Disclaimer: Just so there's no confusion, here's a short list of things that I don't have: 1,000,000 dollars (or even 1,000 dollars), a college degree (yet), a new car, a boyfriend, internet in my apartment, a cat, or Gilmore Girls.

A/N: Sorry about the wait, I don't have internet in my apartment right now so I have to use the library or the computer lab at my school, both of which were closed over Christmas break. I hope everyone had a great holiday!

There were some comments about the last chapter feeling like filler. There was some of that, but remember that 90 of the action on Gilmore Girls happens through dialogue, and often times it appears to be meaningless banter. Understanding the meaning behind it is the challenge to the viewer (or in this case, the reader).

I promised a special gift for everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Here it is: (of course even if you didn't review the last chapter you can enjoy it). It's a link to many of my gilmore girls livejournal icons:

http://smg. Four: I do, but I don't.

"Fine. Now please tell me what that police car is doing outside."

Emily's question brought back memories of the disastrous town meeting from the previous day. Telling the truth had been a nightmare. However, not telling the truth seemed like an even worse idea. So she answered, "They're here to protect me."

"To protect you from what?"

"From Rory's father."

Emily's face went white. "Rory's father? But…"

"He left a threatening note, so we called the police. Then we found out that he's been killing his old victims."

"Oh my, oh my God! Killing them? Lorelai, did you just say killing them? What are you doing here? You should be leaving the state, going into the witness protection program, moving to Belize…Luke, do something about this!"

Lorelai leaned over and said to Luke loud enough for her mother to hear, "Do you think now's a good time to tell her that I'm pregnant?"

"You're WHAT?!?!?!"

"Apparently not a good time," Luke answered her.

"Mom, I'm fine. The cops are outside, Luke is here, and I've still got at least nine days before I have to worry."

"Nine days?"

"In nine days is the anniversary of, um, of Rory's conception. Apparently that's when he's attacking. But the cops found DNA on my old sheets and they have Rory's DNA profile, so they've got a shot at catching him. If they don't have any new leads in a few days I'll go wherever they want me to go. Now can we please go downstairs; I need coffee." And with that, Lorelai got up, threw on a robe, pushed past her mother, and headed downstairs.

"You let her drink coffee while she's pregnant? That's so unhealthy," Emily said condescendingly before following Lorelai downstairs.

Lorelai made her coffee extra strong and then took a cup out onto the back porch. There on the steps, she saw the envelope with a large number nine on it.

Emily was just turning the corner into the kitchen and Luke was half way down the stairs when they both heard Lorelai scream. They raced out to where she was standing as she bent down slowly to pick up the large manila envelope. It was surprisingly heavy.

They walked back into the kitchen and sat down at the table, Luke's arm around Lorelai guiding her safely to her seat. She began to rip the envelope open.

"Stop!" Emily shouted. "It could be a bomb!"

"It's not a bomb, mom. That's not the way he works. The FBI agent says he just leaves threatening notes for ten days. None of the other women were hurt before the tenth day." She ripped the envelope the rest of the way and pulled out a license plate.

"I don't get it." Luke said.

"Wait, this is the license plate from my Jeep! That means that he was in the yard long enough to take it off without being seen!"

"How is that possible with Babette glued to her windows all the time?"

"It must have been while everyone was at the town meeting yesterday. Oh God. Oh my God he touched this! What's he going to do next time? He could have cut my brake lines or…oh God!" Lorelai sobbed as she dropped the license plate to the floor and buried her face in her hands. "I'm so scared," she admitted for the first time. Luke scooted his chair next to hers and pulled her head to him, letting her cry into his chest.

"We should probably call Agent White and tell her about this," Lorelai said a few minutes later once she had regained her composure. She was there a few minutes later.

"I don't want you to open any more of these notes, okay? I'll stop by every day to pick them up. Just leave them wherever he puts them. Don't so much as touch them. The crime lab could find evidence on them that could help us catch him."

"Okay," Lorelai said, feeling a little bit reprimanded.

They went outside to look at Lorelai's Jeep and the ground nearby. Agent White called someone from the crime lab to look around. They found foot prints, size 10 men's, in the snow around the Jeep, but they belonged to a very common men's work boot sold at Target and Wal-Mart. Even Luke had a pair. They weren't able to find anything else.

--

"So once Emily and Agent White were gone, I decided I couldn't stand to stay in the house any longer. The Diner is closed for New-Years weekend, but Luke needed to stop by anyway and do some inventory so that he could do the ordering on Tuesday when the suppliers will be back at work. He didn't want to leave me here, but of course my friend Officer McBoring is outside. I told him I'd had enough of him on the honeymoon and that I needed just a couple hours to myself." Lorelai explained, standing at the counter with a coffee mug in her hand, watching Sookie chop celery for the day's soup.

"So you came here? You're not by yourself here, you're with me, and Michele, and the holiday staff. Why didn't you just send him to the diner and stay home?"

