Love Me Softly - Gilmore Girls -

Chapter Sixteen

While Lorelai was en route to the three girls in the Gilmore home, the girls were scavenging the house for any clue on who the mystery sibling was. 

The three of us had finally scrounged up the courage to venture upstairs to Lorelai's room, Rory and I were going through the closet looking inside various shoe boxes and miscellaneous clothing bags stuffed in the corner. At the same time, Lane pulled what she could from under the very packed bed. 

"I'm not finding anything, Rory," I huffed, putting the four colored boas back into the purple shopping bag. "She might not even have anything to prove your theory."

"It's more than a theory, Ali," she turned, restacking the shoeboxes with various souvenirs, none of which alluded to my existence, "A sibling signed that birthday card and I have to find them."

With this, I turn entirely to face her, no longer searching the closet, "Why is it so important to you?"

She doesn't respond for several minutes, the air thick with the weight of what she could say next.

Finally, she speaks, with what was only five minutes feeling like a century to me, "Because if he or she exists, they might be in the dark like I am. They could be alone like I am. It's always just been my mom and I. It's stupid, but please help me and continue looking before she gets home?"

"It's not stupid, Rory. I'll help you look through the shoe boxes again, we might have missed something."

Lane interrupts us before we can grab the boxes from the closet again, "Don't! I think I found it. It was stuck under the bedframe, but I got it!"

"Got what?!" We scream at the same time, both racing to the bed where Lane currently sat with the discovery. 

"This!" She squeals, a light purple book with lace sitting in her lap. Intricate calligraphy created the title of the book as 'The Gilmore Grandkids, Year One.'

Oh. Oh no. That's like the scrapbook Grandma gave me when I turned 13. I can only assume with those thoughts that Grandma created two books for both Rory and me to get together. 

Rory looks over the title before making eye contact with us, tears forming in her eyes, "It says grandkids. I knew I had a sibling, but this makes it real." 

She chokes up towards the end of her sentence causing Lane and I to lean into a group hug to console her with this discovery. Well, this is it, she's finally going to know who I am. 

"Are you sure you're ready to look at this?" Lane asks as we separate from the hug. 

Rory sniffles before nodding, taking the book in her lap and positioning it for all three of us to look at. Cracking open the cover, intricate pages filled with Grandma's cursive letter to her girls, the same that is written in my album at home.

'To my beautiful girls,

I am making this album for you both to look back fondly on with each other and eventually your own families. I am so incredibly blessed to be your Grandmother. You are both gifts to the Gilmore and Hayden household, no matter the circumstances of your existence. 

With love,

Grandma and Grandpa Gilmore'

She gasps fingers tracing the words on the page, "She said girls. Guys, I have a sister. A secret sister." Her words are small, and I'm struggling to identify if it's anger or sadness hanging in her voice. 

"Ready to keep going?" Lane asks, shaking Rory out of her shock.

"Yeah, let's keep going."

We turn the page again, I take a deep breath as we see the photos taken in the hospital with the date of our birth. Our names are not listed yet, but I'm worried Rory will notice the red hair on one of the babies in the photos and finally put it together. 

Rory says nothing, but with my deep inhale from seeing the page, Lane's eyes snap to mine. She glances between the photo and me, and I watch in real-time as she puts the pieces together. Rory still sitting in shock from discovering a sister, not seeing the panicked look in my eyes and Lane's accusatory ones staring back. 

She turns the page, and more photos of infants, these two pages are entirely of Rory with her full name written across the top. Photos spanning from the hospital until Lorelai brought us to her home at the time. Rory smiles lightly before looking up to see our staring contest, "Everything okay, guys?"

"Everything's fine," I speak almost too quickly. Lane doesn't stop staring and I'm scared she's going to tell Rory before she can see it for herself. 

Rory's eyebrow quirks up, staring at Lane and waiting for her confirmation since Lane will not quit the staring contest into the side of my face. Coughing lightly to get Lane to notice, she finally answers back, "Yeah, everything's okay. Ready to find out the truth?"

She sighs, "I think so. It's now or never, right?"

We nod, encouraging her to turn the page. 

The page seems to take an eternity to flip over.

As the page settles, the words read clear as day.

'Alice Christine Hayden'

Similar pictures are displayed across the page as the page before containing Rory alone, the only difference being the girl in the photos has bright red hair.

My red hair.

As Rory reads over the words, and scans each photo meticulously, we hear something.

The sound of footsteps.

Rushed footsteps at the front door.

We stare in shock, scrambling to grab the book and get out of the upstairs windows and out of the house as soon as possible when we hear.

"RORY!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!" 

As footsteps rush upstairs, we gently shut the window and begin the descent off the roof, not a thought in our heads as we only think to run with the book she doesn't know we have. 

A.N.//

So sorry I've been M.I.A., it's been a mix of work chaos and being sick for the last week. I'm in the process of the next chapter so it's not that long of a cliffhanger. But we love deviating from Rory's typical good-girl behavior. 

Escaping from the roof when your mom is angry sounds like deja vu, huh Lorelai?