Chapter Eleven: Chips Off the Old Block

"Dad! You came!" Rory yelled excitedly, running to Victoria's Porsche and hugging Christopher.

"Of course I did," Christopher said.

"I'm glad," Rory said with a smile.

"Hey, I came, too," Victoria said, feeling left out.

Victoria hadn't really been jealous of Rory up until now.

It was both their birthday, but it felt like it was all about Rory. They'd been at the party Lorelai's parents had for them yesterday and now they were in Stars Hollow with a bunch of people Victoria didn't know for Rory's birthday party.

After dinner with her grandparents, she'd just wanted to go out with her friends and forget about all the family drama for a little while. Victoria didn't really want to be in Stars Hollow.

"I'm also glad. Come on. I want you guys to meet everyone." Rory led the way into the house, where her mom, Emily and Sookie were standing in the entryway. "This is Sookie. Sookie, this is my dad and-"

"Victoria!" Sookie said excitedly.

"Uh, yeah," Victoria said, not having any idea who Sookie was. "It's nice to meet you, uh…?"

"I'm Sookie. I'm a friend of Lorelai's," Sookie told her. "Oh, it's nice to meet you. You look like Lorelai. Doesn't she look like Lorelai?"

"Yes," Emily said thoughtfully, studying Victoria, "she looks exactly like Lorelai did when she was her age."

"She's all Lorelai," Christopher agreed and Emily shot him a look of annoyance. "They both are. Chips off the old block."

"Ok. Do you like cake?" Sookie asked Victoria suddenly.

"Uh, yeah," Victoria said.

"Come here. You have to try a piece," Sookie said, already starting for the kitchen.

"Ok," Victoria said slowly, following Sookie into the kitchen.

"Emily," Christopher said, unsure why she was looking at him like that.

"Christopher," Emily said coldly, then turned to Rory. "Rory, we're going to get going now."

"I'll walk you out," Rory said, walking out with her grandmother.

"Is it me or is it cold in here?" Christopher asked, having noticed the look and the coldness in Emily's tone.

"Frigid. Below zero," Lorelai told him.

"That cold, huh?" Christopher said.

"You're late," Lorelai said angrily.

Christopher sighed. "We're here."

"Yeah, late," Lorelai said, not letting it go.

"We got here as fast as we could," Christopher told her.

"An eighty year old woman on a Sunday drive would have gotten here faster than you. My parents got here before you. Oh, and Sookie and Miss Patty and Babette and Luke and the mailman-"

"I get it. We're late," Christopher said, stopping her before she listed off the whole town.

Lorelai shot him a look. "Where were you, Christopher?"

Christopher sighed. "We were tied up in Hartford."

"With what?" Lorelai demanded, wanting to know what was more important than this.

"You know, I'm so glad I came all the way over here so we could fight," Christopher said sarcastically.

Lorelai exhaled. "Whatever it was, this is more important. This is your daughter's birthday party. Rory invited you. She wanted you to come."

"And I came," Christopher said.

"You missed cake and presents," Lorelai told him. "The party's over."

Christopher looked at his watch. "It's nine o'clock."

"We didn't even know if you were coming. Rory was upset," Lorelai told him.

"Rory's fine. You're the one that's mad," Christopher said, remembering Rory running out to the car to hug him. That wasn't an upset kid.

"She was upset!" Lorelai argued. "You hurt her. I knew something like this was going to happen."

"That's not fair," Christopher said quietly.

"You know what's not fair? I had this big party for my kid and she didn't even enjoy it. She was too busy worrying about where you were," Lorelai said.

"You want to know where we were? Why we weren't here for cake and ice cream?" Victoria asked as she stepped into the entryway with a piece of cake for her dad. "We were at dinner with Dad's parents and they were mad that we spent my actual birthday with you and your parents," Victoria said, defending her dad.

"You were with Straub and Francine?" Lorelai said softly, her anger lessening.

She hated the way Christopher's parents had treated Rory at the dinner at her parents' house.

She knew they were a part of Victoria's life, but she didn't like it. Christopher couldn't have gotten out of the dinner with his parents any more than she could get out of Friday night dinner with her parents.

"You know what's funny? Dad was actually defending you," Victoria said with a slight, humorless laugh. "And you're yelling at him. He doesn't need this. Not from you."

She didn't remember all the times Christopher hadn't been there when she was younger, though there were several.

As she got older, he'd been pretty good about going to anything she wanted him to attend for her.

They were close and Victoria was very defensive of him, whether she was defending him to his parents or Lorelai.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Lorelai told Victoria, then turned to Christopher. "You didn't tell me," Lorelai said, wondering why he didn't just tell her where he was in the first place.

"Look, your parents had a birthday party for Rory and Victoria and my parents only took Victoria and me out to dinner. They don't want to be a part of Rory's life. I wish I could say they did, but they don't. I didn't want to upset her," Christopher said honestly.

"I appreciate your not wanting to upset her, but it would've been nice if you'd told us you would be late," Lorelai told him.

