AUTHOR'S NOTE: The final chapter, where finally...all the things left unsaid will be said. Enjoy!
DRAGONFLY, 6PM AFTER THE PARTY
As Christopher entered the Dragonfly, Lorelai took one look at him and walked away, furious.
"Lor, let me explain," he started as he followed after her.
"I don't want to hear it, Chris. There is nothing you could say that would make this better. I don't want to even look at you right now. I don't want to think about you. I don't want to even remember that you ever remotely existed in my life."
"Lorelai, please..." said Christopher.
"NO!" she said. "I mean...what on Earth could you have been thinking? You knew how important this party was to me, to my business, to my parents. You shanghai me into going up to your place when I needed to be here, and then you disappear for an entire day, leaving me stranded there?? I mean, what in God's name, what could possibly justify this?"
"Nothing," he replied.
"And my father! You should have seen his face when I told him. My mother gave him a wonderful gift in front of everyone and he had nothing for her, not by his fault. He was counting on you, Chris. On you. And yet I still don't see a painting in your hands."
"I got laid off," said Christopher.
"It just keeps getting better and better," said Lorelai. "Why?"
"Chronic absenteeism," said Christopher. "I guess I've been focusing on the new business a little too much."
"Will you be OK?" she asked, softening with concern. "I mean the money...how's the new business doing?"
"It's doing OK. Not great, but OK. I'll be OK for a while."
Lorelai sat down with her head in her hands, sighed, and thought for a moment. "Christopher, this isn't going to work," she said finally, her eyes filling with tears.
"Lorelai..."
"I thought you had changed. I thought you had grown up. But everything is the same."
"No, please Lorelai..."
"Maybe it was Sherry's influence that helped you get your act together. Or maybe I'm the bad influence."
"Give me a little credit, Lorelai. I can screw up my own life by myself, I don't need you to do it for me."
"I just know that I can't do this any more. I need to be able to count on things. I've been by myself for so long, I know I can count on myself. I know the people I can count on. And I can't count on you."
"Lorelai, please. If I knew I'd be losing you over this, God, I'd just go back and forget about the job, or even the business. I was just doing it for you, it was all for you," tears stood in his eyes.
"No, Christopher, it wasn't for me. That's what you're telling yourself but it was really for you. The job, the Volvo, it's just not you. You were just looking for an excuse to ditch it all. If it hadn't happened today, it would have happened next week, or next year, but it would have happened."
"Lorelai, I'll find another job..."
"No, it's not just the job, Chris. I need to be able to count on you. I need you to show up for your daughter's birthday dinner. I need you to return the movies to the video store when I ask you to. I need you to make sure there's clean sheets on the bed. But that's just not you. You're...you just don't think that way. You're all about the big things, the ideas, the fantasies."
"And you need somebody more grounded."
Lorelai froze for a moment.
"Lorelai, I love you," he said. "Please..."
"Christopher, we've known each other our whole lives. We have a child together. I will probably always love you. But I can't be with you any more." She went over to him and hugged him as they both sobbed.
After a few minutes he detached himself, turned and left, all the while avoiding her gaze.
"Goodbye Christopher," she said softly, watching him go. She dried her eyes and came out into the sitting room, where Kirk and Sookie were. "Hey Kirk!" she shouted. "Let's have another round of those Manhattans! On second thought, just give me a shot of tequila, straight up."
"You OK, honey?" asked Sookie.
"Oh yeah, just having a Way We Were kind of moment," replied Lorelai. "A toast," she said, holding up her glass. "To giving up the fantasy."
TOWN SQUARE, 6:30PM
"So my mom said you could crash on the couch tonight," said Rory. "Or we can just head back to Yale tonight."
"I thought you wanted to show me your town," said James, leaning in to kiss her.
Rory gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Oh yeah, sure. But I really should get back early tomorrow either way. I have a lot of homework to catch up on. Hey, are you up for some Ethiopian food?"
James looked around. "There's an Ethiopian restaurant in Stars Hollow?"
"No, just Al's Pancake World, but they're featuring Ethiopian food this month."
James shook his head in confusion. "Rory, is everything OK? You've seemed distant since the party."
"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," she assured him. Just then she saw Dean across the square. "Hey, how about we get some takeout? Why don't you go back to the house and I'll meet you there in a little bit? I have something I need to take care of."
