Chapter One: Little Pink Postcards

Rory Gilmore had been waiting all day for just one simple phone call. Just one.

Two weeks ago, her boyfriend, Logan, had left for London.

The last she had spoken to Logan was earlier that morning and after his continuous promising to call her back before seven that night, she was still waiting, and it was now nearing eight o'clock.

"Darn you, Logan," she muttered disappointingly to herself, flipping open the top of her cell phone and dialing a number in which she had called countless times over the years. She was wearing simple blue jeans that day, with a dark green tank top under a black jacket. Rory's bangs swept over her eyes in the familiar fashion and her long dark hair was curled at the ends.

The phone on the other end ringed four times, causing Rory to grow more impatient than normal and tap her fingers on the granite countertop of her and what used to be Logan's apartment.

Finally, the person on the other end picked up.

"Hey Rory," Lorelai said into the phone, taking a sip from the mug of warm hot chocolate she was holding. "What's wrong?"

She was seated snuggled into the side of her couch, a blanket across her lap and a favorite old black and white movie playing on the TV screen in front of her. Lorelai was dressed in her new favorite pair of pajamas, dark blue with little white rabbits on them, bought only because her mother had strongly detested against "such a thing."

Rory's eyebrows went together in confusion. "Wait, how did you know something was wrong?"

"Oh don't you know sweetie?" Lorelai said in an innocent voice. "It a mother daughter thing."

"It is?"

"Yes. Besides, it's late on a Tuesday night and it's almost eight o'clock. A daughter would not call her mother at this time of day, might I add again that it's a Tuesday, without something being wrong."

Rory was silent for a moment and thought about this, but she knew not to argue against her mother's interesting logic. She was right after all, she was calling to complain so there must have been truth in it somewhere.

"Yeah ok, well, Logan promised to call me before seven and you see what time it is now. I don't know if I can wait anymore, I've really been waiting to talk to him all day."

"Have you tried getting a hold of him?" Lorelai suggested.

"No…" Rory said, yet again with another sigh. "But Logan's never missed a call time in the last two weeks since he's been gone… maybe something happened."

"I doubt it," her mother replied in a dull tone, but then added enthusiastically, "but if it makes you feel any better, he probably hasn't called you back because his father has him working so hard over in London that he broke and ate his cell phone just to survive during one of those long and frequent business chats."

Rory leaned back against the counter of the kitchen. "Isn't that a little extreme?"

"Have you ever been alone with grandma or grandpa?"

"Good point."

There was a short pause, and Rory's eyes wandered around the room, unsuccessfully trying to find something that would take her mind off Logan. Nothing helped.

"Well hey mom, can I come over?" she asked, turning slightly to look at the clock above to stove. "If I stay here any longer I'll end up going crazy."

"Of course you can. But what kind of crazy, Edger Allen Poe crazy or Emily Gilmore crazy?"

"Both," Rory replied affirmatively.

"Oh that sounds bad. You better get over here before you're lost to me forever and I'll never ever ever see my Rory again!"

"Are you done?"

Lorelai smiled, she was a natural born extremist. "Yes I am, see you in a bit."

Rory snapped the front of her cell phone down and put it back within her purse that rested on the island of the kitchen, taking hold of it and making sure the lights were shut off before leaving the apartment. She walked into the hallway and turned around to lock the door, taking her time. It was becoming more hard each day to walk in and not find Logan waiting for her, or at least feel again the comfort of knowing that he would be back sometime late that day and be with her. Despite everything they'd been through, Rory still loved him, and she had come to the conclusion not so long ago that she always would in someway. Christmas was still a little far off, and Rory felt down at the fact that the only time they could see each other was on the holidays.

However that was the way it was, and she was going to have to deal with it.

Turning away from the locked door, Rory took a step forward and heard something scuffle along the ground beneath her foot, almost like paper. Her eyebrows went together in slight confusion and she picked a small rectangular piece of paper from the floor, finding instead that it was a post card addressed to where she lived.

She turned it over to the front side and observed it. Most postcards had scenery on the front or beautiful tropical places or animals or at least something, but nothing was on this one, except the hot pink color which consumed its every inch and a small written note. The return address was from London, but not only that, it matched the same address of the place in which Logan was staying.

Already, Rory knew she wasn't going to like this.

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"Hey stranger," Lorelai greeted with a smile as she pulled open the front door.

No more than a few moments ago she'd heard the knock on the front door that she'd been waiting for and finished setting up the nicely arranged donut boxes on top of the larger one that held a giant pizza.

