New Beginnings

Act 7 ch 3

That summer was surprisingly drama-less.

Rory and Logan were doing long distance, which wasn't easy for them but that didn't affect Victoria. Lorelai and Christopher had gone out on quite a few dates, Lorelai of course assuring everyone it was just casual.

Jamie getting closer to crawling, still failing but it's progress. Lane still in denial about being pregnant, even though the morning sickness is hard to ignore. Paris and Doyle were Paris and Doyle, just like Colin and Finn were Colin and Finn.

And Victoria and Tristan, well...Victoria and Tristan have been pretty...close.

Almost smut but not really

Tristan falls backwards onto the couch with Victoria on top of him, his hands gripping tightly on her hips with their lips already connected. As his hands slip down further she lets out a moan against his lips before pushing up on his chest to sit back and unbuckle his pants.

Tristan smirks using his elbows to slighting sit up as Victoria pulls his pants and underwear down. "Oh, fuck" his head falls back as Victoria takes him into her hand. Victoria leans forward to kiss him again, starting to move her hand up and down.

"Look wh-oh wow" Honor walks in with the baby in her arms only to instantly turn around and cover his eyes.

Another thing to happen over the summer, it's gotten a lot easier for Victoria to trust other people with her baby. "I'm sorry" Victoria runs over to the kitchen to wash her hands while Tristan covers himself back up.

"No, no it's good. I uh, I should've knocked" Honor laughs awkwardly. "No, we left the door unlocked cause we knew you'd be coming. This was on us" Victoria walks over to grab Jamie after her hands are clean. "So..." Honor stands awkwardly.

"So, how'd it go?" Tristan asks still on the couch.

"Good. Jamie loves his auntie, doesn't he?" Honor talks in a baby voice grabbing the baby's hand. "Cousin" Tristan corrects her.

"Technicalities" Honor brushes him off. "So the experiment went well?" Victoria asks her. "We both made it out alive" Honor replies.

"Does that mean there are babies in your future?" Victoria asks.

"I don't know. I mean Jamie's great, but having my own fully rely on me all the time?" Honor starts pacing around the room. "That's a lot of responsibility, scary responsibility" she says.

"Yeah, but it's worth it" Victoria smiles down at her baby before kissing him on the cheek.

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"Well, naturally I thought they were referring to the Archduke. So I jumped in, as who wouldn't?" Richard says at Friday night dinner to Victoria, Lorelai, Christopher, and Emily.

"With some thoughts about various conspiracy theories surrounding his infamous assassination in Sarajevo. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Franz Ferdinand was the name of a very popular rock and roll band" he laughs. "That's what he gets for trying to fraternize after class with his students" Emily says.

"One of them even offered to burn a CD for me" Richard adds. "So tell me. How are the salads?" Emily asks. "Good, Grandma. I like the pear" Victoria tells her.

"Do you?" Emily asks.

"Hmm" Victoria hums. "I'm so glad" Emily smiles.

"Tastes very fresh" Victoria says. "Well, pears this time of year can dress up any salad" Emily replies. "Oh, Richard did you tell them about midterms? Lorelai, did your father mention midterms?" she asks.

"No, he didn't. How were midterms, dad?" Lorelai asks her father.

"Well, as you know, midterms separate the wheat from the chaff, although I don't actually have to grade any of their papers or tests. They have these marvelous teaching assistants that handle all that sort of things for you" he answers. "Thank you, Hildegard" Emily says as the maid takes her plate.

"Christopher, I hope you like lamb. When I found it you were coming I decided we had to serve something special, and to me special means lamb" Emily tells him. "Oh, it just makes me so happy to see the two of you sitting here together. It's such fun" she says completely unaware of Lorelai and Chris being in a fight "It's very nice to be here" he nods.

"Tennis" Emily blurts out of nowhere.

"Emily?" Richard asks confused. "That's one of the things we can do together now that we all have partners. Us versus Lorelai and Christopher, Rory and Logan versus Victoria and Tristan" Emily explains her thinking.

"Ah, here's the lamb. You do like lamb, Christopher?" she asks as the Hildegard brings out the lamb. "I'm afraid I never let you answer" Emily says. "I do. The funny thing is, I never did when I was a kid but I do now" Chris replies.

"I guess I've changed. People do that sometimes" he says causing Lorelai to quietly scoff

"That is so true. What a clever observation" Emily says. "It's like you and radishes" she tells her husband.

"Exactly" Richard agrees. "Your grandfather used to hate radishes, thought they were disgusting" Emily turns to her granddaughter. "Well, they are roots. It's a little unappealing" Richard defends himself.

"And then one summer in Aspen, he fell off a horse and suddenly he loved radishes. That whole summer, he was radish crazy" Emily continues.

"It's true. I do like radishes to this day" Richard confirms. "That's funny" Lorelai says unamused.

"Isn't it?" Emily says. "Yes, I don't like radishes. I guess, it's because I find hem threatening" Lorelai makes a sly comments only Christopher understands. Victoria of course can pick up on the fact that something's going on between her parents, but she has no idea what the fight's about.

"What a peculiar thing to say" Emily says confused.

"Well, radishes are a peculiar topic" Victoria says trying to stop her parents from taking any shots at each other. "Alright, since this is a special occasion of sorts I should like to propose a roars To many more nights like this, and to Lorelai and Christopher" Richard changes the topic.

"Who knew twenty some odd years ago that we would be making dates to play doubles tennis?" he continues. "And bridge. You absolutely have to join us for bridge" Emily tells them. "You two have come a long way since your days of rebellious youth, shall we say?" Richard gets back to his toast.

"Derelicts. The word is derelicts" Emily says.

"Emily! To Lorelai and Christopher" Richard finishes. "They were derelicts. It's true" Emily insists causing Victoria to laugh.

"Remember when they stole that bottle of wine you'd been saving for fifteen years?" Emily reminds her husband. "Well, ten years. It was a '75 Margot" he corrects her. "And of course, they had no idea how to use a corkscrew so they just cracked the top off with a brick and slurped what they could off the patio" Emily adds.

"And look at them now. All grown up and drinking very nicely out of glasses" Richard says.

Victoria smiles always having loved hearing old stories about when her parents were young. Sure she was upset about how things ended between her mom and Luke, but her parents were together, everyone was getting along with both of her grandparents, she had a beautiful baby, and things with her and Tristan are finally back on track.

This was gonna be a good year.

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Only two scenes this chapter but it's really just a recap to let everyone know where we are now after the time jump