Name: Meg
Title: I Must Be Dreaming part 1
pairing: its a secret, but it is R/Someone (not Dean though)
Rating: PG/ PG 13
Summary: takes place during Rory's Christmas Break, Senior year.
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, although I wish some of them did. They belong to the following geniuses: WB, Amy Sherman- Palladino etc etc.
Feedback please!!!! (tenismyidea@hotmail.com)


Part 1-
Life, Death, and Puke.

Rory awoke slowly, not wanting to open her sky blue eyes to the harsh, unwelcome sunlight filling her room. She did, reluctantly, and expected to smell precious coffee and hear her Mom singing hyperactively. Then she realized she wasn't in her room. She also realized she was in pain. She sat up straight, but not quickly, considering her pain. Her Mom was in the corner staring at her with tears in her eyes. This looked a lot like a hospital room.

"Hi, honey, are you feeling okay? I've got coffee---"

She was cut off. "Mom, where am I? Did you say coffee? I really need some."

"Don't you remember last night at all?" Her mom asked, concerned.

Slowly, the memories came back to her, and she groaned. "Yeah I think so...." she whispered vaguely as her mom handed her some coffee. She could remember last night perfectly. She had just started her Christmas break from her senior year at Chilton, and Dean had come to pick her up and take her to a nice dinner in Hartford. They were still dating, even after all these years, and Rory couldn't believe Dean hadn't broken up with her before. They had been driving and singing and laughing, then had turned suddenly to avoid a crazy driver going the wrong way on their side of the road. She remembered screaming and the car flipping, but the thing she remembered the most was lying there afterwards, unable to move, the car upside down. She remembered being in pain and she had looked over at Dean to see him bleeding too, only a lot more. " Dean, are you okay? Talk to me!" She remembered saying. Dean turned to look at her.

"I'm fine, Rory, oh God, you're bleeding a lot. I'll always love you, okay?" He had said while breathing hard.

"I love you too, Dean." She knew she meant it more than she would admit to herself even. Then she remembered blacking out. She snapped back to her Mom and her coffee.

"Mom, how's Dean? I mean, the last thing I remember was checking on him before I blacked out, and he was fine then."

"Well, Hun, he's down the hall, but I'll go check on him soon. How are you?"

"Peachy. What all did I brake, anyway?" She said while looking down at something around her midriff.

"An arm and two ribs. Be lucky, angel, it could have very well been way worse than that from looking at the car. I'll go check on Dean if you still want to know."

"Yeah, Please." Rory sat there as her mom exited and sighed. What a great way to start her Christmas vacation. Well, at least things couldn't get much worse than this, she thought. She proved herself wrong as she looked at the person coming toward her glass door. She groaned audibly and wondered what the hell he was doing here. She hadn't seen him in two years, and they had barely parted on good terms. Surprisingly, she wasn't shocked to see him. Deep down, she always knew he would be back to torment her someday, he couldn't stay away from feeding off someone else's pain. But, a part of her admitted she had missed him. A lot. Sometimes, he was sweet and charming in a pure way, and at those times, she could hardly remember Dean's name. And she loved Dean.

"What are YOU doing here? How did you know I was here? What made you think I would want to see you?" She said all this quickly while practically leaping off the bed and throwing herself into his arms. Such strong arms.

"Well, Mary, that makes me think you want to see me. I was already here at the hospital, anyway, I didn't come just for you, you know. Is that what you thought? I think someone else also has an inflated ego!" Tristan said all this as if they had seen each other every day for the past two years. But he knew they hadn't. Those two years were agony for him, he had missed her so much. Each day passed him by and he couldn't care less. Military school was, if possible, worse than Chilton. At least Chilton had his Mary. She still sent electricity through his body when she touched him in the slightest, and when she hugged him, he thought he might explode of pure pleasure.

"Still don't know my name, Tristan DuGrey? And to think, I assumed you had missed me." Rory hit him playfully on the shoulder and sat on the edge of her bed, pouting.

"More than you know, Rory. I lied. I wasn't really already here, I heard from my parents who are friends with your grandparents and came running here. Pathetic, huh? I'm sure you'll forgive me."

