Author's Note: Alright, here's the new chapter. I should warn you guys that there might be some typos here and there. I got a new desktop and I am still getting used to the new keyboard.
I also decided to play around with some of the canon scenes. After the last chapter, I thought that dictating the canon scenes verbatim was getting a bit boring. Hope you like the twist – I don't know how you guys are going to react to it though. I might have gotten carried away…
On another note, if someone would like to volunteer as beta for grammar patrol, I would appreciate it. My main focus at this point is rewriting those bits and bobs that were lost in the Boxing Day crash and rewriting those scenes that really need it. I will be glancing through the rest, and fixing those errors that pop out at me. But I will not be nitpicking nor rewriting the entire thing. As such, grammar errors will likely make it through unless someone's willing to comb through the text beforehand.
Once again, please review. You wouldn't believe the kind of motivation reviews give me.
When it Snows
By TheBlueSwan
Chapter 6: The Piper's Due
Friday September 17th 2004, Stars Hollow, (Gilmore Residence – Kitchen) 5:19 p.m.
Lorelai pumped her right fist up into the air, triumphantly clutching her missing peep toe black suede stiletto heel. She grinned and looked victoriously upon the offending heel, flushed with success. Her stiletto had thought itself o so very clever, hiding inside an old crockpot she had forgotten she owned altogether.
But no! Let it never be said that Lorelai Gilmore would be so easily defeated by errant footwear or nefarious kitchen appliances!
Bringing the heel up to inspection, Lorelai couldn't help but grimace as she noticed the black suede was somewhat dusty from its little sojourn with the hot pink crockpot.
The sight pricked at her tense nerves. With everything going on, the last thing she needed right now was a lecture from Emily Gilmore on proper shoe care and maintenance. The thought of discarding the heels in favor of another pair seemed momentarily appealing. But then the sound of the clock tick, tick, ticking away reminded her that they were already late and finding a pair that would match her dress and not incite her mother's ire in any way, shape or form would undoubtedly take another fifteen minutes.
As the idea of shoe hunting once more held little appeal to Lorelai, she glared at the miserable stiletto and proceeded to frantically wave the offending item about. This, of course, was done in the hope that the dust would simply fall off if she just shook it about hard enough.
However illogical the thought might have been, the practice did prove to be somewhat effective as some of the dust particle detached from the black suede and began tickling at her nose.
"Achooo!" Lorelai sneezed.
Damn it!
Could nothing just go according to plan tonight? It wasn't as if the night didn't already promise to be particularly horrendous! Tonight would, after all, only be the first Friday night dinner since Rory gone off to Europe with her mother.
A piece of cake really!
After all, there was nothing daunting about the idea of facing her parents for the first time since she found out that Rory was pregnant.
Nothing at ALL!
Damn it!
What was wrong with her?
Lorelai felt worse than she had when she was sixteen years old and had to tell her parents that she was pregnant. She didn't know how or why, but somehow this was worse.
And Rory! Rory was a wreck – and so was her room. She'd gone through her entire wardrobe trying to find something to wear for tonight that would make her look normal. She'd walked in there half an hour ago and all she could see was clothes. Even the better part of the floor was covered in discarded shirts, skirts and dresses.
Rory was a bundle of nerves.
And to be perfectly honest, so was she.
But it's not like there was anything to be really nervous about tonight. Tonight, they would just have dinner.
It's not like Rory was planning on telling Emily and Richard Gilmore she was pregnant tonight.
No, there would be no big reveal tonight.
At least, Lorelai didn't think there would be.
They hadn't had the talk yet.
After Wednesday's debacle with Mrs. Lister, Lorelai hadn't been able to bring herself to ask Rory the questions that needed to be asked.
And Rory had seemed keen on ignoring the subject for the time being. They hadn't even talked about the confrontation with Lindsay and Mrs. Lister as of yet, and Lorelai was beginning to worry that Rory might let it affect how she chose to deal with this pregnancy.
They needed to talk, and soon.
They were running out of time. Rory would be going back to Yale Wednesday, and then life would just find another way to make the situation even more complicated than it already was. Rory needed to figure out what she wanted to do before that happened.
They needed to talk – but not tonight.
Tonight, they just had to get through Friday night dinner.
Friday September 17th 2004, Hertfordshire, (Gilmore Manor) 6:27 p.m.
Rory took a deep breath as her mother rang the doorbell. She was determined to ignore that anxious, nauseous feeling climbing up her spine and bubbling in her stomach. The last thing she wanted was for her grandparents to realise that there was something wrong with her. And so, with this thought in mind, Rory valiantly attempted to relax her tense muscles. Her efforts, however, were to no avail, for it wasn't until her mom reached over and grabbed her hand that Rory was able to stop nervously fidgeting.
