Author's Note: Sorry for the incredible delay but I have been so busy. I have five other fanfics in progress right now that I have been trying to get down and out of the way but that was taking too much away from this so here it is, the next part.

PS-Surprise Gnat!

Chapter 9

"Dad?! I just called Luke dad!" Rory screamed at herself as she drove to school. "Why did I just do that?!"

~Duh, Rory, because all you life he has been more of a father to you than your own dad. You've been wanting to call him dad ever since he and your mom hooked up, possibly even before then~ her inner voice argued.

"But what about my REAL dad?! He'll totally freak out that someone else will be my father instead of him."

~Has television and movies taught you nothing? You can have two dads you know. It's not such an inconceivable notion~

"It feels so weird! But surprisingly, it's not calling Luke dad that is weird, it's the thought of what dad, my real by blood father will think."

~The only way to figure that out is if you call him and ask. Think of it this way, he's going to have a baby soon, with someone else who isn't your mom. Won't it be weird thinking that this whole other person will be taking over your father? Calling him dad, spending all the time that should have been yours with him?~

Rory frowned. "I never thought of that."

~Yes you did, because I'm you, your thoughts. See, it feels weird but there's no stopping what will happen. Things change but maybe it's for the best. Talk to your dad and ask him for his thoughts, it's the only way~

"True, I never thought of it that way." Rory mused as she got out of her car and hefted her backpack onto her shoulders.

~Actually you did, I'm your thoughts~

Rory rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."

~No, you shut up. I am after all the brains in this operation, no pun intended~

"Okay, now I know I'm crazy. I have got to stop talking to myself." she muttered.

"I think I can help you with that."

Rory spun around embarrassed. "Tristan?! How long have you been standing there?"

Tristan let out a small laugh. "Long enough to hear you tell yourself to shut up."

"You tell anyone and your head is mine!" she threatened.

He laughed. "Well would you reconsider if I gave you some coffee?"

"Always." she replied.

Together they walked from the parking lot towards their lockers, Rory sipping coffee as they went.

"So, ready to tell me why you were talking to yourself?" Tristan asked.

Rory hesitated. "Not yet."

"Well then, how about you tell me during Bio."

"Why specifically Bio?"

Tristan smirked. "Because it will take your mind of the lovely cow's eye that we're dissecting today."

Rory groaned. "I forgot! Why oh why a cow's eye?!"

Tristan shrugged and left her in for his own locker.

~

Tristan searched for Rory, feeling the need to walk with her to their biology class. He found her leaning against a row of lockers talking with a girl that he had seen around but had yet to actually meet. Rory seemed happy and whatever had distracted her earlier had been forgotten as she talked animatedly with the other student. As Tristan approached he caught a bit of the conversation.

"Thanks Natalie, you have such great ideas." Rory gushed.

"Are you kidding me? You've helped me a lot."

"I only let you borrow my muse, trust me, my ideas would have been useless if you didn't have the talent the put them into good use."

The bell signaling that they only had five more minutes to get to class sounded.

Natalie sighed groaned tiredly. "I have to go, my class is one the other side of the campus."

"Okay, see you later then." Rory bid farewell.

"Bye." Natalie called back as she walked off passing Tristan. "Hey Tristan." she said warmly.

"Er…hi." he responded.

Walking up next to Rory he immediately asked, "Who was that?"

"That was Natalie, she's in my creative writing class."

"Oh, your elective?"

"Yeah, we've been bouncing story ideas off of each other, you know, helping get the other out of writers block and creative slumps." Rory explained.

"Since when are you so social?" Tristan teased.

"Since I met Callie and the rest of the gang. I figure that I'm not alone at this school anymore, I have some friends and I should branch out and make a few more."

Tristan nodded and began guiding her down the hall towards their biology class. "So, is she any good at writing?"

Rory opened her mouth and widened her eyes in excitement. "Are you kidding me?! Of course, for one thing she writes these amazing poems that really get you to think. Oh, and there's this one story that I absolutely LOVE! The main character, Haley, is a book reader like myself and she's constantly being pestered by this guy named Jason but luckily things work out for the best and they end up together. She's got another one that she's working on that has this guy who is this famous…"

Tristan smiled in amusement as they took their seats. He was happy to see her talking so passionately about something that obviously made her move past being shy and reclusive. She was finally moving past her 'charity case' social status and was forming her own circle of friends to surround herself with.