Rory wasted no time coming through the door and wore a mixture of a confused and hurt expression as she made her way into the living room and sat heavily on the couch. Her gaze stayed solidly on the coffee table before her, scanning over the donuts and pizza boxes. Lorelai followed after her, noticing her daughter's weary expression.

"Ohh let me guess," she said in a dramatized tone. "Kirk caught you before you were able to reach the front door and tried selling you chocolate, and might I add horrible tasting owls and you tried one."

Rory sighed in response, but the heaviness she felt was pushed aside a moment by a hint of curiosity. "Kirk's selling chocolate owls?"

"Yeah…" Lorelai confirmed. "I guess he gave up on the whole real estate thing."

There was a pause between them. Lorelai looked over the many boxes she had placed on the table before them on the couch and grabbed one of the very colorful donut ones, opening it up and pulling out a double coated chocolate one.

"Here," she said, handing it to Rory. "Eat up and tell me everything that's wrong. What's been bothering you?"

Rory took the donut from her mother and bit off a small bite, wondering where to begin.

"Well, everything was fine and I was getting along ok," she said, taking a bigger bite of the donut this time. "But when Logan missed the time he'd promised he'd call today, by the way he still hasn't called, I thought I was going to go nuts. I really do miss him mom."

"Listen, I know you do hun."

"But wait, that's not it," Rory continued.

All the time that Rory had been speaking her eyes were either on the carpet… or the TV in which the volume was muted… or anywhere else than her mother. She knew her voice was probably giving it away, but she didn't want her mom to be able to fully see the worry she had.

"As I was leaving the apartment to come here… I found this."

Reaching into the pocket of her coat, she withdrew the small and folded hot pink postcard. Lorelai furrowed her eyebrows together and cast a concerned look at Rory before unfolding the pink postcard and reading it.

"Oh my gosh Rory," she said after reading it, her eyebrows raised and in complete seriousness. One of her hands lay upon her chest as she looked at her daughter, thinking about how horrible this postcard was and how bad it might be affecting her.

"Are you sure he's worth all this?" Lorelai quickly asked, her voice affirmative.

Rory shook her head. "I told you it was bad… I don't know."

She crossed her legs and arms, already having set down the half eaten donut on a napkin on top of the coffee table. Logan… and all the trouble he brought.

No other boyfriend had been like this had they? To this extreme?

None had caused her this much hurt before… at least not three whole times in a row.

"Anyway, you know what's going on now," Rory said defeated. "But I don't want to talk about it."

"Well honey," Lorelai replied, tossing the pink postcard onto the table and leaning back into the couch. "When it comes to Logan you never want to talk about it. I really think you should and get all that you're feeling off your chest. You know that I'm always here to listen to whatever you have to say. I don't care if it gets to the point where my greatest desire would be to staple your mouth shut, just let it all out."

"Maybe in the morning."

Rory rose from the couch and started into the kitchen, Lorelai immediately getting up and following behind her. The donuts and pizza would have to wait.

"I'm serious," she told her daughter, finding a spot to lean against the counter once they had fully entered the kitchen.

"So was I," came Rory's dull answer from her old room. The door closed shut, and Lorelai knew from experience that in a situation like this, it wouldn't be opened again until morning. What could have been a fun night of food and movies turned out be crushed, either because of Logan or the secret sender or both. Lorelai let out a sigh of her own and let the pizza grow cold in the living room as she took to washing the dishes, something she had long procrastinated to do that day.

"Darn you Logan," she muttered with anger, scrubbing last weeks left overs from a plate with more force than necessary.

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Rory fluffed up the pillows of her old bed and lay down beneath the covers, dressed in a pair of her mothers' pajamas and wishing that she and Logan's relationship, for once, could have a moment without any complications. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel them start to sting. Tears were on the way.

"No," she said determinedly to herself. "I'm not going to lay here and cry about this."

She covered her head with one of the pillows, now unable to see that her cell phone charging over on the other side of the room was lighting up. However before she went to bed, Rory had turned her ringer off for the night.

Logan was calling.

Rory,

If you think Logan acted horribly after your supposed breakup when you found out about everything at his sisters wedding, then you should see how openly he acts here, now that you can't "have him on a leash" anymore, or so he says. Oops, I think I've already said too much. Anyway, wish you the best at Yale.

And that was what contents were written, very neatly and in beautiful handwriting, upon the little pink postcard.