"Ouch, Mom!" That was the third time Lorelai had poked her with a pin. Rory was starting to think she was doing it on purpose. Lorelai ignored her complaint, saying only, "Hold still." She had been standing there for half an hour, while Lorelai fitted the shimmery navy material around her. "I am, and you still keep poking me!" Lorelai tugged the back together tighter and pinned it. "There. I should be able to get the rest done without you." Rory admired the makings of her Homecoming dress; the navy shot through with ice blue threading was a good pick. "It feels tighter than the white one." Lorelai double checked it. "It's about the same. But you want the top snug so it doesn't droop. Strapless is pretty, but it's got to be tight." Rory shrugged, assuming she was right.

Finally at a stopping point, they settled on the couch and vegged like they normally would on a Saturday, when they didn't have to make a party dress. "Will we be seeing Tristan today? I'm assuming you don't plan on going," Lorelai gasped dramatically, "a whole day without him."

Rory threw a pillow at her. "Yes, Drama Queen. He's coming over in a little bit to study until Lane gets off work." First quarter finals were Monday and Tuesday so they had some work to do. And it was sleep over night for her and Lane, long overdue.

"Off topic, but he needs a navy suit to match you, not a tux. Do guys wear tuxes to Homecoming?"

Rory tried to think what was in his closet. "No idea, but I'll look at what he's got Monday."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "You mean, when you go into his closet and pick out one of the many, many articles of clothing you keep there?"

"Yes, Mom."

An hour later Tristan was looking at the dress-in-progress tossed across the chair. Unprompted, he told them he had a suit kind of like that – not as "shiny" he said, but the guy version of it. "We can match." Rory looked at Lorelai, "See, problem solved." Lorelai pointed to the threading, "Tie this color." Tristan pulled out his phone, went onto the Brooks Brothers website, picked it, showed Lorelai, and ordered it. "It'll be here Monday."

They spread out across the couch and coffee table and spent all afternoon studying for the Monday exams. Finally, he groaned and said he was done. "I can't do anymore. My brain hurts." He tossed his stuff onto the floor, stretched out on the couch, and laid his head on her lap. "Wake me up when you're done, Mary." Rory kept at it, running her hand through his hair while he slept and she tried to finish up. Lorelai walked in just as Rory was closing her last notebook. "Done?"

"Yep. Tristan gave up a little while ago," she said, her hand still in his hair. She looked down at him. "His hair is a mystery. It's so soft."

Lorelai rolled her eyes at them. "This whole situation is pretty funny. He drove you nuts when you got to Chilton. You complained about him constantly. We named him the Spawn of Satan, for God's sake. And now, here you two are, like this. Ever think you'd be sitting on our couch running your hands through his hair while he sleeps, staring at him like he's Prince Charming?"

Rory laughed. "Nope. Yet here we are."

"Yep, here we are. Wake Pretty Boy up. You guys can come to the town meeting since you're done and Lane still has a few hours of work left. I'm on snacks," she said as she headed towards the kitchen.

She stared at him, considering what her mom said. It had taken them a while to get here, but, yeah, the Spawn of Satan was her Prince Charming. She put her hand on his face and rubbed. "Time to wake up, Dugrey." He looked up at her. "Hi," she said as she ran her finger over his lips. He sat up and put his hand in her hair, pulling her mouth to his. "Hi," he told her when he finally let her go.

"You're in luck. We studied so efficiently that now we have time to go to the town meeting." He laughed. He also knew enough about Stars Hollow to just go with it and followed the Gilmores out the door.

The building they'd practiced for the play was also apparently the place where town meetings were held. He sat between Rory and Lorelai and wasn't at all surprised when Lorelai pulled popcorn, twizzlers, and other crap out of her purse. Luke slid in next to Lorelai.

He leaned over to Rory, "How long are we going to be here? Your mom has enough food to last days."

"It depends."

"On what?"

"What Taylor has on the agenda. There's nothing involving us this time, so we're here solely for the entertainment."

"Is there often stuff about you two on the agenda?"

"Have you met my mom?"

"Right."

Patty banged the gavel. Taylor took over. And off they went. Slowly. Until Taylor made a motion to paint all buildings on Main Street a pastel color, and Luke went ballistic. Lorelai and Rory voted against that.

