Thanks to all those who reviewed, it's really inspiering. I hope you'll enjoy this second chapter, but let me warn you; the next update wont be this quick. I'm going on a holiday, I'll be back sometime next week ( around the 10th).
Come back! By Ane Berentsen
Lorelai was in a bad mood, and she was taking it out on the laundry. Rarely had a pile of laundry been thrown on a livingroom table with more power. As she started folding, Luke came through the main door with a bag full of groceries in one hand. Suzannah was hanging over one of his shoulders, fast asleep. Lorelai scowled at her husband.
"You let her fall asleep in the car again?" she asked in an irritated voice. "Now we're never gonna get her to bed tonight!"
"I know, I know...," Luke replied. He seemed tired. "I tried everything, I told her all the jokes I know, but she just couldn't keep her eyes open."
"I see. Your jokes make great sedatives." Lorelai asserted. "Just put her on the couch, I'll take her to Rory's room in a bit."
Luke put the bag down, placed Suzannah on the couch and tucked a blanket around her.
"There.When is Rory coming home, anyway? Are we picking her up anywhere?" he asked. Lorelai was glad he had brought up the subject; she needed to talk about what was upsetting her so much.
"No, she said she's renting a car at the airport. She'll be here some time tonight. Far away from Danny...,"
"That guy's got to be a real jerk." Luke said as he went back out into the hallway to take of his shoes and jacket.
"I know!" Lorelai began, but lowered her voice so she wouldn't wake up her sister. "I never liked that guy!"
"Lorelai, you never met "that guy", you know...," Luke came back into the room. Lorelai lost her temper and forgot about the sleeping child.
"I don't have to meet a guy, who's stupid enough to cheat on a fantastic girl like Rory. Someone, who makes her so depressed that she quits her job and can't even stand her own appartment anymore, because it reminds her of him. I don't need to meet him, okay? I hate him, that's it!"
Luke tried to get her to lower her voice, but it was too late. Suzannah was wimphering and tossing back and forth. Lorelai took a deep breath to get her irritation out of her system, before she went over to the couch and picked her sister up. She held her tight and rocked her slowly.
"I'm sorry, cupcake, I'm so sorry..." she whispered into the girl's ear. She really was sorry about the outbreak. Lorelai's goal was to make her home a sanctuary for Suzy, where she could relax and not worry about harsh words. Lorelai had always wanted a place like that when she was a child. But sometimes her Gilmore blood pumped through her veins so fast and forcefully that she simply couldn't controll herself, even if she tried.
The little girl opened her eyes and looked straight into Lorelai's.
"I want Lumpy..." she whispered.
Rory had just been given the keys to the rental car. It was a tiny Volvo, and as far as she could tell, it had to be about her age. Can this old thing really get me to Stars Hollow? she thought as she got in. She tried to turn on the radio, but it didn't seem to work. Just my luck she thought to herself. This wreck fits in perfectly with the rest of my life these days.
She was glad to be out of her filthy appartment. Allthough it had been her home for more than six months, it had never felt like home to her. All she wanted to do now, was to get back to her real home in Stars Hollow. It had been months since she had seen her mother the last time. She couldn't remember the last time they had been apart for this long. She couldn't wait to rest her head on Lorelai's chest and just cry...Cry until there wasn't a tear left inside of her.
She had been driving for a while when she heard some strange noises coming from the engine. Just as she was about to stop the car, the car beat her to it. She was dangled towards the steering wheel as the Volvo gave up with a last sigh.
"What's wrong with you...you... stupid thing!" she cried out in frustration as she rubbed her forehead. She got out of the car and opened the bonnet. Out came a huge cloud of smoke that made her cough.
"I thought the word "Volvo" ment "I'm rolling"..." she mumbled as she searched her pockets for her cell phone. "I guess you didn't know that, huh, pal?"
Lorelai was waiting in the livingroom when Luke and Suzannah came home for the second time that day.
"Hey, did you find Lumpy?" she asked her sister as she came running into the livingroom. The girl shook her head. Luke was walking right behind her.
"What took you so long?" Lorelai asked him.
"First, that maid wouldn't let us in. I had to threaten to call your mother before she finally opened the door..." Luke began, but Lorelai interrupted him.
"Wow, if only she'd known that you wouldn't even call my mother if you were offered a million dollars!" she giggled.
"Then, when we got in, there was this weird smell. Either your parents have become hippies in their old days, or the maid is smoking pot in their house. Do you think we should tell them?" Luke continued.
"I don't see why, she's bound to be fired soon anyway..." Lorelai said as she helped Suzannah take her jacket of.
