Author: Summer
Title: Drain the Glass
Rating: PG-13, for now
Chapter Title: Snowblind
Summary: When Rory Gilmore's broke, she's desperate enough to do anything- even be the nanny to the family of her roommate. But it's the blonde boy she runs into there that makes the story interesting…
Chapter Summary: Tristan needs warmer socks, Jordan makes a startling confession, and Normandy attacks Ethan
Disclaimer: Don't own Gilmore Girls, obviously. Um, own Jordan and the rest of the Danvers, as well as Sinclair, Amelie, Corina, and Julianna. Also don't own Procol Harum's One Eye on the Future, One Eye on the Past. Basically, I own nothing except my mind's eye. Yes, scary thought. ;)
Author's Note: To Leia. She's listened to my Olympic rants and dealt with my slightly creepy obsession with a certain swimmer. ;)
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Normandy first stirred at 6:00 in the morning, odd considering she'd barely slept the night before. She sat up in bed shivering as she glanced around her room. Ethan was sound asleep in the guest bed, his face sideways against the pillow and his mouth slightly open. Her floor was messier than she was used to, but last night she'd collapsed in pure exhaustion before she could clean.
She sighed, turning around on her bed and reaching above her headboard to close the window. She froze as her hands touched the cold glass, her eyes falling on the crystalline white below. She pulled the window closed but all thought of returning to bed had dimmed. "Ethan," she whispered, crossing the room quickly to his bed, "Wake up."
As she gently shoved him, he lazily opened one eye. "Whaaa?" he groaned groggily, trying to roll back over and into sleep.
"Snow," Normandy murmured, shoving him again.
"So?"
Normandy rolled her eyes. "First snowfall. We have to go outside. It's tradition."
Ethan sighed. "Can the tradition wait a few hours?" he asked, glancing at the alarm clock next to his bed, "We only got to sleep three hours ago."
Normandy shook her head, grabbing his arm as she pulled him from the bed. "We can sleep later. C'mon; I'll go get Emilie."
Ethan nodded, watching Normandy as she ran from the room. He shrugged into an oversized sweatshirt, shaking his head. Leave it to Normandy to wake everyone up at 6 AM.
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When Emilie first jumped onto Rory's bed and told her to look out the window, Rory didn't know how to react. But she'd done as the little girl asked, slipping from her bed and fumbling around on the floor for her slippers.
She'd been greeted by swirling white outside her window as the dusty snow fell to the ground, and her mind automatically went to her mother, 30 miles away.
Emilie seemed to share Lorelai's snow radar, since it had been just after 5:30 in the morning when the girl had woken her up. Rory had promised Emilie she'd take her outside, just as soon as she showered.
Now, her eyes still tired and mind still dazed, Rory stumbled down the stairs toward the dining room with a towel wrapped around her head and a robe tied around her body.
She paused at the door when she heard whistling from inside the room. Peeking inside, she saw Tristan standing over the table, pouring steaming water into mugs. "What are you doing?" she asked, stepping into the room.
He glanced up at her, his eyes following the curves of her body up and down until Rory self-consciously crossed her arms over her chest. She shouldn't have come downstairs in her robe.
"Making hot chocolate," he said quietly, holding a mug out to her as evidence. "Want some?"
Rory nodded, taking the cup from him hesitantly. "Thank you."
He nodded. "No problem." He returned to the remaining cups, his head bent over the table as he stirred the mixture. "Normandy's a health nut, but she can't even say no to my cocoa," he explained.
Rory smiled. "What are you doing up? You're a late sleeper to start with and then last night-"
"I didn't go to sleep," Tristan interrupted, "I couldn't stop thinking…"
Rory nodded, for the first time noticing the dark circles under his eyes. "About what?"
Tristan shrugged in response. "Something about picking the phone up last night, then going to get Ethan… I don't know. It just made me wonder."
Rory tipped her head to the side. "Have you heard anything yet?"
Tristan shook his head. "I'm going to call around 8:00 though." He paused. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for this."
Rory laughed. "For what? Taking care of an extra nine-year-old and picking his mom and her new baby up at the hospital?"
Tristan ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well, yeah. I mean, this could really be me in a year. I could be more than just the fill-in, you know. It could be my kid and my wife."
