A/N: I wrote this one shot for absolutly no reason other than pure curiosity for how it would tuen out. So tell me what do you think?
Disclaimer: I only own the characters make up. Promise. ;)
The reigning Lorelai.
The sky was a murky gray and the ground held a thin layer of fog. Everyone had already left. Gone back to her grandmother's house, to mourn or reminisce or do whatever it is people do after these things. Everyone that is except Rory, she just couldn't leave. Not yet. Not after they had just laid her mother in the ground. Rory was numb. She hadn't slept since she got the call and she couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. She was just barely functioning.
A cold chill ran through her body as the wind blew but she didn't move. She just stood in front of the stone that now held her mother's name.
Lorelai Victoria Gilmore.
No. This had to be a mistake. Her mind took her back five days. Back to when this whole ordeal began.
"Jess," Rory called to her husband form their living room couch. "Come watch the movie with us."
"Yeah Daddy, come watch the movie." Their eight year old, Lizzie begged.
Jess sighed, "What movie?"
"Fly away Home."
"What,"
"Oh come on Jess it's a cute movie."
"Yeah it's got ducks,"
"Actually Honey I think they're geese." Rory corrected.
"Oh."
"Oh, Geese well in that case…No,"
"Please." Rory cried.
"Please, please, please." Lizzie followed.
"Fine," Jess said giving in, but then we're all going to bed.
"Yay! Okay. I'll put it on." Lizzie said getting up while Jess came and took a seat next to his wife.
"Are you going to dinner tomorrow?" he asked.
"Count me out." Jess made sure to say.
Rory rolled her eyes at her husband and laughed. At this point everything seemed perfect. She had a wonderful husband who loved her dearly, a little girl with a smile that could light up a room and a beautiful healthy baby boy up stairs asleep in his crib. She had a nice house and a job she adored. She smiled as her husband wrapped his arms around her.
The little family was half way through their movie when Rory's cell phone rang. Jess moved to let Rory get up but she stopped him. "Let it go to voice mail." He smiled at her. The phone stopped ringing only to start a couple of minutes later."Erg." she cried. "This will only take a second."
She walked into the kitchen and picked up her phone from off the counter without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello,"
"RORY!!" the frantic voice on the other end of the line belonged to her eleven year old sister Emily.
"Emma? What's the matter?" She couldn't understand a word the girl was saying but she sounded hysterical. "Emily, what happened? Is William with you?" She asked about her sister's twin brother knowing he'd been sick, but Emma was crying too hard to hear her. "Emily let me talk to Mommy," Rory practically shouted.
"I….Can't...." she said sobs getting softer.
"Why not?" Emily got quiet. Rory got worried. "Where's mom?"
Rory couldn't think about it anymore. That was the day her life was turned upside down. During that phone conversation she wasn't told just that Lorelai was in the hospital but that was only because that's all her little sister knew. Later she found out that Lorelai's jeep had been crushed but an oversized SUV. The longer she stood there the angrier she got. She was mad at Luke for letting her go out that night, she was mad at her brother for having the flu, she was mad at Dosey because his store was closed making Lorelai drive to Hartford for cough medicine, she was mad at that stupid teenage boy who decided to get behind the wheel intoxicated, but most of her anger was focused at her mother, her best friend, she was supposed to be strong. How could she die? How could she do this? She was supposed to be around. They were supposed to have lunch today. It wasn't fair. She remembered when they told her the news.
The drive to the hospital was a long one, even though it was only a few minutes away. Her eyes were swelling and threatening tears but she didn't have time to cry. She had to see her mom. Jess drove because Rory was clearly in no condition. Going up the elevator all the possibilities flooded her mind. She was going over the possibilities and the scenarios. What were the chances that Lorelai was completely one hundred percent fine and escaped with minor cuts and bruises? They were slim but Rory hoped.
Luke sat in the waiting room staring down at the floor when Rory arrived. This was the palest she'd ever seen him.
"Luke," she said almost breathless .He stood up as soon as he saw her. She had never seen him cry but right now tears were streaming down his cheeks as if it were something he'd done every day.
"Luke, where's my mom? Is she okay? What'd they say?" Just the look on his face told her everything she needed to know."
