1A
Secret Never Told.
Twenty one year old Lorelai, just put her five
year old daughter Rory to sleep. They lived in a little shack next to
the Independence Inn, where Lorelai worked. It was home to them for
four years. Just the two of them, for now.
Lorelai
smiled as she saw her daughter playing with her dolls. Just then the
phone rang, they normally didn't get many phone calls, mostly Emily
trying to get them to visit.
"Hello?" answered
Lorelai.
"Ms. Gilmore?" asked a man.
"Uh..yes?"
"Do
you know a Tessa Smith?"
"Oh my God yes, we were best
friends in high school!" explained Lorelai.
"Well, I'm
sorry, Tessa died in a car accident with her boyfriend last night."
Lorelai's smile dropped. Her stomach did all sorts of dance moves.
"Oh no!"
"She had a three month year old child,
which she left..with you."
"What?"
"Lauren
Beverley."
"How? We haven't talked since high
school."
"She left her with you, and the will states 'if
my husband or I dies..' she was set to marry in June.. 'then
Lorelai Gilmore is to get Lauren, but if we die before Lauren is a
year old, Lorelai is to not tell Lauren about us, and raise her as
her own.'..so..you may pick up Lauren tomorrow at Hertford
Hospital."
"Huh?"
"Tomorrow."
"Uh..yeah
okay."
Eleven Years later.
Lauren Gilmore watched her mother drive her sister to her first day at Chilton. Rory was so nervous. Lauren was nervous for her, but all nerves exited when she saw what her mother was wearing. That's all Lauren thought about all day. 'Rodeo outfit' laughed Lauren as she took a test in her fifth grade home room.
Two
nights later Lauren was walking with her mother, sister and Lane down
the street. Lane had to go so it was just the Gilmore women.
"Hey
what do you think of Luke?" asked Lorelai randomly.
"What
do you mean?" asked Rory.
"I mean, do you think he's
cute?"
"Oh, no. No way."
"No way
what?"
"You cannot date Luke.""You wanna date
Luke?" asked Lauren.
"I said nothing about dating
Luke.""If you date him, you'll break up, and we'll never be
able to eat there again."
"I repeat, i said nothing
about dating Luke."
The girls walked back to there house.
Lauren turned and looked into the diner at Luke wiping down the
counter. 'Hmm. Mom and
Luke. Interesting.'
When they got home Lauren went straight to bed
and Lorelai turned on the Tv. Rory went into her room and worked on
Chilton stuff.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lauren
and her mother talked about what they were gonna do all night. Rory
was snowed in at there grandparents house and they were left bored.
"Hey! Rory may think of good things to do, but so can we!"
said Lorelai.
"Yeah!"
"Lets go do
something!"
"Yeah!" Lorelai and Lauren set out for
the snowy streets of Stars Hollow. Lauren knew how much her mother
loved the snow. It was her favorite time of year. Lauren was fond of
it, but hated the feeling of being cold all the time, and wet. They
walked up the street. They ran into Luke and started talking to him
about traditions and the reenactment. Lorelai told them the 'magic
snow' story Lauren heard one to many times. They continued walking
and Lauren saw Lorelai freeze in her spot. She had a goofy smile on
her face.
"Mom?"
"I smell snow."
"What?"
"Well,
well, well." Lauren heard a man say to her mother. Lauren looked
at him with a odd look.
"What's up, Teach?" Lorelai
asked.
"What are you doing here?" asked the man.
"I
live here. What are you doing here?"
"I was on my was
back from Stamford, and my car decided to stop."
"Here?"
"Yes."
"In
my town?"
"Emhm." Lauren cleared her throat.
"I
mean our town."
"And who might this be?" asked the
man.
"This is my other daughter Lauren."
"Your
other daughter?"
"Yes. Lauren this is Max."
"Oh,
so your Max Medina."
"Yes, i am."
Lauren looked
back from one adult to the other.
"Well, I'm gonna get home.
I'm tired and cold. Bye mommy.""Bye sweetie." Lorelai
kissed her daughter cheek and watched her run off.
"Another
daughter?" asked Max."Uh, yeah.""Sorry you never
mentioned.""Well, i do.""I see. And how old is
she?"
"Eleven."
The two adults walked and went
to see a movie. When they got home Lorelai made sure Lauren was
asleep and started kissing Max. They moved toward the stairs when Max
stopped.
"You have two kids?"
"Yes?"
"Who's
that?" Lorelai turned around and saw Lane looking at them and
ran back into Rory's room. Lorelai went to see what was the matter
while Max waited. Lauren came down the stairs and stopped when she
saw Max sitting on the couch.
"Oh..hi." said
Lauren.
"Hi..your mother..and..this girl.."
"Huh?"
"We
didn't properly get acquainted."
"I'm Lauren."
"I
know this.."
"So we did properly get acquainted."
"I
guess we did." Lauren nodded and went into the kitchen, and came
back out in five minutes with a box of pills. Max looked at her
oddly.
"Its Advil. Chill" said the girl as she climbed
up the stairs. Lorelai appeared in seconds.
"Your other
daughter, lovely girl."
"She is, she know's i like you,
and when ever i liked someone..she would try not to get along with
them."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, she would..be rude,
obnoctious, sarcastic, even sometimes really mean. I don't know
why..i think she might be scared."
"Really."
"Yeah."
Lorelai
talked with Max for a long time and let him sleep on the couch. In
the morning Lorelai was woken up by a car door slam. Rory was home
and she was gonna walk in with Max on the couch. Lorelai raced down
the stairs.
"Hi." greeted Lorelai.
"Hi. What's
up?" asked Rory.
"Nothing, what's up with you?"
"You
have something to tell me."
"Boy, your so smart. Right,
okay, here we go...I've got a boy in the house.""You
what?"asked Rory surprised.
"Nothing happened, I swear.
He slept the whole night on the couch."
"I would hope
so, with your eleven year old daughter in the house."
"Right..you
know him."
"I do." Rory followed her mother
inside."Its Mr. Medina."
"I know.""My
English teacher is on my couch."
"Hey whats up?"
asked Lauren coming down the stairs. "What's he still doing
here?"
"He..is
Mr. Medina..Max..Mr...i don't know..but he couldn't go home last
night because of the snow."
Lauren shook her head and went
into the kitchen. Rory followed.
"You guys okay?"
"There
has never been a man in our house in the morning." said
Rory.
"You broke the code." said Lauren.
"I
know..but..you knew i was gonna date him.."
"I didn't"
said Lauren.
"I was gonna tell you."
"Yeah,
okay.."
"Do you love him?" asked Rory.
"I,
uh. . .we had one date. It was a great date, World Series level. But
it was just a date. Honey, I promised myself a long time ago that I
was gonna keep all this stuff separate from you guys, and I want you
to know that, that still stands, okay? This was a one-time thing. I'm
not gonna start just bringing guys home. This is not a trend."
"Okay.
And you can bring guys home..i don't care..i don't know about Laur,
though." said Rory. They looked at Lauren who shrugged and said
whatever.
The
two went on a lot of more dates and seemed to be getting pretty
serious, they broke up for a while but got together again to Lauren's
disgust. One night when Lorelai was getting ready for a date with
Max, Luke came over. Lauren listened to there convocation from the
top of the stairs.
"So Rachel left." said
Luke.
"What!"
"Last night. She left for
good."
"Oh no Luke I'm so sorry."
"She had
her reasons."
"Really? What?" Lauren heard Max open
the door and come in.
"I'll always be hear." she heard
Luke say and nodded in agreement. When Luke left Lorelai and Max
started arguing.
"It's not like i didn't date while we were
apart." Max said.
"You
dated?"
"A little."
"A little person?"
"No,
i dated a little." Lauren shook her head.'The
nerve.'
"...and
uh you know i didn't exactly remain inactive."
'Huh?'
"So
you did date Luke?"
"No, i did not date Luke."'Who
did my mother date?'
"...i
slept with Rory's dad." 'SAY
WHAT NOW!' Lauren
stood up. She was about to run to her room when she heard something
she wish she didn't.
"We should get married.""What?"
whispered Lauren. She watched the two people talk more and leave for
there date.
"MARRIED!" yelled Lauren to the empty
house. "OVER MY DEAD BODY."
Lauren
remembered Lorelai being very happy the next day. She was all smiling
and jumpy.
'Stupid
Max' thought Lauren.
Max and her mother were getting married. Lorelai told him yes while
they were at her grandparents house and Lorelai and Rory jumped while
Lauren smiled and said 'woo!'
One
night Lauren walked into the diner.
"Hey Luke." said
Lauren as she sat on a stool.
"Hey. Alone tonight?"
"My
mother is at her bachelorette party. She snuck Rory in. It was gonna
be too hard to pretend i was eighteen."
"Oh sure."
said Luke as he filled the coffee machine.
"Sure i felt left
out, but i can suck it up." Luke smiled. "Hey
Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Can i tell you
something?"
"Sure."
"Promise you wont tell
mom? Or Rory?" Luke turned around. He got worried.
"Sure
what is it?" Lauren looked down.
"I don't want mom to
get married."
'That
makes two of us' "why?"
