Pillow Talk

A/N: I'm a writing machine right now. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm happy. This is the earliest fic of all, day after the season six finale. The way I think it should have gone. So, still beta-less, and this is a tiny bit sad/angsty but really and truly pretty fluffy, so I hope you guys enjoy. I'm addicted to reviews almost as much as I am to coffee, so if you would just leave me one I'd probably write even more…Read on!

Once she shuts the door, she heads back to bed immediately. She's too tired to bother with clean up, it's too taxing both physically and emotionally.

She buries herself under the blankets and buries her nose in his pillow. Wrapped up in the sheets like that, she can imagine that he's lying there with her. His smell still lingers there, and she can't get enough of it. She lays there, eyes closed because she can't look at the empty apartment, until she falls asleep.

A loud knocking wakes her up two hours later. She buries her face in the pillow again, trying to ignore it. But it's incessant, and she finally realizes that there's someone at the door.

When she lifts her head from the pillow, her face feels wet. She must've been crying in her sleep without even realizing it. The pillow is very damp.

She trips through the messy apartment to the door and yanks it open, unsure of who will be there. She's not entirely surprised to see her mother, but the older woman's sad face does confuse her.

Lorelai's teary eyes clear a little as they just stare at each other for a moment. "Oh, honey," she says, gathering Rory into her arms.

She's not sure how it happens, but all of a sudden she's crying, painful tears that make her chest and head and eyes hurt. Lorelai hugs her tightly. The apartment is a mess so she walks Rory gently over to the bed and sits down with her. Rory falls back into the pillow. She feels her mother's hand rubbing her back steadily, and ever so often, hears Lorelai say something like, "you're alright", "it's going to be okay", or "shh, sweetheart".

She falls asleep yet again with her face buried in Logan's pillow. When she wakes up the room is bright with sunlight and Lorelai is standing above her with a phone held out. Rory accepts it and manages to get it to her ear. "Mm?" she manages.

"Ace. Hey." He sounds as relieved as she feels.

"Hey," she returns. She hears herself emphasizing the word, but she's not sure why. "Are you there? Are you safe?"

"I am both," he tells her. "Are you okay? You sound off."

"I'm fine," she tells him gently, reassuringly. "I'm fine."

"Good," he sighs. "I miss you, Rory."

"I miss you, too," she says tearfully, and her mother makes a quit-being-so-mushy face.

"I have to go track down my apartment. I love you, so much. I'll call later, okay?"

"Mm," she says. "Love you, too." She stays on the phone until it beeps angrily at her, long after he's hung up.

She lifts her head from the pillow and realizes that her mother is cleaning. Cleaning. She squinted, shook her head, and looked again. Yep, it was actually happening. "Mom?"

"That Logan?"

"Yeah."

"He's there, in London? Or Old Blighty. Across the pond. Land of the people with pretty accents."

"Yeah."

"And he's okay?"

"Yeah."

"And you, are you okay, after talking to him?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai finally stops. "Way to be monosyllabic, hon. I think you just knocked Jess out of first place."

"Sorry. I just…Mom, you're cleaning."

"I thought you'd recognize it, neat freak."

"Yeah, exactly. I am the neat freak. You're Lorelai Gilmore."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you're you."

"Oh, thanks for clearing that up."

"You don't clean, Mom. I clean. You…avoid it at all costs."

"Your apartment's a mess."

"It's not mine, it's Logan's."

Lorelai pauses again to look at her quizzically.

Rory groans. "Please do not start psychologically assessing me because of that statement."

"Okay. Stop talking about my cleaning and you've got a deal."

Rory pushes her discarded dress and an empty chip back off the couch. "Sit. Talk."

Lorelai frowns. "When'd you turn into me?"

"Mom."

Lorelai sighs. "Sweets, I have to tell you something."

"No, really?"

"Hey," she objects, offended by Rory's tone.

"Now you know you I feel," Rory says pointedly.

She can't argue with that. She inhales and then says, "Rory, I s- I don't want to tell you this."

Her daughter tugs on her arm gently. "No secrets."

