A Different Perspective

13 year old Rory Gilmore-Hayden woke to the sound of her 11 year brother pounding down the hall. This was not an unusual occurrence for the Hayden household at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. Her dad was always saying that Rory was like her mom in the fact that every morning she would subsequently toss something at the door as her brother ran down the hall. Rory smiled as she looked over at her bedside table at the picture of her mom and dad. The picture had been taken a month after little Chris had been born. Her mom and dad looked so happy together. They had been at the park in Hartford that afternoon and there were four smiling faces in the picture. They were on the swing-set, Chris holding his new son and two year old Rory on her mom's lap.

Rory didn't remember the actual outing. Her last memory of her whole family together was at Chris' 3rd birthday party. She heard her parents' in the hallway after her dad had tucked her and her brother in for the night. Chris and Lorelai had been arguing. Not an uncommon occurrence in their house at that time. They had been arguing a lot over the past year. Rory clearly remembered hearing her mom crying hysterically and her dad yelling.

Flashback

Chris: "Lor, how could you do this to the kids! What am I supposed to tell them? You promised not to drink in the house like that!

Lorelai: "Chris...(something mumbled)...so sorry...please...no...but..."

End Flashback.

Rory never heard the rest of the dialogue. Lorelai had stumbled into her room and planted a kiss on her forehead as Rory lay in her bed pretending to sleep. She remembered every muscle in her body tensing as her mom whispered "I love you". She remembered the smell of the beer still lingering on her breath, even though the party had ended hours ago. Then the door to her room closed and her parents were talking in hushed, angry tones.

She had awoken the next morning to her brother's cries from the crib and had remembered her dad frantically trying to change the baby and gathering Rory's school clothes all at the same time. The next month or so had been pretty chaotic as her dad got used to being a single father. Rory hadn't seen her mom since. Her dreams started to fill with stories of why Lorelai had left. Her favorite story was that she was a top secret reporter who couldn't come home until this really important story was finished. That lasted for a couple of years before Rory started to wonder if she would ever see her mom again. She started to believe that she must have done something really bad to make her mom leave. However, the thought was still in her head that her mom would return to her someday. Rory had been planning what she was going to tell her mom when she could finally see her again. She still couldn't understand how she could have possibly left their little family. She had taken to working really hard in school and making sure to help as much as possible around the house just so that her mom would see that she wasn't a burden anymore.

As Rory continued to gaze at the picture of her family she remembered that she was officially a teenager today. She had been looking forward to this day for months and now that it had finally arrived she felt surprisingly sad. She truly wished she could just see her mom today. It suddenly hit her very hard that she wasn't here and she started to break down in heavy sobs.

Christopher Hayden poked his head into his daughter's room.

Chris: "Hey there sleepyhead. It's 7:15. You'll be late for school."

Rory: "I'll be up soon, Dad," subsequently turning over to face the window, away from the door where her dad stood, trying to hide her sobs.

Chris: (walking over and sitting on the edge of Rory's bed): "Happy Birthday sweetheart...there's a big breakfast complete with blueberry pancakes, sausage and bacon and freshly squeezed orange juice just waiting for you."

Rory turned over slightly. "Thanks," she mumbled softly, unable to hide her feelings any longer.

Chris: "What's wrong sweetie?"

Rory: "Nothing Dad... I swear..."

Chris: "Ror...(Chris hesitated) Does this have anything to do with your mom?"

Rory felt hot tears start streaming down her face. "I miss her." She sobbed into her dad's shoulder.

Chris: "I know, sweetie, I know... I do too..."

Rory: "You don't think...um..nevermind, it's a crazy thought."

Chris: "Ror, why don't you get showered and dressed and come downstairs and eat your special breakfast. It's the only way to start your big day." Chris tried to sound bright and cheery for his depressed daughter, but he had a feeling he didn't come across very convincing.

As Chris was closing the door to his daughter's room he heard the phone ringing. Racing downstairs, just in time to intercept his son's sugary breakfast choice and replacing it with the plate of eggs that was already prepared on the counter, Chris grabbed the portable phone and answered in a hurried tone.

Chris: "'Lo," his voice sounded rushed and crazed. He had been awake since 5 that morning. But, it was the voice on the other end he didn't expect that made him freeze in place.

Lorelai: "Chris?"

Chris moved into the next room so as to not have this conversation in the hearing vicinity of his son.

Chris: "Lorelai?"

Lorelai: "It's me...um, you sound well..." Lorelai wanted to ask how the kids were but her voice started to crack at the very sound of Chris' voice.

Chris: "Lorelai, why are you calling?" Chris was starting to sound agitated. He hadn't heard from Lorelai in eight years, which was their last big fight in which Chris told Lorelai to go away and not to come back. He had just discovered her stash of alcohol hidden away after having had to keep her away from the kids after Lorelai drank way too much at their three year old son's party and started to get, well, disruptive.

