So its my fifth chapter and i believe that is some kind of anniversary or something? idont know so i decided that in my authors note instead of rambling like an idiot i would respond to some of your reviews, this won't happen everychapter but hey, i thought id give it a try so here we go...

Responses:

cinny72- thank you so much! i look forward to your reviews every chapter, im glad you are enjoying the fic, and keep reviewing!

petite quiet harrison- please trust me this fic will go in a happier direction. I am a true devoted javajunkie and do not think that this fic will go any other way

lorlukealways- thanks for the review and i know the end of the chapter was sad however i feel like they are making some progress, don't you? i don't know i feel like they have to fight first before anything can happen.

avesnovuelan- thanks for the support- i agree because i see that in a lot a fics where Lorelai and luke make up right away its kind of unrealistic, but um, im not going to wait like fifteen years for them to make up either because thats kind of depressing but, idk. thanks for your review!

Lukenlorelai637,JJsoulmatesLL,stoneylake, and MM Vermelha - thanks for your reviews, im really trying to make it happier i promise, im getting there!

hd455- thank you soooooooo much for your review! it made me really happy it was probably one of the best reviews i have ever gotten and hearing stuff like that really helps me with trusting my instincts, you are so nice and thank you for the compliment. Please keep reading and i hope you enjoy this chapter. Your review really inspired me and im very happy that you like it so far!

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Chapter 5: So Let Me Slip Away

(again dashboard confessional, Vindicated)

A little over a month had passed and Christmas was getting closer. Lorelai had made a couple friends who lived in Boston, but they were all more like acquaintances. She had started working at the Inn down the street from where Chris' apartment was. When she had first moved there Chris had told her that she did not need to get another job, she was still manager of The Dragonfly, and Chris had inherited enough money for them to live off of. Lorelai had then asked him why he still had a job, and why he had to go away on business all the time for said job, and he made a comment about how he needed to feel like 'the man' and stayed at work so that he could prove he could provide for his family on his own. Lorelai, who was slightly offended by his chauvinistic comment then said sarcastically that she was going to get a job also because she was so efficient at ironing his clothes and making his dinner that she had hours to waste away, and she wouldn't want to be bored now would she? She put on her shoes and marched across the street to the Inn she had noticed upon her arrival called the Serendipity Inn and applied for a job.

Now, Lorelai was standing behind the front desk of the Inn, and was rearranging the Shoehoppers' arrival dates on the computer per their request. From the inside, the Serendipity was slightly similar to the Dragonfly, with minor differences. The color scheme was slightly cooler, more blues and purples, and of course it was lacking the few homey touches that she had added to the Dragonfly. It was in most cases more of a small hotel than an actual inn, but she figured that the word Inn was added to attract a certain crowd of people. Occasionally she found herself getting lost on her way to the kitchen or bathrooms because she had been unconciously following the floor plan of the Dragonfly. Today was a thursday afternooon, and therefore the Lobby was almost completely empty except for a few people who were relaxing by the fire. When she had applied for the job she hadn't really thought much about the name of the place. The Serendipity Inn.

She thought about how each Inn she had worked at defined a part of her life. The Independence she had worked at when she had run away from home, and promised herself that she would give Rory the best life she could possibly have, even if she would have to do it alone. Dragonflies, she had read somewhere, symbolized having the ability to look past closemindedness that normally prevented growing and changing, and being reminded that we are light and can choose to reflect that light if we choose to do so. It symbolized a sense of self that comes with maturity. Something about The Dragonfly Inn seemed to click with Lorelai, something about reveling in the person that she had become. She was happy. Serendipity...hmmm. She thought, trying to make a connection with what this would mean for her. Her thoughts were interrupted when her cell phone started vibrating from te front desk.

"Hello" She answered it, happily after seeing the caller ID.

"Hey mom, hows the weather over there?" She asked.

"In Boston?" Lorelai asked her daughter curiously. Of all the conversations they had had, weather was usually never a topic.

"No, accross the room-" Rory said a little louder. Lorelai looked up and saw her daughter standing in the doorway of her Inn.

"Hey babe!" She yelled as she ran quickly to meet Rory in the middle of the room, closing her phone on the way over to embrace her with a hug. "I thought Logan was visiting this week?"