"Rory
may not mind but in a few years I'm gonna go to Chilton. I don't
wanna have my step father as my teacher. And i don't like him
Luke...he..him and Rory have so much stuff to talk about, and i have
nothing. I don't want him as a step father." a tear fell down
her cheek. Luke felt bad for her. "From the first time i met
him, i knew i didn't like him. Stupid snow. I left them and find him
in my house in the morning. He thought i was a druggie."
"What?"
"I
went to get Advil and he looked at me weird as i walked up to my room
with the box of pills. Did he really think i would over dose on
Advil..i mean Tylenol maybe." smiled Lauren. Luke poured Lauren
a cup of coffee.
"And he's gonna live with us, be with us
every morning, be there when i go to sleep and wake up..i don't like
it!..no one asked me if i was okay with this. If i was okay with
having him as a father, i mean i never met my real father, and i have
to have him as a fill in...and that's another thing..Rory gets too
see her father, why can't i see mine." Luke grew nervous. But
realized that she wasn't asking him the question. Lauren ranted for
another fifteen minutes and went home. Luke felt bad, Lauren really
didn't like Max. Neither did Luke.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lauren
was sitting in the living room watching Tv, when Lorelai came running
in the door.
"Pack everything!" yelled Lorelai to
Lauren."What?""Road trip!""Wedding?"
Lorelai shook her head and ran into Rory's room. Lauren smiled and
ran up to pack.
When they re turned from there road trip Lorelai was upset. She missed Max, everyone could tell. Lauren felt bad in a way. Everything was planned. Everything was ready, but Lorelai ran away from it. Rory was upset. Sookie and Emily were too. The only two who seemed not upset were Lauren and Luke. They were the only one's ..happy.
"Dinner?"
asked Lauren as she came home from school.
"Yes, Luke's
nephew just moved here and Sookie is cooking and we get to meet
him."
"Goody."
"Go clean up."
"Yes."
Lauren walked upstairs. She changed into a new outfit Sookie got her
for her birthday, which was two weeks ago. When she walked back down
she saw Luke and someone who appeared to be Jess. He was hot, but not
her type. Lauren didn't have a type. Jess looked at Rory. And walked
in her room.
"They need to be supervised." said Lauren
to herself.
"Hello." said Lauren. "I don't believe
we met. I'm Lauren."
"who are you?" asked Jess.
"I
just said Lauren.." she rolled her eyes.
" i mean, are
you..Sookie 's
daughter?" Jess asked as he laughed at the name
'Sookie.'
"No..Lorelai
's.."
"Seriously."
"Uh
yeah."
"I'm sorry, you look nothing like them.."
Rory's faced tensed up.
"I look like my dad.."
"Where
is he?"
"Never met him.."
"Okay..enough
of this." said Rory. "Lets eat." The three moved into
the kitchen.
"Want a soda?" asked Rory.
"I'll
get one." replied Jess. Lauren walked into the living room with
Rory, but saw Jess pull out a beer and move on outside. 'To
tell or not to tell, that is the question.' Lauren
decided not to tell, but Lorelai found out soon enough. The night
ended with Luke and Jess leaving before anything stared, Sookie and
Jackson making all the food just for five people and having so much
left overs that they are set till next Thanksgiving.
"so
who was the hottie in the diner before?" asked Baily, Lauren's
best friend.
"Jess?"
"Jess. You know him?"
"He
came over my house two nights ago for dinner."
"And
you didn't call me?"
"Baily, he is Rory's age.""So.""So,
he's way to old for you."
"And."
"And i
think he likes Rory."
"Uh. She has a boyfriend. What's
his face..?""Dean."
"Yeah, and she gets the
new town bad boy to like her..lucky."
"Yeah..i
guess."
"Well, Jess is hot, you have to admit
it."
"Yeah, he is good looking..but not my
type."
"Lauren, I've known you for eight years..so
that's since we were four..and never once have you had a crush on
anyone."
"So."
"Its not normal."
"I'm
twelve. I didn't hit puberty yet..unlike you who hit it when she was
ten."
"Well, yeah, I guess."
"Hey
Baily?"
"Yeah?"
"Do i look like my
mom?"
"Huh?"
"I mean..Jess said i look
nothing like mom or Rory..mom always said i look like my
dad..but...wouldn't i have at least one trait of my mother?"
"Your
hair..same color."
"I guess."
The girls walked
off. They entered the diner and ordered soda. They talked for about
another hour and went home.
The
girls were sitting home watching Tv, when the phone rang.
"Oh,
I'll get it!" yelled Lorelai. "Hello?"
"Hey
Lor, its Chris."
"Hey you, hows it going?"
"Good,
good. I'm on a little business trip here and I thought I'd call and
check in on Rory."
"Oh, she went to some biker party a
few days ago and never came back."
"Again?"
"Yeah,
we gotta start disciplining that girl."
"And hows
Lauren?"
"Good, good everyone's good."
"That's
good."
"Rory's right here is you wanna talk to
her?"
"Sure."Lorelai went into Rory's room where
her and Pairs were talking. "Rory, your dad." Rory went
over and took the phone."Hey dad."
"Hey Ror. How's
it going?"
"Its
good."
"Im in Lichfield on a business trip."
"Really,
thats great. For how long?"
"A couple of days."
"If
you're here on Friday, can you come down to Chilton and watch my
debate?""Really?"
"Yeah, it starts at 3:30 but
get there early."
"Okay, i will. Wow Chilton up
close."
"Yup, see you there."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Lorelai,
Sookie and Lauren took there seat at the Chilton debate.
"Hey,
do you see Chris anywhere?" asked Lorelai.
"Chris is
coming?" asked Lauren.
"Uh .yeah..do you see him?"
"Uh,
well, no, no, no. Hey, what does he look like?" asked
Sookie.
"If you don't know, why are you looking?"
"I'm
looking for a guy that looks like a guy that you could be with, only
I'm deducting seventeen years off his age and I'm adding an all-boys
private school uniform and a Yankees cap."
"And does
your head hurt?"
"Yeah."The debate began.
"Let
me introduce the debaters. On the Hillside Academy team we have Brad
Lankford and Nancy Waterford. And on the Chilton team we have Rory
Gilmore and Paris Geller." said the teacher.
"Oww!"
yelled Lorelai
"Whoo!" cheered Sookie.
Lauren sunk
in her chair.
"Were we not supposed to do that?" asked
Sookie.
"Maybe nobody noticed." whispered Lorelai.
"Oh,
mom they noticed." said Lauren who was very low in her
chair.
The debate was running smoothly. Lauren was very bored but
turned her attention to Lorelai when she dropped her tissue on
purpose in the aisle. Lauren turned her head and saw Chris with a
women. 'Oh, he has a
little playmate.'
Lorelai, Sookie and Lauren started walking out
but stopped short.
"God." said Lauren as she bumped into
Sookie. "Why we stop?"
"There she is." said
Sookie."Who?" asked Lauren
"I see." said
Lorelai."Who?"
"She's got good hair.""Who
does?"
"Yeah."
"Plus she's been sitting for
an hour and her dress is prefect. Not a wrinkle? How does she do
that?"
"She must be a witch."
"Yeah, and
she does that no-hose thing."
"You guys. Who the hell
are you talking about?"
"Sherry." said
Lorelai."Oh..Chris' new girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"Lets
go over and meet her." said Lauren as she started
walking.
"Lauren is very brave." said Sookie.
"Very."
they followed.
"Hey there you two." said Lorelai.
"Hey
Lorelai. You guys get to meet at last. This is..."
"Sherry."
"Nice
to finally meet you." said Sherry.
"Yeah, i recognized
you from the Christmas card."
"Which I'm sure you mocked
mercilessly."
"Did not. Others yes, but not yours. Hey
this is Sookie.""Nice to meet you." said Sherry
"Nice
to meet you. You have a very smooth dress."
"Oh, well
thank you. It's the fabric."
"The fabric. Uh huh"
"and
this is my other daughter Lauren."
"Hello Lauren."
"Hi."
said Lauren eyeing Chris with her mother.
They talked and were
joined by Rory. Then they rushed home to clean because Lorelai
invited Chris and Sherry over.
Sherry talked about wanting to hang
out with Rory. Lauren wondered if her father was married again? If he
had other kids?
"So Lauren." said Sherry.
"Yes."
"Where
is your father?" Lorelai, Chris and Rory looked at each
other.
"Oh, well.."
"We don't see her father."
said Lorelai.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did i say something?"
"No,
no we just don't see him." said Rory.
Friday
pulled along again. Only this time it was Chris, Lorelai and Lauren.
Rory was out with Sherry. Emily was displeased with that idea. Emily
talked with Lorelai in privet and left Lauren, Chris and Richard
together.
"So. Lauren, how is school?" asked
Chris."Fine."
"Your..twelve now..so its sixth
grade?"
"Yes.""Wow."
"Emhm."
The
next morning Lauren and Lorelai entered the diner.
"Hey."
said Luke.
"Hey." replied the two girls.
"No
Rory this morning?"
"She'll be here. She has to run an
errand.""Okay."
Rory entered and talked about what
her and Sherry did the other night. Lauren laughed out loud when Rory
said she was touchy feely and Lorelai replied with 'she
didn't get fresh now did she?'
Lauren saw Lane and her mother exit
the house and tapped Rory.
"Rory."
"Oops, sorry
zero hour. I have to go." she left Lorelai and Lauren together.
