A Birthday Surprise

Feedback: sweet_death_29@hotmail.com
Pairing: R/T-- a short ficlet :D

Author: AngelGirl15

Disclaimer: i own nothing of this except the plot direction

I was sleeping soundly & comfortable in my bed when I heard the door creak open slowly. There was a tiny creaking of the floor with the moving of footsteps. I didn't bother to open my heavy eyelids. This was tradition. I was expecting it. I pulled the covers up and mumbled "Hi Mom…".

I received no response. I could hear someone in the room. My heart started beating faster. I fluttered my eyelids open. The blinds were open, and moonlight lit my room lightly. I used one hand to rub the sleep from my eyes and blinked to see straight. A tall shadow moved towards me, but I couldn't make out who it was. It wasn't my mom. There was no sounds being made, expect for the quiet chirping outside my window from the birds & other little animals. The shadow moved towards me and placed a single finger on my lips, telling me instinctively to be quiet. I recognized the finger and breathed easy. I started to open my mouth and he used his finger to close it again. He entered my line of sight, kneeling on the ground. I stared right at him, slightly shocked when I saw him pull out a box. A ring box. A box I wasn't expecting.

"You wanted to wait till you were 18…" is all he said.

"Are you serious?" I whispered.

"More then anything. Rory Gilmore will you marry me?" he asked, opening the box to reveal a silver band, with diamonds placed millimeters apart all around. My mouth dropped and I couldn't say a word. I looked into his eyes, the eyes I knew by heart. I nodded my head and mumbled out a "Yes".

A smile emerged on his face, making one emerge on my face. He took the ring out of the box, and I held out my finger. He slid it on, then picked me right out of the bed. I squealed slightly before I kissed him. He lowered me to the ground, and we broke the kiss off. I looked up at him, both of us smiling our faces off.

"One question…"

"You already answered mine…"

"How the hell did you get my mom to not do her birthday tradition?"

"Well, even she can delay tradition for this…"

"You bribed her with coffee right?"

"What else? She'll be in here momentarily."

"Well until then…" I pulled his mouth to mine, and kissed him.

A sharp knock came from the door, and I said "It's okay mom."

The door opened and my mom poked her head in looking on expectantly.

"Okay Tristan…time for me to get my daughter back to myself. Traditions can be delayed not cancelled…and
I'm guessing it was a good delay?"

I nodded quickly.

"We'll talk all about it later…first tradition!"

"And I'll dissapear" Tristan said, giving me a kiss on my forehead.

"Get into bed missy" my mom ordered as Tristan left. She climbed in next to me, and pulled the covers on top of us.

"And it's so hard to believe that at exactly this time many moons ago, I was lying in exactly the same position --Only I had a huge, fat stomach and big fat ankles and I was swearing like a sailor –

"On leave—"

"Right, on leave."

"And I was screaming and swearing and being surrounded as I was by a hundred prominent doctors, I just assumed there was an actual use for the cup of ice chips they gave me."

"There wasn't."

"But pelting the nurses sure was fun."

"I love you, Mom."

"Shh. I'm getting to the part where he sees your head. So there I was..."

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes, letting my mom continue the story. She finished 10 minutes later.

"Mom?"

"Yes Rory?"

"Thanks for everything."

"It was all worth it. And now you're going to be going off and getting little Rory's and Tristan's of your own."

"After Harvard."

"After Harvard. As long as I get to plan the wedding…"

"It's a deal."

"I think someone's sitting outside in our dark kitchen all alone."

"I think he's a big boy."

"He's your future husband…"

I paused. I was going to get married.

"Yeah, he will be. Besides…he'll be knocking on that door any minute now."

"Care to bet on that one?"

"I think I know him a little better then you do…but sure. What's the bet?"

"Loser has to, for a day, fulfill any and all requests by the winner for Luke's coffee."

"Deal. 10 minutes?"

"7 and a half."

I looked at the clock, which flashed 4:45 AM. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes before a tiny knocking came from the door.

"HA!! I win!!!" I said, as my mom pouted. The door opened, and I saw Tristan peering into the room.

"You couldn't have waited 5 more minutes could you?" my mom said to Tristan. He looked slightly confused but went with it.

"I'm an impatient man."

"Oh…bad thing #1 Rory. You better keep track of these."

