Chapter 5



Pulling his car into his Aunt Hermione and Uncle Harry's driveway, he hopped out of his car and shut the door, suddenly in a much better mood.

When he had gone home after school, he was correct in finding his house empty. He fixed himself something small to eat, and sat right there on the kitchen counter and did so. When his parents were home, he'd never be allowed to do that. Considering if they ever themselves walked into a kitchen to find him like that. The house had been to quiet, so he had put on some music, but barely listened to it.

Finally getting bored, he ignored the eight number blinking on his answering machine and left the house, deciding to visit his cousin. Maybe he could take her out again tonight, McDonald's or something like that.

His Aunt and Uncle were completely different from his parents. They weren't as rich, although they had their fair share of money. They didn't flash it around like his parents didn't and they didn't allow themselves to be apart of the high society. They had just recently moved out to Hartford, Harry having gotten a job at one of the local law agency's.

His uncle was a terrific lawyer. An honest lawyer, and sadly that was rare in this day and age. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but silently Tristan had refused, completely uninterested in the world of the law.

Making his way up the walkway to his Aunt and Uncles home, her marveled in how homey it actually looked, how lived in it seemed to be, even from the outside. Completely different from his house, which looked like a movie set, a museum.

Knocking on the door, he shoved his cold hands into his pockets and waited.

"Who is it?" He heard a small voice ask from behind the door. He smiled. Clearing his throat, he spoke: "It's Petter Pan."

He heard her giggled through the thick oak door, and listened and she fumbled with the lock, and waited for the door to open. When it did he wasn't surprised to find her standing there, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey Tink, I say we go cause some trouble. Whadda say?" She grinned and nodded her head, her hair bouncing. "Fairy dust, please." He said, bending over slightly, smiling at her. She giggled and pretended to sprinkling fairy dust over the both of them. "You ready?" He asked, placing his fists on his hips, the standard Peter Pan posture. She nodded her head vigorously. Swooping down, he picked her up swiftly, throwing her over his shoulder. Sticking her arms out to her sides, they both made swooshing sounds over and over as he walked through the hallway of her house, stopping in the living room, greeted by the smiles of his aunt and uncle

"Mommy! Look! Tristan took me flying again, and he's Petter Pan and I'm Tinkerbelle!" She squealed excitedly. Aunt Hermione smiled, matching the excitement of her daughter.

"Well, where's Wendy?" She asked, grinning at Tristan, winking, which managed to spring a slightl blush to his cheeks.

"Wendy's off in the real world, knitting or something like that." Setting down his cousin, Tristan took a seat next to his uncle, and got settled just in time to catch Juliet as she jumped onto his lap.

"Mommy and Daddy are taking me to a Chwistmas fair tonight." She said, clapping her hands together in her lap, grinning proudly. Widening his eyes, playing along with her excitement, her smiled widely.

"Really? Wow! Are you going to play games?" He asked. She nodded her head vigorously, closing her big blue eyes.

"And are you going to win me a stuffed animal?" He asked again

She grinned at him and shook her head no. "No? No! Harmph! I'm hurt, Juliet." He laughed and began tickling her, laughing harder when she squealed for him to stop, but she kept on giggled harder and harder, her cheeks pinking.

"You should come with us Tristan. I'm sure Juliet would love it if you would come." His Aunt Hermione said, smiling at the two. Tristan tickled Juliet a few more times before looking up at his aunt.

"Sure, what time?" He asked, setting Juliet back into a sitting position on his lap

"Six. You have to drive yourself, though, sorry to say. Juliet is bringing a friend and I'm afraid the cars only a four-seater."

He nodded and grinned down at his cousin. "You want me to come?" He asked. She smiled and nodded her head, and kissed his cheek, making a large smacking sound. He laughed and nodded.

"Alright, I guess that means I'm coming. Where is it?"

"Stars Hollow. Right in the middle of town. I go to business school with one of the women that lives in that town, and she told me about it. Said it should be a lot of fun..." She continued on, not noticing that Tristan's face had fallen slightly.

Stars Hollow? Rory's town? Holy Hell.

