Disclaimer : All things GG are not mine, but ASP's. No copyright infringement intended.
Author : Shay (tlcforever@hotmail.com)
Rating : PG-13
Pairing : Established pairings for L/L & P/J. References to R/D & T/K. Eventual T/R
Spoilers : Anything up through season 3 is fair game, though I'll probably be selective about it.
Distribution : If you want it, take it. Just let me know.
Feedback : Tames the wild beast. Or something. I love feedback and will love you if you give it. :)
Authors Note : *jaw drops* Wow.. just.. wow. I never imagined so many reviews for the last chapter. Thank you all so much *wipes tear* You love me, you really love me. Hehe ;) Also, ignore any wrong information regarding New York. I've been there a handful of times, but it's always been in the summer and since I haven't been able to find the info I needed online, I'm taking creative liberties =D Enjoy!




Subtle Invitation
Part 04.






Tristan watched with keen interest as Rory leaned over the bar a few hours later, talking animatedly with the bartender, who was chuckling at whatever she had to say. Of all the things he had imagined could take place that night, finding out that she was his date had never entered his mind. Not that it would, he hadn't even thought about her since his freshman year at Princeton, and that had only been because he had run into a girl that he had almost mistaken as her twin. It had taken time for him to forget about her after leaving Chilton that night, but he had done it and done it successfully.

In high school, she had been intriguing to him. She had been so completely different from everyone he knew, so focused on being her own person and not conforming to society. When she had first came to Chilton, he had just seen her as another piece of ass, to put it crudely. As time had worn on, he had to admit it had become more then that, more then just a physical attraction. He wouldn't go as far as to say he had loved her, because truth be told, he, to this day, wasn't sure that such a thing existed. But there had been something there.. lust, probably. Or maybe it could all be attributed to his confidence, as she had been the first and only girl to outright reject him. Whatever it had been, was long gone, though he wouldn't deny that the physical attraction was definitely still there.

She had grown into a beautiful woman. Of course, she had always been beautiful, but even more so now. Her dark brown hair was longer, her blue eyes bluer, her walk a little more confident, her tone stronger. She still had the wit that had stung him many times during their interactions at Chilton, but it no longer held as much malice as it once did. Once he realized who she was, she had demanded to know what he had been up to all these years, if he still talked to anyone from Chilton, among other things. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. She had actually seemed excited to see him. That was definitely a step up from where they had left off ten years ago.

He let his thoughts wander for a few more minutes, until Rory reappeared at their table, setting down the drinks she had gone over to the bar to get. He motioned his thanks and she rewarded him with a brilliant grin.

"So you were looking pretty lost in thought over here," she commented, daintily sipping her drink. "Care to share?"

In that split second it was like he suddenly reverted back to his sixteen year old self and a smirk appeared. "Just envisioning you and me in my hot tub," he said huskily, his blue eyes dancing.

"Well, hold onto that image," Rory retorted. "Because that's the only place that's going to happen."

Tristan's smirk faded into a grin as he leaned back in the seat. "I'm holding it," he said, gazing at her with mock hunger.

At his look, Rory's face flushed red and she ducked her head, hiding behind a curtain of hair. When she looked back up, it was to down the rest of her drink. "It's really getting crowded in here."

"Yeah it is," Tristan replied, glancing around the restaurant. "You wanna get out of here?"

Rory hesitated, but only for a moment before nodding. "Sure."

The two stood and pulled their coats back on and in a gentlemanly fashion, Tristan placed his hand on the small of her back, urging her forward. They stopped just to pay the bill, which Tristan insisted on paying for. A few of the customers sitting in the seats near the door waved good-bye to her and she returned them with a wave. Once outside, a childlike expression suddenly took over Rory's features. A glance at her made him chuckle and she gave him a weird look.

"What?"

"You. You look like your five."

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you," she said with a smile before tilting her face upwards to the sky, letting the thick snowflakes that were making their way down to the ground land in her open mouth. A few passerby's eyed her wearily, but it went unnoticed.

Tristan was content with just watching her for a moment until an elderly man bumped into him, bringing him back down into reality. Taking Rory's arm, he pulled her towards the street where they stood to hail a cab. After a good ten minutes one finally came to a stop in front of them and they climbed in.

"Central Park," Tristan said without even realizing it. Rory looked at him surprised.

"Central Park?" She questioned, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Ice skating," was his response as he returned her look.

Rory gestured down at her dress and high heels. "I can't go ice skating."

Tristan's forehead creased for a moment before he gave her a huge grin. Leaning forward, he informed the driver of the change in destination and sat back, ignoring her questioning stare.

A few minutes later they pulled up in front of a large apartment building. As the car came to a stop, he pulled her out of the car with him, stopping to pay the driver. After doing that, he led her through the doors, which were guarded by two large men in blue jackets.

"Tristan.. where are we going?" Rory hissed at him as they came to a stop outside an elevator. He gave her a sideways glance and hit the up button. "Tristan?" She asked again.

"You'll see. This will only take a few minutes," he replied as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. They waited in quiet for a mere couple seconds until the elevator dinged and the doors opened again, revealing another large door. Tristan pulled out his keys and opened the door to what appeared to be an apartment. Stepping inside, she tugged gently on his coat.

