AN: Here is Bowling For Soup's 1985. This is set when Rory is probably 11 or 12. I don't own the show or the song. (Well I own a couple of season of the show on DVD and I own the song in MP3, but that's besides the point).

I hope you enjoy!


Where's the mini skirt made of snakeskin? And who's that other guy singing in Van Halen? – Bowling For Soup

Dinner at Luke's was unusually quiet tonight. Lorelai pulled out all the stops in outrageous conversation, but none of them worked. Rory sat across the table from her utterly distracted, staring out the window and mindlessly munching on her French fries.

"Rory what's going on? Are you okay?" Lorelai asked, starting to get truly concerned.

"Nothing's going on, I'm fine," Rory replied in a tone that didn't give much reassurance.

Lorelai sighed, and signaled Luke for the check. "What, no dessert?" he said in a surprised tone when he approached the table.

"Not tonight," Lorelai told him. She left a twenty on the table, and pushed her chair back to stand up.

Rory looked up at her, startled. "Where are we going?"

"Home. Dinner's over."

"Oh, okay." Lorelai looked down at Rory's plate, just to double check that dinner was in fact over. The burger was gone, as were the fries, and the coffee cup was empty. Something was going on with her daughter, and she was going to figure out what it was.

The twosome walked out the door, and started their walk back home. Lorelai opened her mouth several times to say something, but the words wouldn't come. She didn't know where to start.


They were just over half way home when Rory stopped abruptly, turning to face her mother.

"Mom?" her daughter started.

"Yeah Sweets?"

"Is your life what you thought it would be?" she asked seriously.

"Yes and no."

"Well that's not an answer!" her daughter exclaimed indignantly.

"I guess you have to look at it from a specific point in time. In 1985, did I think I'd be here today? Well no, but I was still holding out hopes of being the fifth Bangle. How do you think I got rid of the pregnancy weight?"

"You can't sing though," Rory reminded her.

"Honey, there are several recording artists out there that can't sing."

"So are you upset with the way your life turned out? Bangles aside of course," she said turning the conversation back to the serious side.

"Of course not. I have more than I could ever have wished for, I have you." She pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Okay," Rory replied as though that seemed to settle whatever it was she'd been thinking over.

"What's going on kid? Where's this coming from?" she asked.

"No where." Lorelai knew Rory was lying.

"Rory," she started warily, hating to pull the Mom card on something like this, but needing to know what was happening.

"Just some kids at school," Rory said trying to be nonchalant.

"What kids at school?"

"Jana Anderson," Rory said quietly.

Lorelai sighed. Jana Anderson was the bane of her daughter's existence. "What did Jana say today?"

"That your life would be so much better with out me and that you probably wished I'd never been born," Rory whispered. Lorelai could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Rory that is complete crap! Don't ever listen to Jana Anderson. I have half a mind to call Jana's mother and give her a piece of my mind," Lorelai started ranting, but stopped suddenly when she realized she wasn't doing anything to reassure her daughter. "My life could never be better with out you, and never for even one second have I ever wished that you weren't born!"

"Really?" Rory asked tentatively.

"Really. There may have been times that I wished you would have come along a little later in my life… but there has never been a time where I wished you were never there at all."

"Not even when you had to tell Grandma and Grandpa about me?"

"Not even then."

"Okay." Rory smiled, and Lorelai could tell that the crisis had passed.

"So what brought on Jana's ire today?"

"An A on the math test."

"How did Jana do?"

"B minus," Rory told her with a grin.

"Some people try to hurt other people's feelings just to make themselves feel better," Lorelai explained.

"I know."

"I know you do. I just thought I'd remind you."

"Thanks," Rory said. "So the 5th member of The Bangles huh?"

"Yep. I used to practice their dance routines while I cleaned rooms at the Inn."

"No way."

"I used to dance them with you in my arms when you were being fussy, too," Lorelai continued.

"Mom!" Rory exclaimed, suddenly embarrassed at the thought of being danced around the room to The Bangles.

"Oh yeah. You could walk like an Egyptian before you could run."

"I don't believe you." Rory gave her a dubious look.

"I can still do the dances if you want proof," Lorelai said, hoping she didn't have to prove it. She could remember the dances, but in order to fully appreciate the dance, she'd need to don some leggings and a miniskirt and rat her hair, and she didn't feel like doing that.

"Nah, that's okay."

"Oh good, the costume is just too much work today." Lorelai wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulder and they continued towards home. "Since we didn't really get to enjoy dinner, do you want to stop at Weston's for dessert?"

"Well it is Tuesday, so that means they have-"

"- red velvet cake!" they said together.

"To the bakery!" Rory exclaimed and turned in the direction of the delicious red velvet cake.


AN: I hope you enjoyed this little trip down made up memory lane. I completely made up Jana Anderson. I don't own The Bangles either.

I'd love to know what you'd like to see next!

Thanks for reading and reviewing - S