A/N: Yes Emily was a little bit cruel last chapter but it's Emily. Thank you for all the reviews and keep on reading.

Height: 5'7''

Weight: 179 lbs

Chapter 26

Rory went directly to bed once they got home. She was in full on depression mode and was thinking of a way to change it. First off she needed to lose weight that much as clear to her. She could call her grandparents up and they'd probably be willing to pay for a trainer. They said they would last night but that would mean talking to her grandmother and suddenly she found herself getting very nervous and very hungry again.

She had changed into a pair of blue sweats and a white t-shirt last night. She needed to go and get some coffee. She went into the kitchen and saw her mom sitting there clicking some coupons. Oh well she wasn't going care too much about that right now, she just needed coffee.

"Morning…" Lorelai said unsure of how to handle her daughter in a situation like this. Yes her grandmother had gotten mad at her before but she had never called her a pig.

"Good morning" Rory mumbled as she poured herself a cup of coffee and looked for a breakfast. Unsurprisingly there was nothing there that would be considered health food. Hell there wasn't even cereal, only pop tarts. "Don't we have anything healthier?" she asked annoyed. She was still cranky from last night and her blood sugar was getting a bit too low.

Lorelai shook her head no; she knew her part now though. She had to play the sensitive and caring mom. Something that Emily Gilmore never understood how to do. "Rory…relax and have a pop tart. My mother was way out of line last night. You're fine just the way you are" she said smiling.

Rory opened her jaw and just shook her head at her mother. "Are you insane? I mean I know you're trying to make me feel better but really? Are you that crazy? This is not fine!" Rory said lifting up her shirt and grabbing her stomach flab. "This doesn't look good and…it's unhealthy. This is what I'm trying to lose. I know that I should be happy with my body but I'm not and I need to change it. Now do we have anything healthy?" she asked snapping at her mother and dropping her shirt back down.

Lorelai wasn't used to her daughter acting like this around her. "Hey, I'm not the one who yelled at you last night. You don't have to bite my head off and we have what we have" Lorelai said to her.

"Hey! This is partly your fault. You could have taught me proper eating habits. Don't be gluttonous you could have told me. Instead it was eat whatever you want" she said feeling hungry and frustrated. She needed to get something semi healthy and went to get her coat and shoes. If there was nothing healthy here then at least there'd always be something healthy at Luke's she could eat.

"Excuse me? Hey I let you be your own person. Besides last time I checked you weren't living under my roof when you blew up like this" she said regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth. Rory's big blue eyes grew wide as she looked at her mom. They stood there in silence for about a minute. "I'm going to Luke's, be back later" she said. She needed to get away from her mom right now. Great now she was in a fight with both her grandma and her mom. Ugh she didn't need this. She walked to Luke's as fast as she could albeit a bit slower than she had been able to a year ago.

By the time she walked into Luke's she was steaming mad, she didn't even care if people saw her wearing sweats although maybe she should have she was giving the other patrons a view of her expanded rear end. "Luke I need three pancakes, with bacon, sausage, and toast. Cup of coffee too" she said, snapping just a little bit at him.

Luke took one look at her and knew that something was wrong. This wasn't like Rory and Lorelai wasn't with her. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was hurting. "Alright, come on" he said waving her away from the counter.

"What?" Rory asked confused, all she wanted was breakfast and now Luke was acting weird. Could today get any worse?

"Come on, I need to talk to you about something, it'll take two seconds" he said in a calm tone. Rory sighed and joined him in the store room. "What do you want?" she asked quickly. Luke looked over her and shook his head. She had gained more weight and it was Saturday. He had heard how badly it went the last time she was at her grandmother's. He could only assume that Emily had been rude to her.

"Nothing's up, I'm just hungry and I want my food" she said stomping her foot a bit causing her entire body to jiggle.

"Rory, last time I checked when one is dieting they don't order bacon and sausage. What happened to change that? Because you seemed pretty gung ho there for a while about losing weight and…well I just want to be sure it's what you really want" he said hoping that came out right.