"What's up?" James asked her.
"Oh, just an errand I need to run. Won't take long."
"OK," said James. "You're sure everything's OK?"
"Peachy," replied Rory.
James headed back to the house as Dean and Rory walked towards each other and came face to face.
"You didn't answer my question before," he said to her.
"I have a boyfriend, Dean," she said.
"That wasn't my question."
"You skipped out on me, Dean."
"Also not my question. And you skipped out on me too. But Rory, I still love you," he confessed to her.
"Dean, when did you move out?" asked Rory.
"Last week."
"Are you still working? Going to school?" she asked.
"I'm still working. I'm not sure about school, maybe I'll go back next semester."
"Well don't do it for me. Do it if you want to."
"Rory, I've missed you so much," said Dean, moving in closer to her.
Rory pulled away. "Dean, it's too soon."
"What?" he asked, confused.
"You just moved out. You don't even know what you're doing or where you're going next. And I have a boyfriend," she reminded him.
"But I thought..." he protested.
"It's just not right, Dean. You need time. And so do I."
"Rory, I love you. Do you love me?" he asked again.
Rory reached up to hug him. "I'll see you around, OK? Drop me a line once in a while."
Dean watched Rory walk away into Al's Pancake World, then turned and walked home alone.
LUKE'S DINER, 7:45PM
"Hey, I was just closing up," said Luke as Lorelai walked in the door.
"I just wanted to say thanks again for today," said Lorelai. "I got you a little thank-you present."
"You didn't have to do that," he said, opening the bag. "Leftovers?" he asked. "You brought me leftovers from the party?"
"Oh, no, sorry...I mean that's for you too, but there's something else." Lorelai ran out to the car and came back in with another bag. "Here," she said, handing it to him.
He looked in the bag, then pulled out a box. "Fish lights? A 10-foot string of fish lights. What possible use would I have for this?"
"Well everything is closed at this hour so I wasn't really able to be picky," she said, "but I thought they would look great strung on the front counter here."
"Thanks," he said.
"Thank you," Lorelai said. "The party wouldn't have happened without you. My parents, my business...well it would've been ugly."
"No problem," said Luke. "Hey, uh, thanks for the food, and the lights and all, but I kind of need to get going here."
"Oh, I forgot. Your hot date," said Lorelai, swallowing hard. "Uh, OK, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Night," said Luke as she went out the door.
Lorelai walked outside and got in her car. She paused for a moment, then got out again, went back into the diner. Luke had already gone up to his apartment, so she went up after him and burst into his apartment, to find him in his boxers, rummaging through his closet.
"Why did you crap out on me?" she demanded.
"What?" asked Luke, taken aback.
"Why did you crap out on me?" she repeated.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Luke as he hurried to get dressed. "I have got to remember to lock that door"
"We had a fantastic date, two if you count Liz's wedding, although I wasn't aware that was a date at the time, and then you just crapped out on me."
"Do we have to talk about this now?" said Luke, pulling his pants on.
"OK, when would you like to talk about it? Should we schedule a time tomorrow?" Lorelai demanded. "Because I'm really on the edge of my seat to hear the answer to this."
"Your heart wasn't in it," Luke said.
"What?"
"The moment that Christopher showed up, you were all over him."
"I wasn't all over him," protested Lorelai.
"You were. You should have seen the looks you were giving him," said Luke.
"So you just blow me off? You don't even tell me why?"
"I was bowing out. Gracefully," explained Luke.
"Not so graceful," objected Lorelai.
"Oh come on, what was I supposed to do? Rory's father shows up, dumped by his wife, crashing at your place, the only reason you weren't with him before was because he got her pregnant. He's making eyes at you, he's taking you riding on his bike, he's staying at your place, the three of you looked like a happy little family...what else could I have done?" said Luke, aggravated.
"You could have...I don't know but not this. You could have said something. You could have kept our date. You could have not crapped out on me!" Lorelai insisted.
At that moment there was a knock on the door. Luke went to answer it.
"Oh hey, Christine," said Luke, flustered. "Christine, this is Lorelai. She was just here to borrow...uh..." Luke searched around for something to offer Lorelai.
"Luke's tool box," Lorelai finished the sentence. "Gotta fix that banister," she giggled nervously.
"Nice to meet you," Christine said.
