Chapter 5

I don't own Gilmore Girls

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Rory anxiously waited for her mother to get home, pacing around the bedroom and looking out the window at every little sound. This could drive her crazy…..she had to get out of the house. Coming from Boston, her mother could easily be several hours, and Rory couldn't pace for hours on end. No, she would meet Paris at the store, and from there, send her home. Lorelai would need comfort food, she was devastated and more then likely wouldn't get out of bed for several days. But Paris had done her job, and now Rory just wanted to be alone with her mother. Then they could just sit and talk and cry it all out. Rory was pretty sure that she could help fix it all, she just needed to sit down and hear the extent of the damage done. It was pouring outside, but Rory didn't have a car, so she threw her coat over her head and ran to the market.

Lorelai was having a hard time driving; she shouldn't have expected to keep her eyes dry, but she had. She thought that she could make it until she saw Rory. But once again, everything was piling up on her heart, and she was feeling overwhelmed by it all. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened. It was too big to fathom. She had interfered and ruined what fate had brought her. At least that is how she felt. And if she could mess up that badly, to screw over fate's plan, then she wasn't sure that she wanted to live the rest of her life. She really needed to see her daughter. She was the one that could help her sort through all the gunk that had come between her and Luke. She should have gone to Rory last night, but like always she just didn't think. She did what she always did; run to Chris. Every time that she in a mess she ran to him. And the worst part was that he never really helped anything. He always complicated her life- without fail. Lorelai sighed and realized that she needed to get off the road. She was crying way too hard to be driving. She tried to stop crying long enough to take an exit and get to a parking lot. Once there, she let it out. She probably couldn't have held it in if she wanted to anymore. With the tears she could feel her strength drain out of her. Luke was a part of her, and that part would now never be whole again. She cried at least for an hour, when she realized that she still wouldn't be able to drive for awhile. Rory would be getting worried if she didn't see Lorelai within the hour, so she had to call.

Rory was peeking over the aisles to find Paris when her cell phone went off. Already worried about her mother, it didn't help that it was her calling. "Mom? Is everything okay?"

"Rory? Umm….yeah. I just- I need you to come to me." Obviously sobbing through her words.

"Did something happen mom? What's wrong?" She was still not sure what exactly she was upset about; whether it was Luke or something new.

"No, I'm just- I'm crying too hard to drive sweets. I, uh- I was kinda hoping you could come to get me?"

"Oh, ummmm sure. Where are you?" Still worried about her and wanting to see her as quickly as possible.

"Ummm, I don't know Rory, that's why I got off the road, I couldn't see at all. Could you just head to Boston, and I will figure out where I am on your way? I- I really need to see you."

Rory was scared now. Her mother hated her daughter seeing her upset; normally she avoided it at all costs. Like the last time Luke and her had fought. It wasn't good that she was upset enough to admit to needing her. "Sure, I am on my way right now. Do you need anything?"

"Um, we need a way to get my car home…." Lorelai felt stupid not being able to get home for herself.

"Oh, okay. We'll figure that out later mom. Let me just come for you now. Would you want to stay there for the night? It might be a good idea, so then we can talk for as long as we want."

"Yeah, that's a good idea hon, I will find a hotel of some kind." Sniffing and choking through the tears with a little laugh, she said, "After I figure out where I am." At the moment she really needed a bathroom, she could tell just by the way that she was feeling that she looked like crap. She was broken enough, that she didn't really care. There was a Denny's a block away, so she hung up with Rory, and walked there to use the bathroom and figure out where she was.

Rory then found Paris. "Hey, I need to go get my mom."

"Where is she? Is everything okay?" Paris asked

"Yeah, she's just too upset to drive. She's somewhere between here and Boston….she wasn't exactly sure where. But I need to go after her, so why don't you head home, and I can take it from here."

"You don't have a car Rory. How are you going to go get her without a car?" Still worried about Rory and Lorelai.

"Oh, that's right!" Rory answered starting to panic. All she wanted was to get to her mother….and things were getting complicated. "Will you take me?"

"You and Lorelai need to be alone. Why don't you take my car up there? I trust you, and then I will just take the bus home or something." She really wanted to be helpful.

"Yeah, I guess. Though I really don't want to take your car, there really isn't any other option. Thanks Paris." She said and took the keys from her friend. She also took all of the junk food that Paris had gotten, and carried it all out to the car. She raced out of the parking lot and down the street towards the freeway.

Luke was wiping down the tables when he saw Rory fly by the diner. Worried about what new development might have been discovered, he picked up the phone and called Rory's cell.

"Hello?" Rory answered once again worried about her mother.

"Hey Rory. Is everything okay? I saw you in a strange car racing down the street, and I got worried."

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story. Paris brought me home from Yale because I was too upset to drive. And now mom just called and needs me to pick her up….and so I don't have a car. Now Paris gave me her car to go get her and she has to take the bus home." Rory cringed slightly at what she had said, she wasn't willing to explain to Luke where Lorelai was, but she had set herself up for it.

"You have to pick her up? Where is she?" Luke panicked a little.

"Well- um. I can't tell you that right now. She really needs to be the one to tell you where she is. For now just know that she is okay, just really upset."

