fh_alumni | Outside Rich Hall, early Friday morning

Rory was carting the last of her things out to her car, preparing for the trip. She'd carefully hung her dress from one of the hooks in the back, her suitcase in the trunk.

And okay, maybe there was a whole box of new toys for Vladdie.

"Rory!"

She glanced up, smiling when she spotted who was calling for her. "Marty! Hi! What the heck are you doing up so early on a Friday?"

"Nine AM lecture in half an hour," he replied, making a face. "Want to get some coffee? Where are you going?"

"Um, back to my high school for the weekend," she said, smiling a little. "Alumni thing. And you know I'll always take coffee."

She chattered happily about who she was going to see and what she was going to do -- vaguely, of course, since there was no reason to freak out her new friend with Fandom -- as they walked to the coffee cart.

"Sounds like fun," Marty noted, handing her a cup with a wistful little smile. "Way more fun than here. You'll be missed."

She laughed. "It's just a weekend!"

"Yeah, but still. You'll come back and Paris will have turned your room into her yarn supply storage."

"More likely to turn it into her editing room. She's decided she's making editor as soon as possible now that we both have our feet in the door at the paper."

Marty smiled. "Yeah. Congrats on that."

"Thanks," she replied. "Um, your lecture...and I have to get on the road, anyway."

He nodded. "I'll see you." He started to walk off, then paused. "Hey...Rory?"

"Yeah?" She stopped halfway into climbing in her car.

"Do you...I mean, how come you don't have...." Marty shifted, unsure how to ask without making his reasons obvious. "Do you have a boyfriend back home?"

She stared at him. "...what?"

"I'm just curious. You don't mention anyone, and there's no one here at school you seem to be with, and I was just wondering what the deal was."

She considered the question for a moment -- a much, much longer moment than one would normally need to answer such a simple question. "I don't know," she said, a bit defensively.

"You...okay." Marty wasn't sure what to do with that. "So, what exactly does that mean, 'I don't know'?"

"I don't know," Rory repeated, starting to feel a little desperate.

"Okay," Marty said, watching her carefully. "'Cause that's...usually the kind of thing you know."

"I know!" Rory agreed, looking puzzled.

"So...you don't know! Okay!"

"Um. I...I have to get going," Rory said, still looking bewildered as she climbed into her car. "See you later, Marty."

She barely waited for an answer before shutting her door and driving off, her mind heavy with thought.

[mmmm, canon theft. Dialogue largely stolen from GG episode 5.3 'Written in the Stars.' *pets Marty* NFI, NFB, OOC welcome natch.]