Thankfully, Lorelai had intervened just in time, as the door opened to reveal an unfamiliar maid just a moment later.
The maid in question was blonde, blue-eyed and stern. With a scowl on her face the woman gestured for them to enter.
"May I take your things?" the maid asked in a belligerent tone.
Rory shared a glance with her. The new maid appeared somewhat hostile, but that wasn't unusual. After all, as her mother would say, maids tended to become prickly after a few days of working for grandma.
By the time that it crossed Rory's mind that this might not be a typical case, it was too late.
Not bothering to wait for an answer, or even for the guests to enter the manor properly, the maid grasped at Rory's shoulders, encouraged her to turn around none too gently, and the proceeded to carelessly yank off her jacket.
"Ow," Rory exclaimed, as felt the force of the act tug uncomfortably at the sockets of her joints.
Neither reacting to Rory's discomfort nor apologising for it, the maid continued with her rough handling until she had pried Rory's jacket from her abused arms.
Incensed, Lorelai moved to intercede. However, before she could do much more step between her daughter and the aggressor, the maid turned towards Lorelai and proceeded to offer her the same treatment.
Rory's eyes widened as she watched the blonde woman forceful yank at her mother's leather jacket. Lorelai protested and attempted to free herself to no avail as the maid simply kept wrenching at the garment. The more her mother objected, the more vicious the maid became. Finally, after several harsh and deliberately uncoordinated tugs, the maid succeeded in haranguing Lorelai from her jacket.
Her mother stumbled forward and Rory had but a moment to notice the maid's satisfaction before her purse was unceremoniously snatched out of her hand.
Rory yelped as the strap snagged painfully around her wrist before she succeeded in freeing it.
Lorelai, having regained her balance pulled Rory behind her and gave the maid a fearsome scowl.
"What is your –" Lorelai began scolding the maid, but was interrupted as the maid indulged in one last ludicrous display.
And so the Gilmore girls watched, incredulous, as the maid threw her ill begotten items onto the sideboard, seemingly aiming for the antique vase displayed upon it. The vase, as expected, was struck. For a single moment, it teetered to the side before inevitably fall to the floor. The decorative ceramic shattered, pieces of it gliding off every which way. It the aftermath of the disaster the maid appeared both self-satisfied and unrepentantly gleeful.
The affront, however, was not yet at an end.
Grinning, the maid turned her attention down to the floor where Lorelai's purse laid in a heap. Catching Lorelai's eye, the blonde smirked and delivered a strong kick to her purse. Rory watched as her mother's purse flee into the next room and landed against something. The sound of breaking glass told Rory the purse had most probably took out another antique vase.
"Mrs. Gilmore is waiting for you both in the garden."
And with that, the Gilmore girls watched as the maid marched off towards the kitchen without a care in the world.
Friday September 17th 2004, Hertfordshire, (Gilmore Manor) 8:34 p.m.
Rory climbed into her mother's jeep and slumped into her seat. If she had not been distracted by the sound of her mother groaning, Rory might have even closed her eyes. As it was, however, she watched as Lorelai mimicked bashing her head against the steering wheel several times. After a couple of long minutes and few more moans and groans, Lorelai turned her attention towards Rory and the two shared a long look.
Did that really happen?
Rory had a hard time believing it. Yet she couldn't deny that the night had simply been one disaster after the next.
Although Rory would readily admit that a few of her grandmother's maids had treated them rather snippily once they'd reached their breaking point, none of them had ever become violent before.
None of them.
Not a single one – not before Helga.
And the worse part was, Helga turned out to be the lynchpin in what Rory now believed to be the worst Friday night dinner they had ever had.
After the maid's rough handling, Rory had followed her mom out into the garden to find her grandparents fighting again. Rory had harbored some hope that her grandmother's impromptu trip to Europe would have softened their anger towards one and other, and that she would find her grandparents happily reconciled.
That, however, was not the case. Not only had they not been reconciled, but grandpa had moved into the pool house since grandma had returned. To make matters worse, their fight had escalated to the point where neither could apparently stand to be in the presence of the other long enough for the family to share a few drinks and some dinner. As a result, they had decided that they grandpa would have drinks in the pool house and grandma would serve dinner in the main house.
