AN: Thank you so much Sparxx27 for your last review! I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing – especially now that I've been outbid on E-Bay – especially not the Gilmore Girls, duh.

Rory sat at the desk in her bedroom at Emily and Richard's. She had a book open in front of her that a careers counselor had given her in high school. It went through almost every career there was and how to get into them. She leafed through half-heartedly. She'd always been so certain, so steadfast about Journalism but now? Not so much. She sighed loudly. It was as though she was at crossroads in every facet of her life. Several directions branched out all around her. Her college career? She wrinkled her nose. She was just so over it. There was no passion, no art in Journalism and she was biter about ever even getting a job. Her mother? That made her cringe every time. She hadn't called the second Lorelai in weeks, not even to tell her about Theo and Nate. She probably should have but she couldn't stand the silences they lapsed into now. Logan? Oh god, Logan. She loved him, she knew it, knew it in every way you could know it. She'd told him the night of the All the Children ball that she had thought she could change Tristan, wasn't she just doing the same thing here? She'd closed her eyes and turned to her head from so many indiscretions. Like Helen, Helen had been whom she'd been worried about when Logan was going to Vegas with the boys. Helen was gorgeous; Helen was an accounting student at Yale. Helen was tall and a redhead with huge green eyes and perfect long legs. Helen was who Rory had first found Logan in bed with, and second, and fourth. The third was Louise. She sighed heavily again and reached for her cell where it was ringing.

"Hey Ace"

"Hey, I was just thinking about you" She could almost hear his smirk.

"Really?…"

Theo was sitting in the kitchen when the post arrived.

"You've got a letter Ms. Adam's" Katrina, the maid told her. Theo took it gratefully, her eyes lit up when she saw it was from Germany, that's where Antonina was then. She tore it open and scanned the single page, it was from Janna. Her eyes filled with tears almost as soon as she reads the words on the page.

"Are you okay Ms. Adams?" Katrina asked. Theo nodded, swiping at her eyes.

"Yes, yes thank you. I'm going to g for a walk"

Tristan rang the doorbell, he hadn't seen Theo since the engagement party and decided it was time to swallow his pride and apologise. Katrina answered the door.

"Hello Mr. DuGrey"

"Hello Katrina, is Theo in?"

"No sir, she went for a walk"

"Oh ok, can you please tell her I called?"
"Yes sir"

"Thank you" He started to walk back to his place, cutting through the thin woods separating their properties. That was when he saw her, standing at the edge of the woods edging the back of her property in a long cardigan, he hair tangling in the breeze. He started towards her. She was still; her face impassive as he approached her, in her hand was a letter. She stared calmly into space.

"Theo?" She didn't turn. "Theo, are you okay?" She nodded. Gently, he took the piece of paper and read it.

"Who is Antonina?"

"Was"

"What?"

"Who was Antonina, not is anymore"

"Who was she?"

"You wouldn't understand"

Theo was nearly sixteen. But for some reason, she had no problem getting into the bars in Prague. She was alone this night, it didn't matter, and she always met somebody. She ordered a vodka and sat in the corner with her book. She didn't know how long she'd been there before somebody sat down opposite her.

"Are you an idealist or a realist?" The person asked her in Russian. Theo raised her eyebrow.

"Excuse me"

"Are you an idealist or a realist…no wait, let me guess. You're underage and in a club, you're an idealist, just like Keats, a romantic. I love that it's so fey. I'm Antonina"

"Theo" They grinned at each other. Antonina towered over her and had a shock of white-blond hair that floated down to her waist in lose spirals.

"I'm a Virgo and a vegan, I can't decide whether it's because of cruelty to animals or mad cow disease but I like it. I drink chai tea with honey and soymilk and I smoke too many cigarettes. And I make it my mission to save people's lives from the dreariness of the every day" From anybody else that speech would be ridiculous but from her Theo believed it. "So come, put that book away, although I completely support the perusal of good literature, but at the moment, there are people to be met" She grasped Theo's hand and Theo had the dreadful thought that one day, she might let go.

"She was my mentor" Theo told him in a monotone. She was wonderful, magical, fey, I didn't think she'd ever die" He stepped towards her and held her. She didn't respond at all, just kept staring at some place in the woods. He grasped her shoulders and shook her.

"For Christ's sake Theo, kick, scream, be human!"

"Now where would be the point in that?" She asked, her face deadpan.

"What is wrong with you? Where's the girl I used to know? You're living this half-life, one you used to swear you never wanted. What happened?"

"I grew up"

"Bullshit Theo, bullshit! Stop fighting me! You won't answer my questions!" She finally turned to him, her eyes glazed over.

"You want answers? Fine, but you're not gonna like them," He shrugged, "It got to me Tristan! You got to me. In the end it hurt too much to care so damn much about everything!" Suddenly the tears came, coursing down her flushed cheeks in salty rivulets.

"I betrayed her Tristan, I betrayed everything we stood for together" She crouched to the ground. "And now I don't know how to fix it! Is that what you wanted to hear? That I've fucked up my life and don't know what to do?"

"What do you want to do?" He ignored her accusations calmly.

"I want to scream" She replied through her sobs. "I want to tear my hair out from its roots. I want to break things and kick up clumps of grass."

"So why don't you?" She looked up at him and slowly gets back up to her feet.

"We can't go around doing whatever we want"

"Why not?"

"Because then we'd all go around doing stupid things like this" She reached up to clasp her arms around his neck and crushed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.

AN: I wanted Theo to break down really badly at some point, like really badly. She needed something tangible to tear her apart, and the death of her very close friend was it. We're almost finished now…definitely on the home stretch.