Rory yawned, keeping her eyes closed for a little while longer. No matter how much she'd tried, it seemed impossible to get a good night's sleep on a plane - even with all the traveling she'd done in her life, even with the best gear to get her through it, even in first class where one had a decent amount of legroom and other conveniences. The air was always too dry, there were weird smells - someone's perfume that was too strong, smell of feet and cheap-end wine. The engine noise was distracting to her despite its supposedly white noise-like effect.
Despite all those things - this felt like the beginning of a vacation, even if that feeling came with a dose of guilt.
Some baby's cries reached her ears yet again, causing her face to winch. Ever since she'd become a mother herself, the cry of a baby even from as far as economy class, only the galley between them, cut through her brain like a hot knife through butter, alerting her.
Great, so much for trying to sleep for the remainder of the flight, emphasis on 'trying' - Rory grumbled to herself and reluctantly opened her eyes.
It was the tapping of her travel companion's knee that told Rory how the person had probably had an even worse night in terms of sleep. His face looked tired, his skin dull, and she could definitely sense frustration, mixed in with parently worry. It certainly didn't help that he was a recovering alcoholic, unable to numb himself to sleep on a long flight like this through normally widely accepted means.
"Did you get any sleep at all?" Rory asked with concern in her tone, shifting her body into a more upright position, and adjusting her seat accordingly.
"Barely," Christopher replied, rubbing his face with his palm.
"You know it might not be that bad. Maybe he's a genuinely nice guy?" Rory suggested, trying to sound optimistic.
"He's old enough to be her father. Older even," Christopher said, thinking of his and Rory's age difference which provided a good reference.
"Yeah, but age is just a number, isn't it?" Rory shrugged her shoulders, seeing no point in enforcing her father's concerns.
"Yeah, that's something old men that are going through a midlife crisis say, when they've just bought a red convertible and switched their wives for a 25-year-old yoga instructor," Christopher said.
"If we switch the car's color to black and add 7 years... so someone like you?" Rory teased, referring to Christopher's own example. He too had been together with a woman who was a lot younger than him not long ago.
"But she's 22 years old! Who gets married at 22!?" Christopher exclaimed, talking about his other daughter, Gigi.
Rory could relate. It felt like forever ago, but she too had been in that situation around that age - being proposed to by a wonderful guy and having to make an impossible decision, not wanting to lose who she was.
"They've only known each-other - what - 8 months?! Are there really no other guys in the whole of Australia?" Christopher discussed. "I should've never suggested she do a year abroad," he added, having been the one to suggest her daughter go see the world after the epidemic had forced her studies to one place, despite her initial aspirations.
"Yeah, that's something I don't get either. Where's the hurry?" Rory replied, the whole thing having come very much out of the blue to both of them. Of course, Rory could blame this on her years-long voluntary social-media diet, not wanting to get sucked into mindless scrolling like she saw many of her friends waste their time these days, having enough on her plate as it was.
"Yeah, you can guess in which direction my mind went when she first said it," Christopher shared, speaking from experience. But then again - this was a very different time, and he certainly wasn't one to force marriage upon her daughter like his parents had for him if that was the case. He'd just never thought Gigi would embrace something like that at her age. But he knew he was getting ahead of himself, not knowing exactly what was going on yet either.
"So, she's not? She's not pregnant, is she?" Rory asked, her thoughts trailing towards the same question. All she'd thought of it so far, was that this was her sister's impulsiveness at its best. And while she wished Gigi well, she had her doubts she'd actually go through with the whole thing or that it'd last.
Christopher shrugged his shoulders, having not quite dared to ask her daughter that question out front. His relationship with her daughters had been complicated but with each in their own way.
With Rory he'd missed the first half of it, if not counting the occasional phone calls, and had only really gotten close with Rory after she'd moved to Boston in her mid-thirties after becoming a mother herself. He felt almost undeserving to be offered a relationship with his grandchild on a silver platter, when Rory had made the difficult decision of moving away from Stars Hollow.
With Gigi, Christopher had had her all to himself in her early childhood, but later she'd ended up being flown back and forth between Paris and Boston, between her mother and him. She'd definitely been his little Parisienne, the one he'd been able to spoil with everything money had to offer, but there was emotional distance there too, his parenting efforts having leaned heavily on a small army of nannies and domestic help. Still - he loved and cared for them both.
"I just hope he's not some weird guy who's brainwashed her to do this," Rory said, feeling like the wedding was drawing attention away from what was truly important and why they'd planned on taking this flight already since May - Gigi's graduation.
