Hours later the only ones left at the hospital were Emily and Lorelai. Emily had secured Richard a recovery suite so the two of them were sitting on the couch across from Richard's bed. They were leafing through magazines and Lorelai felt her eyes start to close. Emily turned to her daughter and began to whisper, "That chair is actually a recliner. Why don't you go lay in it for a little while. The doctor said that the pain medication they gave you would make you sleepy."

"No, I'm okay Mom. I want to keep you company."

"Lorelai, it's late. I'm not going to be able to sleep, but don't make me worry about you. Just knowing that you're okay is how I need you to help. Your father is sleeping, there's nothing for you to do. And I promise I'll wake you if anything happens or if I need you."

"I'm fine. If I feel tired I'll sleep." Lorelai smiled.

Minutes later Lorelai was asleep with her head resting on Emily's shoulder. Emily sighed, folded her sweater into a small square and placed it on her lap. She then gently lowered Lorelai's head onto the makeshift pillow and stroked her hair. She wished that their relationship was better, but she was proud at how far they had come. She couldn't take her eyes off of the bruise on her cheek and tried once again to shake the sinking feeling she had about her daughter's injuries.

There was a knock at the door and Christopher poked his head in. When he saw both Richard and Lorelai asleep he entered quietly and sat in the armchair near Emily after kissing her cheek.

"It's about time you showed up," Emily said flatly.

"Yeah, well I needed to get some things done at the house and I knew you guys would have people with you most of the day. How's Richard?"

"Richard will be fine. He's strong and has his family to support him. The surgery was a success and he'll be back to his old self in a few weeks."

"That's great," Chris said, not catching the venom in Emily's tone.

"Would you like to know about your wife?" Emily asked.

"She's fine. It was just a tumble," Chris dismissed.

Emily's eye flashed with rage, "She has a sprained wrist, bruised ribs and a mild concussion!"

"Oh"

"Oh indeed! Plus this small cut and bruise on her cheek. A bruise that looks eerily similar to the ones I would see on your mother. The ones I helped her cover up with makeup."

"Emily -"

"Christopher, you hit my daughter!"

"Look, I don't know what Lorelai told you but it only happened twice. And today I was drinking. But she is flaunting the fact that she still loves that Diner Guy. You saw how she didn't want a wedding. A man can only take so much."

If looks could kill, Emily's eyes would have been lethal weapons, "You have some nerve. Talking to me like we're friends, as if I will find any excuse you could give me okay. If I didn't want to let her sleep I would physically remove you from this room. And Lorelai didn't tell me you hit her, she was trying to get us to believe that she clumsily fell down the stairs! Get out, pack your bags and move out of my daughter's home and life this instant. You will never contact her or Rory again, and if you do I will get restraining orders for both of them."

"I love her," Chris whispered.

"Get out!"

Chris got up and walked to his car, angrily he sped out of the hospital parking lot.

Lorelai was awake the whole time her mother spoke with Chris. She was happy, for once in her life, to have her mother fight her battle. Then she was just laying there in shock when it seemed that Straub used to beat Francine. How was this something she never knew? She had never been more proud to be the daughter of Emily Gilmore, who would never put up with this.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Luke was giving the Diner one last look over before he went up for the night. He saw Rory headed his way. He opened the door and smiled, "Hey, are you okay?"

Rory walked past him and sat down at the counter, "You don't have any coffee left do you?"

"No, but I'll make you some." He said as he headed to the coffeemaker.

"No, it's okay. I'm jittery enough as it is."

"Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? I watched my Grandpa collapse in front of me and then my Mom showed up all injured and I think she might be lying to me."

Luke sighed, shook his head and put his hand on hers, "Rory, your Mom wouldn't lie to you unless there was a really good -"

"Don't! I love that even after all the heartache you put each other through you still defend each other. I just came here because I don't want to sleep in the house tonight. Can I stay with you?"

"Of course, I actually still have some of your Mom's clothes tucked away so you'll have something to sleep in."

"Thanks Luke, I love you."

"Love you too kid"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

At 3:00am Lorelai's cell phone rang. She jumped to answer it quickly so it wouldn't wake her parents.

"Hello?"

"Is this Lorelai Hayden?"

"Yes," she cringed at the last name.

"This is Officer Wilcox with the Highway Patrol there's been an accident with your husband."

