"Rory?" No response.
"Rory?" Still nothing. Lorelai Gilmore frowned slightly and glanced back at her daughter's bedroom door. It was 11:30 in the morning and the damn door was still closed. Admittedly it was the bland season after Christmas which was just terrible, and Rory had been in a strange kind of funk lately, but for the life of her, Lorelai couldn't figure out why. And that worried her.
"RORY?!" Rory's door opened slightly, and the teen stood in the doorway looking slightly haggard but with no apparent physical damage done. She smiled wanly at her mother and raised her eyebrows in question.
"What's up, Mom?" She asked sleepily, yawning and stretching so that a sliver of her stomach was seen between her cow patterned pajama pants and matching top. With her hair up in a rumpled bun she looked about 12, and Lorelai's face softened at the thought. She went to Rory and hugged her tightly.
"I love you, Sweets," She murmured into her hair, and as she looked down she saw Rory blinking back tears. "I just wanted you to know." Rory took a step back and beamed at her mother, no trace of sadness in her face at all.
"I know, Mom! Where is all this melodrama coming from?" She sat at the table, and when she located a clean mug held it out exclaiming, "Coffee please!" Lorelai shrugged and gestured towards the door.
"I didn't make any. I have a meeting at the Inn with the Broughingsons at 12, and figured we'd just stop at Luke's on the way." Rory's face blanched for a momentarily, but the smile returned, and she beamed, although somewhat shakily.
"Sure. I mean great! Luke's is great. Fine. Good. Let me just get dressed and we'll go." Lorelai nodded and sat, frowning at Rory's odd behavior, but she didn't say a word, knowing that whatever it was would play out eventually, and then she and Rory would talk about it. A few moments later Rory emerged looking ethereally beautiful in brown cords and a multitonal sweater.
"You look great, babe." Lorelai said encouragingly and smiled as brightly as she could. Rory's face paled, her chin quivered, and for a moment Lorelai thought she would cry. Resolve flashed out through Rory's eyes however, and Lorelai grinned at her daughter, proud to see her inner strength shining through.
"Why thank you. I feel great." Rory replied somewhat belatedly, and linked arms with her mother as soon as she stood.
Luke's was crowed as always, but as always, Lorelai and Rory found a table immediately. Luke stopped by a few minutes later, coffee pot in hand.
"Two coffees, two plates of pineapple orange pancakes, with an order of hash fries on one side and a blueberry scone on the other?" Lorelai beamed as Luke recited their usual Saturday morning order, and Rory only nodded, her face losing some of its color as she glanced around the diner. Lorelai noted this as well, but didn't touch upon it, skimming over Rory's mood change with her usual amusing conversation. Jess suddenly entered the diner, and Rory's cheeks flamed. As he walked by their table his eyes never left her face. Hers remained averted, but as he passed, his arm lightly brushed her back and her breath caught.
"Mom?" She asked after moment, after she'd regained her breath. Lorelai nodded at her, smiling brightly, hoping that the look in her daughter's eyes would explain itself, would leave, so they could all get back to normal again. "I have to go." She mumbled, and sat up pushing her chair so far back that it tipped over and fell to the ground with a loud clack. Lorelai's smiled disappeared,
"But Rory! Your pancakes! The scones! You can't leave now!" Rory looked down at her with unseeing eyes and shrugged, a wisp of a smile crossing her lips,
"I'll be right back, Mom. I just… I have to talk to Lane." Rory nodded as she spoke the words, smiling more brightly with each nod. Lorelai pouted and batted her eyelashes, good naturedly, grinning underneath it all.
"But Rory, why can't you talk to me?" Rory laughed, her first real laugh of the day, and patted her mother's head patronizingly.
"I will talk to you. Right after I've talked to Lane." Lorelai pouted but winked and Rory leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Mom." Lorelai nodded waving her away as Luke arrived at the table with his steaming plates of food.
"That daughter of mine," Rory heard Lorelai say, "All she can do is yap yap yap." Rory laughed as she walked out, laughed until she turned the corner and found herself in the alleyway between Taylor's and Luke's, facing Jess, laughed even then at the incredulity of the situation.
"So, how do you feel?" He whispered when she was close enough, when she was only a hairsbreadth away. He cupped her face in his hands, and blinked, almost pinching himself, afraid that this moment, this sensation might not be real. Rory bit her lip, her eyes never leaving his, her hands on his forearms, not wanting to let go.
"How do I feel?" She asked, suddenly laughing scornfully, not sounding like Rory at all. "I feel lousy, and low and like cheap, low, cheap pond scum. I feel like the worst person in the world." She leaned upwards and kissed him softly. "But I feel…right." She kissed him again, even softer this time, her lips barely grazing his. She looked at him straight in the eye, but bit her lip and asked, "How do you feel?" Jess' mind reeled. He was with the girl of his dreams, and they weren't arguing. His whole body was tingling, and everything inside him was telling him this was right. He leaned down, it was a half inch-barely that, and kissed her.
"How do I feel, Gilmore?" He asked, his smile back in place. "I feel alive."