A/N Sorry its taken a while to update! Hope your still enjoying ti and you want me to keep going...

Chapter 7

Lorelai called in sick to work the next morning. She told Sookie she must have had one of those 24hour bug things, and she would be right for work on Monday. She had assured Sookie that she was fine and she didn't need her to come over, she didn't want her to get it too.

Lorelai had woken up with a major headache. She knew what the headache was from. She cleared the empty wine bottles from her coffee table, dumping them near her back door. She took some pain tablets, hoping that it would stop the searing pain in her head. She went upstairs to take a shower. She caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror. Her face looked bad. Really bad. Her eye was badly swollen, and there was a yellowish bruise forming around her eyebrow. Underneath her eye was just beginning to turn purple. Her lip was split and the dry blood was pooled there, evidence of all that had happened last night. She looked like a mess. She turned the shower on, stripping off her clothes and hoping in quickly, She didn't want to look at her reflection any longer. The warm water stung her face, and slowly her tears began to mix with the water. Her face hurt. Her back hurt. Her head hurt. Everything hurt so badly.

Half an hour later, she emerged from the shower, wrapping herself in a towel and trying to avoid looking at herself in the mirror. It was hard...her bathroom had such a big mirror now. And the lights had been replaced, so she could literally see everything. Luke had insisted on those lights. He said they would be perfect for when she was doing her make-up. She suddenly wished that they hadn't changed her bathroom. Wished that she still had her small mirror, so that right now she wouldn't be looking at herself like this. She wouldn't have been able to see the bruise on her back from where she hit the banister, or the bruise on her side from where she had hit the floor, or the bruising that was starting to form around her neck from his grip. She hurried out of the bathroom, quickly putting on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. She lay down on her bed, feeling tired form the lack of sleep she had last night. She didn't remember Chris leaving, she must have blacked out for awhile. She woke up on the floor, blood on the ground beneath her. She felt as if her face was 20 times larger than it normally was. She could barely see out of her right eye. She gingerly got up, feeling sick and sore all at the same time. Her back was killing her, she could barely stand up straight. She touched her lip, taking a deep breath as she saw the blood all over her hand. She cleaned herself up in the dark. She didn't want to know what she looked like. Instead she went to the kitchen and drank. After the first bottle of wine she had managed to stop crying and the pain had become bearable. After the second bottle she felt numb, and that was exactly the feeling she was going for.

The sound of the phone ringing broke her free of her thoughts, and she leaned across her bed to grab the phone. She winced in pain as she leaned, having forgot about her injuries for a split second.

"Hello" she said, trying to sound bright.

"Mom... its me."

"Hey hon. How are you?"

"I'm ok. Are you....you kinda sound weird?" Rory asked, and Lorelai could hear the worry in her voice.

"I'm fine sweetie. I just didn't get much sleep last night." she said quickly, trying to brush off the subject.

"I thought you were going in to work today? I was just going to leave a message saying I got back to school ok."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. She had forgotten she told Rory that.

"Oh well I am...I'm just on my way now actually. Aren't you glad you caught me?" she laughed, suddenly wishing she hadn't as she had just made the pain in her back even worse.

"Of course. Well I'll let you go Mom. Have a good day."

"Bye hon. Love you"

"Love you too."

And with a click, she was gone. And Lorelai was alone again. She got up off the bed, going into the bathroom and grabbing her make up bag. She should at least see how well she could cover this up. Half an hour later she had used virtually everything in her possession, and she still felt terrible. There may have been a slight improvement...at least the dark bruises weren't quite so noticeable. She went downstairs, wondering what she was going to do all day now that she couldn't leave the house. She switched on the TV, flicking through the channels till she found an old movie she could stand to sit through right now. She went into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and seeing that it was of course, practically empty. It didn't matter, she wasn't hungry anyway. She sighed, grabbed a beer out of the fridge and went back to the couch.

* * *

Just as the movie had finished, Lorelai heard a knock at the door. She froze. She couldn't open the door. She didn't want anybody to see her like this. She heard another knock, then a voice.

"Lorelai. It's me. Can we talk please?"

Her stomach tightened as she heard his voice. It was Luke. She quickly got up, crept past the front door and went into Rory's room.

"Lorelai...I know your in there. Your Jeep's outside, and Sookie told me you were sick...."

Damm Sookie, she thought to herself. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't hide from Luke forever. She desperately wanted him back, and if she hid from him she might lose her chance. She didn't have much time to think about it before...

"Look I'm coming in ok? I'm worried about you..."

She heard him on the porch, then a fumbling of a key in the lock. She was trapped. She slid down against the wall, tears escaping down her cheeks. She had done such a horrible thing to him, and yet he was still here, worried about her. She put her hands over her eyes, hoping that she might be able to stop crying by the time he found her. She heard Luke's footsteps in the house and could hear his voice softly calling her name.