Rory walked back in after walking her grandparents out. "I don't think Grandma's mad about what happened last night anymore."

"She can't stay mad at you. It's like being mad at a puppy. You're too sweet," Lorelai said.

"What happened last night?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, you weren't there," Lorelai said, realizing Victoria had missed the fireworks. "My mom wanted Rory to give a speech thanking all the Chilton kids and Rory lost it."

"I did not lose it," Rory protested.

Lorelai looked at her. "Ok, you did a good impression of me then."

"What? I can't believe I missed that," Victoria said, a little disappointed.

"I can't believe you weren't the one yelling at Emily." Christopher grinned at Victoria.

"What are you saying?" Victoria asked with a laugh.

"That you got your mom's temper," Christopher said.

"Hey! I'm pure joy and sunshine," Lorelai told him.

"Come on, you have to see what Mom got me," Rory said excitedly, leading the way into the living room.

"I have your present in here, too," Lorelai told Victoria as they followed Rory.

"An iBook," Rory said, showing them the laptop Lorelai got her.

"It's pretty," Victoria said, admiring the laptop.

"That's what I said!" Lorelai told her. "It's blue."

"My laptop is black and boring," Victoria said.

"You decorated it," Christopher remembered.

"You decorated it?" Lorelai repeated with a smile.

"With stickers," Christopher told her.

"Am I correct in assuming this laptop was a gift from Straub and Francine?" Lorelai inquired and Victoria nodded. "And have they seen it since you decorated it?" Lorelai asked, thinking she wished she could have seen their faces when they saw the decorated laptop.

"They didn't like it," Victoria said evenly.

"They were horrified," Christopher chimed in, remembering how his dad had reacted.

"Man, I wish I could've seen that," Lorelai said. "Did you take pictures? Video?"

Victoria grinned and shook her head.

"Next time you do something that will horrify your grandparents, I want you to document the moment for me," Lorelai told her.

"I'll see what I can do," Christopher said with a laugh.

"Ok, now it's your turn," Lorelai said, handing Victoria a wrapped box. "Happy birthday. I think you're a great kid and I'm so glad I have you in my life now."

"Thank you," Victoria said, opening the gift and hugging Lorelai.

"You like it?" Lorelai asked.

She got Victoria an expensive camera. She wanted to get Victoria something nice and she'd noticed all the pictures in Victoria's room.

"Yes, I love it," Victoria told her.

"It's purple so you don't have to decorate it, but you can if you want to," Lorelai said teasingly.

"No, it's good," Victoria told her.


"Hey," Rory said, walking over to where Dean was waiting for her outside.

Dean grinned. "Hey. Happy birthday." He handed her a present.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Rory told him.

"Sorry, that's the rules. You get older, you get a gift," Dean said with a smile.

"I'm sorry about this sort of sneaky thing," Rory said apologetically. "I just haven't told my mother about you yet. I mean, not that there's anything to tell. I just-"

"That's ok," Dean told her. "This is better."

Rory smiled and unwrapped the gift. "Oh my God, it's beautiful."

"Well, I bought the medallion and I just cut some leather straps and drilled a hole," Dean said, showing her the bracelet, "And, well, you like it?"

"I- it's amazing," Rory told him.

"Good," Dean said.

"Thank you," Rory said.

"Here," Dean said, putting the bracelet on her.


"You need help cleaning up?" Christopher offered, walking into the kitchen with his plate and Victoria's plate.

Lorelai didn't answer. She didn't even act like she'd heard him. She was just staring out the window.

Christopher followed her gaze and saw Rory outside with a boy. "She has a boyfriend?"

"She doesn't have a boyfriend," Lorelai said, denying it.

"Ok, she has a boy who gives her jewelry but isn't her boyfriend. Is that better?" Christopher said, watching as Dean put a bracelet on Rory's wrist.

"He gave her jewelry," Lorelai said softly, trying to process what she was seeing.

"How did this happen?" Christopher wondered.

"I don't know," Lorelai said, wondering why Rory didn't tell her. Rory told her everything.

"I need a beer," Christopher said, grabbing a bottle of beer from the refrigerator.

"Me, too," Lorelai said and he grabbed a beer for her. She took a drink and looked at him. "Why do you need a beer? I mean, Victoria's been dating for awhile now."

"I needed something stronger than a beer when she started dating," Christopher told her.

"Tequila?" Lorelai questioned.

"Scotch," Christopher told her. "And that was Victoria. I didn't think I had to worry about Rory. I thought she was more interested in books than guys."

"She was. She is," Lorelai said.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews. In answer to a question about pairings, I'm following the storyline from the show somewhat so any love interests from the show are fair game. I have ideas to continue this for at least all of the seasons where Rory and Victoria are in high school and it would be kind of boring if all of the characters were dating the same person for the entire story, so there aren't really pairings.

If there are any pairings that anyone just does not want to read about, let me know and I will let you know if the relationship in question will play a big role in this story.

I like Tristan with Victoria and will keep him around depending on feedback. And, no, Tristan and Rory did not kiss and will not kiss in this.

Let me know if you have any other questions.