One more chapter down and I hate to say it but we're getting to the end of this little story. Also has anyone seen or heard from Waltzy lately?
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you," Taylor asked as she watched Ryan get dressed.
"No, I think this'll go better one on one," he told her. "But thanks for the offer."
"Should I call Kaitlyn if I don't hear from you in an hour?"
"I'm going to talk, not steal plans to the Death Star."
"Yes, I know you're going to talk. You're going to talk to Julie. She's not exactly known for keeping her temper."
"You really think she'll be mad?"
"I don't know if she's going to be mad or if she'll be hurt," Taylor said shrugging. "You were her daughter's first love and it's been less than a year since she died and you're-"
"Happy," Ryan finished.
"Yes."
"You don't think she's gonna be happy that I'm living my life? Isn't that what you said before?"
"I said Marissa would be happy for you. Her mother is another matter."
"So long as Frank's not there, I'll be fine."
"Is he the main reason you're going over there?"
"He's a reason. He's not the main reason."
Taylor nodded and got up on her knees at the end of the bed where Ryan was. She put her arms around his neck, "How about I cook for you and me tonight? I'll make dinner and dessert and we can shut out the world."
"Mmm. Do I still get that if I wuss out?"
"Yes," she nodded. "I heard you talked to Summer."
"Yeah. You're right. I need to make my peace with that part of my life."
"I'm proud of you," Taylor smiled. "And no matter what your demons say, you're a good man."
"Remind me of that when I get back."
"I will," Taylor smiled and kissed him. "See you later."
"Bye."
-x-x-x-x-
Ryan knocked on the door to the Roberts house and smiled at Kaitlyn when she opened the door.
"Ryan, what are you doing here?"
"I was hoping to see your mom. Is she home?"
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"No." He ran a hand through his hair. "So, is she here?"
"Yeah, come on in," Kaitlyn let him in. "Mom? Someone's here to see you."
Julie came in from the kitchen. "Ryan."
"Hi Julie."
"I'm gonna go see what Summer's doing."
He barely managed to keep from snatching after her for the security, the buffer of her presence.
"Ryan?"
"Hey, Julie."
"We went through that already," she said.
"Right. How are you?"
"I'm fine," she nodded. "I understand congratulations are in order. You're getting married?"
"Shit." Which one had it been? Kaitlyn was more likely, Summer having come a long way from her gossip-maven days. "I wanted to tell you myself."
"It's okay. I'm actually glad I had the news before you told me," Julie went to the wet bar and poured herself some water. "Have you set a date?"
"We're gonna wait a year. We want to get a year of school out of the way and let everything get settled before we do it."
"I see."
"You seem really.....calm."
"I wasn't when I found out," Julie turned to face him. "I was angry and I did a lot of yelling, mainly at your- Frank. I even yelled at Summer a little because she defended you and Taylor."
"She did?"
"Yes, she did. She asked me if I expected you to mourn Marissa forever."
Ryan flinched. "Sorry."
"Don't be. She was right. I shouldn't resent you living your life just because......."
"I owe it Marissa to do this."
"I don't understand."
"She'll never get the chance to live her life, so we owe it to her to live ours."
"After I was done yelling Kaitlyn came to see me. She said that Taylor didn't want me to know because there was some part of me that always expected you to father Marissa's children."
Ryan sighed. "That wouldn't have happened, even if she'd lived."
"Why not? She loved you."
"Yes." Maybe. "But we weren't good for each other."
"You sound like Jimmy," Julie said quietly. "He thought the same thing."
"Did he?"
"Yes. He always hoped one of your breakups would stick."
"And you didn't?"
"I did but at the same time, a big part of me knew that you kept her alive."
"I tried." Guilt gnawed at him.
"Ryan, it wasn't your fault."
"It wasn't yours either." He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Feel any less guilty?"
"No."
"Me neither."
"Summer was right though. Mourning Marissa forever is no way to live," Julie tried to smile. "And no matter what her faults she would've wanted you to live."
Ryan nodded. "There was something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"Frank?"
"Yeah."
"Did you want to talk to him?"
"Not hardly."
"But you want to talk to me about him."
"Yeah. Look Julie, I know you're more than capable of handling yourself but he's not the best person to be involved with."
