayed on Sookie's face.

"Just promise me." Luke said gruffly.

"I promise." Luke nodded and turned back down the hall carrying the three bags. "Stay here." He said to Sookie and he prayed silently that he was doing the right thing. As he got close to the door of Lorelai's room, it opened and the doctor walked out. Luke hurried to catch him and asked if everything was okay. The doctor assured him that Lorelai was doing fine. He had removed the IV and although her blood count was still low, it had improved significantly overnight. Luke nodded and turned and opened the door a little and stuck his head in. The first thing he saw was Lorelai still on her back with her eyes shut tightly, as if in pain. Rory was holding her Mother's hand tightly in both of hers and softly stroking the back of it, while whispering in her ear. She saw Luke and nodded that he could come in. Luke pushed open the door and quietly entered the room. He sat down in his chair, still clutching the bags in his hand.

Lorelai smiled slightly as she focused on the sound of her daughter's voice and not the residual pain she was feeling after the examination the doctor had done. That's all she wanted was to listen to Rory and make the pain go away. And it did, slowly, and eventually she loosened her grip on her daughter's hand and Rory smiled, knowing that she was feeling better. Lorelai knew that her daughter had pulled the covers back over her and she had heard Luke enter the room quietly but she wasn't quite prepared to hear his voice.

"Lorelai." He said quietly and she froze for a moment, but Rory once again whispered into her ear, telling her it was okay.

"Yeah."

"I have something for you and Rory." He stood up and put one of the bags on the bed beside Lorelai and handed the other bag to Rory. He retreated to his chair and stood beside it. "Some clothes for Rory and a nightgown and robe, oh and some bunny slippers?" He smiled and raised his eyebrows. "for you."

Lorelai gasped and opened her eyes and looked at the bag beside her. She slowly reached out and opened it. She looked inside and saw her heavy cotton nightgown and smiled when she saw her fuzzy bunny slippers. She felt tears come to her eyes as she searched through the bag and saw her robe and her toothbrush and her hairbrush and some makeup, all stuff from home, her stuff and she loved it. She removed her nightgown and brought it up to her face and smelled it and rubbed it's softness along her cheeks. "How?" she asked not looking up.

Luke hesitated. This was the hard part, the part that he was not so sure about, but he couldn't back out now. "Sookie brought it." He said quietly and he heard Lorelai's sharp intake of breath. "You don't have to see her if you're not up to it." He continued quickly. "But she really wants to see you. She's worried about you."

"Does she know what happened?" Lorelai asked closing her eyes tightly wanting to stop the tears that were forming.

Luke shook his head and then realized that Lorelai couldn't see him. "No." was all he said.

Lorelai lay quietly for a few minutes as the tears she was trying to stop finally escaped and ran down from her eyes into her hair beside her ears. Rory reached up and wiped away her tears with her right hand, while she held her Mother's hand tightly with her left. Slowly Lorelai turned and looked at Rory and Rory kissed her Mother's cheek and whispered in her ear. "It's up to you Mom." Lorelai looked up to the ceiling for a few minutes. She knew she couldn't turn Sookie away, but she didn't know if she was strong enough to tell Sookie what happened and she would have to tell her if she saw her. She closed her eyes and nodded. "I'll see her." She said so quietly that Luke almost missed it.

"Let me know when you're ready. There's no rush, you can take your time."

"I'm ready." She said immediately, knowing that if she thought about it anymore, she would change her mind.

Luke looked at Rory and she nodded and he walked out the door to get Sookie.

Lorelai watched the door close behind him and then turned her head to Rory and looked at her daughter with terror in her eyes. "It's okay Mom." Rory said gently. "I'm right here and I'll help you if you need me to. I'll tell her what happened if you want." Rory offered.

Lorelai nodded. "Thanks." She said quietly. "But I want to try to do it. Sookie deserves that much from me." She grasped Rory's hand in both of her own. "But if I can't, if I start to cry or something…" Her voice trailed off and Rory finished her mother's sentence.

"If you can't I'll finish for you." She brought her Mother's hands up to her lips and kissed them softly. "I'm proud of you." She said quietly. "I've been proud of you all my life."

"How did I get so lucky?" Lorelai said looking into her daughter's eyes. "I have the most wonderful daughter on earth."

Luke pushed the door open and stuck his head in. He didn't say anything he just stopped and looked at Lorelai. Lorelai took a deep breath and nodded. Luke entered the room and stood aside and Sookie walked into the room timidly.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, the next chapter should be up soon.