Until Chris and Sherry walked in. Lauren let out a grown.
"Just
wanted to say our last goodbye's. Rory's not here?" asked
Sherry.
"She went out for a minute, but you can probably find
her."
"Okay, i will." Sherry left.
"Hey,
Lauren, can you leave me and Chris for a
second?"
"Why?"
"Lauren."
"Fine,
I'll have my annual chat with Luke. Im over due for one." Lauren
walked over to the counter.
"So, quaint evening of theater
last night." said Chris.
"Ah yes, the Gilmore family
players rival the Barrymores for their sophisticated, dramatic
productions."
"I never thought she'd freak over Rory not
being there like that. I never wanted to put you in that
position."
"Oh, you couldn't have known."
"I
mean, Rory's missed the occasional dinner before."
"Yeah,
well, this was compounded by other things."
"What other
things?"
"You should know as well as I that when it
comes to Emily Gilmore, it's never simple."
"Got it. Ah,
looks like they found each other. You know, Sherry had a really good
time last night. I hope Rory did too."
"Yeah, she seemed
to.""Good, good."
"So Chris, before you go,
um, I have something I wanna say to you."
"Uh oh."
"It's not an uh oh."
"Okay, what?"
"Well,
I, um, I kind of realized something with you and Sherry visiting and
God help me, because of something my mother said to me."
"Wow,
inspiration can come from the unlikeliest sources."
"I
was just thinking, you know, all these years, no matter what my
relationship status has been, whether I've been dating or hibernating
or whatever, I think I've always had you in the back of my mind - you
know, the prospect of us being together. But this prospect was sort
of indefinitely on hold while you, you know, found yourself and, uh,
got your personal life together so that you could really be there for
me and especially for Rory. But you and I have been so linked in my
mind that I think I have unconsciously sabotaged every decent
relationship I've had, including the one with Max, because I was
waiting for you, and I shouldn't have been. And now that I see that,
and I see you settling down with Sherry, I think I can move beyond
it.""Good, I'm really glad this is good for you
Lorelai."
"It is. Chris?""How dare you put
that on me?" yelled Chris. Lauren looked over as did everyone in
the diner.
"I'm just thanking you."
"Well,
don't."
"What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?
Dammit Lorelai, you're dumping fifteen years of unhappiness on me?
Fifteen years of not having healthy, lasting relationships on me?
You're blaming me for breaking up with Max and not marrying him?
That's all my fault?"
"No, I just .. ."
"I
did nothing to deserve that."
"I'm not saying that you
did."
"You're as good as saying it."
"No,
I'm not."
"Then what did you expect to come from this
divine revelation that you've been so kind to share with me? Did you
want me to apologize to you for ruining your life or comfort you and
say 'there, there,
everything's gonna be all right' so you can feel okay? Forget it!"
"Chris, wait!"
"Look, if there's anything else
you feel bad about in your life that you wanna dump on my doorstep,
just leave a note!" he left. Lorelai glanced at the counter at
Luke, who quickly looked down. Lorelai watched Rory hug her father
and Sherry good bye. Lauren looked at her mother with tears in her
eyes. She wanted to go up to Chris and hit him so bad. She never
liked Chris, but now, she hated him. She wanted him to be burned on a
torch like Joan of Arch. Lauren went by her mother.
"Mom?""Not
now." Lorelai got up and went home. Lauren looked at Luke and
shrugged. Lauren wanted to yell at Chris and give him a piece of her
mind. Everyone looked at Lauren follow her mother out the door.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The next day Lorelai still seemed upset. Rory wondered what was the matter, but Lorelai told Lauren not to tell Rory what happened. Luke asked Lauren if her mother was okay the next day, but Lauren didn't know how to answer. She wasn't okay. She wasn't not okay either. She was in the middle of okay and not okay.
"Hey
Lauren?" asked Lorelai a few weeks later.
"Yeah?"
"Help
us pick a movie for the town film festival!"
"Why?"
"Mom
gets to pick it this year because she ticked the guy off who was
supposed to pick the movie."
"Okay..how about...Hard
bodies?"
"Wizard of Oz." said Lorelai."The
Sting" chimed in Rory."Rocky."
"Crimes and
Misdemeanors."
"The singing Detective."
"That
was a miniseries." said Lauren.
"So?"
"So
its like six hours long." said Rory. Just then the phone
rang.
"Will you get that?" asked
Rory.
"No."
"Why?"
"Time."
"6:45"
"on?"
"Wednesday. Ooh!.
Rory picked up the phone. "Dad hi." Rory talked with her
dad for a while as Lauren made faces.
Lorelai
was sitting in the kitchen when she heard a knock at the
door.
"Pauline!" yelled Lorelai when she saw
Luke.
"What?" asked Luke confused.
"Never mind.
What are you doing here?"
"Uh, i made some brownies, i
thought you might like some."
"Oh, gee, since i just ate
half a bag of marshmallows, six pop tarts, four bagel dogs, and a
really stale Cheese Nip, yup its brownie time. Thanks. Hey, here's a
question for you."
"Yeah?"
"Well, you
probably have a diner full of people who would love these brownies,
plus i bet they'd pay you for em'.
"Well, I accidentally
dropped triple the amount of cocoa powder in the batter so I either
had to dump the batch or find someone with some sort of superhuman
chocolate tolerance – only
one name came to mind"
"God i love being special. What?"
asked Lorelai when she saw Luke looking around."Nothing. I
just..hey, uh, is Rory here by any chance?"
"Yeah, she's
in her room."
"Can i talk to her for a sec?""Sure
go right ahead."
Luke walked into Rory's room. Lorelai waited
and tried to listen but could only hear the muffled voices of the two
people. Luke came back in five minutes."Okay, so I'll see you in
the diner."
"Wait, hold on. What was that all
about?"
"Oh, Rory's gonna tutor Jess."
"She
is?"
"Yeah, just for a little while, help get him on the
right track."
"Wow.""Okay, i should be getting
back. Enjoy the brownies, I'll se if i can screw up a cake for you
later on.
"Sounds great.""Bye." Lorelai
followed Luke out and tried to tell him that Rory is so sweet and
would say yes to anything, and that she needs to concentrate on her
own school. Luke assured her that it wont be for long and Rory is
smart and will stay on track with her own work.
Lauren thought the idea of Rory helping Jess was a good plan. Lorelai and Lauren dropped Rory off at the diner to tutor Jess and went home.
Rory
walked in the diner and saw Jess sitting at a nearby table.
"So,
are you ready to start?" asked Rory.
"Yes, i am."
said Jess.
"Where are your books?"
"Huh, i don't
know."
"How are we gonna study without your
books?"
"Guess we cant. Too bad. So, what
now..movie?"
"Get your books."
"The cat ate
em'."
"Get your books or I'm going home."
"Wait
there." They studied for a while, but Jess wasn't getting it.
"Explain
to me the political ramification of the Marshall Plan."
"Pick
a card." Jess held out his cards in Rory's face. Rory grabbed
them and threw them on the floor. "Huh, well that just made the
trick a little bit harder."
"Jess focus."
"Where's
Dean tonight?"
"We just went over this. There's no way
you already forgot it."
"Work?""I will make
you write it out fifty times on the specials board if thats what it
takes."
"Cause, if he's not a work, he must be free, so
he doesn't care you're here?"
"No, he doesn't. He's
visiting his grandmother."
"Where?""Chicago."
"So
he doesn't know?"
"It wouldn't matter."
"So
you'll tell him when he gets back.""We're studying."
"your
studying."
"Jess, why won't you at least try to remember
the Marshall plan?"
"Have you ever read 'Please
Kill Me'?""No.""You should." Rory sighed.
Rory made Jess write Shakespeare, but he wrote words to a Clash song.
He made her guess which Clash song it was, and she got it. Then Jess
wanted to get ice cream.
They
drove to get their ice cream and talked.
"So, what's up with
your sister?" asked Jess.
"What do you mean?"
"I
mean, she's different then you and your mom. And what's with her dad?
Was he like a pot head or something?""Jess, its not a
subject i like to talk about."
"Why?"
"Because..okay,
you promise not to tell anyone i told you?"
"What?"
"You
cant tell Luke i told you, or mom, or the town."
"Everyone
knows this secret?"
"Yes."
"I'm out of the
loop once again."
"Well, I'm about to let you in the
loop if you promise."
"I promise."
"Okay...when
i was five mom's high school friend Tessa died, and so did her
boyfriend. Lauren was there daughter. She was three months old and
they left her with us. Their will said that if they died before
Lauren was a year old, that my mom was to raise Lauren as she own and
never tell her about them. So Lauren doesn't know, and thinks that
Lorelai is her real mother and I'm her real sister. She thinks her
father left mom when she was pregnant and its to painful to keep a
picture of him in the house. That his name was Robert."
"Wow."
said Jess stunned.
"Yeah."
They stayed silent.
"Okay, we can go straight and go back to Luke's. Or we can
turn right and drive aimlessly. Your call." Rory looked at Jess
and smiled. "Turn right." he did.
Lauren
and her mother were talking in the kitchen. Lauren was laughing at
something Lorelai said when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
answered Lorelai.
"Mom?" said Rory."Oh, Rory,
great. Tell us, was it the China Ball, the China Doll, or the China
Wall that had the really good shrimp balls?" Lauren laughed
again at the Shrimp ball name.
