Aaaahahahaha an embarassing typo was pointed out to me, so rest assured, it's fixed. :)

WARNING: this chapter deals with abuse, and may be more of an M rating.

Chapter 4

“Rory, take this suitcase and put all of your clothes in it, and anything else you can fit,” I told Rory as I handed her a giant rolling suitcase and pushed her towards her room. “And do it as fast as you can.”

“Why?” she asked. I hadn’t told her what was going on yet.

“We’re leaving. You and I are going to go live at the inn for awhile until we can find a place of our own.”

“No more Dad?” she asked excitedly.

“No more Dad. No more Christopher. Just you and me.”

“Yay!” She jumped up and down all the way to her room, dragging the suitcase behind her.

I headed off towards my room to start packing my things. Christopher wasn’t home and I didn’t know where he could be or when he’d be back, so I had to hurry. Maybe I should call Luke, I thought. He’d be able to help get things packed and out of there quickly.

I grabbed the phone off of the side table and dialed the diner’s number. “Hello?” I heard, not even a full ring later.

“Hey, Luke. I need you to come over to my house as fast as you can.”

“Why? What’s wrong? Is Rory hurt?” he asked frantically.

“No, no, she’s fine. We’re leaving. I talked to Mia, and she’s letting us stay in a room for awhile. I need your help so we can get everything out of here faster. I don’t know where Chris is and I don’t know when he’ll be back. He was supposed to be off of work today.”

“Ok. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

I hung up the phone and continued packing. Not ten minutes later, I heard Luke coming through the front door and up the stairs.

“Lorelai! I’m here!”

“In here!” I yelled from the closet.

“Who’s that?” Rory yelled from her room.

“It’s Luke!” I yelled back.

“Did he bring pie?” she asked as she came bounding into the room.

“No,” he chuckled, “but we can go get some from the diner when we’re finished here,” he promised.

Rory ran to him and hugged him tightly. “We’re leaving,” she said into his stomach, a smile stretching all the way across her face.

An hour later, we sat at the counter at Luke’s, enjoying our pieces or cherry pie. We had dropped all of our stuff of at the inn and decided to go straight to the diner to celebrate. That is, until I remembered. “Oh shoot! I forgot to pack the bathroom stuff!”

“Lorelai, you can’t go back, he could be there. We can just buy you some new stuff.”

“There’s medicine and stuff in there that we can’t just buy again. I’ve gotta go.” I stood up and started to leave.

“Well then I’m coming with you.” Luke started to follow me.

“No, you need to stay with Rory. If he’s not there, it could mean he’s already been home and seen all of our stuff gone, and is coming to find me. And if he finds Rory, he could hurt her instead of me,” I whispered to him. “You need to make sure she’s safe.”

“Ok. But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. If I see his car in the driveway, I won’t go in.”

“Ok. Just be careful.”

“I will. See you later.”

“Bye.”

I drove the twenty minutes to my old house, making sure to look at the cars that passed me to see if Chris was heading towards Stars Hollow. When I arrived, his car wasn’t there, which could either be good or bad. I hurried into the house, grabbed a small duffel bag from the hall closet, and headed up the stairs to the bathroom. I must’ve been making too much racket in my haste to get everything inside, because I didn’t hear the front door open and close, and I didn’t hear the footsteps on the stairs coming right towards me.

“What’s going on?” Chris said, startling me so much, I dropped the bag and everything fell out of it.

I didn’t know what to say. I was so shocked, I couldn’t even make a move. Chris walked into the bedroom, opened the closet, and saw that my half of the closet was empty. He walked to Rory’s room and saw that it was almost bare. He walked back to me and asked again, “What’s going on?”

I stood up straight and squared my shoulders. “I want a divorce,” I said, finding some hidden confidence.

“Well,” he started, looking at his watch. “Fine. Get a move on though. I’ve got someplace to be.”

Needless to say, I was shell shocked. I kneeled down and put everything back in the bag. Standing back up again, I decided to check the bedroom again, just to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything else. And that’s when I saw them. A pair of Luke’s boxers, laying on the bed, in plain view. I tried to grab them and hide them, but Chris followed me and saw the panicked look on my face.

“What are those?” he asked. “Those aren’t mine.” He was getting angry. He snatched them from my hands. “Whose are they?” He shouted. When I didn’t answer, he shouted again. “Whose are they?!”

“I- I, uh-”

“You’ve been sleeping around! In my bed! Under my roof!” He shoved me down onto the bed.

“I’m sorry, Chris! I just-”

“You just what, bitch?” He slapped me hard across the face. I sat up and tried to push him away. “You just thought it would be okay to sleep around in my house?! How many guys have you fucked under my roof?!” He pushed me backwards so my head hit the wall behind the bed.

Christopher grabbed my throat with one hand and pulled me down to lie flat on the bed. With the other hand, he began to unzip his jeans and pull down his boxers. “Chris, no,” I pleaded with him. He squeezed my neck harder. “Chris! I can’t-” I struggled to breathe.

I heard him shout, “I’m the only man who’s allowed to fuck you. I’m your husband.”

A moment later, I had passed out.

A little while later, I began to wake up in a room I didn’t recognize. I looked around and quickly realized I was in the hospital. I looked to my left and saw Luke sitting in a chair right next to me, holding my hand.

“Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t really know. How did I get here?”

“Your neighbors heard Chris shouting and called the police. They showed up and found you passed out and called an ambulance.”

“Did he-” I shifted a little, and a sharp pain gave me the answer to the question I was about to ask. Chris had raped me. The police hadn’t come in time. I couldn’t handle the thought that he had done that to me, even if I can’t remember it happening. I began to silently cry.

“Hey, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.” He hugged me lightly, afraid to hurt me.

“Did they catch him?” I asked through my tears.

“Yes. He heard them pull into the driveway and tried to jump out the window, but he broke his leg and couldn’t run away.”

“Where’s Rory?” I asked, suddenly aware that I hadn’t seen her since I left the diner, and frantic to see her. “Where’s Rory? Who’s she with?”

“She’s with Sookie out in the waiting room. Do you want me to go get her?”

“Yes.” Luke got up and starting walking towards the door.

“Wait,” I said. He stopped and turned around. “Does she know what happened?”

“No one’s told her exactly, but she knows you’re hurt.” He turned back around and went to go get her. A moment later, Sookie appeared in the doorway with Rory in her arms.

“Mommy!” she shouted, and wiggled down.

“Be careful,” Sookie told her as she ran over to the bed.

Rory gingerly climbed up next to me. “Hey baby.”

She laid down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. “I’m tired,” she said.

“Me too.” Sookie smiled at me, and I gave a small smile back. She stepped out of the room and closed the door.

I didn’t care that I was in a hospital bed, or that I hurt all over. I had my daughter beside me, and we were finally safe.

TBC.