Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Gilmore Girls but I do have the rights to Sundae, Circe, Brianna, and London (who will be in this chapter, I think)
Author's Note: I'm sad that no one loves me. Is anyone reading??? Cuz I would really like to know what everyone thinks. Please Review; it would make my simple world all colorful.
Recap: This was the first of many times to come that she would accidentally forget about the man who's ring she was wearing on her left hand, because of Tristan.
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They reached the top of the stairs and went into the apartment above Luke's. Tristan lead Rory to the couch were he began to take care of her burns. He went over to the kitchen and searched through the disgustingly organized cabinets. He didn't understand how someone could live in such a neat little box where every little thing had its appropriate place. Obviously, this was Rory's apartment and she did just that. How can someone be so exact about their lives, especially their kitchen utensils. You can tell a lot about someone by looking through their cabinets. Looking through someone's medicine cabinet though, is way overplayed. It's the small things like cups, plates, and spatulas. He found the bowls in the most logical place, right above the dishwasher and right next to the sink. They also were on the other side of the stove. She had everything perfectly situated and that aspect of her intrigued him more than the initial attraction he had when he first saw her that morning. I was so not attracted to her this morning, she just intrigues me, like a good story should…
Tristan filled the bowl with water and ice so that he could soak a cloth that would be cleansing and cooling the burn she acquired. He also found the first aid kit hanging on the side of the stove. He returned to Rory and lowered himself onto the floor so that the two were eye level, since Rory had decided to lay down on the couch. "How is it doing?"
Rory tried to sound heroic but failed miserably when she groaned, "It's fine." Tristan began wringing out the washcloth he was using to dilute the burn.
"Here's my hand. Now as I am placing the washcloth on your ouchie, you can grab my hand and squeeze it as hard as you can ok?"
"Ouchie?" Rory laughed. "Did you just say ouchie grandma?" She continued to laugh as he slowly lowered the moistened cloth onto her skin. She was distracted but as soon as she felt the contact, her laughing stopped abruptly as she hissed out her breath. She grabbed his hand because she needed something to outlet her pain towards. His hands were cooled from coming in contact with the ice water, but they were big and welcoming. Surprisingly, they weren't the hands of someone used to being waited on his entire life. These hands were strong and hard from manual work. She could feel the calluses that he earned from working outside, pulling his weight, instead of sitting in a high-class, posh, high-profile office that she could picture her entire graduating class of Chilton.
To get away from the pain she created a story about how Tristan broke away from the high-society of Hartford and worked on summer during college on a farm. It was the summer between freshman and sophomore years. Tristan was just tired of everything related to Hartford and just had to get away. He didn't want to go to Europe and spend the summer in four star hotels, he wanted to do something worthwhile. After being away from home, well geographically not really away from home but independent of his parents since he was at college, for a year, Tristan came to the startling realization that the world did not revolve around everything that was superficial. He met people that mattered at Yale and he saw others that he already knew, namely Paris, in a different light than before. He wanted to prove to himself that he was more than just the product of two people who only cared about lineage and money. He yearned to see what stock he was made of. So he got a job through the agricultural department at Yale and shipped himself off to Virginia. He worked all summer in the Shenandoah Valley at a horse and cattle farm. He told his family that he was doing an internship for NIH in Northern Virginia…
Tristan was carefully cleaning Rory's wound and stopped to look up at Rory. She was no longer gripping his hand with an intent squeeze the life out of it. She was actually looking at his hand intently, almost caressing it. She was off in a world of her own and he was completely intrigued by her, her fascination with his hand. Luckily, she wasn't focusing on her burn, and Tristan hopefully thought that she wasn't in any pain. Why is she looking so intently at my hand? She is so focused. He smiled at the thought. She's interesting.
