Thanx once again to the reviewers! You make my day!

lukeandlorelailove: Thank so much. I'm glad you liked the last chapter.

Synch14: Haha...sharp fingernails are dangerous:-) Thank you for the review!

Epona9009: Yes this chapter wasn't my best. I had hardly time to proveread it. I guess therefore the mistakes. And I get Ella from Elizabeth her second name. And sorry for the confusing speaking thinking mix up. I hope this chapter is better. Thanks for the review. :-)

zetaphi7: Thank you very much!

JavaJunkie22: Once again thanks to you and your regularly review. It means a lot. Makes my day.

BluJPlover: Thank you so much. I'm really glad you like it so much.

AthleticCharmedOne: Your review made me smile :-). Thanks so much for reading.

lorelai gilmore danes 1: Thanks for reviewing. And yes there is a nickname :-). Hope you like it.

cookiedough15: Wow, thanx so much for your kind compliment. I'm glad you feel that way. My native language is German, I from Austria by the way ;-). The last chapter wasn't really written in my best English but if I need help in any future chaptersI will gladly come back to your offer. Thanks again. And thank for your awesome review.

This chapter is a two parter. I couldn't bring all the happenings in one chapter. As for meeting all the town people or the grandparents. This will come in the next part. I hope that the point of view I have written is not too confusing. It's practically Avery remembering her time since she had come to Stars Hollow. Her thoughts about the past days are in italic and the present tense in normal letters. Hopefully not too confusing!

Chapter 10:

The past days had been the most exciting and challenging time in Avery's whole life. Every day brought something new and different and you never knew what was going to come next, when you lived under one roof with the Gilmore girls. So many things had changed for Avery since she had first stepped out of Luke's truck in Stars Hollow. The last days, have gone by like a blur of emotions.

Right now, it was early morning and she sat calmly on the veranda of her new home. Her mother and sister were still deep asleep. She, however, couldn't anymore, for she had to clear her mind from the happenings of the past days. And as she sat there on the little bench, with the first sun rays touching her face, she tried to remember all the important moments that had taken place since she had come to Stars Hollow.

In front of me stood a cute little house with a beautiful veranda, white walls, which might need a little painting, and a lawn, which hadn't been mowed in weeks. All in all, however, it reflected a cosy and welcoming atmosphere. For me, however, it was so much more than a cute looking house. It represented a new chance on life. It represented a future, far away from my abusive past. It represented everything I had ever wished for in life. Slowly I had let my eyes drift over the surroundings. To the right side of my new home was another house, which looked a little bit shabby but also very cute. The doors and windows seemed to be extra small, as if made for kids. And the garden was graced with dozens and dozens of garden gnomes, whoms eyes seemed to be fixed on every single movement I made. On one I could read the name Pierpont written on a little nameplate in his left hand. The whole scenery in front of me seemed to have been taken out from a book. Everything seemed calm and peaceful and in absolute harmony.

The perfect scene however was suddenly disturbed by the frantic screams of a woman, who came rushing out of the neighbour's house, heading into our direction.

"Lorelai! Lorelai! Thank god you are okay" the small, chubby looking woman cried as she stopped in front of us.

"Moray and I…we have been…so worried" she said completely out of breath. "I knocked on your door, over and over again and I screamed Lorelai…Lorelai where are you but no answer. I called every single person in Star Hollow…nobody had seen ya…and then Patty told me that something happened in the diner, but she didn't know what…" She explained, still trying to catch her breath.

"Babette we are fine" Lorelai interrupted her flow of words. "Everything is fine now." She smiled, amused by the outburst of the little crazy woman in front of her, whose heart though was definitely on the right place.

"Moray they are back" she cried again, when a man, with a black hat and sunglasses, suddenly leaned out of the window.

"Okay Babs" he said as he leaned back inside and started to play the piano.

"So where have ya been? And who is this gorgeous looking young girl" Babette asked as she mustered me from head to toe.

I knew, that Lorelai was thinking about whether to tell her the truth about me or not. My mother had told me about Babette and a Miss Patty, Kirk, Taylor, Michel, Sookie and all the other citizens of Stars Hollow on our ride home. As far as I can remember, Babette was the gossip Queen of Stars Hollow as my mother had called her.

"The smallest news in her hands are dangerous. You can be sure that within a few hours the whole of Stars Hollow knows" she had told me seriously. "Babette tells Miss Patty and Patty tells East Side Tilley and then it's only a matter of time." I remember my mom's words.

"This Babette, is my daughter Avery. Avery Elizabeth Gilmore." She proudly said, having obviously decided to tell her the truth.

A sharp gasp could be heard from where Babette stood. "Your daughter" she asked astonished and in a high-pitched voice after the shock had subsided.

