Hola! Fellow fanfictioners. I missed you so much! Sorry this chapter took so long. (Geez, I sound like a broken record.) But here it is. Guess what guys? 11 more days and I'll be a high school graduate! YAY! Then comes the summer and with it more time to write. Okay, I'll leave you to it. Enjoy.

Daughters

Emily stands on the porch of the big white house with a pensive look on her face. There is worry in her eyes and a deep apprehension in her demeanor. She's been standing in the same place, in the same position, for a long time now. Waiting, just like she was told to do just in case her daughter should come back. Olivia, the nurse she'd hired, sits in on the porch swing behind her. She'd decided not to leave until she was sure Lorelai was safe and that she'd still have a job to come back to tomorrow. It wasn't just that though, there was something about the older woman that made her sad. Something that said that the two elder Gilmore girls didn't have the relationship that she could tell the mother desperately wanted. And Emily did want it. She wanted it more than anything.

The first time Lorelai ran away from her it put a giant gaping hole in her heart. As she read that letter left on the dining room table all those years ago she felt her lungs constricting like she couldn't breathe. Her heart raced. Her blood ran cold. She'd felt it again when Lorelai went missing for those two long days. And yet again when she got the call about the accident. She hates this feeling and she wonders how she got to a place where her little girl felt the need to run all the time.

A five year old with dark curls tumbling in clusters around her face danced into the living room in a pink dress. She did a twirl as her nanny trailed a good distance behind her. "Lorelai!" she called.

The little girl giggled thinking she'd never be found as she got down on the floor and hid behind the drink cart.

Kristen, the nanny, ran into the room and looked around. "Lorelai," she whispered with a smile. She could hear the child's laughter and knew exactly where she was hiding. She also knew that hide and seek was Lorelai's favorite game and since it was her birthday and it would undoubtedly keep her out of trouble she played along.

Emily Gilmore walked in the house with her day planner in front of her face going over the check list for her young daughter's birthday party over again for the thousandth time. She glanced up entering the living room and saw the nanny looking around. "Kristen?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Gilmore," the young girl said turning around. She smiled shyly and glanced over at the drink cart to make sure that the little girl hadn't moved.

Emily nodded towards her and started to look back down at the planner when she realized that something was missing. Well…someone. "Kristen, where is my daughter?" she all but demanded, closing her book and returning her stare to the young woman.

More tiny giggles filled the room.

"She's um… hiding," Kristen answered meekly.

Lorelai crawled out from the tiny space revealing herself to the women in the room and stood up. "Here I am Mommy!" she proclaimed with her small child excitement.

Emily huffed. "Lorelai!" she began to scold. "What are you doing on the floor?"

The little girls smile started to fade as she recognized the sour look on her mother's face. "I was just playing," she replied sadly as she was picked up and looked over.

"Look at this dress! It's all wrinkled!" Emily exclaimed annoyed before turning to Kristen. "How could you let this happen? You're supposed to be watching her."

"I-" Kristen started but was unable to defend herself.

"I am not paying you to be her playmate."

The young nanny looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry Mrs. Gilmore."

The mother sighed knowing there was nothing to be done about it now. Not with so much left to do before the party. "Have Candace make her breakfast and then take her for her morning walk. She can change into something more acceptable when she gets back," she said decisively handing her child over.

Kristen sat Lorelai down on the floor and the little girl looked up at her pitifully, she took her hand silently, her mother still watching and led her into the dining room. Lorelai walked with her head down. She wanted so much for her mother to let her wear clothes she could run around and play in and get dirty in but she was always supposed to be dressed like a "lady".

She sat down at the dining room table with her arms folded across her chest glaring at her mother angrily as she entered the room and sat down at the table with her daughter.

"Lorelai," Emily sighed seeing the look. "Please do not look at me like that. You were the one crawling around on the floor and you were the one who wrinkled your pretty dress," she said turning her attention back to her day planner and away from her daughter.

