An Author's Pre Brunch Ramblings- So, I bet that no one thought that this chapter would be up so fast! Honestly, I'm a bit surprised about it myself. This has a lot todo with a review I got from Riya, who made me feel a lot less frustrated with some of the rude reviews that I got. So, thanks go out to you, Riya! I probably would have put this story on the back burner again after I read some of the obnoxious reviews.
And I have a dedication for this chapter too, which is another reason for my updating now. This is a belated birthday present to my beta Sara. Happy 17th Birthday Sara!
Thank You- I need to thank both Sara, (Shouhei) for making me continue this story, and for taking out the plot points with me over and over again. And Amy (abc79de) for going over this chapter with a fine toothed comb, and making it better than I thought that it could be!
For the Education of Deprived Children- Babar is a French cartoon elephant, who was raised by the Old Woman before returning to be the King of the Elephants. He is married to Celeste, and named their town, Celesteville after her. His best friend is a monkey named Zephir, who owns an ice cream shop. This is one of my favorites, as well as being insanely popular in France, so it will probably show up a lot in this story.
Disclaimer- I don't own Gilmore Girls, Sacred Time, by Ursula Hegi, or Babar. If I did, I'd be swimming in my money vault, not writing this story and working at a kinda sucky retail job to pay my way through school.
And now, on with the story!
Chapter Four- I Know This Much is True
"They're late." Paris Gellar stated. "It's not surprising. Tristan always did have a unique grasp on time."
"Paris, it's only five after eleven." Louise reminded her. "Calm down."
"I wonder what she's like!" Madeline smiled a wondering look on her face. "She must be really pretty."
"Please. She's going to be tall, beautiful, blonde, and completely brain dead." Paris snapped, looking around the crowd that was milling about the lawn. It was the perfect spring morning, there was a light breeze, and the air smelled of the flowers that were beginning to bloom. The air was warm, and the sun shone brightly. Overall, it was the ideal May Saturday.
"Cynical much?" Louise raised an eyebrow in Paris' direction.
"She'd have to be stupid to actually marry Tristan Dugrey." Paris explained. "Plus, Rory obviously doesn't like her. You heard what she said last night. The wife is 'interesting.'"
"So?"
"So, Rory likes everyone. She's like Mother Theresa or something. So there obviously must be something wrong with the woman."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"Maybe his wife knows about their affair, and she and Rory got into a huge fight over Tristan!" Madeline guessed. "Then, Rory fled back home, to escape."
"Why are you still pushing this whole affair thing?" Paris asked, looking at her two companions. "You know Rory. She wouldn't do something like that."
"Au contraire, mon amie." Louise contradicted. "If I remember correctly, Miss Gilmore was deflowered by her very hot and very married ex-boyfriend."
"That was one time, Louise. It doesn't mean that she's out to steal every husband on the East Coast."
"No, she only goes after the hot ones." Madeline grinned. "Whatever the woman is like, she must be something. I mean, she got the Hartford bad boy to settle down."
"She's not just something, Madeline. Women like her are what legends are made of." Louise stated. "She got Tristan Dugrey to marry her."
"Maybe they had to get married." Madeline thought out loud. "Like an arranged marriage thing."
"But last night Rory told us that they eloped." Paris remembered. "If you are being forced into marrying someone, usually you drag your feet, not race to the alter."
"What if she was in a 'delicate condition'?" Louise suggested. "That would explain why our King settled down."
"And why he's still married." Madeline's eyes gleamed with excitement. Gossiping was one of her favorite pastimes. Both she and Louise prided themselves on knowing all the dirt and getting the scoop before anyone else. "If there were children involved, it would be harder for him to leave."
"Any woman who would let him impregnate her is severely lacking in brain matter." Paris snapped, craning her neck to see around a woman in a large blue hat that had situated herself in front of them, her wide blue-covered frame blocking their view. "Hey, Mrs. Peacock, do you think you could take it into the billiard room? Maybe you could find Professor Plum and take out Miss Scarlet with the wrench!"
The woman turned her head, giving her a look before she and her male companion moved to another patch of lawn.
"Paris, you really have to try harder to be nice to people." Madeline commented brightly. "It makes life easier when your peers don't hate you."
"I don't care if someone who could pose for a Milton Bradley board game hates me. I don't even know that woman. I have never seen her before in my life."
"That's Mrs. Waltham, Paris." Louise winced once she realized who the woman was. "She just pledged an undisclosed seven figure sum to build the new Cardiac wing in Hartford Memorial."
"Damn it!" Paris swore loudly, attracting some stares from her former classmates. "What is she doing here? She didn't graduate with us."
"No, but her nephew did, and she is on the School Board." Madeline added.
