TITLE: No Longer

PAIRING: L/L, L/D, R?

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, just this story and the made up stuff about this show…such as Tristan Dugrey this late in the show or them getting married.

SUMMARY: Tristan divorces Rory, but fate disagrees.

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Telling Paris:

'Lane where are we going?' Rory asked as she was being dragged through a drug store two days after she was released from the hospital.

'We need some essential things!'

'Like what?' Rory asked worried. She had cried all her tears out, and her eyes were still somewhat blood-shot.

'Well for one thing a pregnancy test, and—'

'Lane…I was just at the hospital! How much more accurate could it be?'

'Hey Lane, hey Rory.' A voice said. The two turned around to find Paris with candy bars in her hands,

'Hey Paris.' They both said.

'So, what are you doing here?' she asked them.

'We're just getting stuff, ya know toothpaste, etc. What about you?'

'Well the funniest thing happened. I was driving past here and all of a sudden I had this giant Snicker's craving so here I am.' Paris said holding up the two bars of candy.

'Oh.'

'Yea, so I should get going. My shift starts in about twenty minutes, but we should all get together sometime.'

'Yea, sure.' Rory said.

'Okay, I call you. Bye.' Paris said turning.

'Wait Paris.' Rory called to her biting her lip.

'Yea?' she asked confused.

'I need to tell you something.'

'Okay…?'

'But you need to promise me you wont tell anyone.'

'I promise.'

'Not even Tristan—especially not Tristan.'

'What? I see him EVERYDAY!' Paris exclaimed. Paris worked as a doctor and Tristan went to the hospital everyday because he mainly worked with malpractice suits.

'Paris…' Rory said seriously. Lane slipped away to look at the Hallmark cards.

'Fine, not even Tristan.'

'Okay, umm Tristan may have mentioned we saw each other at my grandma's party for me and also the night after at a club.'

'He may have mentioned it, why?'

'Because when were at the club, we had sex—we were protected though..'

'Are you serious?' Paris asked shocked,

'Yea, but the night before on my birthday, we also had sex.'

'Oh jeez, and now he's acting all weird to you?'

'Uhh, well not exactly. When we had sex at the club we used a condom, but the first time we didn't. Nothing no protection…and now I'm pregnant.' Rory said looking down. Paris was silent for a minute. Lane had came back and just stood there waiting.

'I wonder what Tristan would think.'

'Paris, you promised!'

'I know, and I wont tell but Rory, isn't that Strike two?'

'Strike 2?' she asked confused.

'Rory, you slept with Dean and now your pregnant with your ex-husbands baby which you didn't even make when you were married!'

'Oh god…you're right.' Rory said shaking her head.

'I would cry, but I literally don't have anymore tears left.' Rory said sadly.

'Look, Rory, I'm here for you and I'm sure Lane is too—'

'Yea, Rory, I'm here too.'

'—As well as your mom, although she might be overly comforting and stick her nose in all of your business,'

'I need to sit.' Rory whispered. Lane took a beach chair off of a shelf and opened it for Rory to sit on.

'Sugar!' Paris said Lane.

'Lane, go get her Orange Juice.' Paris said staying with Rory as Lane nodded and ran off returning with a carton of juice. Paris took it and opened the carton looking around and finding an abandoned bag of unopened plastic cups. She poured the juice into one of the cups and handed it to Rory who took a sip.

'I know your sugar levels are low right now, but would you like me and Lane there when you tell your mom?'

'I actually think it's best if I tell her alone.' Rory said.

'Okay.' Paris said nodding.

'Yea, that's fine.' Lane agreed.

'Excuse me, is everything alright?' a sales lady asked.

'No.' Paris replied.

'No, really Paris.'

'Shush you. No, you see she's sick and right now it would be very beneficial to her health if she had crackers and coke. You see we are new to this area and—'

'Oh, it's allright. Lemme get them for you.' The lady said rushing off.

'Thank you.' Paris called after sweetly. 'And you see by telling them that not everything is alright, they feel obligated to give you whatever you want for free because it happened on there territory.' Paris explained.

'Crackers and Coke?'

'Are you still having morning sickness?'

'Yea, it kinda just started.'

'Well they both supposedly help to make them more mild or make it go away.'

