Gilmore Girls
Wu Feng Qi Lang
A/N: Wow. I never thought I would leave it this long to update. I can't apologise enough. Can you forgive me? I did promise I would finish this story, however, and I still intend on keeping that promise. I'll try and wrap it up as quickly as possible. There probably won't be more than a chapter or two. Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed and who asked for this to be updated. The continued reviews mean more to me than you could know. Anyway in other news, I was given a lesson in grammar by my younger sister (which is a little humiliating considering I'm meant to be the writer and she sucks at English) and it turns out I've been doing things all wrong. I was taught to always put the punctuation mark on the outside of the brackets but now I know you only do that if it's the end of part of a sentence. I probably won't fix it up in the other chapters but I will certainly be doing it correctly from now on. Anyway THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the reviews. I really hope this chapter was worth the wait. Love, Gen. xx
Summary: Rory doesn't want to do this anymore. (Waves Without Wind.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls nor am I affiliated with it in anyway. I have taken the title from 'Falling Leaves' by Adeline Yen Mah.
Chapter Thirteen: What Sisters Are For
Her sleep didn't last long and the phone did ring again. And it continued to ring and ring until after twenty minutes and missed call number seven, Rory marched over to the phone and snatched it up.
"Rory, thank God!" Christopher's voice came over the line. "I've been trying to get you for ages. I know it's late but I didn't know who else to ring. I need your help."
"Dad?" she asked, immediately on alert. "What's wrong? Is everything okay? Is Georgia okay?"
"We're on our way to the hospital. There was a small fire in Lexie's room. Faulty wiring in the lamp or something. She and your mum are suffering from smoke inhalation and your mum has some small burns on her face and hands but they're going to be fine. They have to stay for observation at least overnight though so I was wondering if Gigi could stay with you. It's not fair to keep her at the hospital," he said.
"Yeah, of course. Which hospital are you going to?" she asked. She listened as he explained. "Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can."
"Thank you, Rory. You're the best daughter anyone could ask for," he said, his voice sincere.
"Don't mention it," she whispered. (Funny how she was only the best daughter when she was looking after her sister.)
"I'm looking for the Hayden's," Rory said in rapid French to the tired looking receptionist. "They were bought in about thirty minutes ago."
"What are the patient's names?" the lady asked.
"Lorelai and Alexia," Rory answered. "There was a little girl, Georgia, with them and my father."
"Wait here one moment and I will get Mr. Hayden for you," she replied. She stood up and left the desk, disappearing through a narrow archway.
"You okay?" Logan asked his shell-shocked wife.
"I thought I'd feel something other than concern for Gigi and Lexie but I don't," she replied sadly. "I thought I'd have whipped into some frenzy about Lorelai but I just feel numb."
(The name was still so foreign, so strange on her lips. 'Mum' was still worse though.)
"Maybe you'll feel a little differently when you've seen her," he suggested. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she ducked her head down to kiss it. She rested her cheek their briefly but a flash from the archway caught her eye.
"Dad!" she cried. She pulled herself away from Logan and flung herself into Christopher's arms. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I told you I was okay," he replied lightly as he squeezed her.
"Hearing you say it and seeing you are two totally different things. Where's Gigi?"
"Right through here. Come on," he urged.
He led them through the archway and down a hall into a small, dim room. Lorelai was lying on the bed with Georgia curled up beside her. An oxygen mask covered her face but Rory noticed a small grateful smile. Lexie was in one of the small clear cots that newborns are placed in. A nurse was holding a tiny oxygen mask over her face and murmuring to her in French.
"She's talking to her to keep her calm," Christopher explained. "It seems to be working."
"She's going to be okay, right?" Rory asked. "No permanent damage?"
She went to stroke the bare skin of Lexie's arm but paused. She looked at the nurse, who nodded, for permission before stroking the soft skin.
"The doctor's say she'll make a full recovery. Both of them," her father replied. He reached over and squeezed Lorelai's hand. "Thank God for that. I don't know what I'd do without them."
"Or I without you," Lorelai said, pulling the mask away from her face. She received a scowl from the nurse and she immediately dropped it back on.
"How long will they be in hospital?" Logan asked. He had moved to stand next to Rory who slipped her free hand into his.
"Hopefully just overnight," Christopher answered.
