Disclaimer: ...Heh, must the first thing out of my mouth be this stupid thing? Alright... I don't own them...
Author's note: Okay, so remember how I left these stupid little notes in EP and on my profile page, saying I started up a new project and I wanted to see where it took me before I posted it? Well, I've decided that I like where it's going, and it's time to post it and get feedback. Again, this is a Narco (like the summary says), so I hope I have all the same reviewers from EP reading this one, too. So, without further ado...
Chapter 1
The drive was long and arduous. She got lost three times along the way, managing once to turn herself around completely. She thought it was ridiculous, and if she mentioned the trip to her mother, Lorelai would simply laugh at her. She'd traveled the same road numerous times, during her annual trips to visit on the holidays. So why now, was it so hard for Rory to find her way back to Stars Hollow?
Three years. It had been three years since she'd traveled to that sleepy little town. After Lucas, Lorelai and Luke's now three year old son, was born, she had found herself slowly pushing her face out of the family portrait. She was Lorelai Gilmore's daughter, always and forever. But Lorelai Gilmore was now Lorelai Gilmore-Danes. And as much of a father as Luke had been to her over the years, he still wasn't blood. No, now they had little Lucas - part Lorelai and part Luke.
Instead, Rory busied herself with her journalist career. She was a reporter with the Big Apple News, a small paper owned in part by the New York Times. After her graduation from Yale, and after she and Logan Huntzberger had called off their short lived engagement, she'd buried herself in finding a good job to support herself. The Big Apple News was the first to accept her application, and she moved to New York City right away. The only problem was that it wasn't a hop, skip, and jump away from Stars Hollow and her best friend - her mother. At first, she'd take the train into Stars Hollow every Friday night and stay with her mother and Luke through the weekend, leaving Sunday night. As the days, weeks, and months passed, her usual weekend trips lessened from every week to every other week to once a month to a couple weekends in the year. Eventually, Rory made it only a point to spend the holidays in Stars Hollow. But by the time Lucas was born, Rory was too busy to leave the paper for even a few days… or so she told herself.
Rory turned onto the familiar street.
With the arrival of summer, Rory had decided to take three weeks off. Well, it was either that or drown on the fumes of the newly painted office space her paper was situated in. Her boss, Mr. Hurschmeyer, had given everyone three weeks full pay and leave to get them all out of the office while it was being renovated. Rory, who was in the process of starting to write a book, took the order with relief. However, after spending the weekend alone in her apartment, and after momentarily speaking with her mother about the major traffic jam of Stars Hollow (which involved three cars, a horse drawn carriage, a scooter, and two bicyclists), Rory decided that it was time to return home. With a squeal and a suspiciously sounding thud from someone falling off of something, Lorelai had welcomed the request with opened arms.
So you can imagine Rory's surprise when she pulled into the drive of her old house - the one Lorelai refused to give up under any circumstance - and saw that both Lorelai's car and Luke's truck were gone. No one was home.
"How strange," Rory muttered. She had thought her mother was happy she was coming home, and figured Lorelai would be sitting on pins and needles waiting her arrival. She shrugged and jumped out of her car. Knowing exactly where to find her mother, or at least her step-father, she headed down the street to Luke's Diner.
The bell jingled as she stepped inside. The familiar smell of coffee, grease, and small town gossip greeted Rory's nose as she stepped up to the counter and took a seat. Luke was standing just down the way, his attention caught by a customer. After scribbling down the order on his pad of paper, and passing it through the order window to Caesar, Luke turned around and came face to face with Rory.
"Hey," she replied with a sly smile.
"Rory!" Luke smiled, somewhat surprised, then turned to the clock on the wall. "5:30 already?"
"Yep. I see you and Mom forgot."
Luke looked a little ashamed.
Rory shook her head and held up her hand. "That's alright. I got lost on the way here, actually."
"Don't tell your mother - she'll have a field day with that one."
"I know. Any idea where she is?" Rory asked. "I figured she'd be here getting her early evening coffee fix."
Luke clicked his tongue and leaned forward, a grin and a glint in his eyes as he replied, "She's not allowed coffee for a few months."
"She's pregnant again, isn't she?" Rory asked knowingly, a bit upset and a bit happy at the same time. Maybe it was the time away from her home that had her feeling like an outcast to her family; maybe if she spent some time here she'd start to feel like a part of it again.
"I didn't tell," Luke said with a finger pressed to his lips. He straightened up and wiped his hands on a towel. "So, how's about a cup of coffee and some french fries for my beautiful step-daughter? On the house, of course."
"Just coffee would be nice," Rory replied and Luke turned around to fill a cup.
"Lucky you," came a voice from beside Rory.
She turned to see her mother sitting down, a fake pout on her lips that turned into a huge smile when Rory reached over and hugged her.
"Wow, kiddo, I missed you too!"
"She knows," Luke said, turning back around and handing Rory a cup of coffee.
Lorelai stared at the cup with longing eyes. She batted her lashes flirtatiously at her husband, but Luke merely snorted and moved down the counter to help another customer. She sighed and turned back to Rory. "Just a sip, Rore. It won't do anything to the baby, really," she said in a small voice, in an attempt to hide it from Luke. She reached out her hand to take the cup, but Rory batted it away.
"No," she stated, taking a sip. She eyed her mother then, taking in her appearance. "How far along, anyway?"
"Two months," Lorelai grumbled. "Two very long months."
