Hey everyone,
Thanks for stopping by! I'm a long-time fan of Gilmore Girls and my favourite pairings are Rory/Logan and Lorelai/Christopher. I have been re watching all the episodes and an idea came to me of how to "fix" Lorelai and Christopher's relationship in season 7. So, I wrote it out and posted it. That is what you can see in the first chapter of this story. I'm not much of a fanfiction writer (I'm a much bigger reader) and I've only ever written one-shots. But as I continued my re watch, I couldn't help but imagine what the story would be like if it followed the tangent I "created". So, I've decided to explore it.
I've zero experience in writing multichapter stories, so I have no idea where this is going or how often I'll update. But bear with me and please give me feedback, so I can improve!
This chapter picks up basically right where the last one ended and covers the next episode, called "I'd rather be in Philadelphia". I didn't exactly reproduce the lines from the show (because I was too lazy to write it all down), but I kept some general things they said.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Lorelai and Christopher stayed in bed for a couple more hours, basking in each other and then catching up on some sleep. They could already feel that there had been a big shift in their relationship. Nothing much had happened, but the power of conversation, of being open, honest and vulnerable with each other, and feeling that they could count and trust on each other, was really what had been missing from the relationship. It's true what they say: love is not enough. A marriage needs love, of course, but it needs all those other things too, in order to survive. And they could already tell that their relationship wasn't going to just survive, it was going to thrive.
The conversation had also had a major impact on the sex. The combination of admitting their weaknesses, committing to each other and agreeing to have another baby took their intimacy to new levels.
All the pirate talk helped too.
When they had finally woken up and taken Paul Anka on his walk, Christopher convinced Lorelai to try watching a film on the flat screen. They had agreed to take a day off work and just enjoy being together and regroup.
They moved to the downstairs and Christopher started making some French toast for breakfast while Lorelai was given the difficult task of choosing a film. Christopher has suggested something with a little action and some sound effects, for her to be able to really appreciate the audio and video experience. She had just decided on a film when the phone rang.
"I'm ready, Chris! And you better bring a lot of French toast because even if we don't need roads where we're going, I'm going to need food to distract me from the stimulation overload that this TV is going to give me!" She yelled walking towards the kitchen.
"Back to the Future! The perfect choice!" Christopher replied while dropping a piece of bread in the frying pan. "Can you get the phone? I'm mid flip. It's over there on the table." He motioned to the kitchen table with his chin.
"I see you're making four pieces of toast." She said impishly, with the phone in her hand, looking over his should at the frying pan.
"Yes." He replied, anticipating some smart comment about his French toast making skills.
"What are you going to eat?" She said, tongue in cheek.
"Message received." He said with a laugh and started to carve more slices from the loaf of bread.
"Thanks, babe." She replied, giving him a squeeze on the arm, and answered the phone.
"Hello, Hill Valley preservation society speaking." She greeted in the phone, making Christopher chuckle. "Oh hi, Luke!" She said turning to face Christopher, surprised to hear Luke on the other end of the line. Christopher's head snapped, locking eyes with Lorelai.
"What?" She said into the receiver. Christopher could hear the other man's voice coming from the phone, but could not understand his words. Luke seemed excited, talking loudly and fast.
"Oh, that's great, Luke. Congratulations!" Lorelai smiled at whatever she had heard Luke say. Luke started talking again, just as excited and fast as before.
"That's sounds amazing. I'm so glad everything worked out." She replied, reaching a hand to Christopher's arm, just wanting to touch him. "Oh, it was nothing. I was happy to help." She then said humbly. She listened to Luke speak for another moment and then added. "I'm really happy for you Luke. Thanks for letting me know."
She smiled up at Christopher again and motioned towards the bread just about to begin to burn on the frying pan. Christopher had been focused on conversation and forgotten what he was doing. He quickly removed the finished toast from the pan and put in a fresh slice of bread that he had previously dipped in the egg mixture.
"Yeah, you too. Bye, Luke." She hung up and put the phone back on the kitchen table. "That was Luke." She said, the smile never leaving her face.
"I figured." Christopher smiled back, turning the fire on the stove down to avoid burning another piece of bread.
