A/N: I'm back!! Yeah! There is an author's note at the bottom, but for now, enjoy this long overdue chapter :)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing....

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"I am so so glad to be free again," laughed Rory as she walked down the street with Jess.

"How is not being grounded in Stars Hollow any different to being grounded in Stars Hollow? There's nothing to do," replied Jess frankly.

"It's the principle of the matter," answered Rory dryly.

"Fair enough," admitted Jess. "What are you up to this afternoon?"

"Must you ask?" groaned Rory. "I have homework that I have to do for Chilton."

"It's a Thursday Rory," teased Jess, "blow it off, you have the whole weekend for homework."

"Oh how I wish I could. Apparently keeping up this whole bookworm façade involves actually doing the work assigned, on time. I've only been there for three and a half weeks and already I'm so behind. I have a pile of work that was assigned to me today, that is expected tomorrow."

"Have fun with that," mocked Jess, as he started to head back to the Luke's.

Rory waved to him as she crossed the road to head back to Lorelai's house. As she walked up the road that Lorelai's house sat at the end of, Rory let out a long sigh. The homework that was waiting for her was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

Looking up at house in front of her, Rory froze, unable to comprehend the sight in front of her. Sitting on the front steps of her mother's house was Stephanie Vanderbilt, the last person she expected to see in Stars Hollow on a Thursday afternoon.

"Steph?" asked Rory, disbelieving.

"Hey," broached Steph hesitantly, standing from her previous sitting position on the porch steps.

"You're here," replied Rory stupidly. "In Stars Hollow."

Steph simply nodded her head in response, attempting to gauge what type of reaction her visit was going to elicit from her former best friend.

Rory narrowed her eyes and set her jaw, not having forgotten the last time she and Steph had spoken.

Flashback

Sitting in the cafeteria for what could possibly the last time at her school in Boston, Lorelai Hayden suddenly heard a slight cough behind her. She straightened up and slid around on the wooden bench.

"Steph," she said in a wary voice. One thing she really didn't feel like at the moment was a guilt trip.

"I hear you're going to your Mom's house in Connecticut," said Steph shortly. Lorelai just nodded, knowing that if Steph wanted something, she wouldn't leave until she got it.

"Good," she replied. Lorelai raised her eyebrows at the girl who use to be her best friend. She knew Steph would think it was a good idea, but she didn't think she would have to guts to come straight up to her and tell her that. "You need to get away from here, from those people." A look of disdain covered Steph's face as she mentioned Lorelai's new friends.

"Those people," hissed Lorelai as she stood up to face Steph, "never left me, those people, care enough to want to spend time with me. Those people, would never wait an entire week to tell me they were leaving." Lorelai paused and gauged Steph's reaction. Shaking her head slightly, Lorelai said one last thing to Steph before getting up and walking out of the cafeteria. "Those people, have kept me going these past three months."

Steph watched Lorelai Hayden walk out of the cafeteria, unable to think of anything to say in rebuttal to her friend's last four comments.

End Flashback

"What are you doing here Stephanie?" asked Rory callously. "You hade your feelings about me perfectly clear last time we spoke."

"I… uh," faltered Steph at the cold tone of Rory's voice.

Rory just rolled her eyes and held her head high in the air as she attempted to walk straight past Steph and into the house.

As Rory went to walk past her, Steph stuck out her hand and held Rory's upper arm. Steph drew in a sharp breathe when she met Rory's eyes. Anger, hatred, these were all emotions she had expected. But to see hurt, betrayal, and the beginnings of tears in the eyes of the girl she had thought of as a sister for so long, that was what hurt Steph the most.

"Lori, I'm sorry," whispered Steph slowly, dropping her head.

Rory took a deep breath, and after a moments silent, let out the same breath before dropping her own head.

"I'm sorry too Steph," she admitted eventually. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"It's not your fault," argued Steph softly, but adamantly.

"No, Steph, it is. I behaved so badly," rebutted Rory, lifting her head to meet Steph's eyes again. "I felt like the boys had abandoned me, and without thinking I abandoned you. I was just hurt. I just… why didn't they tell us sooner?"

Rory had to drop her head again suddenly to prevent tears from falling.

"Yeah, you did. But I didn't even give you a chance to explain. As soon as you hung out with those other guys once, I stopped giving you the time of day."

Rory attempted in vain to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes from spilling over for the second time. Upon seeing tears start to drop down the sides of her friends face, Steph pulled Rory into a hug, and let her own tears fall as well.

After a moment, they pulled apart, both girls sniffing.

"Did you want to come in?" offered Rory quietly.

Steph nodded in response, and followed Rory into the house.

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Lorelai smile to herself when she pulled her jeep in front of her house. The light in Rory's bedroom was on. She let out a small laugh and shook her head at herself. Never did she imagine that she would get such joy from seeing her teenage daughter's bedroom light on when she got home from work. She got out of her jeep and started walking towards her house.

Since the party incident three and a half weeks ago in Hartford, she and Rory had been getting along well, and Rory hadn't acted out again in any serious way.

