"I don't know why I keep letting you talk me into things like this," Samantha sighed, looking up at her cousin. The dynamic duo was once again outside of Doosey's market at a concerning hour of the night for such a small town. What was even more worrisome was that the 12-year-old was holding chalk and police tape. "So what's the plan?"
"Hand me the supplies and then lie down," Jess instructed as he held his hands out.
"Okay..." Samantha gave him an odd look before laying down on the pavement. "You know we should probably try to hurry in case Kirk tries to be town security again."
"You're right," Jess nodded as he grabbed a white piece of chalk.
Samantha giggled as he started to draw around her body, "That tickles."
"Stay still," Jess tried not to laugh. "I'm trying to murder you."
"Excuse me?!"
"Relax, we're just gonna freak Taylor out. It's funny when he gets all antsy."
"That's true," Samantha agreed. "It's entertaining when his mouth flaps up and down like a fish and his eyes are all wide and shocked."
"All done," Jess dusted his hands off on his pants as he got up, motioning for his cousin to do the same.
"Huh," Samantha and Jess tilted their heads to the side as they looked at their handiwork. "It needs something more."
"Police tape?" Jess held up a roll of caution tape.
"Exactly," Samantha grinned as she plucked it out of his hands. "Help me with the tape," she continued as she passed one end of the tape to him and started to unwind it. The 12-year-old let out a soft giggle, making Jess furrow his eyebrows.
"What's so funny?"
"I'm just imagining the look on Taylor's face when he finds this tomorrow," she laughed before asking. "Where did you even get police tape and chalk on such short notice anyway?"
"Stole it from a cop," Jess shrugged, making Samantha's eyes bulge out of her head.
"Jess!"
"I'm kidding," he held his hands up in surrender. "I got it from the Halloween store."
"And you paid for it?" Samantha raised an eyebrow.
"How is that relevant?" Jess retorted as he ripped the tape off and stood back to admire their work.
"I can't believe you--uh oh," Samantha cut herself off when she looked up to see a wrathful diner owner coming toward them.
"Samantha! Jess!" Luke called out to them as he stalked toward them.
"Crap!" Samantha hit Jess's arm repeatedly. "He's gonna kill us!"
"Would you stop hitting me?" Jess snapped as he slapped her hand away before instructing. "You go left and I'll go right. That way he can't get both of us."
"Ah," Samantha tapped her head. "Pulling a scooby doo. I see what you're doing," she started running in the opposite direction before calling over her shoulder, "Let's just hope that the big, bad diner owner doesn't catch us!"
~:~
Samantha's side felt like it was on fire as she ran through the narrow streets of Stars Hollow. Her feet felt numb as sweat trickled down her back and neck. She had lost track of how long she'd been running. The speedy 12-year-old lost Luke ages ago but that didn't stop her from moving. Where could she go for refuge? She couldn't go to her dad, she just ran away from him. She couldn't go to the Lorelai's, and she couldn't go to her grandparents. She had no one. Samantha had never felt more alone. That was until she ran into a certain chef.
"Ah!" Samantha let out a yelp as she crashed into a slightly taller body. She stumbled back, not yet seeing the face of the person as they grabbed her shoulders.
"Samantha?" Sookie asked, trying to get a look at the girl's face. "Samantha, are you alright?"
"I- I'm fine," the blond sniffled, not yet realizing that there were tears streaming down her face as she looked up at a worried Sookie.
"No you're not," the red-haired woman sighed as she wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her to her house. "Come on inside, let's talk."
~:~
Samantha stared at her cup of hot cocoa blankly as she sat on Sookie's couch in the living room. Her hair was damp from the shower she had just taken and the pajamas she borrowed from the older woman practically swallowed her. Samantha's blue eyes followed a droplet of water as it dropped from the end of her blond hair and into her cup. Sookie had helped her take a shower and take care of her.
