Disclaimer.  Don't own them… but maybe one day, I'll write for them (*wishful thinking*).

Every Time There's a Concert

Time went by.  Tristan and Rory's relationship was able to overcome the rifts that Danielle Montgomery and Alex Johansen had made in it.  They had been as strong as they had hoped they'd be.

Last, they heard Danielle Montgomery had been fired from the magazine she worked for and that Tristan did the layout for.  The reason for her cease of activities at the magazine had been harassment.  After the account with Tristan's company, she moved on to a different project; and the company and, more specifically, the person who she had been working with filed a sexual harassment suit which cost her the job of, what she had once thought of, her dreams.  She moved to Europe a few months after that and married there.  Tristan had kept working with the magazine, and his contact there (an older, married woman) told him about what had happened.

Alex Johansen had graduated the same year Rory did.  He started dating someone else after the whole Rory "thing."  Then dated someone else and someone after that and someone after that one… until one day, after graduation he ran into Janine at a bookstore and hit it off.  They started dating after that, and had moved in together after a year.

Janine and Drew never could actually make things work out again.  She always doubted his reasons for coming back to her.  And the fact, that he had dumped her and, when things didn't work out for him and the other girl, then went back to her and ask her to forgive him… that just made her doubt him more: If he did it once, what guarantees that he won't do it again? She forgave him, but didn't get back together with him even after all the insisting form his part.  She moved on.  He moved on also… it just took him longer.

After graduation, Rory had moved to Hartford.  She got a job with the Hartford Herald and moved up the corporate ladder little by little, as she gained experience. 

Her grandparents had given her the apartment in which she lived on her own as a graduation present.  Lorelai had been happy and sad.  It was bittersweet for her, because Rory had moved out on her own.  She knew that Rory wouldn't move back to Stars Hollow after graduation, but she could hope…

Tristan and Rory didn't move in together as it would have been expected.  The fact was that it would have been too much for their families to deal with that.  They still had names and reputations to live up to and protect.  They spent some nights over at each other's apartments, but never really discussed moving in.

After the thing with Janine didn't quite work out for him, Drew decided to have a talk with Tristan and propose and expansion of the company since it was doing so well.  And they did, they started a second office in New York, where Drew took care of it.  He moved to New York a year after Janine's graduation.  He just couldn't take running into Janine and Alex together. 

Since he moved out, and the company was based in Hartford, and since Rory had moved to Hartford also, Tristan decided to follow her footsteps and move to Hartford… across the street from Rory's apartment building.

And so much time had passed by, that they didn't even notice that they had been dating for four years.  And for the last three years, one thought had been roaming around his mind, on and off.  However, up until a month ago, Tristan finally decided that he was going to propose to Rory.

He finally had everything he wanted to offer her.  He had stability, both emotional and financial, a very-settled company that was growing at an amazing speed.  And he had the girl of his dreams, the actual love of his life. 

They had discussed marriage on several occasions.  He knew better than to pressure her, and be insistent on the topic, but whenever the topic arose, he would seize the moment and talk about it.  Little by little, her walls regarding the issue had fallen until one day they spoke openly about it, and she told him that she wouldn't be able to face life without him.  That had been a month ago.  He knew that, finally, the time had come.

He drove one day over to Stars Hollow.  A small visit to Lorelai and Luke's so he could make his intensions known.  Lorelai had been happy, and Luke had actually shown some feelings regarding the issue, saying that Rory was a lucky girl and that if he did something to her he would hunt him down and make him disappear.  Tristan laughed.  He was used to Luke by now.

Luke did tell Jess this time.  Jess knew that Rory would marry Tristan, but he hoped (in the back of his mind… or maybe, his heart) that things could work out between them.  After all the years (and the girls) that had passed after Rory, he still felt a hint of jealousy and pain.  But he was still happy for her.

Tristan proceeded to drive to Boston.  He went to Christopher's house and, again, make his intensions known.  He had met Christopher after dating Rory for over a year.  He had been in London for a long time, after his and Sherry's divorce.  Christopher was happy also.

Now, the tough part came… asking Rory for marriage.  And after a whole lot of planning, the day finally came.  It was today.