Sure, there were still times when things became tense between them. And those times did occur slightly more than Lorelai would like, but Rory hadn't been living with her for long, and it was getting better and better.

"Rory," she sang out as she opened the front door.

Not hearing an answer, Lorelai's heart skipped a beat. She frowned at her own folly and silently berated herself. Just because Rory didn't answer immediately did not mean anything bad. There could be a number of reasons she wasn't answering. The most obvious being that she simply didn't hear her. Rory not answering did not mean that she had snuck out.

"Rory," she repeated as she stuck her head into her daughter's room, glad to see her daughter sitting on her bed. Lorelai did a double take after seeing another girl sitting on the bed with Rory, and the most shocking part, Rory laughing. Looking as though she was happy, and having fun.

"Mom, hi," answered Rory with a massive smile. Lorelai swallowed and smiled back, not quite having gotten over the shock of her daughter's seemingly euphoric mood.

"This is Steph," continued Rory. "She's an old friend from Boston."

"Boston?" questioned Lorelai, trepidation washing over her.

She didn't know the whole story from Boston, she wasn't sure that Chris even knew the whole story. But Chris had told her the basics, the main fact being that the changes in their daughter had occurred at the same time that she started hanging out with a certain groups of people from her old school.

Rory heard the uneasiness in her mother's voice, and immediately moved to correct her mother's assumptions.

"Steph's a really old friend Mom," clarified Rory. "We've been friends since we were in grade school."

"Okay," nodded Lorelai, feeling slightly placated.

As well as having told her about the new friends from Boston, Chris had also mentioned that Rory had started hanging out with this new group of people because most of her best friends had gone to boarding school. Chris was convinced that a lot of the change in their daughter was due to the loss of her best friends.

Still, Lorelai made a mental note to call Chris and find out whether he knew this Stephanie girl, and what he thought of her.

"Hi," said Steph tentatively from the bed, not quite sure how much Lorelai Gilmore knew about Rory's life in Boston, especially over the last few months she was there.

Lorelai smiled again, not wanting Rory's current mood to be ruined, and therefore not wanting Rory's friend to feel unwelcome.

"How does everyone feel about pizza for dinner?" she asked brightly.

"Sounds good to me," answered Rory from the bed, looking at Steph as she did. "You're staying for dinner right?"

"Sure," replied Steph with a smile, after realising Lorelai wasn't about to start yelling at her to get out of her house. "I didn't realise how late it was."

Lorelai glanced at her watch, a slight frown crossing her face.

"Did you drive down from Boston?" she asked Steph, slightly concerned, remembering seeing an unfamiliar car parked, half hidden, near the garage. For some unknown reason, it hadn't even registered in Lorelai's mind until now.

"Yeah, I drove down this afternoon," replied Steph politely.

"You can't drive back tonight," insisted Lorelai. "It's way too late. It's dark and you'd be tired. You should stay here tonight."

"Are you sure that's okay?" asked Steph. "I don't want to be a hassle. I can go and book myself into a hotel in Hartford for the night."

"Nonsense," insisted Lorelai again. "I mean, we only have to couch, but you're more than welcome to stay."

"Please Steph," implored Rory. "Then you can come to Luke's for breakfast with us in the morning. You can meet my friend Jess."

Steph smiled and nodded.

"Thank-you, the couch will be wonderful."

"I'll go order the pizza," replied Lorelai as she turned to exit the room. Pausing slightly she spun back around to face Rory. "Do you think three will do?" she asked seriously.

Rory considered this for a moment, and then nodded.

"Cheesy bread as well," suggested Rory after she had finished contemplating.

"That's a given," replied Lorelai solemnly, before leaving the room to go and order the pizza.

"Three pizzas?" asked Steph, her eyes wide. "I forgot how much you eat."

"I'm an amateur compared to Lorelai," replied Rory seriously, motioning out the door to Lorelai as she spoke.

"It's so strange not calling you Lorelai," confessed Steph. "How did you do it? I'd get so confused. Especially if no one at Chilton knows who you are. What if you accidently forgot Rory was what everyone knew you as, and someone called you Rory and you didn't answer them?"

"I didn't take it so well at first," admitted Rory with a laugh. "I was so angry for ages when I first moved here. But I know why they did it. Plus, I don't want everyone at Chilton knowing who I am, especially not with Tristan and all."

Steph nodding, knowing all about Tristan. Rory had told her all about Chilton earlier, about Paris, about Tristan, how he knew she had a secret, how she had met him before.

"I don't suppose I've slipped up all that often at Chilton. Maybe once or twice. But they think I'm this quiet bookworm, a 'Mary'," laughed Rory. "If I ever don't answer them, they think I'm just too focused on my work or something, which works well, because it solidifies my cover for them."

Steph shook her head and laughed at Rory.

"I still can't believe you managed to get yourself nicknamed 'Mary'. Especially by the same guy you drunkenly slept with twice only a week before."

