A/N: Hello! This is just a new idea that I came up with. Hope you enjoy it!

You've Been Tapped

It all started with an envelope in her purse. She didn't remember having left her purse alone at any point where someone could slip in the ivory envelope; yet, there it was. Unaccustomed to receiving strange notes in her purse, she didn't know exactly what to do with it. The obvious answer was to open and read it, but too many episodes of Criminal Minds had her convinced that she would find stalkerish photos of herself with a hastily scrawled "you're next" written in red Sharpie. It sat on her desk for a good two days before she worked up the courage to open it.

She closed her door, to keep Paris' prying eyes un-prying, and paced for a few moments to work herself up. Finally, she picked up the letter and burrowed her finger under the lip of the envelope, opening it with one slide of her finger. She could tell immediately that it was stationary. She pulled it out, feeling something flutter in her stomach as she read the text.

You have been chosen.

Place this letter on the bench in front of Corboy to accept.

Secrecy is paramount.

Tell no one.

Well, that was cryptic. She slid the letter back into the envelope, sitting heavily on her bed while she glanced down at the envelope in her hands. This was surely unexpected. She had thought living with Paris would be the unwelcome shock of the year, but this trumped even that. It seemed she had been tapped for some secret society. She had heard of them before, but mainly disregarded them as an urban legend. She should have known better, having nearly been Puffed in Headmaster Charleston's office back at Chilton.

If that instance had taught her anything, she was not the secret-society-type. She didn't understand the pageantry and overblown solemnity that everyone involved seemed to thrive on. What was really so meaningful about ringing the bell in Charleston's office? It just seemed like a whole of unnecessary trouble to Rory. No, she would not be returning this letter. Tapped or not, she was not going to be drinking any of that kool aid.

She began to toss the envelope into the waste bin, but then hesitated. It wasn't every day that she got envelopes slipped into her purse. And it definitely wasn't every day that she was tapped for a super secret Yale society. Some people would be rather proud of this. Baby book material, even.

She would keep the letter. She wouldn't return it, but she would keep it. Content with her decision, she slipped it into her desk and headed back out into the common room to start her reading.

"My martini is smaller this week," Lorelai said, tilting her head to the side as she analyzed the contents of her drink. It was Friday night and the Gilmore clan were in their usual spots in the elder couple's parlor, enjoying drinks before dinner. Emily rolled her eyes and said, "Your martini is the exact same that it always is, Lorelai."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's smaller. Rory, doesn't it look smaller?"

"I'm not really a good gage," Rory said, smiling slightly at her mother's continued inspection of the drink. Emily wrinkled her nose in irritation and said, "For goodness sake, Lorelai, put your drink down."

"Well, someone is touchy tonight."

"Anyway," Emily said pointedly, turning her attention away from Lorelai and toward her granddaughter. "How is Yale, Rory? Anything exciting lately?"

There was a twinkle in her grandmother's eye that set something off in Rory's mind. Richard pulled his attention from his tumbler of scotch and enthused, "Yes, Rory, anything good? First few weeks of school are always a whirlwind!"

Lorelai glanced between her parents, who were looking expectantly at Rory, and remarked, "Is there something I'm missing here?"

"Yale is good," Rory said vaguely. "My classes are going well. I haven't killed Paris yet."

"A lack of homicide is always a good thing," Lorelai chimed in, noting that her parents were still staring at Rory intently. Emily nodded encouragingly and said, "Well, that's good. I'm sure you have even more excitement awaiting you."

Emily and Richard exchanged a knowing smile.

"Yes," Richard echoed, "much excitement."

"Okay weird people," Lorelai said slowly, uncrossing her legs as she shifted a bit on the couch. "It has been established that Rory will have excitement. Which, might I add, she probably already has. Did you tell them about the naked guy, Rory?"

"Naked what?" Emily gasped, her tone changing mercurially from before. Rory shot her mother a look and said, "Let's just say I had a very typical experience my first week at school."

Richard chortled in his armchair and said, "Ah yes, I remember many similar typical experiences. My school chums and I used to get in all sorts of trouble at Yale."

"School chums?" Lorelai repeated, snorting into her martini.

"We streaked through the quad one St Patricks Day after too many pints of Guinness. I'm afraid there are pictures of it somewhere."

Lorelai stared at her father in complete horror. "You streaked?"

"There are a lot of things I've done that you don't know about, Lorelai," Richard said with an indulgent smile. "You were deviant enough without me giving you more ideas."

"Yes I was," Lorelai said. She grinned at Rory and said, "That's how you came about, sweetie."

"Charming Lorelai," Emily said dryly.

