AN: huge thanks for all the reviews, the past few days have been amazing! thank you!
Also loaned one tiny bit of a scene from LoVeRockets1993's review. Thanks for that.
Also, I hope you don't mind me splitting up everything that's going on with G a little, so it wouldn't be like 3 chapters of her stuff in a row. So there might seem a tiny discrepancy in timeline, but I felt like you deserved a little about the other's too. I'll fix it in the next chapter.
G was hastily packing up her things, when her phone beeped announcing that Jephté was stuck in traffic. No big surprise, but as a result she did feel a little guilty. At the same time she was a little glad too, the delay giving her some time to pack, and to take at least one precaution.
"Hey," G texted Celeste, hoping she would reply quickly. The hurt from Celeste having talked to Rory about her personal life had subsided, the whole topic seeming somehow so unimportant now. Even if she had betrayed her in that moment, she was still that person to her - the one that was the most impartial. Sure, in theory she could've just texted one of her local friends or Philipa, but she appreciated Celeste knowing a thing or two about her both worlds.
Celeste, however, didn't reply right away, not being tied to her phone like most teenagers were.
"I know we didn't leave things in the best way, I'm sorry. I don't hate you. Just.. I need your help," she texted.
There was still no reply.
"I have a bit of a situation here and I need someone to be my safety contact - I'm fine, just a precaution. I'm staying at 10-24 Rue des Mourinoux in Aubervilliers for the night, while I try to get a flight back home. PLEASE don't tell Rory, I'll sort this one out," adding a praying hands emoji.
"G, what's going on?" Celeste then texted back, having been taking a nap with Evie as the consecutive beeps woke her. "I'm calling you," she added, not being such a fast typer as she wanted to be, momentarily feeling a sense of panic as if she was her own child, pondering who on earth was she staying with in some Paris suburb and not with her mother and why.
"I can't talk right now," she replied, really not wanting to start explaining things orally with Remi just a few doors down the hall, taking a shower, and her mother downstairs. She herself was still sweaty from her run, wearing her exercise clothes only having switched out her mother's running shoes for her own sneakers. She just wanted to get out of there, and preferably before Remi got out of the shower so she wouldn't have to face him. She wanted to punch the guy. Thankfully the man was notorious for taking very long showers.
"G!" Celeste typed, calling her anyways.
G's phone rang, but she declined the call.
"I'll call you in 5," G typed back, realizing Celeste wasn't relenting.
"I'm counting," Celeste texted, already imagining worse case scenarios. Life with G in either her or Rory's life certainly wasn't dull, Rory having told her about her little incicent with weed at the gala too.
G shoved the last of her things into her suitcase, and carried, not rolled, the hardcase down the hall and downstairs to not alert the person in the shower.
She could see her mother was still visibly upset, also still in her jogging wear, having poured herself a glass of vodka. Sherry almost looked like she was in a trance of somesort, clearly not handling the situation well at all. She was zoned out staring at the half-drunk glass in front of her, her cheeks wet from tears, chin trembling. For a moment G felt truly bad for leaving her like this - but she couldn't force her to leave either.
"I'm sorry mom, but I can't stay here. I love you. You can always call me, I'll help you. We'll find a way," G said. "Please…," she added, before hugging her mother from her back, over the chair, and kissing her cheek.
"I love you, hon," Sherry whispered, sounding not like the mother she had known - she sounded weak and vulnerable - like she'd given up.
She was out the door and headed out to the street to wait, still having an awful feeling in the bottom of her stomach about leaving her like that. She knew she probably had a good 10-15 minutes to wait, but as she wasn't expecting Remi or her mother out anytime soon and the street wasn't visible over the high stone wall, she didn't see the harm in simply leaning against the wall and waiting right there.
Knowing Celeste would probably just call Rory right away if she didn't get an explanation, she took a deep breath and called Celeste herself on video chat, wanting to really assure her that she was fine. Sometimes the visual helped in cases like this.
"What's going on G?" Celeste asked sternly, sitting on her bed, her hair still a little messy from her nap.
"I just sort of pieced a lot of things together, and I just don't feel comfortable staying with my mom and her boyfriend right now. I wanted to come back home straight away, but I couldn't get a flight. I have one the day after tomorrow. So I'm staying with a friend, and I just wanted to do the responsible thing by letting someone know where I was," G explained, with surprising composure.
"Ok, good - but what's up with your mom? You're not comfortable staying there - what does that even mean?" Celeste inquired, sounding alert.
