A Whole New Life Back In An Old Place
By Emily Carol
Chapter 20
These Could Have Been Her Memories Too
***
Disclaimer: I'm 13 years old (almost 14) and you seem to think I own Gilmore Girls. What are you on?
Summary: For a reason unknown to anyone but herself Rory Gilmore fled her life with no trace when she was 20. It's 12 years later and she's back in Stars Hollow with a whole new look and personality to see how life went without her, positive she won't be recognized as Leah Haden. Until she realizes, maybe she never wanted to unrecognizable in the first place.
Rating- PG - slight violence
Genre- General/Mystery(ish)
A/N- Thanks Reviewers! Because all of you are SO great I have over ONE- HUNDRED AND FIFTY REVIEWS! (157) Thanks so much! Love ya all!
And I'm sorry this took awhile to get up. But it's long so you should be happy!
***
Lorelai rocked Rory back and forth as they lay on the ground of Rory's room with shattered glass all around them.
Luke walked into the doorframe of Rory's room and looked at her and Lorelai.
"Lorelai?" he whispered.
"It's under control Luke," Lorelai said shakily. "She'll be fine, just leave us alone."
Luke nodded and crept away quickly towards Jennifer's room.
"Come on Rory," Lorelai said quietly. "Let's go into the kitchen and have a cup of coffee."
Rory nodded and stood up. As she attempted to pick her way around the glass Lorelai noticed a cut on the back of her leg. It was bleeding, a little stream of blood escaping it slowly.
"Rory Hon," Lorelai said. "You're bleeding, a piece of glass from the frame must have cut you."
Rory tried to look at the back of her calf where the cut was but couldn't.
"Just lay on the bed on your stomach, I'll go get the stuff to clean it," Lorelai said rushing out of the room quickly.
Rory hopped over to the bed and fell on it. She crawled her way to the top trying not to get any blood on the comforter.
Lorelai walked back into the room holding a wet washcloth, antiseptic and a few band-aids.
She sat on the bed gingerly and started to clean the cut with the wet washcloth.
"Mom?" Rory asked.
"Yeah?" Lorelai asked.
"Why's Jennifer's last name Gilmore and not Danes?" she asked. She'd wanted to know the answer ever since she noticed it on her class list.
"Well, you know when I was going to marry Max I said he'd have to change his name to Gilmore?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah," Rory said as she tensed up since Lorelai had just applied the antiseptic.
"Well I was joking around with Luke that that's what he should do and he took me seriously," Lorelai said.
"So he's not Luke Dane's now?" Rory asked in disbelief. "He's Luke Gilmore?"
"Oh yes," Lorelai said with a giggle. "Your grandparents weren't to happy about it but it's my life."
Rory laughed and flipped off her stomach and sat up in her bed. "I have another question Mom," she said.
"Shoot Hun," Lorelai said.
"Did you keep any photo albums of the past twelve years?" Rory asked. She'd wanted to see pictures of Jennifer when she was little and Luke and Lorelai's wedding.
"One second," Lorelai said. She left and emerged back in the room a few minutes later with six photo albums stacked in her arms. She dropped them on Rory's bed and walked out of the room again to collect another six.
"One for every year?" Rory asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Lorelai said. "In fact, the last picture in the last album is after you came back but when you were still acting as Leah Haden."
Rory smiled and Lorelai handed her a photo album. Rory noticed the label on it said, "The First Year".
She opened it up to see a picture of Lorelai sitting in the snow. She was looking at the sky and snowflakes fell onto her face. Rory looked closer to see that tears glistened in Lorelai's eyes.
She looked at her mother for an explanation.
"It was taken only hours after Paris called me to say you had packed up and left and she didn't know where you went," Lorelai said.
Rory nodded and kept looking at the pictures.
The whole first album was extremely solemn.
Except for the pictures of Sookie and her family. Their Christmas card was tucked into the album. Sookie sat on a couch with James who was just weeks old in her lap. Jackson stood next to her with one-year-old Dana holding onto his fingers to support herself standing.
Rory smiled as she got to that picture.
"Sookie had James the week after you left," Lorelai said looking at Rory. "That picture was taken when they brought him home from the hospital."
Rory nodded, "I wish I was here."
Lorelai nodded and put her arm around her comfortingly. "We all do."
Rory put the first album and the floor and Lorelai handed her the second album. "The Second Year".
The first page opened to a picture of Luke and Lorelai at New Years. The clock behind them showed it was midnight and they were kissing.
Rory smiled.
"I finally got what everyone meant all these years," Lorelai said. "I love Luke, I just can't believe it took me that long to realize it."
"We all told you," Rory said. "But you just never listened."
Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Rory as Rory turned the page.
"You look happy," she said pointing to a picture on about the tenth page of the extremely large album.
