The music that pulsed out of the speakers was slow and seductive, managing to emphasise the elegantly graceful movements of the blue eyed brunette on the stage. Her eyes were half lidded as she peered out over the crowd, her hands slowly moving down her body before she spun, her back facing the audience she ripped open her top, revealing the clasp of her risqué midnight blue bra in between ling stretches of creamy skin. Turning back round, Rory cupped her breasts, tipping her head back before swinging her hair in an arch, her body following afterwards as the tempo of the music picked up. Her hair flew around her in a frothy cloud, settling over her eyes as she trailed her hands to her trousers and popped open the single button, the drone of the zip hidden beneath the music as she peeled the trousers down her legs, daintily stepping out of them and kicking them with enough force to make them sail through the air to the waiting hands of Andrew, who then proceeded to store them behind the bar.

Rory bent down quickly, her hands holding onto her knees as she opened her knees for a tantalizing flash to the audience before she straightened her legs and then her waist, her hair flung back from her face as she grasped the pole before her. Like a long lost friend Rory embraced her the pole, using her upper body strength to lift herself up onto the pole and wrap a leg round it as she spun, her legs opening into splits seconds before she hit the floor. Cheekily glancing round one side of the pole, Rory unclasped her bra and flung it to the side, before rolling back and once again taking up position round the pole. Her hands caressed the silver surface before she thrust her hips up to the pole a couple of times, her eyes closed while she licked her lips. Feeling the tempo of the music increase again, Rory threw herself into her routine, executing move after move on the pole and on the ground, using the excited energy of the crowd to help fuel her performance until she collapsed to the ground, her chest heaving, breathing heavy, body slick with swear while whistles and claps rang out throughout the room, money being emptied into the baskets at the side of the stage, some of it being thrown onto the stage itself.

Smiling warily, Rory gathered what little energy she had left and made her way back stage, barely taking a step past the curtain that separated the front of the stage from the back before her vision tunneled, her hearing disappeared and she collapsed.

Rory woke up and winced, her arms weakly coming up to shield her from the harsh glare of the lights. Groaning, she tried to ignore the thumping headache currently residing at the forefront of her head and began trying to recall her last moments before everything went black. Frustrated at her lack of memory Rory slowly removed her hands and blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the bright lights. She glanced around, taking in the white wash walls, the single chair by the bed side, and the table next to the laden with fruit and cards and the bland grey plastic of the heart monitor. Of course as soon as she saw the monitor the sound rushed back to her ears and Rory could hear its steady beat echoing out into the room. Frowning, Rory raised her hand, rubbing the back of it across her nose before her eyes registered the single cannula coming out of the back of her hand, providing an obstacle to her nose. Fascinated, she watched the steady flow of blood within the tube, unsure whether it was going in or out of her body and uncaring of the answer.

Her relative reflection period was cut short however by a hard shove to her room's doors and the frantic arrival of Paris, Tristan, Logan, Colin and Finn, Jess and Lane. They all stared at the wide awake Rory and she stared back, until the silence became too much to take.

"Ummmm……..Hi?"

"Hi? Hi! You've been unconscious for the last two days and all you can say is hi!" Tristan placed a calming hand on Paris' shoulder as she exploded, though she quickly shrugged it off and continued talking.

"What gives you the right to do this to us, huh?! What gives you the right to scare all of us like this and act all nonchalant about it afterwards? You have some nerve Gilmore and if you weren't already laid out in a hospital bed I can guarantee that's where'd you be heading after I'd finished with you."

By now Paris' cheeks were flushed and she was bent hovering over a very confused Rory.

"Ummmm…… Sorry?"

"Sorry? Sorry?! I swear Gilmore if you ever pull another stunt like this I will kill you myself!"

Rory watched startled as Paris burst into tears, before turning and burying her head into Tristan's chest.

"Just ignore her Ace, she's just happy to see that you're ok."

Rory snorted, something that was echoed by Colin who muttered a "could have fooled me" before Lane elbowed him in the side.

Before anything else could be said the door opened with a soft whoosh and a doctor, well she was assuming it was a doctor from the way he was dressed, briskly walked into the room. Upon seeing Rory awake, he broke out into a smile and began checking her vitals, before he turned to face her and rest of the room's occupants.

