AN - Thank you guys! Droolia - the Hello Kitty thing I've written and deleted about ten times before finally settling on then being the time to say it :) I can't imagine Richard in jeans either. To me the suits and the bowtie are kind of part of his character. Here's the next chapter, sorry it's a little later then usual, the chapter I was writing (not this one :P) was a little problematic in the amount of research I needed to do so I didn't get round to my final edit until now. Anyways hope you enjoy, let me know what you think x

Chapter 38 - Of returns and new starts

Rory paused outside the door of her new dorm room and gave a mildly disappointed sigh. She could hear yelling. The unmissable sound of Paris expressing her opinion at an extremely loud volume. With a resigned huff she pushed into the room.

"Rory good, tell her," Paris rounded gesturing at Joely and barked at her before she even had a chance to enter the room properly.

"Hi Joely," Rory waved weakly. "Hi Paris, what is going on?"

"She's moving the furniture and she tried to take Dee's room," Joely gave an exasperated sigh. "I simply told her we should wait for Dee and you before we make any decisions, she launched into drill sergeant mode."

"Is there a problem with the room you were allocated?" Rory asked jumping in before Paris could launch off on a tirade. She glanced at the four doors that led off the common area, two on each side of the room.

"That side is next to the showers," Paris frowned, folding her arms across her chest.

Rory nodded understanding that Paris meant the noise from the floors communal bathroom would keep her awake, with a quick glance around the room she noted that her room was on the other side to Paris'. "Do you want to take my room? I don't mind swapping."

"But," Paris gestured at what had been allocated Dee's room; the room she had deemed the best room in the dorm.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Take my room or wait until Dee get's here and ask if she will swap. Do it fast though, because Luke will be here in a minute to drop my stuff off."

"I'll take yours," Paris grumbled and grabbed a box from the floor and strode into the room that had been marked for Rory.

"Explain why we want to share with her," Joely rolled her dark eyes and flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"We have to take the rough with the smooth with Paris. Once she's settled she'll be fine, she's a really good roommate when everything goes right," Rory told her with the voice of experience. "Did you have a good summer?"

"It was fine, kinda boring, you?"

"Good," Rory nodded.

"Heard you had a heavy night in New York, shame I missed it," Joely gave her a knowing smile. "Still I can't say I'm one for fancy cocktails either. Rum and coke is more my drink, thought they tend to be more rum then coke," she quirked her eyebrows in amusement. "I'll have to see if I can coax you and Dee out of your pizza and soda routine you had last year."

"Not this year," Rory shook her head definitively. "No partying it up during the semester until I'm sure I've hit what I need to. I've got nine credits to get before I graduate plus all my applications in. I can party when I'm done."

"Very studious," Joely rolled her eyes. "I see why Dee likes you. Well I don't mind being the odd fish in the barrel, though if she," she jerked her head in the direction of Paris' room, "insists on calling me party girl Barbie we'll have trouble."

"Maybe dye your hair," Rory offered with an edge of lameness. "You'd suit being a brunette."

"But everyone knows blondes have more fun," Joely jokes as she spoke in a high girlish voice. "Well, I'm going to get out of here while all the chaos is afoot. Dee said she would be here by 3," she turned as the door banged open. "Whoa, who are you?"

"Joely, this is my stepdad Luke," Rory rushed to grab the door to stop it hitting Luke as it bounced away from the wall. "Luke let me take one," she grabbed the top box allowing him to see properly. "I'm in there," she indicated her room.

"Great," Luke staggered forward. "How many books have you got in here? This weighs a tonne."

"Just a few, but they are kind of big," Rory smiled apologetically at him.

"Did you carry this at home?" Luke paused and turned to look at her.

"I packed it downstairs," Rory told him quickly. She smiled as Luke gave her a semi displeased look as he started towards the room in the far corner.

"That is your step dad?" Joely whispered. "He's hot!"

"Luke?!" Rory stared at her aghast.

"Clearly, you don't have the same taste as your Mom," Joely chuckled, "but she has good taste, those shoulders!"

"Um," Rory grimaced.

"Well I'll leave you to it." Joely grabbed her purse. "I'm going to see if I can find out where the parties are, laters."

