Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore girls. Sorry!

a/n: helllllllooooo sorry I took so long to update. I just wanted to torture you a little. Hee hee!

Chapter 13: The power of the pinky

"Rory! Open the door! Please?" Tristan yelled, pounding on the door. No one opened. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry? Please, open the door!"

The door swung open.

"Sometimes sorry just doesn't cut it."

Tristan sighed. "Lorelai, hi."

"You're late."

"Excuse me?"

"I expected you here over an hour ago."

"You did?"

"I figured you'd follow Rory."

"I tried."

"Did you get lost?"

"I was washing dishes."

"Don't you have a maid to do that?" Lorelai asked. She was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest.

"Not at home. I got to try being a dishwasher for a day, courtesy of Luke."

"What?" Lorelai asked. "What could you possibly have done to have him make you wash dishes?"

"You didn't pay for your coffee."

"We never pay for our coffee. That's why we have a tab."

"I knew it," he said, laughing to himself. "That guy is an ass."

"HEY!" Lorelai said. "You have absolutely no right to come around here and judge people. This isn't your town! You know I have been spending all this time rooting for you and Rory to get together, to live happily ever after. But maybe I've been cheering for the wrong person. The only ass around here is you."

"Woah, sorry," Tristan said. "You're right, I'm just pissed. Can you please send Rory out so I can talk to her?"

"She doesn't want to see you."

"Please? Can't you talk to her?"

"Tried," Lorelai answered.

"Why won't she talk to me?"

"Rory's always the one getting hurt by her boyfriends. Did she ever tell you about Jess?"

"Just that they dated for almost a year and then he took off without a word."

"And how about he reappeared, told her he loved her, and got in his car and took off again?"

"Jerk."

"Rory's never had a guy in her life that has stuck around. Her dad is never here. Chris has been better the past few years, but he has a life in Boston with his wife and child. Rory has never had anyone stick by her side through the bad times."

"And she thinks I'm going to leave her?"

Lorelai sighed. "Maybe not straight out, but her subconscious does."

"Why would she assume that of me? Doesn't she believe I'm different?"

"But you haven't been so far."

"Excuse me?"

"You ran away from her in high school."

"I was being sent away!"

"You still abandoned her. And she needed you, even if she didn't know it then. And when things got just a little bit awkward between the two of you, you go off and have a fling with the first bar floozy you could find."

Tristan sighed and looked off down the street. Lorelai was right. He had let her down.

"She's had her fair share of running away too."

Lorelai scowled at him.

"But I guess that's not the point."

Lorelai shook her head.

" I didn't mean to hurt her. I love her so much."

"So did Jess and so does her dad. It doesn't matter that you love her. What matters is how you change it, how you prove yourself to her."

Tristan looked at Lorelai. "I can do that."

"Can you?"

"I have to. I'll go crazy if I don't."

"It will be really hard considering she's not talking to you."

"I'll find a way."
"Promise me now you will never run again?"

"I promise."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear?" Tristan asked, confused.

"Pinky swearing is like promising to promise. Come on, it's the ultimate deal sealer," she stuck out her pinky.

Tristan grabbed it with his own. "Pinky swear."

*****

"I've gotta hand it to him Ror, he really loves you," Lorelai said, walking into the living room. Rory was sitting on the couch, absentmindedly flipping through a magazine.

"And how would you know that? Did he tell you?"

"Yes."

"And that's all you're judging it by?"

"No, but he's out to move heaven and earth to have you forgive him."

"I already have."

"Then why won't you talk to him? You're really killing him."

"I'm killing him?" Rory asked. "How about he's killing me?"

"Why won't you talk to him?" Lorelai repeated.

"Because I know that if I start talking to him again, I'll hang out with him. And if I hang out with him, I'll fall for him even more. And I can't fall for him Mom. Tristan is Tristan. He's the same person he was in high school no matter what we both want to believe."

"But he loved you so much in high school, babe. I honestly think he never stopped."

"But you know how he treated me. Plus it didn't stop him from dating every other girl in the student body."

"How do you know he hasn't changed? Just because he made a mistake doesn't mean you should punish him forever. You've made a hundred mistakes and he's forgiven you."

"A hundred? Name one."

"You ran away from him when you kissed."

"He ran from me."

"Not at the ball, at that party."

"God Mom, that was years ago!"

"It still says something about your relationship. And he forgave you for it then."

"That one doesn't count."

"Okay, how about how you ran away from London?"

"I didn't run away. I was planning on leaving. It was just conveniently planned."

"You didn't leave because of your job. You left because you were falling for him and that scared you. So basically, you were running away all along."

"And how has he forgiven me for that?"

"He was understanding and supportive the whole time. And he's not sitting over there in London sulking over you. He's over here doing something about winning you back."

"But he doesn't know there's no prize," Rory said. "I'm not going to get involved with him. I'm not going to risk everything just be with him."

"Then why did you risk everything to move to London with him?"

"I had a job there."

"But it wasn't the one you really wanted. You know you always wanted to stick close to home."

Rory sighed, defeated. "He ran from me too."

"Funny how he said the same thing about you."

"So if we're both running away from each other, doesn't that mean something?"

"Babe, the world's round. Even if you're running from each other, you'll have to meet up again sometime."

Rory sat back against her pillow, thinking about Lorelai's theory.

"Now the question is, when will you meet up with him?"