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❝𝙸'𝚖 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝙸'𝚖 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚜,
𝙰𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚢,
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚒𝚡 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙.
𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜,
𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎,
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎.
𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 '𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚍,
𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜.
𝚄𝚙 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 '𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙,
𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜.
𝙺𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚍,
𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜.
𝚄𝚙 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 '𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙,
𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜,
𝙺𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚞𝚜 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔,
𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜.❞
𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚛 – 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙼𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜

Graham Gilmore was a failure in his parents' eyes. He was supposed to set a good example to his younger sister, Lorelai, who was two years younger than him.

Of course, they really weren't related, him being taken in by his godparents Richard and Emily when he was a toddler, because his biological parents had died in a boating accident.

So, Graham ended up getting his girlfriend pregnant when he was eighteen, and then Lorelai got pregnant at sixteen, which left Emily and Richard to figure out who brought the biggest shame upon the family name.

On Valentine's Day, Graham's girlfriend had given birth to quadruplets, two identical boys, Nikki and Rikki, who were named after Nikki Sixx from Mӧtley Crüe and Rikki Rockett from Poison and two identical girls, Violet and Linnea, named after flowers.

However, the day after giving birth, Graham's ex-girlfriend left the hospital, leaving Graham a nice little note saying, "I feel nothing towards the kids. Find them a mother who doesn't have to fake a smile towards them."

Now, Graham was in a predicament. He had plans to marry his children's mother, but now here he was, raising four newborns by himself – well, along with his parents and sister, who were happy to help while he went to college for accounting. Lorelai didn't mind the 'practice' considering she was pregnant too, even though she dipped out at seventeen.

When Graham finally got a grasp on the children rearing thing and had enough money, he finally moved out of his parents' house when the kids were five and went to school. (He suspected that Emily and Richard resented him for that.)

When the kids were ten, Graham met a woman named Rosalie – during a one-night stand no less. It turned into something more when they decided to keep in contact with one another, because they couldn't let the other walk out of the hotel room to never see each other again.

Graham expected Rosalie to run off when she found that he had four kids, but she didn't mind. She was a teacher after all and was glad to help when she could – giving him a break and getting a chance to bond with the four ten-year-olds.

Three years later, Rosalie ended up moving in with them.

One year later, after that, Rosalie chose to propose, which was a surprise because Graham proposed to her when Rosalie was proposing to him.

"You know, maybe I should take your last name," Graham had mused to Rosalie one night in bed.

Rosalie had replied, "And be stuck as Mr. Woodenlegs for the rest of your life?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Graham had replied. "Woodenlegs sounds more fun than Gilmore." Rosalie stared at him, "Yeah, okay. You can take my last name then."

Rosalie just smiled at him and kissed him.

Things went a bit downhill when Violet's sister, Lynn, started dating a guy.

At one point, the guy came up to Violet and said to her, "I know what you look like naked."

Violet ended up telling Lynn because that was creepy as hell.

Lynn promptly dumped the guy because that was a creepy thing to say to her sister.

Lynn and her now ex had argued about it. The ex-boyfriend had claimed that Violet was jealous and trying to get in between them, but Lynn knew her sister better than that, and still dumped him anyway.

However, one day in February of 2000, was when it happened.

Violet had stayed behind at a roller rink a little later than planned, to work on her skating, because she did junior roller derby as Hellen Wheels.

She lived down the road, so walking wasn't a problem, especially since it was raining, with each drop of rain feeling sharp against her face.

She walked by a group of guys who were standing under a streetlight, smoking. The rain seemed to be picking up and the sidewalk was beginning to feel slippery beneath her.

There was a laugh behind her and Violet guessed that the group of guys were behind her.

Block after block, the guys trailed at least six feet behind her. The ground seemed to get slicker, cars were sliding...the ice storm was approaching, along with those guys' shouting.

The guys' laughter turned sharper. Meaner.

There was a parking lot, but it looked like people were trying to make it home to avoid the storm.

"Hey, Derby Bitch!" a guy yelled.

Just like what was happening with the rain, Violet froze. They were talking about her. Her heart beat thumped, as she eyed the pavement. Their shadows swaggered beneath the streetlights. She could make a run for a store and have a manager call Rosalie, who should be home grading papers or something.

She was always eager to help...to prove to Violet and her siblings that she will be their mother, even though he had been in their lives for almost six years.

She grabbed the strap of her duffle bag a little tighter.

"You like to get in everyone's business, you stupid bitch? You like to think that I was flirting with you, you dumb whore?" a familiar voice said to her.

Fear made it impossible to even say anything as she looked at the shadows again. Five guys.

Violet screamed and made a run for the parking lot.

She was fast, but the guys were much faster.

One of the guys grabbed the strap of her duffle bag and pulled, yanking Violet backwards. She slid on the slippery asphalt and fell to the ground.

Please God, don't let me die, Violet thought, and one guy kicked her hard in the stomach.

Shouts rang around her as she was yanked up by her hair.

Her jacket was torn, they punched and kicked at her. She tried to fight back, but it was futile. There were so many. Her shirt ended up getting ripped as the guys yanked her around to take turns hitting her.

