Author's Note: Typing as fast as my mind and fingers will allow! Keep
reading and be so kind as to review!
Chapter 12
"Okay, it's almost set in the computer. So, when a guest purchases a gift there is a sort of thank you statement that is just a default kind of thing. If you don't like the default you can write your own."
"Um, lets hear the default." Tristan said as he looked to Rory for approval who nodded as she took a slow sip of her coffee.
"Okay it will read: 'Thank you for sharing in our joy by showing your love and support through this gift signed, the future Mr. and Mrs. DuGrey.'" Vivian smiled.
Rory began to choke on her coffee. Tristan snapped out of his shock enough to pat her back in attempts to help her, all the while throwing a look at Vivian that was a mix of panic and confusion. Vivian looked alarmed as Tristan tried to soothe Rory. Finally her coughs and sputters subsided enough for Rory to take a gasping breath and slam her cup down onto the desk.
"Run that last part by me one more time. I don't think I heard you right." she panted.
"What? Signed by the future Mr. and Mrs. DuGrey. That's you two." Viv replied innocently.
"Oh, that's what I thought you said." Rory breathed weakly.
"No, um Viv, I think you've misunderstood." Tristan explained. "We…no…we're not getting married."
"But you came here to register…?"
"For my mom and her fiancée." Rory gained the ability to breathe again.
Vivian brought her hand to her mouth and chuckled. "Oh, dears, I'm sorry! It's just you came in here together and oh, you looked so cute together, I assumed…oh this is embarrassing!"
Tristan chuckled nervously, still shaken. "Its okay, we should have caught it sooner, I guess we're just both tired. It's been a long day."
"I understand completely. Oh my," she continued to laugh as she turned to her computer, "I thought you two looked too young to get married but who am I to interfere in young love!"
"Love?" Rory stuttered. "Oh no, no, no, we're not in love. We're just best friends."
"Really? Hm, if you ask me, there's something more there that I doubt either of you want to see." Vivian commented as she began to fix the order. "What are the names of the couple?"
"What? No there…" Rory began.
"Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes." Tristan interrupted.
Rory threw him a glance.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"Alright. It will take a few minutes for this to re-enter into our systems with the new names." Vivian said patiently, traces of her smile still showing. "So, you're sure you two aren't dating?"
"Very sure." Rory affirmed. "We only just learned how to tolerate each other."
"Hey!" Tristan objected.
"Okay, I only just learned how to tolerate HIM."
"Hmph, if you weren't my ride home I'd be insulted." Tristan pouted.
"Oh please, you're not hurt so don't pretend to be."
Tristan smirked. "You're right, I'm not."
"Well, okay, it's all set. Now would you like to change the default?" Viv asked.
"No, that's okay as it is." Rory answered.
"All right then. Here's your print out of the transaction."
"Thank you." Tristan said, shaking her hand.
"Yeah, thanks."
"You're very welcome dears." she said kindly.
Together they stood and walked away.
"They'll be back…they just don't know it yet." she said to herself knowingly as she watched them disappear.
~
"Hey, can we maybe make this a two story room?" Jess asked.
"What? There is no way your room is going to end up cooler than mine bucko." Lorelai objected.
Together, Luke, Lorelai, and Jess stood over the freshly drawn plans for the house addition.
"Why do I have to share a bathroom with Rory?" he whined.
"Why are you sharing a bathroom with me?" she asked as she walked into the diner. She took one look at the sketching. "What's all this?"
"It's Jess's new room." Lorelai announced.
"New room?"
"Yeah, Luke and Jess are moving in with us but we need another room for Jess so we're making him one." Lorelai explained. "Oh, and another bathroom for Luke and I."
Rory just nodded dumbly. "And when was all this decided?"
"Today."
"While I was out running around to practically every store in the Hartford mall even though you could have saved me a lot of pain by just picking one store to register at?" Rory pressed.
"Um…yeah." Lorelai answered innocently.
Rory sighed. "Because I'm too tired I won't fight. Whatever you have written down on that paper is a-okay with me."
Jess smirked. "I'll go get you some coffee."
"Thank you." Rory mumbled as she collapsed at the counter.
"Was it really that bad?" Luke asked.
"Oh, yeah. Why exactly were there so many stores on that list?"
"Because, my mother only wanted certain things from certain places. She insisted." Lorelai began to mimic her mother's voice. "Oh, but Macy's has much nicer towels than Nordstroms, oh, Nordstroms has crystal champagne glasses, you know, the ones with the gold rim? But, of course for silverware you HAVE to register at Oneida…and so on." she finished returning to her normal voice.
