Disclaimer : A picture of CMM under my pillow is about as close as I can get to owning any GG related things.
Feedback : Required for me living. Don't feel obligated to do it for my sake ;)
A/N : I am the master of all things that suck. Seriously, I don't like this chapter. However, since I promised it would be up this past weekend and it wasn't and I've already tried re-writing it like seven hundred times (six, but whose counting?), I thought I'd just ignore my retarded mind and post it for all your reading pleasures. Just don't kill me if you don't like it. I also semi-stole the idea from one of my Titanic fics. Original Creativity is not my strong point. With that said, I'll shut up. Here's chapter sixteen.
"Dont Say You Love Me"
Chapter 16
Over the next few weeks, things progressed nicely for Tristan and Rory. They settled into the life of living together rather quickly and enjoyed each others company immensely. Lorelai had pretty much become a permanent fixture in their house, despite the fact that she lived a half hour away. The relationship between the two young adults blossomed and even Luke begrudgingly admitted that he liked Tristan. But life can't always be fairy-tale perfect and true to form, things took a turn for the worse.
*****
Rory was sick. Not just sniffling with a cough here and there sick, but really way beyond a shadow of a doubt she should be going to the doctors and getting prescription medicine sick. However, due to traumatization by Lorelai as a child, her fears of doctors kept her away from getting the medical attention she desperately needed. And Tristan was not helping. Okay, so that wasn't fair, he had played doctor to her for the past week, but now he was leaving her. For another man.
In actuality, he really didn't have a choice, but Rory chose not to acknowledge that. She was miserable and he was leaving her. His father had dropped the bomb two days earlier, demanding that, as a DuGrey and the future CEO of the family corporation, Tristan was to accompany him on this trip to New York as they readied the opening of a new branch of DuGrey Enterprises there. Normally, Rory would've been invited to tag along, as the DuGrey's welcomed her into their family with open arms, since she was a Gilmore, but she was out of commission. And now, as she watched Tristan wander around the room packing, as he usually did, at the last minute, her emotions got the best of her.
"I don't like you," she spat out, glaring towards his direction with her blue eyes.
Tristan emerged from the closet with a few suits draped over one arm. "What did you say?"
"I don't like you," Rory repeated, this time with more venom.
Sighing, Tristan dropped down on the bed next to her. "You know if I had the choice, I wouldn't be going anywhere. You think I feel right leaving you here alone when you're sick?"
Rory stuck out her lower lip, in a pouting gesture. "Just go, I don't care."
"Yes, you do," Tristan replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His face fell when she moved away from him. "Ror -"
"Just go," she said again. "You go have fun in New York while I sit here and die of some horrible disease nobody has ever heard of before. I'll even be nice and make sure my mom invites you to the funeral."
Tristan was about to say something when a voice floated through from the living room. Sighing, he glanced at Rory who had snuggled back down in the blankets before planting a kiss on her forehead and heading out of the room. Fiddling around in the kitchen, he found Lorelai, already putting on a pot of her sweet ambrosia. She didn't notice him until he let out a pent up sigh and had sat down on one of the stools at the island in the middle of the room. Lorelai turned just in time to see his head connect with the hard wood. "I hear that kills brain cells."
"Good," came his mumbled reply.
"She's not too happy about you leaving, huh?"
"Thats an understatement." Once again, his voice muffled by the counter he was currently studying all too closely.
Lorelai sat down on the stool next to his and put an arm around his shoulders. The sudden contact made his head snap back up. "Sweetie, I know how she is when she's sick. I put up with it for twenty-three and a half years. She can get pretty nasty."
"I feel horrible about it. We've been talking about going to the city for months now and now that we've got the chance, she's sick and I don't have any way of getting out of it. I don't want to leave her like this, but my father won't let me stay home this time." Tristan said, slouching down in his seat.
"I know. But its not like you're going to have fun, its business, right? She'll get better and she'll get over it."
Tristan groaned. "What if she doesn't?"
"She will. Of course, she'll hang it over your head for years to come, using it to guilt you into something you really don't want to do, but hey, thats what you get for getting involved with a Gilmore," Lorelai said, a teasing glint obvious in her eyes.
