Alright, so just a little over-due update about the ages here in this fic. I know they're a little messed up, but go with me here: Lorelai is sixteen, Luke is eighteen, and Lizzie is fifteen. I know that when Lorelai had Rory, Lizzie must have had Jess at the same time, therefore making her older because she actually was married, thus making Luke older because he is her older brother, but I think it will work better for the story this way. Thanks.
Jenna: I completely agree. I think it would be sweet to have some sort of flashback epidsode when Lorelai first comes to Stars Hallow! This was just a random idea that popped in my mind, and doesn't really work for the show, but amusing none the less. Thanks for the review.
Pokey: I kinda took that idea from when I first watched the gilmore girls, and I was like "holy crap they talk like a mile a minute!" and here little ol' me was just trying to keep up with all the references. I'm sure it was great for all those around me as like an hour after the episode I would be like "Oh! That guy!" And start laughing hysterically. Now, as a result of the show, I am quite the pop culture index on the drop of a dime. Now if only I could master the complexities of the oven. Or the stove. Hell, the mircowave for that matter.
Jeep-girl: Yea, AU is sort of my thing. I really love those kinds of fics, and they really give you a lot of leeway as an author, and the ablity to really start working out your creavitivy into actual, understandable ideas. And gilmore girls fanfiction is so hard to translate into AU because of the show just isn't about oh, for example six friends living in New York City drinking coffee at Central Perk intstead of working, I had to figure out a way to translate the entire town but do my own thing. Hence the "What if Lorelai came eariler?" situation.
X-Identaty: Good point. I'll have to work that into her personality. I hadn't thought about that.
Also thanks to: Piper, Lukelaiandroryndean, AngelJunkie, Rose01, Muffin is Injured, Chaspter4, screaming truth, Ella, Chris313, and Hanselel.
If I forgot you, I'm really sorry! But thanks as well!
Luke watched her as she waddled through the town, unable to shake off the small smile that had formed on his lips. He had never met a girl like that before in his life. She was, without a doubt in his mind, a one of a kind.
"Good luck, crazy lady," he mumbled to her retreating figure, knowing that she couldn't hear him, "Good luck," he repeated himself as he turned and walked back towards his father's store.
He pushed open the door, hearing the familiar chime of the bell as he did so, and walked inside of the old store. It hadn't changed much over the years. And he liked it that way.
"Hey Dad!" He called, not sure exactly where his father might have disappeared to.
"Yea, I'm over here, Luke!" His father, William Danes, answered from a small corner next to the large picturesque window that donned the front of the hardware store.
Luke nodded, and wandered over to where his father was sitting, "So, what's up for today, Dad? Anyone need any repairs done or something?"
"Who was that girl you were talking to?"
"What?" Luke almost laughed at the question, "Are you spying on me now?"
"Seriously, Luke, who was that girl?"
"Lorelai," Luke said shortly, "She's new in town. Had a small meltdown in Taylor's place, I helped her out a little, so what? You're the one that's always preaching that 'do onto others' crap at me. I was just applying it."
"Then why were you outside talking to her? Did she forget her condoms?"
"Dad! What? God!" There were at least three words he never wanted to hear his father say. And that, my friends, was right smack dab in the middle of those words.
"Well, you were outside talking to her. If she had the meltdown in the store and you helped her in the store, why did you feel the need to go and talk to her outside of the store? You did your good deed, and that's that. I get Kirk over hear jabbering about how you're stealing his girl! What am I supposed to think?"
"That Kirk is an idiot," Luke said slowly. His father just gave him that look. That look when parents know there is more to the story, and will not rest until they've heard the entire thing. They will use shameless ploys to get you to reveal such prized information, including the 'your grounded' ploy, a favorite of his fathers (though hardly ever carried out), and the 'young man speech' ploy, which was a last resort of the monosyllable Danes men but has been used in desperate times.
"Lucas," he said slowly. The proper etiquette for alerting such child that their look is not just a dry threat. All he needed was a middle name, and it was equivalent to that of a triple dog dare, the most feared among all dares.
"Fine, you wanna play by play, here's the play by play. I went to the store after school to pick up my usual snacking supplies," he held up his plastic bag filled with food, "And as I was picking up such items, I over heard Taylor arguing with this girl, who I later found out to be Lorelai, about the lack of chunky peanut butter in Stars Hallow, when we all know that Taylor has a secret stash of the stuff in the back!
So, at first I was just gonna ignore it, come back for my stuff later maybe, cause lets face it, the girl could stand to eat regular peanut butter just like the rest of us, then as I walk up there, I see that she isn't just some girl, she's some pregnant girl, and you can't just go around denying stuff to pregnant women! They're crazy! That's like asking for a mass murder to happen! So, I just calmly told Taylor to give Lorelai her chunky peanut butter, and after a little argument he did, Kirk handed her some bananas, cause she wanted some of those too, don't ask, I don't know. And she left.
