Chapter 4: Wonderland
Trix
Lorelai remembered her dying.
Tuberculosis is not a clean or pleasant way to go. Highly infectious and thoroughly vile it was a horrifically awful way to die.
Mary had died quickly. Only four years old when the tuberculosis had turned active, her little sister had fought for only a few months before the disease had taken her.
Mother had been a different case.
She'd struggled on for three years after an official diagnosis. Lung's rotting away slowly. Never particularly affectionate physically. It wasn't what her generation did anyhow but the real reason, Lorelai knew, was because her Mother had been too frail and too cautious of passing the disease on for that. .
Her very last few weeks her Mother had been depressed, and withdrawn. She had known the end was near.
Except for that last day.
Just over a decade later, when she had just begun courting Charles, they spent almost the entire year going to whatever performances they could at The Metropolitan Opera House.
Most popular music (especially now) may have been frivolous to a degree (not Kay Kyser!) but she would never level such an accusation at classical music or her true passion of the Opera.
In London she attended every performance she could at The Royal Opera House. Tickets far cheaper there than in New York. There was only one opera she couldn't stand to watch year by year. No matter how often it was in repertory.
Not after that first time seeing it with Charles.
La Traviata
The music had been beautiful and Lorelai had watched as the disease had progressed for the main character. Thankful she had been bothered to learn Italian Lorelai was especially glad to understand every word being sung.
The portrayal of the Tuberculosis had been so unrealistic that part of Lorelai had wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Then right at the very end of the opera the character had seemingly revived, speaking of feeling better, it was a romanticised version of something awful.
Lorelai had almost been sick. She and Charles escaping the opera house long before final bows had been finished.
The Opera had been too close for comfort for her. Too similar.
The reality had been very different to the death of the tragic Violetta of course. .
Mother nearly pale as a corpse, certainly nearly as thin as one anyway, had summoned her in. The flowery scent of the camellias in the room doing little to cover the underlying stench of blood and sweat. The private Doctor ensured that Lorelai, only nine years old at the time, didn't get too close.
"Lorelai" Mother has barely been able to breathe. "I feel better today." Mothers face alight with a smile that contrasted massively with the deathly pallor of her skin.
As Mother coughed bloodily, Lorelai had remained quiet on the point.
Without warning Mother has begun fishing in her bedside draw looking for something. Quickly she found it grasping with fingers atrophied with illness. The object was a key.
"I have a gift for you." Mother had wheezed. "It's very precious… A secret." She had breathed conspiratorially.
Lorelai had just nodded.
"This key is for the drawer in my study. Your gift is inside." Mother had concluded, nearly gasping for breath after every word, but forcing them out regardless.
"Mrs Gilmore-" The doctor had started to chastise. The physical exertion mother was attempting worrying the physician hugely.
"Oh be quiet I'm going to be fi-" Then the bloody coughing had begun once again in earnest and Lorelai had been quickly ushered out of the room.
Forty minutes after that Mother fell into a coma. Much like Lorelai's granddaughter she never woke up again.
It was over a week later, the funeral just over, when Lorelai finally managed to use the key in mothers study.
The drawer was empty except for a very well cared for copy of a book.
She remembered her reaction of the time very well.
What was so special to Mother about a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?
Rory
Both Rory and Trix were in the latter's guest bedroom.
Rory watched as Trix quickly went to her bedside drawer and took out an old book.
"What's that?" Rory asked intrigued.
"That is the most important thing I own." Trix replied honestly.
"Why?" Rory asked again.
"When I was a little girl my mother gave it to me, it was given to her by her mother, who was given it to her by her father." Trix paused. "It's also the last gift she ever gave to me before she died. I was nine."
That shocked Rory. Trix was just like her. No Mommy when she was a little girl.
"Did she have an accident?" Rory asked. "Like my Mommy did?"
"No Rory, she was very sick for a long time." Trix replied. "It started to get bad when I was six like you."
Both Gilmores in the room were silent for a long time.
During the silence Rory thought hard about what the last gift Mommy had got her was. It might have been a new cuddly toy to be friends with Colonel Clucker. Rory wasn't sure though. She didn't remember a lot about Christmas except when they got to Grandpa and Grandma's house. She remembered far too well then. Rory peered closer at the book.
"It looks old." Rory noticed.
"It is old. Very old." Trix smiled "This year it will turn one hundred and twenty six years old."
"Whoa" Rory said. Her eye filled with awe at the book. "That is really old!"
"Indeed. This book is older than The Eiffel Tower, The Statue of Liberty, and fourteen American states." Trix said proudly.