"…And she doesn't even know that he's famous because she wasn't at all interested in this guy in the first place since it was her friend who dragged her to the party…Tristan are you listening?" Rory asked.

Tristan came back to reality. "Yeah totally, famous guy, book reader, pestering, I got the whole thing."

Rory looked suspicious but decided to drop it. "Well, anyway, let's just say that I think I'm beginning to like being more social, especially if it means meeting more people like Nat and our lunch buddies. If I had known in the beginning that there are some people who actually DO possess souls it would have made things a whole lot easier."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Tristan whispered just as the bell rang.

Miss Caldwell stood in front of the class. "Okay students, now I need one person from each pair to come up here and grab your dissection tools and then reach into this bucket here to pick out an eye." she said enthusiastically as if it were the most exciting thing in the world.

Rory paled and turned to Tristan armed with a puppy faced pout. One look into her face and Tristan was caught.

"Okay, okay, I'll got get everything." he sighed.

~~~~~~~~

"Okay, yes, so then we can pick up the dresses today?" Lorelai asked into the phone. "Okay, and we need to bring the order receipt…thank you so much…yes, I'll have someone pick up the dresses today…no, why would I do it myself…well I'm not normal…I have little minions who do my bidding, we keep them locked in the basement…my kids…I've scared you know haven't I…I'm just going to go, bye."

Lorelai sighed and sat down in a chair, watching Sookie as she bustled around the kitchen preparing food for the lunch crowd.

"Did you confuse someone again?" Sookie asked, seeing the huge grin on Lorelai's face.

"Yeah, it was fun…I swear the woman began looking up the number for child welfare as I was hanging up."

Sookie rolled her eyes. "So, the dresses are ready then?"

"Yep, and the tuxes and so are the invitations." Lorelai affirmed.

"Which you're sending out in May right?" Sookie asked. "Why did you have them done so early?"

"Mother's orders. She's not even letting me keep them! I don't think she trusts me not to lose them." Lorelai grumbled.

"Well, she may have a point. You have a knack for losing things."

"I do not! What have I ever lost?"

Sookie sighed and began to count off the things on her fingers. "Your phone."

"I always do that! Wait, that doesn't help my case." Lorelai remembered.

"Your cell phone, Luke's tool box…"

"Poor Bert, we found him though."

"All of Rory's Chilton uniforms…" Sookie went on.

"But, it was during the summer so technically it wasn't priority."

"Countless pets…"

"It's the whole fur thing, I got many a furry friend confused with my alarm clock."

"Your car…"

"That parking lot was freakishly huge."

"Rory…"

"That mall was also freakishly huge, in fact the parking lot was for that mall."

"The inn's finance books…"

"Okay that was bad."

"Jess's CD collection…"

"I never would have hid them and then forgotten where I put them if he hadn't insulted the Bangles."

"Luke's finance books…"

"Okay, stop this is getting redundant. I get the point, I lose things." Lorelai interrupted.

Sookie smiled and went back to her cooking.

"So, are you going to pick everything up after work today?"

"Nah, I'll make Rory and Tristan do all that." Lorelai dismissed.

"What about Jess? Aren't the three sharing those responsibilities? It doesn't seem like you or Luke have given him anything to do."

"That's not true, we have him…getting the candles for the tables." Lorelai stumbled over her words.

"Really? So if I were to call Luke right now and ask what Jess's job was he would say candles?" Sookie challenged.

"Er…I'll be right back."

Lorelai hurried out of the kitchen.

Minutes later Lorelai would rush back in and tell Sookie that if she were to ask Luke would definitely say that Jess was in charge of the candles.

~~~~~~~~~

"Okay we have an eye, what do we do?" Tristan asked as he snapped on his gloves.

"Cut where the sclera meets the cornea until the aqueous humor is released and remove the cornea." Rory read from her lab book.

"Right, scalpel?" Tristan held his hand out.

Rory rolled her eyes but handed him the instrument.

"So," he began as he cut, "what happened this morning?"

Rory began to toy with her gloves nervously. "I called Luke 'dad'."

Tristan nearly speared the eye. "What?"

"Yeah, I know, I don't know what came over me. Jess had just called mom 'aunt' and I was in a after coffee stupor…it just…it felt like we were a family you know?"

"Actually I don't." Tristan said as he sliced.