Samantha felt drained. She didn't have the energy to do the simplest things like showering and getting dressed. Her head stayed down as Sookie glanced at her worriedly from the kitchen as she got the cookies she just made for Samantha out of the oven. The Gilmore girl wiped her eyes, pulling the sleeves of the fluffy pink sweater Sookie gave her over her hands. They were puffy and bloodshot and her nose was tinted red. Her head ached from all the crying but she just couldn't seem to make it stop.
She had never let herself stop and look and what her life had become until today. When Lorelai and Rory bombarded into her home they changed everything... and not for the better. Samantha should be with her grandparents, she should be with Archie and Lucy, and Archibald. She should be having a sleepover with her friends right now or having a movie night with her grandparents, not burdening poor Sookie with her problems. She doesn't belong here. She wanted to go home.
"Here we go," Sookie smiled kindly as she set a plate of cookies in front of Samantha. "Cookies and hot chocolate should always go together."
"Thank you," the blond responded, her voice small, making the chef sigh as she sat next to her. She wrapped a blanket over their shoulders and then brought Samantha under her motherly wing. Sookie held the girl tighter as the blond leaned her head on the older woman's shoulder.
"You know," Sookie started as she looked down at the girl. "you can talk to me. I know I'm not your mom or your sister or even related to you at all but I'm a pretty good listener."
"It just-" Samantha started, her voice cracking. "It's just too much. I feel like everything I know is a lie, just one big deception. I don't even know what's real and fake anymore. And it hurts that everyone knew but me." Sookie frowned, pulling her closer as she continued. The 12-year-old looked up at her with tears in her eyes. "You know, this time last year me, Grandmary, and Papa were in Europe. We decided to go on an impromptu plane ride to France." Samantha chuckled dryly as she looked down. "Grandmary was freaking out the whole time because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get a hotel and me and Papa would have to calm her down. It turned out to be her favorite trip." Samantha fiddled with the thread from her sweater. "I wish everything was as simple as it was then."
"I'm sorry you have to go through all of this," Sookie smiled sadly as she held the girl's small face in her hands and tucked some hair behind her ears. "This may be a little selfish but I sure am glad you're here. I've always wanted a niece."
"I'm glad I'm here too Sookie," Samantha laughed as she pulled the woman into a hug. "You're like the aunt I've always wanted."
"Oh gosh," Sookie fanned her face as she pulled back, "stop, you're gonna make me cry."
Samantha laughed at the woman before furrowing her eyebrows. "Doesn't Jackson live with you? Where is he?"
Sookie's face turned to one of guilt as she grasped Samantha's hand and pulled her over to the pantry. The Gilmore girl furrowed her eyebrows when she heard something fall onto the ground and then someone cursed under their breath. Sookie pinched the bridge of her nose before calling, "Jackson you can come out now!"
"Thank god!" the farmer groaned as he stumbled out of the pantry and onto the ground, making the girls giggle.
~:~
"Do you think she's okay?" Jackson asked as he and Sookie observed Samantha's sleeping form on the couch.
"I don't know," Sookie sighed. "She doesn't deserve this."
"I know," Jackson wrapped an arm around her. "She's a good kid."
~:~
"Samantha," Sookie gently shook the sleeping 12-year-old awake, making her mumble sleepily under her breath, "wake up. I need to go to work and you're coming with me."
"But what about--"
"Jackson is going to keep you company so that you don't have to see Lorelai," she grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her up. "Let's go."
~:~
"So..." Jackson started awkwardly as he and Samantha sat on one of the benches outside the Independence Inn.
"So..." Samantha trailed off awkwardly. "What do you like to do in your free time?"
"I like farming," Jackson nodded, making the 12-year-old snort.
"Well duh," the blond looked up at him. "You're a farmer."
"Hey!" Jackson exclaimed, offended, as he put a hand over his heart. "I do other things besides farming."
"Like what?" she pestered.
"Like...uh...oh on Sundays I," Jackson stopped, realizing on Sundays he plowed the land. "Oh! On Wednesdays I," he stopped again and looked at Samantha. "I think I need a new hobby."
"Don't worry," she patted his shoulder. "I have some ideas."
