Disclaimer: I don't really own these people. If I did, a lot of hit men would be after me.

Author's Note: Thanks for all those reviews! Made my day, yet again. Anyways, no, in the words of Michelle, this will not be a "Rory starts to seriously date another guy while Tristan starts dating too and after a year they get together story." Okay, well, thanks again.

"Rooooory where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are." Lorelai commanded. She appeared in the doorway of the room Rory was in. And she was sitting very close to a fine looking man. "So, who's this fine looking specimen?"

"Mom?!" Rory asked, when she heard her mother speak.

"In the flesh, baby," she made a show of turning around in a circle. "Who did you think I was, Madonna?"

"The pointy bra would have given you away."

"I know, but that's old school."

"Still."

"Fine," Lorelai turned to look at Tristan who had gotten up to sit on the desk. "Who's the flavor of the week?"

Tristan burst out laughing. "Flavor of the week? Rory?" He saw Rory laughing as well. "No, that was my job in high school. Except I've changed a lot since then. North Carolina helped a lot, too."

The two college students laughed as they saw the oldest of the three start to do an impression of Petey Pablo. Lorelai was swinging an imaginary shirt around "like a helicopter."

Lorelai saw the man grow quiet after a moment. He reminded her of someone Rory used to complain about. "What's your name, sonny boy?" She acted to be old and gray with a cane.

"Tristan. It's nice to meet you Lorelai." He held out his hand to meet the already offered one by Rory's mom.

"The Tristan?" Tristan had a blank look, so Lorelai turned to her daughter. "The Tristan? Bible Boy? Evil Tristan?"

"Don't forget Spawn of Satan."

"Hello, I'm right here." He rolled his eyes. "Gee, it's nice to know I was sooooo loved at the Gilmore abode.

"I know, isn't it great?" Rory grinned, seeing Tristan in a new light. A non-player light. "Okay Gilmore, tell me how you found my new residency so quickly."

"I was getting coffee and bumped into Kristina." Kristina had gone to Stars Hollow a few times with Rory during various breaks. She added a breath of fresh air to the town when she was there. Taylor swore up and down that she was related to Jess in some way.

"Oh, that's cool. Isn't that place great? It's got the greatest coffee."

Tristan left the two women to catch up. Walking into the living room, he heard the phone ring. "Hello?" He asked.

"Is Mr. Tristan DuGrey there?"

"This is."

"Hello Mr. DuGrey, I'm Lauren. I work for your father. He wanted to me call you to regretfully inform you that your grandmother passed away a few hours ago. He wanted to tell you himself, but he was pulled into a last minute meeting about European affairs," came a snotty voice over the phone. She wasn't the least interested in the message she was delivering, even though it was important.

"Okay, thank you." Tristan struggled to hold back tears. His grandma, even though he rarely mentioned her, was one of his favorite relatives. Her husband had been Janlen, so when he was growing up, he saw his grandma often. She made the best chocolate cake there ever was. "I will not cry." He had to be strong, and he was a man. Men don't cry. Especially when there are women around.

"Cry? Who's crying?" Rory asked, after Tristan had fled to his room. She followed Tristan into his bedroom, while her mom went to go rent a hotel room nearby the school. She found him lying on his stomach with his face buried in a pillow. The dark room seemed even darker with the blinds closed. "Tristan?"

A few moments later a small voice spoke. "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?" She was alarmed by the tone of Tristan's voice. Usually it was full of spunk, as Lorelai would have put it. "Tell me."

Tristan reluctantly sat up. There were tear stains on his cheek, she could see by the crack of light from the door. "My grandma died. My all-time favorite grandma." He looked like a little boy to Rory.

He laid down next to Rory and she comforted him as he cried himself to sleep. 'So much for Tristan saying he doesn't cry.' She thought, as she heard Tristan sigh sadly in his sleep.

The next morning, Tristan woke up to burning eyes and the sight of Rory. 'Oh my bejesus, what happened?' He thought wildly, as Rory stirred in her sleep. Instead of doing what he did back in his player days, Tristan laid back down and watched Rory sleep.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Rory woke up to the sound of a deep male voice. Tristan's voice, actually.

"Morning to you, too." She mumbled, not quite awake enough to understand it was nearing noon. "How did I end up here?"

Tristan smiled lightly. "Well, let's just say that I did something in front of you that I never do in front of anyone else." He was jumping for joy inside at the fact that Rory didn't freak when she woke up next to him.

"Oh," Rory remembered, as the events of the previous twenty-four hours came back to her. "What are you going to do?" She turned to Tristan, lying on her side, half closing her eyes.

He smiled at how tired Rory was. She was pretty even when she was half asleep. "You mean, what are we going to do. Well, after your date, we're going to drive to Stars Hollow so you can have a movie night with Lorelai, while I go to Hartford." When he mentioned Hartford, Rory could see the darkness in his normally bright blue eyes.

