Lorelai slammed the door shut and leaned against it, arms folder over her chest as she allowed herself a moment fume over Christopher. When she could no longer hear the roar of his motorcycle, she began kicking herself for believing him yet again.

I'm not gonna take off, Lor, he had sworn to her. After he had stuck around for a week, she started to question him on his intentions. Rory was starting to get used to having him around, talking about how great it would be if he stuck around and Lorelai wanted time to get ready to pick Rory up and put her back together again when he finally did leave. But, with promises of commitment, flowery words of love for her and Rory and all but a sworn statement that he had changed his ways and was ready to be a family man, she let him back into their house, Rory's life and her bed. She had pushed the nagging voice in the back of her mind to the side, telling herself that this was it. He was really going to follow through this time. Then, as if on cue, when Lorelai started to hint that she was willing to give him some coveted drawer and closet space he suddenly had something go terribly wrong at work. Something only he could fix. Something he needed to go back to California to deal with.

So, here she was yet again. Crying over the boy she always swore she was over, knowing that tonight her daughter would come home and they would cry about it together. She gave herself another few moments before she pushed away from the door and went off in search of a box. A big box. One that she could fit the other 2 Christopher Boxes into so she would only have to look at one, instead of 3.

"So, did you find it?" Sookie asked when Lorelai came into the kitchen that afternoon.

"He's gone," she said as she dropped her clip board on the center island of the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee. "Packed up and took off while Rory was at school and if I hadn't forgotten these seating charts, while I was at work."

"Oh honey, I'm sorry," Sookie said as she came over and hugged Lorelai. She let herself sink into it for a moment before pulling back.

"And Rory is going to be heartbroken, like every other time he does this. I hate myself for letting this happen, to both of us. I always swear it's the last time, never again. . . But then he shows up, out of the blue. All smiles and blue eyes and motorcycle-ee and. . . He's just so. . ."

"Christopher," Sookie finished as she pushed a plate of cookies in front of her.

"Christopher," Lorelai agreed as she picked one up before heaving a sigh and putting it down again. "Stupid Christopher," she said as she headed back out to the front desk to try and push him out of her mind with useless busy work and Michel's incessant chattering.

"Hey kid," Lorelai said when she found Rory sitting on the porch of the house.

"Hey," she said, not really looking up from her book. Lorelai took a seat beside her on the stairs.

"He's gone," she said finally.

"I know," she replied, finally looking up from her book. "His bike wasn't here. And I went inside and all his stuff was gone and then I saw the boxes. . . I didn't want to . . ." she trailed off, playing with the corners of the pages of Brave New World, her latest novel.

"I know," Lorelai replied as she threw an arm around Rory's shoulders and pulled her close. "You'd think we'd have learned by now, huh?" she asked with a sad smile.

"You'd think," Rory got out before giving into the tears that had been threatening to fall for the last 40 minutes. Lorelai gathered the 15 year old into her arms and stroked her hair as she cried herself out over the abandonment.

"You look better," Rory said as she crawled into bed beside her mother after she got home from school. Lorelai had spent the last couple of days curled up in bed with a nasty cold.

"Feel better," she said with a stretch and yawn. "How was school?"

"Good," she said. "Ok," changing her tune when Lorelai looked at her. "It was horrible," she finally confessed as she snuggled down and laid her head or Lorelai's shoulder. "I still can't stop thinking about dad."

"Me neither," she said as they both laid there for a moment longer. "Hungry?"

"Yeah. Luke's?"

"Doose's," Lorelai said. "No more Tatter Tots. Or toaster pizza," she explained.

"Chocolate too," Rory added, thinking of the binging they had done last night. "Doose's it is," she said as she left her book bag by the bed and stood up. Lorelai rolled out of the other side of the bed, grabbed a sweatshirt from the back of a chair and threw an arm over Rory's shoulders as they headed out of the house.

When the pair got to the market, Rory went off in search of chocolate and other junk food while Lorelai went off in search of the frozen food. As she was heading to the counter to meet up with Rory, she paused in front of the juice. She scanned the shelves and smiled when she got her hands on a bottle of apple juice. Rory raised an eye brow when she saw it, but Lorelai rationalised that since she was sick, fluids would be needed, fluids other than coffee. Accepting that explanation, the pair paid, made a quick stop in the video store and headed home for one last night of post-Christopher wallowing.

There is something missing from this list. . . Lorelai said as she read over the 'monthly essentials' list she was putting together. She had been jotting things down all day while at work, especially since some essentials were no longer available in the house. She and Rory had had their week to mope over Christopher taking off and now it was time to get back on track. Lorelai finally shrugged and tucked the list into her pocket. She'd get Rory to read it over when she picked her up from school.

"Ten minutes to assault me with anything else before I take off," she called out to the staff that was milling around the front desk. Michel, naturally, had a stack of papers he needed her to read, sign and send off to various people. A few minutes of arguing with him and the stack was suddenly cut in half. "Good, I'll see you tomorrow," she said, grabbing her coat and purse and heading out the door.

"Here," Lorelai said, thrusting the list at Rory.

"Hi to you to too. Yes, actually, I did have a good day at school, thanks for asking," Rory said as she tossed her bag in the back seat and got into the jeep before taking the piece of paper. "What's this?"

"Monthly essentials. Something is missing and I can't figure out what it is. Look it over?" the elder Gilmore asked as she pulled away from the curb and headed towards Hartford.

"Umm, Doose's?" Rory asked as they drove past it.

"I was thinking that we should hit up that new taco place in Hartford." Rory eagerly agreed as she looked over the list.

"Tampons," Rory said suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"They're not on the list. How could you forget those?" she asked as she shot her mother a funny look.

"Must have slipped my mind."

"Because menstruation cycles are oh so forgettable. . ." Rory joked as she shoved the list in her pocket. Lorelai shot her a look of her own after that comment. In between the radio and the banter that filled the driver, Lorelai tried to figure out how she had forgotten something so basic.

I'm looking for opinions on this story. Is it worth continuing? I've recieved a rather cool welcome to the GG fandom and I'm wondering if I should keep writing in this fandom.