This Is Us || Jess Mariano

1

Charlotte Gilmore was sat in the passenger seat of her mother's jeep, staring out of the window, as they returned from their spontaneous road trip. She glanced across at her mom who was focused on her driving and hadn't said anything for most of the journey. She knew that her mom was nervous returning to Stars Hollow where everyone would now know the news about the wedding being cancelled. She glanced back at Rory who was also unusually quiet, staring out of the window as well. She sighed as she returned to looking out of her window. She knew it had been hard on Rory and hadn't realised just how much her sister had become attached to Max until she'd confronted their mom last night about it. Of course, she was sad about the wedding being cancelled because she had liked Max and she had wanted her mom to be happy but she hadn't been as close to him as Rory was. Max wasn't actually one of her teachers at school and it did feel kind of weird that he was engaged to their mom. She had to admit that she was dreading people finding out at school. She knew how cruel kids could be.

As they drove through the square in Stars Hollow, lots of the townspeople were out and were sending Lorelai sympathetic smiles and waves. Kirk even gave her a virtual hug. "Boy, Patty's good." Lorelai murmured.

Charlotte glanced across at her. "Are you ok, mom?"

Lorelai gave her a small smile. "Yeah I'm ok." She said softly. They drove into the driveway at the Crap Shack and Lorelai parked the car. "Oh." She said quietly. "I'd forgotten about that."

Charlie and Rory both followed her gaze to the chuppah that Luke had made for her. "Do you want us to move it?" Rory asked.

Lorelai looked at it and then eventually shook her head. "No." She said softly. "I think I want to keep it." She then forced a smile on her face. "Right let's get inside and get changed. Your Grandma's already annoyed we went on a road trip without her. She'll be even more annoyed if we're late for dinner." She joked. Charlie and Rory smirked and followed their mom inside.

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"Put it in focus, Lorelai." Emily said as she was sat on the couch with Charlie and Rory watching the slideshow of photos they had brought with them.

"It is in focus." Lorelai said.

"It's blurry." Emily said.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and flipped onto the next photo. "Ah now this is a Harvard squirrel!" She grinned. "Oh and this is half of Rory's dorm and half of my thumb!"

"Oh good god!" Emily exclaimed. "I don't see why you had to do a slideshow and not just bring prints. They're so much easier to look through and quicker!" She said emphasising 'quicker'.

"Oh you're lucky. We had to stop her from putting music along with it." Charlie joked.

"I'm very grateful." Emily said dryly.

"Oh you're just jealous we didn't invite you along with us." Lorelai teased, turning off the projector.

"Next time we will, Grandma." Rory smiled.

"Next time you will get a tour guide and do it properly." Emily said.

"What did your fiance think about this spontaneous trip anyway? You just leaving suddenly just before the wedding." Charlie and Rory glanced at their mom who had suddenly looked shifty and nervous.

"Oh..uh..well..." Lorelai stammered.

"Mom.." Rory said quietly, urging her mom to just be honest.

Emily caught the exchange and looked at her daughter. "What? What is it?"

"Well..uh..about the wedding..." Lorelai started.

"Oh my god, you've eloped! I can't believe you would do that! You are just determined to keep me out of anything to do with your life, aren't you?" She exclaimed.