A/N: Hey guys, I just wanted to make sure you knew that I'm not going to make Josh the bad guy. Don't expect Rory to come home one day to find him cheating on her or anything like that. He's a good guy, and Rory likes him. Hell, who wouldn't?! But it'll still be a Trory. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first part—keep it up! And feel free to offer suggestions! Oh, by the way, know that Josh has met Lorelai once before when Lorelai came to visit Rory at Yale.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, but whatever characters you don't recognize are mine.

A Long December: Part Two

Rory woke up the next morning to the sound of the ringing telephone. She considered rolling over and going back to sleep, but the sudden thought that it might be Josh on the other end convinced her to pick up.

"Hello?" Rory groaned.

"Rory! Thank god you're there! Michel's being annoying again and won't talk to me," Lorelai whined.

"Mom, it's..." Rory looked at the clock, "9:30! I don't have a class for another two hours. Let me sleep!"

"Oooh why are you so tired, huh? Out late last night with Josh?" Lorelai pressed in a sing-song voice.

"Ugh... why do you automatically assume I was out with Josh? Could have been Paris, or Lane, or any of my other friends! Or maybe I was just studying, you know that is what college students do, right?"

"Was it Josh?"

"Yes. But that's so beside the point."

"What was the point again? I was tuning you out."

Rory threw her hands up in the air. "You're impossible."

"Thanks. So how was the date, anyways?"

"It was great. I really like him. But was there another reason for your call besides to get away from Michel and nag me about my social life?"

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah, actually, there was. How'd you know?"

"I know when you're avoiding a subject. What's up?"

"It's your grandmother. She wants us to go to her annual Christmas party. Believe me, I tried to get us out of it, but she wouldn't have it. Our duty to society, or something like that. I told her you were busy studying, and that you didn't have time to come to these stup—"

"It's fine, Mom, I'll go," Rory tried to cut off her mother's rant.

"—id socialite parties, and that you really weren't up for it after a long semester of stud—what? You'll go? Did I hear that correctly?"

"Yeah, Mom, I don't like these parties, but there's no way we can get out of it. She's Emily Gilmore, unable to take no for an answer. There's no use fighting it," Rory reasoned.

"You're sooo not my daughter. We will fight until the end! Do you think if I tell her you'll go, I won't have to?"

Rory laughed. "Not likely. So, it's on Christmas Day, right?"

"Yeah. 7 o'clock. Hey, maybe you can invite Josh and you guys can stay the weekend? You know, come cheer up your old maid of a mother whom you ditched just to go to some college. I mean, what kind of child does that to the woman who spent twenty hours in labor for her!"

"I know, it's completely ridiculous! God, why would I ever leave you to go to college? What could I ever learn there? Maybe I'll quit school and come home to work at MacDonald's. I can be Kirk's apprentice!" Rory played along.

Lorelai shuddered. "Or maybe you should just stay at school."

Rory laughed again. "Yeah, maybe. I'll have to ask Josh, but the weekend sounds good. We can go shopping."

Lorelai perked up. "Great! Ask him and get back to me. I'll talk to you later, okay, sweets?"

"Okay, Mom, bye!" Rory put the phone down chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Paris asked from the doorway.

"Nothing, really, my mom was just being my mom. All melodramatic about me being out of the house. Says she's turning into an old maid."

Paris snorted. "Yeah, right! She's anything but. You can even tell her I said that."

Rory smiled. "Thanks. Do you want to get some breakfast? There's no way I'll be able to fall back asleep now."

"Sure, I'll be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Okay."

Rory jumped out of bed and threw on some jeans, followed by a blue long-sleeved shirt and her corduroy jacket. She brushed her dark brown hair and put it up in a high pony tail. She shoved her cell phone, wallet, and keys into her pockets and headed out to the common room to meet Paris.

"Hey, ready?" she asked Paris once she got there.

"Yeah, where do you want to go?"

"I guess just the dining hall. I'm ready to try to use that waffle maker again!"

"Oh, Gilmore..." Paris muttered as she shut the door behind them.

Rory and Paris trudged through the half a foot of snow that was left on the ground from the storm from last week. They made comfortable small talk about the classes they had that day, and what papers they had due when. They also made plans for later that day, since they were unable to hang out the previous night. Just as they were trying to decide what to watch after "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club" (with the obvious theme being Molly Ringwald), Rory's cell starting vibrating.

"Hello?" she answered, motioning to Paris to wait for her inside the dining hall.

"Did you have as good of a time last night as I did?" came the voice from the other end of the line.

Rory grinned. "Hello, Joshua. And to answer your question, yes, I did."

"Great, I was thinking we could have a repeat tonight? What do you say? We could go see that new Johnny Depp movie. I know you love him."

"I wish I could, but I think I should devote tonight to Paris. I still feel bad about last night, and we definitely need a night to rent some movies, gawk at the hot boys, and generally discuss your gender. Now, having an actual guy there might defeat the purpose, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Rory's voice suddenly lost a bit of its amusement. "Besides, after what I have to tell you, I'm not sure you'll be too happy with me."

"You sound like the apocalypse is coming."

"Almost—Emily Gilmore."

"Your grandmother?"

"Yeah, I got trapped into going to her Christmas party, and you're invited too."

"Do I have to go?"

"I guess not, if you really don't want to. My grandmother wants to meet you though, and Mom invited us to stay in Stars Hollow for the weekend."

"Okay, I'll go. I like your mom, even though she scares me a little," Josh said, laughing.

"Yeah, she tends to do that to people. But are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but that means we might have to spend Thanksgiving with my family."

Rory smiled. "That sounds nice."

Josh smiled too. "Yeah, it does." Suddenly, he sounded worried again. "Am I going to be ambushed by your whole crazy town?" Josh sounded worried.

"Probably." A thought struck Rory. "Oh, I have to go! Thanks for agreeing! I'll call you tomorrow!"

And with that, Rory hung up her phone and went into the dining hall to meet Paris, screaming "Pretty in Pink!!!"

A/N: Sorry there was so much dialogue. It kind of sucked. Anyways, I'm thinking Tristan might be in the next chapter. Either that, or the next next chapter. Review. -sal