Luke got his tool box and handed it to Lorelai. "Thanks," she said to Luke. "Have fun, you guys," she said as she walked out of the apartment.
Lorelai went downstairs, and put the tool box in her car. She got in the car to drive home, then changed her mind, got out again and went to sit in the gazebo in the town square. A few minutes later, Luke and Christine came out of the diner and got into Luke's truck. Luke looked up and for a moment their eyes met. Then he started the car and drove off.
LUKE'S DINER, 10:30PM
Luke's truck pulled up outside the diner and he got out, alone, to find Lorelai sitting on the front steps.
"That was a short date," she said.
"Does your boyfriend know you're here stalking me?" Luke grumbled.
"Christopher and I broke up," said Lorelai.
Luke's expression went from aggravation to surprise, then turned annoyed again. "So what do you want?"
"I want...I want nail polish that doesn't chip. I want, just once, to be able to keep a plant alive. I want a lifetime supply of free coffee, and I want to know what's going on in that head of yours!
"Lorelai..." Luke said.
"For years everyone in this town has been telling me that you have a thing for me, but you never made a move. Then you finally did, but then you crapped out on me the first opportunity you had."
"You didn't really want me," Luke said softly.
"You just assumed you knew what I wanted?" asked Lorelai indignantly.
"Well seeing as how this all happened six months ago and you're only bringing it up now I think it was a safe assumption. You've certainly looked happy gallivanting around with Christopher."
"I told you we broke up."
"So now you're back to your backup guy. Just call me Plan B,"said Luke as he angrily stormed into the diner.
Lorelai got up and ran after him into the diner, where Luke was pouring himself some tea. "Is that what you think? You think I'm here because I'm settling? That you're second best?" She sat down on one of the stools by the counter.
Luke did not respond.
"Do you want to know what happened with Christopher?" she asked.
"Not particularly."
"The whole time Rory was growing up, Christopher was there, just on the edges of our lives," Lorelai began. "Whenever I saw him there was that spark, that rapport we have, but I always knew he wasn't...well he was just...Christopher. In and out. Up and down. I couldn't rely on him, he was all over the place. Then Sherry showed up and he got his job and his Volvo and it was like he'd grown up, become everything I wanted, only he was with her. So I thought it was time to move on. Then he split with her and we were together and I thought "this is it. It's finally happening for us."
"But she got pregnant. I don't need the whole recap," said Luke.
"I'll admit when he showed up at my house that night we had the date, I was...well I wasn't sure what I wanted. So you made that decision for me and I finally got to see what it would be like to be with Christopher as a grownup."
"And?" said Luke.
"He's not a grownup. He never will be. And then I heard you asking Christine out and it was like...I'm with Christopher because supposedly he's ready to be steady and reliable, only he isn't, and I'm in the middle of telling him that and he says to me 'you need somebody more grounded,' and suddenly all I could think about was you. You've always been the grounded one, the one who's always there for me, the one I can always count on, only now you're not there for me, you're going on dates with her..."
As Lorelai was speaking, Luke's expression softened, and he slowly moved in closer to her. "I'll still always be there," he said, smiling, as he leaned over to brush his lips on hers.
Lorelai smiled playfully. "Oh, so when you're married with like 15 kids and I need you to fix my faucet you'll just drop everything to come help me? I'm sure your wife will like that."
"She'll just have to understand," said Luke as he leaned in to kiss her again. Lorelai turned the stool to face him, wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in as they both embraced.
After a while Lorelai pulled away from the kiss and leaned her forehead against Luke's. "You are not plan B," she said to him softly as he stroked her cheek. "You are plan A. You are A, you are..."
"Would you just be quiet?" said Luke softly, leaning in to kiss her again.
THE END
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am really not happy with the Rory storyline here. I wanted to develop James more, but every time I started to I realized I couldn't just develop him a little, it was all or nothing, and since the main focus of this story is intended to be the Luke/Lorelai/Christopher arc, it just wasn't something I wanted to go into. So James is left essentially faceless. I also had every intention of doing a happy ending for Rory and Dean, but when I went to write the ending, the characters just wouldn't cooperate with me. Much as I love the character of Dean, he's not the Dean he used to be. I do think he needs some time on his own to rediscover his spine, and then maybe he'll be ready for her again.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, please R&R and maybe I'll make some revisions to hopefully improve things.
