Disclaimer: Rory's job takes her to North Carolina, and her first assignment is to interview one injured soldier. She walks into that army base expecting to get her first story, but that's not all she gets, right? This is a Trory! :)

Also, I'd like to thank Courtney for her help in editing this chapter.

It was about two in the morning when Rory finally stirred, after a few rounds of lovemaking. It looked like finally admitting her feelings for Tristan had set her free. She really loved him. She looked at him, sound asleep, holding her by the waist, like he was trying to protect her from the world. Her stomach was growling, and she tried to remember when she last ate. She was trying to get up without waking him, but even before she started moving his arm, she felt him tighten his hold.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" He asked her, in a raspy, sleepy voice.

"I was going to raid your kitchen. I'm starving." She said, and kissed him lightly.

"Yeah?" he smirked. "Did I make you hungry?" he asked, full aware of the double meaning of his words, sleep be damned.

"Always" She teased, in a sultry voice.

He just growled, and moved over her, covering her with his body one more time. "You have no idea what you do to me, when you say things like that, Mary..."

"Didn't you say that I needed a new nickname, Captain DuGrey?" She continued, trying to best him in his own game. She boldly molded her body to his, pushing up and arching her back.

"Working on it, Mary..." He said, trying to hold on to his discipline, and knowing he was failing. "If you keep that up, you're not going to be able to leave this bed today"

"Is that a promise?" She asked, forgetting all about the need to eat.

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When they were finally finished with each other, hours later, Tristan was the one to get out of the bed. When Rory asked him where he was going, he said that he had appeased one hunger, and now he was going to see what he could do to appease the other one. They ate in bed, and spent most of the early morning talking, too exhausted to do anything else. At about eight am, Rory announced that she needed to jump in the shower and go to work.

Tristan drove her to the paper, and promised to send someone in to give an official account of yesterday's mission, so she could write her follow up article. He first thought about sending Justin, but he figured that if Justin was still pissed, sending him to talk to Rory would certainly push him over the edge. He sighed and decided to talk to Ryan again.

He arrived at the base at around nine, and instead of going to the training center for his usual workout, he remembered most of last night's action and decided to skip it. He found Ryan shaking hands with General Gates and decided to wait and walk with him.

"Hey Captain. How are you today?" Ryan asked

"I'm good, Greene. How about you?" Tristan answered. "Have you decided what you're going to do?" He continued, thinking about the conversation with Gates.

"I did, Sir. I decided to stay in the military, despite my honorable discharge. I'm not going to be on active duty as a soldier, but I'm going to stay at Special Forces. They wanted someone to fill a spot at the Public Relations' Office." Ryan said.

"Hey, that's great man. Congratulations!" Tristan said, relieved that Ryan would get to stay on the team. He was worried about him. "Oh, man. You're going to love it. Lt. Colonel Custer just asked me to send someone to the paper, to give an official account to Rory of yesterday's mission! Are you up to it, Sgt Greene?" He asked, smirking.

"Thanks Captain. I'd love to do that. It looks like we are going to be working together, if she's going to be writing about the Rescue Team." Ryan answered. "I'm going to tell the guys the news and then I'll give her a call."

"Hey, Ryan. Do you have a second?" Tristan asked.

"Sure." Ryan answered. When Tristan said nothing, he continued: "Just give him a few days, DuGrey." He said, knowing that this was about Justin. "Maybe, talk to him on Monday. "

Tristan was taken aback when he heard Ryan addressing him by name. He rarely did that, especially when they were at the base. He figured that Ryan was probably right, even if he didn't know the full extent of this situation. He'd talk to Justin on monday. He sent Ryan on his way to talk to Rory, and went about his business.

He saw Justin during lunch, but decided to follow Ryan's advice and left him alone. Dylan looked from Justin to Tristan, and sighed. This was not going to be easy. He thought that, after his talk with Justin, those two would find a way to sit down and talk it out. He saw that Tristan was giving Justin some space, and, truthfully, he expected Justin to crack first, and go after him. He decided that he'd wait until the day was over to meddle.

