Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice…
Summary: Christopher passed away leaving Rory a small fortune. Only difference to real story was that Gigi was never born leaving Rory all the money he inherited. Set about 8 years after season 7. Rory is about 30 and coming into the money will change her life and reintroduce her to people she never expected… A bit of Trory and Rogan. Rated M for some rather adult scenes and swearing, a little violence but nothing too graphic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.
Chapter 1: An end and a beginning
It was raining, Rory knew funerals were sad but she'd never had to go to one for a close family member. Luke had one arm around her shoulder trying to comfort her, while also trying to keep the other around Lorelai's waist comforting her too. Luke had never liked Chris but he still never wished this upon him. Cancer, he hadn't told anyone he was suffering, when Lorelai got the call she just sat there silent. She didn't love him anymore, she hadn't for a while but he was a major part of her life; her childhood friend and Rory's father, Luke now understood this and felt nothing but genuine sadness that Chris had had to endure the pain alone, no one to support him. When Rory found out she went home and just sat in her mother does arms, not showing any emotion, just sitting there she would not believe any of it.
But here she was, crying, dressed all in black, as Chris' coffin was taken behind the small red curtain covering the whole in the wall, as his body was cremated. He had requested being scattered by Rory and her mother with no one else there, he wanted to be scattered on the small patch of land by the old, no longer there Independence Inn. He said that it was the place where finally thought he might be able to keep Lorelai and have the happy family, the place where he told Rory all those years ago that he wanted to be in their life; before it was all ruined by Sherry telling him she was pregnant and him leaving them again. It was the closest they ever were to a family. After Sherry lost the baby, he tried to leave her and go back to Lorelai but she wouldn't take it. He never got the family he wanted, even after he married Lor many years later, it ended in divorce. He wanted to be left in the one place that everything had felt perfect, even if only for a few minutes.
After the funeral Rory and her mother decided to wait a few days before scattering the ashes, Rory had just quit her latest job and needed to go to as many interviews as possible to get back on her feet. Her quitting was the right thing to do after her boss tried to kiss her and when she pulled away he threatened to fire her. She wasn't one to sleep with someone she didn't want to just for a job. She only told her mother the true reason she quit, everyone else merely thought she'd been sacked due to the economy, a story she tried hard to make people believe.
She went back to her small apartment in New York. She opened the door and again burst into tears. Chris had bought her the apartment, Chris had paid for the furnishings, (much to Emily's annoyance), She walked through the lounge/dining room/ kitchen area and stared into the two guest bedrooms, (one of which he often stayed in when visiting her. She headed to her bedroom and just collapsed on the bed, sobbing as she did so. Her phone began to ring and so she immediately answered hoping for a job offer or interview to offer itself as a distraction, "Ace?", she immediately knew who and why,
"Logan…now's…not…a great…time", she managed between sobs,
"I know ace, I know, you grandmother called me, she told me about Chris and said even though it's been a while you might need me?", he managed to make the comment sound like a question, "Ace, do you need me to be there?" he repeated the question. She was confused, eight years no contact, which they had agreed on but now he wanted to be her knight in shining armor? She wanted to yell but after the day she'd had she didn't have the effort,
"No Logan… but can you just talk to me and help distract me from the world, after everything I know it's a lot to ask but I need a distraction?"
"Of course Ace! What do you wanna…..Oh SHIT!"
"What Logan?" her voice filled with concern even after all this time,
"Ace…shit this is bad and I know you need me but…it just became official, my company has just gone bust…" his voice now filled with anger and frustration and she was not in the mood to look after him. She was going to be selfish for once, she had earned it.
"Sorry Logan, she shouldn't have called you…bye." She hung up and he was left knowing he had just pissed off the girl he still loved on the day of her father's funeral AND lost his company, the one thing he'd ever done for himself, "LH Journalism and Computer Technology" was gone, it was his fault, making a risky move like that, he thought he'd learned not to do that by now…
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Rory awoke at four in the morning to her phone, thanks to the personalised ring tone she knew it was her mother, "Where you lead" started playing, she smiled remembering her mum set it the day she left for the Obama campaign, was it really nearly eight years ago, she sighed and picked up the phone,
"Hey mum," she said, a tone of sadness still in her voice,
"Um…Rory…look…I just got off the phone with the executor of your dad's will, yeah he wasn't pleased about me calling him at like two in the morning but you k now how long our printer takes since Kirk tried to fix it? Well I got the faxed copy of the will. Your dad has left me one million dollars and…well, he left you seventy five million dollars! When he said he was rich I didn't really get how rich, you are frickin' loaded!",
Rory's mind went blank for a few seconds, then all of a sudden her brain began to overload on her, "I don't…I mean… I know he spent a lot of time with me in his last few months but I mean…why me? Yeah I'm his daughter but I didn't even know he was sick until the end!"