Jess came back and placed a mug in front of her. She mumbled thanks and took a sip.
"So, where's Tristan?" Luke asked.
"Dropped him off at his house."
"Will you two be having dinner or are you just going to go home?" Luke asked.
"Actually, dinner sounds great." Rory answered.
"Are you sure? You were pretty wiped a second ago." Jess said concerned.
"No worries, I have my coffee thus I have a second strength. Keep the java coming and I assure you I'll be up till one."
"Okay." Jess said hesitantly.
"Hey, why don't we make this a family dinner?" Lorelai suggested. "Luke, let Caesar do the cooking."
Luke sighed and threw down his towel. "Okay, take a seat I'll go order up some food."
"Diner boy!" Luke turned around. "No veggie salad or something! You're eating a burger buddy! This is a family meal!" Lorelai ordered.
Luke sighed again but mumbled his compliance. Lorelai grinned happily.
"So? How was your day with Tristan?" Lorelai asked, turning her attention to Rory.
"Other than long and tiresome? It was okay, we had to split up some of the work to get it all done."
Lorelai looked worried. "What? No, you can't split up the work! You need to spend time together!"
"Why?" Rory questioned suspiciously.
"Well…" Lorelai stuttered, "it's tradition, you're supposed to do everything together."
"I've never heard of a tradition like that."
"You don't know everything." Lorelai retorted.
Before Rory could argue Luke came back and sat next to Lorelai.
"Food's coming."
They nodded in response.
"Anything interesting happen?" Jess asked, stealing a sip of Rory's coffee.
She snatched the cup back. "Well, this one lady at Macy's thought that we were getting married."
"What?!" the three others exclaimed.
"Er…yeah. Well, I guess because Tristan and I went in together and all, she kind of assumed that we were a couple registering." Rory explained.
"And?" Jess prodded.
"And, when she called us Mr. and Mrs. DuGrey we corrected her. That's it."
Lorelai and Luke shared a small glance. Luckily Rory and Jess were too busy nudging each other for arm room for them to notice.
~
"I'm glad to be home, my feet need rest." Rory sighed happily as they stepped through the door of their home.
"Are you going to crash or are ya going to work off some of that caffeine with me?" Lorelai asked playfully.
"Movie night?" Rory asked.
"Of course, but sadly I think that all of VHS tapes are pretty messed up, if you don't mind those annoying white lines popping up then we're good to go."
"Hmm." Rory hummed as they walked straight to the kitchen. "Hey, mom, did you set the coffee before you left or what? There's a fresh pot ready to go."
"No, I didn't. Oh, look, a note." Lorelai pointed and stood next to her daughter.
Rory opened the note and read out loud. "It's from Tristan. 'Hey Ror, and Lorelai who I'm sure is reading over you're shoulder.'"
"Smart kid." Lorelai mumbled.
Rory rolled her eyes and continued. " 'I know this is going to sound weird, and me breaking into your house probably isn't too normal either but I realized that I never really thanked you for throwing me a birthday party a while back.'"
"What? Yeah he did." Lorelai cut in.
Rory kept reading. " 'And don't say that I did, because in my eyes I didn't.'"
"Eh." Lorelai narrowed her eyes.
" 'Anyway, I wanted to get to know you before I gave you anything in return because I wanted it to be something you'd like. I knew you'd have dinner at Luke's tonight so I snuck into town after you dropped me off and set this all up for you. If you look on the kitchen table behind you (because I know that you probably didn't see it walking in) there is something you may like.'"
"DVDS!" Lorelai exclaimed happily.
She held up copies of Independence Day, The Cutting Edge, and You've Got Mail.
" 'I know they're you favorite, Ror.'" Rory continued to read.
"But we don't have a DVD player." Lorelai slumped her shoulders.
Rory held up her hand to silence her mother. " 'Since I'm sure you were attracted straight to the coffee I brewed for you…'"
"That explains it." Lorelai muttered.
" 'You might want to go check out your TV cabinet.'"
Rory stopped reading. Looking up at her mother they simultaneously nodded and went back into the living room. Lorelai gasped in surprise.
" "It's a DVD player.'"
"Well duh, Mr. Obvious!" Lorelai exclaimed as she excitedly ran her hands over the player.
" 'I know, pretty obvious. I set it up for you so it's all ready to go. Oh, by the way, look on the coffee table.'"
