Thank you so much to everyone who's read my story and posted reviews. The only reason I had not posted new chapters in such a long time was that I was tied up with work-related nonsense - it left me very uninspired. I haven't abandoned the story and I plan on keeping it going with several new chapters that I'll be posting here one at a time.
TITLE: Bravery & First Steps
Chapter 9:
AUTHOR: medeagddssaol.com
DISTRIBUTION: Please ask permission first.
SPOILER: None yet.
RATING: PG13
PAIRING: Luke/Lorelai, Rory/Dean
SUMMARY: Right after Rory & Lorelai's return from Europe, Luke decides he needs to talk to Lorelai about taking their relationship further. Christopher and Sherry have broken up and he also shows up in Stars Hollow wanting to attempt a reconciliation with Lorelai. Rory, crushed after Jess abandons Stars Hollow becomes close to Dean once again. Dean starts to realize his wedding is a mistake. Stars Hollow erupts. Lindsay and Christopher go on the warpath.
Lyrics: "Hat full of Stars" by Cyndi Lauper
Sleep. How he wished he could get some.For the past three weeks, Christopher had been living at the Byatt Bed & Breakfast, just outside of Stars Hollow. Commuting to his job in Milton was a nightmare, but the true torture was the silent treatment he'd been getting from Lorelai. He'd taken Rory's side in their last argument over the situation that he'd christened NotDean 2004. The argument at lunch today had not been pretty....
"Where the hell do you get off telling me that I'm making a tempest in a teapot. God, Christopher, I could almost forgive the condescending but that bad pun deserves a smack upside the head. Do you not get it? The whole damn town talks about nothing except Rory and Dean."
"Lore, dammit, will you just listen to me. When I had dinner with them the other day-"
"You had dinner with them?"
"I'm trying to tell-"
"When?"
"When what?"
"Are we playing stupid madlibs? When did you have dinner with Rory and Dean?"
"Saturday. The three of us were invited to a special sit down with Emily and Richard."
"Ok, we have entered bizarroworld. Are you trying to tell me that not only have you met with our daughter and that guy-"
"His name is Dean."
"Don't say his name. He shall not be named. HSNBN is what I'll call him from now on."
"Well then, Rory, her gentleman acronym and I went to dinner with your parents. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but I think they're making progress."
"Why the hell wouldn't she ask me? Why did she go to you?"
"She said you'd made your intentions clear with respect to Dean and she wanted someone along with her who could attempt to be impartial."
"So you were Kissinger? How ironically appropriate."
"Do you want to know what happened or not?"
She'd shaken her head and sighed. "Just tell me."
"Emily and Richard wanted to know what their intentions were, if they were getting married, etc.. Rory said she intended to finish college, perhaps go to graduate school. Dean signed up at Connecticut State and he's saving up to move nearer to Rory. That was the good?"
"There was a bad?"
"A very bad. When Emily asked Rory if they'd considered a future together, our daugther said she had. She also made your mother age twenty years when she added that in any future she had, marriage did not enter the equation."
"She doesn't want to marry Dean?"
"Lore, she doesn't want to marry anyone."
They played with their food after that, neither one speaking. As he was leaving, he saw Lorelai sitting at the table alone with the most forlorn look on her face he'd ever seen. The memory of that had kept him up, and he'd gotten out of bed unable to sleep further. He was at the small cafe across the road from the Byatt, the Hare & Tortoise.
=================
"Lins, come on, it's late. Don't you think you should get home?"
"Jenny, I've left him a dozen messages and he hasn't called me back once. What the hell is his problem? Is he too good to call his ex-fiancee back?"
These midnight sessions at the Hare & Tortoise were getting on Jenny's nerves. Ever since Dean had broken up with Lindsay, her friend was acting like a raving lunatic. She simply could not accept the fact that Dean was with someone else.
"Notice how she never shows her face in town. Good. I'd so kick her ass."
"Oh, that's charming, Lindsay. That'll show Dean how mature you are."
"Whose side are you on, Jenn?'
"Your's Lindsay, but come on. Waiting outside his house for five hours today and getting pissed off when he doesn't show up for your scream session is a little much."
"Am I supposed to just take this sitting down? Dean was my fiance. Mine. And she stole him from me."
