Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! I hope you'll still enjoy it! Just a reminder of whats going on so far: Rory's mom has amnesia form the car accident, and her and her dad are going to live with her at home while she recovers and gets back on her feet. When we left off, Rory was telling Jess that she was going home.
Jess stood there for a moment, trying to digest what he was being told.
"Home?" he practically choked on the word.
"Yeah," Rory confirmed, throwing her shoes into the suitcase. "My mom's coming home in a few days, so me and my dad are getting the house ready for her."
"Sounds like one big happy family," Jess sais sarcastically.
"It is," Rory agreed, confused about the source of his sarcasm. Jess raised his eyes skeptically.
"Well, good luck with that," he mumbled.
"What's that supposed to mean?' Rory questioned, pausing in her packing and turning to him.
"I don't know," Jess shrugged. "You're just acting like you're going home to this fairy tale ending."
"No I'm not," Rory protested. "You're acting like that," she pointed out.
"Well you're not. Are you really so sure going home is the smartest idea?" Rory couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Of course it is!" Jess let out a laugh.
"Rory, your mom doesn't remember you!" he reminded her cruelly. "You think if you move back home, get her and your dad together, everything will just be okay?"
"Why would say that?" Rory said, tears forming in her eyes. "Believe me Jess, I know that my life isn't perfect. Don't think even for a second I'm in denial. Do you know how it feels every time my mother looks at me and I know that she doesn't remember me? God Jess, I am trying to do what I can to make life better, instead of lying on my back and saying, screw the world!" she accused. "Don't you dare make fun of me for that!" She turned back to her suitcase. Jess turned and left without a word.
Rory spent her last night at Luke's in silence. Her and Jess still weren't talking. Luke had disappeared downstairs to take inventory. Rory suspected that her leaving was harder on him than he was letting on. He had been like her father for the past two and a half years, and he had been a big part of her life even before the accident.
The next afternoon Rory finished putting all of her things in bags and boxes. She struggled down the stairs and found her father and Luke waiting for her.
"Ready?" her dad asked her.
"Yeah," Rory said. Chris took Rory's bags from her and headed out of the diner to load them into his car. Rory turned Luke.
"Um, good luck Rory," Luke said, scratching his nose. "Even though you won't be living here anymore, you know that you could come to me if you need anything."
Rory nodded.
"Yeah, I know." She hesitated. "Luke, I can't possibly say thank you for everything. I-"
Luke nodded
"Yeah, I know," he said. Rory embraced him in a tight hug, and he returned it. Chris came back in. When they had finished their hug, he escorted her outside. Rory got into the car with her father, ready to begin the next chapter of her life.
The next day, a Saturday, Rory started preparing the house for her mothers return on the following day. She dusted her bedroom, freshened her sheets, and just brightened up the abandoned house. Her father helped where he could, but mostly he tried to just stay out of the way. Finally, Chris announced that he was on his way to the hospital to pick Lorelei up. Rory volunteered to pick up Chinese food while he was out. She zipped up her coat, and made her way into the heart of the town. She picked up the Chinese food and was heading back. It was cold outside. Pulling her coat tighter around her, she turned the corner, colliding head first with Jess. They stared at each other for a long moment. Jess was wearing nothing but a sweater to protect him from the bitter cold. He glanced at the bag in Rory's hand.
"Wow, a nice home cooked welcome home meal," he commented sarcastically. Rory glared at him.
"Excuse me," she said, pushing past him. "I have to get back to my fairytale ending!"
"Rory wait!" he pleaded, grabbing her shoulder. She shrugged him off and just kept walking, not looking back.
About twenty minutes after Rory got home, she heard the crunch of tires on gravel. She got up from her position on the couch and opened up the door. Chris was leading Lorelei up the path.
"Welcome home Mom!" Rory said, giving her a hug as she reached her. Lorelei smiled at her forgotten daughter. "Wow," she said, noticing the interior of her home. Rory had decorated the entire front with streamers and balloons, and a big banner proclaiming, "welcome home" hung from the ceiling.
"You did all this?" she asked Rory.
"Dad helped," Rory acknowledged.
"Don't be modest Rory," Chris said. "I only helped by staying out of the way."
"You haven't even seen all of it yet." Rory led them into the kitchen. The sight brought tears to Lorelei's eyes. The entire kitchen was plastered with pictures of the three of them for the past sixteen years. Their was Lorelei and Rory at her kindergarten graduation, all three of them in a park on one of Chris's rare visits. There were pictures spread out and lamented serving as a tablecloth over the set table, the refigerator was hidden behind a collage of pictures, and the cabinets each held a picture on it's door. Lorelei's chair was decorated with pink and purple streamers, and the food lay spread out, steaming on the table.
"Dinner is served," Rory announced, gesturing widely, and Chris pulled out Lorelei's chair for her. Lorelei sat down slowly, trying to take everything in. "Wow," she gushed. "This is just… wow."
"I just wanted you to know how much we missed you," Rory told her.
"You did a good job," she whispered, trying to contain herself. Rory glowed.
"Let's eat," Chris proclaimed.
'Yes, let's," Lorelei agreed. "I've been surviving off of hospital food for the past week. Ugh."
They passed around the food, which was satisfying to all. They spent most of the time talking; Lorelei had a lot of questions. She still could not grasp the idea that she was not sixteen, but double that age, and that she had this entire life she didn't know about. Her daughter seemed to admire her and love her so much, and Lorelei felt guilty that she didn't feel the same attachment due the fact that she couldn't recall her birth.
Finally the plates were licked clean and in the sink. Rory stood up and put on her coat.
"Where are you running off to?" Chris questioned her.
"I'm just going to pick up something for desert."
"Vague," Chris observed. "You need money?" Rory shook her head and headed out the door.
