A/N: Thanks to all of you who reviewed. I know I am slow at getting new chapters up (really, really slow), but please be patient with me. I am doing the best that I can.

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 INTERTION 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 with Sookie.

Chapter 8

Sookie walked into Lorelai's hospital room slowly and stopped at the end of the bed. "Lorelai?" It was a question and Lorelai knew exactly what she was asking.

Lorelai found herself looking at Sookie like you looked at someone you hadn't seen in a long time. She examined Sookie to see if she had changed. She took note of her clothes and her hair and then she realized that she had seen Sookie only three days ago. She sighed, to her it felt like a life time ago. Finally she looked into Sookie's eyes and she saw what she expected to see. She saw worry, and confusion, and fear, but suddenly, she felt a warm feeling inside her heart and she saw the love. "Sookie." She said quietly, trying to figure out her own feelings. She knew that she loved Sookie. She knew that if she had had a sister she would want it to be Sookie. Sure Sookie was a little unfocused at times, and clumsy sometimes, but she was also a brilliant chef and she had a really big heart and she always wanted the best for everyone. She was unique and Lorelai loved everything about her. Lorelai knew all this, but knowing it and feeling it were two different things and right now she was just trying to feel it all again. She felt the warm feeling in her heart and she felt loved, now she just wanted to love her back.

"Lorelai are you okay?" Sookie asked, still standing at the end of Lorelai's bed.

Lorelai tore her gaze away from Sookie and looked up at the ceiling. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to cascade down her cheeks. She didn't know how to answer such a question. She knew the truthful answer was simple. No, she wasn't okay, but she couldn't just blurt it out. She didn't want to worry Sookie any more than she already was.

"Hi Sookie." Rory said squeezing her mother's hand slightly and Lorelai squeezed back, grateful for her daughter's interruption. She needed a few minutes to compose herself.

"Hi Rory." Sookie turned and looked at Rory.

"Thanks for bringing our stuff." She said lifting her bag slightly and pointing at Lorelai's bag. "It's great to have our own things."

"You're welcome." Sookie turned back to Lorelai. "I didn't know what to bring. I looked at all your pajamas and nightgowns and I know that you wear t-shirts and pajama pants sometimes, but then I saw that nightgown with the unicorns on it and it looked a little magical and it was soft and I thought it might be warm so I picked it. I hope that's okay, and then I saw your bunny slippers and I thought they might cheer you up a little bit." Sookie's voice trailed off as she saw Lorelai smile a little bit and she just smiled back at her.

"This is perfect." Lorelai said quietly, bringing the nightgown up to her face again and rubbing it gently against her cheek.

"Good." Sookie replied and an awkward quiet settled over the room.

"That's not all Sookie brought." Luke said picking up the third bag and reaching in, he pulled out a thermos and two cups.

"Coffee?" Lorelai whispered and looked up at Luke, who nodded. Lorelai looked away quickly, but noticed that it wasn't as hard to look at Luke this time. It was the third time she had looked into his eyes. The first time was when the police were there and she needed him to help Rory, the second time was just a few minutes ago before when he poked his head in before Sookie and this time. It still wasn't easy by any means, but it wasn't as hard as the first time.

"Do you want some coffee?" Luke asked, bringing Lorelai out of her thoughts and she smiled and answered like she knew they all wanted her to.

"Coffee, coffee, coffee!" She said as cheerfully as she could, and as she looked around the room at their smiling faces, she knew that these three people were her world right now and she felt very lucky to have them.

Luke poured the coffee and handed both Lorelai and Rory a cup. Lorelai took a few sips and looked at Rory. She knew the time had come to tell Sookie what happened. She couldn't put it off any longer. Rory smiled a little and nodded her head, knowing what her Mother was asking. Lorelai squeezed her daughter's hand and turned and looked into Sookie's eyes. "Sookie." She said quietly after a minute and she set her coffee on the night stand beside the bed and reached out her hand.

