Chapter 3: Missing

Trix

Lorelai hadn't hosted a party in Hartford for more than a decade and only very occasionally during her time in London.

It was remarkable therefore, that she had managed to completely obscure the appearance of Straub Hayden at the party, as well as the prompt disappearance from the wake of both her son and Straub into Richard's office.

Hardly anyone had noticed as she bade farewell to the party goers at the stroke of midnight. Sookie helping by virtue of having put young Rory to bed just after 10:30. The energy of youth enabling the physical feat of staying awake for far longer than she should have to be Rory's crowning achievement of the night.

Only three guests remained outside of family the servers having departed shortly after the last of canapes went out. They were:

Sookie St James.

Mia Bass

And Jason Stiles.

The former two had remained because they were staying at the Gilmore House that night. As for Jason Stiles…

"Not much point in me leaving when they're going to need my help" Jason had said smugly.

Despite his previous out of character singing Jason Stiles was possibly one of the most stone cold sober people there by the end of the party. That in itself was odd.

It was almost as though he had known something was coming.

Or someone.

Saying polite goodnights to Mia who went upstairs to bed looking exhausted, and Sookie who was proceeding in cleaning the kitchen, Lorelai led Jason Stiles to Richards's office, the door having been closed tightly shut for just over ninety minutes.

"So we've ruled out the last of Francine and Emily's old haunts now?" Richard said to a stressed out Straub, as the former placed his phone down.

"Yes. I've checked the hospitals earlier." Straub replied.

"Straub, you and Francine weren't at the viewing for Emily." Lorelai cut in.

"Mother there's an explanation-" Richard attempted to say.

"What explanation?" Lorelai said furiously. "He didn't visit the bedside of the dying mother of his only grandchild. The mother of the only heir that his branch of the Hayden's now has. Quite a legacy to leave Straub isn't it? A complete lack of contact with the only surviving remnant of your son. You should be proud of yourself. I'm sure you father would be. Crass as it is I think I'm well within my rights to call you an ass."

Richard was in shock at her language.

Jason Stiles was in shock.

And Straub Hayden, a grown man of nearly fifty, looked on the verge of losing his composure combined with hideous amounts of guilt.

"I didn't know about Lorelai." Straub muttered. "Francine didn't tell me. She told me about Christopher and Emily but she didn't tell me that Lorelai had been so badly injured."

Lorelai was bemused at that. It made no sense at all. "Why did she not tell you?" She pressed.

"Francine has been somewhere else mentally since she heard about Christopher." Straub admitted. "She's jumped from hysteria, to despair, and back again in the blink of an eye. She hasn't been thinking straight. On New Year's Day morning she locked herself in her room with a full bottle of Glenfiddich, and a large packet of tortilla chips she had the maid buy, and didn't come out again till 10pm. The previously full bottle was empty by then." Straub explained having fully composed himself once more. Any potential break having been averted.

"It's been left to me to do the funeral arrangements for Christopher. It was only when you released the death notice that I even learned Lorelai had been badly injured."

Lorelai was shocked at this news although Richard seemed fairly unsurprised, having heard all this when Straub first entered presumably.

"We argued yesterday morning after she tried to pull the same trick with the whiskey again but I'd locked away all the scotch, all the wine bottles in the cellar were corkscrewed, and I hid the corkscrew carefully along with any other spirits in the house. Francine told me she hated me and said I didn't care our son was dead. Then she stormed back into her room and locked herself in again." Straub recounted. "At which point I left her to it."

"I came down this morning to find the cupboard I'd left the scotch broken into and emptied completely, the car keys for the convertible gone (along with the car), and a significant amount of Francine's clothes missing along with a large suitcase."

"She's run away?" Lorelai gasped.

"I would say that, as successfully as she was able to as well, especially as the car was found earlier today in a ditch near New York. The car had been driven by a bunch of teenagers apparently who had been paid $200 by, in their own eloquent words, "Some rich lady" to take it away and have fun with it." Straub explained.

"We've had no luck tracing her so far, we've checked the usual Hartford haunts, most of her and Emily's friends in the DAR, the police stations, and finally the hospitals all with no luck." Richard explained.