When Rory arrived home that night, after and excruciatingly long day she found there was a calendar page tacked at her apartment's door.  She looked at the date in it.  September 2000.  She didn't quite understand what it was.  Until she saw that there was a picture of the Virgin Mary and a notebook page with something that looked like English notes.

And then she figured that it meant September 2000, her sophomore year at Chilton… the year she had met Tristan.  She detached it from the door, and then proceeded to unlock the door and go in to her apartment.

On the table, where she usually placed all her work stuff there was another calendar page.  It read October 2000.  In it, there was a copy of her Sweet 16 Birthday invitation, to the party that had been held at her grandparents' house.  She smiled.

"Tristan?!" She asked, but there was no answer.

When she was about to hang her keys, she saw the next page.  It read November 2000.  And there were two ticket stubs to the Winter Formal, and a piece of blue cloth.

She went into the kitchen and when she was about to turn on the light she found another calendar page.  This one had a label to some French drink and a picture of a piano.  She smiled at the memory again.

"Tristan?! Honey?! Are you in here?" she asked again, but there was still no answer.

She was no longer doing her usual routine as she usually did.  She was looking for more calendar pages that where placed on every single stop she did when she got home.  Next stop, the coffee machine.  And again, this one had a printed cover of Casablanca and… a flag? And a picture of some random bench.

She continued.  Turned around to the refrigerator and she found a PJ Harvey poster with two tickets that read May 17th, 2001.  And at this, she felt a little guilty.  That had been the time where she had broken his heart.  But she still removed the poster and held it with the rest of the calendar pages.

She came out of the kitchen and walked to the living room.  In the living room, she found another calendar page, which read November 2001.  This one had a printed cover of Romeo and Juliet and a piece of camouflaged cloth… when he was sent to military school.

"Tristan?! Come out here…" she said as she gathered the new page.

She was walking to the balcony when she spotted another page.  This one was from the year they started dating.  She remembered the day they had ran into each other at "The Coffee House," and how shocked she had been.  And she remembered how she had asked her to stay… after he ran after her.

"Come on, please, don't go on my account" he asked sincerely.

"Oh, um, I'm not. . . I. . . just have some stuff to do for school, and I just cannot let it go that easily" she lied.

"You are not that good of a liar, Rory Gilmore, and if you were here it's because you have a little time to spare, so please stay"

"Yeah, but. . ."

"Please, let me prove to you that I am not the same person that left Chilton over the Duncan and Bowman fiasco, I have changed since you last saw me. . . I'm just asking for a chance to prove to you that I am being honest. . ." he said politely "I'll buy you a cup of coffee" he added.

She smiled at this.  She opened the door to the balcony, and was disappointed not to find Tristan there. 

He had proved that he had changed, and so many things that he did after that… it was just corroboration that he had.

She kept walking around the apartment, and found a video… when she turned it over, she saw that it was Casablanca.  The first movie they had seen together, the first time that he came over to her house.

She continued her trajectory, not really knowing what she was supposed to do, and she found a set of pages.  In them, Rory found a bunch of ticket stubs and pictures of the first times they hung out together.  And then she remembered how it was that they got together… he neglected to put a picture of Chiara in it.

"Tristan?!? Come on…" she said and there was still no answer.

She found a few decorations put together (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and pictures of the people of Stars Hollow, and both of them at Stars Hollow.  She left everything by the table; it was just getting to be too much to be carrying around.  She only took the calendar pages.

She remembered the first time they woke up under the same roof.  Sometimes the smallest memories can make a person smile.  It had been the first Thanksgiving they spent together.

"Hey, sunshine" she said in the most sweet voice possible, almost inaudible. 

"Mmmm, I like waking up like this.  One can get used to such luxuries."  He said, and as he said that, he smiled and grabbed the cup of coffee from Rory's hand.

She found another calendar page.  This one was for February; they had been dating for a few months by that date.  And it was the first fight they had, that led to the first time they said I Love You.

"Dean was the one person standing in between you and me the first time around!!!!"

"There was no you and me and No First Time around Tristan, I didn't like you that way back then.  It wasn't his fault that I didn't like you then."

"But if he hadn't been in the picture things would have been different between you and me then"

(…)

"No, I changed.  Believe me, I changed.  But the person that I hold the dearest, that I would give my life for, just invited her ex-boyfriend to sit with us at OUR table on OUR anniversary.  If you want to talk about low blows, we can start with that one.  I changed Rory, but I am still a man that has feelings, and I have always been a jealous man, you know that, you've known that forever."