"Chris? Is he okay?" Lorelai jumped and left the room.

"Ma'am, could you come into the station?"

"Officer, I'm in the hospital with my father who had a heart attack. I have a mild concussion and only a few hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. No. I can't come in. Please tell me what happened!"

As the officer spoke, all the blood drained from Lorelai's face. The door opened behind her and Emily emerged. She saw the look on her daughter's face and knew there was trouble. She placed her hand on the small of Lorelai's back to let her know she was there.

Lorelai ended the call and didn't move. She was trying to catch her breath as if she had just run a marathon.

Emily was starting to panic. "Lorelai, what is it? You're scaring me."

Looking straight ahead, at nothing in particular, Lorelai started to speak, "That was the police. Chris was in an accident. He was already dead when the police arrived. Chris is dead."

"Oh my God!" Emily gasped.

"Mom!" Lorelai's legs gave out and Emily caught her.

"Come here," Emily said. She led Lorelai back into Richard's room and sat her down.

"I need to call Rory. And Sherry. I need to -"

"You need to sit! It's three in the morning. Rory needs her sleep, she is going to need all of her strength. Now take a breath and I'll get a nurse to give you something for your nerves. Then you can call Sherry, it's nine am there so that's more appropriate."

"Mom, just get me a coffee. I don't want any other drugs in my system. Rory will kill me if I don't -"

"Then blame it on me. There's nothing to do now. No arrangements can be made, no call to make, there's nothing to do but sit with the shock and sorrow. Or she can sleep."

Lorelai nodded, "You're right. Mom, thank you. You've been amazing."

"Thank you for letting me be." Emily smiled, "I'm going to find us some coffee." Emily left and Lorelai sat with the shock and sorrow.

"What's going on?" Richard asked groggily from the bed.

"Daddy," was all Lorelai could get out before she burst into tears and hugged her father.

For a man who had heart surgery just hours before, he was still a strong and stable anchor. He scooched himself into a sitting position and broke from the hug still holding onto his daughter's arms. He really took in her face as she told him that Chris had died in a car accident.

"What happened to you?" Richard asked. "Were you in the car with him?"

"No. I fell down the stairs?"

"Lorelai!" He used his 'Dad' voice and she knew that he knew it was a lie.

She pointed to her cheek, "This is from when he slapped me." Then she held up her wrist, "and this is from when I was struggling to get away and I did fall down the stairs."

Richard's face was red with rage.

"Dad, you have to calm down. You just had heart surgery. I'm fine. And he's gone now."

"He's lucky he went that way because I would have killed him myself. That bastard! What kind of man hits a woman? A woman he claims to love! How long was this going on? Did he ever lay a hand on Rory?"

Just then Emily entered the room with the coffees.

"Did you know about this?" Richard yelled at her.

Emily was in shock seeing her husband fresh out of surgery in such a state. "What is going on?"

"Everyone please calm down. Lorelai placed her hand on her father's chest and made eye contact with him, "Daddy, I'm fine. I promise I will tell you everything but you have to promise to stay calm. Please."

Richard took a deep breath as Emily stood by his side resting a hand on his shoulder. "Alright, I'm calm. Now talk!"

For the first time in her life Lorelai opened up to her parents and told them everything. How things ended with Luke, about the ultimatum that led her to Chris, to getting swept up in the feeling of being wanted by Chris, to the crash of reality when she came home still in love with Luke, to trying to make the marriage work, to Chris' jealousy, her conversation with Sookie and finally the altercation at the house.

The three of them sat in silence.

"I pushed you two together," Emily said barely above a whisper. "I tried to get you away from Luke and with Chris." Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Mom, you didn't know."

"Does Rory know about this?" Richard asked solemnly.

"No! He's never hit her and she doesn't know about this. And now that he's gone there's no reason for her to know. Why mess with her memory of her father? It's not like she saw him as a saint to begin with."

Her parents exchanged a look and Lorelai continued. "She was traumatized by seeing you collapse in front of her. Let's just protect her for as long as we can."

Emily and Richard nodded silently.

"I'm going to call Sherry, she needs to know. Mom, can you call Francine? I just can't deal with her right now."

"Of course," Emily replied. "But I think we should wait till it's not the middle of the night. No reason to destroy her world now."

Lorelai nodded as she left the room searching for Sherry's number in her cell.