G had hit snooze on her phone a couple of times the following morning and she was now rushing down the subway stairs at Christopher St Station in a simple pair of leggings, a long grey sweatshirt and her greet Patagonia down vest, feeling slightly underdressed for the weather, having not really had the time to check her phone for anything, let alone the temperature, that morning. The station name made her think of her father every time - like he was somehow looking out for her and at the same time probably frowning at the thought of her taking the subway all by herself. After all she'd done it for years whenever she was in Paris and for a quick direct route to her school, it seemed like the most logical thing to do. Christopher usually insisted she take a Uber, he'd even considered getting her a driver, but G liked doing what most people did - she wanted to be immersed in the world, not to be isolated into a backseat of a car like many of the younger kids at her school were. Thankfully Christoper had considered this to be one of the easiest battles to give in when arguing with a rebellious teenager, he'd relented and just made casual remarks about how she really should be taking a car instead. G liked people watching and discovering new places, and thanks to the list she had from Finn, she had a pretty good idea by now which parts of the city were a little sketchy and those she knew to avoid. It was funny how most of her knowledge of the city was down to him essentially.
It was as she slowed down, having just missed a train, when she checked her phone for the first time. She'd missed a lot during the night - her mother having sent her a lengthy e-mail, some news updates on things she followed and school bulletin letter, and Philippa having messaged late last night something about the homework they had due on Tuesday which G hadn't even begun to think about. G swallowed hard as she noticed that Finn had replied something. Then another train arrived and she didn't have a chance to read it, knowing that she couldn't miss another train if she didn't want to be hopelessly late for Biology.
She sank down onto the orange plastic seat, once she got on, fairly surprised to find an empty seat. She took a deep breath before opening it.
"I'm the one who should be sorry. You've done nothing wrong," he'd written. "I do hope we can be friends, but I simply don't think it would be good for either of us right now," said the next line.
G took another deep breath and kept reading.
"You are a smart, courageous, caring and genuine person - you deserve so much more," Finn had written. "I'm going home early this year and I won't be back before the New Year. I'm sure we'll see each other around when I come to see the Huntzs at some point, but I truly hope you can forgive me and find a way to not put your life on hold because of this. Don't wait around - seize life, go and conquer, be prepared for life to whisk you away - you've got this," he'd assured.
G couldn't help to get emotional at this, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. The last thing she wanted was to start crying on the subway.
But honestly, above all, she was just so grateful for him having replied at all and for the fact that he hadn't sounded mad or annoyed at her. She could tell he'd thought about the wording of this message carefully, and the fact that he'd even hinted, she was sure he had, that he too was dealing with something difficult concerning them, felt really good. Maybe it hadn't been all in her head and she hadn't just made a complete fool of herself. It made her feel less alone - and for now that was enough. She knew he was right though - whatever it was at this time they weren't going to work. Yet, his words meant so much to her - she truly believed he'd meant what he'd said, she truly trusted him, and those words had undone some of the hurt that she'd felt from their last conversation. It was a little easier to breathe now, despite the pain. And while she didn't know it at the time, he'd given her a mantra to live by right there in that message.
Emily Gilmore was a force of nature, much like Lorelai, and Rory was reminded of it bluntly as she saw her walk up the driveway towards the chief's house in red Sentaler wide collar wrap coat, dressed like she was ready to conquer, a few days later. That look, together with her earlier call, saying she was coming over to Stars Hollow and asking where Rory was staying so she could drop by, had made Rory quite apprehensive. Emily hadn't really given her any other explanation other than she'd been visiting friends in Hartford but it all just sounded a little too convenient. Rory of course had nothing against seeing her, it had been months since she'd been over to see the babies last, but she sensed something was up.
"Grandma, hi, great to see you," she answered the door to the chief's house, Leigh strapped to her chest in her beautiful feather-patterned Artipoppe baby carrier. It was just her and the babies for the time being - two at the time she could handle, if she had everything at hand, and the place was indeed convenient for that - no stairs, nothing excess.