Sookie quickly walked around to Lorelai's side of the bed and took Lorelai's hand in both of her own. "Lorelai what happened?" she almost whispered.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Luke can Sookie borrow your chair for a few minutes?" she asked, never taking her eyes off of her best friend. Luke nodded and brought the chair up and Sookie sat down, never letting go of Lorelai's hand. Lorelai wasn't real comfortable with Sookie holding her hand in the beginning but after a few minutes, she found that she liked it and she squeezed Sookie's hands tightly before she began.

"I'm not sure how to say this." She began nervously. "but I guess there's no easy way. I just want you to know first that I'm going to be okay. It's going to take a lot of work and it's not going to be easy, but both Rory and I will be okay eventually." In her mind Lorelai wasn't sure if this was true at all but she had to tell Sookie this. She had to soften the blow somehow and this was all she could think of. She looked at Rory and blinked back a few tears. Rory hugged her mother briefly, then let her go so she could continue. Lorelai closed her eyes for a few minutes wondering how she was going to get through this, then she decided to start at the beginning. "Did you hear about the bank robbery in Hartford?" She asked and Sookie gasped and nodded. "Rory and I were in the bank."

"What?" Sookie looked at Lorelai and Lorelai saw the fear in Sookie's eyes as she nodded. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Sookie repeated. Lorelai was quiet for a few minutes letting it sink in before she continued. Sookie looked down at Lorelai's hand that she was holding and began to play with Lorelai's fingers.

"Sookie." Lorelai said quietly, with tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. Sookie didn't look up, but sensed that the worst was about to come, and she increased the rate that she played with Lorelai's fingers. "Sookie I was raped." Lorelai said quickly just above a whisper and she heard Sookie suck in her breath and she squeezed her hand tightly.

Lorelai turned a little towards Rory and Rory wrapped her mother up in her arms and held her while she cried. Sookie brought Lorelai's hand up to her mouth and kissed it, then she held it there as tears fell from her eyes as well.

Lorelai cried into Rory's shoulder for a few minutes, then she realized that Sookie still had her hand in her own and was holding it against her cheek. She felt the wetness of Sookie's tears on the back of her hand and slowly she turned her head away from Rory and looked at Sookie through her tears. She removed her hand from Sookie's and gently laid the palm of her hand against Sookie's cheek. Sookie covered Lorelai's hand with her own and slowly looked up and into Lorelai's eyes. She didn't know what to say to Lorelai. What do you say when your best friend tells you something like that? Something so horrific that you can't even really comprehend what it means, or what it feels like. She understood, of course what it meant in her mind, but in her heart she couldn't imagine such a terrible thing. In her heart she couldn't accept that it had happened, and she began to shake her head. "No." she said quietly, closing her eyes, trying to make it all go away. "No, no, no…"

"Sookie." Lorelai said interrupting her and moving her thumb across her best friends cheek, wiping away her tears as they fell.

Sookie stopped and stayed still for a minute, taking comfort from Lorelai's hand on her cheek. Slowly she opened her eyes and tucked her fingers around her friends hand and squeezed it a little. "I love you Lorelai Gilmore." She said quietly. "And I will do anything for you."

"I know Sookie." Lorelai said looking into her best friends eyes. "I love you too." And she smiled as she realized that she did feel it. For the first time since Sookie had entered the room she felt the love that she had for this woman deep down in her soul.

The room was quiet for a few minutes, then Lorelai patted Sookie's cheek and removed her hand. "Hey, hand me my coffee will you." She said as she reached towards it. "I haven't had Luke's coffee since…" She stopped and realized it hadn't been that long, just yesterday morning, before she and Rory had driven into Hartford. "Well it seems like it was eons ago. I'm definitely going into withdrawal." She took the cup that Sookie offered and took a drink, grateful to have something to do and something else to focus on.

Lorelai stared into her coffee cup for a few minutes. "That's it." She said quietly and both Sookie and Luke looked at Rory to see what she meant but Rory shook her head.

