Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN: As promised here's Chapter 15 of A lifetime ago...
WEDNESDAY
It was ten in the morning when Keith Mars entered the Mariano household. He went into the foyer and found it empty. He proceeded towards the living room and saw no one. His brow wrinkled in confusion. Jess normally woke up early and by nine Veronica was already out and about.
He went to the library and saw Richard Gilmore, reading quietly. He left the room as silently as possible. He went to the dark room just in case Veronica was already busy with her photography, but it was still locked. He went upstairs and checked the master's bedroom and he finally saw his daughter's sleeping form.
Something was definitely up. Keith shook his head in disapproval; he closed the door to the room and heard a noise coming from the game room.
He entered the room and saw two four year olds playing with a game cube. Beside them was Emily Gilmore cheering them on. Just as he was about to leave them in peace Emily turned and spotted him.
"You're the bride's father."
"I am."
"Everyone is still sleeping. There must be a bug going around, I tried to wake Lorelai up but all she did was grumble. Luke, who usually wakes up early, is also still asleep. And Rory locked her door, I tried knocking but she won't open it. Honestly, they were perfectly fine last night." She shook her head in exasperation.
"Grandma, look." Will interrupted Emily and pointed to the television.
"Good job." She smiled at her grandson.
"He's cheating." Richie whined.
"Now, now Richie, I'm sure Will isn't cheating. Just play nice." Emily smiled at her other grandson.
"If you'll excuse me I'm going to try and see if anyone else is awake yet." Keith shot Emily a smile and proceeded towards the door.
A suspicious look dawned on his face as he closed the door. He went down the stairs and into the dining room. He smiled to himself and sat down and proceeded to eat. He picked up the paper and started reading.
He was just about done with breakfast when Logan strolled into the dining room.
"Keith. You're back." Logan looked surprised.
"I remember telling everyone I'd be back by today." Keith replied.
"Yeah, it must have slipped my mind. So how was your trip?" Logan asked he poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Productive. And nice try, but nothing will keep me from asking you how the party was." Keith gave Logan a disapproving look.
"Party? What party?" Logan schooled his features to give nothing away.
"The party that kept most of you kids, including Luke and Lorelai, in bed until ten thirty in the morning." Keith leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms across his chest, waiting for Logan to come clean.
"Okay, what gave it away? As you can see I am not at all hung over." Logan gestured towards his being.
"Well, the bags under your eyes give it away, your slow movement suggests fatigue and finally Addy told me that she was planning the party many moons ago." Keith smirked at Logan.
"I can't believe she told you. And last night Wallace was going on and on that we should look presentable for today." Logan rolled his eyes.
"So you slept over there?" Keith's brow furrowed in protection mode.
"I did and so did Jess, Weevil, Carmen, Wallace and Natasha. So you can drop the protective act." Logan retorted.
"Fine. So is Jess awake yet or is he like Veronica, who is still sleeping soundly?
"He's awake. He and Addy barely slept. I think they're going over some business stuff." Logan answered as he picked up a bagel.
Keith got up from his chair, "I'm going to wake my daughter up. She has her final fitting today at two. I'll see you later."
"Yeah you will, if you happen to pass by at Addy's place or if we come over here."
"Why would you be there?"
"Jess wanted her parents to stay here; so to make this house a little less crowded I decided to stay there."
"Just no funny stuff." Keith looked at him warningly.
Logan raised his hands in mock surrender, "No funny stuff Sheriff." Keith looked at him through narrowed eyes and then left him to wake Veronica up.
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Veronica munched on her bagel thoughtfully. Her dad remained elusive about his trip. But she did not exactly have time to dwell on it; she was getting married in three days. She was starting to feel butterflies in her stomach.
The party at the early hours of the morning was what made everything feel real. She smiled in recollection. It was fun having Addy as her substitute maid of honor. Her fiancée's best friend did not disappoint. After presenting her with gifts for the wedding, which would be presented all over again on Friday, the male strippers arrived. Now she doesn't normally like those kinds of things but having Thunder from Down Under as their entertainment changed her mind if only for a little bit.
Veronica smiled again. And that's how Jess found her, smiling blankly into the air. He placed a kiss on her forehead, she looked at him as if surprised that he was even there.
"What's on today's agenda?" he asked as he sat next to her.
Veronica tilted her head at him and grinned, "My very last fitting."
"You may want to ease up on those bagels then. Just in case." Jess smirked at her.
"What did you say?" Veronica had an astonished look on her face.
"Forgive me." Jess took her hand in his and kissed it repeatedly.
Veronica snatched her hand away and mock pouted. She took a big bite of her bagel and gave him a pointed look.
