Spoiler Warning: don't read any of the following if you're not into the spoilers.
Hi everybody. This is Lilianna's Gilmore Girls Season 4- in my own happy little world, this fun stuff would happen. To set the scene:
it's late June 2003. Rory's graduated. Jess hasn't left for his own spin off yet. set after the fire at the Independence Nicole's still around, Lorelai is juggling Max and Alex. They both still have bad hair, because some things you can't write away.*****
"Our own inn. Now. She's a present. From Mia. For us. To help with our own inn. Ouch!" Sookie sucked on the finger she had just burned on the hot pan on the stove. Lorelai and Annie were sitting at Sookie's kitchen table as she continued to cook obsessively and make incoherent sentences.
"Yes, well, so long as your hormones don't clash too much. It's starting to look like a mom's-to-be convention around here." Lorelai quipped, looking at her own pregnant friend, who was just starting to really show.
"Yeah, it's fun isn't it?" Sookie said, rubbing her belly. She looked at Annie thoughtful, studying her for a moment. She wasn't petite, but she wasn't an overly tall woman. Lorelai took her by about two inches. Her hair fell in ringlets that reached her mid-back, and Sookie couldn't decide if her eyes were blue of green. Her face was thinner for a pregnant woman. She had hardly any baby fat Sookie noticed jealously. "An elf!" Sookie said suddenly, interrupting Lorelai and Annie's conversation.
"What sweetie?" Lorelai asked, confused.
"I was just thinking, Annie looks a little like, well, Legolas and Galadriel- like, an elf. sort of." Lorelai squinted her eyes and studied Annie.
" I would have to agree. Definitely an elf of Lorien, though, not Rivendell." Lorelai decided.
"Definitely." Sookie agreed. Annie smiled.
"I have some skill with a bow and arrow, but I'm afraid I'm a bit rusty when it comes to speaking elfish. Thank you- it's much better than being compared to a Hobbit. So what are we eating here- elevenses? Luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper?" Sookie and Lorelia smiled with approval.
"I told you she was something." Lorelai said.
"So I passed the tests then?" Annie asked, shoveling homemade crepes into her mouth.
"With flying colors baby!" Sookie placed more food in front of Annie.
"Really, you have to stop" she said halfheartedly as she reached for a muffin.
"Are you kidding? Sookie's been cooking for an inn full of people for years now. A hiatus is not her style. She's fattening everyone up now- right Jackson?" Lorelai smiled as Jackson entered the room.
" Hi Lorelai! Sookie! Baby!" Jackson leaned down and spoke to Sookie's belly. "Are you having a good morning in there?" Sookie giggled. Lorelai caught a glimpse of Annie. She was looking at her own swollen belly, sadly, rubbing it slowly. Lorelai looked away, afraid of being caught staring.
"Oh really, he's been talking to baby more than to me. It's crazy." She swatted his retreating back with her spatula, unwittingly spraying him with batter.
"Sookie, I just washed this shirt," Jackson grumbled, skulking off. Sookie continued with her infectious giggle.
"So when are you due Annie?"
"Yes, because baby discussion is much more important than our new Inn discussion" Lorelai quipped, remembering Annie's sadness. Maybe the woman didn't want to talk about it. People don't get that sometimes, the baby isn't the best thing in the entire world to discuss.
"It's no problem Lorelai," she said, giving her a knowing smile. "I'm due in about a month and a half. I'll have to talk to you about doctors and stuff. I need to get myself situated. Boston's too far to commute back to, and I'll be getting an apartment our here."
"Do you have a place in Boston?" Sookie asked. Annie sighed.
"I did. I sublet it when I left last year, and I haven't gone to get it back or anything I was staying with my father for a while there but he wasn't thrilled with sharing his space all the time. Boston was great- I'm just I'm feeling a little displaced right now." She shrugged, and left it at that.
"Well, you can't just stay on your own. I mean, you should stay with Lorelai!" Sookie exclaimed. Annie looked uncomfortable.
