Secrets That Kill: A Gilmore Girl Fanfiction

Disclaimer: sadly I do not own anything Gilmore Girl related, not even Tristan or Jess (tears)

Summary: what happens when deals are made w/ the wrong people? Will a life be lost? Rory, Tristan, Paris, Logan, and the rest of the crew will find themselves face to face w/ secrets that can kill… AU! Could be a Trory… who knows… hehe!

Sorry it took so long… I've been really busy w/ sball games and SAT prep courses… This is more of a filler chapter, and yet at the same time it has some important events… take a moment to review please! I really liked your opinions on Jess, It helps me a lot! THANKs and ENJOY!

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CHAPTER 8: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Tristan smiled as he watched the loving embrace between Rory, Luke, and her mother. Logan and Paris joined Tristan as he watched the family and they sighed heavily.

"What is it?" Tristan asked the two obviously depressed friends of his.

"Oh nothing…" They answered in unison. Tristan didn't buy it, but he knew what they were thinking. After all, he was thinking the same thing…No one is here for us… no one was worried about us…he solemnly admitted to himself but shook the thoughts from his mind…Rory's okay…be happy…

"Hey you three come here and meet my mom and old time friend, Luke Danes." Rory gestured to the currently motherless teens to come and join her with urgency. The boys hesitated but Paris rapidly sped over to Rory. Without any hesitation, Lorelai went to Paris and hugged her tightly.

"Oh, Paris, I'm so glad you're okay!" Lorelai let Paris go and the two smiled at each other sincerely. Satisfied that Paris had been comforted, Lorelai then turned her attention to the two teenage boys still avoiding her welcome. She shook her head in disapproval and stomped over to them. She looked at Logan and smiled, "You have your mother's eyes." And with that she pulled Logan into a strong embrace. "Thank you so much Logan. If you hadn't made that call… well let's just say I am in debt to you!" She whispered into his ear and let go only to turn to Tristan.

She eyed him curiously; he had gone from Rory's nemesis, to mere acquaintance, to best friend, and now her superman. "Come here you!" She grabbed him forcefully and flung her arms around him. "Thank you bible boy, you were so brave! Logan told me what you did. How you were willing to stay in that closet all alone, I don't know. My brave bible boy, thank you!" And she kissed him one the cheek that had turned quite red since the beginning of Lorelai's praise. Without much time to respond, Tristan and the other two teens were introduced to Luke formally. Soon all six of them were chatting casually until interrupted but sudden shouts.

"Rory! Oh my god! I'm so glad you're okay!" Rory's eyes became filled with joy the moment she saw her best friend. Lane matched the same intensity in her own eyes and the two collided in a loving squeeze.

"Lane, I'm so glad you're here." Rory said joyfully but something sad and ghost like was still present in Rory's voice that only Tristan could sense. He decided it was only residue from the event that in his eyes could not be gotten over in a mere twenty minutes, so he let it go.

"All right now love; you need to learn how to share!" Finn came into view as he jokingly pried Lane from Rory. Lane laughed and let her Australian beau pull Rory into a hug himself, "Kitten, you had us worried sick!" He said seductively into Rory's ear and then after Lane punched him playfully he raised his voice to the rest of his friends, "You ALL had us worried sick!" Lane still pouted at his open love towards Rory and he winked at her. "Lane, my love! No need to worry, you're the only one I see!" Rory and Lane giggled as Lorelai also joined in, leaving the others blatantly confused.

"Wait, Finn? This is your girlfriend?" Logan asked finally putting two and two together. Finn nodded, knowingly defeated and planted a passionate kiss on his newfound love.

"You are quite right mate! She is bloody beautiful, do you not agree?" Lane blushed at Finn's unexpected P.D.A., but grinned nonetheless.

"Excuse me?" A monotone grumble interrupted the reunion and all of them eyed the policeman. "It's time the four of you come to the police station for questioning. Mrs. Hayden is the only adult that is allowed to come with the students, and the rest must return home. Actually Luke Danes, you need to come with me. We will travel to the station separately." Everyone nodded their understanding and goodbyes took place as they headed to the police cars that would take them to the station.

