1One 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

AN: My heart's breaking for Christopher just thinking about what I'm going to write. But that doesn't mean I've decided if I'm going to make it a Java Junkie ending or a Balcony Buddy ending. I wasn't even going to have all the L/C/L drama I'm writing now. When I first thought of it, it was just a little AU R/D piece. I had this one scene (which is coming) that I wanted to get to, and once I got going, I got flooded with ideas for this triangle, and how to relate it to theR/D storyline.

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Chris and Topher looked sadly at the bags that they had packed and put at the foot of the stairs. They didn't want to do this. It just didn't seem fair. "We should at least tell Rory." Christopher said, his struggle to keep from crying evident in his voice.

"No. I tried calling her so many times last night."

"My cell phone was turned off," they heard from behind them. Rory was standing there, clutching a mug of coffee so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from crying so much the night before, and her voice was hoarse. "So, you're leaving?" she wiped at the tears before they could fall, as if determined not to let another drop of water leave her body.

"No, sweetheart. Your mom is." Chris said.

"You're kicking her out?" she stopped trying to control her tears.

"Last night, when she got home, I begged her to try and work things out between us. She told me that she didn't want to, that she'd rather leave. Your brother heard, he said she had to go." Rory let out a strangled cry, and turned on her brother.

"Why?" she sobbed. Topher looked away from his distraught sister. He couldn't break his father's heart any farther by saying how close Lorelai had been to kissing the diner man. It was better to have Rory mad at him. "Dad, please," she begged.

"We'll give her the choice," he whispered, the pain in his voice practically tangible, "and if she wants to stay, she can."

"But, Dad!" Topher called, desperately. His father couldn't start trusting his mother again, not if the previous night was any indication.

"I'm sorry, Toph, we can't just kick her out. We all love her too much. If she wants to stay, she can stay." Any love Topher felt for his mother was overwhelmed by the hate he felt at her for betraying his father like that, but he let Chris pull him into his arms anyways. Topher and Rory leaned into their father, searching for the strength, love, and familiarity that had been there for their whole lives. The three of them, Chris, Topher and Rory stood like that for hours, Chris' arms encircling his children, their heads resting against his chest, none of them wanting to be the first to break away.

They were waiting for her when she walked down the stairs. Topher looked cold, and angry. Christopher looked heartbroken, and Rory looked torn into pieces. "What is this?"she asked, her breath catching.

"Are you happy, Lor?" Chris asked, trying not to let his pain show.

"What?"

"Do you want to leave?" he asked his heart shattering once again as she didn't immediately deny it.

"It doesn't matter, Dad. She's leaving." Topher snapped. He looked his mother straight in the eye, and she knew. He hadn't told Chris about Luke yet, but if she didn't get out right then and stop hurting him, he would. He was trying to save his father any bit of heartbreak that he could. She looked at Rory, begging for support. For the first time in her life, Rory refused to make eye contact with her mother, looking at the floor, fiddling with her cell phone, and anything else that would keep her from looking into her mother's eyes.

"I'll...I'll go," she finally croaked. Chris nodded, looking away, and they all stepped aside. She walked down, picked up the bags, and carried them out to her car, as she left, she heard Rory finally break down, sobbing into Chris' shoulder, as Chris finally let himself cry the tears that had been threatening to pour out for the past month.

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Lorelai threw herself into the car, sobbing hysterically. She had been bored. She had had her doubts about her relationship with Chris, been afraid that they would always be trapped in this relationship, been afraid that the love had left it. All she had wanted was to want again. She wanted, all right. She wanted her son back. She wanted her husband. She wanted Luke. But none of that compared to how much she wanted her daughter. Rory had always been there for her, throughout the thick and the thin, but now she wasn't. Lorelai had always thought that, when push came to shove, Rory would choose her over Chris. But she hadn't. She'd lost her faith in her mother, just like Topher had, and it was only eighteen years of their incredible bond that had kept her from meeting her eyes with the same burning anger that Topher had met her eyes with. Yesterday, she'd had everything. Today, she had nothing.