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

Hi, all. I know last chapter was rough. It was hard to break up Rory and Tristan, but it's for a higher purpose. Next chapter is written, so unless I have more PC problems, I'll post it sooner then it took me to post this one. I want to give every one a chance to read this one before springing the next one on. But I'll make a deal with you. I'm averaging 16 reviews per chapter, so if this chapter gets 16 reviews before next Thursday, I promise to post the next chapter ASAP. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

xoxoxoxoxo

The gray cordless telephone receiver rested on the coffee table, beckoning Rory to pick it up, press its glowing numbers, and make the call she has wanted to make for days now. It was Saturday afternoon, and she hadn't spoken to Tristan since he walked away from her on Wednesday. At first, she tried to convince herself that once things cooled down, they would be able to smooth things over. But when she realized she hadn't seen him at all in the last few days, she decided waiting wasn't an option. She feared he would move on, thinking they were over, and she didn't think she'd be able to handle it.

She had to call him, but she had been staring at that receiver most of the day, sometimes picking it up, only to set it back down. She worried he didn't want to talk to her, or wouldn't believe her when she apologized and told him she wanted to be with him. She wanted everything to work out, but she was afraid of failing.

She rolled her eyes at herself. She had to stop hesitating. She had to do something. She had to suck it up and try to get Tristan back.

After pepping herself up, she grabbed the receiver. Her blood pounded in her ears as she hesitated, staring at the phone as if looking for a sign. Suddenly it rang in her hand, making her yelp in surprise and drop the phone onto her lap. It rang again, the distinct sound of someone trying to get in touch with one of the Gilmores. But Rory didn't answer it. She was still too surprised it rang in the first place. The machine picked up and after the latest silly message Lorelai recorded played out, a familiar male voice spoke.

"Uh, Rory, it's Dean. Clara wanted me to call you because she thought maybe we could come over and you can show her, or rather us, the photos of that dinner you had before Christmas. You're obviously not home but if you get back soon and have some time, maybe you can entertain my little sister long enough to take the pressure off me for a few moments. See you later…maybe."

Rory sat there in the silence, thinking about the message. Dean called her. Even though she hadn't picked up, he had every intention of talking to her. It was the first time Dean initiated communication since they broke up and it took her a little aback. Did she hear a little humor when he suggested she entertain Clara? He was actually willing to spend time with her, and it wasn't because she bumped into him. Did this mean he was warming up to her, maybe even willing to forgive her?

Rory glanced at the receiver. She should really call Tristan now. The quicker this was resolved, the sooner they could move on. And she really wanted this resolved. She missed him tremendously the last three days. She wanted to go back to how things were.

She started to punch in the familiar numbers and held up the receiver to her ear. One ring, two…on the third ring a male voice answered. "Hello?"

"Hi, Dean."

"Rory, hi. You got my message."

"Yea. I was home. I just couldn't pick up the phone in time."

"So, can we come over?"

"Sure."

"Great. We'll be over in a few."

She placed the receiver on the coffee table and stood up. She felt guilty about calling Dean instead of Tristan, but it was the safer choice. She needed more time to plan what she would say to Tristan. In the meantime…

She went to her room to get the mini-album that had the pictures of the Bracebridge dinner. She had put it away in her closet along with the other photo albums she had, on the upper shelf. When she turned around from the closet, her eyes fell upon the nightstand and the leather bracelet Dean gave her. It still laid there from when Tristan put it there that night last week. She hadn't thought much about it since then, even though she said she would give it back to Dean. She stared at it for a bit before pocketing the bracelet. Maybe she could get Dean alone and give it back to him. She'd have to tell him everything, of course, but maybe it was time he knew anyway. Then she'd really have something to say to Tristan.

xoxoxoxoxo

Clara was in awe. She sat in between Rory and Dean on the couch with the album in her hands, slowly turning the pages. The photos started with a shot of some of the guests checking in at the lobby. She hadn't been to the Inn before and she commented on how pretty it was. A few shots later, there was a photo of the horse drawn sleighs. That caused a gasp and excited chatter. Apparently Clara loved horses but had never seen one in person, much less rode one. She started lamenting the missed opportunity. Rory comforted Clara by telling her it had been very cold outside and it hadn't been that fun. It was a lie, of course. It was the night she and Tristan had agreed to be friends, which ultimately led to them getting together. But she wanted Clara to think she didn't miss much. So she tried downplaying the next photos of the dinner. She tried to keep a straight face when showing the pictures of Rune and Jackson in their costumes. She didn't crack a smile when the photo of Bootsy drumming spoons on his head came up and another of Jackson slapping his bare belly. But she forgot about one photo at the end. After dinner, Rory and Tristan had sat on the couch in the lobby for a while before going to their rooms. Her mother had taken a picture of them talking and when it was developed, Rory hadn't been able to take her eyes of it. They were smiling at each other, their knees pointing toward the other and almost touching. It was just a great shot of Rory and Tristan and her favorite photo of the night.