"I think it was the China
Doll." Rory heard Lauren say 'see
i told you.'
"Okay, these can go. You'll be so proud of me,
I'm organizing the takeout drawer. I'm weeding out all the dogs and
I'm putting happy face stickers on the dishes that have been huge
successes to make our ordering more efficient. Where are you?"
"I
need you to be calm." Lorelai's face turned pale. Lauren looked
at her mom in worry.
"Calm about what?"
"Calm
about what i have to tell you.""What, where are you?"
Lauren looked scared.
"I'm all right."
"Well, of
course your all right, why wouldn't you be all right?"
"Because.
. .I got in an accident."
"What? What accident? What do
you mean you got in an accident?" Lorelai said looking at Lauren
with fear in her eyes. Lauren felt her heart go up in her
throat.
"Jess and I went for ice cream and we were just
driving and it was dark and this dog or cat or possum, I don't know –
it was small and furry, and it
ran out into the middle of the road and Jess swerved and –
.""Jess
swerved?"
"Yes."
"Jess was
driving?"
"Yes."
"Jess was driving your car
and you got in an accident?"
"But I'm fine and he's
fine and the furry thing is fine. The car's a little messed up, but
there's nothing for you to be worried about."
"Where are
you?"
"I'm in the hospital." Lauren remembered
running out the door with her mother and to the hospital. Her mother
ran to the nurse and told her to go in a room where Rory was. When
they did, the doctor was wrapping her arm. Lorelai was fuming. Lauren
was scared stiff. She didn't hear Rory's end of the convocation but
by the looks Lorelai was giving her, it wasn't good. Thank God it was
only a fracture.
Lauren and Lorelai ran into Luke's. Lorelai
banged on the door screaming for Luke. Luke appeared and Lorelai
pushed her way in. Lauren waited by the door.
"Where is he?"
asked Lorelai.
"Who?"
"Jess! Where's Jess
Luke?""I don't know, i just got back. What's going on? I
got here and they weren't here."
"Jess!"
"Hey,
talk to me!"
"Jess, answer me right now!
"What's
wrong what happened?"
"There was an accident.""What,
what accident?"
"Jess!"
"What
accident!""Jess was driving Rory's car and he crashed
it."
"What. When?"
"What do you mean when?
Tonight, tonight, he crashed it tonight! Jess dammit!"
"What
happened? Is anyone hurt? Lorelai!...hey I'm talking to you
here.""Where would he be? Where would he go?"
"I
asked if anyone was hurt?"
"Uh, was anyone hurt? Well,
Rory's in the emergency room with a fractured wrist, so yeah I'd say
someone was hurt.""Rory fractured her wrist?"
"Yes
she has to wear a cast now for two weeks."
"Mom.."
Lauren whispered.
"What about Jess is he hurt?"
"No,
Luke, Jess did the hurting. The little punk nephew of your almost
killed my kid tonight."
"Look, I'm sure it was an
accident. Accidents happen."
"Not with my kid in the
car, they don't."
"Okay, you just need to calm
down."
"Why did you do this?"
"What are you
talking about? Why did i do what?""Why did you bring him
here?"
"What?"
"If you hadn't brought him
here, none of this would've happened."
"This is my
fault?"
"Yes, it is your fault! You told him to come,
you let him stay. Everybody hated him, everybody knew he was trouble
but you wouldn't listen and you wouldn't send him home and now my
daughter is in the hospital!"
"Mom.." Luke walked
past Lauren and outside. Lorelai followed him.
"You kept
pushing them together. You asked her to help him study, you knew
she'd never say no. I told you it made me nervous, I told you I
didn't like it and I should've stopped it right there. But you
thought Rory would be good for Jess, never mind what he'd be for her.
That wasn't important at all, was it?"
"Of course if was
important."
"Why didn't you put a stop to it at the
first sign of trouble? Why didn't you make him leave?"
"He's
my nephew. I had an obligation to take him in, I had an obligation to
care for him."
"You had an obligation to this town and
to me and to Rory. Where are you going?""I have to find out
where Jess is."
"Well, I'll tell you where he's not –
he's not in the emergency room
having him arm plastered
up!"
"Hey, I am sorry about
Rory. You know I care more about her than I do myself, but at least
you know where Rory is and at least you know that she's okay. Now, I
have to find Jess and I have to make sure that he's okay, and if that
cuts into your screaming time, well that's just too damn bad!"
"Go
to hell!"
"Right back at ya!"
"Stop it!
Both of you!" screamed Lauren. They both looked at her. "Shit
happens! Rory didn't get that hurt and I'm sure Jess isn't hurt if he
could talk to the cops and make sure Rory was okay." Lorelai
walks off and so does Luke. Lauren watched her mother pull her cell
phone out and call someone, then she watched Luke turn down a rode.
they
went home. Rory was in bed and Lorelai and Lauren were making sure
she was okay and situated. Lorelai was sleeping in Rory's room and
woke up to find Chris sleeping in the chair next to her. She woke him
up and brought him in the kitchen and found Lauren asleep with her
head on the table.
"Shhh." said Lorelai as they sat
next to her. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I had
a really crappy mattress at home."
"Chris."
"I
drove here as fast as I could and I went to the hospital but you guys
had already left so I tried your cell phone but all I got was the
voice mail so I came here but the place looked dark so I got the key
out of the turtle and came in but you guys were already asleep so I
just grabbed a chair and. . . and apparently my evil plan worked
exactly as I anticipated."
"I'm so glad you're here.""Me
too. How is she?"
"She's in a cast."
"I
know."
"The doctor said she'll be fine, he'll take it
off in a couple of weeks. The car is totally gone and I have to call
the insurance guy tomorrow and. . .I don't know."
"Did
you find that kid?"
"Jess?"
"Jess, dead
meat whatever his name is."
"No, the little ferret is
hiding out somewhere."
"Okay, well, I'm gonna deal with
the car tomorrow and I still wanna talk to the doctor, if that's
okay, and I'm gonna need a picture of this Jess so I don't
accidentally rip the head off the wrong kid 'cause
that would be bad."
"Look at you all springin' into
action."
"About time, don't ya think?"
"I
like the superhero you."
"Just trying to keep up.""So,
are you staying here tonight or do you have to rush back?"
Lorelai rubbed Laurens hair.
"No, I wanna spend some time
with Rory tomorrow."
"You want coffee?"
"Yeah,
I'll make it."
"Perfect. Oh my God. When Rory called me
tonight and said the word hospital, I just legitimately thought I was
having a heart attack, and let me tell you, it was not fun. I'm
joining a gym tomorrow, that's how not fun it was."
"See
if you can get a two for one membership."
"Hey about the
fight we had the last time you were here..."
"Ah yes,
that was a doozy wasn't it."
"I just didn't mean
to..""No i shouldn't have.."
"I shouldn't
have.."
"No, but if i implied that.."
"You
didn't I'm sorry."
"Me too. But..Lauren here...isn't to
fond of you."
"You told her?""She was
there."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"I'll
talk to her tomorrow."
"That would be good."
The
next day Lorelai went out with Rory and Chris was left with
Lauren.
"Lauren can i talk to you for a minute?"
"Why?"
"I
wanted to say I'm sorry about how i treated your
mom."
"Whatever.""Can we be friends
again?"
"We were never friends."
"Well, can
we be on speaking terms?"
"Were speaking now aren't we,
and i still don't like you."
"Lauren.."
"I
believe your minute is up. Bye." Lauren walked up to her room.
Chris shook his head and walked out the door. He ran into Lauren and
Rory walking down the street.
"Hey you talk to Lauren?"
asked Lorelai.
"Yeah."
"And.."
"She
hates me. She is really hard on some people."
"The
Gilmore Charm..plus her mother had it too." smiled Lorelai.
"Can
you talk to her for me?"
"Yes i will, hang with Rory
while i do.""Okay." Chris walked up to Rory and
started talking. Lorelai went inside. She climbed up the stairs and
opened Lauren's door.
"Lauren?"
"Yeah?""Can
we talk?"
"Sure."
"Why did you do that to
Chris."
"Ugh.""No Lauren, he said sorry. He
said sorry to me and i accepted."
"Why did
you?"
"Huh?"
"He always comes into the
picture, and then leaves and leaves you and Rory heart broken, but
every time you forgive him like he did nothing. He says he is gonna
stay, its different this time Lor, theres gonna be a change. But he
never keeps his word. He yelled at you in frount of everybody and i
saw your face. I don't like it when you look like that. And now
everything is messed up with Rory and Jess and Luke and now of corse
Chris is back again saying hes gonna be different? What about Sherry?
What about them? I don't like to see the faces on you two when he
leaves." Lauren looked at her mother.
"Your right. But
this is for Rory. Let her have her dad."
"I don't have
mine.""Uh, because yours was no good."
"I
know. Can i at least see a picture?"
"Don't have any
sweetie, sorry. Lets go see Rory."
"Uh okay."