"Later," Rory bid goodbye to her new roommate weakly her face still twisted into a grimace.

"What's with the face?" Luke asked as he came out of her room.

"Nothing, just my roommate thinks you're hot."

"Huh," Luke muttered unconvinced. "Come on we've still got half a library to move."

"Do you have to get back straight away?" Rory asked following him out to the hallway.

"I'd like to get back as soon as I can," Luke told her shortening the length of his stride so Rory could keep up. "When I have the day off I like to be with your Mom and the twins as much as I can."

"I understand," Rory followed him down the stairs. "Luke, I know you will but make sure Mom doesn't overdo it next week. I know she's been working from home a bit and dropping in but when she's back there for a full day…"

"I know," Luke gave her a warm smile, "sucker that I am, I've fully stocked the house with all her favourite junk food and I got a bucket loads of those cheesy, sappy movies she likes and Lane is covering half my shifts so I can be home when she is," he held the door open for Rory. "I'll have all my girls settled by the end of the week."

"Well this girl," Rory grinned at him, "feels settled already," she chuckled as Luke shot her a wavering smile seemingly uncertain about what to do or say. "You can hug me in my room later," she whispered. She patted Luke on the back. "Let's get this stuff shifted huh?"

xXx

Luke glanced sideways at April as they sat in the office of Stars Hollow Middle school. He hated school offices everyone the same and all making him feel like he had done something wrong even though he was a parent trying to enrol his kid. It was April's first day at the school where she would be for a year before she moved on to high school, location as yet to be decided. She was nervous, he could tell, but as she hadn't brought anything up he wasn't sure how to proceed.

"Dad?" April finally spoke.

"Yeah," Luke sat up and leaned towards her. "You Ok?"

"You don't have to stay," April whispered sending furtive looks around the office. "I can do this myself."

"I was told I had to be here, sorry," Luke told her not sounding the least bit sorry. "Did you want Lorelai to have come, or your Mom?"

"No," April sighed. "Mom's looking after Nana, and Lorelai is getting ready for tomorrow," she slumped in her seat slightly and folded her arms across her chest. "I'm not a little kid."

Luke flicked his eyes skywards. "No but your my kid. I have to be here for your induction, you get to do next year without me."

"Alright," April sighed, "Do you think I look alright?"

Luke glanced at her and gave a soft sigh as he realised his little girl was concerned about her appearance. He had always hoped that April would miss that particular phase but it was encroaching with her wanting Lorelai to do her eyebrows and with her painting her nails and wearing shiny lip-gloss. April was growing up and he wasn't sure how to handle it. "You look like you, and that is what is important."

"I don't look like a dork?" April muttered fiddling with her red plastic framed glasses. "Maybe I should have…"

"You look like you April," Luke repeated slowly turning in his seat to look at her face on. "You don't need to be nervous."

"Lorelai offered to take me shopping, I should have gone." April nervously wiped her hands on her pink corduroy pants. "Lorelai always looks good."

"I'm sure if you really want we can go shopping at the weekend, not that you need to," feeling disheartened Luke settled back in his chair. "You don't need to worry about that, think about what you're going to learn."

"But what if we have to have partners and no one wants to work with me because…" April started she trailed off as Luke raised his hand. "But Dad!"

"April, it doesn't matter, just be you, you're a great kid." He tried to reassure her, hoping that the fretting over her appearance was a cover for the fact that she was concerned about making friends and not because she was becoming super girly.

"You have to say that," April gripped sinking back into her chair.

Luke opened his mouth to try and pep her up, wishing that Lorelai was here as she would know exactly what to say to make April feel a million dollars.

"Mr Danes and April?"

"Principal Smith," Luke stood up and held his hand out to shake the Principal's hand.

"Why don't you come in and we can get started," the Principal invited them into the office.

"Come on," Luke gestured for April to go first letting her walk past him. "Let's get you settled in."

xXx

Lorelai gasped in horror as she opened the filing cabinet, her filing system, carefully honed over years of work had been decimated. The files now set in alphabetical order. Her subsections gone. She closed the drawer and then reopened it, hoping it would be back to the way it was, but no. She grimaced and closed the door before returning to her desk and staring at the file lists on the computer, again it had been reorganised. With an exasperated sigh she brought her head forward onto the desk. Michel had reorganised, he'd taken over her world and made it his when all he was supposed to do was cover. She sat back up and chewed on her lip, she felt like crying. She missed her babies, her breasts were aching and now she was going to have to spend most of the day putting everything back the way it was so she would be able to work properly. She had just wanted a nice, quiet simple day.