Only, grandpa hadn't been satisfied with the arrangement, since it afforded him so little time with them in comparison to the time grandma would have. And so, he had sought to extend his portion of the evening by ordering his butler to serve something with the cocktails. As a result, the butler had commandeered some Hungarian cheese from the kitchen. The cheese in question, however, had apparently been meant to be a part of dinner. As a result grandma had been furious and had even begun accusing grandpa of purposely seeking to ruin her dinner. It had been at that unfortunate moment that they had walked in on the fight.
The fight, unfortunately, had only gotten worse once they had related the incident with the maid. Although both had been very angry over what the maid had done, rather than allow grandma to confront the maid directly, grandpa had chosen instead to throw another dig at grandma and blame her for the renegade maid. By the time her mom had been able get them to remember that the maid ought to be dealt with, several minutes had passed and the maid had left.
From there, things had simply escalated. In addition to a broken vase and figurine, it quickly became apparent that the maid had rifled through their purses. They keys to the jeep had, thankfully, been left behind, but all of their money had been stolen. Their cellphones had been broken, although whether it had the result of their purses having been thrown about or whether the maid had taken the time to smash them had been unclear.
It hadn't taken long for grandma to realise that a few small, but expensive items had gone missing as well. That had served as an impetus for grandpa, and he had once again begun blaming grandma for the maid's behavior. Only then, he had chosen to further the insult by insinuating that she did not know how to properly manage a house, and that her inability to retain her staff for more than a few days proved as much.
Needless to say, they had spent the rest of the evening yelling at one another, and no amount of effort to break off of the fight on her part or her mother's had proved effective. In the end, it hadn't been until grandma had stormed off if huff that the fight had come to an end. Grandpa had fallen suit and marched off to the pool house.
They had, like dinner, been left forgotten in the aftermath.
"Luke's?" Lorelai asked, her face still pressed up against the steering wheel.
"Luke's" Rory agreed. "No holds barred."
"No holds barred." Lorelai confirmed.
Monday September 20th 2004, Stars Hollow, (Gilmore Residence) 11:13 a.m.
"So… You have an appointment with your academic advisor on Saturday?"
Rory sighed.
She had expected this.
Rory had known that her mother would begin asking her questions sooner or later. Although she was rather surprised that her mother had decided to broach the subject later rather than sooner - not that she wasn't grateful.
Rory was, in fact, very grateful that in light of all the recent upset, her mother had chosen to give her time to recover from her ordeals. However, as grateful as she was, Rory realised that it was high time to pay the piper.
"Yes. I do." Rory took one last glance at the title of the book she was holding and placed it in her 'bring' pile. She was in the middle of organizing her things for the big move on Wednesday, seeing what she would bring with her to Yale and what she would leave behind.
"Good. That's good." Lorelai enthused, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
Rory frowned as a thought crossed her mind. "How did you know?" she asked.
Lorelai crossed her arms in front her chest. "They left a message on the answering machine."
"Oh," Rory nodded her head. "Right."
"Yeah," Lorelai sighed. "So… Yale."
"Yeah. Yale." Rory bit her lip.
"Do you know how…"Lorelai trailed off, uncertain.
"How I'm going to juggle Yale and…" Rory gestured to her stomach, "this."
Lorelai gave a nervous chuckle.
"I don't know," Rory confirmed. "I'm hoping that my advisor will be able to give me some options – at least where Yale is concerned."
"Good." Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief. "Options are good."
"Yeah," Rory agreed. "They are."
"So…" Lorelai moved towards the couch and gingerly sat on the arm. "March?"
"Yeah. March." Rory picked up a book and examined its cover. "Or, at least, that's what the guy at the hospital told us."
"Yeah, well… We'll know more once you the OB the first week of October," Lorelai said.
"Yeah, I guess," she agreed.
Lorelai let out a nervous laugh. "Grandma. I'm going to be a grandma by March."
Rory sighed.
"So," Lorelai continued, "Dean?"
Rory closed her eyes and took a breath. She had to sit down, she didn't feel too well at the moment.
"I mean, have you told him?" Lorelai asked. "I guess not, huh? I mean you would have told me if you had already, wouldn't you?"
"Yes. I would have." Rory put down her book, having entirely forgotten which pile it belonged to.
"When are you planning to –"
"I don't know! I don't know, okay?" Rory abruptly stood up and walked to the other side of the room. She was dizzy and breathless, but she couldn't bring herself to still. "He's married mom. Married."
"I know," Lorelai nodded her head.
"Married. He has a wife – a wife," she cried. "You saw her. You saw how hurt she was when she found out Dean was still talking to me, how do you think she will react once she finds out that he cheated on her and got me pregnant?" Rory sniffled. "And her mother. She was furious and screaming and calling me that awful name in the middle of town square just because I was talking to Dean."
