Hey y'all. So it's been a while since I finished Juliet is Awakening and I've been thinking about doing a sequel. It would take place a couple of months down road, maybe even right before the end of the school year. I've got the basic story of it in my head, but specific things are escaping me. So while I work on that, I'm doing this for story development, so it's clear in my head where Tristan and Rory's relationship has come, and hopefully it will help me out with the sequel. This doesn't have any clear plot direction. It's more like where I think Tristan and Rory's relationship would fit within Season Two's episodes. It's like a bridge between Juliet is Awakening and its sequel (right now the working title is "The Capulet's Guide to dating a Montague"). So please don't think of this as the sequel, because I'm not intending it to be, and I will probably take it down when I start posting the sequel. I'm only doing this because I need encouragement and some of you asked for more Tristan/Rory interaction.

So how I'm doing this is I'm listing what episodes these scenes would be in. I don't know how many episodes I'll be looking at, hopefully no more than four, with about 4 or 5 scenes to each episode. If I get what I need before than, I'll let you know I'm stopping this experiment. I'm starting off with "Secrets and Loans." Comment please and thanks for reading.

xoxoxoxoxo

Tristan hated winter.

Surveying the white blanket covering his girlfriend's front lawn, her neighbor Babette's lawn, and pretty much everything he laid his blue eyes on, Tristan sulked. The night before had brought through a snow shower, resulting in three inches, added to the several inches that had made its home on the lawns and rooftops in the last few weeks. The only thing snow was good for was for causing snow days. Sure, it made everything beautiful, with its crystal like icicles and powder snow. But it was cold and it made driving difficult, walking difficult and it was just plain messy. What he wouldn't give to live in L. A.

Tristan muttered an expletive before getting out of the warm cab of his Porsche. The cold air stung his face bitterly, and he instinctively lowered his head, shoving his hand into his pea coat pockets as he hurried up the walk to the Gilmore house. When he got to the top of the porch stairs, he stopped. A gapping hole in the porch caught his attention, surprising him. How did that get there? It had to be recent. He had just been there yesterday and he didn't remember a hole in the porch.

A cold burst of wind snapped him out of his short reverie. Tristan knocked on the door, giving the hole one last quizzical look. Lorelai opened the door, looking frazzled with a cordless phone on her ear. She waved him in without a word, obviously listening to the person on the other line. Tristan entered the foyer willingly, taking off the his coat as he silently welcomed the warmth. Usually, Lorelai would call Rory when he came over, but it seemed she was too preoccupied for that, so Tristan headed to Rory's room on his own. The door was open and Rory lounged on her bed, reading from her textbook with a pencil in her hand and a note book under her forearm. She amazed him. Didn't she ever take a break from studying?

He leaned on her doorframe. "How did I get stuck dating a nerd?" He mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

Her head snapped up, her beautiful face brightening as she looked at him. Then she feigned annoyance. "Some of us don't have a legacy to get us into Harvard. We actually have to get the grades to get in." Then she frowned. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled broadly, remembering his reason for the unplanned visit. "I'm finally free. My parents have officially lifted my grounding."

She returned his smile. "Really? I hadn't consider you grounded in the first place."

"I was only allowed three free hours a day. Do you know how hard that is?"

She rolled her eyes. "I forgot who I was talking to," she muttered.

"Come on, Rory. We have to celebrate. Kaddisfly is playing at CBGB. We should go."

"When?"

"Tonight, of course."

Her eyes went wide. "Tonight?"

"Yea. If we go now, I'm sure we'll still be able to get tickets."

She shook her head. "Tristan, my mother isn't just going to let me go to New York City on a Sunday night at a drop of a hat because you were released from your 'grounding'."

"Why not? She seems cool."

"You obviously don't know Lorelai. Besides, this isn't the greatest time to spring this on her. We're going through a situation."

"Does it have anything to do with the fishing hole in your porch?"

She got up from the bed, walking toward him as she looked at him sheepishly. "You saw that, huh?"

"Saw it? It needs it's own caution sign."

"Yea, well…" her voice drifted. She stood in front of him, digging her fingernail into the doorframe he was leaning on in a thoughtful way. Tristan tried hard to concentrate on her worried face, and not on how her burgundy shirt clung to her small frame, or how her scent, vanilla mixed with a hint of coffee, called for him to move closer, bring his lips to hers, and ultimately get caught by her mother.

Don't be selfish, Tristan reprimanded mentally. She doesn't need you getting gropey right now. It was hard to control himself. He hadn't cared so much about his former girlfriends, so he had developed some bad habits, mainly not being much of a listener. He was trying to fix that for Rory's sake. But moments like these, where his learned behavior told him to move in for instant gratification, tested his resolve. It was always easier if he concentrated on her thoughts as quickly as possible. "What's going on?"

"We have termites."

That wasn't something you heard everyday among the silver spooners. "Wow," was all he was able to squeak out.

"It's going to cost us fifteen thousand dollars to fix it."

This was easier for him to hear. Fifteen thousand dollars didn't sound like a lot to be worried about. "Doesn't sound that bad."

He realized his mistake when her crystal blue eyes looked up at him incredulously. "Doesn't sound that bad?" She repeated in barely a whisper.