Rory crossed her arms and sighed. "It's…nothing…I mean…I'm still dieting…it was just a bad night and morning. My grandmother called me a pig and I swear my mom just acts like I'm not different at all which is normally okay but she just keeps all of this junk in the house and I can't stop eating and…and" she said as tears came to her eyes. She had cried a bit last night but now she just couldn't stop herself. God she was just a fat blubbering mess in front of Luke, she didn't like this at all.

Luke wasn't really sure what to do. He had never really encountered a crying Rory before sure he had dealt with an emotional Lorelai but this was different. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back lightly. "Hey hey it's okay. I mean okay it's not a perfect situation. You're not a pig. Hell a lot of people gain weight in college. You can always lose weight but…look I'll be honest you're not going to lose weight if you're eating that kind of breakfast. Now, how about I get you some coffee, no sugar and oatmeal with a hint of cinnamon" he said. He didn't really know what else to do. Hell normally he wouldn't have even brought her back here but there was just something in her voice and her eyes that made him do it.

Rory sniffled a bit and wiped the tears from her eyes. "That'd be great and I'm sorry about this and the way I walked in. I'm just so stressed out by all of this…" she started before he stopped her. "Hey don't be stressed. It's not good for you and if that's what you order when you're stressed then it's really bad. I don't mean in general I just mean for your diet because well you do want to lose weight" he said.

Rory smiled at him. "I know what you mean Luke it's just…well it's hard I feel like a whale and I just want to feel like myself again" she mumbled blushing with embarrassment that she was telling Luke all this stuff but she needed to get it off her chest and she really felt that her mom was going to be no help in this manner.

"Yeah well no matter what you'll always be Rory, now come on I've got customers out there and we'll get you that oatmeal" he said smiling as they left the storeroom. She certainly seemed less tense now. He did wonder what kind of fight she and Lorelai had gotten into but frankly it was none of his business. He poured her a cup of coffee and went to help the other customers. Yeah it was nice having Lane around to help but she was working lunch and dinner. Oh well he'd just have to deal with the breakfast rush.

Rory calmed down as she had another cup of coffee. She regretted sitting at the counter though when she realized how small it felt in relation to her butt. But it was busy and it wasn't like she could just take a table. Besides that would be rude without her mom there. She felt a little guilty over the way that she talked to her mom earlier today but she stood by what she said. It probably wasn't normal to go to four Thanksgivings in one day and plan to eat food at every one.

After Luke brought out her oatmeal she started eating it grimacing as she tasted it. The cinnamon helped a lot but still it just tasted bland. She was going to have to start looking into cereals instead of pancakes, no chocolate cereals of course. As she ate she started thinking it might be worth it to see if her grandmother would hire a nutritionist at least then she'd have someone telling her what to eat so she wouldn't end up cheating on her diet. She played with her spoon for a bit.

"Oatmeal not doing it for you?" he asked looking at her.

"Not really, I mean it's really good just…bland as compared to what I normally eat" she said looking enviously at the people surrounding her who were eating bacon. God how she wanted just one of those greasy strips with her oatmeal, she sighed and went back to eating it.

"Hold on a minute" Luke said. He grabbed an apple and started slicing it into the oatmeal for her. "Might add a bit more taste to it" he shrugged.

Rory took another bite and smiled at him. "It's not bacon but it does help, thanks Luke" she said starting to feel a bit better now that she had food in her body. It also gave her a chance to think too, she needed to start working out in a serious matter. Just running wasn't going to do it anymore. She needed to go to a gym. The only ones she knew of that would be close though were by Yale. That would mean leaving home a bit earlier but she wasn't sure her body could handle waiting another week. That's when she made her decision she needed to get back to Yale yes it would disappoint her mother but all she needed to do was look at the food in the house. She knew she shouldn't be eating that stuff.

Rory went to grab her wallet to pay him but soon realized that leaving the way she did she had apparently forgotten to grab any money. She was blushing was again when Luke came back over. "Luke…can I pay you later? I kind of…well I forgot my wallet" she said. Luke just waved her off.

