"I smell snow", Lorelai gasped as her nostrils flared, standing just outside the Sandcastle at 7 AM in her robe, the kitchen door ajar. Good things happened when it snowed. Mostly. She hoped this was one of those times.
"It smells cold," Rory added, yawning, carrying Leah on her hip, "close the door!" she added, wrapping Leah in her cardigan.
"Coffee?" she asked, closing the door.
Rory rolled her eyes at her. The answer was obvious to them both.
"Here Leah, look, you're favourite book," Rory said, placing her in the highchair. She walked over to the kitchen counter to prepare Leah some breakfast.
"I looked at your photos from the gala last night, you looked good," Lorelai commented, having not gotten around to it before. Rory had looked like a movie star - powerful and brave, her shoulders pushed back. What she didn't say but wanted to, was that she also looked like she was made of ice.
"Thanks, it felt kind of good too," she replied.
"How's school been?" Lorelai asked.
"Classes are fine, have a few exams coming up in January. Next semester will be more research than classes - probably will have to go to London a few times for interviews," Rory explained.
"Still friendly with Gwen?" she asked.
"We say 'hi', but I don't know. She's been distant, and frankly I can't blame her. I haven't been offering to share much either. I know we went through this already with you, but it just doesn't feel comfortable anymore. And if I have to live with the knowledge that every time a piece of private information slips out somewhere, I have to organize my life around, pick and choose where I take Leah, I am not really eager to change that. It's just too risky," she replied.
Lorelai took a moment as tiny flakes of snow began to fall outside the kitchen window. This was starting to feel like it wasn't one of the times snow brought good things. She had a hard time recognizing her own daughter.
"So, what, you are never going to let anybody close ever again? I get that you want to protect Leah, but you need to keep your other relationships functional as well," Lorelai asked, watching her tone in front of Leah.
"My other relationships are fine. Paris just came over the other night. I've been busy with school and work," she said.
"You've even neglected Lane, you two were thick as thieves," Lorelai stated.
"I spoke to her in the summer, she's got her plate full as well," Rory explained.
"But isn't that like the very definition of the Huntzbergers - work-work-work and isolate yourself to your little cocoon and only talk to people who are 'your kind'?" Lorelai said quietly, looking around to make sure Logan was not in the earshot. Finn and his family had had a totally different dynamic. She'd trusted her daughter's decision, but she couldn't help wonder whether it wasn't just her depression that had caused her to make that somewhat self-destructive decision.
"It isn't like that!" she said, having a hard time keeping her voice down. This was not what she had expected from her, and in Nantucket of all places.
"What is going on?" Emily said angrily, stepping into the kitchen.
"Nothing," Lorelai said.
"Whatever it is, this is not the time and place," Emily said, having overheard at least some of what Lorelai had said.
Leah still had the book in her hands, her gaze fixed on the three standing around in the tense silence as Logan walked in.
"Any chance of some coffee, or have the Gilmore girls drunk the first batch already?" he asked smilingly, sensing the unease in the room a second later that sentence slipped his lips.
"I was actually just putting it on," Lorelai said casually, pouring water into the coffee machine.
Rory continued to fix Leah a peanut butter and banana sandwich, her jaw clenched tightly, not feeling like talking.
"Daddy!" Leah exclaimed, running towards Finn, who was standing in his parent's driveway.
"Merry Christmas my sweetheart," he exclaimed, squatting down his arms open wide to catch her.
"Hi you guys, how was Emily?" he asked Rory and Logan.
"She was good, she says 'hi'," Rory replied.
"Alright, enjoy the rest of Christmas, you love birds," Finn called, already being led indoors by Leah.
"No Paris tonight?" Rory asked, hoping to see her.
"I'll see her tomorrow…I can tell her you asked," Finn called from the doorway.
"Okay, bye!" she called after them.
The drive back to New Haven was uneventful, accompanied by casual chit-chat about what was going on in the news. Rory was more quiet than usual, and Logan could sense it. He understood Rory was not all together, but ever since he stepped into Emily's kitchen that morning, he knew things had escalated.
"Ace, what's going on in that head of yours?" Logan asked as they arrived, turning the engine off.
"Logan," she began, aiming to say it was nothing. But it wasn't nothing.
"I don't know," she said defeatedly, "I had a fight with mom…" she began unable to finish, feeling out of breath, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. Her heart pounded and her eyesight blurred.
"Rory?" Logan asked fearfully. To Rory his voice sounded muffled, before fading completely.
