I know I promised a prison break, and I have even contemplated the idea of a R/J, but when I was hit with a fabulistical plot idea, the characters just had to be Trory. This story is absolutely nuts. Is the term AU correct? I don't know what it stands for, but it is usually applied to stories with crazy ideas. I also must warn you that as I am on an independence kick, there isn't much story at all for the older generation. Like, at all, at all. You'll see.

Anyway, this story definitely needs a plot summary of the beginning. Richard and Emily were involved in a horrible car crash 3 years ago, and to escape the tragedy and heart wrenching memories, our favorite girls packed their bags and moved to San Fran. Aside from R/E, this story will be sprinkled with all your favorite people, though, in a different setting altogether.

"Mom, I can't believe you got tickets to PJ Harvey!" Lorelai smiled.

"Back stage passes to PJ Harvey!" Rory obsessed. The night had been amazing. Upon coming to the gates of the concert with no tickets, Rory had been skeptical, sure enough. I mean, who wouldn't be? Yet her mother kept insisting that they would see whatever they wanted. Rory had kept her disbelief to a minimal amount, enjoying the company Lorelai provided. So when her mom had run up to the bouncer and hugged him like a brother, Rory had almost fallen over in shock.

Apparently Lorelai was friends with the club owner, having dated the manager before he owned it.

"Oh yes, mother despised ol' Digger, which is probably why I dated him in the first place. It's too bad he had that whole hygene thing..." she mused idly. Rory cracked up.

"What!"

"Well, he wasn't a fan of the washing...no. Back then he had long hair, too, which if left to stew a while, becomes less than pleasent. It was okay though, the break up went fine. It's nice that we can both look back on those gaudy times of misled hair and spandex, and still mooch off free VIP's to a show." Rory was doubled over in her seat from laughter. It was late at night, and there were no cars out on the street. Well, actually, it was early in the morning, but that's not the point.

"So all I have to do is date some unwashed kid now, and I can continue the family tradition?" Rory snarked. Lorelai slammed her foot on the brakes of her car, putting them at a full stop.

"Don't even think about it!" she ordered, and Rory giggled.

"Drive, Mom, drive!" Lorelai gave her a reproachful glare and slowly began driving again.

-

The'r house was a small one, on the coast of the beach. What it lacked for size and comfort, it made up for in location and view, and Rory was fine with that. Just her and her mom, it wasn't as if they had that many things anyway. Well, it wasn't as if Rory did. Lorelai had a tendancy to let her possesions spill out into the garage and front lawn, but who's really counting?

Rory went into her room and climbed onto her bed. She stood on her knees and faced the window, losing herself in the sight of the rolling waves during the night.

"Hun," her mother's voice shocked her from her dreamy reverie, and she yawned.

"Gnight, mom," she mumbled sleepily, and Lorelai closed the door. As she did every night, Rory closed her eyes to the friendly image of her smiling grandparents. Tonight she was reading with Richard, the newspaper. Emily was fussing over them and telling her husband to drink more tea...

-

Sunlight hit her face, and Rory squinted as she woke. The sun hurt her eyes, and she sat up and rubbed the sleep from them. In the bright morning light her entire room was illuminated. Her poster lined walls, her piles and piles of books. Her floor was ccovered by a turquoise shag carpet, and her clothes were neatly put out for her to wear today. Her alarm clock was---

fast.

It had to be. There was no way she could possibly have woken up this

"Late! Mom we are so late! I missed my bus 47 minutes ago! Get up!" she ordered, pulling away Lorelai's pillow and pulling open the curtains.

"Not! Nice!" Lorelai complained, but Rory remained persistant.

"Mom I need to go to school! Or else I'll never go to college, and I'll never get filthy rich, which means that pony you wanted will never, ever happen!" Lorelai sat up.

"Mister Wilbur?" she sniffed.

"Mister Wilbur." Her mother sighed theatrically.

"Fine..."

Rory loved these mornings the best. Although she was crestfallen at having missed her first class (Political Theory), she enjoyed the wild explosion of energy and excitement these mornings entailed. A stop at starbucks, a speeding car ride, blaring music. She arrived at school with a venti caremel macciado with 6 extra espresso shots, and a wide grin on her face. When she arrived at school, first period had just ended. There was a 10 minute period during which to walk around, finish homework and catch up wit hthe day, and Rory grinned to see that her best friend in the world, Jess, was waiting for her.

"Well well, Ror, late night?" he asked, and she smiled.

"The concert was amazing! Mom knew the owner of the club, and we got backstage." Jess's eyes widened slightly, and the narrowed into a knowing smile.

"Trust Lorelai to make PJ Harvey even better," he said. Then his attention moved lightly past Rory, focusing on something behind her. She tried her best to act inconspicuous, turning to look and running her hand through her hair awkwardly. Jess snickered.

"Gee, thanks sherlock," he deadpanned, "That was reeaal subtle. Anyway, I gotta go to class." He went back into the school, and Rory turned around one last time to see the figure Jess had been looking at. She was surprised to see he had walked right up to her.