A few minutes later Kristen came back carrying Lorelai's breakfast but the child turned her nose up at the green vegetable coming out of her omelet in disgust. "I don't want that."

"Lorelai," her mother warned, too involved in what she was doing to even look up at her daughter.

"I don't want it!" she said again but a little louder this time.

The older Gilmore rolled her eyes. She didn't have time for Lorelai's defiance. Not when there was still so much to be done. "Lorelai, I am warning you! Eat your breakfast or I am canceling your birthday party! Do you understand me?"

Lorelai looked down at her plate. It was her birthday. She thought she should at least get to eat what she wanted on her birthday.

"I said, do you understand me?" Her mother repeated.

Lorelai sighed. "Yes," she answered in a small voice then reluctantly picked up her fork to eat. Emily looked back down at her planner as her daughter took a small bite before making a horrible face. "Yuck!"

Emily looked up again. "What is it?" she asked exasperated.

"I don't like the green stuff," Lorelai whined in return.

"It's spinach. It's good for you."

Lorelai put her fork down on the table. "It tastes like feet!"she said, not wanted to eat anymore.

Emily closed her day planner and looked at her daughter with all the seriousness in the world. "Then you won't get your party."

"But Mommy!" Lorelai protested as her blue eyes widened in horror.

"But nothing-" her mother snapped. "Either you eat your breakfast without another word or I am putting an end to this party."

The little girl looked down at the plate again sadly. She picked up her fork and stuck another piece of grotesque egg in her mouth.

"Now was that so bad?" her mother asked condescendingly standing up from the table. She'd never get any work done sitting there with Lorelai being so difficult. She looked at the nanny. "She isn't to get up from this table until she finishes it all."

Kristen nodded knowing she is already on thin thin ice with her employer. "Yes, Mrs. Gilmore."

"Good." Emily got up and left the room but stopped just outside the door looking for the number to the bakery making her daughters cake.

"I don't like this Kristen," she heard her daughter say miserably.

In the dining room the young caregiver looked over her shoulder to be sure her employer had left the room before exhaling slowly and looking down at Lorelai. Truthfully she loved Lorelai and hated to see her so unhappy. She smoothed back the little girl's hair and whispered. "I know Sweetie, but it's good for you and your Mom wants you to eat it and she's the boss, so just do it okay? For me, please?" The woman had a certain softness to her voice. There was something comforting about it and hearing it standing just outside the dining room, Emily looked up no longer concerned with the phone number. "Listen," Kristen continued. "If you hurry maybe we'll have time to stop by the park on our walk, what do you say?"

Smiling Lorelai agreed and started to eat her breakfast with no complaint. "Kristen," she said, "I wish you could be my mommy."

Emily dropped the book. It felt like someone had punched her in the stomach or ripped her heart out. And Emily wasn't sure which part hurt her the most. The little girl's general statement or the way she cried and cried when her mother fired Kristen the very next day.

Lorelai walks down a long dirt road. She has no idea where she is or where she's going but for the first time in a long time, she doesn't feel like she is lost. It is like there is some invisible force there pulling her, guiding her somewhere that she has forgotten she is supposed to remember. There aren't any people on this road, nor any cars, but Lorelai isn't scared. Somewhere deep inside her she knows this isn't aimless wandering. The baby inside her is restless and she is exhausted but she keeps walking to this unknown place.

Dusk approaches. She knows it'll be dark soon and she should definitely be getting back, but she isn't sure what'd she'd be going back to. By now she knows that they all know she is missing and according to the stories she's heard it was this type of disappearing act behavior that led to her accident in the first place. The accident that stole her memory from her. They'll be mad. Probably really mad. Her mother will yell at her and what can she do but take it? It was reckless and stupid for her to leave, especially when she is in such a delicate situation, especially since she refuses to admit to herself. 'Be more careful', it's not a hard concept to grasp unless you're Lorelai Gilmore.

So she walks on. Déjà vu all over again.

