"You and dad fought again?"

"Yup"

Lorelai and Rory were having one of their scheduled phone calls. After the time they couldn't connect for a few weeks they made a deal to talk every other night at 10pm. If you couldn't make it you HAD to text the other. Both of them were out of sorts if they didn't talk to the other regularly.

"What now?" Rory asked. She was getting used to hearing about her parents' arguments.

"He was mad that I wasn't on board with Mom's gaudy reception. I asked him if he's ever met me and why he's surprised that I feel this way. I also asked him why he couldn't say no to Mom. Everything she wants to add he keeps saying yes. It's like she's his wife, not me." Lorelai was on the couch flipping the channels trying to find something to entertain her on mute while she snacked and talked.

Rory sighed, "Remember how much you hated when Grandma and Grandpa hated that you were with Luke? Now they are happy with your choice. Why can't you just go along with it? You were always able to tell me everything … Come on what's wrong?"

"Your Dad is hiding something from me," Lorelai answered quickly to forget she heard Luke's name.

"How do you know?"

"I found out."

"More please!" Rory demanded.

Lorelai shifted on the couch to get really comfortable. She found a channel showing funny AFV type videos, pulled the blanket over her and took a small bite of her Red Vine before starting."Okay. So you know how Mom first said this would just be a party and then added the whole wedding part with vows and all?"

"Yeah?"

"Your Dad was excited, I wasn't so we argued. Then as a nice gesture, I decided to get our marriage license translated and framed."

"That's sweet," Rory's voice sounded wary.

"Right? Well apparently Kirk had a program that would scan a document and translate it and he said that it's not a marriage license. I had Michel confirm it. Then I went to the library to do some research on their computers."

"Why?"

"So I could erase the search history without looking suspicious," Lorelai said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rory sighed, "Mom, can I just say something?"

"Sure."

"It sounds like you don't trust Dad. How can you be together, let alone married if you don't trust him?"

There was silence on Lorelai's end. She exhaled heavily and then went on, "Rory, it turns out you can't get "quickie married" in France."

"What?!" Rory screamed and jumped off her bed, not knowing how to handle the news.

"I called the guy that supposedly married us. I was going to tell him off. But once he realized who I was, he was so excited asking about my American wedding and how it went. He was under the impression that we both knew the marriage wasn't legal and Dad explained to him this was just a cute way he was proposing."

"Maybe Dad didn't understand fully. I don't think his French is that good," Rory was grasping but hoped she was conveying some kind of faith in her father.

"Maybe your Dad doesn't speak French well, but Phillipe spoke perfect English. We talked for a while and he and I understood each other perfectly by the end. He apologized."

Rory flopped back down on her bed, defeated. "Mom, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Lorelai sighed, looking out the window from her spot on the couch.

"I know he's my Dad but this is too much. Mom, I was so mad at you and hurt that you got married without me. I know that I can still be mad because you thought you were getting married and you still did it without me. But he could have prevented me from having those feelings. What if we would have gotten into a big fight about it? How long would he have let that go on?"

"I don't know. These are all good questions."

Rory ranted on, "And that's just how this affected us. What about Grandma and Grandpa? You're their only child. It's clear that they both wanted to be at your wedding. We've spent seven years trying to get your relationship with them to a better place and he was willing to jeopardize that too. Plus everyone in the town was sad to not be a part of your wedding and he just -"

"Okay Sweets, I get it." Lorelai finally interrupted. "You have to stop. You have so much of your own stuff to deal with right now. Thank you for being like this. It makes me feel less crazy for how upset I am. But you need to calm down now. I'll handle it."

"I'm sorry. But I have to ask one more thing."

"Shoot"

"This is it, right? You're done with Dad?"

Lorelai yet out a huge sigh, "Yeah, Babe. This lie is just too much. There's no trusting him after this. He's away for work and is due back sometime on Friday. So I have tomorrow and Thursday to figure things out. I'm going to go for a walk. I need some fresh air and I've eaten almost a pound of Red Vines tonight."

"I wish I was with you. I'll call you tomorrow after my morning class."

"Okay. Talk to you then, Kid."

"I love you, Mom."

"Love you too."

Moments later Lorelai was walking down her street in jeans and a hoodie, cursing herself for not grabbing her coat. She was trying to think. Trying to work out in her brain why Chris would lie about this and not tell her. It was pretty clear from what the guy in France said that Chris knew they weren't married. But he let Rory be upset about not being there. It could have permanently impacted her relationship with her daughter and he didn't say anything. The more that sat with her the more unacceptable it was. Coming between her and her daughter would have always been a deal breaker with anyone in her life. So why would Chris even go there? How well can he know her if he didn't know this most basic and obvious thing?