~:~
"Bicycling?!" Jackson screeched as Samantha brought out two bicycles from a rental place. "You think my new hobby should be bicycling?"
"It helps with stress relief," she shrugged as she handed him a helmet, the farmer looking at it as though it were a foreign object. "You put it on your head."
"I know how to work a helmet," Jackson grumbled as he buckled the straps together, making the Gilmore girl hold her hands up in mock surrender. "Where did you even get all this cycling equipment so quickly?" he asked, as he looked down at his spandex, biking jersey, and kneepads.
"My grandmother is Emily Gilmore," Samantha responded as she hopped on her bike, Jackson following suit with his own. "I have connections."
"Good to know," the farmer mumbled as he raised the seat to his height.
"Have you ever ridden a bike before, Jackson?" Samantha asked as she looked behind her momentarily, seeing the man struggle to put his foot on the pedals.
"Of course, I've ridden a bike!" Jackson retorted before adding, "It's just been a while."
"I can tell," Samantha snorted as he fell off of his bike.
"Hey!"
~:~
"What happened over there?" Jackson pointed over at Doosey's market as he and Samantha cycled past it. The Gilmore girl couldn't help but smirk when she saw all the commotion was due to her and Jess's prank. Taylor pulled all the stops. There were police officers, fire trucks, police cars, and many, many nosy Stars Hollow residents.
"Beats me," Samantha shrugged. She subtly high-fived her cousin as she passed him, not seeing that Rory had watched the whole interaction.
~:~
Samantha and Jackson were panting heavily as they walked into Luke's diner. The Gilmore girl pushed her sunglasses over her head so that they kept the hair out of her face as they stepped over the threshold. The latter furrowed his eyebrows when an angry Taylor stormed past them, Samantha, however, was unfazed. This was a pretty normal occurrence. Though, what happened next was not.
"Samantha!" Luke yelled before hurrying around the counter and bringing his daughter into a suffocating embrace. "Where on earth have you been?"
"Sookie's house," Samantha furrowed her eyebrows as she hugged him back. "Why?"
"I've been looking for you everywhere!" Luke exclaimed, not noticing that Rory, Lorelai, and Mia, Lorelai's surrogate mother and boss, were approaching them.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai questioned, confused, wondering why her daughter would stay at Sookie's house.
"Doesn't matter," Samantha gently pushed Luke off of her before leading Jackson over to the counter. "Can we have two waters? We just biked for three miles."
"You biked?!" Luke repeated, shocked.
"Yes!" Samantha looked around to see the Lorelai's also giving her bewildered looks, making her throw her hands in the air. "Is it so hard to believe that I exercise?"
"Why did you go to Sookie's house?" Luke asked as he handed Jackson and Samantha two bottles of water.
"Just needed a break," the blond shrugged, opting not to tell her father about how she literally ran right into the chef after pulling a prank that caused the town of Stars Hollow to go into a frenzy.
"Okay, who is this girl?" Mia asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as she looked between the four. Luke grinned before going back around the counter and wrapping a proud fatherly arm around Samantha.
"This is my daughter, Samantha."
"Oh," the older woman put her hands over her mouth. "You have a daughter?" She turned to Samantha. "You're his daughter?"
"Guilty," Samantha smiled as she leaned her head against his shoulder, making Mia grin at them.
"Oh," she went over and wrapped them both in a hug. "You both are so adorable!"
"Not that I don't enjoy this," Samantha started before pausing. "But who are you exactly?"
"Oh right," Mia pulled away sheepishly as she chuckled. "I'm Mia. I own the inn Lorelai runs."
"Oh," Samantha nodded. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"You too," Mia smiled before pulling Luke to the side. "She looks just like you."
"She does, doesn't she?"
Meanwhile, the Lorelai's were about to surround their lost family member.
"Yeah," Samantha nodded at something Jackson said. "I think that tomatoes are a fruit too-- what are you doing?" the 12-year-old furrowed her eyebrows when the twin terrors grabbed either side of her arms and dragged her to the side.
