A/N: Well here's Ellie! I'm going to give this chapter a go! Thank you, Jjbrowneyes, for the compliment! She remembered me!!! YAY her!

A/N: This chapter is all Ellie with my editing.

Disclaimer: We own nothing…Wait! Nina! We own Tabitha! Hey! You're right Ellie! We do own Tabitha!

On with the story…

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Chapter 12: Never Ever

Rory's POV

I reached my arm around to scratch my face. But my arm wouldn't move. Opening my eyes slowly I saw someone's back facing me. I scooted closer and smelt the familiar smell of my mom. She smelt of my childhood. You know that smell that makes you remember the first time you went to kindergarten? She smelt like coffee and lilacs. I pulled her in with the arm that she was laying on. I felt her slowly start to wake. When she had sensed my presence she turned and smiled at me over her shoulder.

"'Morning kid," she said with sleep evident in her voice. I smiled as she turned fully and kissed my forehead.

"'Morning mom," I replied as she held me. I looked to Luke's ceiling and smiled.

"Mom?" I asked breaking the silence. She turned her focus to me.

"Hmm?"

I chuckled, "Luke's got a Hello Kitty sticker on his ceiling," I said and mom exploded.

"Nuh uh," she whispered, considering everyone was still sleeping. I nodded.

"Look," I said pointing and mom laughed. She shook the whole bed as I smiled—a real smile. My cheeks hurt slightly from the pressure under which I held the smile.

Mom looked at me, "This is a year worth of mocking material!" She yelled excitedly. I laughed, she was so mean. At her yelling we heard the floorboard creak. I looked up and smiled yet again. Jess stood, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, in his pajama pants and only his pajama pants. Hm, a shirtless Jess, not something I'd be opposed to seeing…

"Jess?" I asked as he turned to me, and I watched the emotion fill his face. His face went from sleepy to the Oh-No-Rory-Just-Saw-Me-Shirtless.

He covered himself and smirked, "Yeah?"

"You don't need to do that," I said as mom finally realized Jess was standing there. She tilted her head and smiled.

"Hi Jesse!" She said and I smirked. That's what Tabitha called him. He groaned and mom ran to the bathroom, "The first one to shower is the first one to get COFFEE!!" She yelled and I saw Tabitha jump up out of a sound sleep.

"Georgia peaches come from happy cows so go to California," Tabitha growled as she sat up, suddenly very alert.

Jess turned to her, "Tabs, its okay."

She turned, wild eyed with black hair strewn in her face, "Oh." I laughed as she stood and hobbled over to Luke's bed. She crawled in it and lay next to me.

"'Morn'," she mumbled through her hands. Jess laughed and I turned, with disappointment, to learn he put a shirt on. He had even thrown together an outfit. He was wearing his New Core dark Jeans and his Calvin Klein mask shirt. He smirked and I looked down at my pajamas that mom had run home and gotten me last night. They were orange pants that had white spots on them accompanied by my gray Jenni hoodie.

"Let's get up and dressed," I suggested and Jess smiled and turned on Friday morning cartoons. "Come on up up," he said to Tabitha. Tabitha growled and sat up. She reminded me much of Linda Blair when she had the green stuff emitting from her face.

She groaned and stood, "Fine, but I get the shower." She stomped off and I watched with laughter. Today felt like a good day. I had that jittery feeling in my chest. Jess was engrossed in the cartoons and I swung my feet over the edge. I stood and smiled in triumph before falling to the ground in a lump. Nope, just kidding. I stayed standing. I giggled biting my lip as Jess looked over at me.

"Happy much?" He asked as I swung around a bit. My back brace wasn't bothering me. It actually was coming off in three days, so I almost danced at that. I realized, while enjoying myself, that Jess had decided to watch me. I all of a sudden felt confident and put my hands on my hips.

"Take a picture it will last longer," I said. But halfway through my sentence, I giggled.

Jess smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Wow." I just smiled as the bathroom door opened. Tabitha stood out in the clear. Her waist long curly black hair was in two French braids. Her eyes were awake, her face alert. Plus she had on her DKNY jeans, her "Moonlight" halter-top and she slipped on her sling back wedges. She looks like NYC.

"Tabby, you look like NYC," Jess whispered. She smiled and scratched her shoulder.

She turned to me, "Is that a compliment?"

"Coming from him? Probably," I admitted while Tabitha laughed. I noticed she had a deep, husky, almost sexy laugh. Then she tramped across the room while Jess looked back to the TV.

She sat next to me and whispered in my ear, "Want to take me to your house? We can get you cleaned up a bit."

"What about him?" I whispered and she smirked.

"He'll be there for hours," she told me and we giggled. I nodded and Tabitha helped me down the stairs to the diner. Mom sat on the stool, steadily drinking coffee and Luke smiled as we passed.

"Mom, we're going to our house to get dressed," I told her and she nodded engrossed in a banter with Luke. Tabitha and I walked down Main St., past Doose's, past the Chat club, and passed the bookstore in silence. Finally just as we got to Monty, Tabitha turned to me.