"He said he won the court case. He now has shared custody of April."
"Wow" Christopher said turned to face Lorelai. "That is really great." He reached for her with both hands, bringing her close, one hand on each side of her waist.
"Yes, it really is. He said my letter helped convince the judge." She said placing her hands gently on his chest.
"I'm happy for him. A father deserves to be in his daughter's life." He said gently, lacing his fingers together behind Lorelai's back, bringing her even closer to him.
"You ok?" Lorelai asked softly.
"Yeah. I'm fine." He replied just as softly and leaned in for a kiss. The kissed for a couple of moments before Lorelai pulled back.
"Uhm, babe? The toast –"
"Oh, crap!" Christopher cursed, letting go of Lorelai and turning to deal with the situation on the stove. Lorelai laughed at him.
"Do you need help?"
"No" He said, tossing that last piece of toast in the bin and starting a new piece from scratch. "But you can get plates and whatever else we need. I'll start a pot of coffee."
"I can do that. How long until we can go save the clock tower?" Lorelai asked as she pulled plates and cups from the cupboards and cutlery from the drawer.
"Five minutes!" Christopher replied as Lorelai walked to the living room to set the coffee table for their brunch and film session.
Marty McFly had just finished playing Johnny B. Goode at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance when Babette knocked on the door asking to borrow the large potted plant that Lorelai had standing in the corner of the living room. It, of course, fell on Christopher to actually pick up the damn plant and carry it across the yard to Babette's house while Lorelai answered the phone that was ringing again. He made the silly mistake of asking Babette why she wanted to borrow the plant and regretted it immensely as Babette started to explain that she was creating a forest in the bedroom for Maury. Thankfully, before she could say more, Lorelai came running into Babette's house calling for Christopher. Rory had called, sounding quite distressed, saying that Richard collapsed during his Economics lecture at Yale and they were on the way to the hospital in an ambulance.
They quickly got in Christopher's car to drive towards Hartford, leaving Babette with no explanation for the impromptu departure but with instructions to walk Paul Anka later in the day. Christopher drove to John Skinner Medical Center as fast as he could without breaking any major traffic laws. Lorelai seemed calm on the outside, but Christopher knew she must be freaking out.
As they arrived at the hospital, Lorelai got off the car close to the main entrance and rushed inside while Christopher parked the car. Lorelai called Rory's cell phone and eventually found her in the waiting room of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
"Mom!" Rory rushed towards her mother, letting herself be enveloped in her arms.
"Hi Hon." Lorelai gave Rory a big hug then stepped back. "What's going on?"
"They are running tests. They took him to do an EKG and check that it was a heart attack. That's what they think it was. A heart attack. They did an EKG in the ambulance, but said they wanted to do another one here." Rory spoke fast, clearly still agitated by the whole thing.
"I'm sure they'll come out and tell us as soon as they know anything." Lorelai tried to speak calmly, not wanting to exacerbate Rory's agitation. She rubbed Rory's arms, hating that her daughter was so distressed.
"Where is dad?" Rory looked behind her mother in search of her father.
"He's parking the car. Here, let's sit down."
"It was so awful, mom. He just collapsed. He was fine and then he just collapsed." Rory started again.
"Aw, sweets. I'm sorry you had to see that. But I'm sure grandpa was glad that you were there with him." Lorelai smiled softly, holding Rory's hand.
At this moment, a doctor approached the waiting room, calling for the family of Richard Gilmore. The doctor looked to be in his early 60s, with greying curly hair and a white coat. They stood up again and the doctor came to them.
"I'm Dr. Goldstein. Mr. Gilmore is stable and not in any pain. We have performed another EKG and it confirmed that he has suffered a cardiac infarction. We are now taking him to the Cath lab for an angiogram to determine the extent of the damage. We'll know how to proceed from there."
"And how can you proceed?" asked Lorelai.
"Well, if the arterial blockage is severe we will have to perform a bypass." The doctor explained. "I'll come back with more news as soon as the angiogram is finished."