She could sense a brief glare of disapproval in Emily's eyes, probably at her answering the door or the place itself or its location, but the look soon relented at the sight of the baby.
"Hello, Rory," she simply replied. She looked serious. Rory had almost gotten used to seeing Emily in her more relaxed form, but this was like rewinding two and half years, making her even more hesitant of what was to come.
"Come on in, I'm sorry, the place is a bit of a mess. There's so many of us in this place. Had I known you were coming a little sooner I would've asked Celeste if we could've used the main house," Rory began, apologetically, gesturing her in. She had free access to the main house naturally, but she didn't feel comfortable just bringing in guests there either while Celeste was at work.
Emily stepped into the kitchen slash foyer that only really held a coffee machine and the Baby Brezza machine besides the sink, feeling rather puzzled to where she had just stepped into. While clean and more or less tidy, it just didn't seem fitting for her grandchild and great-grandchildren. She took off her coat, a little reluctantly, unsure what to do with it, the few pegs on one wall without any hangers hardly seemed fitting for her designer coat, after all.
"Let me get that for you," Rory said and placed her coat in one of the hallway cupboards. "So, grandma, how was your trip?" Rory began, feeling some awkwardness, gesturing for her to take a seat on the couch which was essentially in her current bedroom.
Emily glanced at Emma who was hanging out in her bouncer and playing with some toys on the arch.
"They grow so fast, don't they," Emily commented, and took a seat. "Oh, and the trip was fine, nothing noteworthy," she added in passing.
"Can I offer you anything? Water or a drink?" she asked, only realizing that as she'd said it that she really didn't have any alcohol in the house.
"I'm fine," Emily replied.
They both stared at each other expectantly, as if expecting the other to say something.
"Everything okay, grandma?" Rory asked, unsure, what the visit was about.
"Rory, I should be asking you that," she replied with a puff of air. "When your mother told me you were staying in Stars Hollow for a while I thought about calling you straight away, but I didn't want to bud my nose into where it didn't belong, but clearly I should've," she gestured around the house. Clearly it was not meeting her standards, even the modern day Emily standards.
"What are you talking about?" Rory replied, feeling utterly puzzled. It wasn't terribly like her to worry about her living arrangements, and these were far from horrible.
"I'm talking about Logan! Who else?" she huffed. "And then I saw the photos and then this just began to add up. That jackass will be my enemy number one until the day that I die, I can assure you that," she added, angrily, not really giving her much chance to reply.
"What?! Logan's in London. He's working! What are you talking about?" Rory replied in confusion, trying to keep her voice more or less withheld because of the babies.
"I'm talking about these!" Emily insisted, pulling out printouts of the Mirror form her black Birkin she'd gotten for herself. Who even did that these days - print out news?
Rory couldn't hold her laughter at the sight of them. Two years ago she might have been upset at gossip like this - but these were just a couple of pictures of Logan drinking a cup of coffee on a park bench with Bobby, visibly pregnant, with a title "Hunzberger back in London?" with the byline insinuating something or other about him perhaps having knocked someone else up. But this time, it was so utterly ridiculous, Rory couldn't do anything other than laugh, thinking of all the ways Emily had already thought about killing her husband with in her mind.
"What's so funny?" Emily asked in confusion.
"You thought I fled here to get away from this, didn't you?" she began, stroking Leigh's back, so she wouldn't be bothered by her laughter too much. "Oh, grandma - I'm not here because we're having issues. We're not even having any issues. I just came to spend some time with my friend, Celeste, you remember her, don't you? Logan is just in London for work. That woman in the picture is the current CEO of the HPG whom he went to find a replacement for. This is just a Sunday business meeting outdoors because Bobby has extreme morning sickness and can only handle meetings outside right now," Rory explained.
"But why on Earth are you cramped up in this tiny... I don't know what this is - this isn't even a proper house," Emily exclaimed.
