Everything's Changing

Shipping: Trory & Lindsey/Dean

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to ASP, DP & Dorothy Parker Drank Here productions. If I owned anything, why would I write fanfic?

AU-ness: Jess is leaving the Hollow for California early. Tristan was never sent to military school.

Dedication: The Trory's at ORG-Summer, Kath & Michelle. I love the OF's! Lola, thanks so much for beta-ing. Loz, Katherine, Hellie and Lauren. Congrats on graduating, Lauren!

Lindsey Bradford trudged down the empty hall of Stars Hollow High. She was late for chemistry. It wasn't like it was her fault! She had to drive Suzie, her little sister, to school. 'They should stop assigning projects bigger than their heads to eight year olds,' she thought.

"Late again, Miss. Bradford?"

"Uh, yeah? Sorry Mr. Morris. I have a late pass." Lindsey looked up from her backpack and noticed fifty eyes staring out at her. She handed him the pass and quietly slipped into a seat.

Leaning towards the guy next to her, she asked, "What did I miss?"

"He's about to announce the groups for the project," the guy whispered.

"Thanks!"

"Betty, Peter, and Josh. Matt and Lane.." The teacher's monotone voice went on as Lindsey listened intently for her name. Finally, it was announced. "Lindsey and Dean."

'Who's Dean?' Lindsey thought to herself as she looked around the room. It was although she hoped this mystery man would have Dean written on his forehead.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Yes?"

Lindsey felt as though she melted into his deep brown eyes.

He flipped his long hair to the side as he said, "Uh, I'm Dean Forrester. Your partner for the project?"

"Oh, well what exactly is the project? I was kinda late to class."

Dean chuckled lightly. "It wasn't easy to miss your tete a tete with Mr. Morris. He can be a pain sometimes. Well, we have to."

Lindsey stared deep into his eyes. She still had no idea what the project was, but it was okay. Dean would help her maneuver the ways of chemistry.

Gathering up her books, she walked out of the classroom with Dean at her side. Smiling up at him, she asked, "So, when can we get together to work on the project?"

Lindsey saw Dean shrink back and suddenly she was worried. Was she being too forward? But it wasn't like she was asking him out. They did have to work on the project together.

He easily shrugged his broad shoulders and said, "I gotta get to my next class. I'll talk to you later though, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Lindsey said, slightly in a daze that this guy was actually talking to her.

"Hey Lindz. What's up?" Lindsey's best friend, Katherine, came out from behind her. Katherine had a big grin on. "Lindsssssey. Lindsey Helen Bradford."

"Oh, hi."

"Are you okay, Lindz? You seem a little..out of it."

"I'm not out of it. In fact, I think I may have found my way into it." Lindsey sighed for emphasis as Katherine rolled her eyes, "Dean Forrester. He's just . . . perfect."

Katherine was shell shocked. "Um, you're crushing on Dean?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"Noooo. It's just . . . well, he's dating Rory Gilmore."

"Are you sure? I am pretty positive she dumped him a while back for Jess Mariano."

"Why would you think that? Isn't Jess in California?"

"Let's just say I saw them making out at Sookie and Jackson's wedding. She looked pretty into it."

"But her date to the wedding was Dean!"

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent positive!"

"That's so strange. Why would someone do that?"

"Why were you even there, Lindsey?"

"I was helping serve for some extra cash. Why were you there?"

"Distant cousins of Jackson."

"Oh. So you know the infamous Rune?"

"Ugh. Don't even get me started on him."

Lindsey giggled.

Katherine looked at her watch, "Shit, we have to get to second period. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

A few hours later, Lindsey was stepping out of Stars Hollow High and into the sunshine. Soon, a floppy haired brunette was joining her in step.

"So, can you come over tonight?" Dean asked eagerly.

"Uh, I think I can do that. Seven works for me."

"Okay. See you then!"

Dean walked off to join his hockey buddies. Lindsey felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she saw one of his teammates, Jake put his arm around his girlfriend. Jake had cheated on Tara with Lindsey's friend, Suzanne, and Tara had never found out. Suzanne was still heart broken. Lindsey made up her mind then and there; she was not going to let Dean take advantage of her. No matter how handsome he was.

