Thank you so much for your continued support! :) Here's the next chapter.

Chapter 9

A few days had passed and April was taking Freddie to the inn to show him the horses. "Hey Lorelai!" She smiled going up to the reception desk.

"Hi honey!" Lorelai smiled at her step daughter.

"I wanted to show Freddie the inn. Can I go and show him the horses?" She asked.

"Of course. They've actually just been saddled up so if you two want to go for a ride in the gardens, go ahead." She smiled.

"Seriously?" April said excitedly. "Did you hear her? We can ride!" She grinned at Freddie.

"I heard her." He chuckled.

"Do you want to? Can we go ride? Please say we can go ride?" She said excitedly.

Freddie smirked. "Looks like you might actually kill me if I say no." He chuckled.

"Yes! I love you!" April exclaimed jumping up and down. "Let's go!" She said grabbing his hand and dragging him off.

"One thing though..." He said.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm not exactly an expert at horse riding." Freddie said as they disappeared off to where the stables were.

Lorelai smiled as she watched them go, thinking how cute they were together.

"I won't let you down, Taylor, I promise!" Rory grinned as she left Doose's. "Oh sorry!" She said bumping into someone.

"No problem." A familiar voice said.

"Oh...hi..." Rory said looking up to see Tristan standing there.

"Hey." He smiled. "You look particularly happy." He noted.

"I've just secured myself a job at the Stars Hollow Gazette." She grinned.

"That's cool." Tristan said. "I thought you were going to get your master's though?"

"Oh I am but it doesn't start until after the summer so I want to earn some money while I'm here." Rory said.

"Sounds practical." He nodded. "Well congratulations." He smiled.

"Thanks!" She grinned. She stood there for a moment. "So..uh..how's your job at Gypsy's going?" She asked.

"Yeah it's good. She's letting me get really stuck in as well which is cool." Tristan said.

"Yeah, Gypsy's cool." Rory smiled. "Well...I'm glad you're enjoying it." She said.

"I was just popping in here for some lunch." He said gesturing at Doose's.

"Oh right. Well...I won't keep you." She said awkwardly, not really knowing what else to say to him. She had tried to avoid him since their chat about her needing time.

"Ok then..." Tristan said just as awkwardly. "So...bye, I guess..." He said heading inside.

"Wait, Tristan?" She said before she knew what she was doing.

"Yeah?" He said turning round.

"You were good at English at school right?" She said.

"I'm sorry, don't you remember what I was like at school?" Tristan smirked slightly.

Rory smiled slightly. "I mean, I know you didn't do much work at school but I remember you were good at English." She said. "Do you maybe want to help with some of the articles for the Gazette?" She asked without realising what she was doing.

"Seriously?" He said surprised.

"The only other people on the Gazette are this old couple so I could do with some help. But don't worry if you don't want to, you probably want your weekends to relax right?" Rory said brushing it off.

"Uh...no, it's fine. I mean, I don't know if I could make it an every week thing but sure, I wouldn't mind helping out every so often." Tristan said.

"Oh. Ok. Well, thanks." She said giving him a small smile. "Uh..I said I'd meet up with April for lunch. So..uh..I guess I'll see you round." She said awkwardly.

"I guess you will." He said smirking slightly.

"Ok..uh..bye." Rory said.

"Bye Mary." Tristan smiled before disappearing into Doose's.

Rory let out a breath once he was out of sight. Why had she done that? She hadn't even thought of asking him to help. Where had that come from? She sighed and started heading towards Luke's to wait for April and Freddie.

"Thanks Lorelai!" April called, waving, before she and Freddie left the inn to head to Luke's for lunch. "That was so cool!" She exclaimed.

"Really? Because I don't think you told me that once in the last hour." Freddie teased.

"Oh shut up!" She laughed playfully hitting him. "I'm excited. Shoot me."

Freddie chuckled. "I think it's cute." He said.

April blushed slightly. "Flatterer." She said. "And I thought you said you weren't an expert! You looked pretty good to me." She said.

"I guess it's just god given talent." He smirked.

"Sure it is." She said rolling her eyes as they walked down the street where the diner was.

"April..." A voice said.

April stopped as she saw who was standing infront. "Mom?" She said shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Who's this?" Anna frowned, looking at Freddie.

"My boyfriend." April said crossing her arms against the chest.

"Your...boyfriend?" She said shocked.

"I'm 22, mom. I'm allowed to have a boyfriend." April snapped. "What are you doing here? Dad told you not to come. I don't want to talk to you."

"Well tough, young lady, because I'm taking you home with me." Anna said.

"No, you're not. You can't force me to do anything!" She exclaimed angrily.

"I'm your mom and when I say you're coming home, you're coming home." She said sternly.

"What's going on out here?" A gruff voice said.

"Mom wants me to go home with her." April said.

"I thought I made it clear on the phone, Anna, that April's staying with me during this break." Luke said crossing his arms against his chest.

"I don't care what you said. April spends spring break with me. We agreed this. But no, suddenly you're arranging visits behind me back!" Anna snapped.

"I didn't arrange this, Anna. April surprised me. And doesn't that tell you something? It shows she wanted to see me. And we didn't agree anything. You agreed, I just went along with you but I'm not anymore. April's my daughter as well and I want to see her as much as I can." Luke said.

"Well that's not happening. You can have her a few weeks in the summer and the week before Christmas. That's it." She said.

"Well that's crap and you know it!" Luke said frustrated.

