A/N: Chapter title taken from the Fame on Fire song of the same name.

The face-claim to Blake Torres is Bryan, the Fame on Fire singer. 

Could I have found a better photo of him? Yes, but I don't care.

❝𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔,
𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑,
𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔,
𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞.
𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔,
𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑,
𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔,
𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞.
𝙸𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍,
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞,
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐,
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚘,
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞,
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜.
𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎,
𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜.❞
𝚆𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚆𝚘𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜 – 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 & 𝙰𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜

Lorelai, Rory, and Anthony ended up going back to the Dragonfly together. They passed by the bakery where Dean was mopping the floor while Dave and Craig were pointing out spots that he was apparently missing.

"Should do what the officer did to me in jail when I was forced to mop. Kick the bucket over and make him do it over again like eight times," Anthony said. "That tested my patience."

They walked in the inn and—

"Oh jeez," Anthony said, spotting Kirk on the sofa, covered in a blanket with his butt in the air.

"What?" asked Lorelai and then saw what Anthony saw. "Oh, no."

"It's okay," Luke replied.

Rory saw Kirk, "What happened to him?"

"He landed ass first right in Taylor's rose bushes after I tackled him," Jessie said.

"Oh, poor thing!" replied Lorelai.

"Thanks," Jessie replied.

Lorelai didn't have the heart to tell Jessie that she meant Kirk.

"It didn't slow him down, though," Luke replied. "I managed to tackle him as headed toward the miniature goat pen, dragged him back here, threw one of your blankets over, and well, there he is." He gestured to Kirk, "He's gonna be fine."

"Well, that's good," Lorelai replied.

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "So, you three were gone for a while."

"Yeah, that was Dean's fault," Anthony replied.

"He kissed me without permission," Rory clarified.

Luke looked shocked, "He did what?"

Rory explained, "Dean came out of some alley when we were near the bakery and said some crap about how I belong with him and that he actually cares about me unlike Anthony, and that I just needed reminding that I'm in love with him not Anthony, so he kissed me."

Jessie snarled, "That little piece of shit."

"He's not little, he's tall," Anthony said. "He's a tall piece of shit."

Luke headed for the door of the inn.

"Where are you going?" asked Lorelai.

"I'm going to have a little conversation with Dean," Luke replied. "I told him not to chase after Rory, but he did anyway."

"We need to take Kirk upstairs," Lorelai told Luke, which thankfully stopped him in his tracks.
Kirk was still face down in the couch, "Lulu can't see me like this."

"If she really loved you, she wouldn't care what state you're in," Jessie told Kirk.

Hysterically, Kirk yelled, "Lulu can't see me like this!"

"Okay, she won't. I promise," Lorelai said. "Can I take a look?"

"Okay," replied Kirk.

Lorelai spoke to the others, "I don't want to take a look."

"Well, I'm not looking," Luke said.

"Neither am I," Rory said.

"I'd rather not," Jessie added.

Anthony looked at them, "You're all a bunch of wimps. It's just an ass. Everyone has one," He went over to the couch and lifted the blanket and peered at Kirk's butt, before lowering the blanket and patted Kirk on the shoulder. "Yeah, you're not sitting for a while. And you should really get those thorns out before they get infected."

"Hey!" greeted Sookie. "It's a party." She came over to them, "What's everybody doing up?"

"What are you doing up?" asked Rory.

"I was just going to check on my loaves and make sure they're rising properly," explained Sookie. "The air's a little more humid than I thought it was going to be, and if the loaves aren't rising properly, then – what are you doing?" Luke and Lorelai pulled Sookie to the sofa.

"We need you to pull thorns out of Kirk's butt," Lorelai said.

"Why?" asked Sookie.

"Because he fell ass first into a rose bush," Jessie replied.

"Me?" asked Sookie. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Well, because...you're a chef," Lorelai replied.

"What?" asked Sookie.

"And you have a kid," Luke added.