"You get to vote?"

"Until someone complains. And Luke doesn't want a pink building."

"No kidding."

Later that night, long after Tristan had left and Rory, Lane, and Lorelai had watched hours of Ab Fab, Rory and Lane were sitting on her bed talking. Lane described her most recent date to the high school hockey game with the Korean guy Mrs. Kim had found at bible study. "He shook my hand when we got back to my house. And then turned around and walked away. Without saying anything!" Lane's dates, as set up by Mrs. Kim, made for good stories. "Enough about me and my pathetic dating life. On to you and your non-pathetic dating life."

Rory smiled, "What do you want to know?"

"Tell. Me. Everything! I need to live vicariously through you."

"Well, it's good. Tristan is great."

"You suck. That's not everything! First date was the movies. Tell me about it."

She talked for a while about how they got together, giving her some, but not all, of the details. Some things were just for her and Tristan. Lane wanted to know about naked Tristan, wagging her eyebrows. Rory laughed, knowing Lane was expecting her to say she hadn't seen Tristan naked, and told her naked Tristan was something to behold. Lane's mouth dropped open. Knowing Tristan wasn't shy about his body, she told her, "He's got these muscles. His arms. His chest. His abs. His stomach cuts to that V you see in magazines or on tv. Amazing." Lane blinked, "And you've seen the rest?" Rory smiled. "Yeah. Like I said, amazing."

The rest of the weekend and test days flew by. And on Wednesday, when they got their report cards at the end of the day, Rory glanced at hers fast and then looked at Tristan, biting her lip nervously, waiting for him to make some noise. After a few seconds, she lost her patience, "Well?"

He kept his face even and handed it to her. She looked at it and let out a whoop. Straight As. She dropped her backpack and flung herself at him. "You did it!" He smiled down at her, "We did it." She dug for her phone. "Here, hold it," she pushed the report card back at him. She snapped his picture with his report card. "Can I send it to Ben? Or do you want to tell him?" Tristan laughed. "Go ahead. If it comes from you, he'll be less likely to think I had it altered before giving it to him." She looked up at him from her typing, "Did you do that once?" Tristan looked away and whistled. "Tristan!"

She texted Ben the picture, with the note "Bam!"

Grabbing his hand as they walked out of the school, she told him, "I'm so proud of you." And it was good timing since they had to send out their college applications within the next week or so. "Maybe he'll cut you loose earlier now, you know, on account of good behavior."

Tristan looked over at her. "I hope not. Getting a babysitter has been the best thing that's ever happened to me." He was smiling but squeezed her hand and told her he was serious, "I mean it. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me."

She thought back. "I was so pissed you were leaving. Because I'd just started to realize I liked you."

"Well now you have me." His phone beeped. His dad, congratulating him and telling him he was proud of him. He smiled.

Rory's phone beeped next. Ben telling her she had his unending gratitude. She smiled.

They were sitting in his kitchen a little while later when Rory batted her eyelashes at Tristan. "So, tomorrow's my birthday."

"You don't say."

"I do say."

"Have anything to tell me?"

"Nope."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Mean."

He smirked at her, "Payback is a bitch, Mary."

Grace laughed at the exchange. She was making spaghetti and meatballs, one of Tristan's favorites, because Ben had called and asked her to. "I have to say, Tristan," she teased, "I never thought I'd be making a celebratory dinner for you getting straight As. Maybe one day for you graduating high school without being expelled. But for good grades – never!"

Tristan grinned fast. "There's still time for expulsion."

Rory smacked him. "This just proves he's been lazy all along. Now that my dork ways have rubbed off on him, he's going to get straight As every time."

With Grace stirring sauce at the stove and her back to them, Tristan leaned over and whispered to Rory, "We should go up to my room and let your dork ways rub off on me a little more, now." When his mouth closed over her earlobe, Rory bit back a moan.

Tristan told Grace they'd see her at dinner. She looked at him narrow eyed, not nearly as oblivious as he thought she was. "Your dad is coming home early. We're eating in an hour," she warned. He gave her a thumbs up and took Rory by the hand.