In Hartford, Rory was covering the varsity lacrosse game for the Franklin . The bleachers were mostly empty save a few girlfriends and mothers, as the game promised to be a wash. She tapped her notebook and waited for it to start. She wanted to be anywhere other than here. Metal bleachers were uncomfortable but they were worse when you were wearing a skirt. As the team walked out with Tristan DuGrey, Captain, at the lead, Rory snapped to attention.

"Hey Mary." He smirked as they passed her.

"Hi," she said quietly, playing with the hem of her annoying skirt.

He stopped to talk to her as the team started to warm up.

"I have to interview you for the Franklin ."

"Fine, what time's good for you?"

"Whenever. Right after the game would be best."

"Okay. So stick around, and let me shower and change. Unless you want to come into the locker room with me." His eyes twinkled as hers rolled.

"Riiiight. See you outside the locker room after the game. Go warm up, bible boy."

Back in Stars Hollow, Lindsey was excited. She gathered up her oak tag, markers and class notes and got ready to head over to Dean's house. Before she shut the door to her house, she looked around and smiled. It was to her as though a chapter in her life was ending and a new chapter, an older, more mature chapter was beginning. She hoped this chapter would include Dean Forrester.



Dean was confused. He loved Rory, he really, really did. Hadn't he built her a car? But Lindsey.she was cute. And she had that incredible amount of energy. Rory just liked to read, and stuff. He actually wasn't sure what Rory liked to do. He had noticed Lindsey before in class. She was always the first one with her hand up, always the one willing to stay after class and help the teacher.

Dean shook his head as he heard the doorbell ring. There was no point to him trying to figure this out right now.

Rory and Tristan settled into chairs at Starbucks in Hartford, she with three coffees, and him with one frappucino.

"Oh. Those are yummy. Do you think they'd let me trade a coffee for a frapp?"

"I doubt it, Ror."

She pouted.

He handed her the cup and took a coffee.

"Thank you, Trissy."

"I'll take it back if you call me Trissy again."

"No promises."

"Evil."

"Speaking of evil, I should get some interview done so Paris doesn't chastise me."

"Interview away."

"So how long have you been playing lacrosse?"

"Since kindergarten."

"About how many hours a week do you practice?"

"That's hard to put a figure on. We have team practices for 90 minutes five days a week, and I try to practice on my own or with friends whenever I can."

"Do your parents support your lacrosse playing?"

Tristan stretched his muscular arms and sighed. "My parents and I have a very complicated relationship. They do not support me in anything except academics. They expect me to grow up and attend an Ivy League university and work my way up the ladder at some important business. My dad especially. After a little incident with Duncan and Bowman he threatened to send me to military school in North Carolina. He even went so far as to pack my bags. The only thing that stopped him was scarring the DuGrey name."

Rory was shell-shocked. She had never heard Tristan say that much about his home life, ever. Especially not to her.

Now, they were uncomfortable. Taking her last sip of coffee, Rory looked at her watch.

"Sorry, Tristan. I really have to go now."

"But we didn't even finish the interview! Won't Paris get mad?"

"I can't miss the bus."

"I'll drive you. We can finish the interview in the car."

Her face brightened as she agreed, "Okay."

Walking out the door to Tristan's car, Rory was not surprised at how flashy the black Alfa-Romeo was. Rolling her eyes at his license plate "TRIS" she said, I should have guessed."

"But you didn't." He said as he got into the car.

"Ah well. Wouldn't serve any purpose."

"Yes it would. It would tear you away from your thoughts of me in the shower."

"Please stop putting that mental image in my head."

"You know you love it."

"I do?"

"Oh, yes."

Soon Rory and Tristan were passing the 'Welcome to Stars Hollow' sign. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she thanked Tristan and got out of the car.

Rory felt uneasy. She didn't really understand why Tristan had opened up to her. As far as she knew, not even Paris knew of his home life. She sighed. The guys in her life were confusing. After kissing Jess at the wedding she had mostly ignored him, save a few awkward meals at Luke's. Dean . . . well, Dean was the perfect boyfriend. Perfect in every way, really. Rory did not understand why she was having any doubts about their relationship. Dean was steady like a rock. He was there for her and he would always be there for her. He built her the car and in return, Rory truly loved him. Right?

She heard footsteps behind her. Could it be Kirk? Rory spun around and spotted him.