"We just use this place for sleeping, we usually hang out in the main house with Celeste and Evie. It's just…. Our little quarters of our own in Stars Hollow. It's really much nicer, more private, than staying at the Inn and we're really not here that much to start thinking about getting an actual house around here," Rory explained.
"So you and Logan are doing good? You're sure?" she asked, feeling slightly doubtful.
"Yes, we're very fine. Missing each other - but fine," Rory replied calmly with a smile. "It was hardly ideal that he had to go, but it couldn't be helped," she added.
"I honestly thought I needed to start looking into assassins or something. I seriously thought he was up to his father's tricks," Emily excused herself.
"Logan is not his father," Rory replied. "I trust him 100%," she assured.
"Okay then," Emily replied, feeling suddenly very silly for rushing here to whisk things into shape and pick up the pieces, having put lawyers on standby to make sure Logan paid for his mistakes. No Gilmore would be ever treated like that on her watch.
"But I'm grateful for your concern. It's just unnecessary," Rory said, continuing to stoke Leigh's back, casting a smile on her face.
"I'm sorry," Emily sighed.
"It's fine - just look at these two cuties instead," Rory replied, picking up Emma from the bouncer and setting her onto Emily's chest with a clean towel to protect her dress.
Emily's mouth curved upwards at the physical contact with the baby, and she could swear she saw a little smile from Emma.
"We're here for a few weeks, I have one nanny with me and she took Finny to the playground, across the street from Luke's, and then in the evening we're going swimming at the Inn with everybody. My friend Lane promised to come and help out, so it'd be easier to outnumber the kids," Rory explained her day-to-day here in Stars Hollow. It was a constant inflow of visitors and arrangement on most day, and she lacked of no help with the babies. "It would've just been boring in Manhattan without Logan around. So this is me taking the best out of his impromptu trip," she shared.
"But..," she began, wanting to add something about the humbleness of the house.
"The place is fine, you forget that I've lived in much less than this," Rory said on automatic, fearing she might have touched the gentle topic the moment the moment she'd said it.
"I know, I just never thought Logan would be okay with this. I'd expect him to want what's best for the kids and you," Emily added.
Rory wasn't going to mention that Logan hadn't really seen the place, but she had lived in far worse places even in her adulthood.
"We're fine - I usually have my hands full, I hardly have time to think about wallpapers or fancy furniture. This is practical," she assured, gesturing at the key items she needed on daily basis. Everything in the chief's house was set up to make baby minding as easy as possible.
"Can I at least steal you away for lunch?" Emily asked, feeling a little silly for overreacting.
Rory smiled, knowing that she really had only meant well, despite being a little disappointed in her opinion on Logan. But then again - other than some family holidays and a few visits she'd made to their penthouse - Emily hadn't really gotten to know Logan, not as well as she perhaps could've. Perhaps there was an underlying cause to all of this as well - Rory had a feeling Emily might have just needed to be needed again, the life in Nantucket surely offering plenty in terms of 'different' compared to her former life. But perhaps there was a limit to which the museum really could offer her that. Maybe she just wanted to be the great-grandmother in a way she never got to be the grandmother to Rory when she was little.
"Sure, I'd love that. I'm just about to feed the girls and we can take the stroller over to the Inn for lunch," Rory replied, smiling friendlily.
"Mom really should start thinking about putting a kiddy pool in here," Rory commented to Celeste, as they had taken the four kids to swimming later that evening. The afternoon, Rory had spent with Emily, clearly seeing that she was indeed missing some interaction, and Rory had even said out on a maybe that they might go to Nantucket for Christmas. That would be a whole different story than a drive to Stars Hollow, but if they did risk flying, the flight itself would shorten the trip significantly.
"I think Finny won't have much to do in a kiddy pool soon," Celeste noted as she observed the boy make his own attempts at swimming already. Logan had entertained Finny throughout the summer at various pools, including Finn's and it was as much his Youtube-learned tricks how to teach him to swim as G's demonstrations, that had lead to a situation where the kid could easily paddle on his own for a minute or so.