"Where are we?"

"Home sweet home," Tristan said with a grin, stepping further into the large room.

"You brought me to your apartment?" Rory asked, her voice becoming indignant.

"What, did you want to go to Paris instead?" Tristan joked, turning to face her.

She gave him an exasperated look that was accompanied with a sigh. "What are we doing here?"

"Well, you said yourself you couldn't go ice skating in that dress."

"So?"

"So, we're going to get you something else to wear." He said with a finality most people didn't question. But then again, Rory wasn't most people.

"What, one of your other snow bunnies left overs?" She said with a raised brow.

"Watch it, Mary. You might start sounding jealous," Tristan teased with a smile.

Rory rolled her eyes, though was surprisingly pleased that he remembered his high school nickname for her. "You found me out." She deadpanned.

Still with a smile, Tristan shed his coat and held out his hand to take hers. Reluctantly, she slipped it off and handed it to him. He tossed both over the arm of the leather couch that appeared as she followed him into the living area of the apartment. They continued on their trek as he led the way down a hall to where the bedrooms were. Rory just gazed around, taking in the posh decor. They rounded a corner and she came to an abrupt halt as he pushed open the door to the master bedroom. It was large, polished wooden floors covering the span of the room. A huge bed sat in the middle, also wooden, with navy bedding, double french doors were on one side that she suspected led to a balcony. There was another door that stood slightly ajar, showing that it was indeed a bathroom. Next to that was another door, which is where Tristan had disappeared into. A few seconds later he reappeared, a bundle of clothing in his arms. He motioned her into the room and then dumped the clothes onto the bed. She cautiously approached, nervous to even be in the same vincity as Tristan with a bed nearby, as her mind kept reminding her of how he had been in high school.

He glanced up at her as she finally reached the foot of the bed, where he stood. His blue eyes sparkled and he leaned in closer to her. "I always knew I'd get you in my bedroom one day, Mary."

Rory tried to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine at his seductive tone and she stepped back with narrowed eyes. "Keep that up and I'm leaving."

Tristan swallowed the grin that threatened to appear and he held up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. I'll be on my best behavior. And if I'm not, you can spank me," He added devilishly.

"Ugh," Rory uttered in disgust, smacking his arm. "Don't you ever stop?"

"Hmm.. nope," Tristan replied, tearing his gaze from her to the lump of clothes on his bed. "So anyway, we need to get you ready to go skating. These look like they'll fit you," He said, holding out a pair of dark grey sweat pants to her. She hesitantly took them, amazed at how soft the cloth was.

He continued going through some of the clothes until he located what he was looking for. "Ah, here," He said, handing her a matching pullover. "You can change in here. I'll take the hall bathroom."

She mutely nodded, watching as he grabbed a pair of khaki's and a dark blue shirt off the chair under the window and then left the room, closing the door behind him. Gazing around, internally wondering why she was here and how the hell she had ended up on a date with Tristan. Fate most definitely had an odd way of doing things. Shaking her head to clear it, she sat down on the small cedar chest that sat at the end of his bed and pulled off her shoes. She contemplated taking off the nylons, but rationalized that it would probably be warmer if she didn't and then slipped the sweat pants on. They were a few sizes to big, but not to the point that they were falling off. Plus they were warm, which was enough for her. Biting her lip, she pulled her dress over her head and quickly replaced it with the sweatshirt, inhaling deeply when it was in place. The scent was that of soap, laundry detergent and a faint cologne that she couldn't place. It was the smell she had associated with Tristan while his arm had been around her shoulders the entire ride from the restaurant to his apartment. And she was surprised to realize that it calmed her.

A knock on the door pulled her out of her reverie. "You dressed, Rory?" Tristan's voice called from the other side.

"Yeah," she called back, putting her focus in folding her dress as he entered the room. He was quiet for a minute and finally she looked up and he smiled.

"We better get going."

Rory nodded but stopped when she glanced down at her nearly bare feet. "Um, Tristan?"

He turned to her and following her gaze, frowned. "Oh, yeah." He paused, pulling open the top drawer of one of the three dressers in the room and tossed her a pair of socks. "I've got a pair of shoes you can wear," he said as he headed down the hallway. Her dress and shoes in hand, she jogged to catch up to him, slugging his arm playfully when he chuckled at the sight of her in the oversized sweat suit. He rummaged through a hall closet and straightened up to his full height a few moments later, a pair of boots in hand. He passed them over to her, before grabbing another pair and sitting down to put them on himself. They sat in silence as they laced up and she glared at him when he pulled a pair of skates from inside the closet.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, tapping a foot impatiently.

Tristan gave her a questioning look. "Getting my skates?"

Rory crossed her arms, trying desperately to keep a straight face. "Nuh-uh. If I have to wear rented skates then so do you."

Sighing, Tristan dropped the skates back onto the closet floor. "I let you borrow my clothes and you're going to make me wear those hideous things?" He asked, also trying not to laugh. The horrified look that was present on her face was also mirrored on his own.

