Author's Note: I was a lot happier with the outcome of Chapter nine from the reviewing corner! Yeah! Sorry, a little excited there. I love REVIEWS! I'm glad all of you like this so far…so here's Chapter 10…might as well write about people who don't live in my world, lucky ducks.

These Summer Days

Chapter 10: Good Old Uncle George

"Do I have to come?" he complained into the phone as he fiddled with his tie.

"Tristan," his grandmother replied. "George wants to see you and you might get something to add to that article of yours,"

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

"I don't think it's my story to share. Now, come on the limo's waiting in front of your driveway,"

"Okay Grandma we'll be down," Tristan said as he placed the phone back into the cradle. Heaving a sigh he grabbed his Boston Red Sox baseball hat and hurried down to meet Emma in the foyer of their mansion. Then he wheeled Emma to the limo to be greeted with a scolding for Tristan about his baseball cap. He murmured his apologies. Eventually he was lulled to sleep.

"Who's the girl he's fallen for?" Tristan and Emma's grandmother whispered to Emma.

"Rory Gilmore," she replied with a sweet smile towards her younger brother.

"Another Gilmore," Their Grandmother said with a shake of her head. 

"NO!" Tristan cried out suddenly surprising both DuGrey females.

"Whoa there kiddo," Emma said softly.

"I'm not one of your sitting charges, Emma," he spit out bitterly staring at his sister.

"No you're not. It's completely average to wake up from a nightmare when you're eighteen," Emma replied sarcastically.

"Shut up," he grumbled as he pulled a soda out of the mini-fridge and turned on a baseball game avoiding their stares as they analyzed him.

"Will you two stop?"

"Stop what?" Emma responded tartly.

"Analyzing me. This isn't a doctor's office,"

"Don't do this Tristan," Emma warned.

"Do what?" he asked his voice suddenly shaking with emotion.

"Tomorrow I'm turning eighteen, Emma and our parents don't even care. At least for your birthday's they'd fly out to Europe for a special dinner. For me, the maid would eat dinner with me and buy me a present. Let's face it. They love you and hate me. I know I was an 'accident', and that really hurts. They'll never try to get to know me," Emma's fingers grazed Tristan's for a moment as she tried to reach his hand but he twisted violently away from her grasp.

"Tristan," she chided.

"Emma, stop!" he said annoyed at her as he turned his attention back to the television set as the tears were threatening to fall. Only Rory would understand him, he needed her.

"Tristan your parents aren't good at showing their love to you, you know that. It's why you pulled all those stupid things in high school. Your father is proud of how you turned yourself around and we're valedictorian of your class," she took a breath and continued. "He may not tell you, but he would always tell me and Janlan about your progress. And Tristan your mother didn't want you, she wanted to abort you so badly but your father refused. Then she tried to persuade him to let someone adopt you but he had found out you were a boy. He was the happiest man in the world! Don't get the wrong impression, darling. Your grandfather and I taught him well,"

"Excuse me, Miss?" interrupted the DuGrey driver.

"Yes?"

"We're at George's estate,"

"Thank You," they got out of the limo and silently stood in front of the door. Tristan rang the bell still ignoring both sister and grandmother.

"Tristan!" his great-aunt Stephanie cried out hugging him.

"Hi," Tristan replied flashing a grin at his aunt. Her flaming red hair made her look younger then she really was—looking like Emma's mother rather then her great aunt.

"You've grown so much! You're starting to make me feel old,"

"You'll never get old Steph," interjected Cecile.

"You're to kind Cecile. Emma! Darling, it's been a long time," Stephanie said leaning over and hugging her.

"I know Auntie," Emma replied with a grin. That was the best thing about their Aunt Stephanie. She could always make someone feel at home. Stephanie then realized the three of them were still outside rather uncomfortably. "Come in come in," Stephanie said ushering the three of them into the house.

"George look who's here!" she called out.

"Cecile!"  He greeted standing up to hug her. "Emma, Tristan," he said after hugging their grandmother.

"You both look so much older," he commented.

"Thanks Uncle George," the two chorused. 

"How's the summer going?"

"Good—Tristan's doing a project for the Hartford Post on the Gilmore family, Gellar family and DuGrey family,"

"Grandma," he complained.

"Really?" Uncle George seemed interested. Tristan nodded in response.

"Well, I have a story for you then," he said and began to tell the story of the current Emily Gilmore and his romance. "It began our freshman year of college. We met at a mixer between her sorority and my fraternity. At first we didn't really know each other. We had heard things from our friends about each other. One of my friends found out from his girlfriend that Emily had a crush on me. So, I asked her to the mixer. We became one of the most popular couples on campus. We were voted as cutest couples three years in a row. At the end of our junior year I proposed. We were planning the wedding for months. It was the morning before the wedding when she called me. She told me she couldn't marry me. I didn't question her motives but she explained to me what had happened. Apparently that morning she had bumped into an old friend from high school, Richard Gilmore. She admitted that she was really in love with him. I didn't know what to do so I transferred to Boston University to forget about her. At first it worked being on a new campus was thrilling but one night it was raining, the type of night when you can't help but remember your past. It was on a walk when I bumped into Stephanie who was also reminiscing about a past romance with Jeremy Gellar. And so, over a cup of coffee we told our stories of heartbreak. We were coming to the end of a wonderful night when I kissed her and the rest is history,"

Cecile, George and Stephanie all shared a smile while Tristan was psyched to tell Rory. Emma glanced over at him for a moment and she knew he was thinking about Rory. Sometimes she wondered how he had gotten through military school without her presence in his life.

They spent a few more hours at their Uncle George's. They ate lunch, gave Tristan a few gifts and retold some embarrassing stories of Tristan's past despite his protests. On the drive home he was content with the silence. He hadn't been this happy in months. Tomorrow, he was turning eighteen and he was going to spend the whole day with Rory Gilmore…heaven in his mind.

- Finis Chapter 10

Coming up…

Chapter 11: A birthday to remember…a day spent with Rory on his 18th birthday.