Author's Note:

Thank you again to Iscah-McKrae for being my beta.

Sorry it took me longer than I wanted to get this chapter up after posting chapter 10. My new obsession with the show Teen Wolf combined with my vidding addiction got in the way of me writing this, as did me now having a boyfriend! :P My first ever boyfriend. We were spending quite a bit of time together during this last month of summer, making good use of our mutual free time before he had to start school again this week and would be much more busy. Online dating worked for me, haha. Feel free to ask me about it if you're curious. And then, after I did finish writing this chapter below, my beta took a while to get it back to me.

So yeah… all of that delayed my updating of all of my ongoing fics. But I intend to update all 4 of my current ongoing fics once every two weeks if at all possible. I really do want to stick to that goal. So expect chapter 12 within 2 weeks.

Chapter 11: Facing Her Demons

It wasn't long until Clara needed time to rest and so all of her loving visitors left her hospital room. A nurse even rolled baby Zachary out, leaving the fourteen-year-old completely alone. She would presumably sleep peacefully in the quiet, empty room as a necessary step in recovering from the ordeal of childbirth. Lorelai knew that before anyone else reentered the room, she should go in there. This would be her best chance to be alone with Clara and discuss… what needed to be discussed.

Lorelai wanted to make sure Clara got at least some sleep before disturbing her. She still felt somewhat torn about the idea of forcing Clara to face this, and she hated that she had to figure out a way to get into the room surreptitiously. She knew broaching the topic would upset Clara. Jess gave Lorelai a stern look, making it clear that backing out now was not an option. She had to go through with this, for Clara's sake.

Everyone was milling around the waiting area now, trying to pass the time. The boys continued to play their video game. They took turns, and whichever one was not playing at any given point spent a lot of time coaching his brother with insightful advice such as, "Don't do that!". Pamela and Andre quietly discussed some practical things, like which room would be converted to be a third bedroom in their house, now that Clara and the baby would need a place to sleep. Jess sat silently, people-watching. This floor of the hospital was not overly crowded, but there were still some eccentric characters around if you looked for them.

Lorelai felt her phone vibrate and reached into her purse to answer it. The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number. She answered it, knowing it must be her mother, calling her from Europe.

"Hi, Lorelai!" Emily shouted, unnecessarily loudly.

"The connection's crystal clear, Mom," Lorelai replied, finding her mother's incompetence equal parts amusing and annoying.

"We made it to our hotel in Paris. I planned a busy itinerary, and we spent the day going through my checklist of sights to see and whatnot."

Lorelai silently shook her head, knowing her mother was undoubtedly being insufferable about the itinerary. She wondered how Rory was handling it. Maybe Rory was loving it. Emily kept on jabbering.

"Now that it's almost supper time over here, I figured I should drop you a hello. We can fill you in on what delicious French cuisine we sampled the next time we talk."

"Are you trying to rub it in my face?" Lorelai asked.

"What?"

"That you're having some of the finest food in Europe, and I'm… never mind," Lorelai finished, sighing in resignation.

"I was simply trying to share what we were doing," Emily replied, confused by Lorelai's reaction. "I will put Rory on the line now; don't worry," she added. Emily huffed slightly, clearly feeling Lorelai should be more appreciative of her overseas dialing.

Lorelai wasn't sure Rory would actually want to talk with her, but she waited patiently and listened intently, trying to hear what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic. She couldn't make out anything.

After a full minute, Rory did indeed get on the line.

"Hello," she said stiffly.

"Hello," Lorelai said back, imitating her tone in a fairly childish way.

"Paris is lovely. I'm seeing some parts of it I didn't see when we backpacked together," Rory said, almost defensively. She seemed determined to assert that her choice to suddenly drop everything and abandon Lorelai for Europe was one she did not regret.

"That's great," Lorelai replied, practically in monotone.

"So… what's new in your life?" Rory asked without any of her usual sincerity. She didn't seem to care about the answer. She was just making small talk because she had to. Because Emily was standing within earshot, probably.

Lorelai hesitated. There was so much to tell her, but she almost felt like her daughter didn't deserve to know any of it yet. Plus given the people in the hospital waiting area within earshot… telling her anything about Clara or Jess would be awkward. She desperately wanted to share everything with Rory, though. So she decided to start off simple.

"A lot, actually." A lot was new in her life as of late.

"Really?" Rory asked, this time sounding genuinely surprised, but curious. The daughter Lorelai knew and loved was showing through. Lorelai smiled.

"Mmm hmm," she replied in affirmation. "I tried to tell you this when…" she trailed off, realizing she was speaking before thinking again. Why did she always do that?

