Dean stepped out of the door and took a deep breath. Stars Hollow was pretty this time of year.

You made me feel safe…

He slowly walked away from Doose's market, not bothering to turn around for another look-

I wish I met you when I was older…

He shook his head. Weird, bumping into Rory. So different and yet much the same. She even had the same socially awkward way, except this time it seemed less endearing and more-desperate? Anxious? Her face had been pale and drawn, her eyes didn't seem quite as bright. Weird.

He almost walked by his parent's house, he was so lost in thought. But once the munchkins saw him, windows opened.

"Daddy! Jamie stole my Iron Man! I saw him with my own two eyes!"

"Oh please! That's a baby toy, I have my own!"

"Daddy, daddy, daddy-did you get me something?!"

He looked up at the second story window that used to be his room, where three little faces were crowded. He laughed and turned down the walk way to the house.

"I see you guys are better! I guess we can work on some homework now, so turn off the TV, turn off the x-box-"

He was cut off by collective gasps and the window shutting with a thud. He stepped into the foyer. He was greeted by his glowing, if tired, wife.

"Hey, babe. The boys treating you alright?"

"No worse than our soon to be bundle of joy," Jenny joked, her face breaking into that lovely grin of hers.

He patted the generous curve of her stomach.

"Tabby giving you crap again?"

Jenny snorted, leaning into him. She was small, barely coming up to his chest.

"Kicking, turning, punching, she's doing the works. I'm telling you, this is my last one. We've got a girl now, I'm telling you I'm-"

"-getting fixed," he finished for her. "Which I fully support, if that's what you want."

She looked up at him, fluttering her pretty brown eyes at him.

"Or you can get snipped."

He laughed, spinning around until they were in the living room.

"Hey, I told you, I need to keep my options open. When you leave me, take the kids and all the stuff, I'm going to have find myself a sugar mama who has a ticking biological clock."

Jenny laughed and playfully punched him in the arm.

"You loser! I know you're just trying to dodge child support!"

"More like trying to find a way to pay for four kids if you wise up and leave me. My job with only pays so much. Hey, were is mom? Thought she'd be home by now."

"She went shopping a town over to pick up something special for dinner, since tonight is our last night. You know, she likes to spoil us like we are going crossing the country, not driving the three hours back to Pennsylvania."

He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, fishing out a bottle of Bud. It was close to dinner time, after all. Jenny watched him as he sipped it, envious.

"I can't wait to have my evening beer again! And my wine-coolers…did I ever tell you how much pregnancy blows?"

"Considering how you've been almost four out of the eight years we've been together, yeah, I know how much you hate pregnancy."

She sat down at the table, with that smile he knew too well. That flirty evil little smile.

"I can't help it if you have only gotten hotter. Stop being so damn sexy and agreeable. Better yet, stop knocking me up. You'd think my bloated, fat ass would be enough of a turn off."

He walked over to her and stood behind her. He bent down and kissed her neck.

" , I you will never not be beautiful to me, so you' outta' luck."

She laughed, a loud, gasping sound that was surprising coming out of such a petite, delicate-looking person.

"I'd say I'm pretty damn lucky, Mr. Forrester."

You made me feel safe-

"Hmmpf."

"What's that, sweetie?"

"Oh, nothing. Did you ever just, I don't know, get confronted by the past?"

"Sometimes, why?"

He took another long drink of his beer.

"Nothing. It's nothing. I just got everything put into perspective."


Those years following High School, following Lindsay, following Rory had seemed to stretch on forever. Years of depression, hopelessness, dead end jobs and wasted potential.

Or so he thought at the time. Looking back, Dean had really only floundered for a few months, a year at best. The end of his marriage to Lindsay had been swifter and more uncomplicated then he had anticipated. Truthfully, at had been all too easy to sever ties with her. Sure, he'd loved Lindsay-loved how fun she had been, how ready to party, how she liked to talk and pal around. In the beginning she had been devoted, and seemed to want all the things he did. But after the wedding, it got hard. Suddenly Lindsay wasn't fun and friendly, but demanding and spoiled.

Still, it was almost sad how easily it had ended once all was said and done. Lindsay moved back home and their paths didn't cross much after that. He had been more upset about the fact there had been so little feelings to it. He'd remember what his dad, never one to mince words, had said to him about that.

