"I love you, mom!"
"Kid, you have no idea..."
They kept holding each other, neither was too eager to let go.
"I missed you so much, mom"
"Really?" Lorelai quipped "because I, for one, was relived to spend some time away from you..."
At that, Rory gave her mom a little punch near the shoulder, and stepped back. She felt as if she hasn't seen her in years. At last, she could finally give her a proper look. Looking at her daughter looking at her, Lorelai could not help but let her emotions take over her. She took her hands to her heart.
"I missed you too, kid".
Rory paused, as for the first time she finally got to really see her mother, an engaged woman, as a beautiful ring sat so comfortably on her left hand.
"What?" Lorelai asked, confused "do you... not like my hair?"
"Mom..."
The realization of how she missed what was probably the most exciting event in her mother's life since her own birth came swooping in.
Finally, she was here, and they could celebrate.
"You're marrying Luke" she said, with only half a smile. She missed so much.
"I'm marrying Luke" Lorelai said, as the world biggest smile spread on her face.
Rory couldn't help but smiling back. "You and Luke are getting married!"
"Luke and I are getting married!" Lorelai half shouted, and skipped a little in place.
This, was what she was waiting for.
Ever since the day she found out she was pregnant, all thoughts of a traditional wedding went flying out the window.
As a matter a fact, it has been years and years since her last date with Christopher until her next date, when Rory was finally old enough to understand the concept of dating, and she herself was old enough to go out not as a post-teen, but as a grown woman, and a single mother.
ever since then, whenever she envisioned herself getting married, Rory was always there, right by her side, sharing the joy as a new person comes into their life, and a wonderful new chapter of their story begins.
The last few months were hell. She knew, she had no doubt in her heart, that she found it, that Luke was the one. Not being able to share that with Rory, after all these years, after all they've been through, broke her heart.
Now, at last, she truly had it all. The whole package.
Her happiness was infectious. Rory had never seen her mom happy like that, and a light, warm, wonderful feeling came gushing from deep inside her.
"I'm so happy, mom. I am SO happy for you. The two of you."
"Now, I'm very happy for me too. Luke, you just have to feel a little sorry for him, but I'm defently happy for me"
"Well, he got my sympathies" she laughed, as she came in for another hug.
Still holding each other tightly, they took a small step back to be able to look at each other while talking.
"So, when's the BIG DAY?" Rory asked, excitedly. She wanted to be a part of this so badly.
"Well, uh... actually, there's no date yet. We've been working on other things though." Lorelai said quite hurriedly, not wanting to stir up the painful discussion right now.
"OH, that's right, you told me... the house..." and then, noticing for the first time "The house is BLUE!"
"That's right!" Lorelai started giggling, remembering how long it took to decide on a color, "Just wait till you see the inside!"
"And a dog! You got a dog! You still got a dog... don't you?"
Lorelai tried her best to put on an offended face, but couldn't. She was just too happy.
"YES, I still have a dog! I can't wait for you to meet him!" she took her by the hand and started walking towards the house.
", though, you might want to take off your watch first" she said, reaching the door.
"Why?" Rory asked, confused by the amused expression on her mother's face.
"Trust me" she said, as Rory took off her wrist watch and came into the house. Her house.
Rory looked around her. She has never before been so long outside this house, ever since they moved in.
She missed it, she missed it a lot, but now... it was not the same.
"Everything's different"
"Well, not everything..." Lorelai tried to ease her daughter in. it was a lot to take.
"The basic order of things is still pretty much the same... we're actually USING the fireplace... changed the position of some of the pictures and DU-DAs...
Basically, we just manned- up the place a bit. It's not just a girl's house anymore".
"I guess not" Rory said, still not sure how she felt about this." does Luke like... all of this?"
"What Luke likes..." Lorelai sighed, "You actually just caught the last chance to see what HE likes" she was leading her up the stairs, an evil grin on her face.
"This," she announced," is Luke's idea for a nice bedroom!" and she let them both in.
Rory examined the place. It was not exactly ugly... it was just... weird. Bad weird.
"Oh..." she said, "angels" she absent-mindedly pointed to the top of the bed, "nice".
"Riiiight" Lorelai sniggered. "And have you noticed the wonders of the magic mirror on the wall?"
Rory took a look and started laughing "exactly what every girl needs to let her know that she is the fairest of them all"
"Well, that's gone" Lorelai waved her hand as if swooshing the whole set away.
"The lamps are cute!" Rory tried, as Lorelai pushed her out the door- "you need to get out of here, fast, before the creepy furniture takes over you".
Walking back down the stairs, Rory decided to ask the question she was dreading "did you… do anything to my room?" she gulped slightly.
A somewhat bitter smile came to Lorelai's face. "Come see", she said, and led her down the familiar path.
She tried to open the door, but couldn't. It was locked.
"Paul Anka!" she yelled in frustration, mumbling "I still don't know how he does that…"
"Paul Anka?"
"The dog?"
"Oh. Of course. Carry on."
And she finally found the key and opened the door.
The first thing Rory saw was her Yale memorabilia. Then she noticed the countries posters all over the wall. It was the same. And it was hers. She was Rory, and she was standing in her room, in her house, with her mom, where she belongs.
Next, she noticed a shaggy white and grey dog lying in her bed, slowly but defiantly chewing a red ball.
"You caught it! Even after giving it a head start! Way to go Paul Anka!" Lorelai said encouragingly as she ruffled the fur on the dog's head.
Then, she stood up straight, put on her most official looking face, and said:
"Rory, this is Paul Anka. The dog, not the singer.
Paul Anka, this is Rory, and I'm afraid you'll have to share your room with her."
She smiled widely at her daughter, hoping to fall right back into their old banter, their old conversation patterns. But Rory did not seem amused. She looked troubled.
"What? You don't really have to share a room, he usually sleeps in the living room anyway."
"That's not it" Rory sighed deeply. "It's just… mom, I'm really, really sorry. I've been such a jerk to you and..." but Lorelai stopped her before she got a chance to finish.
"Not now"
"But I really need to apologize. I know I was wrong and I acted like a…"
"Rory! We have the rest of our lives for that." She smiled widely. In truth, the little Rory just said, was basically all she wanted to hear.
"But not tonight." She was determined. "Tonight, we celebrate!"
Rory smiled with relief. "Celebrate how?" she felt giddy.
"Well, we haven't had a movie night for a really long time… and Luke is still furious with me for all the old tapes I've been saving just so I could watch then with you… I'll even let you pick which ones. So- movie night?"
"Movie night" Rory agreed as for the first time in months she truly felt like herself.
"Ok then. So… I'll go and grab us the proper food for such an historic… movie night, and you, missy, can call Lane and tell her not to wait up and that you're moving out tomorrow…"
Rory felt as if her heart was about to burst.
"And maybe while you're gone, I could get to know my new roommate"
"Well, you do that. Just make sure to check the list on the fridge before."
"What list?"
"THIS list." Lorelai pointed to long sheet of paper magnetized to the fridge.
At least it was still the same fridge.
Rory took the list down and started to check it.
"Really? Words that begin with Q?"
Lorelai shrugged. "You learn that list, and I'll be back in a jiff".
"Say hi to Luke for me!" Rory knew exactly where her mom was going. "And put on a scarf and a coat! It's cold outside!" she was just too happy.
"Ok, mom!" Lorelai shouted from the other room, and poked her head through the kitchen doorway, coat and scarf already on.
"Rory?"
"Yes?"
"Welcome back".