"Yes, that's better," Lorelai continued. "You have a kid."

"Luke has a kid too," Rory pointed out.

"Well, Billie's a bit bigger," Luke clarified.

Anthony looked baffled, "It's just an ass, people. Who gives a shit?"

Jessie patted Anthony on the shoulder, "I think you're just way to desensitized from showering with other men for two years."

"Yeah, I guess," Anthony replied. "Saw a bunch of men try to drown another guy in scalding hot water in the shower." He paused, "We were fully clothed that time."

Sookie lifted the blanket and looked, "Oh, oh!" She tossed the blanket down. "I'm gonna need Bactine, antiseptic, and lots of hot towels."

"I'll go," Lorelai said.

"I'll get the hot towels," Rory told Lorelai and they both took off.

Kirk groaned.
Sookie asked, "Hey, Kirk? How are you feeling?"

"Is Luke here?" asked Kirk.

"I'm right here, Kirk," Luke replied.

"Sorry I bit you," Kirk said.

Sookie and Anthony looked at each other confused and then looked at Luke.

"It's okay, Kirk," Luke told him.

"And I'm sorry I stepped on Jessie's foot, but they were after me, so I ran away," Kirk replied.

Sookie said, "Who was after you, honey?"

"The cops?" asked Anthony.
"Assassins," Luke said. "He thinks assassins are after him."

"They were under my bed in my room," Kirk explained. "So I ran and they followed me down the hall, down the stairs, through the yard, over that fence."

"Well, the assassins are gone now, Kirk," Sookie replied.

"I imagined them?" asked Kirk.

"I think you dreamt them," Anthony replied. "My sister sometimes sleepwalks. Once when we were teenagers, Zoe took a cup, filled it with hot water, walked into my room, asked me what I was doing, and I said I'm struggling with my math homework, then she laughed, said 'it's about to get worse for you' and dumped all that water on me."

Luke asked, "Are you sure she was sleepwalking?"

"She has a history of sleepwalking," Anthony replied.

Lorelai and Rory returned with hot towels, antiseptic, and Bactine.

"Thanks, you guys can go to bed, I got this," Sookie said.

Luke, Jessie, Lorelai, and Rory headed for the stairs, but Rory stopped and looked at Anthony as the other three headed on up.

"Are you coming with?" asked Rory.

"I think I'll stay down here and help Sookie with Kirk's butt thorns," Anthony said.

"Oh, you can go, I got this," Sookie told Anthony.

"It'll go faster if someone helps you," Anthony told her.

Sookie had to agree with that.

At breakfast the next morning, Lane rushed in and pretty much sat right on Thea's lap so Lane can speak to Rory, "Dave told me what happened with Dean, last night. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Rory replied. "I'm just worried that Aiden and the others are going to get arrested for hitting Dean."

"I doubt that Dean would get them arrested," Sage said. "He would've called the police after he got home."

"That and there's three ex-cons and a liar in that building. They're not going to talk," Anthony pointed out. "They know to lawyer up immediately. Chances are he's probably plotting how to get me arrested again because I didn't react the way he wanted me to last night, since planting drugs on me to get me arrested and forcefully kissing my girlfriend didn't make me hit him, so he can get me arrested."

"Man is desperate," Jess noted.

"I'm just worried that he might turn into another Daniel," Anthony replied.

Paris said, "I'm going to regret this, but who the hell is Daniel?"

"My mom's ex-boyfriend from when me and my siblings were little kids," Anthony explained. "My parents had us three, and my mom decided to branch out and started dating a man named Daniel for like three years and he used to take her to a shooting range. She got tired of him being obsessive and overly jealous. He hated it when she stepped outside in the front yard because that meant that men would stare at her and he says that she should be grateful that he allows her to go to the store. She decided to dump him, and we moved back in with our dad. Two years later, they got married and Daniel found out and lost it. He broke into the house while my siblings and I were at school. He broke my mom's orbital eye socket, and she shot him twice. It was ruled self-defense, and since me and my siblings were in his will and we beneficiaries for his life insurance policy got that money. My mom, however, ended up with the shooting range that he owned, which was where he showed her how to shoot guns."

