Disclaimer: Once again nothing belongs to me. Except for Avery!

Thanks to all reviewers out there. I'm overwhelmed!

Marcel-Marceau-chicken: Thank you so much for the review. I've read your profile by the way, very orginal penname +gg+.

Synch14: Thanks for the hint with the bonding thing. I followed your advice :-). Hope you like it. Thanx for the review once again.

lorelai gilmore danes1: In this chapter Avery talks more, as you asked. Thanks for all your kind reviews.

AthleticCharmedOne: Thanks so much for your review. And sorry the Friday night dinner didn't fit into this chapter any more. But will come in the next one.

lukeandlorealilove: In this chapter Avey feels slightly more acclimated, as you hoped. And you are right, I would be overwhelmed too by their behaviour. +gg+ Thanks for the review.

zetaphi7: Thank you zetaphi. Hope you keep reading.

JavaJunkie22: Thank you once again for your regularly review. Here the update.

Me: Asyou wish here is more and thank you for the review!

Tonje: Wow, thank you Tonje for reading the whole ten chapters in one breath. Must have taken you a while. Thank you for taking the time for reading and reviewing!

roywthepoodles: Gosh, of course you are right. Moby Dick is by Melville. I feel really embarrassed now. It's just I read this book right now by Ian Wallace and I mixed it up. Thanks for pointing it out. I changed it already. Thanks for your review!

gottalovethegilmores: Thank you so much for the review. And yes in this chapter she opens up a little bit so she can experience some of the good things, as you wrote.

This is my longest chapter so far. I'm so proud +gg+. Unfortunately the Friday night dinner didn't fit into this one any more, so it will get its own chapter. Have fun!

Chapter 11:

Around 8:00 a.m. a strange feeling, I couldn't quite identify at that moment, had woken me for the second time this morning. Slowly, I opened my sleepy eyes to be blinded by the early sun rays of the day. For a moment, I had to get used to the brightness of this new morning. Finally, my eyes flattered open and my blurry surroundings sharpened in an instant of a second. The unfamiliarity of the room freaked me out for a single moment but just until the events of the past two days came back and nearly seemed to over roll me.

Still dizzy, I rubbed my eyes, to be suddenly greeted with another presence in my room. My mother sat cross-legged on a small chair, watching me from her current position. My eyes drifted over to hers and for a moment there was nothing but the calming sensation our presences had on each other. Blue eyes linked with blue eyes, as a small smile escaped my lips. My mother returned my gesture as she suddenly stood up and came over to let herself fall onto the end of my bed. She patted my hand that still hung loose out of the bed and finally broke the thick silence of the morning.

"Ella…I know that these past two days have been really hard on you. They have been hard on all of us. And so many things have changed for you in a matter of a second. But we really have to talk about the still unspoken things in your life." My mom started her flow of words, taking a small breath.

"Do you drink your coffee black or white? Junk food eater or health freak? Cooking spoon or remote control? Casablanca or Breakfast at Tiffany's? Jelly beans or red vines? Pizza or Chinese food? Willy Wonka or the Oompa Loompas? Summer or winter type? Thermo underwear or summer dress? Titanic crier or not? Madonna and Sean Penn or Madonna and Guy Ritchie? Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie? Would you rather go to a debutant ball or rather slowly rip out your intestines? DAR or jumping off a bridge? Shopping or camping? Golfing or debate club? Early bird or night owl? Nick and Nora or Sid and Nancy? Bangles oooorrr Bangles? Patrick Swazey or John Travolta? And most important of all what's your attitude towards snow?" she said in one breath, while I helplessly tried to follow her words.

I was completely surprised by her unpredictable mass of questions that felt more like an uncontrollably pounding hammer every time she asked me something. I clearly hadn't seen that coming and hadn't awaited these kind of questions when she started to talk in this really serious sounding voice a few moments ago. While I still sat totally mesmerized in bed, she grinned at me sheepishly because now I was practically forced to speak more than three words in one row. So, I took a deep breath and tried to remember the order of questions that had shockingly burned into my brain.

