A/N: Sorry this last part took so long. I procrastinated; then when I had it finished, it got lost in my computer, so I had to rewrite it. Anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing these variations on the affair. This one doesn't change anything, except Stars Hollow. Like the adulterers, it was acting out of character. So this is just a scene they must have skipped to protect the angle-child.

Take Four: Deleted Scene

"I don't know what the big deal is," Babette said. "You'd think people around here were starved for gossip." She and her friend had prime seating at Luke's, right in the middle of the diner, where they could see all the comings and goings. "It's that East Side Tilly—can't leave well enough alone. She's always stirring up trouble where there isn't any."

Miss Patty agreed. "And it's Rory. She would never hurt anyone. Sometimes a girl gets caught up in the passion of the moment." Patty smiled into the distance, remembering when she herself had been in such a situation.

Babette said, "It's not like anyone in town expected Dean to stay married to what's-her-name forever."

"Lindsay," Miss Patty said. "Now I can't say for sure, since I wasn't at their wedding, but I never saw him look at Lindsay the way he looked at Rory. Even after he got married, I caught him gazing at her." She added, "Don't get me wrong, Lindsay is a perfectly lovely girl, but she's no Rory."

"How could anyone be? No one comes close," Babette said. "And I know one thing's for sure, Dean never built Lindsay a car."

Patty pointed a finger in agreement.

"It's a shame Jess had to go and wreck it. Punk."

Patty took another long sip of her coffee and watched Luke across the diner as he took the orders of a couple at a window table. She couldn't fault the young girl from getting distracted by Luke's nephew for a while, what with that leather jacket and dark edgy demeanor. It wasn't as though Patty had been able to resist a Jess or two in her day.

"Everyone knows Rory and Dean were perfect for each other," Babette said. "The two of them were always so adorable together back in high school."

Patty took a sip of coffee from her bowl-like cup. "I found them sleeping together years ago in my studio—my whole class saw them. You should have seen the way he ran after her down the snow covered sidewalk. It was so picturesque."

"I did," Babette said from across the table. "Morey and I were getting ready to go on a walk when Rory came running up the yard. She looked so pretty in her blue dress and bare feet—just like a princess."

Patty nodded and leaned forward a little. "It was a fairy tale, and I was Rory's fairy godmother. She just stayed with her prince after the magic wore off. The only thing she was missing was the pumpkin."

Patty furtively glanced around the diner at the other patrons, daring them to say a bad word about Rory. They didn't understand the young couple the way she did. With a first love like Dean, no one could really blame Rory for relapsing when she got the chance.

"Boy, did Rory and Lorelai have a row when she got inside," Babette recalled. "Lorelai's mom left the house in a tizzy and we could hear the girls arguing." She went on, "I understand Lorelai was worried. We all remember the day she came here—17 and with a baby. But this was Rory. She'd never make the same mistake."

"Of course she wouldn't." She quickly added, "Not that anyone would ever call Rory a mistake."

"No, no, never. But it wouldn't be ideal for her," Babette said. "She's going places. She would never do something to compromise that. She's way too smart."

Patty sat her coffee on the table, as it had gone cold. "Remember last spring when Taylor ran out of artichokes? Tilly had to go to Woodbridge to buy some and saw Rory in the checkout line," she said.

Babette shook her head. "The poor thing. It's not like anyone here would have judged her for buying condoms. We all expect Rory to be careful. It's a good thing she was prepared."

Outside, Patty saw Dean stalk up the sidewalk, green apron in hand. When he got to the door of the market, he practically had to duck down to fit. "Hmm."

"What?" Babette asked, munching on cherry Danish.

Miss Patty turned back. "I was just thinking. Rory wasn't with Dean last spring. She was with Jess. So those condoms she got in Woodbridge would have been for Jess."

"Yeah, so?"

"So if she still had some lying around, those would never work for Dean," she said pointedly. "Dean towers over everyone."

"That's true. And Jess is just a little guy." Babette added, "But smaller size isn't always bad—if he knows how to use it."

Patty agreed, "My first husband, Sinjin was bigger than my second husband. But boy did he know how to work with what he had."

"Oh, here's Luke now," Babette said as the man came over with a pot of coffee to top them off. "Hey Luke, did you ever see Jess's privates?"

Some coffee splattered onto the table. "What?"

"When he was living with you, did you ever accidently walk in on him in the bathroom and get a peek?"

Patty cooed, "We're only wondering for comparative purposes. Dean is huge, but we're trying to not to assume anything about Jess, to be fair."

Luke's face had reddened. He muttered and stalked off to the safety of the kitchen.

"He's so shy."

"Look," Patty said brightly, pointing to the window. "There's Lorelai and Rory now." The two women outside were walking to the diner's entrance. The mother was on the street side, keeping her daughter protected from the world.

Patty snapped her fingers. "We forgot about Lorelai."

"What about her?"

"She was dating a guy this year. She probably had something around Rory could have used if the ones for Jess didn't work."

Babette thought about it but shook her head. "He only picked her up and dropped her off. He never stayed at her house overnight."

The bell dinged as the girls walked through the door.

"We can just ask her," Babette said enthusiastically. "Hey sugar, come over here!"

Fin