"I didn't mean it. You know I didn't mean it." He took her hand again. He gave her a sad look and Veronica can't help but roll her eyes at her fiancé.
"I'm sorry." Jess repeated the phrase over and over again. Finally Veronica pinched his cheek in mock consternation.
"Fine, just no more digs on my eating habits okay?" she chided teasingly.
"I promise never to comment on your food intake. Never ever." Jess nodded wholeheartedly.
"What's in your agenda today?" she asked.
"Well, I'm going with you. Picking up that tux, finally. I think your dad, Luke and the twins are going for a final fitting. I think Richard will be going as well. Why don't you and the ladies go shopping today?" Jess suggested.
"You're spending way too much already." Veronica frowned warily.
"We only get married once. Theoretically." Jess grinned at her.
"Besides Uncle Jay and Aunt Ri are paying for the wedding. They would have force fed the money to us if we refused. So go ahead, live a little." Jess nudged her gently.
"Fine, I'll spend your money." Veronica sighed dramatically.
"Our money soon enough." Jess tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek tenderly.
"What about Addy? She's not going for her final fitting?" Veronica gave him a puzzled look.
"She has a meeting with Huntzberger. So he's staying too. Logan has a meeting also; someone's pitching a movie idea to him. That's why they were gone all day yesterday. Those two already picked up their outfits for the wedding." Jess shrugged in reply.
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Logan Huntzberger was dressed in one of his best suits. He wondered if he should walk over to Addy's house but when he got to the foyer there was a driver waiting for him. The car took him to Addy's in two minutes.
He was welcomed by a man in a suit. The man introduced himself as Carter, Addy's assistant. Carter ushered him to the study. Hunter walked inside and saw no one. When the door was shut the chair behind the oak table turned. Sitting on it was Adriana Townsend. Hunter put on his business face and was ready to proceed.
Addy got up to shake his hand and gestured for him to take a seat, when she stood up Hunter felt his confidence slip a little. It was a business meeting and he had dressed accordingly. Addy seemed to have a different idea, she was wearing a sleeveless tank top and a washed out jeans, Hunter felt a little relieved to see that she was not wearing flip flops, she was actually wearing running shoes, slightly better than flip flops.
"Would you like a cup of coffee?" she inquired politely.
Hunter nodded. She picked up the phone and talked quietly. It was not even a minute when Carter came back in with a pot of coffee and some pastries.
Once they were settled and alone Addy nodded in his direction. Hunter felt annoyance at the gesture, but he proceeded anyway.
"I'm glad you finally agreed to meet with me." He began.
"You wanted this meeting so badly." She shrugged in response.
"What I'd like to know is what changed your mind. You've been very elusive whenever I tried to meet with you."
"Mrs. Gilmore asked me if you could come, I said yes and here you are."
"That's it. After fighting it for a year you just say yes because of Emily?"
Addy nodded and that was it.
"Very well. I'd like for Writers' Inc to back off. Your company has been taking our authors for the last three years. While I appreciate healthy competition, your company has made it a point to steal our writers." Hunter leaned back in his seat and waited for her response.
"We never stole any of your writers. All of their contracts have expired when they entertained the idea of shifting companies." She replied curtly.
"Come on, you've made it your life's mission to topple our publishing company." He can't help the hostile tone that his voice has taken.
"First of all, the Huntzbergers' never really cared for the publishing house. In fact your father has devoted all his time on the newspaper business. Secondly, you only took interest in that aspect of your business when you started losing your authors to Writers' Inc." was her cool response.
"Our company has been enjoying relative success, but ever since you took over for your grandfather's estate three years ago the company has been suffering." His eyes flashed in anger.
"Then you can blame Jess for that. I had nothing to do with WI until a week ago. I prefer to focus on other parts of my grandfather's estate."
"Yeah right. You expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with WI's success." He remarked sarcastically.
"Believe it or not your company is not the only publishing house that lost some of its writers to WI. Jess is an exceptional business man and he loves the company."
"So you're saying that this has nothing to do with your family's vendetta against my family."
"That's exactly what I'm saying. Both my parents and I have refused to have anything to do with that feud your family and mine have engaged in. My grandfather felt strongly about what happened that no one could stop him from buying out your competition and building Writers' Inc. But now that it has passed hands WI is no longer a form of weapon against your family. It is a legitimate business conducted for the sake of business. In three days it will cease to be a Townsend company. If you wish to continue blaming WI for your losses you will have to take it up with the CEO and soon to be sole owner of the company, Jess Mariano."
"You're giving it up?" an incredulous look was plastered on his face.
"I never really cared for it. Jess loves it so I'm giving it to him as a wedding gift." She stated plainly.