"So it's really, really, really old." Rory replied.
"Yes" Trix replied looking like she might laugh a little. "Really, really, really, really old."
Which was of course very old indeed.
"Are we going to read it?" Rory asked excitedly.
"Yes Rory we are." Trix replied.
They made their way quickly back to Rory's room. Rory wondered if it was weird she was starting to think of it as HER room now. But she supposed it didn't really matter.
Rory got snuggled back into bed and then Trix began reading.
Trix was a great storyteller.
Too quickly Trix finished the first chapter (helping on any words Rory didn't recognise) and Rory wished the story could go on.
But she was also very sleepy again.
And very soon Rory Gilmore was dreaming of Rabbits with pocket watches, magical cakes, and secret gardens.
Richard
"Well gentleman I'd say it's been a pleasure but that would be a bit of an exaggeration." Jason Stiles said as they arrived at the house in Nantucket where Francine was.
Both older men snorted at the comment.
"Jason. Both Straub and I owe you our thanks. Not just for finding Francine." Richard Gilmore said. "How you managed to wrangle that flight here…
Jason Stiles merely shrugged as the doorbell rang.
A blonde woman in her very early twenties answered the door and gave Jason a big smile.
"Digger you made it." The blonde exclaimed in a voice whose volume indicated a somewhat diminished level of sobriety.
Richard looked more closely at the girl before realising quickly who she might be. She had been in Lorelai's class and he'd seen her, on more than one occasion, at company events over the years.
"Mitzi Hollerman?" he asked.
The girl's happy expression diminished hugely on sensing the presence of the two older men.
"Oh Crap" The girl muttered to herself, very, very, loudly.
"Mr Gilmore? What are you doing here? Isn't Lorelai's funeral tomorrow?" Mitzi Hollerman said in greeting. .
"Mitz that's a four on the scale." Jason said casually.
"He works with my Dad Jason. Are you insane bringing him here?" Mitzi whispered loudly back.
"Mitz he can still hear you." Jason deadpanned.
Mitzi looked very embarrassed for a moment before quickly disappearing back into the house.
"Lars's girl right Richard." Straub said.
"Yes that's right." Richard replied
"She's quite rude. Because of the drink I assume?" Straub asked.
"If only" Jason smirked. "She's "Working on it" apparently."
"Anyway from what Mitzi explained to me, on the phone, this party's been ongoing since about 11am give or take a half hour. Than it itself is impressive all things considering its now 3:30am. Francine is apparently still leading the festivities, though how she's still sober I couldn't tell you." Jason explained.
"Straub I wish you the best of luck and Richard I'll see you at the office eventually I guess." Jason Stiles said before making his way over to Mitzi once again.
"Strange boy that Jason is." Straub commented.
"Effective though. Good networking anyway." Richard countered.
Straub snorted. "Yes, I'd never say he's a poor networker after tonight."
They entered the house.
It wasn't quite a bacchanalian revelry inside but it was clearly on the way there.
Plastic cups smelling strongly of spirits with mixer, and without, covered every surface. A pungent stench that nobody who grew up in the Sixties could forget filled the air. Boys and girls with looks of lust in their eyes were kissing or disappearing to more private spaces within the large house.
"We've fallen down the damned rabbit hole." Richard muttered to himself.
"Let's go find the white rabbit then" Straub said overhearing him.
"And the winner for best all-rounder is Grace Huntzberger." An older female voice echoed from the main living room of the house.
Both Straub and Richard recognised it.
Applause rang out from the room as a younger female voice rang out.
"For this award I'd like to thank my father who proved that even though he has three older children, than me, he still sucks phenomenally as a parent. I'd like to thank my mother for sending me to private school when I caught her with the gardener, twice. I'd like to thank my older brother for being a pretentious, asshole, workaholic man whore. I'd like to thank my sister in law for being a stuck up piece of slutty trailer tra-"
"Mother always said Elias had a knack when it came to family" Richard commented, tuning out the rest of the speech, as they made their way into the room.
"Indeed" Straub snorted once again.
A young man bumped into them, nearly spilling his drink, before hugging Straub first and then Richard second.
"You two don't have any drinks" The young man wagged his finger. "That's against the rules! I'll soon fix that though." The young man swiped two full cups of something off a nearby table. He sniffed both cups then looked at Richard and Straub again. He nodded to himself one last time, as if congratulating himself on a job well done, before handing them the drinks.
"Here you go. Enjoy! I'm certain it's your sort of drink." The young man said cheerfully, ensuring both cups were firmly in their hands before happily ambling off.