"You know what? I cannot believe that the man I love the most is behaving that way, so call me when you calm down. . . I'm taking a cab to my apartment?"  And like that, she let it slip.  She loved him.

And then, she got the chance to do it right two months later on his birthday.

"I am extremely thankful to my lucky star that she let me get to know this great man that is standing right in front of me.  And I thank my lucky star that I had the chance to meet that annoying 16-year-old boy so many years ago, because that way I would know just how lucky I really am. . . life has blessed me in so many ways, that I can't help think that somebody up there loves me.  I am happy to have you in my life; you are, next to my mom, one of the most important persons I have in it.  What I am getting to is, that I want you to know that I love you more that I've ever loved anyone, and I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to see you again and blessed my life with having you in it.  If this were to end tomorrow, it would have been the most beautiful 5 months I spent in my life.  You never let one of those days be a dull day, you always had something that made each, and every day with you, the best day, so I guess that I've had approximately 150 of the best days of my life.  I love you more each day that goes by, and each day that goes by I know that it would be harder not to spend the next one with you." 

She had been so nervous that day.  And that night… that's a whole other story.

"Tristan?!?" she said as she kept walking around.

She found more calendar pages.  For different months of the years, they had been together.  There had been a calendar page of the month she graduated Yale and one for when she got the job.  One for the month, she moved in on her own.  One for the month he moved to Hartford again… across the street from her.

And then she came across a calendar.  An empty calendar… it was lying on her bed.  When she finally looked up from it, she saw reflected on her mirror a candlelit table on her bedroom's balcony… and Tristan standing there dressed in a tuxedo.  And she walked to the balcony, and opened the door.  She smiled, and he smiled back.

"Hey…" she said as she placed a small kiss on his lips.

"What took you so long?" he asked her as he hugged her.

"I walked down a really long memory lane…" she said as she hugged him back.  "What's all this?"

"It's just something to welcome you home after a long day at work." He said as he pulled away from the hug and pulled away the chair for her to sit on.

"Come on… I kept calling your name and you wouldn't answer.  What's up your sleeve?" she said as he walked around the table to sit across from her.

"And Ace… but that's for poker night with the boys."

"I'm serious."

"So am I.  I can assure you that Alex carries a whole deck under his sleeve.  I don't know how he does it."

"Tristan…" she said warningly.

"Ok, I'll tell you.  I've had something on my mind for a while now."

"You always have things on your mind.  Why is this time different than any other?" she asked.

"Well you see this dinner kind of has a theme to it." He told her as he poured wine on both their glasses.

"I figured that much.  How did you manage to get calendar pages and all the things you placed on them?"

"Well, you would be amazed at the amount of junk that Lorelai has at your house, and with the help of some others and my own junk, I was able to pull it off."

"You called my mom, and asked her for calendar pages? Wow, we can't find the phone in that house, but she knows where she keeps calendars of years past."

"That's not the point."

"I know.  I figured that much."

"It's really important for me to remind you the history we have together.  It goes back a long time."

"Yeah, we're like Millennium Babies… Our history starts in the year 2000.  So our relationship could have been a bug for all we know."

"I think we overcame that."

"Good thing too, don't you think?"

"OK, I need you to get serious right now."

"There is just one flaw on this theme of yours." She stated.

"How so?" he asked amused.

"All of the other calendar pages had something on them that represents a… momentum, if you will.  Except for the ones, I found over my bed.  You didn't write anything in them."

"Well, that was on porpoise."

"You are just trying to cover it."  She joked.

"Actually, no.  I just left those calendar pages there, so you can pick a date."

"For what?" she said.

"For our wedding." He asked her, and she gasped.  He got up from his chair, walked around the table, and bent his right knee.  "I told you once that never in a million years could I ever think it possible that this would happen to me with you.  But it did, and I have never been able to thank the person that made this possible.  I told you once that I loved you more than life itself, and that I would do anything to make you happy, as happy as you have made me over the last few years.  It was a long way that we came and I am glad that we are here." He took the ring box from inside his pocket and opened it to reveal a 1-karat diamond engagement ring.  "Rory Gilmore, would you marry me?"

