A/N: One minor change to report. The character listing used to be just under Rory but now it's under Rory and Lorelai. Originally I had planned on this to mostly a Rory-centric story and it still will be. But with the way the story has been going Lorelai is going to end up having a bigger part to play then I thought. What kind of part? You should keep on reading to find out. Once again thanks for all of the reviews they're great and I love responding to them.

Height: 5'7''

Weight: 153 lbs

Chapter 10

Of course it had been more than just a small pizza that Rory ordered. She figured if this was her last non healthy meal an order of breadsticks wouldn't kill her. To her credit she did end up drinking a diet soda. The overall effect of her 'last' binge was fairly small tough. Only a pound but it was something that she couldn't afford to do again.

The food did help Rory feel better then when she had returned from that disastrous non-dinner with her grandparent's. Her mother had kept calling her during the night but Rory wasn't in the mood. She just sent a text saying that she'd see her tomorrow.

It had been a rough night for Lorelai. She had so badly wanted to talk to Rory. To hold her in her arms and tell her that everything would be alright. Her mother had no right to do that to her daughter. Rory was under enough stress at Yale and doing that to her was just wrong. She had debating driving to Yale to visit her but if Rory wasn't in the mood to talk she wasn't going to force her.

She was in a bad mood the next morning when she went to Luke's for breakfast. "Cup of coffee with the best blueberry pancakes you got" she said in a grumpy tone.

"That bad last night?" Luke asked knowing that it had to be. When she came in on Saturday morning her moods were rarely great but this one seemed especially bad to him. He could only guess what her parents had done last night.

"The worst night in a long time. Basically Rory left the house in tears" Lorelai said sipping her coffee.

Alright now Luke was confused. They didn't exactly get along with Lorelai but they got along with Rory great. "Why did she leave in tears? What did your parents do?" he asked.

Lorelai was about to tell him the truth but something stopped her. Rory probably wouldn't want everyone knowing that she had gained weight. True she said that she was coming to home in a couple of hours but that didn't mean she would want people all over town to know.

"Oh my mother just didn't like the way that Rory was dressed and it just really hurt her feelings" Lorelai lied. If Rory had no problem with people knowing she'd just walk around town. The last thing she should be doing is telling other people about her daughter's minor and temporary weight gain.

Luke eyed her before nodding his head. He had no reason not to believe her. "Must have been a heck of a get up" he said.

"Oh it's just Emily being Emily, now how about those pancakes and I've love you forever if you gave me an extra one" she said in her perky voice. Luke just nodded and sent the order into the kitchen.

"Aww thank you Luke you're my hero" she said drinking her coffee and waiting for her breakfast.

Rory had woken up the next morning and sighed as she sat up in bed. For the first time truly realizing how heavy she had gotten. Last night hadn't been fun, she had swallowed her pride and apologized to both Paris and Janet for the way she had been acting and she should have known that they just wanted to help her. They accepted of course and both offered to help her lose weight. Janet wanted to go running the next morning.

That was why Rory was up early today and it wasn't for homework. She knew this wasn't going to be fun but she needed to do it. She changed into a pair of sweats and kept her t-shirt from last night on. If she was just going to get sweaty anyway might as well cut down on laundry.

She walked out into the common area to find Janet pouring a bowl of cereal for her and a glass of orange juice. "Good morning, alright since you're going to need energy we're going to eat breakfast first. Remember this is it until lunch" she said in a way too perky mood.

Rory grimaced as she looked at the cereal. Plain Cheerio's, not exactly the kind of breakfast she was used to. She didn't say anything as she ate. At least that would delay the running for a few more minutes. But before she knew it they had eaten and it was time for a jog.

"Alright we're going to go nice and slow today. A bit a jogging then a bit of walking." Janet said.

It may have been because of the time during the day but Rory found her to be WAY too perky and condescending right now. She was an adult after all and could take care of herself.

The jog went about as well as everyone expected. Janet had shown Rory a few stretches and they were off for a light jog around the campus. Janet knew it would take Rory a while to get up to a decent level but she did give her credit she was able to keep up a light jog the entire time.

But it certainly wasn't easy. After jogging about ten feet Rory could feel her muscles in her legs aching. It had been a while since they had gotten this much physical exertion and they weren't too happy about it. About a quarter of the way through her face began to turn red, she was breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. She never thought running could be this hard. She looked at Janet enviously; at this pace Janet was barely breaking a sweat. Part of her hated her more than anyone else right now.

Still Rory toughed it out and they completed their lap around campus. Reaching their place Rory stopped running and tried to catch her breath. Janet just gave her an awkward smile. "You did very well today, you just need to strengthen your muscles again" she said.

Rory just nodded as she made her way into the common room. "Well I'm going to keep running…I'll be back later" Janet said needing to get her full workout in. Rory collapsed on the couch and felt her muscles relax a bit.

"Don't worry…it'll all be worth it" she told herself taking a few minutes to rest.

She then sent a text to her mother telling her that she'd be home soon. She knew that they needed to talk about last night and delaying it would only worsen it. She took a quick shower not wanting to spend too much time naked afraid she'd see her body in the mirror. It wasn't that she hated her body…she just wanted to get it back to normal. She did get on Paris's scale though just so she could put a number on the damage. 153 lbs.

Well shit that wasn't great, thirty-one pounds over her old weight. Still it was only a number and if she could gain thirty-one pounds then she could lose it. She was Rory Gilmore after all and she knew that she could do anything.