They turned and Rory smiled, touched by the additional gifts and she looked back down at the letter.
" 'You once told me that you wore down your tape of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so I figure that a DVD is harder to burn out. Also, I thought that you may want to sing along to the Sound of Music (I got some funny looks when I bought that) so that's there too.'"
"So the kid breaks into our house and not only sets up the coffee maker but buys us five DVD's and a player to play them in? And set it up? Could this get any better?" Lorelai was giddy.
" 'Movie night isn't complete without the goodies so if you look in the freezer…'" Rory stopped reading and looked at her mother.
Wordlessly they went to the freezer and opened it.
" 'You're looking through it right now aren't you?'"
"He knows us to well." Lorelai observed.
Rory just nodded and kept reading. " 'There's some ice cream (enough to last you a week in my opinion) and in the cabinet is some kettle corn. It's like popcorn but it's salty sweet (trust me, it's good) just give it a chance and if you don't like it I put the regular kind next to it. Actually, there's already a bag in the microwave, just press the button labeled 'popcorn' and it will start popping.'"
"There's a popcorn button? How did we miss that?" Lorelai questioned.
" "You may not have seen it but it's there (and it works). So anyway, you've got your movies, your snacks, and most importantly your coffee. Thank you, for giving me a chance and for this past year. You've inspired me Rory, you're inspired me to be a better person and for that, I'm grateful. And Lorelai? Thanks for giving me a chance too (and thanks for saving me every time I was tempted to pull a 'Rory' and do my homework). Enjoy and I'll see you later. Tristan.'" Rory finished.
She turned to her mother.
"Oh, he's good." Lorelai mused.
"Yeah," Rory said wistfully, "he is."
~
AN: So, how am I doing? My original intent was to post the whole story by June 12th because that's the day of the wedding but as I'm sure most of you know, fan fiction.net has been on the blink lately (I think it's cuz they're re-vamping the site or something) but it doesn't look like it will happen. On average, I had about a five-minute window a day where the site seems to run at full speed. It seems to have returned to normal (at least for now) but you still won't see your Trory filled ending tonight, sorry…unless a miracle happens…or if you motivate me enough with some reviews. Give me ten reviews and the next chapter will be up (I'm working on it right now, half done in fact).
Chapter 12
"Okay, it's almost set in the computer. So, when a guest purchases a gift there is a sort of thank you statement that is just a default kind of thing. If you don't like the default you can write your own."
"Um, lets hear the default." Tristan said as he looked to Rory for approval who nodded as she took a slow sip of her coffee.
"Okay it will read: 'Thank you for sharing in our joy by showing your love and support through this gift signed, the future Mr. and Mrs. DuGrey.'" Vivian smiled.
Rory began to choke on her coffee. Tristan snapped out of his shock enough to pat her back in attempts to help her, all the while throwing a look at Vivian that was a mix of panic and confusion. Vivian looked alarmed as Tristan tried to soothe Rory. Finally her coughs and sputters subsided enough for Rory to take a gasping breath and slam her cup down onto the desk.
"Run that last part by me one more time. I don't think I heard you right." she panted.
"What? Signed by the future Mr. and Mrs. DuGrey. That's you two." Viv replied innocently.
"Oh, that's what I thought you said." Rory breathed weakly.
"No, um Viv, I think you've misunderstood." Tristan explained. "We…no…we're not getting married."
"But you came here to register…?"
"For my mom and her fiancée." Rory gained the ability to breathe again.
Vivian brought her hand to her mouth and chuckled. "Oh, dears, I'm sorry! It's just you came in here together and oh, you looked so cute together, I assumed…oh this is embarrassing!"
Tristan chuckled nervously, still shaken. "Its okay, we should have caught it sooner, I guess we're just both tired. It's been a long day."
"I understand completely. Oh my," she continued to laugh as she turned to her computer, "I thought you two looked too young to get married but who am I to interfere in young love!"
"Love?" Rory stuttered. "Oh no, no, no, we're not in love. We're just best friends."
"Really? Hm, if you ask me, there's something more there that I doubt either of you want to see." Vivian commented as she began to fix the order. "What are the names of the couple?"
"What? No there…" Rory began.
"Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes." Tristan interrupted.
Rory threw him a glance.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"Alright. It will take a few minutes for this to re-enter into our systems with the new names." Vivian said patiently, traces of her smile still showing. "So, you're sure you two aren't dating?"
