Chapter 1: Double Trouble

Lorelai Gilmore ran through her house in a panic. It was her daughter Rory's first day at the prestigious Chilton Academy and despite it still being early in the day, anything that could have gone wrong seemed to have gone wrong. First, Lorelai had slept through her furry and cute alarm, only to be awoken by a frantic Rory, already dressed and ready for school. Then to make matters worse, her entire professional wardrobe, clothes that were actually suitable to be seen in public, were at the cleaners.

The only clean clothes that remained in thirty-six-year-old mother's closet were a pair of daisy-duke shorts, a tight pink tee, and a pair of cowboy boots. Not exactly the right outfit for making a good impression. It certainly didn't scream responsible mother of two and inn manager. Thankfully, she could just use her trench coat to cover it all up. But of course, to top it all off, her trench coat, which could cover the God-awful ensemble, was missing. First impressions meant a lot and she did not want to give Rory's school a bad impression her daughter's first day. She knew the type of people at Chilton, having once been one of them, and she didn't want to add another reason for her name to swirl in their gossip.

Lorelai rummaged through the clothes in her closet one more time, double-checking, triple-checking for her black trench coat, but she had no luck. It was in her frustration that she realized the only one other place it could be: her daughter's room. The mother of two groaned before she marched across the hallway and firmly rapped on the door. She impatiently tapped her foot against the floor as she waited for a response. But none came.

So, she knocked once more. There was still no response. Lorelai didn't have time to wait around for her. She shook her head in frustration and opened the door to reveal the messy room of a teenage girl. Clothes were carelessly strewn all over the floor making it impossible to find anything. Lorelai picked up a teal long-sleeved shirt with rhinestones on it. "I wondered where that went," she muttered to herself and carefully tucked it under her arm before she continued her treasure hunt.

After finding nearly half a dozen articles of clothing that belonged to her, Lorelai still hadn't managed to find her trench coat, the one item she desperately needed. She sighed. Lorelai had no choice but to wake up her youngest daughter, Charlotte, who was more affectionately known as Charlie.

Charlie was Rory's younger twin. She was younger by 16 minutes. 16 minutes of pure hell as Lorelai commonly referred to the time between the two births. Like her mother and sister, Charlie had dark hair, bright blue eyes, and witty sense of humor. She was a sophomore in high school, but she had no interest in going to Chilton or an Ivy League university like her ambitious twin. She was perfectly content to remain at Stars Hollow High.

Not to be discredited, Charlie was intelligent. But when it came down to it, she didn't apply herself to her school work and this sometimes scared Lorelai. Charlie's mother could see a younger version of herself in her youngest daughter and she didn't want that for her daughter. Granted, she didn't want either of her daughters to repeat her mistakes, but she could see Charlie easily falling into her footsteps.

Lorelai leaned down beside her daughter and gave her a gentle shake. "Charlie," she whispered. "Charlie, honey, wake up."

Gentle snores were the only response Lorelai received. So, she tried once more. Still, there was no response. "I don't have time for this," Lorelai muttered to herself before she yanked the blankets off her daughter, revealing a teenager wearing her grey tank top and her plaid pajama bottoms. Lorelai shook her head as Charlie immediately curled her knees to her chest for warmth. Charlie needed to know that she meant business. "Charlotte Victoria Gilmore!" Lorelai yelled.

"What?" Charlie groaned as she pulled her pillow over her head to muffle the yelling.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at her daughter's antics and then snatched the pillow. "Wake up."

Charlie shook her head with her eyes clenched shut. "Five minutes, Mommy. I need more sleepy."

The older Gilmore girl shook her head. "I don't think so. Ass up, now. I need helping finding my trench coat."

Rather slowly, Charlie sat up and rubbed the crusty sleep from her eyes. She then looked at her mom through slitted eyes because the bright sunlight poured in from her window, practically blinding her. Well, it was either the sunlight or the outfit her mother was wearing. She wasn't sure, so she did a double take. "Mom, don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell are you wearing?" Charlie asked. "I thought you were supposed to be taking Rory to Chilton today."

"I am taking Rory to Chilton," Lorelai said exasperatedly as she rested her hands on her hips. "But as you can see, I need my trench coat. Now, where is it?"

Charlie cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you assume that I have it?"

