An Author's Late Night Ramblings- (There are a lot!) Wow! Thank you to all who have read and reviewed 'I Was Called Mary Once'! It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside that you enjoyed it. I was completely bowled over when Amy told me it was nominated for a P & P award! I was so honored, it means so much that someone liked my story enough to recommend it to the good people over at Proud & Prejudiced! So to whoever did so, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!! You made my week, probably my whole month of July as well.

This is the prequel to 'I Was Called Mary Once', and you should probably go and read that first, before this. It won't make that much of a difference, but if you don't the end of 'Mary' will be ruined, and we can't have that, now can we?

Disclaimer- I do not own the good people of Stars Hollow, or Hartford, for that matter. I do however; own most of the people that you will meet in Newport, Rhode Island. It promises to be a very interesting vacation for Miss Rory Gilmore, one she is most unlikely to forget!

And last but not least, to my wonderful and much beloved beta, Sara (Shouhei), I couldn't have done it without your wonderful words of encouragement, and putting up with all of my insane, completely random questions, which hopefully will make sense later in this story! I command you, go and read her stories, especially 'But I Love Him', which is so great, I can't even tell you, you just have to read and find out for yourself!


The Last

Chapter One- Run Away, Little Girl

Guilt. That had been what she had been feeling for the last two weeks. That was all she had been feeling. It was so acute, it was blinding, she was powerless to this emotion, and there was nothing she could do to make it go away.

She had slept with a married man. There was no getting around this. What had happened was wrong, and no matter what she did to justify her actions, she was still wrong. Nineteen years of taking the high road, of making the right decision, gone for a few moments of pleasure.

Who was she? This wasn't the Rory Gilmore that she knew.

Even though the only two people besides herself that knew what had happened that night were her mother and Dean, she still felt like everyone she came in contact with knew. They knew what she had done, as though she had a Scarlet 'A' sewn onto the front of her tee shirt. They knew and they judged her for it.

What had she been thinking? She had told her mother that she loved him, but now that she had had time to think about it, she was pretty sure that she didn't love him. It had been a lapse in judgment, a mistake, caused by loneliness and raging hormones.

Dean had wanted her. That had felt good, really good. It didn't matter that she didn't want him the way that he wanted her.

She, Rory Gilmore, had quite possibly broken up a marriage. It was completely irrelevant that they were having problems for a while now. Nothing could possibly make this situation better. She was the other woman.

She had been avoiding them both since that night. Well, to be accurate, she had been avoiding Lindsay since she had overheard Lane and herself talking in Doose's a few months ago. Avoiding Dean wasn't exactly a new practice either. Rory had gotten a lot of experience after both of their breakups.

To make it easier, Rory had accepted her Grandmother's invitation to spend the summer with her. Her grandfather had gone on an extended business trip, and Emily had moved back into the house. They had spent a few weeks in Hartford, and then tomorrow they would travel to Newport, Rhode Island, to stay with one of Emily's best friends for July and most of August.

Rory lived a very different life here with her Grandmother. Many mornings were filled with meetings and the afternoons filled with luncheons and garden parties. Nights were spent going to parties and social engagements. She now knew what her mother had been talking about most of her life. Everything was planned for her, right down to what she wore and when she brushed her teeth.

Her mother. How Rory missed Lorelai, even though she had been coming to visit her several days a week, complaining much about how she was now spending more time within those gates than she did when she actually lived there herself.

Today was a rarity, Emily didn't have anything planned for her, so Rory was enjoying the quiet by the pool, a copy of 'Emma' in her lap. Looking at her watch, she hoped that her mother would get there soon. Her grandmother had cancelled tonight's weekly dinner, opting for a late lunch instead. There was another soiree at the Lynn's. Part of Rory was hoping that Madeline and Louise would be there, for despite their differences, she missed the two. She had formed an interesting friendship with them those last two years in high school.

Life seemed so much simpler back then, when the biggest problems she had were avoiding a certain blonde irritant and studying for her finals. It seemed so long ago, despite the fact that she had only graduated one year prior.

Rory sighed, and once again immersed herself into the quaint little town of Highbury, which reminded herself a little of Stars Hollow. It was full of quirky, unique characters. Okay, so there was no oversexed dance instructor in Emma's little world, but the feeling of everyone knowing everyone else made her feel a little less homesick.

"Rory! There you are!"

