Disclaimer: I own nothing but a few text books and a pack of gum!

Authors Note: I know that I have been holding out on the Tristan/Rory action, and I'm really sorry! To make up for it, I have included this extra long chapter for all of you Trory fans. So without further adiu. . . .

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"Some day, after we have mastered the winds and the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness the energies of love. And, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire." .

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Rory stood in front of her full length mirror, studying her reflection. She was dawned in a light purple dress that tied loosely around her neck and fell softly at her knees. Her dark hair was pulled up high and clasped together with a clip. Her make up was subtle but made her clear blue eyes vibrant and her lips a touch rosier. A silver necklace hung along her collarbone and accented the silver beads that lined the bottom hem of the dress. She smiled and did a dramatic spin for Lorelai, who was standing off to the side, her hands clasped and eyebrows raised.

"Rory, you are going to make that boy's jaw drop past the floor. Babe, you look hot! You should join the Electric Circus!"

Rory rolled her eyes. "I am not going to join the electric circus. Wouldn't you rather me go to Harvard and broaden my education?" Rory's glare was playful.

"Who wants to go to Harvard when you can join the Electric Circus? It's only every girl's dream!"

"Uh huh. . . he's going to be here in about fifteen minutes, so I have time if you would like to enlighten me with another story about how you and Luke made out just last night in the kitchen." Rory smirked.

Lorelai face turned crimson as she swatted Rory across the arm, sticking out her tongue. "Mean."

Rory laughed. "Hey, just getting back at you for all the times you made fun of Dean and I when you caught us kissing." Rory's expression drooped slightly but she forced a smile to her face. "Besides, Luke is a great guy and I know that you guys are going to be so happy with your flannel babies."

"Enough with the flannel baby thing," Lorelai said, letting a groan escape her lips. She smiled and pulled Rory into a hug. "Look's like were both finding love." She let out an exaggerated squeal.

Rory pulled back and gave her a 'you are crazy' look. "Right, mom. Maybe you're on your way to falling in love, but this is just a date. . . with a friend. . . yep, a date with a friend."

"Have you forgotten that you're 'friend' is a 6'1, blonde haired, blue eyed God?" Lorelai questioned, playfully tapping her daughter on the head. "Oh, oh! See if he has an older brother."

"Ew Mom, even if he did have an older brother, he'd still be younger than you. . . and we all know what happens when you date younger men, don't we?"

Lorelai looked ashamed. "Yes, they come into Luke's diner and introduce me to their parents, all the while wearing a baseball hat and a university sweater. . . man, he looked young, huh?"

Rory nodded sympathetically. "Yes. . . he could have been my brother."

"Ugh!" Lorelai threw her hands up in the air and left Rory's room, muttering.

Rory laughed and followed her mother's quick step. "We could have played in the sandbox together! Did he like ponies?"

"Hey, don't disrespect your elders kid."

"But - - -" The doorbell rang, putting an end to their playful banter. Lorelai's eyes lit up as she pushed Rory up the stairs. "You go wait upstairs and I'll let him in! Count to thirty, and then walk down the stairs. You always have to keep them waiting."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Why can't I just answer the door myself?"

Lorelai shook her head adamantly. "No! Remember the Gilmore rules of dating; One, make sure you have extra flavored lip gloss in your purse. Two, make sure your purse is big enough to sneak extra food from the buffet. And three, always keep said date waiting to make a dramatic entrance!"

Rory nodded. "Right, sorry." She ran quickly up the stairs until she was hidden enough by the protruding wall. Upon hearing Lorelai open the door and greet Tristan, she slowly began counting. When she reached one minute, she slowly began her descent down the stairway.

"Hey Mary, you look amazing," Tristan greeted, taking her in. He had never seen her look more beautiful.

Rory blushed and smiled, spinning around. "You think?"

Tristan smirked. "I think." He held his arm out to her and she looped her own through his. "Ready?"

Rory nodded and kissed Lorelai on the cheek before heading out the door. "Bye sweets! Have fun, and don't be too much later than midnight! And get a tattoo!. . ."

* * * * *

"So where are we going?" Rory put her seat-belt on and shifted her body so she was facing Tristan, smiling innocently.

"It's a surprise," was his reply.

"I don't like surprises," Rory argued.

"That's not true. Remember when I brought you that cup of coffee to school one morning? You said you loved surprises." He smiled triumphantly at her.

Rory shrugged, but a small smile was playing on her glossy lips. "I like coffee surprises." She dug through her purse and pulled out Oliver Twist. She pulled the book open to the marked page and began reading.

Tristan cleared his throat. "Umm. . . Mary, what are you doing?"

"Reading."

"May I ask why?"

"Well, if you're not going to tell me where we're going, I'm going to read."