Stunned, both men looked at the drinks in their hands. Richard smelled the concoction in his hand.
"Is that Macallan." He asked Straub.
Straub sniffed his own cup. "Yes I think it is."
"It's mixed with Coca Cola." Richard replied conversationally.
"Yes it is." Straub agreed pleasantly.
They both took a large gulp before continuing their movement forward.
They quickly found who they were looking for.
Like a conductor, at the front of a large ensemble of musicians, was Francine Hayden orchestrating events.
Her eyes' were either manic or drunk, quite probably both. Her dress was looking rather dishevelled, and her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed, or washed, for a week.
Francine Hayden looked insane. As mad as the proverbial hatter.
She caught sight of them almost instantly. Wavering eyes suddenly sharpening with focus.
"I'm sorry ladies and gentleman but the authorities have arrived." Francine announced.
"Fuck! The cops?" A voice said.
"They don't look like cops?" Another added.
"Plain clothes maybe?" One more suggested.
"Worse than the cops my friends. It's my husband and my Not in Law." Francine said taking a heavy gulp of a drink that looked like a triple Macallan. Neat.
"Francine woul-" Straub began to say.
"Shut up Straub." Francine said forcefully "I've done what you've told me for the best part of thirty years. But. You. Are. Not. The. Boss. Of. Me. I'm guessing you and Dicky want to talk. Fine. Come outside and talk. But it's because I'm letting you. Do you understand? It is not, and will never again be, just because you want me to."
"We understand Francine." Richard cut in. Straub oddly enough remained composed. It was unusual for a man normally quick to anger in this sort of situation.
Francine got up from her seat, swaying slightly, before leading the other two men outside.
Outside on the veranda the air was crisp and clear, as cold as a January night on Nantucket could be.
"Franny I was worried about you." Straub said. "When I heard about the car I thought you might have…
"Died? Killed myself?" Francine said. "I wish I was. I probably should have. I want to be dead." Francine paused for a moment before breaking down completely. Tears pouring like waterfalls from her cheeks.
"Christopher is dead Straub" She cried.
"I know" Straub replied.
"Emily is dead." Francine continued, tears still flowing.
"I know" Straub once again replied.
"And Lorelai…God Lorelai is dead as well." Francine said, no longer as upset, instead her voice was layered with guilt.
"We know that Francine, everyone knows that by now." Richard said as kindly as he could to Francine.
"Don't comfort me like you like me Richard. You shouldn't like me. You should hate me!" Francine replied back bitterly.
"Why would I hate you Francine?" Richard questioned.
"Because I… I…" Francine tried to speak. Eventually she managed a whisper both men barely heard.
"I was the one who killed them."
"Nonsense Francine! How could you say such a thing?" Straub said his usual angry response to situations beginning to rear its head.
The reaction stopped abruptly at Francine's next words.
"Because I called Emily on the 23rd. You were caught up with all that crap with McRae and I realised I could fix the problem with Christopher. I could fix everything!" Francine whispered frantic.
"I called Emily and we planned the whole thing out. If Rory had a happy family Christmas with Christopher it might have convinced Lorelai to actually settle down." Francine said through her tears.
"We thought the plan was close to perfect. Christopher was always on board with "The Plan", the dynastic plan we all wanted, the only problem was, would ever be, Lorelai. If Lorelai could see how happy Rory would be with a family Christmas with her father…"
"Then she might have finally agreed to "The Plan"." Richard finished quietly.
Francine nodded back.
"It would be a few years late but we could have convinced Christopher to go to Princeton like we always wanted Straub," Francine said addressing her husband. "We could give them their futures back! The plan was perfect." Francine tearfully concluded. "Only something happened and instead of putting their lives back on track their lives are over."
"Why didn't you tell me about this plan Franny?" Straub questioned looking slightly horrified at what he'd learned. "I would have told you it was unlikely to work, probably impossible. Lorelai would never have agreed."
"You were too busy with McRae to be told. I never would have even called Emily that Christopher was in town if you weren't that busy. As for Lorelai… Do you think she wouldn't have agreed? Especially when she saw her little girl so happy with Christopher on Christmas? Even then?" Francine asked back desperately before going quieter again. "It doesn't matter though because all this grand plan accomplished was killing our son."
"My little boy is dead because of me" Francine laughed hysterically. "I just wanted him to have the life I dreamed for him and now he has no life at all!"