Once outside she took a gulp of the cool air and began walking. She was happy to be out. As happy as she was at the prospect of her mother's recovery, she could not deny the pressure and the weirdness between them. Her mother was acting like her friend, because the only thing she remembers was being sixteen. But as close as their relationship had been, she still needed a mother. Rory got to the dessert store and picked up the cake she had ordered. It was big vanilla cake with white icing. Across it Rory had asked them to write, "Home Sweet Home." The cake decorator had taken the liberty of drawing a small little house and a sun with yellow and blue icing. Rory paid the girl behind the counter and carried the cake outside, beginning her long hourney home. Taylor was overseeing some the 'ceremonious' repainting of the gazebo, and so the entire town square was cut off.
Rory had to walk down some side streets in order to get back on her path home. It was for this reason that she found herself on Deans block. It was as if all the events of the night were teaming up on her, manipulating her to be in a specific place. Of course as she was passing by Dean's house, he was coming out his front door. He stopped short when he saw her. At the very moment, a cat ran out of the bushes, chasing a squirrel. He ran across the grass and onto the sidewalk, right under Rory's feet. To avoid stepping on it, Rory leaned back, twisting her legs together. She tripped and went tumbling down to the floor, the cake flying three feet ahead of her. She heard a sickening splat as it hit the pavement. She crawled over to the cake, and just stared at the mess now lying all over the sidewalk. The "Home Sweet home" was all smeared, and the cake lay in a hundred smushed pieces. She heard Dean run over to her, but all she could do was stare at the cake. As she stared down at the ruined dessert, everything from the past week seemed to build up in the back of her eyes and push their way through.
"Rory, are you alright? " Dean was by her side, holding his hand out to help her up. She did nothing, just remained their, on her hands and knees, and the sobs racked her body. "Rory?" She felt Dean lift her up, felt herself being carried into his house. Her brought her up the stairs and into his rom, where he laid her onto his bed. He disappeared for a few mintues, and then returned with a cool glass of water, which he handed to Rory. Rory stopped her crying long enough to take a sip. The cold water was refreshing. "Rory, what's the matter?" Dean asked,
"Why can't she remember me?" Rory sobbed. "Didn't she love me enough? You should see the way she looks at me, like I'm some really kind stranger!" Her sobbing took over, and she was no longer able to speak. Dean sat speechless, shocked into silence. He attempted what he hoped would be soothing words.
"You know that has nothing to do with it Rory," he assured her. "You mother had no control over which part of her head got hit when she had the accident!"
Rory nodded, clutching one of Dean's pillows to her chest. Deans sat down in his desk chair and rolled over to the bedside.
"Is that all that's bothering you?" Rory wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, Dean reached over and handed her a tissue.
"There was also this stupid fight with Jess," she admitted, dabbing at her eyes. "But you don't want to hear about that." Dean's jaws tensed up.
"You're right, I probably don't" he agreed. "But can I make a suggestion?" Rory nodded.
"Maybe, and I can't believe I'm actually defending the guy, but think about it Rory. This whole time, you guys had a whole comraderie going. You both didn't have areal family. You both had mothers that couldn't take care of you, and you both took refuge in Luke's place. All of a sudden, you have a family again, and you go off to you're new life, leaving him behind in the dust. He's probably afraid he's going to become insignificant now that you have your family again."
Rory considered this perspective, and found the strength to sit up.
"I never thought of it like that," she admitted. "And I can't believe you just defended Jess."
"Neither can I," Dean confessed, his eyes wide. "I'd rather not have to do it again, ok?" Rory laughed.
"Ok." She left Dean's house ten minutes later. They had spent of the rest of the time talking, and she found she felt much better as she approached his door. She turned to him as she stepped onto the porch.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?" Dean asked, confused.
"For the whole breakdown episode. I shouldn't have put you through that, not after our fight." Dean stared into her eyes.
"Don't apologize. Even if we fight, that doesn't change the way I feel about you. I still care about you Rory, and I'm always going to be here for you."
She leaned up on her tiptoes, and planted a soft kiss on his lip. He returned the kiss, more passionately, and then their arms were around each other, and she was pressed against his door.
"I have to go," Rory gasped, peeling herself away from him.
"Why?" he whined, grinning.
"Because real life is waiting for me." With one last kiss she made her way to his porch steps. She felt somebody's eyes, other than Deans, on her. She glanced across the street, and her caught in her throat. There, staring right at her, was Jess.
"What took so long?' Chris asked her when she appeared back in the kitchen, carrying a bag full of ice cream.
"You wouldn't believe the line," Rory told him, taking off her coat.
"Really?" her father questioned. "At eight o'clock?" Rory shrugged.
"You know what ice cream does to people," she commented. "I got five different flavors, and toppings." She unloaded all the goodies, and they had a laugh making the most ridiculous Sundays. Once their desserts were finished, Lorelei yawned.
"I'm pretty tired," she told them. "I think I'm going to go to sleep."
"Goodnight Lor," Chris said , flipping through the channels on the TV.
"Goodnight Mom," Rory said, taking a seat next to her father. Lorelei made her way up the stairs, while Rory and Chris stared at the TV. They settled on a show, watching for about five minutes. Then at the same time, they gave each other startled looks and jumped up from the couch. Together they raced up the stairs. Rory knocked hard on Lorelei's door.
"Mom?" she yelled. Lorelei opened the door, wearing her pajama's.
"What is it?" she asked, alarmed by the excited looks on their faces.
"Lor," Chris began slowly, "how did you know this was your room?" Lorelei's expression became baffled as this thought dawned on her for the first time.
"I don't know," she said slowly. "I just came up here…"
Rory and Chris, looked at each other, their hope rekindled. Somewhere, and they weren't sure how deep inside, but somewhere, Lorelei was remembering.
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