"You two weren't really in love, you were playing house! Its better it ended when it did, instead of ten years down the line when you had kids tying you together."

Heh. Dear old Jimmy Forrester, preferred fiddling with radios, TV's and VCRs to talking but he could hit you in between the eyes with the truth. His namesake Jamie was already proving he could be as direct.

Then, of course, Rory. At one time he could've been marked as BR and AR, before and after Rory. She had been his first love, the one who got away, too pure, too smart, too—everything. She was the pinnacle, his hopes and dreams, the one no other woman could compare to.

Of course, he had been a huge idiot. In more ways than one.

But, idiot though he had been, he did realize one day that he was stuck in a dead end of his own making. Truth was, Stars Hollow was great but it was never his home. It was Rory's, Lindsey's, Lorelai's, Luke's, and now even his parents' home. But, especially now, it wasn't his.

One night, he visited his parents after work. Another construction job, complete with minimum wage and a limited time frame. Then he'd be searching again.

He was sitting down with his dad in the living room, watching TV. His mom was talking with Clara on the porch. Dean and Jimmy had their usual comfortable silence, but he was feeling restless. He worked up the nerve to speak.

"So, uh, dad…I've been thinking that I need to make a change. I haven't been able to find a steady job and, honestly, Stars Hollow doesn't have that many opportunities. So, I was wondering…I've been thinking about the military…"

His dad, calmly immersed in show, snapped to attention. His eyes widened.

"Really, kid? I mean, I was thinking you might get fed up and go back to Chicago, but you're really talking the military? The Army, I hope?"

Jimmy had did a brief stint in the Army. It was just at the tail end of Vietnam, and he had been barely 18. He didn't talk about it much but he always expressed to Dean about the good being in the Army had done for him. That it had given him direction and skills.

Jimmy shifted his beer bottle between his hands.

"Kind of a big step, huh? And there still is a war going on, ya' know. Those are never fun."

Dean shrugged.

"I mean, I get it. But, school's kind of out of my reach right now."

"What about that one school you got into? The one a few hours from here?"

"That was almost 2 years ago. Besides, I only qualified for a partial scholarship and maybe a little financial aid. Unless I want to take out a loan and go into debt, I would be pretty hard. I want to travel a little too."

Jimmy chuckled.

"Travel you will, but not all of them are great places. Trust me."

"Yeah, well, it's just too much, dad. Being here."

His dad didn't have to ask. Other than some rampant gossip, the affair and end of his marriage to Lindsey, life had went on as usual. But less and less did Dean feel like he belonged here. Most of his friends come to him through Lindsey, who'd been very popular at SHH, so they went with her. His other friends had moved on to college or greener pastures far away from this stifling little town. Everyone else had a love affair with Rory Gilmore and he'd never felt quite as welcome after he'd helped "taint" her with the affair.

Jimmy cleared his throat.

"Amy and me, we've come to like this place a lot. Hell, I've been able to make a living because this town has never seen a small business it didn't like. But you've got things going for you, kid, you're too young to just settle. And anyway, you need to get a better damn job or you're going to end up in our basement. I'm not having that."

"Nether am I!" his mother called through the window, proving Clara and she had been ease-dropping the whole time.

"Tell you what, I'll help you research your options. Best thing is to pick a good MOS, one you will like and pick some skills up. Then we'll go down to the recruiter Monday. I still know I think or two about how the Army operates. We'll get you set up."

For the first time in a long time, Dean felt relief.


Author's note: This isn't my first attempt at a fanfic, but my first time actually going ahead and (gasp!) putting one up on the interwebs. If you can't tell, it is going to be Dean-centric, with minimal input from the Gilmore Girls or other main characters. Don't worry, though, I have a plan to have Dean interact with a surprising guest character.

Anyway, I always liked Dean and felt he got the short stick during the original run of GG. I was glad he was given a little redemption in the Revival and was extremely glad he seems to have absolutely no lingering feeling for Rory. I was going to keep this to a one or two shot but it might be a few shorter chapters. Basically, I'm just going to expand a little more on Dean's life as it was presented in the Revival, just to fill in some blanks that are bugging me. I'm trying to keep it in character insofar as I can, but am taking some liberties since Dean and his family member are such a blank slate. Anyway, let me know what you think