Title: When She Cries

Book: III
Chapter: Five
Chapter Title: A Hundred Lives

Rating: R.
 Disclaimer: Aye, captain. I hold no deeds to Gilmore Girls. And I don’t own John Mayer’s Outside In The Underground.

Time Frame: The day after the last one.
Author’s Note: To Katie, and Kait. My favorite Ks.

 

 

*

 

I raise my head up to the sky again/
And make my way alone/I'm never home/
But I've stopped searching/Cause the city told me so/
It all comes down/Down to me.

 

            Lola was standing outside of a townhouse, in the Upper West Side of New York City mind you, wringing her hands. Just to reiterate, if you didn’t get it the first time, but she was wringing her hands. It was such an obvious nervous tick, that she hated herself for it. And if she paid close enough attention she may even feel a dab or two of sweat in her palms. Her breath caught and hitched. Now was not the time to let years of repressed emotion come out.

 

            One more deep breath and she rang the doorbell. There. It usually took the butler a full seven to nine seconds to answer the door. That gave her plenty of time to make like her mother and run.

 

            Except the door was opened on second five, and by Kenzie. Wow, okay. She hadn’t prepared herself for that. “Lorelai!” And he seemed very excited to see her. “I’m a very stupid man, which is why I am so very happy to see you.”

 

            Okay, so he wanted something from her. Maybe she could work that into her favor? Yeah, so if she did something for him…he’d what after hearing the sentence ‘Hi, I’m having your baby’? That would be something she’d have to work out real soon. “Hi.” One word down, four more to go.

 

            “I need you to play a part for me,” Kenzie continued on, ushering her inside to the foyer.

 

            “A part?” She repeated dumbly. Being pregnant definitely brought the Gilmore out of her. Maybe in six months she’d be on her back, throwing ice chips at the medical staff.   

 

            “I gave the entire staff the night off, and the children were supposed to go stay with their respective mothers. However, Anne had a family emergency and Simone has disappeared off to Europe again.” This was told to Lola, in all of Kenzie’s British flair, of course. Meaning, slightly on the melodramatic side. “I scheduled a very important business meeting for tonight and absolutely cannot cancel it.”

 

            This would be the most emotion she had ever seen from him. Usually he was rather calm and collected. That would teach him about being generous with his staff. “And?” Oh, but she had a feeling what was coming next.

 

            “I understand the inappropriateness of it all, but since the children do not know. And are far too young to even suspect…” Kenzie’s voice trailed off, and his hands unwittingly tugged on his brown curls, musing it slightly. “Could you watch Rachie and Mac for me tonight?”

 

            “Actually, I needed to talk to you,” Lola sounded like such a girl. A girl her age too. She wished she gum in her mouth, so she could snap it.

 

            “Perfect then,” Kenzie countered. “You watch, we’ll talk after.” He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a long, lingering kiss. “You’ll be staying after anyways.” He started walking away before she had the chance to respond. Then he called out,  “Rachel! Mackenzie! Your sitter is here!” His voice lowered once again, as he spoke to her. “Thank you Lorelai, I’ll owe you later.”

 

            Oh, she was sure he’d forget about that later. After the talk. The door shut after he walked out, and she turned around to stare into the eyes of a nine-year-old girl. The eyes shining as much pure hatred someone so young could muster. It was enough to send her dashing towards the bathroom.

 

*

 

            Lola flushed the toilet and stood on shaky legs. Never before in her life had she felt so...weak. She hadn’t a toothbrush here, because that would imply something far too serious, but that fact wouldn’t keep her mouth from feeling gross. So she poured some Listerine into a Dixie cup and rinsed her mouth out. There, that was a little better. She turned around and started.

 

            Rachie leaned against the doorframe and while looking sullenly at Lola she took a step forward.

 

            “Uh,” what should she say here? The only thing she could think to do is reach into the over-responsible mind of Dallas Mariano and what he would do. Still, all she was able to get out was a, “You okay?” Which meant she hadn’t observed Dallie all that well during their life, and she sucked at this babysitting thing.

 

            The girl’s gaze flickered up to her, as she stood- arms akimbo. “You’re going to ruin our lives, aren’t you?”

 

            Huh. There was no reason for her to get so upset about it, Lola was going to ruin her own in the process.

 

*

 

            Since Rachel hated her, and Mac tended to follow his sister around, Lola’s baby-sitting duties didn’t really extend much beyond sitting in a sit of their playroom and making sure they didn’t choke on a toy. It’d be easy money if this were a normal, regular job. However, the kids hated her and they were a constant reminder of something she was in denial about. Not exactly the best mix in her mind. Her cell phone rang, and it was the best distraction she could think of.

 

            “Hello?” It wasn’t her usual greeting, but she’d have to deal with that later.

 

            “Lola?” Came the reply. Damn, she should always check her Caller ID before answering the phone. How many times had that gotten in her trouble?

            “Who else would answer my phone, Mother?” Lola asked, wishing she had the ability to stand up. However, the last time she tried, she ended up all the way in the bathroom, emptying out whatever had remained in her stomach.

 

            “Where are you?” Rory ignored her daughter’s sarcastic question. “No one was answering at your apartment.”

           

            “I came up to the City,” Lola answered absently, as she tugged on a strand of her blonde hair. Her mother could be so annoying.

 

            “Why?”

 

            “Because I left some of my books for a class I have next week at Fin and Aggie’s.” She could lie so well, sometimes she was even in awe of herself.

 

            “So you’re at Aggie’s?” However, her mother remained suspicious of her. Lola was insulted, despite the fact she was lying.

 

            “Sure.”

 

            Rory was silent on the other end for a long moment. “Oh.”

 

            “Is that all?” Yes, gum would be so very helpful right now.

 

            “Are you coming home for break?”

 

            Lola shouldn’t feel guilty for the timid tone in her mother’s voice when she asked that question. Or maybe she should. Somewhere along the line she had forgotten how she was supposed to feel. And now she was stuck feeling the way she actually did. “Yes, I’m coming back to Hartford for break.”

 

            “Make sure to stop by Stars Hollow then,” Rory told her.

 

            “Okay. I gotta go.” Lola hung up the phone, realizing she was staring her future in the face, and man did it suck. Life wasn’t supposed to be this way. She was wealthy, she was beautiful and she hadn’t developed an unhealthy addiction to anything with the exception of nachos. Perhaps getting pregnant young and unmarried was just in the genes.

 

*

 

            By the time Kenzie returned, Lola was quite convinced that kids in general were just a bad idea, and that she’d like her virginity back, please. In fact, if she could rewrite the past fifteen years of her life or so, that’d be great. And she needed to refocus and get this out. And then hide. Hiding would be good.

 

            “I’m sorry if Rachie or Mac gave you a difficult time,” Kenzie was saying, as he let out a resigned sigh exclusive to fathers of difficult children.

 

            But it wasn’t winning Lola over. She’d spent the past five hours with one very resentful child and her brother, who liked to mimic his big sister. She was exhausted, her throat burned, her head ached, and she hadn’t had this strong of an urge to cry since her parents had told her that they were divorcing.

 

            “Kenzie…” Now was the time to get out. Quick and painless.

 

            He held up a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I figure I have another eleven years before my kids develop their own lives. And that’s at a maximum.”

 

            Lola crossed her arms across her chest, “Oh, I don’t agree.”

 

            Kenzie shot her a confused look. “Eighteen years old is too young to start having your own life?”

            “No,” there was no time like the present to force this out. Like taking off a band aid- quick and painless. “I’m pregnant.”

 

 

 

To Be Continued…