'Ahh.' Soon the lady came back and true to what Paris said, they gave it to them for free. Paris excused herself wishing she could stay but explaining that she would already be late for work.

'So where too?' Lane asked.

'Could you just drop me off at my house?'

'Sure.' Lane said. Lane drove and dropped her off and then continued on her way to Stars Hollow. When Rory got inside she checked her messages.

"Oh fruit of my looms, Offspring, child who I birthed---you're famous! You were ALL over the news! I must speak with you and we must go shopping! Call me sweets. Love ya."

"Hey again! You didn't call back—where are you? I won't call you a third time since my husband aka Luke is already frowning upon this phone call so YOU call ME! Hehe, okay Love ya."

"Hello Ms. Gilmore, my name is Judy Stein from Vogue magazine. I was just wondering if you were interested in being on the cover of the June/July issue. I will call you back at a more convenient time. Thank you."

They got my home number…great. Rory thought. She unplugged her phone disconnecting herself from the outside world for a little more than a week. The only time she was at all connected to the outside world was when she called a grocery store and told them she wanted grapefruits delivered to her and when she plugged her phone back in to order pizza. About 5 minutes after she got her pizza delivered, her phone rang which she let the machine get.

"Hey Rory, it's Tristan, umm just wanted to let you know that a few people called here hoping for an interview with you. I'm not sure why they called here, but if you call me back I'll give you the names. Also, I heard you weren't feeling well, and I hope you get better soon. If you wanna talk just call me. Okay, talk to you later."

'Tristan.' Rory repeated and lifted her shirt up to look at her still flat stomach. The tears came again and subsided after an hour. She washed her face and decided it was time to leave the house. She didn't want to face anyone she knew so she went to the closest Borders, which happened to be the biggest bookstore in all of Hartford. She went past the magazines finding many with pictures of her on them. She looked through many books and settled on re-reading Catcher In The Rye. She felt comfortable with that book until she once again realized it was also one of Tristan's favorites. Her newly made tears started to fall again. She looked up when a light flashed. A reporter had spotted her, but she didn't really care. She just sat in the corner of the bookstore and about four hours later went home. She didn't even bother to check her messages before erasing all of them. After that she slept for two days straight and woke up to the pounding of the front door. She walked past the garbage can and noticed it was over flowing with grape fruit peels. There were about 8 more non-eaten grapefruits on her bed. On her way to the door she noticed her pigging out over the last week. There were about a dozen party snacks opened around the house. She finally got to the front door. She opened it to a very concerned looking Lorelai who flung her arms around Rory.

'My baby!' Lorelai cried. Rory wiggled out of her grasp.

'Hey mom, you wanna come in?' she asked but Lorelai was already pushing through.

'Since when did you have a party and not invite me? And since when did you buy all of the grapefruits in Connecticut? Since when have you even liked them?'

'Mom, there's something you should know.' Rory said carefully.

'You're becoming anorexic!' Lorelai cried.

'What?' Rory asked thrown off.

'Well it makes sense. I mean you've lost quite a few of those pounds. You seriously need to gain weight!'

'You can't tell anyone.'

'Oh, I wont sweetie.'

'Mom, I'm not anorexic!'

'Then what don't you want me to tell? Oh Rory baby, please don't tell mommy you're bulimic!'

'I'm not bulimic and I'm not anorexic!'

'Okay, give me my first clue.'

'Clue? Here's the problem: I'm pregnant!' Rory said frantically.

'Pregnant ahh…PREGNANT!'

'Yea.'

'Who, what, where, when?' Lorelai cried.

'Who- Tristan, what- what, where- here, when- the night of my birthday after we left early.' Rory said in one breath.

'Oh god.' Lorelai said into the couch. Rory cautiously sat down as well.

'I'm sorry.' Rory said almost silently.

'Sorry? About what?' Lorelai asked gently.

'For this being strike two.'

'Strike two? Why does that sound so, so…Paris-y?'

'Cause she's the one who said it. First Dean, not Tristan.'

'Rory, Dean happened like seven years okay for one thing, and two yea I'm disappointed, but you're 26! Plus I still love you none-the-less! If you need me I'm just a phone call away.'

'Thanks.' Rory said giving into her moms embrace.

'I just don't like how I knew something was wrong when I saw you in that bookstore crying.'

'You saw me?'

