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Chapter 11

April glanced across at her mom as they walked towards the lake. "So...you wanted to talk..." She said.

"Yeah..." Anna said.

"Well...I'm listening." April said.

"I don't want us to keep fighting." Anna said. "You need to understand that it was me and you against the world for 12 years..."

"And who's choice was that?" April exclaimed.

"I know. It was my choice and I do know it was a bad choice. April, you should have known your dad ok? But you need to understand it from my point of view. When I was with your dad, he hated kids. We never even thought about kids. Not that you were a mistake because you, April, are the best thing that ever happened to me. But you didn't know your dad back then. He hated kids and then after we broke up, I found out I was pregnant. I honestly thought he would want nothing to do with me or you. I was going to tell him, honestly I was, but I kept bottling out and then you came into the world and I just felt it was too late." She sighed. "I should have told him, I know that now but I can't change the past. I can apologise until I'm blue in the face but I can't take back what I did." She said.

April glanced at her. "I kept asking you who my dad was. You could have told me any of those times but instead you had to leave me to find out the truth by myself." She said.

"I was scared." Anna admitted. "I was scared that I would lose you."

"Well you're doing a pretty good job of that at the moment." April mumbled, crossing her arms against her chest.

Anna sighed and sat down on the bridge. "Sit with me?" She said. "Please?"

April sighed but sat down next to her mom. "I just want to see dad and Lorelai, and Rory and Josh, and Jess whenever I want. I don't want to have to feel guilty for wanting to."

"I know." She said quietly. She glanced at her daughter. "I'm worried that if I let you see them whenever you want, you will never come home to visit me. I've seen you here, April. You fit. You belong here. Everyone loves you here. I just...I'm worried you'll forget about me and not come home at all."

April glanced at her mom in surprise. "That would never happen, mom." She said. She sighed. "I admit I'm angry and upset. You kept dad from me for 12 years and now you're still controlling how much I can see him. But you're my mom. You were there for me all of my life. I love you." She said glancing at the water. "I just...I miss how we were. And we're not like that anymore because of all of this. I really think you would like Lorelai if you got to know her."

"You know, I think I actually would as well." Anna smiled softly.

"What?" April said surprised.

"I had a good chat with her earlier." Anna admitted. "I guess...well, I guess we're more similar than I thought. I mean, she brought up Rory by herself."

"Only because Rory's dad couldn't be bothered to be involved in her life. Dad would never have been like that. He proved that by stepping up as soon as he found out about me." She said.

"I know." She sighed. "Look, I want to spend Christmas with me ok? And Thanksgiving. I know that might be selfish of me but I want my daughter home for those holidays. But..." She said before April could protest. "How about we split up all your other breaks? And you can come here on Boxing Day and spend New Year with your dad." She said.

"Seriously?" April asked surprised.

"Lorelai's right. The last thing I want to do is lose you completely. You're my whole world, April. I don't know what I would do if you weren't in my life anymore. If...if you seeing your dad and his family will fix all this, I guess I just have to swallow my pride and let that happen." Anna said. "I mean obviously it's going to take me some time to get used to it but if this is what you really want...I'm tired of fighting the whole time. I just want my daughter back."

"Mom..." April said softly, hugging her. "Thank you." She said sincerely.

"So...Freddie?" Anna asked.

April blushed slightly. "I hadn't told dad about him either by the way. Not until he showed up here to surprise me." She sighed. "I wanted to tell you but...I was being petty. You wouldn't admit to me that you were seeing someone so I didn't want to share with you about Freddie." She admitted.

"April..."

"Don't tell me you're not. I'm not stupid, mom. You own a shop. There aren't that many work events for you to go to." She said.

Anna sighed. "It's...early days." She admitted.

"But you are seeing someone?" April said.

"Yes..." She finally admitted. "I am." She glanced at her daughter. "Is that ok?"

"I've always wanted you to be happy, mom. Dad and Lorelai are happy. You deserve that too. Does he make you happy?" She asked.

Anna smiled softly. "Yeah. He really does."

"Then..." April said taking a deep breath. "How about I bring Freddie home during my next break and you can officially meet him and then I can meet your guy?" She suggested.

Anna smiled. "I'd like that." She said softly.

"So...are you still going to drag me home then?" April said smirking slightly.

Anna laughed. "I think I can make an exception this once. Just don't worry me sick next time ok? You want to give your dad a surprise visit, please tell me first ok? Promise me." She said.

"I promise." She said sheepishly. "I am sorry about that. I never meant to worry you. I just...really wanted to see him."

"I know. Just...don't keep it a surprise from me next time. Deal?"

"Deal." April nodded. "So...do you want to stay and have some food with us?"

"No, I better get back. But thank you. I'll...I'll see you soon?" She asked.

"I promise." April smiled. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." She said softly.

Rory was walking across the square when something caught her eye. She glanced over towards Gypsy's and saw Tristan with his shirt off, working on a car. She couldn't help but watch him for a moment taking in how muscled and well built he was.

"See something you like?" A voice took her out of her daze.

Rory blushed as she saw Tristan smirking at her. "Sorry...I was just..."

"No need to be sorry. I knew it was only a matter of time before you gave into temptation." He joked.

"Wow, you may have a good body but you're still the modest Chilton guy I knew." Rory smirked.

Tristan grinned. "Ah you admit I have a good body!" He said triumphantly.

Rory blushed again. "I didn't say..."