"He's not the man you knew."
"He's not the man you think, either."
"I'll be okay, Ryan. I can trust him."
"No, you can't. When something goes wrong, or something happens he doesn't like; you'll be lucky if all he does is bail."
"Don't you think you're being unfair? People can change Ryan. Prison tends to do that."
"Not enough to trust a person implicitly."
"I've been with my share of bad boys. He's not one of them."
"Just be careful, okay? I don't want to see you or Kaitlyn hurt."
"Trust me, Ryan. If your father makes one wrong move, it'll make what I put you through look like Christmakkuh."
"Okay," Ryan nodded with a small smile.
"A boy and a girl," Julie questioned.
"Jake and Josie," Ryan said.
"Congratulations Ryan," Julie smiled. "You'll be a good father."
"Thank you Julie."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Ryan walked the path to the grave he was looking for. He set down the flowers he'd bought on a whim and looked at the stone that bore Marissa's name.
"I wasn't sure I was going to come here today. I was going to ask Summer to come with me but I didn't want to back out on her at the last minute and make her come alone."
The etched letters looked different in the sun than they had in moonlight. Lighter, somehow. Seeing the sparkle off the curve of the "M" he found the corner of his mouth twitching, remembering the fun they'd had; between the bouts of drama.
"You'll never believe who I hooked up with. Or maybe you will. I don't know what happens to people when they die and contrary to my actions last year, I'm not in a real big hurry to find out. Anyway, it's Taylor Townsend. She's a lot different now or maybe she was always this way and I just never saw it. For a long time I couldn't see anything but you. When I first came here it was the laughing, party girl whose world collapsed on her one night and then it was you with the life draining out of your eyes." Ryan drew in a shaky breath. "But what I see now is the girl who didn't dump her best friend because she started dating a geek. The girl who made me live up to her expectations, who didn't let me do the hard shit by myself. You kept trying to do that for other people, too. Make them better, help them get through the hard times." He gave a shaky laugh. "Too bad you didn't pick your projects as carefully as you picked your clothes.
"I wanted to kill him because I thought that would make it stop hurting. But all it would've done was make me like him and I don't want to be that person. I can't be that person because I've got people who need me and it's not just Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth. It's Taylor, Jake, and Josie. They need me and I need them. I woke up this morning in the pool house and Taylor was next to me and I could hear gurgling from a few feet away and it hit me that Taylor was right. She told me yesterday that the kids and I were her home. Well it goes both ways. They're my home, too."
He wasn't sure if the salt he could smell was from the slight breeze from the direction of the beach, or the moisture on his face.
"I guess what I'm trying to work up to is what we were talking about that day. You were right - it's over." His hand shook as he leaned forward to touch the surprisingly warm stone. "Thank you for loving me, Marissa."
--xxx--
Ryan walked into the pool house and smiled when he saw Taylor and the kids on the floor. He could smell something cooking from the little kitchen and see something on the stove that was ready to go into the oven.
Taylor looked up from the book she was reading aloud and smiled at him. She was wearing her glasses and she looked so cute.
"Hey," she said.
"Hi," he returned as he shed his shoes and sat down next to her. The twins were on their stomachs on a blanket. "What are you reading?"
"Gone With the Wind," she said. "I found it in a box of books that belonged to Rose. Kirsten said it was alright as long as I returned it."
"You're reading Gone With the Wind to a pair of infants."
"Yes."
"Oddly enough, that seems normal."
"I'm just killing some time until our dessert is done and then I'll put in dinner."
"What are we having?"
"Sookie sent me a handwritten cookbook and has assigned me to cook one recipe a week and get opinions on them. Tonight we have having Italian Easter potpie and Chocolate Chunk and Pecan cookies."
"I'll be sure and tell Seth after they're all gone."
"Ryan."
"Price he pays for dissing your ability to cook."
"You're so sweet to me," Taylor smiled.
"You make it easy."
Taylor kissed him and then leaned her head on his shoulder, "So, I know there was no yelling because Summer called, but did it go okay?"
"Yeah," Ryan said before he turned and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Julie's okay with us and she's promised to be careful where Frank is concerned."
"Good. Did you go anywhere else?"
"I brought her flowers and talked to her. I'm okay."