Jess was within earshot, and she knew she could not reveal what Rory had done to him. Plus, she didn't want to torture Rory by bringing up the whole Dean thing right now. That would just throw her back into defensive mode all over again. Lorelai took a deep breath and started again.

"I wanted to tell you before you left for Europe, but now will do," she explained. "Luke and I… are officially dating now."

"Officially?" Rory excitedly replied, her happiness audible.

"Yeah. I know I thought I might be dating him before, but um… we've… cleared that up now." Lorelai was practically giggling.

"Have you…?" Rory didn't actually ask the question.

"We've kissed." Lorelai answered, her smile also, somehow, audible.

Rory had actually been thinking about sex, though. At the realization that her mother hadn't even gone as far as she just had with Dean, Rory's mood shifted a bit. She stopped feeling quite so happy for her mother, and started feeling… guilty, again. And she wished her mother would just be a friend to her in this difficult and confusing time, instead of judgmental and preachy. She went back to being angry with her mother. She tried to ignore the feelings and continue the conversation, however.

"So, have you gone out on an official date yet?" she asked. The fact that the tone of her voice was not quite as light as it had been did not escape Lorelai.

"No… not yet. Luke's sister... and TJ… got hurt," she elaborated, looking over at Jess as she said it. He was, of course, listening. With no other sound around, it was kind of impossible not to.

"Oh no," Rory replied, genuine concern arising. Her thoughts also immediately went to Jess. For some reason, she always thought of Liz in terms of her being Jess' mother.

"It's just some broken bones, nothing that won't heal," Lorelai reassured Rory, and at the same time, she kind of felt like she was reassuring Jess.

She met his eyes and he closed them and nodded, acknowledging her statement.

"But he needs to help them out with the Renaissance Fair, so he's out of town for a while," she concluded.

"So… long story short, you'll go out with Luke when he gets back?"

"Exactly."

Rory nodded to herself.

Lorelai felt their conversation was basically over. She'd talk to Rory about Jess and everything else once Jess, Pamela, and Andre were not right there to listen to every word.

"I better get going," Rory commented, also ready to say goodbye, "because Grandma wants us to leave for the restaurant now."

"Alright, hun. Goodbye," Lorelai said.

"Bye."

They hung up, but Lorelai found herself regretting not ending with an "I love you". Despite things being strained between them right now, Lorelai still instinctively wished she'd reassured her daughter of that fact, which of course would always be true regardless of any fight.

About an hour of quiet time in the waiting room passed. Lorelai spent most of it mentally planning what exactly she'd say to Clara. Then, the young boys started complaining that they were hungry. Everyone decided lunch would be a good idea, except for Jess, who no one noticed remained completely silent on the matter. He was starving, as he and Lorelai had both skipped breakfast that morning, but he no longer had enough cash left in his wallet to purchase a meal.

He followed the crowd to elevator, and then off of it toward the cafeteria. Everyone else started picking out which food items they planned to purchase and placed them on their trays.

"I'll go find a free table," Jess offered.

"Oh, thanks," Pamela replied with a smile, before turning back to her children.

They were both stretching their arms up as far as they could, but the candy, which their parents had no intentions of purchasing for them, was beyond their reach.

Lorelai was the first to join Jess at the table, carrying over a tray full of completely different items than what she'd gotten the previous day. She had enjoyed that food, but eating the same thing two days in a row would be boring. She liked variety.

"You can go get your food now," Lorelai told him kindly. "I can hold the table now."

"Oh, no. That's okay." Jess shrugged. "I'm not hungry," he lied.

"What?" she replied incredulously. "We both haven't eaten since last night." It was now around eleven thirty in the morning.

Jess didn't really have a response for that. He didn't want to admit the truth to Lorelai. He wasn't embarrassed about being poor. That wasn't it at all. Rather, it was the conversation that would follow, where she'd offer to pay for him, and he just didn't want to deal with any of that right now.

Lorelai pursed her lips. "Well… you can have some of my onion rings, if you want." They were best fit for sharing out of all of the items on her tray.

"Thank you," he replied sincerely. They did look pretty good. He took one and savored it, not sure when he'd next be eating. He waited till Pamela, Andre, and the boys finally arrived before letting himself steal a second one.

Lorelai tried to eat quickly and not get sucked into conversations or anything, because she decided now would be the best time to disturb Clara without anyone getting suspicious. She could finish her lunch, claim she was heading to use the restroom, and then wake up the girl.

Trevor asked Jess, "Why aren't you eating anything?"

"Yeah, why?" his brother reiterated.

"I'm just not that hungry," Jess answered.

"Oh. Well I'm hungry. So I'm eating grilled cheese," Shawn supplied, stating the obvious. Lorelai smiled. She'd had that sandwich yesterday and it had been delicious.

