AN: Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful reviews! I wasn't planning on updating so soon, but since it's ready, here it is! Please read and review!

Chapter 5 – Gone

She was sitting on a courtyard bench reading Genealogy of Morals waiting for Paris to go to lunch. Graduation had been the day before, and finals before that, so the campus was pretty empty by now, save for a few students still packing to go back home. An eerie feeling crept up on her. She chose to dismiss it and continue reading, but the feeling was still there.

He quietly took a seat next to her and set his crutches between them. He spoke in a low voice, just to her. He made her skin crawl the minute he said the first syllable.

"Please don't go. Hear me out for a second." He tried swallowing the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry for bothering you when you asked me to leave you alone. I promise I will keep my distance from now on." He was afraid to look at her for fear of letting his feelings give way and knew she did the same. He knew what having those beautiful blue eyes of hers on him felt like, and they weren't on him. Little did he know, she had closed her eyes relishing on the sound of his voice. "I am going to be leaving for London. I had extended the lease on the apartment until next summer. It's paid for, so if you want to use it, I would feel better knowing you're safer than you would be where you are at now. You don't have to worry about me, I won't be bothering you while I know you're staying there." He took a deep breath. "Goodbye Rory."

His presence had shaken her so much she was unable to utter a word. It was becoming more and more real. He was leaving for London. He was leaving for London for a year and she was going to be having his baby in six months. She opened her eyes, wanting to go after him, but he had disappeared.

She had gone to the apartment, sure to find him there. She knocked twice, and after not getting a response, she took her keys out and opened the door. Everything looked in order and clean. She called him out but didn't get a response. She decided to wait for him. He was probably having therapy because of his accident. She called Paris to cancel on their plans and waited. At first she had pulled one of the books sitting on the coffee table to read, but she became impatient and opted for a movie instead. She turned the television on and picked her movie.

She moved into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He was here, she knew it. The other day when she had been here the refrigerator didn't have anything, and now it was fully stocked. She made herself a ham and cheese sandwich and returned to her movie. When that was over, she put another movie in. She fell asleep sometime soon after that. When she woke up she looked at the clock. 5 o'clock. Shit, she was going to be late to meet her mother and grandmother. She got one of her post it's and scribbled him a quick note letting him know she was there and wanted to talk to him, and she would be back that night.

"Where is she? She should have called us by now."

"Relax mom, I'm sure she's on her way."

"What is it with the new generation believing it's in vogue to be late everywhere you go?"

"Rory isn't late everywhere she goes. She's running almost fifteen minutes late today, that's all."

"That's all you say? We're picking up our dresses for your wedding. I would think you'd be more worried about her being here on time."

"Well maybe she's not here yet because she finally talked to Logan and she's running late. Hmm, ever think of that, huh?"

"Are they back together yet?"

"I have no idea."

"How could you have no idea? I thought she told you everything?"

"Not everything-everything. Only everything up till this morning."

"How is she doing? Is she feeling better?"

"Eh, so-so. I think she's doing a little better, or getting really good at pretending she's feeling better."

"I'm worried about her. Maybe she's bulimic. You think she's bulimic?"

"No!" she said horrified. "Why would you think that?"

"She eats massive amounts of food, makes herself sick, and eats massive amounts of food again, then the cycle repeats. Isn't that what a bulimic does? You should take her to a therapist. It's all your fault."

"My fault? How is this my fault?"

"You should have a tighter grip on that child. Always be on top of her."

"Rory isn't a child anymore, mom. She's a fully grown adult. The reason she wasn't feeling well was because she's been stressing herself out and she was upset about Logan."

"Whatever happened between them, anyhow?"

"I think that is better kept between the two of them. Let them work out their issues."

Just then, Rory's car pulled into the parking lot. She ran towards Lorelai and Emily and gave each of them a hug and a kiss.

"Hi! I'm so sorry I'm late."

"Where've you been, kid?"

"Come on, let's go inside," said Emily. "Caroline must be waiting for us."

They walked into the bridal shop and Beth greeted them again.

"Hello ladies. Let's go on back, Caroline is finishing the last details of Rory's dress."

"I thought everything was done."

"Mrs. Gilmore's dress and your gown are all done and packed up for you. Rory's just needed a few minor touches since she had to redo hers."

"Hello girls," greeted Caroline. "I am going to take Rory with me for just a second so she can try on her dress one last time. Beth, could you please serve Lorelai and Emily some tea while Rory and I finish."

