Authors note: If you cry easily have Kleenex near by for this chapter.
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"So, what really happened down here while I was up there?" He asked going into the family room
"Nothing." They both said in unison.
"Mhm. What broke?" He asked
Lorelai looked up at him. "Nothing broke promise."
She wasn't fidgeting which was her tell. "Okay." He said. "What was that noise than?
Lorelai took a breathe. "We were play fighting a little and it got out of hand, I bumped into a stack of plates, and they made some noise but none of them broke promise." She told him
Aaron smiled. "Rachel just so you know Lorelai has been given permission to spank Jack if she has to." He told her.
Rachel nodded. "Lorelai told me."
"Did Jack tell you why he was acting out?" Lorelai asked
"Yes. You were right I am glad you let him tell me." He told his eldest daughter. He looked at Rachel "How did the test go?"
"I think it went well…" She said
"You told me that you definitely aced it." Lorelai said, "Where is that confidence?"
"I just…maybe I didn't…" Rachel said
"As long as you tried your best Rachel and studied which I know you did I don't care about what the grade is." He said kissing her head
Rachel nodded. "I think I did really well."
"Well than good." Aaron said
He looked up at the picture on the mantel of Hailey with all of them.
"Lorelai how would you feel if I got that picture enlarged?" He asked her
Lorelai looked at him. "You mean the drawing or the actual picture?" She asked
"The drawing. I think it deserves to be displayed larger maybe there." He pointed a blank spot on the wall in the family room.
Lorelai smiled. "Really?"
"Yes it is a beautiful picture." He said
"I would be okay with it." Lorelai told him
Aaron smiled and kissed her head. "She would be unbelievable proud of both of you." He told them
Lorelai smiled. "I hope so. I don't know if I believe in heaven and hell but if there is a heaven and she is up there watching I hope she isn't disappointed with some of my recent choices."
Rachel looked at her. "What did you do?" She asked
"Rachel not your concern." Aaron told her. "And Hailey wouldn't have been impressed with that particular choice, but she would see more the good things you do and the good person you are. Both of you." He said
Lorelai smiled. "Dad can you sit?" She asked
Aaron came around the couch and sat in the chair. "What's up?" He asked
"I brought up to my therapist about the fact that Hailey had come up and that it was hard for me to talk about her and such and she told me something that might help is if I share memories that I have with anyone really but mentioned you and Rachel." She said
Aaron nodded. "I agree. That probably would help."
"I have one." Rachel said
Lorelai nodded and smiled. She let her sister go first
"It was one of the nights that she was staying here when you and Lorelai were away on a case, and I couldn't sleep. I came down here to get some water and she was in the kitchen reading. She invited me to sit with her and we talked for hours about some of my past and what I hoped to do in the future and about how kids in school where telling me that I didn't have a mom because no one loved me…And she told me that she knew she wasn't technically my mom, but I could tell people she was because she loved me just as much as she loved Jack." Rachel said tearing up.
Aaron smiled. "When was that?"
"Three days before she had to go into hiding. I never saw her again." Rachel said. "But that night. Changed everything for me. I mean I knew you loved me dad, but I had a hard time trusting women, I still do. She made me know I could trust her and love her and that she would never hurt me. And I will be forever grateful that, that was my last memory of her."
Lorelai wrapped her arms around her little sister and held her while she cried. Lorelai teared up too before she started her memory
"We were at the mall trying on clothes. I had put on a little weight no big deal I just needed the next size up. Some creepy old guy heard our conversation and made a comment about how I was fat. And Hailey completely lost it on him. This kind gentle women was going off on this old creepy guy saying that he will never talk to another women that way less her daughter. I sat in the dressing room and cried for ten minutes. Not because he called me fat but because she truly saw me as her daughter in that moment."
Aaron went over and wrapped his arms around his girls. "Hailey told me about the creepy guy at the mall. She had to threaten me to keep me from finding out who he was and kicking his ass." Aaron told them.
The girls both laughed at that.
The rest of the evening was spent sharing memories of Hailey. And not one of them were bad because Hailey had been an incredibly kind and loving mother, wife, friend and all around person.