"What's it?" Rory asked her mom, squeezing her hand at the same time.

Lorelai continued to look into her coffee cup, as if she could find all the answers to her questions in there if she just looked hard enough. "Us, the four of us. That's it. I don't want anyone else to know…" She stuttered a little. "what happened." She finally finished, turning her head slowly to look at Rory.

"But, Mom." Rory said without thinking, her thoughts immediately going to her grandparents. "what about…"

"No Rory." Lorelai interrupted her daughter, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "I can't." She said, barely above a whisper. She turned her eyes back to her coffee cup. "I can't do it." She stopped and then added. "I just can't." Lorelai knew that if she told her parents, it would somehow end up being her fault. After all everything was her fault with her parents. Nothing was ever good enough, she was never good enough and she couldn't face them with this, she couldn't sit there and let them belittle her or blame her, not about this. She just couldn't do it.

Rory thought about how her grandparents treated her mother and as much as she wanted to tell them and as much as she loved them, she hated the way they treated their only daughter. She reached out and touched her mom's face, trying to get her to look in her direction. She wiped away a tear as it fell and looked into her mother's eyes as she slowly turned her head. "Okay." She said quietly. "That's it, only the four of us."

Lorelai smiled at her daughter and put both arms around her and hugged her. "Thank you." She said into Rory's ear. "I love you."

"Well we have to tell them something." Sookie said, as Lorelai let go of Rory. "They know that something happened with the way Luke left in such a hurry and the look on his face as he left the diner and then they realized that both of you were missing and they know that something happened." Sookie stopped and took a breath. "What are we going to tell them?"

"Tell them we had a car accident." Lorelai said.

"That won't work." Luke said and took a step forward so that he was standing behind Sookie. "Your jeep's not damaged."

"My jeep." Lorelai gasped and closed her eyes. "It probably has a hundred tickets on it by now." She opened her eyes and looked at Sookie. "I parked it in a 30 minute zone."

"I'll take care of it." Sookie said. "Give me your keys and I'll take it home to Stars Hollow."

"What if it was towed?" Lorelai said, looking scared. She couldn't deal with the things that encompassed her day to day life. Things that would normally have seemed like small problems to her now seemed monumental.

"Don't worry." Sookie said quietly. "I'll take care of it. Just give me your keys."

Lorelai stared at her for a minute. "I have no idea." She said turning to look at Rory, but Rory shook her head.

"They gave me your things." Luke said bending over and opening the bottom drawer of the table beside the bed. "I put them in here." He pulled out her purse, but seemed to want to hide it from her.

"My purse." Lorelai said, reaching for it and Luke reluctantly gave it to her. She gasped as she took it, and dropped it on her lap. One side, the side that Luke had been shielding from her was covered in dried blood.

The purse landed on Lorelai's legs, with the dried blood in full view and Rory gasped loudly just as her mother had. They all stared at it for a few minutes and Sookie was the first to recover. She gingerly picked it up, being careful not to touch the blood. She snapped open the clasp and dumped the contents into the bag that held Lorelai's things from home, then she stood up. "I'll be right back." She said as she crossed the room towards the door with the purse in hand.

"I'm so sorry Lorelai." Luke said once Sookie had left the room. They all still stared at the place on the bed where the purse had landed and Luke was kicking himself for not getting rid of the purse as soon as he had seen it. "I just didn't know what to do with your stuff."

Lorelai heard the regret in Luke's voice. "No it's okay Luke." She said, unable to pull her gaze from her lap, but suddenly she heard Rory crying beside her and immediately she turned and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "It's okay sweetie." Lorelai said into her ear. "Mommy's okay now. I'm going to be fine."

Rory nodded her head and buried her face in her mother's shoulder. The last time she had seen her mother's blood was in the bank, when she wasn't sure if her mother would live or die. "I'm sorry." She said quietly, trying to push away the overwhelming fear that had come back to her at the sight of her mother's blood, but she was having trouble stopping the flow of tears.