Lane started helping herself to Georgia's cranberry square. She looked at Kirk, who was standing at the table with Lulu.

"Is Kirk okay?" Lane asked, "Why is he standing?"

"He landed ass-first in a rose bush," Anthony said.

Lane made a pained face, "How?" She paused, "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"You really don't," Anthony replied. "Especially after."

"Hey, look who came to visit," Jackson said, walking in and holding Cory, who had messy hair, and was slobbering over a spoon.

"Oh, my god, the baby's here!" exclaimed Babette, and placed her hands to her heart. She and Miss Patty were still wearing their bathrobes.

Sookie, however, went over to Cory, "Hey, Short Stack. How's it hanging?"

"He just came to say hi to everybody and to see the place on which his entire college education depends. What do you think? Is it gonna be Ivy League like his big brother, or is gonna be Murray's House of Learning?"

"If we're going by the donut demand, I think he's in pretty good shape," Sookie replied.

"Okay, Ivy League like his older brother it is," Jack said. "I just hope you're not stupid. Yeah?"

"Well, you have fun," Sookie told Jackson. "Mommy's gotta get back to work. Be nice and don't throw up on the buffet."

"Jackson, you get over here right now with that baby," Miss Patty said to Jackson, who went over to her table.

"Trying to explain the age difference between you and Cory will be interesting," Rory said, looking at Jackson, who handed Cory over to Miss Patty.

"I'll probably tell him he was a test-tube baby when he gets old enough," Sage replied.

"You gotta try harder than that," Jess told Sage.

"Zoe and I once told Blake that he was adopted because he has light colored skin," Anthony said. "He believed it instantly, so I guess it was something he was thinking about for a while there."

"And?" asked Paris.

"Our parents found out and weren't happy," Anthony replied. "My mom threw a shoe at me. My dad threw cooked pasta at Zoe."

There was lunch at Dragonfly with Emily. Apparently, Emily expected the lunch to continue even though Emily and Richard both ditched the room because they were expected to sleep in the same room together.

Lorelai had to call Rory to come back to the Dragonfly for lunch.

A waiter poured some drinks.

There were birds chirping and a horse neighed.

After the waiter walked away, Emily said, "The weather's lovely."

"Yes, it is," Lorelai replied.

Emily asked, "Rory, Thea, don't you think it's lovely?"

"It's very lovely," Rory replied.

"I think it's fine," Thea replied.

"Yes," Emily replied, looking around. "Lovely." She looked at Rory, "Rory, those earrings are just darling."

Rory reached for an earring.

"Thanks. Anthony's aunt makes jewelry, so he got me these," Rory replied.

"Well, I don't see any reason to put this off any longer," Emily stated. "Girls, I have something to say that may shock you, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about that now. Lorelai, Rory, Thea; Richard and I have separated."

Thea grimaced, "That's awful."

"And?" asked Lorelai.

Emily took offense to that, "What do you mean 'and'? That's not enough? You need some sort of mob-related offing to make it interesting?"

"No, Mom," Lorelai replied. "That's plenty. It's just, we already knew."

"Rory and Thea didn't," countered Emily.

Rory started, "Well, I mean, I didn't know know—"

"Why would you tell them?" asked Emily.

Lorelai replied, "Mom!"

"Who else did you tell?" asked Emily.

"So, you haven't read page six?" replied Lorelai sarcastically.

"Rory, Thea, if you need to talk about this to try to understand why this is happening, then by all mean, do not ask your mother," Emily told them.

"Way ahead of you," muttered Thea.

"Okay, Mom, I'm sorry," Lorelai replied. "I'm not trying to be insensitive. It just seemed like a thing you and Dad were going through. I figured you'd make up."

