Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or anything affiliated with the show.

Okay, sorry I took longer than usual to post this. I wanted to take a little break because I've been putting a lot of time into this, and I felt Tristan and Rory's kiss was the perfect place to take a break. Thanks for the patience. Yes, it took a long time for them to finally get together, but when it comes to Rory, this was pretty quick. Thanks for sticking it out and I hope you keep enjoying.

xoxoxoxoxo

A week after leaving Tristan's place in a kiss-induced euphoria, Rory sat on the couch in her home, willing her phone to ring. Tristan was supposed to return from Boston that day, and she was waiting for him to call her so they could make plans to get together. The week had taken her high and low. One day she would feel exhilarated with the thought of seeing him again. The next day, she would dwell on the consequences that this involvement would bring. As much as she wanted to be with Tristan, she couldn't ignore the obvious backlash. Forget the fact that Paris was going to make her life a living hell at Chilton. She could just imagine the looks from her fellow students, wondering what she was doing with the King of Chilton and vice versa. Despite their breakup, she still felt guilty about dating the guy that caused her fallout with Dean. She hadn't even told her mother yet, afraid her mother wouldn't approve of her new love interest. It just seemed like a lot of negatives.

To top it all off, she couldn't stop thinking about Tristan's past relationships. In the year and a half she had gone to school with him, the longest relationship he had been in lasted a month. Lately, he hadn't even been referring to the girls he was involved with as his girlfriends. It seemed that he was becoming one of those guys that just had a lot of friends with benefits. She didn't want to think that would happen to her, but she didn't want to fool herself. He hadn't even bothered to call her while she was away. She wasn't ready for another heartbreak, and much less from notorious bad boy Tristan Dugray.

That was why she couldn't wait to see him. She had all week to think about it and she felt the best thing was to keep the relationship a secret. She didn't think he would be happy about it, but after she explained it to him, she was sure he would understand, or at least try it. She just felt if the relationship wasn't going to last, they shouldn't announce it to the world. She'd have enough to worry about with her own reaction. She didn't need Paris rubbing it in her face or her mother trying to talk her through it. Of course, she wouldn't tell him that. She would use Paris or her mother as an excuse. She was sure he wouldn't appreciate it if she said it was due to her insecurity regarding his track record.

She stared at the phone on the coffee table. "Ring, damn it," she muttered at the silent device. He hadn't told her when he planned on getting home, but she thought he would have done it by now. It wasn't like Boston was hundreds of miles away. Maybe he wouldn't come home until the evening. Maybe he was staying a couple of more days.

While she was mulling on whether or not to call him, the doorbell rang. She groaned, thinking it was Lane with some new music she wanted Rory to listen to or Babette wanting to ask her an off the wall question. She reluctantly got off the couch and opened the door. On the other side was Tristan, his patented cocky smile in place. "Hey," he greeted huskily.

Surprised, Rory smiled back. "Hey."

He stepped up to her and gave her a sweet lingering kiss. "I came straight here."

"From Boston? I thought you were going to call."

"This is better, isn't it?"

She nodded and leaned in for another kiss before stepping away from the door to let him in. Once in the foyer, he handed her a bundle wrapped in Christmas foil. She looked at the bundle quizzically. "What's this?"

He shrugged, feigning ignorance. "Open it and find out."

She sat down on the couch, looking down at the shiny paper in awe. Tristan sat next to her and she turned to him. "I didn't get you anything."

"Don't worry about it. Just open it."

She ripped into the paper, revealing a burgundy messenger bag. She was bewildered as to why he would give her such a generic gift. But she wasn't about to be rude. "Thanks," she said flatly.

"Turn it over."

She did as he said, staring at the bag's flap. She instantly recognized the Veritas emblem and the block letters under it spelling Harvard. She smiled with pleasure. "You got me a Harvard bag."

"It's my grandfather's alma mater. Actually, the last three generations of Dugrays have gone to Harvard. My grandfather wanted me to meet with some of the admissions officers and while I was there, I thought I'd pick you up something."

"You really shouldn't have."

He shrugged. "I didn't mind. Besides, now you can get rid of that goofy yellow bag."

She gasped in offense. "I love my yellow bag."

"It's too bright. You can be spotted a mile away."

"I don't care. I'm not getting rid of it."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine."

She looked down at her present. "Thank you."

"You're welcomed." He leaned in and kissed her, his hand cupping her neck to keep her close. It was unnecessary. The moment his lips touched hers, she leaned into him, surrendering to the sweet feeling she got whenever she kissed Tristan.

When Tristan tried to deepen the kiss, she drew back. She didn't think she could handle anything deeper and it didn't help her gain strength to confront him about their relationship. She was uneasy about approaching it, even though she knew it needed to be done, and she didn't need the added deviations.

