Title: What Sam Says

Chapter 12: The Four Aliases

A/N: Ha! Chapter twelve! That's a lot of chapters!

Picking up right where I left off. I bet, if I really wanted to, I could post this entire story as one story. Cause it's so short. But I don't want to do that. Cause then you'd have to wait a long time for updates. And I'd have to, you know, actually have an ending. Which I don't have yet. But I will. I promise.

Omg!! I have good news!!! I think…I think…that in this chapter, the flashbacks will loop back around to the original chapter, thereby bringing us up to the present, where much will be explained, and everything will be tied up neatly!!!

Yay!

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"So Jess cut your hair," Lorelai stated, reaching out to touch her daughter's completely uneven hair. "He did a crappy job."

"I know," Rory unconsciously ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm cutting it. Evenly." Lorelai stated, heading to get the scissors from the junk drawer.

"Right now?" Rory asked.

"In a second. Go duck your hair under the faucet and get it wet again, and I'll cut while you talk."

Rory sighed and obliged.

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After four days in Maine, Rory withdrew the remaining fifteen thousand dollars from her joint account with Mark. Jess had Baylor pick him up, and gave Rory his car, an old red convertible. She thanked him, promised to keep in touch, and headed west.

Rory used the name Victoria Hayden—her mother's middle name and her father's last name—in a small town in northern Ohio, and got a job as a front desk clerk at a hotel.

When a certain Mr. Jake Miller, brother of a certain Mr. Mark Miller, decided to check into the hotel, Rory hightailed it out of the town, driving farther west.

Victoria Hayden became Emily Straub—her maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather's names—in Chicago, where she got a job as a waitress.

When Rory spotted a very familiar brunette and a very familiar blonde in very familiar suits across the restaurant, she moved to the Gulf Coast.

Emily Straub was Leigh Phillips—her middle name, and Sam Phillips' last name. She started listening to Sam Phillips during the drive to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and was a bona fide fan when she became a hostess at a casino restaurant in Gulfport.

Leigh Phillips stayed in Mississippi from early June to mid-August, and was very happy to spend her free time on the beach. However, the humidity, combined with the fact that at four months, she was starting to show her pregnancy, forced her from Mississippi to colder regions.

Leigh Phillips changed into Kim Gellar—the last names of her best friends…who she hadn't seen for almost a year, she realized—as she moved into a Seattle apartment.

Still communicating regularly with Jess, Rory was amazed when he broke the news to her that Mark Miller had disappeared.

"Hello?" Jess asked wearily, answering his cell phone at what was almost nine at night.

"Ooh, Jess, you sound tired," Rory said, concerned.

"Yeah. I really am. We're hurrying to get the last fifteen pages shot by Labor Day."

"That's soon." Only two weeks, Rory realized, checking the calendar in her kitchen.

"Yeah. And Baylor's feeling the strain of being a star. She's been getting less and less sleep. Me, too, come to think of it."

"That sucks. Anything I can do?"

"No. Just be your regular happy self. Keep calling."

"Can do."

"So. Who are you now? Where are you?"

"My name is Kim Gellar, and I live in Seattle."

"Seattle, huh? Nice to meet you, Kim."

"You, too." Rory smiled and sank into the couch left behind by the previous owner.

"So, what're you doing these days?"

"I'm an assistant to one of the largest reporters in Seattle."

"Wow. Congratulations."

"Thank you. I still can't believe that I basically dropped out of college."

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault, anyway."

"No, it was my fault. I'm the one who met Mark and started going out with him. I let him control my life after I…." Rory trailed off. She didn't feel comfortable telling Jess that she'd been in love with Mark.

"Right," Jess broke into her thoughts, sounding a little uncomfortable himself. "Uh, about that. I've had some news."

"Oh?" Rory asked, perking up a little. She was hoping it was something along the lines of, "he's completely and totally gone, come on home."

"Tristan stopped calling me. So, I called him. Just to see what was up."

"Uh-huh?" Rory prompted as Jess faltered.

"Yeah. His cell-phone's out of service, his home phone's been disconnected, and his secretary didn't seem to know who I was."

"Makes sense."

"Right. So I had Baylor call back, saying she was you. She was put through immediately, and Tristan knew it wasn't you, so he came over to the movie set."

"Uh…huh," Rory said very slowly.

"And he was…pretty bad. He and Mark were undercover—"

"Wait. Undercover?" Rory interrupted Jess.

"Yeah. They worked for the CIA."

"'Worked'?"

"Yeah. Mark's…kinda gone. He disappeared. They have no idea where he is. And Tristan's…decommissioned. He was really bad, Ror. Like, horribly beat up, and he was nursing a bullet wounds on his left arm and legs."

"Oh, my God."

"Yeah. So…the threat's gone."

"Not Tristan."

"You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Can you get through to Stars Hollow?"

Jess paused. "No," he admitted. "But, you know, Luke's a hard person to track down."

"Don't try to make it better, Jess. As soon as we can get through to Stars Hollow, then I'll go back."

"But I haven't even tried Lor—"

"If you can't find Luke, you can't find my mom. Luke's always in the diner, or at our house. Mom's usually at our house, the inn, or the diner. So if you can't find him…"

"Okay. Fine. Don't come back."

"It's just a little longer."

"Right. Well, I'll be back in L.A. in a couple of weeks."

"I'll be here."

"Okay. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." Rory hung up the phone.

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"I've missed you," Lorelai said, setting down the scissors and facing her daughter as Rory paused in the story.

"I know. I've missed you, too." Rory smiled at her mother, who smiled back.

"Ah, hell, I haven't hugged you in forever!" Lorelai threw her arms around Rory and they sat there for a minute, just holding each other.

"I love you, Mom," Rory announced over Lorelai's shoulder.

"Oh, I love you, too."

The baby kicked Lorelai's stomach, and she jumped back.

"Whoa. The baby—just kicked his grandmother. Bad baby," Lorelai said with her face at eye-level with Rory's stomach. Then she looked up at Rory and grinned. "The baby just kicked me."

"I know," Rory smiled.

Lorelai put her hand on Rory's stomach and said, "Continue."

"Well, that's pretty much it. Jess and I tried calling you and Luke for a while, and when Jess finally got through to Luke again, I started my long-drive home. And then I finally got ahold of you the other day, and showed up yesterday."

"Wow. And, so you're gonna stop traveling around and move back here?"

"Actually, I've got one more stop I want to make," Rory said, grinning widely. Lorelai grinned back.

"Well, whaddya say you stay one more day—and we can visit his uncle—and tomorrow, you can visit him. Maybe you can fly. You know, leave the awesome convertible here, fly out there, do what you need to do," Lorelai said suggestively—Rory blushed, "and then bring 'im back."

"I hope he comes back."

"Oh, trust me. After hearing that story—he'll come back. Definitely."

Rory smiled.

"So, let's go visit his uncle. Maybe eat…dinner," Lorelai said after glancing at the clock. "God, Rory, you tell long stories."

"It was a long story to tell."

"Aw. Poor little Rory. Let's go to Luke's and refuel." Lorelai stood up and pulled her daughter up beside her.

"Okay," Rory agreed, leaning into Lorelai's shoulder and snaking her arm around her mother's waist.

"Okay," Lorelai whispered back, so very thrilled to be next to her daughter again. She put her own arm around Rory's shoulder, and they walked out of the house, heading towards Luke's.

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A/N: Okay, so that's it for this chapter. This is a short, uneventful chapter, yes, but if I stop here, I think I can milk another chapter or two from this story. I'll start writing those tonight, so I can stick one of 'em up tomorrow. Big events coming up—no more flashbacks!!