"You don't want to talk to me and enjoy my company?" Tristan took his eyes off the road long enough to flash her a pout.

"Not if you don't tell me where were going." She mirrored his pout.

"Right," he responded, pulling the book out of her grasp and tossing it into the back seat. "Relax, we're almost there."

"We are still in Stars Hollow. . . are we sticking to the small town life tonight?"

"Just for now." Tristan pulled his car in front of Taylor's Ice Cream Shoppe. "I thought we could start the night off with some ice cream."

Rory beamed. "Yum, ice cream!" She opened the car door and raced to the door of the shop. She pulled it open and motioned for Tristan to go ahead of her. "Ladies first," she joked.

Tristan let out an exaggerated laugh and pulled her by the waist into the old fashioned store. Taylor looked up upon hearing the chimes over the door jangle, and smiled. "My favorite customers," he greeted. "You two have been in here at least twice this week, and three times last week. You always seem to come in on Mondays," he commented.

The two teenagers both smiled. "Yeah, Monday's are always the first day back at Chilton after a well deserved weekend, so we like to relax with a wonderful bowl of ice cream," Tristan supplied, stressing the word wonderful.

Taylor beamed at the two as a proud and somewhat arrogant look passed over his features. "Well, I try. I'd give you your ice cream for free tonight after such marvelous praise, but this is a business establishment and I need to keep the money coming in, you know."

Rory nodded, going along with him. "Of course, Taylor, we would never dream of taking your product for free." After placing their order and grabbing spoons, Rory and Tristan seated themselves in a booth that they had claimed as 'theirs' for the more recent visits to the shop.

"So where are we going next?" Rory asked, digging into her chocolate ice cream. She sighed and closed her eyes, savoring the taste. "Mmm, it's like Heaven in my mouth."

Tristan laughed. "It's a surprise," he replied with a pointed stare, "and I'm not telling you, so you can start reading all you want."

Rory sighed. "No I can't, you threw my book in the back of your car, remember?"

"Oh yeah, well I guess you're just tough out of luck, huh?"

Rory smiled. "I guess you'll just have to entertain me."

"What, aren't my good looks enough to keep you occupied while you stare at me?"

Laughing, she took a spoonful of ice cream and aimed it at Tristan. "You wouldn't dar---." He was cut off by a glob of chocolate ice cream hitting him square in the forehead. Rory's eyes widened, a laugh escaping past her lips.

Tristan shook his head, scooping some of his vanilla ice cream and swiping it across her face. "Two can play at this game."

Rory gasped as the cold ice cream hit her cheekbone and quickly wiped it off her face. "Oh yeah?" She took both dishes of ice cream and backed away from the booth. "No fair," Tristan whined, "You have all my ammunition!"

Rory smirked, shrugging. "What are you going to do about it?" Tristan dodged a table and tried to grab the dish from Rory's hand; he was successful and smirked in her direction.

"Kids," Taylor protested, coming around in front of the counter. "Don't make a mess, this is no place for food fights." He was now standing in between the two teenagers, glancing warily back and fourth.

Rory and Tristan glanced at each other, each letting their guard down and apologizing to Taylor. As they headed to the exit, they each took one last shot at the other before dropping their ice cream dishes into the nearby garbage can.

After getting into the car, Rory leaned back against the head rest and smiled. "That was fun. Mind you, I'm going to get a long lecture from Taylor tomorrow at the market, but for the moment, it was fun."

Tristan smiled and patted her knee. "Yeah, it was."

There was a pause of silence as Rory took in Tristan's appearance. His hair was gelled as usual, and he was wearing a navy blue polo shirt and a pair of khaki's. He looked good. "So," Rory said, breaking the moment of silence. "Where are we going next?"

Tristan's eyes lit up as they drove past a house that seemed to be gathering a crowd. "Hey, a yard sale, let's go look around." He pulled the car over to the side of the road and went around to open Rory's door. She raised her eyebrows at him. "I wouldn't have taken you for someone who would enjoy rummaging through a yard sale."

Tristan held up his hands defensively. "Hey, just because my family has money doesn't mean that I don't enjoy a used goods sale every once in a while."

Rory laughed. "Okay, okay, let's go bargain boy." Tristan took Rory's hand and led her to the rows of tables that were set out on the lawn while Rory tried to shake away the feeling she got in her stomach when he held it.

Rory immediately went to the table lined with boxes of books while Tristan walked up and down the rows of sale items looking for something that might catch his interest. Ten minutes later, Rory made her way over to Tristan carrying three books in her hand. She grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "I couldn't help myself." She noticed a small plastic bag hanging from his fingertips and tried to take it from him. "Ohh, what did you buy?"

