No one spoke. Lorelai was crying, and then she started blurting out the details of what transpired.

"We met for dinner, to talk, and I drank too much so Dean was driving me home when I HAD to pee."

Rory took Lorelai's right hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I was walking out of the bathroom, and Dean was holding cash in his hand when some Gollum looking man whistled at me, and he put his arm around me, and Dean closed the distance to get to me lightening fast, he punched him and then this guy who was ransacking the truck was running at Dean with a knife."

Lorelai rubbed her face into the fabric on her shoulder.

"I scream to warn him and he turned around in time to block the guy's hand, and I was so worried and Gollum was back up so I kicked off my shoes and attempted to tackle him but instead he caught me in his arms, and he was dragging me into the darkness, and I couldn't get out of his grip and I didn't want Dean to get stabbed, so I tried to fight back harder…"

"Mom!" Rory's voice croaked, she was crying too. Luke pulled over because he couldn't see straight, this was agony.

"And I failed, and Dean just turned away from his assailant, to save me, to protect me, and suddenly he was strangling Gollum, I could get loose, spun, knife guy sunk his weapon into Dean, I punched him in the eye and Dean somehow smashed knife guy's jaw before he sank to the ground."

Luke had tears falling down his face.

Rory was hugging her mom, stunned by this revelation.

"After that, it's all blurry. I was screaming, a state trooper pulled up and arrested me, backup came, an ambulance took everyone else away, and some good samaritan family had called 911 and told the officers that Dean and I were the victims. An officer took my statement of the attack. The next thing I remember I was being dropped off here for examination. I didn't ask, the words didn't escape, I needed to know where they took him. WHY couldn't I get that information? I need Dean."

Rory took a painful gulp, and asked, "Mom, I, are you okay? I mean, really, physically, where are your clothes? You look roughed up. You aren't omitting details to shield me, are you?"

Luke and Rory almost couldn't breathe while hoping for the right words to exit Lorelai's mouth.

"No, I wasn't raped. I promise. Dean Forester saved me. He kept me safe. He loves me. I couldn't do anything for him. Initially I claimed Dean as my husband thinking it would simplify the chaos. I would be in the ambulance with him. We'd get special medical treatment. He saved me and now he's in surgery somewhere, alone, and he might die because I couldn't hold it any longer. What am I gonna do if? What am I gonna do if Dean doesn't make it? I am out of my mind. Rory, you have no idea how completely broken I feel. I was defenseless. Powerless."

That word, 'powerless' was never heard so quietly.

Luke turned the ignition and raced as fast as possible to the hospital.

Rory was relieved that her mom seemed, that she was here in the car between her and Luke. And Dean. He had such an amazing heart. HAS such an amazing heart. He turned his back on a guy attacking him with a knife to save her. Rory always felt safe around Dean. She was now shedding tears thinking of him on an operating table. He didn't deserve this. Annoyed about sparks flying between them? It wasn't just a little crush. Hearing her mom speak, Rory could hear the emotion straining through her vocal chords. What difference did their ages make? What a stupid thing to waste time on, what a stupid thing to fret about. Dean said he was in love?

Luke was hell bent on getting Lorelai to that hospital. Dean was going to live. He would come out of this okay. Dean dumped Rory at that dance, and Luke wanted to punch his lights out for that embarrassing display in the gym. But Lorelai's reaction just now, the way she spoke, it sounded like she and Dean were on a date, dating, and one would have to be blind and deaf not to see and hear love, twinged with disconsolate admiration in her voice, in her expression. Dean saved her from harm at the expense of his own safety, his own life, so he had to get Lorelai to Dean. That's all that mattered right now. Luke was painfully aware of how scary the unknown was when it comes to a person you love.

I'm not going anywhere.

He has to be okay when we get there. I won't be okay if he isn't okay. Was this my punishment? Too old for him, yet too immature to hold my liquor so he had to take care of me before he then had to save me? He was driving me home so I wouldn't get in an accident; he's too good a person for me. We shouldn't have been on a date, or at that rest area. I could have been with him. I could have been happy. I am a monster.