"There you two are! We were wondering if we needed to send out a search party," Michelle joked as Tristan and Rory walked back to the group. "Did you two have a nice walk?"

"It was perfect," Rory replied softly, still smiling from the events of the last half hour. Tristan pulled her closer and smiled at her.

"The fireworks are about to start. Will you hold me, Aunt Mary?" Kayla asked, running up to Tristan and Rory excitedly.

"Of course I will," Rory chuckled. Kayla weaseled her way in between Tristan and Rory, pulling their hands apart so she could hold their hands instead. As soon as she put her hand in Rory's, she looked up puzzled.

"Wait a minute, that wasn't there earlier," Kayla said quizzically, holding Rory's hand up for inspection. "My mommy has a ring like that. Where did it come from?"

Everyone's eyes snapped to Rory and Tristan, who were standing there looking at each other, smiling happily.

"Is that…" Michelle trailed off, looking at Tristan questioningly, just as Abby squealed, "You did it?!"

Tristan chuckled and moved behind Rory, wrapping his arms around her. "I guess we don't have to wonder how we should announce it now, huh? To answer your questions - yes, Mom, it is. And yes, Abby, I did. This beautiful woman is now my fiancée," Tristan said proudly before leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. He watched as everyone's faces registered the announcement and their expressions turned to happily excited smiles.

"Oh my gosh, this is amazing!" Abby squealed, instantly flying across the deck to hug Tristan and Rory. "I've always wanted a sister, and now I get you!"

"Thank you, Abby," Rory said, laughing. "I think having you for a sister will be amazing - I already feel like we're family."

Chandler and Michelle were right behind Abby, waiting to congratulate the newly-engaged couple.

"Welcome to the family, Rory! We couldn't be happier for you and Tristan. This is amazing news," Michelle gushed as she and Chandler hugged them both.

"Thank you so much. It's still a little surreal, but I'm so happy. Tristan is everything to me," Rory admitted.

"Well, I think this calls for a celebration!" Max said. "Charlie and I will go get champagne and glasses and we can all toast to the happy couple."

The group was abuzz with conversation over the new development, and soon Max and Charlie returned as promised. They passed around glasses of champagne and Chandler stepped forward and held his glass up. The group grew silent and he spoke.

"Son, I knew the moment that you told me about reconnecting with your Mary that you were a goner, and now that we've met her we can all see why you love her so much. Your mom and I are incredibly happy for you, and we're proud of the man you've become. We couldn't be more pleased with who you've chosen to share your life with, and we look forward to many years of marriage for you both. May you look back in forty years and realize that today was the day you loved each other the least. To Tristan and Rory!" Chandler offered.

Everyone toasted the couple and then turned their attention toward the fireworks that had just begun. Tristan led Rory, and by extension Kayla, over to the seating area and settled onto the sofa with Rory tucked under his arm and Kayla in Rory's lap.

"See, they love you. Your family grew tonight; you're part of the Dugrey family now, too" he whispered.

Rory rolled over in bed Wednesday morning and smiled as she saw the gorgeous ring adorning her finger. It really was stunning. She smiled and kissed Tristan's bare chest. They'd stayed up until the wee hours of the morning making love to celebrate their new engagement.

"Morning, Mare," Tristan whispered huskily. She loved the way his voice sounded when he first woke up - it was low and sensual.

"Morning, Tris. Hey, I was thinking...my dad lives in Boston. Would it be okay if we met him for lunch today? I'd like for you to meet him, and we could tell him about our engagement."

"Sure, call him and see if he's available. I would love to meet your dad. Hopefully it will go as well as you meeting my family last night, but I'm not going to hold my breath," he chuckled.

"He doesn't share my mom's bias against society, so we should be good," Rory said with a laugh.

Rory rolled over and grabbed her phone off of the nightstand and quickly dialed her dad's number. After a short conversation, she hung up and rolled back into Tristan's arms.