"And you don't feel like I pushed you into going?"
"No, it's fine."
"So, who do you think you would've been," she said pointing to the cover of the book.
"I don't know the story well enough."
"Okay."
"Why? Who do you think I'd be?"
"You're not Rhett and you're definitely not Ashley. You have a good head for alcohol and you have a slight temper so you'd be one of the Tarleton twins or maybe both of them."
"What about Seth?"
"Charles Hamilton," Taylor said without hesitation.
"Is that good or bad?"
"I don't think I'm going to answer that," Taylor said.
"Taylor."
"Charles kind of lived in his own world a lot of the time."
"Sounds just like Seth."
"Yeah," Taylor nodded. She put the book aside. "So, you got a phone call while you were gone."
Ryan sighed. "Frank?"
"No. Dawn. She got your message."
"Oh."
"You left her a message telling her she was a grandmother? Seriously?"
"You said you wanted me to tell her."
"I meant in person, not over the phone."
"What's wrong with over the phone?"
"Okay, over the phone is fine but don't you think you should've told her you had something to tell her and then wait for her to call you back before you gave her the news?"
"Taylor, you have to remember what my family's like. I leave her an open message like that, and she'd be freaking out that I'd been arrested, or one of the Cohens was in the hospital....."
"Point taken," Taylor nodded. "But you could have said, 'Ma, I have good news. Call me when you get this.' Would that have freaked her out?"
"Yeah. Good news doesn't mean the same thing when you're an Atwood. She'd probably think Trey showed back up or I found a shady job or something."
"Speaking of your other brother, are we inviting him to the wedding?"
"Hell, no."
"Ryan...."
"I don't even know where he is, for one; and I don't want him around you, for another."
"Okay."
"That's it?"
"What?"
"That's all you're going to say?"
"Yes," Taylor nodded. "To be honest, I don't think I want him around me either."
"Yeah." He frowned. "He's got this thing.....he doesn't think girls really like me more than him. Whenever I hook up with someone, he tries to break us up."
"You think that I'd.....?"
"No, of course not. I just don't want you to have to put up with him."
Taylor leaned her head on Ryan's shoulder and hugged his arm. She was quiet for a long moment. "You don't forgive him, do you?"
"Taylor..."
"It's okay not to. It's okay to be mad at him. It doesn't make you a bad person."
"It's not just the thing with Marissa; it's....."
"Everything that came before."
"Yeah."
"I stand by what I said. It's okay not to forgive him," Taylor said quietly. "Sometimes people let you down once too often."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Veronica."
"I guess we both know what it is to be let down by the people who are supposed to be there for us."
"Yeah." He put an arm around her. "The Cohens always ask, always want to help; you understand what it's like, and that it's not something that needs to be talked about."
"Oh but I talk. It's who I am."
"Yeah, but you talk about good things. Well, now that you're not trying to get rid of me."
Taylor giggled. "Yeah, like I would've ever actually gotten rid of you. You would've followed me everywhere every day for the rest of our lives."
"Seth stalked Summer for years before she even noticed. I'm lucky you let me in after only a few months."
"Well, you are kinda cute."
"And you are definitely beautiful."
Taylor smiled and put a hand to the side of his face before she kissed him.
Bing!
"That's the cookies," Taylor smiled.
"Yum." He tapped her nose. "I'll watch the kids."
"Be right back," she said getting up and going into the kitchen. She pulled out a tray of cookies and set them on the stove before putting in her potpie and setting the timer. Then she turned around and saw Seth coming in. "Out!"
"Are those cookies?"
"No."
"They look like cookies."
"Not for you."
"Why not?"
"Because I am making dinner for Ryan and me. Alone. Solo. So long," Taylor waved.
"But what about dessert?"
"Out, Seth."
"This isn't fair," Seth whined.
"Before I dig out one of the kebob skewers that Sandy has hidden under the sink," Taylor said.
"You're mean."
"Goodbye Seth."
"This isn't fair," he tossed over his shoulder as he left.
"I got news for you," Taylor said. "Life's not fair."
"That was a little mean," Ryan said as Taylor lay on her stomach behind him.
"I know he's your family and all but I want a night alone with you in this little house."
