Disclaimer: Still not mine. Some of it is, but mostly not.
Dinner had been uneventful up until this point. At least, no one had stabbed anyone else with a steak knife, so Rory was hoping she could paint this as a success when she later explained 'how it went' to Lorelai. Sighing, she realized she wasn't fooling anyone. Erin and Jess had in fact put their belongings in different rooms back at the house. Richard and Emily's old place was nothing if not spacious. In the few years they'd owned it, back when all the kids were still quite small, everyone had been invited up for a couple of weeks during the summers. Lorelai had even gotten Emily to let Luke and Jess barbeque, making hot dogs and hamburgers. Very un-Emily-like. Rory smiled at the fond memories she had of her grandparents and wondered how she could possibly get Jess and Erin to remember happier times. Them trying to converse at all seemed to go horribly wrong, and in mere seconds. They were too on edge, read too much into every motion, every intonation. It seemed she had the most impossible task. Worse yet, her excuse for not saying much up to this point during dinner was quickly coming to a conclusion. Most of her plate was visible, as her Chicken Marsala was mostly consumed by now. She scanned topics in her head, but quickly caught on to how the blame game was being played by these two, and could weed out every single topic almost instantaneously at this point.
"Shall we?" Tristan asked, sliding his chair back and extending his hand to her. 'At Last' was beginning to play in the background, and Rory smiled. It had been their first dance as a married couple—fittingly so, as it had been their first dance together period. He never missed an opportunity to dance with her, especially to this song.
"Let's shall," she looked into his shining blue eyes and let him lead her out to the smallish dance floor.
Instantly swept up in the feel of his arms around her, she leaned against his shoulder, smiling like an idiot into his jacket. He brushed his lips against her forehead, and held her a little tighter against his frame.
"Thanks," she murmured into him.
"For what?"
"For doing all this, for getting me away from that table. This was a bad idea, maybe we should just get the hell out of Dodge," she admitted defeat, now looking up into his eyes.
"Well, I won't say I told you so," he smirked at her, "But I don't think we can do anything to help them. All I'm worried about is making sure my wife gets to dance to our song," he added.
"You are remarkably sappy about that," she smiled back at him.
"If you like, I could be a complete jackass later," he offered.
"We'll see. For now, just hold me a little tighter," she instructed as she rested her head back against his shoulder.
Back in Stars Hollow, Luke and Lorelai had prepared the house for a massive kid invasion, ready for any and every scenario. Including them all sleeping over since they weren't quite sure when their parents would return. Six teenagers, all in their care.
"We're certifiable," Luke groaned as Lorelai put even more candy on the coffee table.
"Yeah, oh, hey, could you pick up a gallon of Chunky Monkey on your way back from picking up the kids?"
"Lorelai, if they eat all this sugar, their parents will have to peel them off our walls in a couple days," he tried to impart some better judgment.
"Luke, I told you when you moved in to this house! I have one Cardinal Rule: You don't monkey with tradition. And Movie Night is tradition! Junk food and all. Now, scoot, scoot, you'll be late!"
He rolled his eyes. "Fine, but I refuse to buy anything called Chunky Monkey," he informed her, taking his jacket and keys from the front hall as he left the house. She just shook her head and wandered over to the phone to check and make sure Rory hadn't called. She worried about the outing and hoped it was going well. Otherwise, they really were crazy for taking in six teenagers. . .
Anna and Will sat on the couch at the apartment, supposedly watching television. Davey was moving around them, grabbing personal items he'd left scattered randomly. Checking that he had his wallet, watch, and his cell phone, he gave a look to his friend and sister.
"So, quiet night in?" he asked them.
"Oh, yeah, they're having a John Hughes marathon on tonight, we're just going to watch Anthony Michael Hall geek it up until we pass out," Will waved him on without looking in his direction.
"Right. Well, have fun," he winked at his sister, who stuck out her tongue at her brother. She had told him that there was nothing going on with her and Will, but he still refused to believe it.
As soon as Davey was out the door, Anna sprang up and grabbed her duffel bag that she'd stowed under the couch.
"What are you doing?" Will asked, flipping the television off.
She held up a pair of black pants and a black hooded sweatshirt.
"Ann, we don't have time to change. We have to go now," he laughed at her. "Besides, shouldn't you have a ski mask, too?" he mocked.
Giving a smile, she once again put her hand in the bag and pulled it out to reveal said ski mask.
"Fine, whatever, but you're changing in the car. Let's go," he said, moving to the door.
Jess watched as the two remained on the dance floor, having been there for four songs now. He couldn't imagine they'd want to come back to the table. Then again, he couldn't imagine any one of them wanting to be trapped in the middle of nowhere with him and Erin.
He watched Tristan and Rory in amazement. He'd always known that they were almost annoyingly in love. Ever since they'd begun dating twenty years ago, they'd only ever had eyes for each other. Every move they made was almost as much for the other person as it was for themselves. The way he held her so tightly, letting her rest and sway in time to the music made him shiver. They looked so in sync, so peaceful and oblivious to the world around them. He couldn't remember when the last time he'd held Erin like that. He knew it had been great once, but now she just seemed so closed off to him.
His eyes cast downward for a moment, and then he chanced a glimpse at his wife. A single tear had escaped her eye, and it was trickling slowly down her cheek. Her eyes, too, had been on Rory and Tristan.
"Hey, come on," he whispered softly, taking her by the hand and leading her outside onto the deserted balcony.
Lorelai had just popped the first DVD into the player when the front door opened. A flurry of noise and wind breezed in, and she turned to see the arriving crowd. Luke entered last, holding a plain paper bag. He closed the door, and after she instructed the kids where to dump their belongings, Lorelai approached him.