"Ok. Thank you, doctor." She said and Goldstein left again. Lorelai and Rory were just about to sit down when they heard the loud voice of Emily Gilmore ranting about the incompetence of basically everyone around her. She wore a dark blue track suit with pink stipes down the arms and legs. She had clearly come straight from the club. Walking just behind her was Christopher, looking as if he had tried to put in a word edgewise and failed.
"Mom, Chris!"
The two groups met in the waiting room and hugs were exchanged, with Christopher holding Rory tight in his arms for an extra moment, feeling her relax into him.
"You ok, kiddo?" he asked her softly.
"Yeah, Dad. I'm ok. Thanks."
"Have you heard anything?" Emily asked Lorelai and Rory.
"Yes. He had a heart attack. They are doing an angiogram to see how big the blockage is. The doctor said he'll be back with news soon." Lorelai explained.
"Nonsense." Emily declared as she turned around, walked towards the nurses' station and demanded to see Richard. The nurse simply repeated what Lorelai had said. But that sent Emily again into another rant about how inappropriate it was for the nurse to be in such a good mood, how the receptionist at the club was so incompetent that Emily thought she was blind, how it took them 40 minutes to find Emily in the club to tell her the news that Richard was in the hospital and something about John Ascott grunting like a pig. Thinking of the club, she then ranted about being convinced that people were doing drug deals there and how absurd it was that they would start charging for food even though they never served fish. Lorelai gave comments when she could, trying to calm down her mother, but Rory and Christopher stayed out of it, only exchanging looks over the shoulders of Lorelai and Emily.
Suddenly Rory got up saying "Hey!" and Christopher turned to see that Logan had arrived, wearing a long cream overcoat and black scarf. They hugged and talked for a short while before they approached the others. Christopher greeted Logan with a manly hand shake and shoulder pat.
"Emily, Lorelai. I'm so sorry to hear about Richard."
"Thank you, Logan. It's so good of you to come."
"Not at all. Is there anything I can do for you? Would you like a cup of tea?"
"A cup of tea would be lovely. Thank you."
"Coffee, Lorelai? Chris?"
"Thank you, Logan. That would be great." Christopher replied and Logan and Rory left the waiting room in search of the beverages.
"Chris?" Lorelai asks Christopher "Mighty chummy you two must be for him to not even call you by your full name."
"Well, I like him" Christopher replies, tongue in cheek and she snorted.
"What do you have against Logan, Lorelai?" Emily asks sharply.
"Nothing, Mom."
"He's a delightful young man. So kind and considerate. Fantastic manners." Emily insists.
"I know, Mom. He's great." Lorelai says quickly, not wanting Emily to go on another rant or for Rory and Logan to come back and hear them talking about Logan. Christopher laughed quietly at Lorelai from his seat next to Emily, making Lorelai roll her eyes at him.
Rory and Logan returned with the tea just a few moments before the doctor showed up again.
"I'm Emily Gilmore, Mr. Gilmore's wife." Emily declared to the doctor as she stood. Christopher moved beside Lorelai and placed his hand on her lower back, offering some emotional support for the news that was about to come.
"Mrs. Gilmore, I'm Dr. Goldstein. We just finished the angiogram of your husband's heart. Unfortunately, the arterial blockage is worse than we had hoped. The best option now, the only option really, is to perform an emergency bypass surgery." He said, causing the hearts of all five of them to sink.
"When?" Asked Emily.
"As soon as possible. So if you want to see him, now is the time." The doctor then led them away from the waiting room and down a side corridor to Richard's door, Logan staying behind with the teas. "He is awake and mostly alert. We have given him pain medication, which sedated him a bit, but you'll be able to talk. The nurse will be here shortly to prepare him for surgery."
They thanked him and Emily and Rory rushed in but Lorelai hesitated.
"You ok?" Christopher asked gently.
"Yeah. I just need a second." Lorelai said, taking a deep breath.
Christopher laced his fingers with hers, letting her grip his hand as tightly as she wanted.
