"Mmm…I'm hungry."
"We're always hungry, mom."

"Yeah, but today I'm like, super-hungry. You know, pancakes-with-a-side-of-pancakes-and-a-bowl-of-syrup hungry."

"You realize it's already 12. Luke's not going to make us pancakes."

"Have you met Luke? I have him wrapped around my little finger…" Lorelai held said finger up in the air and examined it. "See? There's Luke, all wrapped up…and all males, for that matter."

Rory rolled her eyes. "You do not have every guy twisted around your pinky."

"Ha!" Lorelai scoffed, and rewrapped her scarf around her for dramatic emphasis. "Rory, my dear, I was Scarlet in a past life. Have you not noticed my uncanny ability to make guys drool for no particular reason? I am the princess of popularity, the sovereign of sexiness, the ruler of randyness-"

"Ok, officially making me sick."

"What? It's true. And you, my little munchkin, can't hold a candle to it. You're jealous." She stuck her tongue out and giggled.

"Me? Jealous? Please." Rory laughed and looped her arm through her Lorelai's.

"Well, it's true, Mini-Me! I mean, you sit at home, all alone on a Friday night, with your little Bagboy pining away for you as he stacks string beans in perfect symmetrical order, while I'm off painting the town red with one of my many lowly subjects." She grinned cheekily as Rory gasped in mock indignation.

"That's not true! I-"
"Oh, yes it is! I've seen it! It's true!"

"No it's not! Last night me and Trista-" Her hand flew to her mouth. Lorelai stopped laughing and removed her arm from Rory's.

"Tristan and you what?"

"I…nothing, I was just saying I was with a guy on a Friday night, that's all."

"Rory…"
"Seriously. It's nothing. Let's hurry so Luke will still make us pancakes." With that, Rory hurried off, her cheeks blazing at her slip of the tongue, with Lorelai hot on her heels.

- - - - - - - - - -

Tristan sighed happily, one of those hopelessly-in-love goofy smiles present on his face. Today was a good day. No wait…today was a great day. A damn great day.  He was currently stretched out on his bed, watching the sun stream in through the windows, covering his carpet with ribbons of light. He felt like he was in some cheesy Disney movie. Or, he would have, had his parents not been in the next room arguing. Tristan propped himself on his elbow and listened to the pair.

"Listen, you egotistical jackass-"
"Don't call me egotistical, you booze-soaked bitch! I work my ass off for you and that boy and all I get in return is watching you parade around with the pool boy or butler or whoever the hell feels a need to severely lower their standards!"

"Don't you dare talk to me that way! That's it-"

A crash. Tristan winced.
"I'm going to Paris and stay with Minerva-"
"Fine! Do whatever the hell you want!"
Another crash, the sound of footsteps, then silence. Tristan laid back down on his bed and closed his eyes. He didn't want to be here. Then, an idea came to him.

Go see Rory.

Best thought he'd had all morning. After all, she was the reason he was happy in the first place, right? He could just hop in one of the cars, drive to see her…they could hang out for a while. It was winter break after all, so no more worrying about homework. Another thought came to mind.

What if she didn't break up with Dean?

This could present a problem. Sure, he could go see her, but if she and Dean were still together, it might not be too pretty. After a short internal battle, he decided he might as well go; better than sit around his house, waiting for the next fight to begin. He hurried to the garage, hopped in the first car he saw, and sped out of there like a bat out of hell.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"Lukey boy!" Lorelai hopped on one of the stools and looked around eagerly for any signs of a flannel-covered diner man. Rory smiled and sat down next to Lorelai; she was glad they were in the diner now. Lorelai probably wouldn't mention Tristan while she was flirting with Luke or inhaling pancakes.

"You shrieked?" Luke muttered dryly, emerging from the kitchen.

"Yeah, hey. We need pancakes. Huge pancakes, and lots of 'em."

Luke turned his head and looked at the clock. "It's 12:20, Lorelai. Can't you guys be normal and order a burger or something?"
Lorelai gasped in horror. "Not have pancakes? Are you crazy?! Today is a definite pancake day! Have a heart, diner man! We missed Danish Day last week, and you wouldn't let us have any of the flaky-fruity-goodness! Let us have this!"