"Francine if you're to blame for Christopher's death then so am I." Richard cut in. "When Lorelai and Emily started arguing I sent him to help keep the peace between them. Do you know what I said to him before he left? I'll never forget it. I said "Christopher if you could make sure they don't kill each other" and off he went. A joke. The last thing I said to him was a joke. If you're to blame Francine then so am I."
Straub remained silent for a moment before doing something that Richard had never seen him do before. The lawyer started crying. Not much. A man of Straub's nature wasn't one for floods of tears but his eyes were wet without a doubt.
"If anyone killed Christopher it was me." Straub's shakily confessed. "Years of pressure I put him under. Plans for him to go to Princeton before he had even been born. I'd planned out his whole life for him. Then the pregnancy happened and all the plans fell apart. I hated it. I hated Christopher for it. I hated my own son. Do you know the last time we spoke on the phone without you there Francine?" Straub asked his wife.
Francine shook her head.
"When he was eighteen years old. That was when…That was when he said that there was no way he'd ever go to, would never have gone to, Princeton. Then he told me that if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant? They were planning to go to Europe for a year when they graduated from High school. He was planning to live on damn park benches!" Straub looked dazed for a moment at the memory.
"Isn't it ironic? Rory actually made them stay nearby to us…To you. Do you really think they would have gone for just a year if she hadn't been born? I don't." Straub went silent for a long moment, drinking deeply from his cup, before he resumed speaking. "I blamed Lorelai for years Richard, blamed her for leading my son astray, it was always easier than admitting the truth. Especially to myself" Strobe sighed deeply, before finally he resumed talking.
"I think it was Christopher's idea. Europe certainly was. Christopher began stealing from the alcohol on his 16th birthday as well. Did Lorelai do it before he did?"
Richard paused for a moment thinking hard. He tried to remember. He couldn't recall any such occasion.
"I thought not" Straub chuckled without humour.
"Rory's conception was almost certainly instigated by him." Straub snorted.
"Now Straub-" Richard made to interrupt. He felt his daughter was as much to blame as Christopher.
"Oh I will always give credit to Lorelai for her full complicity, give me another decade I'd have her completely at fault. That amount of time would allow me to lie to myself long enough. Now though…" Straub paused. "Now all I can think about is the fact our children are dead, gone because of a freak accident of fate."
Straub's face went red with anger.
"I could throttle McRae's son. Idiot boy started all this in the first place. If he'd left well enough alone the entire case would have been finished by the 22nd of December."
Both Richard and Francine were startled by the venom in Straub's tone. Especially when directed at a child.
"You can't blame an eight year old for running to his father when a strange noise wakes him up at night. That it was his Father's mistress making the noise is not something anyone could have foreseen." Francine responded. "If anything blame McCrae for cheating on his wife so blatantly in the same house as a young boy still afraid of the dark."
All three were quiet after that.
"Lorelai's funeral is later today. Right after Emily's." Richard said quietly.
"We'll be there." Francine said. She hesitated a moment. "Can we meet her?"
It was obvious who Francine meant.
"She's had a lot of shocks recently." Richard said cautiously. "You can meet her though. Maybe-"
"She's a confused child who's lost nearly everyone she ever held dear." Straub interrupted with the perception a veteran lawyer had amassed. "We shouldn't be introduced straight away as grandparents. Not if we don't want to cause her serious mental damage on top of what she's already suffered. We can't overwhelm the child." As Richard had been about to suggest was the right course of action. "Imply we're related, or knew, Christopher in some way and it won't be a lie. It's best to do any introductions slowly I think." Straub concluded.
"You want to be involved then?" Richard asked cautious but very hopeful.
"Richard" Straub sighed, as though Richard was asking an obvious question.
"She's all we have left." Francine tearfully said.
All three looked out then, into the night sky, in silence.
Hello Everyone
I hope no one was expecting the story to get happier yet. That will still be a while away. Straub in canon episodes only appears twice. Once in Dear Emily and Richard and again in Christopher Returns. In both situations he is in a volatile situation and is portrayed as a volatile man. Here he has been tempered by, well, the obvious. He's also a decade younger than in Chris returns and with less fixed ideas of what happened in his head. Years in canon allowed him to demonise Lorelai further. Straub here never had that chance. Francine having been the somewhat more loving parent in canon gets a full on meltdown here and while she may be recovered slightly by chapters end still has serious issues to work past. Glad everyone is still enjoying the fic.
If any other Gilmore girl's fic has a character dying of TB I'd be intrigued to know it. The fact it makes complete sense in context here is part of the fun of this fic.
It took me a moment deciding who Jason's source would be. Then I remembered Mitzi and it couldn't have ever been anyone else.