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Loralei Gilmore groaned as she was rudely awoken from her wonderful dream of flying coffee beans by the insistantly ringing phone somewhere in her room.

"RORY!"

"I'm asleep Mom, and you should be too--the perky piggies haven't begun squealing just yet."

"Rooooory, where's the phone?"

"I don't know, and I don't really care. They'll leave a message--just listen to it."

"FINE."

Loralei humphed as she rolled over and tried to remember just how fast the coffee beans could fly. The phone finally stopped ringing, and she waited for the impossibly rude caller to leave their message so that she could sleep in peace again.

"Loralei, this is Mia. I know it's early, and I'm sure that whatever animal sound your alarm clock is making this week hasn't even begun to invade the silence, but this is an emergency. If you're there, and you can find the phone in the next few minutes, please pick up."

Loralei frantically threw off her covers and leapt out of bed. Unfortunately, she hadn't managed to throw the covers off of her feet, where they remained twisted--probably as a result of her attempting to run after the flying coffee beans. She crashed to the floor, yelped, and then grinned--she was now eye level with the phone, which was hiding under her wardrobe.

"Mia! What's wrong?"

"Oh, Loralei, it's awful, just awful. My daughter and her husband, they've been killed in a car accident."

"Oh, Mia. I don't know what to say. What can I do? What do you need?"

"I need to talk to you about a matter that they left behind. I'm flying into Hartford today. My plane lands at 3:17 your time--could you pick me up at the airport?"

"Sure Mia. I'll be there. Talk to you soon."

"Thank you so much Loralei. See you in a few hours."

Loralei hung up the phone, but remained lying flat on the floor on her stomach. What could the matter Mia needed her help with be? Was she selling the inn? Was she moving back to Stars Hollow?

At that moment, Rory stumbled through the doorway and flopped facefirst onto Lorelei's bed. Loralei immediately decided it was a good morning to be bratty, and proceeded to grab Rory's toes and pull her off of the bed so that she'd have some company down on the floor.

"AHHHHHHHHHH! MOM! ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Loralei grinned mischeviously in reply, and then bounced down the stairs to make a pot of coffee so they'd have the necessary energy to make it to Luke's for more coffee, and perhaps some danishes--they could have two Danish Days in one week, after all.



Upstairs, Rory rubbed her shoulder where it had hit the floor, contemplated crawling back into her mother's bed, adn then decided against it--one dose of pain at the hands of her mother was enough for today--she wasn't a masochist. She sighed, and then thudded her way down the steps to her room, the perky piggies echoing their presence behind her.

==an hour later, at Luke's==

Luke glared at Taylor as he blubbered on about the importance of decorating the diner for Arbor Day.

"Taylor, what the hell do you want me to do? Plant temporary foliage around the tables? Serve tree leafs instead of lettuce? This is ridiculous!"

"Luke, this is for the importance of the town. Now, what sort of message does it send to the tourists if every shop and home is decorated except for yours?"

"It shows them that there is still one sane establishment in this town, and that keeps them from running away from here as fast as they can. NOW OUT!"

Taylor's face turned bright red as he humphed and stalked his way out of the diner, muttering something about cranky men and baseball caps being on too tight as he left.

Rory and Loralei had entered the diner in the midst of this spectacle and quietly seated themselves at the counter. When Loralei realized that Luke was too distracted and angry to care what was going on in the diner, she used the moment to slide over the counter, grab two mugs, fill them with coffee, and slide back.

Luke turned away from watching Taylor's retreating figure to find himself face to face with two grinning Gilmores, both with a steaming mug of coffee situated just below their mouths.

"How did you get that? Was Jess down here? JESS!!!!"

Loralei winked at Rory before she replied.

"Lukeykins, you silly boy. The flying coffee beans gave this to us. They coasted right across the counter, and then suddenly here was the coffee. It's magic I tell you."

Luke looked at Loralei, then at Rory, then back at Loralei.

"Did she have those pop tarts with the mountains of extra icing on top again before she came here?"

Rory assumed her most innocent look before responding.

"Luke, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Can I have more coffee?"

Luke grumbled as he refilled both outstretched mugs. As he wandered off, Rory remembered the mysterious early morning phone call.

"Mom, who called this morning?"

"Oh, sweetie--it was Mia. She had some bad news. Her daughter and son in law were killed in a car accident. Apparently they've left some unfinished business, and Mia is in charge of taking care of it. She's asked for my help, and she's flying into Hartford today so she can explain what it is exactly."

"Wow, I wonder what it could be...."

"Want to come with me to pick her up from the airport?"

"Nope, but thanks. Paris is coming over this afternoon. I'm going to teach her to sing like an Oompa Loompa and how to yell rude things at the screen during bad made for TV movies."

"Sounds like fun. We'll do dinner with Mia, and then I can fill you in on whatever it is she needs my help with."

"Alright, sounds like a plan!"

The two Gilmores sipped their coffee in silence, both absorbed in thoughts about their days and what Mia needed help with.



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OK guys. This is my first attempt at any sort of fan fic, so go easy on me. Hope you enjoy, and I'll add chapters as I have time. It's almost finals time (I'm a college student), so they may be rather sporadic for the next few weeks. Review if you'd like to! :)