While Tristan was thinking about Rory, she was continuing her created history of how his hands became the way they were. He worked with the horses everyday. He would get up as soon as the first beams of sunlight caressed the sleepy and barren earth. He would round up all the horses and give them their breakfasts. Then the he and the other stable hands would take turns exercising the horses and cleaning out their stalls. He helped round up the cattle and brand them, an experience he would never forget….Rory kept going on and on, creating new people and experiences that Tristan must have endured to get his hands to be the balance of strong yet gentle. She finally got up the courage to ask Tristan exactly how his hands are the antithesis of the society he was brought up in.
"Tristan, where did you get those calluses?" Did I really just ask him that? Have I really been thinking about his hands all this time? Who am I? That is totally crazy.
"Have you been sitting there thinking about that all this time?" Tristan asked her, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
"No! I was just curious. You know I just found your hands very inconsistent with the way you were brought up and all…I needed something to take my mind off the pain and all. I was blanking. Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more interesting than that."
Tristan tried to stifle a laugh, "You're crazy. I'm glad that you found something to amuse yourself though, cuz that burn did not look fun at all. Here, let me see if I can answer your question. As you know, I left Chilton in the middle of junior year, and I went to Military School down in North Carolina. Not only did I pick up an accent, I also was forced to work with my hands. They threw me into the routine the day I got there. my hands were bloody by the end of the first week. That course was insane. It was made up entirely of wood. I climbed up stuff and crawled through the mud. It was a complete rude awakening from the life that I had back in Hartford. It changed me a lot. It wasn't anything romantic or anything, just plain, hard work."
"Interesting."
"No. Not really."
"How is my burn coming? I can't really see it and all. If I tried I would end up looking weird and such, like this see." She tries to look at her chest, the part right below the collar bone, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't see her burn and was amusing Tristan to no end. He was laughing so hard that he just couldn't answer.
"I should have known that I needed to bring a camera when I went back to my place to change. I knew this afternoon would be amusing but this is completely…I can't even describe." He broke off laughing again. "Your burn is fine. I doctored it up just nicely. Now just be careful and don't get it wet."
"Alright. Then I guess we are done here. Thank you so much for making the ouchie go away. I will make fun of you until the day you die about saying that.
They came down from the apartment to meet the stares of Babette and Patty. Tristan still had forgotten to put on a shirt. Patty got the show she had wanted ever since she had seen him from far away without a shirt on. Rory looked at Patty's predatory gleam in her eye and turned to see what Tristan did to make Patty have that gaze. Tristan still didn't have his shirt on and Rory realized how bad it looked for them to come down the stairs from the apartment with Tristan lacking a very important article of clothing. She turned beat red and stammered to Tristan, "Hey, you can borrow a shirt from upstairs. I am so sorry that some customer spilled on you."
Tristan turned to go back up the stairs, being pushed by Rory to basically run up the stairs. The idea dawned on him that maybe the scene they created looked a little bit sketchy.
***
Tristan got the hang of being a waiter. He finally got adept at carrying more than one plate on one arm without feeling like he was going to drop them everywhere. After his own shirt had been trashed, the only one he could find was a flannel. So not only was he wearing a cap backwards, he was also wearing a flannel. The only thing missing was the five o'clock shadow and he would be a blond Luke look-a-like, at least that's what Stars Hollow and especially a Mrs. Lorelei Gilmore Danes thought when she entered the diner that afternoon. Her second thought was about how she had never seen him before and he was fresh meat who would get her coffee. And oh how she wanted, needed, yearned for coffee.
"Hey flannel boy!" Lorelei yelled at Tristan, awaiting service.
"Hi, how may I help you? I'm Tristan and obviously, I am going to be your server. What would you like this afternoon?"
"Hey Tristan, I'm Lorelei. And this establishment is run by my beautiful daughter. Is she around?"
"She's in the back cooking. Do you want me to go get her?"
She replies quickly, "No. That's ok. I don't want interrupt her. So you are new in town. I ran into Patty and she told me all about you and Rory with the no shirt thing…very interesting. Why exactly are you here and working at Luke's?"