Luke sighed and turned back to the kitchen.

"Do you think he's going to get pancakes?" Rory asked in a hushed voice.

"I hope so…I just put three months of whining into that last sentence." Lorelai whispered back, then straightened up when Luke returned. He put a bottle of syrup down in front of Lorelai and went back to the kitchen.

"What's the verdict?"

"Looks like he is wrapped around my little finger, Mini-Me." Lorelai grinned and flipped her hair comically.

"Back to that conversation though. What were you about to say? About Tristan?" Lorelai studied her suspiciously; Rory played with the hem of her shirt nervously.

"Well, um…I just…"

"Spit it out, man! Before the pancakes join us."

"I kissed him!"

Silence.

"…You what?"
"I kissed him! And he kissed me and we just kissed and then Patty and Babette saw and then they left and he kissed me again and we kept kissing then he left and then Dean was there-"
"Dean was there?" Lorelai was trying very hard to follow what Rory was saying. It was confusing enough without her running all the words together.

'Yeah! After Tristan left and we talked and we broke up and he was mad and he figured it was Tristan and he said not to come crawling back after he was done with me." Rory took a deep breath and slouched on the stool. Lorelai blinked.

"Ok, one more time. You and Tristan kissed?"
"Yeah."
"How many times?"
"I...don't know."

"And Patty and Babette saw?"
"Yeah."

"And then he left?"
"Yeah."
"And then Dean came?"
"Mm hmm."
"And you broke up, and he said not to come crawling back when Tristan's…done?"
"Basically."

"Well, um…"
"Pancakes." Luke plopped a stack of them in front of Lorelai who looked at them curiously. Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, pancakes. Yeah. Thanks Luke." Lorelai turned back to Rory, leaving Luke to shake his head exasperatedly and fill up her coffee cup.

"Ok, so now what? Are you and Tristan a...thing?"
"I don't know…I guess so. I think so…" Rory trailed off. They hadn't exactly given their "thing" a title last night.

"Huh. Well, methinks a chat is in order."

"Yeah, I know…I should call him.."
"Huh. No need." Lorelai raised an eyebrow, looking past Rory at the diner's entrance.

"What do you-" Rory turned and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Tristan breezing through the doorway..

"Tristan?"

"Mary! Fancy seeing you here…"
"Where I live…"
"About three feet from your home…"

"Yes. How very serendipitous."

Tristan flashed a grin and slid onto the adjacent stool. Lorelai studied him, and grinned when he looked up, confused by her staring.

"Hey there, B.B. I'm Lorelai; call me Ms.Gilmore and heads will roll…namely yours."

"Oh..kay. Tristan DuGrey." He held out his hand, which she looked at, amused, for a second before taking shaking it.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna stick with B.B."
"B.B.?" He cocked an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Rory, who only smirked.

"Yeah, Bible Boy. Or, if Satan is preferably…but, due to current events, I believe the nickname 'Hot Stuff' would work just as well."

"Mom!" Rory snapped, elbowing her in the side. A pleased grin quickly spread across Tristan's face.

"Huh. 'Hot Stuff'…I can only imagine what you've been saying, Mare." His smirk only grew as the blush intensified on her face.

"Well, Munchkin, I gotta run to the Inn. Have fun with Brad, and I-" She quickly kissed Rory's forehead, "-will see you tonight." Lorelai grabbed her purse, told Luke to "put it on her tab", which Luke reminded her was about 15 years overdue, then hurried out the door calling out a goodbye once more to Rory. Tristan spun around on his seat to face Rory.
"So, that's your mom."
"That's what she tells me."
"She's…perky."
"Over-caffeinated?"
"Slightly."
"You should see her on Danish Day."
"You have days devoted to different breakfast foods?"
"Just danishes; we do, however, have an guacamole parade in March."
"Now that I have to see."

"Well, you'll have to wait for March for that, but…" she trailed off and looked at the swirling coffee in her mug.