"It's okay." Lorelai rubbed her back. "Just let it go. Mommy's here."

Sookie came back into the room without the purse and was surprised to find Lorelai and Rory wrapped up in each other. She looked at Luke who mouthed 'Rory'. Sookie sighed and felt her eyes begin to water as she began to realize the pain that both Lorelai and Rory were in. She sat down heavily in the chair and wiped at her eyes.

"Mugged." Rory said after a few minutes. She still had her face buried in her mothers shoulder and the word came out muffled.

"What?" Lorelai said pulling back a bit so she could look into her daughter's eyes. Rory smiled through her tears and gently pushed her mom back so she was resting against the raised bed in a semi sitting position, then Rory laid her head on her mother's shoulder and snuggled up to her. Lorelai put her arm around her daughter's shoulders and pulled her in tightly against her. Once they were settled, Rory put her arm lightly around her mother's waist resting it on her stomach. "We could tell everyone we were mugged." She explained quietly.

Lorelai looked down at the top of her daughter's head. "Mugged." She repeated, deep in thought. After a minute she added. "In broad daylight? And in Hartford?"

"It happens." Luke added.

"Yeah." Sookie started to get all worked up. "I heard of this couple one time who were walking down the street and a man jumped out in front of them and forced them into an ally with a gun and robbed them and beat them up."

"In Hartford?" Lorelai asked, turning to look at her friend.

"No." Sookie looked down at her hands. "But it could have been Hartford." She added trying to defend her story.

Lorelai thought for a minute, then moved her hand and tucked a stray hair behind Rory's ear. "Okay," She said. "Mugged it is. It's a good thing I have such a smart daughter to think of these brilliant ideas." She gave Rory's shoulders a little squeeze and Rory lifted her head and looked up at her mother. They smiled at each other for a minute, then Rory replaced her head on her mother's shoulder.

Lorelai looked down at her daughter snuggled against her and it reminded her of when Rory was little and she would read to her every night before she went to sleep. They would settle in on Rory's bed just like this. It was a familiar position for both mother and daughter. She felt her daughter's arm lying across her stomach with her hand securely tucked around her waist and she gently placed her hand on Rory's arm and began to rub it back and forth. Rory snuggled into her mother a little more to let her know that she liked the new contact. Lorelai had missed this close contact with her daughter, she loved holding Rory in her arms.

When Lorelai thought of Rory, she immediately thought of her heart. Rory owned it as far as she was concerned and she liked to call Rory her heart. She was by far the most important person in the world, she was her best friend, her daughter and her confidant all rolled into one.

Lorelai turned and looked at Sookie. While Rory was her best friend, Sookie was her best girlfriend. Being Rory's mother meant that some topics were off limits with Rory, specifically men. She went to Sookie with all her boyfriend problems, and, she thought, not just problems, but the good things too. Sookie was really pretty good at giving advice in that area. She knew Lorelai really well and she could tell when she was freaking out about something and most of the time she could talk her down off whatever ledge she was on at that particular time. She also shared many of the worries she had about Rory. If she was being a good mother, if this decision or that decision was right. Was she going to scar her child for life. Was she doing the right thing and although Sookie didn't have children of her own, she listened and always, always tried her best to help.

Lorelai took a deep breath and slowly turned to look at Luke and although she tried to look at his face she found herself looking at his feet. She stared at his shoes and felt her body begin to shake and she tried to stop it but was having limited success. She knew that Luke would never hurt her, in fact she knew that he would do everything in his power to prevent her from being hurt, but he was big and powerful and he had the ability to hurt her just like… She shook her head and tried to erase those thoughts from her mind. It wasn't Luke, it wasn't Luke. Luke was her friend. Luke loved her. She forced her eyes to travel up from Luke's shoes. Luke did a lot for her and Rory. He made the very best coffee and he fed both of them and he listened to her and he let her tease him mercilessly. He was her go to guy when she had had a bad day and he would listen to her complain and ramble on forever. She was always amazed how he could cheer her up with just a couple of words and a piece of pie. He made the best pies. He did what ever she asked him to do. He had fixed everything in her house multiple times. He was always there for her whatever she needed and now here he was again, even though she wouldn't even look at him, he was here, sleeping in that stupid chair, totally worn out, looking out for her and Rory. She looked up into his face and she saw that he was smiling at her. She stared for a minute at his mouth and tried to return the smile, then she closed her eyes and laid her head back on the pillow.

