Chapter 89

Bittersweet

Disclaimer:I don't own GG

Background: takes place in the episode where Lorelai is gone for the weekend and Rory eats in her house with Jess and Paris, which is when Dean comes, Jess leaves and they start fighting. All starts going down after that.

Warning: Some chapters may be really triggering

Note: There will be a new story that will continue Rory's recovery as well as include Lane and Abigail as main characters with their own main storylines. All the regular people like Paris and Sookie will be there of course. It will also serve as fresh chance to see how things between Luke and Lorelai will develop. For now, let's get back to where we left off...

p.s. Only an Epilogue left and then it's time for a new story :)

1.

When Rory entered the room, Lane was sitting on the bed, crying with her face in her hands. Rory's smile disappeared and she let go of the blue and silver baloons she was holding and ran to hug her friend. It was about a week later.

'No, no no no. No crying for the birthday girl. Happy Birthday, I love you! Come on Lane, I have a surprise...'

Lane nodded her head negatively, sobbing in her shoulder, while Rory stroked her back until she calmed a bit.

'What's wrong?'

Lane shrugged her shoulders.

'I mean, I know... look, I know this situation sucks, but even at our worst, it's okay to give ourselves a moment to celebrate. Things might get better, you don't know...'

'I'm pretty sure I do know...' Lane stared at her feet. She was officially overstaying her welcome in the Gilmore home and she knew it. No one would tell her that. Rory was the bestest friend she could ask for, and Lorelai had treated her with nothing but love and care. But it was 2 weeks, and she still had no plan. She still woke up in dread at 3am, haunted by all these questions she had no answers to.

She had always been a daydreamer. Her mom set rules and boundaries, while she sneaked music and colorful clothes and dreamed of the moment she'd be grown enough to pursue what she really wanted. For a first time since she was a child, her future seemed this black wall that she just couldn't push through. She needed help, but second only to her own mom, she was too proud to admit that. If her parents could come to a new country barely knowing the language and make a business, she could figure this out on her own. She had to. Except, she only felt more hopeless every day. There was no time to grieve, no time to plan, no time to do. She was 2 weeks behind on setting a new life and her chest filled with burning anxiety every time she even tried to think of it.

'Lane, please, just get dressed and come to the living room for a bit.'

Lane gave her a worried look. 'You haven't planned anything, did you? I don't feel like celebrating, you know that.'

'Just put anything other than pajamas, okay? It's just small group of friends, I promise.' Lane gave her another long look, and she decided to spare her the extra anxiety. 'Honey, it's just the band, my mom, Jess and Sookie, and Luke. I promise. We are just going to have a drink, and eat a piece of cake and that's it. I promise. Your dad would want you to celebrate.'

'Don't bring him into this.'

'Okay. Please.'

Lane nodded. She was pretty sure seeing people was the last thing she could imagine doing. But Rory was trying to be helpful, maybe she had to get up at least for a bit. For her friends.

2.

As much as she hated the idea of socializing, celebrating was actually a small relief out of the darkness that surrounded her lately. People seemed happy to see her, and seeing the guys from the band was nice. They had come in the beginning, but she was still in too much shock then. She hadn't realised how much she missed them. Besides, Lorelai was the queen of birthday surprises, Even at a small party, everything was done with so much care and intent. The whole house was covered in blue and silver baloons and matching decorations. Sookie had made this amazing cake with an illustration of an airplane on it, and the walls were covered in pictures of Lane with her father at different ages, including when she was a baby, which she loved. She never got to be at the funeral, so she'd never actually got to give him the attention he deserved. Somehow Lorelai had known that. Then they all had some cake and watched black and white movies.

'May I have your attention please?' After the last movie ended, Lorelai got up all of a sudden. 'Now, in honor of our very very sweet birthday girl, we are going to go to another location to look at the presents.'

Lane looked at her confused, but everyone else was smiling. Clearly, they were in on it. She wanted to protest but Lorelai always seemed to put so much effort in these events, that she thought the least she could do is go. In her fashion, Lorelai took out a blue non-transparent scarf and put it on her eyes. And then they all got in her car and drove a bit. She tried to figure out where by the turns they were taking, but it wasn't anywhere familiar.

Finally, they were... somewhere, and she was allowed to take the blindfold off.

She was standing in the freshly painted small white well-lit living room of an unfamiliar house. The living room table was covered in gifts, and food.

'Well, do you like it?' Rory was smiling wide and practically jumping up and down. Everyone else seemed happy, while Lane seemed perplexed as to why they had to change location. It was a nice living room, but they had already decorated Lorelai and Rory's place for the birthday so this seemed ... pointless?

'Do I like what?'

'The living room? This place?' Rory was rarely this jumping up and down happy, so Lane smiled despite herself.

'It's nice. What's with you? Who's place is this? Why are we here?'

'It's your place!' Lane looked at her like she'd lost her mind.'Well, yours and Brian's and Zacks...'

'... and definitely not Dave's who betrayed us.' added Zack annoyed.

'His family moved...' Lane interjected although it did sting that Dave hadn't even called once to see how she was.

'Same thing.'

'I still don't understand. How is this happening? I can't afford...'

Lorelai stepped in now.

3.

'Okay, okay. Birthday girl, take a seat and all will be revealed.'

