The diner was crowded and the phone could not stop ringing. Luke was just happy that he had Tristan and their new cook, David. Now, Luke could just concentrate on getting the food out, answering the phone and occasionally ringing up the cash register. Just as Luke was in the middle of ringing up the cash register, the phone rang. He wanted to ask Tristan to get it but he was walking around carrying 6 plates and he couldn't ask David unless he wanted the food to burn. He excused himself and grabbed the phone. "Hello, Mr. Danes. This is Tristan's father. I have some bad news for him. His mother is sick and he needs to be sent home immediately. Please convey this message to him and pay him for whatever work he has done and put him on the next train home. Thank you so much for taking care of my son. Bye", said Tristan's father. Before Luke knew it, he had hung up. He had no idea how to tell this stranger that his mom was sick. He looked around for Lorelai but didn't see her. She always was in the mood to tell someone she didn't like that they needed to leave. Guess he'd have to do this himself. "Tristan? Come here, I need to tell you something", said Luke motioning him toward the back room. As Tristan walked over, he tried to think of what Luke could possibly want to tell him. When Luke told him the bad news, Tristan just stood there shocked and surprised. Maybe getting fired or finding that Rory was moving or that he was getting a raise but not this. This was something that he never thought could happen. He loved his mother more than anybody in the world. She was the person he missed while at school, she was the person he could talk to, she was his only parent. Well, he had his father but his father was almost never around and they didn't have a very good relationship at all anyway. He felt a wad of money get pushed into his hand but he was still recovering from the news. Later on, he didn't remember untying his uniform or writing a note to Rory telling her goodbye but he guess he must have. He didn't remember packing his stuff or buying a train ticket home or even the train trip but all he could think of was his mother lying in bed sick. He hoped it wasn't cancer but with a history of it in his family, it probably was. From the station, he found a cab and rushed home as quickly as possible. Once home, he found his mother lying in bed, pale and weak. He rushes to find his father only to learn from his maid that his father is on an urgent business meeting in Japan. 'How could he do this to her?', Tristan asks himself. When she wakes up, she told him the news. She has breast cancer and is going to die within a month or so. He didn't know how he could go on. His mother was his life-giver and his best friend. Of course, he would never admit that in public but she was the one he talked to about girls (well, not everything of course but almost) and the only friend he'd had for more than two years. The rest had left him for one reason or other. The only person close enough to him to be his best friend moved away after two years and every one has left his life when either they moved away or he changed schools. Occasionally, they'd still go to the same school but would make new friends and leave him alone. That was how he had come to build such a strong wall around himself. He didn't want to get hurt again. The only person he had given the keys to the gate of his wall was Rory and she had hurt him, though she probably didn't realize how much she had. She just ignored him or shrugged him away though he tried many times to get some reaction from her that she liked him but of course, there was Dean. Her loving boyfriend. He remembered the night they kissed, the day after that jackass Dean had broken up with her. He never knew why but he had heard that they got back together very soon after. He wished he was as lucky as Dean to have her. She was going to be one girl he wouldn't let things go wrong with. He'd go slow if she wanted to and would be the perfect boyfriend but now he didn't have that chance. As much as he wanted to be in Stars Hollow, he was stuck with his dying mother. He had watched his grandmother and grandfather both die, slowly and painfully and he didn't have to watch his mother who he cared about more anybody in the world die. She was so young. She is only 38 with a full life ahead of her but instead she is sitting in this room, slowly melting away. He quietly leaves the room as not to disturb her sleeping and heads to his tree. That tree was his solace. He spent almost all his childhood there. When his parents were fighting, he'd always hide up there. He spent a lot of time up there anyway, reading or thinking. Now he came up here to do something he had only done once, cry. He needed to right now. Three hours later, his maid found him still crying up there with his clothes soaked up with his own tears. No one had ever seen him cry but now was a good time to start. He quietly wiped his tears and got down from the tree. It was time to help his mother and later, he could grieve but first things first. He was going to make sure his mother died happy with every luxury she wanted.