Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews.  As always, no matter how many reviews I get it makes me really happy to get them, each and every one of them.  I'm glad that you like my story.  And also I would like to thank all the persons that sent their get-well wishes either via e-mail or review.  Thanks for caring.  I will also like to make a clarification: this will not be a story in which Rory gets pregnant, so keep that in mind.  The fact that they slept together was because they are in love and that is the only reason.  Here is the next chapter.

Every Time There's a Concert

Chapter 13: The Morning After

When Rory heard Tristan almost scream Lorelai's name, she woke up too and seated on the bed as she saw him look. . . shocked.  Shocked can be the right word.  Searching for a good explanation could be another way to put it. 

There was a silent pause.  And then Lorelai spoke again.

"Soooo. . . are you planning on answering my question?"

"Would you believe that this apartment is in my paper route?"  Tristan answered.   What was a guy supposed to answer a mother?

"Sure paper boy, is my daughter up?  I don't think she could sleep through that scream of yours just now."

"Yeah, I'll put her on. . ." he said and he covered the mouth piece and spoke to Rory "It's Lorelai"

"Yeah, I heard. . . thanks" she said as she grabbed the phone.

~*~*~*~*~* Lorelai/Rory Intercut ~*~*~*~*~*~

"It's 4:19am" Lorelai told Rory.

"You finally got your clock fixed, that's great!" Rory told Lorelai.

"My daughter the comedian, ladies and gentleman. . . Care to elaborate"

"Not really mom.  Whatever conclusion that you just draw right now couldn't be far from reality, and there is no point on me lying to you so. . ."

"Your boyfriend is not really good under pressure, huh?"

"Well, he usually is. . . but after all it is 4:19am so he doesn't function well at this time"

"Where you careful?"

"Yes.  But would you please not ask me anymore. . . I am still entitled to have a private life, right?"

"Just one more thing"

"Yes"

"Was he good?" she asked teasingly, but she had lost the concerned tone she had before.

"Mom, you can be so crude sometimes"

"Well you did get la. . ."

"Don't finish that statement. . . it is, after all, your daughter you are talking to"

"You're right. . . so, um, are you OK?" Lorelai asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. . ." Rory answered and gave Tristan a wink so he would relax.  He knew Lorelai was a cool person, but he respected her, and didn't want her to think that he was taking advantage of Rory.

"You know, you can tell me anything right?"

"Yep.  So, um, was there a reason why you called at this hour?"

"Well. . . I had one of my dreams again."  Lorelai answered a little embarrassed, because she knew what was coming.

"I got you that book on dream interpretation so we could skip this" she said and she gestured with her hands as if Lorelai was actually watching her.

"What? Me calling you when you had a boy in your bed?"

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, but. . . the book is downstairs, and I'm up here. . . and I didn't want to go down there, and the phone was up here. . . so I figured, hey let's call Rory, I mean, the phone was of easy access for a reason. . . boy, was I mistaken"

"Mom, I told you to have that book next to your bed. . . it is, after all, where your dreams usually occur. . . so, care to tell me what your dream was about?"

"Right now, I don't seem to remember why that was important. . . would you do me a favor?"

"Sure"

"Call me, after lover boy leaves. . . please"

"Sure thing mom. . ."

"OK, try and go back to sleep"  Lorelai asked, but she knew, that at least she wouldn't be able to do that until she spoke with her daughter.

"OK, good. . . morning mom" and they hung up.

~*~*~*~*~ End Intercut ~*~*~*~*~

"How is she?" Tristan asked as soon as Rory hung up.

"Well I have to call her later on, but she sounded OK"

"I'm sorry"

"Why? It wasn't you fault"

"Yeah, but I answered the phone and I shouldn't have"

"You didn't know.  I mean it is very, very, early in the morning.  Who functions well at this hour?"

After a moment of silence, Tristan spoke.

"Not quite the awakening I expected on our first night together"

"Really? And what did you have in mind?" She asked, to try to put him at ease.

"Well, I would wake up before you did and go and make coffee for you"

"Coffee is always nice, what else?" she asked as they slid again under the covers and they hugged.