"We can take Gigi for as long as you need us too," Logan said. "It's no problem at all. Lorelai should take her time recovering."
"Thanks. That's very kind of you," Christopher replied for the two of them.
"I know how much Rory likes spending time with her family," he said, putting an emphasis on the word 'family.'
"We should probably get her home," Rory interrupted. She pressed her nails into Logan's palm. (This was not the time for Logan to avenge the wrongdoings done against her). "It's been a long night already. The sooner we get her settled, the better."
"Sure, sure," Christopher readily agreed. "Thank again, for this."
"It's what sisters are for," Rory replied. She nodded at Logan who went over to the bed and scooped Gigi off the bed. "Do you have clothes or anything for her?"
Christopher handed her a pink Barbie bag filled to the brim. Rory swung it onto her back and gave her Dad a kiss on the cheek.
"Call us tomorrow, okay?" she ordered him.
He nodded and went over to Logan. He smoothed Gigi's hair back off her face and kissed her on the forehead. She woke up and looked at Logan then back to her father.
"Logan and Rory are going to take you back to their house for the night, okay?" he explained.
"Is Lexie okay?" she asked peering about for her sister.
"Lexie is just fine. So is Lorelai," he answered. "I promise I'll look after them for you."
"Good cause I'll be sooo mad if you don't," she replied. She rested her head on Logan's shoulder and yawned. "I'm tired."
"Good night, G," Christopher whispered. He kissed her on the forehead again.
"Good night, baby," Lorelai called from the bed. She caught Rory's eyes. "Thank you."
Rory nodded at her but that was all she could manage.
Georgia was asleep on the temporary bed Rory had made up for her on the couch. The spare room has unfortunately been converted into an office.
"I'd feel much safer if she was in the spare room," Rory sighed. "It's closer to us."
"She'll be fine," Logan repeated for the umpteenth time.
"Maybe I should stay out here with her," Rory suggested. "Why don't I have a spare mattress? We could have put her on the floor in our room."
"You do realise she sleeps alone at home, don't you?" Logan reminded her. There was a slight edge to his voice now. He was exhausted and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. But Rory gave him an apologetic look and felt his insides melt. "You can sleep in our bed with her if you want and I'll sleep on the couch."
"No, no," Rory answered quickly. "She's settled. She'll be fine out here, won't she?"
"I've been telling you this for the past forty-five minutes. She hasn't even flinched in that time," he said, gently this time.
"You're right. She'll be fine," Rory repeated to herself. She yawned and stood up. She held her hand out to Logan who gratefully took it. "Let's go to bed."
(Finally.)
Rory woke-up to an empty bed. It was still dark outside and she figured it to be about four in the morning. She pulled herself out of bed before padding down the hallway into the living room. Logan was on the recliner with Georgia in his lap. There was a blanket wrapped around them and they were both fast asleep.
"Logan," Rory whispered. "Logan."
"Wha- what?" he murmured back, not opening his eyes.
"Logan," she said her voice slightly louder.
"What, Rory?" he asked snapping an eye open.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I came out to check on Gigi and she was upset so I read her a story. I knew we shouldn't have left her out here alone," he replied.
Rory barely managed to suppress a smile.
"Right. Are you coming back to bed?" she asked already knowing what the answer would be.
"She's comfortable," he replied. "Besides, she might wake up again and one of us would just have to get out of bed again. You should go though. Get some sleep."
"I might just stay out here with you two for a little while," she decided. She lay down on the couch and pulled a blanket over herself. "Hey, this is a really comfy couch."
For awhile the only sound was that of Georgia's deep, even breathing.
"Hey, Ace?"
"Mmhmm," she murmured.
"I've been thinking..."
(Dangerous words.)
"And," she prompted.
"We don't have to rush moving back to America. In fact, we don't have to go back at all. You have your job at the magazine and I can work from home. We could have little French kids and give them names like Henri-Paul, Jean-Luc, Amelie or Cecile and they could go to the local école and say things like 'bonjour, mademoiselle,'" he suggested.
"Way to stereotype," she chuckled.
"You know what I mean."
"But what about your family? And Colin and Finn? And Grandma?" she asked.