"Shut up!" April suddenly exclaimed.

"April, I'm sorry..." Luke said kicking himself for acting like this infront of you.

"No I don't blame you, dad." April said. She glared at her mom. "Go home. I don't want to see you or talk to you right now. I'm staying here with dad and you can't do anything to stop me!" She exclaimed angrily before running off, Freddie in close pursuit.

Anna whirled on Luke. "This is all you! You've turned her against me. She never used to be like this! This isn't April." She said angrily.

"Seriously? I don't see her enough to turn her against you!" Luke said angrily. "And have you met our daughter? Noone can tell her what to think. This is coming from an angry and upset April who's finally letting you how crap it was that you kept me from her for twelve years of her life and the fact that you're still treating her like a little kid when she's an adult." Luke snapped. "So maybe instead of taking it out on me, you should go and find April and try to actually talk to her instead of ordering her."

"I don't have to take this." Anna snapped before turning around and storming off.

Luke let out an exasperated breath. He turned round to see Rory stood there. "Sorry..." He said.

"Are you going to go after April?" She asked.

Luke sighed. "I'll talk to her later. She's got Freddie anyway. I know her and she will want some space so I'll give her that." He said.

Rory nodded. "I guess lunch is off." She joked.

Luke smiled slightly. "I can still make you something if you like?"

"Nah it's ok. I think I'll go pick up Josh from Babette's and spend some time with him." She smiled.

"Ok. See you for dinner?" Luke smiled.

"Meet you here." Rory nodded. "Bye Luke."

"Bye Rory."

"Oh and Luke?" She said.

"Yeah?"

"I wish my dad would stand up for me like you just did there for April. For what it's worth, I think you're a pretty great dad." Rory smiled softly.

"Thanks Rory." He said softly.

Later that afternoon, Rory was leaving the bookstore with Josh after treating him to a book of his choice when she spotted Anna sitting in the gazebo.

"Can we go say hi to Jess and Lane?" Josh asked pointing to where they were hanging out in the square.

"Sure. Just stay with them ok? I just need to go do something for a minute." Rory said.

"Ok!" He said before racing off.

Rory watched her brother reach them before she slowly walked up to the gazebo. "This seat taken?" She asked.

Anna looked up. "I don't know why you would even want to sit here. Apparently I'm the devil incarnate." She said bitterly.

"Can you blame her?" Rory said sitting down.

"Excuse me?" Anna narrowed her eyes.

"April. Can you blame her for feeling like this?" Rory repeated.

"She gets to see you all! I don't get why she's so angry!" Anna exclaimed.

"Yes, she gets to see Luke and my mom. For what, a few weeks a year? And I've not always been here so I haven't seen her as much and she's my sister. I love hanging out with April and it sucks that we can't spend more time together. I've had to visit her at MIT to make sure I see her." Rory said.

"You've visited her at MIT?" She asked surprised.

"April never told you?" Rory said surprised.

"April doesn't talk to me that much anymore." Anna said quietly.

"Oh." Rory said awkwardly. She sighed. "You know my mom doesn't want to replace you right?"

"What?" Anna said looking up at her.

"My mom gets that you're April's mom. She's never wanted to replace you. Even back when Luke first found out about April." Rory said. She saw Anna duck her head slightly and she could have sworn she saw a slight sheepish expression. "April and mom get on really well, yes that's true. Mom loves April and I know the feeling's mutual. But you're always going to be April's mom and April knows that. You're always going to be her number one. It was only you and her for the first twelve years of her lives so that's natural."

"Yes everyone keeps reminding me about that." She said bitterly.

"I didn't mean it like that. I just...it's the same for me. My mom freaked out when my dad finally got a serious girlfriend and this girlfriend suddenly wanted to spend time with me. She got jealous and she freaked. She thought I was going to like her better than her which is stupid. My mom brought me up. She's been there my whole life whenever I've needed her. She's my number one, no matter what." Rory said.

"Why are you telling me this?" Anna said glancing at her.

"Because you and April have that same bond. You were all she had for twelve years. She's not just going to throw that away because she's close with us." Rory said. "That special bond is going to be there forever. Yes, April's angry right now but I feel like she has a right to be. But she's always going to love you. You just...maybe you need to give her a little space that she really wants? She wants to be able to come here whenever she likes, not just when you say it's ok. She doesn't want to have to feel guilty about it and it's not fair that she would." She said. She glanced at Anna hesitantly. "April's amazing. Whenever we're together, it's like we've known each other our whole lives. I know I don't have to tell you she's amazing because you know that but you will lose her if you keep pushing her like this. I'm sorry if I'm overstepping the mark but is that what you really want?" She asked cautiously.

"Are you taking April away?" A small voice said.

They turned to see Josh standing there. "Josh, it's ok. Go back to Jess." Rory said softly.

"But I don't want April to go home! I like April. She plays with me when no one else does. I like when April comes to stay." Josh said.

"I should get going." Anna said.

"Oh. Ok." Rory said. "I..." She started to say but Anna was already walking away. "Well...I tried." She sighed. She turned to Josh. "Come on you, let's try and find April." She said.

Lorelai was surprised when she looked up to see Anna entering the inn and coming over to her. "Uh...hi?" She said hesitantly.

"I need to talk to you. Do you have a minute?" Anna said.

"Uh...sure..." She said confused.

So I hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming as your support really does mean so much to me and I love reading what you all think. Thanks again for all your support! :)