Lorelai and Rory sat on the couch in the middle of a movie marathon. Rory had just come home today from Washington and they were spending the night catching up.

Rory had changed a little while she was away. She had put blonde streaks through her hair. She had bought some new clothes that were a little out of character for her but were still nice. When Lorelai had watched her unpack she had definitely knew that she wanted to borrow some of them or all of them. Lorelai liked the changes though. Rory seemed so much more confident.

They were half way through Casablanca when Rory reached forward to get a drink off the table. Her shirt lifted a little and that's when Lorelai noticed some bruises on her hips.

"Rory what are those bruises?"

She quickly pulled her shirt down and started to blush "It's nothing don't worry about it"

"Rory you have quite a few deep purple bruises on your hips of course I am going to worry. Did someone hurt you?"

"What? No!"

"Then what are they from?"

"Ok, I have to tell you a few things, but you have to promise to let me finish"

"Ok, I promise"

Rory sat thinking for a bit, cleared her throat and looked Lorelai straight in the eyes.

"Ok, the first day Paris and I were in Washington we had to go down to a luncheon to meet everyone that was going to be there for the summer program as well as some of the politicians that we would be hearing from over the summer"

"So you've had the bruises since then"

"No, please just let me tell you everything"

"Ok, sorry."

"Anyway when we got into the elevator it was packed with people. Paris got in, even though she hates being in such close proximity to other people. She only lasted two floors before she got out and told me that she was walking. It was funny though, because on the next floor, everyone else got out. So I thought that I was all alone"

"You didn't pick your nose or anything like that did you?"

"Eww, gross, no. I was standing there watching the numbers count down, when someone behind me said "Of all the elevators in all the world, she had to walk into mine". I jumped at first, but then I recognised the voice. It was Tristan DuGray"

"Tristan DuGray...Tristan DuGray...Oh you mean Bible Boy"

"Yeah that's him"

"He was there for the student council thing?"

"No. He was spending the summer with his Grandfather who was in Washington for business and to catch up with some old friends. Anyway Tristan and I started chatting on the way down. It was nice actually. He actually apologised for everything at Chilton"

"Wow"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway we went our separate ways when we reached the lobby, I had to go to the luncheon and he had to go and meet his Grandfather. During that week though, we kept running into each other. On that first weekend Paris and I got free time so we went and did some sight seeing. We saw Tristan again on the lift and asked him to join us. All three of us spent the whole day together and we had a whole heap of fun"

"Is this going where I think its going?"

"Probably. I don't know. We all started spending all of our free time together."

"All three of you?"

"Yeah, do you want to see some photos?"

"Yeah sure"

Lorelai was starting to get nervous. She could see where this was going. Every time Rory said Tristan's name her face lit up. She was really excited by him.

Rory came out of her bedroom with a couple of stacks of photos.

"Wow that's a lot"

"Yeah we went a little photo crazy"

Lorelai looked through the photos. The first few were the typical sight seeing photos. The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial and some other important looking buildings. Lorelai knew that Rory had taken those to show her grandparents. The next few photos were typically Rory. Some of the optical illusion photos. Rory putting her finger on top of the Washington Monument, Tristan leaning against it.

There were photos of Rory and Tristan in front on the Fonz's jacket both giving the thumbs up. One of Tristan giving Rory a piggy-back ride through a park. It looked like they had just run up to the camera just as the photo was being taken. They both had huge smiles on their faces.

The next few were at a water park or that's what it looked like in the background. Rory was up on Tristan's shoulders with her arms up in the air like she had just won something. There was one that really caught Lorelai's attention. It looked like Tristan had grabbed Rory from behind and had spun her around just as the photo was being taken. It was the look on Rory's face that caught Lorelai's attention. She had this huge smile on her face and it looked like her eyes were sparkling.

Rory had been with Dean for almost 2 years and Lorelai had never seen her smile so much that it made her eyes sparkle.

"Where were these taken?"

"Oh we went to Six Flags for the day and that was taken just after Tristan and I came down this huge tandem water slide"

"Little Miss Chicken went on a huge slide"

"Hey I'm not a chicken and yes I went on a huge slide. Tristan came with me so it was all good. I even went on all roller coasters and other scary rides. Actually I think there is a photo in there of me lying down with Tristan and Jamie lifting me up over their heads. That was scarier than any of the rides"

"Who's Jamie?"

