A/N: Thanks for the one review on the last chapter, I always appreciate some TLC and constructive criticism on my stories, so REVIEW people. I hope you guys like this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Gilmore Girls.
Lorelai sat thoughtfully at the window in her bedroom. The fall weather was slowly changing into a brisk winter. Already, people were beginning to bundle up in anticipation for the winter weather, which was predicted to be long and cold. Bundling up was good for her, considering the circumstances she now found herself in.
She could smell coffee brewing downstairs, and hear Rory's footsteps in the kitchen, probably preparing some pre-Luke's pop-tarts. She took one last look in her mirror, trying to cover up bruises or scars from the other night. Finally, she slowly took the stairs. She was sore, and could already tell it was affecting the way she moved.
"You better be making cinnamon sugar!" she called out to Rory as she walked into the kitchen.
"Of course," Rory replied, handing her mother two pop-tarts wrapped in paper towels, "You would disown me if I made strawberry, or heaven forbid blueberry." Lorelai tilted her head upwards.
"I don't want to talk about the incident in '99." Rory laughed, then joined her mother at the kitchen table. She studied Lorelai's face, although her mood was still kind of upbeat, there was something more reserved about her. She couldn't imagine what would could be wrong with Lorelai. She had a pretty good relationship with Jason, it was only a little rocky with the elder Gilmores, and Luke had just solved the inn's financial problems. For Lorelai, this perfection was rare and she usually enjoyed it. Why was there suddenly a change in her personality?
"Mom?" She said, in an 'earth-to-Lorelai' tone, "Are you alright? You look a little far-off today, and when I saw you last night you were the same." Lorelai nodded a little quickly and nervously.
"You knew if there was something wrong, I'd tell you, kid." She said reassuringly. "I had a late night last night, I'm just a little tired." Rory grinned.
"Did you hang out with Jason last night?" Rory said as if Lorelai's relationship was just the cutest thing. Lorelai flinched just hearing his name. She nodded.
"Yeah." She said softly, trying to seem like nothing was wrong, and failing miserably. Rory scrunched her face at her mom's response.
"Is everything okay there?" She asked. "I know it's a little rough with Grandma and Grandpa, but you guys seem like you fit really well together." Lorelai wanted to scream so badly, there was a part of her life that was becoming a nightmare and she couldn't tell the one person that she always confided in, her best friend and her daughter. Since Rory had been a baby and Lorelai had been a scared sixteen year-old she had always vented to her daughter. Keeping something this traumatic from her hurt Lorelai even more. She nibbled on her pop-tart, although she wasn't at all hungry.
"You're right." She said, a little more believable this time. She cleared her throat. "So, Luke's?"
Luke and Lorelai had known each other for eight years. Luke knew Lorelai. He knew when something was bothering her, he knew when she had a boyfriend, heck, he could sometimes even guess when she was PMS-ing. When Lorelai walked in on this particular date he knew immediately something was up, but she definitely didn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't pry, because the few times he did it ended up being something he didn't want to know in the first place. Instead, he did things on his part to cheer her up. He walked to her and Rory at the counter.
"I have some seriously good chocolate-banana pancakes today… With some whipped cream, and chocolate chips on top." Rory gave Luke a big smile.
"I will most definitely have those." They both looked to Lorelai, who gave another weak smile.
"Bring 'em twice." She said trying to be cheerful. Luke smiled at her again, then poured them some coffee. He couldn't help feeling bad, Lorelai's smile had been so sad. Luke sometimes swore the moon and stars revolved around her, she was amazing. Seeing her in a mood like this put him in quite a similar mood.
Lorelai ate as much of the pancakes as she could, which weren't a lot. She had to admit how good they were, and how yummy they felt warming her throat as they slid down. She was trying so hard to be cheery for the people around her, but now she felt as if she were living in fear. At any moment Jason could appear, and she had no idea what she was in for. Just thinking about the night before, all the things he did to her made her hate herself for not fighting more, it made her want to burst into tears. She tried so hard not to remember trying so hard to get out of his hands, trying so hard not to become a statistic. Now she was someone she never wanted to be.
After breakfast, Lorelai and Rory walked to the video store. Lorelai observed the last of the autumn leaves slowly falling off of the trees. The wind was blowing, and her hair was being unruly as the wind blew all over the place. They rented all of the Godfather movies and continued the day laughing and spending time with each other.