Before Lorelai could leave she turned into Luke's embrace and let a silent tear trace the curve of her cheek bone. "I wish…" she whispered but Luke put a finger to her mouth to silence her.

"Shhh. We'll talk some other time." And with that he placed a light kiss to the tear on her cheek and left her to continue to the police station alone. She couldn't help but smile at his compassion and joined her daughter in the car.

"We also have to talk later mom." Rory informed her mother as the car sped off to the station.

Luke met with the man who wanted to talk to him and his eyebrows were arched in confusion. "What is it officer?"

"One of the gang members had been asking for you. Supposedly you were once his guardian." Luke looked out behind the officer with a blank stare. He couldn't believe it. "His name is-"

"Jess Mariano." Luke finished the sentence for the officer and followed him into the car. He was now truly involved and contemplated the situation as they drove off, following the other police cars.

- -

The room was cold, a cement-box-like hell. Logan was standing, pacing back and forth as Tristan leaned against the wall. Paris and Rory both sat in the chairs provided, with their legs crossed, and their backs straight; they were of high society.

"Logan, stop pacing, you're making me nervous." Paris snapped. All four of them were edgy. They couldn't come to terms with the feeling the room was giving them. It was all too familiar to their most recent experience, waiting for orders, all together, anticipating each other's nerves.

"We need to make a decision." Tristan stated, stepping away from the wall. "Are we going to tell the truth, or not? We need to say the same thing or it would look pretty bad if we all say something different." All three of them nodded, understanding the point Tristan was making. They were silent for some time, not knowing what the other was thinking.

"I say we don't" Rory whispered.

"Rory, what you found out, you know, with your mom? I understand if you don't want to lie." Tristan said, but Rory shook her head in protest.

"Don't worry about that!" Rory was starting to become more and more confident with every word. "What Chris did was wrong, but he loved my mom. He didn't want to lose her. I'm going to deal with him, trust me, but your dads didn't do what my dad did. They had to endure the fear of losing us. I think they've had enough hell for one day. And Hendrix was an evil man, your dad and my dad got caught up with the wrong guy, and they did his bidding because they knew what would happen if they didn't. So I say we lie. Bedsides we can always come back and tell the truth if we need too, but as Tristan said, we need to be in agreement. We don't need another high society scandal again!" She was out of breath, and everyone just stared. No one wanted to say anything but they knew they had too at some point.

"So is everyone in agreement? We lie?" Tristan asked and everyone nodded. "It's settled then, from here on out we don't make any decisions regarding this issue unless we have had a meeting on it?" Again the nods were everywhere in the room and when they were asked one by one to testify their words were the same…

- -

The one thing Rory had forgotten all about was the man who saved her life. Jess…She didn't know what to say when the police mentioned his name. It was like a blur. She had almost thought it had been a dream, and that he had never held a gun towards Hendrix and her. But now reality had caught up to her and she knew she had to say something. "Miss Hayden? Jess Mariano? We want to know what happened."

"He… he saved my life." The words came out like pollen. Spreading and making the noses of the men twitch, they didn't believe her. He was a crook, he couldn't be a hero. "I was… Hendrix was going to… he was so close to doing it… but Jess… he stopped him…Tristan was helpless…and so Jess saved me instead…He was there for me…" The police men nodded. Finally letting that itch be scratched and they let her go. She left the room in silence…Jess…

- -

Luke just stared at the jail cell; he couldn't come to terms with the man that sat inside it. "Why?" Was all Luke could day and it made Jess uncomfortable and ashamed of himself.

"Luke, don't say it like that." Jess scoffed, moving closer to the edge where Luke stood.

"Why not? It's not like you got detention for skipping class, or like another F on your report card. NO, Jess, this is real. This is bad, really bad." Luke was upset and confused. He didn't know how to tell Jess how he was feeling.

"I went to go see him." Jess said in a faint whisper.

"Your father?"

"Yes." Luke nodded and decided he'd give Jess the chance to explain. After all, he had no idea what to do.

