Luke POV

"I know," I grumbled, feeling her eyes on me, "You were supposed to pick her up to bring her to the diner so you got to lay eyes on her, too, but I couldn't wait."

She started giggling, "That's not why I was looking at you that way. I was more thinking about the fact that you were here before me and I'm half-hour early. I half-expected you to turn up."

"I forgot how close the school was?" I tried, hoping she would believe me.

She laughed again, "If you say so."

She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me gently, "Have you been as much of a wreck as I have?"

"I shouted at several customers, so I believe the answer is yes... but it also might be the fact that Christopher didn't plead guilty and she needs to testify," I admitted guiltily, "Do you think she's okay?"

"I think the school would have called if something was wrong," She told me, but it didn't make me feel any better.

Half an hour later, she came out the front doors, looking absolutely exhausted. She was pale and sweaty, her steps a little wobbly. The surgeon had warned us that this was perfectly normal for the first day back but actually seeing it was completely different. We started walking towards her, knowing she was close to collapse, but her knees gave out just before we got there.

I managed to catch her just before she hit the ground, and I wrapped my arms around her. My heart was beating so hard that my chest hurt and my mouth was suddenly very dry. Lorelai took Rory from my embrace, wanting to hug Rory herself. Collapsing was on the 'too much, too soon' list rather than the 'what to expect' list.

"You scared us! Why didn't you come out sooner?" Lorelai demanded to know, fear clearly in control.

"I wanted to get through the two hours. It was only two hours, I should have been able to manage it," She explained sadly.

"You weren't ready, and that's okay. We'll try again next week since you almost managed it. How does that sound?" I asked, wanting to keep her calm. Anger often triggered a setback and she didn't need any more of those.

She sighed but nodded anyway. I picked up her bag, and put it on my back, "Do you think you can walk or do you need help?"

"I need help."

She was getting better at asking for help, but only when prompted. She was the type of person to suffer in silence, and this wasn't something she could safely do that with. I scooped her up in my arms, holding her close, and walked to Lorelai's car.

I got her settled in her corner, covering her up with her blanket. She preferred resting downstairs, which I didn't mind since it meant I could watch her and get to her quicker, but I did worry about the noise level. Luckily, she could generally sleep through anything.

Lorelai sat at the counter with a cup of coffee that she had poured herself while I dealt with Rory, and stared over her shoulder at our kid, "What happened today can't happen again. Once you get that type of surgery, you're more likely to need it again, which means hitting her head is much more dangerous. And you almost didn't get to her in time... It can't happen again."

"Rory is 10. She is going to hit her head again because she's 10 years old and we can't protect her from everything," I stopped for a moment, sighing, "We can teach her to be more careful but we cannot be by her side at all times while maintaining a normal life and giving her a good life. She needs that independence, and part of that is going to school."

"I hate that you're right," Lorelai grumbled and I laughed.

"I hate that I'm right, too. I want to wrap her in cotton wool and stick her in a plastic bubble, but I can't. Does that urge ever go away?"

It was her turn to laugh, and she shook her head, "It hasn't yet. It's got easier to ignore, but it has not gone anywhere yet. I'll let you know when it does."

She stood up and leaned over the counter to kiss me, "I have to go. I love you."

"I love you too," I said, kissing her once more, harder than the previous one. I then returned to work, my eyes never leaving Rory.

"How was her first day back?" A voice asked, making me jump. Miss Patty.

I hesitated before answering, "She collapsed on her way out, but it was otherwise good."

She was in here every day getting updates from me and Rory, spreading them around. It limited the number of people coming in to bother her, but it hadn't stopped Kirk from coming in daily to ask why she needed surgery.

Most people had no idea why she had the surgery. There were a lot of rumours floating around since Rory wasn't sharing those details, but apart from Kirk, nobody was really asking her. They were just making assumptions. Some of these rumours accused Lorelai of trying to kill her, which was why Rory was missing, some had accused me of beating both girls black and blue, some had assumed Rory had cancer or a tumour, and some had (correctly) assumed that it was something to do with her father.

I knew she was writing about it in her new notepad; she wanted to be a journalist when she was older, and she had decided that it would be good practice to write about something she had actually experienced but had decided that no one could read it until she was done.

She had been given the idea after someone from The Stars Hollow Gazette had asked her to talk to them about it, and had decided to write her own piece and try to get it published so they had all the answers in one hit. She had also considered sending it to her grandparents so they had the full story without having to sit there and explain it all; she was worried that they'd interrupt too much for her to get through the whole story properly.

I had read many pieces of writing of hers, but this was something that I was really looking forward to since it would be the first thing that she's written about that personally involves and affects her.

AN: So I was tempted to have Emily come to the diner to see how Rory was doing, but I felt that was too far out of character for her, so I went in a different direction. Let me know what you thought of this chapter, I hope you liked it.