Title: Thirty-Two Short Films About Lorelai Gilmore

Author: Allotrope

Disclaimer: If I were Amy Sherman-Palladino, I'd have a better CD collection and look good in hats. But I'm not and I don't, and these characters are obviously not mine.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who's read and/or reviewed.

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Chapter Two

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"Tell me a story," Rory says, bouncing with anticipation and probably a little Triaminic buzz. She's been miserable for three days, less from the strep throat -- rainbow sherbet has remarkable curative powers -- than missing kindergarten. But she's finally feeling better, just in time for bed, and Lorelai knows which tale she's after.

"Would you like to hear about...the pri-i-i-incess?" she drawls, feigning innocence. At this, Rory squeaks, but her mother presses on. "Or perhaps I could do an interpretive dance about the Dow Jones average?" Lorelai flails her arms for dramatic effect: "It's up! It's down! It's boring! Woooo!"

Her audience giggles. "There was a princess, Mom."

"Right. A beautiful princess named Victoria, heiress to the kingdom of Lacoste."

"She had nice hair," Rory says very seriously.

"She had lovely hair, dark and shiny and perfectly straight or perfectly curly, depending on the royal preference. Sometimes crimped, but even princesses can overdo that one. Anyway, Victoria lived with her parents--"

"The king and the queen."

"In a castle with stone walls as thick as the princess was tall, and a lot of things she was not allowed to touch. The king busied himself rearranging the piles of royal gold, and the queen oversaw the gardens and the foot servants and bought the princess dresses made by the Marquis of Neiman."

"But the princess hated dresses," Rory says, furrowing her brow.

"The queen didn't, and that was the problem. The princess wanted to wear jeans and listen to very loud music and visit neighboring lands, because the castle was lonely. And then one day, in the castle garden, Victoria saw a tiny basket hidden in the daisies. And in the tiny basket was an even tinier baby, a fairy baby with delicate wings and cheeks the color of rosebuds. When the princess picked her up, she smiled."

"And the princess knew."

"She would take the baby. They would leave the castle and see neighboring lands and listen to loud music and wear jeans whenever they wanted to. They would never be lonely. They left that night, and soon found a castle of their own -- which while much smaller than their old castle, took less time to clean."

"They lived happily ever after," Rory whispers, burrowing under her covers. "Right, Mom?"

"Right, my genius child. Sleep tight."

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