Tristan couldn't help the somersaults his heart did when he heard Lorelai say years to come. An indication that she thought he would be around for that long. Nothing could make him happier. "I should sue," he quipped humorously. "I wasn't informed of such transactions from the get-go."
Lorelai rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Shut it, Smirk-a-holic." She paused, turning serious. "But don't worry about Rory. I'll be here and I'll even put in a good word for ya."
"Thats what I'm afraid of," Tristan teased with a grin.
"Alright, keep it up, mister. If you don't watch it, you'll come home and find nothing but a pair of dirty socks laying on the floor. Wait, scratch that. ONE dirty sock." Lorelai goaded.
Tristan just responded with his trademark smirk.
******
"Im thinking we need to change his name back to Evil-Tristan." Rory complained, laying her feverishly hot head on the cool towel Lorelai had brought into the room a few minutes earlier.
"Umm," Lorelai said, biting her lip. "I don't think we ever officially changed his name from Evil-Tristan. It just kind of got pushed to the back as more names came to the forefront."
Rory groaned, closing her eyes. "I hate him."
"So you've said," Lorelai replied, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"How can he leave me like this?!"
"He had too, honey. Business calls."
"Business smusiness. You'd think after all he went through to get with me, he'd actually try to stick with me." Rory grumbled.
Lorelai shook her head. Her daughter became unbelievably irrational when she wasn't feeling up to par. "He is trying, Ror. But theres always going to be some things he's going to have to do, regardless of whats going on with you. And if he had control over that, he wouldn't do it. You know that, I know you do. But right now, he doesn't have a choice."
"You're no fun when you're being all logical."
"I'm always fun," Lorelai protested with a grin.
"Nuh-uh." Was Rory's half-hearted objection.
"Shush, oh sick one. Get some sleep, I need coffee."
"Me. Coffee. Now."
Lorelai tilted her head to one side, contemplating this, but ultimately gave a negative shake of the head. "No such luck, kiddo."
Rory opened her eyes to glare weakly at her mother. "Luke is rubbing off on you. You're not supposed to deny coffee to those you love, especially not your sickly only child."
"In your horribly destitute state, I realize that your mind is not functioning correctly, therefore I will ignore the fact you seem to forget I am the Queen of Guilt Trips. Meaning, they don't work on me." Lorelai replied, giving her ill child a kiss on the head. "Now, I command you to sleep. We will speak of coffee for you later."
"You suck," Rory managed to say before finally succumbing to the inevitable sleep.
*****
Tristan yawned, glancing around the room. He should've known that in addition to helping his father ready the new branch of the company, he would also be forced to attend social gatherings of future employees and associates. Tonight, after a long day of traveling to and fro from the city to one of their many houses located in the northern portion of the state, not to mention the slight argument he had gotten into with both Gilmore's when he had called earlier to see how Rory was doing. He had been irritated to know end already and Rory accusing him of leaving her in her time of need just aggravated him further. Then, when he felt like shit as she broke down into tears, Lorelai had came on the line, yelling at him for yelling at her. Then to add to everything else, the elder DuGrey had informed him that they were to attend a party at one of the partners of the new branch. Much to his dismay, of course. So now here he was, standing among a roomful of strangers while his father was off being king of the world, alone. He had mingled, naturally, gallantly greeting strings of other guests, but no longer had the heart for it. Honestly, he just wanted to go home to Hartford and fix things with Rory.
"You're looking a little lonely," a female voice suddenly purred behind him.
Tristan whirled around to face someone he had not expected to see, ever again. "Crys!" He said, the shock registering in his voice.
Crystal Hennis smiled demurely, obviously pleased he remembered her. "What a surprise to see you here, DuGrey. Last I heard you were keeping a low profile."
Panic abruptly shone in his blue eyes as she slithered closer to his person. Tristan automatically took a step back as she closed in on him. "Crys.."
Giving him an impish grin, Crystal gave him a friendly hug. Something that should've been no big deal. But at that exact moment, a man decided to pop up behind them and snap a picture. "Say cheese!"
*******
Confused? Maybe. I know where this is headed and to me, its all painstakingly obvious. Should you not get it, just wait a few days. Chapter 17 is already in the works, and trust me people, its a doozy. That'll be it for now though.