"Yeah well he had to cut his trip a little short" Rory told her mom a little dissapointed.

"Aw, hun..." Lorelai said rubbing Rory's shoulder as she led her over to the couches.

"It's ok, we stayed up talking all night until he had to leave for his flight this morning, i don't think we have ever talked so much, it was really great." Rory told her mother.

"Casanova's got nothing on you" She joked.

"What?" Rory asked confused.

"Nothing."

"Oook. Well what are you up to?"

"Oh you know, normal Inn stuff. So um, what are your plans for this weekend?" Lorelai sing-songed happily.

"Um I was gonna stay here with you guys, why?" Rory asked.

"Well...I have a lot of Dragonfly stuff to check up on so I was gonna hit the Hollow, wanna come with?" Lorelai asked

"Of course!" Rory said.

"Cool"

"So is dad coming?" Rory asked.

"Um...I don't know actually why don't you ask him later?" Lorelai told her daughter.

"What you haven't told him your going yet?"

"No, it hasn't really come up." She said trying to get around the uneasy feeling that had settled in her stomach.

"Mom, whats going on?"

"what do you mean, nothings going on." She said trying to sound convincing.

"why haven't you told dad? Don't you think he eventually would have noticed?"

"good question."

"Mom..."

"Rory, i was just kidding ok? I was going to tell him, it really never came up, it's not a big deal." She tried to laugh it off.

"ok..." Rory said moving on. She sensed that something was off between her parents but she could tell that Lorelai was getting annoyed so she dropped it for the time being.

"ok." Lorelai said

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"So can you?" Rory asked her dad later that night at dinner.

"I don't know I have work to catch up on." Chris said, trying to avoid Lorelai's glance.

"Come on, I wanted to hang with you guys this weekend, and I don't know when I'll have another break from school. Yale is very demanding of my time you know..." Rory went on. She put on her best pout, even if she didn't think her mom was happy with Chris it didn't mean that he wasn't her dad. She still wanted to spend time with him, but a part of her felt like it was obligation. That if she got to knowChris, she would see that really, deep down, he was a good person and he had changed, and she was somehow obliged to give him this chance.

"I'll see what I can do." Chris said unable to deny the famous Gilmore pout, but a hint of anger was underneath his word..

"Yay! I have to go call Lane" Rory said excusing herself and giving her little sister a pinch on the cheek.

Chris turned to Lorelai now, and for a second she thought she saw anger in his eyes. His face was serious, and she didn't know why he had changed so quickly.

"I guess this was your idea?" Chris asked.

"Well yeah I do still manage the Dragonfly and I haven't been back since we left. What's the big deal? Its two hours away, and Rory grew up there, she has friends there and I have friends there. It would be nice to visit" Lorelai said, acting normally trying to ignore the anger that she saw in Chris at the moment.

"But you live here now.:" Chris said.

"You don't say?" Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Why didn't you tell me about this."

"I wasn't sure if I was going."

"And now you are"

"Yes, God Chris what is this about?"

"This is about how you feel the need to visit Stars Hollow only a month after we left it. This is about how you didn't sell your house after I told you it would be a good idea. This is about how you didn't sell the Dragonfly. Its like you are waiting for this to not work out! It's like you're waiting to just pack up and leave and settle back home the second its over. We are married now Lor, it's not like it used to be. This right here, this is it forever! You can't just run when you get bored."

"Where is this coming from!" Lorelai said starting to get defensive. "And as I remember it, it was you who cut and ran the second I refused to marry you after Rory was born. It was you who came around once every two years for Christmas. It was you who couldn't even make it to your daughter's high school graduation, where she was the validictorian. I always held that door open for you Christopher! You never took it. How dare you patronize me!" She was yelling now.

"Is this about Luke?" Chris asked in a calmer, yet vindictive voice.

"What?" Lorelai asked in complete confusion and almost repulsion at his question, not stopping for a second to think of its truth. "Ohmygod!" She said putting a hand to her head and sitting down at the table again.

"It is isn't it? Everything you just said, every time i wasn't there, he was. That is what this is about."

