Disclaimer: Don't own it, just crazy about it. All flaws are my own of course.
On a side note I named this story after a song by the Fray (of the same title obviously). It made me think about the show and was the inspiration for this story. So the chapter and story titles are by the Fray.
A/n: Thanks to Curley-Q and glo1196 for the reviews I really appreciate them.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Lorelai woke up the next morning to the sound of a crash. At first, she was only startled and sat up in bed, but then, there was another crash. It wasn't quite as loud that time, but it was enough to make her aware of the fact she wasn't the only person in the house.
She grabbed an umbrella and started walking slowly and steadily towards the kitchen. And as she headed down the stairs she could hear the sounds of someone rummaging through the drawers and items.
When she finally approached the kitchen doorway she saw someone's body move suddenly causing her to unconsciously pop open the umbrella. The person in her kitchen, on the other hand, dropped something made of metal on the floor.
"I think I saw this in a movie once..." Luke said as he bent down to pick up the tongs he dropped only seconds before.
"Luke? What are you doing here?" She said fumbling to get the latch to work on her umbrella.
"Oh, well I uh... wanted to kind of come over see how you were, then I kinda figured I'd make you breakfast." While Lorelai, giving up any hope of closing the umbrella, sat what she could of it in the garbage can.
"What about the diner?" She said sitting down at her kitchen table.
"Oh, I have...Caesar watching it. Though I can only imagine what a hard time Kirk is giving him."
"Maybe you should give him a raise?" Lorelai suggested.
"Yeah, or just pay him overtime." Luke corrected.
They both smiled while Luke kept cooking.
At one point Lorelai got up and went over to the cupboards to get coffee mug. Then, after she poured herself some coffee, she leaned against the cabinets sipping her coffee.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Luke asked as he looked up briefly from the bacon he had begun to put on a plate. Lorelai didn't say anything for a minute but eventually replied, "Yeah, I think so."
"You sure?" Luke said, taking another look at her.
"So what's for breakfast?" She asked trying to push aside her maternal feelings for the time being. "Now that you've officially wrecked my kitchen." She said grinning, as she glancing around the room to the strewn pots, ladles, and who knew what else around her kitchen.
Luke gave her the dirtiest look. And smiled.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Rory, on the other hand, woke up to a knock at her door. She went to the door and opened it to find a guy with a breakfast cart. She rubbed the side of her head trying to wake herself up "Come on in," she said gesturing as she moved out of the way.
"This is your 6 AM breakfast," the guy said, sensing her surprise. He continued with his explanation however, "All the people working on the campaign get breakfast with their wake-up call. It's what most people ask for, so we just started accommodating."
"Oh!" Rory said, starting to understand, "Well… thank you." She said feeling slightly more awake than she was moments ago.
"You're welcome. Here's your coffee and whatnot. If you like a certain coffee just let me know and we'll have one brewed for you tomorrow morning."
"Wow. And, thanks… again." She said as he headed towards the door.
"Sure thing," he smiled and shut the door behind him.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Rory spent the next half-hour getting ready for her first day. And, just as she was about ready she heard a light knock at the door. Rory walked over to the door and looked out the peep hole, where she saw a blonde woman a few years older than herself, standing there waiting.
So, Rory opened the door to see who she was, and what she wanted, but before she could even ask, the blonde walked right on in.
"Hi, I'm Amy, we're getting a little bit of a late start, but here's your information on times, dates, events. Basically, it's going to be you Bible as long as you're working here. Are you ready to go?" She said, as he held out a bunch of papers and folders for Rory to take.
"Yeah, I think so, but I'm really not su..." and before she could even finish, 'Amy' had walked out of the room and stood waiting impatiently in the hallway outside her door.
Rory said nothing, even though she didn't like anything that was going on and would have preferred a little more explanation not to mention common courtesy, but she simply grabbed her things and followed the girl.
As she was shutting the door to her room, Amy headed off down the hall, and when Rory had turned around to follow her Rory practically had to run after the girl just to keep up. Suddenly "they" turned a corner, where Rory found some elevators and a bunch of other people waiting for it. All of whom appeared to be with the reporting staff as well, but Rory didn't get a chance to saying anything because as soon as she was ready to stop and greet some of her fellow workers, Amy, turned with a huff and headed down another hall. She pushed past the door marked "stairs" and headed down rather briskly.
"My name is..." Rory said as she raced down the stairs after the girl. She was trying to break the tension between them or whatever it was that was between them.
"Lorelai, I know," came her reply.
"Yes, but ...everyone just calls me Rory." She said, taking a breath.
Amy said nothing further as they made their way down a couple floors (to where the main conference room was located). She—Amy— just continued to walk at her, what Rory could only assume was her normal pace, down the halls. As Amy was about to turn a corner she looked at her watch anxiously and broke out into a run! Rory couldn't be sure, but only assumed that they must be late— so she ran after the girl. "I must look like an idiot" she thought as she ran. She was in heels and did her best to hang on to (for dear life) the papers and other items Amy had given her that morning.