"It took a lot for me to recover," she started slowly. She bent to pick a wildflower. She plucked it from its home and put it in Monty's hand as we continued. "Greg caused me a lot of mental abuse—more than I ever imagined. I went to counseling," she told me; staring off into the misty morning that cooled my skin. "They repeated over and over again that it wasn't my fault, fed me the generic lines of psychiatrics dealing with abuse patients everywhere. None of that helped. Jess helped a lot; just being there, talking when I wanted to and understanding when I didn't want to," she paused and I saw the nostalgia in her eyes, "I think what helped me most was the self-defense classes I took. It made me feel safer knowing that I could take care of myself. Now, that may not be the route for you. You may need cooking classes, I don't know. Maybe you don't need anything but the people around you. It's different for every victim," she gave me a small smile as she crossed her arms over her chest.

I lifted my arm and drew her in a hug, "Thanks Tabitha. I think your one of my newest best friends," I admitted as we climbed the stairs together. We got in and walked to my room. She immediately went to the closet as I dropped on the bed to take another vicodin.

She came out, hands on hips, "Okay. First things first, call me Tab or Tabby. Next, you want to feel and look good today because no one can stop or bring down a woman, right?" She asked as she paced. I nodded as she stopped. She ran back to the closet and I smiled. She was a good friend to have. She came out holding clothes. "Now, let's get you showered."

Two hours later I was dressed in my favorite, but cute, as Tabby stated, jeans and my Trixxi baby doll button up shirt. Tabby was sitting on my bed holding Colonel Cluckers in her hands as I turned around.

She whistled and I bowed, "Atta go girl!" She yelled.

I smiled and sat on my bed next to her. The back brace made me stiff, and I hated it, but oh well. "Want to go back?" I asked and she looked around my room, finally bringing her eyes back to me.

"Okay," she said and hopped up. I stood and followed her. I ran a hand through my curls that Tabby had insisted I needed to leave my hair like, "They look great," she said from my right and I smiled.

"Thanks," we walked in silence all the way back to the diner. Before we walked in we could see, through the window, mom and Luke having a heated discussion.

Tabby turned with a smirk, "What do you think it could be?"

"I'm not sure," I said shrugging and following Tabby back in. Mom and Luke had shut up immediately upon our arrival.

I sat on the stool and turned to mom, "It's Friday." I could read her expression from anywhere. They must have been arguing about telling the grandparents. Tabby stole a fry off my mom's plate and smirked, "What's wrong with Friday?"

I turned and dipped a fry, "My grandparent's weekly dinner. It's horrible," I said slumping my shoulders. But Tabby tapped them and I raised them.

She leant forward and whispered in my ear, "The first rule is never ever let people see you unhappy." I smiled thanks as a noise was heard from behind the curtain. Jess emerged with a smirk. His smirk dropped as soon as he saw me. I involuntarily started playing with the hem of my shirt nervously. He walked over, hugged Tabby and then kissed my cheek. I smiled as he poured us coffee and told Tabby and I about the Tasmanian Devil.

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I stood staring at the large ornate door. My dress, actually Tabitha's plaid dress was blowing underneath my Tonal-Print jacket. I looked to the right and saw mom standing in her Pointelle dress. Her dress had long sleeves so she didn't need her normal jacket. The door opened and I faced the newest maid, Dorsal. She was from Poland, but I assumed she was happy here, which is odd. She took my jacket and my mom's "Suzy" satchel, which had a big G on it. Because it was made from Guess, but mom swears that it's for Gilmore. I bit back a giggle as we walked to the sitting room.

Grandma looked over to us and smiled. I grinned, "Lorelai, Rory," she said coming over to us. She hugged mom first then me. But halfway through the hug she felt my back brace. She pulled back and looked at mom.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, why does Rory have a back brace?" She demanded to know as we sat on the couch. Mom slumped her shoulders and I remember Tabby's remark before.

Mom picked up her drink and leaned back, "Well mom, Rory and her boyfriend…ugh. I'll come out and say this-"

"Good evening, sorry I'm la—"

"Richard sit and be quiet," grandma ordered hastily passing grandpa his drink. Mom took another deep breath.

"Rory's ex-boyfriend, Dean Forrester has been…beating Rory. The back brace is because of the baseball bat he took to her, she broke her arm in three places, chipped her elbow, and dislocated most of her upper arm because of him," she said and waited for the eruption. I looked between my grandparents. They looked crestfallen.

"Grandma, Grandpa," I said and they looked to me. Grandpa shook his head as tears came to Grandma's eyes. I looked at mom with a questioning look. They've never ever shown emotion to us.

Grandpa set down his drink and looked at me, "Rory, dear, what happened?" I looked him in the eye and read the slue of emotions running across his eyes. They weren't disappointment, or fear, or resentment. They were sadness, pity, and love. Love was apparent in both their eyes and I smiled as little tears formed in my own, I started my tale…

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A/N: Wow, I can't believe I wrote this. OmG, it seems too good to be mine! Wow. Hope you like it, and thanks again to everyone who remembers the co-writer in their reviews! I'm overjoyed!

Ellie

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