Shay
Feedback : Required for me living. Don't feel obligated to do it for my sake ;)
A/N : I am the master of all things that suck. Seriously, I don't like this chapter. However, since I promised it would be up this past weekend and it wasn't and I've already tried re-writing it like seven hundred times (six, but whose counting?), I thought I'd just ignore my retarded mind and post it for all your reading pleasures. Just don't kill me if you don't like it. I also semi-stole the idea from one of my Titanic fics. Original Creativity is not my strong point. With that said, I'll shut up. Here's chapter sixteen.
Chapter 16
Over the next few weeks, things progressed nicely for Tristan and Rory. They settled into the life of living together rather quickly and enjoyed each others company immensely. Lorelai had pretty much become a permanent fixture in their house, despite the fact that she lived a half hour away. The relationship between the two young adults blossomed and even Luke begrudgingly admitted that he liked Tristan. But life can't always be fairy-tale perfect and true to form, things took a turn for the worse.
*****
Rory was sick. Not just sniffling with a cough here and there sick, but really way beyond a shadow of a doubt she should be going to the doctors and getting prescription medicine sick. However, due to traumatization by Lorelai as a child, her fears of doctors kept her away from getting the medical attention she desperately needed. And Tristan was not helping. Okay, so that wasn't fair, he had played doctor to her for the past week, but now he was leaving her. For another man.
In actuality, he really didn't have a choice, but Rory chose not to acknowledge that. She was miserable and he was leaving her. His father had dropped the bomb two days earlier, demanding that, as a DuGrey and the future CEO of the family corporation, Tristan was to accompany him on this trip to New York as they readied the opening of a new branch of DuGrey Enterprises there. Normally, Rory would've been invited to tag along, as the DuGrey's welcomed her into their family with open arms, since she was a Gilmore, but she was out of commission. And now, as she watched Tristan wander around the room packing, as he usually did, at the last minute, her emotions got the best of her.
"I don't like you," she spat out, glaring towards his direction with her blue eyes.
Tristan emerged from the closet with a few suits draped over one arm. "What did you say?"
"I don't like you," Rory repeated, this time with more venom.
Sighing, Tristan dropped down on the bed next to her. "You know if I had the choice, I wouldn't be going anywhere. You think I feel right leaving you here alone when you're sick?"
Rory stuck out her lower lip, in a pouting gesture. "Just go, I don't care."
"Yes, you do," Tristan replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His face fell when she moved away from him. "Ror -"
"Just go," she said again. "You go have fun in New York while I sit here and die of some horrible disease nobody has ever heard of before. I'll even be nice and make sure my mom invites you to the funeral."
Tristan was about to say something when a voice floated through from the living room. Sighing, he glanced at Rory who had snuggled back down in the blankets before planting a kiss on her forehead and heading out of the room. Fiddling around in the kitchen, he found Lorelai, already putting on a pot of her sweet ambrosia. She didn't notice him until he let out a pent up sigh and had sat down on one of the stools at the island in the middle of the room. Lorelai turned just in time to see his head connect with the hard wood. "I hear that kills brain cells."
"Good," came his mumbled reply.
"She's not too happy about you leaving, huh?"
"Thats an understatement." Once again, his voice muffled by the counter he was currently studying all too closely.
Lorelai sat down on the stool next to his and put an arm around his shoulders. The sudden contact made his head snap back up. "Sweetie, I know how she is when she's sick. I put up with it for twenty-three and a half years. She can get pretty nasty."
"I feel horrible about it. We've been talking about going to the city for months now and now that we've got the chance, she's sick and I don't have any way of getting out of it. I don't want to leave her like this, but my father won't let me stay home this time." Tristan said, slouching down in his seat.
"I know. But its not like you're going to have fun, its business, right? She'll get better and she'll get over it."
Tristan groaned. "What if she doesn't?"
"She will. Of course, she'll hang it over your head for years to come, using it to guilt you into something you really don't want to do, but hey, thats what you get for getting involved with a Gilmore," Lorelai said, a teasing glint obvious in her eyes.