Part of her hair was ripped out.

Two guys grabbed a discarded shopping cart and together they heaved it right on top of her.

There was a metal trash can, the contents within had been dumped all over her and then with the lid, one guy hit her right in the head with it. 

She tried to crawl away, but one guy stopped on her arm – the pain agonizing.

Another pain in her leg – they were breaking her bones.

One guy stomped on her fingers on her left hand – Violet was sure that she heard them snap.

One guy hauled her up by her hair.

Through blurry vision, Violet spat blood on him – one final act of defiance.

The guy slammed her head into the corner of a shopping cart corral, knocking her onto the ground.

She never really understood what it meant by 'the pain was blinding', but now she knew.

It could've been minutes – hours as they took turns stomping on her, but sirens pierced the air.

A pang of hope flashed through her.

The guys started scattering and a police officer – a female came over to Violet.

The woman crouched down to peer at Violet– a flash of gold had Violet reaching up with bloodied broken fingers, as the police officer handed her the necklace, saying, "It's St. Jude. The patron saint of hope."

He was also the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, which Violet suspected the officer didn't say on purpose.

Graham had noticed how anxious Nikki, Rikki, and Lynn looked. Lynn looked out the window, a frown on her face as she took in the weather. Graham thought it odd because all four of them had a love for the weather – he had a picture of the four of them at two-years-old standing at the sliding glass door in his parents' dining room, looking out a storm. He even had a recent picture of the four sitting on a porch swing during a thunderstorm.

Rikki looked anxious and Nikki kept glancing at the clock as he tried – and failed – to do some kind of puzzle in a booklet.

Rose was poking at the logs in the fireplace with a fire poker, trying to get the fire to spread.

It was a silence that was thick and heavy pressing down on them. There were sirens – and then nothing.

Like a balloon popping – sudden and loud – the phone rang. Graham looked over, Nikki was closer to the phone, so he was the one who answered it.

"Hello? Gilmore residence," Nikki paused, "No, that's my dad." There was another pause, "He's right over here." He passed the phone to Graham.

What had been said was the worst news that he had ever received, the second worst being that his ex-girlfriend had killed herself due to post-partum depression.

His daughter was in the hospital.

He had to bundle up three-fourths of his kids in a VW bus (why a VW bus? Because he thought they were cool and had more spacious seating than a van or SUV) and drove to the hospital.

The three teens sat in the waiting room, while Graham and Rosalie spoke to a police officer who told them what happened.

The officer said that if Violet survives, they had to ask her some questions.

Nikki was sitting down with his feet on the chair, wearing blue flannel pajama pants in contrast with Rikki's red flannel pajama pants. He looked at his siblings, "Hey, Rikki, Lynn, I know who we're going to kill today."

Rikki looked at him, "Nik, I love you, but I don't love you enough to go to jail with you."

Nikki looked offended at the thought of his brother not wanting to go to jail with him.

Lynn watched as Rosalie and Graham talked to each other.

"I am a failure," Graham said to Rosalie. "I couldn't even protect my own kid from what happened. My parents were right."

"You're not a failure," Rosalie told him, her arm around his shoulders. "The people who raised those boys are the failures."

And when they were finally allowed in the hospital, Lynn had said to Violet, "I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

In the end, Violet did get better. Her broken bones healed, and the boys had pleaded innocent. However, the store had recorded the whole thing, and the security guard was the one who had called the cops. It turned out that the whole beating lasted only three minutes.

Three minutes had dealt a lot of damage to her body.

Internal injuries from getting a shopping cart tipped onto her. Broken bones that had to heal. Hair that needed to grow back from being ripped out. Luckily, she could style her hair to hide the bald patch.

 Not included was the mental trauma that Violet had to go through.

The truth came out eventually. Lynn's ex-boyfriend had been furious that Lynn dumped him – especially since Violet had told Lynn what he said to her. So, the ex-boyfriend had decided to beat Violet up in revenge for him getting dumped.

He and his friends still pleaded innocent, and it was no surprise that they were found guilty due to video evidence of them attacking her.

Violet had spent her sixteenth birthday in the hospital – her English teacher had even given her a 'Get Well Soon' card that had been signed by Violet's entire English class.

Emily and Richard had come to visit and didn't blame Graham for what happened because he didn't know.

Even Violet's aunt, Lorelai, and Lorelai's daughter, Rory (also named Lorelai) came to visit.

Then came the move when summer break started up.

Graham had was looking through houses for sale because he didn't trust Boston anymore, so when summer break started up, he had them all packed up and moved to Stars Hollow, where Lorelai and Rory lived.

He had moved them into a blue Victorian house.

Emily and Richard were excited, because they could come visit. 

Even Violet's aunt, Lorelai, and Lorelai's daughter, Rory (also named Lorelai) came to visit.

Violet's best friend, Faith Battlefield, showed up too. Violet had met Faith in the first grade, and they became fast friends, even being on the junior roller derby team together.

Violet had gone through physical therapy, which she excelled at of course.

Then came the move when summer break started up.

