Chapter 19: Christopher's Story
Christopher Hayden sat in his office staring into space–something that he had been doing frequently since Lorelai and Max's visit. He was still trying to take in everything that Lorelai had told him. Rory was alive—and she had come to see him. But instead of welcoming his daughter with open arms, he had rejected her. Not intentionally of course but nevertheless... He had no reasonable explanation. He sighed. The past few weeks had not been easy at all. After Lorelai's visit, he finally told Sherry the truth about his past including the fact that Gigi was not his first-born. Sherry had been furious at first (and rightfully so). However, gradually she had gotten used to the idea. And as she had gotten used to the idea, she had begun to encourage him to set things straight–to go and see his daughter. He knew that Sherry was right—but he just didn't know how he could face her. What would he say? After all, what could he say that would make it all right? He sighed. Yet he knew what he had to do. He had to go to Stars Hollow and try to set things right. Somehow...
Christopher immediately got up and left the office. He got into his car and began the drive to Stars Hollow and the entire time he could not get the image of Lorelai and Rory out of his head...
Late that day at Luke's Diner...
"Afternoon Luke. I'd like one cup of coffee to go please."
Luke looked up and saw Lorelai Medina standing in front of him. He was slowly getting used to seeing more of her. Lorelai was now in Stars Hollow on a daily business working at the Independence Inn. And she was a frequent customer at Luke's. It hadn't taken long to figure out that Heather's addiction to caffeine and love of junk food had to be genetic. Until he met Lorelai, he hadn't known anyone else with the same strange eating habits of his daughter. He set the cup of coffee down in front of her.
"So, how's Heather?"
"She's good."
Lorelai smiled nervously in response. It was still awkward being around Luke. After all, Luke and Heather had been perfectly happy until Lorelai had stepped in and complicated the situation. She had hoped that being around Luke's more would help ease the discomfort of the situation. And overall, she felt it was.
"Umm I guess I should be getting back to the inn."
Luke nodded in response as Lorelai got up and left.
Later that night...
Luke was finishing cleaning up the diner–getting ready to officially close it for the night. Heather was upstairs doing her homework. He was getting ready to turn off the light when he heard a knock on the door. He went to answer the door.
"Can I help you?"
Christopher looked up at the man in front of him. Surely, he had the wrong place. This man couldn't possibly be... He just wasn't what Christopher had envisioned. He had not pictured a half-shaven man in a backwards baseball cap. He was just about to leave when he hear a sound from the curtain behind the counter and a familiar voice.
"Dad, can I go over to..."
Heather stopped mid-sentence as she looked up and saw Christopher standing there with Luke.
"What are you doing here?" She said doing her best to try to make her voice sound void of any sort of emotion.
"Heather, you know this man?" Luke asked in surprise.
"Yes, I do. This my biological father, Christopher Hayden."
"Fath..." Luke started but then stopped to take it all in.. Somehow he knew that the situation had just gotten a lot more complicated...