"Already done."

"Hey! Is this a plot to make me seem like a bad guy now?"

"Honey, we don't have to try" my mom joked. "I'm leaving now…you two be good. You wouldn't want to ruin your goodness now that you are engaged" she said, as she climbed out of the bed.

"I won't see you till noonish…"she told me, giving me a kiss on the forehead. She whispered Happy Birthday to me, before giving Tristan a quick hug and exiting. Tristan continued to stand there, but he closed the door.

"So this the best birthday yet?"

"Definitely. You know you don't have to stand there…"

"You know I'd hate for us to loose our goodness."

"I think we'll be fine."

He jumped onto the bed, sending me slightly flying on my side. I giggled as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I still can't believe you did that."

"Hey I do listen to you. You said, at least until you were 18. You're 18 now."

"Yes but I still didn't think you'd do it the minute I turned 18."

"We've been through a lot. I think it's right."

I snuggled in closer to him and sighed deeply.

"I think so to. There's been so many bad times…"




~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~

"TRISTAN JUST STOP!!!!" I said, my eyes flashing.

"Stop what?"

"STOP BEING WHO OTHER PEOPLE WANT YOU TO BE. Stop being the person you think you are. Just be the person you are. I HATE THESE GAMES!" I threw down the book I was holding.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME? How do you know who the real me is?" he said, the anger showing in every part of his face.

"I know a hell of a lot more than you think. I've seen you. That night at Madeleine's party that was you. No games, no lies. Just Tristan!"

"You don't even know the pressure I'm under—"

"Screw the pressure!!! Maybe if you were you, there wouldn't be so much pressure. What's the worst that can happen?"

"I'll lose EVERYTHING."

"Maybe you'll gain more."

Both of us were silent, each breathing deeply.

"You know what Rory? Fuck this…I don't need this. I don't need you to tell me who I am" he said, turning around and moving towards the door.

"You know what Tristan? I think you do. Maybe I'm the only one with the guts to tell you the truth. If you didn't need me then why did you come here? Huh? I know who you can be…you've let me see that guy. You usually are him but then you turn into some other version of yourself. I don't need these games. You walk out now, it's all on you!"

He stopped and turned around. My eyes I knew were red. To think we had come to this. This yelling and screaming.

"Why are we fighting anyways?" he asked quietly, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

"Because I'm tired of dating someone who changes who they are every 10 minutes. I don't want to date the Dugrey son…I want to date Tristan. Just him."


~*~*~*~End Flashback~*~*~






"—But more good times" he finished for me.


~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~

"Why can't I look Rory?" Tristan complained from under his blind fold.

"Then there would be no surprise. Plus it's cute to watch you fail at my directions and run into everything."

"Good to know my pain is CUTE!"

"Extremely."

I led him down the path, and then onto the grass.

"I'm going to fall very, very soon."

"No you won't. Now…you may remove it."

I had a giant smile on my face as Tristan slid the blindfold off of his head. His eyes took in what was in front of him. There was a patchwork blanket with a few candles & lamps around it with a picnic lunch next to it. In the middle was a large square gift with purple & pink ribbons.

"This is so sweet."

"You haven't opened the bigger surprise yet!"

"That's for me? The purple & pink fooled me."

"My mom went a little crazy once I put the silver paper on it."

"We can get to the opening of that though…"he said, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind me, knocking me so off balance that we both tumbled onto the grass near the lake.

"Hey!! If you had knocked that over, there would have been no gift for you. And a very angry girlfriend!"

"I think I can make everything all better…" he smirked.

"And how?"

"Very simple—" he said, before giving me a kiss.


~*~*~*End FlashBack~*~*~





"I love you Rory Gilmore."

"I love you too Tristan DuGrey" I said, smiling.

"So when's the wedding" he joked.

"10 years?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Unless you want to schedule it right in the middle of exams at Chilton…our honeymoon would be a good excuse to get out of those huh?"

"Oh yeah the best. No one could beat that one. Hey but at least next year we get to stay in the same room."

"Huh?"

"The whole can't share a room with the opposite sex unless married?"

"So you plan on doing his before next September? We're still in high school here…"

"What can they say? We're legal aren't we?"

"OH GOD! I'm engaged before I've graduated!! That's scary."

"That's love."



The End