Lorelai woke up the next day feeling even worse then she had the day before. She wrapped herself tighter in her comforter. Slowly, as she had more and more nightmares about Jason, she could feel herself fall into a deeper pit of depression. She was falling down something endless, there was nothing she could grab onto.
She sat up a little, then changed into a pair of jeans and a long sweater. She stared at herself in the mirror again and covered a small bruise on her cheek. Rory was downstairs again, but instead of just coffee and pop-tarts she had Luke's breakfast already on plates.
"Your breakfast, madam." She said sweetly. She hugged her mom, then they both sat down to breakfast. Although her world was crumbling more everyday, she was finding it easier to pretend.
"So," said Rory as she chomped on a piece of bacon, "I promised Lane I would go hear some songs the band wrote, I'll probably be home around four, then I have to go to school around six." Lorelai frowned, taking a big swig of coffee.
"I'm going to miss you like crazy." She said, finally saying something she really meant. Rory smiled weakly.
"I'm going to miss you too, Mom." They both looked incredibly sad, and it was very apparent how different things felt in the Gilmore house.
Lorelai had decided it would be good for her to spend time reading while Rory was at Lane's. She just wanted to be absorbed into someone else's nightmare instead of her own. She chose The Lovely Bones , and at every part she felt herself welling up. She could relate as the main character was brutally raped. Suddenly, she heard her door open. She jumped. There was a hand on her shoulder, she was shivering. She closed her eyes, then looked up at Jason.
"I told you I'd come back." He grabbed her arm. "Come on." She tried fighting again. It was useless. She wanted to just give up, but she couldn't. He dragged her kicking and screaming up the stairs, the wood was hard and unyielding hurting her back. Jason threw Lorelai against the bed, she was crying. He was grasping her arm so tight it was drawing blood in several places.
"Please, don't do this…" She cried, he slapped her. She just kept pleading as he slipped of her jeans and sweater and he took his own clothes off, holding her down so she could barely breathe and holding her wrist so tight she thought it was going to fall off as he did both. She knew what horror was coming next.
Rory had had a pretty good afternoon at Lane's. It went a lot quicker then she had thought. She went through the back door, and dropped some of her stuff on her bed. She was about to yell out when she heard something peculiar. She moved closer to the stairs and heard her mom's voice in sobs.
"Please…Jason, don't…" She was crying. Rory was pretty sure of what she was hearing. Her mom was being raped. She took a sharp intake of breath. She had no idea what to do, she didn't know if it was really happening. She went back out the back door, trying to figure out what to do, trying to regain her thoughts. Instead, she found herself breaking down at the side of their house. Now she would always hear the faint screams of her mother being raped in her head.
It couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening to her mom, her strong amazing mother with a heart of gold. She shook her head. It just wasn't true. She shook her head and regained some composure. She convinced herself it wasn't true, they were just being rough…If Lorelai was ever in a situation where someone was hurting her she'd tell Rory, right? Right. Rory felt a little better, her thoughts were working.
She walked into the house slowly, and heard her mother's shower going. Slowly, Rory packed then waited for her Mom to come back. Eventually, Lorelai slowly came to the kitchen, and gave a weak half-smile to Rory.
"Is this goodbye for awhile?" She asked. Rory nodded.
"We can talk on the phone." Lorelai nodded.
"I know, it's just not the same." Rory gived her mom another weak smile. Rory stood up and the mother and daughter moved towards one another and hugged each other. Lorelai felt tears rolling down her cheeks, and held her daughter tightly. Lorelai was deathly afraid, afraid that Rory would get a call about her being murdered, or even worse, Rory getting hurt. Rory heard her mother's tears and rubbed her back.
"And you're sure you're alright?" Rory asked fighting tears of her own. Lorelai nodded a little wearily, they stared into each other's eyes, know exactly how much they knew about what was happening to Lorelai. "Because I know you would tell me."
"I promise, Rory." She whispered.
"Just protect yourself." Lorelai nodded.
"I'm fine." She repeated again, trying to convince herself she was, trying to momentarily banish her pain. A few minutes later, Rory drove away.
Rory walked into Luke's, without asking he poured her a cup of coffee.
"You're leaving, huh?" Rory nodded.
"Yeah….Luke?" He smiled.
"Yeah, Rory?"
"There's something wrong with Mom and I don't know what it is…Could you watch her, protect her?" He slowly moved his head up and down.
"Yeah, I noticed…I'll look out for her, Rory." She gave the same weak smile Lorelai had given him the day before, then left.
Luke watched Rory drive away, and tried to think what could possibly be wrong with Lorelai.
