Boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. That was what Tristan saw when he looked around his basement. They had lived in their house for almost a year and they still had yet to unpack everything. Of course, when his daughter needed a costume for a dress-up party, Rory had suggested some of her old clothes and immediately sent Tristan down to look for them.

"LEX!" He cried, hoping for some help.

"What?" She cried back.

"Get down here please!" Rory followed her daughter down the steps.

"What's with all the yelling?" Rory asked.

"I have no idea which box you are talking about." He said, pointing to the stacks. Rory sighed.

"I guess we are just going to have to read the labels." She said as she rolled her eyes. "Never send a man to do a woman's job." Tristan didn't take any offense, happy to have the help.

"It's your costume and your old clothes," he pointed to the two of them "you two can help look for it."

"Here's one that says High school on it." Alexia said. "That has got to be comical."

"Go ahead, start digging." Rory said, peering over her shoulder. "I have no idea what we are going to find." She opened the box and was immediately confronted with a picture album. Taking out the album, she began to look at the pictures, mostly of her mom in Stars Hollow with her Grandma.

"Halloween?" Alexia asked as she pointed to a photo of Rory standing in front of her house in 50's attire. Rory's hand went over her mouth to hide the smile as she shook her head.

"Not quite." Tristan looked over the two brunette heads to see what they were talking about. "My first boyfriend Dean and I got into a fight over Donna Reed."

"Who?"

"An old actress, anyway, it progressed into women's rights, blah blah blah and I, of course, was offended that he wanted a wife who would cook him meals."

"Nothing's changed." Tristan said with a wink.

"It was our first fight and back then it seemed like a big deal. So to make up for it, I made him a meal, got dressed up, invited him over, the whole deal."

"Wow, that's so not like you." She said as she looked at her dad. "You must have really liked him."

"I was so young, but yeah, I did like him."

"Did you know Dad then?" She asked.

"Um" she thought about it. "Yeah, this must have been just a week or two after I started Chilton. We broke up a year later." Lex didn't say anything, just kept turning the pages. When nothing in particular caught her eye, she moved on to the next box. She read the side of the box.

"Yale bookstore." She read. Rory put a finger out to stop her but she had already torn into the box. "More pictures. Of another blonde man." Her voice dripping with drama. "Who is this?" She held up a frame.

"That would be my Logan box, my last boyfriend before your father." Rory looked over and smiled.

"How long did you date him?"

"On and off for two years. It was two years too many though. He was trouble from the get-go."

"Oh my God." She reached into the box and pulled out the engagement ring that Rory had kept. "Was this from him?" Tristan paused to look at the ring, but then returned to rifling through a box. Rory sighed.

"Yep."

"And you said no? Look at it, it's gorgeous."

"I said no. I wasn't ready. It wasn't supposed to be."

"But you stole the ring?" She shook her head.

"He wanted me to keep it. I thought about selling it, but it seemed cruel."

"Who knew that you had such a sordid history with men." Tristan snorted at the comment, knowing that there was a reason he called her Mary.

"I do not have a sordid history with men! I only had three boyfriends before I met your dad, they just were, unfortunately, never ending relationships."

"And how many girlfriends did you have?" Alexia looked up at her dad awaiting the answer.

"One." He said, obviously lying.

"You taught me not to lie." She looked at her mother, expecting a better answer.

"Don't look at me…I didn't want to know."

"I never had a serious girlfriend before you." He told Rory. "I had plenty of girls, but I have no boxes."

"Not even a Rory box?" Alexia asked.

"We never broke up. I never needed one." Rory smiled at his answer.

"Okay, stop looking at each other like that. I still need a costume." She said, completely grossed out. The next box belonged to Tristan.

"Oooh, very nice." She said as she held up one of Tristan's dress uniforms from the Academy. Rory laughed, unable to picture Tristan in any uniform.

"Ah." He acted scared of the piece. "Put it away. Horrible memories."

"Hey! I'm recounting ex-boyfriends, you can handle a memory or two."

"Looks like Dad has a box after all." Alexia said as she pulled out his old Chilton uniform and his yearbooks.

"I honestly had no idea that was in there. I must have thrown all my Chilton stuff into one box when I moved." She opened a yearbook and a pamphlet came floating out.

"Romeo and Juliet." She said, picking up the program. "This is from that play you told me about!"

"You kept that?" Rory asked as she moved across the room to see it. "Oh my God."

"Let me see. Wow. Where did that you find that?" Tristan asked.

"The yearbook."

"You didn't even act in that, how did you get a program?" Rory smiled at him.

"I must have gotten one at the entrance, five minutes later we were saying goodbye."

"Little did we know." Rory said with a grin.

"Dad, every girl in here wrote her phone number next to their picture." She said as she showed him the yearbook.

"I was popular," he shrugged. Rory rolled her eyes.

"It was his very own directory."

"Moving on." Alexia grimaced as she put down the yearbook with two fingers in disgust.

"Aha!" Rory said as she opened another box. "I found it!" Pulling out her dresses from a variety of society engagements, she held them up for her daughter to analyze. "What do you think? Anything strike you as costume material, and remember, please be kind." Alexia sorted through the dresses, some of which Tristan remembered and pulled out one in particular.

"Oooh, this is perfect." She said as she pulled out a black number. "It's cute and it's vintage! Way to go Mom." She said as she held it up to her own body.

OOOOO

"Oh my God! You look fantastic." She said. "Spin around. Let me see it. Yeah, that looks great on you, but it's missing…something." Rory stared at her for a second and then ran to her closet and emerged with a pair of black heels. "There, now that's better. You got my legs so you can totally pull it off."

"Oh no." Tristan said as his daughter appeared from her room. "Absolutely not."

"Daddy!"

"Lex, it's way too short!"

"Mom wore it!" She said, convinced that would change his mind.

"She's also four inches shorter than you are."

"Tristan, she looks fine." A knock on the door reminded them all why they were having this conversation. "Okay, have fun, be safe." She said as she pushed her daughter out the door. Tristan still stood in the living room.

"I cannot believe you are letting your daughter go out like that."

"I cannot believe that you are worried about her."

"Do you remember the first time I saw that dress?" Rory smiled.

"Please, she's still in high school."

"Do you remember the first time I saw that dress?" He repeated.

"It had nothing to do with that dress. I could have been wearing a bag over my head and clothes that were three sizes too big and you still would have drooled over me when I walked in the door."

"Maybe, but she's way too young to be wearing that out in public."

"Tristan, it's a cocktail dress. Get over it. Consider it payback for your own high school years that you are sitting here tonight worrying about boys who are just like you used to be."

"She needs to get a boyfriend." He said, surprising Rory.

"Right, and that will help the situation how?"

"At least then there will only be one boy who needs to be threatened, right now I have to worry about everyone who sets eyes on her."

"Someday she'll have a big strong boyfriend to protect her, but for now, will you please have a little faith in your own kid?" Tristan sighed and looked over at her smile and it made him smile automatically. It was then that he realized something.

"It's quiet…too quiet. Where's Nathan?" He asked Rory.

"At Matt's. Although it's not a sleepover because 'boys don't have those'." She rolled her eyes as she mocked their son. "Anyway, we've got the house to ourselves." Tristan's grin broadened.

"When was the last time that happened?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around his wife. She shrugged as he bent down to kiss her neck. "Do you still have any of those dresses out?" He asked as he pressed a smirk against her skin. With a giggle, Rory shook her head as she pulled away from him.

"You'll just have to use your imagination." She said as she pulled him towards the bedroom.