The worst thing Rory could imagine for her sister was something similar to what had happened to Dean - getting married too early but discovering along the lines she loved someone else entirely - putting too much of her young energy into relationships while she should've been focusing on building herself a career. But she kept trying to convince herself to stay optimistic, mostly because she knew Gigi was not one to be easily cohersed into doing anything. Gigi was stubborn and full of moxie, like the rest of their family.
But people get divorced all the time, regardless of age differences. It's not the end of the world - Rory thought, trying to rationalize. Even if what Gigi was doing was a mistake, it wasn't one that couldn't be solved. It was odd, how instead of sounding depressive, thinking that, for her that thought actually had a comforting ring to it. It didn't come without feelings to guilt, however.
Rory and Gigi had found things to connect on as Gigi was graduating high school and Rory had helped her with her SAT-s and college admissions. The fact that Gigi had gone to Yale, following Rory's example, had only solidified their newfound friendship. But they weren't the kind to chat for hours on end or follow each-other's every step, especially now when she'd found, as it seemed, a whole new life in Brisbane for herself.
"Sure wish I had some power to drag her back home if that's the case," Christopher replied, knowing himself that he'd never really been that type of parent to enforce discipline, and now when both her daughters were adults he had nothing really to discipline them with, both of them having been given their share of his wealth already.
"Well... we can try to talk some sense into her," Rory suggested, not too convincingly. "Maybe they could hold off and marry later? Maybe have the wedding in the States even?" she added, despite knowing it was unlikely. But they were going to get to enjoy the Australian spring, which was a nice change to the weather in Boston this time of year, while they did that.
"Too bad Mil couldn't join us. She would've loved the beach in November," Christopher, shifting the subject.
"Well, there's no flying with chicken pox. But I'm sure she'll enjoy mom's until she's feeling better," Rory replied, knowing it was highly likely Lorelai already had begun to decorate for Christmas, creating a winter wonderland for the girl.
"Jess is out of town again?" Christopher asked in passing, glancing down the aisle and seeing the flight attendants begin breakfast service.
Rory sighed. "Yeah. He's touring with his new book. There's no canceling that," she chimed, a hint of resentment shining through her otherwise proud tone.
"Another one? He's become quite a superstar, that man of yours," Christopher replied.
"That. He. Is," Rory exhaled.
"That must take him away from home quite a bit," Christopher noted, having sensed some cooling between his daughter and her husband for a while now. But they'd never really talked about it in depth, and they weren't going to now. Besides - he knew from experience how having a kid often cooled things down in a relationship, it had happened to him and Sherry just the same even if there had been other reasons besides career aspirations.
"You know how it is... We're both just really busy and there's not enough time for... everything. There are only 24 hours a day," Rory shrugged, not wanting to go into it. It was certainly the truth that maintaining a career and raising a 4-year-old was hard work even with a support system.
"Coffee?" the flight attendant asked, answering one of many of Rory's current prayers.
"God, yes," Rory replied as if she'd been dying of thirst.
"You're just like your mother," Christopher chuckled quietly.
Stepping off the plane wasn't the way they'd expected, being met by a slowly growing thunderstorm instead of the blasting sun they'd gotten to wake up to above the clouds and had certainly expected, knowing Brisbane was known for 'endless sun'.
"I thought it was supposed to be all sunny Down Under," Christopher complained, making a dad joke, and shook off the rain as they made it inside the terminal, and looked for signs that would lead them through customs.
"So, have you seen this guy? Video chat or something?" Rory asked her father.
"Just in a few photos. What can I say - tall...," he replied, trailing off as they navigated the halls forward.
Since they'd gotten off the plane among the first they were also among the first to get through customs, each getting asked a share of questions. Christopher got even dragged into an additional luggage check, causing it to take him a little longer to make out of the arrivals gate.
It was for that reason it was Rory, who was faced with her sister's excitement all by herself.
"Oh my god!" Gigi squealed excitedly. "I can't believe you're finally here! How was your flight?" she blabbered, wrapping her arms around Rory abruptly, so all that Rory could see for a second was her sister's pastel pink head of hair.
"Well, hello to you too, sis," Rory said, feeling a little staggered to be met with such enthusiasm this early in the morning, while trying to get a good look at her sister. She looked tanned, bubbly and Rory couldn't see a hint of anything negative on her. Gigi really looked happy. The sight calmed her sisterly concerns a little, but she was determined to remain tentative until she actually got to understand the situation better.
"Here, I want you to meet...," Gigi began, excitedly, giving Rory back her personal space. She, however, didn't get to finish the introduction because Rory could finish that sentence herself.
"Finn Morgan... well I'll be damned," Rory mumbled, an odd mixture of recognition, relief and underlying concern washing over her.