Luke will be disappointed, she thinks to herself. Disappointed that she ran off without a word and disappeared out in the big wide world. Most days she can look in his eyes and see his adoration for her but some days she sees him looking at her like she is a stranger. When she acts out especially. She hates getting that look, but this time she knows she deserves it.

And Rory.

She isn't sure what Rory will do or say, or if Rory will even find out. She remembers when she was in the hospital and Rory hardly left her side and now she has hardly seen her at all since she has been home. She wishes for something…anything, that will give Rory her mother back. Give her that connection back. She can feel it when she reads those journal entries and when she looks at old photographs. This strange recollection type phantom of a love for someone she doesn't remember ever meeting. It breaks her heart trying so desperately to remember but coming up with nothing.

She begins to wonder how long until they find her as she comes up upon a long abandoned property. The roof is stained in patterns of black all over and she can almost hear the sirens in her head as she realizes this place must have burned down. She closes her eyes, unknowingly feeling the same trepidation she felt when she first appeared before this same place over twenty years ago. Her feet begin to move and Lorelai finds herself getting closer and closer to the mysterious building but it's like she can't stop herself from being pulled in as if a this set has a gravitational pull on her.

In her chest, her heart is racing faster. She steps up on the porch and something tells her to stop. This building clearly was set on fire a long time ago. There is no telling how architecturally sound it is now. But as dangerous as it looks there is also something safe about it. A feeling deep inside her telling her that she has finally made it home.

Satisfied with her journey for the day she sits down on the old wooden steps and takes a long look around. Her skin chills a little. Goosebumps appear on her arm the same way that had that night.

It was cold. The little bundle she had wrapped up tight in a blanket slept comfortably against her chest but the thin jacket she had chosen to wear was clearly betraying her against the wind. She moved closer to the place fearfully. Uncertain of what the next stage in her life was and if this was it, she swallowed her nerves and moved up the wooden steps to the entrance.

She'd heard some men on the bus talking about the Independence Inn and how much they'd enjoyed their stay the last time. When she'd gotten off the bus and saw that the bakery was still open she decided to make her way there to find something to eat for herself and her infant daughter. She met Fran.

"Just passin' through?" the old woman who owned the bakery asked as Lorelai sat down with a squirming little blue eyed baby in her lap.

Lorelai looked up after a second of silence realizing she was the only other person in the restaurant so the woman must have been talking to her. "I- I'm sorry?"

Fran laughed. "I've lived in this town my whole life. I'm sure I'd remember eyes like yours."

Lorelai smiled and Fran brought over a cookie and gave it to the baby before taking a seat at the other side of the table. "So are you just passin' through?"

"Oh," Lorelai began a little startled by the friendliness of the woman. "I'm honestly not sure yet. This is just where the bus let us off." Fran could see the fear in her young face and nodded.

"Well you know if you're looking for a place to stay there is an inn just a couple miles down the road," she offered.

Lorelai's face brightened. "Really? The Independence Inn right? It's that close?"

Fran simply nodded. "Yes ma'am. Just talk to Mia and tell her that Fran sent you."

The old woman gave the baby another cookie before loading her young mother up with goodies for the trips and watched them leave.

And there it was. As she opened the door and stepped inside she could feel something change in the air around her. The apprehension was gone. She had made it.

Lorelai didn't know it before but now that she was standing in the entrance to the place that was her future. She eagerly stepped up to the front desk with a new mission. It wasn't just a room for the night that she was after anymore. "I'm looking for Mia," she said confidently to the kind faced woman behind the desk.

"I'm Mia," the woman responded with a hospitable smile. "What can I do for you?"

This was it. The moment that defined everything and shaped her into the woman and the mother that she'd become. "I'm looking for a job, any job." She was home now.

By the time the sun begins to set Rory feels as if she has looked just about everywhere and is starting to lose hope. She looks up and sees Luke walking towards her. "Did you find her?" she asks, her voice just as small and panicked as it was the night Lorelai was in the car accident.

