Having Rory back in her arms eased all worries or concerns about the new town she found herself in. It didn’t matter where she was in the world as long as she knew her daughter was reachable. That brief moment of not being able to connect with her was terrifying and it’d taken so much effort to not spiral into everything that could’ve gone wrong. Even though Rory was an adult and could take care of herself, Lorelai knew she’d always worry and feel the desire to take care of her. “I’ll let it slide this time,” she replied playfully with a tilt of her head. “I missed you more! Glad to see you’re not fifty with a whole brood of little geniuses.” When Rory went to test out her phone, Lorelai grabbed her own. Seeing the little message notification pop up had her relaxing her shoulders. “I expect messages daily, missy!” Her head turned to gaze at her cart before moving to her daughter’s. “Nothing better than a feast and a movie. Looks like you still honor all of the important food groups mommy taught you. Never been prouder than right now.” 

“I’ll give it back to you later. It was just nice to have it while you weren’t here.” She tugged the end of the sleeve down over her hand, something she was certain would annoy her mom, considering she was always stretching out her clothes but she didn’t care. It was just nice to have her mom here. She wondered if there’d ever be a time in her life where she wouldn’t want Lorelai around and god, she hoped not. “I promise, texts all the time.” She grinned, sliding her phone back into her purse. She still had questions about this town, how they were here but none of that mattered now that they weren’t alone. She laughed looking between their carts and shrugged. “Nothing’s changed, still eating marshmallows all the time, promise.” She linked her free arm with her moms. “How about we merge movie nights and I can tell you all about who I ran into today. You’ll never believe who’s here.” There was a mysterious twinkle in her eye and suddenly having Jess in the same town as her wasn’t feeling quiet so bad anymore.

Could it be possible? Was Rory really standing in front of her right now? The universe had pulled them apart, and just when Lorelai was terrified about not seeing her daughter again soon, they were brought back together. At first, she’d been afraid that she was imaging things, but the other girl’s voice and hug made it real. Not being able to help herself, Lorelai teared up as she tightly wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Rory,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you’re here.” She pressed her lips to the side of the girl’s head, letting them linger for a few extra seconds. “How are you? Are you okay?” Lorelai pulled back from the hug just enough so that she could do a once over over Rory. “You seem to still be in one piece. Gorgeous as ever. Wearing one of my favorite sweaters that I’ve been missing all this time.” Now that she had her daughter back in her arms, she was afraid of letting her go. “I’ve been trying to call you, but it’d never go through. Just kept ringing and ringing with no chance of reaching you.” 

Rory had never felt to relieved to see someone in her life. Maybe it was unhealthy of her to think that she never wanted to be separated from her mom ever again but she didn’t care. In this moment she didn’t want to be separated ever again. She hugged her back tightly, not wanting to let go afraid the universe might pull them apart again. “Hey, to be fair I didn’t know I was getting sucked through some magical portal when I put this one.” She shrugged, letting out a smile. “I’m okay though, I missed you so much.” She pulled a face reaching into her pocket for her phone. “Mine was doing the same. Maybe it’ll work now.” She shot her mom a quick text and watched as it finally showed delivered on her end. “Rest assured you won’t be without my excellent communications skills ever again.” She looked down noticing that they both had similar items in their carts. “Movie night?”

“Trust me after you broke my heart, you’re the last person I want to see or be around.” He shut his mouth almost instantly after realising what he said. He was never that straight forward with his feelings but he was upset and things were spewing out of his mouth before he could even think. “Trust a Gilmore to make it all about them.” Another roll of eyes. Of course she’d bring that up. It had to be about her. Nothing could ever be about him and his feelings because, just like everyone in Stars Hollow figured, he had to be the bad guy. “Luke didn’t want me anymore. Nobody wanted me anymore so I left. I left and let you move on with your life. Move on right back into the arms of Dean since the last time I saw you he was there.” Jess would always hold a grudge against Dean. Maybe if that loser hadn’t been around so much they would’ve actually made it the first time around. It probably wasn’t fair to blame anyone but himself but he was never the one to admit he’d done wrong. “I came back for you, Rory. I came back and put myself out there for you and looked like an idiot. So, if you want to be done then fine. I quit. I won’t bother you for a second longer.”