He looked at her with concern. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "How did it go with your grandfather?"

He leaned back against the back of the couch. "It went well. He badgered me the first day about all the trouble I get into, but after that he calmed down."

"Did you spend a lot of time with him?"

"Somewhat. He spent a lot of time in his office but we had dinner together most nights. I also went with him to a New Year's party. It was mostly his business partners and associates, but there were some young girls there."

A spark ignited in her stomach. "Young girls?" she repeated.

He laughed. "Relax. I was a saint. I swear."

She realized her two words revealed more than she intended and tried to reverse things. "Oh, I don't care. It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything."

She hadn't meant to say the part about being his girlfriend. True, she wasn't sure she was his girlfriend, but she shouldn't have brought it up. His frosty blue eyes lost their mirth and his smile faded. "Right. You're not."

Her heart sank, but she tried to seem unaffected. "So, you had no need to have acted like a saint. You could have acted like a sinner and it wouldn't have mattered."

He nodded as if he understood. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Not that I'm condoning becoming a sinner. I mean, the whole aspect of spending eternity in hell is a major drawback. But hey, it's your soul and you should decide how you spend eternity."

"Rory, I get it. You're not my girlfriend. Message received."

It was obvious to her that his whole mood made a one eighty as soon as she said she wasn't his girlfriend. She didn't want to hope, but maybe he had thought she was his girlfriend. Or maybe he thought she would beg him to be his girlfriend and was disappointed she wasn't jumping to the chance. She hoped it wasn't the latter but she still felt brave enough to ask. "Did you think I was your girlfriend?"

Tristan avoided her eyes. "I think I should go home."

He tried to stand up but her hand on his forearm stopped him. "Answer me, Tristan."

"I don't think it matters, since you don't want to be my girlfriend."

"I still want an answer."

He gritted his teeth. "Yes."

Her heart skipped in elation. He considered her his girlfriend. "Then why didn't you call me all week?"

"I figured you needed time to yourself. Realizing you like someone you used to hate mustn't be easy on the psyche."

"I never hated you, Tristan."

"Still, I thought I'd let you get used to the idea before I start smothering you."

"It did give me a lot of time to think."

"I'm sure that's why you're not my girlfriend."

She smiled at him. "I am your girlfriend."

He looked up, his azure eyes hinting hope. "Yea?"

She nodded. "But I need to ask you to be okay with something."

"Should I be scared?"

"It's going to be weird for a lot of people that we're together. I haven't even told my mother yet that we're doing this. I will tell her eventually, and everyone else, but I want it to be right."

He stared at her pensively. "So, you want to keep us a secret?"

She nodded. "Just for a little while. At least until I can tell my mother."

He took a moment before he nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" She repeated in disbelief.

"Hey, it won't be easy to explain this to anyone at school, either. It won't look good that my girlfriend is a Mary, especially since people are still speculating as to why I wasn't involved in the Bowman safe incident. Once this gets out, everyone will think I went soft."

She hadn't thought of how this would affect him. "Do you think we should we even be trying this?"

In response, Tristan leaned over and kissed her softly.

"Okay, I vote for trying this," she said when her mind could form a thought.

He smiled. "Good choice."

"So, tell me more about your week with your grandfather."

"Actually, I should get going. Laurent and Harriet are waiting for me to come home. They don't even know I was stopping here first."

Rory's face fell. "Oh."

"Yea, who would have thought? They said they brought something for me in Martinique. They actually thought about me."

She tried to hide the disappointment the best she could. She thought he would stay awhile so they could talk more about Boston and New Years. But she knew it was great his parents were showing some interest in him. She just wished it could have waited until tomorrow.

Rory walked him to the door, trying to smile. "Okay, you can tell me more about your visit tomorrow. We can get lunch somewhere. Maybe we can even see a movie here, although you'd have to bring the movie because I've seen everything our local movie rental place has to offer."

Tristan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Rory, but I can't. Technically, I'm still grounded about the car thing."

She sulked. "We went out before."

"But Laurent and Harriet weren't here. They can be very strict when it comes to punishment, especially if I disgrace them with my behavior."

"So when will I see you again?"

He shrugged. "They never told me when my punishment was over. But I'll figure something out."

She nodded. He kissed her goodbye. "I'll call you," he whispered.

"You said that last time."

"I promise this time."

She watched him walk to his car, his hands in his coat pockets, his golden head hung low. She wondered how he felt about going back to his home now that his parents were there. She often felt sorry for Tristan staying in his mansion by himself but wondered if having his parents there would be better or worse. Hopefully, they would let him out of his punishment soon, but she doubted it would be before their break was over. It looked like the rest of her vacation was shot.