Finding Rory

Chapter 1: Reconnecting

Rory Gilmore grumbled to herself as she drove from Stars Hollow to Hartford.  She'd never even really bonded with anyone from Chilton, save for Paris during their college years, but for some crazy reason she was driving to her high school alma mater for her 15 year reunion.  She really was not in the mood for this.  She didn't want to hang out with her old high school classmates even on her best day, and her life today certainly couldn't be classified as anywhere near her best day.  She was temporarily back in Stars Hollow, although still denying that she was home, her job prospects were grim, and her love life was...complicated, at best.  Since she'd run into Logan Huntzberger in Hamburg a year and a half ago they'd had this Vegas thing going.  She didn't know what the hell possessed her to suggest that arrangement; she suspected that a large part of it was her feeling so unsuccessful and lost in the world and needing something to anchor herself, but Logan couldn't be that person.  Still, she clung to what they had a decade ago for dear life, afraid of what her life would be without him.

The last thing that she wanted to do was to put on her fake society smile and schmooze with people who she didn't like, but Emily Gilmore had made it quite clear that she was expected to go, and Rory still had trouble going toe-to-toe with her grandmother.  Unfortunately, not even Paris would be able to help her get through tonight.  Paris was in Chicago presenting at a medical symposium on infertility treatments and surrogacy.  The closer she got to Chilton, the more nervous she got.  She finally threw in her Hep Alien CD and turned the music up, singing along to take her mind off of the evening ahead of her.

When she finally pulled into the Chilton parking lot she took a look around at the building she hadn't seen in so long.  It didn't look as intimidating as it had all of those years ago, but she knew that the people inside it could still be just as bad.  If she was going to survive this night without screaming, she needed to pull herself together.  Regardless of how she felt, she had to appear to be every bit the successful woman that she wanted them to believe she was tonight, otherwise the Francies of Chilton Prep Academy would eat her alive.  She stole a quick look in the rearview mirror, touching up her lipstick and checking her hair, before stepping out of her car.  Despite how she felt, she knew she looked like she belonged here.  Years of Friday night dinners and events that Emily Gilmore roped her into had prepared her for this.  She steeled herself once more and walked through the doors into her high school reunion.

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Tristan Dugrey sighed and ran his hand through his blonde hair nervously as he pulled up in front of Chilton.  True, he had once ruled these halls, but that didn't make him any less anxious over tonight.  He wasn't that boy who had wreaked havoc and made out with girls up against the lockers anymore.  He was a grown man, and a success at that.  He hadn't gone into the family business, unable to shackle himself to his father every day for the entirety of his career, but he'd made his own way, and as a result, he finally also had repaired his relationships with his parents.

He had graduated from Stanford at the top of his class and then gone to Harvard Law, where he met Colin McCrae.  Colin had attended law school there as well, and they formed a fast friendship, aided by their link through Tristan's cousin and Colin's best friend, Logan Huntzberger.  He was now a Senior Partner at McCrae & Associates.  Colin's father had passed away shortly after he and Colin had joined the firm, and the two friends now ran one of the most successful law firms on the East Coast together.  They were currently working to merge with another prominent law firm in order to secure their place at the post prestigious firm in the area.

Tristan was grateful that he had changed since his high school days of drinking, pranks, and womanizing, and he didn't want to walk through those doors and be expected to still be that person.  He hadn't kept in contact with anyone from Chilton, and he thought that was a good thing.  There had really only ever been one person in Chilton that he would have cared about enough to keep in touch with, but he hadn't ever actually made contact with her again after he'd told her he was leaving before Romeo and Juliet.  If he could have one do-over in his life, it would be his relationship, or lack thereof, with Rory Gilmore.  It was probably ridiculous that even fifteen years later he was still hung up on her, but that was his reality.  He just hoped he didn't walk in the room tonight to find her happily married.  Not that he didn't want her to be happy, because he desperately did.  He just didn't want to see someone else making her happy.  It would be far too reminiscent to seeing her with Bag Boy all those years ago.