"White. Junk food. Remote control. Casablanca. Jelly beans. Pizza. Oompa Loompas. Summer type. The dress. Haven't seen Titanic. Undecided about Madonna. Jennifer Aniston. What's a debutant ball? What's the DAR? Shopping. Golfing. Early bird. Who are Sid, Nancy, Nick and Nora? The next one is hard: I would say the Bangles. Patrick Swazey. And my attitude towards snow? Mmmmmhhh… I'm not sure." I finished my up til now most spoken words in a single conversation.

"You have passed the Gilmore girls test with an astonishing outcome of 78" she said jokingly. "But I'm sure your score will improve after you've seen Titanic, Sid and Nancy and the Thin Man, in which Nick and Nora star by the way. And of course after you have enjoyed the ultimate pleasure of meeting my parents. Then you will also know what I meant with DAR and debutant ball." She continued, though I was not quite sure if I understood everything she had just told me.

"And believe me when I tell you, that as soon as you have met my mother for the very first time, you want to jump off a bridge or rip out your intestines." She said seriously, but then started to grin mischievously.

"No, I'm just joking" she then said, having obviously seen my confused expression.

"The thing about your grandparents is…they never got over the fact that their only daughter has gotten herself pregnant at 16. You must know, that they come from a very different world, then we are living in." she explained, this time however with a real serious expression.

"Your grandparents are good people, never doubt that, but they have other goals and views on life then I or you have. They wanted a daughter, who should attend balls, and galas, and charity organizations. They wanted a daughter, who should be part of the DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, by the way. A daughter, who should marry rich and be a perfect member of high society."

"But… this kind of life is and was not what I imagined my life to be. I was a rebellious teenager. I rebelled against my parent's rules, about their way of living about everything this world stood for. When I got pregnant, however, everything changed. Everything changed when that strip turned pink. And one thing you must believe me, I never regretted the both of you. You and Rory, are the best things in my life. You gave my life a meaning…It's…just not fair that we lost 16 years of our time together " she sadly said, her eyes bearing a pained expression.

From one moment to the other she seemed to have aged about ten years. A veil of sadness hang over her normally happy face and her youthful nature disappeared for a second. She sighed deeply and tried to overplay her feelings, with one of her shining smiles. But she couldn't deceive me. 'Cause I'm practically the master of suppressed feelings and pretended happy expressions. As I closely watched this unusual side of my mother, I suddenly felt an urging desire to hug her. To comfort her and be there for her. This was once again a completely new and strange feeling that spread throughout my body. And again I couldn't identify where this was coming from. How do you call a warm, comforting, desiring, absolutely overwhelming and perfect feeling? A feeling of pure bliss and happiness? A feeling you never want to stop again?

I didn't further think about it but let my body language speak for myself. Once again I gave her a smile, but this time it was real and pure and then I leaned forward to hug my mom for the very first time. I embraced in her in an overwhelming tight hug and to my surprise it felt like the most natural thing in the world. I felt her arms tighten around me as we stayed in this position for several minutes. I felt safe, protected, happy and content. The feeling I had wondered about a few seconds ago, intensified all the more as we clung to each other tightly. And suddenly I perfectly knew what I felt. It was the top feeling of the scale of all feelings. Poems and songs, books and novels had been written about it.

Yes it was love what I felt. Pure and unconditional love. And I wished it could stay that way forever.

"I love you Hon" I heard my mother whisper into my hair.

"Yes, I love you too" I thought, but somehow I was unable to speak it out loud. Too overwhelming was this whole new situation.

"This had been the number one moment on her list of new experiences and impressions, of the last days." Avery thought, as she still sat on the veranda, which was bathed in perfect sunlight by now. She closed her eyes to enjoy the gentle rays on her skin and breathed in the fresh, calming air. A small fresh chill lay in it, a messenger for the soon to come autumn. But not only had the morning breeze lost its gentle warm breath but Avery had slightly lost the shimmer of palenesson her face. The rosé colour, which had once graced her facial features, slowly found its way back. Happiness radiated from her eyes and the once beaming sparkle had nearly returned. As she sat there in perfect harmony with herself, she continued thinking about the important happenings of the past days.