"Tell me." Luke inquired and Jess took a deep breath, ready to let his stubbornness go.

"So when I found him, it seemed like everything was okay, but man, was I wrong…"

- -

Tristan was honest. He couldn't do anything when Hendrix started to grab Rory, and it was Jess who saved her. "That's what happened. He pointed that gun at Hendrix and he wanted nothing more than to save her life." The police had heard enough and let Tristan go. As the door opened for him to leave, he looked back one last time into the room. Never in my life…he thought to himself. He couldn't believe he was there.

Finally letting the door shut behind him his heart skipped a beat when he saw her. The blue eyes that always held so much life were clouded in some way. "Rory?" Tristan asked as she also left an interrogation room. She seemed oblivious to the world around her and with Tristan's sudden voice it made her jump back in fear. His heart stung at that, he never wanted to scare someone he loved.

"Tristan?" She finally saw him and her eyes became clear again. "I don't know what to do. They keep asking me these questions about Jess. He's a good guy, but…why was he there?" She was rambling and Tristan knew it was only in self defense. He shook his head and walked over to her in two swift steps.

"Shhh, I'm here. They asked me too. Don't worry. Jess will be okay. We can only wait." Rory nodded and let Tristan lead her out into the lobby where her mother, and the other two teens were waiting for them.

The moment Lorelai saw her daughter she stood up to greet her. To comfort her, whatever her daughter needed she wanted her daughter to forget the events that had taken place. "Honey, why were you two in there so long?" she asked in concern.

"They asked us about…" She stopped. Her mother didn't know about Jess. "Mom, Luke was asked to come here because of one of the gunmen."

"What are you talking about?"

"We…Tristan and I were saved by one of the gunmen… and it was… it was Jess, mom. Jess." Lorelai retreated from her daughter. She couldn't believe it. I knew it…I knew I didn't like that boy…but he saved her… "Mom?"

"Umm…Luke is here?" She ignored Rory, and looked around as if she would see him in the room.

"Yea. He is in the jail cell area. Whatever they call it." Tristan had answered for Rory, who was obviously having trouble with her mother's reaction. She had stepped away from Rory like she had some kind of disease that she would catch. Tristan hated the look on Rory's face, it was full of pain.

"I'm going to go find-" Lorelai stopped as Luke came into sight. His eyes were red, but more from stress then the secret tears he had shed for his nephew. "LUKE! YOUR nephew…" She sneered. It was like she couldn't say his name. As if it was poison.

"Lorelai, you don't know what the situation is." Luke walked over to her, and tried to hold her but she whipped her arms at him in fits.

"Did you know?" she screamed.

"No."

"He was one of them. He threatened the life of my girl! How can you act like he deserves to have an explanation?" Lorelai was vivid with anger and it had seized the attention of the whole station.

"Lorelai, he has a…" He tried to finish but Rory pushed past him and grabbed her mother's right arm with all her strength.

"MOM!" She yelled so forcefully that even Lorelai stopped her crying. "I don't know exactly why Jess was there, but what I do know is that he saved my life, and Tristan's life. He was there for me. He saved me! I was almost… mom, I was almost raped, and Jess saved me!" She said it like she read it from a book. The emotion she felt was so great it couldn't even be expressed in her words. Her mother just stood there, not knowing what to do.

"Rory Hayden." Someone interrupted the heated argument, and Rory acknowledged the man who called her name. It was another policeman.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to speak to Mr. Mariano now?" He asked caustiously, not wanting to endure the rage he had seen from her mother.

"Yes…" And with that Rory released her mother's arm to follow the man down another cement corridor. Her heart was searching for the truth, and sadly she had to do it alone in order to protect it…

- -

Quick Notes: You have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Lot's of work went into it, and even if it seems like it isn't that good I still had trouble with it so be nice… haha…

Coming Up: Jess and Rory talk… Will Lorelai come to terms with the truth? How will Chris face his demons? Lorelai and Luke will find what they lost… And Rory tells Tristan what she had wanted to tell him in the school…

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