"Emily loves it here. She can visit all the time. Maybe she could move here. As for my family I only really have Honor and she's so wrapped up in the kids and Josh that she probably wouldn't even notice we were gone. She says she misses you, by the way. And Colin and Finn never say no to a trip to France. It's one of Finn's goals to sleep with a girl in every arrondissement in Paris," he replied.
(He had an answer for everything, didn't he?)
"Do you mean it?" she asked.
"If it will make you happy then I mean it," he replied honestly. "I know how much you want to be a part of Gigi and Lexie's life. I want their nieces and nephews to have them in their lives too," he shrugged.
"You've really thought about this," she replied amazed.
"Easiest decision I've ever made," he answered.
"If you didn't have Georgia on your lap I would so suggest making babies right now," she murmured.
"Stop that talk right now," he demanded in order to stop a potentially mortifying and downright disturbing situation.
"Sorry, sorry," she grinned. "I love you, Logan."
"Love you too, Ace."
Christopher came the next afternoon to pick Gigi up. He was greeted at the door by his two daughters, both their hands covered in paint. He looked down and noticed most of the hardwood floor was covered in sheets and newspaper.
"We've been painting, Daddy," Gigi explained unnecessarily.
"Hand-prints," Rory said, holding up her green and yellow palms.
"And feet prints," Gigi added, lifting up her now almost clean feet one at a time. A few splotches of red and purple remained.
"Footprints," Rory corrected her gently.
"Rory is going to hang them up in my room so I can see them every time I come over," Gigi squealed excitedly. "They're going to make the office a bedroom and I can pick colours for it."
Christopher looked at her.
"I told her I had to talk to you about it first," she said, giving Georgia a fierce look. "Logan and I have decided to stay in France and I thought if it was okay with you and Lorelai maybe Logan and I could have Gigi once a week. Lexie too when she's old enough. How are they doing, by the way?"
"Yeah, good. Lexie is breathing normally. Lorelai doesn't have full use of her left hand yet and it's going to be covered in bandages for at least a week but they were lucky," he answered.
"Did you hear that, Logan?" Rory asked her husband who had entered the room. He was free and clean of paint. "Lorelai and Lexie are okay."
"Good news," he said. He held Gigi's bag up for her. "I put one of your paintings in for you to take home."
"Rory told me the good news. About you staying," Christopher said. "It's the best news I've had in ages."
"It just makes sense," Logan replied.
"Lorelai and I were hoping we could take you out to dinner, you know, to thank you for last night," he said. "It meant a lot to us."
"That isn't necessary. Is it, Logan?" Rory answered a little too quickly.
"No pressure, Ror. It's just dinner," Chris replied.
"Ace, we haven't been out to dinner in a long time. It might be fun," Logan agreed. Unbeknownst to her, he had made it his personal mission to get Lorelai and Rory talking again. Or at least on some sort of speaking terms. Good mornings and Merry Christmases if they saw each other on the street at the very least. Not that he was willing to forgive his mother in-law just yet. (Baby steps. Just baby steps for now.)
"It's just dinner," Christopher repeated. "At least come for me."
"Dad..."
"I know what we did to you was horrible but you managed to forgive me. Why can't you forgive her?"
"I thought there was no pressure," she grumbled. "Besides, I'm not quite sure I've forgiven you and I'm not quite sure I can ever forgive her."
"Well you're never going to know if you don't give it a chance, are you?" Christopher snapped.
Father and daughter engaged each other in a stare-off. (Look away and you lose.) Eventually Rory gave in.
"Fine. Dinner. But I reserve the right to be grumpy and sulky all night and if I choose not to talk to Lorelai, no-one can force me," she decided. (If they knew the things Lorelai had said to her...)
The men looked at each other and had a silent conversation as Gigi looked on in awe.
"We'll take it," Christopher decided. "Wednesday night, seven-thirty. I'll call you with the details."
They said their goodbyes and after hugging Georgia at least three times each, Rory and Logan finally closed the door.
"I guess I should clean this mess up," Rory sighed.
Logan pulled her into his arms before she could make a move.
"I'm proud of you, Ace," he said, dropping a kiss onto her head.
"I mean it when I say I don't know if I can ever forgive her," she said.
"I know and no-one's forcing you too but your dad is right. How will you know if you don't give it a chance?" he asked.
"I hate that you're right all the time," she groaned.
(She promised to give LORELAI a chance never promised that SHE would try.)