Turning around on the lounge she was stretched out on, she saw her mother hurrying towards her, a large bag in her hand. "Hey Mom!" Rory called, standing up as Lorelai rounded the corner of the pool, nearly falling into it in the process. "Have a nice trip?"

"Haha."

"If it had been me you would have fallen in the pool laughing so hard."

"That is probably true."

They both laughed, and sat down at the table on the patio, and waited for Emily to come back from one of her DAR meetings. "Okay, I was listening to KRZ in the car today-,"

"A mainstream station?"

"It's not that bad."

"Mom, they play the kind of music that kills your brain cells."

"So?"

"Do you really want to lose any more?"

"What do you mean by 'any more'?" Lorelai asked, cocking her head to one side, crossing her arms. "I'll have you know that I don't listen to any music that 'kills brain cells."

"Mom, you have an N SYNC cd."

"Do not!"

"It's hidden in your top drawer, underneath your unmentionables." Rory states, to which Lorelai starts to giggle.

"What?"

"You said unmentionables." More giggles.

"Your point, please?"

"What are you, sixty?"

"Okay, back to the beginning. You were ridding yourself of that unnecessary brain matter..."

"And that new Maroon 5 song came on, you know, the one with the weird video?"

"It doesn't have a weird video."

"It has nothing to do with the song!"

"Yes it does!"

"There is no part of that song where he starts sleeping with his girlfriend's mother!" Lorelai cried out, getting frustrated again.

"We don't know that was her mother." Rory stated matter of factly.

"Oh, please. You are so naïve."

"They could be sisters."

"Kelly Preston is like, forty two!"

"So?"

"She wouldn't have a sister that young. Plus, she was married to the Ritz chips guy!"

"You mean George Hamilton?" Rory asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, that guy!"

"We don't even know if they were married in the video."

"Oh, please. Why else would she stay with a man that she obviously doesn't love, in what is obviously an abusive relationship?" Lorelai asked, knowing that she had won, the look of defeat was evident in her daughter's eyes.

"Why don't we return to the real topic?" Rory suggested, relenting.

"What was that again?"

"Mother, you were the one who started this inane conversation!"

"Hey, this is a perfectly 'nane' conversation."

"It's a what?"

"A 'nane' conversation."

"I don't think that 'nane' is a word, Mommy Dearest."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes, it is, my darling daughter."

"Fine, use it in a sentence, smarty pants."

After thinking for a minute, Lorelai smiled. "The opposite of 'inane' is 'nane'."

"That's cheating!"

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is!" Rory exclaimed, jumping from her chair. "You can't do that!"

"But I just did!"

"It's still cheating!

"No, it's not." She grinned. "You said use it in a sentence, you never said that it had to be a good one!"

"You're impossible." Rory sighed, flopping back into her chair.

"Oh!"

"What now?"

"I remembered the point of my story!"

"And what, pre tell, is it?"

"Okay, so their new song came on the radio, and I was listening to it, but then, a thought hit me!"

"Did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?"

"The thought. You said it hit you."

"Eh, you know how hard my head is."

"Okay, so you had a thought..."

"All these songs seem to be about one person!" Lorelai exclaimed, excited about her realization. "I mean, all the songs appear to be about that guy's weird, twisted relationship with some girl." Now it was Rory's turn to giggle. "What?"

"Mom, you do know that the album is called 'Songs About Jane', right?" Rory asked, her giggles turning into full blown laughter.

"No, why?"

"They are all about his twisted relationship with some girl!" She choked out, laughing harder at her mother's crestfallen expression.

"You mean that everyone else knew about this?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh well. The lead singer is still hot, in that skinny, pretty boy way."

"Yeah, Adam Levine is nice to look at."

"What I would do to him..." Lorelai trailed off, her eyes glazing over a bit.

"Mom, ew!" Rory cried, snapping her mother from her naughty little reverie. "What would a certain coffee supplying diner owner have to say if he were here right now?"

"He'd probably hand me over and say, 'good luck!'" Lorelai joked.

"How's that going?" Rory asked, feeling a little out of the loop. Things were finally coming together for Luke and her mom, and she was missing all of it. But she wasn't ready to go back to Star's Hollow, she just couldn't do it yet.

"Good. Really good, great actually."

"I thought so."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, that hickey on your neck is pretty self explanatory." Rory joked.

"What? I thought that I covered that thing!"

"Mom! I was kidding! Ew, now I have bad pictures in my head!" Rory complained, covering her eyes.