He wanted to kick himself. He kept forgetting she wasn't rich. Fifteen thousand dollars could easily be spent by his parents on a Christmas gift or for a week vacation. But that was his world. Rory didn't have that luxury. Something like this was obviously a huge problem. "I'm sorry, Ror. I wasn't thinking." He watched as the animosity faded from her face, the preoccupation returning. He couldn't resist. He swept her chestnut hair away from her face, letting the silk flow off his hand as it laid on her back. "What are you two going to do?"

She shrugged, her eyes averting to the doorframe again. "My mom is calling her boss right now, hoping she'll let Mom have an advance just to tent the house. She talked about getting a loan, but she'll have to wait until tomorrow for that."

He thought about her grandparents, about the extravagant parties they threw, the ones his parents always attended when they were in town. "Can't your grandparents help?"

Her eyes lit up, only to fall again. "She won't go for that. It killed her to go to them for my Chilton tuition. She'd sell her soul before she'd do that again."

He looked down the hall, watching Lorelai walk around the living room while she talked on the phone. He felt a little sorry for her. It had to be nerve racking trying to find a way to wrangle up money out of thin air. But his impression of Lorelai was she was a strong woman. She would be able to handle this. Rory, on the other hand…

Her eyes were a fretful mess. He had to do something about that, and he knew just the way to do it.

"Get your coat. We'll get coffee at Luke's."

It took her a second to give in, and he thought she was going to refuse. But then she nodded, swiftly walking around him to the coat rack for her coat. He followed her, permitting himself a small smile. At least he was learning what he could do to cheer her up.

The winter eagerly nipped at them when they stepped onto the porch, but Tristan didn't mind the season that much now. He put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and guided her around the large opening in the porch, hoping he would be able to get her mind off her troubles, if only for a few moments.

xoxoxoxoxo

Rory sipped her little piece of heaven, savoring the warmth radiating from the blue ceramic mug to her still frigid hands. The sweet coffee caressed her tongue, her throat before settling deep inside her, melting the outdoors away with each taste.

She loved coffee. If she could inject it straight into her veins, she would. But letting it settle on her taste buds was just as satisfying.

Tristan was watching her. She hadn't ignored his pitying glances since she had told him they were in a bind. She had just hoped that once inside of Luke's, he would move on to something else. Life in Tristan's world always had drama. She just expected some today would distract him from her problems.

But he wasn't offering anything, so she was going to bring up something on her own. "I forgot to tell you yesterday. I got my PSAT scores back."

He sipped his coffee, his mouth twisting in a half smile. "Let me guess. A perfect 1600."

"No. I got 740 verbal and a 760 math."

His eyes shot up. "Whoa. Way to go, Dexter."

She glowered at him. Sometimes she really didn't know why she dated him. He was so annoying, she wanted to swing a bat at his head. "I can't wait to find out what you got."

He chuckled. "Not that it matters." Then he sobered. "Honestly, I think your scores are great. We'll have fun in Harvard."

She smiled as she imagined it. The historic buildings, the well kept lawns, holding Tristan's hand as they walked through the quad. Hanging out in the dorms, meeting up for coffee at a nearby café after lectures, maybe even going to a few lectures together.

Her smile grew wider, and she watched Tristan as he smiled with her. He probably knew she was picturing it. It was her turn to jab him a bit. "If your scores are good enough."

He shrugged it off. "They're just practice scores. I'll do better on the SAT."

He was right. She put too much thought into her score. But if it was this good now, would she ever be able to top it come the time for the actual SAT?

Tristan's eyes shifted to the window, then his body went rigid. She followed his gaze, straight to the hazel eyes of Dean. He was glaring at Tristan but when he realized she was watching, he walked away. Rory sighed. She hadn't spoken to Dean since the night she had told him she was with Tristan, and she continued to feel awful about it. Dean had been more than her boyfriend. He had also been a friend and she couldn't stop blaming herself for causing him heartache. He didn't deserve what happened. She just hoped he would eventually realize how sorry she was about it.

"Stock boy is really starting to get on my nerves," Tristan muttered gruffly, taking in some more coffee. "I wish he would disappear."

Rory ignored the comment, knowing any remark she made about Dean would ultimately be seen as some kind of favoritism toward him. She moved on to something safer. "So your parents are in town."

He nodded. "They just got back yesterday. Ground breaking for a major hotel in Paris. So if you're ever in Paris, you can stay in our penthouse."

"What a coincidence! I was planning on going next week after my weekend in London." She took another sip as she let the sarcasm slip away. "How long are they staying?"

"I think my mother will stick around for a while. She has to start planning all the summer charity events she's on committee for. My dad will probably be on another trip in a couple of weeks. I know he mentioned something about Tokyo." He shrugged again, seemingly closing the subject. He usually didn't want to talk about his parents. It was a sour subject for him, and Rory was starting to think it was due to their constant trips. He acted like it didn't bother him when they were away, but when he did talk about the trips there was an underlying resentment, as if the trips offended him greatly.

In many ways, he reminded her of Lorelai. He didn't particularly like his parents, but she felt that part of him wanted to love them or at least their approval.

Her thoughts of Lorelai brought her back to the major issue at hand. The house. The termites. She groaned painfully. She needed a distraction. They may not be able to go to CBGB, but maybe they could go somewhere else. The thought of staying in and dwelling on the problem made her desperate for other plans. "Do you think we can do something tonight? I need to keep my mind off of things."

Tristan pondered for a moment before he gave her a mischievous smile. "I think I know of something we could do."

Her stomach lurched. She knew that look too well.