Lorelai POV

"Hello?" I asked as I picked up the phone.

"Lorelai?" My mother asked, and I inwardly sighed. We had exchanged numbers when I last saw her at the hospital, but I hadn't expected her to use it, "How is Rory?"

"She's doing as well as can be expected," I said, "We've just got home from her follow-up appointment, and they're happy with how things are progressing. If things keep going this way, she could be back at school by the end of the month, but only if she doesn't push herself too far."

"Hmm," She said, thinking for a moment, "I'd like to talk to you about that man of yours."

Crap.

"I'm not sure what there is to talk about," I started, but she cut me off.

"He looks at Rory the same way your father used to look at you, and he looks at you how your father looks at me... I always wanted that for you. I wanted it to be Christopher, I won't deny it, but I always wanted that for you girls. I know you said the relationship is fairly new, but don't mess it up."

I looked at the phone, baffled, and then put it back to my ear, "Thank you."

"Now when do you think Rory will be well enough to do those monthly dinners we discussed?"

I thought for a minute, already dreading it, "Just before she goes back to school? The doctor said that school will appear to cause a setback in her recovery so it might be iffy after that, but if we do one before she goes to school, then you would have seen her at least once."

"That sounds just fine. If you give me a date nearer the time, as you don't have as much information as I'd like, and we'll have dinner. And Lorelai?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Thank you for letting us back into your lives."

"You're welcome, Mom."

I held Rory's hands as we practised the steps again. She had finally mastered walking up them, but going down was still an issue. This time, she managed it down two steps before stumbling, and I ended up catching her.

I sat her down on the top step and sat down with her, "It's okay that this is hard. It's perfectly normal."

"But I'm too heavy for you to carry and I've got to be too heavy for Luke," She cried, burying her head in her hands.

At the moment, she was bouncing between using Luke's name and calling him 'Dad'. If she was indoors and it was just us three, he was 'Dad', but if we were outdoors or anyone else was around, he was 'Luke'.

"Sweetheart, if Luke had a problem with carrying you, we would have found an alternative. Since when does Luke do things he doesn't want to do?" I pointed out, lifting her head with my hand, "And anyway, I don't work out, and Luke does. Carrying you is not a big deal. Honestly."

I couldn't tell whether I was lying or not, but I needed her to believe me. I needed her to know that it wasn't a problem and that she wasn't a burden.

She nodded, but looked unsure, "I've cost you so much money, and you can't work properly, and I'm causing so many problems. Why can't I just do this? It would make it easier for everyone."

I kissed her forehead, "This is not your fault. This is your father's fault, and he is the one who should pay. He will pay for what he did to you, and we are not mad at you for any of this."

"But I went to see him," She said in a tiny voice.

My heart broke for her, and I echoed what Luke had told me when this all happened, "But you didn't make him throw you around. He should have called me or brought you home himself, but there is no excuse for what he did to you."

Rory looked up at me tearfully, stunned. She clearly hadn't expected that, nor had she thought about it in that way, "Promise?"

"I promise," I said, wiping her tears away with my thumb, "Come on, let's get you inside."

As we stood up, Luke walked up the driveway with a bag in his hand, "I brought you dinner."

I inwardly groaned; he had been pushing the healthy food on us, which was fair enough since Rory was recovering from surgery, but I was really struggling with it. I've never been a real fan of healthy food, and while I was more than happy to eat it so Rory would, it didn't make it easy.

"What've you got?" Rory asked, pulling herself up. She was getting better at doing it on her own, her balance steadily improving.

"Spiced lentil and butternut squash soup," He said carefully, knowing he could scare us off at any time, "Lentils are really good for iron and protein, which is necessary after surgery, and butternut squash has lots of essential vitamins and minerals, mostly vitamin A and C."

Because she wasn't in school, Luke had been teaching her about the importance of healthy eating and about what vitamins and minerals do what and then quizzing her on it. It started accidentally as he encouraged her to eat better, but had become a thing for them.

Rory thought for the moment as we made our way into the house.

"Vitamin A is good for cell growth, bone health, and immune function, and vitamin C is good for immune function, wound healing, and tissue repair. These vitamins are the ones you're mostly shoving down my throat because of the operation."

He nodded, "But you should be eating them anyway; you're a growing child so these are super important."

She rolled her eyes, "I know. Once I'm better, I might try to stick with the healthy eating, but I don't know; I think I miss burgers."

I miss burgers, too, I thought as the phone rang yet again. I left the two to continue their discussion and answered the phone myself, "This is a collect call from Boston County Jail If you would like to accept this call, please press one now."

I pressed the button with shaky hands, my mouth suddenly dry. I knew they were planning on arresting him once they had the warrant, but...

"Hey Lor," He said softly, "I'm not going to ask you to bail me out of prison. They told me that I put my little girl in hospital, and I can't... I can't live with that. I'm going to plead guilty and whatever happens, happens. I just wanted you to know."

"Okay," I said, unable to say anything else. I didn't know what to say or how to feel. I put down the phone and turned to Luke and Rory, who were looking at me funny, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Christopher was arrested today."

AN: So, I have just written Chapter 16 of the sequel which is a nice little coincidence that I'm publishing Chapter 16 of this one. I still don't have a name for the sequel yet, but I've got 8 weeks to go until I need to worry. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review.