"I'm not looking for charity Sookie, just a place to live"
"Well, of course silly, Lorelai's got a house, and what if you need help and stuff" Sookie trailed off.
"Really, I should be fine, as long as I get a decent place within walking distance of Luke's. I think I've found my main food supplier. Though there's that pancake world, and I do love pancakes"
"No!" said both Lorelai and Sookie in unison. Annie looked up, startled by their adamancy.
"You won't find pancakes there anyway. It's complicated. It's just Stars Hollow. You'll get used to it!" Lorelai said.
"Well, whatever it is, it's home for a while. But ladies, don't worry about me at all. I'm here to take care of you guys, and I can do a great job of it, baby or not. I promise. So we should probably get started with everything," Annie's face was fixed in seriousness. Lorelai and Sookie sighed and slid into chairs next to her to get to work.
*****
"She's just so organized and keeps us focused. And she knows Lord of the Rings. It's just a win-win scenario with Annie," Lorelai said as she closed the refrigerator with her hip. "Uggh. Nothing here at all." She looked up at her only daughter. "Luke's?"
"Of course." Rory smiled, shrugging on her coat. "I was quite prepared for this," she quipped, handing Lorelai her jacket.
"So am I going to lose you to the upstairs kissing monster when we get there?" Lorelai smacked her lips together annoyingly. Rory shoved her aside playfully.
"No, he's working at Wal-Mart tonight. He's trying to save up as much as he can before he leaves." Rory looked sullenly at her shoes. "Mom, can I ask you something?"
"Sure sweetie," Lorelai hugged Rory to her as the walked to their favorite diner. Rory had been a little more withdrawn lately, and Lorelai was just on edge waiting for her daughter to share.
"Is it horriblewell.. he's leaving, he's my boyfriend, but I'm not all broken hearted over it. He's leaving. That's that. I'm going to college. He'll be gone in two weeks and there's nothing. No dread, or sickening feeling in my stomach. I hope everything works out for him, but I feel guilty for not feeling worse about it." She looked mournfully up at her mom. "Tell me I'm not a horrible lady."
"Oh sweetie, you're not horrible. You're 18." Lorelai scruffled her daughter's hair teasingly. Thank God she thought to herself. This is going to make things so much easier for Rory. "Look, honey, he's your second boyfriend. You're first was a gem, and you two were more serious, and while that was o.k., well, so is just dating someone. You're not in love with Jess. That's fine. Good even. Ever girl's allowed her hottie-rebel-without- a-clue kiss-a-muffin."
"Kiss-a-muffin? Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff?"
"It just flows naturally, it's a gift" Rory rolled her eyes.
"Speaking of kiss-a-muffins, which one are you seeing tomorrow night?"
"Uggh. I don't know yet. I didn't call either of them. This is getting complicated. It's a pain in the butt."
"Well, you've been juggling them for about two months now." Rory looked thoughtful. "Seriously, you should tell them."
"No way. Alex is, well, easy enough to get along with and he does have his new coffee place, which is a total plus. And Max is, comfortable"
"Comfortable mom? That's not what I'd call a great relationship. Comfortable. Like old sneakers."
"The perfect pair of ripped jeans."
"A broken-in sofa."
"All things worth keeping around, see?" They reached Luke's, and Lorelai opened the door.
"Yeah, until you're ready for the nice new stuff. Then comfort is just- ummm, landfill?"
"Nice- or not. I think you lost the analogy. Max is landfill?"
"What's landfill?" Luke interrupted the conversation as he passed by with a handful of plates.
"Max." said Rory, as Lorelai pushed her towards a table.
"What?"
"Never mind." Lorelai grabbed hold of Rory and dragged her to a table. "Can we changed the subject please?"
"Fine, fine, we'll talk about your sorry love life some other time."