Rory stood for a moment, to stunned to speak. It took a lot to shut Rory up, she and her mom had an unusual talent for talking so much they were pretty sure that combined silence between the two of them didn’t exist. But Jess saying she’d broken his heart, yeah, that hurt. Sure in the moment she’d wanted to hurt him as much as he’d hurt her but she didn’t think she’d ever really be able to do it. She’d shocked even herself by saying no to running away with Jess. “Oh, come on, Jess. We don’t always make it about ourselves.” She’d fought for Jess so many times over the last few years that it hardly seemed fair for her to be roped into the category of people who thought of him as a bad guy. She knew he wasn’t, she knew what he’d been through and yet she couldn’t just forgive him. “I didn’t move back into Dean’s arms. He’d just been working with my mom and had brought some stuff to my dorm. You walked in on something innocent and twisted it into something it wasn’t. Dean and I broke up because of you. If I wanted him back so badly I would’ve never gotten with you to begin with.” She looked down, suddenly finding the ground extremely fascinating. The truth was, Rory didn’t know what she wanted. Was she ready for Jess to be out of her life forever? No. But she wasn’t ready to just ride off into the sunset either. “That’s not what I want.” It came out as a whisper and she refused to look back up at him. “I just need time.”

As she brushed his hand away, he couldn’t help but scoff out loud even if inside it had hurt him more than he’d care to admit. Having to put this front on that he didn’t care was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. Sure, Jess was a standoffish person but he’d always been open with Rory… or, as open as he could. “I’m behind this?” He asked bewildered. “Because suddenly I have magical powers and dragged us both into this creepy little town that we can’t leave just to get back at you? Grow up, Rory.” He turned to walk away before changing his mind and turning back to face her. “Why do you have any right to be mad at me anyway? If I remember correctly, you’re the one that said no to me. You’re the one that said you didn’t want to be with me so how does that make me the bad one here? If anyone has the right to be annoyed, it’s me.”

“Yeah, you probably are.” She folded her arms, carefully to not spill her coffee and let out a sigh. “I just find it very strange that you ask me to run away with you, I say no, and then suddenly we’re in this place together.” Rory knew she wasn’t being fair to Jess, but it wasn’t like he deserved fair from her. She’d given him so many chances even when everyone told her not to and he’d just left. He didn’t even say goodbye. How was that fair? Why should she be fair now? She deserved better, they both did. “I don’t? No rights at all to be mad at you?” She rolled her eyes. Leave it to Jess to not realize just how much he’d hurt her when they’d broken up. Could they even call it a break up if he just ghosted her? Rory really hated that all it took was a random bump in with Jess to make her feel all those horrible emotions all over again. Maybe one day she’d move passed it and forgive him but today was definitely not the day. “You left me first, Jess. And then you tell me you love me and ask me to run away with you and I’m not allowed to be mad? So you go ahead and be annoyed, Jess. But what you did was way worse than anything I could’ve ever done to you.”

closed starter | @roryglmr​

While Bar Harbor hadn’t been too bad, there was one detail that would never make it home to her; the fact that her daughter wasn’t there. It was something that had slowly started to drive her a little crazy. Why was she here and not Rory? Did something happen to her? Where was she then? Lorelai wandered the grocery store aisles as she allowed her mind to spiral. From now until she got back home for her movie night, she’d worry. Once she got home, she’d force herself to watch a movie and turn her brain off for the two or so hours it lasted. The woman turned into the next aisle, eyes scanning the shelves for the marshmallows. Once spotted, she reached out to grab a bag just as another arm reached up with her. “I’m so sorry,” she commented. “You go ahead.” Lorelai pulled her hand back as she turned her focus onto the person beside her. Rory? 

Rory didn’t mind living in Bar Harbor. It had the same small town feel as Stars Hollow without Ms. Patty’s flair for dramatics and gossip. Sure, she missed the town she’d grown up in and all the people that lived there, but Bar Harbor was a nice quiet change of pace. That didn’t stop Rory from missing a hand-full of people and wishing they were with her. Lane, Luke, her grandparents, and of course her mom. She couldn’t remember a time she’d gone this long without her mom being near her, maybe her summer before senior trip with Paris - but they’d at least talked every day. It was as if her phone couldn’t find a connection every time she tried to call Lorelai. As if missing her mom wasn’t enough, she’d just ran into Jesse that very day. Fate was a cruel cruel thing and Rory desperately needed an escape. If she’d been home that night she’d be having a movie night with her mom so Rory headed to the store to fill up on the usual amounts of junk food. She needed marshmallows though and had gone in for the kill when she spotted a hand and heard a familiar voice. Looking up she couldn’t help the grin on her face. “Mom?” It took all her willpower not to scream so instead she dropped her arm from the mountain of marshmallows and pulled her mom in for a hug. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re here!”

