Chapter 2: Forever

The feeling of being watched was an odd one, but one that she had gotten used to long ago. Waking, that feeling didn't automatically register. Rory shifted in bed, believing that the sounds around her were only remnants of a dream. A dream that she had become very familiar with, the dream that she was at home. The home that she had spent the better part of her life in, not the cold, almost sterile mansion that she referred to as 'home' in California, or the various places that she had houses in around the world.

Moving again, she frowned. Her feet could touch the baseboard, and she was sure that each hand could easily touch the edges of the mattress. That fact alone was odd, because she always made sure that she never slept in a bed smaller than a double.

As she shifted again, the fog of sleep receded, and the night before came rushing back to her like a freight train, and she had to forcibly stop herself from opening her eyes. Her sudden alertness must have shown on her face, because she heard a muffled sound come from beside her.

Slowly sucking in a breath through her nose, she tried to gather the courage to open her eyes and face what was hidden by the self imposed darkness. Finally, she turned her head slightly to the left, and blinked.

The sight that her eyes met almost broke her heart; her mother sat there, in the chair beside the bed, tears running freely down her cheeks, and arms locked around her up drawn knees. She just sat there, looking at her as if she was afraid to believe that she was real, as if the memory of her firstborn was just a complex figure of her imagination, and the person laying before her would disappear at any second.

Rory could feel her eyes fill with tears for the second time in less than ten hours, and she blinked rapidly. Biting her lip, she slowly sat up to face her mother fully, and smoothed down stray hair that had escaped the short braid that it had been placed in the night before.

She took a deep breath and looked her mother in the eyes, eyes that she had seen in a mirror every day. Not knowing what to do, she sat there and looked at the woman who had given her life. She still had the vivid blue eyes that she remembered, but there was a sadness there. As if she had been hurt, but was so used to pretending that she was impenetrable that the pain had been deeply buried.

Finally giving in to the uncomfortable silence, Rory spread her hands in an 'I don't know' gesture, and said the first thing that came to her mind, "I'm home, Mommy. I'm home."

At that, the dam seemed to break for both of them, and Lorelai threw herself at her daughter with a sob. And both crying, they clung to each other. A mother and daughter reunited. Two critical pieces to an intricate puzzle placed together. And two hearts once again beating as one.

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Several minutes later, a better composed Lorelai and Rory sat at the kitchen table, just looking at each other. Truthfully, Rory didn't know what to say to her mother, and after their emotional reunion she felt as if she had just awoken from a five year coma where everything had stayed the same, but at the same time had drastically changed.

It was early, only four or five hours after she had fallen asleep, but having gotten used to the abnormal hours of acting years before, she hardly noticed the weight of her limbs, and the fact that her eyelids wanted to droop down over her eyes. Looking at her mother again, she watched as Lorelai turned to stare at the coffee machine. A sight that had once been as familiar to her as the sight of her own face in a mirror. A sight that she had been unknowingly longing for for years.

The anticipation on her mothers face made her laugh quietly to herself, and caused Lorelai to look over to her. The look was searching, and without thinking, without wondering that what she read on her mothers face was wrong, she spoke, "Ask."

Lorelai blinked, startled. "What?"

"Ask." She repeated, "Ask whatever is going through your mind right now."

Lorelai sighed in response, inwardly smiling, "Why now?"

Rory shrugged, "Why not now?"

Her mother shot her a look, "Rory," she said warningly.

Looking away, Rory furrowed her brow, debating with herself. "It was just... the pressure there is horrible. I just finished filming my fourth film without a break, and I had a... I guess 'breakdown' is the most accurate term for it. I felt like I couldn't breathe when I was going home from a thing with the press, and I passed out in the back of my limo. David, my driver, he had to pull over and rub ice on my face so I would wake up. My doctor was called, and he said that I had to take some time off." She shrugged again, she didn't bother mentioning that her doctor had been warning her that if she continued to push herself like she had been, that a breakdown was inevitable. She was relatively lucky that it hadn't been worse, all things considered.

"I didn't really mind," She continued, "I had been wondering if I even wanted to continue working for a while, anyway. I mean, I never really intended to do what I did, fulltime acting. And I had gotten my invitation to the Chilton reunion, and I was remembering how it was," Sighing, she clasped her hands tightly together, "It was just a lot of things that made me come back. Come home."

