AN: Thanks for the kind words, and as always, for the reviews! I've been a little knocked out by pain meds, lol. Here's another installment for you all!
A week went by, and it was time once again for the great Christmas migration. Rory and Ella were heading off separately, to pick up Jane before joining the rest of the group in Stars Hollow. Paris had called several times a day for the last few days, with recommendations of tours for the girls to make sure they attend, which days would be best to hit which colleges, and basically trying to schedule every second of their trip for them. Micro-managing was one of her great skills, after all. Rory told her not to worry, as the girls would get a good feel for the campuses and have a little fun now that finals were over with.
"You don't think Paris will actually come out with Jane, do you?" Ella worried as her mother drove towards the airport.
Rory giggled. "I'm sure she threatened to, but she is way too busy at the hospital."
"Well, you shouldn't have let her talk to Dad."
"Tristan just likes to egg Paris on. He has to get his kicks somehow."
"She seems so strict," Ella added.
"Paris just wouldn't know fun if it bit her in the ass," Rory explained. "She was born with that stick lodged, I think."
"You and Dad went to high school with her?"
"Yep. What a pleasure that was, let me tell you."
"And she really liked Daddy?"
"She did. They even went out on a date once," Rory smiled.
"I can't see Dad with someone like her."
"He couldn't either. Hence, the one date."
"She asked him out?"
"Actually, I convinced him to ask her out," Rory explained.
"But, you liked him, didn't you?"
"It's sort of a long story, Els," Rory said, giving her daughter a pleading look.
"I've got time, Mom."
"Well, it was sort of complicated. Your Dad and I didn't date until college."
"But he liked you in high school. He told me," she crossed her arms, still probing her mother for information. She'd heard the stories of them getting together, but they didn't talk a lot about their high school days.
"He annoyed me. I thought he just liked giving me a hard time, plus the whole school knew Paris had a thing for him. She was just sort of scary, and I didn't need more reason for her to hate me. And besides, I had a boyfriend most of the time we were at Chilton together."
"The bagboy?" Ella asked.
"Dean," Rory corrected, rolling her eyes at Tristan's obvious coaching of their child.
"Whatever."
"Anyway, after Dean and I broke up, your father and I ended up at a party, and we kissed. After which, we became friends, and I told him that I couldn't date him, but he should ask someone with substance out, and I suggested Paris. So he did. It just didn't work," Rory summarized.
"'Cause he liked you."
"What makes you think that?"
"Daddy."
Rory smiled, and turned on her turn signal as they waited at a stoplight.
"He's been talking about all this, has he?"
"Yeah. We had a chat last night."
"About our high school days?"
"Well, he wanted to know how serious Billy and I are, and we ended up talking about you guys in college, then he mentioned the high school thing, and I asked about it."
"I see. So, how serious is this thing between you two?"
"I don't know," Ella shrugged.
"You talk a lot," she nudged.
"Yeah. We get along so well, we can actually talk. None of the guys at school are really interesting to talk to, you know?"
"Oh, I remember," Rory smiled. "Is he a good kisser?"
"Mom!"
"What? We all saw you after Thanksgiving. It looked like quite a kiss," she added.
"It was," Ella responded, blushing a little.
"Well, so, what's the problem?"
"College. He's so down on himself, and his abilities. I think it bugs him, where I applied to and all. He thinks I'm too good for him or something, but it's not how I feel."
"Well, if that's what's bugging him, it's his loss if he lets it get between you."
"I know. It's just never been like this before, you know?"
"I know," she said supportively, patting her daughter's hand. She parked the car in the garage and turned to Ella. "Ready to get Jane?"
Ella nodded and got out of the car with her mom, off to meet Jane for the first time.
&&&&
Will ran over to his mom's house, hurrying as he was already running late. He had to help her decorate the house before everyone got there. When he walked in the front door, he saw Christmas decorations everywhere. The tree was up in the stand, but garland, ornaments, and lights were strung out all over the living room.
"It looks like a tornado hit in here," he commented, as his mother turned to look at him, strings of lights wound around her.
"Oh, Will, good. Come over here and help me!"
"What are you doing?"
"One of these lights is out, and now the whole strand won't turn on!"
"Why don't you have it plugged in?"
"Duh, 'cause they get hot," she said.
"Not if they don't come on," he reasoned.
"You're as bad as your father, with the rationale and logic," she pouted. He sighed, and found the plug, inserting it in the outlet. He started from the other end of the strand, testing the bulbs.
She smiled at her son, and continued working on the bulbs from her end.
"So, how was your week?"
"Good," he said, not looking up from the task at hand.
"Sookie called me. She had some news."
He nodded, rescrewing in a bulb.
"About Anna."
He looked up at his mom, his attention held now.
"You knew about the rape all this time?"
"She told her mom?" he asked, relieved.
"Yeah. She did. You poor kid, you knew this whole time?"
Will nodded.
"Wow. That poor girl," Lorelai said.