G sighed, pondering how to put it. "My stepdad... sort of hits on me, and she just… I don't know… she tries to keep it from happening but she's still staying with him and I swear she's just being manipulated into staying… it's so messed up," she exhaled, running her hand through her hair. "I just need to sit down and make some calls, check some other sites for flights properly, I might get a flight sooner… I just.. I needed to get out of there," she added.
Celeste realized this was not the moment to start feeling sorry or scolding her, if it had been her she wouldn't have stayed in that household either. Hence she focused on the important things.
"And who is this friend?" Celeste asked, in a motherly manner.
G sighed, beginning to worry that this was going to be an issue. "His name is Jephté Abbe," she said. "He's a good guy, I just needed a place to crash and he was willing to help," she added.
"I'd be more than happy to get you a hotel room or some apartment by the airport," Celeste suggested, at the same time googling the guy's name. Thankfully the guy at least had a social media presence, Celeste and him even having one, though distant, common acquaintance, a sous chef she used to know back in Paris.
"He's coming to pick me up as we speak. The traffic is a nightmare here right now," G said, referring to the strikes. "But if there's anything that's plan B," she added.
"Alright, keep you phone charged then. And I'll look for flights for you too, alright?" Celeste instructed. "Oh, and of course Emily Gilmore is in Paris right now. She's staying in the 16th… let me check…," opening up the itinerary Emily had sent her - of course she had. "60 Michel Ange, at the corner of Excelmans, and this is her number," she added, texting G Emily's cell phone number. "Just in case," she replied.
"Thanks," G replied. She doubted highly that she'd want to call.
"You really should tell Rory, she'd want to know - I'm sure she wouldn't be mad about something like this. You've got to stop hiding things," Celeste added.
"I'll tell her when I get home.. I just.. It's too emotional and she'll feel she ought to tell dad and it'll be a whole big mess," G replied and Celeste did understand. She didn't agree necessarily, but she got it.
"But seriously, I mean Emily is there, I'm sure she can help. I bet she won't even mention the…," she posted the aubergine emoji, "in your bedside table," she added, deciding to lighten the mood just a little.
It was the first time G let out a whole-hearted laugh, right there in the middle of the street, since last night. She blushed a little, naturally, but honestly hadn't thought of the object in question at all.
"It's fine, Rory explained it very well - don't worry. I think she was more embarrassed than you should be. Good for you!" she chuckled. "But seriously - I'll check in, and I expect a reply within an hour or I'll start raising panic, okay? And give me your mother's number, just in case too," she insisted.
G sighed, but realized it was a pretty good deal.
"Ok, here's my ride now," she waved goodbye to Celeste.
"Always text me back, okay?" Celeste reminded her.
It had truly felt good to talk to Celeste again and G just now hoped everything would work out, and with a slight nervousness in her gut she sat into Jephté's humble silver Renault Clio, after shoving her suitcase onto the back seat.
Celeste had called the doctor's office the next morning, and was fairly surprised that they'd told her to come in in just a couple of hours, apparently there having been some cancellation. But she certainly didn't want to postpone this any longer. Looking up diagnoses online wasn't doing her any favors.
They'd taken Evie to daycare in the morning and closed Apparatus Bay until they got back - people would just have to deal. Having gotten good recommendations from Luke and Lorelai when moving back to Stars Hollow, they were no longer going to private clinics with their fancy waiting rooms and complementary cappuccinos. Evie had an excellent local doctor, but neither Jess or Celeste had really needed to see one, besides Celeste's therapist that is, and it was the first time they'd gone in like this.
"Celeste Mariano?" the nurse, dressed in pink scrubs, invited them forward to the examination room, suggesting she change to the examination robe and take a seat so she could take her vitals.
As this was her first visit here, Jess was still filling out her forms knowing everything by heart by now, while she was weighed, measured - something she hadn't had done in ages, heart rate and respiratory rate measured and her blood pressure was taken. Celeste wasn't feeling entirely comfortable - what woman in her late 30s liked to be weighed? But it was also just the setting and even room temperature - none of this was what she was used to. She was spoiled, she knew it but she didn't like to admit it nor complain about it, not even in front of Jess.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Palmer. You must be Mrs. Celeste Mariano?" the grey-haired woman greeted them, checking her chart. She was tiny, perhaps 5 ft 2'' or so and about average in her size otherwize, but she looked friendly enough.
"That's right, and my husband Jess Mariano," Celeste added, gesturing to her right.
"So, what brings you in?" the doctor asked, taking a seat on the saddle chair, and started making notes.
