Ashley's Note: Another short one-shot. Found this sitting in my documents. I'm not sure when I wrote it. I think it was sometimes after the season finale. It's pretty AU and would never really happen. Realize that Rory never went back to Yale, she made up with her Mom, and she ended up loosing all her nerve (hence, never standing up for herself, or telling anyone no). You'll understand, then. It's set in the summer of what would have been the seventh season.
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. I'm working on it though. Once it's mine, the show will go back to how it's supposed to be.
--
Emily asked her once if she would mind letting them call her Lorelai. It was more appropriate, she said, considering their status in life.
Blue-blooded, all American, high class people.
Rory said no, but it was only because she was to suprised to argue.
Thus, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore (Huntzberger to be), was born. Rory tried not to think about it to much.
It's not like she didn't like the name of course, because it was a great name. But it was what made her cry in the bathroom late at night when she knew Logan was sleeping. It was what made her heart ache every second of everyday, because it reminded her to much of the Mother she hadn't spoken to in more than a year. The Mother who'd stood by her during every point (high or low) in her life; except dropping out of Yale; except Logan.
And Rory wanted to hate her. She wanted so badly to hate her because she didn't understand; she didn't know what it was like.
Except that she did. She did know. Because Rory had turned to everything her Mother had run from, everything she had hated. Lorelai knew the pressure and the lies and gossip like the back of her hand. And even though she had tried so hard to protect Rory from it, she had failed miserably. Rory had turned into the Lorelai Gilmore that Richard and Emily had always wanted.
Lorelai Victoria was dead; long live Lorelai Leigh.
--
It was scary at first.
The luncheons and dinners promoting the engagement. Pretty dresses, lot's of make-up, the perfect hair. Shaking hands, and kissing cheeks at late night parties in fine Hotels and houses all across Connecticut. Announcements in the paper and akwardly posed pictures. Rory had even seen them broadcasting it on the eleven o'clock news one night like it was the event of the fucking century.
"But it is Ace!" Logan said after one of the many engagement parties, "Think of the business profits! It's not often a Huntzberger heir and a Hayden heiress get married."
Gilmore, she had corrected silently, I'm not a Hayden and I never will be.
But the shock of it all kept her from correcting herself.
Well, it might have been the six vodka tonics. But she wasn't sure, nor was she coherant enough to care.
--
It took her nine months to plan the wedding.
Actually, it took Shera and Emily nine months to plan the wedding. If anybody had the urge to ask how things were going Rory just smiled and told them it would be as glamorous as a Hollywood fairytale. Shera and Emily seemed to know what was best for everyone and she had graciously stepped aside resisting the urge to puke.
It was at that moment Rory had realized just how real the engagement had become. She was marrying Logan and he couldn't have been more excited.
But the thought alone made her sick.
--
Jess.
The night before her wedding she called him. Because she'd had a revelation that was nothing short of a phenomenon. She had realized, sitting alone in the dark of her Mother's old bedroom just how much she'd missed him, and that he was the only person she had ever really loved.
And besides, she was panicked; ready to run. Time was wasting. The apocalypse was fast approaching and the longer she waited the harder it would be to escape the Gilmore household and disappear into the night. It was time for her revolution to begin.
She couldn't marry Logan. She didn't love him, it wasn't fair. Especially to him. He had done nothing but treat her like a queen, and she had given nothing but fake love in return.
So she called the only person she that knew what it was like to run. The embrace hadn't been exactly warm.
"Rory what do you want?"
"Jess," She whimpered into the phone, "I'm scared. I don't think I can do this. Please come and get me."
"Rory, no. You made this descision," He accused, "You did this! There were so many chances for you to back out Rory, but you didn't. You didn't! And now you're getting married tomorrow." He sighed.
"Jess please, I just want things to be like they were. I want to be me again."
"I know the old Rory better than anybody else and I got a pretty good look at new Rory last October. New Rory isn't going to let you go that easily."
"Why are you being like this Jess?" She pleaded, tears clinging to the curves of her face.