"I'm just taking a vacation from New York and I used to live in Hartford so I chose Stars Hollow… Paris told me about how much fun this town is...Oh yeah I know Paris because we grew up together, went to the same schools, and eventually got married and divorced. So now that you know my life story what about you?"
"How about you get me a cup of coffee and then I'll tell ya." Tristan nodded, agreeing, and went behind the counter to get her coffee.
"Lorelei, there's only decaf out here and you don't look like a decaf drinker so I'll go in the back and get you some real coffee." Lorelei nodded and Tristan went into the back with a smile. "Rory, your mom's out there. And after getting my life story, she is asking for coffee. Do you have the ice cream?"
"It's right here. Now here's a coffee mug to put it in." The Tristan scooped the ice cream into the mug and then added whipped cream and a coffee bean on top. He took it out to a skeptical Lorelei. Lorelei had been looking around the diner praying that no one would notice that she was getting away with drinking coffee. The whole town was in on the plan to get her away from coffee but she got Tristan and he was bring out her coffee. But he took his time in getting the coffee, so she got worried. She had been waiting far too long for a cup of coffee, but when she saw the whipped cream on top, she got all excited and happy again. Damn those hormones.
"Here you go Lorelei, the best coffee you could imagine."
Lorelei tried to take chug of the drink that she had been without for these few months but couldn't. There was too much whip cream in the way. So, she figured that she would use a spoon and get the coffee with the whipped cream. But she hit something hard. What did this kid put in my coffee? Did he forget to grind the beans or something? Lorelei dug her spoon into where the coffee was supposed to be a pulled out her spoon. The whipped cream covered the entire spoon so she couldn't see what the spoon was holding, so she assumed that it was coffee. She brought the spoon to her mouth and tasted the coffee she was yearning for. But all she got was the cold taste of…ICE CREAM. Lorelei swallowed and sputtered. "What was that? I'll have you know that I almost spit that out in your face but I am a nice person. So tell me what the hell that was."
Tristan was trying to keep a straight face, something that he had been doing a lot that day with these Gilmore girls and their town. Rory was behind the counter watching Tristan, to see how he would take care of the situation, on the verge of tears because she was silently laughing so hard. "That was coffee…in a different form than you are used to."
"It's actually coffee?" She still looked hopeful and took another bite. It tasted familiar. There was that coffee flavor but there was something else. "This is ice cream. You tricked me. I don't think I am every going to forgive you or talk to you again. Nope, never." She takes another bite of her coffee ice cream and sulks.
"But Lorelei, it's for your own good. Being in your first trimester and drinking coffee is really not healthy for the baby, even at your age. But once you hit 35 or even 40, the risks get much higher. But, as soon as you are into your second trimester, you are in the home stretch. The baby has already developed its major organs so coffee won't hurt it…And, I still want to hear your life story so please talk to me."
"You think I'm younger than 35?! You are the bestest person in the whole world." Lorelei tears up. "You just made up for the coffee ice cream incident and made my entire day happy. And this ice cream thing isn't so bad, just as long as you make every single one. I really like the coffee bean on top. Good touch. So let's see…my life story…well I was born on this stormy night. The rain was coming down hard and the wind was causing the trees to crash up against the windows…and I was charging through…
***
Tristan walked out of the shower and glanced at the clock. "We only have 15 minutes before Rory comes over and walks us to Lorelei's house. There, we get to see aunt Paris, Jess, Lorelei, and the infamous fiancé London and Lorelei's Luke. And you will be my date for the evening Sundae, since I will definitely be the odd man out. I think I'll wear something casual, just incase Lorelei has any plans besides dinner. I swear Sundae, once you meet her, you will understand what I mean. Oh and watch out for your ears, she seems like an ear puller to me."
Rory walked up Tristan's driveway and looked up. She was 15 minutes early, but Caesar made her leave earlier than her intended time. She looked up and saw Tristan walking around what looked to be his room, sans shirt, and talking to someone. The closer she got the better she could hear him through the open window, and she overheard his comment about Lorelei being an ear puller, so she decided to comment on it, "Yea, she is. That's why Luke'll never let her get a dog."