"I'm scared for Francine. Christopher was our only child and she was always closer to him than I was. I don't want her to hurt herself or…" Straub faltered.

Lorelai knew what the man was getting at. Although personally she felt the outlook on that front didn't seem all that good.

Jason Stiles was about to say something before suddenly the sound of loud crying could be heard from the main living room.

Richard paled before quickly exiting the room.

Lorelai sighed sadly.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"Rory's had the nightmare again." Lorelai said simply.

Rory

Rory wasn't used to sleeping on her own.

All her life it had been her and Mom when she went to sleep.

Whenever she went to sleep her Mom was always there to read her a story, or tell her to brush her teeth when she forgot, or there to just talk about her day.

She'd had a nightmare after Spot died and her mom was there to give her a hug and tell her it was ok.

Rory had been really sleepy near the end of the party and Sookie had helped take her upstairs to get her pyjamas on so she could get to bed.

Rory dreamed about Christmas again that night.

It was always the same.

She and Mom would arrive off the bus from Stars Hollow and Mom would make a funny joke about Grandma and Rory would laugh.

Then the door would open and Grandma was there. Grandma would give her a hug and say how big she was getting.

She'd walk into the main room and Grandpa would smile and give her an even bigger hug.

It all started so well.

Then the doorbell would ring again and the dream got better.

Grandma would come back into the room and DADDY was there.

"How are you Kiddo?" Daddy would say.

She'd go and give him a big hug and Rory knew that today was going to be the best Christmas ever.

It was after the hug that the dream went bad. Really bad.

"What scheme are you trying to pull Mom?" Mommy would say to Grandma. Although Rory didn't know what scheme meant she got the feeling it was a bad thing.

"Christopher was in town and you were already coming here. So I felt it was the right thing to do to have him come over for Rory's presents being opened. Dinner as well." Grandma would say back.

"I can't believe this mom." Mom replied back. "Actually of you? Yeah maybe I can believe it."

"Come on Lor, its fine let's just have dinner. It's Christmas." Daddy would say to Mommy nicely.

Mommy wasn't nice back.

"Chris, you're just going to go along with her bullsh-" Mommy had stopped speaking and looked at her then. She had probably been going to say a bad word Rory thought. "Dad I'm not sure if you knew about this crazy plan but I just need to get outside for a minute. Please watch Rory. I just can't deal with this..."

Mom and Grandma had both been getting really mad by that point.

"I can't believe you Mom. Are you trying to ruin Christmas." Mom had said to Grandma as Mom had walked out of the room.

"Ruin Christmas? I'm trying to save Christmas! Rory should have both her parents in her life… Don't walk away when I'm speaking to you Lorelai!" Grandma had said following mom.

"Did I do something wrong?" Rory had asked har Daddy and Grandpa.

Daddy and Grandpa had given looks at each other then. Rory didn't understand what about.

"Christopher if you could make sure they don't kill each other." Grandpa had said.

"We'll be right back Richard" Daddy had said. Then he had come forward and given her another hug.

"Don't worry kiddo. We'll only be a sec." Daddy had said before winking at her.

She had giggled then because Daddy was funny.

Grandpa had given her a present then, a secret one just from him he said, and she'd just started to open it when she heard the front door slam. She and Grandpa had walked to the front window and that's when a few seconds later she saw the car driving off.

"Everything's going to be fine Rory. They'll be back before you know it" Grandpa had said nicely.

That was the point when Rory would always wake up.

The first night she'd had the nightmare, or remembered (Rory didn't know which was right), she'd woken up scared. It was her first night sleeping over at Grandpa's house.

The room wasn't the shed at the Inn and the bed was too big. She'd only been crying a moment before Grandpa had appeared and given her a hug. They'd slept in his and Grandma's bedroom that night.

It had happened four times since. Each time after the first night she'd crept along and knocked on Grandpa's door.

Now it had happened again.

This time there was no answer when she knocked and when she opened the door no Grandpa. Rory had run downstairs then but there was no one left in the main room.

They'd all left her.

That's when she started to cry.

Richard

Rory was absolutely pale as she stood crying in the middle of the main living room.

Quickly Richard wrapped her up in a hug and the tears quickly quietened to sobs.

"You're still here. You didn't leave me." The little girl sniffled. "I was worried I'd done something wrong again."