It was the day of Sookie 's wedding. Lorelai, Rory and Lauren were bridesmaids and everything was prefect, until Lauren saw Lorelai kissing Chris. Lauren felt like the whole discussion they had never happened in Lorelai 's mind. That she wasn't paying any attention to what she said. Then Lauren turned and saw Rory kissing Jess. What was going on? They walked down the aisle and no one was happy. Rory said she was gonna go to Washington for the summer, Lorelai had a frown and Lauren wasn't looking in her mother's eyes. When they got home, Lorelai told them that Sherry was pregnant and Rory was upset that her father was leaving again. Lorelai looked at Lauren who just shook her head. Rory flew to Washington the next week and Lorelai and Lauren were left alone. They both missed Rory and weeks later Lauren saw Jess kissing some blonde.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One
night Lauren was woken up by her mother. It was around five in the
morning.
"What?"
"I had a dream."
"Great,
anything else."
"In the dream, i woke up to a bunch of
alarm clocks and went downstairs and there was Luke just standing
there, making breakfast. He talked to me and talked to my stomach and
kissed me."
"Talked to your stomach?""I was
pregnant. With twins.""Your kidding."
"I cant
call your sister. Help."
"Uh..maybe you just miss Luke.
You haven't talked with him for months. Can't you just forget this
stupid fight."
"I told him to go to hell."
"I
know."
"And he said right back at ya."
"I
know.""I was mean."
"Yes, but if you say your
sorry, I'll take you to the zoo."
"What if he doesn't
want to be my friend anymore?"
"Mom, Luke will want to
be your friend. Go back to bed and dream about other things...like
crayons...paper cups...Colombia.." Lauren drifted off to sleep.
Lorelai went back to bed.
that day they picked up Rory from the airport and only Lauren and Lorelai went to Friday night dinner. They were ambushed with Chris/Lorelai questions, and then Chris/Sherry/Baby questions. By the end of the night Lauren waited in the car while Lorelai went into Luke's and said sorry like a good little girl.
Lorelai
loved going back to Luke's. And Lauren loved going into Luke's with
the whole family again. The whole Chris/Sherry thing was dropped
until further notice and things went back to normal. Then Rory was
invited to Sherry's baby shower. Lorelai and Lauren were only going
to drop off Rory, but ended up going in as well.
The four entered
the apartment together. Lauren and Lorelai gripping Rory's arms for
dear life.
"Nice place." said Lorelai.
"Very
nice." said Lauren and Rory at the same time.
"Thank
you. Lets let you meet the gang." they entered a room where six
other women were gathered.
"You've got Gail, Jody, Maureen,
Linda, Susan, and Alice." said Sherry pointing to the
women.
"Hey." said the three.
"This is
Christopher's daughter, and Lorelai and Lorelai's other
daughter."
"Are you Christopher's too? asked Linda."Oh
no...no..someone else's im afraid." said Lauren.
"Oh.
Well...mojito?" asked Maureen.
"No." said
Lorelai.
"So..i found out it's a girl..Georgia. GiGi for
short." said Sherry. Lauren snorted but covered it up with a
cough.
The rest of the day was filled with mocking by Lorelai and Lauren and Rory trying to be nice and friendly. They played games and Sherry gave them deviled eggs to take home, which they ended up throwing at Jess's car that night.
It
was Laurens thirteenth birthday. They had a huge blowout in the
square. They played loud music and games. Then Lauren asked Lorelai
to tell her about the day she was born. Everyone froze. They stared
at Lorelai.
"Okay, its was a beautiful day..and the birds
were chirping..the sun was shining..it was a nice day..and i was
talking to... Sookie ..on the phone..and my water broke and Sookie
drove over and took me to the hospital and you were born...the end."
Lauren looked down.
"Okay." Lorelai was upset at
herself. Why didn't see make up a story a long time ago?
Lorelai
got Lauren a cell phone and Rory got her an Ipod. Everyone else got
her great gifts and by the end of the night, she was beat. She jumped
into bed and fell asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow.
A
few nights later Lauren was woken up by a frantic Lorelai.
"Get
dressed!" she yelled.
"Why?"
"Fire!""Fire!
Where? Here?"
"No the inn! Never mind don't get
dressed...just..grab your coat!" Lauren ran out of bed and got
her coat. They drove to the Independence Inn and saw fire trucks and
all the guests outside.
"Sookie!" cried
Lorelai.
"Lorelai. This is Lorelai Gilmore." said Sookie
to the fire chief.The structures stable, but we cant get people back
in for 24. Hours." said the chief.
"Excellent. Twenty
four hours, the structures stable, thank you."
"Thats
okay."
"Okay guys. Phase two."
"Loving the
pace here." said Sookie.
"Um, we need food, we need
computers with Internet, we need phones. Michel, I need this on you
stat. Hurry, hurry. Rory?"
"Yeah?"
"Um,
help the guests with the kids, make sure they're not freaked out.
Gather them up and entertain them for awhile so the adults can catch
their breath."
"Right. I have never entertained kids –
how do I do that?"
"Lauren
help her. Uh, take your socks off and do a puppet show..."
"You've
clearly never entertained kids either." said Lauren as they ran
off."Hi everybody. Good morning, and uh, whoa, talk about your
change of plans here. Unfortunately, you, uh, can't get your stuff
out for at least a day. However, if you wanna get home immediately,
we will check planes, trains, whatever you need. We will send your
stuff to you later as soon as we get it. But if you can't get home
yet, we will provide everything short of anything illegal, and that's
gonna start with the best breakfast of your lives." Lorelai
turned to Sookie. "Uh, Sookie, go to the market and get whatever
food and supplies we need for breakfast."
"Going."
Lorelai
walked over to Michel. "Who are you on the phone with?"
asked Lorelai.
"The Cheshire Cat Inn."
"Ah,
great, find places to sleep. Excellent."
"Yes, my name
is Michel Gerard, i used to work at the Independence Inn and I was
wondering if there was any positions available?" Lorelai walked
over and with a frown grabbed the phone away and turned it off.
The
rest of the day was breakfast at Luke's, making sure Michel didn't
kill Ms. Patty and Babette, from getting the inn guests a place to
sleep. Lorelai held up the two families of the Poe society. They
sacked in Rory's room and Lauren's room while Fred Jr. slept on the
couch. Lauren was gonna share a room with her mother, but then
another family showed up. They were homeless.
Rory
was getting ready to sleep at Lane's when her cell phone went
off.
"I'm a nomad." she heard Lorelai say.
"What?""I
am the lonely wanderer. Hank Williams was too sad to write a song
about me."
"Where are you?"
"Oh, I'm a
Bedouin. I'm homeless!"
"Ok stop that. Where are
you?
"Me and your sister are walking aimlessly around
town."
"Why?"
"The Hatlestads showed
up.""But they went home."
"Apparently I made
the whole emergency fire accommodations sound so fun that they had
second thoughts."
"You're a terrific salesman."
"And
a terrific idiot."
"I second that." said
Lauren.
"So where are you right this second?"
"Oh,
the middle of the street, a.k.a our bedroom."
"Mom."
"Where
by the school, Luke's that area."
"Luke's, good. Go
there."
"It's closed."
"But Luke is
upstairs."
"Oh.""Ask him if you guys can
stat."
"But..""I bet the answer's yes."
"He'll
make us eat a veggie burger!"
"Get moving."
"Fine
bye."
"Bye." Lauren looked at her mom."So
Luke's?"
"Yeah." Lauren and Lorelai dropped there
things on the floor and Lorelai picked up a rock. She through it at
the window and screamed Luke's name.
"Luke! Luke! Stella!"
yelled Lorelai.
"Who is that?" asked Luke sticking his
head out the window.
"Lorelai."
"And
Lauren!"
"What are you doing down there?"
"Enjoying
some air, getting some exercise..""And freezing!"
yelled Lauren.
"Well, go home."
"Home, we have
no home. Hunted, despised."
"What?"
"Its
from Ed Wood the movie."
"Have you gone
bonkers?"
"People are bunking at our place and we need a
place to crash."
"And it just occurred to you now to
look for a place?""The stupid Hatlestads showed up."
said Lauren.
"Who?"
"PIPE DOWN OUT THERE!"
yelled a woman.
"Go back to bed, Mrs. Slutsky!" yelled
Luke.
"DON'T TALK TO ME THAT WAY, YOUNG MAN!"
"Throw
your keys down!" yelled Lorelai.
"I WILL NOT!""No,
Luke Mrs. Slutsky!" said Lauren.
"I'll just come down."
said Luke.
"Do something!" said Mrs. Slutsky.
"Ditto!"
"I'm coming down."
"Okay."
Lorelai and
Lauren stared at Mrs. Slutsky.
"My, inn caught
fire..."
"HURRY LUKE!" yelled Lauren.
Lorelai
and Lauren piled into the apartment. They looked at their
surroundings. It was the first time Lauren was in Luke's place and it
looked just like she thought it would look like. Lorelai and Luke
fixed the bed and Lauren sat on the couch and watched them with a
smile.
"Oh don't do that." said Luke.
"Don't do
what?" asked Lorelai.
"Don't pull the sheet back after i
pull it. I need some on this side...you pulled it back again!""Okay,
i need it for my side."
"I need to tuck it in."
"Same
here.""I always tuck it in on this side."
"Let's
tuck it in on both sides."
"You tuck a bed in on both
sides?"
"Yes, and then I slip down into it like I'm in a
straight jacket."
"Oh, you must feel right at home."
"I
so set you up for that." Luke walked over to the couch where
Lauren was sitting.