They were only able to visit Richard for a few short minutes before the nurse came to take him to the operating room. When he was gone, Rory sat with Logan in the waiting room and he skilfully distracted her from worrying for her grandfather by asking how things were going at Yale and with Paris. That got Rory going, telling him all about Paris' crazy check list of college experiences and postgrad applications. Emily went back to the nurses' station and terrorized one of the nurses into letting her use their phone. She then proceeded to make a series of phone calls, cancelling any plans that she or Richard had in the coming days by giving several different excuses, none of them true. Meanwhile, Lorelai and Christopher also sat in the waiting room nearby Rory and Logan, but far enough that they could have their own conversation and not hover over the younger couple.
"God, he looked so small, Chris." Lorelai leaned sideways against Christopher, resting her head on his shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her own shoulders. "I mean, he looked ok, considering, but so small. It's so weird seeing him look small."
"I know… He's normally such a big tall man. It's unnerving to have to look down at him."
"It reminded me of this tree we used to have in the back garden, the one we used to climb to look over the wall to the neighbour's yard, remember?"
"I do. We liked to tease the neighbour's dog." He smiled at the memory.
"One day I was up there and I saw my dad down in the yard. He looked so small. I had never seen him from that angle. He didn't look like the giant man I was used to seeing. He was just a man. I didn't like seeing that then. I hated seeing it again today."
"I understand what you mean. I had the same experience when my father was sick. I mean, I had been taller than him for many years, but seeing him on a hospital bed, so ill, so tired. It was awful." Christopher hadn't had as good a relationship with his dad at the end of his life as Lorelai had with Richard now. Still, his father had always had a larger-than-life energy about him. It was exactly that energy that often made Christopher feel so suffocated by his father, unable to occupy any space for himself whenever the man was in the same room. As Straub became sicker, that energy all but vanished leaving behind an empty shell of a man. It was like his father had died weeks before he actually passed away. It was still hard to remember, even over a year later.
Lorelai lifted her head from Christopher's shoulder as he spoke of his father to look at him. He had never really spoken of the time of Straub's illness before. She was, of course, very familiar with the kind of relationship he had had with his father. But hearing him speak of how difficult it had been to watch his father slowly die was a new experience for her.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you during that time." She said sadly, squeezing his hand. He wrapped his arm closer around her shoulder.
"It's ok. We weren't talking then." He smiled sadly. "And you were there at the end, with adult milk and cookies."
They leaned close and shared a kiss, happy to have each other to share these hard times. Their attention was then turned to Rory, who was telling Logan to go ahead and answered the phone as it was buzzing incessantly. He refused, however, insisting that whatever it was it could wait and that all he wanted to do was be there for Rory.
"See?" Christopher said referring to Logan. "He's a good kid."
"Uh hum" She replied shortly.
"Come on." He insisted.
"His father is an ass." She conceded.
"Well, we know better than anyone not to judge people based on their parents." He said and she nodded her head in agreement.
"Speaking of parents, I think I'd go save the nurses from the wrath of Emily Gilmore." Lorelai got up and walked to her mother, who was still terrorising the nurses, this time about the proper way to use pillow cases. She dragged her mother back into the waiting room, but Emily was still agitated, going over a mental list of things she had to do to manage Richard's time in the hospital and the consequences of the heart attack.
"Emily, is there anything we can help with?" Christopher offered, hoping to help ease her agitation.
"Oh Christopher, you're so kind. Actually, yes, there's something you could do. Could you drive to Yale and get Richard's car? I'm not sure exactly where he parked but it will be somewhere in the staff car park."
"Yes, of course. 2006 green jaguar, right?" He said reaching for his coat and starting to put it on.
"Exactly. I'll get you the keys."
As Emily dug around in her purse for the car keys, Christopher wrapped his scarf around his neck and kissed Lorelai in the cheek. "Will you be ok here?"
"Yes, I have Rory. I won't be alone with Mussolini." She joked. "Thanks, hon."
"Ok, if anything comes up just call me." He waved to Rory and Logan and got the keys from Emily, who was already engrossed in a conversation on the phone, ordering an enormous quantity of fish.
When Emily hung up a few seconds later, however, she informed she needed someone to meet the fish man at her house because they would be delivering all the fish she had just ordered in the next couple of hours.
"Logan and I can meet the fish man, Grandma. I wanted to bring some of Grandpa's things, make him feel more at home when he comes out of surgery."
