Author: PKNight

Title: Good Friends Are Hard to Find

Summary: A short story about the Gilmore girls meeting their friends. Set basically in the same continuum as Welcome to Stars Hollow and On Her Own Two Feet.

Rating: G

~*~

Good Friends Are Hard to Find

"Lorelai!" Mia called. "Come and meet our newest employee!"

Lorelai was curious enough that she closed the front register without a protest and went into the kitchen. She was met with a chubby woman her own age with a bright smile on her face, standing talking to Mia.

"Oh, Lorelai," Mia said. "This is Sookie. Sookie St. James. She's going to be the new assistant chef here at the inn. Sookie, this is Lorelai. She takes care of the front desk and the guests."

"Hi," Lorelai said, holding out her hand. "Oh," she gasped when Sookie reached for hers. "What did you do to your finger?"

"Oh, that," Sookie spoke for the first time. Her voice sounded as if she constantly had a laugh bubbling up inside her. "I just had a little mishap with the paring knife. None of the food got any blood on it, so it's all okay."

"Oh, okay," Lorelai said, and they shook. "So, where'd you get the name Sookie?"

"I don't know. Wild hair on my parents' parts, I guess."

"I think it suits you," Lorelai said.

"What about you? Lorelai. That's so…mysterious."

"Not really, it's my grandmother's name, too. Although her nickname is 'Trix,' and I just never got around to the nickname part. Well, except for 'Lor,' but then people think my name is Lory."

"Huh," Sookie said. "Well, I guess we'll be working together here. We should go to a movie some night."

"There's a movie theater here?" Lorelai demanded. She hadn't seen one, and no one had ever mentioned it to her.

"Oh, no!" Sookie laughed. "But someone found a projector recently--I think it was Taylor--and they decided to show movies. It's all very informal."

"Sounds like fun," Lorelai said. "I'll have to check with Rory, of course. But I'll get back to you."

"Rory? Who's Rory?" Sookie cocked her head at Lorelai.

"She's, uh, my daughter."

Sookie's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, wow, you have a daughter? How old is she? I bet she's so pretty."

"She's five. And I guess she's pretty, if you like the brown-haired, blue-eyed, potential model-type." She smiled.

Sookie looked up at the ceiling, her lips moving as she calculated. "Oh, then you had her when you were young. How long have you lived here?"

"About five years minus three months," Lorelai said. "It's a long story that I'll tell you sometime."

"I can't wait."

Mia simply looked on and smiled. Lorelai needed to get out more, get more involved with the town. She did very little except work and sleep, and take care of Rory. She needed to make some friends here, besides Mia herself. She needed friends her own age.

~*~

That night, Lorelai and Rory sat outside, eating microwave pizza pockets and listening to a party going on up at the Inn. "So," Lorelai said. "What would you say to going to a movie some night?"

"What's a movie?" Rory scrunched her nose up, and looked at her mother questioningly.

*Wow,* Lorelai said. *I've been neglecting this kid's education. Now I wish we could afford a TV and VCR.* "A movie is a story told by people acting it out. It's put up on a big screen, and you and a bunch of other people sit in the dark watching the pictures and eating popcorn and candy."

Rory tilted her head to the side, considering this. "What kind of pictures?"

"Moving ones."

"Really? You mean like on TV? I saw some TV shows at Miss Patty's house."

"Like TV," Lorelai agreed, "but usually longer. They mostly are about an hour and a half or more."

Rory again thought. "Okay. Why haven't we gone before?"

"I didn't know there was a movie place," Lorelai explained.

"Oh. Who told you?"

"A woman who works at the Inn. She's new. She invited me to a movie, and I told her I'd have to check with you."

Rory nodded, and licked pizza-flavored grease off her fingers. "Okay. Let's go to a movie." Then she climbed onto her mother's lap and they watched the stars and the lights from the party reflect off the lake.

~*~

"What's showing today?" Lorelai asked Sookie as they stood in line to buy tickets.

"I think it's 'Willy Wanka and the Chocolate Factory,'" Sookie answered.

"Oh, I love that movie! Rory, hon, it's got songs, and these little people with green hair and orange skin."

Rory looked up at her mother and thought for a moment before saying, "How did the people get green hair and orange skin?"

"Well, you know the stuff I put on my face every morning?" Lorelai asked her as they went to find a seat. Rory nodded. "That's make-up, remember? In movies, people always wear make-up, and the orange skin and green hair come from make-up, or wigs. I guess the green hair is probably wigs, huh?" she asked Sookie.

"I guess so," Sookie said. "I never thought about it before. But I guess it would have to be, huh, because it sticks out like that? Like Pippy Longstocking."

"Ha!" Lorelai laughed. "I haven't heard a good reference to Pippy Longstocking in forever." She hadn't heard many references to much of anything in a very long time, she realized.

After the movie was over, Rory was humming the Oompa-Loompa's tune. "Mommy," she said. "How come we only come into Stars Hollow when we're buying food?"

Lorelai was stumped, and didn't answer as she, Sookie, and Rory walked along the streets in the dark. "I don't know, hon," she said. "I guess I just get so busy with work that I don't really have that much energy to go and do stuff. But you get to go into Stars Hollow all the time. Remember? You go to Miss Patty's house, and you sometimes go to Babette and Morey's?"

"Yeah, but you're not with me," she said, holding tight to her mother's hand. "All there is to do there is read or dance."

"Wow," Sookie said, sounding awed. "She knows how to read already?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't think I actively taught her. Mia, maybe, but not me. It seemed like one day she was just looking at the pictures and the next she was reading the words all by herself."