"No! I looked everywhere. Everyone has seen her but no one stopped her and no one knows where she is now."

Rory sighs. "Same story here."

"Did you check The Crap Shack?" Luke asks.

Rory nods. "First place I looked."

"What about the Inn?"

"Yeah I looked there too. Sookie said Jackson saw her and were going to follow her but they got to talking and he lost her so the Inn was a complete- " Her eyes suddenly get big.

Luke sees the look but Rory continues to say nothing. "What is it Rory?"

"I think- I think I might know where she went… maybe."

"Where?" Luke asks in the same state of panic as his would be step daughter.

Rory takes another second to think. It's definitely a long shot to go there but they'd looked everywhere else. She looks at Luke. "Just get people together. Kirk, Babette, Taylor, Andrew…Anyone that will help and double check everywhere! No matter what, we have to find her. Okay Luke?"

He nods. "Yeah. Okay. Right." He turns away from her forgetting about his question, in a hurry to get help and find Lorelai.

Rory turns around and starts off towards the old Inn. Walking past the stores and shops a wave of familiarity comes over her and her walk becomes a run. She remembers her father's words from the day after her mother's accident. "Gilmore Girls don't run," he'd said. Now it only makes her laugh. He doesn't know them as well as he thinks he does. Gilmore girls did run on certain occasions. They ran away from deviled eggs, they ran to Luke's on donut day, they ran around the gym at the dace marathon, and they always ran to each other. Always.

This wasn't any different. It felt different because maybe the roles were reversed a little. Lorelai had dedicated her life to her daughter. Sacrificed and went without so that Rory could have the best she could offer her. She grew up far too young so that she could guide her daughter through this crazy world and now that Lorelai had lost her way Rory felt as if it were her responsibility to guide her back. Back home. Back to her memories. Back to herself.

Rory down that old dirt road she remembers the walks they used to take into town and her trips to school from the inn when she was a little girl. She remembers them playing out in the field when Lorelai wasn't working and feeding the ducks in the pond even though they really weren't supposed to and she misses these things. Her run slows down to a walk as she begins to reminisce.

"Mommy!"

Immediately after she was called Lorelai felt a tugging at her night shirt and a pulling on her shoulder.

"Mommy!" the five year old said again. She had no choice now but to open her eyes, roll over and greet her.

She rolled on her side and gave herself a minute for her eyes to adjust before looking over at her young excited daughter. "Hi." The child beamed.

"Hi," her mother croaked out in return voice still very think and heavy with sleep. Lorelai sat up. Being worthless in the morning before her cup of coffee she tried to wake herself up a little more by stretching and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Rory however immediately pounced from the bed to the floor and ran over to the dresser. She opened a drawer and began tearing through Lorelai's clothes.

"What are you doing Sweets?" Lorelai asked still squinting thanks to the sunlight streaming in through the window of the potting shed. She wondered what time it was as she began to look around for her clock.

"School!" the five year old cheered excitedly. "I go to school today!" She jumped on the floor and ran over to her mother taking her hands and trying with all her childish might to pull her up. "Come on! Get up! Let's go!"

Lorelai smiled a little, let go of her hands and laid back down pulling the covers over her head as she went. "Five more minutes, Mom," she groaned.

Rory hopped back up on the frantically pushed her mother off. "No Mommy, get up now!"

"Okay, okay," Lorelai conceded picking herself up off the floor and untangling herself from all the blankets, while the child ran back over to the dresser. The young mother forced herself up and went to join her daughter. "Find anything, Munchkin?"

The girl grinned holding up a T-Shirt for her Mom to see. "I wanna wear this one!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Her mother couldn't help but laugh and raise an eyebrow. "Rory, you wanna wear my Chico and the man T-shirt? Are you sure?"

Rory nodded and began bouncing up and down.

"Are you really sure Sweets? You have lots of pretty clothes…"

"I know!" the girl said. "I wanna wear this!"

