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Paris finished rubbing the cream in under her eyes and peered closely at herself in the mirror. An unfortunate reality of her industry was that she had to look young and vibrant until she could pull off more of a matriarchal look. She thought sometimes about what she would do with all the time she would save, but it would be a while yet.
Opening her robe, she gave her nude form an appraising once-over in the mirror…maybe there was something to be said for vibrancy, after all.
She closed her robe again, tying the sash with a practiced motion. Turning, she emerged from the bathroom to a sight which, despite having been the norm for months now, still made her heart skip a beat.
It had started as an arrangement of convenience. Rory was pregnant with nowhere to go, really. Now that Luke and Lorelai were married, they were talking about having another kid, and she didn’t want to get in their way. Logan was finally marrying the minor noble his family had set him up with, Emily was established in her new life on the cape, and Christopher…well, she’d rather not.
But Paris had the space and, as a bonus, the know-how for how to take care of the new life growing within Rory. So she had gathered her various boxes from their sundry hiding places and, for the first time in almost a decade, the two were living together again.
They had both been surprised by how quickly the bond between them had deepened. Brought back together again it was as though they discovered a connection of care and compassion…that had maybe been there all along.
Which brought her back to the present. Rory was snug in bed waiting for her, the swollen curve of her pregnant belly supporting a treatise on Scandinavian politics, which she read through a pair of half-moon reading glasses-a recent affectation that she was still self-conscious about. Paris was suddenly struck by a memory of the distant past, which made her chuckle despite herself.
Rory looked up sheepishly at the sound, a blush tingeing her cheeks
"It's the glasses, isn't it? I knew they were too old for me. They make me look like a grandma, don't they?
“No Rory, I love your glasses. They make you look distinguished…and you know I have a thing for older intellectuals.” she cocked an eyebrow significantly.
Rory pouted in response. "Well then what has you so tickled?"
"I was just remembering a conversation I had with Lorelei"
Rory's eyes widened with interest. Carefully marking her place with a bookmark, she put her reading on the nightstand and, with some effort, rolled into her side to give her paramour her full attention.
"It was during your sabbatical-"
"Thanks for calling it that"
"No problem-when I was meeting with her regularly at the Inn”
“Ah yes, I’ve heard Michel and Sookie speak of those dark days. They’re still haunted, you know”
“Then they should have provided better service. Anyway, I was asking her about appropriate sleepwear after you sleep with someone, you know? Obviously you wouldn’t get dressed again, but negligees and camisoles are finicky and potentially dangerous, and staying nude seemed excessive…what?”
Rory stared at her with her jaw open
“You’re telling me you went to my mother-behind my back, mind you-and asked her opinion on your post-coital attire? You asked her, in public-no, not just in public, at her place of business-if you should sleep in the nude?”
Paris threw up her hands “What can I tell you, Rory? I was a young, desperate woman, unversed in the ways of love. And there was someone who I thought was going to be there for me as we lived and learned together, but all of a sudden she left me out in the cold.”
Finding herself on the defensive, Rory unfortunately fell back on her mother’s methods-poorly timed jokes of questionable taste.
“Well how do I know you weren’t feeling her out? Arranging clandestine meetings and taboo discussions with my mother to get her into bed? I bet I’m just a runner up Lorelai to you”
Paris scoffed. “As if I'd ever settle for second best.” Her expression softened. "You could have come to me, though back then...I'd have told you where Mitchum could shove his evaluation. Frankly, as your rival, my evaluation of you is the only one you should really respect. And then...who knows, maybe we would have figured this-" she gestured vaguely between the two of them "out sooner."
A silence hung heavily between them. Taking a deep breath, Rory attempted a save.
“So what did you decide, in the end?”
Paris, who had long since learned to recognize a setup, smiled wickedly.
“Well at the time I figured, I’m 21, my ass looks as good as it ever will, I might as well go nude. And as for now…well what do you think?”
At this she untied her robe, letting it fall to the ground. Rory took in her lithe frame as eagerly as though it were her first time. Putting her glasses on again, she affected a creaky voice:
“Well now, young lady, these old eyes aren’t what they used to be…you’ll have to come closer if you want me to get a good look”
Paris slid easily under the sheets until she was nose to nose with her partner. She took a moment to appreciate Rory’s clear, cornflower-blue eyes, always so beautiful and thoughtful, even more so magnified through the reading lenses. Wrapping her arms around Rory’s neck, she touched their foreheads together
“Is this close enough?” she purred “I might be able to arrange for a closer-wah!”
She was cut off as a probing hand found its way between her thighs
“Why Ms. Gilmore, if I didn’t know better I might think you had ulterior motives”
Rory batted her eyelashes demurely, the picture of innocence
“Ms. Geller, I’m sure I have no idea what you mean!” she responded, as a carefully calculated twitch of her fingers gave lie to her claim and made Paris bite her lip.