Rory walked out of her last final and whirled around, the snow had started falling while she was taking her test and she was happy that she was done for a month. She twirled in the falling snow and stuck her tongue out trying to catch some snowflakes. She stopped mid turn when she felt two strong hands on her waist pulling her closer to the body that the hands were connected to; Rory didn't know what to do. She was never really trained in what to do if a strange person put their hands on you.

She opened her eyes just a little bit and sighed in relief when she saw Tristan openly smiling at her a hint of laughter in his eyes. She laughed a little bit at how she must look thinking that she could disappear by closing her eyes. She lightly smacked his shoulder before wrapping her arms around her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well if I remember correctly the 1st snow is very important to the Gilmores and since I conned grandma into letting me off early I thought I would surprise you." Rory smiled and kissed him gently pulling away and resting her forehead against you.

"Let's go home and play in the snow." He nodded his head and grabbed her hand leading her off to his car since she had gotten a ride with Austin. He smiled thinking about Austin; he was so happy that his best friend was happy with his other best friend Paris. It also made him laugh at the sight of them making out at Tristan's party and just how much Paris had changed since Austin came into the picture.

Rory looked over at Tristan as they drove back to the house; she didn't remember a time when she saw a smile on Tristan's face 24/7 since they had spent that week in Vegas over her birthday. She was so happy to finally see Tristan happy and carefree for probably the 1st time in his life and she was glad that she was part of that happiness.

Tristan stopped the car at the end of the driveway and reached behind the seat and handed Rory the package her mom had given him this morning. "What is this?"

"A present from your mom." Rory nodded and ripped open the package and squealed in delight when she saw the new scarf and mittens with a note. Rory laughed and handed the letter to Tristan who scanned the short note and laughed at it too, she had enclosed matching mittens and scarves for the both of them saying that she wanted a picture of how cute they looked while playing in the snow. Rory handed Tristan his set of mittens and he shook his head laughing as he pulled the mittens over his hands and wrapped the scarf around his neck before shutting the car off and slowly getting out making sure he didn't fall. He slowly made his way over to Rory's side of the car and helped her out holding her hand as they walked up the driveway. Rory smiled devilishly at Tristan's turned head before letting go of his hand and picking up some snow.

She patted the newly fallen snow into a ball and released it from her hand aiming it to hit Tristan. She laughed as the snow hit the side of Tristan's face and his mouth hung open as he turned his head toward her. "Did you just throw a snowball at me?" He asked trying to mask the laughter in his eyes with mock anger.

"Why yes I did, what are you going to do about it?" Rory taunted slowly retreating toward the porch of the house. Tristan just laughed that evil laugh he always had when he was going to retaliate and Rory for a moment felt a little nervous at the devilish look his eyes held and she swallowed nervously. Tristan smirked and took off running towards Rory and before she knew what hit her she was rolling around in the snow with Tristan tickling her. "Tris-breath-an-breath-plea-breath-se-breath-stop." Rory managed to push out as she tried to breath threw the laughter.

"I don't know Rory." He asked momentarily stopping so he was on-top of her. "You did throw a snowball at me." Rory struggled underneath him trying to get free before all her clothes were soaked through.

"Please Tristan I'm getting all wet and it's cold out here." Tristan looked down at her and relented getting off of her and pulling her up with him. She smiled and kissed his forehead in thanks for letting him up linking her hand with his and going toward the house. Tristan smiled at her as they walked up the stairs and Rory kept walking but stopped when she felt Tristan pull her hand. She turned and saw him looking at the screen of his cell phone before opening it.

"Hello?" He greeted the person on the other end a confused smile still on his face. Rory noticed Tristan's smile fade and knew that something wasn't right. She looked at him and stepped toward him as he muttered something into the phone and slipped it back in his pocket.

"Tristan, what's wrong?"

"it's my father, he's in the hospital." Rory looked at him and followed him down the stairs and back towards the car.

"I'll drive." Tristan looked up at her and nodded his head going to the other side of the car too preoccupied with the situation of his father being in the hospital. Rory looked over at Tristan as they were sitting at a stop light and felt so bad for him. Just moments ago everything was so carefree and simple and he had a smile on his face, now his smile was replaced with a scowl that made Rory's heart break. Tristan didn't need any of this right now, it was the holiday season it was a time to be with family and be happy not going to the hospital where everyone was sad and depressed all the time.

Rory pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked the car slowly getting out and meeting Tristan on the other side. She stopped him by standing in front of him and putting her hands lightly on his shoulders. Tristan lowered his eyes to look into hers and sighed; he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his forehead against hers. "I love you Tristan."