Lorelai leaned over her to look at the picture. "That's Valentine's Day," she said. "Luke decorated for once."
"Luke really decorated?" Rory asked amazed.
"Or his girlfriend just snuck in at like midnight to do it the night before," Lorelai said with a guilty look on her face.
"Mom!" Rory said giggling. She turned pages until she saw another picture that intrigued her. "What's this?" She asked looking at the pictures.
Lorelai blushed. "That's Luke's proposal."
"How did he do it?" Rory asked.
"Well he started to try and give me decaf the week before and when I tasted it I'd go and dump it down his drain." Lorelai started. "Well one day I went to dump it down the drain and something came out with the coffee. I was dumping it on the side of the sink that catches anything but liquid so I picked it up and it was a diamond ring. I went to Luke and asked what he was and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him."
Lorelai's face was a huge grin by now. Rory smiled right back at her. "Did the coffee damage the ring?" Rory asked.
Lorelai held up her hand to show Rory the ring.
"Apparently not," Rory said.
Rory flipped through the book more. "Sookie pregnant again?"
"Yep, that's when she was going to have John. That's the end of December. John was born, well look at the next album."
Lorelai handed Rory the "The Third Year" album. Rory opened to it see a picture of Sookie holding a newborn baby with two-year-old Dana and one- year-old James sitting next to her.
"John was born the morning of January 1st," Lorelai said. "Sookie went into labor at the New Years Party she and Jackson were throwing, John was a month early."
"Is he okay?" Rory asked.
"Perfectly healthy, although a little on the pudgy side. He can cook better than me now," Lorelai said.
"Not that hard," Rory teased her.
Lorelai hit her playfully and watched Rory as she flipped through the album more.
"What's this?" Rory asked pointing to a picture of Luke sleeping with makeup all over his face.
Lorelai giggled. "We couldn't help ourselves," she said trying to control her giggles. "He fell asleep and Sookie and I came up to ask him a question about food for the wedding and when we saw him like that we had to get out our makeup and 'experiment' a little."
"You are cruel you know that?" Rory asked her.
Lorelai smiled, "And proud of it."
Rory giggled and looked through the album more. "Your wedding," she whispered as she looked near the back of the album.
"Yeah," Lorelai said quietly. "I wish you'd been there."
"I know." She looked at the pictures. Lorelai walking down the aisle on the arm of Richard.
Lorelai and Luke at the alter of the local Stars Hollow Church.
Luke and Lorelai exchanging rings.
Lorelai and Luke kissing in front of Stars Hollow.
And in every picture you could see the maid of honor and the best man.
Sookie and Jess on either ends of the pictures.
"It should have been you," Lorelai said pointing to Sookie.
Rory nodded, "I wish it had been."
Rory turned the pages to see more pictures from the wedding reception. One photo was of the window of the Dragonfly Inn. Snowflakes were slowly falling.
"It's snowing," Rory said.
"Everything good in my life happened when it snowed, I wanted my wedding to be the same," Lorelai said.
Rory smiled and reached for the next album that Lorelai held out to her.
Pictures of Luke and Lorelai vacationing in Hawaii on their honeymoon were many of the first pictures. They were sitting at various restaurants and were lounging on the beach.
Rory smiled, she knew her mom was happy now. And she was happy for her. She knew that her mom had loved Luke for a long time and she'd finally realized it herself.
A little farther in the album were pictures of Lorelai pregnant. She was smiling in every one of them. In every picture taken of her pregnant she was happy and smiling.
Finally at the end of the album were pictures that Rory had awaited to see. Little Jennifer just minutes old. Lorelai held her in her arms while Luke kissed her.
They were both happy.
An overwhelming feeling of replacement filled Rory. Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked at Lorelai. "You replaced me didn't you?" she asked.
"Oh honey," Lorelai said, "We never replaced you. No one could ever replace you. We spent every day waiting for a phone call, scared that it would be someone saying you were dead. But the phone call never came. And then you came back."
Rory nodded and reached for the next album.
Jennifer ruled the camera in the rest of the cameras. Pictures of her starting to crawl and walk.
Luke teaching her to ride a bike.
Her playing with Jess by creeping up behind him and yanking at his hair and then have him chase her around the house.
Lorelai introducing her to coffee at the young age of six and Luke trying to take the coffee cup away at the same time.
Jennifer going off the kindergarten and first grade.
And then there was Jennifer how she was now. She looked the same.
Rory flipped to the last page of the twelfth year. Lorelai, Jennifer, Luke, and Jess sat at a table at Luke's. And through the window you could see a woman dressed in a black dress with short red hair and dark sunglasses walked past the diner.
"It's me," she said pointing to the woman through the window.
"Yes it is."
Rory smiled. But inside of her she knew something. These could have been her memories too.
***
A/N- I hope you enjoyed this chapter! R&R please!