"Oh Rory, that would be great! Here, I'll write down instructions of where to put each fish. Some I want in the basement freezer and some in the butler's pantry."
Emily gave Logan a check and the written instructions and he pocketed them while gathering his and Rory's coats. "You came here in the ambulance." He pointed at Rory. "And I don't have a car here so…"
"Oh."
"Go see if you can catch up with Chris. I'll call him and tell him to wait for you." Lorelai said pulling her phone out of her purse and dialing.
"That's a good idea. Then we can drive grandpa's and dad's car back from Yale together."
"Ok, then let's hurry so he doesn't leave without us." Logan concluded, handing Rory her coat and putting his arm over her shoulders.
"You didn't drive here?" Rory asked as they walked away.
"No, I came by chopper actually."
"Chopper motorcycle or chopper helicopter?"
"Helicopter." Logan replied with his trademark smile, his eyes narrowing as his cheeks raised.
"You came here by helicopter?"
"Yup."
"Cool!"
Christopher was waiting with the car for Rory and Logan in front on the entrance to the parking lot. Logan opened the door for Rory to slide into the passenger seat and he got into the back.
"So you abandoned your mother with Mussolini?" He greeted them with a smile.
"Dad! Don't call Grandma Mussolini."
"Hey, I'm only repeating your mother's words." They all laughed at that and Christopher started the drive. Rory looked behind her at Logan and noticed GG's car seat installed next to him.
"Where's GG, Dad?"
"She's with your grandmother this week. You haven't met her, Logan, have you? Rory's little sister?"
"No, I haven't. Not yet."
"You'll have to come out to Stars Hollow some day and meet her. We can all get dinner together, show you around the place." Christopher invited and Rory gave him a grateful look, for including Logan in the conversation and inviting him over.
"I'd love to visit Stars Hollow. Rory has mentioned it is quite a special place."
"Oh, it's a loony bin, for sure, but its home." He smiled at Rory when she looked at him quite surprised to hear him call Stars Hollow his home. "GG will love you." He continued to Logan. "She's obsessed with blonds right now."
"What?" Rory laughed. "Why?"
"She recently realised that she herself is blond but not a lot of people around her are. We are all brunets, you, your mother and I, so is my mother and GG's kindergarden teacher. So she gets very excited whenever she meets a blond."
"That's hilarious." Commented Logan.
"She's so sweet." Rory agreed.
"So how are things at Yale, Rory?" Christopher asked. "Last semester, right? How is it going?"
"It's going fine. Very busy. Paris is driving me crazy with her list of experiences and applications she wants us to do."
"Yes, I heard you talking about it. Something about bouncing a ball on your nose?" He joked.
"Exactly. She is definitely encouraging me to put my eggs in as many baskets as possible, so to speak."
"And how is post-Yale life treating you, Logan?"
"It's going alright, sir."
"He's being humble." Rory said. "He's doing so well. He recently bought this big internet company and its thriving." She gushed.
"Ah, I don't know about thriving, but I admit I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected I would." Logan said laughing.
"And how do you like living in New York?"
"What's not to like? I can get Chinese food, or any food for that matter, any time of the day or night. There are endless options of things to do and see. I love it."
"Logan moves 100 miles a minute. Any slower than that and he gets bored." Rory explained
"Come on, Ace. You make me sound like I'm on crack." He joked. "I just like to keep busy, that's all. For now, at least, the city that doesn't sleep suits me just fine." He finished, reaching forward to lace his fingers with Rory's for the rest of the drive.
They continued to chat, both Christopher and Logan wanting to distract Rory from thinking of her grandfather in surgery back at the hospital. Once at Yale, Logan directed them towards the staff car park and Christopher drove Richard's jaguar back to Hartford, while Rory and Logan drove in Christopher's Volvo. They drove following each other most of the way back to Hartford, but as they were getting close to the Gilmore residence, Christopher stopped to fill up the tank of the jaguar while Rory and Logan continued on. Rory and Logan collected books, albums and a chess set for Richard, while Christopher decided to shovel the snow in the drive away. Then he put together a small case of Richard's clothes, particularly pyjamas, and toiletries. From his time spent by his own father's death bed, Christopher had an idea of what type of clothes would be most comfortable and easy to put on/take off. He also asked Rory to get Emily a change of clothes as well. There was no way he was going to look through Emily's clothes and try to pick something out himself, but he was sure she would appreciate getting out of the track suit she had been wearing at the hospital. While they were busy with that, Logan dealt with the fish man (and had to sit through a terrible pun joke about cod) and started loading the car for them to return to the hospital.
