The Other Gilmore

The Begining

"Victoria! Come down to dinner please!" She heard her grandmother call. One of the many rules of the Gilmore House. One may call, but never yell. Grandma must have conned her mom and sister into another dinner if she called for her herself.

She sighed and stood, straightening her dress and walking down the stairs to her grandmother. As she had guessed her mother and sister were there along side her grandmother. She ignored their greetings and turned to find her grandfather. He was the only one she really trusted around here.

"Hi, Grandpa." She said smiling as she sat next to her grandfather on the couch. "Hello, Princess. How has your day been?" He asked with genuine interest. Something she didn't get very often. "My RND only went off once today, so I'd say it was a darn good day." She said with a true smile she reserved for him. "Well that's wonderful!" He said with a grin.

"What's wonderful?" She heard the voice of her mother. "Victoria's new treatment is working." He said with glee. Her mother and sister looked confused, she wasn't surprised. "Oh, Lorelei, I told you she was getting that surgery months ago!" Her grandmother stated. Her mom looked honestly shocked which actually did make her feel better.

"Um, no! No, mother! You never told me my kid was going in for surgery! I would have remembered that." She fumed. "What kind of surgery?" Her sister asked. It was odd when she saw Rory, they were identical twins, but so different it almost hurt to see. "They put an electrode in my brain with a microchip to keep off the worst of the seizures."

She knew it wasn't her twins fault. It was every one around them making choices for them that were tearing them apart. She envied how Rory seemed to be a normal 16 year old girl. She got to go home to a mom every day after school. She had dinner at a dining room table and her own room.

She went to Andover year-round, it was one of the best boarding schools in Massachusetts. She loved their art department though, so she honesty didn't mind too much. The school was amazing and there had recently been a transfer that had been kicked out of three other schools. She had seen him a time or two, but hadn't been able to talk to him yet.

"But you're ok?" She asked worried. Tori smiled and nodded. "Ya, I still have my painting and I'll be going back to school on Monday." She said reassuringly. "Does no one realize that my daughter had surgery without my knowledge?!" Tori scoffed, it was always about her mom.

"Well, Mom, since you signed guardianship to them they didn't have to tell you. Not that you would have come anyway." She said not without malice. Her mom looked shocked. "Tori, I was 17 when I had you. I had no clue how to take care of you. Of course I would have come."

Tori stood up, done with this conversation. "Well, it looks like you raised Rory just fine. You never wanted me back and now I'm almost 17, so don't worry yourself about me." She turned to her grandparents. "May I be excused? I'd like to start packing for school." Her grandfather nodded and she was gone. She heard them argue and it ended in her mother slamming the door leaving like it always did.

Tori sat on her bed and ran her fingers over the scar from her recent surgery. She wondered if life would have been different if she had been born healthy like her sister, or would her mom still have given her up.

Well, she guessed dwelling on the past didn't get you anywhere.