Tristan was so surprised that he dropped the towel from around his waist. Luckily for Tristan, his back was to the street, so Rory just barely got a glance and his butt before he regained control of the towel. He turned towards his window and hollered out, "Are you trying to scare lives off me, Gilmore? I swear I saw my life flashing before my eyes."
"Oh get over it, Tris. You are almost as theatrical as my mother. And the thing before your eyes…" She gave him an evil smirk, "was your towel falling off."
"I'm as theatrical as your mother? WHAT? I don't believe this. How could you say such a thing." By this time he was basically leaning out his window. But he stood up slowly, so he wouldn't hit his head on the frame, put the back of his hand against his forehead like a southern belle, and fell back onto his bed saying, "I do declare!"
He got a good laugh out of Rory who called back, "You better get dressed Tris cuz I'm coming into your house now. I want to see how a bachelor lives." She went inside and immediately spotted a beautiful cat. "Hey pretty girl, I'm Rory. I met Sundae this morning at the diner. I bet you were glad that you didn't have to go running in all that heat."
Tristan walked down the stairs in khakis and a Mr. Bubbles t-shirt. "Do I have to wear shoes?" He pretended to whine.
"My mom is going to love your shirt. She might want to steal it so be careful."
"I doubt she will be able to steal it with me still in it. Who were you talking to down here?"
"I was getting to know this cute little lady over here."
"Ah Circe, this is Rory. Don't mind the crazy lady trying to talk to you."
"And who were you talking to upstairs?"
"Sundae, but that's different. She's going to be my date for tonight. Cuz you see everyone else will be in couples so I figured I would bring on of my two favorite ladies."
"And thus the ear pulling comment. I get it now. We don't get very coupley. That's only never, eww I don't want to see my mom and Luke all kissing. I have seen it way too much already. And Luke gets embarrassed around new people. You're going to be fine. But I would love to have Sundae accompany us. Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, I just have to find shoes. Haven't you ever just wanted to not wear shoes and feel life through your feet?"
"Interesting notion. Yes, I think I did do that when I was 5 or so."
"But then you weren't doing it to feel, you probably just did it because you couldn't find shoes or something. I mean breaking away from the confines that normally make up our world. Get away from the tiny boxes we put our lives in. Do something spontaneous."
"You are a random, crazy, and complicated man, Tristan DuGrey. At first I thought you were going to be easy to figure out but now I am completely befuddled."
"Thank you." He picked up his shoes and called Sundae. "Let's go. Don't give me that weird look, I'll put my shoes on when we get there."
***
When they got there, the mini party was already hopping. Lorelei was telling the crew, which consisted of Luke, Jess, Brianna, Lane, London, and Paris, all about what Tristan did to her today at Luke's. No one noticed that Tristan, Sundae, and Rory had joined the party until after Lorelei was done. Luke was the first to go up to Tristan and introduce himself.
"Hey Tristan, I'm Luke. Thanks for helping Rory out today at the diner while someone was out playing hooky." He motioned over at Jess. Then Luke leaned in to stage whisper to Tristan, "That was a brilliant plan you had today. I'm glad Rory told you about Lore here. And whatever you said to her really has made her anti coffee. But we did have to stock up on the coffee ice cream and whipped cream. Yeah, definitely thanks again."
Tristan laughed at the obvious innuendo, "No problem. I used flattery, facts, and whipped cream, it's a lethal combo." Luke is not acting anything like Rory described him. I don't get it. I bet it's because I rock. Yeah, no. It's all about getting his wife to stop wanting to drink coffee and possibly harm the baby. Oh no. Lorelei just spotted Sundae…
"It's a PUPPY!" Lorelei squealed, which got her youngest daughter's attention. They both continued to squeal as they made their way over to Tristan's frightened beagle.