"I know sweetie," Lorelai stood, intending on hugging her daughter until she was soothed. Rory, however, deflected her attempt. Lorelai sighed before saying confidently, "she shouldn't have done that."
"Shouldn't she?" Rory asked. "I had sex with Dean twice, and got pregnant. Shouldn't she be angry at how much pain I will be causing her daughter? Shouldn't she call me a whore and rail against me? Wouldn't you?"
"Oh honey," Lorelai took a deep breath, trying not to cry herself. "She didn't know any of that. Mrs. Lister just knew that you were talking to Dean – not that you had slept with him or that you had gotten pregnant. Just that you were talking to him. And that was no excuse for the way she acted that day."
"Maybe it wasn't, but it doesn't change the fact that everything is just going to get so much worse once they find out. Lindsay –" Rory sobbed. "Lindsay is going to be devastated, and Mrs. Lister is going to be furious and Dean –" her voice broke.
"Dean?" Lorelai probed.
Rory took in a long, shuddering breath. "Dean will be stuck in the middle. He'll have to choose between his marriage and-and –" she stuttered.
"But honey," Lorelai sighed. "Hasn't Dean already chosen? Didn't he tell you that his marriage with Lindsay was over? Wasn't that what you told me the night I found you two?"
"Yeah, he did." Rory sobbed out a laugh. "But that was months ago. And he's still with her. If he meant it, why is he still with her?"
Rory looked upon her mother imploringly, hoping she would have an answer – that she would know why Dean was still with his wife when he told her he would end things. But all she saw in her mother's face was heartbreak – heartbreak and sympathy – and Rory knew that her mother had come to the same conclusion she had.
Rory began sobbing in earnest then and let down her guard long enough for Lorelai to grab a hold of her and hug her as tightly as she could. For several moments, her mother soothed her as best she could.
"Oh, honey. I know it hurts right now, but I promise you, it will get better. But right now, you have to think about the future, and what your baby will need from you. Now, I think we can both agree that you can raise this kid with or without Dean's help. But, sweetie, just because you don't need his help for this, doesn't mean that you can keep him and everyone else in the dark about it. Whether or not he actually takes up the part, he will become a father and he has a right to know that."
"I know," Rory pulled back from the hug so she could look at her mother's face. "But I can't. Not now and not soon."
Lorelai prepared to protest, but Rory cut her off before she could. "Don't see mom. Everything's a wreck – my life, his life, our lives. Dean needs to figure out what he wants. He said his marriage was over months ago, but he's still with her despite the fact that everyone says they can't stop fighting. And that's fine – as long as it's what he wants. But mom – I can't tell him I'm pregnant until things have settled. I need to figure out how I'm going to deal with all of this – and I can't do that with Mrs. Lister calling me out in the middle of the street, and Lindsay crying about how much I've hurt and Dean stuck in the middle. I can't, mom. I can't. Maybe later – but not now – and not anytime soon."
Lorelai sighed, seeing that Rory wouldn't budge from her current position. And to be perfectly honest, a part of her couldn't help but agree with her daughter. If things had been different, she never would have conceded. However, Mrs. Lister had not only picked a fight with Rory in public, but had also tried to slap her in the midst of it. It was clear that Dean's life was currently unstable and rife with drama. None of which would be good for Rory in her present condition. Ad so, for the time being, Lorelai agreed that it would be best if Rory steered clear of that particular mess.
"Okay," Lorelai agreed.
Rory let out a relieved breath and pulled her mother back into a hug. Still, her mother wasn't quite done as of yet.
"Your grandparents?" Lorelai probed.
Rory nodded. "Next Friday night dinner – after I've met with my advisor and the OB."
"Good."
And all was silent for several minutes, until a thought crossed Lorelai's mind.
"Twice?" Lorelai enquired, frowning.
"What?" Rory laughed out as lifted her head from her mother's neck and gazed at her.
"You said you and Dean had sex twice. To my knowledge, it was only the one time. Mind explaining that to me kiddo?"
"Oh," Rory blushed. "We met at Miss. Patty's Dance Studio the next day. We were just supposed to talk, but then – he walked in. Before I knew it, we were on the floor having sex on an Al Gilbert record."
"Al Gilbert?" Lorelai queried, amused.
"Yeah" Rory confirmed.
"Well, I guess that's better than being out on the balcony with the Henderson's watching." Lorelai joked.
Horrified, Rory exclaimed, "What?"
Posted June 23rd 2017