Gurgle
"Well, you and the kids." She wiggled Jake's foot, making him giggle.
"As much as I miss them, I want that too," Ryan smiled at her.
"We'll save Seth some cookies."
"Uh-uh," Ryan shook his head. "He doesn't deserve any."
"You can't eat them all."
"Some for Kirsten, then."
"She'll like that. I remember wanting nothing but chocolate for three weeks around the six month. Luke wanted to throw up when I ate chocolate syrup on blueberry pancakes one morning."
"I don't blame him. That's disgusting."
"Yes and do you know who absolutely loves blueberries?"
Ryan looked at their kids and then back at her, "Oh no."
"Your son."
"As long as he doesn't like them with chocolate sauce."
"I think you're safe," Taylor smiled. She looked at him thoughtfully.
"What?"
"Just wondering I'm going to be seeing this face again in eighteen years."
"He won't look exactly like me." Ryan frowned. "Will he?"
"I don't know. Those eyes are pretty much a dead match for yours."
Ryan smiled, remembering the morning in Taylor's old room at Lorelai's, "And for that, I'm glad."
"I try not to gush over them too much. Don't want to come off like one of those arrogant mothers who think her children are perfect. Sometimes, though; I can't help myself."
"Well, they're adorable. You can't deny the facts."
Taylor smiled at him and then kissed him. When they parted she scrunched her nose at him, "With a father that stole every girl in Harbor's heart how could they not be?"
"Especially considering the smoking hotness that is their mother." He sighed. "Why do you think I'm so worried about Josie?"
"We'll teach her how to handle the hordes of drooling boys without being an ice queen, don't worry."
"Can't help it.
"Maybe she'll inherit your fight skills," Taylor teased him.
"That's not funny."
"If she did it would cut down on the boys that come calling."
"Not if you go by your friend Paris."
"Paris is a special case and she didn't learn Krav Maga until she and Doyle moved into that apartment in a really bad neighborhood."
"I'd really like to change the subject now."
"Okay. What do you want to do after dinner, when the kids are asleep?
"Put the chair in front of the locked door so Seth doesn't sneak in on us."
"So, you want to be alone with me?"
"So much."
"Sounds like you have some ulterior motives, there."
"A few."
"Any of them involve me on my back?"
He grinned. "A few."
"Can't wait," she whispered into his ear.
"That's what makes it good." He leered at her, turning it into a gentle smile when his daughter cooed at him. "No comments from you two."
"We are so going to have to watch ourselves when they get older or they're going to think their parents are total perverts."
"Well, we are when it comes to each other."
"True enough. But we won't be sharing any details with them, so I wouldn't be too embarrassed."
"With Seth around? Once they're old enough, you know he's going to tell them story after story about their 'kinky' parents."
"That will be a problem, won't it?"
"We might have to kill him," Ryan said.
"Nah. We can't do that to Summer. We'll just cut his tongue out."
"How is Summer gonna forgive us for that? He does more than talk with it."
"Ryan! Ew." She smacked his shoulder. "I don't need to think of them doing that."
"You seem to like it." She blushed and he grinned. "Gotcha back."
"Perv," Taylor teased him.
"You love it."
"Yes and you," Taylor smiled.
"Love you, too," Ryan said.
"I'm going to check the food. It's getting sappy in here."
"Kiss first."
Taylor smiled and obliged him before she got up to check on dinner.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"It's not fair."
"Cohen, enough," Summer said. "I'll make you cookies."
"Last time you made me cookies I broke a tooth."
"I told you that wasn't your tooth, it was a macadamia nut I put in the cookie."
"Aren't you supposed to shell them first?"
"You want cookies or not?"
"The ones Taylor was making smelled really good," Seth whined.
"I swear I'm going to kill you, Seth."
"I might join you," Sandy said from the doorway. "No more whining."
"Dad....."
"No. You're giving your mother a headache."
"They're supposed to be here to visit not hole up in the pool house and ignore us."
"Maybe they're trying to give us time to consider their suggestion."
"Moving to Stars Hollow? Sounds good to me."
"Seth..."
"Seriously, Dad; what's the down side?"
"Well, there's the fact that one day you might move back here because Summer's dad is here."
"Doctor Roberts lives in Seattle, so no moving back to this den of pod people."
