A/N: Okay, please please please don't kill me. Copper took a HUGE vacation and left me under the supervision of his step-cousin Kitty who, lemme tell you, is flighty as hell and refused to work on anything that Copper had started and made me go off on a complete tangent had me start and finish another story, not to say it wasn't a good story, I actually really liked it but any who, Copper is back from vacation and is now having me update some of my other stories. Either way, I apologize for the incredibly long wait so here's a little Trory for you, this chapter is all Rory/Leigh and Tristan.

Purple-Pebbles: I'm so glad you like the story so much and I'm always happy to have new supporters, I'm not done updating I simply have a muse who likes to start other stories before some are finished.

Astragail: Thank you for the glowing review, they always make it easier to force Copper home from working on his tan with them. And I'm soo glad you think I'm a good writer, thank you!

Curley-Q: I hope this chapter was worth the wait, Rory may be starting to come around.

Jeremy Shane: As always a please to see a review from you, I just hope I can keep you coming back.

PhoebeTheQueenOfDragons: Sorry it wasn't soon, but here is Chapter 9 and I plan on making Copper start working on Chapter 10 tonight.

Gypsyk179: Sorry my updates are so far in between that you forgot about me, but here's another one. As for the Lane story, it will come out soon enough.

EnJoY!

P.S. Sorry for any and all errors, I was just so excited to have another chapter finished that I may not have looked it over as carefully as I should

Leigh

When I get out of the shower the house is as silent as when I got in and all the bedroom doors are open so I look at the clock; 12:00 p.m. Of course, everyone is at their weekly luncheons, leaving me to entertain myself for the next couple of hours. I slowly get dressed, dragging on an old Ramone's t-shirt I'm sure I stole from Jesse and a pair of low rider jeans and pull my dark hair up into a messy bun with a chopstick I'd left in Jason's room forever ago, not worried about anyone seeing my scars. I finally make my way out of the room, intent on turning on the radio and making some fresh coffee, when I reach the end of the hall I notice that the coffee pot is still on and someone is sitting in on the sofa that's facing away from me, possibly reading. Ignoring them for the moment, assuming it's Colin ditching his parents again like he did a couple of weeks ago, I turn into the kitchen to get a mug full of coffee. On my way into the living room I stop at the wall mounted stereo and turn on the radio, keeping it low enough that it wont bother Collin but loud enough that I'm not alone with my thoughts if he doesn't feel like amusing me and then plop down on the other end of the sofa with a sigh before I bother looking at the person sitting next to me and my sigh turns into a grasp. "Hi." I say, my surprise showing clearly in my voice.

Tristan chuckles a little at my reaction. "Hey."

"I didn't know you were still here." I tell him, ducking my head down to avoid eye contact.

"I'm killing time before I head back to my house." He tells me, from the corner of my eye I see him shrug and I glance back up at him. "I actually wanted to ask you a question." He says and I look him in the face again, my surprise turning to confusion nodding my head slightly to tell him to go ahead and ask. "Would it bother you if I stayed here as well?" He asks me and continues before I can say anything. "It's no problem if you say no, it's just that I'm more comfortable here than in my own house and when I would come home for breaks for the last year and a half I spent my time hiding out here, usually with Finn or his parents, so this place became like my haven. But I don't want to make you uncomfortable so please feel free to tell me to go." I smile at his ranting and put my hand up to get him to stop. "I don't have any problem with you staying here as well." I don't know whether I should be offended by his look of shock but I ignore it none the less. "If anyone understands this place being a haven it's me. Besides, it's not my house you didn't even need to ask me." I tell him, looking down at my almost forgotten cup of coffee.

"It seems to me that this house is as much yours as it is the Morgan's." He says, chuckling a little causing me to glance up at him.'

"Why do you say that?" I ask him, again wondering if I should be offended.

"I know how much it takes to make you feel at home somewhere, and it seems to me like you're pretty comfortable calling this place home." He looks at me across the couch as though he's trying to study me and I'm suddenly regretting my decision to put my hair up. If there's anyone I don't want looking at my scarred body it's Tristan.

"What?" I ask him after a couple more seconds, my voice going from cordial to irritated quickly. I don't take being looked at well, I never have, and it's only gotten worse since the last time he'd gotten in trouble for staring at my ears during class.

"Nothing." He says quickly, looking away from me for a second before looking back at me. "Not to upset you or anything, but you look different with you hair that dark."

My hair? Of all the things for him to comment on he says something about my hair? "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I ask him, my voice sounding confused even to my own ears. Why on earth would he say something about my hair.

"I don't know if I've decided yet." He says, glancing back down at his book for a second before looking at me again. "I was kind of fond of your natural color, but that doesn't mean the black looks bad on you. I suppose it will just take some getting used to."

I smile softly at him before taking a sip of my coffee, surprising myself slightly at being able to maintain the eye contact he seems so content to have. "Don't try too hard." I tell him. "I'm thinking about making an appointment and changing it today." I blush slightly at the almost giddy smile that graces his beautiful lips. It really was unfair just how gorgeous this boy was. "Not that I know where to go, what to ask for or even how I'm going to get there. Nobody will be home for a couple of hours and now that I've decided to change it, I kinda wanna do it like, now." I tell him, shrugging a little and drinking more of my coffee.

He suddenly sits up straight closes his book, placing it on the couch, and is standing in front of me with his hand out. "Well lets go then."

I stare up at him uncomprehending. "What?"

"Lets go get your hair done." He says, still offering me his hand even though I'm currently looking at it likes it's something foreign. "I'll call my mom's stylist on the way. She'll do your hair right now, and she's not far." I sit there staring at him like he's grown two heads still not sure I'm understanding what I'm hearing. "Come on, just take my hand and we'll be back before you know it."

With a sigh and what is a huge leap of faith on my part, I place my small hand in his much larger, and surprisingly soft, hand and let him pull me off the couch. After putting on a pair of converse I have sitting near the door and grabbing my purse, I follow him out to his car and let him lead me blindly where ever it is we're going. My sudden complete trust in Tristan is shocking to say the least. I haven't been a very trusting person for a very long time and the fact that he hadn't had to do anything to earn it is confusing me. Why do I trust this boy who two years ago was constantly going back and forth between bane of my existence to a semi-friend. He'd never given me reason to believe he could or even would just help me out, but he'd also never given me a real reason to not. I shake my head trying to clear the confusing thoughts. Not that they were thoughts that bothered me, in fact they were thoughts that hadn't brought me any anguish and those were hard to come by, they were just confusing and not helpful.

I look over at Tristan and watch him as he drives. I'd never thought watching someone drive could be sexy, but watching him shift was kind of hot. Maybe it was because he just looked like he belonged there, like this car was a part of him. I glance around the interior at the black leather seats and the shiny black dash and wonder what kind of car it is he's driving. It's not flashy, like I would have expected from him, but it is filled with luxury almost as if to say "I have money, so I can be comfortable, but I don't have to tell the entire world about it in bright red". I didn't know a car could talk so much. I can see his school books laying across the seat in the back and I idly wonder if we have any classes together, I hadn't made it passed my second hour study hall.

After about five minutes of a comfortable silence where I simply studied Tristan and his car, we pull into a parking lot of what appears to be a very high class salon. "Here we are." Tristan says, putting the car in park and turning it off before looking over at me. "You sure about this?"

I smile at him before answering. "Sure, I kind of miss my natural hair color. I think I might be done rebelling."

"Well then, lets get this done."