"We need to talk," Lorelai told her before letting Jackson know that she would watch Samantha for him.
"Sit," Rory sat her sister down at the nearest table, Lorelai joining them seconds later. Samantha looked around awkwardly as both the Lorelai's stared unabashedly at her, seemingly trying to analyze the girl.
"What happened?" Lorelai finally broke the silence.
"Nothing."
"Samantha," Rory pressed on.
"Nothing happened. I'm fine," Samantha said, like a liar.
"The truth please," Lorelai requested.
"I. Am. Fine," Samantha repeated slowly, itching to shove the sunglasses over her face.
"Don't lie! No, you're not!" Lorelai exclaimed as she sprang up from the chair and put her hands on the table, "You're not fine! Stop lying to yourself! Stop lying to me!"
Samantha's face flushed bright red as she could feel the diner's eyes on them now. She felt herself becoming smaller. She felt stupid and guilty, and the weight on her shoulders only kept growing. Samantha wished she could still hold up the everything-is-great-thanks-for-asking act, but unfortunately for her, Lorelai Gilmore knew how to read between the lines. The older Gilmore was the queen of saying 'I'm fine' when she's really not. It was just a cover-up, I'm fine is a morse code seeking help. She would know since she said it all the time.
"You're hiding something, and it's hurting you. It's not healthy to hold everything in. You're going to break at some point."
If only she knew Samantha was already breaking.
Samantha sat in shock not expecting that someone could read her just as thoroughly as she read others. She knew that she should feel flattered that someone cared enough to notice but all she could feel was intense panic. Why did Lorelai have to be the one that could interpret her? The person that left her? Why not Luke or Archie or Jess or Lucy? Literally anyone else!
Samantha could tell that Lorelai didn't mean any harm but she wasn't taking any chances. She had never been good at trusting people. Swallowing her sobs and lowering the sunglasses to hide her teary blue eyes, the Gilmore girl bit her tongue down and smiled, like she always did.
"I'm fine," Samantha got up and adjusted her sunglasses before walking toward the door, "but thank you for the concern."
When the youngest Gilmore felt like she was out of sight, she looked back to see Lorelai and Rory leaning against the diner table in defeat. Samantha shrugged the heavy feeling on her chest off and kept going, not knowing that the next time she'd see her mother and sister, she would have finally cracked.
~:~
Samantha Gilmore quietly snuck into the town meeting right after her father. She would've gone in with him but the twin terrors and Mia got to him first so she decided to just walk behind them. It might be possible that she was still avoiding the Lorelai's since their spectacle at the diner.
"...steps have got to be taken-" Taylor cut himself off when he saw the father-daughter duo walk in. Lorelai, Rory, and Mia had already seated themselves near the back and were now watching the pair. Samantha stood next to her father and crossed her arms, tilting her head in a position that made her look like his mini clone, especially since she was wearing one of his flannels.
"What's going on?" Samantha looked around curiously.
"What's going on, little girl, is a town meeting so if you could please leave--"
"Little girl?" the 12-year-old interrupted him, her eyes turning into daggers as she took an intimidating step forward. "All due respect sir, I may be short but I am not little and I don't appreciate you treating me like I'm inferior just because I'm young."
Taylor seemed slightly taken aback by the girl's boldness as his mouth dropped open. He looked at Miss Patty for help who simply shrugged, making him roll his eyes. "Fine, if you must know we are dealing with the Jess situation."
"What Jess situation?" Luke and Samantha let out in synch.
"Luke, Samantha, honey, try to calm down," Patty tried to diffuse the situation only for Taylor to make it worse.
"After all this is your doing," Samantha's jaw clenched at Taylor's statement. "If you hadn't so cavalierly dismissed the issue, we wouldn't have had to do this! I lost business because of what your hooligan nephew did."
"So in retaliation," Samantha started, her expression incredulous, "you decided to call a secret town meeting behind Luke's back? What are you, eight?"