On that same morning my mom, Rory and I went to Luke's diner to have breakfast. All eyes seemed to be fixated on me as we made our way through the cute little city. One could practically hear every word of the whispering people, who seemed to have nothing better to do but watch every single move we made. I was relieved, as we finally arrived at Luke's, a nice looking diner in the centre of the city. We placed ourselves on a table near the door, because referring to my mother, you had the best view from there. As I wanted to prove her statement, and let my eyes drift over to the big glass windows, the whole town suddenly seemed to stand out there, pretending to talk with one and each other. I slowly turned my head over to face my mother, but from the corner of my eyes I still watched the crazy town people. As soon as they thought I wouldn't see them, their noses practically were glued to the glass.

"Is that normal" I asked, pointing to the window, as my mom and sister followed my directions.

"Totally normal" they said in unison, obviously unimpressed by so much craziness.

"What are they up to now" the familiar voice of Luke suddenly echoed through the diner. He put down the two plates of ham and eggs, he had balanced in his hands, and angrily stormed out of the door. "

"Showtime" my mom cheerfully said as we watched the following scenes.

"TAYLOR" Luke barked grumpily. "What the hell are you doing out here!"

"We just wanted to inspect the new citizen" Taylor replied.

"WHAT?" Luke continued in full volume.

"The new girl, Luke, or haven't you noticed her sitting in there" Taylor said matter of fact. "Everybody knows, that every new citizen has to personally visit me and introduce himself."

"Of course I have noticed her" he gestured vigorously into my direction. "And why should she introduce herself to you?" he said frantically, pointing his hand from me to Taylor.

"Luke, Luke, Luke" Taylor addressed him like a little child. "Who am I?"

"What?" he practically spat.

"Who am I Luke?"

"You are crazy, insane, lunatic, maniacal, mad, Taylor!" Luke shouted.

"No! I'm the head of this city" he explained, seemingly unaffected by Luke's outburst.

"Every new citizen has to come to me. I observe him and decide if he fits into our community."

"Oh my God, look at the vein on Luke's forehead, it's pulsating" my mom cried amused.

"This is crazy. Totally crazy, Taylor. Since when do people have to come to you!" Luke gestured wildly.

"Luke Luke Luke. Everything stands in the new city enactment. Would you read it…"

"Call me one more time Luke, and I forget myself Taylor. Screw your enactment and listen to me…You will leave the girl alone. Are we clear? If not…we will soon have another head of the city…+pause+... because the old one died choking from the enactment…" Luke yelled, his head red like a tomato, as he stormed back inside.

"Is there coming smoke out of his ears." Rory seriously asked us, unable to hold back her fit of laughter any longer.

I had to admit that I have never seen such a hilarious scene before. Slowly but surely I started to understand my mom's and sister's love for this city. In Stars Hollow you never get bored. There was always something going on. Crazy neighbours, frightening garden gnomes, funny movie nights, weird towns people, Taylor, Luke and so on and so on. And all of this happened in two days. I was highly looking forward to spending more time here.

Avery had to laugh out loud alone at the thought of this crazy morning. It was only a quite chuckle but it was a beginning. Avery was still amazed by herself how quickly she had opened up to this whole new situation. And another smile escaped her lips as she thought about the bizarre characters she got to know on their way to her mother's workplace, the Independence Inn.

"One, two, three…flutter, flutter, flutter…four, five, six…flutter, flutter, flutter" the voice of a woman could be heard as we passed obviously the dance studio of the town.

"Heads up…arms to your waist…balance ladies…balance…always keep your balance. I told you last week…if the book falls off your heads, Harry Potter will die…and yes Macy…so will Ron and Hermione" the woman continued her lecture.

A 50 something, red-haired, well-nourished lady in a blue poncho stood in the door of the studio and declared her instructions to the pupils. So, this was the famous Miss Patty.

