Acts of Absolution
Disclaimer: C O N T R O L: It's not mine. Props to Amy Sherman-Palladino for
giving me excellent materials to work with.
SummeryTagline: This is not a romance fanfiction, simply stories of what
happens after.
Spoilers: Anything up to the end of Season 5. This was all started before
season 6 began, so it doesn't apply here.
-------------------------
The sign said welcome to Stars Hollow; not that Dean needed to look even after
13 years of absence. He had lived in the town only 7 years, and yet it'd
still managed to imprint itself upon his psyche.
Of course he was back now, maybe for good. The intervening years had seen him
in Chicago building a fairly successful contracting business. But in
Chicago, Dean was simply a small fish in a big pond. When the opportunity to
move his business to Hartford had appeared he had grabbed at it. After all,
he might still have not been the biggest fish, but the pond in Hartford offered
far less competition.
Still, property values in Hartford had skyrocketed and there was little chance
of Dean being able to afford a place there. So, he was here; here in Stars
Hollow. A place just 30 minutes away from Hartford if there was no traffic,
someone, he knew who, had once told him.
Rory. It was Rory who had told him that, and if he thought that she still
lived in Stars Hollow the property taxes in Hartford wouldn't have mattered
worth a damn. But she too had moved off; become the journalist that she
had always wanted to be, and left the Hollow to travel the world. That's what
he had been told after she left anyways.
The sign had finally disappeared in his rearview mirror as he turned to his
left and entered the center of the town with it's one main street that went in
a square around the Gazebo. Past Al's Pancake World, past Andrew's Bookstore,
past Luke's...
Breaks were applied quickly and only the lack of traffic this Sunday morning
ensured that it was only the sound of groaning break pads and whining rubber
followed not by any sort of crunching such as two metal frames smashing into
each other. A few heads turned at the noise, but were quickly turned back when
little else but the ticking of a rapidly cooling engine followed.
"Coffee. I need coffee. That must have been why my foot pressed down on the
break. Simply my unconscious telling me that I'm still half asleep and I need
caffeine in my system. And since Luke's has the best coffee in Stars Hollow,
then it follows that this is where my unconscious would stop me."
"Well, alright then."
----------
"Hi, erm, one coffee to go please?"
The girl sitting behind the counter could not have been more than 12, which
would make her working here illegal in most places, due to the child labour
laws. But this was Stars Hollow, and thus, it was a quaint little practice that
tourists would comment on and then laugh about in their own, sometimes snooty,
manner.
Her face was buried in a book as Dean spoke and remained so for several seconds
after. It was almost like she just hadn't heard him although he was not 2 feet
away from her.
"Hello?"
The book was a paperback novel, something science fiction-y, though her mouse
brown hair blocked his sight from the title. Even as he leaned forward over the
counter Dean could only think of how this little girl had incredible
concentration. When he was but 6 inches from her down turned head, he tried one
more time.
"Hello there."
This time, as Dean spoke, she startled, raising her face from the novel and gave
him a surprised wide eyed stare.
"Oh shoot, sorry. It's been slow so far this morning and I didn't hear you come
in. Plus I just started this book last night and it has just these wonderful
characters in it that I just got so caught up in what was happening that I... I
just had to read more. Dad sometimes tells me that I wouldn't notice if a
robber came in and robbed the cash register right in front of me cause my head
is buried so far... into a... book... and you probably don't care."
He didn't recognize her jaw line, nor her hair which tended towards a much
lighter shade of brown but her eyes were a blue deeper than he had ever seen
before, baring two people; and her ranting and her deep attention to the written
word felt oh so familiar.
It was like a shot to the gut. It all made sense of course. Why else would a
12 year old girl be manning the counter in Luke's? And it's not like Dean
thought that Luke and Lorelai would never have children, although Dean had had
some doubts about Luke's ability to take care of said children. Something about
jam hands...
"Ok, so since you're staring at me like I'm an idiot and I'm blabbing on and on
like I'm an idiot, I think I'll just shut up now and let you order."
He realized that he had been staring at her, for the entire length of her rant,
with something of a slack jawed expression on his face.
"What? Oh no no, don't worry about it. Um, a coffee to go please."
She nodded and slid off the stool she had been perched on. It was only with
her back towards him that he was able to notice the major differences and calm
the raging feeling of unease in his gut.
For one, she was stockier than they had ever been; not fat or really even big
boned, there just seemed to be more flesh on her. Something commented in the
back of his mind that the day she grew up, her curves would probably be very
male friendly.
"You know, you do have the second most incredible concentration that I've ever
seen when you read. I spoke to you at least 3 times before you looked up."
"Or maybe it's because I'm just incredibly self-involved," she replied with her
back still turned to him.
"Maybe, but I doubt it."
He could see her shrug her shoulders as if she was saying that it didn't matter
all that much to her whether or not he doubted her. Another difference, he
mused; more self confidence.
"So what's your name?"
"It's Emily, pleased to meet you."
"Emily huh? Not Lorelai?"
That caused her to stop pouring his coffee and for the coffee jug to be set down
back on the coffee maker.
"What do you mean?" she asked, and although her tone was not overtly suspicious,
some of the friendliness had faded from it.