"Well, we didn't," Emily replied.

"I see that." Lorelai said, "So, wow, you're really separated?"

"That's right," Emily replied. "Your father's moving into the pool house."

"So, then you're not separated," Lorelai said.

"Of course we are," Emily replied.

"You're separated by the pool," Lorelai pointed out.

Thea rolled her eyes at Lorelai's statements, because separated couples can be banished to the couch, but still live in the house for the sake of kids.

"That's it," Emily stated. "That's the end of your input on this."

"I'm sorry, Grandma," Rory told Emily.

"Yeah, it's awful," Thea replied.

"Well, what's done is done," Emily stated. "I'm moving on. And to celebrate the next stage of my life, I'm going to Europe by myself for the very first time since I was in college. I'm leaving tonight."

"Tonight?" Rory said, "That's fast."

"Well, I wanted to leave quickly, so I called my travel agent and insisted that he put me on tonight's plane to Paris no matter what," explained Emily. "He finally managed to bump someone from a church group, and I've got my seat, and I'm leaving at ten. And, Rory, Thea, my offer to you still stands."

Thea was confused, "Offer?"

"My offer to escort you around Europe this summer," Emily replied.

"Oh," Rory replied.

"Everything young lady should do Europe the proper way at least once in her life, and I would be thrilled to have your company on this very special occasion." Emily said, "Of course, I know it's very short notice, so if you already have plans for the summer, I completely understand."

"You know, I think Europe sounds great," Lorelai chimed in. "I think you would really enjoy that. I mean, remember, we loved Paris. You don't have anything special planned for the summer, do you?"

"I did plan on going to Florida for Anthony's birthday on the Fourth of July," Rory said. "That was about it. He did get a part-time at the pizzeria he worked at before he went to Yale."

"He was born on the fourth of July?" asked Lorelai confused.

"Yeah," Rory replied.

"He's working part-time at a pizzeria?" asked Lorelai, confused. The guy lived at home with his parents, who were rich. He didn't need a part-time job. Then again, it gives him something to do.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Thea.

"He liked working there," Rory defended.

"Well, then? What do you say?" Emily asked. "Would you both like to be impulsive with me?"

"Sure, Grandma, I'd love to," Rory replied. "Just as long as I go to Florida for Anthony's birthday."

"Sure," Emily replied. She looked at Thea.

Thea shifted uncomfortably, "I guess I'll go."

"That is just wonderful!" Emily said, "I'll call Ralphie right away and tell him to bump to Baptists. We'll have a wonderful time, you two and I. It'll be just like Gigi. Lorelai, I'm gonna use your phone."

"Be my guest, Mom," Lorelai replied. Emily walked off. "Europe? Cool." She paused, "Unless you really did have plans for the summer."

"No," replied Rory. "Just visit Anthony every now and then, especially on the fourth of July. Or have him visit me here in Stars Hollow."

That was the trouble of long-distance relationships, trying to find time to visit each other.

Most of the summer in Europe was uneventful.

Anthony had updated them in his life by sending emails. He found a gray tabby cat with mismatched eyes. His mom named the cat Margarita.

And Thea honestly really wanted to meet Margrita. Well, she also wanted to meet Anthony's other cat, Meatloaf, too, but she'd rather not crash the Fourth of July event, because she'd rather not get arrested.

And that was what happened, according to Rory.

Someone ended up getting caught on fire and a fight broke out, so there were arrests made. Rory, too, ended up in handcuffs. Again.

Anthony had been standing with his aunt, him describing it as 'the only two soulless people of the family; the man who sold his soul for heroin, and his lawyer aunt' when they both got arrested. 

Even Blake, whose only crime was falling asleep in a lawn chair and getting climbed over by the little cousins, got arrested.

Then at some point, Anthony found another cat.

Ofcourse, his dad said no to the cat and that he didn't want another cat, while naming the cat, Meatball.