Tristan couldn't help the somersaults his heart did when he heard Lorelai say years to come. An indication that she thought he would be around for that long. Nothing could make him happier. "I should sue," he quipped humorously. "I wasn't informed of such transactions from the get-go."
Lorelai rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Shut it, Smirk-a-holic." She paused, turning serious. "But don't worry about Rory. I'll be here and I'll even put in a good word for ya."
"Thats what I'm afraid of," Tristan teased with a grin.
"Alright, keep it up, mister. If you don't watch it, you'll come home and find nothing but a pair of dirty socks laying on the floor. Wait, scratch that. ONE dirty sock." Lorelai goaded.
Tristan just responded with his trademark smirk.
******
"Im thinking we need to change his name back to Evil-Tristan." Rory complained, laying her feverishly hot head on the cool towel Lorelai had brought into the room a few minutes earlier.
"Umm," Lorelai said, biting her lip. "I don't think we ever officially changed his name from Evil-Tristan. It just kind of got pushed to the back as more names came to the forefront."
Rory groaned, closing her eyes. "I hate him."
"So you've said," Lorelai replied, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"How can he leave me like this?!"
"He had too, honey. Business calls."
"Business smusiness. You'd think after all he went through to get with me, he'd actually try to stick with me." Rory grumbled.
Lorelai shook her head. Her daughter became unbelievably irrational when she wasn't feeling up to par. "He is trying, Ror. But theres always going to be some things he's going to have to do, regardless of whats going on with you. And if he had control over that, he wouldn't do it. You know that, I know you do. But right now, he doesn't have a choice."
"You're no fun when you're being all logical."
"I'm always fun," Lorelai protested with a grin.
"Nuh-uh." Was Rory's half-hearted objection.
"Shush, oh sick one. Get some sleep, I need coffee."
"Me. Coffee. Now."
Lorelai tilted her head to one side, contemplating this, but ultimately gave a negative shake of the head. "No such luck, kiddo."
Rory opened her eyes to glare weakly at her mother. "Luke is rubbing off on you. You're not supposed to deny coffee to those you love, especially not your sickly only child."
"In your horribly destitute state, I realize that your mind is not functioning correctly, therefore I will ignore the fact you seem to forget I am the Queen of Guilt Trips. Meaning, they don't work on me." Lorelai replied, giving her ill child a kiss on the head. "Now, I command you to sleep. We will speak of coffee for you later."
"You suck," Rory managed to say before finally succumbing to the inevitable sleep.
*****
Tristan yawned, glancing around the room. He should've known that in addition to helping his father ready the new branch of the company, he would also be forced to attend social gatherings of future employees and associates. Tonight, after a long day of traveling to and fro from the city to one of their many houses located in the northern portion of the state, not to mention the slight argument he had gotten into with both Gilmore's when he had called earlier to see how Rory was doing. He had been irritated to know end already and Rory accusing him of leaving her in her time of need just aggravated him further. Then, when he felt like shit as she broke down into tears, Lorelai had came on the line, yelling at him for yelling at her. Then to add to everything else, the elder DuGrey had informed him that they were to attend a party at one of the partners of the new branch. Much to his dismay, of course. So now here he was, standing among a roomful of strangers while his father was off being king of the world, alone. He had mingled, naturally, gallantly greeting strings of other guests, but no longer had the heart for it. Honestly, he just wanted to go home to Hartford and fix things with Rory.
"You're looking a little lonely," a female voice suddenly purred behind him.
Tristan whirled around to face someone he had not expected to see, ever again. "Crys!" He said, the shock registering in his voice.
Crystal Hennis smiled demurely, obviously pleased he remembered her. "What a surprise to see you here, DuGrey. Last I heard you were keeping a low profile."
Panic abruptly shone in his blue eyes as she slithered closer to his person. Tristan automatically took a step back as she closed in on him. "Crys.."
Giving him an impish grin, Crystal gave him a friendly hug. Something that should've been no big deal. But at that exact moment, a man decided to pop up behind them and snap a picture. "Say cheese!"
*******
Confused? Maybe. I know where this is headed and to me, its all painstakingly obvious. Should you not get it, just wait a few days. Chapter 17 is already in the works, and trust me people, its a doozy. That'll be it for now though.
Shay