"I love you too." He replied sincerely relieved to have her by his side through all of this craziness. Rory pulled away from him and grabbed his hand pulling him towards the elevator. She knew that even though Tristan his father didn't have the best relationship ever she knew that somewhere deep down Tristan had some feeling toward his father even if it was a tiny bit.

The two walked toward the large group which had Tristan's grandparents, his mother, his uncle, and Austin and Paris who were there to support Tristan and be there for him if anything tragic were to happen. Tristan stopped short of the group letting everything sink in; Austin sat up from the uncomfortable plastic chair and made his way over to his friend. "Hey Buddy, let's take a walk." Tristan lifted his gaze from the floor and eyed his best friend. He looked over at Rory who nodded her head silently telling him that maybe it would help. Tristan nodded his head and followed Austin down the hall and into the elevator and into the cafeteria. Austin guided Tristan to an open table and sat him down leaving him for a moment to get them coffee.

"Alright T, talk to me."

"About what?" Tristan shot back ready to throw up the walls that he was so known for.

"Don't play that game with me."

"My father who hated me, shipped me away from the girl of my dreams, asshole of the year is lying hooked up to machines that are keeping him alive. If you're asking me if I love my father the answer is no. He was never the kind of father that you love, you respect him and I hardly respect him. He took away the only thing that was keeping me sane; he ruined my chance of getting the girl I wanted."

"But you still got her in the end!"

"It doesn't change what he did Austin!" Tristan yelled standing up so fast that the chair fell from underneath him. Tristan took one look at Austin before leaving and going back up the elevator and looked at Rory before shaking his head and turning going in the opposite direction. She stood ready to chase after him when Logan stood up and took off jogging after the angry blonde.

"Tristan!" Logan called after him looking like a complete fool running down the long hallways of the hospital. "Tristan Gabriel Dugrey, stop this damn minute!" Logan shouted down the hall halting the older blonde in his tracks and earning the attention of some nurses and a handful of candy stripers. Logan just nodded his head at them in apology for disrupting them and continued on his way to his cousin. "Look I know you're not taking this well but you can't run from this. Rory's trying to be there for you and you being well, you isn't helping it at all. Your mom also needs you, unless you've forgotten all that woman has done for you. Now swallow that damn pride of yours and march your ass back upstairs." Logan ordered roughly shoving Tristan back in the direction that Logan had just come from. "And dude making me run in a hospital not cool." Tristan just shrugged not really feeling like he wanted to open up to Logan, no matter how close they were.

The walk back to where everyone was waiting was filled with an awkward tension and silence that only made Logan even more curious to what Tristan was thinking about his father being near death considering all that the two Dugrey men had been through throughout Tristan's life. Logan was the first to approach the group with Tristan trailing slightly behind with his head hung low. Rory stood up from her seat next to Paris and went over to Tristan dragging him slightly away from the group. She sat down and pulled him down next to her and stared straight ahead.

The group sat there for a couple of hours before a doctor came out and stood before them. Rory had left Tristan by himself since he was sitting there like a stiff board so she went to comfort his mother. She glanced at Tristan every so often and stood up just as he stood up and started walking away from everyone. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand as they walked away. Tristan stopped once they were away from the group and turned toward Rory with tears in his eyes. Rory gasped and pulled Tristan to her and just held him against her. She glanced to her right and to her left and decided that they should go somewhere a little more private so she pulled away and started walking down the hall and down the small empty hallway. She slid down the wall and pulled Tristan down with her.

"It's okay Tristan, just let it out." He sniffled and pulled her closer to him. They sat in silence for awhile before Rory's phone started buzzing in her pocket, she cursed herself for not turning off her phone but answered it fearing it was Logan with bad news.

"Ace, where are you?"

"With Tristan, why?"

"It's his dad, he passed during surgery."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Um…we'll see you in a bit." She hung up before Logan could reply and turned toward Tristan. "Tristan, I have something to tell you."

"What?" He croaked out his voice raw and so filled of emotion.

"Your dad passed during surgery." She whispered tears in her eyes knowing how upset he was going to be. Tristan looked at her and felt the tears well up in his eyes. He didn't know why he was so upset; he didn't like his father that much but something about him dying just wasn't right to Tristan. Sure, his father was the asshole of the year and treated his own son lower than shit but that didn't mean that he deserved to have his life taken away at essentially the prime of his life. It just wasn't fair that he had to go at such an important time; the company was just about to take over another company. Tristan sighed and stood up pulling Rory up with him. He looked down at his wife and he knew what he had to do.

"Thank you." He whispered lightly kissing her. Rory shrugged and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"It was nothing, yet you did make Logan run and I'm a little upset I didn't get to see it." Tristan looked at her and laughed a little bit, he was glad that she could crack a joke to make him feel a little better. They walked in silence back towards everyone and Tristan stopped as all of them stood up.

"I'm taking over the company."