Sunlight filtered its way through the closed curtains and fell upon the sleeping form of Rory Gilmore. She unconsciously registered its presence and stirred. As her eyes slowly drifted open, she remembered yesterday's events. She was still shocked. Tristin living in Stars Hollow, Tristin being her friend, Tristin not being rich...the world had officially come to an end.

A loud crash from the kitchen broke her train of thought. She wearily tumbled out of bed to go investigate. She was immediately hysterical, finding her mother in the middle of an ill fated cooking experiment. Egg shells were strewn all over the floor. The actual eggs were running in golden drops from the counter to the floor. Hearing her daughter's giggles, Lorelai turned around, making Rory laugh harder. Lorelai was a sight. Flour was dusted over her face and she had some weird combination of flour and egg caked in her hair. But the best part was the expression on her face. Half guilty child caught doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing, half stubborn Gilmore.

"I was making breakfast," she said defensively.

"You can't even make toast," Rory said flatly. Only her eyes, sparkling with amusement, showed her true feelings about the situation.

"Well I wasn't making toast." She stuck her tongue out. "I was making pancakes."

A wide smile appeared on her daughter's face. "Where did you even get this stuff? All we have in the house is coffee and peanut butter."

Lorelai's eyes sparkled with mischief. "That, my dear, I will never tell."

Rory groaned. "I don't even want to know."



Tristin casually walked on the main street of Stars Hollow. He had been up early exploring the small town. His heart was lighter than it had ever been. There was an aura of excitement about him that had been missing for too long. He actually felt good. In retrospect, he thought, it wasn't that surprising. Although money had been an asset, it hadn't been a necessity for him. He liked it for the fact that it did occasionally help things out, but had come to the conclusion early on that it couldn't solve all his problems. He would have given up the money in a second for even a miniscule amount of genuine interest from those around him. And it seemed like it was finally happening. Maybe this life wouldn't be so bad after all.

He was on his way to the hardware store. A friendly neighbor, only too happy to help, had pointed him in the right direction when he had inquired about a good place to get coffee. He was little confused as to why a hardware store would have good coffee, but he figured he would just go with the flow. He walked into the store and was surprised to find a diner. And the quirkiness abounds, he thought. He walked up to the counter to find a scruffy, no nonsense man wearing a backwards baseball cap.

"Who are you?" asked Luke suspiciously.

"Uh, I'm Tristin. My family just moved here yesterday."

Luke gave him the once over, taking in his brand name clothes and the air about him that reeked of upper class. "Alright," he said gruffly, apparently satisfied that he wasn't an ax wielding psycho. "What can I get you?"

"Coffee?"

"Was that a question or a statement. Cause I don't like indecisive people. Pick a side and deal with it."

"Okay, can I please have a cup of coffee."

"No. That stuff will kill you."

"Then why do you have a pot of it sitting right over there?" asked a frustrated Tristin.

"That's for us!" chirped Lorelai as she and Rory walked in the door. "Luke knows not to trifle with me and coffee. Cause he knows that I would just stand here and beg and plead and whine until he gives up and gives me coffee."

"You're psychotic."

"And that's why you love me," Lorelai replied cheerfully.

Luke glared, hoping that it was enough to cover his dismay at the true statement, and quickly gave all of them their coffee.

The three moved to a table . "So how was your first night in Stars Hollow?"

"Pretty good actually. Once you fended off the neighbors, we only caught them looking in our windows twice."

"That's nothing," Rory replied. "Just wait until you do something like walk out the door. The whole town will know about it in five minutes flat."

"We're fifth on the Stars Hollow gossip phone chain" stated Lorelai proudly.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Only about the phone chain thing. It's not actually a formal chain, more of an unofficial club."

Tristin groaned. "So does this mean the whole town knows that I was parading around my room in drag last night?"

"Down to the shade of lipstick."

"Darn, the cat's out of the bag."

"Don't worry," supplied Rory consolingly. "You'll be old news once everyone hears about Miss Patty's new mailbox."

"Glad to hear it."

"Hey, I gotta go meet Sookie at the inn! I almost forgot! Shoot!"

"What are you waiting for? Go, go, go!"

"I'm gone!" Lorelai yelled while running out.

Tristin stared after her in amazement. "So that's your mom."

Rory smiled affectionately. "That would be her."

"She's great," Tristin said admiringly. "Now I know where you get it."

"Get what? My addiction to coffee or impressive babbling skills? Although both are somewhat endearing, I get the feeling that they won't win me too many popularity contests."

"Your wit and your beauty are what I was actually referring to."

"Great," said Rory sarcastically. "Another comedian."

Tristin shook his head in amazement. She really was oblivious. He decided to drop that topic of conversation before she got defensive. "So do you know where I could find some form of employment?"

Rory looked surprised. "You want to work?"

"I'm turning over a new leaf."

"Okay, let's see..." Rory tapped her chin, thinking for a minute. "Well," she said slowly, "Luke is actually looking for some help around here..."

"Wait a minute, the coffee guy? That's Luke?"

"Yup!" Rory smiled at his discomfort.

"No way. He doesn't like me. He wouldn't even give me coffee!"

"Oh, he's a big teddy bear. He may look all disgruntled and dour, but underneath all that flannel he's a big softie. Let me go talk to him for a sec."

Rory scrambled out of her chair and up to the counter. He saw her and Luke talking in low voices. It took a lot of finesse and animated hand gestures on her part, but Luke finally softened and nodded his consent gruffly. Rory smiled and engulfed him in a hug. Tristin smiled, seeing that Luke did indeed have a soft spot in his heart for Rory and her mother. Rory came bounding back to the table.

"Okay, can you start Monday?"

Tristin looked back over at Luke, who seemed to be sizing him up. Sensing his gaze, Luke firmly met his stare with his own, letting him know in no uncertain terms who was in charge.

"Sounds good." Tristin smiled at the satisfied and more than pleased with herself Rory. This was going to be an interesting summer.