! CANDY SAYS ! CANDY SAYS !

( 002; baby steps...backwards )
( a gilmore girls fic )

VOGUE OFFICESPACE
new york, new york
7:15pm

days had passed by of awkward tension in the kerr's penthouse. candice and charles found that staying extra hours at their respective jobs would allow them to almost never come across each other.

staying late at the office, candice drowned herself in paperwork as coworker after coworker came by to say goodbye as they headed home.

as she placed a pile of noted papers into the corrected pile, her assistant came in. "hey, candy." the woman said in her usual low voice as she ran her hands through her long blonde hair.

"hey, sabrina. out for the day?" candy replied, not yet looking up from papers.

"yup..." sabrina sighed and folded her arms, leaning against the door frame of candice's office, "heading upstate for the weekend."

candice looked up from the papers now. "upstate?" she questioned, resting her pen down on her desk.

"yup...long over due vacation with my parents." sabrina clarified as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "i'm assuming you'll be working through the weekend?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"yeah, obviously." candice responded, going back to her paperwork. "need to catch up."

sabrina let out a sigh. "you do know that you're ahead? i mean, you're working overtime."

candice stopped what she was doing and looked up at her assistant with a raised eyebrow.

"when you first hired me you told me to be brutally honest with you, so here it goes..." sabrina said. she pushed off the door frame and stepped further into the office, "you are working way too much. you're practically killing yourself over your work."

candice shook her head, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "what am i supposed to do?" she asked, almost the entire office knew about her current situation with charles. news spread like wildfires in their office space.

"oh, honey." sabrina said sympathetically, shaking her head simultaneously, "i know, this whole situation is brutal..."

candice let out a deep breath, and ran a hand through her messy hair, "i don't know what else to do. what else am i supposed to do aside from drown myself in work?" she responded bluntly.

"go home." sabrina said simply.

candice scoffed, "the only reason that i'm not going home is because i don't want to see charles."

"i mean go home, with your real family." sabrina corrected. "when you're going through something this serious, you need to be surrounded by people."

"my real family?" candice repeated, "sabrina, i'm thirty four years old. i can't just go crying to my parents every time i have a heartbreak."

"then don't go to your parents. i know you have other people in your circle...like siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents." she listed off.

candice sat silently in thought for a moment. her assistant did make a point, she had been avoiding everyone ever since her and charles had called it quits. in hindsight, it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do.

"yeah...i guess i can't avoid them for much longer..." she mumbled.

"and you shouldn't." said sabrina, "so go home."

candice nodded silently and sighed once again, she set her papers down and rose to her feet. she knew what she had to do, and it was going to take a lot for her to bring herself to actually do it.

she fixed the hem of her dress and crossed over to her desk where her phone, purse, and handbag sat. "alright...i should get going then." she mumbled, collecting her bag.

"save travels!" called out sabrina.

"you too." candice said before walking out of the office.

LORELAI AND RORY'S HOME
stars hollow, connecticut
10pm

sitting in my car i looked at the blue house that sat quietly in front of me.

candice got out of the car, her heart racing as she made her way up the front porch. she hadn't visited stars hollow or her sister and niece in months, so showing up unannounced like this worried her.

she inhaled deeply before ringing the doorbell, and shoving her hands in her pockets as she anxiously stood on the front steps.

the lights were on in the two story house so she knew that at least someone was home. she heard footsteps on the other side of the door and quickly stood up straight, nervously waiting for the door to be opened.

the door opened to reveal her younger sister, lorelai. she looked tired but in fairly good spirits. at first, she looked surprised to see candice. "candy?" she said quietly, "what are you doing here?"

"hi..." candice said in return, avoiding eye contact. "sorry for dropping in unannounced, but...can i come in?" she asked quietly.

lorelai nodded after a moment and stepped aside, "yeah...yeah, of course, come in." she said. she shut the door behind her older sister and lead her into the living room.

candice followed her into the house a pit formed in her stomach seeing the messy living room of the house. her eyes flickered around the room, avoiding the various pieces of rory's school work and empty chinese takeout boxes sprawled across the space.  

"do you...want something to drink?" lorelai questioned from the kitchen with an arched eyebrow.

"a water is fine!" candice called out as she began tidying up the coffee table in the living room out of habit. she hated clutter.