With a resigned exhalation she climbed out of her chair and pushed out of the office, to where Michel was stood working at the reception compute, "Michel!"

"Yes Lorelai," he looked up casting a look up and down her person. "I like this dress, the colour is a looks good on you."

"Don't be nice to me," Lorelai grumbled, stepping alongside him.

"I was not being nice to you, I was complimenting your dress," Michel narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"That is you being nice to me, and don't be nice to me because I'm mad at you," Lorelai put her hands on her hips. She braced herself as Michel narrowed his eyes further. "You reorganised the filing cabinet"

"It was a mess!" Michel retorted. "There was no order to it."

"There was an order," Lorelai shook her head in annoyance. "Everything was together as it was used for."

"You had five files for florists, there were only two different florists." Michel rolled his eyes.

"All the files were grouped how I use them. If I was planning for a wedding I looked at one section, if it's an event it's another section, everyday stuff this section. One is super great at table decorations. The other at bouquets and if I want something big you go to the first one not the second one because their delivery van is better so it gets less bashed about." Lorelai explained with exasperation. "It worked. Now I have to change everything back."

"Do not change everything back," Michel whined. "It is orderly now, the rest of us can…"

"The rest of you were covering for me. I am now back so I will be doing my job," Lorelai shifted her weight onto one hip, "and I will repeat as I have told you many times, this is my Inn. So stop changing things without asking me. If you want to make a suggestion, you can make a suggestion but don't just do it," she swivelled and pushed back into the office. She stared at her chair. She didn't want to sit down and work, or sit down and fix what shouldn't have been broken. She pushed out of the office, the office door slamming angrily against the wall and stomped into the kitchen. "I need coffee!" she announced to Sookie.

Sookie paused in her stirring of the dish she was working on and raised her eyebrows in alarm. "You already had a cup. You said I wasn't to give you anymore."

"I know but I need it," Lorelai pouted and looked desperately at the coffee maker.

"I have brownies," Sookie nodded towards the counter where pans of baked goods sat cooling, "and blondies. I could make you an ice-cream sundae or a grilled cheese, if you want savoury."

"I don't know," Lorelai exhaled heavily.

Sookie looked her up and down and then fixed her with a sympathetic look. "Are you missing the twins?" Sookie asked, wiping her hands on a cloth.

"Yes," Lorelai raised her shoulders and then dropped them, "and Michel changed everything. The whole file cabinet is alphabetised. He's removed all the sections. So I have to spend the day putting everything back where it was."

"I'm sure he meant well," Sookie moved over to the freezer and grabbed some ice cream. "He's been really organised while you've been off. I little dictatory at times, but good."

"I don't want him to be good, because that means I'm not needed." Lorelai blew out her cheeks as she felt herself verging on tears.

"Oh honeybun," Sookie quickly set down the ice-cream scoop and grabbed a spoon to add some brownies and blondies to the vanilla ice-cream. "You are so very needed, that's what all the phone calls were for. Michel was just lightening the load so you could enjoy those beautiful babies".

"He was taking over," Lorelai bit her lip.

"Come on," Sookie chucked a few strawberries into the bowl and grabbed a spoon. "Let's go into the office," she ushered Lorelai out of the kitchen back to the tiny office. The two women froze in the doorway. Michel stood by the file cabinet the drawer open, his eyes wide as he was caught.

"What are you doing now?" Lorelai scowled.

"I'm trying to fix your stupid system," Michel grumbled. "You are cross. That is not good. You get crazy when you're angry and I am saving the staff!"

"Leave it!" Lorelai made to step forward.

"Nope!" Sookie shot her hand out in front of Lorelai stopping her from walking further. "Michel, carry on, Lorelai come on," Sookie tugged her out of the office and pushed into the tiny staff room, and directed her towards the two seater couch that was nestled between the lockers. "See, he's not so bad," she forced Lorelai to sit on the couch and handed her the sundae. "Eat this before it melts." Sookie sat beside her and waited until Lorelai had had a few bites before speaking. "Do you think that maybe you came back too…"

"Uh uh," Lorelai shook her head cutting her off before she could finish. "I had to come back. I need to work for me."