He pulled Rory up the back stairs, through the hall, and into his room, locking the door behind him. She turned to look at him, smiling. "What now?" she asked. He moved towards her. "Now, we make out. Consider it an exploratory free for all," he said pulling her to him and leaving his mouth hovering just over hers, "where you can touch whatever you want." He closed his mouth over hers and kissed her until she reached out to hold onto his forearms. "You good with that, Mary?" he asked as he started kissing down her neck. "Ugh, yeah," is all she got out.

He walked them backwards to his bed. When the back of her knees hit the bed, he reached down and put his hands on her thighs moving under her skirt and onto her ass, lifting her so she wrapped her legs around him as he crawled them up the bed. She ran her hands over his stomach and up his chest, and he mimicked her move, kissing her the entire time. She moaned and let her head fall back on the pillow when she felt his hands move over her chest. His mouth was on her neck again as he unbuttoned the first few buttons of her shirt. When he licked his way down to her cleavage, she tugged on his shirt to pull it out of his pants. She dragged her hands under his shirt, across his abs, up his chest, and back down to his abs. He moved his mouth back to hers as he untucked her shirt and slid his hands up to cup her breasts through her bra. Her head fell back again and she held onto the top of his pants and his belt. She tentatively moved one of her hands down over the front of his pants and felt him lean into her hand. She rubbed back and forth a little, encouraged when he made an unintelligible sound. She slid her other hand down the back of his pants, under his boxers to squeeze his butt. He ran his hands back down her stomach and over her skirt to her thighs before pushing back up under her skirt, bringing his hands up, barely skimming over the front of her thong. He moved his thumbs back and forth, before moving his hands outward slightly so his thumbs could slide just barely under the silky material. Her moan brought him back to her mouth. He bit her lip when he felt her undo his belt and button and groaned when her hand slid over him as she unzipped his pants. Her heart was pounding as she gently ran her hand over the length of him, feeling the smooth hard skin. He groaned when she closed her fingers around him. "God, Rory." He moved his thumbs further inward and further into her thong, meeting in the middle and running up and down. "Oh my God, Tristan."

And then they heard the intercom buzz with Grace's cheery voice, "Dinnertime in five minutes, kids!"

Tristan dropped his head onto her chest. "I hate people." Rory's laugh was a little rusty from her heavy breathing. They both slowly pulled their hands back. "I guess the exploration is halted for now," Rory quipped. Tristan groaned and laughed at the same time.

They ate in the kitchen around the island, with Grace, Rory and Ben all teasing Tristan about his newfound success in school. Tristan was a good sport, accepting all the razzing. And Ben, after telling Tristan how proud he was and how he knew he could do it, ended Tristan's punishment early, as Rory predicted. "I have a feeling your life won't change much because Rory will still be on your ass about school, but, in any event, you're free again."

Tristan and Rory smiled at each other when Tristan told her, "You were the best babysitter ever." Grace burst out laughing and Ben rolled his eyes.

As Rory was gathering her stuff up, she tossed Ben the car keys to her car. "Thanks for letting me use it," she smiled at him before turning to Tristan and wagging her eyebrows, "Give me a ride home, Dugrey?"

Ben looked at the keys in his hand. "What do you mean, Rory?"

She looked at him oddly. "The car was a loaner while I was on babysitting duty, but I'm done. He's all grown up now."

Ben started, "Keep the car." She shook her head. "Rory, I have no use for this car. I bought it for you." When she didn't budge, he inclined his head toward his office. She looked at Tristan, shrugged, and followed Ben into the room. "I'm not sure you understand what you've done for me, Rory. What you've done for me and Tristan. We were about to have a hard break, one we might not have recovered from if I'd sent him to military school. Instead, I can talk to my son every day, eat dinner with him, laugh with him. My son, who is now, largely because of you, the happiest I've ever seen him. Keep the car." When she opened her mouth, he said, "Keep it at least until next fall when you guys decide if you're taking cars to college or not. Then we'll figure it out."

She stared at her hands. "Okay. But two things. One, you made the effort and Tristan knows it. And two, you're going to have to deal with my mom about the car and that'll be a battle." She smiled at him, grabbed the keys, and walked out.