"He's Paris' new fella"

"Paris has a fella?"

"Yeah, he was there for the program as well and he asked Paris out on a date. At first she made Tristan and I go with her, but then she started to go out on her own. Though she did still have me on speed dial"

"Did she call you?"

"Actually no!"

"Wow he must be some fella"

"Yeah she actually gave him her address and phone number. The real ones"

"Wow"

Lorelai kept looking through the photos and they were all pretty harmless. She actually laughed at quite a few of them. It wasn't until the last photo that Lorelai really started to panic about what was going on between Rory and Tristan.

Tristan was lying on a bed and Rory was next to him with her head on his chest. He had his arm around her and their legs were intertwined. Both of them were asleep and fully clothed, but Lorelai thought that it looked very romantic.

"Rory what's with this one?"

She looked at it and swallowed a lump in her throat. She had been dreading telling Lorelai about this and was trying to string it all out. Seeing the bruises didn't help.

"Oh Paris must have taken that"

"I don't really mean the photo I mean how you and Tristan are in the photo"

"Ok, this is what I started this conversation for in the first place. Over the summer Tristan and I started to get closer and closer, then when Paris started going out with Jamie, Tristan and I went on the first couple of dates with them and then we went out on our own when they did. We talked a lot about everything and he apologised again. Then we were walking back to the hotel through the park and we kissed"

"Wait you kissed him or he kissed you"

"We kissed each other"

"What about Dean or even Jess"

"Jess has nothing to do with this, we're just friends"

"I heard that before, but everyone can see how you are with him"

"Yes we thought there may have been something there but when we kissed at Sookie's wedding we realised that it was all wrong and that we are better off as friends"

"Wait you kissed Jess as well. All this time I'm thinking She's with Dean and here you are kissing other guys"

"I'm sorry Mum, but like I said Jess and I kissing was a mistake"

"And Tristan"

"Tristan isn't a mistake, just unfortunate timing"

"Isn't. You mean you're still with him?"

"Yes and there's more"

"More...Oh god more"

"Tristan and I slept together"

"Yes I can see that from the photo"

"No, I mean that I lost my virginity"

"To Tristan"

"Yes" Rory thought about looking at her hands and feeling guilty about losing her virginity to Tristan, but she didn't feel guilty or ashamed at all.

"What about Dean"

"I need you to know a couple of things about Dean"

"Did he hurt you?"

"No. You know that day that I met you at the diner and you said that you thought that our answering machine was broken because you called to remind yourself about something and you couldn't leave a message"

"Yeah, when I came home you said that you fixed it"

"When I got home that afternoon I checked the machine and it was full"

"Wow, I didn't know that a digital could get full"

"Well according to the manual after 100 messages have been left at one time you have to reset it"

"100 messages, we aren't that popular"

"They were all from Dean"

"He left you 100 messages?"

"That's not including the messages that he left on my cell phone as well as the times that he paged me"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were going through all this stuff with Dad and I thought that he would calm down"

"Did he?"

"Not really. He actually became a little more controlling. He didn't want me to have a movie marathon with you so I could spend time with his family. He didn't want me to go shoe shopping with Lane so I could go and watch him play basketball"

"I'm sorry sweets; I didn't know that it had gotten that bad"

"It's ok. None of that is really a reason to cheat on Dean with Tristan, but it was what leads me to it"

"None of that really explains the bruises"

"Um" Rory blushed a very dark crimson red "Last night Tristan and I spent the night together and we got a little over excited"

"He was rough with you"

"We were rough with each other. You should see his back"

"Ew too much information"

"I am sorry Mum, for everything. I wanted to call you and tell you that I was ready to have sex but the first night it happened I wasn't expecting it. My heart took over"

"It's ok sweets. It's a little shocking. I mean if it were up to me, you wouldn't have had sex until I was long dead and buried. You know that you will have to talk to Dean though"

"Yeah I know. He comes home from Chicago tomorrow and I am going to tell him then"

"Were you and Tristan safe?"

"Yes, definitely"

"You are still on the pill aren't you?"

"Yeah"

"Ok, good"

They started the movie again and both sat in silence. Both thinking about the changes!