"Because I have checked my room three times and it's not there. Not to mention that when usually when my clothes go missing, they somehow end up here in this pig sty." Lorelai held up the articles of clothing she had already gathered as evidence to back up her statement.

"You do have another daughter, you know. Maybe Rory took it."

"Honey, Rory leaves Post-It notes on the hanger when she takes something. Don't ask me why because I don't know. She just does. Now, where is it?"

Just then, the distressed call of the teenage girl downstairs echoed through the house. "Mom!" Rory called.

"Up, up, up," Lorelai muttered as she motioned for Charlie to get out of bed.

Charlie groaned before she slowly stretched her body and rolled out of bed. She slowly trudged over to her closet and began to sift through the clothes inside. Nope, not in there. Charlie yawned. She needed coffee before doing something like this, but no such luck. She stopped for a moment with squinted eyes and tried to remember where she would most likely put the trench coat. Under the bed? No. The nearly empty hamper in the corner? No. She then eyed the window seat curiously. Definitely a likely location for the trench coat.

At the bottom of the pile of clothes on the window seat, Charlie found her mother's trench coat. Charlie tossed the trench coat at her mother who caught it and performed the sniff test on it. It must have smelled acceptable enough to be worn because Lorelai nodded her head and then looked at her daughter. Lorelai shook her head as she glanced around her daughter's room. There were clothes all over the floor, books and papers were carelessly tossed on her desk, not to mention the water bottles, cans of soda, and sports drink containers that were piled on top of her dresser.

"This gets cleaned right after school, Charlie. Got it?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom," Charlie groaned in typical teenage fashion as she folded her arms across her chest. "It's my first varsity game today."

Lorelai nodded her head. "That's right. You play the game with the ball." She made a fake throwing motion and Charlie shook her head.

"Mom, you do realize there are over 1,000 games with balls, right?"

Lorelai chuckled and walked over to her daughter. "Honey, you know I'm not good with sports talk, sports, or anything with the word sports in it." She hugged Charlie. "Need I remind you of the sports bra debacle of…"

"Ahhh! No! No! Don't you dare!" Charlie covered her ears and Lorelai ruffled her daughter's messy hair. After a few seconds, Charlie removed her hands from her ears and looked at her mother rather seriously. "I really do have a volleyball game today."

"I know," Lorelai said nodding her head. "Volleyball's the one with hoops, right?"

Charlie rolled her eyes and groaned, "Mom." Lorelai smirked at her daughter who continued, "Mom, you're hopeless. Volleyball is the one with the net and you hit the ball back and forth."

"I know that," Lorelai said cooly before grinning. "I was just making sure you knew which game you were going to be playing this afternoon."

Charlie nodded her head knowingly. "Wanted to make sure that I didn't make an idiot of myself out there?"

"Exactly!"

"Mom, that might have worked when I was seven, but you're gonna have to do better than that now," Charlie smirked at her mother who just shook her head. There were probably times when Lorelai wished the girls could go back to being young and naive, but they were quickly moving away from those days.

"MOM!" Rory shouted again from the bottom of the stairs. "I'm going to be late!"

Lorelai rolled her eyes before she yelled back, "COMING!" She then turned to Charlie and placed a kiss on the girl's forehead. "Mwuah," she said after the kiss before squinting out the window. "Hurry up, kid. Parker's in the driveway waiting for you." With that, Lorelai threw the trench coat over her shoulder and left the room.

"Mom!" Charlie called.

The mother of two immediately turned around and walked back to Charlie's door, leaning against the frame. "Yeah, kid?"

Charlie yawned. "You might want to do something with your hair before you go."

Lorelai nodded her head. "Good idea. Ponytail it is." She moved to leave again.

"Mommy." Lorelai looked at her youngest daughter over her shoulder. "Tell Rory good luck for me," Charlie said with a sweet smile.

"Got it. And hurry up. Parker's not gonna wait all day for you." Lorelai paused for a moment. "Actually, he probably would, but that's beside the point. So, be nice." With that, Lorelai headed downstairs to find her other daughter who by now had probably grown rather impatient.

Charlie plopped back onto her bed and listened for the sound of the Jeep backing out of the driveway. The crunch of the gravel signified that her mother and sister were off to Hartford en route to Chilton. Charlie hoped that her sister would fit in at Chilton much better than she did at Stars Hollow High. Rory wasn't what one would typically call socially outgoing, especially for Stars Hollow, but maybe going to a school like Chilton with people more like her, would make things better. Although, this also marked the first time Charlie and Rory wouldn't be attending the same school and seemed kinda weird.