"You've done nothing wrong Rory. Not then and not now. Someone got lost and I'm helping to look for them. You've done nothing wrong." Richard comforted.

This seemed to settle the girl a bit although she was still wide awake from the nightmare.

"Who's he Grandpa?" Rory whispered loudly looking at Straub. Who did admittedly look fairly out of place with how dishevelled he still was.

Straub seemed to go very pale. Richard decided that now was perhaps the worst possible time to introduce her other Grandfather into Rory's life properly.

"That's Straub. His wife is the one who got lost." Richard replied.

Straub smiled thinly at him, gratefully, but subtly.

Richard nodded slightly back in turn.

"Good luck finding your wife Mr Straub." Rory said kindly.

"Thank you Lo-Rory." Straub replied hesitantly. Almost forgetting Rory's usual moniker.

"No need to worry Rory we'll find Francine." Jason Stiles said smiling. No need for introductions there as most of the guests had said hello to Rory at some point during the party.

"Now Rory I may need to leave tonight to help find Francine." Richard gently suggested.

Rory looked as though she was about to say something before a voice gently cut in before she had the chance.

"And I will be here in case you have any trouble sleeping." Trix said comfortingly in a tone Richard remembered from forty or more years in the past, when he had been a young child himself.

Oddly enough this seemed to work, somewhat, in alleviating Rory's concerns.

"Now Rory would you like to go up to bed. If you want we can read a story. I have a very special book I used to read to your Grandpa when he was your age" Trix said kindly.

The oldest Gilmore and youngest Gilmore quickly moved back upstairs and only Straub, Richard and Jason Stiles were left.

"Why are you still here Digger?" Richard asked bluntly to Jason Stiles.

"Well my father's been acting unusually affectionate, unnervingly so in fact, the past week, which is one good reason, the punch was really great, which is another good reason, your canapes were excellent, and I personally think you should hire the chef before I have the chance to, which is another go-" Jason continued on.

"Cut the crap Jason this is serious." Richard said his anger rising.

Jason put up his hand in a gesture of peace.

"I know where Francine is. That's why I stayed. I know where she is."

"Where?" Straub said anxiously. "We've looked everywhere in the state."

"She's not in the state. She's not anywhere in New England in fact. At least not on the mainland." Jason confirmed.

Richard realised what Jason Stiles was inferring. He couldn't believe they hadn't thought of it sooner. Moments later Straub, realising the inference, caught on as well.

"She's on Nantucket." Jason confirmed.

Hello there Vesine here

I am shocked at how many people seem to be enjoying this story at the moment. It's been a ball writing out this AU so far. As an early warning if you are looking for Finn and Logan (as tags suggest) the former will appear in the short to mid-term while the other will appear much longer term. (While there may be some romance later in the story it is not in any way a key focus of the bulk of this story and Finn WILL NOT be a love interest but will be a key character) As has been inferred last chapter the results of the accident will have a significant effect on a lot of people outside of the key Gilmores. A butterfly flaps its wings etc.

If anyone seems a bit ooc atm just remember that the exposure to a number of characters in Gilmore girls that are utilised here quite heavily is very limited in the show proper and the deaths of the three characters in "The Accident" change the ball game of how those characters (and others) eventually end up. If Richard hasn't broken down as he did when his mother died in the series, the fact is that in this case he hasn't allowed himself to grieve properly yet with his traumatised granddaughter added into the mix. While you might have hated series Trix, Straub, and Francine (among other) and quite rightly so they are unlikely to remain the same people they were by the time we saw them in Gilmore girls the series proper. And what happens and why they change will be a key point in several of the next few chapters.

As for any other characters expect to see many of the characters from the regular Gilmore girls pop up here and there. I'm trying my best not to forget any key minor Gilmore family characters but this is difficult without meticulously watching every episode all the way through as the some are only mentioned in casual lines of dialogue.

Cousin Marilyn incidentally is Charles's younger twin brother's daughter. Oddly enough both she and her more distant cousin (Lorelai the 1st) both heavily resemble a mutual ancestor.

If there are any flaws on the minor character front you notice please feel free to pm me and I can confirm whether they have been forgotten or have just yet to be introduced.