Lorelai and Chris laughed and smiled the whole time they were in the truck.
"One day, I'm going to buy us a brand new car." Chris said.
"Aw, but Chris, this truck is as old as we are!" Lorelai joked.
"What do you say, Lore, a Cadillac?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, sure. As long as you're paying for it."
"Or would you rather have a Lincoln?"
"Since when did you become a town car man?" Lorelai asked.
"Oh, I can become anything." Chris replied with a devilish grin.
"Great!" Lorelai teased "You can start by becoming a man."
They both laughed, Lorelai a bit more than Chris. They pulled into the school parking lot just as Rory was coming out of the building.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Rory ran in to Lorelai's arms.
"Hey, sweetie!." Chris smiled. "How was your first day?"
"It was great! We said our ABC's and we counted all the way to 20! But I could count father than the other kids, I could count to 100." Rory smiled with pride. "And we had peanut butter cookies and milk!"
"Cookies and milk?" Chris asked. "I'm going back to kindergarten." he joked.
"Guess what, sweetheart." Lorelai said helping Rory get into the truck.
"What?" Rory asked sweetly.
"Mommy got a job today at the supermarket."
"Really?" Rory asked.
"And that's not all." Chris added. "We got a new house too."
Rory was so overwhelmed with feelings that she didn't know which ones to act on.
"This is the best day ever!" Rory shrieked with happiness.
"It sure is, sweetheart, it sure is." Chris replied.
A couple years passed. Lorelai maintained her job at the supermarket and had gotten to know everyone in town. Chris however, had 3 jobs in the last two years and been fired from them all. They had basically been living on Lorelia's salary. They were in debt to not one, but two banks, and still drove the beat up old truck. Whenever Chris didn't have a job he'd spend most of his time at the bar trying to win money in poker games, but he'd never come out ahead. Lorelai and Chris didn't talk much anymore, they had no reason to. Rory stayed indulged in her studies, and buried in her books. The only thing that they had kept up for the last two years was the rent, but that was due to Lorelai's hard work.
"I don't understand you, Chris." Joe said as they sat around the card table drinking.
"What's that?" Chris asked.
"You've been with that woman for 7 years."
"So?" Chris replied.
"So, you're 23 years old man... you should be out dating hot girls, and having a good time. Like me."
"You have good times, Joe?" Chris remarked.
"Every weekend. I work my 5 days a week, and then it's party time."
"I can't even get a job." Chris complained taking another drink of beer.
"Sure, it's hard to get a job when you're looking for one that will support a family. But when all you have to pay for is yourself, you can get by on a lot cheaper pay. Yep, I love my lifestyle. I don't plan on settling down for a long time. Ha, you've been settled down for years, Chris. You're an old man already" Joe snickered.
"It's different with me." Chris remarked.
"Oh really?" Joe asked raising his eye brows. "And how's that?"
"I have a daughter."
"So, if you didn't have a daughter you'd leave Lorelai?"
Chris jumped up from his seat, knocking over his beer. "I didn't say that!" Chris yelled.
"Whoa! Hey, now... calm down." Joe jumped back from Chris. "I didn't mean any trouble."
"You watch what you say about them!" Chris snarled.
"Come on Chris, sit down." Tom intruded. "Joe's just talking out his head again."
Chris sat down, but her never took his eyes off Joe. The men continued drinking and gambling.
Lorelai came home from work exhausted. She had to work extra hours, cause a girl had recently quit. "Hey, Rory. Where's your Dad?" Lorelai asked. concerned.
"I dunno." Rory replied, never taking her eyes off her Nancy Drew novel.
Lorelai looked all around the house and outside for Chris, but he was no where to be seen. "For the love of God, Chris, if you're at that bar..." Lorelai picked up the phone and quickly dialed a number.
"Hello?" An anonymous voice answered.
"Is there a Chris Hayden at your bar this evening?" Lorelai asked.
"Hold on." The voice replied. "Yeah, he's here. What you want?"
"I want to speak to him." Lorelai's anger was building with every second.
"He can't come to the phone right now. He's in a poker game." The voice answered.
"I don't care if he ..." 'CLICK!' the anonymous voice hung up the phone.
Lorelia slammed the phone down on the receiver. "So of a ..."
"Mommy...?" Rory walked into the living room.
"What sweetie?" Lorelai asked quickly wiping away a few tears.
"What's wrong?"
"Rory. Was Daddy here when you got off the bus from school today?" Lorelai asked.
"No." Rory replied.
"You've been here all evening by yourself?"
"Mmm hmm." Rory said, shaking her head.
A few hours passed and Chris came stumbling in drunk as he had ever been. He staggered through the living room and knocked over a lamp waking up Lorelai who had fallen asleep on the couch.
"Damn it!" Chris yelled.
Lorelai looked over at the clock is was 1:00 am. "Chris, I've had enough of this." Lorelia began.