"Anyway, we searched Suzy's room inside-out, but there was no sign of the bear. I think you're right about him being in the T-R-A-S-H." Luke spelled the last word, so that Suzannah wouldn't understand him. Lorelai sighed. So her mother HAD planned this.
"So we didn't find Lumpy, but guess who asked us for a ride?" Luke asked and then turned towards the door.
"Okay, Kirk, you can come in now." Kirk entered the house with a disappointed look on his face.
"You said we could surprise her!" he moaned. Lorelai quickly got to her feet.
"Don't worry, Kirk, I'm extremely surprised. What on earth are you doing here?" she asked.
"I'm here on business," Kirk explained. "As you know, my dog-walking business is kind of slow these days, so I thought I'd try walking something else: Children!"
"Children?" Lorelai asked and wasn't sure whether she understood what Kirk was getting at. On the other hand had she never understood Kirk all that well.
"Yes. I heard you have a child here for the week?" Kirk asked.
"Are you saying you want to take my sister out for a walk? Kirk, it's almost her bed-time." Lorelai said in a faltering voice.
Before Kirk had the time to answer, the phone started ringing. Luke went to answer it.
"Hello?...Rory, where are you?...What?...How did that happen...? Ok, ok, here's your mother." He handed the phone over to Lorelai, who was becoming more confused by the minute.
After having hung up, Lorelai turned back to Kirk.
"Listen, you can't take Suzy with you anywhere, but it would be great if you could stay here with her while Luke and I go to get Rory. Poor thing, she's stranded in the middle of a road and she's very scared that someone will run into her car from behind. We'd better both go, to make sure we'll get the other car with us."
Kirk nodded, and Lorelai smiled at him gratefully.
"I'll just get her to bed before we leave." She said as she picked Suzy up and ran up the stairs.
"I'll get the car!" Luke yelled after her before he went outside.
Lorelai put Suzy down onto a mattress on the floor in the main bedroom. She usually slept in Rory's old room, but tonight Rory would be needing that room. The thought of having her daughter in the house again warmed Lorelai's heart.
"Lorelai, where do you think Lumpy is?" Suzannah asked. Lorelai didn't want to deal with that problem right now.
"I'm sure he snuck into Mum's suitcase, because he wanted to go to California with them." she explained. "He'll come home with them next Friday. Why don't you look up at the stars and think of him until then?" Lorelai pointed out the window. It was getting dark, and it was possible to see a few stars on the horizon. "You see, Suzy, we all look up to the same stars, no matter if we're in Stars Hollow, or in California. That way, we're reminded that we're not too far away from each other." Lorelai knew that it wasn't only the teddy bear Suzannah longed for, and she hoped this "same-stars-above-us" speech would make her feel better.
"Which way is California?" Suzannah asked.
"That way." Lorelai pointed in a haphazar direction. "Now, you lie down and try to get some sleep. Kirk is downstairs if you need anything, and the rest of us will be back soon." She got onto her feet. "And we'll bring back Rory with us!" she said, mainly to herself. Suzannah had already closed her eyes and seemed to be sleeping when Lorelai left the room.
Rory was sick and tired of counting the squears in the pattern on the car seats when Luke and Lorelai finally arrived in their car. The two Gilmore Girls got out of the cars and ran towards each other. Rory threw herself around Lorelai's neck and let her tears come, the way she had dreamt of for so long. For several minutes mother and daughter just stood there with their arms around each other. They both cried, but it was a good cry, the kind that one needs to get it over with in order to move on. They didn't let go until Luke became impatient.
"Hey, it's great that the two of you have finally found each other and all that, but are we just going to stand here and wait for someone to hit that old wreck from behind?" he shouted through the car window. Lorelai allowed her daugther to pull away first, before she went to help Luke tie a rope to the car so they could give the Volvo a tow out of the way.
When the three of them returned home, they found Kirk sleeping on the couch. Lorelai gestured to Luke and Rory as though to say "Watch this!"
She snuck up to the couch and bend over it until her mouth was only inches away from Kirk's ear: "Hey! Wake up!" she cried out and had to stop herself from laughing when she saw Kirk falling off the couch.
"What kind of a baby-sitter are you? You can't sleep while you're on duty!" Lorelai exclaimed and stared down on Kirk with hard eyes.
"I wasn't sleeping!" Kirk defended himself. He didn't want to admit that he was doing a lousy job. While he tried to figure out how to unwrap himself from the blanket he had covered himself with, Lorelai ran upstairs to check on Suzannah. Luke and Rory began to talk about what to do about the car, and Kirk had just managed to stand up when they heard a scream from upstairs. Lorelai came running back down the stairs with a terrified look on her face only mere seconds later.