"I'm eating grilled cheese too," Trevor said.

"I can see that," Jess replied, smiling slightly. He found the boys endearing. He'd had very little experience interacting with young children, but it was surprisingly kind of nice.

Lorelai chewed her final bite, then took a final gulp of her coffee.

"I'm gonna take a bathroom break," she announced, standing up with her tray in her hand.

Jess wasn't completely sure, but he suspected Lorelai was actually going to take this opportunity to talk to Clara.

"Oh, okay," he said.

Lorelai stopped by the trash receptacles and left her tray on top of one in a designated spot, then disappeared.

Lorelai entered Clara's room quietly and saw that, sure enough, the girl was sound asleep. She didn't want to wake her, but this was her only good opportunity. Lorelai walked lightly over to her and gently brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. She'd done this to wake Rory up for school when Rory was half Clara's age. She wondered if the subtle touch might work on Clara too.

She didn't stir.

"Clara," Lorelai whispered. Still nothing. "Clara," she repeated, this time louder. "Sweetie? Clara?"

She gently started to pull her sheet off of her. That did the trick.

Clara moaned softly and tried to pull the sheet back toward her body, but Lorelai prevented her.

"Sweetie, I'm really sorry, but I need you to wake up now."

Clara groggily opened her eyes and adjusted to her surroundings, slowly remembering everything.

"Lorelai?" she asked softly, clearly confused as to why she'd been awoken.

"Hi," she answered, gently.

"Why did you wake me up?" she asked.

Lorelai hesitated. "I… I need to talk to you about your stepfather," she said somberly.

"What?! Why? Is he here?" Clara suddenly pushed herself, using her arms, into an upright sitting position, immediately so much more awake.

"No, no," Lorelai tried to reassure her. "Nothing like that." She felt awful for instilling such panic in the girl.

Clara was breathing heavily, frantically looking into Lorelai's eyes.

"Your stepfather needs to be in prison," she started to explain, hoping this was the best way to begin the serious conversation.

Clara darted her eyes away, down toward her bed.

"What he's done to you is… awful, and criminal," Lorelai said sympathetically. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Clara whispered. "I know." She still avoided eye contact.

"It's important for your sake… and even for Zachary's sake… that we report him to the police," Lorelai continued. She was struggling to stay calm and clear. For once, she was definitely thinking before speaking. She needed to say exactly the right things to Clara.

"Zachary?" Clara breathed, slowly turning her head back up so that her eyes would meet Lorelai's. Her gaze conveyed such terror for her newborn son.

"Zachary is… his son. I mean, biologically," she hastily corrected.

Clara nodded, looking back down toward her legs.

"Even if your stepfather doesn't care about that fact," Lorelai tried to explain, "your son will one day grow up and ask about his father." For the moment she was avoiding bringing up the more serious potential scenarios where the stepfather did care that he had a son out there.

Clara's eyes started welling up with tears that were threatening to fall, and she looked back up at Lorelai, waiting for her to continue.

"Andre and Pamela will probably also want to know who his father is. You won't be able to avoid the truth forever."

"But I don't want anyone to know!" Clara replied strongly, her voice breaking and a few tears starting to fall. Much more quietly, she clarified, "I don't want anyone else to know what he did to me."

"I know, honey," Lorelai replied gently, sitting herself down on Clara's bed. "I know." She looked at her with a very sympathetic face. "But this is important. For you too."

"For me?" She tried to wipe the tears away from her eyes with both of her hands.

Lorelai nodded. "You suffered a trauma. More than just a trauma. You've been… being abused," she said, the word difficult to say to the girl and clearly even more jarring for the girl to hear. "You've been being abused for a long time, and you need to talk to someone about that. Someone who can help you more than me."

"Like Andre?"

"Sure, talking to your brother might be good. But actually, I meant… a psychiatrist."

"Oh."

The two of them sat there for a few moments in silence, Lorelai watching as everything she'd just said really sunk in for Clara.

"I'm scared," Clara finally said, her voice barely audible.

"I can help you tell people," Lorelai offered, hoping that would comfort her a bit. "Whoever you want to tell first – Andre, Pamela… the police."

"Um… Pamela," Clara answered, still practically breathing the words. "Pamela first."

"Okay." Lorelai smiled at her.

Clara reached over and wrapped her arms around her, engulfing her in a hug. Lorelai hugged the girl back. She felt Clara's tears begin to dampen her shirt and so she squeezed her even tighter.

Still in the hug, Clara whispered, "Can you just tell her for me?"

Lorelai took a deep breath. She replied in a very soft tone of voice. "Sure. If that's what you want."

"It is," Clara confirmed.