Graham had was looking through houses for sale because he didn't trust Boston anymore, so when summer break started up, he had them all packed up and moved to Stars Hollow, where Lorelai and Rory lived.

Rosalie had gotten a teaching position at Chilton and Graham got an accounting position.

Emily and Richard were excited, because they could come visit more often.

Lorelai and Rory (mostly Rory) were excited because they could come visit them whenever they wanted.

Lorelai showed Graham and Rosalie all her favorite haunts, like Luke's Diner and Antonioli's, among others.

Luke had given Graham and Lorelai a strange look until Lorelai mentioned that Graham was her brother and Luke (as much as he could) warmed up to Graham after that.

While Lorelai showed the two adults around, Rory, Lane, and their mutual friend, Lilith Danes (the diner owner's daughter) had fun showing the quadruplets around.

Rory, Lilith, and Lane had pointed out Stars Hollow High, "That's where we'll be going to school at."

Rikki had been confused, "Our dad enrolled us in Chilton."

"That's all the way in Hartford," Rory pointed out.

"Is it? We had no idea," Lynn said.

"Why Chilton?" asked Lane confused.

Violet said, "They have strict rules and a strict zero violence policy."

"They also have mandatory sports which I hate," Nikki said. He and Rikki were not the sporty kind of boys.

Even Lane grimaced at the thought of mandatory sports. 

The next day, Violet was in the living room of the house rewatching episodes of Goosebumps. 

Rikki came in from the kitchen and sat down on the couch next to Violet and asked, "Which episode are you on?"

"The camera episode," Violet told him.

"Ah, the book with Stripper Shari," Rikki replied.

"That's rich coming from you," Violet told him.

Rikki flipped her off and grabbed a gray kitten from the ground. Graham had thought getting Violet a kitten would help her find some stability. Turned out that Violet's siblings decided to get some kittens too.

And the place had a litter of four, which Graham had decided was a sign, so he got all four.

And the place had a litter of four, which Graham had decided was a sign, so he got all four.

Violet picked the black kitten with a white chin that she named Hijinx, while Lynn got the dark brown and white kitten that she named Mischief, while Nikki got the light brown and white kitten that he named Tomfoolery, and Rikki named his gray kitten that he named Trickster or Trixie for short.

They decided that the last name of their cats will be Shenanigans.

"I think I'll rate this episode a seven out of ten," Rikki told Violet. "The acting is decent. It's kind of goofy, even though it's based off one of my favorite Goosebumps books."

Rosalie walked in, holding some paper bags. "Oh, good, two of you are here." She passed a mint green (one of her favorite colors) bag to Violet and a dark blue bag to Rikki. "Try these on and see if Graham has to make adjustments."

Rosalie was more of the electrical and mechanical one out of the two because she grew up with men her dad and four older brothers who felt like she would get 'swindled' due to her gender, so they taught her everything they knew about that stuff, while Graham was more inclined towards fashion. because of his parents who had to get tailored clothing sized and fitted or something along those lines.

He was knowledgeable, just not as knowledgeable as Lorelai, who made clothes for Rory when they lived in a potting shed, according to Rory, who showed them the potting shed at the Independence Inn.

It was horrifying to think that Rory lived there for nine years, compared to their cousins who had a cushy home for most of their lives. 

They took the bags from Rosalie, muttering their thanks, and went upstairs where their rooms were.

They took the bags from Rosalie, muttering their thanks, and went upstairs.

Violet dropped off Lynn's uniform in Lynn's room.

Right across from Lynn's room was Violet's bedroom, which Violet headed for. 

Next door to Violet's room was Rikki's bedroom.

Next door to Lynn's room was Nikki's room.

Right down the hall was the bathroom, which was supposed to be all four of theirs to share because Graham and Rosalie had the master room downstairs that had an ensuite bathroom.

There was also a toilet and sink downstairs too.

Violet went into her room and took out the plaid skirt out of the bag.

She was reminded of the blue plaid skirts that she used to wear when she did roller derby.

One guy slammed her head into the corner of the shopping cart corral. 

Violet tossed the skirt to the side and grabbed the St. Jude necklace that the police officer had given her off the bedside table.

Rikki walked in the bedroom, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Violet lied, trying to shove the bad memories to the side. It was behind her. "I'm trying really hard not to let what happened rule my life."

"I know, Vi," Rikki replied. "I'm just checking in on you."

Violet dropped the necklace onto her bedside table. "I'm fine."

"Sometimes it's all right to not be," Rikki told her.

Violet almost rolled her eyes, "I know." The doorbell rang. "I got it!" She pushed past Rikki, shoving him to the side.

Rikki tried, "Violet!"

Violet ran down the stairs and opened the door without bothering to look through the window on the door.

"Do you by any chance sell cocaine?" asked a very familiar voice that made Violet smile.

"Faith!" Violet yelled and hugged her best friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we just moved in next door," Faith replied.

Violet was confused as she let Faith in, "You moved?"

"Yeah," Faith replied, looking around the entrance hall as they made their way to the living room. "Where you go, I go. Where I go, you go. That's how our friendship works, duh."

And for the first time since the move, Violet was pretty sure that she's going to be all right.