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

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"Dean?" Christopher asked, "What are you doing here? I didn't think Chilton usually informed their students' boyfriends when they were sick."

"Oh, no, the school didn't. They won't let me go see her. Apparently she was talking to some guy, Tristin something-or-other, I don't think I even asked. Then she fell apart, asked for me, he called me, and here I am."

"Ah, Tristin DuGrey."

"Maybe."

"Well," Chris said, sitting down next to Dean, "if it was DuGrey, it's very unlikely they were talking. It's much more likely that he was hitting on her, and she was telling him to get lost."

"He did seem to enjoy messing with me."

"When Rory was collapsing?" Dean just shrugged, and looked down at his hands.

"Mr. Haden?" Dean asked abruptly.

"Chris, please. Mr. Haden makes me feel old."

"Okay, Chris. Do you blame me?"

"For what?"

"Rory. What happened with Lorelai. Everything that's going wrong."

"No. Who does?"

"Topher."

"Toph's been in a bad place since Lorelai left. So has Rory. So have I, come to that. But no one really blames you, Dean. Rory least of all, if that's what you were worried about."

"Thanks."

"Why are you thanking me? I should be thanking you. Rory's told me about all the times you took care of her so perfectly. She may be eighteen, but I'll always think of her as my baby girl. I'll always be indebted to anyone who's helped her, especially like you did. Sorry for how I flipped when you were about to kiss her."

"Any father would flip if they saw their seventeen-year-old daughter about to kiss a twenty-one-year-old man."

"Very true. But that's not really why I freaked out."

"Why did you, then?"

"Because Lorelai did. I wanted to prove to her that we could make it, that we thought alike, that it was all going to be okay. So what do you say? Friends?" Dean managed a chuckle, although his heart wasn't in it.

"Yeah, sure."

"You know Dean, these people here, they know me. They love me. Because, to them, I am the key to the Haden's bank account. And trust me, that's millions."

"Are you implying what I think you are?"

"Exactly. You want to go see her?"

"Maybe you should go in first. She's your daughter."

"You know, it's not the hospital. They'll let us both in at once. Then I can take her home, and you won't even need me to wave my ATM card in people's faces to see her." Dean's face broke into the closest thing to a smile that Chris had seen in over a week.

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Rory was asleep on the little bed in the little room that they kept for emergencies. The doctor they had called in was watching her. "What's wrong with her?" Christopher asked.

"She's too stressed. Her body was having a hard time coping, so she was more susceptible to disease. She's got a pretty bad fever, but she'll be okay."

"Dean!" Rory cried out deliriously.

"That's the one thing she's said. Either of you know what it means?"

"I'm Dean," he whispered, and walked over to her. He fell to his knees by her bed and kissed her burning forehead lightly. "I'm here now, Rory," he crooned to her. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she tried to kiss him. "No. Just rest now. I'll be right here."