Angelic

Prologue: Beautiful Oblivion

Glancing from side to side, it felt like that commercial that ran periodically on American television. She was hungry, and so she was envisioning the rolling hills as beautiful mounds of Cookie Dough, Fudge, and Mint Chip ice cream. She pictured the lilies and other colorful flowers as sprinkles that she would put on top of the ice cream. The last detail of the mouth-watering scene would be, the vast ocean in the background, she had felt as if that would be her large glass of coffee and the dulling blue-gray sky would be the whipped cream on the top.

Thinking back to the commercial that had caused her stomach to take over her brain, she remembered that said commercial was about salad and dressing. But she was a Gilmore; the only salad she ate was the bit on top of her hamburger.

Hamburger, that was another thing she would not mind shoving down her throat. Just as she was about to fall into another fantasy of hamburgers with all the fixings, she heard the bus driver over the load speaker announce the next stop. This would be the last stop on the Gilmore Girls' family vacation.

She felt her mother's hand on her back and her mouth at her ear. "Babe," she mumbled picking up her backpack and motioning for her daughter to do the same. Rory did so and before they knew it they were at a small bus loading and unloading stop. Within the last few months of backpacking through Europe they had seen several. Putting her arms through the straps of her bag she asked her mother if she wanted to stop at a diner or go straight to their residence of the next two weeks.

Lorelai replied with a small grumble about excepting to stay with friends of "The Family," automatically meaning her parents. "I say we go raid the rich people's fridge," she said.

Rory made a face as Lorelai waved down a pacing car an asked for a ride to the home of their hosts. She thought of what their host might have, she knew it wouldn't be anything she would want or like, "Mom, it could be health food."

"I can't believe I'd ever say this but, I'd rather eat health food then starve."

Getting in the back set with her mother, she whispered, "Traitor," and then set in for a long ride.

Looking out the window as the sky darkened, she frowned. This was the best summer of her life and she did not want it to end, even though when it did, she would set off for a new life and all the things to go with it. She would be with new people. She'd not only have to work with them but socialize with them and even live with a few. She wouldn't have her mother to exchange witty commentary with, she wouldn't have her room and her things. She would not have her small town to look after her and gossip about her. Another thing she would not have is a boyfriend, until this moment she hadn't realized that she had had an almost constant thread of boyfriends since sophomore year.

She didn't know why she felt a small twinge in her stomach, but she knew there was a reason for it. She must have been feeling sorry for her self. With Jess leaving and Dean getting married she had some feelings that just wanted to make her cry out in pain. But she wouldn't, she wouldn't give into the feeling for fear of drowning in them.

She was not good with feelings. When she was little she learned that if you give into feelings all the time, things get complicated. Not all things would be bad, some would be and the thought that some might be bad made her not want to take the chance. She loved and lost. She liked extremely and lost. After both events she decided that the famous saying, "It is better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all," was the biggest bullshit sentence she'd ever heard.

Lorelai agreed with her daughter when Rory had brought it up as they grabbed their things and thanked the man that had driven them to their destination.

" It's all BS, Babe. Those crazed people who say it, never felt it or they'd have locked themselves in a tower and cried their eyes out for the rest of their lives." Lorelai supplied, as Rory knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Surveying the premises to see if their hosts were awake or not, she saw one sprinkle of light flooding out of a window towards the back of the castle-like home.

Knocking again, her fist did not hit the door but an equally firm object. She looked up into a sea of blue, staring up at the eyes; she knew she should be removing her hand. But she couldn't, the best she could do was to unwrap her fingers from their fist form. Each figure spread over defined muscles, tight and getting tighter as he took in a deep breath and continued to stare into her eyes and she did his.

"Hey!" Lorelai said, shoving her things in to the man's arms breaking the spell. She walked past him into the entrance of the grand hall behind the door. "Which way is the kitchen?" she asked.

Coming out of her trance, she removed her hand from the man's chest, and turned to her mother and told her to introduce herself and not be rude. Lorelai insisted that she was not being rude, but looking at her daughter's firm face, she pouted and introduced herself. "Me," Pointing her herself, "Lor-elai." Then bobbing her head to the side, "She, Ro-ry. And you host, correct?"