"Thanks, I think." Lorelai picked up the menu and studied it intently. "What do I feel like tonight? I mean, there's always so many choices here. And with this new menu, I simply cannot decide." She turned the menu sideways and upside down in a dramatic attempt to find the perfect meal. "You never know where Luke might be hiding the good stuff"
"O.K. psycho mom. Enough. You're making a scene" Rory pointed towards a couple of tourists staring at her.
"Like that's ever stopped her before." Luke said sarcastically, coming up from behind her.
"Must you sneak up like that?" Lorelai said indignantly.
"Who's sneaking? I'm not sneaking. I'm walking up, doing my job, trying to take your order. No sneaking involved," he joked.
"Oh, I think there was sneaking. An effort to distract me from finding all those hidden meals in your menu," she responded, shaking the menu at him. Luke snatched it from her. "Hey. I haven't decided yet."
"Yeah right. I don't even know why I come over here and ask what you want anyway- anything big, greasy, and likely to give you a heart attack." Luke shook his head.
"One of these days your head is going to fall right off from all that head-shake disapproval," Rory warned with a mocking look of concern.
"Whatever Laurel and Hardy. What will you have?" the ladies gave their orders and Luke stalked off to make their usual cheeseburgers with fries, and of course, coffee.
"Anyway, mom, tell me more about what you guys did with Annie today." Rory propped her head on her hands and leaned in, interested.
"Well, really we got her updated on where we're at with everything, and we took her over to see the place we're thinking of buying. Then she went through this huge list of things so she could start to research the banks around here, insurance companies, the works. We gave her our business proposal and she's going to go over it and get back to us if it needs to be tweaked. She seems excited about what we're doing though. She left us a little after one to go look for a place to rent." Lorelai explained as Luke brought them their coffee.
"Are you talking about Annie?" he asked, interested.
"Ye Gads, Sherlock, you've figured us out!" Luke made a face. "Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering. I ran into her on my way to the market and told her about the Conner place over off of Peach Street. They're renting out their house. I didn't know if she had gone and taken a look or what."
"How very helpful of you! Just happen to run into Annie and direct her to places and all that interesting." Lorelai said teasingly. Luke glared, and Lorelai turned to Rory. "I think Lukey over here has a secret 'thing' for those lawyers Rory," she declared.
"Of for crying out loud, she needed some help. She's out here all by herself and all- you know-" he motioned to his stomach and made a wide circle with his hands. Lorelai giggled.
"Knocked up? Bun in the oven? With Child?"
"Exactly. What kind of guy- oh never mind." Luke looked exasperated.
"Lots of guys Luke, it's a sad fact. We don't know her story though. I know her man's a marine, so maybe he's just stationed away somewhere."
"Leaving her with no real place to live? Come on." Luke scoffed.
"I just think it's cute you're all concerned with our new lady in town. Don't tell Nicole, she might get jealous." Lorelai warned teasingly.
"You always have to make things dirty don't you."
"Yup. It's a gift."
"Like kiss-a-muffin." Rory nodded in agreement.
"I'm through trying to understand you. Seriously." Luke started to walk away and Lorelai grabbed him by the belt loop.
"Now now, don't run away. We're just joshin' with you! Don't get so grumpy!" She flashed him a killer smile and he relented. "Sit and talk with us."
"It's busy."
"Not really."
"I don't have your food done yet."
"Then why the hell are you standing here boy! Go cook!" She shooed him off to the kitchen. Rory gave her a pointed look. "What?"
"Flirt. Don't you have enough boys on your plate?"
"Boring topic. Back to my fabulous new Inn. Tomorrow, we're meeting up with Annie and going over a couple of things. We introduced her to Taylor this morning and she got a copy of the town by-laws and zoning and everything. He invited her to the town meeting, so I guess she'll be going to that too. Really, though, she should stay with us tomorrow night- she shouldn't be driving back to Boston. I think I'll call her" Lorelai reached into her purse for her cell phone when it suddenly went off. She looked at Rory. "Creepy.' She glanced at the number. "Alex," she said and answered the phone. "Hi Alex"
"Out Lorelai!" Luke pointed to his infamous sign. Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him and headed outside.
