Chapter Nine: The Not So Blissful Calls

"I don't know how much longer I can take it, Sookie," Lorelai moaned, rubbing her forehead before nursing a large mug of bitter black coffee. "Chris keeps calling, and it's driving me up the wall!"

Sookie sighed, and shook her head, rubbing her stomach, and giving Lorelai a rueful look, "Can't you just block his number or something?"

Lorelai shrugged, "I've tried, but somehow he keeps getting a hold of my number. I'm going to have to change them soon."

"Get a restraining order!"

"Sookie," Lorelai said, exasperatedly, "It's not like he's hiding in my bushes! He just keeps calling me…" biting her lip, she furrowed her brows, "I wonder if he's calling Rory."

"Call her and ask. I need to chop my onions. Oh, Fredric! No! You don't baste the lamb before you put it in the oven!"

---&---

"It's nine o' six on a Saturday morning! I'll kill you!"

"My, my, aren't we chipper this morning?"

"Mom?"

"No, it's God. I'm calling to inform you that coffee is out of supply, your toast is burnt, and you flunked school. Astalavista baby, it's community college for you here on out."

"Ugh."

"Rough night?"

"You could say that."

"How was exotic boy?"

"I don't remember."

"Ooh! Dirty! Tell mommy all about it."

"Mom—"

"I bet he was a screamer. I've always said exotic boys are screamers."

"Mom--!"

"Did he call you 'love'? Oh, oh! Did he tell you, 'you, baby, are the only one for me. I want to make sweet love to you on a beach'?"

"Mom!"

"Yes, fruit of my loins?"

"Tristan showed up."

"Ooh, bad move on ET's part."

"I made it as official as I could for him that I didn't want to be together anymore. He was upset, and I feel bad."

"Don't."

"But I do – I mean, I've known him for years, and I just don't feel like I can go back to hating him without feeling guilty…"

"Rory, he cheated on you. He broke you. I should sic Luke on him, for God's sakes! Rory, don't feel bad. He was a jackass, and he's not worthy of your pity. Hell, all of his family aren't worth your pity. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Ror."

"I know."

"It was horrible of him to do that to you, Ror."

"I know."

"So, on the note of why I was actually calling."

"Yes?"

"Has your father been calling you?"

Rory blinked, and rubbed her forehead, before letting out of a breath, "No, why?"

"He's been calling me a lot lately. I was just wondering if he'd been calling you too. You know, us Gilmore girls and our wiles – we're simply smashing and irresistible."

"He's been calling you?"

"Yeah, but – I mean, I'll just change the home phone number, and my cell."

"Has he said anything to why he's been calling you, lately?"

"No. Rory don---"

"No, he has no right to be calling you! Ugh, I'm so sick of him. He's an asshole. Don't talk to him mom, he's… Ugh."

"Rory, he's your father!"

"Hah! I don't need him, mom. You don't either. God, what an asshole – calling you and expecting you to want to talk to him!"

---&---

"I told you not to contact us," she snapped as soon as he opened his front door. She crossed her arms, and threw him a death glare, "You have no right to ever think we'd want to talk to you."

"Ror—"

"Don't even talk to me like nothings wrong. You're wrong. God, what is your problem? Are you honestly that thick to think she'd ever want to talk to you?"

"Don't speak to me like that! I'm your father!"

"Only by blood," Rory spat, shaking her head with disgust. "Stop calling mom. Don't go near her, don't even show up to any of the parties or galas you know we'll be at. You are no longer a part of our lives – get it through your thick skull. You were excommunicated from our family."

"Rory –"

"No, don't come near us." Turning around, she tightened her jacket around her, and walked back down the snow covered pathway that led to the driveway of her father's mansion. She bit her lip, and unlocked her car, before sliding inside and shutting the door with a snap behind her. "The nerve," she muttered to herself, starting her car, and spinning around the fountain, and heading back down the driveway and onto Hudson Ave.

Grabbing her cell phone off the passenger seat of her Range Rover, she scanned through her contact numbers, pressing down on one of them, before holding her phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Finn, it's Rory."

"Well, hello, kitten. What can I do for you?"

"Are you anywhere near Hartford?"

"I'm visiting my 'rents."

"Do you want to meet up for lunch?"

"Just name the place, love."

"Luigi's?"

"See you there in twenty."

---&---

Rubbing his hands over the sleeves of his jacket, he let out a breath of warm air and watched as the cool air already formulated around him, mixed with his breath of carbon dioxide. He smirked a bit, amused with New England's winter weather, before letting his eyes watch for a short, pretty brunette.

He smiled slightly, cracking his neck by rolling it to the side, before holding the door to Luigi's open for an elderly couple on their way inside.

"Finn!" Rory called, walking up to him from the side he hadn't been watching. "You look cold, why didn't you wait inside?"

"Didn't want you to think I wasn't here yet, kitten." He replied, wrapping an arm around her in a half hug as she led the way inside. "So, how was your morning?"

"Long, yours?"

"Eventful," he responded, "My mum believes I need to settle down with a girl who I believe could be the one."

Laughing slightly, Rory shot him a look, "My mother is forbidding me to find the one before she does. We're having a competition of some sort."

"Oh?"

"Yes, whoever can fall in love first will permanently get the first cup of coffee served at Luke's."

"Sounds fun," he smiled.

"Table for two?" The hostess asked, picking up two menus.

"Yes, two."

"Right this way, please. Watch your step."

Rory and Finn followed the hostess towards the back of the restaurant to a small, round table, adorned with a red and white checkered table cloth, and a real white carnation flow center piece. Pulling Rory's chair out for her, he waited for her to be seated, before taking his own seat.

"You know," he started, smiling at her from across the table, "It never ceases to amaze me how cozy this place makes me feel. Kind of reminds me of a bistro back home."

"In Australia?"

Finn laughed, "Yes, love, Australia."