season one // episode one
[ friday night what?]

❝So now aside from sharing some of
our DNA and grandparents, we're
going to share an English class?❞

𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓 next to the large window in the living room with her English textbook and a notebook open on her lap. She was currently studying Shakespeare in her sophomore year English class and she couldn't have been more excited.

If there was one thing to know about Amelia Collins, it was how much she loved classic literature. Whether it was Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, or William Shakespeare, if she owned the book, she had her nose inside it.

She loved classic literature so much, she began collecting old books when she was ten years old. All of her allowance money would be spent towards those books and she dedicated a portion of her room to put those books on display. Her mother, Sophia, never understood why she would want to purchase different copies of the same book while her father, Thomas, encouraged her collection, often gifting her new books for her birthday and Christmas.

There were worse things to be obsessed with than books.

"Hey there, marshmallow," Thomas Collins said, walking into the living room and finding his daughter in her usual post-school spot. "How's the reading?"

"Well, Richard II was just deposed by his cousin, Henry IV, so pretty good," she answered and he nodded; he had no idea what any of that meant. She paused when she heard the front door open and she looked at her father. "Is that Mom? She's never home this early."

Thomas shrugged, glancing down at his watch and sharing the same look of confusion as her. "I don't know," he said. "Normally she would have meetings until late tonight. It's Friday night."

Amelia nodded, setting aside Richard II. "Well, what is she doing home?" she asked, standing up. "We would be getting Chinese right about now because she's never home for dinner."

"Ah, there you two are," Sophia Collins said, walking into the living room with her assistant trailing behind her. "It's good that I caught you both together. We're going to my parents' for dinner tonight."

Thomas and Amelia looked at each other. "We are?" they asked in unison.

"Yes." Sophia nodded, pouring herself a glass of red wine that matched the shade of her lipstick. "And Lorelai and Rory will be joining us."

"Is today a holiday that we don't know about?" Amelia asked her mother, she and her father wearing an identical confused expression. "Normally Aunt Lorelai and Rory don't come for dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's unless the banks are closed for the day. Or they have the little meat pies for an appetizer."

Thomas nodded. "Those meat pies are good."

"I really don't know the details, Amelia, I just know that tonight at six o'clock we will be at your grandparents' house," Sophia replied with an exasperated sigh and the younger Collins let out a breath. "And I expect the both of you to be in proper attire for dinner with my parents." She glanced back at her poor assistant who had been forced to stand in the back of the awkward family discussion. "Alexia, with me."

Alexia hurried after her boss, leaving Thomas and Amelia alone once again in the living room. "I guess I will go find something to wear."

"Yes," Thomas agreed with a nod. "And I will go find my suit. Before your mother implodes that I've lost it."

___________________________

𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐈 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄. Amelia and her parents had arrived at the correct time and had already said their hellos to Richard and Emily Gilmore. But Lorelai and Rory were nowhere to be found.

Maybe they ran away... Amelia thought to herself as she turned the page of Richard II. I wouldn't blame them.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Emily stood up to answer the door while Sophia excused herself to answer a work call. Amelia glanced up from her book just as Emily returned with her youngest granddaughter.

"Richard," Emily said, keeping Rory close, and Amelia locked eyes with her cousin. "Look who's here."

Richard looked up from his newspaper. "Rory." He sounded surprised; as though they weren't gathered at his house for dinner with his daughter and granddaughter. "You're tall."

Amelia raised her eyebrows. That's his first thought?

"I guess."

"What's your height?" he asked her and Rory pressed her lips together.

"Five-seven."

"That's tall," he said again and Amelia shook her head, turning back to her book. "She's tall. Amelia is five-nine. It must be a Gilmore trait."

Lorelai walked into the room and smiled at her father. "Hi, Dad."

"Lorelai, your daughter is tall," he said once more. Thomas furrowed his brows; does he have nothing else to say?

"Oh, I know. It's freakish," she replied, looking at her daughter. "We're thinking of having her studied at M.I.T." She glanced to her left. "Hi, Amelia, Thomas."

Thomas smiled at her. "It's nice to see you again, Lorelai," he said in a warm tone. "You, too, Rory. You're looking more and more like your mother every day."

Thomas had known Lorelai since he began dating Sophia when they were sixteen and she was fourteen. He always thought of the younger Gilmore as a sister and she found him to be the only one who truly understood her.

He was the only one she had kept in touch with the most from her old life in Hartford; even asking Thomas to be Rory's legal guardian should something ever happen to her.