"So that's it, almost a decade of the feud and its over."
"The feud was your father and my grandfather's doing." She shot him a pointed look.
"Do you even care about the feud at all? After all it was mostly about you." he looked irritated at the way everything was going.
"So how's Colin, Finn and Damien?" she leaned back and looked at him through her lashes.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Hunter looked sincerely confused at the sudden change of topics.
"I don't know you tell me. You are so ready to attribute the feud to me. So how are they doing these days?" she asked him sardonically.
"Colin and Finn are fine. I haven't heard from Damien in years." His brows furrowed at the turn of the conversation.
"Really? You haven't heard from him in years. Nine years perhaps." Her voice had a trace of impatience.
"Yes. He was shipped off to Europe before junior year, haven't heard from him since."
"Well how about that? Nine years since Damien was exiled. Nine years since Papi set up WI." She gave him a condescending look.
"Are you telling me that this damn feud was over Damien?" Hunter crossed his arms across his chest and was showing signs of impatience as well.
"Your father never tells you anything." Addy shook her head in amazement.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"That's why you had the gall to call me the next morning and leave such an asshole worthy message." This time amusement was written all over her face.
"What are you talking about Bella?" Hunter was growing impatient.
"Nine years ago you invited me to that college party of yours. The next day you called, you berated my poor machine with your numerous profanities. You have no idea." She smiled at him bitterly.
"You didn't show up. I was angry. I didn't expect things to end because of what I said." He looked at Addy angrily.
"I was fourteen and you asked me to go to a college party. I told you I didn't want to go. But you insisted. And when Logan Huntzberger insists, it must be done. You didn't even bother to wait for me at the door. Your friends saw me and told me they'd take me to you." She was shaking her head as she spoke.
Hunter remained quiet; he could tell that there was a huge revelation waiting at the end of her narrative.
"They told me you were waiting for me in a room in the second floor. When I got there, you weren't there."
"So you left?" he asked a little annoyed
"No. I was told to wait. Colin and Finn said they'd fetch you for me and Damien said he'd wait with me. And what do you know; he wanted to get past third base and right into a home run." She laughed humorlessly.
Hunter was shocked; he thought she was too busy with her G-rated boyfriend to see him nine years ago. He never knew that she was at the party while he was getting drunk off his ass because she didn't bother to come.
"He said it was supposed to be a joke afterwards. Good thing Brad came in. Otherwise I would have been scarred for life." This time her voice took a lighthearted tone.
Hunter knew she was referring to her bodyguard, the same bodyguard that she insisted she didn't need when she was thirteen. His knuckles were turning white as he balled his hands into fists.
"My grandfather wanted to press charges. Your father said he'd take care of it. Next day Damien has gone AWOL. Papi was so mad; everyone was worried he'd have a stroke." She shook her head at the memory.
She focused on him, "Your father told Damien's dad that he should send him away. He also told them that there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute anyway. Never mind that I had bruises all over my body, and hickeys too, I got my first hickey from him. Apparently if Brad hadn't come in, what he did would constitute as a heinous crime, me being fourteen and all. Good ole Mitchum even told Papi that maybe Brad should have entered the room ten minutes later, and then we would have a case." She spoke clearly and carefully.
Hunter stood up abruptly, tearing his gaze away from her. He remembered the drunken phone call he made to her, how he called her names and insulted her every which way he knew. He turned away from her in shame. Addy remained seated and waited for him to process everything.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered hoarsely.
"I was told not to have contact with you whatsoever." She shrugged even though he could not see her.
"You should have told me." He faced her and he can't help the guilt that rushed through him.
"Yeah, because it was the easiest conversation to have. Hey Hunter, your friend almost raped me. Wanna grab a cup of coffee? Doesn't quite seem right." She was acting like everything she said meant nothing.
"I deserved to know. After all it affected me too." He ran his hand through his hair unconsciously.
"Know what? That was years ago. Why don't we just let bygones be bygones?" She suggested with such offhandedness.
Hunter looked at her in disbelief, "The bastard almost raped you. I lost you and you want to forget everything."
"I had nine years to deal." She replied flatly.
"I'll kill him." He paced around the room.
"Who? Damien? You can't he's a father now." She was nonchalant.
"I'd still kill him and my dad too, for what he did to you." He stopped his pacing and faced her again.
"Really you don't have to do anything. I'm so over it." She rolled her eyes at him.
"How can you say that? When everything that happened made you hate me."
"I don't hate you Hunter."
"Yes you do. And I deserve it too."
"Seriously, if you don't stop with that attitude I'd have to ship you back to the East coast. We don't need any negativity; we are here for a wedding after all." She looked at him firmly.
