A/N: Allright. I'm soo sorry that it took me such a long time to update. I had to deal with some family stuff first before I could continue writing this. But now I'm back again and I hope it was worth waiting for you guys!
Thanks so much for the sweet reviews. They really make me feel better, so keep them coming.
Enjoy!
Chapter 14 - Talking Things OutLuke walked outside. "Hey Jackson."
"Hey, Luke."
"Thanks for helping me."
"No problem. Where should we start?"
"I don't know. I guess, we'll just walk around town and then… I have no idea."
Jackson saw the worried look on Luke's face.
"Don't worry, Luke. She can't be that far. And what's gonna happen to her in Stars Hollow?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Meanwhile…After Rory had stormed into room her she decided that she needed some fresh air, but because she didn't want to face her mom at the moment she decided to climb out the window.
She walked around in the town for a while, thinking about the fight she just had had with her mom. She took out her cell phone and called a familiar number.
"Hey it's me. Can you meet me at the bridge in 10 minutes? Please? OK, bye."
Rory turned her cell phone off and put it back into her jeans pocket. A few minutes later she arrived at the bridge and sat down in the middle of it, her feet dangling just above the water.
A few minutes later she heard footsteps coming closer, but didn't look up.
"Hey," she heard a familiar voice saying next to her.
"Hey," she said back. "Can you sit down, please?"
The person obeyed and sat down next to her. Neither of them said anything for a few moments.
"I was kinda surprised when you called. I thought you never wanted to see me again."
Rory still didn't say anything.
"I'm sure there was a reason you called."
For the first time Rory looked up into the other person's eyes, her eyes filled with tears that were about to spill any minute.
"I wanted to…" her voice cracked with tears.
"Rory, what is it?"
She took a deep breath. "I am so so sorry, Dean."
"Shh, it's okay." He pulled her sobbing figure into his arms, gently rocking her back and forth, trying to comfort her.
After a few minutes Rory pulled back wiping the tears off of her cheeks.
"God, look at this," she said in a little more steady voice.
"What?" Dean asked her confused.
"You should be hating me right now. I hurt you in the worst way. I destroyed your marriage and yet you're sitting here, comforting me while I'm crying my eyes out about something you probably don't even care about. I'm so selfish. I'm sorry, Dean. I should just leave and stay out of you life and you should just forget about me and…"
Dean stopped her with his hand on her arm. "Rory, look at me."
Rory took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.
"I don't hate you Rory, I could never hate you…"
"But, I…"
Dean stopped her again with his hand on her arm. "No, please let me finish this. I need to get this out."
Rory nodded and waited for him to go on.
Back at the Gilmore house…
Lorelai and Sookie were sitting on the couch waiting for a sign from Rory. Sookie had made some tea for Lorelai earlier but she had rejected it.
A few minutes later, Sookie broke the silence. "Did you try her cell?"
Lorelai stared at her best friend. "Give me the phone, quick."
Sookie spotted the phone on the couch table and handed it to Lorelai who quickly punched in Rory's number. Both Sookie and Lorelai seemed to hold their breath while Lorelai was waiting for a signal.
"The number you are calling is not available at the moment, please try again later."
Lorelai sighed and put the phone back on the table.
Sookie gently rubbed her back. "I'm sure they'll find her soon."
Back at the bridge…
Now it was Dean's turn to take a deep breath before he continued. "I was really confused when I got that letter from. I didn't know what it meant… for us. That night at your house… I was hoping there'd be a chance for us to get back together. I wasn't happy with Lindsey anymore but I didn't want to admit to myself that it wasn't the right decision to marry her in the first place. We were way too young and I didn't know how to be a husband and how to take care of a family. I was hoping that being with you would help to ease my pain. But it didn't. It only made it worse…."
Rory flinched a little at his words.
"Not because I regret what we did. I don't, and I never will. But I realized that it wouldn't be the same with us. You and I have both moved on with our lives. After I had read you letter over and over again I sat down with Lindsey and told her about everything and she and I agreed that it wasn't going to work out between the two of us. We got divorced a month ago."
For a moment, Rory wasn't able to say anything. "Oh my god, Dean. This is all my fault, isn't it?"
Dean shook his head. "No, Rory. None of this is your fault. I knew it wasn't working between the two of us and Lindsey knows that, too. She moved to California with her family, because her dad took a job there."
Rory slowly got her speech back. "How are you feeling now?" she asked softly touching his hand with hers.
Dean looked out on the water and then back at her. "I'm OK." Dean got up and looked across the water again. Some of the leaves had already changed their color and the colors of the Indian summer were now shimmering in the water of the lake.