"Well, I used to live here, in Stars Hollow, and you look like some people I
used to know. You're Luke and Lorelai's girl?"
The friendliness was back, "Oh, you knew my parents?"
"Yeah, I was a lot younger then of course."
Emily had turned back around and placed his cup of coffee on the counter.
"That'll be two dollars. And don't worry, dad made this batch, he almost never
lets Mom make the coffee for the diner."
Her cheeky grin was turned full force at him, forcing him to clamp down on his
own startlement and rising tide of emotion. It was all he could do to simply
let out a smaller smile and laugh before he turned to make his escape.
"So, are you moving back or something?"
"Yeah, probably. It depends on if I can find a place to live around here."
"Cool. So hey, did you know my sister Rory? Well, half sister, but she doesn't
feel like a half sister so I consider me and her to be full sisters anyways.
She's about your age so were you guys friends or something? Maybe go to school
together?"
"Yeah, I knew her."
"Oh, what's your name then? Maybe I've heard something about you?"
He managed to escaped without answering leaving only the tinkle of the bell
behind him.
------------
Emily re-perched herself on the stool again and stared at the back of the man
who was doing a great impression of someone trying to not look panicked while
walking away from a hungry bear.
The sound of a curtain being pulled aside made her glance to her left just in
time to see her dad appear.
"That a customer?"
"Yep."
"How many times did they have to call your name before you finally looked up
from that book?"
She made a face at him and he chuckled.
"You know, you look like both your mother and your sister when you do that."
"Yeah, Taylor's told me that before. Speaking of which, the guy who just came
in? He said he used to know you, mom and Rory. Said he used to live in this
town and was thinking of moving back."
"Oh Really, what was his name?"
"I asked him, but he never answered me. He was tall though, at least six foot,
with floppy brown hair and nice eyes. The guy was kinda weird, but cute for an
old guy."
Emily turned back to her book thus missing the look that flashed across her
father's face.
------------
Dean stumbled out of Luke's as quickly as possible, retreating past the dioramic
picture windows until he was finally out of the diner's sight. That was far too
close for him. What did he expect though? It wasn't as though he thought that
he could avoid all contact with those that he had left behind if he moved back.
Still, that was far too much, far too soon.
As he stumbled back to his car, coffee in hand, Dean noted the church bulletin
board. If he was looking for a house, he might as well start there he mused.
There were notices for bake sales and bingo nights, prayer services and Tupper-
wear parties. Fortunately, there was also a list of houses for sale or rent,
plus the number of the only realtor in town.
Further examination was interrupted by a small body stumbling into his leg. He
looked down to find a pair of eyes belonging to a five year old boy staring up
at him in surprise, which, coincidently made him the second kid to at him like
that.
"Whoop, sorry Mister."
The child was obviously bound for church; dressed, at it were, in a button up
shirt and a pair of slacks.
"Matt, come back here!"
Dean turned towards the source of the second voice, the mother no doubt, young
and just a little exasperated by the sound of it. His eyes glanced across her
and he started smiling, trying to placate her.
The smile died stillborn on his lips. It didn't seem quite possible that his
luck was that bad. But here she was, proving once again that bad luck comes in
groups. Three's the saying goes actually, though Dean wasn't sure what the
third one could be.
She stopped as she saw his face.
"You're back."
"Hello Lindsey."
"Mommy?"
The boy turned back and scurried to her, sensing something weird between his
mommy and the tall man.
It was her hair that he noticed first. She wasn't a blond anymore. Hair which
he had once seen haloed by sun and veil had darkened over the years to become
a lighter brunette.
As he looked, she looked back, the corners of her mouth trembling slightly
before stilling.
"Come on Matt, church is starting soon and daddy told us to save him a seat."
With that, Lindsey took her son by the hand and led him off towards their
destination leaving Dean to look on behind.
-----------
It wasn't that she had nothing to say to him; she had lots to say, rooms full
of things to say, boxes piled to the ceiling-about-to-burst full of things to
say.
But she didn't have to say them anymore.
What had happened was almost a generation behind them, almost half their lives
had past since then and, for all that it had caused her pain, caused her long
hours of wondering why he had done it... she need not have brought it up.
Because she had passed it behind her, thought not forgotten, had passed him
behind her, though not totally forgiven.
---------
Dean was still looking at her walk away as she turned her head back to glance at
him and with a slight smile she called out to him, "Welcome back Dean," in a
voice laced with many tones.
He met her eyes and called back, "Thanks Lindsey. It's... good... to be back."
Lindsey nodded her understanding and continued to lead her son towards the
Church.
Dean turned back to the bulletin board and busied himself with finding a pen and
a pad of paper to write down the realtor's information on.
Fini
Author's Notes: And that's the end of segment two of AoA. Will there be others?
Quite possibly! Will they be good? Who knows:D And of course, Feedback is
welcome.
Story Stats:
Started - Sunday, September 04, 2005, 4:09:36AM
Finished - Saturday, October 22, 2005, 4:21:00AM
Final Copy - Thursday, December 08, 2005 04:04:39AM
Like I said before. I take a long time to boot out one of these stories from
the deepest parts of my mind.