"And I like Stars Hollow," Summer said. "I wouldn't mind living there or near there. The people are funny and they've got some good cooks in that town. There's Sookie and Luke and Weston's Bakery is great."
"And we'd be near Ryan and Taylor and the kids."
"We can spoil the heck out of them," Summer smiled. "Hop them up on sugar and send them back to their parents."
Sandy laughed.
"See? You agree it's a good plan."
"It's not a bad one," Sandy smiled. "I will say that we are leaning towards leaving and that's all I'll say."
"Okay," Seth said.
"Now, I'm going back to my bedroom and I don't want to hear any more whining Seth. Clear?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Good." Sandy turned and left.
"C'mon Cohen."
"Where are we going?"
"To the store to get you some cookies."
"You're so good to me."
"Remember that, okay?"
"Always."
---xxx---
Sandy heard the front door open and shut and shut the door to his own room. He smiled at his wife, "We're childless for at least an hour."
"My clever man."
"That's why they don't pay me the big bucks."
Kirsten laughed as Sandy got back into bed, "Pool house quiet?"
"Dim and quiet," Sandy said. "I'm glad he's home and I'm glad she's with him. As crazy as she is, she's been good for both our sons. She was a friend to Seth when he needed one and she made Ryan start to fight for something again."
"Figuratively speaking, thankfully."
Sandy nodded, "It's hard to remember that angry fifteen year old boy sometimes especially last night when I saw him walking back and forth with Jake out by the pool trying to get him to go to sleep."
"It was so adorable."
"Not as adorable as the look on his face when you suggested he sing to him."
"I think we should, Sandy," Kirsten said.
"Should what," Sandy asked.
"Move to Stars Hollow," Kirsten told him. "I think it'd be better for everyone."
"Are you sure? You have to be sure."
"No one we really love is going to be here anymore, Sandy. The boys will be back east along with our grandchildren, present and future."
"I'm not protesting, sweetie. I'm just saying - we have to be sure. Moving across the country - that's big," he grinned. "I don't know what I'm going to do without my surfing."
"Seth can teach you to skateboard," Kirsten smiled. "I don't want to raise our daughter with the offspring of the kids who tormented our son and our future daughter-in-law all through school."
"I'm with you there."
"I don't want to live in the town that wouldn't accept Ryan as our son."
"Morons."
"And I think we'd have all kinds of new experiences if we moved east. We'd have snow and we could teach our daughter how to make a snowman."
Sandy nodded, "This is true."
"And Ryan seems to like Stars Hollow a lot and for Ryan to like any place is a major miracle."
"He's liking a lot of things since he and Taylor got together."
"That's true. And have you noticed how confident he is?"
"No more protests about college and refusing all help. No more aiming for the easy stuff - now he goes for what he wants, no holds barred."
"He hasn't had it easy by a long shot but with girls a lot of the time he just had to smile. Taylor was different."
"There's another reason to move."
"Taylor?"
Kirsten nodded. "I want to make sure she doesn't plan her wedding around making everyone else happy."
"She does seem to have that eager to please thing down, doesn't she?"
"Thank you Veronica Townsend," Kirsten frowned. "I really wanted to slug her the other night after Taylor and Ryan left. Did you hear some of the things she was saying to the women at the bar?"
"I was too busy cheering the Bullitt on. He was singing Ryan's praises at the other end of the bar and asking me to haul out pictures of Jake and Josie every five minutes."
"You loved it."
"That I did. Especially the parts where he kept wondering how 'a classy filly' like Taylor came from 'an honest-to-God witch'."
Kirsten laughed, "Kaitlyn asked me the same thing as we were leaving. I swear, if there weren't times when she looked at me and I saw Jimmy looking back, I'd swear Julie'd known Bullitt a lot longer than she lets on."
"Of course, being Julie, she had to go for Frank over Bullitt."
'You don't like him, do you?'
"Bullitt?' She gave him a look. 'No, I don't like Frank Atwood. I don't trust him."
"It's going around."
"I really don't want him to mess things up for Ryan."
"Yet another good reason to make the move."
Sandy smiled, "Point taken."
"We're actually going to do this, aren't we?"
"Yeah, we are. We'll tell the kids in the morning."