"What, truthful? Babe that's always been me, you've just been to jaded to notice. Rory no matter how much anyone sugar coats it you fucked up and now you get to pay the price. You're getting married tomorrow," Jess spit into the phone angrily, "to a man your Mom and Luke despise, mind you. Hell you didn't even tell them about the engagement! They had to read about it in the fucking paper like they were third cousins twice removed or something!"
"They were invited," Rory defended.
"Did you know that your Mother called me in tears, pleading with me to make it right? To fix it? How the hell was I supposed to do that? Did you really expect them to come?" His voice softened. "You're different now Rory. They aren't going to show up to watch someone they don't recognize get married."
"I'm still me," She cried into the phone sobbing like a child. The dim light next to the bed illuminated the room in an eery glow. "I'm still me."
"You haven't been you for a long time."
"But I love you Jess, please. Help me. Fix me."
On the other end of the line Jess had laughed. "Go back to sleep Rory. Get married and have a nice life."
"Jess please, tell me you love me. I need to know that you love me." Rory begged pathetically. Deep down she knew Jess loved her. He had always loved her. He was just being difficult that's all.
The click of a dial tone, led Rory to believe otherwise.
--
Five minutes after she put down the phone it rang. She bolted upright off of the bed and picked up the phone hopefully thinking maybe Jess had come to his senses, had called to apologize and was on his way as they spoke.
It was Logan.
"Hey Ace," He said, the excitement in his voice excruciatingly painful. "Getting nervous?"
"No," She lied, "You know me, cool as a cucumber."
"I love you so much. I can't believe it's happening tomorrow."
"Me either," Rory replied genuinely, wondering if maybe Logan was feeling the same as she was. Did he want to back out of the wedding too? "It all seems so sudden, don't you think? Like it's happening to fast?"
"Well, sure, but it's worth it don't you think? We're getting married tomorrow Ace. I get to spend the rest of my life with you," He laughed cheerfully. "It might be a little sudden, but it just means we get to spend more time together."
Rory's face fell and she fell back against the bed, "Yeah. Lot's of time."
--
Six was a nice number. It was nice and round and big and even.
Rory liked the number six.
Six also just happened to be the number of glasses of the expensive Louis Roederer Cristal she had managed to down before the ceremony. Emily had assured her the butterflies in her stomach were completely normal and that she would feel better once the wedding was over.
Rory was pretty sure she would feel better if the wedding had not been happening at all.
So at every opportunity she would ask a different person to bring her a glass of champagne in order to evade the suspicion that little Lorelai Leigh was trying to get drunk on her wedding day. She thought maybe the day would be easier to get through, if she didn't have to remember it.
So now, a little on the tipsy side Rory sat in the luxurious villa that had been rented specifically for this event. In the master bedroom she sat at the vanity staring at herself numbly in the old Italian mirror that had been shipped from Florence nearly twenty years earlier. Curls framed her delicate face, the lightest hint of make up staining her porcelain skin.
"Lorelai," A voice said from the door. She turned her head slightly to see Shera standing with a smile on her face, "Honey it's time. You look so beautiful."
Her grandfather walked her down the aisle. Well, she held on to him for dear life and he led her carefully down the long walk to Logan. She thought Richard knew she was regretting ever saying yes, but if he did he didn't say a word to her about it. The old man just squeezed her hand gently and whispered loving words to her as he let Logan take his place, and took a seat next to Emily. She tuned most of the ceremony out choosing to return herself to a time when she was seventeen, in love with Jess, and still talking to her mom (who there still had been no sign of). She felt the heat in her flush red when Logan gently aroused her from her thoughts with a concerned smile.
"Huh?" She said more loudly than anticipated and a light laugh went throuh the crowd behind them.
"Do you," the Reverend she hadn't been paying attention to said, "Take Logan to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
Rory turned back to her fiance and stared at him a moment. Licking her lips she nodded. If she couldn't have Jess, and she couldn't have her Mom... She might as well just take whatever and who ever wanted her. Even if it meant feeling empty for the rest of her life.
So gracefully she smiled, accepting what her life had become.
"I do."
--
Bleh. I don't know. I really, don't know. Reviews are nice.