Lorelai sniffed, "Well, I'm so happy that you're home, Baby." She stood, and walked around the table to Rory, kissing her lightly on her head, she hugged her around the shoulders. Straightening suddenly, she tilted her head, "Speaking of babies..."

Rory watched her mother walk out of the kitchen, and then sighed. Hearing a faint gurgling sound, she frowned, looking for its source. She spied the small baby monitor beside the coffee machine right before she heard her mother's voice flow through it,

"Hi, Honey. Good morning Brandon, I have a surprise for you, yes I do," There was more gurgling, "Do you remember me telling you about your big sister? Well you get to meet her today, Hun. 'Cause she's here, yes, she is..." Rory can hear her mother pause, and there is a rustling sound, and then a soft sniff. She closed her eyes, knowing that her mother had finally surrendered to the tears that had been threatening to fall free. After a moment, Lorelai continued talking, her voice choked, "Now, let's get you a nice new diaper and some clean clothes, would you like that? I think that you would, yes I do..."

Rory blinked back tears, and she hurriedly stood and went to switch off the monitor, not wanting to be eavesdropping when it was obvious that her mother had forgotten that she would be able to hear her. Taking a calming breath in, she turned and walked out the door, and onto the porch. Seeing the familiar side of Babette's house, she smiled and breathed in the crisp early morning air. Hugging herself, she tried to ward off the chill as she leaned on the porch rail and basked in the feeling of security, comfort. Things that she hadn't felt in what seemed like forever.

Hearing movement in the kitchen behind her, she turned just in time to see her mother strap in her gurgling little brother into a highchair. She grinned as she walked back into the house.

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She smiled genuinely for what felt like the first time in years. It wasn't the high beam that she gave to the press, and it wasn't the tight smile that she gave everybody else, but was a true, ear-to-ear, reaching-the-eyes grin that she had never actually bestowed on anyone since moving to California. She just sat there and smiled as she played with the miniature fingers of her little brother.

He had the same piercing blue eyes as herself, and her mother, a trait hat she knew would stay the same, even though most babies eyes changed color as they grew. His hair was a dark rich brown, just long enough to show a hint of curl as it brushed the tips of his ears. In the hand that wasn't busily examining the rings on her right hand, Brandon clutched a piece of toast that he was gnawing on with his single front tooth.

"Do you want anything to eat, Hun?"

Rory looked over to her mother who was mashing up a banana in a small bowl, "No, thanks. I never really eat in the morning."

Lorelai turned and looked at her daughter; she did look kind of thin. Thinner than what she had been, anyway. "Are you sure? I can actually cook now. Well, I can make good eggs. And a few other things. Luke made sure that he taught me when we first started going out. He said that it was so I wouldn't beg him for food every two seconds, but I still do. Always have, always will, I say."

Rory shook her head, "Not right now, but thanks. I've been on the 'Hollywood Diet'." She laughed softly, "I will get you to prove that to me, though. Last time that I saw you try and cook you were scraping the dried on fire extinguisher stuff off the pan for days."

"Well, I've improved. Considerably."

"I'm sure the pots and pans are thankful for that. So, speaking of Luke... does he know that I'm here?"

Her mother shook her head as she sat at the table, "No, he had to open the diner, and I 'forgot' to turn on the alarm for him." She replied with a grin, "So he practically had to run straight from bed to the diner so he could open the doors on time."

"So, how is he? How is everybody?"

"Luke's great, and of course, I'm not biased at all. After Taylor Closed the Soda Shoppe, he expanded the diner, and it's busier than ever. Patty just divorced husband number ten, I think it is. He was also husband number four and seven. Charles is a very persistent man. Uhhh, Kirk and Lulu are still together, married now, and still living in his mother's house, with a baby on the way. His mother moved to a retirement community in Hartford a while ago, just in case you were wondering."

Rory laughed, "Kirk? As a father?"

Lorelai nodded, smiling. "I know, he keeps coming to the Inn and the diner asking these insane questions about raising children. The other day, he asked me for the amount of calcium in breast milk! Why would I know that? When I had you, the only calcium that I paid any mind to was in the cheese of my grilled cheese sandwiches that I ate habitually. And with Brandon, I had Luke to worry about all that stuff." She paused to top up her and Rory's coffees,

"Where was I? Right, Taylor, well, he took a bad fall a year or so ago, and broke a hip. So now he's terrorizing the town from his remote-control wheelchair."