"Well I'm glad to see that you're awake Rory, gave your friends quite the scare I can tell you."

"So what's wrong with me doc?"

"You'll be glad to know that it's only a case of overworking yourself and not looking after yourself properly, nothing seriously damaging to you… Though it was made worse by the baby using up some of your already depleted energy."

Everyone turned to look at Rory as she drastically paled, oblivious to the identical paling of Tristan as the news sunk in.

Rory gave a hysterical laugh "I'm sorry, I thought you said baby… must have been my hearing or something like that."

Doctor Steven's stopped studying Rory's charts to stare down at her.

"Oh. I assumed you knew about your pregnancy seeing as you are two months along."

Once again silence descended upon the group as they digested the doctor's words.

"You're having sex? With who?"

Lane clamped her hand over her mouth at her exclamation.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that, but this is a bit…"

"Stupid, irresponsible, uncoming and I best be made godmother!"

Tristan was holding onto Paris for a whole different reason as he tried to catch Rory's gaze, something that was proving to be difficult as she was studiously avoiding his eyes, actually, come to think of it since the doctor had made his news Rory had been studiously ignoring everyone in the room.

"Ummm, Ror? Rory?" Jess leant over Rory, waving his hand in her face, something that eventually gained her to come out of her trance like state. "Hi star shine, earth says hello." All Rory could do was blink up at Jess before she passed out, missing the frantic cries of her friends as they all rushed towards her.

The phone wouldn't stop ringing. Morning and night the damn phone rang and rang; its incessant tone slowly but surely driving her up the wall. She could answer it of course, she could put a stop to the insanity gradually taking a hold over her mind, but she chose not to. She couldn't pick up the phone and hear his deep tone filled with worry and more depressingly something that sounded like love. She'd managed to avoid him for a week, almost two since she'd been released from the hospital and she wouldn't give in… she couldn't.

Sighing to herself, Rory gathered up the tattered remains of her will and plodded over to the kitchen, her body demanding the plain but highly delicious combination of Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream with maple syrup, her spoon within loading distance of her mouth before there was a sharp knock on the door. Glancing at the time she shrugged her shoulders, it was probably the Chinese she'd ordered in the hopes of not giving into her sweet craving, something that obviously failed.

Though while it was the familiar smell and sight of the Chinese that Rory found it was the unfamiliar face of the familiar face of the person who was delivering it that caused Rory to momentarily forget the bowl of ice cream in her hand.

"You've been avoiding me."

"Really? 'Coz for the life of me I can't think why. Now give me my food and leave."

"Rory.."

"Don't you dare 'Rory' me!"

"Rory, we need to talk, you know we do and the sooner we talk then the sooner I can be out of your hair… for the time being anyway."

Deciding to ignore his last comment Rory opened the door wider to allow Tristan to breeze past into her apartment, the heavenly spicy scent of his cologne sending her senses spiraling out of control.

"Come on Rory, get it together. You need to be strong for the baby, not letting your hormones get the best of you."

Slightly rallied by her little pep talk, Rory closed the door and made her way towards the father of her baby.

When she was younger and more naïve Rory always felt the need to fill any silences with words; she'd been unable to understand that sometimes silences were a good thing and that by speaking she placed the other occupants in the room in an uncomfortable position to say something back. Over the years, she come to relish comfortable silences, no longer ruled by her desire to speak and fill the empty space with meaningless words, though as she sat across from Tristan, her eyes taking in his exhausted features, Rory felt the undeniably prickly urge to speak.

"You need to eat." Rory started as his voice penetrated her thoughts, her eyes wide as they met his before drifting back down to the steaming food he'd laid out for her.

"When did you…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes rose to meet his, his wry chuckle seeming to sooth her slightly.

"When you were lost in those thoughts floating around in that pretty little head of yours."

It must have been the hormones acting up because there was no way that Rory could explain the blush that seemed to bloom on her cheeks. Almost demurely she placed the now melted ice cream on the table and picked up her fork and container, inhaling the various enticing aromas wafting up past her nose. Momentarily forgetting about decorum Rory literally began ploughing through the various options laid out before her: prawns in black bean and green pepper sauce, chicken fried rice, peking duck with soy sauce in a wrap, chicken chow mein and a couple of fortune cookies.

