Thanks again for all the great feedback guys!!

Getting Started

Lorelai looked around the tool shed. She had been working everyday for the past two weeks and today she finally had a day off. The tool shed had nothing more than the basics in it: a sink, a toilet, a bathtub, a bed, and a crib, all of which she'd been able to get pretty cheap from around town. The bed had come from Mia who had insisted she take one of the old Inn beds from storage. She had found the crib at a garage sale near Babette's house. The bathroom stuff had come from Miss Patty who had just redone her bathroom. Although Lorelai had tried to install the bathroom on her own she had quickly learned that she wasn't destined to be a plumber and called in a professional.

"So what do you think kid?" Lorelai asked as Rory waddled towards her, "You want to go shopping?"

Rory lifted her arms up letting her mom know she wanted to be picked up. She squealed happily as her mom threw her up into the air and swung her around.

"Enjoy your day off," Mia told Lorelai as she and Rory crossed the lobby.

"Thanks, see you later," Lorelai waved before swinging Rory around again, causing her to giggle loudly.

~~~~~~~~

Richard Gilmore watched his wife from the doorway of their bedroom as she played the message again.

"Hi mom and dad, it's me-Lorelai," their daughter's familiar voice spoke. A squeal of delight could be heard from Rory. "Rory, sh," Lorelai laughed, her voice a little distant. "I just wanted to let you know that Rory and I found a place to stay, so we're gonna be ok," Rory giggled loudly and when Lorelai spoke again it was obvious she was smiling, "I'll call you later. Bye."

That had been the tenth time Emily had listened to the message since she woke up, hoping she could get some kind of clue as to where her daughter was. But there were no voices or noises in the back round other than Rory.

Emily pressed the play button again. How could she have pushed her own daughter away so much that she would rather live God knows where with no money, than with her parents?

"Emily," Richard said, tired of watching his wife sit in bed all day long, waiting for their daughter to call. How could Lorelai have done this? She had completely embarrassed them by forcing them to tell their friends that their daughter was pregnant and would not be getting married. Now she had run away leaving them no way to contact her. "Don't you have a DAR meeting?

"I'm not going," Emily told her husband as the message finished. The last time she had left the house Lorelai had called, she had to stay home just in case she called again.

"Emily you can't stay in bed forever," Richard argued, wishing there was something he could do, some way he could get Lorelai to come home.

"Richard I have a headache," Emily said, letting her husband know she wanted to be left alone.

Richard sighed and left. "Hi mom and dad, it's me-Lorelai," he heard as he reached the stairs. He glanced back but decided it was best to just leave his wife alone for now, and continued down the stairs.

~~~~~~~~

Rory hit her two wooden paint stirrers together happily as Lorelai looked at the different color paints in Williams Hardware.

"Lorelai, darling, how are you?" Miss Patty called as she wandered down the aisle.

"Good," Lorelai said, surprised to see Miss Patty there, "Are you still remodeling?"

"Oh, heavens no," she said with a laugh, "I just came here for the view," she said eyeing some guys across the store who were looking at tools.

Lorelai smiled, she had a feeling 'the view' was why Miss Patty had her bathroom redone in the first place.

Rory banged her sticks together again and Miss Patty's eyes returned to the girls in front of her. "That's beautiful music you're making Rory."

Lorelai grinned at her daughter, "I think she's going to be a drummer." Rory laughed and hit one of the paint cans, impressed by the new noise. "You want to get that color?"

Rory hit the can a couple of more times, smiling at her mom. Lorelai grabbed the paint and turned to Miss Patty, whose attention had returned to the guys across the store. "I'll leave you to your view," she said with a laugh.

"Bye darling," Miss Patty waved distractedly as Lorelai and Rory made their way to the checkout counter.

Lorelai placed the paint can, paint brush, and paint roller in Rory's stroller that she had left outside the hardware store and she and Rory wandered down the street. "We need food, don't we?" she asked as they stood outside of Doose's Market. Rory nodded and they walked inside.

"You must be Lorelai and Rory," a man came up to her the second she was in the store. How did this guy know her? "I'm Taylor Doose, owner of Doose's market, it's nice to finally meet you."

Lorelai smiled cautiously, not really sure if she should know who the guy was. Rory seemed to pick up on her mom's confusion because she curled up against Lorelai and watched Taylor carefully.

"Miss Patty said you're working at the Inn?"

Miss Patty. Lorelai was getting the idea that that woman kept herself up to date on everyone's lives, and kept everyone else up to date too. "Um, yeah," Lorelai finally answered.

"Lovely place. Mia's a charming woman."

"Yeah, she is."

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" he asked as he led her farther into the store.

"No, just food," she answered.

Taylor looked at the girl, she was so young. He sighed, that's what happened when a town didn't work to control their teenagers. They ended up pregnant, or drug addicts, or both. He smiled at Rory who was watching him with wide blue eyes, "We're having a sale on baby food."

"Ok, thanks," Lorelai said as they wandered down the aisle. She looked around, she didn't know how to cook so she'd have to get frozen dinner. But she didn't have a freezer, or a microwave. Maybe she could afford one of those really small refrigerators with a tiny freezer inside. And Mia would probably let her use a microwave in the kitchen. She turned back to Taylor, "Do you know where I could find one of those little refrigerators with the tiny freezers in them?" Taylor looked at her blankly. O-kay, she thought, maybe this town wasn't up on modern appliances.

"Sears sells them," a voice said and the owner of the voice appeared shortly after. They guy looked about her age and his name tag read Kirk. "But the closest Sears is in Hartford."

"Thanks," she told him. She had no desire to go to Hartford so soon after she'd left. With her luck she'd run into her mother. She decided she'd have to get just the baby food for now. The frozen dinners would have to wait until she could buy them a home. She grabbed a couple bags of chips with the baby food and headed to the check out counter where Kirk rang her up and bagged her things.

"Hope to see you at the town meeting this week," Taylor called as she left.

She smiled and gave a little nod, trying to wrap her head around the idea of town meetings.

End of Part 3

I'm going out of town for a few days but hopefully I'll have some updates when I get back. :-D