They walked into the dressing room and Caroline helped Rory put on her dress. The tulle underneath made it a little fastidious to get into, but otherwise she looked lovely in it. They walked back out to the showroom and she stood in the platform while Caroline arranged the crinoline underneath and puffed it out. It was an ice blue satin silk strapless gown that went down to bellow the knee with a couple of layers of tulle sticking out from underneath. It had faux blue satin buttons down the back with a pink sash at the waist that tied at the back for contrast.

"Oh, Rory! You absolutely look angelical," said Emily.

"Angelical vixen, if you ask me."

"Lorelai, honestly!"

"What? I was just complementing her on the boob job. Can't I compliment my kid?"

"Rory, ignore you mother. You look lovely."

"Thanks Grandma."

"So are we all set Caroline?"

"All set Emily. You can change now Rory." Rory got down from the platform and went into the dressing room. "Beth will help you get the dress boxes into your car. I'll go get Rory's dress ready for you to take."

"Thank you very much Caroline. Your dresses are some of the best custom made in all of Connecticut."

"Oh thank you Emily. You're so kind. It was a pleasure working with you gals. Congratulations on the wedding Lorelai."

They left the dress shop together and made plans on the way to their cars.

"I'm starving. Why don't we go grab dinner somewhere around here?" offered Lorelai.

"It's a little early, but it sounds good to me. Your father isn't back in town from his trip until tomorrow morning, and I didn't have any other dinner plans made. How about you, Rory?"

"Well I'm going to have to take a rain check this time. I was hoping to meet up with Logan after this."

"So are you two talking again?" asked Emily hopefully.

"Well… we might be after today. I saw him on campus."

"So did you two finally talk? How is he doing from his accident?" asked Lorelai.

"I don't know. I guess he's better. I know it was serious, but not how serious."

"What do you mean you don't know? You said you saw him today."

"Yeah, but I didn't see him-see him. Anyway, I have to go. He might be home by now. I'll see you tomorrow for the Bridal Party. Are you coming Grandma?"

"I will be there. See you tomorrow Rory."

They watched her get in her car and drive off.

"I'm worried about that girl."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow morning and see how she's doing. But beyond that, neither one of us can get involved. You understand that, right mom?"

"Sure I do." Lorelai looked at her mother funny. "What? You don't believe your own mother when she says she's not going to interfere."

"Of course I would believe my mother, except that my mother is Emily Gilmore."

"Oh, stop that Lorelai. Come on, get in the car so we can go eat. I thought you were hungry."

Rory walked back into the apartment, her note for him right where she placed it. It looked like he hadn't been home yet. She would be waiting for him again. After calling Paris to tell her not to wait for her, she took her shoes off to get a little comfortable. She didn't want to get too comfortable because she knew someone would probably be helping him up. She went to the refrigerator again to prepare something for dinner. She decided to make pasta alfredo, one of his favorite and easy to make. She put a pot of water to boil and took the jar of sauce out.

She had set the table in between finishing dinner and cleaning stuff up. One hour had turned into the next and she ended up having dinner by herself. Maybe he had gone out with Colin and Finn? No, that couldn't be, as injured as he probably was. Sleep was getting the best of her and she walked towards the bed, looking inviting. She pulled his pillow to her, wanting to feel his scent close and found her nightgown tucked under it. It definitely wasn't one of her most provocative ones, but it was his favorite demure one. He had been sleeping with it, probably all this time. She thought for a second, then decided to put it on and just go to bed and wait for him. Maybe he would welcome the surprise. At least she hoped he would. She got the sense by what he had told her earlier that day that it pained him to part with her, so she held the hope that he would like the surprise. She wasn't sure this was how she wanted to do it, but she wanted to forget everything that happened and put it behind them. She wanted to tell him that she forgave him for what happened and ask him to forgive her for what she'd said to him that night.

Sleep eventually overtook her and she only woke up when the beeping of the alarm became too consistent to ignore. She lazily got up to turn it off. She looked at her surroundings and noticed how everything was the same as she had left it the night before. He hadn't been home. Worry overtook her disappointment and she grabbed the house phone to call his cell phone. The tone beeped a couple of times letting her know that they had messages. She sat down and decided to get the messages before calling him. Her initial worry turned into anxiety when she heard her voice come on. Message after message. He didn't get any of the messages she had left him at the house phone. After saving a few messages, she hung up and called his cell phone. Still, she couldn't leave him a message because his inbox was full. She hung up and walked towards their dressing room and she felt her anxiety turn into panic as she realized that most of his clothes were gone. Only one of his suits was left hanging along with a few ties and dress shirts. She moved to open his drawers and noticed that some of his casual home clothes were still there, but they were almost empty.

