Disclaimer: I own my story but not the characters – but if I did, the show would have gone differently.
Background: Story starts the day after the finale
Summary: Rory is trying to get settled into her new job when one of Senator Obama's junior staffers catches her attention…then she realizes she knew him once upon a time at Chilton.
AN: More reviews get quicker updates :) I love to know that I'm writing for someone even though I enjoy pretending that the show would go this way. I am also very open to criticism. Also, just a side note – as I'm writing this, my favorite episode ever is on ABC Family (The Break-Up Part 2)
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Good Morning, Mr. Senator
Rory was exhausted after the flight from Hartford to Iowa, but not too tired to look at her surroundings. People said that Stars Hollow had nothing to look at, but Iowa was completely flat and there were miles between each little town. She was amazed by it and in love with the peace; growing up around there would have helped for her to finish those crazy reading lists she made for herself in high school. Of course there were towns and there was some civilization, but it was all still very unlike where she grew up in Connecticut.
Rory looked at the paperwork that the online magazine sent her and followed the directions to a nearby Marriot where Senator Obama would be speaking that night. She wasn't even given time to adjust to the time change; she had to get off the plane and get to the hotel to meet with her new boss and see the Senator speak. There would be other reporters traveling with her for the rest of the summer and at least through the primary elections…possibly even after that if Obama beats the other contenders. Rory thought that Obama was an excellent candidate though she also supported some issues discussed by Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Her journalism though, would always be completely objective when describing each stop on the campaign trail.
Her boss's name was Jason "Jay" Parker and he was a self made millionaire off of his online magazine Parker's Politics. There would be one other person writing for Jay Parker that Rory would be traveling with; she didn't learn anything about her in the beginning, just that her name was Allison Carlson and she was obtained a Masters Degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa. This was the first stop on the campaign trail for Allison as well. Jay told Rory that she would be meeting the senator and his staffers before the speeches and debates started that night.
She pulled out her notebook and headed towards the rest of the "press" section and waited for Senator Obama to come out. He was very attractive in person, a young man, younger than most senators or people in public office. Rory tried her hardest not to be star struck when it came time to ask questions. It was her first time doing a real article for something above the college level. She wasn't a student anymore, she wasn't the editor; she was a real reporter for a real online magazine. It was her chance to show what she could do – she had to ask the right question and prove that she was a journalist. The New York Times would regret giving that fellowship to someone else when Rory became the greatest online magazine reporter that she could possibly be.
After the press conference was over, Rory and Allison headed towards their boss where he would take them to meet Senator Obama. She thought that she had done well during the press conference and she was very impressed with the way that Senator Obama spoke. She was ready to meet him; Rory could tell that Allison was as nervous as she was. This was a big deal, she wanted to call Lorelai and tell her all about it, but there was no time for that. Rory missed her mother already and she hadn't even been away for twenty four hours.
"Barack," Jay said, as if he and the Senator were old friends.
"Jay Parker, how are you?" He was even more charismatic in person.
"Great, great – these are my new writers, Rory Gilmore and Allison Carlson."
"Rory, Allison, great to meet you both. I'd like you to meet my staff since you'll be traveling with us for the next few months."
Rory looked at the people turning around when Senator Obama spoke. She was excited to meet his staffers; she hadn't seen anyone political since the summer that she and Paris spent in Washington. Suddenly a man that Senator Obama introduced as his newest junior staffer who had been interning him since the beginning of his first term in the Senate turned towards Rory and Allison. There was something very familiar about this man. Rory knew him from somewhere, but she couldn't quite place it until she heard his name.
"Hey, I'd like to introduce you to the new reporters for Parker's Politics they're going to be with us for the next few months"
"The online magazine?"
"That's the one."
The young staffer turned and looked at the two young ladies standing in front of him.
"Rory Gilmore."
"So you know each other?" the Senator asked.
"You could say that," he smirked, "we went to high school together."