By Emily Carol
Chapter 20
These Could Have Been Her Memories Too
***
Disclaimer: I'm 13 years old (almost 14) and you seem to think I own Gilmore Girls. What are you on?
Summary: For a reason unknown to anyone but herself Rory Gilmore fled her life with no trace when she was 20. It's 12 years later and she's back in Stars Hollow with a whole new look and personality to see how life went without her, positive she won't be recognized as Leah Haden. Until she realizes, maybe she never wanted to unrecognizable in the first place.
Rating- PG - slight violence
Genre- General/Mystery(ish)
A/N- Thanks Reviewers! Because all of you are SO great I have over ONE- HUNDRED AND FIFTY REVIEWS! (157) Thanks so much! Love ya all!
And I'm sorry this took awhile to get up. But it's long so you should be happy!
***
Lorelai rocked Rory back and forth as they lay on the ground of Rory's room with shattered glass all around them.
Luke walked into the doorframe of Rory's room and looked at her and Lorelai.
"Lorelai?" he whispered.
"It's under control Luke," Lorelai said shakily. "She'll be fine, just leave us alone."
Luke nodded and crept away quickly towards Jennifer's room.
"Come on Rory," Lorelai said quietly. "Let's go into the kitchen and have a cup of coffee."
Rory nodded and stood up. As she attempted to pick her way around the glass Lorelai noticed a cut on the back of her leg. It was bleeding, a little stream of blood escaping it slowly.
"Rory Hon," Lorelai said. "You're bleeding, a piece of glass from the frame must have cut you."
Rory tried to look at the back of her calf where the cut was but couldn't.
"Just lay on the bed on your stomach, I'll go get the stuff to clean it," Lorelai said rushing out of the room quickly.
Rory hopped over to the bed and fell on it. She crawled her way to the top trying not to get any blood on the comforter.
Lorelai walked back into the room holding a wet washcloth, antiseptic and a few band-aids.
She sat on the bed gingerly and started to clean the cut with the wet washcloth.
"Mom?" Rory asked.
"Yeah?" Lorelai asked.
"Why's Jennifer's last name Gilmore and not Danes?" she asked. She'd wanted to know the answer ever since she noticed it on her class list.
"Well, you know when I was going to marry Max I said he'd have to change his name to Gilmore?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah," Rory said as she tensed up since Lorelai had just applied the antiseptic.
"Well I was joking around with Luke that that's what he should do and he took me seriously," Lorelai said.
"So he's not Luke Dane's now?" Rory asked in disbelief. "He's Luke Gilmore?"
"Oh yes," Lorelai said with a giggle. "Your grandparents weren't to happy about it but it's my life."
Rory laughed and flipped off her stomach and sat up in her bed. "I have another question Mom," she said.
"Shoot Hun," Lorelai said.
"Did you keep any photo albums of the past twelve years?" Rory asked. She'd wanted to see pictures of Jennifer when she was little and Luke and Lorelai's wedding.
"One second," Lorelai said. She left and emerged back in the room a few minutes later with six photo albums stacked in her arms. She dropped them on Rory's bed and walked out of the room again to collect another six.
"One for every year?" Rory asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Lorelai said. "In fact, the last picture in the last album is after you came back but when you were still acting as Leah Haden."
Rory smiled and Lorelai handed her a photo album. Rory noticed the label on it said, "The First Year".
She opened it up to see a picture of Lorelai sitting in the snow. She was looking at the sky and snowflakes fell onto her face. Rory looked closer to see that tears glistened in Lorelai's eyes.
She looked at her mother for an explanation.
"It was taken only hours after Paris called me to say you had packed up and left and she didn't know where you went," Lorelai said.
Rory nodded and kept looking at the pictures.
The whole first album was extremely solemn.
Except for the pictures of Sookie and her family. Their Christmas card was tucked into the album. Sookie sat on a couch with James who was just weeks old in her lap. Jackson stood next to her with one-year-old Dana holding onto his fingers to support herself standing.
Rory smiled as she got to that picture.
"Sookie had James the week after you left," Lorelai said looking at Rory. "That picture was taken when they brought him home from the hospital."
Rory nodded, "I wish I was here."
Lorelai nodded and put her arm around her comfortingly. "We all do."
Rory put the first album and the floor and Lorelai handed her the second album. "The Second Year".
The first page opened to a picture of Luke and Lorelai at New Years. The clock behind them showed it was midnight and they were kissing.
Rory smiled.
"I finally got what everyone meant all these years," Lorelai said. "I love Luke, I just can't believe it took me that long to realize it."
"We all told you," Rory said. "But you just never listened."
Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Rory as Rory turned the page.
"You look happy," she said pointing to a picture on about the tenth page of the extremely large album.