"I know, and then I would come and wake you with a cup of coffee and say something clichéd like 'you look even more beautiful in the morning'"

"We can skip that. . ." she said jokingly.

"And then I would kiss you, and say thank you"

She turned around to look at his face and ask him "Thank you for what?"

"For doing this. . ." he gestured "us"

"Well it is always a pleasure. . ." but she was very confused "what do you mean?"

"I never, in a million years, thought that I would have the chance to be like this with you. . . I guess that after all I must've done something really good to deserve you, but for the life of me, I cannot think of what"

"Tristan, sweetie, you are a great guy. . . and I am as lucky as you are, I guess then, because you have been a great boyfriend and not only that, but the best friend that a girl could have too.  So I guess I lucked out twice"

"Rory, I meant everything I said to you last night. . . I love you so much, and I will try my best to not make you regret any of the things that we've been through"

"I don't need for you to tell me that, I already know that" she said and kissed him.  "And no matter what happens in the future, trust me when I tell you that I will never regret any of the things that we've been through, OK?"

"OK."

"Do you have another story to tell me of when you where little?  I really liked the one about the fish" she said as she rested her head on his arm, with her back to him and his arm around her waist.

"Yeah, but I don't know if you would like this one.  When we where in 5th grade, Mike, Josh, Brad and me, we would get small pieces of mirrors, like the ones that come on the compact powder things you girls use, and we would place them on our shoes, and then when girls weren't looking we would place our feet under them, when they where standing, and we would see their underwear"

"That's mean and gross"

"We were boys"

"Yeah. . . but dirty boys, nonetheless"

"OK, if you are so disgusted with my story, then I guess it's your turn"

"Well, my mom told me that when I was little I had a thing with the phone, and she says that whenever it rang I would run from where I was to go and answer it, and I would ask 'who's this?' and wouldn't let go of the phone until they told me."

"That's cute"

"It makes no sense if you ask me.  It's funny, because you've been to our house and you know the problems we have with that particular appliance.  It's very elusive"

"It's still cute"

"Tristan"

"Yeah"

"At the risk of quoting some really big summer blockbuster. . . do you think that it's possible that someone else in the world is doing this very same thing at this very same moment"

"I'm sure of that.  But I know one thing"

"What's that?"

"No one can be as lucky as I am right now"

"I could think of someone"

"Really? Who?"

"Me"

"You? Oh, well then I take back what I said before, there is someone luckier than I am.  You."

"That cockiness will never go away, will it?"

"Come here lucky one" and he kissed her cheek, as she laughed at the comment.

After laughing and talking some more, they finally  fell asleep. . . again.

Around 9am, Tristan did as promised.  He got up, slid back into his boxer briefs and went into the kitchen to prepare coffee for both of them.  He decided to call Drew to tell him that he was going to be a little late, while he waited for the coffee to be ready.  And when it was ready he poured it into two mugs and went into Rory's Bedroom again.  It surprised him more and more everyday the fact that she chose to love him and that he could love her more than he could ever imagine possible.  He walked over to the side of the bed she was sleeping in.

"'Morning beautiful" he said as he placed the coffee mug on her night stand and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Hi!" She said as she opened her eyes and saw him next to her.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked her as she stretched herself a bit, in bed.

"Yeah, how about you?"

"I believe that I never had a night like this one" he answered.  She grabbed his left hand with hers so the rings where one next to the other.  He smiled at this.  "Got you coffee"

"I knew I loved you for a reason" she said as she covered herself and sat on the bed again.

"Yeah, my ability to make coffee is the one thing why coffee-addicted girls follow me around"

"Well I hope that I'm the only girl you are making coffee to."

"You can be sure of that. . . you could be the only one forever. . . do you have class today?"

"Yes, but until 2, so I still have time. . . what about you?"

"I already graduated"

"I know, I meant if you had to go to work?"

"Yeah, but I already called Drew that I was going to be a little late. . . I have to be there, though, around 11:30 because we have an appointment"

"Do you want to have some breakfast. . . I am almost sure that we have cereal of some kind in the kitchen"

"That would be great, thanks"

"Um. . . do you mind handing me my robe. . ." she asked shyly.

