The entire town was packed inside of Miss Patty's small studio. Most of the town attended the town meetings but those never seemed to be this packed.
"Everyone please quiet down…" Miss Patty pleaded with the talkative crowd. "Lorelai just called, she and Rory are on their way here. Everyone get quiet and get ready for what we practiced."
"Miss Patty is this really necessary, when I left town no one welcomed me back." Kirk complained.
"Shutup Kirk, you went out of town for your honeymoon…what exactly did you expect us to do? Now go over there and be quiet until Rory gets here." She pointed to the corner.
Dean watched from his own corner as Kirk went to pout in his. He hadn't talked to Rory since he left her house earlier; he was getting more nervous by the minute about seeing her again. And he knew the moment was coming when he saw Miss Patty give the signal that they were now walking inside. Dean looked up to see a very happy Kyle waving to him. He laughed to himself already knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"Here they come everyone, get ready." Miss Patty whispered.
The door opened and everyone screamed. "Welcome home Rory."
"Wow, guys you really didn't have to do this." She said happily hugging Miss Patty and Taylor as she was greeted by all of the townspeople.
"We've missed you around here Rory; you really should come home more often." Taylor explained.
"I miss you guys too; I miss a lot of things about this town." Rory said as her eyes traveled around the room and stopped in one particular corner.
Everyone began to mingle once again and go in separate directions. "Mom what is the big deal, just because I came home for Christmas?"
"They love you here hon and we all miss you. I for one wouldn't mind you coming home more." Lorelai began to scan the crown. "Oh there's Luke, I need to make sure he doesn't hate me after this; I'll be over here if you need me."
Rory nodded and turned back to the corner she had noticed earlier. Surprised to find that Dean was no longer standing there she began to panic a little.
"Hey…" A familiar voice came from behind her.
She smiled and turned around already knowing who she would be facing. "Hey."
"I thought I heard you were back in town." Dean joked.
"Yeah I am, so what are you going to do about it?"
Dean laughed. "I uh…"
"I didn't actually expect you to answer that." She said smiling at how nervous he suddenly became.
"We need to talk about what happened earlier."
"Yeah I guess we do. You want to go sit?" She asked pointing back to the corner he was in earlier.
"Yeah sure, let's sit." Dean looked around the room before following noticing already that they were being watched by certain people.
They both sat down across from each other at the table. For a moment they had a staring contest but it was quickly won by Rory when Dean began to laugh again.
"So you wanted to talk…" She said trying to make it serious again.
"Yeah, I did. But wow, déjà vu, we have this conversation a lot in Miss Patty's studio."
"Well technically the conversation didn't go much farther then this before." She said grinning.
"That's why we really need to talk this time. We can't just jump into something like we used to. I don't know about you but it takes me years to recover."
"Honestly Dean, there isn't really anything to jump into here. My life is in New York now, that is at least when I'm not traveling somewhere else." Dean was suddenly awakened by the sudden change of attitude.
"Then what exactly was that that happened earlier?" Dean asked suddenly. "I mean if Luke wouldn't have walked in on us, we were well on our way…"
"I know Dean, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have led you on like that; it's just been so long since I've had someone. I guess I thought maybe we could just have a really nice holiday together."
"So you wanted this to just be a casual thing?"
"Yeah I guess, I mean not really. I just wanted to be with you, I may not be able to be with you all the time, like a couple is normally but I just wish I didn't have to lose you completely."
"So then this was just about sex to you?"
"No Dean, it was about being with someone that I still cared for and that still cared for me even though it wasn't going to be able to be the same. When I told you that I missed you, I really meant it. But I can't sit here and lie to you about being here when I can't. It's really not just about sex, if that's all I wanted, I'm sure it could have been done." Rory explained looking down at her hands. "I completely understand if you want things to stop. If you feel uncomfortable with the situation I promise I won't say or do anything else to you except on a friendship level."
Dean stared at her for a moment before responding. "If we're going to do this…I don't think anyone else should know."
Rory looked up from her hands to look him in the eyes. Realizing that he was being serious now a smile spread across her face.