"Well.. I'm not really sure. I just haven't been feeling like myself. My energy level is really low, I end up napping on most days with my almost 2-year-old. I've had some headaches. Oh and yesterday I threw up - I don't know if it is something I ate or..," she shrugged.
"So what's been going on recently in your life?" the doctor surprised them with the seemingly non-medical question.
"I've had a lot of stress, I can't deny that, but I wouldn't expect it to make me this tired. My antidepressants are still the same, nothing has changed in that department," she replied, assuming that she'd read that on her chart already. She really didn't want to go into the details of her stress though.
"How well are you doing mentally? If you were to judge on a level from one to ten, ten being the worst…," Dr. Palmer asked.
"I say.. 2ish," Celeste shrugged. She was stressed, but depression wise, she'd had a lot worse days. She had things to look forward to, she wasn't aimless, she felt she had people around that she liked and that also liked her.
"Okay, that's good," she replied. "Any chance you might be pregnant?" she asked.
Celeste chuckled.
Dr. Palmer raised her eyebrows at her.
"Oh, that's just not possible - Jess had a vasectomy like a year and half ago, almost two years now..?" Celeste said, looking at Jess as she counted the months in her head.
"Right. When did you last have your period?" the doctor asked.
"Just last week, starting from the 26th," Celeste replied.
"And would you say the amount of bleeding was normal?" she asked.
"It was a little on the lighter side, and not very long, but it has happened a few times before, so I wasn't too surprised," Celeste mentioned.
"And before that?" she asked, and Celeste tried to recall and give her some dates.
"Would you be willing to humour me with a pregnancy test, just in case?" Dr. Palmer suggested, handing her a pregnancy test stick.
"But I just had my period and with Jess...?" Celeste wanted to argue sceptically.
"Let's just rule it out, okay?" Dr. Palmer insisted.
Celeste was in and out of the adjacent bathroom in a minute, feeling like this was ridiculous and was making eyes at Jess, almost like noting that this was what one got when one went to a public clinic.
Placing the test on the tray as instructed, the doctor continued with the routine examination in the meanwhile, checking her eyes, throat, ears, skin, palpating her body here and there - after all it was her first visit and she really hadn't had a routine checkup since she had had Evie.
"Let's see what this thing says," the doctor said, reaching for the pregnancy test. "Well, it definitely shows a possibility - it's a little on the weaker side, which could mean a number of things," she said, showing them the weak plus sign on the test. Celeste knew what this meant - essentially that the hCG levels were not very high, which could mean very early pregnancy or even a recently miscarried pregnancy. But still - it just didn't make sense. They were done, weren't they?
"But - I haven't been with anyone else - and he can't...," Celeste wanted to argue again, still not believing it, glancing at Jess worriedly. She wasn't sure what she had expected - a sceptical glance or anger even, but there was none of that, Jess simply taking her hand.
"Let's just see," Jess assured, appearing calm as ever.
"You did have the procedure, didn't you?" Celeste studied his calm composure, recalling Rory telling her once about what had happened to her mother's friend Sookie.
"Yes, I did, I really did. But the form I signed also said that there's like a 1 in a 1000 chance of these things happening, so let's just see," Jess said, to calm her. In theory it was possible that the body healed itself.
"Alright, let's do a pelvic exam and ultrasound and see what we're dealing with exactly," Dr. Palmer advised, gesturing for Celeste to change positions. The doctor used the internal ultrasound machine, the two still quite baffled about the possibility.
"Okay, so we're not dealing with an ectopic pregnancy at least, but it's definitely early - 6 weeks or so, there's just a very weak heart beat at this point. But that's normal at this stage. Right here," she said, gesturing at the screen.
Celeste exhaled, muttering, "meaning don't get your hopes up," knowing too much about the low probabilities of this - there was her age that was the enemy, time was the enemy, her fear of going through again what had happened with Evie was the enemy.
"True, but you're healthy otherwise. So I do think you should take some precautions. You should go over your antidepressants choices with your psychiatrist just to be sure, take food supplements like folic acids and because of your age I do recommend you do genetic testing if you're budget allows it," she suggested, continuing to talk about what kind of test could be done when and what general ballpark the costs were in. Celeste actually appreciated her no-sugarcoating attitude in this. "And if the dad would like a confirmation of paternity, that test can also be done in the next few weeks, we'll also do general STD panel and general blood panel to make sure everything is alright," she added.