He nodded his head again, more for himself than anyone else. "Alright, I'll be there. I should get home and change though." He looked down at Juliet, "I'll see you there, alright? Give me a kiss." She leaned up and kissed his on the lips, again making an overly dramatic smacking sound. Picking her up, he set her on the couch in the spot he had just emptied and waved to his family before making his way toward to the front door.

"Well, tonight should be interesting."

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Having followed Tristan to his home, and followed him again to another much smaller one, Rory began to grow bored. Apparently, Tristan decided this Friday night wasn't worth a date because he was doing absolutely nothing. Plus, the jeep was freezing and she kept shivering. She had turned the car off the save the battery, knowing that she had been keeping it on way to much lately. So there she sat, in the cold, in the silence, watching Tristan's completely empty car.

Sighing, she reached over and started the car, noticing it took a little bit longer, and it made a funny clung clung clung sound before it fully started up. Praying it wouldn't quit on her ride home, she pulled off the curb and made her way back to the main highway.

Hartford was a nice enough town. Big, but still very pretty. Lots of trees, lots of snow. Plenty of character. Not as much as Stars Hollow, but she highly doubted any town had as much character as Stars Hollow. People always seemed to be in a hurry, no matter where they were going or how they go there. Cutting her off on the road, people runnning across the street even with a car there, taking other peoples taxi's. It wasn't some place she could imagine living in. Not now, at least.

The drive from Hartford to Stars Hollow was one that consisted of a two lane highway, no stop lights, no stop signs and no rests stops. It was only a 45 minute drive from either town, but at night, it was a little creepy. Almost completely deserted, and most defiantly completely dark, the street tended to give off a horror movie vibe, and the last thing you'd ever want to happen would be to get stuck on this road, in the winter, in the dark.

And that's exactly what Rory had managed to pull off.

Twenty minutes into her drive, Rory had noticed what looked like an injured deer, walking across the road. She almost had to slam on her breaks to avoid hitting it. She watched as it stared at her for a moment before it limped down across the road and back into the forest. Memories of her previous experience with a deer, she pulled her car over to the sided of the road and turned it off. She only wanted to see if it would make it the rest of the night, or even it just got away from the road. If it had collapsed right when it walked into the forest. Something

Making her way towards the spot were she thought it had entered, she did her best to look around in the dark, but saw nor heard any sound of the deer and sighed. Figuring there was nothing she could have done anyway, she made her way back to the jeep and started it up. Or at least, she tried. Four or five times she tried and got nothing but the re-re-re-re of a dead engine.

Taking a few deep breaths, Rory forced herself to calm down, while mentally beating herself up for not taking the cellphone when her mother offered it to her this morning. Deciding that it was be best to stay in the car and wait for someone to pull over and help her, she pulled her jacket around her, doing her best to keep all the warmth inside.

"Alright, Rory. It'll only be a few minutes before someone drives by and helps you. You wont be here long. You wont be here on the dark, cold, scariest road in the world for much longer. Just...think of something else." She whispered to herself, a little worried at the fact that she could now see her breath.

"Think about something else. Think about something else. Like, why this jeep hates me so much. Why my brain is slowly starting to play the theme to Jaws. Why I'm making too big a deal out of this."

She tapped her foot on the car floor, and bit her bottom lip. Twenty minutes had pasted by, and she had only seen one car and it didn't even slow down. Although when she got out to wave it down, a guy stuck his head out the window and threw a beer bottle at her, it shattered agaisn't the jeep, small shards of glass hitting her. He had been shouting something she was unable to understand and cat calling her. It might have been a very small thing, but it scared her, and she jumped back into her car, praying they wouldn't turn around and come back for her.

Even though her jacket was somewhat thick, the cold air around her how somehow managed to get colder, and was seeping through the material and sinking into her skin. She tried to force herself to quit shivering, but all the did was strain her muscles and make her even more cold.

Gulping deeply, she decided her only option now was to get out and walk, and hope she was either found and helped, or made it to her town before she died, frozen to the street. Grabbing her backpack from the passenger seat, she opened the door, and locked it, just in case. Breathing deeply, and taking one last longing look at the jeep of protection, she began walking on the white line.

