Everything About You
a Gilmore Girls fanfiction by skazumbi the loveli

Everything about you is how I wanna be
Your freedom comes naturally
Everything about you resonates happiness
Now I won't settle for less
--Muse, "Bliss"

Chapter One

"Rory, hurry up!"

"I'm coming, hold on!"

"We're going to be late." Rory appeared from her bedroom, pulling her second saddleshoe on as she went. Her hair was a mess, and her plaid blue skirt was askew. She smiled quickly, tossing her backpack heavily over her back. "Let's get going then. Bye, mom!" she called behind her, and Lorelai's head poked out at the top of the steps.

"Have a good day, all. Don't rob any banks without me, or anything," she said. Rory lunged out the door, leaving Max standing there, looking up adoringly at his wife. "You'll be home at the regular time, then?" Lorelai asked, with only her head visible. Max smiled and nodded. She smiled back, and blew him a kiss. Then, he was out the door.

What Max didn't see in his new wife's eyes were the shadows of doubt that had been growing behind her irises since about a week before the wedding. Rory was too wrapped up in the joy of her stepfather to notice a real difference in her mother's attitude. Not there was anything noticable. But when Lorelai woke up in the mornings next to her husband, she pelt a slight pang of guilt. She wasn't sure why. She'd spent too much time thinking about it to think about it any more. So she got dressed and went to work.

The day seemed routine - nothing major exploding in the kitchen, only a few bickering sessions with Michel wanting to pull a guest's hair out, no booking problems or cleaning problems or any other kind of problems that Lorelai saw. It seemed to be just that way lately. The same thing everyday. Or maybe Lorelai was just underreacting.

After work, she went to Luke's as she usually did, to wait for Rory to come home. Except now, there was Max. He came home with Rory. Lorelai was stuck staring into the swirling, thick brown liquid in her cup when Luke decided it would be the perfect time to interrupt her thoughts. "Bad day?" he asked, leaning over the counter and looking into her eyes.

"No. Not bad... not good, but by no means bad." Lorelai smiled shyly at Luke. "How was your day?"

"Oh, alright." Lorelai went back to staring into her coffee the moment the conversation began to lull. "Actually... I got a call from my sister today."

"Really?" Lorelai said, instantly pulling out of her funk. She was genuinely interested, especially since Luke hardly ever talked about his sister and when he did, well, it wasn't good.

"Really. And guess what?"

"What? Is she marrying a dolphin?" This offered complete silence from Luke's part. "Sorry. Continue."

"Well, she's sending me her son. Jess. Apparently, the kid's not doing so well and she thinks I can help him out." Lorelai just kind of stared in awe at Luke.

"Wait... I'm sorry... WHAT? She's sending you her kid? That's crazy."

"Well, she seems to think I'll do him some good. He's seventeen, just getting into a little trouble. I guess her way of thinking is how much trouble can the kid get into if he's in Stars Hollow?"

"Uhm... a lot? Luke, and you accepted this?" Lorelai asked, completely amazed. Luke nodded. "You do know... how to do this, right?"

"Yeah, I bought him an air mattress and everything. Cocoa Puffs. The general kid stuff, I guess."

"Wow, when's he coming?" Lorelai asked, keenly interested.

"Tomorrow," Luke replied, and then he started going back to his work. Lorelai would've stepped in and asked a lot more, but she was interupted by the incredibly peppy sixteen-year-old popping up beside her. "Hey, Mom. Can I have a sip?" Without any actual answer, Rory picked up the coffecup sitting blandly, uselessly in from of her stricken mother. "Cold, blech." Rory put the coffe down and looked at Lorelai. "Earth to Lorelai? Come in Lorelai?"

"Luke's nephew is coming to stay with him."

"Uhm... great?" Rory was thoroughly confused by her mother's complete lack of emotion, both in her voice and face. "Max wanted me to tell you that he had to stay late today. He had a bunch of meetings that he just couldn't get out of. So... he'll be home around nine-ish."

"Okay. Well, I guess we can eat out tonight. Just the two of us. Like old times, whaddya say?" Lorelai said, perking up slightly. She took a sip of her cold coffee after saying this and immediately spit it out. Then, looking back at Rory she saw a cold, hurt look coming from her daughter. "Oh, honey, I didn't mean... You know that I didn't mean that I didn't want Max. Its just... we've haven't eaten out just the two of us in forever. I kind of miss it, you know? It's nostalgia, nothing more."

"Right. I have a lot of homework to do tonight, so maybe we could just order take-out or something," Rory said, trying not to read too much into her mother's behaviour. "But... maybe I can do some of it in study hall tomorrow."

"Great. It'll be a girls-night-out. Lovely." Lorelai once again forgot that she had cold coffee, and she took another sip. "I'm just going to call Max and see how he's doing, okay?" Lorelai stepped out of the diner, quickly dialing the numbers she knew so well. "Hello?"

"Hi. Max. It's Lorelai."

"Oh, hi! I'm sorry about tonight. It's just, I had to meet with three students after school, and we had this big teacher's association meeting that I forgot about. But..."

"Max, it's fine. Really. Rory and I are going to go out for dinner, and we'll pick you up something, alright?"

"Alright. See you tonight then?"

"Oh, no, I was planning on running awaw to Mongolia before you came back."

"Good-bye, Lorelai. I love you."

"See you tonight, Max." And Lorelai hung up.