DRAGONFLY, 6PM AFTER THE PARTY
As Christopher entered the Dragonfly, Lorelai took one look at him and walked away, furious.
"Lor, let me explain," he started as he followed after her.
"I don't want to hear it, Chris. There is nothing you could say that would make this better. I don't want to even look at you right now. I don't want to think about you. I don't want to even remember that you ever remotely existed in my life."
"Lorelai, please..." said Christopher.
"NO!" she said. "I mean...what on Earth could you have been thinking? You knew how important this party was to me, to my business, to my parents. You shanghai me into going up to your place when I needed to be here, and then you disappear for an entire day, leaving me stranded there?? I mean, what in God's name, what could possibly justify this?"
"Nothing," he replied.
"And my father! You should have seen his face when I told him. My mother gave him a wonderful gift in front of everyone and he had nothing for her, not by his fault. He was counting on you, Chris. On you. And yet I still don't see a painting in your hands."
"I got laid off," said Christopher.
"It just keeps getting better and better," said Lorelai. "Why?"
"Chronic absenteeism," said Christopher. "I guess I've been focusing on the new business a little too much."
"Will you be OK?" she asked, softening with concern. "I mean the money...how's the new business doing?"
"It's doing OK. Not great, but OK. I'll be OK for a while."
Lorelai sat down with her head in her hands, sighed, and thought for a moment. "Christopher, this isn't going to work," she said finally, her eyes filling with tears.
"Lorelai..."
"I thought you had changed. I thought you had grown up. But everything is the same."
"No, please Lorelai..."
"Maybe it was Sherry's influence that helped you get your act together. Or maybe I'm the bad influence."
"Give me a little credit, Lorelai. I can screw up my own life by myself, I don't need you to do it for me."
"I just know that I can't do this any more. I need to be able to count on things. I've been by myself for so long, I know I can count on myself. I know the people I can count on. And I can't count on you."
"Lorelai, please. If I knew I'd be losing you over this, God, I'd just go back and forget about the job, or even the business. I was just doing it for you, it was all for you," tears stood in his eyes.
"No, Christopher, it wasn't for me. That's what you're telling yourself but it was really for you. The job, the Volvo, it's just not you. You were just looking for an excuse to ditch it all. If it hadn't happened today, it would have happened next week, or next year, but it would have happened."
"Lorelai, I'll find another job..."
"No, it's not just the job, Chris. I need to be able to count on you. I need you to show up for your daughter's birthday dinner. I need you to return the movies to the video store when I ask you to. I need you to make sure there's clean sheets on the bed. But that's just not you. You're...you just don't think that way. You're all about the big things, the ideas, the fantasies."
"And you need somebody more grounded."
Lorelai froze for a moment.
"Lorelai, I love you," he said. "Please..."
"Christopher, we've known each other our whole lives. We have a child together. I will probably always love you. But I can't be with you any more." She went over to him and hugged him as they both sobbed.
After a few minutes he detached himself, turned and left, all the while avoiding her gaze.
"Goodbye Christopher," she said softly, watching him go. She dried her eyes and came out into the sitting room, where Kirk and Sookie were. "Hey Kirk!" she shouted. "Let's have another round of those Manhattans! On second thought, just give me a shot of tequila, straight up."
"You OK, honey?" asked Sookie.
"Oh yeah, just having a Way We Were kind of moment," replied Lorelai. "A toast," she said, holding up her glass. "To giving up the fantasy."
TOWN SQUARE, 6:30PM
"So my mom said you could crash on the couch tonight," said Rory. "Or we can just head back to Yale tonight."
"I thought you wanted to show me your town," said James, leaning in to kiss her.
Rory gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Oh yeah, sure. But I really should get back early tomorrow either way. I have a lot of homework to catch up on. Hey, are you up for some Ethiopian food?"
James looked around. "There's an Ethiopian restaurant in Stars Hollow?"
"No, just Al's Pancake World, but they're featuring Ethiopian food this month."
James shook his head in confusion. "Rory, is everything OK? You've seemed distant since the party."
"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," she assured him. Just then she saw Dean across the square. "Hey, how about we get some takeout? Why don't you go back to the house and I'll meet you there in a little bit? I have something I need to take care of."
"What's up?" James asked her.
