Rain
Chapter 3 – Regrets
All of a sudden that nagging sensation pulled Rory under. She saw Tristan running out of the room. Running down the hall. Out into the street. And all at once, Rory envisioned a thousand deaths for Tristan. And all of them leading to one situation. Her father, standing here, in the middle of the coldest place on earth, about to shatter her heart into a million pieces.
Rory dropped to her knees, nausea taking over her body. Her father immediately met her height, catching her wavering body.
"Rory, look at me." he pleaded, forcing her panicked eyes to meet his. "It's your mom. She…"
Time stopped. Rory didn't breathe, didn't move, didn't think. Slowly a tear began to roll down her cheek. Her mother. God, Lorelai.
"She got into a car accident. Rory, please, answer me. She's at Stars Hollow Hospital right now. Rory? God, talk to me, Rory. We've got to go. Got to get to the hospital…"
Rory stood on her own two legs, staring blankly at a row of lockers, waiting for panic to set in. Her eyes rested on a locker down the hall. It was Tristan's.
Before she even knew she had taken a breath, she was running down the hall, heels clicking behind her, closely watched by the whole student body of Chilton Preparatory School and her father, staring after her helplessly.
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Tristan stood, staring out at the lush expanse of green below him. Chilton overlooked the richest area of Hartford. From his spot, carefully hidden behind curtains of greenery, Tristan could clearly see his house. He looked out as far as he could see, imagining Stars Hollow out there somewhere.
Rory would be on her way home by now. On the bus, most likely working on those Chem problems that Anderson had assigned, leaving her plenty of time for extra credit work and studying 'just in case'.
Smiling at the thought, Tristan turned back towards where he had been seated moments before, underneath the overgrown weeping willow. Tristan was sure that the tree had been planted once, a long time ago, and been forgotten about ever since. Kind of like himself.
There once was a time when his father cared. As did his mother. The weeks following his birth proved to be hope for Mrs. DuGrey. She could clearly see a change in her husband. After their beautiful baby had been born, his heart had opened just the slightest.
Quite often a glimmer of hope can be more destructive than the hopeless. As she had feared, as their baby grew so did his detachment from the little family. Tristan, she named him. Sad. The little blue-eyed boy had always had a distraught look. Strained. Like their family.
And now he stood, looking up at the tree, a tear slowly rolling down his face. Things had gone so wrong. He had had opportunities to change, but never the courage. His grandfather had opened doors he had never even known existed. But the damage had already been done. They both had known it, even through their talk of a better life and taking chances.
Janlan DuGrey was an incredible man. Tristan was quite like he had been when he was younger. But it took Marjorie, Tristan's grandmother, to make him change his ways.
"Son, the only thing that can change a man set in his ways is his soulmate. For me, it was your grandmother. Your father passed his up years ago. Now he drowns his sorrows in his work and his alcohol. Perhaps it's too late for him, but you." he'd say, admiration for his grandson shining brightly in his eyes. "You can make it."
Janlan had lived just long enough to hear Tristan talk about Rory a few times. But that was all it took for the wise older man to realize the younger's destiny. It was a shame that he didn't have enough time to show him the truth. Janlan DuGrey died a month earlier. But Tristan knew he would always be with him.
Looking up at the sky through the leaves and branches, Tristan whispered. "I miss you, Grandfather."
A few more tears managed to escape through his strong front. Even here, hidden behind walls of nature, Tristan couldn't show any weakness. It was against his nature. Closing his eyes to gain his composure, he heard a soft sobbing in the distance. The next thing he knew, Rory Gilmore was a few feet in front of him, curled up in the safety of his weeping willow, crying softly into the ground.
He stepped forward, resisting the urge to show the Tristan DuGrey everyone knew, hiding him behind the tears.
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Rory wanted to die. Right there underneath the weeping willow.
She had run from her father, run from her mother, running to… God knows what or where.
The only thing that kept running through her mind was too horrible to put into words. Something Rory couldn't stand to consider, all the while thinking it over and over.
Her first concern had been for Tristan. Horrible, maddening, heartbreaking, Rory taunting Tristan. Resisting the urge to hurl herself right off of the cliff in front of her, she suddenly heard a voice.
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Tristan had regretted the words before they even left his mouth. "Don't sound so happy to see me, Mary." That was heartless Tristan speaking.
He shoved his alter ego back down, struggling to drown it within himself. With every step he took towards the crying girl, he cut loose one more string attaching himself to his mask of cruelty. He knew that pretty soon, he'd be standing in front of Rory completely vulnerable and unsheathed. But somewhere inside of him, he knew it was for the best.
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Rory didn't know how long they had been there embracing each other, finding comfort in merely the other's presence. As she sobbed into his shoulder, she realized that Tristan's chest was rising and falling sharply. He too, was crying. She wrapped her arms tightly around his strong back, inhaling his scent.
He smelled of a mixture of fabric softener, aftershave, and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. Burying her face into his neck, she let his hair softly brush against her ear. It felt so right, being there with Tristan, holding him so closely.
Then all of a sudden, reality came crashing back down on top of her. Her mother was in the hospital. She had run straight into the arms of her enemy, whom she had unconsciously put before her family. No matter how right it felt, it was incredibly wrong.
She reluctantly threaded her arms out from around him, pulling herself out of the comfort she had found underneath his chin, taking one last lingering breath of that calming scent. Tristan quickly let go of Rory, looking away, trying to hide his tears.
Rory tilted her head to look at him, raising a hand and trailing her fingers lightly over the fabric of his blazer where her tears had marred the dark navy color. She found her hand gently travelling over his collar and up to his cheekbone, wiping away the tears he so wanted to hide. Leaning closer than Tristan would ever have dared, Rory whispered.
"Thank you." She grasped his hand and stood, the tears fighting their way to the top again, calm wavering.
Tristan stood as well, looking Rory straight in the eyes. Something was missing, something was wrong. "Rory, what is it?" he asked softly, scared to break the moment.
She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. "I ran. He was there, and I… I ran."
Reaching up and turning Rory's panicked face towards his own, Tristan brushed some of the hair out of her eyes. "Rory, calm down. Calm down. Tell me what happened."
"My mom. She… she got into an accident. My dad came, and told me, and I… I didn't even think about Mom. I…" she trailed off, looking deep into Tristan's eyes. "But you're okay. You're here." She smiled, a distant, melancholy wave washing across her face.
"He told me she was at Stars Hollow Hospital. And I just ran."
Rory stared off into the distance, watching one of those orangey-red leaves fall slowly through the air. Before it even hit the ground, Rory was being pulled through the trees towards Tristan's car, and a future she wasn't quite sure she wanted to live in.
