Sugar and Spice: Everything Changes
By Misha

Disclaimer in Chapter One.

A.N- I hate Jess. I really do. So I have no faith that I'll be able to write him properly. I'm not super happy with this scene, but after 30 rewrites, it was the best I could come up with. I apologize in advance to all the Jess lovers, because I don't think I'm going to do him justice.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Operation Avoidance

Christa was surprised to see that even with her late night, she'd beat her mom and Rory to Luke's the next morning. They'd agreed to meet there for a late breakfast/early lunch.

Christa grabbed an empty table, waving at Luke, who nodded in return. She noticed that the teenage boy the counter was giving her a weird look. She realized that he must be Luke's nephew, the one that had come to live with him. She'd only heard a few things about him, mostly that he had a bit of an attitude problem.

After a moment, he approached the table. "Deciding to walk on the wild side?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, obviously taking in her mid-riff baring top (and the navel ring it revealed) and tight jeans. He seemed particularly puzzled by her long braid.

Christa realized that he thought she was Rory. Which was odd. But then she didn't live in Stars Hollow and if Jess and Rory weren't good friends, and all indicators was that they weren't, maybe he didn't know she had a twin. This was only Christa's second trip to Stars Hollow since Jess' arrival and the last one had been brief and she'd never left her mother's house.

"You must be Jess." Christa said instead of answering his question.

Before he could voice his obvious confusion, the door opened and Lorelai and Rory walked in. Christa smirked as she saw Jess look from Rory to her.

"We're twins," she answered his unspoken question, "but I don't live in Stars Hollow. I live in Boston with our dad."

He nodded and then backed away without another word.

"He's friendly." Christa commented to her sister once they were all seated.

"He's not too bad," Rory defended, "I think he was probably just caught off-guard."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "He's a walking bad attitude," she told Christa, "and for him that was downright polite."

Christa thought the reaction was slightly odd because her mother normally gave people the benefit of the doubt, unless they came from high society, but she didn't push.

"Dad didn't want to come?" Rory asked after a moment.

"He's already on his way back to Boston," Christa told her, "He left early this morning."

"When do you go back?" Lorelai asked her.

"After lunch." Christa told her. "I have some schoolwork I need to get done before tomorrow."

While she wasn't the student Rory was, she knew she was expected to get good grades and that meant occasionally doing her homework. She had an assignment for History that she really needed to work on.

Lorelai looked slightly disappointed. "I was hoping we could keep you for longer."

"I can come down next weekend if you want," Christa volunteered. She had decided that one way to deal with Sherri was to stay away from Boston as much as possible. "I'll pop in and see Straub and Francine on Friday Night and then spend the rest of the weekend with you guys." Friday Night dinners with the Gilmores weren't really her cup of tea and she would feel bad coming to Connecticut and not seeing the Haydens at all.

"That sounds great!" Rory said quickly.

Lorelai gave her a look that told her that her mother understood her motives. "That would be great, you're always welcome. I do have a wedding at the Inn next weekend though, so I'll be busy most of Saturday."

"I can lend a hand if you want," Christa volunteered. She enjoyed helping with events at the Inn. Her mom paid her and Rory for helping out, not that Christa needed the money, but she actually enjoyed the experience.

"That would be great," Lorelai told her, "an extra set of hands is always helpful."

"And then we can have a movie night," Rory told her. "We haven't had one in a while."

"Sounds like a plan." Christa agreed with a smile. She had spent the summer in Connecticut, but she'd been so busy with Colin and Logan and the others, that she hadn't spent as much time with her mom and Rory as she would have liked, so a weekend of Mommy-daughter fun seemed just what the doctor ordered.

"You're back earlier than I expected." Christopher commented when Christa walked through the door. He'd expected her to spend the whole afternoon in Stars Hollow. However, it was a nice surprise to have her home early.

"I have some homework." Christa told him. "And it's been an exhausting weekend. I figure a light afternoon was probably in order."

"Are you up for going out for dinner?" He asked her. "Sherri wants to take us to this Italian place that she thinks you'll love, since she missed out on your debut."

Christa shrugged. "Sure."

Christopher was surprised, he'd expected more of a fight. But he wasn't going to question it. Sherri had been a little irritated to no be invited to the coming out, but he hadn't thought it was the right time for her to meet Lorelai and Rory, plus it was Christa's day and he knew she didn't really want Sherri there. He was hoping that if he backed off a bit that Christa might warm up to Sherri, though he was having a hard time convincing Sherri to go along with that.

"Mom was disappointed that I had to leave so early," Christa told him as she headed to her room, "so I told her I'd be down this weekend. I'll go down Friday after school, have dinner with Grandmother and Grandfather and then spend the rest of the weekend in Stars Hollow and come back Sunday, so don't plan anything."

"Ok." Christopher agreed, mostly because he knew he couldn't say anything else. Part of the agreement with Lorelai was that Christa could visit whenever she wanted. Besides, there was nothing wrong with her wanting to go hang out with her mom and Rory for the weekend. Yet, it bothered him. Because he feared it was a precedent. Christa had been in Boston for just over a month and she'd managed to go somewhere all but one weekend. He was sure that Sherri was the reason, though he doubted Christa wouldn't admit it.

He told himself that it was a good thing that she was close enough to visit her mother and Rory and her grandparents whenever she wanted and he wanted her to have friends, but at the same time he felt like their previous closeness was evaporating.

Weekends had always been their time. Christa would go out with her friends, but they'd also hang out together. Of course, with Sherri, it was more difficult, because she wanted to be included. She hadn't liked his suggestion of backing off a bit.

"Christopher, I'm in your life and that means I'm a part of Christa's life," she told him, "and she needs to accept that and we need to bond."

He was torn because he had serious feelings for Sherri and he could honestly see a future with her and obviously Christa had to be a part of that future, so maybe Sherri was right and it was important for them to get to know each other. However, at the same time he worried that pushing his headstrong daughter to accept something she wasn't ready for was a recipe for disaster.

He shook his head, he was being silly. He and Christa had always had a great relationship, they just needed time to adjust to the changes and once Christa got used to Sherri and accepted that she was a permanent addition to their lives, everything would be fine.