She sat at her desk, pencil in her mouth, staring at the screen in front of her, willing the article she was working on to take form. The sound of a throat being cleared made her look up from her monitor.

She looked up to find her boyfriend standing over her with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Dean, what are you doing here?" she asked after she removed the pencil from her mouth.

"Well, it's 7:00 at night and I haven't been able to get a hold of you. I tried your mom but she had no idea where you were, so I thought I'd check your office at the paper," he said trying to keep the irritation from his voice.

"I'm sorry," she started as she reached over on her desk and retrieved her cell phone. She looked down at the screen to see 15 missed calls; he really had been trying to get a hold of her for a while. "It's on silent."

"It's two feet away from you Rory, how could you not hear the vibrations?" Dean asked incredulously.

"I turned the vibration off, it was too loud and distracting in interviews," she explained.

"So how much longer do you have here? Can we go out to dinner?"

She looked across the piles of paper strewn around her desk, and at the partially completed article in front of her and tried to calculate how long it would take to finish. "I think I can get a first draft of this article finished in 30 minutes, then we can have dinner."

"Okay."

She bent her head and went back to focusing on her work, but a moment later she could tell Dean was still standing over her, watching. "I can't work with you staring at me," she told him.

"Where am I supposed to go?"

She thought about it for a moment, "there's a couch in the break room down the hall, go there. There's magazines and such on the coffee table."

"Alright. Which way?" he asked to confirm.

She stood up and pointed down the hall, "first door on the left." She watched as he loped down the hall, and tried to quickly refocus her brain on her work.

Twenty-nine minutes, and thirty seconds later, she heard heavy footsteps heading her way.

"Are you ready to go?" Dean asked.

"Yep… I'm…" she paused in her speaking to type a sentence.

"Rory!"

"…done." She saved the file she was working on, and emailed it to herself so she could edit it from home. "Let's go."

She shut off her computer, grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

They exited the building on to a busy street in Hartford, and she enjoyed the warmth of the late evening summer heat. "So where do you want to go for dinner?" she asked.

"I don't care, what ever you want is fine," he answered.

"There's a great Thai place at the end of the block," she suggested. She looked up at him to find him making a face, pinched with discomfort. "Okay, then how about Indian food?" He furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Okay then Dean why don't you tell me where YOU want to go," she said getting annoyed.

"Anywhere is fine," he reiterated.

"Obviously anywhere is NOT fine. Everywhere I've suggested has been met with a look of disgust."

"Rory, I…"

"You know what, why don't you just tell me what kind of food you want, and I'll suggest a place based on that," she said trying to calm her temper.

"Okay, that's a good idea. I'm really craving a burger," he confessed.

"No good. No place compares to Luke's and we really don't want to drive 30 minutes for dinner. Next?"

"Wanna share a pizza?" he asked.

She thought about it for a moment, knowing she wasn't likely to get a better compromise out of him. "Yeah that's good. Geno's on the next block is really good."

"Well lead the way."

He opened the door of Geno's Pizza for her, and she stepped into the crowded restaurant.

"Hey Rory!" one of the guys behind the bar called. "How are you?"

"I'm good Sam," she called back with a smile.

"Table for two tonight, or are you going to eat at the bar?"

"Table would be good," she told him.

"Take a seat anywhere and I'll send Maria over in a second to take your order. I'll put the breadsticks on now." He grinned at her.

"Thanks Sam!"

"Do you come here often?" Dean asked curiously as she lead them to a table in the corner.

"A couple times a week for lunch," she said with a shrug.

"Well Sam certainly seems to know you."

"He's a bartender slash waiter. It's his job to remember customers, it helps him earn bigger tips," she said annoyed at his implication.

"Well you must be a big tipper because he even knew what you wanted to start with," Dean said jealously.

"I don't tip Sam with money, I just give him low grade sexual favors in return for good service," she spat sarcastically.

"Rory!" Dean exclaimed.

"What? That's what you're treating this like! I come here a couple times a week for lunch, Sam always has the lunch shift. We always start with breadsticks, and I usually have to order more because I eat most of them myself. There's nothing sinister going on!" she told him exasperatedly. "Honestly I'm not sure what more you want from me. I've never cheated on you. Do you want a contract signed in blood saying that I never will?"

"No," he said quietly. "I just feel like I never see you. And it bothers me that other random people know more about your life than I do."