Eventually, they made it to the conference room doors and Rory took notice of the fact Amy had stopped running and walked in as calmly as if she were window shopping, so she slowed down as well.
Rory followed her on in but when she looked around at the conference room she didn't see another soul in the room.
"Barely on time." She heard Amy mutter to herself, shaking her head as she glanced up from her watch. Amy walked off as Rory stood there; she had no clue what to do now. Just then a bunch of people came in the double doors behind her. They weren't running—heck, they didn't even look rushed! But there they were… talking, laughing, it was nice. Quite a contrast from the other girl.
Rory watched as the people filed in and heading to their own little work stations. The nervousness in her stomach grew as more and more people came in because here she was—her first day—without a clue. Then something or someone bumped into the back of her. When she turned around she saw another girl hunched over the floor picking up a bunch of papers and other items she had just dropped.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you like that." the girl said as she started to pick up the papers.
"No, its okay actually...I'm new around here so I'm not sure of where I'm supposed to be ….and I was in your way, I'm sorry." Rory blurted— her anxiety was getting the best of her.
"Thanks." the girl said as Rory handed her a pile of the papers. "You're new?" The girl asked, "I've only been here a couple weeks myself, but if you like I'll be happy to show you around a bit." The girl said finally standing up with her retrieved papers.
"I'd really appreciate that." Rory said rather relieved.
"My name's Peyton." She said carefully trying to shift her things. She was a redhead with white highlights and despite what Rory would have normally thought of the contrast it was a good look for the girl.
"I'm, Rory."
"So, no one showed you were to go or anything?" Kayla asked as she started to walk to one of the work areas.
Rory followed the girl and replied, "Well, Amy gave me..."
Peyton, however, stopped abruptly upon hearing those words and said "Wait! Say no more." She said shaking her head, "She gave you your "Bible" and made you run halfway here?" There was a slight pause which Peyton took as a sign of affirmation and to Rory's surprise she started laughing.
"She does that a lot I take it?"
"Yeah." Peyton nodded sadly, "And yeah, you're definitely new." Peyton said raising her eyebrows with a smile, as she stopped at one of the tables and sat her papers down. She motioned for Rory to do the same before adding, "Amy's the first one here everyday and the last to leave— and by the first one here, I mean like 15 minutes or more before anyone else. If she's not, well… you can probably imagine." she said.
"Yeah, why is she like that?"
"She likes to scare the new recruits and enforce her "laws" on everyone. It's like we're all back in the 5th grade and the older kids are putting their unwritten rules upon all of us." She said looking over the expanse of the room, "She's Angelica and we're Tommy and Chucky… maybe Phil and Lil… I don't know." She said with a sigh, "Let me tell you the first day...my first day..." she said leaning closer to Rory, "she had me down here a half hour early… and what was I doing," she asked Rory, "running to Starbucks to pick up her double shot of espresso and a sugar-free muffin!" She said annoyance protruding her voice.
"Wow." Rory said shaking her head in disbelief.
"All I'm saying is, she's like that, and you don't have to take most of, if any of her crap. As long as you do your work, however you like to work, for whomever you work and don't just waste time and bug everyone else, she can't do anything to you." Then changing the tone of the conversation she asked, "So did you just graduate?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Oh, from where?"
"Yale." Rory said, simply. In all honesty she felt a little awkward graduating from Yale and working here.
"Really? Yale?" Peyton said, she was definitely surprised.
"Yup...where'd you go?" Rory asked, wanting to learn a little more about this girl.
"N.Y.U., it's not as great as Yale, well, in the 'prestigious' sort of way, but it works. Besides I couldn't afford to pay the… what was it? 47 thousand a year?
"Yeah, I believe me I know, my grandparents paid my tuition."
"That must have been nice." Peyton said, her jaw dropping a little in jealousy.
"It was. Where are we going?" Rory asked noticing that they were headed toward a group of people in the corner.
"I want you to meet some of my friends, not to mention fellow reporters."
"Hey guys." Peyton said to the group in general.
"Hey!" greeted one of the girls who was headed towards them. A couple of the guys were on the phones and they just waved or nodded, all of whom seemed in a good mood.
"So Peyton who is this?" the girl asked as one of the guys hung up their phone just then.
"This is Rory, she's new... and she also just graduated from Yale."
"Yale? Nice college. I'm Jamie by the way." she said as she extended her hand. She had brown hair, silver glasses, and a few freckles and she seemed like a really sweet girl. Rory shook her hand as they introduced her to the guys…
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
A/n: Ok, so suggestions? Comments? Other? I have big plans for this story and consequently, I'm really excited about it. I just mapped out the plot yesterday due to some much needed inspiration. I'm hoping to get more written as soon as possible. Well, thanks for reading the chapter, more to come!
-- (July 24, 2008) This chapter has just been edited and fixed for errors. I hope I got all of them out of here. Let me know if something major springs your way.
She's Angelica and we're Tommy and Chucky… maybe Phil and Lil…: Reference to The Rugrats, Angelica ordered what she called "the babies" around in every episode. Also my cousins loved this show.