Tristan pulled back from her, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Ah, ah, ah, don't grab. You'll have to wait to see it later, it's another surprise," he responded, a boyish smile dancing on his lips.

Rory rolled her eyes and sighed, but complied. "Fine, I'll wait. . . have I mentioned how much I dislike surprises that don't involve coffee?"

"Yes, once or twice I think."

"Well, I'm telling you again," she replied. She paid for her books and soon the two of them were in Tristan's black Mercedes, making their way to the next destination.

Tristan pulled into an empty parking lot in a secluded area of Hartford, and turned off the car. He got out and opened Rory's door, offering her his hand and helping her out. The sun was setting above them and a pink glow had settled peacefully in the sky. Off to the end of the parking lot, a small playground was nestled in a sequestered area, surrounded by a number of pine trees. A simple swing-set sat in a rectangular pit of white sand, and a faded yellow slide was attached to the side of the structure.

Rory let her eyes roam over her surroundings and noticed a small square sandbox filled with the same white sand that was under the swing-set, and different sized tires that protruded from the ground.

She smiled softly and let her gaze drift towards Tristan. "What are we doing here?"

Tristan didn't answer, but simply took her hand and led her over to the play structure. Rory took a seat on a swing and swayed slightly back and fourth as Tristan sat on the swing beside her. After a moment of comfortable silence, Tristan began to speak. "I used to come here when I was little. My mother didn't know this. . . she would have preferred me to stay in the house and look cute for the guests she always used to entertain. This just seemed to be the one place that I could be free and do what I want. My house is about twenty minutes away from here, and I used to tell her I was going down the street to play with one of the neighborhood kids and I'd take my bike down here and just. . . play."

Rory nodded, processing the information. "Sounds like you lived a suffocated life."

"That I did. It's the price you pay being born into a wealthy family. That's why I like being in Stars Hollow so much. It feels like this nice, cozy town where you can be yourself, and everyone just. . . accepts you."

Rory suddenly felt grateful for the life she was provided with. "Yeah, I'm pretty lucky."

"So. . . can I ask you a personal question?"

Rory shrugged. "I can't guarantee you'll get an answer, but it doesn't hurt to ask."

"What happened between you and Dean?"

'I have to talk about it sooner or later. . . I might as well do it now,' Rory thought to herself, sighing. "It's sort of a long story, so I'll just give you the cliff notes version. Dean and I hadn't been doing well for a long time. He called me at least five times a day, and he was just always around. He would get jealous whenever I hung out with Luke's nephew, Jess, even when I repeatedly told him we were just friends. He never gave me a spare second to breathe. So one day I just snapped and yelled at him, something about leaving me alone and giving me some space.

"We didn't break up, we were just taking a breather. One day I was walking home from the bus stop and I saw Dean on the steps of the high school, kissing some girl. He said it didn't mean anything, and he only did it because he missed me so much, and then he tried to turn the situation around on me, saying how I told him I didn't want him anymore. . . so I ended it. He still calls, asking for another chance, but I just don't see it working."

Tristan took a deep breath, taking in what she had just told him. Finally, he responded, "Dean is an idiot."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. I shouldn't have pushed him away."

"Hey, don't second guess yourself. You two hadn't actually broken up, and who goes and kisses some girl when they have a girlfriend of more than a year?" Tristan looked at Rory who was digging the tip of her shoe into the sand and let his hand fall on her arm, making her glance up. "Dean is an idiot," he repeated. "You don't deserve to be treated like that."

Rory held back the tears that were burning the back of her eyes and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah."

Tristan shifted his weight on the swing and reached into the back pocket of his pants, pulling out the plastic bag he had earlier. He handed it to Rory and told her to look in it.

Rory did as she was told and pulled out a silver charm bracelet that held only one charm; an ice cream cone. Rory smiled. "What luck that the yard sale would have an ice cream cone charm, huh?"

Tristan looked at his shoes sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. "Nah, I bought the charm about a week ago, but I couldn't find the right bracelet to put it on until I saw that one lying on a table."

Rory looked at him with adoration in her eyes. She got up off the swing and stood in front of him. "Tristan, I can't believe you would do that."

Tristan shrugged as his face began to get hot. "It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing, this means a lot to me. Thank-you." Rory held the bracelet out to him and then held out her wrist. "Will you fasten it for me?" Tristan did so, and then brought his gaze back to admire it. "It looks perfect."

Rory agreed. She leaned forward and lightly grazed her lips across his cheek. "I love it."

Tristan smirked and the two traded places so that Rory was in the swing and he was standing in front of her. He moved so he was behind her and began to push her. "I knew you would."

The sound of Rory's laughter echoed through the trees as Tristan continued to push her. Anyone who passed by and saw the two would instantly see how much the other cared.