Disclaimer: I own no characters.
AN: This is something I'm trying. I don't know how it will work, but yeah.
Gigi Hayden walked into Saks knowing that she needed to pick out something fabulous and a nice winter coat, for when she went to visit her mother in London. She ran her fingers against the soft cashmere material, fingering the softness before wrinkling her nose at the colour. Grey. Gigi was a loud person, she liked loud colours. Something in a bright red, or a yellow was more her style. She knew the people were staring at her, in what she was wearing.
She was slim, of average height, blonde and had blue eyes. That was where the conventional beauty ended. At sixteen, she had "Casper" tattooed on her wrist and a trail of stars around her belly, which peeked out through her tshirt which grazed her waist line. She wore bright red skinny jeans, coupled with black knee-high boots.
She sighed and picked up the grey coat, knowing her mother would be happier with a sober style and thus, much easier to deal with. She hated visiting her and her boyfriend. They changed as the years went by, but her mother was never single. She wished she knew one woman who wasn't so dependant on a relationship. She thought about Lorelai Gilmore, the woman who had once been her step-mother, the cool person.
Her dad didn't really mention her, choosing to not comment or mumble something when her name came up. She heard about some "Lorelai escapades" from Rory, when they met, but nothing much. As she wondered about the woman she hadn't seen in over ten years, she handed the coat to the sales woman along with her card. She stepped back onto a woman's boot and whirled around to apologise and just stared. It couldn't be! She was the woman in her sister's pictures, she was the woman of her father's dreams, she was Lorelai.
Gigi just stared and then uttered a stuttered apology which Lorelai brushed off. She looked at the purchase and looked at Gigi's current clothing and raised an eyebrow. Gigi flushed and said "It's for London. I'm visiting my mother there. She likes me a little better when I'm dressed appropriately"
"Don't all mothers! Mine has conniption fits when she sees me outside of our designated meeting hours!" Lorelai said, smiling kindly at the girl's embarrassment.
"Oh I'm sure they rival mines! I wish.. Never mind." Gigi said, taking her package and signing the slip the cashier handed to her.
"Okay. Are you from New York? Do you know if there is a place that serves great pizza near by?" Lorelai asked, handing her top to the cashier.
"Um, yeah. There is one down the road. I'm actually going there myself." Gigi said, hoping to be asked to join the woman. She didn't know how to tell her who she was, but she felt the need to be around her, to get to know her. She felt like she had been cheated out of having a great experience.
"Thanks. Well, if you don't mind waiting a while, we can walk together." Lorelai said, handing the cashier her card. She smiled at the girl, who was clearly drawn to her. She signed, collected her bags and the two of them headed off to the pizzeria. Once there, they grabbed a table and ordered their slices. Lorelai texted Rory telling her where they were. Meeting her daughter for lunch when she was in the city was a rare treat that Lorelai enjoyed. Oddly, she didn't feel upset about having to share her lunch date.
"So, what is your name? What do you do?" Asked Lorelai, facing her lunch partner.
"Um, I study on the Upper East Side and I go by a lot of names." Gigi replied, reluctant to identify herself just yet.
"Okay. My name is Lorelai. I run an Inn just outside of Hartford in Connecticut." Lorelai aid, hoping the girl would feel more at ease. She bit into her pizza and looked up and smiled.
Rory walked in and pushed her hair off her face. She was in the city for one day and was meeting her mother for lunch and her sister and father for dinner. She looked at her mother and smiled and walked up to the table, but came to a complete stop when she saw who her lunch buddy was.
Gigi turned around to see what had gotten Lorelai's attention and stared at her sister in horror. She had no way to recover from this and was honestly, quite mad at having her cover blown.
Lorelai stood up and walked towards her daughter as Rory recovered. The mother-daughter duo hugged and Rory looked at Gigi, walked over to her and hugged her also, not knowing that Lorelai had no idea who she was. Lorelai watched in shock as her daughter hugged the other girl and felt her jaw drop as Rory said "Hey Gigi! Fancy meeting you here! I thought we were meeting tonight for dinner?"
Gigi hugged her sister and looked guiltily at Lorelai. She disengaged from Rory and walked towards Lorelai.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I just wanted this to not be awkward. And now it will be, obviously. I should go now. Thanks anyway. It really was nice meeting you. I've always wondered what you were like! You're really nice, which is a change from everyone in my life. Except Rory of course." Gigi said, picking up her bag, getting ready to leave. She knew that a relationship with Lorelai was too much to hope for.
"Gigi wait!" Lorelai said, and grabbed her hand. "Come on! You haven't finished your pizza and in my book, it is the most serious, most awful crime! Trust me, Pizza jail is the worst place to be." Lorelai said and pulled her back to her seat. She smiled at Rory who was on her right. This was so weird, and she didn't quite know how to handle it. She had thought about Gigi once or twice, wondering what she was up to. According to her father, she was a bit of a rebel, but not too much trouble.
Rory looked at her mum and wondered what was going on in her head. She always admired her mum to keep her cool. But she thought she should pitch in and salvage the awkward situation. "So, mum, find anything interesting at Saks?" Rory asked, noticing the bag next to Lorelai's foot.