Lorelai smiled and couldn't help but wonder what her mother would think if she could see them right then. "Alright!"

She pulled out a pair of blue jeans and helped Rory into them then sat her up on a stool so that she could brush her teeth while Lorelai got dressed herself. Having the morning off Lorelai pushed past her maid's uniform and put on something more comfortable.

After they were both dressed she helped her little girl pack her Barbie backpack, with the folder of forms Rory needed for the first day and the lunch she'd packed for her the night before. She helped her daughter into her book bag and then smiled at her. "Are you ready?"

The little girl grinned up exuberantly. "Yup!"

"Good." They joined hands and Lorelai led her daughter out of the potting shed. She took her to the in and paraded her around for the other maids that worked there and more importantly for Mia, all of which whom had known Rory since she was a baby and in Mia's case had served as a surrogate grandmother to the little girl. After both mother and daughter got a little breakfast from the kitchen they left the inn and walked down the long dirt road towards town and the elementary school.

"Mommy?" Rory began as the two neared the large building.

Lorelai looked down at her. "Yes baby doll?"

"What do I say if someone asks me my name?" she asked clearly perplexed.

"You know your name," her mother returned just as confused if not more.

"I know but I have two, remember? If someone asks me do I say my name is Rory or Lorelai Leigh Gilmore?" she inquired innocently.

It all became clear for Lorelai and she giggled. "Oh Sweets," she started with sigh. "You can say your name is Lorelai but you are called Rory."

"How come no one calls you, Rory?" she asked with curiosity radiating from her eyes.

"What?"

"Your name is Lorelai too!"

"Oh… well yes. You're right but Rory is a nick name… don't you think it would be kinda confusing if we were both called Lorelai or both called Rory?"

"I guess," Rory agreed with a nod as they approached the door of the kindergarten building. They passed a collection of children and parents saying goodbye in front of their class rooms but Lorelai walked Rory all the way in.

"You ready, Sweets?" Lorelai asked smiling proudly. "This is it. Do you have everything you need?"

Timidly Rory looked around at all the other children then back at her mother and nodded.

"What's the matter Baby?"

"Are you going to stay with me?" she asked in a small shy voice.

Her mother pulled her in to a hug. "I'll stay as long as you need me to," she said.

Rory pulled back and found Lorelai's blue eyes. "Promise?"

"Pinky promise!" Rory said holding out her little hand pinky finger.

Lorelai put out hers too and let Rory take hold of it. "Pinky promise," she repeated before standing up she looked around and saw Rory's name on a cubby in the corner. "I think we can put your things in there, Sweets."

Rory walked over and took her book bag off. As Lorelai hung it up a woman approached them. "Good morning," she said cheerfully. "I'm Ms. Right." She said to Rory and smiled at Lorelai then looked at the cubby. "You must be Rory."

Rory looked at Lorelai and then back at her teacher. "Yes. My name is Lorelai but I am called Rory." She said it just the way her mother had told her to.

"Hi Rory." Ms. Right laughed. "Do you think you might like to go play with the other children?"

Rory looked out across the class room and while all the kids looked friendly enough she wasn't used to other kids. All she'd ever known was her mother, Mia, the other maids, and the inn. She shook her head not even sure how to approach another child. A few seconds later a little Korean girl ran up to them. "Hi!" she said happily pushing her glasses up on her nose as they seemed to be a bit too big.

Rory smiled shyly, "hi."

"Wanna come color with me?" She grinned. "I got a new box of crayons! I'll share."

The little Gilmore girl looked up to her mother for encouragement. "Go on, Sweets, have fun," the woman urged. "I'll be right here until you tell me I can go." She then watched nervously as her daughter ran off with her new little friend.

"I'm Lane," the girl said.

"I'm Rory," she replied as they picked a table and Lane spread out her crayons across it.