"Rory, you're are a multi-millionaire! I bet Chris is laughing his ass off at our reactions!", I cried for about an hour, I wasn't sure why, when I told Luke he started planning to move house…men! I mean the main positive is that I can finally pay mum back for the wedding, Luke and I are sick and tired of Friday night dinners, her insults to him are getting less subtle, last week it was "Oh Luke that jacket must be a family heirloom, antiques are so hard to come by these days!" she wasn't even trying, you don't get antique clothes do you? Rory?"
"Mum! Dad's dead, he left me money I don't know what to do with! And to top it off I had to have Logan call!"
"Hun, calm down, I know it's hard but he'd want you to use it to be happy, now tell me about Logan?!"
Rory recited the phone call and ended with, "I do kind of wish we were friends…"
"Then try make it happen Hun, now go to sleep, sorry I woke you but hey you now don't need to worry about not being able to afford a dress for mum's party tomorrow night! Silver Lining! Try not to cry every time you think of your dad, he wouldn't want that. Night Hun."
"Night mum!"
Rory began one of her lists to try and help her work out what to do with the money, she didn't know that the next day the answer would be given to her in a place she least expected.
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She went shopping early morning and bought herself a neat, halter neck, little black dress for her grandmother's party she felt it was appropriate because even after what her mother said she was still mourning. She threw it on with some barely black tights and some black patent heels, she put her hair up in curls and tried to smile.
It was three o'clock and she now had two hours until she needed to be at the party but left her apartment anyway, she didn't want to be there right now. She grabbed her keys and walked down to the car park. She stared at her car for five minutes before realising that was what she could do! Buy a new car, hers was old and on its last legs. She looked up smiling thinking about how often Chris had offered to buy her a new car, he was kind of going to now. She jumped in her car and drove straight for her grandmother's house. Emily was sill setting up but when she saw Rory pull up she ran out and hugged her, "Rory, are you okay, I'm so sorry about Christopher, do you think you can make it through the party?" Rory put on her best "Yay for society" smile and said "I'll be fine".
"Of course you are, you're handling this angelically! Why are you so early?"
"Um…I couldn't be in the apartment dad bought me…I just needed to get out especially after the news…"
"Rory, do you mean the will?"
"Yeah"
"You'll be fine and if you can't handle your current apartment buy a new one! It's your money now! Enjoy. While I finish up go visit your grandfather in his study, he had an idea for your money that was genius! Oh and don't forget to wish him happy birthday Rory!"
"I won't" she smiled as she entered the study, "Hi grandpa! Happy Birthday!" she ran up and hugged him, needing a father figure at that point, "I hear you have plans for my money? I need a distraction…" her voice trailed off.
"Rory," he hugged her back smiling he looked down at her and let her go, "That I do, you work in New York so have you heard of a smallish paper called "News York"? It's supposed to be quite impressive, despite the name…" He laughed and so did Rory but for a different reason, she knew it well, she read it most days she was at work but since her losing her job she hadn't, "Yes grandpa, I used to read it every day at work, why?",
"Well, if you read it you knew that it was a well-respected paper, small but popular. As you also know it was privately owned by a Mr. Meer, he passed away last week, it's all very sad, however, people believe that he MADE that paper, without him people think it's nothing, most of his staff quit. The only person left was his assistant, well we call her that, her name is Miss. Nilt, she has taken over the selling of the paper, she did more work than anyone at that paper, she was called his assistant but I think they were equally in charge from what I've heard people were more afraid of her than him, anyway getting to my point, its officially for sale, The person who buys it will not only be sole owner and editor but will be receiving a fully built and ready organised company, the only problem being that there are no staff members left. When I heard about your inheritance I had an idea…"
Rory interrupted, "You think I should buy News York?"
"I do, think about it, it's the perfect job, it's very cheap at the moment because no one will buy it and the only reason no one else has bought it is because they don't think they could give it the same character Meer gave it, what do you think? Is sixty thousand dollars for a good cause going to make that big-a-dent in your inheritance"
"I think I'll do it! Grandpa, I think that's incredible! You're sure no one's bought it?"
"Definitely, Miss. Nilt will be at my party, she is expecting a meeting with you during, I have it all set up, all you need to do is meet her in here at five fifteen."
"Thank you so much grandpa!" She said again hugging him. He smiled and looked at her, "You'll make a great editor, writer and boss, I know it!",
"Thank you so much!" She let go of him and walked out to tell her grandma and her mother who was now standing with her what she had decided.
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Authors Note: I know it's not great but it was just an introduction, there will be proper Trory Rogan stuff coming soon I promise!
Review please, even if its criticism I'll appreciate it.