"Oh yeah. I found this girl called Gigi, but I also found a nice top for the play tonight" Her mum said, winking at Gigi.
Gigi was flustered. She didn't know how to react to Lorelai being so calm, and actually joking with her. She was so sure that Lorelai would flip out, call her dad and go off on her! She just smiled at Lorelai, turning a deep shade of red.
"Its alright hun. If I were you, I would be curious about my ex step mother! Its not such a big deal. You don't have to worry about me flipping out, I'm okay. I have thought about you and wondered about you. You said you go to school on the Upper East Side?" Lorelai asked Gigi, hoping to put the girl at ease. She could see how this would have upset the girl.
"Um yeah. I'm in the eleventh grade now. I also live on the Upper East Side, its not too bad. I live with my dad and visit my mum in London on holidays." Gigi said, relaxing in her seat. She was somewhat sure that Lorelai wasn't going to freak out, but she still looked hesitantly at Rory, who just gave her an encouraging smile.
"Mom, Gigi is in a band. She sings. They're actually pretty good, and if I'm not mistaken, they have a show on Wednesday. Since you're in the city, maybe you can check them out!" Rory said, taking a bite of the pizza.
"Oh that is cool. I would love to see the band, but is your dad going to be there? If he is, I'd like to clear it with him because I don't think he's like being blindsided by the whole thing." Lorelai said, smiling at Gigi.
"Really? You'd like to see my band? That would be so cool! Um, yeah, I guess we better tell him that we met. I'll do that when I get home after this." Gigi said, trying not to get excited.
"Okay! That sounds good. I'm in the city till Thursday, so maybe I'll meet your dad on Tuesday, so that the gig won't be our first meeting. I haven't seen him in about two years. He was traveling last Christmas." Lorelai said, looking a little wistful.
"Yeah mom. He was in the Philippines. Remember he got us Manila envelopes? Like a whole stack of them?" Rory said, laughing as she remembered the ridiculousness of their Christmas present.
"Oh Lord! Yes." Lorelai looked at Gigi explaining "We got this massive carton, really heavy and it said from Christopher Hayden with a Manila address, so I was very impressed. I thought it was some fancy statue or vase or whatever, so Rory and I carefully lifted it in and opened it to find about 500 Manila envelopes and a note from your dad that said that they were the best quality because he was sending them from where their name came from! I was quite disappointed. I wrote back saying he needed to make it up to me this Christmas, so now, I can't wait for my present!" She laughed, rubbing her palms with a gleeful expression.
Gigi laughed and shook her head ruefully. Her father always had a woeful sense of humour, but somehow, it just made him more loveable. It suddenly occurred to her that Lorelai may not want to see her father. God knows, she wanted to avoid Nigel, her ex boyfriend, forever.
"Um Lorelai? Will you be okay meeting dad? I would understand if you didn't want to." Gigi asked, a little apprehensive.
"Oh honey, I want to meet your dad. I'm just not sure if he wants to meet me!" Lorelai said, twisting her mouth a little to show uncertainty.
"Oh he does! I know he does. He talks about you at home. But not too much in detail, but yeah. I'm sure he feels the same way, like maybe you don't want to meet him!" Gigi said.
"Alright. I'll give him a call then." Lorelai said, smiling at Gigi. She tried to put on a show and tried to pretend that her heart wasn't thudding in her chest. She felt horribly guilty because she had bonded with Gigi and then just left her hanging in thin air. She had done what she had feared what all the men she had dated would do to Rory. She was a terrible person.
Rory had to leave shortly, after chatting with her mom and sister. She gave her mother a hug, told her that she would see her for breakfast before she had to go to the airport. She hugged Gigi and promised to meet her for dinner. Soon it was just Gigi and Lorelai left at the table.
"Gigi, I just want to say I'm so sorry. We bonded you and me, we liked each other. I was a sor of mother figure slash best friend to you and I left you in the lurch after your dad and I got divorced. I'm so so so sorry. I feel terrible and you must have thought awful things about me. I have no real excuse." Lorelai said, tearing up slightly at the thought of what she had done to the girl.
"No Lorelai. You were my best friend and step mother and yes, there was a time when I was angry and hurt, but I get it now. I'm not angry, I'm not upset. And you are not a terrible person. You're so nice! And I hope we can be friends now?" Gigi said, ending her question with a hopeful note.
"Oh my gosh! Of course we can be friends. I'd love that Gigi! But you do get that I have to talk to your dad about this. Because I can totally see how he would want me kept a thousand yards away from you! I know when Rory was younger, I wanted to protect her from exactly what happened to you! I'm so so sorry hun." Lorelai said, so grateful that Gigi wasn't upset with her. She really did hope that they would become friends one day. She felt like a great injustice had been done to this girl.
"Tell me about your mom in London! It must be so exciting to travel there!" Lorelai said, trying to change the topic.
"Oh London is amazing, but my mum and I have a somewhat difficult relationship, but we both try. We don't clash as much as we used to. So I'm a little happy about that." Gigi said. Lorelai questioned her more about a city she had never seen, until five hours later, it was time for Lorelai to go back to the hotel and go for her Broadway show with Sookie and Jackson.
They parted ways with a light hug, both unsure about the start to a relationship, of friendship.