"What can I say," replied Rory shrugging her shoulders, with a fake air of superiority. "I'm very very good."

Steph took the chance to throw a pillow at Rory, causing both girls to break down into fits of laughter.

After they managed to compose themselves again, Steph spoke.

"I'm really glad I came down here today," she said softly.

"So am I," admitted Rory quietly. "So am I."

Neither girl said anything after that. They simply smiled at each other, both equally glad they were back to being friends. Even if there relationship wasn't what it use to be, at least they were talking again, which was the first step in the path of returning their relationship to the norm.

"Let's go eat," suggested Rory as they heard the doorbell ring, and Lorelai yell out pizza in an over-excited voice from the foyer.

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Sitting with in her room with Steph later that night, Rory pursed her lips, trying to decide whether or not to confide what she was thinking in the girl she had once shared everything with.

"You're hiding something," remarked Steph nonchalantly, from where she was sitting on the makeshift bed Rory and Lorelai had helped construct on the floor. Steph was going to sleep on the couch, but the idea of a sleepover in Rory's room like they had had when they were younger had sounded much more appealing to the newly reunited friends.

"I hate that you could always read me so well," admitted Rory with frustration.

Steph didn't reply, just waited quietly for Rory to tell her what was wrong.

"There's this guy," started Rory hesitantly, not sure if she was ready to admit this out loud. Admitting that she was starting to not hate Tristan would make the whole thing real. She hadn't even really managed to allow herself to admit it in her head yet.

"Is he cute?" asked Steph, suddenly very interested in what Rory was telling her. She twisted herself around on Rory's bed immediately so that she was facing her best friend.

"Gorgeous," admitted Rory, smiling back at Steph. Tristan's looks were the one thing she could freely admit – there was no debating his looks.

"And you like him," pushed Steph, wanting to get as much information out of her friend as possible.

"I didn't at first. He can be so annoying, and when I started at Chilton it was as though his sole mission in life was to make me miserable," started Rory. Pausing to take a deep breath, she continued. "He keeps asking me out, but I don't know whether it's all just a game to him. Like he has to prove that I'll go out with him. Everything he says in laced with sexual innuendo."

"That doesn't mean he's playing you," pointed out Steph kindly.

"Did I mention he calls me Mary?" asked Rory bluntly.

Steph let out a short laugh before she was able to stop herself. Rory glared at her in return.

"I'm sorry Lore," said Steph, once she was able to control her urge to laugh. "But of all the people that could be labelled a Mary, you would be the last person I would have thought of."

"Why thank-you," replied Rory dryly. "What should I do Steph?"

"I don't know," admitted Steph, serious again. "I've never met him, I haven't seen the way he acts around you. But if you like him, you should give it a chance. I know you Lore, I think you have the sense to be able to tell if he really likes you or not."

Rory nodded and smiled at her old friend. She had forgotten how good it was just to have someone that you could talk to, without worrying what they would think of you, or whether they would tell anyone.

Sensing the conversation was over, Steph stood from her position on Rory's bed and started getting ready to go to sleep.

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Lorelai Gilmore sat at her kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of her. She had spoken to Chris earlier, who had confirmed that Stephanie was in fact a very old friend of Rory, and had nothing to do with her recent behaviour.

Which Lorelai was glad for, because she had already invited the girl to stay the night. Not that she would have kicked her out if Chris had have said anything other than what he did, but she would have felt guilty admitting to him that a girl who was part of the problem was spending the night.

Hearing a laugh from in Rory's room Lorelai smiled. After three and a half weeks of ups and downs, she was starting to think that everything was finally settling down. Rory hadn't been acting up excessively over the last three weeks, she had been grounded, so there wasn't much she could have done. But it finally felt as though there wasn't a constant war going on inside her house, and for that Lorelai was grateful. She wanted to be able to really get to know her daughter, and hopefully, she would have the chance very soon.

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A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter - I'm really excited about this story again! I wasn't going to upload this chapter until Thursday, because I was going to study for my last exam rather than edit and finish this chapter, but I couldn't help myself!!

So you all get this chapter earlier than planned :)

The next chapter won't be out for at least two weeks though, because after exams I am going away with some friends for a much needed vacation!

Please REVIEW!! Let me know if you like the direction the story is heading in at the moment. I have a fair idea of how everything is going to pan out now, but I'm always open to suggestions! As per usual, those who review will get a sneak peek of the next chapter, and I do promise that anyone who reviews before or on the 19th of June (my time - Australia) will get a sneak peek before I go on my vacation. Any reviews after that will have to wait until I get back!

Thanks to everyone who has stuck by this story even with my rather sudden and unplanned hiatus :)

*****VERY IMPORTANT*****
I just need to add this bit, I can't remember whether I have said it before or not, and I can't be bothered going back to check. To do with the Chilton kids - Paris, Louise, Maddie, Tristan and his friends are all just friends. Nothing more. Paris does not like Tristan as she does on the show. This will be important soon... (REVIEW and you'll find out why in the sneak peek!)

Avery xoxo