Summary: What if Tristin never left Chilton for military school in North Carolina?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls. I can only wish my name was Amy Sherman-Palladino

Chapter Fourteen: I Asked Him To Move In With Us

Rory and Lorelai were sitting in Luke's Tuesday morning eating their breakfast while Rory waited for her bus. They were just making small talk and had pretty much ran out of things to say. After Tristin had left Monday Rory had sat on the couch for hours trying to figure out what had possessed her to ask Tristin to move in with them. Part of it was pity and she knew that. She had this amazing mother and amazing home that was so full of love and warmth and he didn't. she wanted to be able to share that with him, although the reason why was still unknown. She wasn't sure why he had turned her down and it was kind of bothering her. When Lorelai was suddenly quiet Rory realized that she had never even told her mom she offered Tristin the guest room. "Hey Mom, I need to run something by you."

"Sure Ror, what is it?"

"Tristin's family abandoned him."

"THEY WHAT!" Lorelai yelled. She had never been so angry about something except when it concerned Rory.

"They left him home in that huge house by himself for the entire month. They even gave all the hired help paid vacations."

"The nerve of those people. Where do they get off abandoning their son like that!" Lorelai exclaimed

"Well I kind of did something that I forgot to run past you."

"What?"

"I offered him our guest room for the month."

"You did what?" Lorelai asked surprised and slightly confused

"I asked him to move in with us."

"Well, what did he say?" Lorelai said suddenly interested

"He turned me down."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but he did. But I let him know that the offer was never off the table. That he could change his mind anytime that he wanted too. I really hope you're ok with this. I know I should have asked you first, but he was so careful with me all day yesterday. He carried my books and my book bag all day. He bought and carried my lunch. He drove me home and stayed with me until you got home, and I just felt like I needed to do something for him and offering him our home seemed to fit. He looked so sad when he was talking about his parents and his cold lonely house."

"Rory sweetie breathe. It's fine. I would have done the same thing."

"You would have?"

"Yeah, in fact I'm a little concerned about him being there by himself too."

Rory nodded and then looked at the clock and realized that she was going to miss her bus if she didn't go now. "Crap mom, I gotta go. I'll see you after school today, ok."

"Is Tristin driving you home again?"

"Probably, he doesn't seem to understand the words I can take care of myself." Rory said kissing her mom on the cheek and walking out of the diner to catch her bus.

xoxo

Rory had been gone for about ten minutes when Luke walked over to Lorelai's table and set the coffee pot down. "You are a god, Luke Danes, a god."

"Really what am I the god of?"

"The god of coffee of course. Silly silly god." Lorelai said chuckling

"So," Luke started, "How's Rory's ankle?"

"It's better. She still needs the crutches, thanks for those by the way."

"Don't mention it."

"I think that either tomorrow or the next day she'll be fine without them."

"That's good. How's she handling the whole breakup thing again. I remember last time was pretty bad. I was worried about her the last time."

"Truth be told, I think she's fine. I mean it ended on her terms really. She was the one that handed out the ultimatum, not Dean, who by the way you should start serving again. He's a good kid, he's just a little insecure when it comes to Rory. He thought there was something going on between her and Tristin. He was spooked. It happens to the best of us."

"Yeah, we'll see. Maybe she saw it coming, you know. like she knew that this was where her and Dean were headed. Maybe she had already given her heart away to someone else, maybe there is something between her and Tristin."

Lorelai sighed unsure if she should fill him on the Tristin situation. Deciding that she needed his advice and would need eventually need his help painting and altering the guest room when Tristin inevitably accepted Rory's offer she decided to tell him what she really thought about the whole Tristin situation. "I think that ever since the day Rory met Tristin there was something there. He irritated her and drove her insane and she complained about him all the time, but she always talked about him. regardless of whatever he had done that day to piss her off she always had a funny story to tell me. I think that she forced herself to ignore how she could possibly feel because she didn't want to be another one of his conquests."

"I don't want her to another one of his conquests either!" Luke said loudly. He had always thought of Rory as a semi-daughter and the idea of her being somebody's 'conquest' drove him insane.

"Calm down coffee god, It's not like that with him, at least not anymore . He genuinely cares about her. But anyways like I was saying. I think that somewhere in the back of her mind there was always a part of her brain that said 'You like him Rory Gilmore!' and a little piece of her heart that agreed with that part of her brain."

"You really think that he's different? That he went from King of Chilton, Evil Tristin, the ultimate playboy to Tristin Dugrey, one woman man, guy who loves Rory Gilmore?"

"I think that when it comes to Rory that's who he always was, he just never knew how to show it."

"Maybe, but he is a teenage guy." Luke said unable to shake the protective feeling he was experiencing

"His parents abandoned him. He got into some trouble last Friday and when he got home Saturday night from here his parents were gone. All they left was a note saying they were in Europe for a month. They left him in that cold house all by himself. I feel really bad for him right now and so does Rory."

"How can they just abandon their kid! What kind of people are they!"

"They're Hartford elitists, that's what they do. But anyway, Rory asked him to move in with us."

"SHE WHAT!" Luke exclaimed surprised

"He turned her down. But I think he's going to change his mind. Do you think I could get some help repainting my guest room this weekend?"

Luke looked at her as if she was insane for requesting it but sighed. He knew better than to fight Lorelai on something that she obviously had her mind made up on. "Yeah I'll make Jess do it. Just let me know when and which color paint and I'll have it picked up too."