"Very sure." Rory affirmed. "We only just learned how to tolerate each other."
"Hey!" Tristan objected.
"Okay, I only just learned how to tolerate HIM."
"Hmph, if you weren't my ride home I'd be insulted." Tristan pouted.
"Oh please, you're not hurt so don't pretend to be."
Tristan smirked. "You're right, I'm not."
"Well, okay, it's all set. Now would you like to change the default?" Viv asked.
"No, that's okay as it is." Rory answered.
"All right then. Here's your print out of the transaction."
"Thank you." Tristan said, shaking her hand.
"Yeah, thanks."
"You're very welcome dears." she said kindly.
Together they stood and walked away.
"They'll be back…they just don't know it yet." she said to herself knowingly as she watched them disappear.
~
"Hey, can we maybe make this a two story room?" Jess asked.
"What? There is no way your room is going to end up cooler than mine bucko." Lorelai objected.
Together, Luke, Lorelai, and Jess stood over the freshly drawn plans for the house addition.
"Why do I have to share a bathroom with Rory?" he whined.
"Why are you sharing a bathroom with me?" she asked as she walked into the diner. She took one look at the sketching. "What's all this?"
"It's Jess's new room." Lorelai announced.
"New room?"
"Yeah, Luke and Jess are moving in with us but we need another room for Jess so we're making him one." Lorelai explained. "Oh, and another bathroom for Luke and I."
Rory just nodded dumbly. "And when was all this decided?"
"Today."
"While I was out running around to practically every store in the Hartford mall even though you could have saved me a lot of pain by just picking one store to register at?" Rory pressed.
"Um…yeah." Lorelai answered innocently.
Rory sighed. "Because I'm too tired I won't fight. Whatever you have written down on that paper is a-okay with me."
Jess smirked. "I'll go get you some coffee."
"Thank you." Rory mumbled as she collapsed at the counter.
"Was it really that bad?" Luke asked.
"Oh, yeah. Why exactly were there so many stores on that list?"
"Because, my mother only wanted certain things from certain places. She insisted." Lorelai began to mimic her mother's voice. "Oh, but Macy's has much nicer towels than Nordstroms, oh, Nordstroms has crystal champagne glasses, you know, the ones with the gold rim? But, of course for silverware you HAVE to register at Oneida…and so on." she finished returning to her normal voice.
Jess came back and placed a mug in front of her. She mumbled thanks and took a sip.
"So, where's Tristan?" Luke asked.
"Dropped him off at his house."
"Will you two be having dinner or are you just going to go home?" Luke asked.
"Actually, dinner sounds great." Rory answered.
"Are you sure? You were pretty wiped a second ago." Jess said concerned.
"No worries, I have my coffee thus I have a second strength. Keep the java coming and I assure you I'll be up till one."
"Okay." Jess said hesitantly.
"Hey, why don't we make this a family dinner?" Lorelai suggested. "Luke, let Caesar do the cooking."
Luke sighed and threw down his towel. "Okay, take a seat I'll go order up some food."
"Diner boy!" Luke turned around. "No veggie salad or something! You're eating a burger buddy! This is a family meal!" Lorelai ordered.
Luke sighed again but mumbled his compliance. Lorelai grinned happily.
"So? How was your day with Tristan?" Lorelai asked, turning her attention to Rory.
"Other than long and tiresome? It was okay, we had to split up some of the work to get it all done."
Lorelai looked worried. "What? No, you can't split up the work! You need to spend time together!"
"Why?" Rory questioned suspiciously.
"Well…" Lorelai stuttered, "it's tradition, you're supposed to do everything together."
"I've never heard of a tradition like that."
"You don't know everything." Lorelai retorted.
Before Rory could argue Luke came back and sat next to Lorelai.
"Food's coming."
They nodded in response.
"Anything interesting happen?" Jess asked, stealing a sip of Rory's coffee.
She snatched the cup back. "Well, this one lady at Macy's thought that we were getting married."
"What?!" the three others exclaimed.
"Er…yeah. Well, I guess because Tristan and I went in together and all, she kind of assumed that we were a couple registering." Rory explained.
"And?" Jess prodded.
"And, when she called us Mr. and Mrs. DuGrey we corrected her. That's it."
Lorelai and Luke shared a small glance. Luckily Rory and Jess were too busy nudging each other for arm room for them to notice.
~
"I'm glad to be home, my feet need rest." Rory sighed happily as they stepped through the door of their home.
