Chapter 11-Morning Light

The plane arrived in Rome a couple of hours later. Tristan felt lucky that his sister was in London for the week, otherwise they might have had to fly commercial and he knew Rory wouldn't be able to rest.

Fortunately Rory had fallen asleep. Her head was on his lap and her brown hair gently laid across his legs. Tristan himself was tired, but he couldn't bring himself to close his eyes. Plus there was the mountain of paper work seated next to him calling his name. But he didn't want to do it. He was attempting to think about him Rory.

For a while, he thought he could last seeing her privately, outside of the office, on weekends, and nights. He was starting to realize that this wasn't enough. He didn't want to have to worry about being seen with her.

Additionally there was the velvet box that had been residing in his left breast pocket.

For the past three weeks he had been carrying it around with him. For the life of him, he didn't know what had possessed him to buy it.

He had been in New York City for the weekend, attending to legal matters of Dugrey Enterprises. His sister had made a deal to buy a cell phone service company and being the majority stockholder, she needed his signature to finalize the deal.

Kylie Dugrey amazed him beyond belief. She had taken the company to heights no one thought possible. Originally there were mumblings that she wouldn't do the job well and the business world was shocked by Tristan's decision to hand the multi-billion dollar company to his sister. But his sister had done well. And he was proud of her, so when she needed him to do one thing, he immediately got on a plane to do his part.

The brother and sister relationship had definitely grown since their parents' deaths. They talked to each other about once a week on the phone and pretty much told each other everything. Although, before the trip to New York, Tristan had yet to tell Kylie about his and Rory's relationship. He had even neglected telling her that Rory was in Rome let alone working for him. But he had cracked and told her.

Kylie was making dinner for both of them when he told her. "Kylie?"

"Yeah?" She threw some onions into the pan.

"I'm dating Rory Gilmore," he stated.

"What?" She turned around to face him.

Tristan sighed. "I should have told you a long time ago, but she's my executive assistant at the Embassy."

"What?" she repeated. Most of the time his sister was the smartest woman he knew, but other times she could be dumbest.

"Rory is my executive assistant," he enunciated every syllable.

"And you're dating her."

"Yes for three months."

"And she's been your executive assistant for six months?" she calculated how long Tristan had been the ambassador to Italy.

"About that," he estimated.

"So you guys are dating now?"

"Yes," Tristan asserted.

Kylie didn't say anything for a moment. She seemed to be trying to wrap her mind around this interesting development in Tristan's life. "I'm still confused," she said.

"I – am – dating – Rory – Gilmore."

"I get that part, but why would she ever want to be with you again? Frankly Tristan last time, you treated her like shit and if I were her, I would never take you back, so…"

"Hey!"

"Well I wouldn't, so exactly how did this happen? And please leave out the gross details that a sister should never hear," she gave Tristan a serious look.

Tristan laughed a little at his sister's attempt to curve the exact details of his and Rory's relationship. "A week into being the Ambassador, State finally assigned me an assistant. I didn't know it would be Rory, hell, I didn't even know she worked for State. So she shoes up at my office. I found out a half an hour before she got there that it would be her. Although she had no idea I was the ambassador. She was surprised to say the least.

"And in the beginning it was awkward. It worked; we didn't really have any problems. That is until I made her attend the Prime Minister's ball."

"Let me guess. You forced her to wear some designer gown and play some part, right?"

His sister had nailed it right on the dot. "Kind of."

"And let me guess again. You guys kissed or slept together right?"

"How do you know that?"

"Let's just say I know my brother and I know how you are with women, especially Rory Gilmore."

"Kylie there's just something about her. I can't help myself when it comes to her. I tried for fourteen years to forget her and I just couldn't. And there she was right in front of me and I gave myself to my own devices. But just like the first time, I pushed her away again. I woke up the next morning after we slept together and I was scared. She was lying in my bed and I couldn't find it in me to tell her everything I wanted.

"Rory even tried to talk to me about what we were and I pushed her away. I don't know what I was thinking. And after I thought down and analyzed it I realized that I could never get away from her even if I wanted to. So I went to her apartment and basically told her I wanted her. That I wasn't leaving until she took me back and against her better judgment she did. Now we are together, but we agreed not to tell anyone about our relationship because otherwise we'd probably both lose our jobs."

There was a pause between them. Kylie was trying to digest the whole thing and Tristan had never expressed exactly how he felt about Rory.

"Do you love her?" Kylie's question knocked him out of his thoughts and he answered immediately.

"Of course I love her."