"Whatcha' got there?" she said, trying to take the bag from him.
Holding it just out of her reach, he opened the bag and took out half the contents.
"Raspberry sherbet? Bleh!" she complained. "It's healthy."
"It's for me," he smirked, before pulling the other half of the contents out of the bag.
"Chunky Monkey! You DO love me!" she kissed him before taking the carton and making a dash for the front room.
"Alright, movie marathon begins in five minutes! Everyone do whatever you need to do! Use the bathroom now, or suffer the non-pauseable consequences! If you have cell phones, please turn them off! And someone, quick, call Joe! We need pizza with everything!" she rambled out her spiel, Jake grabbing the phone to hit Speed Dial 2 to order pizza.
"Grandma, do you want Cheesy bread?" he asked, pulling the receiver away from his mouth.
"You're kidding, right?" she deadpanned, pretending to be in shock.
Jake just smiled and pulled the receiver back up to his mouth. "Yeah, Joe, better add on a couple of orders. Twenty minutes? Thanks."
"What are we watching?" Jules asked.
"Classics, my dear. Classics."
Jules smiled at Lorelai, settling back down on the couch between Lia and Ambrose. She'd talked to Ambrose earlier, as they gathered overnight things to bring over. They knew their parents weren't in a spontaneous, happy-go-lucky mood, and their going away with Rory and Tristan was just strange. She suggested that maybe they were going off to Mexico to get a quickie divorce, but Ambrose assured her they wouldn't do something so rash—at least not without talking to them first. Jess had always been really upfront with his kids. If they asked a question, he gave the most honest, straightforward answer he could provide. He was of the opinion that if you treat kids like babies, they'll act like them, and if you treat them like equals, they'll respect you. Ambrose and Jules had nothing but respect for their parents, but lately they knew they weren't getting the whole truth. They had heard the fighting, and Ambrose had even allowed Jules in his room some nights when the fighting was bad. They sat up late, talking and reading. Ambrose tried to ask Jess about the fighting, but all Jess would say was not to worry about it.
Billy sat down on the floor next to Ella, who was sitting in front of Jules. She gave him a smile and reached out for one of the tubs of popcorn.
"Can you pass me the Milk Duds?" she asked him.
"Uh, yeah," he said, easily reaching the dish that had been out of her reach.
"Thanks," she said, pouring some candy into the warm popcorn. "Want some?" she offered after having mixed up the two treats.
He smiled and grabbed a handful, thrilled to be sharing snacks with the beautiful brunette as the lights went down and Lorelai pressed play.
"We've been in the car over twenty minutes," Anna stated, as if Will wasn't aware. He was driving, two cars behind Dave.
"I know. Try to find another station, I hate this song," he instructed her.
"Not a Tub-Thumper?" she giggled.
"Where in hell is he going? I swear, we've got to be heading towards New Haven."
"New Haven? I don't think anyone smart enough to be there would date Dave," she snorted. "Unless—ooh, think it's a high schooler?"
"We're so not going there. He's 23, let's give him a little credit, shall we?"
"For now," she agreed.
"So, how are you doing?" he said, trying to casually switch the conversation.
"You mean about everything?"
"Yeah."
"I'm okay," she lied.
"You sleep much last night?"
"Well, that couch isn't exactly comfortable."
"Ann," he protested.
"I'm going to be fine. Honestly, I will," she smiled, looking him full in the eyes.
"Okay. But if you need anything, at all, anytime," he rambled.
"I know, you've made that abundantly clear. And you are more than sweet."
"You'll call me, if you need anything?"
The look in his eyes was so serious, so full of concern that she could have cried just from that. Something about the color of his eyes, she could tell even in the dark, turned deeper. She wanted him to stop the car, so she could curl against him and let him hold her until she really felt that it was okay. She knew somehow that he had the ability to make her feel like that.
"I promise," was all she said.
"Good," he smiled at her before turning his attention back to Dave's car. Dave pulled off to the right lane, and slowed to indicate he was taking this exit. Will slowed first, and then took the exit behind his friend. They were on the outskirts of New Haven, not the main exit to take to get to the main campus. Will's pace was almost that of a snail, hoping Dave wouldn't recognize the car even if he realized they were making all the same turns. There is nothing creepier than thinking someone is following you, even though you know it's one of the most improbable things on earth. Feeling only slightly bad for tailing his friend, he continued until Dave pulled to a stop outside of an apartment house. Will pulled up a block and parked on the opposite side of the street.
"Well, I guess we're about ready for the big reveal," Anna said, sitting up straight in her seat.
Dave walked up to the front door on the bottom floor, and knocked. Will felt his breath hold in his lungs just as the door opened. A very familiar figure stood across from Dave. She smiled and waved him happily inside.
"Bree," Will said without emotion. He felt like he'd been slapped across the face. He supposed this was what shock felt like—after all it was how he felt when Bree had told him of her infidelity and pregnancy, and when Anna told him what happened to her before break. Shock sucked, he decided. He wasn't even sure he could drive home at this point. He grasped the steering wheel tightly, but couldn't even really feel the hard texture beneath his fingers.
"Will? Why don't we switch places?" Anna said. She was also in shock, but not quite as bad as Will. She couldn't imagine her brother would be as stupid as to betray Will's friendship so irrevocably. It had to be a joke or a mistake. 'But how could it be?' she thought to herself as she jogged around to the drivers side while Will scooted across to where she'd been seated just moments before.
AN: ah, time to write! If I could, I'd gladly be skipping work, but I do need money. Darn it all! But I have two really free days off coming up next, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up, very, very soon! Glad to hear your comments, to see you guys are interested.