"What?" Tristan questioned, although he was quite content to watch her all day staring at the coffee. She looked so cute when she was concentrating, biting her lip, which she had no idea drove him crazy-

"-tree lighting festival."
"Sorry, what?" Tristan had been so intent on thinking of how adorable she was that he hadn't noticed she was talking again.

"Um, well, we have this little tree-lighting festival and I was wondering if you wanted to…go." She went back to staring at her coffee, trying to ignore the fact that she could practically hear him smirk.

"Why, Mary, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were asking me out."

"Well, good thing you know better. " She snapped, and hopped out her seat, planning on making a quick exit before he got even more pleased with himself, but she felt Tristan's hand wrap around her wrist.

"I was just kidding, Ror. I'd love to go…besides, I was thinking we might even…pick up where we left off yesterday." He ran his hand up her arm, and she swore she felt chills.

"Oh, uh, okay…" She blushed, and cursed herself for doing so.

"Okay then." He smiled and tugged on her arm a little, pulling her closer to the chair. His hand ran up her arm, over her shoulder, and stopped at her cheek. With his thumb, he slowly rubbed the apple of her cheek, smiling as he did so. He liked this, the whole romantic thing. It was much better, he thought, than the "hey-let's-have-sex-to-hell-with-names" thing that he was used to. Rory unconsciously leaned into his touch, then closer so that her lips brushed his. She pulled back, just enough so that she could look at his eyes. They were…she searched for a word. Luminous. His eyes were that electric blue that just seems to light up the world. Ironic, how she had no clue he felt the exact same thing when he gazed into her baby blues.

Tristan leaned in again; her kisses were intoxicating, like a drug. Once he got a taste, the only thing he could think was that he wanted more. A lot more. His lips brushed hers lightly, enough to tease her, not enough to make her happy. She pressed her lips harder against his, and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands ran freely up her body and over her hips. Their kiss deepened, and would have continued for quite some time, had they not been interrupted yet again.

"That was pretty quick."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes (or punch something), Tristan pulled back from Rory. She blushed and murmured a hello to Dean.

"So, this is why we broke up? For the accountant?"
"Geez, man. Get a better nickname. Lorelai's come up with three already."

"Four."
"What?"
"Four…mom made up four. Hot Stuff, Bible Boy, Satan, and Evil One."

Dean sighed in exasperation. He didn't like watching them banter…well, technically, at the moment they weren't bantering, since they weren't arguing. But it was just as sickening.

"Anyway…" Dean tried to remind them that he was, shockingly, still standing there. Rory turned her head to glance at him, and opened her mouth to speak before Tristan grabbed her hand and started walking towards the door. Dragging her out into the cold, she shrugged off his hand indignantly.

"What was that?"
"Don't you think the whole 'evil ex' thing is overdone? You know if we had actually talked, we'd end up in a fight. Then you'd get scared and freak out and Luke would kick my ass for fighting in the diner with Bag boy. Now, as much as I love getting beaten up by an old guy in flannel, I prefer leaving."

"…oh." Rory looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned to him with a small smile on her face..

 "Wanna go to the tree lighting festival?"

He grinned, and draped his arm around her shoulder. "I thought you'd never ask."

Maybe things were going to turn out alright after all.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Michel! What are you doing?" Lorelai dashed over to Michel, who was currently reading a magazine on one of the couches.

"Yees?" He glanced at her for all of two seconds before returning his attention to the latest eyebrow-waxing methods.

"Michel! LOOK!" Lorelai gestured frantically towards the front desk, where about six people were lined up, grumbling impatiently.

"Eet was my break." He flipped the page and ignored Lorelai, who was about one page-turn away from pulling out her hair.

"You don't get a break when there's six people waiting!"
"I am vheery beezy."

"Oh, right. Cause the December issue of 'Redbook' just couldn't wait."

"Zees is not 'Redbook', Lor-eh-lie, zees is 'O'."

"Silly me. Now PLEASE go back to work!"

"Ugh…" Michel rolled his eyes as dramatically as humanly possible, and strolled over to the desk. Lorelai caught a few snippets of conversations (conversation, meaning Michel cursing in French), before she was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. And so began the traditional "frantic hunt for the phone" that resulted in dumping the entire contents of her purse on the floor and sorting through it.

