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1.1

"I mean it though, thank you." Gabriella repeated, looking around at the room. It was big and airy but cozy too, and very Lorelai. She turned to her sister, who was looking at her, scrutinizing her. 

"Are you okay, Gabby?" She asked gently. The younger girl was silent for a minute before she nodded, "Yeah, I'm good.  Thank you Lore." 

"Good, now come on, I'll show you your room, and then a tour of the house and the town. Rory'll be home soon, she's just at her friends house. You've never met, have you?" 

"No, we haven't." Gabby confirmed, going upstairs after Lorelai. Rory only came round the elder Gilmore residence on holidays, and then, Gabriella was often with Melissa or the family that fostered her until she was five. "I'm sure we'll get on well." She commented politely and Lorelai chuckled. 

"Well, they sure have trained you well!" She laughed, referring to their parents. 

"Yeah, I guess so." Gabriella offered her big sister a half-hearted smile. "Is this my room?" 

"Yep. I cleared it out yesterday, so it's clean. Do you need help unpacking?" Lorelai offered. 

"No, thank you." Gabriella shook her head, flicking a plait behind her shoulder and looking around at the spacious room. It was smaller than her room at home, but warm and clean, with a big closet and nice cream wallpaper, faintly patterned with flowers. "It's nice." 

"I haven't changed it since I brought the place, so it's all yours." Lorelai said, running a hand over the surface of the vanity by the door, the mirror reflecting the image of Gabriella in the middle of the room. "Bathrooms down to the left, my room is to the right and Rory's room is downstairs anyway."  

"Okay. Thank you." Gabby nodded, feeling the words escape her lips for what must be the tenth time since she arrived. She placed her bags on the bed, and hearing Lorelai turn and go  back downstairs, sighed. Deciding against her emotions in that moment, she opened the closet and then her suitcase, beginning to unpack her clothes silently and methodically. 

By the time she had finished, the sky had darkened slightly. The closet was full, her clothes in categories of type and colour, her shoes lined up underneath in colour order. Her makeup was in the vanity, other necessities in the bedside tables, books and school stuff in the desk by the window and photos on the three shelves above the vanity. The room looked lived in and Gabby smiled in satisfaction, looking around. The snapshots of memories framed with wood smiled down at her, most of her and her friends, two of her and her parents and one of a couple, young and smiling. The girl looked like Gabriella but the boy had the same dimples and the same eyes. Melissa and Rio, young, only fifteen. She looked at the laughing pair, eyes trained on the vaguely familiar faces of her birth-parents. She wasn't close with Melissa but saw her enough to know her, but Rio? She had never met the man.

Turning away from the haunting faces of what could've been, she walked down the stairs one at a time, looking around for Lorelai and Rory, who she'd heard arrive. Walking into the kitchen, she was greeted by the view of her sister and a girl who was almost identical. 

"Hey, Gabs. This is my daughter Rory. Lorelai, but Rory for short." Lorelai smiled and Rory did too. Gabriella's heart panged in loneliness at the sight of her sister and niece and she swallowed the lump of glass in her throat. "Hi Rory, nice to meet you." 

"Hi Gabriella, nice to meet you too. Do I have to call you aunty?" Rory asked, voice high with nerves. Gabriella laughed airily and shook her head. 

"No, Gabriella's fine. Or Gabby or Gabs or Ella. I answer to most things." She said and Rory's shoulders sagged in relief. 

"Rory, Gabby goes to Chilton." Lorelai told her daughter, pointing to Gabriella with a coffee mug. 

"Oh, that's cool. I start on Monday." Rory told her and then gestured to a seat, which the other girl took gratefully. 

"I didn't know that. It's a good school, you'll do well." Gabriella smiled politely. She wasn't lying, it was a good school, with a good curriculum, good teachers and good facilities. But it was the people and the pressure that would threaten to break Rory.  

"So, my friend Sookie is coming round in a minute and Rory has to try on her skirt." Lorelai hinted the question of what she was going to do. Gabriella nodded and was silent for a second. There was homework, or she could call Demi, or Leah or Marcus. She could call her Mom and Dad. She could read. 

"Am I alright to walk around town for a bit?" she asked, almost tentatively. 

"Yeah, of course. It'd be hard to get lost. Just be back in time for tea, yeah?" Lorelai smiled, "You might need a jacket." She added and Gabriella nodded and smiled, turning and going back to her room and grabbing a jacket. 

As she walked out of the house she heard Rory speak :

"She seems nice." 

"She is. Just give her a while, she'll come out of her shell."  came Lorelai's reply and Gabriella's smile grew as she shut the door behind her and walked down the porch and started down the path. She'd be fine here. 

By the time she got back, she was reconsidering her statement. Gaining stares from the townsfolk she had passed, she quickly realised that this town was not for her. These people lived in a world of chunky sweaters and festivals, of hot chocolate and town meetings. She had lived in a world of ballrooms and private schools, pressure and money. She didn't belong here, but maybe if Lorelai had grown to be apart of the town, so could she. Though part of her hoped she wouldn't be here that long. 

Lorelai smiled at the sight of her little sister walk up to the house, expression thoughtful and a little put out. Not noticing the arrival of Gabriella, Rory returned inside in her very long school skirt, leaving her mom and Sookie on the porch. Gabriella smiled softly to the adults as she walked up the step. 

"Gabs, this is my  best friend Sookie St James, chef extraordinaire!" Lorelai introduced, wine glass in hand, "Sookie, this is my little sister, Gabriella Lopez-Gilmore." She continued, changing to a fake posh voice at her sister's name. Though she had already left the house when Gabriella was adopted, she had grown to know the girl in snippets of holidays and meetings, and knew that if anything, she was a good kid. 

"Hi. It's nice to meet you." Gabriella smiled politely, "Sorry, but I'm exhausted, am I alright to go up to bed?" She asked tentatively and Lorelai swallowed a laugh, nodding and smiling instead.  

"Of course, go on." She said, "Night!" she called as Gabriella's figure hurried up the stairs. The girl was far from 'exhausted' and was currently wanting to throw herself of the roof at her cringey choice of words. She was too awake to sleep and everything felt unfamiliar and strange. She wanted to go home. 

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Hope you enjoy ;)

- La x