What then came however Avery could hardly remember. It had gone down in the overwhelming blur of emotions she had experienced over the week. All she knew was that during the excited chatter, gasps, oh and ahs from Babette, she had sunk into her own dream world as her eyes kept fixed on the house. She imagined herself sitting on the veranda, reading a book and drinking coffee together with her newly found family. She imagined herself running bare feet over the lawn like an excited little child and she tried to imagine what the inside of the house looked like. However, she was brought back into reality when the woman, whose name was Babette, suddenly grabbed her shoulders and shook her like a puppet.

"Hello doll. Gosh, look at her! She looks like you, Lorelai!" Babette examined me. "Such a gorgeous girl. So you are Avery?" she asked me, excitement shimmering in her eyes. I could tell that she was burning to bring the news to this Miss Patty.

I nodded calmly, trying to escape her shaking hands on me. It was still new to me to be touched and spoken to like a normal person and it was hard to get used to this new sensation.

"We better go inside now, we have an exhausting night behind us" my mother saved me from my current position.

"Oh yes yes yes. Go inside. Rest. Tell me if you need anything." Babette said and I guess she was glad so because now she could spread the news over the whole town.

The next thing Avery remembered was stepping through the door of her mother's and sister's house for the very first time. A moment to remember. She followed her mom, who had problems to get in her shoes over the lawn in one piece. Closely behind followed Rory and Luke.

The house was a reflection of the unique personality of her mother. A cosy couch stood in the middle of the living room and a dozen of funny looking lamps, with apes on it or characters from "Hello Kitty" to Pumba the wart hawk from Lion King, gave the room its last touch.

I slowly made my way over to the fireplace to examine the photographs, which were standing on it. I could clearly feel the eyes of my mother, sister and Luke on me as I looked curiously at the pictures in front of me. Baby photos of Rory, photos of her first school day and photos of birthdays stood in a neatly arranged order beside one and the other.

"We will put photos of you up there" my mom suddenly said and I turned around to give her a small smile. I don't remember when I have smiled that much before in a single day.

Our next stop was the kitchen, which oddly seemed to be hardly used. My suspicion was confirmed immediately.

"This is our kitchen" my mother told me matter of fact. "Some people use kitchens to cook, we are not one of these people. We use it to hang out or to warm our socks in the oven. The fridge is also a very useful thing, we put in the rests of our movie nights or the delivery service" she told me completely serious.

"Obviously she meant what she said" I thought at this time, wondering what will come next. This woman was really one of a kind and I couldn't wait to learn more about her. I took a close look around, to be greeted with a whole set of Charlie's Angels mugs and Hello Kitty plates.

"Hello Kitty was obviously a favourite" I guessed. My gaze drifted slowly over to the half-open door, that connected the kitchen with another room.

"This is my room" Rory said. She must have watched me and followed my gaze to the door. I nodded in answer and blinked curiously into the room, my sister had opened and went into. From my current position I could only make out a bed and a desk with huge piles of papers on it.

As I stood there deep in thoughts, an enormous rush of emotions ran through my body and all I wanted to do in this very second was to let out this emotional explosion. I wanted to scream, laugh, and cry all at the same time. Coming into this house was like huge liberation for myself, it was as if somebody had freed me from my chains of indifference and apathy. Emotions bubbled up inside of me and it was as if a long forgotten part of me wanted to break out. My past life and experiences however couldn't let this happen. I couldn't bring myself to cry in front of this people, who treated me so nicely. I also couldn't bring myself to laugh out loud or scream. I had oppressed this kind of emotional outburst my whole life long and I'm not even sure if I'm able to do so? Was I able to laugh? To really laugh out loud and heartedly?

Like always I suppressed my feelings but this time it was different. It took me an enormous effort to swallow down this newly found emotions inside of me. What would happen though when this deeply buried side of myself would break out one day? Will I be able to laugh, cry and scream?

I shook myself up from my thoughts and finally followed Rory into her room. Never before had I seen so many books in one single place. I wouldn't imagine heaven any differently. It was pure bliss for me to see that my sister had obviously my passion for books in common.

"As I said before, you can borrow every book you want" she told me again and I nodded once again in answer. I felt really stupid for my lack of speaking. All I had said so far was "yes" and "I do". It was just that speaking to other people made me extremely nervous. I start to sweat and then I try to think really hard about what I could say. And while doing so an awkward silence builds up and I get even more nervous until the other person has enough and leaves me alone. That's what happened in my old school and this was also the reason I hadn't have any friends. The conversations would only be one sided. So once again I tried really hard to think about something I could say, when I suddenly discovered "Moby Dick by Herman Melville" on one of the shelves. For once I didn't think about what to say but my mouth simply started to speak.

"I…I have read Moby Dick" I said quietly, not believing what I have said right now.

"Yeah? I have read it about a year ago. Around the time when I started Chilton." Rory explained, while smiling at me warmly, not quiet believing I had really spoken. "When have you read it?" she asked me.