She got dressed quickly and made the drive to Stars Hollow. She was pretty hungry, breakfast hadn't really filled her up and she had exercised today…no, she couldn't do this. She had to be strong. She could make it to lunch she just needed to focus on the road. Her willpower held out, just barely, but it held out and before she knew it she was pulling into her mother's driveway.

Rory took a deep breath before exiting the car. She was nervous about this. She knew that her mother would never judge her but just thinking about her she thought about last night. God she wanted that night erased from her memory. She had never been so hurt and embarrassed in her life. Even thinking about it now she could feel a pain in her stomach and chest.

Part of her wanted to drive back to Yale and forget about this. But she loved her mom more than anything else in the world and she longed to see her and feel her embrace. So she marched up to the door and entered, knowing the door wouldn't be unlocked. "Mom…I'm home" Rory said.

Lorelai had been in the kitchen and came rushing to the front door to give her a hug. "Oh my daughter…how are you doing? Are you alright?" she asked concerned about her on so many levels.

"I'm...why did grandma have to do that last night?" Rory asked as tears of pain form in her eyes. Lorelai led her to the couch and started rubbing her back.

"Oh Rory…I don't know. No one knows why Emily Gilmore does the things that she does. But she was wrong. She's always been like that though, you've just never seen that side of her before" Lorelai explained.

"Do I look that bad?" Rory asked in a small voice. Lorelai shook her head.

"Oh honey of course not! I mean…look you're not as tiny as you used to be. There's no doubt about that. But it's not like you're obese or anything" she said finally being honest with her daughter.

Rory sighed as her self esteem took another hit. "I just don't understand how this happened…" she said weakly.

"I have no idea…I mean you take after me and it's not like I've ever had problems with my weight" she said. Rory nodded glumly how she wished her metabolism was just like her mom's again.

"I started running today. I want to lose some of this weight" Rory said breaking the silence that had overtaken them.

Lorelai just nodded. "As long as you're doing this for you, I don't want you changing yourself just because of something your grandmother said" she said still feeling the need to protect her daughter's feelings.

"I know, but this is for me. I would like to be able to fit into my old cute clothes" she said checking the time. It was 11:05, still a bit too early for lunch but damn she was hungry.

"Well that's good, and you'll be fine. Just watch your diet and exercise a bit and you'll lose that weight in no time. I'll bet your metabolism is burning off all that excess fat right now" Lorelai said trying to give her daughter some hope.

Rory felt a bit relieved as her mother said that. Maybe she was panicking a bit too much and all she needed was a few small changes in her lifestyle. After all she didn't eat THAT much more in college, at least in her mind. A few small cutbacks should return things to normal.

Lorelai wondered if she was doing the right thing here with her daughter and it worried her. She'd never admit this to anyone but she had often wondered if she was a good mom. True Rory was an amazing kid but a lot of that just seemed to be her nature. Of course she had nurtured it and helped it grow but Rory had been an easy child and in turn that made her wonder how good she really was.

She shook her head dismissing those thoughts from her head. Rory was very much like her and she had been the major influence in her life. She was a great mom. She had always helped her and did the best to raise her self esteem and not be Emily Gilmore to her. Yes, she wasn't Emily Gilmore and that was what she needed to be.

Still she was a bit unnerved that Rory hadn't noticed her weight gain until her mother had pointed it out. She bit her lip and looked at her fuller daughter. "Rory I just have to ask this. How did you not notice the…well you know" she said treading lightly.

Rory hung her head in shame and her face turned red from embarrassment. "I guess I just got caught up in school and I just didn't want to believe what was happening. Paris and Janet tried to tell me but…I didn't listen to them and I should have" she said mentally berating herself for being stupid.

"Hey it's alright, mistakes happen. You'll be fine, you are my perfect daughter after all" Lorelai said smiling as Rory's stomach let out a loud rumble. Rory looked away in some embarrassment.

"Have you eaten today?" Lorelai asked suddenly worried that she was starving herself to lose weight. Rory shook her head no.

"I had some Cheerio's and some orange juice but that's it. I'm just waiting for lunch" she said wishing time would speed up and she could eat.

"Alright, just don't overdo it. What do you want for lunch?" Lorelai asked. There were so many things that Rory wanted for lunch but she knew that it needed to be healthy.

"I want Luke's but I don't want to go out and face well everybody" Rory admitted afraid of the stares she would get once she left the house. At Yale if someone looked at her she could ignore it but here the entire town would pass by her just to see if Rory Gilmore really gained thirty pounds.

"Well I'll call Luke and have him deliver us something or I can just go and pick it up. Now what do you want?" Lorelai asked wanting to save her daughter any future embarrassment.

Rory thought for a moment. "A plain burger with lettuce and onions with a fruit salad instead of fries" she said. The burger wasn't the healthiest thing but she was getting it without cheese and the fruit salad instead of the fries was certainly healthy. Besides it was all about small steps, even though this one was hard as she was craving some nice greasy fries.

Lorelai just nodded, "Well I'm still going to get the extra fries just so Luke doesn't get suspicious" she said picking up the phone and ordering thinking she was being a great mom. After all they never ordered a fruit salad. If they only got one order he'd know that something was up.

Rory didn't say anything. What her mother said did make some sense to her. Even though Luke wouldn't say anything she didn't want him to know that she was on a diet. She'd just have to control herself in front of the fries. That wouldn't be so hard to do, would it?

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