"It's bad," Luke choked out. "She's got three broken ribs and a punctured lung. When they brought her in there was…." He needed to take a breath. "blood, there was blood everywhere, it was all over her face and in her hair, they said she was bleeding out" Luke look like he was about to have a nervous breakdown but he continued, "Her skull is fractured and they have no idea if there is brain damage, her heart stopped twice on the way here and…"
"Where is she Luke?" Rory gasped.
"She's in surgery."
Jess wrapped his arms around Rory but she pulled away, "No," she said wiping her eyes, "No, my mother is strong, she'll fight, and she'll be fine." Rory had to pull herself together not for Luke or her grandmother whom she just realized was also sitting in the waiting room but for herself. They all waited for what seemed like hours. Her brain was empty, for the first time in her entire life she couldn't think.
Finally a doctor came out. As he walked through the large, heavy, wooden doors Rory knew she'd seen this movie before and she didn't like how it ended. Her heart sank after only a few words from the doctor's mouth. "I'm so sorry,"
All of a sudden people were talking to her but she couldn't understand what they were saying, their voices became a blur. Her whole life was suddenly meshed together into something she couldn't comprehend.
Standing there in that spot was killing her. She didn't know how much time had passed but she could tell it'd been awhile. She walked as close to the headstone as she could and kissed the top. "I love you, Mommy." She whispered and walked back to her car for the silent drive to Hartford.
There were several cars parked in front of her grandmother's house. It had been several years since her grandfather passed and since, Lorelai had visited Emily every day. This couldn't be easy on her. She had just lost not only her only daughter but her only child but Rory couldn't remember seeing what state she was in. As a matter of fact she couldn't remember much of anything. "Mommy," Lizzie cried running toward her mother as Rory walked through the door.
Rory dropped to her knees and embraced her daughter. "I love you, Lorelai Elizabeth." She whispered in her ear before standing up.
The Gilmore mansion was busting at the seams with people. Pretty much everyone who had ever come in contact with her mother was the funeral and only a third of those people came back to the house. Sitting the foyer was her sister and brother. They were only eleven years old. How would they ever know their wonderful mother was? Would they ever realize how lucky they were to have her? Emma caught her eye. She looked like Lorelai in a way. She had her dark hair and blue eyes but had the features of her father. They just stared at each other, both experiencing the same agonizing heart wrenching pain. Rory wanted to close her eyes and wake up on Wednesday. She wanted to pick up her phone, dial a familiar number and hear her mother's voice but she knew that would never happen again.
"Can I see her?" Rory asked. The man in scrubs nodded and led her back to the room where just minutes before her mom had been pronounced dead. The walls in the room were green, the floor was tiles, there were several machines connected to the wall, and in the middle of the room was a metal table.
"I'll give you some time alone." He said quietly. She watched him leave and closed the door.
The room was uneasily cold and it got colder with every step she took. There was a white sheet laid across the metal table, slowly she pulled it back. Rory gasped in horror and had to turn away. She had to see though so she took a breath and turned back around. The entire left side of Lorelai's face was purple, her mouth was batter, and there were tiny glass cuts all over her upper body. The rest of her was completely pale. Lifeless. A word never before used to describe her mother.
Rory made her way upstairs and found herself in the first room to the left. Lorelai's old room. Emily always said she was going to change it but never got around to it. Maybe she just didn't have the heart. After entering she noticed she wasn't alone. Emily sat on the bed holding Lorelai's Michel Jackson t-shirt. Her grandmother looked up accepting Rory's presence. After a second she spoke."You're a smart girl, Rory and I need you to answer a question for me."
Rory cleared her throat, "What's that grandma?
"I am seventy five years old. I've lived to see my grown granddaughter have kids of her own. I can still drive myself around. I can still take care of myself. I have all my teeth, I'm in excellent health, my doctor says I have several good years ahead of me. So Rory Gilmore you tell me, why I have still have time…" she stopped and put her face in her hands.
"Grandma?"
"You tell me why I still have time, but my….but my daughter doesn't." Emily opened her eyes and let the tears fall.
"I don't know grandma."
"Why is my baby gone?" she asked. "Why couldn't I go first?" Rory sat down beside Emily and held her the way her mother held her when her grandfather died.
Everything seemed to move on slowly. Luke didn't make the funeral and Rory was concerned. He hadn't left his house in a week so she sent Jess to check on him. Her heart broke for him. She didn't know if she was going to make it another minute she couldn't imagine what he was going through. Over time it had become painfully obvious how Luke and Lorelai were destined to be together and once he realized he took every opportunity to show her how much she loved her.