Anthony had transcribed the following conversation he had:

Dad: "You already have two cats. You take Meatball back to wherever you found it."
Me: "You named the cat Meatball, so now he's bonded to us."
Dad: "You're taking care of it."
Me: "I already take care of the other two."
Dad: "I'm not picking up after Meatball."
Me: "I don't expect you too?"
Dad: *Walks away*
Me: "???"
Mom: *meanwhile watching everything go down while lovingly stroking Margarita*

Apparently, Anthony had found it funny that while his dad acted indifferent towards Meatball, Anthony had found his dad taking a nap and snuggling with Meatball. Anthony had taken a picture of the sight.

One good thing about getting back to Stars Hollow was that they were just in time for the Cider Mill parade. Well, that was the second good thing about returning. Sage and Aiden were really happy to see Thea, and she was happy to see them. It felt like she couldn't leave Aiden's bed.

Rory, of course, invited Anthony to watch it.

To Thea's surprise, Anthony brought his brother down to watch it to get the 'recluse' out of the house. She was surprised to see how shockingly white Blake was.

Thea thought she'd never see a man look so grumpy while holding a red balloon. The facial scar: starting under his left eye and was just a line right down to his jaw, narrowly missing the corner of his mouth, really added to the grumpy look.

Even Jess asked, "What pissed your brother off so badly?"

"I did," Anthony replied with a shrug. "I dragged him onto a plane when he hates flying. He wanted to stab me in the neck." Blake looked over at him, glaring. Anthony said, "Okay, he wanted to punch me in the neck and then he wanted me to step on a Lego while barefoot."

"Wow," Georgia told Anthony. "You really pissed him off."

"The Lego thing was because I drove by a bookstore and didn't stop to let him look around," Anthony explained, and Rory looked horrified at the thought of not stopping to look around a bookstore. "If I did, we would've been in there 'til closing time."

Rory nodded because yeah.

Blake finally made a facial expression, but it was one of disgust, "And I thought my hair looked disgusting."

Thea tried not to laugh because Blake was insulting Dean's new haircut.

"It's a step up from the shaggy haircut he had," Georgia told Blake. "But it's still bad."

Dean walked by.

Rory said, "I'll be right back." She walked off and Luke came up to them with Jessie and Billie.

Billie looked at Blake, "Can I have your balloon?"

"Sure," Blake said, handing the balloon to her.

Billie took the balloon and smiled, "Thank you."

"This is my brother, Blake," Anthony told Luke and Jessie. He spoke to Blake, "This is Luke, Jessie, and Billie."

Jessie was staring at the scar on Blake's face.

"My ex-girlfriend gave it to me and no, I don't know what I did to piss her off that much for her to do it," Blake replied monotonously.

Jessie seemed horrified, "People think you deserve getting disfigured?"

"I wouldn't say I was disfigured," Blake replied.

"Rory, hey," Dean greeted, looking at Rory. He stepped towards her, but Rory stepped backwards.

"Why?" asked Rory.

"You're the one who followed me," Dean pointed out.

"No," Rory said, "I mean, why do you hate Anthony that much to try to get him arrested, twice?"

"He doesn't treat you right," Dean replied.

"How?" asked Rory. "How does he not treat me right?"

"I don't know, but I know he just doesn't," Dean replied.

"So, what do you want me to do, then?" Rory asked, "Dump Anthony and start dating you? Go back to being your perfect little virgin?"

"Yes," Dean replied.

"Well, I won't, and I can't," Rory replied.

"Well, how about we be friends?" asked Dean.

Rory seemed uneasy, "Okay. But you need to apologize to Anthony for trying to get arrested twice. And you can't make any comments about my relationship with him. And you can't do anything to jeopardize that."

"All right, fine," Dean replied. If he can't force Rory into loving him again, then he'll show that he was better than Anthony. He needed to get Rory to see that.