A/N: So, here's one of the chapters you've all been waiting for. "The Talk" is the next one. Thanks to my faithful reviewers for the criticism and compliments! You guys are the best! Silent readers, speak up! Hope you all enjoy--let me know any thoughts you have. In addition, any review that isn't just a "good job" or "update soon" will recieve a personal response from me, so review up and let me know if you guys are liking the story. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own some of the plot line... and I own Elizabeth. Other than that, this story is basically stolen from ASP. Darn it all.
Lorelai sat on the couch and thought back to her conversation with Elizabeth earlier that day. She could replay the entire conversation in her head. Every word that Elizabeth said made her believe more and more in Elizabeth's story, and more and more that Lorelai had to help her.
Lorelai had opened the door to see a beautiful young girl standing there, biting her lip nervously. Lorelai almost had wanted to laugh at her in her plaid dress suit with her hair pulled back neatly under a headband. She wondered who this girl could possibly be and how she'd gotten through Stars Hollow looking like that. Even Yalies didn't come to Stars Hollow looking like that. Not that any Yalies went to Stars Hollow, but that was beside the point.
"Hi," she had said, cordially. She had honestly assumed the young girl was from Hartford and went to Chilton with Rory. "Are you looking for Rory? She's not here right now. I'm not sure where she is actually. Is she expecting you? She'll probably be back really soon." She talked too fast. She'd made a mental note to start talking slower.
"Who's Rory?" The girl had looked royally confused. Lorelai didn't understand. Everyone in Stars Hollow knew Rory. And anyone from outside of Stars Hollow that was this girl's age and didn't know Rory was obviously in the wrong place. She wondered if maybe she could help point the young girl to a more appropriate location.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Lorelai Gilmore," the girl had replied. Lorelai's name sounded funny with the girl's English accent. She had wanted to giggle at the thought of it being mentioned over tea. Lorelai Gilmore. Lorelai Gilmore. Lorelai Gilmore. She rolled it over her tongue and played the many British scenarios in her head. She nearly started laughing. Before she could get a giggle in edgewise, the girl had continued, "Do I have the right home?"
Odd choice of words, Lorelai had thought. She decided to reply in a formal answer the phone style. "This is she, how may I help you?" She'd put her hands on her hips then, and then moved them down by her side when she realized how rude she probably looked. She could hear her mother's voice echoing in her head. 'Lorelai, don't stand like a slouch. You know what people will think.' Lorelai had always slouched a little extra after that comment.
"My name is Elizabeth Gilmore," the girl went on. Gilmore. So what? It was a popular enough name. Could be no relation whatsoever. Lorelai decided to ignore it and kept her poker face. She needed the practice anyway. She, Luke, Sookie and Jackson had started having a poker night every Thursday. Except she and Luke would practice at home in their own style of Poker. Lorelai shook her head a little bit to get off of the dirty thought and onto her newest visitor. "It seems I might have some explaining to do, may I come in?"
Lorelai opened the door wider and motioned for the girl to come in. She led her into the kitchen and looked around. "Tea?" she asked weakly, knowing full-well she had no idea how to make it, but wanting to make the girl feel at home.
"No thank you," the girl had replied. "I've never been a tea fan." Lorelai was surprised. Was there a single brit out there that didn't like tea? "I would like coffee, if you have it?" Lorelai wondered if maybe this was one of her Gilmores. Coffee certainly was a Gilmore trait.
"So, you're from England?" she asked, feeling dumb for stating the obvious.
"Yes," the girl replied and bit her lip. She looked as if she was debating going further, but finally continued. "My mother was just killed in a car accident and I had nowhere to go." Lorelai looked at her, not quite sure what to say.
Eventually, she let the first thing that came to her mind squeak out. "I'm not putting this together."
The girl looked up at her and bit her lip nervously. That must be a habit of hers, Lorelai had thought. "I only have one relative left. My aunt Lorelai," the girl had said as Lorelai had dropped her coffee cup on the tile floors, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
"Oh my," the girl had said, and leaned down to help clean up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Lorelai looked up at the girl. Her eyes looked more blue now. Her hair looked darker and more wavy. Her nose started to look more like Rory's and her face morphed into her father's.
Lorelai stuttered. "You have an Aunt Lorelai?" the girl focused on the tile pieces and looked up at Lorelai. All of this mushy stuff was almost too much for Lorelai to take. Actually, it was too much for Lorelai to take. "Is she as beautiful as I am? I mean, personally, I don't think that's possible. I definitely win the most beautiful Lorelai award. Hands down, no contest."
The girl looked at Lorelai and scrunched her forehead. "I believe you are her."
Lorelai stared at the girl. "How? I'm an only child. I can't possibly have a niece."
The girl looked back at her, "Sit down…" she said softly. Lorelai obeyed. Why was she listening to a teenage girl anyways. The girl picked up the pieces and Lorelai wondered if maybe she was used to picking up the pieces of shattered things lately. Like her mother's death. It suddenly dawned on Lorelai that the girl's mother might have been Lorelai's sister.