alina starkov had finally made as much peace as she could with being here. she’d still wonder if mal was ok, but she couldn’t fixate on it. she had to make the best life she could here, until she found a way back home. at least she could attempt to be normal. or as normal as a grisha could be.❝i was wondering, if someone wanted to leave, is there a way?❞ she asked curiously 

Rory had been at the local bookstore, filling up her bag with as many books as could fit. It was one of the only things she could think to do that didn’t leave her as sad as her solo movie nights. Bar Harbor was nice and all, but with her mom not here it was kind of depressing. “I assume you could just get in a car and drive away?” She shrugged. She hadn’t really put too much thought into how she was here or why but she didn’t believe in magic, not really.

Jess hated small towns. Truly hated them. It was some kind of cruel fate that kept making him end up in them. He was trying to get his life together so he had to at least try. Maybe this was the perfect start to a new life for him — leave everything else behind. Yeah, that’s exactly what he needed. No Stars Hollow, no Luke and, most importantly, no Rory. A clean slate. That was his thought as he walked down the street toward the book store. Not looking where he was going, he ended up bumping into someone. “Geez, watch where you’re going,” he rolled his eyes, extending his hand to help the person up. That was when he met Rory’s eyes. “Of course it’s you. As if it’d be anyone else.” He hadn’t seen her since she’d turned him away and refused to run away with him. @roryglmr​

Rory was late, something very unusual for her but she’d gotten to talking with her mom and well, like most of their conversations it had gone off course along the way and thus, Rory was practically running through town, coffee in hand on her way to her job. Sure, she just worked at a Christmas Gift Shop, but Rory took pride in everything she did. That lateness was of course how she’d found herself on the ground, frozen in place in this very moment. The last person she expected to be here was Jess. Brushing his hand away she got up on her own and sighed. “Of course you’re here. Of course you are! I get pulled into some weird new life and you’re here. I should’ve known.” She huffed. “I should’ve known you’d been behind this one.” She couldn’t believe her luck. How was it possible she’d just turned him down and then bam, she was in this new place with all these strange people and Jess.

     Pattys had to relatively slow today, Judith was trying to find anything in the restaurant and bar to do. Judith smiled as she heard the doors open and close, she had just finished wiping the menu’s down and didn’t look up “thank god you are here, you’ll give me something to do.” Judith looked up at the person who had just walked into the establishment “welcome to Paddy’s.”

Rory was in desperate need of a cup of coffee. After a long day of selling Christmas items there really was no better pick me up. “Ah, well you’re welcome!” she bowed as she took a seat. “Coffee first and then I promise tons of entertainment.” 

“OH   shit!”   teddy   immediately   bolted   out   of   the   way   of   a   certain   individual’s   line   of   vision,   practically   hiding   behind   the   closest   person   in   his   proximity,   “ah   so   weird   request   but   do   you   mind   if   we   pretend   like   we’re   DATING   for   a   few   minutes?   that   guy   over   there…he’s   a   tinder   date   that   went   VERY   very   wrong   and   i   really   don’t   want   to   deal   with   him   right   now.”

Rory as typical, hadn’t really been paying attention to her surroundings, being lost in yet another read of hers. So needless to say she was a bit startled when Teddy came over to her. Looking between him and the man he was clearly trying to hide from, she put her book down and nodded her head. “Well, I guess I can help out. Only if you promise to return the favor if I ever run into an ex or something.”

“I love small towns - people remembering other’s names, everyone knows everyone, and the commute time to work is perfect,” she hummed happily, “though I do have to admit when I said I was going to search the galaxy for adventures this was not what I was planning”

“Ah yes, gotta love that small town charm.” Rory chuckled. She’d grown up in the smallest of towns, Stars Hollow and had loved it there. Everyone knew everything about everyone though, which had only really been a disserve to her when she’d been involved in break ups and the like. “What kind of adventures had you thought you’d be on?”