The rest of the week passed in a flurry of visits from just about everyone in town. Luke brought them coffee and Sookie made them some of their favorite meals. Lane brought Rory her homework everyday and usually stayed so they could work on the schoolwork together. Rory had called her father the day she went home from the hospital and she assured him that she was fine. They had talked for a long time and Rory had been extremely happy the rest of the day. She had talked with Christopher on the phone before, but their conversations never seemed to last longer than an hour.
"Mom," Rory said Saturday morning as she came out of her room to find her mom sitting at the kitchen table, "Can we go to Luke's today? I'm tired of being stuck in the house."
"Sure, Honey," Lorelai said. She was tired of being stuck in the house too. She had taken three days off from the inn to stay home with Rory. Lorelai looked up to see her daughter still dressed in her pajamas and rubbing her eyes. "But I'm not taking you looking like that. Go get dressed and then we'll go get some breakfast."
Rory returned to the kitchen a few minutes later dressed in jeans and long sleeve shirt. She was carrying her shoes and sat down at the table and slipped them on. Lorelai picked up Rory's feet one at a time and tied the shoes.
"Let's go," Lorelai said, putting her coat on and then helped Rory with hers.
The Diner grew silent when Rory and Lorelai came through the door. There were smiles all around when they sat down because it was good to see Rory up and out. Luke brought them coffee without even making a fuss and took their order of eggs and pancakes. They figured if they each got one then they could share.
The two ate their breakfast and exchanged typical banter that made Luke feel like the Diner was now back to normal. It had been odd for there not to be a Gilmore in there for three days. It had been way too quiet. When they were finished, Lorelai and Rory made their way back home. Rory started to lag behind once they reached their front lawn in order to let Lorelai get ahead of her. Rory stooped and picked up some snow and formed it into a snowball with her mittened left hand.
"Rory?" Lorelai asked, turning around to see where her daughter had gone.
When Lorelai was facing her, Rory threw the snow as best she could. It was good enough because it hit Lorelai square in the stomach.
The mischievous smile that had played on Rory's lips turned into full grin when she saw the shocked look on Lorelai's face.
"You're gonna pay for that," Lorelai said as she squatted down to scoop up some snow and threw it at Rory. Rory let out a small scream and tried to dodge the snow, but she ended being hit by the brunt of it.
"Yes!" Lorelai cheered at her hit. Rory scooped up some more and made her way towards Lorelai and dumped the snow on her mother's head as she passed. Rory laughed again as Lorelai let out a shocked gasp. She got over it and stood up and ran after Rory. Lorelai caught her easily and carefully tackled Rory to the ground. Lorelai had actually picked Rory up and placed her on the ground, careful not to disturb her arm or the cast. Rory squealed and tried to get our of her mother's grasp.
"Oh no, I've got you now!" Lorelai said, not relinquishing her hold on her daughter. "You think you can hit me with snowballs and get away with it? For that, my child, you must be punished. What do you think your punishment should be?"
Rory pretended to get serious as she thought about the punishment. "I think I should have to stay with you all day," she said in an exasperated tone, "and watch movies and drink coffee and hot chocolate and eat lots of candy," she punctuated her last statement by hitting Lorelai with another snowball.
Lorelai laughed as she helped Rory to her feet. She turned her daughter around and brushed the snow off of Rory's back. "Let's get inside. I wouldn't want to keep you from your punishment," she said as they ascended the steps and went into the warmth of their house.
A few hours later, Lorelai and Rory were sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket and watching the tail-end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Rory hadn't been paying that much attention for the last half of the movie. She couldn't get what her grandmother had said out of her head. Why would Emily think she would want to ride again?
"Hey, Mom?" Rory asked as the credits rolled on the television.
"Yeah, Hon?" Lorelai said, surprised to see the solemn expression on her daughter's features.
"What did Grandma mean when she said I should ride again? Why would she want me to do something that had hurt me?"
Lorelai sighed and looked at Rory with a loving expression. She knew they were going to have to talk about this eventually. She had almost hoped that Rory had forgotten about it, but it was obviously something her daughter had been thinking about since they left the hospital.
"Honey, she doesn't want you to get hurt or do something that will hurt you," Lorelai explained. "She just doesn't want you to be scared. Do you remember when you were learning to ride your bike and you would fall off and I would make you get up and try again?" Rory nodded. "It's kind of the same thing," Lorelai continued.
"But I never got hurt falling off my bike," Rory interrupted. "The worst I ever got was a skinned knee. The horse could have killed me. I'd be too scared to even go near a horse again."
Lorelai saw the pained expression on Rory's face and it melted her heart. "That's just it, Honey. She doesn't want you to be scared, and neither do I."
"You think I should ride a horse again?" Rory asked, disbelieving.
Lorelai nodded. "Yes, I do. If only just once more in your life, you need to get back up again and ride. If you don't you'll be scared of horses the rest of your life and I don't want that."
Rory thought it over and she understood what her mother was trying to say. But she couldn't do it.
"But what if I fall again?" she asked, her voice quivering with unshed tears. She had never really said how she felt about the accident and it seemed that all her emotions were about to spill out now. "What if the horse stepped on me? I was really scared up on the horse. He was so big. I didn't even want to ride him in the first place."
"What do you mean you didn't want to ride him?" Lorelai asked her face sympathetic. She brushed some hair back from Rory's face as her daughter started to cry. "What is it, Honey?"
"I didn't want to, but Grandma seemed so excited about it. I wanted to make her happy. And you said that you liked riding when you were my age and I thought that if you liked it then I should at least try. I talked myself into it because I kept saying that it would be fun. But then when we got there and I saw the horses, I was scared all over again."
"Awww, Sweetie," Lorelai said, pulling Rory into a hug. "You didn't have to ride the horses if you didn't want to. You don't need to ever worry about what makes Grandma happy or what makes me happy. You need to do what you're comfortable with and if you were afraid of the horses than you didn't have to ride. You understand?"
Rory nodded and let her mom hold her. She always felt the safest when her mom was holding her. "Do you really think I should ride again?" she finally asked.
"I really do," Lorelai said. "Just once. I will ride with you,' she offered.
"You?" Rory asked, looking up at her mom.
"Sure," Lorelai said. "Remember that I did ride when I was your age," she reminded her daughter.
Rory thought for a moment or two longer. "Okay, I'll go, but only if you ride with me."
"You got it, kid."