Disclaimer. Please see previous chapters.
Every Time There's a Concert
Chapter 17: Overcoming the Obstacles
"Are you nuts?" he said standing up and going after her.
"No. I'm completely serious." She said as she was walking towards her bedroom.
He held her by the arm to stop her from moving. "Rory, you've got to be kidding me?"
"Why?"
"We run into a rough patch and you want to break up?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm sorry but I won't let you do that."
"And why not?"
"Because it takes two, and I don't want to break up with you. I want to figure things out and be with you. I won't let you give up on us so easily. After all I've waited for you, I am not going to let some bitch and some jackass ruin what I've wanted all of my life. So we are going to cool down and start over again with this conversation."
"Breaking up is not up for discussion." She said determined, or trying to be determined.
With this, he stood close to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Rory we've been together for almost 9 months, granted the last three of four months haven't been the easiest ones, but I don't intend to let you go over something like this. It just doesn't make sense."
"This from the man that hoped that everything will just go away if we didn't acknowledge it." She said as she placed her hands on his arms.
"But now is out there, and we can't keep ignoring it. You said so yourself."
"Tristan, I…"
"Rory, I love you. I love you more than anyone I've ever loved in my life, and I would do anything to keep you with me. So please tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. If you want me to quit the project and send Danielle and her magazine to hell, I would do it if you ask me to do so."
"Now you are the one who has gone nuts. I would never ask you to do something like that. To jeopardize your career like that. I love you to much to put you thru something like that."
"Then why do you want to break up with me?"
"I don't want to break up with you…"
"Then why did you say it?"
"I don't know. It just came out that way."
"But you've thought about it, haven't you?"
"I…"
"You have…" he said as he let go of her and stepped back.
"I guess that the thought did cross my mind… it's just getting so hard for us. And mostly for you. And I thought that maybe that's what you wanted."
"I would never want such a thing, Rory."
"Or maybe, what you need?"
"What? Why would I need to be away from you?"
"So you can concentrate on your work… maybe if we just took some time apart, you know? To figure… whatever, out."
"I don't need any more time away from you. I spend enough time away from you as it is." With this he stepped closer again and cupped her face. "Listen all couples go thru this, and I don't want any time apart from you. It won't help me. I don't know if it will help you figure out something, but I don't need to figure out anything regarding you. I know how and what I feel for you; in fact, I'm clear on that. I know I love you. Danielle Montgomery is no one to me. She is not important, she is not worth mentioning, and she is not worth anything to me. And she definitely is not worth loosing you over. If she is indeed the reason behind Drew and Janine's break up, then why would you let her be the reason for ours?"
"But she is causing so much trouble" she said as she gave into his touch and placed her hands on his waist.
"Then let her cause trouble elsewhere, but not here. Not with us. We've been doing so well, Rory. I have been so happy with you…"
She smiled. "I'm happy with you too…" she said as she tilted her head to the side.
"We are all adults here. You have to trust me. She is not important to me, she never was and she never will be. Besides, come on! If you broke up with me, Rory Gilmore, I would be singing under your window every night until you take me back, and you live in a building, which means that I will have to sing at the top of my lungs for it to reach your ears. Ears will bleed, dogs will cry, people will scream obscenities… all of this directed to you, do you really want that?" he asked jokingly.
"Oh, no! I would never want that… so I guess that for my sake I will just have to put up with you, huh?"
"It will seem so, Miss Gilmore; it will seem so." He said with a smile, before he leaned in and kissed her softly. She smiled on his lips and then she let him deepen the kiss.
When the kiss was over, she said. "I'm sorry Tristan, I really am. I don't want to break up with you ever again" she said mockingly.
"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head, because I won't let you." He said with a huge smile.
"So what are we going to do?" she asked him as they walked into her room.
"Well, I don't know… some ideas come to mind… you know what's good after a fight like the one we just had?" he said as he walked backwards, with Rory still in his arms, towards her bed.
"Oh, I don't know… Ice cream?" she said and then let out a little scream and a huge laugh as they both fell on the bed.
~*~
The Next Morning
Rory stirred around in her bed, and she felt Tristan's hand running up and down her side. She took a deep breath.
"Good Morning" he whispered in her ear.
"It sure is…" she said as she turned around to him.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Like I haven't in months… I was really worried about us." She said as she nuzzled into his neck.
"You worry too much" he answered simply "I wasn't worried at all" he said as he ran his hand on her back.
"Really?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah. You see, I know that you wouldn't be able to resist my charm.." she lightly swatted his chest, and then continued to do little circles on his peck.
"Maybe it was the other way around and you just couldn't resist me…"
"Oh, well, that goes without saying… I thought we had already established that way back when we were 16."
Rory just laughed.
"Rory, may I ask you for a favor?"
"Sure," she said as she rolled on top of him, placed her forearms crossed over his chest and rested her face on them… "what?"
"Please, don't ever doubt me again…"
She placed a small kiss on his chest.
He placed his arms around her back. "I don't want you, ever, to doubt how I feel about you… keep something in mind: I LOVE YOU! And I won't let anything come between us. Oh! And… don't ever break up with me again." He added as an afterthought.
She smiled. "We didn't even break up. You said that you wouldn't let me do that."
"Like hell I wouldn't!"
"Listen, I really am enjoying this, but you have to go to work and I have to go to class and if we keep doing this" she gestured with her hand "then we won't do either."
