Spoilers: May reference anything from Episode 1 of Season 1 until Episode 5 of Season 5.

Pairing: This will be a TRory, just give it a chance, for those of you who are Dean/Rory fans, use caution because it won't last long.

Rating: R, will be PG/PG-13 for the first few chapters though, just be warned...

Background on the Story: Everything up until Episode 5, Season 5 has happened; this includes Dean/Rory, Tristan/Rory, Jess/Rory, and Dean/Rory again. So that's all the same except for an added twist to Episode 9 of Season 2; Run Away Little Boy where Tristan and Rory were supposed to play Romeo and Juliet but Tristan leaves for military school instead because he broke into that safe.

Please read & I hope you enjoy! Also please, please, please review! Good or bad, I don't care, I just want to know.

Also, my little code overview for you here, things in italics are thoughts, things in bold are flashbacks, and that's about it.

Silver Rings and Shiny Things

By Caitlin Jenay W.

Chapter 1 - Remembering

The road disappeared under the wheels of her silver car, a nameless song blaring over the speakers, but she didn't hear it, because she was thinking of him again. He isn't the one my thoughts should drift to. She thought, chiding herself for letting her thoughts drift so far as to imagine the feel of his lips upon hers, a feeling she'd only felt once before. No, he definitely isn't the one I should be thinking about, especially since I haven't seen him in years. She wondered momentarily that she hadn't thought of him for almost six hours. A record, in and of itself. It was only on these dark silent trips through the night back to New Haven after a night of shameful lovemaking with a once married man that she let her thoughts drift so freely. Which was odd, because after a night like that, one would think her thoughts would drift to the look in his eyes when he held her tenderly in his arms, or the feel of their bodies pressed together, or the rush of ecstasy when she came, but instead she only thought of how it would be with another, with him.

Thrust from her reverie by the lights of New Haven she turned her car down her exit, minutes later arriving near her dorm at Yale. Pulling the key from the ignition, she stepped out of the warmth of her car into the crisp night air, the dark surrounded her, the breeze tugging her chocolate hair away from creamy features as her left hand reached to lock the door of the silver automobile, in doing so an equally silver object caught the attention of her piercing blue eyes. She didn't know why she wore it, nor why she wore it on that particular finger, the left ring finger, normally reserved for a wedding ring. No one had questioned her motives for wearing it yet, mostly because they thought it was hers; it never even crossed their minds that it was his...

- Flashback -

"What do you mean he had you pulled out of school? What happened?

"Nothing. Just ticked the old man off, that's all."

"By doing what? Tristan, come on, tell me."

"I got in some trouble."

"Trouble involving?"

"Involving Duncan and Bowman, and Bowman's dads safe."

"Oh no."

"I mean, Bowman had a key. It was supposed to be no big deal. And the crazy silent alarm kicked in."

"You broke into Bowman's dads safe?"

"Yes."

"Stupid."

"Yes."

"Well, okay, you can apologize and you can put back the money and you can explain that, I don't know, you were going through something."

"I was, I was going through his safe."

"Why would you do this?"

"I don't know. I guess that's something I can ponder at military school."

"Military school?"

"The police are letting our parents handle it, and in my case that means military school in North Carolina."

"I don't know what to say."

"Well, I imagine you're overwhelmed with the relief in knowing that soon I will be gone."

"I'm so sorry."

"Well, I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

"There's nothing you can..."

Breaking into their repertoire Tristan's dad called from down the hall. "Tristan, come on."

"I gotta go. So, I would kiss you goodbye but, uh, your boyfriend's watching."

The air filled with an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Tristan finally spoke up again. "Hey uh, I uh, wanted you to have this..." He said, words trailing off as his gaze shifted to his hands, fingers fumbling as he slipped his Chilton class ring from his finger and held it out to her. "It's not like I'll be needing it anymore, going to military school and all, so uh, yeah, here." He fumbled, eyes meeting hers again with a foreign emotion trapped in their gaze.

"But why?" She asked slightly dumbfounded, curiosity, sadness, and an unnamed emotion clouding her azure deeps.

He smirked that Dugrey smirk a tinge of knowing and silent regret filling his gaze and voice. "If you don't know the answer to that, then I can't help you, you'll have to figure it out for yourself." He finished, still sporting that patented Dugrey smirk, watching her tentatively reach forward to pluck the ring from his outstretched hand, relief washed over him, relief that she hadn't rejected him once again, because that would have been one time to many...

- End Flashback -

She was once again thrust from her dream world of memories and regrets by the sounds of a nearby frat party, which startled her to the point of falling backwards a few steps, luckily the black BMW she'd parked next to halted her backwards motions before she had a chance to meet the cold pavement. The cold hit her full force then, icy hands pushing off the vehicle before hurrying towards the warmth of her dorm room, the black car momentarily forgotten even as a hint of recognition dawned in her eyes...

So that's it, the first chapter, please let me know what you think...