The maid stood awkwardly in front of the dining room and said, "Dinner is served, Ms. Gilmore."

Emily dismissed her with a wave of her hand and said, "Yes, thank you Leisel."

"Leisel?" Lorelai repeated incredulously. "Gee Mom, are you getting them straight from the Sound of Music now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Lorelai."

Lorelai fell into step beside her daughter and murmured under her breath, "You got it, right?"

Nothing good was on the radio on the way back to Yale, so Rory turned it off and let her thoughts keep her company, instead. There were definitely enough of them. Something about that letter still bothered her and then there had been her grandparent's behavior. It was almost like they knew something. Almost like they knew…about the letter?

It was impossible, though. This was just some stupid college thing. It was menial, far below her grandparents whose calendars were dotted with galas and benefits nearly every weekend. Why would they care about something so silly? When she arrived back at her dorm room, she went the usual route for when faced with a tricky situation. She prepared.

Into the early hours of the morning, she found every article that she could about Yale and secret societies. There was a surprising lack of information. Hours of research only landed her with a dozen or so articles. One proved interesting, however. It was accompanied by a picture, which showed several young men in coat and tails. One looked somewhat familiar and she quickly scanned the names.

"Oh," she breathed out, eyes widening when she read her own surname. Seemed that Richard Gilmore had dabbled in secret societies. She read more of the names, recognizing several. Astor. Vanderbilt. Carnegie. These were the best and brightest, not to mention the wealthiest families in the country. As she read on she found another interesting name.

Life and Death Brigade.

She tried it aloud, feeling a chill run down her spine. She had heard about other societies like this and had a rough understanding of how they functioned. They liked prestige and money. Even more, they liked lineage. Legacy. There was a fair chance that Richard Gilmore had been a member of this Life and Death Brigade. In result, there was more than a fair chance they were now after her.

The letter made her nervous. Knowing that it was sitting in her desk made her edgy all day. She hated loose ends and that letter was definitely one. Discovering her family's history with the group had shifted her perspective somewhat. She found herself actually considering it, which created its own host of issues.

Despite the letter's overt message to tell no one, Rory declared an overriding Lorelai-Gilmore-loophole (on the grounds that Lorelai Gilmore was never hoodwinked) and made the drive down to Stars Hollow after her classes.

"A visit without laundry?" Lorelai quipped. "I feel so special."

"So, this week has been more exciting than I've let on."

"Well, dish," Lorelai cooed, sitting on the couch and patting the side beside her for Rory. She sat down and pulled her legs beneath her.

"Tuesday, I found an envelope in my purse."

"Weird."

"Yeah, and when I opened it there was this really cryptic message. It said that I had been chosen and that I were to accept I had to return this envelope to a specific drop off point."

"Drop off point," Lorelai repeated with a grin. "Someone has been brushing up on their Alias. Now, let me get this straight-you found a random letter in your purse?"

"Yeah."

"But you have a near death grip on that thing. You even loop the strap around your foot when you're at restaurants."

"I left it at my table at the library when I went to get a book," Rory said. "They must have put it in then."

"And who is this they? Do you know?"

"I think I do. Remember how weird grandma and grandpa were acting at dinner Friday night?"

"Yeah, it was strange even for them."

"Well, when I got back that night I started doing research on secret societies at Yale. And I found a picture of grandpa."

Lorelai frowned and said, "Please tell me it wasn't the streaking one."

Rory leaned forward conspiringly as she said, "No, but it was of him and some other men in tuxedos. It accompanied an article about this secret group at school called the Life and Death Brigade."

"It's not a secret if you know the name," Lorelai noted.

"Well, technically it doesn't exist. No one has ever affirmed its existence."

"Okay, so what do you take from all of this? Do you think your grandpa was in some weird Skull and Bones?"

"Well, it would make sense that they would tap me," Rory said. "Those type of societies love legacies. What's to say that other Gilmores weren't in it before Grandpa?"

"This is definitely dishy," Lorelai said, nodding slowly. "I guess the real question, though, is what are you going to do? You're not considering it, are you?"

"I don't know," Rory admitted. "It seems a bit too Puff for me, but Grandma and Grandpa seemed so excited."

Lorelai shook her head immediately and said, "No, do not do this for them. In fact, I don't think you should do this at all. Slipping letters in your purse? That is creepy. And possibly illegal."

"It would be a good way to meet people," Rory offered.

"So is intermural badminton. And the Yale Daily News. You've met friends there, right?"

"Not really," Rory admitted. "The only talk there is about ledes and bylines."

Lorelai paused for a moment and then said, "You want to do this, don't you?"

"I can't help feeling like I'm supposed to," Rory admitted.

