She knew she shouldn't have stayed out late last night drinking with friends and colleagues. Looking around at her mess of an apartment, she tried to locate her favorite black pumps so she could finally head to work and hopefully only be half an hour late. It was times like these when she really missed living with someone who knew her completely and could help find missing items like shoes, purses, umbrellas, etc. Both Logan and her mother (the only two people she really ever lived with for extended periods of time) would know exactly where to look for said shoes…Logan because after 3 years he was well aware of this particular quirk and he embraced the insanity of living with a Gilmore girl. And Lorelai, by definition of a Gilmore girl, was the master of the odd shoe storage, a trait obviously passed down through the same genetic code that gave Rory her vibrant blue eyes. She felt a pang thinking of the two.
Five years ago on what was supposed to be one of the happiest moments in her young life, graduation day from Yale, she lost the love of her life. Her relationship with Logan ended abruptly and badly. She hadn't been expecting that proposal, and she certainly wasn't expecting him to walk away when she said that she just wasn't ready to be married at 22.
This was about the same time that things continued to change with Lorelai. Rory learned that some things were just best left unsaid to her mother. Lorelai was no longer the best friend. Logan had taken over that role during their relationship and when they parted ways, she lost her best friend. Because Lorelai was never really his biggest fan, despite her protestations, Rory didn't think she could confide the deep loss she felt when he left and moved across the country. It also didn't help that Lorelai had, whether purposefully or not, steered Rory away from marriage and toward the career path. She argued that she had worked to be a journalist her whole life, which would be disrupted if she fell into the society trap by marrying a Huntzberger. When Rory read the wedding announcement for the Huntzberger heir a year after the rejected proposal, the Gilmore girls drifted a little further apart. Granted it was a little easier because Rory was away on assignments during this time so she could keep that distance between her reality and what she shared with her mother. She had become somewhat of a master at lying by omission to her mother and evading uncomfortable questioning, especially now that Lorelai's personal life wasn't the complete train wreck that it had always been.
Taking in the current time, Rory realized that her little reminiscence of the past had cost her precious minutes and there was no way she would attain the half hour late goal. Damn! Where are those stupid shoes?, she thought as she glanced in the kitchen. Finally giving up she headed back to her bedroom to pick a different pair of shoes from the closet. Flipping on the closet light, she cursed to herself, "of course I'm going to find my stupid frakking shoes in here among the rest of them. Seriously why is the closet the last place I expect to find my shoes?"
Fully dressed, Rory left her apartment and headed to her downtown office. She had a new story to pitch to Hugo so she was eager to get started and hear his opinion. Granted at this point, having worked for Hugo for about 5 years now, getting approval for stories was really just for show. She couldn't remember the last time one of her ideas was turned down or shelved. A lot of this had to do with the fact that she remained loyal to Hugo after all these years instead of moving on to bigger and better things. (Despite offers, she had her reasons for staying exactly where she was, besides she wasn't hurting for exposure or salary.) She stopped at a nearby newsstand and picked up the Times as well as a very large coffee and bagel. As she found a seat on the subway, she perused the headlines on the front-page of the newspaper. Not finding anything that piqued her interest, she turned to find the crossword and got out her pen. For the second time this morning she thought of Logan and their daily ritual of completing the Times crossword together. Despite her obvious penchant for words, it was actually Logan who excelled at these. She would write in the answers and ask for hints whenever she was stumped—which happened even more by the end of the week when the difficulty increased. Rory tried to shake off all thoughts of Logan, where was all this coming from? It had been years since she he popped into her head this often; she had forced herself to move on when she learned of his marriage to a society girl that his parents probably heartily approved as being proper Huntzberger material. "Enough!" her head screamed. Putting away the paper altogether, she dug in her purse for reading material.
Bad idea—immersed in Bukowski, she missed her stop thus making her even later for her meeting with Hugo. Ugh! Could this day get any worse? Running into her building (well walking briskly, after all she is still a Gilmore), Rory made her way up to the 15th floor office of her friend and boss. Scanning to make sure he was not otherwise occupied, she stepped into his office and had a seat opposite him.
"Okay let me start by apologizing for my tardiness. You would not believe the morning I've had! My shoes were not in their normal hiding spot in the kitchen, plus I had to stop for my coffee, and then I missed my stop," she ranted.
She was about to continue when Hugo cut her off. "Rory it's okay. We weren't even supposed to meet for another 10 minutes." He almost laughed at the look on her face.
"What are you talking about? You told me 8:00 a.m."
"I sent you an email yesterday changing it. I had something come up, some business to attend to this morning. Since you were late anyway, you're actually right on time. I'm sorry if our wires got crossed, but you're here now so shoot. Let's hear this new pitch." He could have sworn he had let her known of the switch, but considering it was Logan that was his morning business, he very well could have let it slip from his mind. After 5 years, he was starting to mix up his stories. Being the confidant of those two was really wearing on him…if only they knew the interest the other still had over what was going on in their lives…Hugo snapped out if realizing that Rory had begun her pitch.