Lorelai and Rory struggled to hold in their laughter at the 12-year-old's brutal comebacks. Taylor was once again caught off guard by the kid's courage. "Excuse me?!"
"You heard me!"
"Okay," Luke put a hand in front of his daughter, trying to keep her from ripping Taylor apart more than she already has. "How was business lost, Taylor? You had to open later that day so customers came back later."
"Not so," Taylor started, waving his finger in the air. Samantha had to hold herself back from going up there and breaking it. "When Mrs. Lanihan couldn't buy her bunch of lettuce for her lunch, she drove straight to Woodbury to buy lettuce from a competing market. Isn't that right Mrs. Lanihan?...Mrs. Lanihan?"
"I think your witness is asleep, Taylor," Samantha faked a yawn as the older woman jolted awake. As the town selectmen continued to spread gossip, the Gilmore girl grabbed Luke's wallet and pulled out a five before marching up to the podium.
"How much is lettuce? A dollar?" she asked as she slapped the bill in front of Taylor. "You know what? Here's five so you don't have another temper tantrum. There now you're reimbursed, problem solved!"
"This goes well beyond a head of lettuce, young lady," Taylor lectured, causing Samantha to stick her tongue out at him. "The charges against your cousin are numerous. He stole the save the bridge money--"
"He gave that back," Luke defended as Samantha went back over to him.
"He stole a gnome from Babette's garden--"
"Pierpont was returned," Samantha interrupted as well before adding. "I even got her another gnome as an apology."
"That's true," Babette nodded, "his name is Fizzingbuns."
"He hooted at one of my dance classes," Patty commented.
"He apologized for that," Samantha argued back.
"No dear," Patty shook her head, "you apologized on his behalf."
The Gilmore girl pinched the bridge of her nose, pacing behind Luke, as several other townspeople yelled out things that Jess had done.
"Everyone please!" Taylor silenced the townspeople. "The bottom line here is, there is a consensus among townspeople who are in agreement that Stars Hollow was a better place before Jess got here!"
"So what, you want to kick him out?" All eyes snapped to the small girl fuming in the back of the room, and even Taylor shrunk under her death glare. "He hasn't even done anything wrong and when it is wrong it gets fixed. How Luke and I handle Jess is no one's business but ours."
"But it's a town problem because--"
"I'm a problem too!" Samantha cut the man off, humorously laughing. "Almost all of these stunts I have been a part of. When your store got toilet papered that was me! I was upset and he wanted to let me have some fun. And the chalk outline of the body in front of your store? Meet the model," she yelled as she pointed to herself before continuing her rant. "Whatever Jess does, it's likely that I was with him. So if you have a problem with him or Luke then you have one with me too."
"That little hoodlum has been a nuisance since he stepped foot in this town. He's obviously a bad influence on--" Taylor tried again.
"Ever since Jess got here you have been on his back. How do you expect him to get a fresh start if you're constantly making unfair assumptions about him? Whether it's because you feel somehow intimidated or because you are simply a rude, prejudiced little man I do not know. But no matter how much you try to diminish me I am not small. I may be short but I am not small and I won't back down, not when it comes to the welfare of my family," Samantha looked around at the now silent room before making one last closing statement. "If you want to get rid of Jess, well, then you want to get rid of me, too!"
She then stormed out of the building, not letting anyone say a single word. Samantha wiped furiously at her eyes as she felt tears run down her face. There were only two people she wanted to talk to right now and even if they didn't want to talk to her she would make them. The 12-year-old ran over to the pay phone and shoved fifty cents inside.
Samantha felt like her world was falling apart right in front of her eyes. Jess and Luke were the only stable people she had right now and she didn't want her cousin to leave. He's the only person that actually understood her. She'd only known him a short amount of time, but she felt a connection to him that she's never felt for any other family member. Samantha had to make things right even if it meant swallowing her pride and apologizing. She couldn't lose anyone else. The Gilmore girl took a deep breath before putting the phone to her ear.
"Grandmary, Papa... hi," she breathed. "It's me, Samantha."