Emily and Lorelai seemed very glad to see the three of them return, obviously needing a buffer between them. Emily went to change into the clothes Rory had brought and Christopher allowed Lorelai to vent some of her frustrations about her mother to him. He asked if they were hungry, offering to go get food a few times in the next few hours, but the Gilmore girls were all still too stressed and worried about Richard to feel any hunger. Finally, after what felt like days, Dr. Goldstein appeared, now dressed in scrubs, and told them that the surgery had run smoothly. Richard would have to stay in the hospital for several days to recuperate, but he would be fine. Emily was invited to see him first, but the relief was felt by all of them instantly. Lorelai, who had been gripping Christopher's hand very tightly at the sight of the doctor, let out a small sob when she heard that Richard was ok and buried her face in Christopher's neck when her mother had left to see Richard. After a little while, Rory and Lorelai were allowed in to see Richard as well, and Christopher and Logan decided then would be a good time to go get some food for all of them, sure that the women would become famished as soon as they put the last few hours of stress behind them.
Emily left Rory and Lorelai with Richard while she went off in the search of sheets with higher thread count. Rory played some of the albums that she had brought for Richard, and distributed the rest of his things around the room, making it look homier. Soon however, Richard became tired and said he was going to close his eyes for a little while.
"He's asleep, isn't he?" Rory asked, perching on the arm of the chair Lorelai was occupying.
"Yes. Should we draw a fake moustache on his face?"
"He already has a real moustache."
"He doesn't have a monobrow."
"Mom!"
"Alright, alright. Uhm, Rory?
"Uhm, Mom?"
"It has been great of Logan to here with you. I'm glad that you're happy with him.' Lorelai said honestly.
"Thanks. I am."
"He's not half bad, that Logan. He's almost ok." She joked.
"Yeah, he's alright. Uhm, Mom?
"Uhm, Rory?"
"It was nice to see you and dad so close today as well. You both look really happy." She smiled calmly.
"We had a big fight last night."
"What? Really? I couldn't tell at all!"
"We talked this morning and worked it all out."
"What did you fight about?"
"He found the letter I wrote for Luke's court case. Luke won the case, by the way, I forgot to tell you. He gets shared custody of April."
"Wait, go back. Dad found the letter? I'm guessing you hadn't told him about it."
"No. I really should have. It was stupid not to. Your dad was understandably angry. It as a pretty personal letter."
"But you talked?"
"We talked. We talked about a lot actually. About Luke, Stars Hollow, our house, you."
"Me?"
"You're a big topic for both of us, kid."
"Well, yes but, hopefully not something to fight about."
"No, no. It was a good talk. A really good talk, actually. We are in a better place than we have ever been before."
"Really? That's great, mom."
"Yeah, it was. We made a few agreements, talked about the future. And we made one particularly big plan."
"Oh yeah? What?"
"We want to have a baby." Lorelai whispered, looking again at Richard to make sure he was asleep and not listening into the conversation.
"Wow." Rory whispered back, her eyes wide. "That is big."
"How do you feel about it?"
"I don't know. Good, I guess." Rory said, a bit too surprised to know what to say.
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I mean, it's great that you want to have another kid. You're both still young. You should definitely do it. I'll love having another sibling. Maybe you'll have a boy this time."
"Oh god. I hadn't thought of that. What do I know about raising boys?"
"Don't get them wet or feed them after midnight?"
"Oh yeah, I knew there was something like that." They laughed.
"Thanks, hon. I'm excited." Lorelai smiled widely.
"I'm excited too." Rory smiled back.
"Oh, speaking of babies, you're never going to guess who is pregnant!"
"Who?"
"Sookie!"
"Sookie? But I thought Jackson got a vasectomy."
"So did she!"