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1.7

"Anyway, is tomorrow okay for golfing, Richard? Rory?" Emily asked, pleased with herself.

They walked to the Jeep after saying goodbye, Gabby dutifully taking her back seat as Rory slid into the front, Lorelai turning the car on.

"Oh, man, did you get blindsided? I'm so sorry." Lorelai sighed at Rory.

"That's OK." Rory dismissed.

"I tried to stop it, I swear." Lorelai continued. Gabby fiddled with her phone, Callum's number etched into her skull, tormenting her.

"I know. Maybe it won't be that bad." Rory shrugged in non-committed way.

"Maybe it won't."

"Maybe I'll like it."

"Maybe you will." Lorelai nodded and Gabriella wanted to open her mouth and join in the conversation but no words came rushing up her throat. She was still trying to clutch her way into their family, trying to find a stable place where she belonged without the haven of her parent's company.

"Maybe you could come with me." Rory offered and Lorelai scoffed.

"Oh, is there a "you're crazy" team? 'Cause I think they'd make you captain." She retorted and then, glancing at her little sister in the back seat, "Hey, Gabby, maybe you could go."

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't been in a while, and it'll be nice for Rory and Dad." She trailed off quietly, not wanting to intrude.

"It'll be nice for you and Rory though, won't it?" she nudged her daughter who made a vague noise of either disagreement or agreement.

"I really don't want to intrude. And I think I'm going round Leah's anyway." Gabby continued, suddenly intimidated by the brown-haired girl in the front seat.

"Nevermind. Maybe another time."

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"Come in!" Leah's mom called as Demi knocked on the door, welcomed by an array of howls from the dogs inside. Gabby opened the door, and the dogs leapt onto them in a flurry of fur, Gabby laughing as the litter of puppies scratched up at her trousers, begging for attention. Music floated from upstairs and the smell of cinnamon came in from the kitchen. There were plants everywhere, and the walls were painted with a massive mural that stretched over the whole first floor. The hard wood floors were covered in a mosaic of rugs, all torn up and scuffed by the spaniel puppies who were now a few months old.

"Hey Mrs H!" Demi waved at the woman in the kitchen, up to her elbows in dough.

"Hello girls, how are you?" She smiled, the carbon copy of Leah with blonde hair down past her waist and brown eyes that twinkled merrily as she spoke.

"We're good, how are you?" Demi asked, picking up a wriggling puppy who licked her cheek in happiness.

"Great. These'll be done in a few and I'll bring them up. Leah's in her room, or her study." She called out into the hall where the girls were.

"Okay, Mrs H." Gabby smiled and the two went upstairs, knocking the fake vines that made the mural on the wall more 3d. The house was big, the same size as the Gilmore house, but it was a direct contrast to the elegance of Emily's style. It was crammed with colour and pictures and paint and dream catchers and life, brimming with joy and comfort and laughter. Leah's parent's were relaxed and content, letting Leah doing whatever she wanted as long as she was safe but despite their hippie, carefree attitudes, Mrs Hartman held masquerade balls for charity in her villa in south France and Mr Hartman was a lawyer.

Demi didn't even knock, just opened the pale pink door to Leah's bedroom and fell face-first into the mattress on the floor. Well, the mattress-floor would have been a better description. Four mattresses had been cut to fit the large room exactly and placed on the floor, before being covered in blankets and pillows, draping fabric and lights adorning the ceiling with painted butterflies suspended in the air. Leah was sat crisscross on a pillow in the middle of her bedroom, flicking through the magazine that Gabby had given her but when the two walked in she squealed a greeting and stood up, feet instantly sinking into the floor. She hugged Gabby and patted Demi's head as the girl was still sprawled face first into the floor.