"Ok," Sookie nodded carefully. "I understand, but maybe coming back for a whole day was a bit much. Maybe you should do half days this week to get you back into it."

Lorelai rocked her head from side to side, wondering if Sookie was right. "It's never going to be easy."

"No, it's not, but you don't have to hit the ground running and be at your normal running pace, you could walk in," Sookie pointed out.

"Maybe," Lorelai sighed. "This is good," she gestured at the bowl.

"It's the blondies, new recipe, one I am particularly proud of," Sookie smiled. "So, are you going to go home early?" as Lorelai tensed she rested her hand on her friends knee. "Maybe leave an hour earlier then you planned. That way you can go home have a shower and relax for a bit before you have to get the twins."

"Maybe," Lorelai swirled the melted ice-cream with the spoon. "Am I being crazy?"

"No," Sookie shook her head. "I was the exact same, remember? You had to talk me out of making a turducken."

Lorelai giggled. "Oh yeah," she sighed. "So…"

"So, let Michel fix the file cabinet. You can do a walk through, make a list of things that need to be looked at and then together, i.e. the three of us can work out who is going to do what," Sookie patted her knee. "Now finish your ice-cream. Do you want me to make you the grilled cheese?"

"No, you're good. Your fabulous baked goods have done the trick," Lorelai smiled gratefully. "I best go walk them off."

"Good girl," Sookie took the bowl away. "Go strut your stuff."

xXx

Emily smiled nervously at the woman across the table as they waited for their drinks to be brought to them. She had followed Lorelai's suggestion of inviting Christine out for coffee and had been surprised by how quickly the other woman had agreed. Now however having exchanged the pleasantries about the warmth of the day and made small talk about April they had seemingly exhausted anything common between them.

"Thank you for inviting me out," Christine tried to broach the silence. "It's great to give Anna a break."

"It's quite alright," Emily smiled at her again. "Any time as long as I'm free."

"I appreciate that," Christine smiled gently. "The apartment is beautiful, but when all you see is those 4 walls, the store and the doctor's office it can get dull."

"I understand completely," Emily smiled as the young waitress came to the table with their order. "Thank you."

"Do you come here a lot?" Christine asked one the waitress had moved away.

"Not especially," Emily shook her head as she took a sip. "If I meet with friends, it's usually at the club. And usually with Richard. This isn't his type of place," she gave Christine an amused smile. "Though I'm not sure it's really mine. I do feel like we are bringing the age down."

"Nice when you're in your sixties," Christine chuckled.

"The last time I went out for coffee it was with Rory. She took me to this coffee shop, I had never felt so old in my life," Emily chuckled lightly. "They had to most peculiar menu, and looked at me as if I was a cave man when I ordered a black coffee. They wanted to know if I wanted shots and all sorts of ridiculous things."

"Do you go out with Rory a lot?" Christine asked gently.

"Not as much as I like but she's young and has a busy life. I'm grateful for all contact with her." Emily smiled sadly. "I missed so much of her life growing up."

"You and Lorelai didn't live close to each other then?" Christine asked taking a cookie and eating it carefully.

"Lorelai has lived in Stars Hollow for nearly 21 years," Emily swallowed nervously. "We had a strained relationship."

"I see," Christine studied Emily closely for a moment and offered a soft smile. "April says you take her out as well."

"Only a few times. I think it might get a little easier as she gets older. At the moment I don't understand half of what she says when she talks about science but make up has started to slip in," Emily smiled warmly. "More my area of expertise, and there is nothing like going for a manicure with someone."

"It's a nice treat," Christine smiled.

"If you would like you could come with me next time I get mine done," Emily offered with a smile.

"Thank you Emily but I only get manicures once a year at Christmas, one of life's little luxuries that I treat myself to."

"It's only a manicure," Emily chuckled. "$30 a …"

"Emily," Christine cut her off, "forgive me for interrupting but I'm in a different income bracket to you and your husband," she gave Emily a pointed look before smiling warmly. "Some things you take for granted are perhaps a little beyond my reach, especially now."