"Oh, Tristan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Hey," he interrupted, "it's okay. I know what you meant. Truth be told, I do know what it's like to have a family…every time I step into Stars Hollow. Keep going and tell me what to do next."

"Still I'm sorry." Rory apologized. "Stick your finger in the center of the eye, find the iris, and pull back, it should come out in one piece."

"Okay, so continue."

"Well, I was so caught up in the 'family' feeling that before I even knew what I was thinking I called Luke dad."

"Two questions: what was his reaction and what do I do with this eye?"

"Cut slits in the sclera and remove the lens, the vitreous humor may come out too. I'll tell you what to do with those after you take out the lens." Rory said. "I actually didn't stay to see Luke's reaction, or my mom's for that matter. I just ran."

"Hmm…um, I think I messed up."

"What did you do?" Rory panicked.

"I don't think I got out the lens right."

Mss Caldwell, who was walking by stepped in. "Don't worry, if you don't get it in one piece that's okay. Just make sure to get it all out."

She walked away.

"Did it feel weird?"

"Calling Luke dad? No." Rory answered.

"Wish I could say the same about this eye. There are little pieces of lens floating around." Tristan complained as he strained to remove it all.

"What is this thing? It looks like a grape." Rory asked holding up a marble shaped object.

"That is the vitreous humor."

"Ew." she immediately dropped it back down onto the tray.

"So it didn't feel weird calling Luke your dad? What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not sure. I think before I face him I'm going to call my dad, my real dad, and ask his opinion about it."

"That sounds smart. So, back to this eye, what next?"

"Look through the lens, or at least through one of the pieces of ours and answer question four in observation."

"Everything appears upside-down." Tristan answered.

"Great. So, you remember we have plans for he wedding to work on after school right?" Rory asked as she picked up the vitreous humor again and with more confidence began to play catch with it.

"Yeah, what do we have to do? Both after school and right now." Tristan asked.

"Turn the eye inside out and locate the fovea." Rory read. "And my mom is supposed to call your cell after school with today's orders."

"My cell?"

"She lost mine for me." Rory stated.

"Got it. Not even going to ask. What's this blue-green thing?"

"The tapetum. Ooh, shiny." she commented. "This is actually kind of fun."

Tristan looked at her as she played with the 'grape thing' as she had deemed it earlier. "Hope you have this much fun during our next dissection."

"What are dissecting?"

"Fetus pig." Tristan answered nonchalantly.

Rory blanched. "Fetus pig?" she gulped. "Remind me not to eat lunch that day."

~~~~~~~

"Hello?"

"Hey Tristan!"

"Hey Lorelai." Tristan laughed. "So, what are our orders?"

"Well, your mission, should you choose to accept it is to pick up the invitations and the bridal parties' clothes."

"Okay, I think we can handle that." Tristan said.

"Good, now hand the phone over to my mini-me as this message is about to self destruct." Lorelai joked.

"So you'd rather take out your own daughter instead of me? I'm touched Lorelai." Tristan played along.

"What can I say, Miss Patty wants the kid out of the way so she can have you all for herself."

Tristan shook his head in amusement and handed the phone over to Rory who stood next to him impatiently trying to catch snatches of her mother's dialogue.

"What is this that I hear about being eliminated?"

"Nothing, just helping Miss Patty find another husband but anyway, what was up with this morning?" Lorelai got straight to the point.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said it but I understand if it bothers you." Rory began.

"No, hey Rory, it's fine. With me at least, I haven't talked to Luke about it but…I don't know, when you said it…it felt…"

"Right?" Rory offered.

"Yeah, you felt it too?"

"I did. I can't explain it mom."

"You need to talk to Chris about this."

"I know mom."

"Because if he feels weird about this it will make us feel weird about it."

"And you need to talk to Luke." Rory reminded.

"I know sweetie. Listen, Sookie is abut to cause another major accident so I have to go, okay?"

"Yeah mom, we'll talk at home."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Rory hung up the phone and sighed.

"Ready to go?" Tristan asked.

"Do you have to ask?"

~

AN: I know! Crap, right? It was a filler chapter…sue me! Wait, no don't sue me because I at the moment my dwindling college fund is needed to pay for food. Just, review and know that I'm working on the next chapter as we speak. I swear it. The final chapter needs to be posted in like sixteen days so as you can tell, I'm going to be working my ass off for ya.