"Would you rather have gotten married and have him cheat on you."
"I would rather she'd moved the hell on and left my guy alone. He doesn't love her. It's just an affair because he was afraid. He has cold feet, that's all."
"I hate to see you torturing yourself like this, Lins. You don't eat. You don't sleep. All you do is plan these elaborate traps to corner Dean and yell at him."
"I'm going to catch them together, Jenn, you wait and see, she said twirling her coffee cup, "and I cannot wait to give that little bitch Rory Gilmore a piece of my mind. God! That damn slut! How dare she steal my guy. Couldn't she get her own?"
Nightmares never came in single phases nor were they confined to sleeping hours. Chris found that he was trapped with insomnia, in a dank, rundown cafe and with Dean's ex.
"You can't steal what isn't yours. Isn't that what they say."
Lindsay locked eyes with Christopher, "Who the hell are you? This is a private conversation-"
"-that you are proceeding to scream across an empty room."
"Look, whoever you are, this is none of your business."
"You're wrong. That's my kid you're talking about."
Lindsay couldn't help chuckling. "So you're the deadbeat dad? A little late to be defending the honor of your little princess, dontcha think?"
"What could Dean be thinking? You're positively dripping with tact."
"What. Ever. Give your little angel a message. Tell her she hasn't seen the last of me. She can hide out in Yale all she wants, but she'll be in town sometime. And I'll be waiting."
"Stay away from them, Lindsay," he warned.
Lindsay rolled her eyes as she got up to leave. "Come on, Jenn. It's starting to smell like loser in here."
Christopher shook his head as her friend mouthed a silent 'I'm sorry' behind Lindsay's back. This was just perfect. Pete, the guy behind the counter snickered. Without a doubt, this would make the gossip rounds of Stars Hollow before the papers hit the stands.
"Forget the coffee, Pete," he said, "I'd rather have a Chivas after this crap."
"Bar on 95's still open. Last call's at 1:00. Still got time."
"Yeah, that's depends on your point of view."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. See you tomorrow night. 'Night, Pete."
====================================
I'm trying to live in the present
But I keep tripping on the past
Finding out reality, well clarity
Comes in dribs and drabs
No we never had the time
For everything we had
So it felt like we had nothing
That's what makes this hat so sad
It was a long, long time ago
TITLE: Bravery & First Steps
Chapter 9:
AUTHOR: medeagddssaol.com
DISTRIBUTION: Please ask permission first.
SPOILER: None yet.
RATING: PG13
PAIRING: Luke/Lorelai, Rory/Dean
SUMMARY: Right after Rory & Lorelai's return from Europe, Luke decides he needs to talk to Lorelai about taking their relationship further. Christopher and Sherry have broken up and he also shows up in Stars Hollow wanting to attempt a reconciliation with Lorelai. Rory, crushed after Jess abandons Stars Hollow becomes close to Dean once again. Dean starts to realize his wedding is a mistake. Stars Hollow erupts. Lindsay and Christopher go on the warpath.
Lyrics: "Hat full of Stars" by Cyndi Lauper
Sleep. How he wished he could get some.For the past three weeks, Christopher had been living at the Byatt Bed & Breakfast, just outside of Stars Hollow. Commuting to his job in Milton was a nightmare, but the true torture was the silent treatment he'd been getting from Lorelai. He'd taken Rory's side in their last argument over the situation that he'd christened NotDean 2004. The argument at lunch today had not been pretty....
"Where the hell do you get off telling me that I'm making a tempest in a teapot. God, Christopher, I could almost forgive the condescending but that bad pun deserves a smack upside the head. Do you not get it? The whole damn town talks about nothing except Rory and Dean."
"Lore, dammit, will you just listen to me. When I had dinner with them the other day-"
"You had dinner with them?"
"I'm trying to tell-"
"When?"
"When what?"
"Are we playing stupid madlibs? When did you have dinner with Rory and Dean?"
"Saturday. The three of us were invited to a special sit down with Emily and Richard."
"Ok, we have entered bizarroworld. Are you trying to tell me that not only have you met with our daughter and that guy-"
"His name is Dean."
"Don't say his name. He shall not be named. HSNBN is what I'll call him from now on."
"Well then, Rory, her gentleman acronym and I went to dinner with your parents. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but I think they're making progress."
