The next few months passed calmly. Lorly went to school each day and enjoyed it, she and Dawn were becoming close friends, she was Lorly's only friend there but it didn't bother her, and she gotten the hang of Chilton. Plus summer was coming and she would have three months away from the hell that was Chilton. Rory went to work each day and tried not to think too much about how much she missed Dean and wanted to try and find him again. One evening when the two were sitting down to dinner at Luke's Rory brought out the Chilton News letter that had come in the mail six days before. Whenever one came she and Lorly eventually read it together to make sure they both new what was going to happen at Chilton. Mostly they made fun of what was going to happen, but either way they knew.

"Oh joy!" Rory said sarcastically looking at the front of the newsletter. "The end-of-year parent-teacher night is coming up!" she turned the page to show Lorly. "Just what I always wanted, to go back to hell as a parent!" she and Lorly both laughed.

"So when is the magical evening?" Lorly asked when they stopped laughing.

"Um… WHOA! It's tomorrow, Thursday! Boy good thing we got around to reading this!"

"Mom from now on lets try to read this thing a little sooner!" Lorly said thanking God they hadn't missed it. All she needed was they teachers giving her the like she was trouble just because she'd missed it.

"All right." Rory said as they continued reading.

*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*

The next night Rory came home and hour early, quickly changed and left for her dear old Chilton. When she arrived she walked from class to class, listening to the teacher blather about this and that until she finally came to the last one. Since it was an athletic class that didn't have a classroom that wasn't covered with grass, they met in a classroom that wasn't being used. Rory was the first person to get to the room and double-checked to make sure she was in the right place. She didn't even see the coach yet. She had been wondering about the coach, since he said he lived in Star Hallow at one point so she rushed to get there first. However she hadn't meant to get there before the coach.

While she waited for someone else to get there she walked around the room. It was the room she had English in her sophomore year with Mr. Medina teaching. How ironic, too bad Mom's not here.

"Sorry I'm late. I was stuck in the office dealing some things." Coach Thompson said as he hurried in the room. He was certain he'd get there in time but was disappointed when he walked in the room and saw a woman with long brown hair walking around the room. She was looking at the books but seemed to be thinking about much more than the books.

A voice brought Rory out of her reveries. The voice was so familiar it made her breath catch in her throat. Even after all these years she knew that voice. Slowly she turned around, almost scared to see the truth.

"I'm De… oh god! Rory?" He had made his way over to the woman to introduce him self, but when she turned around it was the last person he'd ever expected to see again.

"Dean?" Rory asked. She was now standing face to face with him and trying not to cry. She had dreamed of this for so long it didn't seem real.

"I… how… is… oh wow." Dean was speechless. He had imagined this so many times that he wasn't sure if this was and other dream or if it was real.

The reunion was cut short by the entry of other parents and the beginning of the meeting. The meeting rattled both Rory and Dean, but they made it through. At the end the other parents quickly filed out taking little notice that Rory didn't even move from her seat. After all the other parents were gone Dean closed the classroom door and as on the desk in front of Rory.

"Hi." He said, it was the only think he could manage to get from the confusion that overtook.

"Hi." Rory said back equally as confused. "What happened? Where were you? Why didn't you call? Why didn't you…"

"Whoa Rory, one question at a time." Dean cut her off smiling at her rambling. That was his Roy, the same Rory he lost. "First off, I was in California, eventually at Stanford. I tried to call, for two months I couldn't get a hold of you. Every time I called I got the machine. Then I called and it said the number was disconnected. I called information and they said there was no Lorelai or Rory or any Gilmore listed in Star's Hallow Connecticut. I assumed you had moved. I looked for you for two years. Then I assumed you had moved on so I stopped trying and started trying to move on. What happened Rory?" He explained with tear brimming in his eyes.

"I… I…" Rory began as a single tear slid down her face. She still couldn't believe it was her Dean. "I was there in Star's Hallow. We had to change our number because when Mom and Luke got married Max started harassing Mom. We kept the number unlisted." That was all she could get out before she started bawling.

"Hey. Don't cry. It's ok now. We're here now. And that's all that matters." He said as he stood up and pulled her into a hug. After she calmed down they sat again. "So what's happened to you in the last 17 years?" he asked.

