***Who fancies a Vacation?***

February

Lorelai grinned the entire way home from the paediatrician's office. After several Richard Gilmore-patented driving tests around the neighborhood, she had finally convinced her father that she was capable of driving by herself. The 3 o'clock news came over the radio as she pulled into the driveway, talking about Nelson Mandela's refusal of release, and the withdrawal of troops from Lebanon. But even the depressing news couldn't take away the ecstatic feeling coursing through her body.

She sang along to the radio loudly. The windows were wound up tightly, so she didn't have any fear of a passer-by or a fellow driver overhearing her. She belted out Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, followed by a classic The Who tune. Rory didn't sleep - she sat passively in her car seat in the back unperturbed by her mother's singing. It was almost like she was used to the antics already. Lorelai didn't even frown when an impatient driver cut in front of her. She internally chastised his stupidity, but it was all in jest. Nothing seemed to be able to bring Lorelai Gilmore down today. Independence looked great on her.

The attention to detail she demonstrated in her driving was astounding. She pulled slowly into the gravel driveway and pulled as close to the garden as she could, trying to park the car in the exact same spot she had taken it from - to the inch. She placed the car into Park, and turned the wheels towards the retaining wall. She was so intent on her job that she didn't notice the figure sitting on the shallow step up to her front door.

She stepped out of the car, pulling her handbag and the diaper bag with her. "Chris, what are you doing here?" She busied herself unbuckling the car seat, and juggling the bags. She initially thought that he would help her carry everything into the house, but he made no move to do so.

Christopher shurgged. "Just wanted to see my two favorite girls," he replied, standing up as she placed Rory's seat on the ground so she would have a hand free to open the front door.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows skeptically while her back was turned. She had heard the rumors - she wasn't a complete recluse - and they all said about how Chris had been 'dating' anything that moved. He seemed to be leaving a trail of broken hearts and ruined reputations in his wake. "Chris," she sighed, "why are you really here?"

Christopher flopped onto the couch, and watched passively as Lorelai carefully unbuckled Rory from her encapsulated state, quickly checked her diaper was dry, and settled herself on the couch opposite the father of her child. He looked around the room nervously, as if it were the first time he had been there.

"Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum," Lorelai mumbled to the Jeopardy 'Think' music.

"Okay, enough with the pressure," Christopher grumbled. "I'm leaving school."

"What?" she yelled, but quickly lowered her voice when Rory startled. "What the hell do you mean, you're leaving school?"

"As in, there are many schools I have attended in the past, and a few schools left who haven't yet kicked me out, but I will not be attending any of them."

"Why?" She couldn't come up with any more words.

"Uh... because I'm flunking out." He hung his head and didn't meet her shocked gaze.

Lorelai spent a full minute trying to calm herself before she spoke again. She found that looking at Rory's face helped to keep her cool. "But you're smart enough... how are you flunking?"

Christopher stood, and starting pacing the room, unable to keep himself still under Lorelai's stare. "I didn't go to any of my mid-terms. I stole dad's credit card, and went to Florida instead."

"Why would you do something like that?" she whispered fervently, aware of the baby in her lap.

He shrugged, not seeming to care too much about the dire situation. "What's the point?"

Lorelai's face showed absolute confusion. "If you don't graduate, you can't go to college."

"Lor," he sighed. "I've been kicked out of four schools in the past year. I'm not going to graduate. Anyway, you didn't finish school..."

"Chris, that is as different as Anthony Michael Hall and James Dean. Fluoro Pink and dark grey. I didn't have a choice about finishing school - you do. And the second I'm eligible, I'm sitting my GED. What are you going to do with your life without a high school diploma?"

"Thought I'd go travelling. It's what we always wanted, right? That's why I'm here, Lor. I want you to come with me."

"Are you crazy? I can't take a four month old baby gallivanting around the world!"

Chris looked at her nonchalantly. "So leave her here."

Lorelai saw red. Her anger was indescribable. She had seen good sides and bad sides of her ex-boyfriend in the 10 or so years she had known him. He had supported her choice to keep the baby, so she had never thought he would want her to abandon their child now to chase some dream caused by a combination of boredom and wanderlust. She tried to comprehend just why someone who had been given all the opportunities that Chris had been on the receiving end of would turn his back on them. Why would he just give up on his education, when he could easily go to a great college and make something of himself. But most of all, her anger broke through.

"Get out of my house," she hissed at him.

Christopher took a double-take. "Huh? Why?"

Her voice became very low. "I am not leaving my daughter for you or anyone. For you to suggest I should is insulting. I love her with everything I am. It's just unfortunate that you don't feel the same way."

"Hey, I do .... love her."

She took great notice of the hesitation in his voice. "If you loved her, you would never suggest leaving her. Now - vamoose."

Christopher looked regretfully at the two girls. "Can I at least hold her for a minute before I'm banished?"

Lorelai didn't say anything. She just held Rory in outstretched arms.

Chris took her carefully. "I'm sorry your Dad's such a screw-up, kiddo." Watching the two together softened Lorelai considerably. It was a nice sight - and not one that had been repeated much since Rory's birth.

Lorelai interrupted the father-daughter moment from the couch. "So... don't be a screw-up. She deserves for at least one of her parents to have an education, right?"

"Uh... yeah."

"So do it. Go to your teachers and beg for a make up. Do extra credit - whatever it takes to get through the next year and a half. If you can't do it for me, do it for Rory."

Christopher sighed and returned the baby to her mother's arms. "I'll try. But if I flunk this year, I'm not repeating. It's too hard." He gave a small wave before leaving the house.

Lorelai watched him leave from the window. "Too hard? It's always too hard, isn't it Chris?" She sighed. "First it's too hard to be a Dad, and now it's too hard to finish 11th grade? Have you even really tried?" Her voice echoed slightly around the near empty room.

Regret flooded over her. She had said no to Christopher's proposal because she wanted him to have a future - to finish school, go to college and travel. Now he was giving up on those plans? He had a responsibility. He had a child, therefore he needed an education to support her, right? Instead, Christopher was going to, no doubt, flunk Junior year, and waste his life away. How would he ever be ready for his waiting family with that attitude?

She knew that she couldn't rely on him for their future. She also couldn't rely on her parents to provide the future that Rory deserved - one that was the opposite of Lorelai's upbringing. There was only one person she could rely on - herself.

Craving sweeping over her like a tidalwave, Lorelai went to the kitchen and made herself a pot of coffee. The calming effect of the brew was almost instantaneous. She pursed her lips as again she thought of Christopher's sudden announcement, and request that she join him in his choice to run away from his schooling. A year ago, before she knew about the approaching arrival of Rory, she might have considered running away with him. They could go to Europe, and find jobs in restaurants; they could bunk down in youth hostels for a couple of dollars a night; they could see the sights without the constant glare of their parents. It would have been an appetising prospect. But now, there were much more important things to take into consideration, and Chris didn't seem to realize that. He seemed to care more about his current desires than what was best in the long term.

She looked down at her daughter in her arms, and felt sadness fill her heart. It wasn't Rory's fault that her father seemed to be going completely off the rails. He had turned from a little bit of a Mommy's Boy into a well-known rebel, who was in great danger of becoming a no-hope slacker.

"It's not your fault, Sweets. He does love you - I'm sure. He's just confused at the moment. He will finish school, go to college - all that stuff. Just like we planned." The worst thing in Lorelai's mind was that she didn't believe a word she was saying.