Lorelai leaned over her to look at the picture. "That's Valentine's Day," she said. "Luke decorated for once."
"Luke really decorated?" Rory asked amazed.
"Or his girlfriend just snuck in at like midnight to do it the night before," Lorelai said with a guilty look on her face.
"Mom!" Rory said giggling. She turned pages until she saw another picture that intrigued her. "What's this?" She asked looking at the pictures.
Lorelai blushed. "That's Luke's proposal."
"How did he do it?" Rory asked.
"Well he started to try and give me decaf the week before and when I tasted it I'd go and dump it down his drain." Lorelai started. "Well one day I went to dump it down the drain and something came out with the coffee. I was dumping it on the side of the sink that catches anything but liquid so I picked it up and it was a diamond ring. I went to Luke and asked what he was and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him."
Lorelai's face was a huge grin by now. Rory smiled right back at her. "Did the coffee damage the ring?" Rory asked.
Lorelai held up her hand to show Rory the ring.
"Apparently not," Rory said.
Rory flipped through the book more. "Sookie pregnant again?"
"Yep, that's when she was going to have John. That's the end of December. John was born, well look at the next album."
Lorelai handed Rory the "The Third Year" album. Rory opened to it see a picture of Sookie holding a newborn baby with two-year-old Dana and one- year-old James sitting next to her.
"John was born the morning of January 1st," Lorelai said. "Sookie went into labor at the New Years Party she and Jackson were throwing, John was a month early."
"Is he okay?" Rory asked.
"Perfectly healthy, although a little on the pudgy side. He can cook better than me now," Lorelai said.
"Not that hard," Rory teased her.
Lorelai hit her playfully and watched Rory as she flipped through the album more.
"What's this?" Rory asked pointing to a picture of Luke sleeping with makeup all over his face.
Lorelai giggled. "We couldn't help ourselves," she said trying to control her giggles. "He fell asleep and Sookie and I came up to ask him a question about food for the wedding and when we saw him like that we had to get out our makeup and 'experiment' a little."
"You are cruel you know that?" Rory asked her.
Lorelai smiled, "And proud of it."
Rory giggled and looked through the album more. "Your wedding," she whispered as she looked near the back of the album.
"Yeah," Lorelai said quietly. "I wish you'd been there."
"I know." She looked at the pictures. Lorelai walking down the aisle on the arm of Richard.
Lorelai and Luke at the alter of the local Stars Hollow Church.
Luke and Lorelai exchanging rings.
Lorelai and Luke kissing in front of Stars Hollow.
And in every picture you could see the maid of honor and the best man.
Sookie and Jess on either ends of the pictures.
"It should have been you," Lorelai said pointing to Sookie.
Rory nodded, "I wish it had been."
Rory turned the pages to see more pictures from the wedding reception. One photo was of the window of the Dragonfly Inn. Snowflakes were slowly falling.
"It's snowing," Rory said.
"Everything good in my life happened when it snowed, I wanted my wedding to be the same," Lorelai said.
Rory smiled and reached for the next album that Lorelai held out to her.
Pictures of Luke and Lorelai vacationing in Hawaii on their honeymoon were many of the first pictures. They were sitting at various restaurants and were lounging on the beach.
Rory smiled, she knew her mom was happy now. And she was happy for her. She knew that her mom had loved Luke for a long time and she'd finally realized it herself.
A little farther in the album were pictures of Lorelai pregnant. She was smiling in every one of them. In every picture taken of her pregnant she was happy and smiling.
Finally at the end of the album were pictures that Rory had awaited to see. Little Jennifer just minutes old. Lorelai held her in her arms while Luke kissed her.
They were both happy.
An overwhelming feeling of replacement filled Rory. Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked at Lorelai. "You replaced me didn't you?" she asked.
"Oh honey," Lorelai said, "We never replaced you. No one could ever replace you. We spent every day waiting for a phone call, scared that it would be someone saying you were dead. But the phone call never came. And then you came back."
Rory nodded and reached for the next album.
Jennifer ruled the camera in the rest of the cameras. Pictures of her starting to crawl and walk.
Luke teaching her to ride a bike.
Her playing with Jess by creeping up behind him and yanking at his hair and then have him chase her around the house.
Lorelai introducing her to coffee at the young age of six and Luke trying to take the coffee cup away at the same time.
Jennifer going off the kindergarten and first grade.
And then there was Jennifer how she was now. She looked the same.
Rory flipped to the last page of the twelfth year. Lorelai, Jennifer, Luke, and Jess sat at a table at Luke's. And through the window you could see a woman dressed in a black dress with short red hair and dark sunglasses walked past the diner.
"It's me," she said pointing to the woman through the window.
"Yes it is."
Rory smiled. But inside of her she knew something. These could have been her memories too.
***
A/N- I hope you enjoyed this chapter! R&R please!