"Why the hell wouldn't she ask me? Why did she go to you?"
"She said you'd made your intentions clear with respect to Dean and she wanted someone along with her who could attempt to be impartial."
"So you were Kissinger? How ironically appropriate."
"Do you want to know what happened or not?"
She'd shaken her head and sighed. "Just tell me."
"Emily and Richard wanted to know what their intentions were, if they were getting married, etc.. Rory said she intended to finish college, perhaps go to graduate school. Dean signed up at Connecticut State and he's saving up to move nearer to Rory. That was the good?"
"There was a bad?"
"A very bad. When Emily asked Rory if they'd considered a future together, our daugther said she had. She also made your mother age twenty years when she added that in any future she had, marriage did not enter the equation."
"She doesn't want to marry Dean?"
"Lore, she doesn't want to marry anyone."
They played with their food after that, neither one speaking. As he was leaving, he saw Lorelai sitting at the table alone with the most forlorn look on her face he'd ever seen. The memory of that had kept him up, and he'd gotten out of bed unable to sleep further. He was at the small cafe across the road from the Byatt, the Hare & Tortoise.
=================
"Lins, come on, it's late. Don't you think you should get home?"
"Jenny, I've left him a dozen messages and he hasn't called me back once. What the hell is his problem? Is he too good to call his ex-fiancee back?"
These midnight sessions at the Hare & Tortoise were getting on Jenny's nerves. Ever since Dean had broken up with Lindsay, her friend was acting like a raving lunatic. She simply could not accept the fact that Dean was with someone else.
"Notice how she never shows her face in town. Good. I'd so kick her ass."
"Oh, that's charming, Lindsay. That'll show Dean how mature you are."
"Whose side are you on, Jenn?'
"Your's Lindsay, but come on. Waiting outside his house for five hours today and getting pissed off when he doesn't show up for your scream session is a little much."
"Am I supposed to just take this sitting down? Dean was my fiance. Mine. And she stole him from me."
"Would you rather have gotten married and have him cheat on you."
"I would rather she'd moved the hell on and left my guy alone. He doesn't love her. It's just an affair because he was afraid. He has cold feet, that's all."
"I hate to see you torturing yourself like this, Lins. You don't eat. You don't sleep. All you do is plan these elaborate traps to corner Dean and yell at him."
"I'm going to catch them together, Jenn, you wait and see, she said twirling her coffee cup, "and I cannot wait to give that little bitch Rory Gilmore a piece of my mind. God! That damn slut! How dare she steal my guy. Couldn't she get her own?"
Nightmares never came in single phases nor were they confined to sleeping hours. Chris found that he was trapped with insomnia, in a dank, rundown cafe and with Dean's ex.
"You can't steal what isn't yours. Isn't that what they say."
Lindsay locked eyes with Christopher, "Who the hell are you? This is a private conversation-"
"-that you are proceeding to scream across an empty room."
"Look, whoever you are, this is none of your business."
"You're wrong. That's my kid you're talking about."
Lindsay couldn't help chuckling. "So you're the deadbeat dad? A little late to be defending the honor of your little princess, dontcha think?"
"What could Dean be thinking? You're positively dripping with tact."
"What. Ever. Give your little angel a message. Tell her she hasn't seen the last of me. She can hide out in Yale all she wants, but she'll be in town sometime. And I'll be waiting."
"Stay away from them, Lindsay," he warned.
Lindsay rolled her eyes as she got up to leave. "Come on, Jenn. It's starting to smell like loser in here."
Christopher shook his head as her friend mouthed a silent 'I'm sorry' behind Lindsay's back. This was just perfect. Pete, the guy behind the counter snickered. Without a doubt, this would make the gossip rounds of Stars Hollow before the papers hit the stands.
"Forget the coffee, Pete," he said, "I'd rather have a Chivas after this crap."
"Bar on 95's still open. Last call's at 1:00. Still got time."
"Yeah, that's depends on your point of view."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. See you tomorrow night. 'Night, Pete."
====================================
I'm trying to live in the present
But I keep tripping on the past
Finding out reality, well clarity
Comes in dribs and drabs
No we never had the time
For everything we had
So it felt like we had nothing
That's what makes this hat so sad
It was a long, long time ago