"Who's her nephew?" Paris asked, narrowing her eyes. That woman was going to donate that money to her unit. She couldn't let such a sizable amount slip through her fingers, especially not to the Pediatric wing that was also seeking funds to update their own area of the hospital.
"Your very favorite person." Louise smirked at the irony of the situation. "Brad Langford."
"Brad Langford? Are you kidding me?" Paris nearly screeched, before regaining control. How in the world had she become so unlucky? I'm screwed.
"You, my dear, are screwed." Louise said, before she and Madeline broke out into laughter.
&
"We're here!" Tristan announced brightly. He turned toward his family when his statement was met with silence. Lori and TJ were engrossed in a Babar cartoon that was playing on the portable DVD player, completely tuned out to anything that wasn't huge, grey and French.
Rory was a different story. She was sitting next to him, staring intently at the copy of Sacred Time that lay in her lap. To the untrained eye, one might assume that she was as involved in her book as the twins were in the animated pachyderm, but Tristan knew better.
She'd opened the book the moment that she had gotten in the car, but had yet to turn a single page. The sullen, thoughtful expression on her face was worrying Tristan. He had expected her to be apprehensive about revealing their prank to their former classmates.
Somewhere between storming out of Lori's room and leaving for Hartford, something had shifted. Rory had been so angry at him for trying to convince her to make peace with Christopher, but now, she just seemed tired and sad.
Tristan hit the power button, disconnecting Lori and TJ from Celesteville. Lori gasped, narrowing her eyes at her father.
"Daddy! That was the best part!" She exclaimed, throwing Tristan a dirty look.
"Yeah! Zephir was in it!" TJ chimed in, equally upset.
"Sorry." Tristan apologized, getting out of the car, leaving his children in their futile attempts to wiggle their way out of their car seats. He moved quickly to Rory's side, opening her door for her to step out.
"Rory." He waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention, which was still on her book, though her mind was far away from the pages in her lap. "Rory!"
Her head snapped up, her blue eyes meeting his. "What?" She asked him, looking around. "We're here already?" Rory was surprised they got to Chilton so quickly. It seemed like only moments ago, she had strapped TJ into his car seat. "That was fast."
"Sure, if you discount the extra half hour that we spent stuck in traffic." Tristan said sarcastically, holding out his hand to help her from the car. "It was the most boring car ride ever. Even worse than that time that we were stuck on the Autobahn for six hours after that pile up, I'd venture to say."
"Sorry." She said accepting his hand, letting him pull her from the vehicle. "I guess that I wasn't very good company today." Rory gave Tristan a small smile.
"So you're talking to me again?" Tristan smirked slightly, brushing her dark locks behind her ear, his hand lingering a bit to caress her cheek. "I thought that you'd be mad at me for the rest of the day, at least."
"I was never mad at you."
"My eardrums would beg to differ, Darling." Tristan admonished playfully, hoping to raise her spirits a little. "You achieved optimum volume when you were yelling at me."
"Sorry." She shrugged, not playing along like she normally would.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, lifting her chin when she tried to look away. "What happened?"
Rory bit her lip, leaning heavily against the car. She had been fine, really she had. She picked an outfit, did her makeup, and even curled the ends of her long hair. Everything had been going well. Lane was coming to visit, and her mother had called again, informing her of the next sneak attack in the war with the Coffee Nazis.
Everything had been going so well. It had been for months, ever since they had moved to Stars Hollow. The new house had been built to her specifications before they even set foot on American soil, so it was nice and cozy, just the way that she liked things, despite the grand scale that Tristan had refused to budge on. Lori and TJ had been relatively well behaved for a while now, with only a few minor scrapes for Taylor to complain about during the town meetings.
But by far, the best part was the fact that she was finally within walking distance of her mother. Even though Rory knew that being in Europe for the last few years was definitely meant to be, and she couldn't imagine what her life would have been like now if she hadn't gone, it was still difficult to be that far away from Lorelai. More than once she had thought about packing up and going home. Now that she was back, they were back. Movie nights had become a Friday night ritual once more, mixing sharp, witty comments, heaps of teeth-rotting junk food, and the tried and true favorite flicks that had been watched over and over again, never getting old.
Then, only a few hours ago, her father had ruined all of that. Every time that he came back into her life, chaos followed. Christopher just didn't know when to quit. No matter how much time passed, he kept trying to be the father that he never was. The father he never would be.
The father he never could be.
And the worst part was that no matter what he did, and no matter how much havoc he wreaked upon her life, deep down a piece of her still desperately wanted him to be that father.
And that small part of her grew when she had stumbled upon Tristan with Lori. On her way downstairs, she heard their laughter in the playroom, and went to investigate. Peeking into the room, Rory saw her sitting in his lap, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder, as he read her a book. Lori giggled loudly as Tristan made up funny voices to match the characters' outrageous personalities.