"Hey, you asked, it's your own fault."

"Sure, that's what I'll tell my therapist."

"Honey, you don't have a therapist."

"Yeah, well grab the yellow pages, because after this conversation, I'm going to need one!"

"Lorelai, when did you get here?" Emily asked, walking out of the French doors leading out onto the patio.

"Just a few minutes ago, Mom."

"Oh, well, it's such a nice day today, I thought we could eat out here." Emily announced, taking a seat across from Lorelai and Rory. "So, Lorelai, how is that inn of yours?"

"The Dragonfly is doing wonderfully, Mom." She beamed, almost like when she talked to people about Rory. That's kind of what the inn was to her, another child. "We're doing another wedding there tomorrow, and we're booked until the end of the summer."

"That's wonderful."

"Yes, it is."

Libby, the maid of the week, brought out the salads a few moments after that. Rory had been staying with her grandmother for three weeks now, and it still amazed her how critical she was about her maid's performance. It was no wonder now of how Emily went through so many maids, she was too particular about them.

"So, Rory, do you have everything you need for your trip?" Lorelai asked, giving her a look. Rory knew what it meant. What were you thinking, voluntarily going to Newport, Land of Stuffy Rich People, with Emily Gilmore, for a month and a half? She had been giving her that look for the past few weeks, ever since Rory had announced that she was spending the summer in Hartford, rather than at home, in Star's Hollow.

Lorelai had called her a coward. She said that Rory was running away, rather than face what she did. Lorelai was right, Rory was running away, but she had faced what she had done. It was on her mind every day, she asked herself countless times in countless ways, what was she thinking? She just wasn't ready to be in her room, to sleep in the bed that...

Lorelai glanced at her daughter, not quite knowing what was going on in her head. She knew that Rory felt guilty for what she had done three weeks ago, but she didn't know what to say to her. What she did was wrong, but she wasn't the only one in that room. HE was there too. As far as she knew HE hadn't even called her, or attempted to contact her in any way. HE was still playing the role of the loving newly wed husband to his unsuspecting wife. And that made her really angry.

"Yeah, I think so. I have everything on my list." Rory answered, taking a sip of her lemonade. "I'm excited, I've never been there before."

"Oh, you'll love Chateau du Sable, Rory." Her grandmother smiled. "It is one of the only cottages left on Bellevue Avenue that hasn't been turned over to the Preservation Society, and is the only one that doesn't have tourists trampling through the halls and gardens all day long." She scrunched her nose in distaste. "Lulu lives there for most of the year. She only leaves in the winter, for her health, but returns as soon as the snow melts."

"Lulu Carrington?" Lorelai asked, looking surprised. "You're going to visit her?"

"Yes, Lorelai, Lulu Carrington."

"No fair!" She cries, making a face. "If I had known that you were going to see Lulu, I would have sold the inn and gone with you!"

"Why?"

"Lulu is the coolest lady to ever walk the planet." Lorelai explained to a confused Rory. "Not only is she loaded, but she is kind and knows just about everything about anything! She's the one who taught me how to short sheet a bed, climb down a trellis with high heels, and-,"

"Lorelai, that's enough." Emily held up her hand to stop the flow of words escaping from her daughter' lips. "Lulu is a respected member of society, not the hooligan that you are portraying her to be."

"Mmhmm." Lorelai smirked. "She tells the best stories too. Just ask her about the time that their sorority mascot was stolen, and your old Grandmother here-,"

"Lorelai!"

"Fine, fine." She held up her hands in defeat. "As her when Grandma isn't around. That way she can't spoil it." Lorelai whispered to Rory.

Rory had to admit, when she had first heard that they would be staying with her grandmother's best friend, she hadn't been thrilled. But now, she thought, maybe this trip would be more interesting than she originally thought.


Grr... Arg! I had this all ready to go when I got home from work and got the green light, but the stupid wouldn't let me log on! And another quick thank you to my darling Sara, whom I sent a very frustrated email that sort of turned into a mini tantrum at the end. Thanks so much for putting up with me!

And I know, I know, HE's not in the story yet. HE will be, trust me! (And for those of you who didn't read 'Mary' yet, HE is most defiantely not DEAN! I have this hate for him, oh so many, many reasons to choose from, could it be his stupid floppy hair, or maybe the way that he always seemed to end up with Rory?!?! Ugh!