"Ahh, Taylor on wheels. Terrifying."

"Mmhmm, he made Luke build a ramp over the stairs to the diner. Threatened to sue for discrimination if he didn't."

Rory smiled, "Sounds like Taylor." She took her coffee cup in both hands, and stared into the dark depths of the scalding brew, "And..." She trailed off as Lorelai nodded sympathetically.

"He's good, Ror. Still teaching at SHH, one of the best teachers there, all of his students love him. He still helps out at the diner sometimes if it gets really busy, or someone can't make it on short notice. I think he has fun when he does." She smiles, thinking of the boy that she had once despised, and of the man that he had become. A man that she thought of more like a son than a nephew-in-law. "He's also sent a few kids over to work at the Inn or the diner if he knows that they need the cash. That's actually how I got three of my best employees at the Inn, and some alternate servers for events. And it's how Luke got his other cook that works with him since Caesar left to take care of his mother a year or so ago."

"Is she okay?"

"Well, she has Alzheimer's and he decided that it would be best if he moved closer to be with her."

As she had been speaking, she had been systematically scooping some of the mashed banana and feeding it to Brandon, who this time instead of taking it into his mouth, wrapped his chubby fingers around the spoon and tried to guide it to his mouth on his own, the results showing very clearly on his left cheek. Giving a squeal, he tried again and was rewarded with another, albeit smaller, spoonful of fruit.

Rory smiled at him as Lorelai placed the half full bowl of mash in front of him.

"He's adorable, Mom."

She nodded, "he looks just like you did when you were a baby."

Shifting uncomfortably under her mothers gaze, she rubbed her hands against her legs.

"Are you cold? Where are the rest of your things?" Lorelai looked at her daughter in concern.

"Uhh," Rory waved her hand vaguely behind her, "I left the rest of my things in the trunk of the car; I wanted to make sure that I could stay here before I brought my things in. I'll grab them, then?"

"Of course. Did you really think that we wouldn't want you here?"

Rory stood, shrugging, "I never really know what to think anymore, mom."


A few hours later, Rory walked alone in the almost deserted town. It was almost lunch, and she remembered that this had always been one of her favorite times of day. When almost everybody was securely nestled in their homes, in school, or in the diner, she would venture out and just wander through the small roads that wound through every part of town, the park, and the small forest that had grown beyond the old Independence Inn.

Letting an old instinct guide her she walked, taking in all of the changes that she hadn't seen in the dark night as she drove through the small hamlet for the first time in years.

The wooded area that she had explored as a girl had been cut down, for safety reasons, she supposed. Really, it had surprised her that it hadn't been done when one of the Banyon boys had climbed a tree, only to have the limb that he was standing on break from wood rot, resulting in a broken leg, fractured arm, and a severe concussion.

As she walked more, she noticed the smaller details of the town; the old Wilson house that had stood empty and abandoned for as long as she could remember, had been restored, and had flowers in the flowerbed, a swing of the porch, and dark blue curtains in the windows. When she looked up the street, she could see the side of Miss Patty's, now a vibrant green.

Still letting her feet guide her, she didn't really notice that she was walking towards the high school, and the place.

Their place.

Stopping abruptly as she saw the bridge, she looked behind her, as if expecting to be admonished for going to such a public place.

Taking a deep breath, she forced her frozen limbs to continue onward. Stopping at the middle of the bridge, she hesitated an instant before folding her legs, and sitting down. The cold wood felt smooth beneath her fingers, and she instinctively ran her hand along the edge of the bridge, feeling for a small juvenile carving of a heart. Smiling sadly, she recalled the day that she and Jess had carved it, not wanting to be so cliché, they both refused to put their initials in it. Fingering the now smooth wood, she frowned as she felt the unfamiliar ridges of lettering.

She shifted, so she was flat on her stomach, the half frozen wood cooling the leather jacket that was her only real protection from the frigid air.

Pushing her now tangled shoulder length hair behind her ears, she tilted her head over the edge. She gave a fleeting thought to what the people in Hollywood would think if they saw her now. Smiling wryly, she focused on the lettering, and then felt her mouth drop open – a great feat for somebody who was upside-downin shock. For in the once empty heart that she and Jess had jokingly carved was one word;

'Forever'


I'd like to take this time now to thank every single one of you whose read this, and I hope you enjoyed. A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love you all.

Please, tell me what you think so far, I'd love to know. :D

Jayde.