Chris: "Lorelai, if you are trying to come home..."

Lorelai: "Chris, wait, before you start, let me talk... I'm calling to try and talk, just talk. It's Rory's thirteenth birthday today. I didn't forget. I would love to talk to her ... (pause) or see her. Do you think there is any way I can see her? Chris, I'm sober. I've been sober for 7 years now. I'm a completely different person. And, I would really like to start over...if it isn't too late...I mean, we are still married and well there is something we really need to talk about."

Chris: "I don't know about that Lor. You have no idea how long we've been waiting for this, but, well, we'll just have to see. Are you in Hartford? Last I heard you were living in Boston."

Lorelai: "I left Boston last year. How did you know that I was in Boston, anyway? "

Chris: "Your parents. They have been giving me an update on your whereabouts whenever they heard from you. Last they knew was that you were living somewhere in Boston."

Lorelai: "Oh, of course. So, um, you and the kids..you still have contact with Richard and Emily, huh?"

Chris: "They are still our children's grandparents. And, they have been a huge help to us since you left us." Chris knew his voice was sounding angrier and angrier by the moment. Lorelai had always had that effect on him. He still loved her so much and yet at the same time he felt so angry at her for her decisions to continue drinking so heavily. But she had said she was sober and had been for 7 years. Then why hadn't she returned to them sooner? She had missed so much.

Lorelai: "Chris, are you still there? Could I come for a visit today?"

Chris: (shaking himself out of his reverie) "Um, sure. Where are you living now, anyway?"

Lorelai: "A little town about thirty minutes outside of Hartford. Stars Hollow. It's tiny. If you blink while driving down the interstate you'll miss it."

Chris: "You have been living so close for nearly a year and this is the first time you have contacted us? "

Lorelai: "Chris, I know I have made so many mistakes. But I am still a mother. And, I'd really like to see my, I mean, our kids again..."

Chris (hesitating): "One condition. This is just a visit. The kids are set in their routines. I'd hate to disrupt everything for them so fast. After you visit then we can see if you can come back." Chris wasn't sure about this at all.

Lorelai: "Okay."

Chris: "And, you should come by early today, before the kids are out of school. I think we need to do some talking first."

Lorelai: "That's fine. There is so much we need to discuss."

Chris: "How about noon today? Can you be here for lunch?"

Lorelai: "Noon it is."

Chris: "Good. It's the same house. Do you remember the way?"

Lorelai: "Of course I do," she said, smiling now...it's a start...and a start is something.

Chris: "Good, see you at 12 then."

Lorelai: "See you at 12."

Hanging up the phone, Chris walked back into the room where his son was diligently eating the forbidden sugary cereal that had been taken from him just moments earlier.

Chris: "Christopher? What did I tell you about that cereal?"

Little Chris: "Um, Cocoa Puffs before Fruit Loops? Or is it the other way around?"

Chris couldn't help but stifle a little laugh. He was more his mother's son these days. If only he knew..."

Chris: "Son, put the cocoa puffs away and you can have a bowl for your snack this afternoon. Eat your eggs now."

Little Chris: "Aw Dad..."

Chris: "Son..."

Little Chris: "Okay, but why doesn't Rory have to eat eggs?"

Chris: "Today is her birthday. You know that pancakes are the special birthday treat."

Rory entered the kitchen and plopped into her seat, book in hand, and started to eat her pancakes very slowly.

Chris got the kids off to the school bus and started cleaning up the breakfast dishes before getting down to his own work. He had been working at home now for about 6 years and it was very possibly the best situation he had found for raising the kids at the same time.

At 11:45 Chris looked at his watch. He expected a phone call detailing how and why Lorelai was going to be late or not show at any moment. Instead, just then, he heard the doorbell ring.

Chris opened the door and found the once object of his affection, Lorelai Gilmore-Hayden, standing on his front porch.

Chris: "Lorelai...you look ... great." And she did, too. Sobriety obviously agreed with her. Well, she always was agreeable when she wasn't drinking. It was the drinking times that Chris remembered with a heavy heart.

Lorelai: "You do too...so...how have you been?"

Chris: "Good, good...um...come in...it's cold out."

Lorelai: "Thanks," as she entered the door that Chris held open for her.

Chris: (getting to the point bluntly and quickly) "So what are you here for? I mean, why after all this time are you here?"

Lorelai: "Chris, I know how much I must have hurt you. I don't expect you to forgive me right away or anything. I have a lot to prove to you...and to the kids... Please give me this second chance. I promise that things can and will be different."

Chris: "Lor...I gave you lots of chances years ago...you never took any of them..or you just got drunk. What am I supposed to say now?"