"No do you love her? The kind of love that lasts a lifetime. The kind of love that makes you want to see her every moment of every day. The kind of love that even at the moments you want to strangle her, you still want to kiss her at the same time. The kind of love that when you wake up in the morning, you adore the fact that she's lying next to you," she explained passionately

"The kind of love you had with Aiden?" he asked.

"Yes, the kind of love I had with Aiden," she replied, remembering her husband. He had died in a car accident about four years ago and Tristan never knew exactly how she was able to get through it. The way she handled Aiden's death made him admire her even more.

"The way you loved Aiden, that's the way I love Rory."

"Then Tristan she's the one you're meant to be with."

"I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I never thought I would want to say this, but I want to marry her. I want to be the one holding her every night. The one getting up at three in the morning to feed the six month old, so she doesn't have to. I want to be the one fighting with her over whether or not we should buy a mini van."

"You've never talked about a girl like that before."

"I use to think that about Rory back when I was younger, but I would never articulate it. I never thought it would be real, but now I've grown up and maybe it can happen."

"Tristan if Rory feels have the way you feel about her, then it will happen."

"Kylie, there are so many obstacles. I just don't know if we are going to be able to get through it. At one point we are going to have to move beyond the office. How are we suppose to have a real relationship if we can't even be out in the open without having to worry about getting in trouble?"

She looked at her brother. He had never been so in love before. In high school with Rory, he was in young love. In six months, she could tell that he had grown up more then in the past sixteen years. "You just have to get through it Tristan."

"I know."

The next morning, after he had signed the merger agreement, he had a few hours to kill before his flight back to Rome and to Rory. He wanted to get her something. He felt guilty leaving here there for a weekend without him, even though she had said she would be fine, he still wanted to make up it up to her.

And walking along Fifth Avenue, he found the store that he thought would be the perfect fit for what he was looking for.

Tiffany and Co.

He went in looking for a bracelet, maybe a necklace. However, among the crowd of people, he made his way to the ring section. After his purchase, he swore that his subconscious must have led him to the section designated for men aspiring to propose to the women they loved. He settled on a white gold ring with a square cut diamond in the middle surrounded by a small diamond on each side. It was simple but at the same time had a little bit of the ostentatious Tristan desired so people knew Rory was taken.

For the past three weeks that velvet box had been taunting him. And right now it was even worse. His senses focused on the way it felt against his chest through the silk lining of the expensive designer suit he was wearing. He wanted to ask her.

In fact he had the entire scenario planned out. He had made reservations at one of the five star hotels on Le Cinque Terre in Genoa for the next weekend. They were going to have a nice dinner in one of the best restaurants of the area. Then on the balcony of the penthouse, he was going to get down on one knee and ask for her to spend the rest of her life with him.

Now on the plane ride to Hartford, he was scared for what was in store for them.

Rory was best friends with her mother. He had never seen someone so close with any of his or her parents than her. It was like Lorelai was Rory's twin, except older and her mother. They had the kind of relationship that every single mother-daughter and father-son wished for. And Tristan had a feeling that when him and Rory were parents themselves it was going to be exactly like that for them because Rory wouldn't settle for anything less.

Tristan ran his hand through Rory's hair. It had become a habit for him to do when she was sleeping. At three in the morning when he was thinking about the Parmesan cheese trade agreement, he would feel Rory's hair and he would get this feeling of serenity. He could remember doing the same exact thing when they were younger and now it was nostalgic, like it always should have been this way.

"Mr. Dugrey?" someone softly said.

He turned around to see the assistant pilot. "Yes?"

"We are going to land in twenty minutes."

"Thank you."

Forty-five minutes later, they had made it to the hospital. Rory had signed all the necessary papers and now Lorelai and Luke were in the operating rooms.

Tristan's current task was attempting to ease Rory's feelings of Lorelai's and Luke's well-beings.

"What if they're not okay, Tristan?" she asked, "What if it turns out that they're dying on the operating tables right now? I couldn't live if they were gone. I just couldn't."

They were sitting in the waiting area, next to each other in some of the most uncomfortable seating ever purchased by a hospital. She nuzzled into his shoulder and Tristan wrapped his arms around her.

"I know. Everything will be all right though."

"How do you know though?" she asked. Rory looked up at him with expectant eyes, hoping for reassurance.

"You have to have faith Rory. You have to know in your heart that they will be okay."

Softly she said, "They will be. They have to be."

"See. That's not so hard is it?"

"No I guess not."

"You just know things in your heart."

"Yep. Like I know that I love you," Rory looked at him and kissed him softly on the lips.

He melted. With her, he was finally himself and he never looked m ore complete. He looked into her eyes. It was now or never. "Will you marry me?"