Perhaps ten minutes later, with seemingly every possible test taken and several vials blood drawn from Celeste, the two walked towards Celeste's car in the parking lot in silence.
"You're not going to ask me if it's yours? Celeste asked finally.
"I don't have to," Jess said, smilingly. He really had zero doubts in her, but in this case she had just needed to hear those words. But he was a little hurt that she would expect him to. "I love you," he said, as they came to a halt by the car, turning to face her, seeing her face still a little upset about the whole thing.
"I'm scared," she whimpered, burying her face in Jess' half-open winter coat.
"We'll be fine," Jess assured her.
In Sydney, it was the morning of the dreaded 3rd, Finn having just contemplated as a joke whether there was a possibility to take the catamaran to the airport instead of a car, as the airport was indeed just on the water. He was sitting on the bed, dressed in a casual t-shirt and shorts, watching Charlie neatly pack her belongings into her backpack, and leaving another bag of clothes she wasn't bringing with her to the hotel with a label 'to donate'. They'd had a wonderful time in Sydney, Finn taking her to see the sights, the Bondi Beach for a finally surf and to the Taronga Zoo. As dates went, it was almost too corny, the two being without a worry in their minds.
The plan was to use those same tickets that Charlie had gotten Finn for him to come and help her move, not that she needed to bring a ton of things, but it was rather about wanting him to see her that life too, and also to at least meet her father, so she'd have some time to get a new lessee for her apartment and try to smooth things over with her workplace, not to completely burn the bridges.
Finn had also set up so that she could be hired for a rotating internship by one of their Canadian sub companies so she'd get a work visa to the States. It would mean she'd have a couple of days each week when she'd be going over various jobs at Finn's family's companies, but it was more like a tour than actual work at this point, at least until she figured out what she wanted to do. They were aiming to drive back from Montreal through Boston, so she could also see her sister, bringing her own car along to New York, not that having a car in Manhattan was such a clever idea, but she felt like she wanted to have something of hers, the idea of living off of Finn still bugging her a bit.
"Are you sure you have to go today?" Finn couldn't resist saying, and walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her hips from behind her and hugging her.
"Yes, I have to go today," Charlie maintained her practical mindset.
"Or you could just fly with me and then we could fly to Montreal together from there," he didn't let go.
Charlie turned, looking into his eyes. "It's a week and two days - we can do this," she assured him. Somewhere inside she actually thought that maybe they needed that week to just breathe - because they hadn' really been apart for more than a few days the entire month, especially not during the past ten days. She hadn't grown tired of him, neither had he, but at the same time, she did feel like maybe she could use some time to be with just herself. The week was necessary to understand whether it had all been an illusion or whether she would truly miss him as much as she right now felt she would. They both needed a reality check.
Moving in together was scary, no doubt about it. There were going to be a lot of new people to meet, for both of them, definitely meaning a lot of adjustment from both sides as well.
"Can we?" he teased with a smirk, kissing her neck. He couldn't get enough of her, having done it that morning already twice.
"God, you're relentless," Charlie chuckled playfully, shaking her head smilingly, but stood her ground, knowing they needed to get going. "You need to go home too, you know - go make me some room in your dresser or whatever you need to do. Make sure there are no other girl's panties laying around - stuff like that," Charlie teased jokingly.
"Auch," Finn noted, not taking the banter too seriously and rightfully so. "But seriously, the place used to belong to a fashion designer or collector or something - there's no shortage of closet space," he added. Finn may have been a fairly vain man, but even he couldn't fill the 250 sq ft walk-in-closet with his clothes.
"Well good," Charlie commented. "But seriously, I expect you to really think how much of me you're letting in there - I mean I don't care about throw pillows or curtains or stuff like that, but if we're going to do this I want to feel like home, not like I'm visiting," Charlie added boldly. This was something she'd dealt with before, the guy asking to move in but not really wanting anything to change about his life, hence she decided it was better to give him that assignment to think about it now, rather than when she was already there. She did trust him, but secretly she was still scared she would step on a landmine along this path.
"You can do whatever you want, love," Finn offered gallantly.
Finn kissed her again, and for a moment she let her get swept up by it, knowing at the airport she'd be probably too preoccupied by all the commotion and her own emotions to really enjoy it.
"Well alright then, I believe the chariot awaits up front," Finn let out a deep sigh, and took Charlie's backpack. He could've easily had the porter carry her stuff, but it was just the single backpack, hence it felt silly to him, tipping the porter on the way just for showing up anyways.