She had an idea that Lorelai would readily agree to. "You know, I'm pretty sure you'll be too tired to drive a half hour to Hartford after dropping me off. So, why don't you stay at my place and join in on the movie night fun? Hm? It'll be great." She didn't even wait for an answer. Getting up, and walking towards her room, she joked. "It's the first night I stayed at my new apartment, and I didn't even sleep in my bed."

Twenty minutes later, a wide-awake Rory was waiting for Tristan to appear from the bathroom. "Come on, I need my coffee. Do you know how precious that stuff is to me?" She asked, pounding on the bathroom door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Impatiently tapping her foot, she went into the living room. Sitting down on the comfortable couch in jeans and a Yale hoodie, she sighed. Her mom had called earlier to say that Sookie called earlier about an emergency at the inn so she had to get back to Hartford as fast as she could. That left Tristan to entertain Rory as she waited for the few remaining hours to pass until she had to get ready for her date.

"Here I am. Are you happy?" A voice asked, walking up behind Rory and whispering in her ear.

"Oh, so very." She got up and gave Tristan a peck on the cheek. She noticed that he still had bags under his eyes, aging him more than he already was. "Hey, we don't have to go out, you know." She offered, shyly, almost scared. She didn't want Tristan to do anything he didn't feel like doing. Especially now.

He shrugged. "No, it's okay. I'm feeling like a nice stack of pancakes right about now." He smiled and offered his arm. "Shall we?"

When the two reached the café, Tristan noticed it was sort of empty. "Where's the rush gone?" He asked the same waitress he met that week.

The waitress smiled at the couple as the sat down together. "Oh, there was a big hockey game this afternoon against some other school." She waved her hand. "But what's more important is what you two are going to eat. Anything healthy today?" Both shook their heads vehemently. "Good, I can't stand all healthy people. I'd eat my mommas mashed potatoes, gravy and dumplings everyday if I could." She smiled.

"Where are you from?" Rory asked, tilting her head. The girl couldn't be more than twenty-four. "And your name?"

"Glory girl, I haven't met anyone so inquisitive as you."

"She is, isn't she?" Tristan smiled at Rory with an emotion Rory couldn't place.

The waitress shook her head. She had never met two people more stubborn than her pop. "I'm Kylie." She smiled. "I'm from the state of Texas if you couldn't tell." She laughed.

Just then Matt came into the café. When he saw Rory he smiled and went over to her. Sitting down next to her without asking, he slung his arm over her shoulders. At this, Tristan tensed up. But it didn't go unnoticed by Kylie. Just as she was about to comment, Matt looked at her coldly. "I'll take a vegetarian omelet with no peppers." He made no move to cover up the dismissal in his voice.

When Kylie left, it was clear that Matt wanted to be alone with Rory. "Would you mind leaving for a moment so Rory and I can discuss a couplet things?" Tristan threw a sad look to Rory, got up and went to the counter to order.

"So, what are we doing today?" Matt asked, leaning to give Rory a kiss on the forehead. "Anything exciting?"

"Well, I thought our date wasn't until tonight. I was going to spend the day with Tristan."

"Oh, him."

"Yes, him. Got a problem?" She was annoyed by the fact that he had driven both Tristan and Kylie away from the table. Looking over at his hand. "Do you mind removing your hand? I hurt my shoulder yesterday."

He promptly removed his hand. Instead, he placed it on her knee. Well, higher than her knee. "Actually, I do have a problem with Tristan. One of my ex-girlfriends, who was my girlfriend at the time, used to be 'friends' him."

"And that means what?"

"She got pregnant. And mysteriously had bruise marks all over her body." Matt looked at Tristan with a deadly cold gleam in his brown eyes. When he looked back at Rory, she was looking in Tristan's direction.

'He could never beat someone up. Not even in high school. He never hit a single girl, and if he hit a guy, it was because he was provoked.' "Tristan would never do that. He's too good for that." She looked towards Matt. "You're lying."

Suddenly he lifted his hand off of Rory's thigh. "Look, I just don't want it to happen to you."

"Well, I'm sure it won't. We're too good of friends." Rory drank a sip of water. 'Are we good friends?' "Let's just eat." She said, as Matt's food came along with an order of coffee and strawberry pancakes. 'Aww, Tristan must have ordered for me.'

After a long meal, Rory and Matt went back to her and Tristan's apartment so Rory could change. Tristan had left earlier, claimed he had to go see one of his friends so he could borrow notes. As Rory was taking off her shirt, Matt opened the door. "Matt!" Rory shrieked.

"What? Scared?" He took a step closer, finally reaching Rory. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't look bruised."

"No, it's just sore." She responded, getting kind of scared.

"Oh," was all Matt said, as he began to plant kisses all over Rory's shoulders, neck, forehead, and mouth. "So how about we get this date started?" He asked, backing Rory up towards the bed.

Rory nodded, trying to stop Matt's mouth from moving anywhere else. "Just as soon as I get dressed." She tried to move left, but his arm stopped her. It did the same thing when she tried to move right. "Matt, let go," She pleaded as he grabbed her arm forcefully.