A/N: Welcome! If this story has grabbed your interest, I'm so glad. It's my first foray into fanfiction writing, and I'm so excited to share it with you! A huge grateful thank you goes to junienmomo for her invaluable feedback. (You made me cry tears of happiness with that initial review!) Word of warning - chapters skip around in time for the most part, so the dates are important to make note of, although I'm sure with readers as smart as I know you are, you won't have a problem keeping up! Rory was born in 1984.

Thank you for reading. It really means the world to me.

Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls isn't mine, and neither is Kelly Clarkson's "Piece by Piece" or any other work mentioned. Some lines from various episodes were quoted directly. I make no profit off this work.

Piece by Piece

A Gilmore Girls songfic

December 24, 1990

And all I remember is your back
Walking towards the airport, leaving us all in your past

The floor-to-ceiling windows in the airport terminal did nothing to brighten up the dimly lit space. Swinging her legs back and forth, Rory waited impatiently for her father to come around the corner. She didn't get to see him often, because he was a very busy man, and so having him home this Christmas would be the most special Christmas she'd ever had. "You don't think the snowstorm will keep him from coming, Mom, right?"

Lorelai smoothed her hand over Rory's head. "I hope not, sweets. I'm sure he would have called."

Rory frowned. The phone lines were down in Stars Hollow, and so it was entirely plausible that Christopher would not have been able to call from New York. She had just taken a breath to remind her mother of this fact when a large group of people came around the corner. Out of the crowd stepped Christopher, with a huge smile for both his girls. "Lorelai! Rory!"

"Dad!" Rory jumped up and ran towards him, flinging her arms around his neck. She laughed as he swung her around; she leaned back and let her long light brown hair fly behind her. After only two spins he set her down and reached for Lorelai, brushing a kiss against her cheek.

"Chris. We're glad you made it." Lorelai pulled back to draw Rory into his embrace as well.

Chris ruffled Rory's hair. "Me, too. Man, we're going to have so much fun, the three of us. Merry Christmas Eve!"

"Merry Christmas Eve!" she said back, bouncing up and down. "Dad, where are your bags? Let's go get them! Then we can go home. Mom and I always make hot chocolate and we waited to put the star on the tree so that you could be there when we turn the lights on for the first time. Come on, let's go!" Rory pulled on his hands as she searched for the sign pointing to baggage claims.

"Alright, alright, slow down, kid! I told a buddy I'd call as soon as I landed, so let me go do that first."

Rory helped her mom pick up their own waiting bags, filled with snacks, coloring pages, crayons, and a few books, packed for the bus ride to Hartford and the wait at the airport, and then followed Christopher to the phone booths down the hall.

After searching his pockets, Christopher turned to Lorelai. "Hey, you got any change? Seems I left it all on my dresser at home."

"Uh, maybe. We had some change left over after getting our bus passes… Ah, here it is!" Lorelai pulled her coin purse out of her bag and fed two quarters into the payphone.

"Thanks, Lor. This'll just take a minute."

As Christopher dialed a phone number, Rory began spinning in slow circles, watching the people around them. A couple to their left appeared to be having a heated discussion about going to the woman's parents for Christmas dinner. There was an older gentleman sitting in the waiting area with a cane and a suitcase, checking his watch and tapping his foot. Turning to the right, Rory saw a young boy her age sneaking into his mother's purse as she emphatically waved her hands to the person on the other end of the phone line. Rory watched him pull out a few pieces of hard candy and quietly sneak them into his pocket before her father's hushed conversation caught her attention.

"You're sure it's a free trip, man? Yeah, yeah, Vegas sounds great. Tomorrow? I'm supposed to… No, no, nothing important. Yeah, yeah, duty calls. Business comes first, yeah? I'll catch the first flight back. Alright, see you tomorrow." Christopher hung up the phone and turned back to Lorelai and Rory. He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. "Look, girls…"

Lorelai looked up from filing her fingernails at the hesitation in his tone. "Christopher." Rory knew that tone of her mother's voice. It usually meant she was in trouble or asking questions she shouldn't be.

"I have to fly back to New York for some business stuff. It's really important."

Rory looked to her mother and saw the beginnings of anger before Lorelai erased emotions from her face. "Give us just a minute, Rory, okay?"

"Okay, Mom. Can I go watch the planes out the window again?"

"Sure thing, sweets. We'll be right here. I'll come get you in just a minute." Lorelai gave Rory a gentle push towards the windows again. She darted off and picked a seat by the windows that allowed her to keep an eye on her parents while mostly facing the windows. Lorelai looked angry as she waved her hands, gesturing towards herself and Rory. Her dad reached for Lorelai, but she pushed his hands away. Rory pulled out a book from her bag and tried to focus on The Little Match Girl. She was distracted by the dark-haired boy she'd seen earlier, now sitting in one of the waiting chairs closer to the exit. His mother was now talking with a tall man in a leather jacket, her voice oddly raspy, even from this distance. It reminded her of Babette's voice. Rory watched alarmed as the man yanked the kid up and pulled him towards the door. The sandy-haired woman followed behind them still waving her arms as she talked. She wondered why the man didn't let the boy walk on his own, or why the boy didn't struggle and instead let himself be dragged along. And why did his mother not object to him being treated that way? Rory's own mother would never stand for a man dragging her around like that.

Her attention was pulled back to her own parents when she noticed her mother walking her way out of the corner of her eye. She put the book back in her bag and looked up, eager to go back to their potting shed home and have Christmas together. "Rory, sweets. I have some bad news." Lorelai knelt down next to Rory and reached for her hand.

Her heart sank in disappointment. "He's not coming home with us, is he." The six-year-old looked at her mother's face and saw all the emotions Lorelai didn't want her to see. Her brow furrowed in pain, her lips drawn tight in anger, her eyes sad as they met her daughter's. Rory gave her mom a half smile. "It'll be okay, Mom. Maybe next time."

Lorelai sighed. "You're far too perceptive for your own good, sweets. Come say bye to your dad. He has an important business meeting and he has to leave now." Rory saw through her mother's lies and heard the truth that she knew her mother sometimes confessed to Mia when she thought Rory was asleep. Christopher has better things to do than be with his kid. His businesses fail. He's always partying. He called drunk the other night to talk to her, his six-year-old. "Come on. I'm sure you're right and next time will work out great."

Rory let her mother draw her from her chair and over to where Chris was waiting. She held tightly to her mother's hand as Chris bent down to give her a hug. "I'm so sorry, kiddo. Next Christmas, I promise I will be here with you and your mom. Maybe you guys can come visit me for Easter or something."

"Sure, Dad. Easter or something." Experimenting with the sarcasm her mother used had the desired effect. Chris flinched a little and Lorelai grimaced, although Rory detected a smile in her mother's eyes. Rory tried to smile as Chris stood up and went to kiss Lorelai.

Her mother stiffened and pulled away. "Be safe, Chris. Let us know when you make it back to New York."

"Will do, Lor. Bye, Rory." Chris ruffled her hair one more time before walking away towards the information desk. They checked to make sure their bags were in hand before going back to the bus stop. Her mother's secret statements echoed in her head. We're not important to him.