The youngest Gilmore girl then crawled out of bed once again and quickly dressed for school. She put on a pair of jeans, her Star Hollow High volleyball warm-up jacket with a white tee underneath, and a pair of tennis shoes. Charlie French-braided her hair in one long plait going down her back. Then she quickly brushed her teeth, grabbed her backpack and sports' bag, and she walked out the front door with hopes of heading to Luke's.

Thankfully, Parker was still waiting for her in his old red pickup truck which was parked in the driveway. She smiled as her best friend hopped out of the truck and walked toward her. "You didn't have to wait outside, you know," Charlie said matter-of-factly.

"I know. Your mom told me the same thing, but I've learned from experience that you procrastinate even more when I do that," Parker responded with a slight chuckle which made Charlie roll her eyes.

Charlie Gilmore and Parker Dell had been best friends since Kindergarten. Ever since the day Parker accidentally melted his crayons by setting them on the heater and Charlie shared hers with him. It was the start of a beautiful friendship that had been going strong ever since.

Parker was nearly six feet tall with light brown hair and grey eyes. He was second in their class academically...at least, he was. Now with Rory going to Chilton, that should put him in first place. Like Rory, Parker aspired to someday attend an Ivy League school. He wanted to go to Yale to study medicine and eventually someday become a doctor. His dreams were high loftier than that of his best friend.

As he approached Charlie, he reached for her sports bag which she willingly handed over to him. He was surprised to find the bag was actually heavy. He pretended to struggle with it as he mentally weighed it. "What do you have in here, bricks?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Yes, bricks come in quite handy in a volleyball game."

"Hey, you can always throw them at the ref," he pointed out. "You don't like his call and then hey ref, eat bricks!"

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny." She chuckled and gave Parker a playful push.

He shook his head. "You do remember I'm your ride to school," Parker smirked. "I could always just leave you and this bag here."

"You wouldn't leave me here. You and I both know it."

Parker raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't I? I even have your mother's permission to leave you."

"Ah, ah, ah," Charlie said shaking her pointer finger at him. "I shared my crayons with you. You're basically indebted to me for the rest of your life."

"And you never let me forget it." He smiled and shook his head. He tossed her sports bag into the back of his truck and walked toward the driver's side door as Charlie hopped in the passenger's seat. Parker opened his door when Babette came hurtling toward them shouting. He looked at Charlie and said, "I'll be right back."

Charlie chuckled as Parker walked across the Gilmore's lawn to greet the woman running toward them. Babette lived next door to the Gilmores, but she was also Parker's aunt. Parker's dad and Babette's husband were brothers. "Mornin' Aunt Babette," Parker said sweetly as Babette engulfed him in a hug. He hugged her back. "How are you doing?"

"Doing good. Doing good. That's so sweet of you task, sugar," Babette said releasing her nephew. "I chased you down because I saw your truck in the Gilmore's driveway and I wanted to say hello and give you these." Babette shoved a bag of freshly baked cookies toward Parker.

"Thanks," he responded with a genuine smile.

"You share them with your special girl, now," Babette said with a wink before she looked at the truck toward Charlie.

Parker shook his head in disbelief. "She's not my special girl," he told her. "We're friends. Just friends."

Babette pinched Parker's cheek. "If that's your story sugar. But I'm pretty sure everyone but her thinks otherwise." She patted his cheek where she had pinched it before she walked toward Charlie in his truck.

He rolled his eyes before he jogged after his aunt, hoping that she wouldn't continue the current conversation with Charlie. "Aunt Babette," Parker called worriedly. "We have to get to school."

But she didn't pay her nephew any attention. "Charlie!" Babette called. "Wasn't Rory's first day of Chilton today?"

Charlie rolled down her window. "What?" she called. Babette repeated herself and Charlie nodded her head. "Yeah, she and Mom already left."

Babette placed her hands on her hips and shook her head before saying rather loudly, "What was your mother thinking wearing those clothes?"

"Her clothes are at the cleaners. Believe me, her outfit consisted of the most respectable clothes she had left. The leopard and zebra print definitely would have been worse."

Parker awkwardly ran his fingers through his short hair. "We better get going if you wanna swing by Luke's before school," he said.

