"Yo, Izzy!" Kirk shouted as the three Gilmore girls walked into the diner one morning.
"Hi, Kirk," she said, giving him a high five. Lorelai, Rory, and Isabelle walked up to the counter and sat down, Isabelle with a little help from Rory.
"Hey," Luke said, walking out from behind the curtain. "Coffee?" he asked, mainly to Lorelai.
"Sure!" Izzy said, surprising everyone.
"No. No way am I giving a three-year-old coffee."
"But Luke," she said, sticking out her bottom lip and giving him the patented Gilmore puppy dog eyes.
"Lorelai, can you help me out a little here?" Luke said, having a hard time resisting the look.
Lorelai motioned for him to lean in closer to her. "Just give it to her black. She'll never even want to look at it again," she whispered in his ear, sending chills down his spine.
"Okay." Luke stood up and grabbed a small mug and filled it with black coffee, making sure to get it from his "Lorelai Pot" so it would be extra strong. "Here ya go, kid."
"Thanks!" Izzy picked up the cup of coffee and sipped it carefully. Immediately, she set it back down and spit her sip back into the cup. "This is gross!"
"I tried to warn you," Luke said, giving her the smile he reserved only for the Gilmore girls.
Just then, Luke dropped his order taking pen and it rolled behind the curtain. "I'll get it!" Izzy shouted excitedly, jumping from her stool to the ground and chasing after the pen.
"But, insurance-" Luke tried to stop her, but she was already gone.
"She's just trying to help, Luke. She won't get a sack of potatoes on the head," Lorelai mocked.
"I sure hope not."
"So, Luke, guess what Mom's doing tonight," Rory said, making her presence known for the first time that morning.
"Admitting herself to the local insane asylum?"
"No, that's Sunday. Tonight, she's telling Grandma and Grandpa about Izzy."
"You mean, they don't know yet?" Luke asked, surprised. "It's been a month since she's been here.
"She's been avoiding it."
"I like breathing. It keeps me happy. The minute I tell Emily and Richard, that convenience will be taken away from me."
"I highly doubt that."
"You've clearly never met the elder Gilmore's."
Luke just rolled his eyes. Rory looked around and noticed that Isabelle hadn't come back yet. "Mom, where's Izzy?"
"Getting the pen, remember?"
"It takes 2 minutes to pick up a pen?" Rory said, suddenly getting worried.
"Oh my god." Lorelai jumped up from her stool and ran behind the curtain. No Izzy. She walked back out to the front and shouted, "Everyone stop what you're doing! Izzy's missing!" The diner went into an uproar. Everyone dropped their forks and spoons and began searching in and outside of the diner. "Where could she be?" Lorelai asked frantically.
"I don't know. Maybe she went to Doose's," Rory said, and they walked off in that direction.
Luke walked back behind the curtain to make sure Lorelai didn't miss anything. When he didn't see Isabelle back there, he turned around to go back out to the diner and continue looking, but the open back door caught his eye. "Who left this open?" he thought outloud.
He stepped outside and found Isabelle, crouched down next to a stray kitten with his order pen in her little hand.
"Izzy!" he shouted, relieved.
"Hi Luke! Look what I found!" she said enthusiastically, pointing to the kitten.
"I see that." He bent down and picked Izzy up, taking the pen from her hand as she offered it to him. "You gave everyone quite a scare, kiddo," he said, walking back into the diner to find Lorelai.
"Why?" she asked, oblivious to the commotion going on around her.
Luke just shook his head and said, "You can stop looking now! I've got her!" to the diner full of frantic people. They all stopped and went back to their tables and continued going about their business.
Luke walked outside and found Lorelai and Rory running around the outside of Doose's searching for Isabelle.
"Guys, I found her," Luke stated calmly.
Lorelai rushed up to them and took Izzy in her arms, holding her close. "Don't you do that ever, ever again, okay?" Izzy nodded, still a bit confused. "Luke can get his own pens from now on," she said with a smile.
Isabelle reached out and wiped the few tears from her mother's eyes. "I promise."
Tbc.
I have no excuses. I am just a bad human being. So sue me. I promise my next update will be tomorrow night at the latest. This was just a filler chapter to keep you hanging on til tomorrow night, so no getting upset about the shortness. I actually added stuff to what this was to make it longer. Tell me what you think! I promise to take all the tar and featherings in stride.
