Lorelai's House

Rory walks in to find Lorelai lying on the couch, not quite asleep. "Hey Mommo," Rory exclaims, flouncing on to the couch by Lorelai's feet. Lorelai smiles at her daughter. "The article is done, I have Paris off my back, at least for the moment. I'm so light and airy right now I could just - Whoa! What happened?" Rory exclaims, noticing Lorelai's cheek. Lorelai has covered up all the other marks with a long-sleeved turtleneck as Luke suggested.

"Oh," Lorelai says, her fingers gently grazing the bruise on her cheek. She giggles as if to relieve the tension. "What can I say, your mom is a klutz!"

"Did you run into that dresser in Dad's house? I told you that was going to happen!"

"Oh, yeah, that's what I did, you know me," Lorelai lies, winking to cover up the fact she's lying. Rory shakes her head, smiling. "Did you have a good night?" Lorelai asks, quickly changing the subject.

"Except for my evil mother waking me up?" Rory jokes. "Yeah, I just hung out with Lane for a little while and then came home and went to bed." Lorelai nods. "You and Dad have fun? And don't be gross when you answer…"

Lorelai opens her mouth to answer but falters. A dark look coming over her face and Lorelai looks away for a moment. She sits up, preparing to tell her daughter. "Hun, I need to tell you something," Lorelai begins. She takes Rory's hand, rubbing it with her own. Rory looks worried. "Your dad," Lorelai pauses again watching Rory's face, considering what she should actually say. "And I – we – broke up. We're not getting married," Lorelai finishes, lamely. But Rory's face falls.

Rory looks down at Lorelai's hand and notices the ring missing. "Oh…" she says sadly. Then Rory looks up at Lorelai, forlorn. "What happened?" Lorelai shrugs.

"It wasn't meant to be. We couldn't make it work. I didn't want to leave Stars Hallow and he didn't want to leave Boston. And if we couldn't figure that out, there was just going to be so much more we couldn't agree on," Lorelai explains, sort of telling the truth. It was the truth, but not the reason that Lorelai was done with Chris. "Chris and I stopped being Chris and Lorelai more than 18 years ago and we finally had to face that." Rory nods sadly, but understanding. "Hun?"

"I understand, Mom. As much as I wanted you two to be together, I can understand what you're saying," Rory admits.

"You're not mad at me?" Lorelai asks, a little worried. Rory shakes her head, smiling.

"Course not, Goldie. I love you no matter what," Rory insists. Lorelai wraps and arm around Rory, pulling her to her chest.

"I love ya too, Kate," Lorelai answers, kissing the top of Rory's head. They giggle and hug.

"I'll just wait until Kurt comes along. I'll love him too," Rory says, continuing their reference.

"You bet you will." Lorelai playfully smacks Rory in the arm. "So you staying home and hanging out with the Mommy tonight? Or are you painting the town?"

"Well, I don't really like to paint, although we both know that you do, but I'm going out. Jess finally has a night off so were just going to get together, hang, that kind of thing…" Lorelai nods. "Unless, of course, you want me to stay home with you?" Lorelai gives her daughter a strange look.

"Are you kidding? Without you I can finally watch every version of Miracle Worker and put on my own performance of the water scene. I think I could form my own old biddies club and have all the gals over to join me," Lorelai informs Rory.

"Well as long as you have a plan." Lorelai smiles, shaking her head. Rory's cell goes off and she glances down at it. "Okay, we'll chat tomorrow!" She stands and runs out the door. Lorelai waits for a moment, to make sure Rory's gone and then settles back into her lying down position on the couch. She reaches down on the floor next to her and flips on the TV. Lorelai flips through a few channels before becoming frustrated and clicking the TV off. She purses her lips thinking and walks over to the phone.

Lorelai takes the phone out of the holder, staring at it, thinking about things. Finally she gives in and dials the number. "Luke's Diner," Anna answers. Lorelai's face goes beet red, as if Anna can see who is on the phone. She quickly turns off the phone and throws it down as if it's a hot potato.

"Get a grip Gilmore," she mumbles to herself. Lorelai stares at the phone, wishing she could go back just a minute. And suddenly it rings. "Shit!" Did Anna call back? Against her own will, she reaches out and picks it up. "Hello?" she says timidly, biting her lower lip.

"Lorelai, I'm glad I caught you," Chris says. Lorelai's mouth drops open and she doesn't respond immediately. She can hear Chris clear his voice over the phone. "I, uh, found the key and the ring, so, uh, thanks."

"Chris, what do you want?" she asks coldly, the dark look coming back over her face.

"I just – I wanted to say – I'm sorry. I'm really sorry Lor. I don't really remember what happened. I remember you coming in and I remember you leaving but there's blood on my hands and I know that can't be good," Chris says. Lorelai doesn't say anything, but stares blankly into space, her breath shaky. Chris takes a deep breath. "I know I can't reason this away but I wanted to say that. I know it's not enough." Lorelai sighs, rubbing her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Chris, you were drunk that's why you can't remember," Lorelai whispers angrily. She huffs not saying anything for a moment. "But this wasn't completely your fault," she finally concedes.

"So?"

"So…" Lorelai takes a deep breath, her eyes closing. "All I'm saying is we're done, but the door to Rory is still open," Lorelai says. Chris breathes a sigh of relief.

"Lor, you'll never know. Thank you. And I will find some way to apologize better than this," Chris says. "I'll always love you Lor." He hangs up. Lorelai follows suit. She stares at the phone for a moment. Then she silently hangs it up and walks upstairs to take an aspirin and go to bed.