"I can live with that… let's stay in bed like this all day" then he pretended to ponder, "Although I can think of a few things to do if we did stay in bed all day. Do you want to listen to them?" he said with a grin.
"No… I need to get up, or you'll persuade me to do otherwise."
"Okay, then lets stay like this for five more minutes and I promise I will let you go to class…"
"Five!"
"Yes, five." He said and they both smiled.
~*~
A Few Months Later
"And with this, I think it is safe to say that we are done!" He said as he closed the zip-box that contained the work of almost 7 months. He handed it to Danielle, who didn't look as excited as she should have been.
"So sad that we are done with this. I was really looking forward for a couple of months more… I didn't think that we were going to finish so fast. If I had known I would have given you something else to do." She said as she placed the box in her briefcase.
"Yeah, it's so sad" he said sarcastically.
"You know what we should do?" she asked as she leaned in, a little, over his desk.
"What?"
"We should go and celebrate…"
"Oh, you know what? I would love that…"
"Really?" she asked, thinking that she had finally worn his resolve down.
"Too bad I already have plans…" as he was saying that, a buzz came, and Vicky announced that Tristan had company, "send her in Vicky." He said and got up from his chair, "and I really cannot cancel this. It's just too important!"
At the moment, Rory was coming into his office clad in a pair of black pants and a blouse that would have made Lorelai proud. "Hey!" she said as she walked over to where he was standing, and then took him by the neck and placed a small –yet sexy- kiss on his lips.
"Rory Gilmore, this is Danielle Montgomery" Tristan introduced them. He placed his hand on Rory's back.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't even acknowledge you!" Rory said and Tristan smiled and turned his face. Rory Gilmore, treating someone with sugar-coated disdain. "Nice to meet you" she said as she extended her hand to shake that of a highly disliked person.
"Same here" was Danielle's curt response.
"I don't mean to rush you, but you did say that you were going to be done at 6:30 and I really don't want to be late," she said, directing herself to Tristan. And then added, directing herself to Danielle, "You see, we have dinner at my grandparents every Friday, and they just adore Tristan. And now, it's a must. He has to show up every single Friday, or it's my head!" she said, with a smile that could have caused a cavity… or a sudden death.
"What happened with all the Friday night dinner's he missed while we were working? Tristan?"
"Oh, you see" Rory interrupted, and Tristan was thoroughly amused. "It's not like we live in a dictatorship, he does have free will. And I trust him completely. And besides he called my grandparents and apologized for not showing up. They love him too much, and just let him get away with anything."
"So, yeah. We don't want to be late, so we really have to go. You know the way out, right?" he asked as he walked out of the office hand in hand with Rory.
"Yeah"
"It was nice meeting you, Danielle. To bad it was at the end of your project, it would have been more fun to meet you at the beginning of it. Bye"
"Yeah, bye." She said, and she turned to where her stuff was. She was enraged.
That was the last they saw of Danielle Montgomery.
~*~
As they were walking in direction to the elevator, Tristan couldn't help but ask, "Where did that come from?"
"What?" Rory asked, innocently.
"That whole cotton-candy display you pulled in there."
"It was fun." She said as they stepped into the elevator, and pressed for the lobby. They waited until they reached the lobby to continue their conversation.
"I could tell you were having fun. Rory the queen of double-meaning." He said as if presenting her to an audience.
"It's just that I was so mad, and when I had her in front of me… I don't know where it came from, but I just started talking that way. You know? Like rubbing it in. It was petty, I know. And something I would never do under normal circumstances, but I couldn't help it… it just… came out." She said with a guilty smile.
They finally reached the car. It had taken them longer because of the conversation. "Well, we are done with that project. Someone won't be as glad as you are that the project is over." He said as he opened the door for her, and then walked around the car to his side of it.
"Who? Drew? I wouldn't go that far. He has been coming over a lot in the past couple of weeks. It just makes me a little suspicious, you know?"
"Why?"
"Because, you knew that the project was almost done, right? Therefore, he knew that also. And, all of a sudden, he starts looking for Janine again. It just makes me wonder if it's because he really wants to get back together with her or is it because Danielle is gone."
"Wow! So devious!" he said with a smile.
"I'm serious. I mean first he's all confused about how he feels about her, and then he's no longer confused and he starts pursuing my friend again. It just makes me doubt his motives. Wouldn't you be?"
"Listen, we really shouldn't meddle in their relationship. Last time we did that, we almost broke up and… oh, but you know, I liked the outcome of that, so maybe we should discuss it further… for our friend's sake" he said grinning.
She blushed at the innuendo. Even after dating Tristan for almost a year, he still got to her.
"Then you don't approve of his going over to your apartment?" he asked getting back into the conversation.
"It's not up to me to approve or not, you know? But as a friend, I worry about it. Maybe I'm just looking way to much into it."
"May be…" he said as they reached the Gilmore Mansion. "We're here."
"Are you ready?"
"You are starting to sound so much like Lorelai when she comes over." He stated as he stepped out of the car and rounded it to get her door.
"It's just that I wish, sometimes, that I didn't have to come here all the time… Have a Friday night to ourselves, or myself. I guess today is just one of those days. That's it."
As he rang the bell for the door, he told her. "Duty calls." And it gave them enough time to straighten their faces as Emily Gilmore opened the door, for yet another Friday Evening.
