Sugar and Spice
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Part One.

Chapter Eleven: Gifts

Francine picked Christa up after her first day, which had been pretty good. After all, school was school and at least this one had Rory. It was then onto several hours of shopping while Francine bought Christa a "suitable" wardrobe.

Just like she had feared, she and her grandmother had radically different ideas about appropriate clothes, which meant Christa now had a wardrobe full of expensive, boring clothes. Clothes that she'd never wear once she left Connecticut.

Francine had also tried to direct her to a salon where "they can do wonderful things with your hair, darling", but other than that, it wasn't that bad an afternoon, though certainly not Christa's ideal way of killing time.

"Thank you, Grandmother." She said anyway, once they returned home, always the dutiful young lady.

Francine bestowed a smile on her. "No problem Christine, it was my pleasure to buy you some suitable clothes." Francine reached into her purse. "Your grandfather and I wan you to be as comfortable here as possible, so hopefully this will help." She handed Christa a set of keys.

Christa took them. "What are these?" She asked, though she thought she knew. Hoped she knew.

"The keys for your new car." Francine told her with a smile. "We thought you'd like to be able to get around on your own."

"Cool!" Christa exclaimed and gave Francine an impulsive hug. "Thanks, Grandmother." She smiled to herself, wondering if it would be so bad after all living with her grandparents. There was some definite advantage, to say the least.

"Go take it out." Francine encouraged her. "We wanted to give it to you as a birthday present, but your father discouraged that, but we figured you could use it now."

"Thanks!" Christa said again, wondering why her father objected to her grandparents giving her a car. She figured it was just his issues with his parents coming up again.

"Drive carefully." Francine told her. "I'd hate to see you repeat Christopher's mistakes."

Christa remembered the Porsche story with a smile. However, she wasn't that stupid.

"I will." She promised. "I'm just gonna go-"

"It's in the garage." Francine told her. "Have fun."

"I will." Christa promised and quickly hurried toward the garage and her new car. These next few months might be fun after all.

Lorelai heard a car pull into her driveway.

"I wonder who that is." She said to Rory, who shrugged.

A moment later Lorelai heard the front door open. "Mom? Rory?"

"In here!" Lorelai called out with a smile and a second later Christa appeared in the doorway. Lorelai decided she could definitely get used to having Christa be able to just pop in to visit whenever she felt like it.

"So how was Chilton?" Lorelai asked, giving her daughter a hug.

Christa shrugged. "Like every other snotty school. It was okay." She looked at Rory. "Did you tell her about Tristan's brilliance?"

Rory giggled.

Lorelai looked at them both. "Share with Mommy."

"Tristan has decided that it's clever to call us 'Mary' and 'Magdelene'." Rory said with a laugh.

Lorelai had to laugh as well. "Witty." She looked at Christa. "Not that I don't love seeing you, but I figure that's not the only reason you came out here."

"No." Christa said with a smile and handed her a bag. "I need these hemmed. Francine and I have a different opinion on appropriate skirt length."

Lorelai laughed. "I could see that." She took the bag containing three neatly folded Chilton skirts. "Honey, I can't do them all tonight." She told her, knowing she probably would probably only have time to hem one.

"Oh, I don't expect you to." Christa said. "I just need the one. I also have the one I wore today, it's at home in the wash."

"How many do you have?" Rory asked curiously.

"Francine bought me five complete outfits and a bunch of extras." Christa told her with a shrug. "She likes to shop."

"I see." Lorelai said, thinking that Francine was just like her mother. She'd had to convince Emily not to go overboard with Rory, unfortunately she didn't have that right with Christa.

"That's the other reason, I'm here." Christa said. "Come see what Straub and Francine gave me."

Lorelai wasn't sure she wanted to, but she and Rory followed Christa out of the house into the driveway where a shiny blue sports car sat.

"Is that yours?" Rory asked in awe.

Christa nodded. "Yeah. It'll help me get around more easily and save you from having to ride the nasty bus, at least in the afternoons. 'Cause I'm not much of a morning person, but I will drive you home every day."

"It's very nice." Lorelai told her. "Kind of extravagant though."

Of course, it was from the same people who had given Christopher a Porsche on his sixteenth birthday, so maybe it was to be expected.

Christa shrugged. "It's better than all the awful clothes Francine bought me."

Lorelai wasn't sure to say, though she definitely planned on calling Christopher. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of the Haydens lavishing stuff on Christa, especially since she knew that there would be strings, after all there usually was.

"She bought you clothes?" Lorelai asked in what she hoped was a calm voice.

"Yeah, well, most of my stuff is in California." Christa replied. "It's not like it fit on the back of the bike."

Lorelai knew that she had a point, but she was still wary of anything to do with the Haydens. However, she also didn't want to burst the bubble of Christa's happiness.

"It's a great car, kiddo." She said after a moment. "Why don't we take it out for a spin?"

Rory couldn't help feeling envious.

The Haydens barely bothered to acknowledge her existence, yet they went and bought Christa a car. Now, Rory knew that her grandparents, the ones who liked her, would have been happy to buy her a car if Lorelai would let them, but that still didn't stop the momentary resentment.

It wasn't the car so much, as much as the fact that the Haydens acknowledged Christa, but not her. She knew that she shouldn't envy Christa their attention, since they weren't worth it and Christa was the one that had to live with them, but... Well, some part of her wondered why Christa was good enough when she wasn't. She supposed it was natural.

"Whatcha you thinking?" Lorelai asked after Christa left.

"I was just wondering why they acknowledge her and not me." Rory admitted. "I know I shouldn't, but-"

"Oh, hon, it's natural." Lorelai told her. "I think it's a lot of things. They're angry at me, so they ignore you. They can't ignore Christa, so instead they use her to make up for everything your dad wasn't, just like my parents do with you. It's a twisted cycle."

"I know." Rory said softly.

"But it's not always easy to remember, huh?" Lorelai asked her.

"No." Rory admitted, then smiled. "Still, it's nice that Christa has a car now."

"That's the spirit." Lorelai told her with a grin. "Make your sister be your chauffeur."