"She's not there!" was all she was able to get out before she was out of air. Rory gasped.
"What do you mean?" Luke couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Suzy! She's not there! She's not in the bedroom!" Lorelai cried and the panic she felt was clearly showing on her face. Before Lorelai had even finished the last sentence, Luke was about to attack Kirk. Lorelai and Rory had to hold him back. Kirk tried to hide behind the couch.
"Why couldn't you just had stayed awake, huh? This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't passed out like that!" Luke yelled in a desperate way.
"Okay, okay, maybe I was out for a few seconds..." Kirk admitted. He was biting his nails and wasn't sure what to do. The grown man looked as if he was about to cry.
"Stop it, Luke, it's not his fault!" Lorelai screamed as she forced Luke to calm down.
"You're right, it's our fault! How could we leave her with an idiot like him!" Luke was still furious.
"It's not your fault either. It's mine..." Lorelai mumbled as she sat down and covered her face with her hands.
"Mum, how is it your fault?" Rory sat down next to her mother and started running her hand over her shoulder. Lorelai turned to her and stared into her eyes.
"I gave her directions to California!"
Two hours had passed, and it was getting darker and darker. Lorelai searched the complete area around her house, lighting up the bushes and the threes with a flashlight. If only I could remember which way I pointed... She thought to herself. She had been walking around like this for hours. Luke was driving to her parent's house in Hartford, in case Suzy in some mysterious way knew how to get there. Kirk was searching along the way to the centre of the town, and Rory was waiting at home, so that there would be someone there if Suzy came back. Lorelai had called the police, but they told her to "check underneath the bed" and "call back after 24 hours". She hadn't dared to call her mother yet, but she knew that if Luke came home without the girl, she'd have to. She'd actually have to call her mother and tell her that her little angel, her father's "petite cherie", was missing! Lorelai would rather spend the night in hell...
Luke had checked the Gilmore house in Hartford, there was no light and the door was locked, so he was pretty sure the girl wasn't in there. On his way home, he had checked up on Kirk to see if he had been luckier. Kirk had knocked on every single door in Stars Hollow, and was organizing a search together with Taylor. Luke was pretty sure this wouldn't lead to anything, a girl that small probably wouldn't walk that far anyway. But if it could help Kirk to feel better, and at the same time give Taylor one of those kicks he got when he could organize something, then what the heck. Luke just hoped the other town members weren't to grumpy about being ordered out this late in the evening.
All of a sudden Lorelai saw some light over by the road. It was Luke's car. Lorelai ran after it. This was the decisive moment. It was impossible to tell whether Suzannah was in the car or not. She jogged after the car until it stopped in front of her house about one minute later. She was exhausted, and had to lean against the back of the car as Luke stepped out.
"Any luck?" Lorelai asked while she was trying to catch her breath.
"No, nothing. I talked to Kirk too, he's turned the town up-side down but she's not there," Luke replied with slumped shoulders. He was sorry that he couldn't bring any happier news. Lorelai felt as if she was slowly dying inside. Luke put his arm around her, and she rubbed her nose against his chest.
"What if she's dead?" she mumbled. "She could be dead right now, and it would all be my fault."
"She's not dead." Luke tried to sound convincing, most of all to convince himself. "Suzy's a smart kid. She'll be all right. And no matter what happens, this isn't your fault. How could you know she was going to take off like that?"
Rory came out the main door. Lorelai turned away from Luke and looked up on her.
"She hasn't come home, has she?" Lorelai asked hopefully. She clung to the last straw. Rory looked down and shook her head.
"I knew it." Lorelai started walking with firm steps towards the door. She went past Rory and into the hallway, where she picked up the phone. Rory came after her.
"Wait, Mum. Maybe you don't have to call Grandma yet." Rory wasn't quite sure why she said it, but she knew that if her mother called and told her grandparents what had happened, it would be like taking a shower in petrol and going to a barbeque afterwards. Lorelai avoided eye-contact with her daughter.
"Yes, I have to..." she said calmly and took the phone to the kitchen with her while she dialed the number. As she sat down by the kitchen table she heard her mother's voice at the other end. She took a deap breath and let the words come out of her mouth.
"Hi Mum..."
To be continued...
How is that for a cliffhanger, huh? ;) I know, I know, not much E/R yet, but as you can see, there's defidently going to be more of them in the next chapter. Please review!