Lorelai: "Chris, I told you how I have been sober for 7 years now on the phone. Well, what I didn't tell you is that for these past 7 years I have been going to AA meetings. And, well, I've been praying a lot and recently been finding myself thinking a lot about you and the kids. I really want this chance. Please - if I mess up at all, I promise to leave and never return. Chris, these are my kids too. I have never stopped loving them...and well...there are new changes in my life too."

Chris: "This is going to take some time, Lor. I don't know how receptive the kids will be to this. I mean, you can't just come here after being away for almost ten years and expect everything to be like a Thomas Kinkade painting.

Lorelai: "I know. And, I am willing to take that chance. I want this, Chris. I have already missed so much. I don't want to miss anything more."

Chris: "Okay, so what new changes are going on anyway? You implied something about new changes?"

Lorelai: "Well, I might as well get this out of the way first. I've met someone. I didn't think it would be anything. I mean, after all, I always thought I would come back here when I got my life straightened out. But everything seems to be changing...and so fast..."

Chris just sat on the couch in utter astonishment. Fear overtook him as he thought more deeply of the other reasons Lorelai was there that day. Was she going to try and take his kids away from him? This scenario is on the news and in the tabloids all the time. The mother returning to collect her kids after years of abandonment and neglect with a sob story about how her life had turned completely around. Chris couldn't bear the thought of losing the kids. He also felt his heart fall to the floor as he heard his estranged wife say she had met someone. He had always felt that they would reconcile. That is why he never pushed the divorce through. Some people had recommended it, but Chris could never get himself to go through with it. And, now, here she was, telling him that she wanted a divorce and the kids. Could things get any worse?

At Rory's School

Rory shut the locker door closed only to come face to face with a familiar face. Tristan DuGrey stood there, looking so cute in his private school uniform. Rory wasn't sure whether to smile or not. She had been harboring a secret crush on him for the past year now but whenever he got too close her mouth would go dry and she couldn't find any words.

Tristan: "Happy Birthday, Mary," he said with a smirk.

Rory: "um..thanks...uh, how did you know it was my birthday?"she verbally stumbled over the words at they tumbled out of her mouth. She hated that nickname.

Tristan: "I got your grandparent's invitation. Friday. 7pm. 'Come join us in celebration of the birth of Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Hayden'," he started reading directly off of the invitation that was held out in front of him.

Rory: "Who else got these?" Rory asked, astounded. Her birthdays were never fancy parties. Her dad had seen to that years ago. She wondered if it was the Gilmore's or the Hayden's this time. Or, worse yet, was it both?

Tristan: "Well, everyone I have spoken to has gotten one. It should be quite the party, Mary. Can't wait to see you there." And with that Tristan DuGrey sauntered away.

Rory started down the hall to her next class, appalled at the turn her day was taking.

Paris: "Watch out Gilmore."

Rory had just walked directly into Paris Geller on her way into the classroom.

Rory: "Oh, sorry." Rory sidestepped Paris and made her way to her seat. The day was definitely getting worse.

Later that day, after school...

Rory: "Dad!" Rory called out as she came through the front door, dropping her backpack in the foyer.

Rory stopped in her tracks. In the living room, talking with Dad, was a beautiful woman, who looked just like her, from the curly brown hair down her back to the bright blue eyes...

Lorelai just gazed at the brunette girl that had just walked into the room. She was beautiful. She started to get up to walk over to her daughter, but Rory walked quickly to her Dad, hugged him, and went upstairs to her room without saying a word to her estranged mother.

Lorelai just stood there, midway to the front door, frozen in spot. She never dreamed it would be this hard.

Chris walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry. She just needs time."

Just then, little Chris walked in the door, always tailing way behind his big sister. Chris had the feeling that Rory had something to do with how far behind her brother always walked.

Little Chris stopped in his tracks at the sight of the strange woman standing in the middle of his living room.

Little Chris: "Hi. Who are you?"

Lorelai: "Oh my..." Lorelai gasped at the sight of her youngest son and suddenly felt a wave of regret wash over her as she thought of all those growing up years she had missed. Also, the fact that he didn't even remember her. How could he have remembered? He was so young.

Christopher came to Lorelai's rescue.

Chris: "Son, this is your mom..."

Chris barely had those words out of his mouth before his son had raced over to Lorelai and had his arms wrapped around her in a huge hug. Lorelai felt knocked slightly off balance as she responded to her son's embrace.

Little Chris: "Mom? Is it really you? Are you home to stay now? I knew you would come back. Rory didn't believe me but I knew. I just knew."

Lorelai: (trying to hold back tears, just held onto the son she still remembered as a baby): "I'm here...I'm here..."

Should I continue this one?