"Hey, this was your idea," Rory protested.

"Touché," Tristan conceded, picking up their coats. "Shall we go?"

"We shall," Rory said with a smile as he linked arms with her. It was amazing, was her only thought as they made their way out to his car, how they had only met a few hours ago, after spending ten years apart, and were already completely comfortable in each others presence.


*****


"I have to confess something," Rory said in a low voice as she and Tristan stood on the edge of the ice.

"What?" Tristan asked, glancing down at her, surprised to see her shaking. "You cold?"

"What? No," Rory said, momentarily confused.

"Then what is it?"

"I..." Rory began, flushing slightly. "I can't skate."

Tristan's eyebrow shot up. "You can't skate?"

"No," she reaffirmed. "My mom used to drag me out to the lake every year, but I never quite got the hang of it. I can walk and I can stand without falling down, but you ask me to move and I become one with the ice."

"And you didn't tell me this before, because?"

Rory glanced down at the snowy ground before looking back at him with a smile. "Well, you seemed to excited to go and I didn't want to go home.. It's okay, you can skate. I'll just sit down on that bench and have some coffee and watch you."

Tristan was silent for a moment before shaking his head. "No way. We came here to skate, so we're going to skate."

"But I can't-"

"I'll teach you," Tristan said firmly, cutting her objection off. He reached down and grabbed her mittened hand. "Come on, there's not many people here and I promise I won't let go of your hand unless you say so."

Rory's expression was dubious. "I don't know..."

"For me?" He pouted and she let out a light giggle.

"Okay. But if I break anything, I'm sending you the bill."

"And I'll gladly pay it. Come on."

Rory allowed him to lead her into the ice where there were only two other couples skating around as the snow fell down on them. They came to a stop a few feet out and he turned to her. "We'll take it slow at first, but once you get more comfortable, we're gonna pick up the pace."

She nodded and the two set off, hand in hand, under the falling snow and soft lights. After a few times around the rink, Rory seemed to finally be getting the hang of it and they started going a little faster. Eventually the two of them were flying around the ice, talking and laughing loudly, never even noticing as the other patrons left. Tired, Rory let go of Tristan's hand and plopped down in the center of the ice. Tristan in turn, gave her a huge grin.

"You sit there. I'm going to show you what I can do."

Rory watched in astonishment, as she never in a hundred years would've imagined seeing Tristan DuGrey spinning around an ice rink. He wasn't doing anything fancy, but it was enough to impress her. As he came to a stop in front of her, she clapped loudly. He took an over exaggerated bow and reached over to help her up.

"Wow. You're just a regular Elvis Stoiko, aren't you?" Rory giggled as they made their way back to land.

Tristan shrugged, dropping down onto a bench to pull the skates off. "My aunt was a figure skater. I used to stay with her and my uncle up in Canada every winter break and I picked up a few things. You say anything to anyone, I'll have to hunt you down." He finished with a smirk.

"Our lips are sealed," She sang slightly, giggling at her off key voice.

"Please, anything but the GoGo's," Tristan groaned just as he finished tying his shoe.

Rory let out an gasp. "I am officially offended. The GoGo's are an amazing group."

"Sure, thirty years ago."

Gasping again, Rory gave him her best wounded look. "You might be able to get away with that around me, mister, but don't you ever, and I mean ever, dare say such things around my mother."

"Got me meeting the parents already, huh, Mary?" Tristan leered.

"Ugh," Rory grunted, standing up. "That's it, I'm leaving."

Tristan's hand on her arm stopped her from getting any further then she was. "I apologize, Ms. Gilmore. Please, allow me take you out for coffee before I escort you home."

Slowly Rory turned around, a smile playing with the corners of her mouth. "Coffee, you say?"

"Of course."

"And you're buying?"

"Naturally."

Rory pretended to ponder this for a moment before latching onto his arm. "What are we waiting for?"



****


It was after two am that Rory stumbled into her apartment, worn out, but smiling from her time with Tristan. As incredible as it seemed, the two of them really did have a lot in common. Sure he could still be the arrogant sixteen year old she remember from days gone by, but there was also an underlying softer side to him, one she had the feeling wasn't allowed out enough. She hung her coat up in the closet quietly, slipping her feet out of the boots Tristan had insisted she wear inside, despite her many protests. She padded across the apartment and into the kitchen where she was not at all surprised to see Lane, sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through a magazine.

"Well, look who it is," she remarked as Rory came in, not once looking up.

"You're up late," was all she replied with.

"I was waiting for you to come in, ranting about how stupid your date was, but I'm getting the feeling that's not going to happen," Lane said, finally glancing up and eyeing her friends clothes. "I could've swore you left here in a dress."

Rory blushed at her friends insinuation. "It's not like that."

A smile appeared on Lane's face and she leaned across the table. "So? Spill."

"Tomorrow," Rory said, standing up. "I'm tired."

"Cop out," Lane accused.

"Yep," Rory grinned. "Goodnight, Lane."

"I'm waking you up at six, be ready to spill!" Lane called after her and then broke into a huge smile. Things seemed to be going the way she had hoped.


****


TBC..

-- Shay

4/15