Last time….
"I told you I'm taking the week off. No work phone calls, no faxes, no emails. I'll be back next Thursday"
"That's it? I don't see you in years, and then you just show up for a 'visit'?"
"Yeah."
"You do know that this is still your home, right? I mean, you can come here whenever you want."
After Lorelei left, Rory finished her coffee quickly and pulled her coat back on. She stepped out of the house, and quickly walked down the road to the apartment where Lane had moved to after college.
Rory knocked on the door. "Lane?"
The door swung open, and Lane stared at Rory in surprise. "Hi… What are you doing here?"
Rory stepped in and hugged Lane. "That's a nice way to greet your best friend."
"I'm sorry, I'm just kind of, uh, surprised, I guess. Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?" Rory and Lane still talked, about once a week on the phone, just enough to keep Rory up to date with the goings on of Star's Hollow.
"I'm only here until Thursday. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing."
"Have you seen your mom?"
"Yeah, I stopped there first."
The two girls sat down on the couch. "Well, tell me, what did she say?" Lane asked.
"Not much. She didn't really talk to me."
"But did you talk to her?"
"No."
"What did you expect her to say, Rory? You show up after years of having little or no contact with her. She was confused."
"She shouldn't be so confused. I'm her daughter; I'm allowed to come home to visit whenever I want to."
"Well, you've never wanted to before." Lane looked at Rory. "Why now?"
"What?"
"Why now? Why did you come now, why not last year, why not in two months? Why now?"
Rory glanced around the room and absently played with the zipper of her coat. "No reason."
"There's got to be a reason. You don't do anything before thinking it through first, Rory. It's not like you not to have a reason."
"I'm serious, Lane. I was in work at my desk, and I thought to myself, I wonder how Star's Hollow is doing. I should go visit."
"You did not, Rory."
"Well, if there is something else behind this visit, I can't tell you yet. I really need to talk to my mother first about it."
"Ok… but you will tell me eventually, right?"
"Of course, Lane."
"Good."
Rory leaned back on the couch. "So, tell me all the new gossip of Star's Hollow."
Later that afternoon Rory walked into the house and went back to her bedroom. The door was closed, and she opened it up to find her room almost exactly the same as it had been when she left. The furniture was in the same place, the curtains were the same, and as she opened her closet she saw all her old clothes hanging up in the same order that they had been all through high school. She walked over to her dresser, where the same photographs were placed just as she had left them. There was of her grandparents, one of her with her mother, and one of her and Lane. Rory touched them gently, remembering when all the pictures were taken, until she saw the fourth photo. Her hand froze in mid-air, and then in one quick movement she pushed the photo face down on her dresser.
"Rory?"
Rory jumped as she heard Lorelei call her name. She walked out of her bedroom. "I'm over here."
Lorelei walked into the kitchen, where Rory was standing after just closing her bedroom door.
"You came home early," Rory commented.
"Yeah, well business was slow and Michel agreed to stay later tonight."
"Oh."
"So what did you do all day?"
"Um, well I went to see Lane."
"How's Lane?"
"She's good."
"That's good."
They looked at each other for a few minutes, both a little hesitant about what to say to the other.
"So are you hungry?" Lorelei asked.
"I'm starving."
Lorelei walked over to the refrigerator. "Well, there's some pizza from last night."
"Leftover pizza?"
"Yeah, sorry. I still haven't learned how to cook," Lorelei said sheepishly. She glanced up at Rory. "We could go to Luke's."
"OK, let's go."
A/N: I'm sorry if this story is a little slow moving, but once Rory is settled (somewhat) in Star's Hollow for her little vacation, it will get much more exciting! Please review!