'In a picture, yes.'

'Oh.'

'So lemme guess, I know Lane and Paris already know and you were gonna call Jess and talk to him also oh, and Tristan doesn't know.'

'Yea, can we keep it this way?'

'Not even Luke?'

'Fine, Luke, but NO ONE ELSE!'

'Gotcha, promise.'

'Thanks.'

'Sure. Love yea, and don't forget, I'm always here for you.'

'I really appreciate that.'

'Yup, now, you know that lovely rehab across town?'

'Mom!'

'Seriously Ror—you look really bad. I swear you have no more fat left!' Rory knew it was true. Even she was shocked at her ghostly figure from not eating anything but grapefruit.

'I don't know.'

'Come on. Only for a week or so! Until they make you fat!'

'Mom—'

'Rory, this is my grandchild we're talking about! Plus, would I ever mke you do smething I thought was bad for you?'

'No.'

'Then keep your baby in mind unless you want it unhealthy—'

'Fine, just give me a few minutes to pack a bag.' Rory got up and returned with a suitcase and shopping bag.

'What's in the suitcase?'

'Clothes, what else?' Rory asked.

'Oh, and the shopping bag?'

'Grapefruit.' Rory answered hesitantly.

'So it's alright to assume grapefruit as your food craving?'

'Oh yea!' Rory said and laughed for what seemed the first time in weeks. Rory was registered in and was taken to a room. Lorelai helped her get settled and said good bye. Rory saw the picture her mom said she saw in an old magazine about a week and a half after she she got into rehab. The headline was, "Ghostly and crying—what's wrong?" She turned to the article to see the rumor mill had already gone to work with ridiculously outrageous rumors. Cocaine, Drugs, anorexia/bulimia, alcohol, etc. Rory was amazed at the wild rumors.

Several people had recognized her at the facility and she had signed autographs for a bunch of people. Now she was actually smiling on a regular basis. She actually looked healthy now and she would be free to go in about three says. Rory was outside talking to a recovering drug addict when an attendant came to her and told her she had a visitor. It was Luke.

'Luke!' Rory yelled hugging him.

'How are you?'

'Good, at least a whole lot better than when you last saw me.'

'That's good. Look, your mom told me last night.'

'So long after I told her?'

'Yea, se finally broke down.'

'That's odd, I told her she could tell you.'

'Yea, anyways, Aaron's excited to be an uncle.' Rory laughed,

'Tell him I can't wait for him to be an uncle.'

'Really?'

'I actually don't know. Tristan doesn't even know yet,'

'Oh, well your secrets safe with me. I just came by to see how you-re doing and to give you coffee.'

'Coffee!' Rory chirped.

'It's decaf. Just ask for hot water.' He said handing her a bag.

'Well it's Luke's coffee so it'll have to do!' Rory said.

'Ms. Gilmore?' An attendant asked.

'Oh thanks Luke but I have my progress meeting now.'

'Oh well don't lemme keep you.'

' Bye.' Rory said.

'Bye.' Luke said turning and leaving. Rory followed the man to an office. She got through the exam.

'Well, Ms. Gilmore, the baby looks much more healthier and you my friend are glowing.' The doctor said. Rory giggled.

'You are about 11 weeks along, and we will be discharging you in two days unless you find the need to stay longer.'

'Not yet.' Rory smiled.

'Then you are free to go.' Rory thanked him and left nearly getting a heart attack when she got to her room.

'Who are you?' Rory asked the woman.

'My name is Paulina Sherman and I work with Star Magazine. I had permission from a source to come and interview you.'

'I see. What did you need to know?'

'Why are you in rehab?'

'Ha, you want MY story so that you can sell your magazine. Why do I not feel flattered? Oh yea cause it's MY story, and I'd like to keep it mine. Who did you get permission from anyways?'

'That's private.'

'Well than my life's private also, but if you must have something to write on, say that I got addicted to coffee, and I'm here to manage it.' Rory said and then picking up a mug of coffee that she left there that morning and chugging the rest of it down she smiled and left. She could make a joke out of the media. They wanted to mess with her life, she would just mess with theirs. Anyone who knew Rory, would die laughing at the absurdity of the matter. They JUST figured out she liked coffee! This was gonna be fun.

FINALLY! I'm DONE!