She moved to her dresser and opened the drawers. Everything that she had left behind was still there, unperturbed. She noticed a piece of paper on top of the dresser and grabbed it.

Dear Rory,

The maid should still be coming in every Wednesday from 11 to 5. If your schedule changes and another time is better, don't forget to call her and arrange that. All of the household expenses should be coming directly to my accountant, so you don't have to worry about it. In case anything comes up, here's a list of phone numbers of people that can take care of things. Take care of yourself.

Logan

Realization finally hit her. He was gone. She went to get the phone and in a panic called Honor.

"Hello?"

"Honor?"

"Rory? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Do you know how I can get in touch with Logan? I waited for him all day yesterday and all night. He never came home…"

"He decided to leave for London earlier as planned." She was confused. "He told me he talked to you yesterday."

"I… ah… he did. Kind of."

Honor could tell she was upset. Her heart went out to her, even if she didn't understand exactly what was happening.

"Listen, Honor, I need to talk to Logan. It's very important that I get in touch with him. Can you help me?"

"I don't have any numbers for him yet. He's supposed to call me as soon as he settles in. Dad probably knows how to get in touch with him, since he sent him there. I'll do whatever I can."

"Thank you, Honor."

She hung up the phone and gently placed it down on the bed. She looked around the apartment and it felt empty and lonely.

The party was in full swing by five o'clock. The whole townspeople were gathered at The Dragonfly Inn and all different kinds of alcohol were being consumed. Lorelai had been looking for Rory for some time now. She hadn't had the time to ask her earlier how her conversation with Logan had gone the night before. Just when she spotted her close to one of the guest cottages and started walking towards her, Babette and Miss Patty stopped her.

"This is some party you got going on here, sugar."

"It remind me of my bridal shower when I married husband number six. Now husband number six… he was a good husband."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves." She looked up to see Rory, but she was gone. "Hey, have you seen Rory. I've been looking all over for her."

"I saw her walking towards my punch." Said Miss Patty.

"Well in that case, I better go stop her before she starts dancing on tables. Will you excuse me?"

She went in search for her daughter, but Jess found her first. She was sitting under a tree, cell phone securely in hand.

"Hey you."

"Jess, hey."

"Did I scare you? You seemed to be lost deep into your thoughts." He sat next to her.

"It's okay." She looked down again. It seemed that the tables were turned and now she was the one that stuck to short answers to long questions.

"Nice party."

"Yeah."

"So… are you okay?"

"Yes, why?" she answered too quickly.

"I don't know. I just got the feeling that you didn't really want to be here. Or that you were here in body but not in mind."

"I've had a lot of things on my mind lately."

Jess couldn't keep his eyes of her, or how her dress made her eyes look a darker shade of blue.

"You look different, you know?"

"Different? How?"

"I don't know… luminous. Beautiful."

She stood up and brushed her dress of any grass that might have gotten on it. "I… I'm sorry Jess. I need to go… um… take care of something."

He stood up quickly to meet her eye to eye.

"Hey, listen, I don't want it to be weird between us. I understand if you don't want anything else than a friendship. That think in Philadelphia…"

"Jess I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have let things go that far."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. Are we okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay. I still have to go take care of something. Excuse me."

She walked into the in as quickly as possible between the masses of people. She looked for somewhere quiet where she could make a phone call. After deciding on the coat room she dialed Honor's number. It went to voicemail. She closed her phone without leaving a message. Just then Lorelai walked in.

"Hey, kid. I've been looking all over the place for you. Are you okay?" Just then, Emily walked into the room too.

"Girls, you're missing the party. What are you doing here?"

"Nothing!" answered Rory in a sharp tone.

"What's wrong Rory?" asked Emily. "I've noticed you act strangely for some time now." She eyed her curiously. "You're not bulimic, are you?"

"God, no! Would you people please stop asking me that!" She pushed Lorelai out of the way accidentally and ran out of the room.

"There's something going on with that girl. I told you!"

"Mom, stop that. I know what's going on! Logan is going on!"

"We need to talk to her Lorelai."

"I'm going to go find her. I've been trying to talk to her for the past month or so, but she refuses to open up. I know she's got something she's not telling me."

Emily followed Lorelai out of the room. They checked a few of the unoccupied rooms and found her in room seven. They heard her gagging and coughing in the bathroom before a flush.

