Beach

By: Alyson Tierney

Disclaimer: I do not own Lorelai Gilmore, Rory Gilmore, or any related Gilmore Girls characters or places mentioned. Those all belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB network. I also do not own Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Tara Maclay, Angel, or any related Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel characters or places mentioned. They belong to Joss Whedon and the WB and UPN networks. After this long paragraph it should be obvious that I am simply borrowing such characters for entertainment reasons, so don't sue.

Author's Note: This is a short four-chapter story that came to me one day as I was thinking about my two favorite shows and was thinking "Hey, how cool would it be to combine them?" Basically, this takes place after season 5 of Gilmore Girls, and two years after the demise of Sunnydale. There is a pair of lesbians in this story, so if that isn't your thing, please leave the page now. Thanks for reading and review if you wish.

Chapter One

The wind whipped through the tall, greenish brown grass at the edge of the beach. The waves crashed over whitish grey rocks, splashing over the sand at Rory's feet. She perched on a rock, her notebook and purse next to her, but she wasn't paying them any attention. She'd obtained herself a long stick, smooth from the beating of the waves, and was making patterns in the water in the tidal pool next to her. The waves almost reached the pool now, but a few hours before, they had surely been underneath the salty seawater.

Rory pushed her choppy brown hair back over her shoulders. She hadn't brushed her hair this morning, she hadn't felt like it. Just like she hadn't felt like doing many things for the past month. Her blue jeans were rolled up past her knees, and her strappy sandals lay a few feet away in the sand. Dipping her toes in the water, she sighed as she felt the biting cold of the Atlantic Ocean. It was nearing the end of June, but the water temperature of the ocean never warmed very much in New England, even in the summertime.

Hearing happy shouts, Rory looked back at where she'd parked her car and watched a happy family getting out of their minivan. They chatted happily as they unloaded their car with towels, beach chairs, coolers, and beach toys. She noticed they were all older, none of them looking under the age of seventeen or eighteen. Wondering about the family, she picked up her notebook and began to doodle. Were they all siblings? Cousins? Were they visiting here or did they live here? Was this a normal outing at the beach or was it their first time seeing the Atlantic? All those questions running through her head, Rory was able to forget her own problems for about a second and a half.

At the thought of reminding herself of her problems, she squinted as they hit her again full force. The anger on her mother's face, her grandparents looking at her like she was about to morph into another Lorelai. They kept insisting that she find a job, and they had found her several, but she had never kept one more than a week. She kept up the guise of "that's not what I want to do, either," but really, she just wanted it all to stop. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was when she was sixteen.

Choking back a lump in her throat she remembered how she had escaped the pool house this morning. She'd waited until after her grandfather went to work, and told her grandmother she was going for a drive, and drive she had. For over three hours she had wound her way down secondary highways and unpaved roads until she found herself at this little beach. It wasn't very crowded, so she could watch the family as they played in the water and on the sand.

Rory smiled as she watched, the family consisted of two guys and four women. The youngest woman was a brunette, and Rory wasn't sure if she was even a woman yet. She looked easily still in her late teens, possibly still in high school. She'd rushed towards the ocean, her long, brown curls bouncing all around as she dove in, and then jumped back out, screeching about the cold.

One of the guys had jet black hair, and one of his eyes was covered with a patch. Rory wondered about that, if he just wore it to be macho, or if he had a pirate fetish. He stripped down to his yellow-and-green patterned trunks and raced after the younger brunette, splashing her and then doing his best to duck her splashes. He played with a big-brotherly affection, which made Rory wonder if he actually was the brunette's big brother.

The other guy, with spiky brown hair, had spread several towels out, and was lying across one of them, seemingly enjoying the sunshine and warmth. Rory wondered if anyone had warned him about skin cancer. He wore large sunglasses, almost too big for his face, and Sponge Bob swim trunks. Rory wondered if he had actually chosen them himself, and then wondered what kind of man wore Sponge Bob swim trunks. He seemed to be enjoying himself, and often cast glances at the other three women, who were playing in the sand.

A blonde was lying down, propped up on her elbows, laughing as the other two women buried her feet in the sand. Her blonde hair was shining in the sun, and her eyes sparkling as she laughed with a redhead and another blonde who were busily patting the sand down around her feet. They were all talking happily, and the woman with red-gold hair was propping small sticks and pebbles on the mound, making what looked to Rory like a really bad floral arrangement.

Rory looked down, feeling choked up again. She longed for her mom, and how much fun they'd have on the beach in the summer. They hadn't gone in a few years but they'd used to go to beaches all the time. They'd stay all day, and come home sunburned and tired, but very, very happy.

Rory let her feet drop back into the water, sniffling back tears. She was tempted to just dive in and swim and swim, but there was no knowing where sharks and undertow would be, so she just sat. She poked at a small shell in the tidal pool with her foot, and was studying it so intensely, she didn't notice when the redhead sat down on the rock next to hers.

"Hey." The redhead spoke, her green eyes sparkling with interest and wonder as she looked into Rory's piercing blue eyes.

To Be Continued…