"You know, we should take the couch."
said Lorelai.
"Oh, now come on."
"What?"
"You
browbeat me into giving you the bed and pretending you don't want it
now isn't working.""I'm pretending to try to be
polite."
"I'm fine with the couch, are the two of you
gonna fit on the bed?"
"Yeah we can manage."
Lauren
and Lorelai sat on the bed when the phone rang.
"Hello? . .
.oh, hey, Nicole, hi. . .Yeah, I'm good. . . Oh, not much. There was
a fire at the local inn out here and. . .Yeah, the one she works at,
yeah. . .Everybody's fine. Yeah, just a lot of chaos for awhile. So
how was your thing today? . . . All right, fill me in tomorrow. . .
Seven's good. . .Okay. . . Okay, yeah. . .Goodnight. That was
Nicole.""So we heard...how come you didn't tell her we were
here?"
"Didn't come up."
"So she didn't out
of the clear blue ask you if we were sleeping over?"
"Didn't
seem necessary."
"Well, you have nothing to hide here.
You just took in two refugee's."
"I know there's nothing
to hide. Its just that...you've kinda been a..."
"Been
what?""A sore subject with Nicole."
"What,
how?" Luke explained to them about his dates and "Lorelai"
talk. Lorelai gave Luke the "no other women talk on dates"
talk.
"I'm going to brush my teeth." said Lauren as she
grabbed her toothbrush and went into the bathroom.
"Wow total
deja vu." said Lorelai.
"Really?""It's the
alarm clock. I had a dream once that you set eighteen alarm clocks to
get me up, which is not a bad way to get me up."
"Where
were we?"
"We were, um, at my house. I got up, i went
downstairs for coffee, and you talked to my stomach."
"Why
on earth would i do that?"
"Well, because i was
pregnant. Twins."
"Mine?"
"What am i the
dream tramp of corse yours."
"We were married?"
"Um,
yeah. Did i not mention that?""No. You know, you shouldn't
drink coffee when your pregnant.""Uh, true."
"Its
probably why Rory's a caffeine addict."
"Right, your
right."
"Dream go beyond that?"
"No. Um,
you talked to my stomach and then you ki..well no."
"Mom,
didn't you say he kissed you?" asked Lauren as she moved toward
the bed.
"I kissed you?"
"Uh..well..yeah."
"Several
times." pointed out Lauren.
"Several?" asked
Luke.
"Yeah..well, uh..one time you kissed me...but i kissed
you the second.""Oh." Lorelai and Luke smiled. Lauren
smiled and looked at the two people while she shook her head. Luke
listened to Lorelai talk to her daughter.
"You are mean."
"I
learned from the best...mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Was
Luke a good dream kisser?"
"Yeah, he was."
"I
bet you wanna kiss him in real life.""Shhh you."
Lauren glanced at Luke who was smiling. Did he hear all of that? Yeah
he did, Lauren could tell.
Luke
woke up the next morning and saw Lorelai on her stomach taking up
half the bed and Lauren half off the bed with her hair in her face.
Luke smiled and took a shower. When he came out they were still out
cold. Luke tapped Lorelai and she woke up and smiled when she saw
him. "Your bed is comfortable." said Lorelai.
"I
second that." said Lauren as she yawned. Luke smiled and went
down to the diner. Lorelai and Lauren entered about twenty minutes
later and found Rory sitting drinking coffee at a table.
"Hey."
said Rory."Hi."
"How was your night?"
"Your
boyfriend snores." said Lorelai.
"Big time." said
Lauren.
"Too much information."
"Hey Rory?"
asked Lauren.
"Yeah?"
"Did you decide yet?
Yale..Harvard...?"
"Mom thinks its Yale.."
"I
do." said Lorelai.
"But i don't know."
"Honey,
i know we talked about Harvard for a long time. Years. But Yale is
the wiser choice."
"Maybe..i just have to get to
school.""Me too." said Lauren.
"And we have
to get to the inn."
Rory decided to go to Yale. It was a big choice, everyone seemed happy with the idea. Emily and Richard were thrilled. They called up all there friends and told them that their grand daughter was going to Yale. There happiness soon ended. It was Lorelai's birthday and Richard gave Lorelai money that he was saving since she was born. Lorelai decided she would pay back the money she was borrowing from her parents for Rory's school. Emily got mad at Lorelai and Richard and Richard got mad at Lorelai, because he didn't want Emily to know about their meeting and the money.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jess was gone. Rory was upset, but was more focused on her graduation. She was valedictorian and everyone was so proud of her. Today was her graduation day and all three girls were going to Europe the next day. Lauren got all her bags and put them in the living room. She asked her mother why she was so out of it, Lorelai replied with 'my baby is going to college.' Lauren knew that was some of it, but also that Luke was going on a cruise with Nicole. A women she didn't like very much.
Everyone drove to Chilton. Everyone was there. Emily, Richard, Sookie, Jackson even Luke came. Of corse no Chris. The ceremony started. Paris was to say the pledge of allegiance, and used air quotes. It was time for Rory's speech. Everyone looked at her with pride. They were so proud of her.
"Headmaster Charleston, faculty members, fellow
students, family and friends, welcome. We never thought this day
would come. We prayed for its quick delivery, crossed days off our
calendars, counted hours, minutes, and seconds, and now that it's
here, I'm sorry it is because it means leaving friends who inspire me
and teachers who have been my mentors - so many people who have
shaped my life and my fellow students' lives impermeably and forever.
I live in two worlds. One is a world of books. I've been a resident
of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, hunted the white whale aboard the
Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim,
committed absurdities with Ignatius J. Reilly, rode a sad train with
Anna Karenina, and strolled down Swann's Way. It's a rewarding world,
but my second one is by far superior. My second one is populated with
characters slightly less eccentric but supremely real, made of flesh
and bone, full of love, who are my ultimate inspiration for
everything. Richard and Emily Gilmore are kind, decent, unfailingly
generous people. They are my twin pillars without whom I could not
stand. I am proud to be their grandchild.
My sister Lauren. She is
the best sister anyone could ask for. She could turn the most dullest
occasion into the most funniest and trilling. You could be having
your worst day ever, but one minute in a room with Lauren and it's
the best. She is never serious and is always optimistic. We have been
best friends since before i could remember, and will always be."
"Uh
oh." said Sookie."Hang in there." said Lorelai as she
looked at Lauren who was wiping tears from her eyes.
"But
my ultimate inspiration comes from my best friend, the dazzling woman
from whom I received my name and my life's blood, Lorelai
Gilmore."
"Waterworks..coming.." Lorelai got
out.
"My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn't do
whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our
house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her
efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to
Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen
years, I don't know if she ever realized that the person I most
wanted to be was her...thank you mom. You're my guidepost for
everything."
"Oh god...crying..." said Lorelai."Not
doing so well myself." said Jackson.
"Oh no, not you
too." said Lorelai to Luke.
"I'm blubbering, you're
freaks."
"Paris Eustace Geller." said the
teacher.
"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore." Rory walked up and
took her diploma. She made a face at her mother.
"Lorelai
really." said Emily.
"Class of 2003! Give your self a
hand." everyone threw there hats in the air.
Lorelai,
Rory and Lauren were in Europe. Everything was going great. Things
went so fast. Before anyone knew it, they were on the plane back to
Stars Hollow. When they got
home Babette ran out of the house and
told them that she thought they were kidnaped. They gave everyone
there presents and gave Luke some jam. Lauren and Rory begged
Lorelai not to give it to him, be she was persistent and told
them that she couldn't hear them, she was too far away. Lauren and
Lorelai found out that Sookie was having a baby boy, but Rory and
Jackson remained un informed. When they got home Rory realized she
wrote the date down wrong, that she was supposed to be at Yale in
three days not two weeks. They all rushed to get everything in order.
That night Lauren saw Luke pull his truck up into the Gilmore
driveway and get Rory's mattress on his truck. Lauren sat by the door
and listened to Luke and Lorelai's convocation. nothing interesting.
Lauren played with her fingernails when she heard..
"we got
married." Lauren's head perked up and she shoved her ear to the
door. Rory came out of her room.
"Lauren?"
"Shhh!"
"What?"
"Luke
got marreid!"
"What!" Rory put her ear to the door
next to Lauren. They listened to Luke tell Lorelai on how they got
marreid and got divorced. Rory and Lauren both felt bad and when they
heard Lorelai coming back in the house they scurried out of sight.
The rest of the year went by. Luke and Nicole went out again and put the divorce on hold, but he found out she was cheating on him. Lorelai was dating Jason, someone Lauren really, really hated, more then Max. Rory moved to Yale and Lorelai and Lauren missed her like crazy, Lorelai's birthday once again and Lauren's as well. Luke's sister was getting married and Dean did get married. And the inn was having its test run in a few weeks.
Lorelai,
Lauren and Rory walked into the diner.
"Hey, you
guys...Luke's coming over here i want you to pay very close
attention."
"To what?" asked Lauren.
"Shh!"
"Coffee?"
asked Luke.
"Oh, sure coffee would be great Coffee you guys?
Yeah, they'll have coffee."
"Okay, you need a minute?"
"Yeah,
a minute would be great."
"Okay."
"Well!"
"Well
what?" asked Rory and Lauren."You notice
anything?"