Lane sat at the couch and they all sat in a half-circle around her. Then Zack and Brian filled her in. They were a year older than her (she was officially 17 now), so they were graduating. So they had planned to move in together to have more time for music, while they decide what else they were doing. They had used their savings and gotten this tiny house, with 2 bedrooms, one for each of them. Now they figured they could share the bigger bedroom, and leave the other bedroom free for Lane. They had wanted to tell her sooner, but they wanted to clean the place and put it in decent shape before that.

She felt her heart fill with love for them, grateful to have them, but still unbelieving this was real. 'Guys, thank you, I really appreciate it, but I don't have any savings...I can't afford this, I don't know how...'

Zack gestured to stop her. 'Lane, you don't understand. It's a done deal. The deposit is paid, and we paid first and last month. This is your birthday gift from us. Now you have time.'

Lane shook her head, her eyes filling with tears, for a first time in 2 weeks, for a happy reason.

'I have a home?'

Zack and Brian nodded. They had already figured Lane leaving her home was a perfect chance for her to join them too. When Rory had given them the idea to make it a birthday surprise they weren't sure Lane would like it. 'You have a home. Are you happy? Why are you crying?'

'I am happy, yes! You have no idea what this means to me!'

For the first time in 2 weeks, she could breathe a little bit. Lane got up and hugged them, with them looking confused and uncomfortable now.

'It's not a big deal, really. We'll save, because we'll split the rent in 3 rather than 2. Plus we'll have more time for music. It's not a big place, but it was what we could do...'

Lane removed her tears and smiled. 'Thank you so much! I love it.'

Rory removed her own tears of happiness for her friend and gestured to Sookie to go next.

'Well, as the newest person living independently, I figured you can use a full fridge for a while. So you will find you have all the basics inside for a couple of weeks, plus some of my own dishes that you can unfreeze and bake quickly.'

'Plus I got you some the basic dishes you need to start cooking yourself, few pots and pans, coffee cups, utensils, and a second-hand (but decently working) coffee machine, things like that. Oh, and a set of constillations and stars sheet cover/pillow/bed cover, because however cool you are, we all need sheets.' Lorelai smiled and gave her a wink.

'Oh my God.' Lane was speechless, tears streaming down her face again, and went to give Lorelai and Sookie a huge hug. She couldn't believe how generous her friends were being. How much they knew exactly what she needed. 'I love you. Thank you!'

Jess uncertainly gave her a small blue velvet box. 'My gift isn't so big. I don't know what you like as much, but I thought... if you have a father worth remembering then he should be remembered. Rory helped me pick it out, hopefully, you like it.'

Lane opened the box, revealing a silver charm bracelet with an airplane charm on it. Lane put a hand on her mouth, teary-eyed and touched, and hugged him. 'It's perfect. Thank you.'

Luke handed her a gift bag, and she pulled out a big photo album. She opened it, revealing a lot of empty pages, but also several pages filled with pictures of her growing up, and her with her extended family, and with her mom and dad, and her and Rory. Also a picture of her mom and dad at their wedding, and on their first day in the USA. She smiled and gave Luke a big hug. 'Thank you, Luke!'

Rory smiled and gave her a small book-shaped gift, wrapped in beautiful starry-sky wrapping paper. Lane removed the paper carefully, revealing a beautiful dark blue leather agenda. She opened it up, skimmed through the pages. There were monthly calendars and weekly planning pages, note pages, to-do lists, pretty stickers, sections for planning your goals and breaking them down.

'With everything going on... all that you need to set up and figure out, I thought you could use a little space to put your thoughts to paper. Oh, and... open the card.'

Lane did. The card was a picture of her and her father at the beach when she was a kid. She was a toddler and smiling happily with him holding her tiny hands while she was sitting around his neck. Waves were beating around his feet and he was smiling at the camera. Inside the envelope under the card were several new, crisp 20$ bills. She counted 160$ altogether.'To a future rockstar, to help you on your new adventure.'

'We all chipped in. We thought it might be some help with all of this. I know it's not a lot, but..' Rory hesitated. Lane was still crying and smiling. 'Is it a good surprise?' she inquired. She hadn't been fully certain Lane was up for all this yet- but also didn't want her to keep stressing about her future constantly. She knew this was just a start to all Lane will have to deal with, but at least it was something. A step towards better days. Lane hugged her, hastily removing tears from her face.

'Amazing surprise. I love you, Rory! I love you, everyone, thank you so much. This means everything!'

'Here here!' Lorelai raised a glass. 'To the birthday girl, who is beautiful and talented, and whom we all wish successful adventures in following all her dreams.'

'And to all the wonderful friends, who are helping me get there. And who never give up on me!' Lane looked around the room, feeling greatful. Life was full of hardships and unexpected storms. Full of cruel people and awful turns of events. But it was also filled with love and kindness and unexpected moments like this one. And for a first time in a long time, Lane felt whole and fulfilled, and full of relief. She'd known she'll have a job at Luke's once she was up for it. Everything else had been this dark hole full of pain that she couldn't untangle. And Rory had known and all of them had taken time, and care, to plan all of this. And all these wonderful people had given her the only thing she'd really wanted for her birthday- a chance to make a new home. A chance to begin her new life. And that was priceless.