"Thanks Luke."

xoxo

Dean knew that they didn't know he was there. He knew that Luke and Lorelai weren't paying him any attention now that he wasn't Rory's boyfriend anymore. He hadn't even meant to eavesdrop until he heard Lorelai tell Luke he should start serving him again because he was a good kid. He sat down and stared out the window of the diner waiting patiently for Luke and Lorelai to finish talking so he could order something to eat. That's when he heard them start talking about Tristin's parents abandoning him. Serves him right the rich arrogant jerk Dean thought to himself, but then he heard Lorelai say Rory asked Tristin to move in with them. His heart dropped to his stomach. He knew that her and Tristin were going to be friends but he never expected them to become that close. He stormed out the diner when he heard Lorelai ask Luke to help her paint the guest room. He had lost his appetite.

xoxo

Lorelai hadn't even noticed Dean until he stormed out of the diner. "Poor guy. He must have heard all of that."

"Yeah."

"I hope he's ok."

Luke just nodded and then said something about taking some orders and walked away from the table. Lorelai sat there for a few more minutes before getting up and heading to the Independence Inn.

xoxo

The day at Chilton progressed the same way it had the day before. Tristin showed up outside her bus stop and carried her stuff for the whole day. They ate lunch together and Rory and Tristin both kept repeating the words, "We're just friends" over and over again. Paris fought off accusations that she knew what was going on and was refusing to tell people because Rory and Tristin wanted to keep their secret relationship a secret. At the end of the day Tristin drove Rory home.

He had intended to drop her off and leave when her mom got home but when he pulled into the driveway Lorelai was sitting there waiting for them. Tristin got out of the car and helped Rory out. The second they turned around Lorelai was yelling about them all going to dinner at Luke's.

"Are you sure you want me to come Lorelai? I can go home you know. You don't have to keep me entertained."

"Nonsense of course I want you to come Tristin. You're involved in Rory's life and I want to get to know you better, and so does Luke."

"Uh oh." Rory said

"Uh oh? Don't say uh oh Mary you make me paranoid." Tristin said his voice a little shaky

"Don't worry about Luke, he's a softy once he realizes you aren't going to hurt or corrupt our Rory." Lorelai said

Rory rolled her eyes, knowing full on that Luke doesn't ever lighten up on any guy that exists in Rory's periphery, not even his own nephew. "Ok, but if we're going to dinner, we have to do some homework first."

Tristin just nodded and walked into the house behind Rory with her book bag and books in his hand. Lorelai smiled at the boy. She was slowly beginning to see that Tristin wasn't just some rich playboy with a trust fund. He cared about Rory, and from the look on her face when he helped her out of the car she cared about him too.

xoxo

Rory and Tristin did homework until about five thirty before Rory exclaimed she was hungry. They packed up all their stuff and headed out the door to meet Lorelai at Luke's since she had left to go over there an hour earlier. Rory was walking funny with her crutches and he could tell that she was in pain. "Mary you want me to carry you? You look like you're in some serious pain."

"No, you don't have to carry me. I'll be fine once I get some kind on pain medicine in me. I think I overdid it today." Rory said. Tristin was about to say ok when he heard Rory wince and yelp in pain slightly.

"Ok, that's it." He said standing in front of her and crouching down slightly "Hop on."

"What?" Rory said laughing

"Get on. I'm going to carry you. We're going to stop in Doose's before we go in Luke's and buy some pain pills or something. Now get on."

"You want to give me a piggy back ride?" Rory asked skeptically

"It's better than carrying you the over the threshold way isn't?" he asked

Rory sighed. "Ok." She said and climbed onto his back. He grabbed her under her knees to support her careful not to disturb the ankle. They walked into Doose's about five minutes later. Tristin headed straight for the aisle marked medicine and picked up a box of pain pills. Still carrying Rory he walked to the checkout line. When Rory saw Dean behind the register she tried to slip off Tristin's back before he noticed them but it was too late.

"How's the ankle Ror?" Dean asked rudely while ringing up her medicine

"It's fine. A little sore." Rory replied

"Hence the pain pills." Tristin said

"You moved on fast." Dean said staring at Rory

"What?"

"He's carrying you through town now."

"Her ankle hurts Dean, There isn't a single guy I know that wouldn't do the same thing."

"You asked him to move in with you?"

Rory's mouth dropped open and so did Tristin's. He hadn't expected that to be public knowledge.

"It must be awful for you. You break up with me because of him, then you ask him to move in with you and he turns you down. Makes you wonder if you made the right decision doesn't it." Dean added

Tristin looked over at Rory who looked like she was going to cry. "You ok Mary?"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE HER NAME IS RORY!" Dean snapped

"I know her fucking name!" Tristin yelled back

"Guys don't. not here. Taylor will have a cow," Rory said and then looked at Dean, "And you will lose your job. I don't know how you found out about me asking Tristin to move in with us and I really don't care." She added. She looked over at Tristin and said "I'm ready to go."

"Of course Mare." Tristin said before dropping a twenty on the counter for the medicine. He handed it to Rory and handed her back her crutches, placed his hand in the small of her back and led her out of the market.

AN: Ok I cut this one off before I had originally planned but this seemed like a good place to stop… ok so I guess all that's left is to say read and review!