"So mom seems like she's made a new friend," Rory said to Luke as he set the ladies plates down.
"Yeah, I imagine they have something in common. Not to mention Annie's someone to take care of all the details so Lorelai can really get this Inn thing going." Luke crossed his arms and stood above her. "She's nice, you'll like her."
"It does sound like you have a little crush on her you know.' Rory mentioned. Luke shook his head.
"She's a nice person Rory. I'm not looking for anyone else to date," he told her.
"So things with Nicole are good?" Luke shrugged.
"I guess. They're good," he said noncommittally.
"I wanted to ask you how's Jess doing? I mean, with his father and everything?" Luke looked sad for a moment, then shrugged.
"I can't tell, to be honest. I don't think he's too broken up about leaving. I think he's more nervous than anything, but being Jess he isn't exactly sharing."
Lorelai pranced back in the diner at that moment, dancing around Luke to slide into her chair. "How is boy number one?" Rory asked, smiling slyly.
"Fine, you brat. I think we're going to get together on Friday night. I'm not sure if I made plans already though" she trailed off, looking up at Luke, who was staring down at her disapprovingly. "What?"
"Nothing." He continued to frown. "Sometimes I just don't understand you," he said a bit sadly.
"Don't be judging me, mister. Not all of us can be lucky enough to find our sweet lawyer lovelies." Lorelai quipped, put off. Luke shook his head.
"You're just better than that Lorelai." He left them abruptly, and Lorelai looked questioningly at Rory.
"What's that all about?" she asked her daughter. Rory shrugged.
"He's disappointed in you. So is Sookie, you know." Lorelai sighed.
"It's none of his business who I date anyway."
"He's your friend. He's right too. I don't want to fight about it mom." Rory took a huge bite of her burger to avoid further comment.
****
(at the Gilmore house, later that evening)
"So there's going to be a town meeting and they're going to talk about the Inn tomorrow night, and Annie's going to be there." Lorelai was in the middle of explaining. She shifted on the couch so she could lay down, propping her head up with the hand that held the phone.
"It sounds great, Lorelai. Really great." Max's voice waned a bit, as if he was upset.
"What?" Lorelai asked, a bit exasperated.
"I'm just surprised you didn't call me and tell me. I mean, I called you, you tell me, great, but you would think with news like that you'd call me. I'm just a little disappointed." Max whined a bit. Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should go meet you at the meeting tomorrow. We can go out to eat to celebrate afterwards." Lorelai blanched at the suggestion.
" I don't think that's such a good idea I mean, it took me forever to convince Annie to spend the night here, and I don't think going out and leaving her is a good idea."
"Well, I'll come to the meeting anyway" Max insisted. Lorelai rolled her eyes again.
"No, really, it's just a town meeting. No big deal. Really, I'll see you Saturday night," she guessed at the day.
"Friday Lor, we made plans for Friday." Lorelai smacked herself in the forehead. "Seriously, what's up with you? It's Luke isn't it. The vibe thing. Am I right?"
Lorelai laughed, a bit nervously."You're crazy. And you're wrong. He's been dating this girl Nicole for almost 5 months. Stop worrying. I meant to say Friday. I'm just excited about this Inn thing, that's all. Can't you just be happy for me?" She felt slightly guilty, but hadn't lied to him about anything. Nope, no lies here.
"You're right, I'm sorry. Things are just, still weird between us now, you know?" He sounded needy, and Lorelai found herself losing patience. This phone call was turning out as badly as her call with Alex earlier. She was just getting annoyed.
"I know. It's just all different. Look, I need to get to bed. We'll talk later, o.k.?" Max agreed, and they said their goodbyes.
****
A town meeting: so now I get to work with all the fun town people :) Any suggestions are gladly accepted. And I hate Max. Can you tell? :)