Rory blinked, suddenly uncomfortable. "Well, I'm going to hope that you won't have a nine-year-old son somewhere by next year," she said. She sat down in the chair next to where he was standing and looked up at him. "You'll do fine," she offered, "I've seen you with the girls. You're more than a brother to them; you know that."
Tristan nodded. "It's just different to think that this could be my life. I'm not used to it."
"Yeah."
Tristan sighed, covering his face with his hands. "I'm not sure I'm ready for it."
Rory's eyes widened and she was quiet for a minute. "…Yeah."
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"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Amelie asked almost four hours later, casting her gaze out the window.
Tristan cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah."
Amelie offered him a small smile. "When I was a little girl, probably six or seven, I wanted a winter wedding. I wanted this big, fancy white dress made of lace and pearls, and a long train, like Princess Diana's. I wanted to get married outside, with snow falling around me and everything turned white."
Tristan paled. "Uh.."
Amelie laughed. "Then I realized just how unrealistic this was, because not even my father can control the weather. So I decided a Spring wedding would be much better."
"Good." Tristan took her hand in his. "It's only five months away, you know."
"Yes," Amelie said, kissing him lightly on the lips. As she pulled back, she frowned. "You don't already have cold feet, do you?"
"A little," he said.
Amelie's face fell. "Oh."
Tristan smiled, suddenly wishing he hadn't said it. "I should've worn thicker socks," he covered quickly, kissing her forehead.
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"It's the 23rd and we already have a foot of snow. Well, I guess we'll be having a white Christmas. How Hallmark," Jordan drawled, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.
Rory frowned, glancing out the window to where Normandy, Ethan, and Emilie were playing. "Why do you have an accent?" she asked as she watched Ethan tackle Normandy, covering her face with snow.
Jordan shrugged. "I figured I'd try it on for size. See if it's me."
"You aren't from the South," Rory responded, looking back at Jordan.
"Yeah…" Jordan trailed off. She was quiet for a minute, her eyes searching Rory's. "Can I tell you something? Like, as my old roommate? In confidence?"
Rory nodded. "Of course."
Jordan bit her lip. "I met a guy."
"Big surprise," Rory laughed, rolling her eyes.
"No," Jordan said quickly, shaking her head. "It's serious."
"How serious? And how long?" Rory frowned, trying to remember if Jordan had mentioned a guy in any of their phone conversations.
"Like, seven weeks, I guess. Off and on, at first. We'd kind of hook up, then, you know, see someone else. But now we're really together."
"Uh-huh."
Jordan paused, meeting Rory's gaze. Suddenly the fun, carefree girl Rory had become used to was gone. "I think I'm pregnant," she muttered
Rory's mouth fell open. Just as she was gathering her thoughts to form a coherent repky, the door burst open. "Rory! I think Normandy's gonna kill Ethan!" Emilie shouted from the doorway, turning to run back outside.
Rory glanced out the window again. Normandy had caught up with Ethan and was now sitting on top of him as he lay in the snow, pounding her fists into his chest. She looked back at Jordan, shaking her head. "I have to go… take care of something. But we aren't done with this conversation."
Jordan nodded as Rory rushed from the room.
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Ethan was scared. He'd seen Normandy slap Johnny Harris across the face when they were seven, after he'd pushed Katie Kingsley to the ground. She'd made the toughest bully in the second grade cry and blackened his eye. And if she could make Johnny Harris cry, Ethan didn't stand a chance.
"You're a psycho," she was screaming, her fist slamming against his chest. "I hate you!"
"I'm sorry," he croaked as another blow connected, this time with his stomach.
"No you aren't! You're no different than them! You're just a little, arrogant, self-serving-"
Each insult was followed by another blow and Ethan squeezed his eyes shut.
"You don't play fair! You don't stop! You don't do what I tell you to! And you took advantage-"
He tried to roll over and better protect himself, but her nails raked against his back. He winced as her fist made contact again. "Normandy," he cried.
"And you're stupid! Because if you were smart, you'd know that you shouldn't be giving your attacker access to your kidneys," she said, suddenly standing up and stalking away.
He noticed Rory at the door and it became clear why Normandy had stopped. He brought a hand to his back and reached under his sweatshirt. She'd made him bleed.
Ethan fell backward into the snow, a smile spreading across his face. It had been worth it.
He brought his fingers to his lips as he watched Normandy march inside, followed closely by Rory. Kissing Normandy Ashford… was definitely worth the pain.
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