The Other Gilmore

A Graduation and a Wedding

After tending to Rory and making sure she was okay, Christopher and Frankie went back to Boston. The pair had started to build a life there together. Frankie had enrolled in a high school, and had landed a job at the dance studio her father had found. She wasn't ready to leave that just yet. She was happy and healthy, and Christopher was more than happy to keep her in Boston with him.

She hadn't heard from Jess since the night of the accident. Frankie was concerned, but she didn't blame him. Even though Christopher had met Jess, he was beyond furious with the boy and had made it clear that his feelings had changed. Even though Rory had told her, and many others, that the accident wasn't Jess' fault, no one believed her. No one except Frankie and Luke. It was maddening for Frankie to be in Stars Hollow, defending Jess, trying to get people to see the truth of the accident, when no one wanted to believe them, so she decided it would be best to leave again.

She was only gone for a couple weeks, though. Frankie took a train to New Haven, then a taxi to Hartford for Lorelai's business school graduation one Thursday. Christopher couldn't make it due to work, but he sent a gift in his place.

Frankie made it for the ceremony, sitting with Sookie and Jackson. When they went back to the staging area to talk to Lorelai, the teenager went with the soon to be married couple.

"Frankie! You made it!" Lorelai exclaimed, embracing her youngest tightly.

She laughed, squeezing her mother back. "I did! I wouldn't miss this. No matter what."

Lorelai smiled brightly as they pulled away, tears pricking her eyes.

"Don't ruin your makeup, mom. Grandma will be furious," she said with a chuckle, earning an eye roll from her mother.

"Don't remind me."

After making small talk for a few minutes, Sookie, Jackson, and Frankie made their way back to their seats, getting ready for the ceremony. She couldn't help but chuckle at the fuss Richard and Emily were making over Lorelai's graduation, what with hiring a videographer and sound person to film the entire event, but she understood. This would be the first graduation they would see their daughter participate in, and they were proud.

Frankie cheered for her mother as she made her way across the stage, taking her diploma and flipping her tassel from one side of her cap to the other. Lorelai had worked hard, and had earned her degree. Frankie was proud of her for accomplishing something so huge.

"Congratulations, mom. I'm so proud of you." Frankie pulled her mother into a warm embrace after she had talked to Richard and Emily, and Jackson and Sookie, but something felt off. "Everything okay?"

"Rory didn't show up," Lorelai responded with a frown, pulling away from her youngest. "She said she would be here and she's not."

"Well, I am," Frankie replied, trying to put a positive spin on the admittedly crappy situation.

"Yeah, but –" Lorelai cut herself off, eyes widening as she realized what she was about to say.

Frankie figured it out, though, and it hurt. "But I'm not Rory. I got it." She gave her mother a tight-lipped smile, patting her on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Lorelai. I'm really happy for you." With that, she made her way out the venue and called a taxi, heading back to New Haven to catch her train home.

Frankie wasn't back in Boston for long. She and Christopher drove down to Stars Hollow to attend Sookie and Jackson's wedding shortly after Lorelai's graduation. Christopher had driven down to be there when Rory got her cast off earlier in the week, but Frankie had to work, so she couldn't make it.