Thank you:

Tikidoll, Bob, whyshouldIcare1, Love23, christine, shirleyytb, Katie, Adonica, tickle582, rockrose, potostfbeyeluvr, and evelyn.

You guys rock!

He wore a black suite, black sunglasses, black frown. Rory approached the near stranger with some apprehension. She moved one hand to her face to dry her eyes, and found she already had. She must have waited outside longer than she'd thought. She stopped in front of her father, and he moved to let her into the limmo. Wordlessly, she slid into the back seat. When he joined her and the car began to move, he finally spoke.

"Hi, Rory," he said, removing his shades to reveal shockingly blue eyes. His voice was quiet, skittish even. His eyes darted all over her, scrutinizing the daughter he barely recodnized.

Rory barely remembered the last time she'd seen him. She was 7, and he had arrived bearing gifts. A rocking chair, and a stuffed horse. She remembered rocking in the chair, holding the horse. Admiring her new toys. Then there was yelling, she remembered that. Lots of yelling. her mother was mad at her father for some reason. She picked up the keys from the table in the hall and threw them at him, and he'd left. Rory then remembered her mother had come and hugged her, and cried.

At this thought Rory blinked back her own grief. For some reason Lorelai had hated this man, and that was all the information Rory needed. She stared at him coldly.

"Hi." she allowed no friendliness to enter her voice. He shrank back a little. "What now?" she asked after a while. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Look, Rory, I just want you to know I loved your mother very much. It was just...an accident, that night, but I really did love her." Rory had no idea what he was talking about, her mother had always avoided talking about Christopher to her.

"One night?" she asked curiously, and his eyes widened in horror.

"You didn't know. Oh...she never told you." Rory said nothing. "She never told you...anything?" still nothing. His face fell, somehow leaving him to look even weaker than he already did.

"I proposed to you mother, Rory, but she turned me down. Always, turned me down. One night I came to visit and showed her how I had changed, I was sturdy. You know? Reliable. I had struck gold in the stock market, and I had a steady income, and I'd stopped drinking. Sold the motorcycle. It had been a long time. I told her I just wanted to get to know you guys better. She even agreed, and after a couple nights of this we...kissed." he smiled sadly at the memory. "She told me not to push my luck. We started hanging out more often, but one night I asked her again, and she said she wasn't ready. Not safe enough at her new job. Needed more time to acclimate herself, you know?"

"Okay." Rory said. She didn't know why he was telling her this.

"I took it wrong...I left and got really drunk, and met a girl. Things went further than I'd intended, and afterwards I felt so guilty. I just, left. Didn't come back for 6 months. When I did, it turns out she already knew I'd been...unfaithful..." he chewed out the word, "apparently the cat lady knows everything, and told her. She threw me out. I haven't seen her since."

"Babbette," Rory said softly. her father looked at her imploringly.

"Try to understand, Rory, it wasn't my fault. Things just got out of control. None of this was my idea, you know? I wanted to be your father, be there, but I couldn't, you know?"

Rory threw him a withering glare. "Yeah, I can see how cheating on my mother would stop you from seeing me. Totally understandable." she said sarcastically. He shrank back even further away from her. "What now?" she asked him again.

"Rory I...I can't deal with this. I can't do this. I have done nothing but try not to think about Lorelai, I can't...I'm sending you to a good school. A great school. Remember you wanted to get into Stanford?" Harvard. She said nothing. "This can help you get there. Chilton is a...uh...over night school. Like an early college. It's sort of near here, in a valley in the southern Rockys. Nice location, good...school..." he floundered.

"You're sending me away." it wasn't a question, but he answered it.

"We're on our way to the airport right now." her eyes widened.

"No! I've gotta go see mom." she protested.

"Rory..." she remained stonefaced. He looked away. "Please don't make me go there." he begged. What a sad, pathetic man. Maybe if he wasn't so horrible, Rory might pity him. Too bad he was. She pushed a button and the window to the front of the limmo slid open.