"I'll let you two get going then," Babette said slowly walking away from the truck. She enveloped her nephew in another tight hug. Parker awkwardly patted his aunt on the back before he attempted to release himself from the hug. Babette held on for a few more seconds and then let him go. "Bye, you two!" she called and waved as she walked back to her house.

Parker shook his head and then hopped into his truck. He tossed the bag of cookies at Charlie and then started the truck. As he backed out, he waved once more to his aunt as Charlie opened the bag. "Aunt Babette said I'm supposed to share them with you," Parker said with a slight grin before he focused his attention on the road.

He drove through the small town of Stars Hollow and parked in the high school's parking lot. From there, he and Charlie walked over to Luke's to join the usual morning crowd. Luke Danes, the brusque owner and restaurant's namesake, stood behind the counter pouring coffee into a mug as Charlie and Parker took a seat at the counter beside Stars Hollow's mayor: Harry Porter. The mayor greeted them as Luke gruffly walked over to take their orders. "What can I get for you two?" Luke asked.

Without even glancing at the menu, Parker recited, "I'll have the scrambled eggs and toast with a glass of orange juice."

"Charlie?" Luke asked raising an eyebrow at the young Gilmore girl.

"I'll have what Parker's having except can I get…" Charlie began.

Luke shook his head. He knew where she was going with her order. "Coffee? No. Why don't you try a nice glass of orange juice, like Parker?"

Charlie's bottom lip jutted out a bit. "But Luke, I'm my mother's daughter. I need coffee, coffee, coffee." Each time she said the word coffee she did a little spastic dance which made Parker laugh, but Luke only shook his head at her before he placed their orders with Caesar.

Despite his reservations, Luke brought Charlie a mug of coffee. She eagerly accepted the mug which she slowly sipped until the food was placed before them. Both teenagers quickly ate their food, hardly saying a word to each other. They then paid for their food and walked to Stars Hollow High side by side.

Once inside the school, Parker and Charlie parted ways as they headed for their lockers. At her locker, Charlie put her books inside and glanced at the empty locker to the left. It was the locker that had once been Rory's. It was strange not to see her sister beside her juggling books, pencils, and paper. But this was to be the new norm. Charlie sighed and shut her locker as Lindsey Lister hobbled past on her crutches.

Lindsey was a tall blonde sophomore whom Charlie was replacing on the team. The girl had come down on her knee wrong and needed surgery on it. So, Lindsey was out for the rest of the season and Charlie was in. While Charlie felt bad that it took Lindsey getting hurt for her to make the varsity team, she was also excited to play at the varsity level. The warning bell rang and Charlie took off in a sprint to her first-period class.

While classes had never been Charlie's favorite thing about school, they seemed even more unbearable because everyone was abuzz about Rory's transfer to Chilton. But worse than that were the questions from the other kids asking why she didn't go to Chilton with her sister. That was an awkward question to answer. She could just say it was because she was stupid, but that wasn't true. She could say it had to do with finances, but she was certain her mother didn't want that information getting out. So, Charlie just responded with a smile and a nod of her head.

When lunch finally came, Charlie escaped to the cafeteria to meet up with Parker. The class period before lunch Charlie was in math while Parker was in P.E., one of two class periods they didn't have together. But when Charlie finally got to the cafeteria, she was surprised to see Parker already sitting with the new kid, Dean Forrester. She didn't have anything against the new kid, but she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable sharing Parker with him. She would just make things awkward.

So, she walked across the cafeteria to sit with the girls on the varsity volleyball team. The other girls were happy to have Charlie sit with them, but it was almost overwhelming how focused on the game they were. Their entire lunchtime conversation was focused on that afternoon's match. Charlie didn't contribute much to the conversation and focused on eating her chicken tenders instead.

Charlie was grateful when the bell rang for next period. Slinging her bag over her shoulders, she walked to the chemistry classroom. Inside, she found Parker already waiting at their lab table for her. Charlie set her books down and sat down on the stool beside Parker. "Hey, where were you at lunch?" Parker asked with a furrowed brow.

"You were with the new kid," Charlie said with a shrug.

Parker shook his head. "He has a name you know. It's Dean."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Fine, you were with Dean. I didn't want to intrude so I sat with the volleyball girls." She then looked Parker in the eyes. "You know I don't do well in those kinds of situations."