"Um, okay. That really didn't help me not to worry though." He sighed, "Okay Rory. Please take care of her for me. And- as soon as she is ready too, get her to talk to me. We really need to talk."

"I will Luke, I promise. You know that I really want you guys to be together. She just needs to work everything out, and then she will be coming to you to make up."

"Yeah, I do know that Rory. Take care, and be careful." And he hung up. Maybe everything would work out. Lorelai just needed some space to work everything out. Rory would be the perfect one to help her with that. Luke decided that all he really wanted was a beer up in his apartment. He climbed the steps and opened the door. To his surprise Liz was up there cooking dinner. "Are you cooking?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah! I think that this one is actually going to taste good!" She said with a laugh.

Luke smiled despite everything that was going on in his mind. Liz actually showed up at a good time. That was probably a first. But, Luke was really glad to have her around. He could really use her help around here. He couldn't function normally until things with Lorelai worked out. With Liz here he could focus on that, while she took care of some of the other things. "Thanks Liz" he said as he took a giant plate of the spaghetti she had made. He then took a beer out of the fridge and sat in his chair to eat. Liz tried to keep the conversation light and ongoing. Luke had a hard time keeping up with her talking. He downed his beer in a hurry, but hardly touched his food. He thought that he had been hungry, but he was too worked up and worried about everything. Liz sent him to bed early and demanded that she opened in the morning so that he could sleep in.

Lorelai had figured out where she was. She had driven about a quarter of the distance between Boston and Stars Hollow. She was at a Denny's in Ashland, right off the freeway. She had informed Rory of this information, and then walked back to her car and cried again. She needed to find a hotel room like Rory said, but really wasn't in the mood to see anyone but her daughter. She felt sick to her stomach now. For the first time all day she picked up her cell phone to check the time. It didn't feel like the day after the fight, it really felt like that happened months ago- years really. But the pain in her heart was still very fresh. It was 8pm. Rory should be here really soon, but for now- she needed to rest her eyes.

She leaped out of her sleep when Rory knocked on her window. She stretched a little, and opened up the door while her heart returned to its normal speed. She had really been asleep, not great sleep, but at least sleep. "Hey hon. Thanks for coming." She reached out to hug her daughter, her best friend.

Rory noticed how horrible her mother looked, and tried hard not to look surprised and worried. She hugged her mother, and then they both got back into the car to settle in for a good talk. "So, are you ready to tell me what happened?" she pried a little- she really needed to hear what happened.

"Rory, um… let's get a hotel room, and get all settled in first. I am going to cry through this, and I don't want to show up at a hotel room with puffy eyes."

Rory didn't want to tell her mother that she already had horribly puffy eyes and deep tired lines so she just agreed and tried to smile.

They got into their respective cars and Rory followed her mother around the town of Ashland until they found a nice enough looking hotel. They checked in, got all of their stuff into the room, got into their pajamas and settled into bed. Lorelai was just stalling and Rory knew it. But she also knew that her mother wouldn't say anything until she was ready- even to her best friend. It was just the way that Lorelai was. They small-talked for awhile, but when Rory started yawning, Lorelai knew she had to start talking. She sighed and began the long story.

"Rory, this is a lot bigger than not getting married on June 3rd." she started.

"Yeah, I kinda thought that, I knew something else, more recent had to have happened."

Lorelai looked down at the bed. This was really hard to get out, this was her heart, and this was so personal that it felt disgusting to tell anyone else, like she was giving away something of herself- it was all the yucky-ness that had been building up in her heart since this whole June 3rd thing started. It was all so much a part of her that she really had no idea how to share it……even to Rory. "I feel like…..I rushed fate and so I don't get what it was going to give me." she said, already tearing up. "I don't think that Luke is the one, or maybe-gosh. Maybe he is, but we messed it up badly enough that it just can't happen anymore. Luke saying no to eloping the other night- that….that was just too much. That was the end- I can't, I can't give my heart back to him after that. Not after how much we promised and all that he said……I just….I found out something about Luke last night that I can't get over- I can't forgive." Lorelai stopped because she was crying too hard to talk. Rory crawled closer to her and held her hands. "But, I knew that Luke would try to fix everything, because- because he's Luke. And I couldn't stand the thought of that. So, so-I did something stupid……something beyond stupid. I just can't stand the thought of fixing things with Luke. He's too perfect, everything was too perfect. And the idea of having him, but not being able to have what we were meant to have, is too much……and I don't think that we can fix everything- not without me compromising a LOT of myself." Lorelai stopped again. This was like throwing up, like a lot of times when you are getting out things that this personal……later you feel much better, but for the moment, you just feel gross. Lorelai sobbed then, uncontrollable, gasping sobs. The sobs scared Rory to death, but she just laid there next to her mother rubbing her shoulder and trying to calm her down. They could finish the story in the morning that was plenty for Rory to be able to figure out what happened from there. Perfect eternity was ripped out of her mother's hands, and she had understood that. She was reacting accordingly.

I still haven't decided whether they will end up together or not……..I personally don't think that they should, but for the sake of the story, they just might. Please comment!