Rory looked at that smirk and realized that some things never change. She never expected to see Tristan DuGrey again, but here he was…standing in front of her and the two were going to be spending a lot of time together.
"Tristan…hi, how are you?"
"I'm good, Mary, and you?"
"I thought you knew her?" Jay asked, confused.
"It's an old nickname."
Tristan then introduced himself to Jay and Allison, but his eyes never left the girl from his past. Suddenly everything started coming back to him – all of the feelings that he let disappear during his time in military school. He wanted nothing more than to talk to her and to get to know her all over again. So much must have changed…he would have thought of her as the kind of girl who would go to grad school rather than to follow a presidential candidate around and write for an internet magazine.
When everything was finally over, Rory was exhausted and went up to the hotel room that she would be sharing with Allison until they got back on the buses and headed to the next stop along the campaign trail. Allison, on the other hand, joined other reporters and some staffers at the hotel bar. Rory couldn't stop thinking about seeing Tristan again…and he called her Mary. Wouldn't he be surprised to know all of the un-Mary-like things she had done since he had seen her last? She was thinking how long ago it was – the middle of junior year of high school…that was about six years. It was a good thing to think about Tristan because it got her mind off of Logan and the look on his face when he walked away from her at graduation. Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone ringing.
"Mom! I miss you already."
"Me too! You'll never believe what happened – Luke invited me to go away with him since everything with April fell through."
"That's so great. So you'll never guess who is one of Barack Obama's staffers."
"Tom Cruise."
"Mom…" But Rory couldn't stop her mother when she went into one of her rants.
"umm…Kevin Spacey…no, that guy from One Tree Hill…or Mel Brooks."
"Seriously mom….Tristan DuGrey."
"Chilton Tristan?"
"Yea. Someone I had forgotten existed until he called me Mary in front of Barack Obama."
"So I guess he hasn't grown up in the past five years."
"Nope."
With that the mother and daughter caught up on their day until Rory was too tired to think anymore and then she fell asleep. She never heard Allison come in, but she woke up at six in the morning because of how early she fell asleep. Since she didn't want to wake Allison, she decided to take a walk around the hotel…it was one of the nicest hotels she had ever seen.
Down in the lobby was that same familiar face that she knew would continue to haunt her for the rest of this job.
"So Mary, what are you doing up so early?"
"I crashed by ten last night, so I woke up early…how about you?"
"A year and a half of military school put me into a system."
"College didn't break you of it?"
"I went to Georgetown studying politics, but I started interning in the Senator's office pretty early and I would go in before class. How was Harvard?"
"I actually went to Yale?"
"Why not? I know you got in, Paris told the world on CSPAN."
Rory laughed remembering Paris's little breakdown. She told the world that she lost her virginity, but Rory was still a virgin.
"Yale was just a better choice. Paris was actually my roommate."
"Even after she told the world of your Mary status," there was that smirk.
Rory blushed just as she would have in high school…he made her feel sixteen again. Here was Tristan DuGrey, someone she hadn't thought about in years, and it felt like nothing changed.
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Tristan looked at Rory Gilmore; she was beautiful in the mornings. He remembered everything that he loved about her and he was even acting like a sixteen year old again. He had to tease her about her Mary status, though in a way he was hoping that it changed. Tristan wanted to know all about the girl that occupied his mind for two years. From the moment he saw her sophomore year at Chilton until the day he left, he had done whatever he could to get her – but she always resisted. When he got to military school he realized that he'd ruined everything. She left his mind as the work load increased; then he focused on his future – the desire to be in politics.
Tristan wasn't sure why he ended up with Senator Obama, but he always thought to himself that it was going to be something big. He was still in his last semester as an intern when the presidential candidacy was announced and he was on the top of the list since he'd been there since the beginning. Many of the staffers watched his work and offered him the job as soon as he graduated from Georgetown. Tristan was glad to take it especially since it meant seeing the country on the campaign trail with his first real job. Seeing Rory Gilmore again…seeing his Mary…was just a fringe benefit.
AN: Sorry it's short.