His eyes went from the mother to the daughter, putting down the backpack, which Lorelai had shoved into his arms, his eyes still wide, he bobbed his head and locked his eyes on Rory. He reached his hand out to shake hers, "Ho...how are you doing, Mary?" He asked as her eyes went wide and she really looked at him.

"Her name is Rory, not Mary," Lorelai quickly supplied. "Gosh, I even sounded it out for you. Syllables and all."

"Well, excuse me. Rory, how are you doing?"

"Not good, dying of hunger and all. How are you doing, Tristan?" she asked with the most confidence she had ever displayed before him.

"Wait, your name is Tristan? When did he say that? Rory, I'm going deaf!" Lorelai yelled.

"Kitchen is that..." he pointed, not giving Rory a moment to answer her mother. "Your rooms are up the main staircase and to the right, the first and second rooms. Umm, so... yeah, have a nice night," and with that he started to walk off and Lorelai, not minding, went the opposite direction in pursuit of food.

Rory was floored, her eyes wide and her mouth even wider. Tristan DuGrey was their host? She didn't even think of that as a possibility, when her grandmother had informed them that they'd be staying in the summer home of the elder DuGrey family. The idea never entered her mind, for she hadn't thought about Tristan in months if not longer. The last time she could actually account for him crossing her mind was just after she had learned that Jess had left with out telling her, but rather just left. She had thought that at least Tristan had told her. Just after the thought entered her head it left, and she didn't think any further of it.

Walking around in something of a circle, she thought of what she would do. Would she stay? What would Lorelai think? As her thought process went on she did not notice her feet taking her to another room. Before her mind was clear she saw a shimmer of blue, looking up she saw a television with blonde girl being pinned against a wall as a blonde man breathed heavily and grunted a few times and contorted his face.

Realizing that what she was watching was not porn but rather an American show, she watched on, after the scene was over and a commercial popped on she commented, without even knowing she had said a word.

"It doesn't seem real. I liked her so much more with Angel. Spike is too...soulless for me."

"Yeah, but either way, you get to see Sarah Michelle Gellar have a fake orgasm." A comment flew back at her.

"Well, with that perspective, you miss the whole idea. See, she doesn't love him; he is just there to...get her off. No feelings there at all, just a play thing to toy around with until she realizes she better than that."

He smiled as he looked up at her sitting at the arm of the sofa. Moving his hand out of the way so she could fully sit, he then replied, "Figures you'd have the Virgin Mary prospective. First love being the shit and all, fact is, it's not."

A snide remark danced on her lips and lost balance, she tried to catch it but it was lost. " Tristan, the Tristan DuGrey. You loved someone more then yourself, what a surprise. What did she have to make you come to call her your first love...something physical obviously? But what was it?" she questioned and then squirmed about to whisper a small 'sorry'.

"She had a brain, a large one at that. She was smart and beautiful, a more then anyone could ask for kind of beauty. Innocent and lovely, kind and compassionate. She never stopped questioning anything that prevented her from what she wanted. She didn't let me play with her, because she had her own game, with different rules and different players." He said his eyes staring but his mind lost within her blue orbs as she stared down at him and he looked up.

"That was beautiful." She mouthed, not even whispered but just mouthed.

A cocky smile appeared on his lips, "Thanks, I try."

"It was poetic." He heard a mumble from the other side of the room.

He taped his chest, "Heart of a poet."

"So, how long have you been in love with Rory?" Lorelai questioned, moving closer to the two young adults. Rory's eyes shot blue fire at her mother but mellowed when she heard his reply.

"Since I laid eyes on her."

Lorelai surprised, laughed, "You mean like ten minutes ago?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

PP1: Best I ever had

"Yeah, ten minutes ago. Seems like years." A silky laugh escaped his cheery red lips. "I guess, Rory can do that to you."

"Hey!" Lorelai squeaked.

"Hey, I believe that is my, hey!"

"Excuse me," Lorelai smiled. "Carry on." Waving her hand she sat in a chair to watch but was distracted by the TV." It's Buffy, they have Buffy in Ireland?"

"It's the Spike years." Rory dismissed.

"Billy Idol, where is my cup of tall dark and handsome?" Lorelai whinnied, still concentrating on the television.

"On his own show, I'm guessing."

"But is he still all over Saint Cordelia?" asked already knowing the answer from watching earlier in the season.

