She was desperate to know where he had gone. Over and over she heard his voice in her mind, telling there was a method to his madness. Having a 'method' was what he always talked about, whether it was when he was cooking up something new in the kitchen, showing his love for her, or when he was writing. And when that happened, it was like a bright spark lit up inside of him and he was a new man. The man she had fallen in love with.
"Can I help you?" A distant voice spoke through the ringing phones and fingers tapping on the keyboard. Rory looked up as she began to dig through her purse for the key to her husband's office. Not that she expected it to be locked during the middle of the day. It was more for a "just in case" rather.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, her eyes focused on a older woman who was trying to explain her needs at the front desk to a rather strawberry blond haired secretary. Rory slipped by carefully and was only noticed by a young girl who had beautiful blue eyes, and brown curls in her hair. The girl looked up at her carefully, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips as she watched with brilliant fascination.
"You're very pretty." The girl spoke in a quiet whisper as she tucked her legs under her purple dress.
Rory looked back at her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." And with that she passed, slipping through the door of her husband's office. A knot formed in her stomach as she closed the door from all the chatter and noise.
She walked closer to his desk where one single book sat on top of his calendar. Her fingers touched the binding of the bluish grey cover, duly titled "New York" Knowing his background of New York, everything was making a little more sense now. It both scared her and eased her worries at the same time. For at least she knew at least that was probably where he was. But then again she didn't know if him returning to New York meant that he was running away, even though he had promised her that he would never leave again.
Rory knew what she had to do. Hand slipping into her pocket, she pulled out her phone. One, two, three rings and somebody on the other line picked up.
"Farm house." Lorelai quipped from the other side. "We sell the craziness out of a bucket."
Raising the corner of her lips, Rory gave a generous smile. "The last time I checked you didn't own a farm house."
"My point exactly, hun. So I thought you were going to spend some time with Jess. What happened? I promise to kick his butt into gear if he's still not getting the point."
"He's gone." Rory blurted, running her hand over his desk; stopping to look at his calendar and then the book titled, 'New York'. She flipped through the pages very quickly, looking for anything highlighted or bookmarked, but there was nothing. "And I think I just figured out where he went."
"What do you mean Jess is gone?..." She trailed off, catching the sad inflection in Rory's tone. "Where?"
Pausing, Rory closed the book and traced her fingers over the raised lettering. "New York."
"Since when does he go back to New York?" Lorelai went off. "I think we should remind him how quickly he forget his promise."
"I don't know. He kissed me goodbye this morning and didn't even mention that he was going anywhere. I called and the nice secretary told me that he hadn't even come to work this morning and I didn't even realize. How could I have been so stupid to not know something was up? He was way to calm when I first told him about the pregnancy." Groaning, Rory sighed. "And I'm starving."
"Okay hun?" Lorelai stepped in before any more ranting to go on. "Where are you now?"
"At this moment...in his office staring at the book on his desk."
""What book?"
"The book titled 'New York.' "
"Oh hun. Stay there I'm bringing comfort food, and lots of it."
"From Luke's?" Rory perked up at the sound of comfort food, or rather any food inside her stomach. If at exactly that moment her stomach started to growl in protest; like she was craving anything and everything right now.
"The one and only, Luke Danes. From where else would I get the best hamburgers and fries in Stars Hollow?"
"Mom, stop...you're making me hungry and my stomach already growling from lack of food."
"Sorry hun, I forgot about how much those pregnancy hormones affect a person. I'll be right over."
"Okay."
"Chin up sweets. Mommy's going to make this all better, you just wait and see."
-----
When Lorelai had come into the diner with William in hand earlier, he knew immediately that something had come up. Something with Rory. Not like anything was any less peculiar with those two, but he knew when something was up.
Since when did Rory put barbecue sauce on her hamburger with a mix of mustard?
It was almost like when Lorelai was pregnant with their son, she was always constantly mixing things together. Craving lots of apples as well, which was a relief for awhile that she was at least getting some kind of fruit. As long as she could eat them, he served them.
"Caesar, I'm taking a break. Take over the diner would you?" With William in one hand, Luke took off the blue hat and placed it on William's head. Of course the hat was way entirely too big for his son's little head.
"Sure thing boss." Caesar called back, stepping out of the kitchen. He immediately noticed William waving his head back and forth and smiled. "Hey little guy." He ruffled the hat on the little boy before taking it off. "Boo."
William looked quickly in his direction, a smile appearing on his face. His little hands reaching for the cap, to which he quickly mimicked the peekaboo; his boo drawn out, smile drawing wider. Pretending to be frightened, Caesar hopped back, which had both of them giggling. "You're a funny kid." Tickling the little boys stomach had an increasing giggling running through the diner. "I'll see you later." He pointed to William, "customers are a calling."
Luke gave a surprise nuggie to his son before they headed upstairs into the quiet upstairs apartment. "What is your mommy up to?" He inquired, setting his son on his feet. William shrugged, running over to his toys in the corner of the room.