"Please take us to the San Fransisco hospital," she said, and then closed the barrier again. Her father sighed.

-

Rory was wearing red. She had chosen her favorite burgandy polo that morning, though now she regretted it. She really should be wearing white. Everything here was white. The walls of the hospital seemed to frown at her as she entered the waiting area. White tiles, white walls, white uniforms. Red shirt. She couldn't help but feel out of place. She walked up to the desk and gave her name. The nurse behind the glass gave her a sympathetic look, and led her to a locked door.

Before opening it, she turned to Christopher, who lingered a foot or so behind Rory.

"Are you related to Mrs. Gilmore?" she asked, and he blinked.

"Well...no." he said, and she shook her head at him.

"Then I'm afraid you can't see her." she waited until he turned back in the direction of the waiting room, and then opened the door for Rory.

-

The figure on the bed couldn't have been Lorelai. The figure on the was was absolutely still. Watching the figures chest, watching it not move up and down with breath, made Rory feel short of air. She pulled a chair up to the side of the cot.

"Hi mom," she whispered. The figure said nothing, so Rory continued. "I uh, met dad, he seems really...unsure of himself. I'm glad you didn't marry him. You deserve better. You...deserved better." she corrected herself. She took the figure's hand. It was cold.

"What am I supposed to do without you, mom?" she asked into the silence. She wasn't crying, and wondered why. Actually seeing her mom, she felt a little numb to the whole situation. She continued to speak. "I can't not have you with me. Look, I'm already an ass without you. All I'm talking about is myself. God, look at you. You're dead, and I'm thinking about myself." Dead. The word didn't feel right on her tongue, and she decided not to say it again. She rubbed the cold hand, and looked at the figure's face. It was as white as the walls of the hospital, and it's lips had a faint blue tinge to them.

Rory sat there for a minute or so before Christopher opened the door. She didn't look at him.

"Rory, we have to go. You have a plane to catch." he said. She stood up reluctantly. She wished she had flowers or something to leave, but she didn't. Instead, she left her half full cup of coffee on the table beside the bed. It was fitting, she supposed.

"How did you get in here?" she asked Christopher, still not gracing him with a glance.

"I explained that I was your father." he said.

"Oh," she picked up her bag and moved toward the door, "You lied."

-

She sat in silence for the car ride to the airport. Christopher tried every now and then to make conversation, but she wouldn't respond. Finally the limmo pulled up to the airport.

"I got you a private plane, it will take you right to the school. All of your things have already been packed and sent there."

"I hate that you have blue eyes." Rory said, catching him offguard.

"Sorry, what?"

"I hate that you have blue eyes. Now I'll never know if I got your's or mom's."

"Bye, Rory," he said sadly, but Rory had no sympathy for him. She got out of the car with her back pack. He opened the door on his side and made as if to join her, but she turned to him.

"I'll find it." she said. He paused a moment, then finally nodded. She turned on her heel and left, off to find her private plane. Off to her new school, her new prison. It occured to her that she didn't have to get on the place, she could go anywhere she wanted. But she had no where else to go. She looked around at the people in the airport. They all hustled to reach their destination, their plane, their family. She was the only person as far as she could see who was standing still.

She went to find her plane.

I decided Gigi wasn't relevant to the story. Realistically (as much as this story can possibly be), Chris wouldn't tell Rory about his family, and Rory wouldn't want to hear it.

I promise this is a Trory. Next chapter you can meet him, okay?

I felt this chapter was needed, though an absolute downer. Yeah, yeah. Next chapter we'll meet new people, new places, it will be a party. Promise, no angst next chapter. Maybe the one after that. A little.

Jess will come back later, for all the people who liked that idea.

Oh, but I need a suggestion for next chapter. Room mate: Lane or Paris? I can't decide, though I'm surrently leaning towards Lane. I think this story needs some Lane.

All in all I'm feeling good about this thing.

Please review!