Reveling in the tastes that assaulted her taste buds, Rory found herself loading her fork with food and offering it up to Tristan. Eyes never leaving hers, Tristan leaned in and closed his lips around the offered fork, watching as the small smile of pleasure of having tasted the food left Rory's face to be replaced with something else entirely, the hand that was holding the fork shaking slightly and causing it to quiver against his lips. Reaching up, Tristan took the hand into his own, pulling the fork away from himself and placing it down beside the food. Tugging gently on her hand he brought it up level with his face and placed a whispery kiss on her wrist, pleased when her breathing hitched and her eyes closed.

When they reopen her eyes were molten liquid, burning brightly as they remained on his, the oceans of time seeming to stand still before they began flowing again with the wave of nausea that suddenly washed over Rory. Horrified, she yanked her hand out of his and clamped it over her mouth before almost sprinting to the bathroom. Collapsing to her knees, she hunched herself over the bowl, throwing up the little food she'd managed to consume before she'd become somewhat distracted. Sagging against the cool porcelain of the toilet bowl, Rory gulped in air, before instantly regretting it as she dragged herself up to once again throw up.

The Feeling of soothing hands rubbing her back and holding her hair away from her face, had Rory's face crumpling in silent tears, humiliated beyond belief. Pushing back gently against his hands, Rory sat so she was supported by the wall, her eyes darting any but to his. "Welcome to the wonderful world of pregnancy. I would offer you the complementary welcoming batch of cookies, but they'd just make me sick again so you'll have to do without I'm afraid."

Tristan couldn't help the startled burst of laughter that escaped from between his lips at her wry words. Shaking his head, he rummaged around the bathroom until he found a face flannel. Dampening it slightly, he crouched down in front of Rory and grasping her chin, he titled her head upwards and began wiping away her tear tracks as well as gently cooling her face with the flannel. A soft sigh whispered out of Rory's mouth as her eyes fluttered closed and she relaxed completely under his soft touch. After a few minutes, he stood back up, and Rory hearing his movements opened her eyes confused, staring at the hand he silently held out for her to take. Reaching upwards, she allowed him to pull her to her feet and over to the sink. Catching on, Rory began brushing her teeth and washing her face fully, while Tristan disappeared back out into the living room.

Finishing several minutes later, Rory walked out to find all the food packed up from earlier. Eyebrow raised, she turned towards the man responsible as he came up behind her. She frowned up at him as he began to lead her towards her bedroom, pondering over the fact as to why he knew where it was seeing as this was the first time, to her knowledge at least, that he'd been in her apartment. Tristan, still not saying anything, smiled softly at her frown, guessing the nature of her thoughts, before stooping slightly to place a butterfly kiss on her forehead and continued to lead her towards her bedroom. As if he'd done this millions of times before, he began the process of putting her to bed, stripping her of her clothes, stopping briefly to placed another butterfly kiss on her stomach before searching for something she could wear instead, finally managing to unearth a long shelved jumper that fell to mid thigh. Pulling back the covers he scooped her up into his arms and laid her down on the bed, before pulling the covers back over her. Rory marveled at his actions, finding her heart beating frantically despite the slowly of her thoughts and other processes her body had been performing.

Startling slightly, Rory opened the eyes she hadn't even realised she'd shut as Tristan began moving away from her. Gripped with a sudden panic, she grasped his hand and pulled him towards her. "Don't leave". Titling her head back, she indicated for him to join her, smiling sleepily as he gave into her request. Toeing off his shoes and shrugging off his jacket, Tristan moved in closer to the bed, halting only to remove his shirt to the pleasure of some part of Rory's mind that was still functioning before climbing into the bed behind her. His arms seemed to automatically seek out her body as they wrapped around her and pulled her closer until his front spooned snuggly against her back. Burrowing back even further into the heat his body provided, Rory once again closed her eyes, a smile playing on her lips as she felt the feather light kiss pressed to the back of her head.