"…kind of a follow-up to when I covered his campaign. I've already covered the first 100 days. But now we're really starting to see him trying to get some of his platform policies passed into law like healthcare reform. I have some contacts on the Hill with the insurance lobby as well as the point of view of economists as to how the country is going to pay for this during a recession. I could get a piece out before the congressional vote and then another once we get an idea of the final bill and if it is passed or not. There has been a lot of talk of different riders being attached to the bill and all kinds of pork that may even entice Obama to veto his own bill. There is just so much potential here for a multi-part story. I know that several other reporters are doing this story, but I have an angle and perspective that isn't really being covered and my contacts are not the usuals that everyone is sick of seeing and hearing…so what do you think?"
Hugo sat amazed by her ability talk so quickly with limited breaks for breathing. Once he finally caught up to her thought process though, he was on board. After all this time, he was well aware of her interesting angles that she found in stories. Her presentation was one thing that made her a favorite among many in the news business. She brought fresh eyes to the same old stuff that has been reported to death. She was a complete asset and he didn't know what he would do if/when she finally decided to leave him and his company. "That sounds great Rory. And remember to breathe next time," he said with a smile. "So story is set, is there anything else you want to talk about?" He wondered if she had read the Times yet.
"No, I really just want to get started on this. I'm really excited about this piece. I should be able to reconnect with a lot of old friends doing this piece. Plus I just really think that the arguments over the socialization of certain industries in this country are going to be a hot button issue for years to come. I love topics that spark debate." Seeing the amused look on Hugo's face she realized that she had gotten completely ahead of herself like always. Now was the time to exit before he could make fun of her. "Okay, so I'm just going to go and get started. I've already got several meetings set up. If you need anything you know where to find me. Oh, and you didn't send me an email yesterday." She said that last part walking out of his office so he couldn't refute her.
Settling behind her desk, she booted up her computer and got to work. A few hours had passed with Rory working diligently when her phone rang. The opportunity for a break and coffee refill presented itself. Glancing at the caller id, she smiled and picked up, "You have reached Rory's House of Pie, how may I service you?"
"Is it an actual house made of pie, or a place that sells pie? Either way, I'm in." Lorelai loved that Rory still indulged in some of the silliness that had started to fade over the years. Lorelai noticed the change after Rory had graduated from Yale. She had become a little more distant and less likely to join in on the silly banter that had defined the Gilmore girls. She knew the reason, but she didn't want to mention it to Rory and she didn't want to admit it to herself. She felt somewhat responsible, but ultimately it was Rory's decision and she still believes that it was the right one for Rory at that time.
Rory interrupted Lorelai's thoughts before she could really get too far into them. "Hey mom. What's up?"
"Can't a mother just want to call and check up on her firstborn and favorite daughter?"
"Your only daughter you mean? And you know you can call pretty much whenever. I'm just working on a story, so I figured I'd move this along a little bit."
"You never have time for our chats anymore…" Lorelai sighed. "Do you think you can make a trip home at some point in the near future? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever, plus Adolph and Eva want to get together for a dinner."
Rory hated when Lorelai laid the guilt trip on her. She wasn't in school anymore; she didn't have the same kind of time to talk during the day plus she didn't live in Connecticut anymore so visits were rare as well. Lorelai knew this; she shouldn't try and make her feel bad for it. "Mom, I'm working. If you want to chat more then you need to call in the evenings when I am either done with work or should be done. As for a visit, maybe next week or the week after. It depends on how the story is coming along. I have to finish it before the Senate votes on the healthcare reform bill."
"Okay, okay. I'll let mom and dad know about a possible visit in the upcoming week or so. Can you spare a few minutes right now though?"
"Sure. What's up?"
Hesitantly Lorelai brought up the real reason why she called, "Oh nothing much, have you seen the Times this morning?"
"Well I bought a copy and started on the crossword, but I haven't actually read any of the content yet. Why the sudden interest in my perusal of the newspaper?"
"I think there is an article that I think you will find interesting."
"I have to find it and read it? You can't just tell me what it is that I will find interesting?" At her mother's lack of response she sighed and started searching through the paper. As she flipped through headlines and tossing out topics for approval, she finally came upon one article in particular that gave her pause. As she pored over the article, she felt her heartbeat quicken and she started to feel a little lightheaded. She didn't know what to do with this information. And why was her mother the one to bring this to her attention. Emily, Richard, or Hugo maybe, but coming from her mother it just seemed odd.
Just as she was finishing the article and gazing over the accompanying picture Hugo walked over to her desk. Noting the look on her face and the object in her hands, he knew that she found out. "So, you've read it, huh? If you want to talk let me know." She just nodded wordlessly. It had been 5 years, why did she let this affect her? She was supposed to have been over him; at least that's what she told herself. She was in a relationship! He was not supposed to make her still feel like this.
A/N: This is not anything that hasn't been done before, but I was listening to an old Frank Sinatra cd and he sings this song so I thought, "what if". I, like most others, was not satisfied with the ending of the show so I have to imagine that there was some kind of resolution for these characters. Let me know if it is choppy or odd—I wrote this over a year ago for another site and I haven't looked at it in a while. I am currently finishing ch. 5 of this story so hopefully I will get back into the swing of things and not go another year between chapters.