"We have more books than Miss Patty," Rory said proudly. "Sometimes I bring some of mine along when I go to her house.

"Some?" Lorelai demanded of her daughter, who grinned unrepentantly back at her. Lorelai told Sookie, "Rory here hauls along a wagon filled with books. I'm just lucky I talked her out of bringing it to the movie."

Rory shook her head adamantly. "The movie was just as much fun as books. Besides, I need new books; I've read all of mine."

"Ah, my little girl. Already a bookworm. The problem is, how to get books and still afford food."

"Speaking of food, I'd be happy to have you two over for dinner sometime," Sookie said. "It would be so much fun! Oh, we could have a slumber party!"

"Yay!" Rory said, reacting to Sookie's excitement. Then she asked, "What's a slumber party?"

"Um," Lorelai said, embarrassed. "She hasn't really connected with the other kids in town. There's some girls she hangs out with that are also baby sat by Miss Patty, but…I don't know, I guess they just don't interest her."

"But I'm starting school soon," Rory said. "And I'm turning six!" She held up her whole right hand and one finger on her left. "That's an important number, you know," she confided to Sookie.

"Yeah, she's starting kindergarten at Stars Hollow Elementary," Lorelai said. "And she's going to wait for me right outside the school, right?" She looked hard at her offspring.

"Yes," Rory said, nodding.

Sookie smiled. "Well, doesn't that sound like fun? You'll get access to all those books in the library."

"Really?" Rory asked, eyes wide. "A whole 'nother library? Ooh!" She began hopping up and down. "I can't wait! Can we get school to start early?"

"Ah," Lorelai said in only semi-mocking horror. "I can't believe I actually gave birth to someone who likes school!"

"Sometimes you just don't know how they'll pop out," Sookie said, smiling. Lorelai smiled back.

~*~

"Hi!" The cheery, black-haired girl approached a very shy Rory. "My name is Lane Kim. I'm a Korean-American. What are you?"

Rory frowned at her for a long moment. "I don't know. I think I'm just an American." She turned to her mother.

"I think we might have a little German blood," she said, picking a European country off the top of her head. "Maybe a little British. But I don't know. Is it fun to be Korean?" she asked the little girl.

"I like being an American better," Lane said after a moment's thought. "Are you sisters?" she asked them. "'Cause I've got some cousins that are sisters that are twelve years apart."

Lorelai shook her head, trying to think about how to put it in terms a six-year-old would understand. "Nope. I'm her mommy."

"You don't look like her mommy," Lane told them, eyeing them.

"Well, she is," Rory piped up. "She even has a job and we have an apartment and everything! And sometimes, when it's dark and late at night we get to listen to the music coming from the Inn and before it gets dark we get to feed the ducks." Lane was wide-eyed at the adventures.

"Why don't you two go on inside the classroom?"

Rory peered around the doorway where there were lots of kids running around and yelling. "It's noisy in there," she protested, and grabbed her mother's hand. "Can you come in with me?"

"I'm sure you'll like it," Lorelai said, feeling something pulling at her heart. She wasn't ready for this, for her daughter to leave her for the whole half-day of kindergarten. It was too soon; Rory was still a baby. Lorelai herself was still a baby. But she bit her lip and forced a smile. "Go on, hon. I'll wait here for a while, make sure you're okay. How's that?"

"That's good," Rory said, looking down at their joined hands. "I love you, Mommy," she said, just before she latched onto Lorelai's legs, hugging her mother for all she was worth. Lorelai almost broke down crying, but she held it together.

"I love you, too, kiddo," she said, bending down and taking Rory into her arms. "But you've gotta go to school now. It's the law. Now, what are you supposed to do after?"

"Wait for you to come pick me up. Then we'll go home."

"Right," Lorelai said. "Maybe we can bring Lane home with us, and you guys can hang out this afternoon."

Lane was smiling widely at that. "That would be neat!" Then she frowned. "But I don't know if mama would like that."

Lorelai peered at the little girl. "Is your mama picking you up after lunch?" When Lane nodded, Lorelai said, "Well, why don't I ask her about it then?" Lane nodded happily. "Okay. Now, go on in. You don't want to be late on your first day!"

"Bye, mommy," Rory said, and she and Lane entered the classroom.

"Bye," Lorelai whispered, wiping under her eyes, trying not to smear her mascara with the barely-overflowing tears. She managed to hold on to her emotions on the walk back to the inn, but as soon as she was in the door, Mia took one look at her and pulled her into a hug.

As soon as she felt the older woman's arms around her she burst into tears. "Mia," she sobbed. "My baby is growing up."

"It's what happens, I'm afraid," Mia said, pulling back and handing Lorelai a tissue.

"There's got to be a way I can stop it," Lorelai said, dabbing at her eyes and wiping her nose. "Maybe I can put anti-growth hormones in her juice. What do you think?"

"I think you are going to raise a beautiful, intelligent, capable young woman someday," Mia told her, which nearly set Lorelai off again. "And that these first steps are necessary. Sad, for everyone, but necessary. I have to admit, I will miss having Rory running around here all day."

"Yeah. It's just going to be a half-day," Lorelai said, laughing slightly. "And there might be another one. There was another little girl who talked to Rory today. I think she's going to make at least one friend."

Just then Sookie burst out of the kitchen. "Oh!" she said, holding out her arms to Lorelai. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I completely forgot this was Rory's first day of school! Oh, are you all right?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay. And I think I'm going to be okay." She smiled genuinely. She threw her arms around Mia and Sookie's shoulders. "Friends are good," she said, almost to herself as she led Mia and Sookie back to the desk and the waiting customers.