"I guess so. So what have you been up to all this time?" Rory acted like seeing him was no big deal. She knew she had wanted to see him, he was the only friend she had ever made at Chilton. Paris still hated her, but they called a truce at the beginning of this year. But that hardly qualified as a friend.

"Let's not talk about me. Are you feeling okay?" Tristan looked down at her, even with no makeup, and small scratches on her face, Rory looked beautiful to him. She still looked so pure and sweet.

Rory raised an eyebrow and looked up in his eyes to see if he was serious. She actually saw concern on his face. Definitely a first, she thought. "Better, I think. Thanks for caring, DuGrey."

"Can't help it. Is Farm--er--Dean alright?"

"Don't know. My mom went to check." She smiled at him as she studied his features. He still looked the same. Same messy, yet perfect, sandy blonde hair and those deep pools of blue he had for eyes. Then there was the fact that his facial features seemed to be perfect, as though made for a god. His strong jawline, and smooth, handsome face. And who could forget his body?

"Well that's convinient. Leaves us here, all alone..." He trailed off, sitting next to her and looking at her with a smirk.

"Shut up, Tristan!" She squealed while trying to conceal her obvious blush.

"Your mind is in the gutter, Gilmore!" He said, trying to sound thoroughly shocked. "I just meant we could have a rational conversation and catch up after all this time. But look, you're blushing! I had no idea you missed me that much! That's positively not what I had in mind." He stood up and backed away to give the full affect, but seeing her stern expression, his grin gave him away.

"That was the lamest attempt at a save I've seen all year!" She said while laughing at his cute facial expressions.

"Well, it made you laugh." Tristan said defensively.

"Thanks for that, DuGrey. I may be almost completely well, now. You know, laughter is the best medicine after all."

He smiled. "Glad to----" He was cut off by Lorelai bursting through the door, silent tears streaming down her face. He looked at her, wondering what could be wrong. Unless she had found out something about Rory that was bad. Tristan felt the color drain his face.

"Mom! What's wrong??" Rory jumped up and went to her mother, while Lorelai sat down and tried not to meet Rory's eyes.

"Rory, I just found out that they only have decaf here." Lorelai said while trying to grin. She couldn't bring herself to tell Rory the truth, yet.

"Really, Mom, I'm not that stupid," then a realization dawned on Rory as she realized where her mom had been. "Oh my God! Mom, is it Dean? IS IT? What's wrong?" She had completely forgot Tristan.

"Honey, well Dean, you see-- there was more glass on his side of the car. I'm so sorry, Rory, I don't know how to say this, but Dean died forty minutes ago."

It hit Rory like a car hits a brick wall at 200 miles an hour. This couldn't be happening, not her. I must be dreaming, she thought. She stared at her mom's tearful face and burst into crying hysterically. She could hardly breathe. She sobbed so hard, her whole body rocked back and forth. She sat on the floor on her knees and bent over them and rocked and cried. Then she suddenly stood up to go find out for herself, but fainted and collapsed on the ground.

Tristan slipped out right after her mom told her and watched Rory in the glass room from the lobby. Rory was on the floor, crying. His heart broke in two. Sure, he didn't really like Dean, but this was not expected. Tristan had never wished Dean would die, not ever. The closest Tristan had ever been to a tragedy like this was when his uncle died in a plane crash, but Tristan had never met his uncle, so he wasn't exactly devastated. But Tristan had known Dean, had fought with him. They had both wanted the same girl, but Dean had been successful. He couldn't believe Dean was gone. But the main reason his heart broke, was Rory. Seeing her in so much pain, both physically and emotionally tore him up inside. He wanted to go comfort her and wrap her in his arms and cry with her, to be honest. She was the only girl he had ever really cared about. Cared about, as a person, that is. He had never really treated girls like people, but rather possessions, and they liked it too. But Rory was different. She was real, and wasn't affected by the superficiality that was the Chiltonites. To see her like this, was almost too much for him to handle. Then he saw her collapse on the floor and felt his stomach heave. "NURSE! ROOM 28!" He managed to yell before running to the restroom and vomitting. As he splashed cold water on his face, he looked at himself in the mirror and knew what he had to do.


part 2 should follow right after this....feedback please

part 2