"She wasn't doing so well, but she started going to this group for other people who'd gone through it too," he explained.
"Well, Sookie was just devastated. I think she wanted to hire bodyguards to walk her around campus," she went on.
"Anna's going to be fine," Will assured her.
"Sookie also wants to make a statue of you for the town square, she said Anna wouldn't be doing so well without you," she informed him.
"I didn't do anything," he said, taking out another bulb, causing the rest of the strand to light up.
"Found it," he said quickly moving to get a replacement bulb from the box his dad kept. If it weren't for his dad, nothing in this house would have much organization, he feared. Before he'd moved in, Rory had lived here, so it'd probably always been quite tidy.
"Will, you did a lot for her. She said that Anna probably wouldn't have gone to that group if not for you."
"She would have eventually. She's strong."
"Well, I think you did a great thing, here, kid," she said, moving to hug him. He hugged his mom back, a bit sheepish about admitting he was the reason she was doing so well. He'd just done what he thought was right. They pulled back; the lights still strung around both of them, and started decorating the tree.
&&&&
Jess drove straight to the diner, wanting to help Luke out before heading over to the house with all the people there. He wasn't much in the mood to sit and visit with people right now. Working in the diner would keep his thoughts clear, plus the kids could eat and go on their own time. He had to hand it to them, they seemed to be handling this fairly well. He worried that they were handling it too well, and not dealing with the fact that Erin was in California. He parked the car and held the door open for his kids.
"Uncle Luke!" he called out in the half-full diner, causing Luke to poke his head out from the back.
"Hey, you guys made it," he nodded, hugging the kids before Jess. They sat down at the counter, and he lowered his voice.
"How you doing?"
Jess shrugged. "Been better. The kids are starved. I'll go do refills?"
Luke nodded, wishing Jess would relax and not go non-stop. Sighing, he walked around the counter, to stand in front of the kids. Both looked so grown-up, he just couldn't get used to it. He remembered when they were tiny, running around the diner at top speed, annoying Kirk by stealing his ketchup and hiding his silverware.
"Hungry?"
Ambrose nodded, and Jules shook her head.
"You have to eat," he said to his sister.
"I'm not hungry."
"We'll both have a burger and fries," he told Luke, as Jules glared at him.
"I don't want a burger," she complained.
"How about an eggnog milkshake?" Luke offered, knowing her soft spot for milkshakes.
"I guess so," she smiled at him.
"Put a packet of the protein stuff in it," Jess said as he passed his uncle.
"She not eating?"
"Not much," Jess looked concerned at his daughter.
"I'm going to kill Erin," Luke muttered, putting the order back to the kitchen.
&&&&
"We're here!" Tristan called out into the house, surprised not to see a ton of people already there. They were having the annual pre-Christmas bash at the Danes house, and all he saw was Lorelai perched on a ladder, trying to put a star on top of the tree.
She turned to look at him, and smiled. "Hey, you're tall!"
He rolled his eyes and took the star from her, easily leaning over the distance that she couldn't. "Where's Will?"
"The market. We needed more ice."
"Ah. The place looks great. Where is everyone?"
"We pushed it back an hour," she said, folding the ladder up after he got off it. "Hey, Jake," she hugged him before handing off the ladder to her grandson.
"Garage?"
"Thanks, kid," she smiled. "Rory at the airport?"
Tristan nodded. "Jane's plane got in a half hour ago, so she should be not too far behind us."
"You're really going to let Ella go with Billy this weekend?"
He sighed. "I don't have a choice, now do I?"
"Rory's afraid you and Jess will tail them," she laughed.
He looked down the hall and pointed at the kitchen. "You have everything you need besides ice? I'll go check," he evaded her comment.
"Tristan!" she jogged to catch up with him. "Hey, you know you can't do that, right?"
"She's just a kid. She's not old enough to go gallivanting off with some boy."
"She's almost eighteen. And she'll have Jane with her, and if she's anything like Paris, you have nothing to worry about," Lorelai reminded.
"You would have let Rory do something like this?"
"I would have."
He sighed. "I don't like it."
"You don't say."
They stared at one another, in a stalemate. His shoulders slumped a little.
"I guess you're right."
"Come on. You know if something bad happens, there'll be line to disembowel him. But he's Sookie's kid, give him a break. You've known him from birth, he's not a bad kid," she said.
He smiled at the disemboweling comment. "I know. It's just the way he looks at her."
"The way you used to look at my baby girl," she added.
"I made an honest woman out of her!"
"GAH! Okay, giving you advice time over," she said, screwing up her face in disgust. "I really don't like to be reminded that you deflowered my daughter."
He smirked and nodded. "You can put coal in my stocking again," he offered, referring to the first Christmas he's spent at her house.
She smiled too, shaking her head. "Yeah, I better go find some of that right now," she added as she made her way back into the main room, to make sure all the other decorations had been put away before the party-goers and family began showing up.