The scene before her was touching, and warmed her heart, as it would any mothers. But that tiny bit of her that wanted her father couldn't help but be a teensy bit jealous of her own daughter, for having something that Rory knew that she would never have.
Christopher wasn't capable of being the man that Tristan was. She would never know what it felt like to have a father who would tuck her into bed at night, read her a story, and kiss her goodnight.
No matter how much Rory knew that in her mind, her heart still held out hope. And every time that Christopher chose make another attempt at reconciliation that hope would grow, until she really believed that this time would turn out differently.
Only to be proven wrong yet again, like she always was.
Rory wasn't going to go through that again. She wasn't going to put her heart out on the line again for her father. Her life was full of stable people who loved her. She had her mother, her husband, two and a half children, along with a stepfather, two brothers, a gaggle of friends, and a whole town of people who thought of her as their own daughter. There was no room in her life for a father who was never anything but a disappointment, no matter how much he loved her. She was the one who ended up hurting in the end.
"What's wrong?" Tristan asked again, not letting her off the hook. He had her pinned against the side of the car, an arm on either side of her. Rory sighed heavily, letting her head fall forward onto his chest.
"You're a really good father." She mumbled into his linen jacket, burrowing deeper into him as his arms slid around her, his fingers making soothing circles into her lower back.
"Thanks." Tristan accepted the compliment, wondering where it had come from. Surely that wasn't what she had been thinking about for the past hour. It had to be something bigger than that.
"Lori and TJ are really lucky to have you." Rory whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear. "Any child would be lucky to have a guy like you for a father." She was on the verge of tears now, but desperately trying to keep from crying.
"Rory?" Tristan asked when he felt her start to shake. He tried to pull away slightly, but she pulled him tighter as she began losing the battle within herself, tears spilling from her eyes and soaking into the lapel of his jacket.
"I don't know why I'm crying." Rory said, frustrated with herself for giving in, letting the long buried emotions get the better of her. Damn hormones, she thought. "I gave up on him a long time ago. I shouldn't be crying."
"You mean your dad?" Tristan wiped a wayward tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I'm sorry, Ror. I should have just told him no, and not even told you."
"And then, when he didn't listen and came anyway, I would have been mad at you for not telling me." Rory pointed out, composing herself again. This was neither the time nor the place to do this. "It's not your fault that he's the way he is."
"It's not your fault either, you know." Tristan said, brushing his lips against her forehead. "He's the one who missed out. It takes a true buffoon not to see what an amazing woman you are."
"You didn't see it at first."
"Ah, but I was sixteen, and I quickly saw the error in my ways." He reminded her, placing a soft kiss on her lips. "There's a lot that I don't know, but I know this much is true. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Ror, and anyone who doesn't get that can take a flying leap off the Empire State Building, for all I care."
"Very sappy, Tristan." The corners of her mouth curved up slightly.
"Yes, it was, but it worked." Tristan laughed as she reluctantly smiled. "See? You can't resist me when I'm whispering sweet nothings into your ear."
"Yeah, you and your 'sweet nothings' are exactly what has gotten me into this predicament." Rory sighed when he ran his hands over her sides, warming her from the inside out. How did he manage to turn her on so quickly? "It's entirely your fault that I'm fat now."
"It's all my fault?" Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Because I seem to remember you saying something along the lines of 'harder, Tristan, harder. Fu-,'" He was silenced as his mortified wife clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Ew!" Rory pulled her hand away from his lips when she felt his tongue against her fingers. "Gross! You licked me!"
"Please, my tongue has been in places a lot less innocent than your hand, Babe." Tristan smirked, watching her eyes bulge at his words. Even after all these years, he still enjoyed teasing her. Some things never changed.
"I can't believe that you just said that." Rory said, shocked. "You are going to scar your children."
"Like they can even hear me." Tristan said, sliding his hands under the knee length periwinkle blue coat she was wearing, caressing her curves over the material of her black dress. "They're in the car, trying in vain to squirm their way out of their car seats."
If only he knew how wrong he was.
True enough, Lori and TJ were in the car, attempting to free themselves from their Playskool confines, but it wasn't in vain. After nearly twenty minutes of writhing and wiggling, Lori's small hand caught the catch on the side, allowing her to slide out of her seat and move over to let her brother out.
Neither Rory nor Tristan were paying much attention to anything other than each other, and didn't notice that their children were free until it was too late. The twins raced past them before either parent could react.
Tristan and Rory both hurried after them, praying that they caught up with them before the Terrible Twosome decided to divide and conquer.
Luck was on their side. Sort of.
Just as the twins reached the edge of the parking lot, TJ tripped on his untied shoelace, falling heavily to his knees. The second that his little legs came in contact with the gravel, the boy let out a wail of pain.