"When my grandmother was 18, she was attending a small university in London and she met and fell in love with a young man from America. His name was Richard Gilmore and she was head over heels for him. He had just recently moved to London and was only staying for a year and although he was seeing someone back home, they'd sort of taken a, what do you call it, a break, and he had started seeing grandmum." Lorelai focused on one of the tiles on the floor. It was white with a small red stripe. She wondered where that red stripe had come.
"Are you listening? It would be dreadfully awful if I had to tell you this story all over again," Elizabeth said.
Lorelai looked up. "Oh, right, go on. I'm listening."
"Well, grandmum fell in love with Richard and by the end of the year she had pleaded multiple times for him to stay, but he kept telling her he was already engaged to this woman named Emily, and he couldn't leave her. He left three days late, but he left nonetheless and grandmum was absolutely devastated. Not even a month later she found out she was pregnant with my mum, but the one time she tried to call Emily picked up and she didn't want to disturb them because they seemed so happy together."
Lorelai swallowed, "I'm sorry, what was your grandmother's name?"
"Victoria," the girl replied. "I'm sorry, I guess I forgot that detail. Victoria Burke."
Lorelai swallowed harder. Her father had always told her he "just liked the name Victoria." Now she realized she was named after her father's girlfriend. She felt somewhat sick to her stomach.
"May I continue?" Elizabeth asked. Lorelai nodded.
"So, my grandmum had my mum when she was nineteen and all was good and merry. My mum never met her father. One time when he was on a business trip to England my grandmum saw him, but she didn't want my mum to meet him because he didn't know about her, and she didn't want to disturb his marriage. Well, that's where she found out about you and Emily. She mainly wanted to know because she wanted a place for my mum to go if something ever happened to her. So grandpa told her all about you and Emily and his life here in Connecticut."
"I'm sorry," Lorelai interrupted. "What was your mother's name?"
"Katherine Gilmore," the girl replied, eyeing Lorelai. Lorelai mulled the name over in her head. Katherine. She had a sister. Her name was Katherine. Katherine. The name sounded foreign and familiar all at the same time. She found herself aching for her sister.
The girl watched Lorelai until she recognized it was time to go on. "So, my grandmum wrote down all of grandpa's information and kept it at home so that mum would know about her dad. They also took a picture together so mum could have it. Well, like mum like daughter, when my mum was 19 she had me. It was the best day of her life, you know?" The girl smiled and laughed softly. Lorelai couldn't help but smile in return.
"That was fifteen years ago. My grandmum has since died of cancer and my mum got killed in the car accident. My father is nowhere to be found, he disappeared when mum found out she was pregnant. Everyone else is dead or gone and you're the only one left."
Lorelai stared at the girl and didn't say a word.
"I figured I at least owed it to you to tell you about your life and let you know what had happened. I thought maybe you would want to know and wouldn't be completely freaked out."
Lorelai stared at the girl and then shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry, it's just a lot to take in. I have a sister and my dad had an affair and I have a niece who needs to be taken care of… And how the hell did you get here, anyway?"
The girl looked at her strangely. "Well, I flew, obviously. Well, I flew to Hartford and caught a cab here."
Lorelai nodded. "Okay… Where is your stuff?"
Elizabeth nodded toward the door. "It's out on the porch."
Lorelai got up and pulled it inside. She set it in the doorway to Rory's room. "You can stay here until I talk to my husband and we figure out exactly what to do." The girl looked at the room and back at Lorelai, somewhat stunned and shy. "Don't worry," Lorelai tried to comfort her. "It will all be okay."
The girl looked up at her and gave her a half smile. "This must be Rory's room. Rory is your daughter, right?"
Lorelai smiled. "Yes, she is. She's your age. I'm sure you'll love her." Elizabeth smiled and nodded, and the two girls disappeared into Rory's room, talking, unpacking, and eventually laughing like old friends.
Lorelai wondered how to tell Luke of the recent events. He didn't want a baby; he didn't want another child besides Rory. Why would he want Lorelai's niece living with them? Lorelai couldn't just shove the poor girl out in the cold. Being a Gilmore was hard enough as is, she didn't need the extra burden of being one by herself. Even Lorelai hadn't had that, she'd always had Rory.
There were so many things she couldn't wrap her mind around. Her father had an affair while he was in England. He'd half-named her after the woman he'd had his affair with. She had a sister she had never heard of. She had a niece that was alone in the world. She found herself wondering what to make of the day's events. Rory and Elizabeth had seemed to hit it off. They were only three months apart and both had a strange love for Jane Austen. Lorelai found that odd. At least the child liked coffee, though.
She heard the door open and looked up in anticipation as Luke walked through it. She smiled at him and noticed his baseball cap was a little crooked. He looked at her.