"Ah-HAH!" Lorelai cried triumphantly, before realizing the person had hung up.

"Damn."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Rory looked at the phone in her hand forlornly.

"She didn't pick up." Sighing, she slipped the phone back into Tristan's pocket and took his hand in hers as they continued their stroll down the street.

"Well, she's probably just busy. I'll bet she remembers the tree-lighting festival in an hour or so. I mean, seriously…how could she forget?" Tristan gestured to the lights, holly, fluorescent angels and other holiday "cheer" covering the entire square. Rory laughed lightly.

"True. Stars Hollow likes to go all out for holidays."
"I think I'll come back here for Valentines." He glanced at her, and was pleased to see that familiar, faint blush surface.
"I think that would be wise." Rory turned to him, and tilted her neck a bit so he could kiss her. They stood out in the street, just kissing, for quite a while. Could have been ten minutes, could have been ten days. The only thing the pair was aware of was just how good it felt to kiss the other. Then the snow began to fall. Those tiny, crystalline shards that were almost as enchanting to Gilmores as Luke's coffee. Almost.

"Tristan! It's snowing!" Rory pulled away from him to look at the sky.

"Brilliant, Holmes." He laughed as she smacked his arm gently.

"It's pretty."

"Almost as pretty as you." He kissed the shell of her ear and she giggled.
"Cheesy."
"You know you liked it."
"Yeah." Tristan wrapped his arms around her from behind and they stood together, watching the snow fall.

The pair stayed there for a long time, simply gazing at the sky. Then Rory began to shiver, and Tristan thought it would be good if they continued on to the festival. Rory had nodded, and allowed him to put a hand on the small of her back and steer her down the street, her eyes remaining fixed on the clouds.

"So, what are we?"

"Hm?" Tristan was surprised for a moment; Rory hadn't said a word for a bit, she kept looking at the snow.

"What are we?"
"….Freezing?"

"No, no, I mean…what are we? Are we…boyfriend and girlfriend? Or what?"
"I think I like the idea of calling you my girlfriend." He smiled and wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulders.

"Good…cause I think I like calling you my boyfriend."  Tristan tipped her chin upwards with his finger and kissed her slowly. The snow fell all around them; they no longer felt the cold.

- - - - - - - - - -

Later that night, after having witnessed Kirk set half the tree on fire and Bootsy get drunk, Tristan and Rory found themselves curled up on Rory's couch. Lorelai had never shown up at the festival; Rory had been sad, but was amused once again when Tristan showed her he could balance a rake on the end of his nose. Well...sort of. But it brightened her up, and that was his intent, nose-balancing talent or not. They had decided to leave when Taylor started singing some drunken version of "White Christmas", and wound up comfortable on her couch. Tristan was content just having his arms wrapped around Rory, dropping a kiss on her neck or her ear whenever he wished. He loved being able to kiss her, without her…well, crying and running away. He could hardly believe she was his. She could hardly believe she was his, either. But they both drifted off to sleep contently, thoughts of kisses and the other on their minds.

Lorelai dragged herself through the door at 11:45, completely exhausted. "Right through hell and back again", like she had told Luke a few hours ago, when she called him to come fix the broken pipes Michel had conveniently forgotten to mention the week before. Dropping her purse on the floor, she trudged towards the kitchen, with nothing but coffee on her mind. Of course, all thoughts of coffee disappeared when she saw Rory curled up with Satan himself on the couch.

She raised an eyebrow, and crept over to Tristan. Lorelai poked him in the shoulder a few times, but that only resulted in him tightening his hold on Rory's waist and nuzzling her neck. Lorelai, annoyed that she didn't have a damn clue what was going on, flicked his ear as hard as she possibly could. That worked.

Tristan sat up quickly, groaning in protest of both waking up and the wake up call. He rubbed his ear absentmindedly with his eyes half closed; Lorelai coughed to get his attention.

"Oh! Oh, Lorelai-" Tristan tried to get up, then realized he was kind of wrapped up in Rory. Carefully removing her arms, he stood and let her curl back up, letting a sigh of annoyance at the loss of Tristan escape her lips as she continued to sleep.