"Nope, she's moved on," Rory mindless told her mother.

"Oh yeah, she turned into a pedophile."

"Yep," is all Rory supplied.

"I don't know why I even burnt the DVD's, I should have just called you two and got full Gilmore commentary," Tristan looked from mother to daughter as he said this.

"Isn't that illegal?" Rory questioned while her mother smiled in fake astonishment and mumbled, "Tree pretty, fire bad."

As if Lorelai wasn't there they went on with their sparing battle. "Burning things? No, gosh Mary, get into the twenty second century."

"I'm here, Bible Boy, get out of third grade."

"But then I'd have to leave you." grabbing his heart in fake pain. "And that would just tear me up inside."

"Like you have an inside," she said referring to his heart.

"Well, Rory. I know you passed Bio, because you were in my class, but here is a re-fresher course..." he was cut off my a piece of popcorn hitting his head.

He turned his head to Lorelai who was smiling and making comments, "This is better then the show...er, at least the Spike years. If you take off your shirt it would almost be better than seasons 1-3."

Tristan smiled and began to tug at the hem of his shirt. "For entertainment purposes, I'll do anything."

"Keep your shirt on, son," he heard a loud, gruff voice tell him. " We don't want to disturb our guests."

Rory laughed a bit under her breath. Receiving a critical gaze she stopped entirely. "Nice to meet you two." he looked to Lorelai who was still popping pieces of popping corn into her mouth.

"Yeah you too, now shh, he was going to take off his shirt."

A boom of laughter explodes from the elder man until he started to cough and everyone looked at him to question if he was all right. "Wow, that tired me out." wiping his mouth with a hanky, he continued. "Well, to bed we all go. Tomorrow morning we will all have brunch and chat about this and that, and the next two weeks." He waved the girls off as they quietly retreated to their rooms.

"Tristan, Tristan... what am I going to do with you?" The old man asked his grandson.

"I don't know, love me unconditionally?" he smirked as his grandfather

pilled him into a hug.

"You already know I do."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Rory, what am I going to do with you?" Lorelai asked as she bounced on her daughter's bed.

"I don't know, love me unconditionally?"

Lorelai picked up a fluffy pillow and bopped her daughter on the head, "Yeah right! You keep information from me."

"Who, me? Tell me what information I've obstructed from your parental vision?" Rory stated innocently.

"Well, first you did not tell me that we'd be staying in a house of your Chilton mate."

"Lorelai what are you hinting at?" Rory questioned her mother with her big important women voice.

Lorelai giggled and flopped down on the bed, "Well, you know when I said mate, I didn't mean friend."

"Ugh, mom, your so bad."

A devilish smile came to her angelic features, "I'll take that as a compliment, my dear. So, really now, tell me..." taking a breath she continued, "Is he good in bed you little slut?" She started laughing before her daughter could let out a gasp of embarrassment.

"Great..." Rory smiled with an equally devilish smile playing on her features.

"What!?"

"Well, you know at that Chilton party," milking it for all it was worth she continued, "The one that afterwards I told you I kissed him, well," She took another breath and Lorelai huffed. "Well you see I, um, well, mom I'm so sorry I never told you..." Another breath. "I, well we..." Another extremely long breath. "Heard some girls saying he was wonderful."

"Rory, you break your dear old mothers heart when you do that. I swear I almost had a heart attack. I had thoughts of your conception."

"You agreed not to speak of that anymore."

"Well I lied." she poked her daughter. "So, do you like him?"

"Go to bed." Rory told her mother.

"No"

"I'll go sleep in your room then."

"No, you won't. I'll follow you."

"I'll lock the door."

Lorelai smiled, " I'll break the window."

"Wonder-Woman much?"

Shaking her head, Lorelai stopped her daughter from walking out, "No, staying within the theme for tonight, Buffy."

"Good for you."

"Yep," blocking Rory's hand from the doorknob, she went on, "I'll be here bright and early, then you'll tell me."

"You, bright and early?" Rory questioned.

"Well, maybe not early but before 'brunch,'" her mother mumbled.

"I can live with that." Rory agreed.

"Night, my pristine princess."

Lorelai hugged her and gave her daughter an extra-tight squeeze.

"Good night, my over-compensating mother."