One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I know that following the timeline of the show, Straub would be dead (he died Dec. 05, and right now my story is in Nov. 06), and I am trying to semi-follow that timeline, but I'm going to need him to be alive later, so he's still alive.

AN #2: Sorry, I know this kind of sucks, and everyone is a little bit OOC.

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Emily Gilmore checked the guest list again. It was her precious granddaughter's eighteenth birthday, and she wasn't going to let anything ruin it. Or anyone, namely Francine Hayden, take the honor of throwing this party. It would be one of the biggest social events of the season, the granddaughter of Richard and Emily Gilmore and Straub and Francine Hayden turning eighteen, and Emily would get kudos for organizing it if it went smoothly. As it would. Since when had Rory done anything that could be frowned upon?

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Rory rolled over so she was lying on top of Dean, kissing him fiercely. Suddenly, he pulled away.

"Dean, what's wrong?" she asked.

"How far was that going to go?"

"I don't know. Maybe nowhere. Maybe all the way."

"But wherever it was going, it was going there fast."

"I guess so."

"Don't you think...maybe we should slow it down?"

"If you want to."

"It's just that I don't want to rush anything. There will be plenty of time for whatever we want to do when we're both completely ready."

"I'm ready."

"You can't know for sure. And anyways, I'm not."

"You're not what?"

"Ready to go any farther. Because, please don't get mad at me, but you're still underage."

"I turn eighteen this weekend."

"I know that. But I've already gone farther with you than I've ever gone before."

"You never had a girlfriend?"

"I did."

"Who?"

"I dated a girl named Beth when I lived in Chicago. Then I dated Lindsay for a year in high school. But it was never this intense, and it never got this far."

"Lindsay Jess' Lindsay?"

"Yes. We dated for about five months in our senior year, then we broke up because neither of us felt anything. Which is the point. I've never felt anything for anybody like what I feel for you, which is how I know that what we have is something really special, and I want to go really slow."

"Oh. I get it. I've never felt anything for anybody before, so going slow would probably be a good idea."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes you are."

"Where?"

"My grandparents party for me."

"With a bunch of rich schmucks? I don't think so."

"Please?"

"Are they nice?"

"They can be. Please, please, please, Dean."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Why not." she grinned and leaned over and kissed him, then laid her head on his chest.

"Is this good?"

"It's perfect."

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"So, Lor, are you going to throw Rory a little party on top of Emily Gilmore's gala event?" Chris asked, taking off his shoes and getting ready for bed.

"I don't know. Maybe." Lorelai examined the empty lip gloss tube she was holding.

"Only maybe? Lor, this is her biggest year. You always do."

"Well, maybe I will again this year, then."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Why won't you look at me?"

"Because I'm looking at this." she waved the lip gloss tube above her head.

"That is empty. And I don't just mean now." he walked over to her and turned her chin so she was facing him.

"I don't know."

"Are we fighting?"

"No. Not really."

"Then what is it?"

"Something feels off."

"Lor..."

"No, I don't know what's wrong, it's just something that's not...there. You can't say you haven't felt it."

"All I've felt not being there is you. For the past two weeks, almost since Rory and Dean have been dating. Is that it? Are you upset about that?"

"Am I upset about Rory and Dean? I think it's great. Yeah, I had the 'baby daughter's growing up' freak-out at first, but now I think it's great."

"Are you mad at me, then?"

"No. Something's just off."

"Lorelai, this isn't helping anything! You need to tell me what's off or I can't help you fix it." he yelled.

"Well, maybe it's not something that can be fixed, Christopher! Maybe it's something that broke because we're breaking." she yelled back.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Chris. Did you ever think we'd last this long? Twenty-three years! We're not even forty yet. We've been with each other over half of our lives."

"So? We just work well together."

"No we don't. You know that, and I know that. We're just stubborn. Sometimes it works in our favor, sometimes it works against us."

"What do you mean, we don't work well together? We've been together twenty-three years. That's the proof."

"What's the longest we've gone without a big fight? A month? Two? How about a fight so big that it makes Rory and Topher think we're going to get a divorce? We have one of those every year."

"We can make it, Lor."

"I'm not sure that we can." she didn't need to add that she wasn't sure that she wanted to anymore. He could see it in her eyes.

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Emily looked around for something to do, an excuse to leave. Her party was a disaster. Lorelai wasn't talking to Christopher. Rory brought her boyfriend, some poor guy from UConn. Rory's best friend, Louise was mad at her, and her other best friend, Madeline did whatever Louise did, and she wasn't talking to Janlin DuGrey's grandson, whatever his name was. Not that she usually did. Rory, Lorelai, and, as Emily would think of him that guy, had stood around talking to each other all evening. The worst part was, there wasn't anything she could do. She could only stand there and watch Lorelai laughing with Rory and Don. Or was it Dan? Or Dave? Something that started with a 'D,' anyhow, and poor Christopher standing in a corner, watching. Topher standing terrified as Madeline and Louise flirted with him. Francine gloating to Straub. Not one thing she could do to save the party. Or Topher. Or Lorelai and Chris' marriage. But maybe there was something she could do about Rory. She slipped into Richard's study and dialed an old friend's number.

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Rory, Dean, Topher and Lorelai walked out of the party together. Lorelai had finally seen what was happening to him, and after laughing hysterically for a while, she told Rory and Dean that Madeline and Louise were torturing him, and Rory had gone to rescue her brother.

"Hey, let's go get coffee!" Lorelai said, grabbing Rory and Topher's wrists and dragging them down the street to her car. "Dean, why aren't you coming?"

"I need to go see Luke, and my car's that way." he replied, pointing in the other direction.

"That's fine, we can all go to Luke's." she said, much more excited than she should've been as she released Rory's wrist and dragged Topher with her.

"I think she wants me to go with you." Rory said, looking up at her boyfriend.

"Then let's go."

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"Mom?" Topher asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Are you having an affair with Luke?"

"What!"

"Well, you and Dad aren't talking, and you obviously want to see Luke."

"I want to see Luke's coffee. And I want to see how long Rory and Dean can say 'no, you're prettier.'"

"Oh, Mom, no one wants to see that."

"So what do you think of your mom with Luke?" Dean asked.

"My mom's married."

"I know, but she likes Luke."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because she jumped about five feet in the air and squealed when I said his name."

"She did not squeal." he looked at her. "Okay, fine, she squealed. But she's still married to my dad."

"I know. I was just thinking ahead."

"My parents will make up."

"It seems like a pretty bad fight."

"It is. But they have one this bad almost every year. Once they didn't talk for a month. They've still got another week before we worry."

"But Rory? If they do split up? And Lorelai does want to date Luke? How would you feel about that?"

"A little weird, honestly, but if she really wanted to, that would be okay."

"Good. Do you think she'd tell you if she had a thing for Luke?"

"Maybe. Why are you so interested in this?"

"Almost a year ago, Jess and I found out that Luke has a daughter. And her mother came back."