Rory got up a little confused about his sudden change of mood. "Dean?" she said turning him by his arm so he was facing her again.
"I'm moving back to Chicago." He blurted out still not able to look at her.
Rory was shocked. "You what? When?"
"Next week?"
"Because…"
"No," he interrupted her before she could go any further.
"Where you going…"
"Yes, I wanted to come see you in Yale next week."
"Wow."
"I applied to a couple of colleges after the divorce and I didn't even think they would accept me in Chicago, but they did. I think it'll be good for me. You know, start a whole new life in a different place."
Rory slightly nodded her head, still a little shocked. "Then I need to tell you something before you leave."
"Ok that's just fair."
"I just want you to know that… that I don't regret what has happened between the two of us, either. I don't regret anything about our past. I just want you to know that."
"That's good to hear. Come here." He said pulling her into a tight embrace.
"I love you, Dean. I will always love you as my first boyfriend and the first love of my life and a really good friend."
"I love you, too, Rory." He said holding her close to him.
Rory pulled away after a few moments and smiled at him one more time. "Bye, Dean. Take care of yourself."
Dean smiled back at her, "Yeah, you too, Rory."
And with that each of them went they're own way, not knowing when or if their paths would cross again.
Meanwhile back at the house…
Lorelai was back to her old self again. She was pacing around the living room, furious.
"I'm gonna kill her, Sookie. I swear to god, when she gets back here, I'm gonna kill her. How can she do that? Doesn't she know that I'm worried sick when she disappears and I don't know where she is?"
Sookie was sitting on the couch, watching Lorelai pacing the living room floor. "Lorelai, you need to calm down a little. I mean, I'm sure she has a good explanation as to why she left without telling you."
Lorelai turned around in a swirl facing her best friend. "That explanation has to be majorly good. Sometimes I don't even think I know her anymore. I mean, first she runs off to Europe with my mom, leaving me a letter as to where she went and that it could take a couple of months for them to come back. And now she just climbs out the window. And again I have no clue where she is, if she's alone or if someone's with her. I mean, god knows what could have happened to her and I'm here not knowing if she's hurt or kidnapped or whatever…"
Just at that moment Lorelai and Sookie heard the front door open and close again. Soon after that Rory came walking into the living room. She didn't expect to see her mom and Sookie there.
"Mom, Sookie, what…"
"Where the hell have you been?" Lorelai yelled at her daughter.
"I was…"
"And what the hell were you thinking just climbing out the window like that? Are you trying to imitate me as a teenager?"
"Lorelai…" Sookie said trying to calm her best friend, but Lorelai dismissed her with a glare.
"I was worried sick about you, Rory." Lorelai's eyes started to well up again. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to go into your daughters room and find out that she's not in there? For the second time within a couple of months? I thought you ran away for good or got kidnapped or hurt and I couldn't help you because I didn't know where you were. Do you have any idea, Rory, how worried I was?" Lorelai's cheeks were strained with tears by now.
"No I don't. I'm sorry about making you worry," Rory yelled back at her mom, tears running down her cheeks. "Do you have any idea how it feels when you've done something you know you shouldn't have done, but you can't change anything about it and every single person is looking at you like you're a little slut and not the sweet little girl the used to know? When even you're mother, who you thought was your best friends looks at you in a completely different way and you have no idea how to change that? Do you know how that feels?"
Lorelai's angry expression fell. Just above a whisper she said, "Yes, I do. Oh my god, Rory. I am so so sorry, babe. C' mere." Lorelai stepped towards Rory and pulled her into her arms. Rory started to sob into her mothers shoulder.
"Shh, it's ok, Hon. Shh." Lorelai soothing stroke Rory back with one hand.
Sookie watched the two of them from the couch, with teary eyes and decided to leave the two of them alone. She slipped past them to the door and gently patted Lorelai's shoulder, waving a good- bye on her way out. Lorelai nodded and mouthed a 'Thank you' to her best friend.
Meanwhile…
Outside Sookie saw Luke and Jackson walking towards the house. "Is she back? Is Rory back?" Luke asked her, hurrying towards the house.
Sookie stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Yes she is."
Luke sighed with relief. "Good. Is she ok?" he asked, his expression turning concerned again.
"I think so yes. But I think we should leave them alone, so they can talk things out. There was a lot of yelling and tears involved, but…" Sookie held up her hands in front of Luke in order to stop him from going into the house, "but they're good now. They just need some time to talk."
Luke looked at Sookie and then back to the house. "Ok, uh. Do you want to come to the diner and get some hot cocoa or something? It's getting kinda cold, now that the fall is so close."
Sookie nodded and hooked arms with Jackson. Sounds like a good plan. Let's go."