People from Star's Hollow were there sharing their many memories of their favorite coffee junkie. No one in the entire house had a bad thing to say about her. Paris came and so did Lane, and Rory was grateful to have them there. Rory tried to listen to the wonderful things everyone was saying but she couldn't seem to concentrate. She'd put on a smile for her guests since her grandmother was clearly in no condition to entertain but she was still distant.
"Are you okay Mommy?" A little voice asked. Rory looked down at her little girl.
"Not really Sweets." She said. "Are you okay?" It was no secret that Lorelai was very close to her granddaughter.
"I miss her," Lizzie admitted.
"Me too,"
"Do you think she misses us?" she continued innocently.
"I know she misses us."
"Mommy?"
"Yes honey?"
"Is she an angel now?"
Rory thought about this. She had never met another human being who positively influenced every person she'd come in contact with. No, Lorelai was an 'angel' long before she had left this world. "Yeah Baby. I guess she is." Her mom had always been such a comfort to her what would she do without her?
"So, you ditched the cousin?" Lorelai asked her nineteen year old daughter. It had been a long drawn out week for her since her mother practically dumped her grandmother's funeral on her.
"Yeah, we ran into a sister, and how could I compete?" Rory joked.
"Oh, sure. How are you doing?"
"I'm feeling sadder about Gran, but felling sadder is making me feel less guilty about not being sad, so things are looking good."
Lorelai smiled at her little girl just as a new thought dawned on her, "Good. So, apparently, I am now the reigning Lorelai.
Rory hadn't thought of it that way. "Huh. I guess you are."
"It' s a lot of responsibility."
"Well, sure."
"It's mostly ceremonial stuff nowadays—declaring knighthood, opening supermarkets—but now and then, you get to banish someone or pose for a stamp."
"Neat." Rory said with a laugh. "and coins."
"Yeah and coins." She paused. "You know, someday you'll be the reigning Lorelai."
"I don't like that idea."
"Why not? You get a cape."
"Because if I'm the reigning Lorelai, that means you'll be gone.
"Gone? No, not me, I'll step down way before that. I'm not gonna pull a Queen Elizabeth on you, make you wait around forever, force you to develop interests in polo and architecture." Lorelai stated in a sure of herself tone.
"Rory." Jess said breaking her from her memory.
"Huh?"
"Luke is outside in the car, he didn't want to come in but he has something for you."
"For me?" Rory asked a little confused.
"Yeah,"
Rory thanked Jess for bring him and walked out to the car. Luke was sitting in the passenger seat looking down at something in his hands.
"Luke?" she said.
He looked up at her slowly with sad eyes. "Hey Rory."
"Jess said you wanted me. What's up?"
Luke looked back down. He held in his hands a white envelope, with her name scribbled on the front in her mother's hand writing. "This is for you." Luke said and handed it to her."
Hesitantly she took it. She couldn't open it here in front of all these people. "Thank you," she mumbled.
He nodded.
Rory went back inside. She stayed until everyone had left and cleaned up her grandmother's house and saw Emily off to bed before she got in her own car and drove home.
The kids were already in bed by the time she got home and Jess was also asleep but she wasn't tired. The only thing she could think about was the letter in her pocket. She immediately sat down on the couch and pulled it out.
My Lorelai Leigh,
I hate to be cliché but if you're reading this, then I'm gone. My body had been buried and my things have been gone through. Which I'm not totally thrilled about. I have no idea what possessed me to write this morbid thing but I thought it would be good just in case we never got to say goodbye.
I was thinking a couple days ago about Grams. Do you remember her funeral? Horrible week, I hope you're not going through anything like that. I kinda have to apologize. I know I promised I give things over to you before now but I loved the title. I suppose I no longer have a choice. You're the reigning Lorelai now so be sure to do the job justice until you hand the crown over to your daughter. I have faith in you.
Rory, I don't want you to be sad because my life is over because you, made it full and wonderful and beautiful. For so long you were what I lived for. Before everyone else you had my heart and it'll always be yours. Please don't cry. Tell your children and your grandchildren about our life together. Please know that everything I ever did, I did for you. You were my life always.
No worries angel, you'll be fine. You're a great mother and wife and a wonderful big sister. I don't regret anything and I hope you don't either.
Oh crap, My pen is running out of ink. I guess this ends my letter. I love you kid.
Always,
Mom.