"Hey, DuGrey, did you hear the news?" Dylan asked, getting up from the table and trailing after him.

"About Ryan? Yeah, I did. Just sent him on his first assignment this morning. He's going to be talking to Rory." He answered, smiling, thinking that his girlfriend would like to know that she'd be working with Ryan. "Kid was real happy about it."

"Yeah, I knew he'd find a way to stay around. He's a tough kid. He'll get over this accident." Dylan said. He was trying to buy some time, and figure out how to approach the 'Justin incident'. Without getting on Tristan's bad side.

When Dylan said nothing more, Tristan looked at him, and sighed. "Just say it already Dylan. I know you want to talk about Justin."

"Just testing the waters here, DuGrey. I'm not in the mood to be yelled at again." He tried, thinking about yesterday's fight.

"Well, go ahead. I'll try to keep my voice down." Tristan said sarcastically. He'd almost never had to raise his voice, or reproach his men. Even that whole 'captain' routine was rare. "Look, I'm sorry that I had to pull that crap over Justin's head. But you saw the look on his face. What did you expect me to do. Hell, I AM his captain. I don't like it, but I am. Maybe I shouldn't have requested for him to be on my team. But it was our decision. He told me to go ahead and do that, after we returned."

"Don't be an idiot. Of course you should have done it. Hell, we'd do the same thing, and you know it. I'm glad to be on your unit, and I sure as hell know that Justin is too. Even when you have to pull rank on him. Just, give the guy a break, Tristan. He shot you. He could have killed you. He didn't, but you know as well as I do that if he missed, if he was a second early, he could have killed you." Dylan continued, talking as hotly as Tristan.

"I know."

"I mean, the guy had barely recovered from the fact that you took a bullet that was meant for him, almost dying in the process, and now he has to deal with shooting you on top of that..." He continued, getting to the point. A lot of things happened since their first tour, or more precisely, since Tristan was shot, and Dylan wondered if the two of them ever talked about that, or if that was the first time that someone said it out loud, outside official records, of course.

"I know." Tristan repeated.

"Okay then. Just, give him time to cool down. You knew that he was going to be pissed at you, for talking to him as a Captain addresses a soldier." Dylan finished, and decided that his job was done. Now, it was up to them. He hated to be caught in the middle, and those two were as close as brothers.

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Tristan didn't have to wait until monday to talk to Justin. He woke up way earlier than Rory on saturday and decided to let her sleep in. He got out of bed as quietly as possible, put on some shorts and running shoes, and figured he'd go for a run, and get some breakfast for them on his way back. He loved to spend the nights with her at her place because it was so her. It screamed Rory Gilmore. He knew that Emily had found and furnished the house, but, according to Rory, Lorelai had gotten her way, and most of the knick knacks were from her.

He opened the door to Rory's house and almost tripped over Justin. He was sitting on the steps of Rory's front porch, and from the looks of it, he was there for some time. He stood up, with his hands on his pocket, looking like he didn't sleep at all, and decided to wing it. After all, it was not like he knew what he was going to say.

"Hey." Justin tried.

"Hey man."

"I went to your house last night. Figured you'd be here, when I didn't see your car." He continued.

"You've been here all night?" Tristan asked, and motioned for the bench on the corner. He knew it wouldn't be a quick conversation. He sat down, and Justin just followed him.

"Kind of. You were kind of busy when I first arrived." He said, smirking at his best friend. "I didn't know she could be this loud man. But the quiet ones always are." He joked, trying to get a rise out of him.

"You're sick, Meyer." Tristan said, and shook his head.

"Hey, it's not like I stopped and listened all night. I went for a drive. I needed to clear my head anyway. I got back around four. Figured that you'd be awake by now.

"Yeah. Never did got rid of the habit of getting up at five in morning and going for a run. Those guys at Oak Ridge must be glad..." Tristan agreed.

"So. Long night?" Justin grinned.

"Like you wouldn't believe. But you're not here to talk about mine and Rory's sex life, are you?" Tristan asked.