"We live together Dean, you've seen me more in the month since graduation than you did during my entire senior year at Yale."

"I know. But it just feels like you're never home."

"Well the feeling is mutual buster," she said with a smile. "I can't remember the last time I woke up in the morning and you were still in bed next to me."

"You know that we start early to beat the heat," he said immediately defensive.

"I know that. I'm just saying that you're not the only one that feels like they don't get to see their significant other."

"I guess."

"Hey Rory, do you guys want a couple of beers?" Maria asked as she stopped by the table with the menus.

"Sure, let's just get a pitcher of whatever's light on tap. Is that okay with you?" she asked Dean.

"Sounds fine."

"Do you know what you want already or do you need time to decide?" Maria asked after jotting down their beer order.

Rory looked at Dean and he merely shrugged. "We're going to need a minute."

"No problem." Maria smiled as she walked away.

"So, what kind of pizza do you want?" Rory asked, suddenly feeling like they were teenagers on their first date again.

"What ever you want is fine," Dean told her amiably.

"Seriously? You have no opinion on the pizza? Fine then I think we should get the Carnivore, it has every kind of meat you can imagine," she suggested, knowing he would not like a pizza that was covered in 5 kinds of meat.

"If that's what you want…"

"Okay, what's going on here? You hate overly meaty pizza."

"I just want you to be happy."

"Well just letting me have my way on things like this isn't the way to achieve that."

"Oh. Well then how about just Hawaiian?" he said after a moment, finally making a decision of some sort.

"Half Hawaiian half Carnivore?" she asked hopefully. The mere mention of the meaty deliciousness made her mouth water.

"I think that's a good compromise," he said with smile.

They were both silent for a minute until Maria came by to drop off the beer and the breadsticks. "Did you two decided what you wanted?" she asked as she set down the beer.

"Yep, half Carnivore, half Hawaiian. Tell Max the Carnivore is for me," Rory instructed.

"Will do."

"You know the chef too?" Dean asked.

"Yep. He'll make my carnivore extra meaty." She grinned excitedly.

"You are so having a heart attack before you're 30."

She shook her head dismissively. "Not a chance, my Gilmore constitution will hold out at least into my 40s. Look at my mom… she's 38 and hasn't had a problem yet."

"Right," Dean said sarcastically. "I wouldn't take the 'my mom is fine so I will be too' defense to the bank there."

Rory shot him a dirty look and set about eating her breadsticks and drinking beer, sitting in a relatively comfortable silence until the food arrived.

"Here ya go guys!" Maria said as she set down the pie. "Rory, Max added extra bacon and extra pepperoni for you."

"Perfect!" she exclaimed as she slid the first slice from the pan to her plate.

After the first slice was consumed Dean cleared his throat causing Rory to look up at him. "So, what are your plans after dinner?"

"Well, I've got to back to my office and grab my laptop, then I thought I'd head home. You?"

"You have to go back to work?"

"It's only to pick up something, it'll take 5 minutes, 10 tops," she said defensively.

"I was hoping we could watch a movie when you got home."

"We can! An extra few minutes isn't going to hurt anything."

"Maybe not for you, but I have to get up at 4:00 am to go to work," he said harshly.

She sighed deeply before responding to him. "Maybe we could just watch a couple episodes of Family Guy or something?"

"Whatever."

"Do you want to get the rest of this to go and head home now?" she asked.

"No," he said sullenly.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed another slice of pizza. "Do you want me to refill your beer?"

"No I'm good."

"Great," she replied shortly, plastering a fake smile on her face.

After spending the rest of dinner in silence Dean walked Rory back to her office.

"Are you coming home?" he asked quickly.

"Of course I'm coming home, when have I not come home?"

"I don't know."

"Look, go on home. I'm going to grab my laptop and add one little line to my article, then I'll be home."

"Okay," he said hesitantly. "I'll see you there."

She waved as he walked away, but he didn't wave back. When he turned the corner she keyed herself into her office, and went to retrieve her laptop.

She sat down harshly at her desk and put her head in her hands, silently wondering about What Might Have Been: how they got here instead of anywhere else, and if they'd ever get back to where they were once upon a time when they were happy.

AN: I know it's a little harsh, but I really didn't like Dean the second time around.

Let me know what you think!

I don't own the song or the show. I completely made up Geno's and the Carnivore is an actual pizza, but at another restaurant.

Next up is Marty! (which will be much lighter)

S