Rory stared at the wall in front of her. The inky stains danced and pixelated before her eyes and she let her mind wander idly. She was sixteen. Even if things went awry with Lorelai as they had with every other family she had stayed with, there was a very likely chance that she would never come back to this room. Behind her she heard the soft patter of footsteps, followed by the familiar silence that always came when Anne leaned on her door.

"Hey," she said, not looking back at the girl.

"Hey." Anne echoed. Rory stepped forward and placed her fingers on the brick, and slowly let her hand fall. Fingertips brushed the surface and she sighed happily.

"I won't get rid of it when your gone...you know...if you need to come back." Rory bit her lip and turned around.

"Thanks," she said. "You get picked?" Anne smiled a little, a tense sort of grimace that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Not today."

"You will."

"Yeah," Anne cleared her throat unconfortably, "I know." After a minute of silence, Rory turned back to the wall. She heard Anne leave behind her.

-

Stars Hollow. Friendly, idiosyncratic, quant. Apparently, Rory had landed herself the little house with the picket fence. Hell, she'd found the little town with the picket fence. She walked through the square in the center of town, letting the scent of grass and snow engulf her senses. Wait. She smelled something else. Rory tore her eyes from the Gazebo and looked in the direction her nose demanded.

"Are you coming?" Lorelai asked her. She smiled and gestured to follow her into the little windowed building. The image hit Rory's sockets like an electric plug. The grinning waving woman, her blue eyes glittering with youth before her years. The ominously gray sky, the people bustling by. Occasionaly one gave her a puzzled stare. She was sure there was a skinny man was standing not twenty feet away from her, taking turns looking at her through a set of binoculars and writing down notes on a crumpled bit of paper.

She assumed that one was a hallucination and walked towards her new caretaker.

Through the belled glass door was a small diner, filled to the brim with what could only be described as townsfolk. The aroma of java brewing was overpowering now, wafting over to Rory mingled with bacon and maple syrup following close behind. Lorelai walked up to the counter, and Rory followed right behind her. It took a while for a man clad in plaid and denim to greet her.

"Coffee?" The man set a mug on the counter without awaiting an answer.

"Yes please Luke my dear, you will never believe what I did last night."

"Cn' I help you?" Luke turned to Rory, and she opened her mouth to explain. She was cut off.

"See I decided to go shopping, isn't that fascinating. I decided to go shopping and I didn't like any of the shoes I saw, so I came home with a daughter instead."

Luke stared at Lorelai for a moment. His eyes fought the urge, but eventually flicked over to Rory questioningly.

"Hi." She said, smiling a little. He opened his mouth once, and closed it.

Then, "Coffee?" Rory nodded and sat next to Lorelai as her cup was set on the counter and poured.

The trio sat for a while in silence, the air growing in intensity and awkwardness. Rory gave up.

"Can I get this to go?" She asked the plaid clad man, Luke, if she remembered right. "I thought I saw a bookstore down the street." The man nodded and replaced her cup, and she thanked him and left the small diner. She could tell when people needed space, and was never one to impose herself on others privacy. After only several minutes of walking, she reached the store.

-

"Lor..." Lukes voice was disapproving.

"What?" She asked defiantly.

"Impulse buying a kid?"

"I impulse bought a kid once!" A tall gangly man suddenly interjected from the seat over. "My mom made me give it back, though."

"Kirk! Go away!" Luke redirected his dissapproval.

"She said she the smell of the goat feed made her hyperventalate."

"Kirk!"

"I loved lil Buck, but my mom said it wouldn't be happy in the garage anyway."

"KIRK!" Luke barked. The wane man balked and huffed.

"Fine, some service. I'm going to lodge a complaint." Luke stared him down without an answer until he gathered up his awkward collection of newspapers and post-it notes, and slammed the belled door on his way out.

"Lorelai." He turned his attention back to her, even as she tried to slouch into the counter until the point of disappearing.

"Luke, please don't." she said, her voice quiet, tired.

"This isn't gonna go away when you get bored, you know."

"I know."

"Is this about Christopher?"

Lorelai's eyes flashed with anger and she sat up straighter in her seat. "Don't, Luke. Don't go there. I am very happy being at a place that isn't...there."

"This is a person, Lorelai. A human being."

"Really?" She snapped sardonically, "I thought she was a puppy."

"You can't do this alone."

"If I remember correctly, I'm not the only one who decided to take on a teenager out of the blue."

Luke snorted indignantly. "That's different."

"How?"

"My sister needed help. I didn't grab him off a sales rack."

"Clearance, actually," she flipped her hair, "No charge. Just lot's of paperwork."

"This isn't a joke, Lorelai."

"I know, Luke! I know! I know I...I need this."

"Does she? Does she want your baggage?"

"She needs a home, Luke, and a mom. I don't think the baggage outweighs that."

"And you're going to be that? A mom?" Lorelai's eyes lost some of their conviction, and she glanced away after a moment of thought. She could feel Luke's eyes continuing to bore into her, and tried her very best to ignore the discomfort. She sipped at her coffee.

-------------------------

Alright guys, here's the thing. I believe this story can go places--I am already mapping out plans for Rory and Jess, who will by the way meet next chapter, which I have already started. However, I'm not sure how high a demand this story will have, and I'm not sure about how constant I will be in updating. I have a very busy schedule planned once the fall starts, so all I can promise is my best effort.

Oh and sorry about the length of the chapter (or lack thereof, anyway), this was a very fast paced sort of idea and I felt it needed a fast paced sort of read time.

Please let me know what you guys think?