He smiled a bit, "Sure, where is it?"

"It's in my closet, open it, and the first bright pink thing that catches your attention, that's the one"

And he did as he was told, and handed her the robe.

~*~ ~*~

They went into the kitchen and as she suspected there was cereal, of some kind. . . the stale kind.  So they gave up on having breakfast.  Tristan decided that it was a little late, and that he did have to go and get ready.  With this they went into Rory's bedroom and started picking up his clothes from where they were left on the night before. . . the floor.  Tristan got dressed on what he had worn the night before and as they were walking towards the door, kissing good bye, they heard the jingle of keys and the door opening.  It was Janine.

"Oh, God!! Do you have no respect for other people?" She said as she saw them kissing when she was coming in.

Tristan smiled a bit.  "We usually do. . . but, you see, there was no one in here but Rory and me until you came in. . . so, you figure it out"

"That made no sense what so ever Tristan. . . do you get like this every time after s. . ." but she was cut off.

"Oh, God!! Look who's talking about respect? You and my mom should stop talking!!" Rory joked, as she interrupted her friend's crude comment.

"What do you mean. . . did your mom call while you. . ?" Janine asked, concerned in a way but really just getting all the gossip so she could tease them later on.

"Oh!! You know what, really, I don't feel like discussing this right now. . . come on Tristan, let's walk you to the door or you'll be late" Rory said as she stopped her friends comments, they were getting worst by the minute.

"Bye Janine" Tristan said as he was being dragged out.  When they were outside of the apartment he asked her "are you upset about something?"

"Yeah, her comments. . . I mean, she's my friend and all, but she doesn't have to be so. . . oh, I don't know, I'm sorry.  It's just that I don't see why her comments had to be so tacky and out of place"

"She was only joking, Rory"

"Yeah, I know.  I am overreacting, but I still have to face my mom about this, and as cool as she can be, I don't think it is easy for her to comprehend that her daughter is sleeping with her boyfriend. . . I still have a hard time coping with the fact that I just slept with my boyfriend, how am I supposed to make some other person understand it. . ." she finished with a rhetorical question.

"But it wasn't your first time?" Tristan asked, they really didn't even have the 'how many partners' talk yet.  For one thing, she knew he had had many before her, but didn't want to know how many, because she would have a hard time dealing with how many are too many.  And he, honestly, didn't want to know who had been before him, so they both avoided it.

"No. . ." she started a little reluctantly "it was my second" she finished as she was staring at the floor.

"Your second time?", he asked in disbelief.

"Well, yeah. . . I mean, you know.  I didn't date much before you, and even when I dated you, I didn't know I was dating you, you know? So, um, before you I've had, three boyfriends, but I only slept with one of them. . .once.  And, I don't sleep around or anything, I don't have one night stands.  And even that one time, it wasn't even planned, it just happened, and so. . . I guess I should stop this rambling, because it is kinda late, and you have your meeting and. . ." she trailed off, as she saw the look on his face.

"I did not know that?"

"Well, we avoided this topic pretty well for the last five months, and I didn't know if you would've wanted to know if I. . ."

"Well, I didn't really want to know. . . it made no difference to me if you had or hadn't, because you've made it pretty clear that you had a life before I came along, so I assumed. . ."

"Well, you know what they say about assuming. . ."

"Yeah, and I guess it had never applied so well. . ." he glanced at his watch "so, um, I really have to go, but I will call you. . . really call you."

"OK, um, I'm going to go and talk to my mom right now, but tell me how your appointment goes, OK?" she said as she placed her hands on his chest and kissed him, softly, good bye. "Have a nice day at work, honey?" she said as she winked at him.

"Bye" he said as he pushed the button for the elevator, and it opened almost instantly.

She just waved before the doors closed, after he got in to the elevator.  She walked down the hall and into her apartment where Janine was waiting for her.

"Did I say something to upset you?" Janine asked as Rory came into the apartment.

"Well, it would be easier to tell you what didn't upset me. . ."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to act that way"

"Me neither, I am just a little touchy.  My mom called in the middle of the night and Tristan answered the phone"

"Oh, God! I'm sorry"

"I know. . . I'm sorry too, I overreacted"

"That you did.  But you had your reasons. . . so what are you going to do?"