"Oh, no, Rory…" whispered Lorelai. She placed her ear on the door and she could hear Rory crying. She slowly opened the door and what she saw broke her heart into a million pieces. Sitting on the bathroom floor was her only child crying inconsolably. She knelt before her and tried to console her. Emily was left startled at the doorframe.

"Rory, sweetheart…"

"He left! He left and I didn't even get the chance to tell him!" she sobbed.

"Oh, honey…" She embraced her daughter tightly, whipping her tears away.

"He didn't even bother to tell me when he was leaving…"

"But you knew he was leaving, babe."

"But he wasn't supposed to leave yet! He wasn't supposed to leave until I talked to him and told him! I was going to tell him last night."

"Tell him what?"

"I mean, the Con list won! The Con list won over the Pro and I couldn't go through with it! The list didn't work this time! It never fails, and this time… I couldn't do it!" she cried angrily at herself.

"What Pro-Con list? Hon, what are you talking about?"

"The Pro-Con list I made! The Con list won, but I couldn't do anything about it! You're going to hate me now! Everything that I've worked for, it's all going down the drain… I ruined everything!"

"Sweetie, I want to help you, but you have to tell mommy what's going on…"

"I'm pregnant and Logan is gone now…"

"What!" Lorelai cried out.

Emily could feel her stomach drop. The last thing she ever expected to see was before her. Her perfect granddaughter… She felt a chill as she remembered a similar day some twenty two years before. It had shaken her to the core to hear her daughter tell her she was pregnant, but her granddaughter? And to see her crying so desperately into her mothers arms. To see her own daughter suffering what she had gone through two decades before. But it hadn't hurt her the way she could see it hurting Lorelai right now. She had felt more shamed back then. Shame for what people might thing of their family. But Lorelai was hurting because of the immense pain she was seeing her child in. Yes, she had been pained by Lorelai's rejection of her, but not by seeing her own child suffering, and that, alone, was far worse.

"Grandma and Grandpa are going to hate me!"

That just finished tearing Emily apart into pieces. She did the unexpected. She sat at the other side of Rory and hugged both her daughter and her daughter's daughter.

"No we're not. It's going to be okay dear."

And there they were. Three generations of strong Gilmore girls, broken to pieces and falling apart. After some time, she looked down at her watch. It was getting late and the party would be ending soon. The whole town would be wondering where they were. She was surprised that no one had come looking for them. By then, Rory had cried herself tired and to sleep. Her sobs had turned into frequent sighs. Emily got up and looked in the mirror. She grabbed a face towel from the sink and submerged it into cold water. She brought the cold towel to her face and gently wiped her tear marks away. She let the towel rest in her eyes for a second.

"I'm going to go downstairs and thank everyone for coming."

"Oh, no… the party. They're going to start asking questions."

"Don't worry about them. I'll just tell them that Rory wasn't feeling well and that you needed to stay with her, and didn't realize the time go by. I'll be back."

"Mom?"

"Yes Lorelai?"

"Thank you."

Emily gave her daughter a smile. "Put Rory to bed. It's probably best if she stays here tonight. Don't go downstairs yourself." She walked out of the suite and closed the door behind her.

People had already begun to leave. She ordered the servers to start clearing things and cleaning up when Sookie approached her.

"Mrs. Gilmore, do you know where Lorelai went? She disappeared a few hours ago and no one's been able to find her." Babette and Miss Patty walked right behind her to hear the gossip.

"Rory wasn't feeling well and she decided to stay with her. She didn't realize it was this late."

"Is Rory okay? She's been looking sick the past few times we've seen her." Asked Babette.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. Just a little stomach bug she's been fighting off for a few weeks now. Lorelai just didn't want to leave her alone."

"Is she upstairs? Maybe I should go check on her…"

"No, Sookie, please. I actually need your help here. I'm taking care of Lorelai and Rory. Miss Patty, have you seen Luke or my husband?"

"I think I saw Richard with Mauri over by the pond over there." Answered Babette.

"Luke went to Lorelai's house to drop off some of the presents and to look for her."

"In that case I'll go fetch my husband. If you see Luke, would you mind telling him that Lorelai is with Rory and to just meet us back here tonight."

"Sure thing sugar."

"Thank you. And thank you for coming. I'll see you both in a week at the wedding. Have a good night."

She walked back inside to check on her girls, not letting her emotions get the best of her. She was going to need to be strong for both of them.