"Aaahhhh…Lorelai. Good to see you" she cried excited. Our excitement, however, fell.

"And you must be Avery" she said as she took my chin in one hand and turned my head from one side to the other to examine me very closely.

"What a gorgeous girl! Such a lovely skin, it's like porcelain. You must have dozens of admirers" she came to the conclusion.

"Ah…I bet so…ahm…Patty we really have to go now…we are in a hurry. Like always it was a pleasure talking to you" my mother quickly saved me from my misery as we continued our walk to the Inn.

"Do you dance? I bet you do" Patty called after tus. "Look at this firm butt" she said more to herself, but still in full volume.

"This was definitely a moment to remember" Avery thought. She was still completely alone outside of the veranda. Not even their neighbours, Babette and Moray, were up. Avery glanced down on her watch to find out that it was 6:24 by now. Yes, she was an early bird but getting up at 6:00 a.m. was even for her, a tic to soon. The calmness and peacefulness of the hour, however, were worth it. Back in Litchfield there was no such thing as peacefulness. More the complete opposite of it. Screaming, shouting and punches stood on the agenda. Hardly ever was she able to enjoy a moment for herself.

It was the first time since she had met her family, that she had thought back on her past life and therefore Hank. All the life changing events that had taken place in her life had distracted her from past horrors. She knew, however, that she couldn't avoid that topic forever. She also knew that sooner or later her mom would ask her questions. Questions she wasn't sure she was able to answer. Yesterday she had overheard a conversation between her mom and the police on the telephone. She desperately tried to persuade them to give her more time. But would time really give her answers and reveal the truth? She felt bad for her mother. All she did was supporting her, enabling her a new future and giving her her undivided love. But talking about her past was a chapter of her life, she wasn't sure she could ever talk openly about.

Avery shook her head slightly to banish the unpleasant thoughts and instead concentrate on happier moments.

"Sookie! Sweetie. We are here!" my mother called her best friend as we made our way into the kitchen of the Independence Inn. It was a really beautiful hotel with a huge wide park, a lake, and rosebushes were planted beside the driveway, which gave the scenery its last perfect touch.

"So this was the place where my mom and Rory grew up" I quietly thought. "That's where I would have grown up, if…" I quickly dismissed my strain of thoughts, not wanting to hold onto ifs and whens and whys.

"Coming" a female voice could be heard from a nearby room, probably the larder.

The door opened and out came a small, funny but friendly looking woman. Her reddish hair was tied up in two pigtails and a dishtowel hung over her right shoulder, which she artistically threw to her left side. It landed on the stove and immediately caught fire. Nobody however seemed to be impressed or alerted about the fact that a burning cloth was lying in the middle of the kitchen. In the same moment as I wanted to point out the obviously only for me existing danger, one of the cooks poured a glass of water over the stove. I thought about mentioning the almost catastrophe but decided against it because obviously it seemed to be the most normal everyday thing in the world..

While I stood there, totally panicking, Sookie tightly hugged my mom and Rory. She hesitated for a moment but then also embraced me like a long lost friend. I smiled shyly about her gesture and to my astonishment returned it.

"So you are Avery!" she said excitedly, mustering me from head to toe. By now I was used to the watchful eyes of Stars Hollows citizens.

"Uuhhhh…this is so exciting!" she squeaked, while clapping her hands together. "This is like in this one episode of "The Bold and the Beautiful", when Brook finds out that her child, who she thought was dead, suddenly stood in front of her door…or was it Stephanie's? Ahm…anyways…ahm… the kid stood in front of her door…and she was so happy that her daughter was back. But the truth was that it wasn't her daughter but Sheila bribed the kid to play her daughter…to spy her out and…

"Sookie!" My mom waved her hand in front of Sookie's face.

"Sorry…maybe it wasn't exactly like in your case." She laughed nervously.

"Avery. Such a beautiful name" Sookie quickly changed the topic.

"We call her Ella. We got it from Elizabeth, her second name" my mom told her proudly.