The blazing hot Sydney flashed by the car windows as it took them to the airport, in the perfectly cooled sedan, the news mentioning on the radio again that there were new forest fires just up north of Sydney, definitely bringing back some memories for the two. They were incredibly lucky.
Charlie held Finn's hand, and feeling already as little by little her cheeks were beginning to feel heavy and the corners of her mouth struggled to stay cheery, licking her lips and moving her mouth nervously as if that somehow would stop the inevitable. It is just a week and a half - she kept telling herself.
The car dropped them off at the short term parking, Finn telling the chauffeur to come pick him up later. He was determined to stick around until she went through security. The airport was crowded, post holiday travels being a nightmare.
Charlie did the self check in at the machine, Finn hastily jumping in while she did and upgraded her flight class even before she had a chance to object using his frequent flyer advantages, wanting to make sure she was comfortable and not fed junk, leaving Charlie shaking her head again, scoldingly.
"You're too good to me, thank you," Charlie said, kissing him as they moved out of the line.
"And what's so wrong with that? That's the intention," Finn said, pushing his chest out slightly.
"It means that I'll get used it," Charlie commented.
"Get used to it, please," Finn chuckled.
They continued onwards to the security check line, Finn hanging out until they started checking for boarding passes.
"I love you," he said, Charlie reading his face well enough by now to know that he was hurting just the same. She was wrapped in his arms, her arms around his neck, reluctant to release her grip on him.
"I love you too," Charlie replied. The kiss was brief, her lips already feeling a little feverish, knowing she'd probably need to go wash her face with cold water as she got through the security check just to calm herself and not cry. But the redness off her nose and watery eyes didn't really obey reason.
Finn stood there, not going anywhere, until the final wave he saw from her from behind the security check.
Finn ran a palm over his face and through his hair, needing to shake it off, not to end up a blubbering mess himself. Finn hadn't felt this alone in weeks, they'd grown into a joint unity almost - anticipating each other's needs, considering the other and simply knowing that the other was there. He truly hadn't missed being alone.
Not to feel sorry for himself the entire way back, he decided to do something else, picking up his phone and calling Logan for a change, having not spoken to him in a few weeks, only having exchanged a few texts for the holiday.
"Hey, mate," Finn greeted him, "bad time?" he asked, requesting video chat and soon seeing Logan with Finny on his lap.
"Finn!" Finny called out, recognizing the voice.
"Hey! Good to hear from you," Logan said. "It's a fine time, this little guy just may take the lead," he chuckled.
"Heya, little guy! How are you?" Finn asked.
Finny showed him thumbs up, then muttering something about a present he'd gotten for Christmas, and went to get it so he could show Finn.
"So what's up?" Logan asked.
"Ugh, I just took Charlie to the airport actually, I'm leaving in a few days myself," Finn explained.
"I know you probably don't like this question but I'm going to ask anyway. So what's the big plan - long distance?" Logan inquired curiously.
"Actually…," Finn began. "She's moving in with me, in a week or so," he added.
"Wow…, can't wait to meet her," Logan replied approvingly. He was truly happy for him. He knew better than to warn her about gold-diggers and things like that, it wasn't like he was marrying her - and Finn knew well what he was doing. Logan had no intentions to shatter his dreams by being sceptical of any of it - he deserved happiness.
"How's Rory?" Finn asked, having not really called to talk about Charlie as much as simply wanting to get a breather of something else. Charlie would be on his mind nonetheless for the rest of the night probably, but thankfully he had the option of texting her.
"Good, I guess. She decided not to go back to work right away - trying her hand at editing a book instead," Logan replied.
"Finn! Look!" Finny then said, climbing back to Logan's lap and showing him a toy car he'd gotten.
"Wow, that's almost like my car?" Finn exclaimed, the car indeed looking a little like his new Subaru.
"When are you getting back?" Logan asked Finn. He needed to really talk to him - all this stuff with Rory, he needed to vent, maybe have a drink. Hopefully before he had to go to London himself.
"Evening of the 5th," Finn replied.
"That's when I'm flying out," Logan said, sounding disappointed.
"Well if you want you can call me anytime - if something's up," Finn suggested, sensing that there was more Logan wanted to talk about. With Finny around, he could sense Logan was a little distracted, and frankly, so was he.
"I think I will," Logan said. "Oh, and we already took him to the zoo, he couldn't wait," Logan added, knowing that it had been Finn's plan to take him.
"You went to the zoo without me?!" Finn exclaimed playfully to Finny, pretending to be disappointed.