It was completely quiet outside, except for the small noises the animals made every once in a while. Snow crunching, a twig breaking, and everytime something like that happened, Rory seemed to jump higher than the last. She wasn't sure why she had begun to freak out, but she had guessed it was the fact that it was dark, that it was cold and eerie and that her mother had made her watch way to many scary movies over the past few years, and they were all starting to creep back into her memory, telling her someone was walking behind her was a chainsaw, or ready to grab her and stuff her into a wood chipper.

Clinging to jacket, she closed her eyes for a brief moment and willed herself to gain control. No one was out here with her except for the animals. No one was behind her ready to kill her, and defiantly no one was dragging a wood chipper behind them.

Then she heard a twig snap right behind her and she jumped, and spun around quickly, her eyes wide. That was the final straw. She swallowed, and wished she had eight more eyes to see everything around her. Preferably ones that could see in the dark.

Taking a few calming breaths, she nodded to herself and started walking again.

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end. I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend..." She sang softly, her voice shaking from the cold. She could no longer feel her fingers or toes, and she knew her legs were giving up their strength much quicker than before.

"...but I always thought that I'd see you again..." She watched as the dim lights of head lights hallowed around her, as they started to get brighter.

In the back of her mind, and insane voice kept tormenting her, calling to her.

Killer. Murder. Death. Chainsaw. Woodchopper. Masks. Rape. Death.

Her eyes widening, she turned to see the car was closing in on her, her mind telling her it looked exactly like the one that had pasted before, and the driver had no doubt seen her, because he started to slow down. Turning, completely unthinking, she ran into the forest and hide behind a bush, sitting on her knees, only covered in those thin blue tights.

She closed her eyes and rocked slightly, wishing whoever it was would get bored and go look for someone else to kill. Her ears perked up as she heard a car door slam, and she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, the small trickling of tears making their way down her cheeks. Silently she prayed it wasn't the drunk man who had passed her earlier, remembering she was out there and alone.

"Rory?" A voice called from far away and above her. Her eyes snap opened, and she wished she could open her ears wider to hear better.

"Rory? Are you out here?" The voice called, and she picked up on a small bit of worry. Licking her dry lips, she stood up, her knees shaky from the cold, her skirt mostly wet from the snow. She waited to hear the warm voice again.

"Rory! If you're out here, answer me! Damnit!"

Relieved, Rory broke into a huge smile. "Tristan!" She called, her voice shaking. She stood up fully, allowing herself to be seen. She watched as his body ran down through the clearing, and as soon as she could fully she him, she ran towards him. When she reached him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, never more happy to see him in her life.

Surprised, Tristan wrapped his arms around her, letting his hand run over her hair in a soothing motion. "It's okay. You're safe. It's okay..." He whispered softly into her hair. He could feel her shaking, but he wasn't sure if it was because she was scared or cold. It had sent chills down his back as her freezing hands made contact with the back of his bare neck.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? God Rory, you're freezing. How long have you been out here. I saw your jeep a while back." He stated, trying to pull her away a little, but she wouldn't let go of her hold on him, and even held him tighter. "Rory, I just want to see if you're Okay." He said softly.

"I am cold." She whispered, barely inaudible. He nodded against her hair and pushed her back gently, willing her up to his car.

"There's a blanket in the car." He said simply, and he felt her nod against him.

"This is going to sound so girlie, Tristan but...Please don't let me go. Not yet, please." She whispered.

He only nodded slowly, and rubbed his hand over her back.

"I won't. Not until you tell me to, I won't." He pulled her even closer, doing his best to warm her like he had done only this afternoon. "Come on, I'll take you to Stars Hollow."

He leaned his cheek agaisnt her hair as he lead her towards his car, completely unnerved by the sick feeling in his stomach. The sick feeling he had gotten when he saw her jeep, abandoned on the side of the road. The sick feeling he had gotten when he couldn't find her. The sick feeling he got when he thought he couldn't protect her. And the strange feeling that he wanted, more than anything, to be the one to protect her.