"Ella...oooohhh…beautiful…like Ella Fitzgerald. Didn't she have an amazing voice" Sookie dreamily said.

I really had to smile about that woman. She was so funny and cute, simply loveable. She remembered me a little bit of my mom. At that moment a man in a grey suit came into the kitchen.

"Ahh…ha-ppy…fa-mi-ly…re-union" the man said in a thick French accent.

"Avery may I introduce you to Michel our concierge. Michel that's Avery or Ella, my daughter" mom said.

"Ho-w nice" Michel said sarcastically. "Not…all of us…ha-ve…ti-me for fa-mi-ly ga-ther-ings how-ever. O-ther peo-ple ha-ve to work" Michel said crankily.

"Someone is really cranky this morning" mom exclaimed. "Hasn't he had his "unyolked" scrambled eggs yet?" she asked Sookie.

"Nope" she replied.

"Quick Sookie, we have to give him whole-wheat intravenous" she said jokingly.

"Ver-ry fun-ny. But I-am the one who will lau-gh when you are old and wri-nkly and my skin is sti-ll tight and firm. And th-en I wi-ll ju-mp on your gr-aves and lau-gh" he said, leaving the room.

"That's Michel" my mother exclaimed the strange encounter.

"Lunch! I'm making you lunch!" Sookie suddenly screamed.

"Sookie…we just had breakfast" my mother started but it was useless.

"Brussels sprouts with cream cheese and toast almonds…no no no roasted chicken with prusciutto and green olives and and and a zucchini sour cream soup and as desert chocolate mint truffles or or or pumpkin chiffon pie" she said gesturing wildly with her hands.

"Nod your head and smile" my mom instructed me, while she patted her hand on my shoulder.

"What a crazy loveable woman" Avery thought as she remembered this day. Within a week she had learned to love this woman. Every day she would visit them and bring Avery dozens of courses of different dishes because referring to Sookie, she was way too skinny. Slowly but surely she adjusted to the crazy eating habits of the Gilmore's. On Thursday as Lorelai and Rory led a heated discussion over whether they would have pizza of Chinese food, Avery suggested that she could cook something for them. Their faces were priceless.

"We had pizza just yesterday" Rory complained.

"But…I…want…pizza!" mom said stubbornly like a little child.

"And I want Chinese food" Rory replied.

The discussion had run an unbeaten 30 minutes before I finally decided to interrupt the very mature discussion.

"I could cook something" I said. Had I foreseen their reactions however I would have swallowed down my suggestion in an instant of a second.

Two sharp gasps could be heard, from where a few moments ago, only the banter of mother and daughter had rung throughout the living room. Huge horrified eyes watched me as if I was guilty of felony.

"You can cook" my mother asked slightly appalled.

I looked at her for a moment, not really sure what I should say next. Had I said something wrong?

"A little" I tried to weaken my obviously terrible offer.

"And a little means…?" my mom asked.

"Ahm…"

"Putting a ready-to-serve meal into the microwave? Or are you a second Jamie Oliver?" she continued her drilling question.

"More the first" I quickly lied. "What do you think about ordering a pizza?" I then said, quickly changing the topic. I was relieved when a new conversation started over whether to order pizza or Chinese.

The last memory of this exciting week was Friday night dinner at the grandparents house. She had been quite nervous to meet her grandparents after everything Lorelai had told her about them. As she let herself drift into this last memory, she was suddenly interrupted by Babette and Moray, who started their day with a little stroll.

"Hey Doll" Babette waved from the front garden of her house, as Moray followed her, pulling a little trolley behind him or pasichiatta as he would call it, in which their cat Apricot lay lazily inside.

"Hey" she said, waving back.

"You are up early" Babette exclaimed, already curious as always in the earliest hours of the morning.

"Couldn't sleep" she quickly said, not really burning on having chitchat.

"Oh alright. See ya later Doll" she said, and gladly she continued her stroll.

Avery nodded and concentrated once again on the past week. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought back on Friday night.