Luke moved back up the counter and eyed his wife. "Lorelai, where's Lucas?" he asked, although he knew the answer already.
Lorelai waved her hand about dismissively. "I forgot to pick him up." Noting the incredulous look Luke sent her, she added with an overly-dramatic sigh, "I was too tired to walk all the way over there and back here. Maybe if I had some coffee…"
"No coffee," Luke said, throwing his index finger out in an accusing manner.
"I could go get him, if you want," Rory offered. She took another sip of the coffee and turned to Luke. "I haven't spent much time with the little guy."
Luke looked at Lorelai, whose eyes were still settled on the cup of coffee Rory had abandoned. Luke pulled it away and nodded. "Thanks, Rory. Here's the address," he said, scribbling down the address on a napkin and passing it to Rory.
Rory smiled, grabbed her purse, and left.
Rory reached up and knocked the knocker against the oak door. The house was in the new section of the town. It was fairly simple compared to the other lots, and smaller than the colonial styled houses down the way.
"Rory?" the voice pulled her from her thoughts.
Rory looked up to see a young woman with strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes staring back at her from the door. Before she had time to put a name to the face, the woman's arms had wrapped around her in a huge hug.
"I haven't seen you in forever! Wow, what a surprise!" the woman gushed.
"Uh," Rory stumbled on words as they pulled apart. The face was so familiar, but she was at a loss with names.
Knowingly, the woman put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side. "You don't remember me, do you?" Before Rory could respond, she shrugged, "Well, that's alright. It's been something like - what? - six years?" She re-introduced herself, "Clara Forrester."
The name clicked instantly and Rory felt stupid. "Oh!" she exclaimed, letting go a small, nervous laugh she'd gotten stuck in her throat. "I'm so sorry, Clara! I've been so busy and I haven't come home for a while," she tried to explain, but stopped at Clara's smile. She offered a mirrored grin and started over, "I'm sorry. I've missed you a lot too."
"Well come on in," Clara said, moving away from the door to allow Rory to enter.
The house was very clean inside, with the exceptions of a few toys strewn about the living room and a couple dolls and a roller-skate on the stairs. Rory walked into the living room and turned around to meet Clara's gaze.
"I watch a couple kids for some extra cash," Clara explained. "I'm taking classes at Hartford Community, so I figured what better a way to make money and study at the same time?"
"Do you live here alone?" Rory asked. Granted the house wasn't that nice, but it was obviously new, and obviously over-budget for a young college student babysitting to earn cash.
"No," Clara replied, shifting a little uncomfortably. She shifted her gaze to the floor, whether out of shame, Rory wasn't really sure. "My mom's job got transferred back to Chicago, and I didn't want to leave all of my friends behind. So, they left and I stayed."
"Just like that? But who're you living with?"
Clara's eyes lifted briefly to meet Rory's, and the answer was in her gaze. Dean. Clara lived with Dean, her brother… Rory's old boyfriend. 'My Dean,' chirped the incessant voice in Rory's head.
"He didn't want to leave either," Clara said. She looked around the room, admiring it with a weird glint in her eye. "He built this house, you know? That's why it's so different from all the other houses. He'd made a deal with Tom, the contractor - our bills are lower because this house isn't as big as the others they built."
Rory sighed and forced a smile. "Where is he?"
"In Hartford restocking on supplies for Tom."
"Oh," Rory replied. She shifted on her feet uncomfortably, looking for a way to change the topic. She didn't really want to spend her visit in Stars Hollow thinking about the man she'd once loved like no other, who had broken up with her because he didn't feel like he fit in her world. Different pages, different sides of the track. It was the same argument she'd had with her mother once - how she'd changed and molded herself into this lifestyle of world class, fancy dinner parties, country clubs, and the typical DAR meetings - a life Lorelai had tried to shield her from, almost as though she knew her daughter would fit in so nicely with that crowd.
As that feeling of guilt overcame her, Rory was relieved to hear Clara change the subject, but the guilt still lingered.
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"I came by to pick up Lucas for my mom and Luke," Rory said.
Clara nodded and held up her hand, leaving the room momentarily. She returned with a little boy nestled against her shoulder and a Bob the Builder backpack slung over her shoulder. She handed the sleeping boy to Rory, and he stirred but slept through the transfer, then handed the back pack to Rory.
"He's been out for a half-hour," Clara stated, rubbing the little boy's back gently. "As infamous as your mom's hyper-activity can be, I swear he's going to be just like her. Good news to Luke's ears, huh?" she laughed.
Rory laughed also. She headed toward the door and gently pulled it open.
"Rory," Clara called before Rory had stepped off the porch.
Rory stopped and swung around.
"I know you and my brother have a troubled past, but I'd like it if we could still be friends," she said in a hopeful voice. She added with a smirk, "You always were my favorite out of his girlfriends."
Rory nodded with a smile. "Thanks, Clara. And I'd like to be friends too." With that, Rory made the trek back to the diner where she knew her mother and Luke were waiting.
AN: So how was it? If you like, leave me a review. I turned on anonymous reviews to, so you don't even need an account to leave me a message, isn't that simple? Heh. I know Dean wasn't really in this chapter, but he makes an appearance in the next chapter, and he's definitely in the third, so the action isn't really going to start until the third chapter. Sorry that it's mostly expository/explanation set-ups till then.
As always, Read&Review!