"C'mon, Charlie. Dean's new and doesn't have many friends yet. He's in my P.E. class and he asked if he could sit with me and I said yes."

"Good for you."

"Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad," Charlie groaned. "I-I just wasn't expecting him there and I freaked out. I was expecting to each lunch, like usual, alone with my best friend. I wanted to talk to you about how annoying today has been with everyone talking about Rory, but I couldn't. Not with him there. So, I went elsewhere."

Parker sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know."

"I know that. I'm just being stupid. I get like that. You know that."

He wisely said nothing. He pondered Charlie's words for a moment before he said, "Will it make you feel better if I swing you a pizza after work tomorrow?"

Charlie slowly nodded her head and then looked at Parker with a slight smile on her face. "You know. I wasn't so sure about you working at Antonioli's at first. But I'm beginning to see the perks."

The bell rang and Mr. Ash called the class to order. After a bit of lecturing, he let them work in pairs on their labs. Parker and Charlie worked together until class ended and then they headed to English class. Dean Forrester sat in the back of their English class. He gave Parker a wave and Parker waved back, but Parker chose to sit by Charlie which she was rather thankful for.

When the school day ended, Charlie headed to the gym and helped set-up with the girls on the varsity team. Once everything was set up, she then went to the locker room and changed into her varsity uniform. She had butterflies in her stomach as she looked at herself in the mirror. She just hoped that she didn't look like an idiot out on the court. Then again, she might not even get any playing time seeing as she was still just a sophomore.

Charlie then joined Parker on the bench for the JV games. Not surprisingly, Parker was working on his homework. Charlie grabbed the math textbook and held it away from him. His brow furrowed as he looked at her. "What was that for?" Parker asked.

"Do you plan on doing your homework when I'm playing?" Charlie asked pointedly.

"Of course not. Why else do you think I'm working on it now?" Parker responded. "Now, hand the math back over and no one gets hurt."

Charlie smiled and handed Parker back his book. He immediately opened his book back up and continued to solve complicated equations. She just sat there and watched the gym doors for her mother and sister, hoping they would get there soon. She didn't want to play without them there. But it looked like she was going to have to because Lorelai and Rory still weren't there when the varsity team moved to the locker room.

After Coach G's pep talk, the girls ran out onto the court to warm up. Charlie looked at the bench of spectators, but the only person there for her was Parker. She shook her head and took her frustration out on a ball she served in warmups. The whistle blew and the girls moved into the huddle. Coach G assigned them their positions and just as she suspected, she started on the bench. Charlie looked over her shoulder at the bench and was once again disappointed to see that her mother and sister still weren't there.

Stars Hollow's team dropped the first game and Charlie still sat on the bench for the second game. She couldn't even look back at Parker afraid that her frustration might move her to tears. Thankfully, they won the second game and the coach put Charlie in as the setter for the third game. She refused to look back and be disappointed by those missing. No, she wanted to enjoy this moment.

Charlie was first up to serve in the third game. She hit the ball against the floor twice and looked up to find that sitting beside Parker with poster-board signs covered in glitter and pom-poms was Lane, Rory, and her mom. Better late than never. Charlie laughed as Rory and her mother cheered loudly and waved their pom-poms much to the chagrin of those seated around them.

The referee blew the whistle and Charlie tossed the ball into the air and smacked it. The other team wasn't prepared and it hit the ground without anyone touching it. Ace! Charlie served and scored a few more times. With each serve, Lorelai and Rory's cheers became louder. It was quite obvious that they had no idea what they were cheering about, but that didn't matter to Charlie. They were there. And they were there for her. She shouldn't have doubted them.

After the fourth game, Stars Hollow High won the match three games to one. Charlie ran over to meet her mother, sister, and best friend. She threw her arms around her mom and hugged her tightly."I'm so proud of you, Charlie," Lorelai smiled, hugging her daughter back before peeling Charlie's arms from her. "But kid, you're sweaty."

Charlie laughed before she pushed the stray tendrils of hair out of her face. "I thought you two weren't going to make it," she confessed.

"Mom, I told you," Rory groaned before she looked at Charlie and shook the sign she was holding. "We ran out of glitter."

"And glue…" Lorelai added.

Rory continued, "So, we had to get more. Then when we got home Mom remembered that she saw pom-poms and she thought we should get some. Apparently, Mom has a thing for pom-poms."