"Oh, just an errand I need to run. Won't take long."
"OK," said James. "You're sure everything's OK?"
"Peachy," replied Rory.
James headed back to the house as Dean and Rory walked towards each other and came face to face.
"You didn't answer my question before," he said to her.
"I have a boyfriend, Dean," she said.
"That wasn't my question."
"You skipped out on me, Dean."
"Also not my question. And you skipped out on me too. But Rory, I still love you," he confessed to her.
"Dean, when did you move out?" asked Rory.
"Last week."
"Are you still working? Going to school?" she asked.
"I'm still working. I'm not sure about school, maybe I'll go back next semester."
"Well don't do it for me. Do it if you want to."
"Rory, I've missed you so much," said Dean, moving in closer to her.
Rory pulled away. "Dean, it's too soon."
"What?" he asked, confused.
"You just moved out. You don't even know what you're doing or where you're going next. And I have a boyfriend," she reminded him.
"But I thought..." he protested.
"It's just not right, Dean. You need time. And so do I."
"Rory, I love you. Do you love me?" he asked again.
Rory reached up to hug him. "I'll see you around, OK? Drop me a line once in a while."
Dean watched Rory walk away into Al's Pancake World, then turned and walked home alone.
LUKE'S DINER, 7:45PM
"Hey, I was just closing up," said Luke as Lorelai walked in the door.
"I just wanted to say thanks again for today," said Lorelai. "I got you a little thank-you present."
"You didn't have to do that," he said, opening the bag. "Leftovers?" he asked. "You brought me leftovers from the party?"
"Oh, no, sorry...I mean that's for you too, but there's something else." Lorelai ran out to the car and came back in with another bag. "Here," she said, handing it to him.
He looked in the bag, then pulled out a box. "Fish lights? A 10-foot string of fish lights. What possible use would I have for this?"
"Well everything is closed at this hour so I wasn't really able to be picky," she said, "but I thought they would look great strung on the front counter here."
"Thanks," he said.
"Thank you," Lorelai said. "The party wouldn't have happened without you. My parents, my business...well it would've been ugly."
"No problem," said Luke. "Hey, uh, thanks for the food, and the lights and all, but I kind of need to get going here."
"Oh, I forgot. Your hot date," said Lorelai, swallowing hard. "Uh, OK, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Night," said Luke as she went out the door.
Lorelai walked outside and got in her car. She paused for a moment, then got out again, went back into the diner. Luke had already gone up to his apartment, so she went up after him and burst into his apartment, to find him in his boxers, rummaging through his closet.
"Why did you crap out on me?" she demanded.
"What?" asked Luke, taken aback.
"Why did you crap out on me?" she repeated.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Luke as he hurried to get dressed. "I have got to remember to lock that door"
"We had a fantastic date, two if you count Liz's wedding, although I wasn't aware that was a date at the time, and then you just crapped out on me."
"Do we have to talk about this now?" said Luke, pulling his pants on.
"OK, when would you like to talk about it? Should we schedule a time tomorrow?" Lorelai demanded. "Because I'm really on the edge of my seat to hear the answer to this."
"Your heart wasn't in it," Luke said.
"What?"
"The moment that Christopher showed up, you were all over him."
"I wasn't all over him," protested Lorelai.
"You were. You should have seen the looks you were giving him," said Luke.
"So you just blow me off? You don't even tell me why?"
"I was bowing out. Gracefully," explained Luke.
"Not so graceful," objected Lorelai.
"Oh come on, what was I supposed to do? Rory's father shows up, dumped by his wife, crashing at your place, the only reason you weren't with him before was because he got her pregnant. He's making eyes at you, he's taking you riding on his bike, he's staying at your place, the three of you looked like a happy little family...what else could I have done?" said Luke, aggravated.
"You could have...I don't know but not this. You could have said something. You could have kept our date. You could have not crapped out on me!" Lorelai insisted.
At that moment there was a knock on the door. Luke went to answer it.
"Oh hey, Christine," said Luke, flustered. "Christine, this is Lorelai. She was just here to borrow...uh..." Luke searched around for something to offer Lorelai.
"Luke's tool box," Lorelai finished the sentence. "Gotta fix that banister," she giggled nervously.
"Nice to meet you," Christine said.