Rory tried to intervene, "Now Mom, Brianna, you both need to not yell because you could hurt Sundae's ears and you both know how much fun hurt ears are don't you?" They both nodded, now slowly approaching the dog, as if they are trying to sneak up on her. "Be very gentle with her, she likes people, just not really loud ones who pull her ears. Here that Mom? No ear pulling." She watches the other two Gilmore girls nicely pat Sundae when she turns around to face her fiancé. "Hey baby." She gives him a sweet peck on the lips. "This is Tristan whom you have already heard about. Tristan, this is London, my fiancé."
The two said their hellos. Lane piped up, "What about me? Do I not get a hello or introduction. I get no love."
"LANE! I haven't seen you since…how are you? Ahh you have to tell me everything. When did you get in? Why didn't you immediately come over to the diner. Lane this is Tristan and his dog Sundae. Ahh my Lane is home!" Rory runs over and gives Lane a huge hug.
"We haven't seen each other since the fourth of July, so about 3 months. I am doing great. I passed the bar for New York so now I am officially a lawyer. I'm not seeing anyone right now but I am working for BMG records as one of their lawyers. You know they've been recruiting me since my second year Columbia (Law School) and now I have a permanent job at their NEW YORK OFFICE!!" She sees the excited look on Rory's face and replies, "I KNOW! Ok what else? I got in sometime this afternoon and I did go over to the diner but Caesar told me that he sent you over to get Tristan and I didn't know where he lived so I came here. Hi Tristan, I'm Lane. Did I cover everything?"
Tristan answered, "Surprisingly, yes. You and Paris can both do that. I don't get it but wow. Nice to meet you and congratulations. BMG, that's definite big time."
"Thanks. And this is your cute dog. Hi there, Sundae, you are a beautiful girl. I bet she loves all this attention. Aww, she just rolled over for me so I could pet her tummy. That is so cute." All the females were oh-ing and ah-ing over Tristan's cute dog.
Tristan turned to London to start his research, "So you are marrying into this family of your own will? Wait, Luke you did too?"
They both laughed and nodded. London piped up with his deep Scottish brogue, "Yeah, I doona know. It's something aboot these girls that just gets to a mon. Rory-lass just brightens me day and Lorelei is such an amusement. There will never be a dull day fur the rest of me life."
"I don't doubt that. Random question, but I can't help but notice the brogue, what part of Scotland are you from?"
"I come frrom a small town outside of Argyll. Basically, the middle of no where in the highlands. Have you been there?"
"It's probably one of my favorite places in the entire world. I actually have a place near there. I visit as often as possible. It is the most beautiful place, ever."
"I would have to disagree on you aboot that. The most beautiful place in the world is where ever my Rory-lass is." The females who were cooing over the dog turned to Rory and gave her a hard time about her cute fiancé. "What canna say? I'm in love with the lass and I wanna the whole world to know it!"
"Psh, London you are just staking your claim. Whatever, Tristan isn't interested. He has too many women in his life. I mean he's got Sundae and Circe, wait what was that Paris? Oh, who's at home. Too many for one little Rory." Lorelei quipped, with help from Paris who was stage whispering the info on Tristan.
"Wow I really just walked into a not safe place for Tristan didn't I?" Tristan joked. "I have Paris who knows all telling Lorelei, who will tell all. Yeah so, how are you, Jess?"
"Hey man, we are all screwed in this house. They know all and if they don't, like in London's case, they'll make it up. But other than that I'm great. Thanks for taking over my shift today."
"No prob. I had fun. Except when Babette threw her drink at me. I swear you are right Paris, women just really don't like my article. Last week I was walking and an old lady attacked me. I saw my life flash before my eyes in the form of a big red fake leather purse, not fun times."
Rory started laughing, "I can totally picture that. Some 4ft something little old lady sees you across the street, stalks you until she can catch up then whips out her purse, which she carries her two pound weight in for exercise, and beats you. I hope with her vertically challengedness that she didn't harm any….thing….vital."
"Yeah, yeah laugh all you want. It hurt. And she was on the curb while I was on the street. She had enough leverage to hit my head. I told her that I needed those brain cells but no avail."
