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, Lor/Luke/Chris

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

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"Dean, your shirt's on inside out!" Luke called

Lorelai jumped back, pushing herself away from Rory and stared at her face, searching for a something that would prove that she still had her virginity. All she saw was a bewildered expression that matched Dean's as they looked at his right-side out shirt.

"Sorry," Luke laughed.

"No you're not! And that wasn't funny!" Lorelai yelled, stalking back towards him.

"Yes, it was," Topher laughed, "and you can't pretend you were surprised that he said something like that."

"No, it was not funny." She growled, stalking over to a laughing Luke. "Okay, maybe a little funny," she relented.

Rory wanted to ask what was so funny about that. She wanted to draw her mother's attention away from Luke. She wanted to save her. But she couldn't. But she loved her father too much to just stand there and watch her mother fall into another man's arms, either. "Dean and I just stopped by to make sure you weren't worrying," she said, "we were going to go, um..."

"What?" Lorelai cried in alarm, spinning around. Rory hadn't expected her mother to react so violently to the suggestion.

"Go for a drive?" She asked Dean, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Yeah. Right. Go for a drive," he agreed.

"So, we'll see you later," she said as she dragged him out the door.

They only drove for a couple minutes before Dean pulled over. "Are you okay?" he whispered. She shook her head, trying to wipe away her tears, but her hands were shaking too much. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have told you that."

"No. It's not that. It's just..."

"What?" He asked softly, wiping her tears for her.

"It really is over for my parents, isn't it. Everyone thought that they were the sweet couple. The young love that would last forever. They were my proof that we could make it."

"Us? What do you mean?"

"My parents never dated anyone except for each other. They were my proof that you could find the right person the first time around. That you didn't need to keep searching, and searching."

"Rory..."

"Does that mean that we should break up right now, so I can go get the necessary experiences to come back, and then we can come back, and be together for the rest of our lives?"

"You're really planning ahead."

"Should we?" Dean just looked at her. "Oh, right, too much, too soon. I didn't mean it, I just-"

"No, Rory, it's alright."

"It is?"

"I'm not upset, or wigged out that you're thinking about this. It's actually kind of sweet."

"Really?"

"Very sweet. But that's not the whole problem. Is it?" her eyes filled with tears again.

"We were happy. My dad's probably sitting at home, waiting for her to come in, to try to make it up to her. He loves her so much. He'd do anything to make it work for them. And she's throwing it away over something that's not even going to work out," she sobbed into his shoulder.