"Yeah, hi Tristan. How ya doing? How're the folks? Good, good. Now what are you doing here?"

He blinked and tried to comprehend what she had just said. When it finally registered, he rubbed the back of neck nervously and tried to explain the whole thing. Lorelai listened silently, nodding her head every couple minutes or so. When he was finished, she continued staring at him for a second, then let a small smile creep up on her face. Tristan took this as a good sign.

"Ok, B.B. Here are the rules; get in the way of her schoolwork, your head is mounted on my wall along with the glassy-eyed moose. Make her cry, I shove hedge clippers up your nose. Try to make her do something she doesn't want to, I castrate you. Capisce?"

"Gotcha."

"Ok then, now that I've sufficiently scared the bejesus out of you, yay for you! You make Rory happy." Lorelai suddenly hugged him. When she pulled back, she was amused to see a very surprised expression on his face.

"Ok, I need my beauty sleep, and you need to get home, so I guess we'll be seeing you around. Night, kiddo." With that, she hurried up the stairs, leaving Tristan to stand there for a moment before brushing his lips against Rory's, grabbing his coat, and walking to his car. He suddenly felt the urge to whistle.

Crazy town.

- - - - - - - -  - - - -

The next morning, Tristan woke up grinning. It was official; life was great. Stretching, he tumbled out of bed and dug around in his closet for something warm. Once he was decked out in the usual expensive attire and the ever-present scruffy hair, he followed the smells of breakfast to the kitchen. His mother was sitting at the table, sipping a martini, her heels tapping annoyingly on the floor; apparently she had decided against Paris. His father was hidden behind the newspaper, but every couple seconds his hand would pop out from behind it to spear a sausage with his fork, then disappear again.

"Good morning, sir." Their cook, Rita, was old and warm, and insisted on calling Tristan "sir", even though he had attempted to bribe her to do otherwise.

"Morning, Rita." He smiled at her and slid into a chair. She quickly placed a plate in front of him, and filled it up with eggs, bacon, and some unidentifiable substance that Tristan made a mental note to empty into the garbage disposal when no one was looking.

"So, son." Tristan was surprised that his father was talking to him. He rarely spoke to him, except to demand he straighten his tie, get his grades up, or to point out his flaws. This morning his father didn't seem mad; Tristan's attention was grabbed.

"Yes?"
"As you know, we are having a holiday party in a few days-"

Ah, yes. The party. How could Tristan forget the annual booze fest? Nothing like bitching socialites draining their martini glasses and comparing their bank accounts.

"-and Mr. Robert Adams is coming."
"You know, the man who's in charge of that large company in Europe." His mother added, then returned to her martini.

"Yes. Anyway, he was very interested to hear about you."

I'll bet.

"And, since you should bring a date to a social event such as this, we think you should take his daughter."
Tristan nearly choked on a muffin. "Pardon?"

"Well, you are currently unattached, are you not?"
"And it would be such a good match." His mother cooed, gazing at Tristan pleasantly. Tristan decided she was drunk.

"Well, actually, I am attached. And I wanted to bring my girlfriend to the party."

Ok, so when I say "bring my girlfriend to the party", I mean "pick up Rory, bring her here for all of 10 minutes, then drive back to Stars Hollow to chug eggnog with the S.H. townies.

"Oh? Who?" His mother raised her eyebrow, and shot a glance at her husband.

"Rory Gilmore."
"Oh, the whore's daughter? Don't be ridiculous. You're not allowed to see her;  you'll be going to the party with Robert's girl. End of story."
And with that, he disappeared back behind his newspaper.

(A/N: so whats the verdict? i think i rushed the whole getting-together thing. but whatever. they were making out in the last chapter anyway.  i got plenty of reviews on the whole a, b, or c option, and at the moment ive gone with c. maybe later ill have dean do something retarded…sorry to all the narc lovers out there. anyway, tell me what you think. good? bad? ugly? im totally lost if you don't review and tell me whats wrong or right. in the immortal words of jerry marguire, "help me help you." . ciao.)