"Why aren't you outraged?" he asked her in frustration.
"Nine years." She responded quietly.
"I have to make this better. You have to let me make this better." He walked towards her, ignoring the way she flinched as he kneeled and touched her arm.
"I don't want you to do anything."
"Please let me make it better." He pleaded with her.
"Am I interrupting something?" Logan Echolls asked from the door.
"Yes. He was just proposing to me and I was going to say yes. Impeccable timing as usual Logan." Addy shook her head in mock consternation.
Hunter stood up and ran his hand through his hair again; he did not exactly welcome the distraction that was Logan Echolls.
"Now Addy, what have I told you? No proposals until six in the evening. And only if it's from me." Logan wagged his finger at her in disapproval.
Addy looked at her watch, "Aren't you a little early? I thought that you'd be gone until four."
"The script stunk. Not worth my time. If I had known that you would need more time for this rendezvous I would have cruised the streets of Neptune a little longer." He stated agreeably.
"Well I was just about to call you but here you are." She stood from the chair and walked towards Logan. Hunter was oblivious to their exchange; it was as if he went somewhere else.
"So what's going on? And you better not say he's proposing again, that won't go over well the second time." Logan looked at her skeptically.
Addy smiled at him, seemingly amused "It won't?"
"No it won't." Logan grinned at her and placed a kiss on the corner of her lips.
"He was practicing for when he asks Rory?" she asked him optimistically. He shook his head at her smilingly, she shot him a hopeful smile and he just shook his head again. She gave him a pouting look, he shook his head again. She put on her full force doe eyed look and Logan guffawed in disbelief, "I give up." He uttered as he wrapped his arms around her.
"So are you done here?" he directed the question at both Hunter and Addy, putting his arm around the latter's shoulders.
Addy looked at Hunter questioningly. He nodded in acquiesce.
"I have phone calls to make." Hunter replied curtly and walked out of the study.
AN2: Thank you folks for reading. Honestly as I was writing this fic, I never thought it would come out like this. I was a bit hesitant to write in what almost happened to Addy, but eventually I decided that it was necessary. I needed something to make the feud between the Huntzbergers and the Townsends real. The end result is this chapter. The parellels between her and Veronica is becoming too much, that's why I almost rejected this idea. But it is what it is. And I had to make Mitchum the bad guy, even if at the season finale of Gilmore Girls everything he said to Rory made sense to me. I still don't like him for inspiring the painful separation between Lorelai and Rory and it's obviously reflected in this fic. Anyway, thanks for reading as always.
To my reviewers:
breakfastclubjedi: Thanks for the review. I always thought that there would be a bit of change in the characters as they grow older, but not so much that they'd become unrecognizable, it is through that logic that I write about them. And I'm so glad that the merger between WB and UPN happened. Now I get to watch my two fave shows on the same channel and on the same night. Superfun! Thanks again for reviewing.
Problem Child1: I always make it a point to buy the DVDs on the week that they've been released, much cheaper! I appreciate the feedback, and I figured that not everyone would like Addy. This chapter pretty much showed her hidden depths, the next update would further reinforce that. I try to write with a reason, so there is a bit of foreshadowing. I promise that there is a logic to her insanity, I mean if you had a chance with Logan you wouldn't just throw it all away right? So she's gotta be insane or she...you'll find out in the next chapter. But I'm not promising that it will make her more likable, you'll just understand where she's coming from. Anyway, I always appreciate the feedback so keep em coming.
shotswith MrsKim: Thanks for the review, short and concise. I appreciate it.
LoVe23: You totally get me! And you are right in pointing out that Rory needs to see LoganE with someone else, it would show how much he can offer. And now after reading this you know what happened between Addy and LH, although in the upcoming chapters LH's side will be told, that and more. As for the two Logans not liking each other, well it will become more heated...now, now I won't ruin it for you. It'll be up by next week. As for LH admiting that Logan is hot, well someone had to, might as well be him. I just had to add that, just for the heck of it. Thanks for the review as always. I'm so glad you like this story even if it's a non-LoVe and non-Trory, it makes your review even more special! Thanks again!
tylerhiltongrupie53: I thought about writing about the parties but made a choice of just alluding to it, which is what Veronica did in this chapter. But there will be more alluding in a couple of chapters, after all the bachelor party was not mentioned at all. I was trying to come up with something over the top, having the Thunder from down Under seemed appropriate for the ladies, after all those guys have their Vegas show. As for the guys, well I will expound on that when we get to FRIDAY. Sorry for not including the antics in this chapter. But I did write in Jess and Veronica specially for you, I could actually see them in my head playing out the conversation they had in this chapter. I hope you weren't to disappointed. Thanks for reviewing as always..