Snatched

Part 72

Rory felt her jaw drop. Embarrassed, she put a hand over her mouth, but there was just enough room for a single, salty tear to slip through her fingers and onto her lips.

Rory looked up at the little boy who was opposite her, squirming around in the womans arms.

'Pooolll!' He squealed.

Was this him? Was she really stood opposite the son she had been missing so deeply for the past two and a half years.

'Excuse me, sir, madame', the woman was almost wafting in Rorys face now.

Realising that she had been trapped in her own thoughts for the last 30 seconds, Rory moved her hand away from her and opened it to speak, but no sound came out.

Rory looked over at Logan who was stood next to her, gripping her hand so tightly that both of their knuckles were white. Logans face was ashen and had completely lost its colour. Clearly, he wasn't going to be able to take charge of the situation in the way he usually did. So, the responsibility fell to Rory.

'Helloo!' The woman was now waving her arms around frantically. The little boy had now escaped from her arms and was running in the direction of the pool.

'Err' Rory managed to say, but she still struggled to form a sentence.

The woman now stood with her hand on her hip, staring directly into Rorys eyes. 'Would you mind telling me who you are?'she said, 'and why you've suddenly appeared on my property?'

Rory tried again to speak, but still nothing. She nudged Logan, hoping that he would say something, but he didn't.

'I'm cooming!' A familiar voice came from over in the distance. A few seconds later, Rory felt her mothers hand fall sharply on her shoulder.

'Sorry!' Lorelai said, looking up at the woman, whilst panting from the exertion of her short run. 'This, this is Rory Gilmore. And he..' she put a hand on Logans shoulder. 'This buffoon is Logan Huntzberger.

Lorelai leaned into Rory and whispered in her ear. 'Of all the times I've not been able to get you to shut up and you choose now to let language fail you!' Although this made her feel slightly guilty, Rory didn't say anything and just let her mom go into full on Lorelai mode.

'And these two delightful people..' she said 'are here to come and pick up their son! Who I believe...' She motioned over to the swimming pool, where the little boy was still splashing around . 'is that little ray of sunshine over there!'

Having clearly only just noticed that the little boy was now in the swimming pool, the woman shouted, 'Daniel!' Rory let out a small, sharp gasp, still surprised to hear her son called by a different name.

As it became obvious that the little boy wasn't going to respond, the woman turned back to face Lorelai.
'So, if this is Rory Gilmore', she said, motioning towards Rory, 'I would assume that you're Lorelai'.
'Yes...' Lorelai said, clearly taken aback that this woman knew her name. 'So you must be Emilys girl!'

'How on earth?!' Lorelai said exactly what Rory was thinking, but she clearly brushed this thought aside, as she carried on.
'So yeah...' she said 'are you gonna open this gate for us?'
Rory looked up at the gate in front of her. It hadn't occurred to her that it was still locked firmly shut.
'We just gotta come in', Lorelai said. 'And grab the little cherub and then we'll be on our way.'

The woman didn't say anything. She just stared at Lorelai. After a few seconds of silence, Lorelai said 'so are you gonna? Or not?' She put her hand on the gate in front of her, ready to open it.

The woman put one hand on the gate and glared at Lorelai.
'You know, I'm not gonna let you just come in here and take him', she said.

Rory threw her head into Logans chest and started crying.
'Sshh' was the first thing he'd said in the past hour, before he buried his head into Rorys hair.

Rory felt one of Logans tears roll into hers, as they ran down her face. Then she felt her moms hand rubbing on her back.

'Well, thanks a bunch!' Lorelai said.