Lena sat at the kitchen table for dinner with six teenagers while the baby slept in Lena's arm. Stef, unfortunately for Lena, called to say that she had to stay late for a meeting. The kids had all been introduced to Lorelai and had been nothing but polite to her. Mariana and Jude had even taken it upon themselves to babysit while Jesus and Brandon offered to help Lorelai with the garage - a task that was clearly going to take more than just a few hours. Callie helped Lena make dinner and some extra mashed potatoes and chicken broth for Rory which Lorelai was extremely touched about.
Now the seven of them were eating dinner and all the questions were being curiously fired at the girl.
"So you like just, ran away from home?" Mariana asked the question that was on everyones mind. "Like you just left?"
"Yeah." Lorelai replied. "I wasn't happy with that life and I wanted something different for Rory." She explained easily. Lorelai was seventeen and full of confidence and determination and she basically had nothing to hide. It wasn't even that she didn't want her parents to know where she was - she knew that eventually she would give them a call but she just wanted to get herself settled and maybe had a concrete plan before she did.
"Did they hit you or something?" Jesus wondered out loud. "Were they abusive?"
"No." Lorelai said with a slight laugh. "They never laid a finger on me."
"They kicked you out for getting pregnant right?" Mariana stated, rather excitedly in the hopes that she'd guessed correctly.
"No." Lorelai said more firmly this time though she couldn't help but laugh. "It's not so dramatic. That life just wasn't for me so I left, that's all there is to it. I know you guys didn't have the best of lives and you lived through abuse and neglect and stuff and I know that it's out there in the world but that wasn't my life. My parents didn't kick me out, they didn't hit me or starve me or leave me alone for days on end." She paused at Mariana who had described her life a few hours ago. "In fact I lived a life that you would probably hate me for - my house has seven bedrooms, a living room the size of your entire ground floor and a dining room to match. We had a pool and a pool house and a fountain out front. Two maids and a nanny for Rory, a chauffeur to take me to and from school, two gardeners and a crew that came in twice a week to clean up the pool and filter it."
By now everyone's jaws were basically down to the floor and Lorelai could practically read the looks on their faces - then why the hell did you leave?.
"My parents were very big on social affairs and they had a reputation to uphold. They wanted a daughter that got straight A's that would get into Yale and always look perfect with not a hair out of place…"
"So they wanted Mariana." Jesus teased his sister.
"Not quite." Lorelai assured. "Dress nice meant dresses with huge bows on the bustle and sticking your pinky up when drinking tea. Plus they wanted a quiet kid, I doubt Mariana knows how to be quiet." Lorelai teased back with a friendly smirk to the Latina who stuck her tongue out at her good-naturedly.
"Anyway, they wanted all that but instead they got me - the girl that drank until she threw up and snuck out to hang out with her friends and boyfriend and got kicked out of camp for causing trouble. The day I finally told my parents that I was pregnant was the day my dress for my coming out party arrived…"
"Wait, you're gay?" Mariana interrupted. "Is that why you left?"
"Ahah. No, not that kind of coming out." Lorelai said exasperatedly. "It's a party that basically says that I'm not a woman of marriageable age and all the boys can come and look at me and poke and prod me to see if I'm worth their time and money." She said sarcastically.
"Sounds like a pig at a country fair." Callie quipped.
"Feels like it too." Lorelai assured. "Anyways, I didn't want that life. I wanted a different life for Rory and so we left. I want to do it on my own. I want my own life and I'm not afraid to work for it."
"Well, while I'm not a fan of the running away part, I definitely admire your determination to earn your living. Just remember not to let Rory suffer." Lena pipped up. She'd been listening quietly, proud of how supportive her kids were being but also keeping an ear out for any personal details that Lorelai dropped. She hadn't told the girl that her partner was a cop just yet and she knew that Stef would have more questions and demand more answers. In so many ways Lorelai reminded Lena of Stef - both determined, somewhat stubborn with a tendency to dig their heals in when they had their mind set on something.
"I'm okay with starting at the bottom." Lorelai assured. "I'll work my way up. I mean, when I got pregnant my parents wanted me to marry Chris and my dad offered him a job at his firm. We would have been set up in a beautiful house with maids and nannies and my mother would have given me a string of pearls but we wouldn't have been happy. Chris is not ready to be a father and I'm not sure I want to marry him right now. I want to see the world and live a little before I settle down and I don't think that just because I have a baby I should suddenly have no interests of my own. Rory's an easy kid and she's pretty smart, she can already point to things if you ask her where they are and she loves to be read to so maybe she will enjoy some adventure."
"Let's just take a day at a time and see how things go." Lena said, in a parental, authoritative voice. "You will stay here as long as the garage needs organizing and after that we'll see what can be done." What she didn't say was that she had every intention of prolonging the work until they found a way to get the girl up on her feet.
"I appreciate that, thank you." Lorelai said. "I'll get back to the garage first thing tomorrow morning." She offered, glancing back to Mariana and Jude hoping that the two would give up their Sunday morning to once again babysit for her. Lena had been right - that garage was no place for a baby."
With that the conversation moved back to what needed to be done and how they would all pitch in until the front door opened and a few moments later Stef walked in to a lively dinner table and baby in her wife's arms.