For a moment, watching them Lorelai felt like she could cry. She stood there keeping her promise as many of the other parents around her began to dwindle out. After a while Rory turned around. "Mommy, you can go now if you want to," she said happily and with a confidence that made her mother's heart soar and crumble all at the same time. She sighed excitedly disappointed and blew her baby a kiss as she made her way towards the door.

Rory can see the outline of a person sitting on the steps and her heart nearly jumps out of her chest. She breaks out into a run again. "MOM!" she screams.

Lorelai looks up startled and realizes after a second that it's Rory galloping toward her not some crazed fiend.

"Mom!"

Lorelai slowly and painfully pushes herself up into a standing position. This could go one of many ways, she thinks to herself, but what the young woman does had not even entered her mind as a possibility. Rory throws her arms around her mother nearly knocking the both of them over. Lorelai struggles to keep herself balanced but Rory doesn't let go.

"Rory-" Lorelai starts planning on asking her what she is doing and why the theatrics, preparing to go off about how she just needed some time to herself and that she is fine and can take care of herself but before she can say any of these things the hug ends, Rory pulls away almost violently and cuts her mother off at the start.

"What were you thinking?" she asks rhetorically of course. "Do you realize that Luke and I have been looking for you for hours? Hours, Mother! What could have possibly been going through your mind that you thought sneaking out of the house, stealing Grandma's car, and wandering all over town was a good idea… You could have been hurt! You could have died! Not to mention the hundreds of other things that could have gone wrong between the two."

This is more like what Lorelai had been expecting and she knows she deserves it. However there is a part of her that doesn't want to hear it. That part that tells her she doesn't need to be lectured especially not by her own daughter.

Rory goes on. "Not to mention you're pregnant! How could you be so selfish?" She huffs. "I mean you're always going on about how Grandma and Grandpa suffocated you when you were a kid. Well if this is how you acted I would have kept your ass on lockdown too! Luke and Grandma and I, we're all at our wits end. We can't all supervise you constantly it's impossible. I mean if you wanted to go out all you had to do was tell someone. We're all so happy to have you back. We almost lost you Mom, do you realize that? You almost died because you pulled a stunt just like this. If you wanted to go somewhere why didn't you just ask?"

Lorelai doesn't know how to respond. She wants to say because she thought they'd say no but that sounds stupid and juvenile now. She shrugs from a simple lack of response.

"Is that it? After this wild goose chase you're just going to shrug at me?" She sighs completely exasperated and emotionally drained. She sits down on the steps and puts her face in her hands. After a minute Lorelai sits down beside her.

"How did you even get here?" Rory asks. "This place burned down almost four years ago."

"I don't really know," Lorelai tells her honestly. "I just started walking and this is where I ended up….I like it here….feels like home."

"It is home," Rory says. "But it's just one of many. The Crap Shack was home too… So is this whole crazy town. Home for me is wherever you are Mom."

Lorelai doesn't stop her from calling her mom. She is actually starting to like the way it sounds. "I don't know what to say…"

Rory looks over at her, most of the anger and agitation now completely gone from her face. "I'll make you a deal. If you promise to never do this to me again. I'll take some time and give you the grand tour of the place. Everything and everywhere until you want to stop and go home."

"Really?" Lorelai smiles.

"Yeah. Not today…today is over. Or tomorrow. But soon. Maybe this weekend. I promise."

"I'm sorry- " Lorelai starts. "For running off like that. I just wanted some fresh air and I knew I couldn't walk all the way to town. Honestly I'll be surprised if I am able to walk at all after this… But I was mad about the nurse thing. I just feel like so much is out of my control. It's frustrating. I don't mean to lash out or cause problems. I'm just making a giant mess."

"This is going to take some time for all of us to adjust to. I hope one day you do remember but the fact of the matter is you may never get your memory back. You may never be the woman we all knew before again… so instead of trying to force it," Rory says sadly, "we should work on creating new memories. Building a new relationship."

Lorelai nods. "Okay."

Rory smiles then pulls out her phone and calls Luke.