CHAPTER SIX

** Miracles Happen When You Least Expect Them **

Genre: Romance
Pairing: Lane/Dean
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Lane, Dean, Mrs. Kim, Richard and Emily Gilmore, Jess and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended.

Lane and Dean waited to meet his mother's friend from Child Protective Services, Judy Parker, in front of the school at noon that Wednesday. She still hadn't shown up by 12:15 and Dean got a call at 12:30 on his cell phone from his mother that Judy was called out of town on business and wouldn't be able to meet with them until Monday afternoon.

"Monday afternoon?" Lane shrieked. "That's too late Dean, we'll be leaving the following Saturday and I'm sure she'll need more time than that to get the ball rolling. This is useless!" she cried out dejectedly.

"I think she'll still have plenty of time to do what needs to be done. Just hang in there," Dean replied, trying to reassure her.

"No, I gotta do something myself. I'm only going to rely on your friend if I haven't come up with something on my own by Monday. I'll see you later, Dean. I need to be myself for a while," she replied impatiently as she headed for the school library to see if there were any books she could find that might help her figure out what to do.

She got a few ideas from some of the books she read at the library and was thinking about which ones she should tackle first as she walked home from school.

"Lane Kim!" her mother said loudly as she walked through the front door.

"Hi, Mama!" Lane responded pleasantly, trying to give the impression everything was normal.

"Popkong needs haircut. He must look his best when we fly to Korea this Friday. I need you to take him to the barber right away."

"Fly to Korea this Friday? Mama, that's too soon. You said we were leaving a week from this Saturday!"

"Got better price on tickets for this Friday. Take him to the barber right away and don't be late for dinner! I'm making lima bean chili with rutabaga sauce."

Lane almost gagged when she heard what was on the menu for their dinner that night and angrily went to find Popkong to escort him to the barber shop. When they arrived, she waited until he got seated in the barber's chair and instructed him very firmly in Korean not to leave the barber shop until she came back.

While Popkong was having his haircut, she hung out at Weston's and bought some more of the same peanut butter brownies she and Dean had on Monday and washed them down with a large latte before heading back over to pick up Popkong at the barber shop. She was hoping the brownies and the latte would make her forget her troubles, but as she got closer and closer to where her fiancée was, it was as if she'd never had a bite and the unsettling thoughts of lima bean chili and Popkong were both on her mind.

When she arrived at the barbershop, there was no sign of Popkong anywhere. Maybe he'd stepped into the men's room she thought, so she grabbed a magazine and plopped down on a sofa to wait for him. Fifteen minutes later, there was still no sign of him.

"Hey, Mr. Floyd, have you seen the Korean guy I brought in here earlier for a haircut? I told him to wait here until I came back to get him."

"Well, another Korean fellow from your church came here about ten minutes after you left. He got seated in the chair next to him and they both spent the whole time chatting in Korean while they got their hair cuts. By the way, you owe me $7.50 for your guy's hair cut. He walked out with the other guy and never paid a dime."

"Here's $9.00 and he's NOT my guy!" Lane seethed defensively, almost to the point of sounding paranoid.

As she walked out of the shop, she'd wondered if Popkong had just walked back home or if he'd taken off some place with the Korean guy (whoever that was) from her church. She knew either way, she was in for a screaming attack from her mother, who was going to accuse her of all sorts of things because she hadn't stayed with Popkong while he was at the barber shop. She also knew she wasn't going to waste her time running around Stars Hollow in circles, looking for someone she detested. She figured it'd be easier to just go home and let her mother scream herself silly at her and maybe she'd forget about serving the lima bean chili for dinner.

TO BE CONTINUED…