"Yes," Emily swallowed nervously. "I didn't mean to…" she smiled. "I apologise. I'm used to be friends being in the same…bracket."

"There is no need to apologise. I just thought we should sort of set that out so we don't keep…um…stumbling over each other," Christine smiled nervously. "You understand."

"I do," Emily nodded. She pressed her lips together uncertain what to talk about, all her interests ones which seemed out of reach to Christine and not wanting to offend the woman. "Did your home in New Mexico have a garden or was it a yard due to the climate?"

"I had a garden, I loved to garden, before," she gestured downwards. "It was such a challenge, trying to get pretty things to grow in the heat but worth the effort. I had a beautiful Althea."

Emily's eyes lift up, and she silently congratulated herself on finding a topic that worked for both. "I love to garden. Lillies are my particular favourite to grow. I love growing something and then using the flowers in the house. My patio is where I do most of my growing. Where you able to grow roses? I love roses."

"I had a Knock out rose," Christine smiled excitedly. "Such a beautiful flower. Do you have many flowers?"

"Well not so much right now" Emily took a sip of her coffee, "but in the spring time it's glorious. Forgive me but are you still able to garden?"

"I'm stuck in the chair so no. I can walk very small amounts but certainly no bending up and down," Christine gave a resigned sigh.

"My garden has raised beds on the patio," Emily started cautiously, "If you would like you are welcome to come and join me," she smiled as Christine's face lit up, "it's mostly just pruning and dead heading bu…"

"I would love to," Christine interrupted her. "It's one of the things I miss the most."

"Well once I get home I will call you to set something up!" Emily wriggled her shoulders slightly in delight. "It would be wonderful to discuss ideas with you."

xXx

Richard smiled amiably at the young man who approached him. "Richard Gilmore," he held out his hand.

"Hi Richard, James Stone. I'm the TA assigned to help you with your seminars." The young man shook his hand before sitting beside Richard in the faculty lounge. "The faculty office just wanted me to touch base with you before your first seminar next week. We have 22 students registered up to them, mostly seniors but a couple juniors."

"Is 22 what you would expect?" Richard asked curiously.

"It's about right," James nodded. "So I just wanted to nail down the process. My email is here," he handed Richard a card. "If you have any handouts, I'll need at least 24 hours to get everything Xeroxed. Are you planning to make the presentation available to the students to supplement their notes."

"Presentation," Richard looked at the young man curiously.

"Your visual aids," James raised his eyebrows slightly. "Many of the professors use presentations, PowerPoint or Keynote. If you are making them available to the students I would need that the day before also so I can ensure there is a converted file for the other format users."

"I see," Richard bluffed. "How detailed do other professors make them, I haven't finalised mine yet."

"It varies, some purely use it to display graphs and pictures others use more."

"I would be the former," Richard nodded hoping he was coming across as if he sounded like he had everything in hand. "No point in doing the work for them." He chuckled.

James joined in and then looked back at his lists. "While it's a seminar course so regular papers aren't required they should do a paper at the end of the semester. Do you have any case studies in mind for them to look through?"

"It's not finalised yet," Richard mumbled mentally filing all the things he needed to do. He jumped slightly as his cell phone rang and he quickly reached into his pocket relieved of the interruption. "Excuse me," he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it was the office. "Richard Gilmore," he waited a moment allowing his secretary to greet him and tell him that the contracts he was waiting on had been delivered for a client. "I see, well I better come in and see to those immediately. I'll be with you within thirty minutes," he waited and listed to his confused sounding secretary telling him that it wasn't needed but she would have everything ready and he closed the call. "I'm terribly sorry James, I need to get back to the office," he reached into his breast pocket and pulled his own card out handing it to the young man. "Why don't you email my office with what you need and when so my secretary is aware," he rose and held his hand out. "It's been wonderful to meet you, and I look forward to working with you," he turned without giving the young man a chance to say goodbye and strode off, panic rising inside as he realised that his notes he had made were woefully inadequate and he now had to replan three months of work in a week else he would fall at the first hurdle, and he had no idea where to begin. His upbeat conversations he had with the faculty office had not adequately prepared him for what was expected and now he felt like he was floundering. 40 years in the insurance business may have given him the knowledge but he had no idea what was needed to disseminate that information to the next generation.

xXx

Emily opened the large wooden door to the house with a smile. "Hello everyone," she greeted Lorelai, April, Luke and the twins as they piled in to the foyer.