"Anything?"
"Anything weird,
anything different?""About Luke?"
"Of corse
about Luke. Did you notice anything different?"
"Like
what?"
"Like a vibe, an attitude. Did he look at me
differently?"
"Differently than what?"
"Differently
than he did."
"Differently then he did when?" asked
Lauren."Before."
"Before what?" asked Rory and
Lauren mad.
"Before, before. You guys!"
"How on
earth can you be frustrated with us?" asked Rory.
"Fine.
Come here." Lorelai pushed Lauren and Rory out the door.
"What's
your damage, Heather?" asked Rory.
"I think I'm dating
Luke."
"What?" asked Rory.
"You are!"
yelled Lauren.
"I'm not sure. It's just a possibility. I
could be wrong."
"But how? When?"
"I went
with him to his sister's wedding, and it was really nice. We had a
really good time. We laughed a lot, and we ate, and then we
danced.""Danced? How?" asked Rory.
"We
pop-locked."
"Was it a fast dance, slow dance, group
dance?"
"It
was a slow dance. What is "group dance?""
"The
hustle, the hora." said Lauren.
"No hustle, no hora. It
was a slow dance -- a waltz. Luke can waltz."
"Luke can
waltz!"
"Luke can waltz."
"Look
how you just said, "Luke can waltz."" said
Rory.
"What, I'm just saying, I'm surprised that Luke can
waltz." "That sounded more like, "I'm surprised I
still have my clothes on." said Lauren. Rory nodded.
"Oh,
stop."
"What else happened?" asked Rory.
"Nothing.
We spent the evening together. We danced, he walked me home, then he
asked me to a movie. All of these things individually do not add up
to dating, but together, I don't know. And there was this moment,
when he walked me home, where I thought -- I don't know."
"Did
you say yes?"
"When?" "To the movie. Did you
say yes?"
"Yes.""That sounds like dating to
me." said Lauren.
"How would you know, you never been on
a date."
"Gee, thanks for rubbing it in."
"But
maybe he didn't mean it as a date thing. Maybe he just needed to get
out of the house, and since I'm currently one of the women sitting
home, thinking, "If I could only find a man like Aragorn,"
he picked me."
"Okay,
whoa, this is Luke."
"I know."
"Our Luke
-- the town Luke. We see him every day. He's a part of our lives."
"I
know."
"I mean, everyone will know. They'll know if
you're together, they'll know if you're not together."
"I
know."
"You can't just date Luke. When you're with Luke,
you are with Luke. And if it doesn't work out, it will be really bad
for all of us. I mean how do you feel about this? Do you want to be
dating Luke?"
"Okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves
here. I don't even know if this is what he's thinking. This could be
a totally innocent situation, and then we've done all this
what-iffing for nothing. Let's just go back in there and see if
anything's weird, okay?"
"Okay.""Okay."
the
girls entered the diner. Luke asked if everything was okay and
Lorelai responded with 'yes'
as she gracefully fell as she leaned on the table.
It was the night of the test run. Lorelai was a wreak. Emily and Richard showed up and them having there whole "separation" thing made it all worse. Then Jason showed up and told Luke that Lorelai and him were still an "item". Lauren wondered where Rory was. Lorelai sent her to get CD's a long time ago. Lauren was gonna go home and find her but as she exited out the back door and heard her mother and Luke talking. She was gonna let it go so started walking. When she didn't hear anymore talking she turned around and saw them kissing.
'Oh
my God!' Lauren couldn't take her eyes off them. She watched Luke
pull Lorelai in and Lorelai cup Luke's face and kiss him again. Then
she saw them go in for another kiss and saw Kirk.
'Oh
my god. The first time i see a naked man and its Kirk.' thought
Lauren. Lauren was so happy. Ever since that day Lorelai asked them
about Luke, when Lauren was eleven, Lauren wanted them to get
together. Lauren ran home to tell Rory.
"Rory!"
yelled Lauren as she entered the house. Lauren walked over to Rory's
room and saw Dean and Rory under the covers kissing. They looked un
clothed.
"Rory?" asked Lauren.
"Oh shit!"
yelled Rory."What the hell are you doing?" yelled
Lauren.
"Lauren.."
"Rory..he's married!"
"Lauren
i don't need you to lecture me.." they heard a car door slam.
Lauren saw her mother zipping through the house. Lauren looked close
to tears. How could Rory do this? When Lorelai can in focus she saw
Lauren with a sad look on her face.
"Lauren?" thats when
Rory and Dean came out of the room.
"Dean came over to borrow
something." said Rory.
"Yeah, i should go..thank
you...bye Lorelai ..Lauren." said Dean as he left the house.
"So
what he borrow?" asked Lorelai as she saw Rory's rumpled bed.
"Lauren go back to the inn please."
"Yes."
Lauren ran out of the house and to the inn.
When Lauren got back to the inn, she was out of breath. She sat on the porch. 'How could Rory do that?' was playing like a broken record in Lauren's mind. Rory was smarter then that. Dean was married. He was with Lindsey. Lauren started to cry. She looked up to her sister as a role model. She wanted to be just like her. She wanted to go to Yale like her sister, Chilton, where she would be going in the fall, Lauren wanted to follow in her sister's footsteps for as long as she could remember. When she was six and they asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would say.."her sister. Rory" and that never changed. But now, she walked in on her sister..having sex, with a married guy. She was like the people you see on Jerry Springer. She was a cheater. She was the other women.
Lauren's
thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps behind her. She
looked up and saw Luke. Luke saw her tear stained face."Hey,
what happened?"
"Nothing..i cant say..something at
home." and Lauren ran up the stairs.
The next day, Rory was going to Europe with Emily and Lorelai and her weren't even speaking. Luke and Lorelai were presueing there romantic relationship and for once Lauren loved the person her mother was with. When Rory came back she apologized to Lorelai and Lauren. Lauren told her that she didn't need to say sorry to her, but Rory said she did.
---------------------------------------------------------
Luke
and Lorelai went on there first date. Lauren assumed they were having
a good time, since her mother didn't get home till the next morning.
Luke, Lorelai and Lauren all went to the town meeting. They took a
seat in the back.
"All
right, let's move on to the next order of business. Hmm. A very
serious matter has been brought to our attention, and I would like to
bring to the floor for discussion the possible negative ramifications
of the inn owner and diner owner dating."
"That's us!"
said Lorelai."There talking about us." said Luke.
"Now,
as you all know, the relationship we have feared for some time has
emerged, and we need to carefully consider whether or not we can
support this." said Taylor.
"Oh, my God!" said
Lorelai.
"Were sitting right here!" said Luke
"Yes
Luke we see you and as a member of the town your welcome to voice
your opinion."
"Voice my.."
"I open the
floor up for discussion. All right. I'll start. Luke's Diner is a
staple in this town. Most of us eat there on a regular basis. The
Dragonfly Inn, though newer than Luke's Diner, has also become very
important in our community. The co-mingling of the owners of these
two establishments can only set the stage for disaster.""What
the hell is he talking about?" asked Luke.
"He's not
happy with your co-mingling." said Lauren.
"Think of the
consequences. What will happen when the relationship goes sour, as,
let's face it, most of Lorelai's relationships do?"
"Hey!"
"We'll
have to choose. Suddenly you'll either be a 'Luke' or a 'Lorelai',
or, if you're Kirk and you can't make a decision to save your life,
you'll be neither."
"He's probably right." said
Kirk.
"That's bad for the economy, bad for the town. I vote
against this."
"I think your over reacting, Taylor."
said Babette.
"Yeah Taylor, there happy." said
Lauren.
"People, do I have to remind you about Fay Wellington
and Art Brush, huh? Do I?"
"Uh yeah." said Lorelai
and Lauren at the same time.
"Fay owned a flower shop, and
Art owned a candy store, and they fell madly in love about 10 years
ago -- big romance." said Babette.
"And for a while, it
all worked very synergistically. Flowers and candy seemed like a
perfect match..." said Taylor.
"Until Art met Margie."
said Patty.
"The fudge queen." chimed in Gypsy.
"Ooh
that was bad." said Babette.
"The whole town split right
down the middle. Suddenly you could buy flowers or you could buy
candy."
"Valentine's day was a nightmare." said
Patty.
"Par, of corse for me." said Kirk.
"Eventually,
the hostility forced Art to move."
"Fay
never married. She stopped making candy. It was very sad."
"And
those storefronts were empty for a year. No one wanted to be
there."
"God, this sounds terrible. Maybe they have a
point." said Lorelai.
"No, they don't have a
point."
"Well, what if something happens?""This
is crazy. I don't believe that the breakup of Fay Wellington and Art
Brush affected the economy of this town one bit."
"Well,
lucky for you, I brought charts."
"You have charts
concerning the romance of two people who used to live here 10 years
ago?"
"We
think Fay still lives in the caves above the Clancys' Mill. We can't
prove it, but every so often, we hear "Delta Dawn" playing
over and over." said Kirk.
"I think that map's a little
off. Luke would definitely take the Northwest block 'cause it's near
the fishing hole." said Babette.
"Okay, that's it. I've
heard enough." Luke walked up to the podetium."This is my
relationship, mine, not yours, not yours, not yours, your's..."
he says looking at Lorelai. "But not yours. Mine and hers but
not yours...none of you have say in this.." Luke looked at
Lauren in her seat waving. "Only you...cause you're her
daughter." said Luke pointing to Lauren.