"Do you have time to think it over?" Rory nodded. "Well, if you do decide to go through with it, remember not to drink the kool aid. Or go on roofs."

"Sage advice."

"Take your time, kid." Lorelai wrapped her arm around Rory's shoulders and kissed the top of her head. Resting her chin there she held echoes of Vito Corleone as she said, "Once you're in, you're in for life."

Her decision was made. She put the letter on the bench outside of Corboy, glancing around quickly as she did so. She was looking for someone lurking in the shadows, watching from down the street. All she saw was the usual hustle and bustle of the campus between classes. Resigning herself to the fact that this group would show themselves on their watch, she turned and headed back to her dorm.

The next few days went on without anything out of the ordinary. She ate her meals in the dining hall without interruption. Classes were normal. No letter showed up in her purse, nor under the door. She almost began to think that it had all been some elaborate hoax, until she was pulled to the side on her way to Lit 270 and a bag was pulled over her head.

"What the-"

"Rory Gilmore," a male voice said above her. "You have accepted our invitation, correct?"

"Yeah," she breathed out. "Can we, uh, lose the burlap sack?"

"Not until we reach our destination."

She was pulled into a car and felt a mounting fear as she heard the car start. It occurred to her that everything with the Life and Death Brigade and her grandfather was only a hunch. It was circumstantial, gathered from dated articles that had never been verified. She could be in a car with crazy axe murderers for all she knew.

"Um, I-"

"Shit," a voice said from the front. "I always catch this damn light."

Something in her stomach loosened at the sound of the voice. She recognized it from her history class Monday and Wednesday mornings. "Colin?"

"Hey-how…" Colin cleared his throat obviously and then said in a low voice, "no talking."

"Where are we going?"

"To an undisclosed location," Colin answered.

"I have a right to know where we're going. Can we at least take the thing off my head?"

"No, you can't. God, Rory-shit, I'm not supposed to say your name-just go along with it, okay?"

All her nerve ends seemed to be on fire as she felt the car accelerate. So, she had been right. There was something to go along with, huh? No doubt the same sort of inane pageantry she had observed with the Puffs. She stayed silent for Colin's sake; she could hear the nearly comical frustration in his voice. After another ten or fifteen minutes, the car came to a stop. She heard the door open and then someone grabbed her arm, pulling her from the car. She stumbled forward and the hand grasped her arm tighter. She was pulled forward, noticing the feel of grass beneath her feet. She could smell trees and wondered if she had been brought to some park.

"Are we at John Humphrey Preserves?"

"What?" Colin breathed out beside her. "How did you figure that out? Is there a hole in your bag or something?"

"We drove for roughly fifteen minutes," Rory answered logically. "I smell trees. Grass is under my feet. And this is the only forest preserve nearby."

"I really wish she wasn't a legacy," someone muttered nearby. Rory's eyes widened as a smile graced her features. She was now one hundred percent positive that her assumptions had been correct. Someone led her a few steps forward and then the bag was pulled from her head. What she saw took her breath away.

Everyone around her were dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns, besides a few neophytes like herself who stood out not only for their garb, but the gaping looks on their face. Rory had to remind herself to close her mouth before a girl with golden blonde hair wearing a deep blue dress held out a garment bag to her and said, "Go to the tents in the back and put this on."

"What is all of this?" Rory asked, unable to keep her eyes on the blonde as she glanced around, a new sight meeting her eyes each second.

"You'll find out soon," she responded with an easy grin. "Now go change."

Rory walked back to one of the tents, opening the flap gingerly to make sure that no one else was there. When she found it empty, she walked in and put her book bag in front of the entrance. She pulled the zipper down on the garment bag, her heart beat quickening when she found one of the most stunning dresses she had ever seen. A pale blue with delicate detailing, she was almost afraid to touch it.

She undressed, wondering if the dress would actually fit her. It's not like she filled out some form with her dress size. She found it fit her perfectly, though. It almost seemed to be tailored for her body, but the possibilities there made her head spin too much. She picked up her book bag and stuffed her clothes in. The bag barely closed now, but she had a feeling that wouldn't matter. Hoisting it on her shoulder (quite the feat considering the added weight) she walked out into the bustle of people. Colin approached her and took her bag from her, handing it off to another guy. Rory went to object but Colin interrupted with, "Don't worry, Gilmore. No one will be stealing your things."

"What is this?" Rory asked.

Colin smiled for the first time since they arrived and said, "This is the Life and Death Brigade, Gilmore. And it's a hell of a ride."

A/N: So, thoughts? Would you like to see this continued? Logan comes in the next chapter!