Once again my mouth opened magically, words flowing out like it was the most natural thing in the world.


"I read it when I was…five. Got it as a birthday present… took me a month…in the end though… I could hardly remember anything" I said in disbelieve over my own words.

Why was I talking so much? Why did I open up so much? Past experiences showed me that when you open yourself like a book, you are easily readable. And to be readable had never been a good thing. But despite my doubts I still heard myself talking.

"One thing however… I could remember. The…the…the amazing feeling of freedom and the passion the captain felt every time he was out on the sea. It's…my favourite book." I finally stopped myself from my outflow of words.

Embarrassed I looked down on my shoes. From the corner of my eyes, I could see my mother smiling relieved at Luke and also Rory shot our mom a joyous look. Thank god, the awkward silence was interrupted by my mother speaking.

"Now shall we continue our little guidance."

The rest of the little tour was once again like a blur for Avery, probably because she was still shocked and mesmerized by her sudden flow of words. The next thing she remembered was Luke excusing himself, for he had to go to the diner but promising her mom he would be back for the movie night. And sitting with Rory on the sofa in the living room and listening to the conversation her mother led with her grandmother after having called her friend Sookie to tell her the news.

"Do I really have to call her" she asked for the hundredth time in the last minute.


"Mom!" Rory shot her a look that said more than thousands words. She was obviously the rational pole of the family.

"Yeah yeah yeah. But a picture of my mother's face when…"

"Mom!"

"Alright!" she said with a trembling limp when she finally dialled the number and pressed the button for the loud-speaker-system.

"Hello" the voice of a woman could be heard on the other side of the line.

"Mom?"

"Who is this?"

"Who else calls you mom. Or do you have any children I don't know anything about?" she asked.

"Lorelai you are tiring me" her grandmother countered. "What do you want? And no excuses about Friday dinner."

"Mom, maybe you should sit down for a moment."

"Lorelai?" she said unnerved.

"Do you sit?"

"I sit" she finally said.

"Alright, yesterday I got life changing news" her mother started.

"Oh my god, you are pregnant. I can't believe it Lorelai…"

"Mom! I'm not pregnant" she interrupted her mother's accusation.

"Oh…"

"Mom, yesterday we found out that Avery is alive. Your granddaughter is alive. She was all those years. Strobe and Francine have made us believe that she is dead and…

Avery thought about a happier moment she had with her family so far. She didn't want to warm up the conversation and therefore her past once again. So she thought about a happy memory like the movie night they had on the same day.

"Luke you can't deny that the Oompa Loompas aren't funny" her mother had cried at Luke, who had mumbled something that sounded like "children's movie".

I had to smile a little over the fact that she was defending fictional dwarves, who worked in a fictional chocolate factory of a fictional Willy Wonka, and who were paid with cocoa beans, in front of a 30 something grown up man. Not that I didn't like the movie, but that was too funny.

On the table in front of us was strewn so much food, I would probably be able to eat from about 3 months. Gosh, they had an appetite. I watched amazed as they ate one pizza slice after the other, as they grabbed Luke's burgers, as they swallowed chocolate and jelly beans, and all kind of other things you can imagine. I was still gnawing on my first burger and fries from Luke. And it was a really really good burger in deed. But I simply wasn't used to eating that much. Most of the time I was afraid to go down into the kitchen and grab something to eat. Over the time you simply get used to the small amount of food.

"Ella you should really eat more. You look skinny" my mother suddenly told me.

"Ella…I really loved the ring of this name" I thought as I gave her small nod.

"You like the name right? Otherwise I call you Avery of course." She said as she had examined my thoughtful expression.

"Yes I do" I said shyly, giving her small smile.

"Your mother is right, you should really eat more" Luke suddenly brought himself into the conversation. "I brought you an extra big piece of apple pie. I thought you would like it because your mother loves apple pie."

"I wouldn't consider it love but…" Lorelai defended herself.

"You wrote an ode about apple pie, mom." Rory told her laughingly.

"And I also brought you an extra large mug of coffee. Because when you are really your mother's daughter, then you are addicted to coffee." Luke said.

"When you are right, then you are right" she said mischievously.

"Luke was right" I thought. "I loved coffee since I can think back."

Watching my mother and Luke I asked myself if they were a couple. He was there with her in the hospital, he waited with her outside my room the whole night, he gave her a ride, brought her food. Would a normal friend do something like that?

Until 1:00 a.m. we sat together on the couch, watching one movie after the other. At some point I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up the next morning I lay in my provisional camping bed, my mother had borrowed from Luke, which stood now in my new room. The room was my mother's sewing room but would be newly decorated and renovated only for me.

"How had I become so lucky? How did I deserve such a loving family?" I asked myself as I drifted back into sleep.

Hope you liked it!