Not long after Father and Daughter left Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner.

"What'd you guys do stand at Doose's and wait till they drove off?" Isabella whispered as Rory went to hug her.

"Don't joke about things you know the answer to." She answered whispering back in her ear. Isabella smiled as they released each other.

"Hey," Isabella said looking up at Lorelai.

"Hey Kid."

"Have a seat, I'll take our orders and I'll be right back. Do I even bother asking what you guys want?" After looking at their faces Isabella grinned,

"Hmm, I didn't think so. Be right back."

Dinner was nice and for Rory, it was great to be back at the Diner, even if there was something distinctly missing from what had been a regular scene at the diner. Both Rory and Isabella had caught Lorelai's mind wander a few times, and they could only sympathize with how she must be feeling. Isabella knew that the last time Lorelai had been at the diner was the night she proposed that she and Luke eloped. When Rory had excused herself to use the bathroom, Isabella took a deep breath and placed a hand on Lorelai's arm in attempt to comfort her. Lorelai met her gaze and gave her a small smile. Appreciating the sentiment.

"We ok?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, I know how hard it has been for you. Not just the break up but everything. I guess I'm like a walking reminder of what you had. I guess that's the price one pays when from the very beginning our lives were intertwined. It would be hard to see where the start and finish are. It sucks, but I get it. I would never want you to be uncomfortable. I don't want this to ever be a chore, something you have to do despite how uncomfortable it makes you feel. I don't want to be a duty Lorelai. So if you need the space, take it."

"You know it's not because I don't want to right? Or that I don't love you." She replied desperately.

"I know. I remind you of the very thing you're trying to so hard to forget."

"It just hurts Iz, and I don't know how to make it stop. It hurts all the time." Isabella grabbed both of Lorelai's hands in closed them with hers.

"I know it does, for what it's worth, and you probably don't want to hear this right now, this is killing him too. He knows what he gave up when he let you go without a word. It wasn't because he doesn't love you, it was simply because he froze. He came to see you at your house the next morning, he had packed up the truck ready to get married, wherever and whenever, but you were gone by then. He knows what he lost, and if you look in his eyes you'll see a mirror image of what's behind yours. Trust me. I've looked in both." Lorelai looked visibly surprised by what Isabella had just shared regarding his coming over the next day.

"I don't think it's something we can get passed Iz. Somewhere down the line we lost communication, and I lost me. I let him lose me. I didn't speak up, I was just too afraid that if I push, he'd leave like that last time. Then it just blew up, and I couldn't cope."

"You two need to talk, and I understand not now, but at some point you're going to need to talk."

Lorelai nodded in agreement.

"We don't need to do tonight, I can just stay here the night." Isabella offered in case Lorelai needed to go home and pow wow with Rory.

"No Iz, I'd really love it if you came with us. Though I'd understand If you didn't want to."

"No, I do. I just want to make sure you're going to be okay."

"More and more like your brother every day." Lorelai teased.

"Don't I know it?" Isabella replied knowingly. Rory who was standing by the counter waiting for them to finish joined the table.

"Hey Ro, Jess called earlier, he's coming to visit."

"Wore him down didn't you?" Rory said amused. After Jess went to see Rory in Hartford those months ago to show her his book, they had been in regular contact and established a friendship.

"Hey, I resent that!"

After dinner they quickly made an exit, not wanting to run into Luke by accident upon his return. The three of them spent the whole night playing movies as they talked. Commenting every so often on the scene, but very little movie watching was done.

"So how was the trip?" Lorelai asked when Rory had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Awesome. A part of me wishes I was still there."

"Instead of a midst of all this drama? Iz what are you saying? " Lorelai said in disbelief.

"I, we had a talk today, about us. What I felt, and where I was in general. Sorry, I didn't mean to bring this up. Habit I guess. Move on."

"No Iz, go on. It's ok." Lorelai assured her. Isabella began to tell her about what she had said to Luke that afternoon. A lot of what Isabella was telling her was familiar, it was like a reflection of what she felt. Being shut out from a certain part of his life made her doubt where she stood.

"The thing is, as I was telling him, I felt awful because I know it wasn't his intention to hurt me, but I needed him to know, you know."

"I do, and you're right. He and I do need to talk, and I can't go on not speaking to him and avoiding him like a plague. I just couldn't comprehend how someone who has been my best friend for so long, so in tune with my every emotion before we got together be so blatantly unaware of how much he's hurting me when we're together? Why he couldn't share that part of his life with me. I could have helped. I would have given him space."

"He's just insecure. To him, you're the perfect Mom, and it's hard for him to compete."

"I remember the cartoon analogy." Isabella cringed at the memory when Luke had pretty much called Lorelai a cartoon character.

"So do I. Never one for words my brother."

"I'm more mad at myself than anyone else really, maybe that's why I refuse to speak to him. Somewhere along the lines, maybe after our first break up, Rory leaving Yale and moving in with her grandparents, I have been more careful about what I said or did because I didn't want to lose them again. So instead of mouthing off as normal, I held back and just swallowed everything that came my way. I lost my voice, in turn I lost myself. I was so scared to lose him that I was willing to let him have a compartmentalise life, as long as I fit in one of the compartments you know. There is no way I would have stood for that if we were just friends."

"Maybe that's why he convinced himself what he was doing was ok, because you weren't calling him on it as you normally would have."

"In the end, I lost him anyway."

"You know that's not true. All he's waiting for is the white flag and you know he'd be here in a heart beat."

"I'm just not ready, and it's not for punishing him or anything, but mostly I'm just trying to get me back. Realise who I am before I lost me. To remember what I stood for, to know I can stand on my own again without being so scared to speak my mind. I never realised how much I changed, and when I did, I didn't like it Iz."

"You're entitled to your down time. You need to make sure you're ready, because you need to decide how much you want it, because from here on out, you're both going to have to be 'all in' in every sense of the word." Lorelai let her words sink in and looked up through her tears.

"Are you sure you're only fifteen?" Isabella smiled.

"What can I say wisdom comes in floods and droughts, lucky for you it's currently floods."

Lorelai was due at the Inn the next morning and had given Isabella a ride back to the Diner. As she parked out front, Lorelai turned to Isabella.

"Thank you." She said as she turned to face her.

"Anytime. You know where I am if you need me."

"That goes both ways you know. I am still here. You can come and see me any time. I need you to know, we have a relationship outside your brother. It may take a little while defining it, but it exists. I love you Iz, you know that. You know that you've always been like a little sister to me, and as much as things have changed, how I feel about you hasn't. You're just going to need to be patient with me as I deal with it in my own head."

"Okay." Lorelai leaned over and gave Isabella a hug.

"You're amazing kid."