"coming right up." lorelai called back as she filled up a water glass. candice was sure that lorelai was dying to know why she randomly showed up at 11:00 pm on a friday night.

she re-entered the living room a minute later and handed the water bottle to candice. "thanks, lor." candy said as she took a seat on the plush couch.

lorelai sat next to her and stared at her sister. she had definitely noticed that candice looked tired, the circles underneath her eyes were darker than usual. there was something going on...

"so, to what do i owe the pleasure of your visit?" lorelai questioned, crossing her arms.

"can't a sister come visit another sister unannounced?" candice responded with a forced smile.

"not if it's you." lorelai responded back jokingly. "i know you, candice. you hate surprise visits. especially this late at night."

candice let out a huge sigh, "i'm divorcing charles." the woman choked out.

lorelai's eyes widened at candice's words. out of everything candice could have said, this was the last thing she expected. "what?!" lorelai managed to exclaim, "i think my ears just deceived me...did you just say that you were divorcing charles?!"

"you heard right. ever since he found i can't have kids and we started moving forward with the adoption process he started to become distant. and then it hit me, he doesn't want an adoption. he wants a child with his kerr blood." candice scoffed. "it makes no sense to me! no matter if the child is his by blood, it's still his child."

"oh, candy..." lorelai said quietly. "i had no idea you two were having issues. i mean, sure, you weren't acting like your normal chipper self but i didn't think it was this bad."

"well it is..." candice mumbled, playing with the hem of her sweater.

lorelai sighed. "so, i'm assuming you've moved out?"

"not exactly. we were staying at the penthouse together, he was in the guest room and i was in the master. god it was terrible, lorelai." candice took a sip of her water before continuing, "it was like walking on eggshells to not bump into each other! he was working overtime, i was working overtime-" she started to list off.

"all in hopes of not seeing each other?" lorelai interrupted.

"yeah..." candice said quietly. it was humiliating, her marriage was falling apart and she didn't know what to do about it. "he's been distant for a while. and we technically both called it quits and it just...sucks."

"i bet it does." lorelai said gently. "listen, i know things suck right now...but trust me. you'll always have a home here in stars hollow if you need it."

candice glanced up at her sister. "yeah?" she mumbled.

lorelai nodded. "of course," she responded firmly, "that's what sisters are here for." she leaned back into the couch. "so...that's basically it then? you two are done?" she inquired.

candice nodded, "yep. the papers have to be signed first but after that, it's a done deal."

"well what about the adoption process? is that over? are you willing to have a kid alone?" lorelai inquired.

"we'd made some progress with the process." candice said with a slight hint of bitterness in her tone, "but that's what set charles off. he wanted me to have a baby with his dna. and of course...there was no way of achieving that...not even with ivf."

lorelai could hear the pain laced in candice's voice. she reached out and put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "i'm sorry, candy." she said quietly. "so what's the next step in the process?" she asked.

candice let out a frustrated breath. "well, charles was in charge of communicating with the agency, so i'm not completely sure." she explained. "but, we were on the waiting section and the waiting is the worst part, let me tell you." she added with a sigh.

"yeah, i could imagine." lorelai responded, still rubbing her older sister's shoulder. the two continued to sit in silence for a moment. "so, you're staying here tonight, right? i don't expect you to drive all the way back to new york just to be in a lonely penthouse!" lorelai said as she jumped up from the couch.

"i...i don't want to impose..." candice said in a quiet voice, now fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater.

"hey!" lorelai said firmly as she began to pick up the take-out boxes around the coffee table, "my sister is in the process of a divorce, of course i'm going to let her stay over."

"thanks lor." candice said, receiving a smile. "and if you could help me bring in the suitcases from my car, that'd be great..." the woman said in a quiet voice as she studied lorelai's reaction.

lorelai let out a exaggerated gasp, "you dirty dirty girl. you knew i'd let you stay as long as you'd like, didn't you?"

candice laughed, which surprised her as she thought she had completely lost the ability to do so. she knew that a stay at her sister's house was exactly what she needed. "maybe i did?" she responded, standing up.

"well don't play coy." lorelai said, shaking her head with a smile. "get your things, you little sneak."

housekeeping notes !

and just like that...we're in stars hollow! next chapter will be heavily based off of the show and way more exciting 💋💋

would love to point out how my fav pughdts  is the reason i made this fic! i love her dearly and she gave me the wonderful idea to publish a book based on a film!!! pls check out her fics as she's a beautiful writer.