She reaches out to touches Rory's cheek. She gazes at her for a moment and says, "You're so beautiful, babe. I'm proud of you, you know that, right?"

"You're proud of me because I'm beautiful?"

"Amongst other reasons. It's just that Chris and I did a pretty good job, making you."

She shrugs modestly and then gets back to business. "Mom? Tell me, please." At Lorelai's hesitation, she continues, "This is me, remember? Daughter, best friend, confidante. Namesake. Girl who loves you."

Lorelai smiles softly and then sighs before blurting, "I slept with Christopher."

Rory stares at her, sad eyes wide. "You did what?"

"I slept with your father. That doesn't sound as wrong, right?"

"Mom. Luke."

"Oh, baby, it's…it's done with Luke. It's over."

"What?"

"Okay, you're kind of hurting my brain now."

"Mom, how could you? You slept with Dad? It's over with Luke?!"

"Rory, I couldn't wait anymore!" Lorelai cries, obviously distressed. "If you love someone, how long should it take?"

"What did you do?"

"Why are you automatically blaming me?" her mother asks defensively.

"What did you do?"

"I gave him an ultimatum. Now or never. He said no."

The anger fades out of Rory's eyes. "He said what? Oh, Mom…Mommy…" she reaches out and hugs her mother the same way Lorelai hugged her earlier.

When they pull apart, Lorelai wipes at her eyes. "Can I go back to cleaning now, missy?" she asks, trying and failing to be upbeat.

Rory nods wordlessly and stands to help her. They move silently around the apartment except for the occasional cleaning-related noise.

"Rory, what's this?" Lorelai asks, wrinkling her nose. Her voice in quieter than it normally is.

Rory turns to look. "Um, a rocket? I think. I don't know where it came from." She shrugs. "Just leave it there for now, I'll see if I can remember."

Lorelai nods and carries on, throwing things away quickly and efficiently. She moves into the kitchen in search of more garbage bags and hears a sudden, soft noise from the main area of the apartment. She turns to look back, asking, "Rory…?"

When her daughter comes into view all she can see are her shaking shoulders. She hurries over to see that Rory's standing over the rocket, both hands pressed to her mouth as tears trickle down her cheeks.

"Rory," she says sadly, hugging her daughter again. "Oh, angel. You're shaking!" she cries, alarmed. "Come on, honey, lie down.

Rory lies back down yet again, still trembling. "It's a love rocket," she murmurs, almost hysterically. "The Twilight Zone."

"Sure, sweetie. Of course. Shhh, honey. Calm down. I'm right here, it's alright."

Rory fell back into sleep for the third time that morning, but not before whispering, "True love, that's true love."

When she wakes up again it's pitch black in the apartment. When her eyes adjust to the light, she can see that there are still remnants of the previous night's party, despite Lorelai's crazy cleaning. She rolls over to see that her mother is lying next to her, sound asleep. She kisses her mother's cheek and Lorelai stirs. "Hey, kid," she says softly, gently stroking Rory's hair. "Are you okay? I thought you were having a panic attack or something earlier."

Rory shakes her head. "No, I just…I get the rocket. He loves me."

"I could've figured that one out for you. Jeez, Rory."

She laughs a little nestles further into the blankets. She yawns. "I'm still tired. How can I be? I've slept all day."

"It's the crying," Lorelai says softly, getting out of bed. "I'll be right back with ice cream."

After they eat they both flop onto the bed again. Lorelai yawns.

"Go back to sleep, Mom. You look exhausted. I can take care of myself, I swear."

"Mm, sure you can," she says as she drifts off into dreamland.

Rory stays lying on the bed, too tired to get up but not willing to fall asleep again. After an hour of staring at the ceiling, her hand, the couch, and the alarm clock, her cell phone rings. She snatches it up quickly and glances back at Lorelai to make sure she's still asleep. "Hey, you," she whispers by way of greeting.

He doesn't waste time on pleasantries. "I want you, Ace," he says.

She presses her nose into the pillow, smells his distinctive smell, and closes her eyes. She wants him, too.

A/N: Review please!