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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Topher walked into the living room to read. "Mom," he gasped. Lorelai was asleep on the couch, her shoes in a muddy puddle by her feet. He walked across the room to her as if in a dream, and lightly shook her. "Mom," he whispered, "Mom, you came back!" Her eyelids fluttered open, and she smiled at him.

"Do you hate me?"

"No, of course not!"

"I thought you hated me."

"I thought I did, too, but I could never hate you."

"I was running, and then I fell, and then I got up, and I knew what I had to do."

"And what do you have to do?"

"I've got to make things right. I needed to get you to forgive me. I need to get Rory to forgive me. I need to tell your father that I still love him, and I want to be with him again."

"Well, you can cross one of those things off your list." Chris snapped from behind them. Lorelai and Topher turned to look at him.

"Chris," Lorelai whispered, and tried to get up and walk over to him, wincing and sinking back down as her sore feet hit the floor.

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Rory had stayed at the Independence Inn with Dean after the party ended, and Jess and Lindsay left for their honeymoon. Dean stood by the door, holding two cups of coffee. He grinned when he saw that she was awake. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty," he teased, kissing her lightly before giving her the coffee.

"About last night," she began.

"Don't worry about it. It was perfect just the way it was," he smiled.

"Really?"

"Yes. If we'd done anything else, it would have ruined it."

"Okay. Good. That's what I thought, too," he grinned, and kissed her again. "Wait," she said, holding up her hand, "but then, when I woke up this morning, and I saw your note, and I started thinking. Right now, you know me better than anyone else, and not just because I'm fighting with Mom. You know things about me that she could never really understand, even when we were at our closest."

"That doesn't mean we need to have sex, Rory."

"No, but I want to."

"So do I, but not when everything around us is a mess. It would feel like we were running away from something."

"So, we can talk about it when everything settles down."

"That sounds perfect. But, right now, if we don't leave, we'll miss the show."

"What show?"

"Taylor's reaction." She was up in a flash.

"We can't miss that! I want to see what you were talking about."

"You will. Let's go."