"It's fine, you were stressed and this one is one the house. Consider it a New Years gift" he said. Rory smiled at him. "Thanks Luke" she said lifting her bulk away from the counter, she'd leave him a big tip next time. Luke watched her leave and shook his head; yeah she really didn't need those pancakes. It was just amazing how much her figure had changed on her. Well long as she was actively dieting he was going to do all he could to help her lose weight.

Rory walked; well at this point her thighs had grown so much it was becoming more of a waddle, back to the house feeling better than before. She knew what she had to do. She had to get packed, and get back to Yale. She was allowed back into the dorms now and she'd beat the rush getting back there early. She'd just tell Scott they could meet at Yale again. She moved her mind off that topic, but she did feel a bit more secure than the last time. He had stayed with her when she had gained 10 pounds before and she was almost certain that he would again.

"I'm back…" she said to her mom as she walked in. During the intervening time Lorelai had heated up instead of cooling down. Yes she felt bad about what she said but Rory shouldn't have just walked out like that. She had been in such a bad mood she had eaten three packs of pop tarts. It just made her feel like she was right and Rory was being a child. They were talking and she just walked out. She also insulted what she had in the house. Oh she was not in a happy mood. Of course she had only eaten pop tarts which were basically pure sugar and coffee. Not the kind of nutrition a body really needed.

"How was Luke's?" she asked coldly as Rory went into her room and started packing up her stuff. Rory noted the coldness and was even surer of her decision to get out of there.

"It was fine, Luke was Luke and I'm going back to Yale" Rory said quickly as she started throwing stuff in her bag. She couldn't look at her mother she knew it was going to hurt her but she just couldn't stay there.

Lorelai was dumbfounded. "What? Why are you going back to Yale? We still have a week together" she said wondering where this was coming from. She had been so good to her this winter break and here her daughter was just up and leaving. She felt immensely hurt that her daughter didn't want to spend more time with her.

"Yeah well…I want to beat the rush and honestly I want to start hitting the gym that's on campus" she said walking to the bathroom to grab her stuff. "I just need to get someplace where I can lose weight" she said honestly hoping her mother would understand.

Now if Lorelai had cooled down a bit she would have understood but right now she still had a bit of a temper brewing within her. "What? You really think that's going to help you? Because last time I checked Yale is where you gained most of your weight missy" Lorelai said. She would regret everything she said later but right now she wasn't thinking.

Rory looked at her mother and just shook her head. "Well thank you for making this an easy choice. I was feeling bad but I just…I need to get out there and do some more stuff. I've just been sitting around and well let's face it you don't exactly have health food around this place. I can't think of a gym that's close and it's too cold to go running most days. I just…I need space" she said in as calm a manner as she could.

Lorelai wasn't letting it go though. "You can do all that here. We can do push-ups or something. Besides you're the one who sits around all day it's not like I tie your fat ass to the couch" she said just like Emily Gilmore. Her eyes widened and her hand went right to her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that. She really hadn't. She was just so hurt that Rory was leaving and well she was still mad. She knew that there was nothing that she could really say to her to make it better though.

Once again Rory was furious at her mother. She knew that she didn't mean it but this was just too far. She didn't say a word and went to get her bags. She wasn't fully packed but she needed to get out of there. She grabbed all of her stuff and looked back at her mother who had yet to move or say anything else. Rory couldn't let her have the last words.

"You know, you say you're not like grandma but that's exactly the kind of thing grandma would say" she said turning and leaving. She felt awful right now. She hadn't expected her mother to say something like that to her. She knew she was fat now but still she didn't need to hear it like that. She sat down the in her car and once again realized just how much extra cushion there was there. She knew it was wrong but she was going to get a burger and fries for lunch. She needed to feel a bit better about herself. Besides she was going to the gym later. She'd just burn it off there.

Lorelai walked out to the porch to watch her daughter drive off. She couldn't blame her for leaving like this. She felt sick to her stomach. She had really just called her daughter fat to her face. She was just as bad as her mother. She walked back into the kitchen with tears in her eyes, she grabbed a bag of candy she had and went to the couch. She curled up under a blanket and started weeping. She had no idea how she was going to make this alright between the two of them.

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