"Oh, Dad!" Rory exclaimed. "You didn't have to do that!" She pulled the wrapping paper off of the box in her hand. "It's just the one I wanted!" She opened the box and pulled out the newest phone, the one that took the best pictures and everything! She jumped off of the couch and ran over to the chair where her dad was sitting and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much!"

Her father's arms hugged her back, and he said, "Happy Birthday, Rory!"

She sat down beside him, her hands expertly finding the way to turn it on, starting to explore the apps as her dad put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her again. "It's so good to have you here for your birthday."

God, wasn't it? And she chuckled. "So much better than with Mom, that's for sure." Her mom hadn't been that thrilled when Rory insisted she wanted to spend her birthday with her dad, but that was just how her mother was. Overly protective of her. And Rory hated it.

Her dad said, "Kid, I love having you here. I wish your mom would let you come more often."

Rory looked up at his sad eyes, and she agreed, "Me too. I don't understand why she won't let me. I miss you so much." And then she jumped back to her device as it finally lit up, asking her for all sorts of information that she had to concentrate on.

She lost track of time, until she felt a little body attack her in a big hug. "Happy Biwthday, Wowy!"

Having a little sister around would be fun. Rory messed with Gigi's blond hair as she said, "Thanks, you little booger." Rory smiled as Gigi giggled when Rory pulled the squirming body onto her lap and tickled the three-year-old.

"Gigi!" Sherry called from the doorway in the living room. The kid in Rory's lap sat up, not even bothering to push the hair out of her face. Rory watched Sherry turn to the nanny that was coming in from the kitchen, "I thought I told you to please take Gigi outside." The nanny hurried over and scooped her sister out of Rory's lap. Sherry followed the nanny as she climbed the huge staircase in the middle of the room – up to the nursery that Gigi had insisted Rory see the minute Rory arrived for the weekend. "I wanted Christopher to have time with his daughter alone. Not having to deal with this child that is your responsibility." The berating went on, which was common for Sherry with the help around her.

And her dad apologized, "Sherry's stressed at work and everything here with the new maids and nannies – it's been tough for her."

Rory just smiled and shook her head, "Sherry's nothing compared to mom right now."

Her dad was always interested in hearing about her mom. Something that told Rory that he still cared for her mom. "How so?" He asked.

"Oh, just the usual Mom stuff." Rory fiddled with the phone in her hand, but her mind was miles away on the biggest problem she had right now. "Won't let me do anything. Makes me come home right after school." Motioning to the phone, she said, "She'll probably come up with some dumbass reason to take this away from me the minute I mess up or something."

Her dad just said, "Well, she can't take it away from you because I gave it to you, not to her."

"If only that logic worked with Mom." Rory just felt angry just thinking about how ridiculous her mom was, "I try to tell her that I'm a teenager and that I should be able to come home a little later than right after school – like, I have friends I want to see and stuff. She's just so controlling." Rory masterfully left out the fact that she had been caught at school with Josh, and then had gone to that party. The best party of her life. But her dad didn't need to know that. He was already on her side.

"Well if she takes the phone away, tell her that she has to call me before she can do that." He always had the best ideas. Rory laughed a little as she imagined the look on her mother's face if Rory ever told her that. It would be worth taking a picture. She felt the hand around her shoulder lift off and her dad looked at his expensive watch. He looked at her and said, "I hate to say it, kid, but your mom is going to be here in about five minutes."

Standing up, she walked over to pick up the trash from her wrapping paper, but her dad just said, "Leave it. The maids will clean it up." Rory always forgot about that. And she almost walked up the stairs to grab her duffel bag but found that one of the servants had brought it down for her already. It was sitting in the entryway with her coat hung over it.

Her dad walked her to the door, making sure she had everything she had come with. Compared to her normal weekend twice a month with her dad, this two night birthday treat had been something fun that her mom had reluctantly agreed to after Rory begged and begged her. But still, even though it was longer, that didn't make the leaving any easier.

She reached down to grab her bag when a servant told her that he was going to take it out to the car for her. Normally, Rory would have just said she could carry it, only because it was small and light. But she nodded just because she knew having a servant take a bag out to her mother's car would just irritate her mom. And that would make things just a little bit better for Rory.

She pulled her coat around her, and said to her dad before she opened the door of the mansion, "I hate leaving."

He just nodded and said, "I hate it too." He pulled a coat on over his black dress shirt – and that made Rory even happier because he was going to walk her out to her mom's car. "I just wish you could come live here with me for like a few weeks."

Rory didn't have to think twice about it at all. "Or like forever." She thought about it for a second, then added, "And we could switch. I could live here with you and go to school here in Boston, and then stay with Mom twice a month." That sounded just perfect.

But reality set in when her dad opened the door to the cold fall day outside and said, "But your mom would never let that happen, right?" Rory just nodded, shutting the door behind her.

Her mom drove up the long driveway, her old rusty car looking horrible compared to the BMW that her dad drove. It reminded her of the old life that she had to go back to. And as they stood there on the porch waiting for her mom to pull all the way into the driveway, Rory looked out at the huge fields, the brick wall that lined the property – the open spaces of this rich community, and she just said, "I know you love Sherry and everything, but I always wonder what it would be like if you and Mom were still together. We could live here in this wonderful house and have a fun time together and I would never have to leave."