Lori didn't even look back when her brother went down. Ever the independent one, she kept going on her own, disappearing into the crowd that was congregated on the lawn in front of the main building.
"Go after her!" Rory called to Tristan, who was ahead of her. He nodded, and took off in hot pursuit of Lori, while Rory knelt down next to TJ, who was still whimpering as she checked him over, to make sure there was no permanent damage.
&
"Oh my God!" Louise and Paris stopped speaking when Madeline rushed up to them, out of breath from running back to the pair. She had just gone to get a drink with her fiancé Harper Selton, and had run into Gloria Kent, who filled her in on the major scandal that was about to break. "You… are never… going to believe… what… I just… I just… heard."
"What? What?" Louise asked, sensing she was about to get a scoop. "Come on, tell us!"
"Louise, she can barely breathe, let alone talk." Paris said, turning to Madeline, who was now bent at an odd angle, leaning on the table the two women had been sitting at when she ran back. "Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out." She instructed her friend, whose color slowly returned to normal after following the good doctor's advice.
"So, Harper and I were over at the refreshment table, and Gloria was there with her husband. Let me tell you, his hair plugs definitely aren't taking. Whoever maimed his head should be shot-,"
"That's what you wanted to tell us!" Paris exclaimed, attracting the attention of the people at the next table. "What?" She snapped at them, turning away when they went back to their own conversations.
"No. Apparently, the former King of Chilton was seen canoodling with our very own Valedictorian in the parking lot!" Madeline squealed, nearly exploding with excitement.
"No way!" Louise was surprised. Not that they were obviously sleeping together, but that they were stupid enough to get caught in public. "The parking lot!"
"There has to be some other explanation." Paris couldn't swallow the gossip that her friend was trying to feed her. "I still say that Rory would never do that!"
"Well, believe it. What other explanation is there?"
"I don't know, but there's got to be something." Paris grumbled crossly. She had really thought that Rory was better than that. What kind of a person would sneak around, sleeping with a married man? What was wrong with her? Didn't she learn her lesson with Dean?
"Hey!" Paris stumbled forward, grabbing onto the edge of the table to keep her balance. She turned sharply to see what had run into her, and found herself staring at a young girl who couldn't have been older than five. Her dark brown curls were secured by a purple ribbon, keeping her hair away from her startling blue eyes.
Paris had never seen the child before, she knew that much.
However, she was familiar. Very familiar. It was the eyes. Paris was sure that she had seen those eyes before. Where she had seen them, she had no idea. Perhaps she was the daughter of a former classmate, or maybe the spokesperson for a child's toy, or diapers or something.
"Lorelai Amelia!" The little girl's eyes went round, and she turned around slowly when she heard her father's voice.
Paris, Madeline, and Louise looked up, shocked to see Tristan Dugrey walking over to them. Or rather, to the little girl standing before them. "What have I told you about running off?"
"To take TJ with me?" Lori answered meekly, pouting a little as Tristan picked her up.
"Try again." Tristan stared her down, trying not to cave.
"Not to?" Lori said, pouting a little more, giving her father her very best puppy dog eyes.
"Exactly." Tristan could feel his resolve begin to waver, and attempted to remain as stern as he possibly could. But his daughter knew how to push his buttons, making it impossible for him to remember why she was being reprimanded in the first place. This time was no different. Lori peppered kisses onto his cheeks, hugging him tightly around his neck. "You can't just take off. You have to wait for someone to take you." He kept his cool until she pulled out the big guns: Butterfly kisses. "Promise?"
"I promise." Lori smiled, kissing his nose. "Am I your best girl again?"
"Of course. Just don't tell Mommy." Tristan grinned back at her. "Or else I'll be in trouble."
"And then it's Sofa City, Sweetheart." Lori giggled, repeating the line from the movie she had watched with her grandmother the night before.
"I thought that we decided that you were too young for 'Sixteen Candles.'"
"Grandma said that it was okay." Lori told him. "As long as we kept it a secret."
"She did, did she?" Tristan rolled his eyes. For the past three months, Lorelai had been 'grandparenting' his children, and it was getting a little old. He could deal with the coffee and the excessive junk food, but letting his four-year-old daughter watch 'Sixteen Candles' was too much.
Tristan looked past his daughter to see three women standing a few feet away, their mouths agape, as if in some sort of shock. It was almost funny, the way they were staring. It might be the first time they had all been rendered speechless simultaneously.
Paris was the first one to speak, some of the pieces of the puzzle coming together in her head. How she hadn't seen it before, she had no idea.
"Lorelai?"
And there you have it. They are at the brunch, the moment that you were all waiting for. However, I couldn't give it all away, where would the fun be in that?
Hope that you enjoyed this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it!
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