"Hi Emily," Luke greeted her pushing April gently on the shoulder as the thirteen year old began to lag behind.

"Your father and Rory are in the study. She's helping him with something for Yale. I didn't quite understand what they said, but they've been locked in there for about an hour." Emily held her hands out to take the baby in Luke's arms. "Hello Willow, Grandma has been so looking forward to seeing you," she settled the baby in her arms and smiled widely. "You look sleepy little one."

"They are," Lorelai sighed hefting Kitty up her hip slightly, "can we go put them down?"

"We can, Luke April why don't you go help yourself to drinks, I put some chips out."

"OK Grandma," April muttered as she slowly walked passed Emily.

Emily frowned and watched the thirteen year old for a moment before turning back to Luke and Lorelai. "Oh Dear her too, Rory was like that when she arrived, something about warring roommates."

"She's having trouble with Paris and…the other girl, not Dee, the one with the boy's name," Lorelai groaned and rolled her eyes. "They're fighting and Rory is being mediator. It's been a long week for all of us," Lorelai started towards the stairs.

Emily shot a nervous look at Luke before following Lorelai, her daughter's speed too much that she couldn't catch up with her until she reached the bedroom that was now solely a nursery for the twins. "Lorelai?"

"They're tired Mom, they had a tough week too," Lorelai mumbled as she laid Kitty down in the elaborate crib.

"They didn't get on with the day-care provider?" Emily asked joining Lorelai at the side of the crib

Lorelai shrugged, "they cried a lot but they were OK by yesterday. I just…"

"You missed them," Emily smiled knowingly at Lorelai.

"Of course I missed them," Lorelai gave a huff.

Emily studied her for a moment and decided to let it go. "Goodness everyone really has had a long week," Emily sighed and set about settling Willow into the crib. "Has it been a long week angel?" she stroked the baby's cheek earning herself a small smile from the baby. "Grandma had a mixed week," Emily glanced sideways at Lorelai as she kept her tone light as she talked to the babies, "but I had a very nice coffee with April's other grandma," she smiled as Willow cooed at her. "I did she's going to help me with my gardening," she frowned as Lorelai didn't engage. "She's a very nice lady, and your Mommy was very smart to suggest meeting up with her. But then you know you have a very smart Mommy."

"Mom," Lorelai looked at her warily.

"Your brains and talents have never been in question Lorelai," Emily gave her a small smile. "How you used them, in the past left a lot to be desired but you are a very intelligent capable woman. Even if it might feel like you are very baby orientated."

"Thanks Mom," Lorelai gave a small soft sigh and moved over to kiss Willow so the baby would settle. "I guess we better go down and pull Dad and Rory out of that study."

"Chance would be a fine thing," Emily rolled her eyes as she moved over to kiss Kitty. "He's been stuck in there all hours since he had a meeting at Yale, something about preparedness and showing himself up."

"He didn't get what he was getting himself into?" Lorelai's eyebrows rose knowingly.

"Of course he didn't," Emily crossed and selected the baby monitor holding it tightly as she moved to put the nightlight on. She paused and smiled as the room was illuminated by stars and turned the main light off. "Your father is in some respects very pampered. I do everything for him in the house."

"Or the maid."

Emily rolled her eyes, "and the secretary does everything for him at the office. He may have the ideas but he very rarely has to do the actual work. His role means he has the ability to delegate. Whilst he does have the ability to delegate the grunt work to this TA boy, he still needs to do the work. I told him not to overdo it," she shook her head in frustration. "Rory is helping him with something on the computer."

"So she wins the granddaughter award today then."

"She does, though I believe your grandfather is assisting her with managing the money she will be receiving from the Hayden's," Emily looked inquiringly at Lorelai.

"You know as much as me Mom," Lorelai told her as they made their way down the staircase.

"Alright," Emily nodded and ushered Lorelai towards the couch were Luke and April were sat. "Now go get your drink. I will get your father and Rory and we can all try and have a pleasant evening."