"You did. You said you may have a good body..." Tristan smirked.

"Yeah, may have. I said may." Rory pointed out.

Tristan shrugged. "Good enough for me."

"Well I don't want to distract you from work. Sorry Gypsy." Rory said seeing Gypsy appear.

"No worries. We are all human." Gypsy smirked slightly.

"And it's not me who's distracted." Tristan smirked.

"You don't give up, do you?" Rory rolled her eyes.

"Hey, it was you who was staring at me." He pointed out.

"I wasn't staring...I was...admiring the car." She said.

"Uh huh, so what car is this?" Tristan said.

"Uh...a...uh..." Rory said.

"Thought so." He smirked.

Rory smiled slightly. "Oh geez, this is going to go to your head now, isn't it?"

"Nah, I know you don't go for the body. You went out with Dean, didn't you?" He teased.

"Tristan!" Rory exclaimed.

"What, it's true!" Tristan chuckled. "That guy may have been a good first boyfriend but he was tall and lanky. He hardly had the body, did he?"

"Well he grew into it. And I made the most of it." Rory retorted.

"What?" He said surprised.

"Never mind." Rory said quickly, not wanting to dwell on that part of her life. It wasn't the proudest moment of her life. "I'll leave you to work." She said starting to walk off, feeling the blush on her cheeks.

"Hey Mary?" He called.

"Yeah?" She turned round.

"Fancy grabbing a coffee when I get off? I finish in an hour." He said. "Obviously just as friends...I know you've made that pretty clear."

Rory bit her lip slightly. "You know, I'm actually free then. Meet at Luke's?"

"Really?" Tristan said surprised that she was actually saying yes.

"Maybe I'm too distracted by you standing there with a shirt on. Just take it or I might change my mind." She said smirking slightly.

"I'll take it." He said quickly. "See you in an hour."

"See you in an hour." Rory said. She started walking off and couldn't help the smile appearing on her face. She didn't know how Tristan could do that to her. She had actually wanted to say yes. Maybe Jess was right. Maybe she did want something to happen between her and Tristan.

Anna was walking past Luke's after saying goodbye to April. She looked through the window and saw Luke working behind the counter. She took a deep breath before walking in nervously. She went up to the counter. "Hi Luke..." She said hesitantly.

Luke glanced up at her. "If you've come to fight, can it wait until I've finished here? We've got an audience." He said gruffly.

"I've not come to fight." Anna said quietly. "I..uh..I had a chat with your wife..." She said.

"I know. She called me. If you went to upset her..." Luke warned.

"I didn't. I just...Rory told me some stuff and I just...I wanted to talk to her. And it helped." Anna admitted. "You..uh..you've got a great woman there." She said.

"Of course I do." Luke said eyeing her suspiciously.

Anna sighed. "I've just had a talk with April as well. Probably something I should have done ages ago. I...I think we're ok now. I was heading home but then...well, I thought there was one other person I should see. Who I owe an even bigger apology to." She admitted. She glanced at Luke nervously. "I'm sorry." She said sincerely. "I'm sorry for not telling you about April, I'm sorry for not letting you introduce her to Lorelai and I'm...well, I'm just sorry for everything."

"Anna..." Luke sighed, surprised by the sudden change in her.

"I should have told you about April as soon as I found out. I knew where you lived, I could have easily come and told you. I just...I was scared, Luke." She admitted.

"I would have been there for you." Luke said gruffly.

"I know that now." She said honestly. She sighed. "And when April found you, I was scared I was going to lose her. And when I found out about Lorelai and how cool she was, I got jealous." She admitted. "I know it was selfish of me and you probably think I'm still being selfish but I was scared. April's my whole world and I was terrified I was going to lose her."

Luke sighed. "You're never going to lose her, Anna. You're her mom."

"I know. I know that now. But...well, I get insecure sometimes." Anna sighed.

Luke glanced at her. "Well...I guess I know what that's like. I guess that's something we actually have in common." He conceded, thinking about Chris.

"I think we have something else pretty amazing in common, don't you?" Anna gave him a small smile.

Luke had to smile at that. "Yeah. She's pretty amazing." He said softly.

"I'm sick of fighting, Luke." She admitted. "So...I told April I wanted her home for Thanksgiving and Christmas but...she can split the other breaks how she wants to. And I told her she can come here on Boxing Day and spend New Year with you."

"Are you being serious?" Luke said surprised. "Anna..."

"I've kept our daughter from you long enough. It might take some time for me but I know I have to swallow my pride. April's as much your daughter as she is mine. To be honest, sometimes I feel she is a lot more like you than me." She said smiling slightly. "But, I'm being serious. I want a truce, Luke. That is...if you'll accept my apology?"

"I accept it." He nodded. "And I appreciate it. Really. Thank you, Anna." He said sincerely.

Anna just nodded. "Well...I guess I should head off. I'll...well, I'll probably see you around sometime." She said.

"Anna?" Luke said.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." He said softly.

"Thank you for loving her as much as I do." Anna said sincerely. "Who knows, if I had plucked up courage to tell you about April 22 years ago, maybe it would have been you and me who were married now..." She said. She gave him a small smile before leaving.

Luke watched her go before picking up the diner phone. "Lorelai? Anna just came by..." He said, not able to keep the excitement from showing in his voice.

Sorry it's a bit shorter but I hope you liked it! :) Please let me know what you think by dropping me a review. Your continued support really does mean so much to me, so thank you! :)