"No Chris, this is about you and me not-"

"That's why you want to go to stars hollow, so you two can catch up on old times? Well I'm sorry but I just won't allow that."

"You won't allow that?" Lorelai asked him in disgust.

"I am so sick of constantly being compared to a man who flips burgers for a living!" Chris said in exhaustion.

"When have I ever compared you to Luke?" Lorelai asked him, purposely ignoring the latter part of his sentence, figuring it would open a whole different can of worms.

"When have you not? I see it in your face Lor, I see it in everything about you. The way you look at me when I tell you i'm going away for business, or i have to work later because of a meeting. He never would do that to you would he?" He asked relentlessly. "Well I'm sorry if I don't want to just sit and watch you walk into his arms! I'm your husband, you married ME and you are going to have to get past that fact."

"Chris you were invited to come! It was supposed to be a nice family vacation, to a place that me and rory lived in for her whole life. She loves that place just as much as i do, but you would have known that had you stopped by and visited every so often"

"You are never going to let me live that down are you! I was sixteen Lorelai, sixteen. I felt guilty about leaving the first time and I didn't want to carry that around with me the rest of my life! I made a mistake when I was sixteen, and as I remember it so did you!" He yelled.

Lorelai was at a loss for words. She looked up and saw Rory standing in the doorframe of her bedroom with a look of shame and embarassment spread across her face.

"I'm sorry- I didn't mean- Lor..." He warned as she started to march across the room to Rory.

"Pack." She told her loudly so that Chris could still hear. "We are gonna start our trip a little earlier." Chris got up and left loudly, slamming the front door behind him.

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"How could he have said that?" Rory asked after they were in the car halfway to Stars Hallow.

"Shh...babe. Don't worry about it, he was mad at me, ok? He had no right to say that about you."

"He had no right to talk to you like that mom"

"I hope Gigi's ok with the nanny." She said dropping the subject, her eyes concentrating on the dark road in front of her.

"mom..." Rory said trying to get back to the important subject.

"I mean, I couldn't just take her with us, she is Chris' daughter. But obviously I couldn't just leave her there alone and there was no way I was waiting 'till he got home." Lorelai went on.

"He's a jerk" Rory told her mom. She could tell Lorelai was upset by the fight that they had, but Lorelai hid her feelings well.

"He was just in a mood." Lorelai said.

"Don't try to cover for him mom, I'm a big girl now."

"I know but hes-"

"my father"

"Yeah"

"Wow." Rory let out as they pulled past the welcome sign.

"It looks exactly the same, does it look the same to you?"

"Exactly. Nothing's changed." Rory observed, turning to her mom.

"Nothing's changed." Lorelai repeated absentmindedly as stopped at the light in front of town square, she turned her head, catching a glimse of Luke scrubbing down the counter. She felt her heart fall into her stomach. He looked up and for a second she thought she saw hope flash through his eyes, but then it was gone. She swallowed hard. He waved at her and her lips formed a small, responding smile before he went back to cleaning the counter.

"Mom-" Rory said trying to get her attention, Lorelai struggled to pull her eyes away and turn to her daughter who motioned to the green light that was in front of them.

"Welcome home kid" She said before she put her foot to the gas.

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a/n: ok so that was chapter 5...im sorry there was minimal LL scenes but im setting up for some pretty big ones in the rest of the chapters which will be updated fairly quickly, i promise. Ok well i hope you like it and PLEASE review! pretty please with cherries on top? i actually don't like cherries but if you do it will work. ok thank you for reading and i hope you are enjoying the fic so far...

ok and i know the song line i used for the title, so let me slip away, in the song vindicated, if you know it it was more like a good thing because the line is " so turn up the corners of your lips part them and feel my fingertips trace this moment for forever. defense is paper thin just one touch and id be in too deep now to ever swim against the current so let me slip away" like they would be slipping away in the current- ok but im using it like Chris is letting Lorelai slip away cuz hes an asshole. Idk. It works in my mind.

btw, if anyone has anygood song lines i can use for titles please let me know. They should probably be relevent though. next chapter is gonna be all in stars hollow and a lot of Luke so maybe something about coming home again, or missing somehting, or just a really good line from a song that i can work with. ok review!

-javajunkieness-