Lorelei put her arm around Tristan's shoulders, "I think I'm going to have fun with you around. But enough about you…I have big news people. Wait but before that, Tristan, you didn't meet someone very important. Bri, yea Sundae will still be there if you come over here for one second. I'll give you coffee if you come…That's my girl. And see, the doggie is following you. Brianna, this is Tristan, he's going to be staying in town for awhile and he owns Sundae. He also has a kitty cat…I KNOW! We'll get to see her maybe tomorrow k?"
Tristan lowers himself until he is eye level with the little two year old, "Hey Brianna, I'm Tristan. But you know what? My name is just too long. How about you call me T. Does that sound ok?"
"Hi T. I'm Bri."
"That is so cute. They rhyme. Aww, so cute." Lorelei sniffed. "This emotional stuff is really annoying, can't I just not get the mood swings. Oh yea. The news. People people. We are going to have another two additions to the Gilmore/Danes clan. I am going to have twins! Isn't that so cool. I can dress them in matching clothing and have matching names. So cute."
"There will be no matching clothes or names, Lor, or I will suspend coffee consumption until further notice." At Luke's threat, all three Gilmore girls gasped. Bri gasped because she knew that whenever her daddy said something about coffee, it usually meant that he was taking it away or something.
"Mom! Luke! No bad talk about coffee when we are celebrating. Ehhh em. I have an announcement too! Guys, London and I are getting married! He finally asked me. We're going to seal the deal, Mom, marriage, not anything else, get your head out of that bad place, in two short months. You all are invited." The girls started talking animatedly about the wedding and the pregnancy. Jess and Tristan congratulated Luke and London.
Tristan sat down and Sundae jumped up on the couch next to him. Bri followed in suit, but she sat on his lap while she played with the dog. Tristan had a moment to think while he observed the group of closely nit friends. He really felt left out, something that he hadn't felt in a long time. But Rory looked over and saw him and his look, so before he could get any serious thinking done, she went over to him.
"Hey there. It looks like you're bonding with my baby sister. Or more like she's attached to your dog. I think you'll have to pry her away from Sundae when the night is over."
"Sundae loves the attention. I bet she will be just as reluctant to leave. And it's great how Bri is so gentle. I mean two year olds usually are not gentle, but she's an angel."
"That's my baby sis. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?"
"Nothing that I know of, why?"
"I was wondering if you would like a tour of the town. Sunday is Luke's day to work at the diner, it's the only day I let him, and I get the whole day off. I want to show you around town, Mom's inn, so you can get in tune with your surroundings."
"Thanks Ror. I would love for you to be my tour guide. Are you going to show me the evil and seedy side of Stars Hollow too?" Rory rolled her eyes and Tristan laughed. At that sound, Paris looked over at the pair. She no longer saw them the way she did when she saw them together in high school, with jealously and hurt. But she wasn't oblivious to the piqued interest that they brought out in one another. I hope that no one else notices. I bet they are all caught up in the big news that they can't see it. I guess I have known these two for so long I see what most can't. Tristan is going to do a lot more than stir up a little history on Rory's past fiancés. This attraction between them actually might cause actions. Poor London. He has no idea what's in store for him. But I don't think he's the right match for Rory, but I've just met the guy, I could be wrong, yes I can admit to myself and only myself that I can be wrong. Damn I wish I could be down here longer than just the weekend. I want to see all of this unravel. The Tristan, Rory, London triangle hopefully will result in Rory finding her lobster, her true match. Also, another plus for staying in Stars Hollow was today's picnic. It was so lovely, Jess and I really got to connect again. Stars Hollow knows how to cultivate love, especially love connected to the Gilmores. I don't get it, I'm just along for the ride.
Author's Note (#2): I changed Rory's wedding date to move it up a bit so Tristan would be there during the final preps. I also changed in on chapter 7. Don't forget to tell me what you think, press that go button on the bottom left hand of your screen. Come on! I know you can do it! thanks.