"Hey Kirk," she said, as cheerfully as she could to Kirk.

"Hello Rory. I'm out for an evening stroll."

"So I see."

"Don't tell my mother. She might send the cat after me."

"Um, okay, Kirk. I won't."

"Thank you, Rory. You are a true friend." Kirk scurried off into the night.

Rory shoved her hands deep into her pocket and looked around her. Spying a shadowy figure up leaning against a tree, she thought, 'God, how freaky is this town at night?'

She walked towards him, it, whoever it happened to be. "Hello?" she questioned of the figure.

"Ror?" The voice questioned back. It was unmistakably Jess.

He took one last drag on his cigarette. It would be his last smoke for a while and he wanted to enjoy it.

Jess joined Rory on a nearby bench and waited. She was the one who should be talking, she had explaining to do.

"Hi Jess."

"How was Washington?"

"It was great! Paris harassed the congressmen, and gained a boyfriend."

"Rory, I don't care about what Paris did. I care about what you did."

She turned away. "I tried to write. I wanted to write. But . . . I couldn't."

"Dean there to knock over your pen?"

"No, no he wasn't."

"Then what was it, Rory? 'Cause I'd really like to know!" Jess' anger was sudden and unexpected. All his emotions were finally coming to play.

Rory whimpered, "Can we take this over to my house? I'm getting a little cold."

"Fine."

They walked, in comforting silence to the porch at the crap shack. Sitting down next to the one she had dreamed of for months, Rory felt oddly uncomfortable. Usually, she and Jess could talk about books and music and things like that. Those conversations seemed to go quickly, but this one? It seemed like they had been staring at their feet for hours.

Jess spoke, "I'm going to California. I'm leaving this hellhole of a town."

"Oh?" Rory didn't know what her reaction should be. Was she supposed to be happy for him or sad that he was leaving? Jess had that sort of effect on her emotions. He always seemed to leave her confused.

"Yep."

Rory looked at her nails, "That's nice. I hope you enjoy yourself there."

Jess stood up, preparing to leave. He obviously wasn't going to get the tearful, romantic good bye he had hoped for. "Bye," he grunted, "have a nice life."

Earlier that night in Stars Hollow, Lindsey and Dean sat down at his dining room table and worked peacefully for the rest of the night except for a few interruptions from Clara, Dean's younger sister.

At about 8 o clock, she came skipping in. "Deeean bean," She squealed.

Dean grunted. "Go away Clara. Lindsey and I are trying to work!"

Clara squinted at Lindsey, "Lindsey? I thought her name was Rory?"

Lindsey, still happy as ever, seized her opportunity, "Rory? Who's that?"

Dean squirmed in his chair and Clara bounded away, her work done. "Rory Gilmore. Rory's my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend?" Lindsey had received this information earlier in the morning, from Katherine. However, she decided to play along with Dean and play dumb.

"Yep." Dean started to flip through some notes, trying to drone out Lindsey's incessant, squeaky voice.

"But then why did I see her kissing Jess Mariano at Sookie and Jackson Melville's wedding?"

"Are you serious?"

Lindsey looked him straight in the eye, "Swear to God."

Dean stood up and walked towards the door. Grabbing his coat off the hook he stepped outside and into the town square. Lindsey followed him.

"I have to talk to her," he said, "and I need to do it alone. Bye."

Lindsey felt as though he stabbed a knife in her back. Every time she had looked at Dean across the table that night, she felt a little flutter in her heart. Was it love? Maybe she had fallen a little too quickly for Dean. After all, she had only met him this morning. And his feelings for Rory were obviously very strong. But nevertheless, Lindsey had this nagging feeling that she and Dean were perfect for each other. What was he doing with this Gilmore girl anyway? Lindsey thought she was much more compatible with Dean than Rory ever would be. As she stood in the doorframe and watched him stomp off toward Rory's house, she sighed deeply. Would he ever be hers?

Dean's footsteps while approaching the Crap Shack were uncomfortably loud. His work boots squished in the wet leaves of autumn and the laces whipped against the concrete. He tried to concentrate on things like that instead of thinking of what to say to Rory. One thing was for sure, he did not know how to handle this situation.

But when Dean got to the Crap Shack, he discovered Rory on the porch. And she wasn't alone. In fact, she was with the very person whose presence he most dreaded her being in.