With that the three of them walked off towards the diner. Luke was glad that he didn't have to wait by himself till he could go back to the house.
Back at the house….
Lorelai and Rory were still standing in the living room hugging each other closely. Rory's sobs had subsided a little bit.
"Come on honey. Let's sit down on the couch," Lorelai said and led Rory to the couch, handing her a tissue from the box on the couch table, when they were finally sitting.
Rory blew her nose and took a deep breath, releasing it with a long sigh.
"I went to see Dean," she said almost inaudible.
"Oh, ok." Lorelai said just as soft as Rory had.
"First, I just wanted to go for a walk, but then I realized that we had to talk about what happened at some point, so I called him and we met at the bridge."
Lorelai nodded. "So did you guys talk about everything?"
"We did." Her expression fell.
"Rory? What happened? Did he hurt you?"
Rory vehemently shook her head. "No, he didn't. He told me that he's going to move out of town in a couple of days."
Lorelai was surprised. "Because of…"
"Not exactly," Rory said shaking her head. "He applied to a College in Chicago after the divorce, but didn't think that he would get in. But he did and now he's going back to Chicago. And he also told me that Lindsey has already moved to California with her family because her dad got a job there."
Lorelai gently put her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Are you sad that he's leaving?"
Rory looked down at her hands. "A little. But I'm more sad because I'll be losing a really good friend. We both know that we shouldn't have done what we did. We wouldn't be able to work it out if we got back together. We're just too different now. This way he can start over in Chicago and I can completely concentrate on my second year in Yale."
"Ok, good."
"What that's all you're gonna say?" Rory asked surprised.
"No."
"Ahh, I knew it." Rory said.
"But it's not what you think."
Lorelai turned to face her daughter and took Rory's hand in hers. "Honey I want to apologize for the way I treated you within the last couple of months."
"It's ok, Mom. You don't have to apologize. I didn't mean it the way I said it earlier."
"No. You did. And you were right. I didn't think about how you must be feeling after all this. I just thought about the way I felt. And earlier when you said it, it just hit me."
"What?" Rory seemed a little confused.
"You felt exactly the way I felt when I got pregnant with you, just that you didn't get pregnant, right?" Lorelai looked at her questioningly.
"What? No, god no."
"Ok, good, sorry. I realized that the way you felt treated by me, was exactly how my mother treated me. In fact she still does."
"Mom."
"No, Rory. I just can't believe that I treated you the way I did. I acted just like my mother had," a single tear rolled down Lorelai's cheek. "And I don't know how to make that up to you. I'm so so sorry."
Rory felt the tears rolling down her cheeks again. "I know, mom. And I'm not mad at you anymore. I know you're sorry and that you were disappointed in what I did and I'm really sorry about that."
Lorelai tugged her daughter towards her. "I know babe, I know," she said in between tears.
After a few minutes both of them had calmed down. Lorelai pulled away a little and dried the tears on her daughter's cheeks. "So, we're good?"
Rory smiled at her mom, "Yeah we're good."
"So what do you say, pizza and a movie?"
"I don't know. It's late and I'm really tired. Let's do it tomorrow night and we'll invite Luke, too. I can't believe I'm gonna be back in Yale in two days."
"Oh, don't say that. I don't wanna think about that now."
Rory stood up and kissed her mom's cheek. "Night, Mom. I love you."
"Night, babe. I love you, too. And no sneaking out again. I'll check up on you in a little while and see if you're still there."
"Allright. Night." Rory smiled and went into her room.
Lorelai sighed and leaned back on the couch. After a couple of minutes she picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Luke. It's me."
"Oh hey. Is everything Allright with you guys?"
"Yeah, we're good. She sleeping now. We had a really good talk."
"Good I'm glad to hear that."
"Yeah, I'm glad we're good now."
"And you're really fine?"
Lorelai had to smile at his loving concern for her.
"Yes, sweetie, I'm really ok."
"Good. So I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast at the diner?"
"Yes you will. Me and Rory."
"Good."
"Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"What for?"
"For giving me some time to down all this."
"Never mind. I'll see tomorrow. Sweet dreams, I love you."
"I love you, too. Night."
Lorelai put the phone back on the coffee table and went to bed, happy that things seemed to be back to the way they were.
Next chapter: Rory's going back to Yale and Luke and Lorelai are spending more time together again. Also first encounters with Lorelai's parents after the Europe trip of Rory and Emily. So stay tuned. :)
A/N2: I know there's been a lot of Rory in the last chapters but I promise you there's gonna be a lot more Java Junkie action soon again. But I have to keep it a little interesting. So tell me if I succeeded. Reviews are always welcome and wished for.