A long long time ago I wrote a little story - Just a storytelling device. This one-shot is kind of a follow up in the same 'universe,' something I always wanted to write, just for fun. [On a side-note: the story this is based on is a Literati story, but I just thought that if I - or anyone else :) - ever were to turn this one-shot into a full-blown story, it could be a really fun Trory...]

Anyways. Here goes:

-o0o-

Awkward. That was probably the best way to describe what he had felt like when he had opened the door to that guy and not five minutes later that same guy had introduced himself as his brother.

His brother!

Tristin still couldn't wrap his mind around it. He had a brother?

Now he was sitting with his parents and said brother grouped around the big mahogany table in the dining room where they all were staring at each other in silence. The awkwardness felt smothering.

"So… Logan," his dad began, and he looked so lost and helpless that he seemed to be a completely different person than the tough and unrelenting father he had always been in the past. Tristin couldn't help but think that the dad who was sitting opposite him right now would never have sent him to military school.

"Sir."

"You're… you'll understand this is a bit…"

Awkward? Tristin thought, but he bit his lip and kept it to himself.

"That this is difficult for us."

"Of course, Sir. It is for me, too. Believe me. I'm… sorry to bother you with this, but seeing as I only just found out myself what happened I really wanted to meet you and… - I thought you'd deserve to know the truth." Logan ran a hand through his unkempt looking hair. His eyes looked hollow, tired, and Tristin realized that the last few days had probably not been easy for him.

Strange, he thought. He had a brother.

"And you're sure?" his mother asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes were wide open, she looked positively startled. Then something strange happened, and Tristin felt a pang of something - was it pain, jealousy? - when he witnessed it: his mother reached out a hand and gently laid it on Logan's arm. Such a small yet tender gesture: it spoke volumes. There was more warmth, more love in that simple touch than in anything she had ever done for him. Tristin couldn't take his eyes off of her hand on Logan's arm. Even after all this time, his mother's love for her first-born son was stronger than her love for him had ever been.

"Yes," Logan said, then relayed his story to them. How the woman who had pretended to be his mother, Shira Huntzberger, had taken him away from them after she had lost her own child. A case of severe post-natal depression, that's what she had been diagnosed with - the death of her little baby had then taken her over the edge and she had snatched Logan from his crib. No one had ever suspected anything, no one had ever found out who had taken him, Mitchum Huntzberger had seen to that.

"Then how…"

"Did I find out after all this time?"

Both older DuGrays nodded dumbly. Tristin had to fight the urge to laugh, this was all so surreal, so ridiculous. How calm and quiet his parents could be, how perfectly nice…

"Actually, it was my girlfriend's," he caught himself, smiling a little sadly, "my ex-girlfriend Rory's boyfriend who found it out. He is a journalist. - He nearly got killed because of it, too."

"What? Oh my goodness, that is horrible!" his mom exclaimed, but Tristin didn't even pay attention to anything they said anymore. Rory? Had he heard that correctly?

"Rory?" It was out of his mouth before he knew it. Logan suddenly looked straight at him and nodded.

"Yes," he said. "She did mention that you two know each other. Or should I say knew?"

Rory Gilmore. Wow. Mary Mary… The kiss.

Military school.

The kiss.

Rory...

Did this mean that he had actually kissed his bigger brother's ex-girlfriend before she ever became his girlfriend?

Tristin felt like his head was about to explode.

"This is a lot for all of us to deal with, I know. And I understand it if you need time and-"
Logan couldn't even finish his sentence, before Tristin's mom - no, their mom - had rounded the big table and had pulled him in for a hug. Tristin saw how her knuckles went white, so tightly, so desperately did she cling to her long-lost son.

"I never thought I'd see you again. I never… You don't know how hard this has been. I love you so much, I'm so… so glad…" Her voice died, choked by sobs and a stream of tears.

I love you so much…

Why in the world had neither of them ever been able to say that to him? Why had they chosen to put him on a friggin' leash, to make his life hell? Only to keep him from a similar fate? Somehow Tristin couldn't help but think that Logan had had the better life. He sure as hell had had more fun, even if his "parents" were crazy bastards who had kidnapped him.

Tristin, though, he hadn't gotten any excess love. They hadn't pampered and spoiled him more in order to make up for what they had lost. No. They had imprisoned him, they had distanced themselves from him.

There had never been any love left for Tristin. It was as if the Huntzbergers had stolen all of that along with the baby. With Logan.

He was ready to turn bitter and angry about it, even more so than he already was. But then the strangest thing happened. After they all had sat in the dining room for what seemed like hours, Logan had eventually stood up and announced that he would leave now. His mother's face had still been shiny with tears, and even his father had looked quite shaken. Logan had smiled at them and said: "If you don't mind, I'd like to come back soon. Maybe even tomorrow? "

He had awkwardly hugged his parents, and then he had looked at Tristin, and had actually hugged him like a friend - no, like a brother, strong and heartfelt. And he had said: "Man, having a brother is awesome. You better get ready to hang out with your older brother a lot now, you know. I can't wait to catch up on everything I missed."

And with that, he had smiled and waved and left.

But he would be back.

To hang out with Tristin.

For the first time in his life someone who was actually part of the family had honestly seemed to care about him.

Thanks for reading!