"Are you going to crash or are ya going to work off some of that caffeine with me?" Lorelai asked playfully.
"Movie night?" Rory asked.
"Of course, but sadly I think that all of VHS tapes are pretty messed up, if you don't mind those annoying white lines popping up then we're good to go."
"Hmm." Rory hummed as they walked straight to the kitchen. "Hey, mom, did you set the coffee before you left or what? There's a fresh pot ready to go."
"No, I didn't. Oh, look, a note." Lorelai pointed and stood next to her daughter.
Rory opened the note and read out loud. "It's from Tristan. 'Hey Ror, and Lorelai who I'm sure is reading over you're shoulder.'"
"Smart kid." Lorelai mumbled.
Rory rolled her eyes and continued. " 'I know this is going to sound weird, and me breaking into your house probably isn't too normal either but I realized that I never really thanked you for throwing me a birthday party a while back.'"
"What? Yeah he did." Lorelai cut in.
Rory kept reading. " 'And don't say that I did, because in my eyes I didn't.'"
"Eh." Lorelai narrowed her eyes.
" 'Anyway, I wanted to get to know you before I gave you anything in return because I wanted it to be something you'd like. I knew you'd have dinner at Luke's tonight so I snuck into town after you dropped me off and set this all up for you. If you look on the kitchen table behind you (because I know that you probably didn't see it walking in) there is something you may like.'"
"DVDS!" Lorelai exclaimed happily.
She held up copies of Independence Day, The Cutting Edge, and You've Got Mail.
" 'I know they're you favorite, Ror.'" Rory continued to read.
"But we don't have a DVD player." Lorelai slumped her shoulders.
Rory held up her hand to silence her mother. " 'Since I'm sure you were attracted straight to the coffee I brewed for you…'"
"That explains it." Lorelai muttered.
" 'You might want to go check out your TV cabinet.'"
Rory stopped reading. Looking up at her mother they simultaneously nodded and went back into the living room. Lorelai gasped in surprise.
" "It's a DVD player.'"
"Well duh, Mr. Obvious!" Lorelai exclaimed as she excitedly ran her hands over the player.
" 'I know, pretty obvious. I set it up for you so it's all ready to go. Oh, by the way, look on the coffee table.'"
They turned and Rory smiled, touched by the additional gifts and she looked back down at the letter.
" 'You once told me that you wore down your tape of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so I figure that a DVD is harder to burn out. Also, I thought that you may want to sing along to the Sound of Music (I got some funny looks when I bought that) so that's there too.'"
"So the kid breaks into our house and not only sets up the coffee maker but buys us five DVD's and a player to play them in? And set it up? Could this get any better?" Lorelai was giddy.
" 'Movie night isn't complete without the goodies so if you look in the freezer…'" Rory stopped reading and looked at her mother.
Wordlessly they went to the freezer and opened it.
" 'You're looking through it right now aren't you?'"
"He knows us to well." Lorelai observed.
Rory just nodded and kept reading. " 'There's some ice cream (enough to last you a week in my opinion) and in the cabinet is some kettle corn. It's like popcorn but it's salty sweet (trust me, it's good) just give it a chance and if you don't like it I put the regular kind next to it. Actually, there's already a bag in the microwave, just press the button labeled 'popcorn' and it will start popping.'"
"There's a popcorn button? How did we miss that?" Lorelai questioned.
" "You may not have seen it but it's there (and it works). So anyway, you've got your movies, your snacks, and most importantly your coffee. Thank you, for giving me a chance and for this past year. You've inspired me Rory, you're inspired me to be a better person and for that, I'm grateful. And Lorelai? Thanks for giving me a chance too (and thanks for saving me every time I was tempted to pull a 'Rory' and do my homework). Enjoy and I'll see you later. Tristan.'" Rory finished.
She turned to her mother.
"Oh, he's good." Lorelai mused.
"Yeah," Rory said wistfully, "he is."
~
AN: So, how am I doing? My original intent was to post the whole story by June 12th because that's the day of the wedding but as I'm sure most of you know, fan fiction.net has been on the blink lately (I think it's cuz they're re-vamping the site or something) but it doesn't look like it will happen. On average, I had about a five-minute window a day where the site seems to run at full speed. It seems to have returned to normal (at least for now) but you still won't see your Trory filled ending tonight, sorry…unless a miracle happens…or if you motivate me enough with some reviews. Give me ten reviews and the next chapter will be up (I'm working on it right now, half done in fact).