"Oh my God, Tristan!" she said with tears in her eyes.  "Are you sure?"

He chuckled.  "Yes."

"Are you kidding?"

"Nope.  I'm as serious as I can be."

"Oh my God"

"I'm going to need something more than that, Ror.  Your killing me here." He said nervously.

"Well I wouldn't want to be a widow before time, right?"

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

"Yes.  Yes it is." She said and she let her tears roll down her cheeks and so did he.  In a moment of impetus and excitement, he got up from his kneeling position and lifted her with him.

"I will make you the happiest woman on earth, I swear!" he said as he cried with her.

"Try and top the last few years.  But you have a difficult task ahead of you." She said.

"I'm up for a challenge." He said as he finally placed her on the floor and kissed her sweetly but thoroughly.

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

Lorelai was sitting on the porch, and had both Emma's and Janlan's complete attention.  It had been 12 years since that had happened.  And every time she told that story, it made her eyes watery.

"That's the whole story of your mom and dad" she said to the two children.  Emma was eight and Janlan was six.

"Wow, mom and dad sure kiss a lot."  Janlan said as a way of an observation.

"I know.  They kiss a lot and have been doing that for a long time."

"Is there anyway you can make them stop, grandma? Tell them you'll ground them or won't give mommy coffee or something like that."  Janlan continued.

"Grandma can't ground mom and dad, they're old people, and old people don't get grounded."  Emma told her brother mockingly. 

"Watch it with the 'old people' comment, there little lady."

"Sorry, grandma"

"But your sister's right.  I can't ground mommy and daddy because they love each other.  It's not fair.  One day, you will want to kiss a girl all the time."

"No, grandma.  Girls are disgusting.  I won't kiss any girl because then I would have cutties."

"You might just change your mind one day…"

"Thanks for telling us the story, again, grandma." Emma told Lorelai as she got up and hugged her.

"Your welcome angel.  Now go and get ready, because mommy and daddy are going to come and pick you up in a few minutes." And with that, both kids went inside the house.  And as it had been said, Rory and Tristan were driving in.

Lorelai rose from the porch's bench and went to meet her daughter and her son-in-law.

When they finally parked, Rory stepped down from the car after Tristan had gotten the door for her.  They were walking towards Lorelai, and Rory was the first one to talk, "Hey, mom."

"Hey honey…" she said directing herself to Rory, and then directing herself to Tristan she said "hey honey."

"Hey, Lorelai" he said as they hugged.

"Your kids are under the impression that you guys kiss a lot, and they want me to ground you."

"Janlan's always complaining about that." Rory said as she snuggled closer to Tristan.

"That kid is going to change his mind before he hits puberty," Tristan continued.

"With all that kissing, he just might turn into a revised version of this one," Lorelai signaled to Tristan.

"Oh, please don't say that" Rory continued on the joke.

"OK, OK! Quit it you two.  I'll go get the kids, so you can say your good-byes." He said, placed a small kiss on Rory's forehead, and went into the house.

"Thanks for watching the kids for us, mom" Rory said as she engulfed her mom in a hug.

"It's not everyday that my little girl celebrates 11 years of marriage." Lorelai answered back.

"It sounds like so much, but it seems like only yesterday we were on that balcony and he was proposing to me with a calendar theme."

"Those are the best memories."

"I wouldn't trade them for the world."

"Mom, mom" came the voices of Rory's children as they came out of the house.  Tristan behind them, carrying both their toy bags.

"Watch it, you two! Don't run like that or you might fall on the gravel with those sleepers on!" Tristan said behind them.

"Hey, kids!" Rory asked as she kneeled down to hug both her children.  "Did you have a good time?" she asked as she was eye-level with them.

"Yeah, we had burgers with Grandpa Luke for dinner" Janlan told her mother.

"Great, aren't they?" Rory asked them.

"Yeah" they answered in unison.

At this, Tristan was placing the bags on the back of the car.  "Are you guys ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Say goodbye to grandma Lorelai, then." He told them and both kids said their goodbye's to her grandmother.

After the kids, they also said their goodbye's, got in the car, and drove to their house in Hartford.

THE END

Author's Note.  Well, this is it.  It's over.  I hope you enjoyed it, and that you liked the ending to it.  Thanks for all your support for both my stories!

Mary