Lorelai sighed and concentrated on feeling the love from the three people around her. She felt like she needed it to go on. Just like she needed air to breath she needed to feel loved. Rory was easy. She felt her daughter's love and it filled her up. She knew that what ever happened from here, Rory would always be there for her. She scrunched up her eyebrows as she turned her concentration to Sookie. She tried to think of examples from her past to convince her and she could think of a lot of them, but the biggest thing that convinced her is that Sookie called her on her mistakes. Even if it meant getting Lorelai mad at her and Sookie hated fighting. She cared enough to risk a fight. She loved her. Luke was hard. Her fear was telling her to forget about him, Sookie and Rory were enough, but she knew that wasn't true. She needed Luke too and she concentrated as hard as she could. Again she tried to think of examples from her past but they didn't come to her as readily as they did about Sookie. It took her a few minutes but when she finally was able to overcome her fear, thoughts about Luke flooded her mind and as she sorted through them one by one, she realized that she could feel his love. She didn't have to pinpoint it down to one thing like she did with Sookie, everything Luke did for her said that he loved her. If anyone was looking at her, and Sookie and Luke were, they would have seen her face relax and the frown disappear from her face as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Luke and Sookie looked at each other but they both shook their heads, they didn't know what it meant but they were glad that Lorelai looked a little bit more content.

"Lorelai I should go." Sookie said breaking the quiet in the room.

"You don't have to." Lorelai opened her eyes to look at her friend.

"You and Rory need your rest." She pointed at Rory, who had her eyes closed and appeared to be asleep.

"You sleepy honey?" Lorelai asked her daughter quietly.

"I'm fine." Rory said but her voice was husky with sleep.

Sookie reached into Lorelai's bag and fished around for the keys to her jeep. "There." She said as she found what she was looking for. "I'll take care of this. Nothing to worry about."

"Thanks Sookie." Lorelai said, remembering the blood on her purse. She closed her eyes tightly for a second, but opened them again immediately. "Thanks for bringing our stuff and thanks for staying with us for a while."

Sookie nodded and stood up. She hesitated for a minute. "Lorelai." She said quietly.

"Yeah."

"Can I give you and Rory a hug?"

Lorelai smiled. "You'll have to ask Rory? She said as she bent her head down and kissed the top of her daughter's head.

Sookie smiled at Lorelai's answer. "Rory?"

Rory lifted her arm off her mother's stomach. "Sure," She said preparing for the hug, "Just be gentle with mom okay."

"I will." She said and she hugged two of the most important people in her life.

After Sookie left, Lorelai turned to Luke. "Thanks." She said working up the courage to look him in the eyes.

"For what?"

"For everything." Lorelai replied. "For being here with us. For bringing Sookie here. It was good for me to see Sookie. Sookie is important to me and it showed me that even though I'm different now, I'm still me. I'm still Lorelai Gilmore and the people that love me will know that even if I forget sometimes." She had again been staring at Luke's mouth but as she finished speaking she looked up into his eyes.

"That's good." He said looking back at her, trying to show her with his eyes how much she meant to him. "It's good that you know that." He hesitated for a minute and Lorelai looked away. "And we will remind you so don't worry if you forget sometimes."

Luke smiled to himself. He was trying so hard to let Lorelai know that she could count on him for whatever she needed. He wasn't good with words, he never had been, but he knew this was important and he thought he did good that time.

"Thanks." Lorelai said again.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Please review.