"Well I have to call my mom, and talk to her"

"Do you think she's going to be upset?"

"No, but she is concerned I believe"

"OK, so. . . I'll just be out of your way. I have a couple of errands to run, so I'll be out of your hair"

"Oh, OK, thanks"

And with that Rory went into her room and picked up the phone from its cradle, and called her mother.  The phone rang twice before Lorelai answered on the other side.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Rory/Lorelai ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"If this isn't Rory I am hanging up"

"Mom, it's me"

"Good, 'cause I've hung up on so many people today, that if I did it any longer, I would have no more friends"

"So how are you, mom?"

"The important thing here is how you are"

"I'm fine, mom. . . really"

"Did Tristan pressure you into it?"

"Mom, no, he wouldn't do that to me. . . you know that"

"Then why?"

"Because I love him, mom.  And I wanted it to happen.  He never pressured me into anything, let alone this.  You know I wouldn't lie to you"

"Yeah, but why didn't you tell me anything, you use to tell me everything"

"Mom, there are some boundaries, I believe, of what a daughter can tell to a mother, and the fact that I was considering having sex with my boyfriend. . . well, I thought that it was something that only concerned me, and no one else"

"Yeah, but you tell me everything" apparently Lorelai couldn't get passed that.

"Even to a cool mom like you, mom, it would be a little hard to comprehend. . . would you have told Grandma that you were planning on sleeping with my dad?"

"Not ever in this lifetime. . . I believe, that she still believes that I haven't done it since then"

"Please do not go into so much detail"

"But you see, my relationship with my mom is so different, I can't believe you are comparing it to ours?"

"No mom, I am not comparing it to ours, I know that that is not possible.  I was just trying to make a point"

"Which is?"

"That some things are hard to talk to a mom?"

"Yeah, but. . ."

"No mom, no buts.  I'm sorry if you feel that I should have told you that I was planning on doing this, but I don't think that I should have.  I still don't think that I should have"

"OK, so. . . may I ask you something else?"

"Yeah"

"Where you careful?"

"We've already been through this, mom.  Yes, we were as careful as a couple can be on these things."

"Please let it always be that way, Rory. I really wouldn't want you to go through the same things I went through."

"Was it so bad?" Rory asked, because she felt a little sting of guilt or regret or anger towards that last comment.

"Not one minute of it, Rory, you know that.  But I would want bigger and better things for you.  And you know that what we went through in our life was never easy.  You know that.  And I don't want that to happen to my daughter.  Listen Rory, I got lucky kiddo, I mean, the only thing that I could argue about you was that you read to many books at one time, which is still beyond me.  I know parents don't have it as easy as I did.  Luke told me once a long, long time ago, that I had lucked out, and he was right, I had.  I have.  But again, not so many people that go through parenthood experience have it this easy. . . I mean, look at my mom.  So please, always be careful.  There is no better thing in the world, or a more rewarding one, than being a mother, but there are so many more things if you are a mother supported full-time by a father.  Always remember that, angel face."

"Thanks, mom.  I really will.  But I still, as thankful as I am to your advice, think that I shouldn't have told you"

"And you are right, Rory.  You are, indeed, entitled to your private life, and I have to respect that"

"Thanks, mom.  So are we OK now?"

"Yeah we are"

"Great. . . sorry to cut this short mom, but I do have to go; I've got class in a couple of hours and there are some things that I would like to take care of."

"Sure. . . so call me later OK"

"OK, bye mom. . . and thanks again" and with that they hung up.

~*~ ~*~ End Intercut ~*~ ~*~

And after everything, both Rory and Tristan went along with their normal activities of the day. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

A/N 2: I know this chapter was shorter than the ones I usually write, but it was only to get a few points across.  As a matter of spoiler, if you will, things in paradise are going to start getting bumpy. . . but the love between the main characters will prevail, but you know that everything in a relationship is just always so perfect, and this one won't be the exception. . . if you feel you have some ideas that would help me I would be glad to add them, but I have and idea of what I want to do.  Thanks for your support and stay tuned.

Mary