A/N: Ok, I know I'm really slow at posting and you all probably hate me by now and I have a million excuses and no excuses but I know you really don't care. This chapter is shorter than the others, but I think it's a good one. I hope you enjoy it.

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.

Chapter 9

"Mom." Rory said quietly, holding tightly to Lorelai.

""Mom wake up." Rory shook her gently, beginning to get a little worried. Lorelai was shivering like she was freezing, yet the blankets were covering her and Rory was snuggled up to her providing her with her own warmth.

Lorelai wasn't responding to her daughter and Rory moved so that she could look into her mother's eyes. "Oh my God." She said loudly and Luke jumped up from his chair. Lorelai's eyes were open but she wasn't seeing anything. She was staring straight ahead of her shivering violently. "Mom." Rory shook her mother hard but still got no response.

"What's wrong?" Luke rushed over to the bed and Rory looked up at him as tears cascaded down her face.

"Mom." She said crying and asking him with her eyes to help her.

Luke took one look at Lorelai and headed to the door. "Help." He called out to the nurse on duty. "Please someone please help us."

The nurse rushed in and hurried through taking Lorelai's vital signs. Lorelai didn't react to any of it. "It's all okay, but her pulse is racing." She said looking at the desperate faces of Luke and Rory. "It's PTSD."

"What's that?" Luke asked loudly, still not understanding.

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." The nurse said. "She's reliving what happened to her. In her mind she is back there, going through it again."

"Stop her." Luke said, the panic very evident in his voice. "Can't we do something?"

The nurse shook her and called her name like Rory had and when it had no effect she slapped her soundly across the face. Lorelai blinked once, and closed her eyes in terror. The shivering slowed down but didn't stop.

"Mom." Rory said through her tears and wrapped her arms around her mother hugging her tight. Lorelai didn't react immediately but after a minute she hugged her daughter and began to cry great gulping sobs into her daughter's shoulder. Rory's sobs almost matched her mother's as she clung to Lorelai tightly.

"She should be okay now." The nurse said to Luke as she quietly made her way towards the door. Luke nodded as he watched her leave, then turned his attention back to Lorelai and Rory. He didn't know what to do for them as he watched them cling to each other, both of them sobbing uncontrollably. He wanted so much to take them in his arms and let them know he was there to protect them. He wanted to take away the hurt that they were feeling. He wanted to make them feel safe in the comfort of his embrace but he knew he couldn't do that. He knew that they wouldn't feel any comfort from his touch and he hated knowing that.

"Shhh." He said quietly, hoping that his voice could calm them. "It's okay now. Nothing is going to happen to you. You're safe here. I will protect you."

"Mom." Rory said, taking over from Luke. She swallowed a couple of times, trying to calm down enough to talk. "Mom I love you. I love you so much." She talked quietly into her mother's ear and Luke nodded to himself, knowing that Rory was in control know and that she would take care of her mother. He returned to his chair and sat down heavily. He put his hands up and ran them over his face and through his hair. He sighed and leaned back and closed his eyes.

"Mom." Rory continued. "Luke's right you know. We are safe here. He will protect us." She began rubbing her mother's back gently. "I just …I just want you to be okay. I love you so much Mom." Rory kept up a steady rhythm with her voice, hoping to calm her mom. She remembered when she was young and crying and her Mom would scoop her up onto her lap and hold her tightly and talk into her ear. She remembered listening not to the words her mother was saying but to the steady rhythm of her voice and she remembered the feel of her mother gently rubbing her back and how safe she felt in her mother's arms. With all her heart she wanted her mother to feel safe in her arms now.

Lorelai wasn't thinking, she was feeling. She could feel the terror rising up in her throat, threatening to overtake her. She could feel the pain going through her body trying to engulf her. She couldn't stop it, she couldn't hold it away anymore, she couldn't, she couldn't do it. She didn't know how. She felt it getting stronger. She felt like she was loosing herself. She could feel every agonizing second of what had happened to her. He was there with her and she couldn't get away, she couldn't even try to get away, she had to protect Rory. He had his hands on her wrist pulling her away. He took her into the room and she could feel the cold steel of the gun against her body. He was touching her, forcing her. He was … Suddenly she felt Rory's arms around her. It couldn't be. No, Rory couldn't be with her. She had to protect her daughter. Rory! Rory! She wanted to cry out, she wanted to scream for Rory to get away, but she couldn't. She turned to her daughter and saw the tears rolling down Rory's face and suddenly he was gone and she knew that she was in the hospital. She knew that it was over. She hugged her daughter tightly, the terror and the pain still trying to control her, but she had Rory. She tried to let the terror and the pain go through her cries. She tried so hard, and then she heard her daughter's voice. She fixated on it. It was steady and soothing and she felt Rory's arms around her and the gentle pressure on her back as Rory gently moved her hand back and forth in time to the rhythm of her voice. She clung to her daughter tightly, desperately afraid of losing her, of going back to the place she had been only minutes before. She concentrated as hard as she could to the sounds of her daughter's voice and the feel of her arms tightly around her.

Rory felt the tension slowly ease from her mother's body. She listened intently to the cries her mother was making and noticed the slightest change as they gradually moved from loud gulping sobs full of fear and pain to quiet troubled tears of sorrow. She eased her Mom away from her so she could look into her eyes but her mother's eyes were tightly closed. "Mom I love you." Rory said as she gently brushed her mother's hair away from her face.

Lorelai nodded and hugged her daughter tightly again, burrowing her face in her daughter's shoulder, the sobs once again overtaking her. After a few minutes she took a couple of deep breaths trying to get oxygen into her lungs. "I love you too kid." She said quietly and then added. "More than you could ever know."

"I do know." Rory said hugging her mother tightly. "I am your heart." She said softly. "And you are mine."

Lorelai smiled to herself and nodded. She wondered if Rory had any idea just how much she needed her right now.

They held each other in silence after that and although both of them were afraid to go to sleep, eventually the stress of the night overtook them and they once again fell asleep in each other's arms.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I will try to get the next chapter up by the end of the weekend. Really, I will. I know you don't believe me, and I don't blame you, but I really will try. Please review.