Luke got his tool box and handed it to Lorelai. "Thanks," she said to Luke. "Have fun, you guys," she said as she walked out of the apartment.
Lorelai went downstairs, and put the tool box in her car. She got in the car to drive home, then changed her mind, got out again and went to sit in the gazebo in the town square. A few minutes later, Luke and Christine came out of the diner and got into Luke's truck. Luke looked up and for a moment their eyes met. Then he started the car and drove off.
LUKE'S DINER, 10:30PM
Luke's truck pulled up outside the diner and he got out, alone, to find Lorelai sitting on the front steps.
"That was a short date," she said.
"Does your boyfriend know you're here stalking me?" Luke grumbled.
"Christopher and I broke up," said Lorelai.
Luke's expression went from aggravation to surprise, then turned annoyed again. "So what do you want?"
"I want...I want nail polish that doesn't chip. I want, just once, to be able to keep a plant alive. I want a lifetime supply of free coffee, and I want to know what's going on in that head of yours!
"Lorelai..." Luke said.
"For years everyone in this town has been telling me that you have a thing for me, but you never made a move. Then you finally did, but then you crapped out on me the first opportunity you had."
"You didn't really want me," Luke said softly.
"You just assumed you knew what I wanted?" asked Lorelai indignantly.
"Well seeing as how this all happened six months ago and you're only bringing it up now I think it was a safe assumption. You've certainly looked happy gallivanting around with Christopher."
"I told you we broke up."
"So now you're back to your backup guy. Just call me Plan B,"said Luke as he angrily stormed into the diner.
Lorelai got up and ran after him into the diner, where Luke was pouring himself some tea. "Is that what you think? You think I'm here because I'm settling? That you're second best?" She sat down on one of the stools by the counter.
Luke did not respond.
"Do you want to know what happened with Christopher?" she asked.
"Not particularly."
"The whole time Rory was growing up, Christopher was there, just on the edges of our lives," Lorelai began. "Whenever I saw him there was that spark, that rapport we have, but I always knew he wasn't...well he was just...Christopher. In and out. Up and down. I couldn't rely on him, he was all over the place. Then Sherry showed up and he got his job and his Volvo and it was like he'd grown up, become everything I wanted, only he was with her. So I thought it was time to move on. Then he split with her and we were together and I thought "this is it. It's finally happening for us."
"But she got pregnant. I don't need the whole recap," said Luke.
"I'll admit when he showed up at my house that night we had the date, I was...well I wasn't sure what I wanted. So you made that decision for me and I finally got to see what it would be like to be with Christopher as a grownup."
"And?" said Luke.
"He's not a grownup. He never will be. And then I heard you asking Christine out and it was like...I'm with Christopher because supposedly he's ready to be steady and reliable, only he isn't, and I'm in the middle of telling him that and he says to me 'you need somebody more grounded,' and suddenly all I could think about was you. You've always been the grounded one, the one who's always there for me, the one I can always count on, only now you're not there for me, you're going on dates with her..."
As Lorelai was speaking, Luke's expression softened, and he slowly moved in closer to her. "I'll still always be there," he said, smiling, as he leaned over to brush his lips on hers.
Lorelai smiled playfully. "Oh, so when you're married with like 15 kids and I need you to fix my faucet you'll just drop everything to come help me? I'm sure your wife will like that."
"She'll just have to understand," said Luke as he leaned in to kiss her again. Lorelai turned the stool to face him, wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in as they both embraced.
After a while Lorelai pulled away from the kiss and leaned her forehead against Luke's. "You are not plan B," she said to him softly as he stroked her cheek. "You are plan A. You are A, you are..."
"Would you just be quiet?" said Luke softly, leaning in to kiss her again.
THE END
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am really not happy with the Rory storyline here. I wanted to develop James more, but every time I started to I realized I couldn't just develop him a little, it was all or nothing, and since the main focus of this story is intended to be the Luke/Lorelai/Christopher arc, it just wasn't something I wanted to go into. So James is left essentially faceless. I also had every intention of doing a happy ending for Rory and Dean, but when I went to write the ending, the characters just wouldn't cooperate with me. Much as I love the character of Dean, he's not the Dean he used to be. I do think he needs some time on his own to rediscover his spine, and then maybe he'll be ready for her again.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, please R&R and maybe I'll make some revisions to hopefully improve things.