So, as I went to pay for my stuff, Kirk started talking all this stuff about if she had a boyfriend or something of that sort, and I told him he was crazy for thinking about hitting on a pregnant girl, and he just got mad. Well, this conversation lead me to look out the window where I saw her struggling with her peanut butter, because she had forgotten to buy a spoon, so I brought a spoon from Taylor, walked outside, and gave it to her. Then she asked me to sit with her, and going back to that whole not being rude, 'do onto others' mumbo-jumbo I sat down. Then we got to talking like any other normal people in the world might do if they were sitting next to someone they had seen and spoken briefly to!"
"So, you bought her a spoon."
"Yes! Weren't you listening! I just said that!"
His father just shook his head, and sighed in that sort of disappointed sigh that parents enjoy pulling on their children just to watch them squirm. "Luke, it's not that I don't like you helpin' people out. That's a very good thing, you're a lot like your mother in that aspect of your life, but I don't think that she's, y'know, good people to be around. A negative influence, or whatever."
"Have you ever spoken two words to the girl?"
"No, but,"
Luke held up his hand, "And did I say we were now best buds?"
"No, but,"
He held up his hand again, "Dad, look, I was just being nice to a girl who needed a little help, okay? That doesn't mean that I'm her new best friend, or that we are now going to be conjoined at the hip, but that also means that you can't just sit there and form opinions about a girl you haven't even met yet! God Dad! There are so many un-parenty things about that!"
"Un-parenty?" He raised an eyebrow at his son, barely stifling a laugh.
"Yea," he shrugged, "Blanked out on an adjective back there," he chuckled softly at his own stupidity.
William just shook his head, "Come on, Luke," he stood up from his chair, "Break time's up. Time to get back to work."
Luke just rolled his eyes, "Sure thing, dad." Sometimes it was best to leave things the way they were, and go with the change of conversation.
With a prideful march, she stepped inside the Independence Inn. Luke had been right, it was pretty darn hard not to see. And when she found her, she could feel her heart skip a beat: she was really doing it. She was really on her own. Making things for herself.
"Can I help you, miss?" A woman, maybe in her early to mid-forties approached Lorelai. "Do you need a room for tonight? We have a few openings."
Lorelai shook her head, "I'm looking for someone named Mia. I was told she was the person to go to."
The lady smiled, "You found her, or well, she found you!" She chuckled lightly, "So, what's up?"
"I need a job."
"Wow. That was blunt."
"No use dancing around the subject," she shrugged.
"I agree," she smiled back at Lorelai.
"Yes, so, the job?"
The older woman's smile faded slowly, "I don't know if there is anything I can do, sweetie. I'm sorry, but you have to understand."
Lorelai stood firm, just shaking her head slowly from side to side, "No, you don't understand. I need a job. And if I could work some sort of deal out for room and board, I promise I will be the hardest worker you have ever hired. Hell, I'm the most motivated!"
"I don't know if there is anything I can do," Mia said sadly, "I would love to help, just now's not a good time, sweetie." And with that, she looked back down at her paper work, and continued working, without even so much as a look up.
Lorelai sat there for a moment, trying to formulate the right words in the right sentences to make the woman understand. She couldn't go back. That was not an option.
"Listen, this is the only place I could think of that I could work out a way to have a place to stay. I can pay back every cent I owe for the room, that's no problem, if that's what your worried about, but I have no where else to go. I would just wait around for a little bit, I could scrape by, it's been done before, but now I've got someone else to worry about!" She pointed at her large stomach, "So that leaves me no choice!"
Mia looked back up from her paperwork, "I'm sorry, dear, I just think there is anything I can do for you. I wish I could help, really I do, but I don't think there is anything. And you seem like a nice enough girl, I'm sure your parents will help you out for a little bit, y'know, just until you find another job."
"No, no," Lorelai felt herself choking up again, "You don't understand. I can't go back."
"What? Why?"
"Because I made such a big deal about leaving that if I came back I would never hear the end of it! So add the hurt pride to the fact that I don't want my kid to go through the same hoop-la, yes I did say hoop-la, that I went through because I wasn't smart enough or on time enough or whatever enough to get a fucking job!"
Mia looked at the girl, for the first time in her life, speechless. "Well, then, I, umm," was all she could think to make out before the girl cut her off again.
"And I know your thinking, well if you were stupid enough to get knocked up at my age, you should live with the consequences, and you know what, that's exactly what I'm doing! I'm doing what I have to do in order to give this kid the world, and I'm doing it on my own terms! So, Mia, or whatever your name is, I ask you to reconsider before you just write me off. I don't care what I do. I could sing and dance for you, although I'd highly recommend for the good of all mankind that you don't, I'm still willing to publicly humiliate myself for this kid. Do you understand what the hell I'm trying to get across here?"
"Alright, I'll make you a deal. If I could hire you right now, I would, but not only are there no available spots, but you are pregnant."
"No!" Lorelai gasped in mock astonishment, "That would explain so much! The mood swings, the morning sickness, the stomach growth! And here I just thought this was God's little practical joke on me."
Mia cracked a small smile, "Dear, what is your name, I don't think I ever heard it,"
"Oh! Sorry, hi, I'm Lorelai, Lorelai Gilmore," she stuck out an awkward hand, and Mia shook it firmly for a moment.