"Lorelai, I don't want to hear it." Chris threw up his hand and walked off towards the kitchen.
"Well, you're going to hear it anyway! What on earth were you thinking leaving Rory by herself today? You knew I had to work over. You was supposed to watch her!"
Chris squinted his eyes and rubbed his face "Oh, man... I forgot." Chris sighed.
"You forgot?" ... Lorelai huffed. "You forgot about you daughter!" Lorelai shook her head. "You have no business at the bar anyway!"
"Lorelai, don't tell me what to do!"
"See, that's your problem Chris, you don' listen to anyone. You've not had a steady job in 2 years! You've been fired from all 3 of them. When you don't have a job you lay around the house all day watching tv, or you go to the bar and you drink and play poker." Lorelai pointed towards Rory's bedroom. "And today... today you left a seven year old girl home alone."
"Look, Lore, I forgot ... okay... I"
"No Chris! It's not okay! ... What you did is not okay! What you do every day is not okay! You promised me everything Chris... You promised me a new car, and you promised me you'd find a good paying job so I could quit mine. Well guess what... We're still driving that piece of crap truck outside, and I'm working extra hours at the market just to pay the rent and feed us! If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have anything!"
Chris grabbed a cup of coffee that was sitting on the table and threw it down on the floor smashing it into several pieces.
"Great, that's two things you've broke tonight." Lorelia remarked.
"You're just so great, huh Lorelai? I suppose a man just can't be good enough for you can he?" Chris grabbed another cup and threw it to the floor.
"Chris!" Lorelai yelled, "Stop breaking my cups!"
"Your cups?... Your cups?..." Chris exhaled deeply. "Your house... Your job... your money... It's all about you!"
Chris grabbed a glass off the bar and threw it to the floor. It shattered into thousands of pieces.
"You're not proving anything by breaking dishes, Chris, other than just how worthless you really are." Lorelai shook her head. "I"m not putting up with this." she turned and left the kitchen.
Chris jumped after her "Where are you going?" he demanded.
"I'm leaving." Lorelai answered.
Chris grabbed her by the arm "No, you're not!"
"Daddy stop!" Rory cried from the top of her little lungs.
Chris looked up and saw Rory standing in the hallway.
"Go back to bed Rory!" Chris snapped.
"Let her go!" Rory yelled.
"It's okay sweetie." Lorelai comforted her. "Mommy's fine. See." Lorelai smiled. It was the most fake smile Lorelai had ever gave. "Go on back to bed, okay. I'll be in, in a minute to check on you."
Rory may have only been seven, but she was much to bright to be fooled by the kind words. She had been listening to every word of their conversation since the breaking of the lamp.
"Rory, go to bed!" Chris yelled. "He released Lorelai, and Rory went running towards her, but Chris stepped between them and picked Rory up.
"NO! Put me down!" Rory cried. "Put me down!"
"I'm your father, Rory, you do what I say!" Chris yelled back.
"Chris! Put her down!" Lorelai screamed.
Chris took Rory back to her bedroom and threw her down on her bed. "If you come back out of this room," Chris pointed his finger at Rory "I'll give you a good one... You hear me?" Chris asked.
Rory shook her head yes. Lorelai came running in behind Chris. "Christopher! Get away from her."
Chris raised his hand and turned around preparing to smack Lorelai instead he came face to face with the barrel of 20 gauge. He stood frozen, his eyes focused solemnly on her's.
"Get away from her." Lorelia said again.
"Lorelai, you don't want to hurt anyone." Chris forewarned.
Lorelai pulled the trigger back on the shot gun. Chris raised his hands in the air.
"Rory, come here." Lorelai spoke.
Rory slowly and quietly walked across the room, staying as far away from her father as she could. Once she reached her mother, she stood behind her in the door way facing her father.
"I'm shutting this door, Chris." Lorelai began "And Rory and I are leaving... So help me god, if you come out of this room, I'll blow your brains out... Now, do you hear me?"
"Baby, don't do this..."
Lorelai shut the door and slowly backed away from it. She kept the gun aimed towards the hallway incase Chris came after them.
"Rory, get the keys to the truck off the kitchen table." Lorelai said continuing to hold the gun up.
Rory, who hadn't stopped crying, did as she was told.
"Now, go and get in the truck. Lock the door. And wait for me to come out, okay?"
"O... kay..." Rory sniffled.
Rory walked out the door, and got into the truck. Lorelai continued to back out of the house, until she got outside. She quickly ran to the truck jumped in and turned the key.
"Where are we going?" Rory asked, terrified.
"I don't know sweetie..." Lorelai answered pulling Rory closer to her. "Did he hurt you?" She asked.
Rory pulled up her sleeve to reveal a bruise on her arm. Lorelai had one to match it on her's. Rory cuddled up to the side of her mother, and cried silently, as Lorelai drove them away from the house.