"Well… I'm a doctor. I went to Harvard and to Med. School and I'm a doctor… and a mom, as you know." She couldn't believe she was about to do one of the hardest things she'd ever have to do. She was about to tell Dean that he had a 16-year-old daughter that he'd never met. Compared to this Harvard was a breeze!

"Yea, she's really great. You and her Dad must be really proud of her." Here it comes, the part where she tells me about her wonderful husband.

"Yea, I'm really proud of her, and her Dad would be if he knew about her."

"You mean you're not married?" he was surprised but glad! Then it hit him… "Wait you mean she doesn't know her dad and he doesn't know about her? Who is he?" Math had never been his strong suit but it wasn't that bad.

"Dean do the math." Rory said as she got up left leaving a very shocked and confused Dean behind. By the time she got to the jeep she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Wait! Rory wait!" Dean yelled as he ran after her. He'd lost her before and now when he had much more at stake he couldn't lose her again. "Please let's go somewhere and talk." He begged when he reached her. She was about to drive away. But he reached her just in time.

"Ok. Where do you want to go?" she was relieved he came after her.

"Well it's 7:30 let's go get some dinner." He suggested

"Ok get in." and with that they were off.

When they got to Restaurant Dean had suggested, he went in and got a table while Rory called home to tell them she'd be home late. To her surprise her mom picked up the phone. Usually at that time Lorelai was at Luke's begging for more coffee.

"Mom! What are you doing home? Is everything ok?" Rory asked almost worried.

"Oh hey! Everything's fine. Lorly and me are just having a movie night. We were going to wait for you but you know me I've never been patient. By the way where the heck are you?"

"Mom you're not going to believe who I ran into."

"Lets see God would be too far fetched, a friend would be too believable, so I'm going to guess Paris?"

"No guess again."

"Oh wait don't tell me Tristan!"

"Nope wrong again, Dean."

"I… WHAT! Please explain fast!"

"You know Lorly's coach, D. Thompson, well it's Dean."

"So that's who you're with, now where are you? And please tell me it's not the back of a car or a cheap motel room."

"No we have a lot to talk about so we're going to get some dinner." Rory told her as Dean came up to tell her they had a table. "Oh I gotta go I just wanted to tell you I'll be late and not to worry. I'll see you later. Tell Lorly I love her."

"Will do have a good time. Bye." Lorelai said before they hung up.

"What's up?" Lorly asked when Lorelai came back to the living room.

"Um, well, your mom ran into an old friend and she's having dinner to try and catch up on old times."

"Ok now tell me the rest."

"Please don't make me. I can't but I will if you ask enough so PLEASE don't ask again."

"Ok…" Lorly said a little weirded out by her Nani's reaction.

"So are you ready to go in?" Dean asked after Rory had hung up.

"Yea let's go." Rory said, she still couldn't believe she was there with him.

Dinner went smoothly. They talked about everything, what they'd been doing, college, after college, how their families were, Lorly was a major topic of conversation. In the end they decided that Rory would talk to Lorly then Dean would come over Saturday afternoon. They laughed and cried over the past 17 years, it was as if they'd never been apart.

After dinner Rory took Dean back to Chilton and his car. "I had a great time. It's great to see you again. I can't tell you how much I missed you." Dean told her after he got out of the jeep and came around to her window.

"Me too. It's funny, even after all this time, I still love you like the first time I met you." She told him taking his had in hers. It felt good to hold it again.

"Yea I feel the same." He said as he leaned over and kissed her. It was the deepest most passionate kiss they'd shared since they got back together the first time ironically in the same parking lot they were in at that moment. When they finally pulled apart they just looked at each other and smiled.

"Tomorrow's a student holiday, I'll tell he then. I'll see you Saturday."

"I can't wait." Dean said as he slowly backed away knowing if they didn't leave now they never would. "Goodnight Lorelai Gilmore." He said and walked away.

By the time Rory got home it was close to 11. But she knew Lorly, her mother and Luke would be up waiting for her. And when she walked in the door she was not disappointed. After saying goodnight to Lorly and making sure she was asleep, she told her mom and Luke everything. Including the plan to tell Lorly and that Dean was coming over Saturday. Finally after a night of joy, laughter, tears, hugging, kissing, and relaying Rory collapsed in bed and fell asleep.