Her heart raced when Dean leaned in closer to the album. His jaw tightened and he stood up. "Come on, Clara," he ordered gruffly. "I think it's time to go."

"Aww, Dean," Clara whined. "We just got here."

Dean opened his mouth as if to say something, and by the look on his face, he was about to say something harsh. Rory didn't want Clara's feelings to be hurt. Besides, she didn't want to miss the opportunity to give him back the bracelet. She quickly stood up. "Um, Dean," Rory stopped him. "Can I see you in the kitchen for a second?"

She could tell Dean didn't want to concede, but he sighed and followed her into the kitchen. Before she could say anything, he started ranting. "I can't believe you're friends with that guy. He is a major jerk."

She knew where he was coming from, but she couldn't help herself from sticking up for Tristan. "You don't know him. He's not really like that."

"Why are you defending him? He teased you constantly when you first started at Chilton. He picked a fight with me at that dance. He dropped flour when he was at Doose's. Do you know how hard it was to clean that up?"

"Okay, so he has exhibited jerk-like behavior, but you don't know what he's been through."

"Come on, Rory. Don't give me the poor little rich boy story."

She paused, hoping it would calm the tension in between them a bit. "I don't expect you to understand. I know, after all that has happened, it will be hard to see Tristan in anything other than a negative light. But that's not why I asked to talk to you." She dug into her pocket and pulled out the bracelet. "We haven't talked much in the last few weeks and-"

She heard a knock at the front door. She mentally cursed the bad timing, but she thought maybe they'd be a bit patient and let her get out what she needed to say to Dean. "There are some bad feelings between us, and I wanted to get it all cleared away. I want you to know I never meant to hurt you or ruin our relationship. I didn't know I would react to Tristan that night. I had no idea, but it's no excuse."

The knock came again, louder and more insistent. She groaned. She had to finish this now that she started. If she stepped away now, she wasn't sure she'd be able to pick it up again. "Dean, I'll admit I had some hope that you would forgive me and we could get past this, but I know now that it's not a possibility."

Dean's eyes softened. "Rory, I know you didn't mean to do what you did. I needed time to think and I don't feel any bad feelings toward you any more. It's in the past. It didn't mean anything, right?"

She was surprised. It sounded like Dean was about to forgive her and she didn't expect that during her attempt to explain Tristan was her boyfriend. It instantly made everything more difficult. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about."

"I know." He softly grabbed her upper arms and gently pulled her closer to him. "I missed you, Rory."

He started to lower her head toward her and she was paralyzed. Dean was going to kiss her. After all this time of ignoring her, he suddenly wanted to get back together with her.

This was going too fast. This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all. She was supposed to tell him about Tristan and he was supposed to flip his lid. He wasn't supposed to try to kiss her. She had to stop him.

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement from the entrance of the kitchen. When she turned her eyes to the object, she saw injured steel blue eyes staring back at her. Rory's heart plummeted to the floor with the instant recognition of what he was looking at. Tristan quickly recovered and masked his eyes. "I didn't know this was a bad time," he said tersely. "I'm sorry I interrupted."

He walked away while she tried to compose herself. She shrugged out of Dean's hold and followed Tristan, briefly noticing Clara standing next to the front door, before stepping out into the January air. "Tristan, wait!" She called to his back.

She caught up to him just as he reached the driver's side of the car. "Tristan."

"You didn't waste any time, did you?" He asked as he faced her, his look stone cold. "As soon as we were over, you went back to him."

"It's not like that. We were just talking."

"No, it's fine. I knew I was fooling myself. It was stupid of me to think you were over him."

"No, Tristan. You don't understand. I'm not back together with him."

"But you want to be and I can't be your stand-in boyfriend."

"You're not my stand-in boyfriend. I-"

Tristan cut her off. "I won't be your second choice."

Before she could say anything else, Tristan got into his car. She couldn't believe this was happening again and she pounded her fist against the window of his car weakly in a last attempt to get him to stop. But he didn't look up. Instead, he started off, driving away at a rapidly increasing speed. After the car became a speck in the distance, she looked back at the house where Dean and Clara were quietly leaving her house. Dean guided Clara across the yard instead of up the walk in a ploy to avoid her. But Dean gave her a fleeting glance and she could tell Tristan wasn't the only one hurt or confused that day.