The bus pulled up and Rory stepped out. She put the strap of her small duffel bag over her shoulder and clutched her purse as she began to walk down the sidewalk. It was the end of January, and the weatherman had predicted record low temperatures for all of New England this week. Rory pulled her coat tighter around herself and continued walking.

The wind blew her hair around her face, and she pulled it back with one hand. As her hand paced by her face, she caught a glimpse of the small ring that was on her hand. She stopped walking, and, after debating for a moment whether she should leave it on or take it off, slid the ring off her finger and put it in her pocket.

Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her purse.

"Damn," she said, as she saw the name on the Caller ID.

"David, I told you I'm taking the week off. No work phone calls, no faxes, no emails. I'll be back next Thursday."

"One thing, Rory… I'll just send you one small fax- I need you to sign for something."

"No. I'm on my vacation."

"Rory! Rory-"

"I'm hanging up now," she said.

"Wait! Come on, Rory! This is urg-" She cut him off as she hung up her phone and put it back in her purse. Rory had been working at the same law firm for three years, and after the resignations of two of their lawyers in the past month, she had been working overtime every day.

She looked up, surprised that she was already standing in front of her old house. It had been almost four years since she had last visited for her grandfather's 60th birthday. She had only come home one night to have dinner with her mother, and had only talked to her on the phone sporadically since then.

The front door was unlocked, as it always was in a town as small as Star's Hollow. She let herself in and dropped her bag on the floor by the couch.

"Hello?" she called out.

"Lorelei? Are you home?"

When nobody answered, she began to walk through the house, stopping in front of the fireplace to look at all the photographs on the mantle. Rory's 1st birthday, Rory going to kindergarten, Rory dressed up to go to her Debutante Ball… but the picture's stopped with the one of her graduation. It was as if time had stopped then for this house, and Rory shivered as she stepped away from the photographs.

She walked into the kitchen, and as she was pouring herself a cup of coffee, she heard footsteps coming closer.

"Rory?" a familiar voice said. Rory turned around.

"Hi, Lorelei," she said, as she saw her mother's shocked face.

"What-what are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you. It's been a long time," Rory said.

"That's it? I don't see you in years, and then you just show up for a 'visit'?"

Rory slipped her hand in her pocket, and fingered the ring. "Yeah."

Lorelei stared at Rory for a moment as if in a trance, and then she suddenly snapped out of it.

"I just came back to pick up some papers for the Inn. Sookie's waiting."

"OK."

"You can hang out here, make yourself at home- Well, it is still your home, you know, so of course you should make yourself at home."

Rory sat down. "I'll do that."

"OK, great. Ummm… do you have something to do?"

"I lived here for 18 years, I can find something to do."

"Well, then, I'll be home around 7."

"Bye."

"Bye, Rory," Lorelei put on her coat, and as she was walking out the door she turned around. "You do know that this is still your home, right? I mean, you can come here whenever you want."

"I know."

A/N: This story will eventually be PG-13 or maybe R, but for now it's only PG. Also, the genre is General/Romance, but that may change as the story goes on.

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