"Show them the
horoscope!" yelled Lorelai.
"But in the event of a
breakup.."
"There's not gonna be a breakup."'
"Well, isn't he the
optimistic fellow?" said Gypsy.
"Fine. In case of a
breakup, I'll move. I'll close up Luke's Diner, I'll go far, far
away, and that way you won't have to choose, okay? Every section in
town can be pink."
"We have your word on that?"
"You
have my word and a couple of middle fingers on it too.." the
meeting was over. Lauren and Lorelai ran up to Luke.
"You
still in?" asked Luke.
"You bet i am.."
"Me
too!" yelled Lauren. They looked at her each raising an eyebrow.
"I mean, i am 100 supportive if this relationship."
"Really?
No obnoctious, rude, mean, and non Lauren, Lauren?""Are you
kidding? I waited a long time for this relationship..make it
work."
"Planing on it." said Lorelai as she smiled
at Luke.
School started. Lauren already had a homework project due. Only she wasn't sure how to do it. A family description. It was a piece of paper. It said Mother..Father...Siblings...Step mother...Step father...Grandparents...and she was to give a description of each. She was going to put Luke as step father, but didn't know what to write for father. She asked her mother who just told her to write she didn't know him. Lauren wanted something different. All her life, it was say you don't know him, his name was Robert, tell them that you never met...Lauren wanted real answers. She asked around town and everyone gave her odd answers.
Lauren
just got home from working on the Franklin. She was still walking in
Rory's footsteps, only she wasn't going to sleep with a married man.
It was six when she got
home. Luke and her mother were watching
Tv on the couch. They told her they were leaving for the town meeting
in a few minutes, if she wanted to come. Lauren told them that she
was gonna take a quick shower and meet them there.
Lorelai
and Luke piled into the town meeting.
"Oh Good Lorelai you're
here, we wanted to talk to you." said Taylor.
"Yes?"
"Lauren
as been coming up to everyone, asking about her father..what do you
want us to say?"
"We don't want anything to be different
then what your telling her." said Patty.
"Ooh, just
say..that she looks like him, alot..and he had green eyes like hers
and freckles..."
"Have you ever met her father?"
asked Patty.
"No, but Lauren's mother and I were inseparable.
She looks just like Tessa."
"Really."
"Yeah..Lauren
is like the twin of her mother...""Shit." they heard
Taylor say. Taylor never cursed, something big must have happened.
Lorelai and Luke turned around and saw Lauren looking at them with
her mouth open.
"Oh, my God." said Lorelai and Luke at
the same time.
"Mom? Why are you saying Lauren's
mother?..you're my mother..""Lauren..honey.."
"Your
not my mother?" Lauren was now crying. "I was
adopted?."
"Lauren..let me explain..."
"You
never told me? For fifteen years..you never told me...and you all
knew?" Lauren was now hysterical crying. "YOU ALL KNEW?"
yelled Lauren at the town.
"Lauren..." said Lorelai.
Lauren started hyperventilating.
"How could you? I..i have
to go..i cant be in the same room as all you people..." Lauren
ran out.
"Lauren!" yelled Lorelai. Lorelai cried into
Luke's arms. Lorelai went home with Luke and Lauren wasn't there.
They looked all over town, but she was no where in sight. All her
cloths were still there, so she didn't run away. Lorelai called
Rory.
"Hello?" asked Rory."Is Lauren
there?""Mom?"
"Is Lauren there?""No..why
whats the matter?" asked Rory worried.
"Lauren
knows."
"What?"
"She heard everyone
talking..she knows about Tessa and now we cant find her.."
"Oh,
my God...I'm coming home."
"You don't..."
"I
coming home.." they hung up.
Rory arrived home in thirty
minutes. She knocked hard on the door and a crying Lorelai opened it.
Rory hugged her mother.
"What happened?"
"Lauren,
was asking people in town about her father..and at the town meeting
people were asking me what to say, so that we have a similar
story..and i was talking about Tessa and the accident and Lauren was
in the back the whole time." "Oh, no!"
"Yeah,
and she ran and we haven't seen her since." said Luke. "We
looked all over town, nothing.." just then the phone rang. Rory
answered it.
"Hello?"
"Yes, is this Ms.
Gilmore?" Rory knew that her mother was not in the mood to talk
so took the call.
"Uh, yes this is Ms. Gilmore." Lorelai
mouth 'thank you' to her
daughter.
"Are you the mother of Lauren Gilmore?"
"Lauren?
Uh..yes." Lorelai and Luke ran by Rory.
"Well, Lauren
was hit by a car tonight. She is in Hertford Hospital."
"What?"
"Good
night." Rory started crying.
"Oh, God..Rory, what
happened?" asked Lorelai.
"Lauren...was hit by a car.."
Lorelai looked at Rory for a second and collapsed into Luke's arms.
Rory drove her car to the hospital, as Luke took Lorelai in his
truck. When they got there they were told that it was dark and Lauren
walked in the middle of the street. A car hit her and she broke her
arm.
"That's it?" asked Lorelai. "She just broke
her arm?"
"Yes, lucky too, she was hit in a way, that
many people don't live to talk about...she must be a strong
girl."
"Yes, she is." said Rory. The nurse walked
Lauren in the hall where she saw Luke, Lorelai and Rory.
"Lauren!"
yelled Lorelai.
"What?" asked Lauren. Lauren was still
crying. She didn't look the three people in they eye. Lorelai had an
idea.
"Hey, Rory, can i borrow your car?"
"Sure.."
"Luke
can you take Rory back to my place?"
"Yeah..you
okay?""Yeah." Lorelai took Lauren to the cemetery.
They stood front of two graves.
'Tessa
Smith.
Loving mother, daughter and friend.'
1967-1990'
Robert
Turner.
Loving father, brother, and son.'
1966-1990'
"So
these are my parents?" asked Lauren tears in her
eyes.
"Yes."
"How come you never told me?"
"I
wanted to tell you so many times. Every mother's day, when you would
give me a card, when you said your first word, ma-ma. I always found
it odd, that your mother would want me to hide that from you. Once i
was going to tell you..you were three. I couldn't take it. You gave
me for my birthday..the 'best
mommy in the world' plaque, and said to myself..'Tessa should be
getting this. Not me.' but i couldn't tell you." Lorelai
cried.
"How did you meet..my mother?"
"We were
best friends in Jr. High. We met in the seventh grade and were like
sisters. We did almost everything together. We went on vacations with
each other's families, we slept over each other's house almost every
weekend. We were inseparable. But when i dropped out of high school
because i was pregnant, things changed, but not a first. At first,
Tessa would come over every day after school and tell me all the
stuff i have been missing, she would tell me all the dirt of what
happened with the latest couple..she even brought me baby cloths. But
when Rory was born, we talked less. We wrote letters and sometimes
called each other. At first the letters were pages long, but then
they went to just a page, to just a paragraph, to just a few
sentences. And then we stopped all together. We never talked. And
then i ran with your sister to Stars Hollow and we never talked
again. But then one night, i just get a call..saying that she died in
an accident..a drunk driver hit her and her boyfriend head on..you
were in the backseat. You were just a baby..three months. They didn't
think you were gonna live. The first day you came home with me you
grabbed my finger and held it tight and put it in your mouth and i
smiled, thinking that this could work of great. But i just felt so
guilty keeping this all from you. Fifteen years..."
"Can
i ask you a question?"
"Sure.""Can...i still
call you mom?" asked Lauren hopefully. Lorelai smiled and hugged
her daughter tight.
"Of corse..i adopted you...by law i am
your mother now."
"Good..would Tessa been a good
mother?"
"The best. She always loved kids."
"For
some reason i just want to pretend that i never found out. That
you're my real mother and Rory is my real sister..but i cant forget
it. If none of this happened, i may have never met you, or known this
town...and..i wouldn't miss it, because i would have never known it,
i find it hard, not to miss this town.." "Yeah, this town
is one of a kind."
"It sure is...hey
mom?""Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"For
what?"
"For keeping me..." smiled Lauren up at her
mom. Lorelai hugged her daughter again.
Four months later.
Lauren
still couldn't believe that Lorelai was not her mother. She still had
a hard time grasping that. Lauren went to the cemetery every week
with Lorelai. Sometimes Rory and Luke came. Lauren missed her mother
and father, even thought she never really knew them. Lorelai, Luke
and Rory walked back to the jeep after visiting the cemetery. Lauren
walked behind them.
"Hey mom!" yelled
Lauren.
"Yeah?"
"I left something over there
I'll meet you by the jeep.""Okay.." Lauren walked over
to the grave. She sat down on the grass and just looked at the hedge
stones.
"Mom..thank you for picking Lorelai. She is great. I
wish you would have let her tell me, though..about..you and dad. I
didn't grow up with a father..but now i will. Luke and her are
getting married. I cant believe it. I love you guys..even though i
don't remember you. But i just wanted to say thank you."Lauren
ran back over to Luke, Lorelai and Rory. They walked back to the
jeep. Lauren looked up at the sky and saw the clouds part and a sun
beam shine down on her. Lauren knew, that was her parents saying.
'Your welcome.'
The end...