Evie was an excellent grasper instead, having the independence to move around the pool in any way as long has she had a firm grip on someone or the edge of the pool. But technically she too, had the kicking and splashing required to stay afloat down, she just lacked the courage to let go.
"Here they are," Rory exclaimed seeing Lane and Maya joining them with the twins.
Lane had almost argued that they wouldn't need four people. While Lane didn't like to admit it she had her mother's independence streak, having for a lengthy period during the babies' early months spent alone with them. And surely she had had help, but she'd also very soon learnt to manage them like a pro, her confidence frankly making Rory feel like a little bit of a failure. She struggled with the help of nannies. She hated that each time she wanted to do something like this, this meant involving so many people, asking for help near constantly.
She'd taken the twins swimming once before, and generally they really liked it. She just knew that she couldn't expect them to last very long, getting tired a lot quicker than Finny.
"You want to take Leigh? I can watch Finny for a moment," Lane offered.
"Sure," Rory replied.
Leigh had this confused look on her face, perhaps as the pool water was a little cooler than bath water normally was. But as Rory began to float her through the water first on her back, then on her stomach - Rory could swear there was a hint of a smile on her lips.
Rory could already hear Emma's giggles, something Leigh rarely did, especially at that volume, as Maya was practicing diving with her, which at this point only really meant jumping up and down in water, getting first her chin wet and after the third jump her nose. With Finny this technique had worked beautifully.
Leigh was fussier, and not a huge fan of immersing in water like so Rory knew to take her time with her.
It was then Finny swam, all on his own to Evie, and the two floated for a bit by the edge of the pool.
"Hey, Evie," Celeste got her attention. "Maybe you want to try the floatie I got you," she recalled having brought a blow up swim-ring. "Lane, can you keep an eye on them for a sec," Celeste got out of the pool and walked hastily to get it from her bag on one of the recliners.
"Here you go," she handed Finny and Evie the floatie, having quickly blowed it up.
And the toy worked like magic, or perhaps it was Finny's supportive encouragement in whatever language the two seemed to speak without expressing any words. The two really had grown up like siblings more than anything. Finny held on to the ring with one hand and Evie with two and while they weren't in complete agreement where to swim, they did swim, making Rory and Celeste smile at their kids with endearment.
"I think Emma needs a diaper change," Maya noted, swiftly lifting the girl out of the water, the movement being followed by a over 100 dB cry. That was Emma alright.
Rory did an instinctive move of putting Leigh's ears underwater, hoping she wouldn't catch on to Emma's objections as she often did and followed with her own weaker whimpers. Thankfully it worked.
Leigh had never really been much for long lasting eye contact - but maybe it was the situation as now she did stare right into Rory's eyes. It was an almost pleading look, a look of trust and Rory did hold her life in her hands quite literally, helping her stay afloat. That was the moment when Rory for the first time felt something more than obligation and worry for her.
It was just like someone had popped a small hole into the bubble around her - now allowing herself to feel it. Little by little the feeling flooded over her. She could only think that how lucky she was that she knew what she had been missing. First time mothers didn't have that comparison and could go for months thinking they were incapable for that kind of love and they had failed their kids because they were unable to bond. But she knew that what had been missing was no longer, recognizing the feeling straight away. She was wrapped around her little fingers now. It felt like weight had lifted - things would be easier now. There was room for that feeling to grow still, but Rory smiled at Leigh.
This was about the two of them and she didn't particularly feel like announcing it, she just wanted to keep that moment to themselves, simply continuing to float the her around her. But it showed, the unusually wide smile plastered onto Rory's lips and Celeste could tell - something had changed.
AN: I'll admit, for the first time I hit a writing block with this story. I will continue, but feel free to suggest developments to me if you'd like to see something happen in this story. Sometimes there are these little details that can really help kickstart the writing process for me.