"Dad said he can meet us at Maggiano's at noon," Rory said, cuddling back up to him.

"Perfect. That means we don't have to get out of bed yet. I'm not quite ready to give this up," Tristan said, running his fingers down her arm and pulling her closer to him.

"I'm not either. I think I could stay right here forever," Rory sighed happily.

"Well, we don't have to move yet. Still happy this morning?" he asked. He was concerned that at some point the reality of Lorelai's disapproval would come crashing down on them and Rory would start to doubt things or panic.

Rory looked up at Tristan and smiled, her blue eyes shining brightly.

"I'm so happy, Tris. Honestly, I've never been this happy in my entire life. I'm lying in bed with the love of my life, I'm getting married, I get to start my new job next week - life really couldn't get much better," she whispered.

"Thank you," Tristan said quietly, kissing the top of her head.

"For what?"

"For challenging me in high school and never giving me a chance then, for showing up at that reunion, for not laughing me out of the room when I offered to help you, but most of all, for letting me love you," he replied.

"Well, in that case, you're most welcome," Rory said with a laugh. They both laid there quietly, and finally Tristan spoke.

"Hey, baby? There's something I need you to know…" Tristan trailed off.

"What's that?" she asked, looking up at him again and noticing the serious look on his face.

"I asked your mom and Luke both for their blessing to propose, separately. Luke was happy to give his blessing, but your mom was more hesitant. She agreed begrudgingly, but then when she found out that Logan is my cousin she was pretty upset. I just...I don't want you to be blindsided by her when we go pick Romeo and Juliet up later today. I don't know how she'll react to the news that you said yes."

Rory shifted so that she was facing Tristan and considered her words. "Tris, my mom's opinion is still important to me, but not like it once was. Part of this whole process of fixing my life has been learning to make my own decisions, independent of the people around me. I'll always listen to the input of those I trust and consider it carefully, but when it comes right down to it, I need to learn to trust myself to make sound decisions, and learn to deal with the fallout when those decisions don't work out the way I'd hoped. This is one of those decisions - I love you, and I want nothing more than to marry you. You're the only man in thirty-two years that I've envisioned myself marrying, and I'm not willing to compromise on that."

"I'm glad, Mare. I'm not either," Tristan whispered. "You know, we're going to be a family."

"I know. That's pretty great, isn't it? And then someday, hopefully we'll have a couple of kids - maybe that little girl who's just like me and a little boy who's just like you," replied Rory.

"That would be pretty great, wouldn't it?"

"Hey, Tris?"

"Hmm?"

"I want that - soon. I don't want to wait," she whispered.

"Well, we could start trying as soon as we get married," Tristan suggested.

"Or maybe sooner even? I mean, if you wanted to," Rory replied tentatively.

Tristan's eyes snapped up and he looked at her in surprise. "You...you'd want to have kids before we're married?"

"Well, I don't want to actually give birth before we're married. I'd like to maybe get married by the end of the year, which isn't that far away. We could quit using birth control before that, though, and just see what happens," she offered.

Tristan was quiet for a minute, and she thought perhaps she'd upset him, but then he spoke. "I'm not adverse to that, Rory. I think it's definitely worth considering. I just want to make certain that we're both really sure about it, because once we get pregnant it's really too late to change our minds. Let's both really think about it and then sit down and talk about it again, and we'll make a decision then."

"You're not saying no?" she asked happily, her eyes lighting up.

"I'm not saying no, baby. I just don't want you to regret it if we decide to go through with it."

"Okay, we'll revisit this conversation again soon," Rory confirmed.

"You know," Tristan began huskily as he kissed down her neck, "we really probably should go ahead and practice, just to better our chances after you quit taking the pill."

"Practice does make - oh, god…" Rory said as he hit a particularly sensitive spot. She pulled Tristan's body on top of hers and sighed happily as he continued his trek down her body. This would never get old.