"I really hope not..." They both heard Rory's answer, and turned to look at the door, looking like two deer caught in head lights.

Justin was the first to speak. "Hey doll, did we wake you?"

Rory walked up to them, with two cups of coffee, and placed a soft kiss on Tristan's lips before answering. "Nope. I got up to get a glass of water, and saw you two out here. Figured you could use some coffee. I really don't know how someone can like waking up at this ungodly hour, so I'm going to leave you two alone and go back to bed." She smiled, sensing that the two friends had a lot to talk about. Ryan told her a little bit about what had happened, when he brought her to Tristan's house. So she left them alone.

"Man, you're so in love it's almost sickening." Justin teased him.

"Yeah. I really am." Tristan said, thinking about how he got her to say it back.

"You're a lucky man, DuGrey. She's a sweetheart." Justin said.

"Are we okay, man?" Tristan asked, tired of running around the issue. Otherwise, he'd be talking about Rory all day.

Justin sighed. "Yeah. Or, we'll be. As soon as I manage to get that image of you running into my line of fire out of my head."

"Yeah. I get it." Tristan said, truthfully, as he could still see the gun pointed at Justin's head, all those years ago.

"You were an idiot." Justin retorted, but couldn't even muster enough bite to add to his voice.

"I knew you wouldn't miss it." Tristan said pointedly. No need to expand on that.

"Well, you always had more faith in me than I did in myself. You saved my life that day, Tristan." Justin said, finally addressing the issue and talking about their first tour. "I don't think I could ever repay you for that. I knew by then that it wouldn't be the last time that you'd take a bullet that wasn't meant for you. I just never though that I would be the one pulling the trigger when it happened."

They both stayed silent for a second, thinking about that night so many years ago. They had been friends for a long time before Tristan saved Justin's life, but from that day on, they shared a bond that they knew couldn't be broken. Sure, Justin saved Tristan's life more than once, when they were on active duty, but never putting his own life at risk. They had made a pact when they came back, to always watch out for one another. That was one of the reasons that Tristan requested that Justin be on his team, because he knew that, with Justin's skills as a sniper, they'd be safe most of the time. Last Wednesday, he was not worried that Justin would miss because he trained him himself.

"I'm not sorry, man. I can't be sorry." Tristan said, hoping that his friend would get it. "We got our man, and we saved that girl. I can't be sorry for that. Getting nicked on the arm was a really small price to pay for that. It's our job, and we're damn good at it."

"It doesn't make it any easier for me." Justin said. He got it, he did. But it really didn't make things easier. He sometimes wondered if it was all worth it.

"Well, would it help if you knew that it made me get an 'I love you' from Rory?" Tristan joked, in order to lighten the mood. There was enough talk about death and shootings.

"Well... when you put it like that..." Justin said sarcastically. "So, we're okay, right?"

"Sure, man. We're good." Tristan said. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Right now?" Justin asked. "I guess go home, and get some sleep. Enjoy my saturday. Why?"

"Want to grab some breakfast? Rory will be waking up in about half an hour. Which gives me enough time to get some bagels and maybe a muffin. And more coffee." He said.

"Sure." Justin said, getting up. "Did she really tell you she loves you?" He asked.

"Yeah. Well, first she freaked out because I was shot. Then she yelled at me, saying that I could have died, and called me a jerk. That's when I told her that I loved her too."

"So she didn't really say it, now, did she?" Justin asked, amused.

"She did later that night." Tristan said. "Maybe, she could argue it was under duress. But I knew I was right. She does love me."

"Under duress? What did you do? Tied her up and beat it out of her?" Justin joked.

"Didn't need to. I just made a really good case... " He answered, remembering the look on her face when he pinned her to bed, and kissed it out of her.

A/N - Yes, this is a super long chapter. No, do not get used to it. It is just longer because I combined chapter 21 and 22 in one chapter. It's my gift to all of you who always wish for longer chapters. And I was tired of waiting for the guys to make up. :)