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/Chris

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

AN: All this angst is depressing me. Sorry about the childish, sappy R/D, but I really needed something to break up this angst for myself.

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"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.

"You can't do this," he said, "it's not fair."

"Chris," she whispered again, begging.

"Do you know how much I wanted to hear you say that again? That you still loved me. That you'd do anything to be with me again. For two weeks, I dreamed of nothing but hearing you say those words. For another two weeks, I longed for you so much that it physically ached. I put on a happy face, I pretended that I'd be okay, but you know what? I'm not. I can't deal with this. It's not about revenge, or making you feel how I felt when you left, but I'd like you to leave. I'm sorry."

"I can't."

"You can't what?"

"Leave. I can't stand."

"I'll drive you. I'll help you out to the car, and I'll drive you back to your lover's house. But after that, you're on your own."

"Chris, please. I came back to try and fix things,"

"Yeah, well, it's too late for that. You made your bed, now lie in it." He held out his hand, and helped her onto her feet, scooping her up in his arms when she winced. He felt detached from his body as he carried his shaking, sobbing wife out the door, and drove her to her new home.

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"Jess!" Taylor was shouting, his arms swinging like windmills. "Jess did this!"

"Jess couldn't have done this, he was at his wedding reception all night," Miss Patty argued. "I was there, I saw him, he never left."

"Yes, but he's done this once before. And who else would try something like this?"

"Maybe it was a real murder."

"Who in our town but Jess would murder someone?"

"I'm telling you, Taylor, Jess couldn't have done it."

"And even if he had a chance, which he didn't, he'll be on his honeymoon for a month," Kirk piped up.

"I want to know who did this! I want to see some punishments!" Taylor hollered.

"Oh, oh, he's turning red!" Rory whispered to Dean.

"This town isn't safe anymore! We should all evacuate!" Taylor continued.

"To New York City, because the crime rate is very low there," Dean added.

"What was that, young man?" Taylor turned viciously on Dean.

"Nothing, I was just telling my girlfriend how serious this is. Right, Rory?"

"Oh, yes. Of course. Awful," she agreed.

"Yes, I should have known better than to accuse you of anything. You're a good kid, Dean. I never did understand why you ran around with that Jess. Did he tell you anything about planning this?"

"No, he hasn't talked about anything but Lindsay in months."

"Yes, he was comparing everything pretty to her, like turtles," Rory added helpfully.

"Okay, we're leaving now," Dean said, leading Rory off. Once they were a couple blocks away, Dean stopped.

"What's wrong?" Rory asked.

"Nothing. I just couldn't be around him anymore without cracking up."

"I feel like we're ten years old."

"Me too. It's kind of fun, though."

"We're regressing as we speak."

"I know."

"I like it."

"Very fun," they collapsed in laughter against each other.

"Acting like you're ten has its benefits."

"Everything's so much more fun for ten year olds."

"Do you think we can stop the aging process?"

"Definitely. All we have to do is...um...no, never mind, it can't be done. Let's just enjoy this while it lasts, since it's probably our last chance to feel it."

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Lorelai collapsed on Luke's bed. She didn't know what she was going to do. She knew she shouldn't stay with Luke, but she didn't have anywhere else to go. She might not love him the way she loved Christopher, but she cared about him too much to treat him that awfully. She didn't know how she'd managed to sneak upstairs without him noticing, but somehow she had. "Lorelai," Luke exclaimed as he came into the room, "where have you been? Are you okay?"

"I needed to go see my mother about something."

"What?"

"And I walked back."

"All the way back from Hartford?"

"No, I walked to my old house. Topher gave me a ride home," he smiled at her use of the words 'old house' and 'home.' He didn't even realize that meant that she'd gone to see Christopher. It didn't dawn on him that Topher wasn't 16. He hugged her, and the mask she had worn dropped off. She was glad he couldn't see her face. She didn't think she could have held it for one second more. She was a horrible person. She'd been so awful to Chris, she'd thrown him away over an affair, and he'd had every right not to let her back in. Now she was being just as awful to Luke, and he didn't deserve it.