Her dad's voice was sad. And lonely. And he said, "Kid, I wish that almost every day. If only your mom had seen that years ago."

Rory watched as her mother stepped out of the car, her eyes finding Rory's and a small smile that looked forced came to her face as she stood there, in the cold, her arms tight around her body because, Rory knew, her coat was so old and thin that she got so much colder so much faster. Her mother watched as the servant opened the backseat of the car, and Rory wanted to laugh at how irritated it made her mother, who said something to the servant about tipping or something, but Rory couldn't tell.

Rory slowly slunk down the stairs leading to the house, realizing that her time with her dad was now coming to an end and she was now going to have to be on her way back to the life she absolutely hated.

When she and her dad were in front of the car, she turned and buried her face in his chest, hugging him so tightly, showing him how much she didn't want to go. The smell of his expensive cologne was something she would take with her when she left – sometimes she even stopped at the mall and found the one he bought – and would stray it on one of those sheets or on her shirt – then at night she could snuggle up, pretending that she had her dad there at night when she was missing him or lonely for him. She felt his hand on her head, and he leaned down and placed a kiss on her head. "I love you, Rory."

She squeezed him just a bit tighter, and she said, "I love you too, Dad." She didn't want to let go, but she knew her mom was waiting. So she let go, leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek and said, "I'll see you in two weeks?"

Her dad started to nod, and then looked confused. He looked at her mom and said, "Wait, how were we going to do this again?"

Rory turned to look at her mother, whose eyes were fixed on Rory. "I think that she's spending Thanksgiving with me. So you get one more weekend before that."

Rory rolled her eyes, "I don't wanna spend Thanksgiving with you, Mom. I wanna spend it with dad." She crossed her arms in front of her, just to show her mom that this wasn't what she wanted.

She felt her dad's hand on her shoulder, and looked up at him, using her puppy dog eyes to try and make him convince her mom to let her spend extra time with her dad. But he just said, "But I negotiated with your mom, and we both agreed that if you want, you can spend two weeks at Christmas with me."

Her eyes shot open, and she hugged her dad again, "Two weeks? Really?" She couldn't believe it. It would be the longest time she would get to spend with her dad in such a long time. And Christmas? That meant no spending time in nasty Stars Hollow with all of Jess' family. She would get to be with her dad. Not his grandparents. Or his uncle. But her dad.

"So you have to put up with only one holiday with me this year." Her mother joked, a laugh at the end. "Hopefully we can do something that will make it fun."

But Rory smiled as her dad said, "Do you want me to buy you some groceries for that day, Lor?" He sounded genuine, like he was really trying to help. He was such a nice person. "That way, Rory can have the same stuff we're having here – kind of be a little bit closer together and everything."

Rory watched her mom's face turn from jovial to controlled anger in about a second. Why she was upset, Rory couldn't understand. Her dad knew how tough it was at the apartment. And if her mom couldn't buy the stuff, then him offering it was just him being a nice guy. But her mother just said, "I think we'll be fine."

Rory asked, "Mom, but we always just have something weird or takeout or something usually." And then another idea came to her mind, "And you can't cook at all. So if Dad got the stuff, then it would be easier…"

Her mother interrupted her, her voice clipped and unemotional. "Rory, that's enough. I said we'll be fine, and we will." Rory watched her mom's hands shoot into her pockets from the cold outside. "You've always had plenty to eat, and I'm not going to change that now."

Rory heard her dad say, "I'm pretty sure that's not always been the case…" And then he changed the subject after his little line of truth, and said, "Rory, we'll have a big turkey dinner the next weekend when you come. How does that sound?"

"Oh, Dad, that sounds perfect!" And she gave him one last hug, sad to go, but excited for the next time she would come.

And she heard him say, "Now hurry up and get into the car. You'll need all the warmth you can get before you start driving." He looked up and said to her mother, "Unless you've fixed that damn heater in there since the last time I drove it."

Rory knew that nothing had been fixed unless it made the car not run. So the heater had been out for almost as long as Rory could remember. She waited for her mother to say something about how the heater was just fine or that cold builds character or some other piece of nonsense. Instead, she just sent Rory away like she was some little kid who couldn't hear her parents argue. "Get in the car, Rory. We should be getting back."

Walking around the car, she got in, and listened as she could hear her parents arguing outside.

Her mom asked, "Why do you always insist on putting me down in front of my kid?"

"I wasn't putting you down." Her dad replied, "I was just offering some advice that I learned after having my legs about frozen off."

Rory heard her mother exhale, and turn her body to get into the car. "You act all high and mighty, but we both know you only got this far because of your father."

Rory hated – she absolutely detested – when her mom would accuse her dad of being snobbish and mean. Because that wasn't the case. He was sweet and kind and wanted to help. But her mother was too damn proud to take anything from anyone – even a thanksgiving dinner when she couldn't afford it.

And as the door opened, and her mother got in, Rory heard her dad say, "At least I did something with my life." Which, as Rory watched her mom shut the door and put her seatbelt on – her hands shaking because she was so cold – her jeans ripped – her coat had holes all over it – her hair pulled back away from her face that looked so thin and tired – Rory knew her dad was right. And as she waved goodbye through the window, she wished she could stay. And she wished that she would never have to go back to that apartment with her mom again.