When their daughters were younger, Thomas would bring Amelia to Stars Hollow to visit her aunt and cousin. But as they got older, Amelia had no interest in visiting the small town, and their get-togethers began less frequent.

But Amelia still loved her aunt dearly.

Especially because she gave her all the unhealthy food she could possibly imagine.

"Champagne, anyone?" Emily offered to the room. Amelia raised her eyebrows in surprise. "It's not every day that I have all my girls here for dinner on a day the banks are open. A toast to Rory entering Chilton—" The younger Collins paused and looked up. "—and an exciting new phase in her life."

"Here, here," Richard cheered, not looking up from his newspaper.

"Wait, wait," Amelia said, making her presence fully known to the room. "Rory's going to Chilton? I—Since when?"

"Her first day is Monday," Lorelai told her and Amelia looked at her. "I thought someone would have told you."

She shook her head. "Mom, did you know?" she asked Sophia who briefly looked up from her phone having not heard her daughter. "That Rory was coming to Chilton?"

"Oh." Sophia nodded and motioned toward her mother. "Yeah, Mom mentioned that briefly when she called to say we were having dinner."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Why does it bother you so much?"

Amelia let out a small huff. "It doesn't," she said, leaning back in her seat. "A little warning might have been nice though. So now aside from sharing some of our DNA and grandparents, we're going to be sharing an English class? Lovely..."

Thomas cleared his throat. "Well... congratulations, Rory. I'm sure Mia will be a great resource to you as you navigate a new school." He looked at his daughter. "Won't you?"

"Sure," she mumbled, opening her book once more.

___________________________

𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐘 and her grandfather while her parents sat across from them on either side of Lorelai.

"Rory, Mia, you like the lamb?" Emily asked her granddaughters, tearing them out of their own little world.

Amelia nodded. "It's very good, Grandma."

"Too dry?"

Rory shook her head. "No, it's perfect."

"Potatoes could use a little salt, though," Lorelai told her mother and Sophia glanced at her sister.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked.

Rory glanced between her mother and grandmother. "So, Grandpa, how's the insurance biz?" she asked, changing the subject quickly to avoid an argument.

Richard sighed. "Oh, people die, we pay. People crash cars, we pay," he answered and Amelia looked at him. "People lose a foot, we pay."

"Well, at least you have a slogan," Lorelai told him and Amelia cracked a small smile.

"And how are things at the motel?" Richard asked his youngest daughter.

"The inn?" she corrected. "They're great."

"Lorelai's the executive manager now," Emily said to her husband. "Isn't that wonderful?"

"Speaking of which, Christopher called yesterday," Richard told the group and Thomas looked at his father-in-law.

"Uh—how is that a 'speaking of which'?" he asked him. It was no secret that Thomas did not like Christopher Hayden and his lack of a role as a father to Rory.

Richard cleared his throat. "He's doing very well in California," he continued, not answering Thomas' question. Amelia glanced between Rory and Lorelai; she knew very well the tense relationship between the three of them despite her mother and grandparents either not knowing or choosing to ignore it. "His internet start-up goes public next month. This could mean big things. Very talented man, your father."

"She knows."

"He always was a smart one, that boy," Richard said before looking at Rory. "You must take after him."

Lorelai scoffed, standing up. "Speaking of which, I'm gonna get a coke. Or a knife."

Emily excused herself to talk to Lorelai while the others remained at the table. Richard took a sip of his wine. "Amelia, how is Tristan?" he asked.

"Oh—uh—he's good," she replied with a nod, tearing her gaze away from the entrance to the kitchen. "He's away at his grandfather's house. He fell ill."

"I heard about his illness," Richard said. "Send along my condolences, won't you?"

Amelia nodded. "I will."

"I thought you didn't like Tristan," Sophia said to her father who looked at her. "When she started dating him, you made his dislike of him very clear."

"Well, thoughts change, Sophia."

Suddenly, they heard shouts come from the kitchen, getting louder with every passing second. "Well, I wasn't too proud to come here to you two begging for money for my kid's school, was I?"

"No, you certainly weren't. But you're too proud to tell her. Well, fine, you have your precious pride and I have my weekly dinners," Emily said. "It's a good thing Sophia agreed to weekly dinners, too. Now we can all see everybody every week."

Amelia's eyes widened. "Weekly what?"

Weekly dinner at her grandparents' house? Kill me now.

___________________________

━ author's note:

welcome to teenage daydream and the chaos that is the collins-gilmore family!

i hope you enjoy amelia and her friends (& austin) as much as i've enjoyed creating them. buckle in for a dramatic ride!