Lorelai took a sip of coffee and set it down. "I don't know, I guess being at home without him makes me a little…nervous, or something. I'll just go sit in my office and catch up on payroll or bills."

"Okay," Sookie said, continuing to chop.

Lorelai made no move towards her office. She just stood there, sipping coffee and watching Sookie. "What are you working on?" She asked.

"Just chopping celery," she answered nonchalantly.

"Can I help?"

"Can you…no! Lorelai, you hate cooking."

"That's right, I do, don't I? So…how long is it going to take?"

"I thought you wanted some alone time."

"No, I do, it's just that…I don't. I wanted to get away from Luke with his constant hovering and overprotecting, but I don't want to be alone." Lorelai gave a nice big pout for extra emphasis.

"You know what? It's about time for me to take a break anyway. Do you still have those Uno cards in your office?"

"Yes…you wanna play?"

"You're on!" Sookie said, setting the knife down and clapping her hands together.

Lorelai took another sip of her coffee, pondered it for a minute, and then cocked her head to the side and said, "Hey, this is decaf, isn't it?"

Sookie gave a guilty little look and said, "Is it? Oops, I must have put the wrong grounds in."

"Sookie! Luke got to you, didn't he!"

"No! Yes. He made me promise not to tell. He said you didn't want people to know that you were pregnant right away and so I should just switch the coffee and not say anything. So now you know that I know; can I hug you?"

"Yes!"

They hugged and jumped up and down. "You're pregnant!" Sookie screamed, and then they laughed.

"Hey, so good job hiding the fact that you knew. I would have expected you to crack the moment I got in here."

"Yes, well I've been practicing. Jackson got me a necklace for Christmas and I found it in his underwear drawer, and I still managed to convince him that I was surprised."

"Wow, you've made a lot of progress."

"Thanks," Sookie giggled as they made their way out of the kitchen.

--

Kirk was waiting outside the diner when Luke finished his inventory and decided to make his way back to the Inn to retrieve Lorelai.

"Luke, on behalf of Stars Hollow Security Inc I would like to offer you my services as a private body guard. For Lorelai, I mean, since you don't exactly need a body guard."

"Since when are you a private body guard, Kirk?"

"Well, I'm not officially a licensed guard yet. I almost passed the test the first time. If I had only remembered that a revolver is a kind of gun…"

"What did you think it was?"

"A revolving door. The question asked 'If your client was attacked with a revolver, what would you do?' I said I would call maintenance. Now that I know why I got it wrong I understand why the tester gave me such a confused look."

"Kirk, Lorelai doesn't need a body guard. She's got a police officer following her around 24 hours a day. I'm sure that is enough protection."

"Yes, but does the police officer sleep in your bedroom?"

"No, Kirk, and neither will you! I sleep in my bedroom, with Lorelai, and if the attacker somehow manages to get past the police into my bedroom, I will protect my wife!"

"But you don't have a badge. Or pepper spray. As soon as I pass the test I get to carry pepper spray."

By this point in the conversation Luke was sitting inside his truck, about ready to slam the door in Kirk's face. He said, "Good-bye, Kirk," and then did just that.

--

Back at home that night, Luke and Lorelai were watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

"You want half of my chocolate?" Lorelai asked.

"Only if you eat half of my salad."

Lorelai pondered the idea for a moment. "How about a quarter?"

"You're on." They traded chocolate bar for salad. Both made faces while they ate, but they did it because they knew it made the other happy. After a few bites they traded back. Lorelai ate the rest of her chocolate, then an apple, which she had only been eating in secret for the last two months and could now finally enjoy in front of Luke.

The police officers were now taking turns walking around the perimeter of the house every fifteen minutes, which they were supposed to have been doing all along but had neglected, allowing the second note to be left on the back steps.

He watched all of this from the steeple of the church through his binoculars. He had a perfect view of the cops and of Luke and Lorelai through the living room window (A/N I have no idea if that would work with the layout of the town or anything, so if not just deal). He took another bite of his peanut butter sandwich and continued watching. Luke and Lorelai were kissing now, ah, how sweet. And now he's kissing…her stomach? Curious.

He finished his sandwich and put the zip-lock bag back into his backpack. He went down and out of the church, taking the long way through town to avoid the busybodies and well-lit areas. If he did see anyone at this time of night he would smile and nod and keep on walking. He had owned a house in this town for several years now, and there really was nothing suspicious about him taking a late-night stroll. Many of the townspeople knew his face, and that he worked in New York but kept a house in Stars Hollow to get away to on weekends and vacations.

He waited until the lights went out at the nosy neighbor's house, and then crept into her yard. He waited a full fifteen minutes for the cops to make their rounds and then, once they were settled back into their car he once again made his way to the back of the house. He picked the lock of the back door, dropped the envelope on the kitchen table, turned around, and left, locking the door behind him. Just for kicks he stood off in the bushes to watch the cops make their next rounds and then casually strolled back to his house.

--

A/N: Review now or I'll send him after you! Mua ha ha ha ha.