Lorelai rolled her eyes and shook her pom-poms. "Um, I figured if I was going to cheer for a sport I knew nothing about I needed pom-poms."

"So we had to go back to the store...again" Rory shook her sign again that read MAY ALL YOUR SWISHES COME TRUE. Charlie shook her head and smiled. She didn't have the time to tell them that swishes were a basketball thing.

Charlie grinned and hugged her sister. "Well, I'm just glad you both made it. Hey, Rory how was your first day at Chilton?"

"It was...uh, interesting," Rory responded rather politically. "It's gonna take a day or two to settle into the swing of things."

Charlie knew that Rory wasn't telling her everything. Call it twin-tuition or whatever, but she knew. She didn't get a chance to press her sister on the matter because Parker interrupted, "Hey guys, I think I'm gonna head out."

But Lorelai grabbed Parker's arm so that he couldn't get away. "Oh no, Parkey," she said using his childhood nickname. "You're not getting away that easily. We're celebrating at Luke's. We're celebrating Rory's first day of surviving Chilton and Charlie's big win. And you're coming with us."

"Well, I guess you've twisted my arm," Parker joked. "Literally."

Lorelai grinned but didn't release his arm. Charlie jogged to the locker room and changed out of her uniform and back into the clothes she had been wearing earlier. She walked back out into the gym where her mom, Rory, Parker, and Lane were waiting. "To Luke's!" Lorelai commanded raising a fist to the air. The teenagers laughed and they left the gym and headed straight for Luke's.

Lane pulled away and began to head home. "Lane, you know you're invited too," Lorelai laughed. "As you can tell from Parker, I'm quite an expert at twisting arms if I have to."

"Yeah, but I should probably get home. My mom thinks that I'm at a Korean study session at the library," Lane said matter-of-factly.

Parker raised an eyebrow curiously. "Do those actually exist?" he asked.

"If my mom asks you they do," Lane said. "I even made fake fliers for them and posted them on the school and library bulletin boards."

"Got it," Parker laughed as he readjusted his backpack.

The Gilmores and Parker stood in the middle of the street as they watched Lane run back to her house which doubled as Kim's Antiques. When she was on her porch, Lane gave an enthusiastic wave before disappearing inside. "I don't envy her," Charlie commented to Parker. "Mrs. Kim scares the crap out of me."

"I think she scares the crap out of everyone," Parker laughed as they began walking toward Luke's.

When they arrived at Luke's, Luke was just about to turn the sign to closed. But Lorelai reacted faster and opened the door before he could flip it. "Can't you read?" Luke groaned.

"I only learned this morning," Lorelai responded sarcastically. "But right now, the sign is in a state of limbo, neither open nor closed. But since the door is open, this leads us to conclude that you're open for business."

Luke shook his head and motioned behind him. "The lights are off. That means we're closed."

Lorelai gave Luke the sad puppy-dog look. "C'mon Luke, we're celebrating. Just some pie."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Just pie?"

"Well, pie...and the coffee to go with it."

He threw his hands in the air in frustration and shouted something garbled. He then folded his arms across his chest as surveyed those in front of him: Lorelai, Rory, Charlie, and Parker. He then shook his head. "Ok, fine, but you all sit at the counter and no using the sugar to write dirty messages."

Lorelai squealed in delight as Luke opened the door further to allow them entrance. Charlie sat between Rory and Parker as Luke started a pot of coffee with Lorelai babbling beside him. Rory explained to Charlie and Parker about her first day at Chilton, which sounded somewhat like a day in hell. But Charlie was confident her sister would find her place at the school. Her sister was smart and would figure it out...and if she didn't, well then, Charlie might have to go kick their asses.

Luke served them their coffee and pie. Charlie couldn't help but want to take a snapshot of this moment to remember forever, a moment when everything still seemed normal. Things were definitely changing in Charlie Gilmore's life, but as long as she was with those who cared about her, she felt she could handle anything.

Author's Note: Some of you might recognize this story. This is my story, which slow-dancing-in-the-snow adopted from me. But after several discussions with Ani, she realized that she didn't have time to write it. (Thanks for trying, though, Ani! You did a great job with it.) She gave it back to me in hopes that I could make sure it gets updated. That being said, I'm posting this back on my page in hopes to add it to my rotation of things to get updated! Sorry for any confusion! Thanks for understanding! :)