"Uh, hi," she greeted.

"Hi, I'm Matt." Navy blue hair, tall, crooked smile. Cute, she supposed, though certainly not her type.

"Um, look, Matt, I'm sure you're very nice and all, but--"

"--Actually, I wanted to ask about your friend..."

Rory smiled in relief and understanding. Jess would be so happy.

-

97 tiles. Her classroom had, if you combined the cumulative half tiles, 97 tiles. Rory looked around the room some more, her eyes finally, unwillingly resting on the textbook in front of her. It wasn't as if she was a bad student, far from it. In fact, she was acing every other class of hers. It was just Astronomy which plagued her.

Astronomy. The bane of her very existance, the reason she dreaded school. She could understand the subject fine, that wasn't the problem. The problem lay within the fact that the class was So. Boring. She sat in the classroom for 80 minutes every day, and each one dripped with boredome. She had observed everything there was to observe about the actual room, the classmates, and the teacher. She had even done a psychological study of her teacher and his childhood, based on the inherent motions he made with his hands, and the mannerisms in his everyday speech.

Currently, she sat in on of these mind numbing sessions, wishing she werent. She looked at the clock again. Had it really only been 24 minutes since she entered the room? She could have sworn a moment ago the clock had read a further time. She idly took her pen, and doodled in the margin of her book.

Asstronomy.

As soon as she wrote it she regretted it. She hadn't even meant to, yet suddenly Rory found herself in a moral dillema. She had defaced public property. Vandalized. She looked around, but no one had noticed. She swiflty turned the page, hiding her action. Okay, she thought to herself, back to astronomy. She focused her eyes on the board.

"Will miss Lorelai Gilmore please report to the princial's office immediately." the intercom reported, and Rory's head whipped up. How could they know? How could they possibly, really, know already? She stood up and gathered her books, stuffing them into her yellow backpack. Her teacher nodded at her, then turned back to the class and continued to explain the value of a globular cluster. Rory fled the room and didn't look back.

-

The principal's office was stuffy. Now just pretentious decorating stuffy, but the actual air seemed filled. The walls were bare, and the floor carpeted. Rory spposed it could have been the carpeting which made her feel the need to sneeze upon entry of the office, though the intense air conditioning may have contruibuted as well. She scrunched her nose and ignored the discomfort.

The principal motioned for her to sit across from her, at her large grey desk. The woman herself was middle aged, with salt and pepper hair tied back in a severe bun. She donned a purple tweed skirt suit. Rory sat newvously, waiting for Mrs. Yen to speak. When it appeared she wasn't going to, Rory began.

"If this is about the textbook..."

"What?" the statement had apparently snapped the woman from her thoughts. "No, this has nothing to do with a book." she paused a moment, then asked suspisiously, "Why? Oh nevermind, that's not important." once again she stared at Rory, frowning slightly.

"Well...?" Rory filled the silence.

"Ms. Gilmore, I'm afraid there has been a terrible accident." Rory froze, trying to think of what could have happened. Nothing came to her.

"There was a drunk driver, and...your mother was involved." The air seemed to thicken, making breath suddenyl hard to find. It was heavy, and Rory felt her chest tighten with dread.

"Where is my mother?" she asked.

"She was hit by the driver from the left side..."

"Where is my mom?" she asked again, raising her voice slightly.

"Ms. Gilmore I am so sorry."

"Where is she!" Rory half screamed, standing up from her chair.

"I'm afraid she didn't make it." the woman reported soflty. Rory sat down again. Everything seemed to be moving so slowly. The woman across from her blinked several times, so Rory focused on that. She was at a complete loss now. What was she supposed to do? She flashed back to a memory of her grandmother, instructing her to serve tea.

"People will always say silly, innapropriate things. The important thing is for you to handle it well." the small girl nodded seriously, and tucked a strand of her brown hair behind one ear.

"Just be polite, Rory." in the background, Lorelai rolled her eyes. Rory poured tea.

"Thank you for telling me this." Rory told the principal respectfully. Her eyes filled with unshed tears. "If you don't mind me asking, what am I supposed to do now?" her voice broke, but she maintained her composure.

"Well, your father is on the way. Luckily he was in San Fransco on business, and so he can...help...you now." He can deal with you now. The words were tacit, though biting. Rory ignored the unspoken meaning and nodded again.

She stood up from her chair and wordlessly left the office. Slowly she walked through the halls of her school, arriving at the steps of the entrance and stopping. She might have waited seconds, or minutes, of hours. SHe would never know. She would never remember. What she would remember was the arrival of a sleek black limmo, and the man who stepped out. The man she had barely seen all her life. Christopher Hayden.

As she walked to the car, one last thought echoed in her head.

I never told Jess about Matt...

Do you hate me?

Then go read L/L fic, there certainly is enough.

I'm not quite sure how this will pan out, so any feedback would be great. Suggestions will be recieved with thanks and a grain of salt. So here it is, as promised, now that my SAT2s and Standford application is finished, the next fic.

Thoughts?