"Lorelai, that's a pretty name," she commented, "Alright, Lorelai, I could give you a job as a maid, and you could live on property, but I can't have you working around the chemicals like that. It's bad for the baby, you know? That's what I was going for."
Lorelai nodded somberly, "Isn't there anything else I could do? Anything? You have horses? I'll clean up their crap, there's no chemicals in that, right? I'll take out those guests you don't like and pull a Mort and bury them underneath the corn, then go to the cops and lie and say 'oh what do you mean, officer, they never arrived here'! Then be all creepy and stuff and say 'the only thing that matters is the ending!' y'know?"
Mia's smile grew, "No, no, that won't be necessary," she smiled at Lorelai's antics, "But I do have a friend, he runs a hardware store just a few blocks up, and I'm sure I could convince him to take you in, he does owe me a couple of favors, y'know just until the baby comes, then, when your ready, you could come over here and work."
Lorelai smiled, "You'd do that?"
The older woman nodded, "I don't know what it's like to be in those shoes of yours, but I admire you for what you're doing."
"What's that?"
"Having a baby."
Lorelai shook her head, "It happens all the time. Hell, believe it or not, I was a baby once too, and was taken care of by a team of highly trained nurses, but still, it happened."
"But how old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"Wow. Sixteen?"
Lorelai nodded, "I screwed up pretty big, right?" She laughed hesitantly.
"Do you regret this?"
Lorelai stopped for a moment, it was maybe the second time in her life she was actually speechless. The first time had come roughly five months ago when she had first discovered that she was in fact pregnant. After a moment of thought, she looked back up at the older woman, smiling faintly, and said the one answer that she would have least expected: "No".
Mia smiled, "Then, dear, you haven't messed up. As long as you don't regret it, then you shouldn't dwell on it as a bad thing."
Lorelai nodded, "Is it possible to trade in parents? Cause if you where there instead of my mom when I told her I was pregnant, it would have made things a whole lot easier. On both parties really. I've recently perfected my Billy Idol look."
She smiled, "I think I'm going to like having you around here, missy," she mused, "So, what brings you to Stars Hallow of all places?"
Lorelai shrugged, "It was as far away as I could get on my budget."
Mia smiled, "Well, we're glad to have you. And just to warn you, you have officially selected the least sane town I think in the history of the universe."
"Ever crazier then Mayberry? Cause let me tell you, that town was one good out patient service that I have seen."
"You might be surprised. Have you met our Taylor Doose?"
"The grocery store guy?"
Mia nodded, "That'd be him."
"I might've," she smirked, "I also might've upset him a little over a very heated chunky peanut butter debate, even including I Love Lucy references."
"I bet he loved that."
Lorelai smiled brightly, "I think I'm gonna like it here," she concluded, "This plan's just cooky enough, it just might work."
Mia smiled back at Lorelai, after fifteen minutes and one conversation already beaming like a proud parent towards Lorelai's humorous antics.
"Hey, Mia," Lorelai asked softly.
"Yea?"
"Would it be too weird, if I, well, hugged you?"
Mia shook her head, "No, oh, come here," she grabbed the younger girl in her arms, well as much as Lorelai would fit inside of her arms, they didn't quite fit, but it was still the action that meant more then anything else.
"Thank-you, again, for everything. You don't even know me, and you're using up favors to help me out. And that might be the mood swing talking, but I still can't help but feel so grateful."
Mia rubbed Lorelai's back softly, "I was glad to help. Believe it or not, I was young once too. And I don't think I could have done what you're doing now."
Lorelai blushed softly, "Well I can't help it, it's in my nature to be stubborn and stupid. And that's a really bad combination."
Mia smiled back down at Lorelai, "So, let's get you to Will's place, huh?"
"Will, is that you're friend?"
She nodded, "He's a good guy. He'll be happy to help you out a little."
"But this isn't charity, I'll be working for him. Gotta sing for my dinner, remember?"
"You can work at his hardware store, probably just taking orders and sending his son out to do this and that."
"Ooh, I get to order people around? How great is that!"
She smiled, "And I want you to come and visit me. I don't want you to be a stranger around here!"
"I'll be sure too."
"Alright then, let's get you back into town," Mia looked down at Lorelai's feet, noticing the small blue suitcase, "Is that all you have?"
Lorelai nodded, as she bent down and picked it back up again, "It's not much, but it will do for now."
"What about when the baby comes?"
"I've been making this up as I go along. I figured I keep with that theme when my parenting skills came into play."
Mia smiled again, "Well if you need any help winging it, I'll be around."
Lorelai nodded and smiled, "Alright then, so how far are we going?" She started walking towards the door, Mia in tow.
"Just to the town square, it's not a far walk from here, but we can take my car if you want."
Lorelai shook her head, "No, no, I wanna walk."
Mia nodded, as she leaned forward and pulled open the door for both of them. "Shall we?" She asked playfully.
Lorelai looked out the door at the bright sun in front of them, her smile growing by the second. This was the first step of her new, independent life. She was finally free. And for all the times growing up that adults had told her that the real world was a scary place, and to not grow up too soon, she couldn't help but want to point at them and laugh at them.
The real world was absolutely wonderful.
"Yea, let's go."
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