AN: Hello all. Just wanted to thank everyone who's been reviewing. It
really does help me. Just wanted to explain a bit of my madness. Someone
mentioned that Tristan is a little off. I know he is, and I have a couple
of reasons for this. 1. I think military school would have changed him a
bit. 2. It's been two seasons since he was on the series, so it's a bit
farther from my mind. I truly believe CMM's character on OTH is clouding my
judgment a bit. For this I apologize. And 3. This is my first Trory, so
hopefully I'll figure him out more. I wasn't into Trory at the time he was
on the show; I've gotten into the pairing strictly through ff.net. Whew,
that was a long AN. Sorry, here's the next chapter.
Tristan awoke the following morning around eight. No matter how late he stayed up at night, he only slept until eight at the latest. Most days he was up at five-thirty but seeing as they hadn't gone to bed until four last night, his body allowed him four whole hours. He silently cursed military school for so deeply engraining the early morning routines. Before that time sleeping until noon was always such a luxurious option on the weekends.
Rolling onto his back he wondered how many hours would go by until Rory got up so he could eat. He knew she cherished her sleep. Unfortunately he also knew there was nothing resembling food in that kitchen. Last night he had scrounged around for snacks while they stayed up playing cards and talking, which ended up consisting of marshmallows and some corn nuts. That thought caused his stomach to turn a little and he realized his only real option right now was to go for a run and take a shower. He figured in this house it was probably best to grab a shower first, if he hoped for any hot water at all.
He quietly left the house and headed out around Stars Hollow. He'd been here once before for a school project. He winced at the memory. At the time badgering Rory until she decided to give in to him seemed brilliant. Not that he wanted to agree with his father of all people, but maybe military school had at least instilled some humility in him. Or at least enough to not be a total jackass to Rory.
Just as he jogged back onto Rory's street, his cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Tristan, where in hell are you?"
"Hey, Gramps."
"Where are you?"
"At school," he lied.
"Bullshit."
"What does it matter where I am?"
"I've been trying to reach you all morning. I'm on business in Raleigh and I stopped by to see you."
"Sorry, I didn't know you were coming. Did I?"
"Well, no. I didn't even know until yesterday. Since when can't a man surprise his only grandson?"
"I'm in Connecticut."
"What for?"
"To see Rory Gilmore. You met her."
"You're at Yale?"
"No, Stars Hollow. At her mom's house."
"Lorelai, I remember her. She was quite a handful."
Tristan laughed, "Still is. They're really close."
"You like this girl." It wasn't so much a question as a statement of understanding.
"Yes, I do."
"Well, I should call Richard. We can all have dinner."
"Just, please, no parents. At least not Dad."
"No, no. It might be fun just the five of us. Though I wish you and your dad would get along, get past whatever this is."
"It's all him."
"Tristan, someday you'll be an old man like me and you'll realize that you've wasted too many years over something trivial. Family is important."
"You don't even know what this is about."
"I know you're young. With time and experience comes wisdom."
"Yes, Yoda."
"I suppose I should let you get back to your lady friend. I'll see you in three weeks."
"I'll be there. So will she."
"Good, good. I would like to get to know her better."
"I'd like that too, Gramps. Bye."
"Goodbye."
After a quick shower Tristan got ready to leave and looked at the time. 9:30am. He pondered the consequences of waking her up until his stomach growled loudly.
'Ah, the hell with it,' he thought as he slowly opened Rory's bedroom door and walked in. She was oblivious to the world around her. The covers were half kicked off of her and he could see that she was only wearing a t-shirt and her panties. Smiling, he reached the bed and slid in next to her, pulling the covers up over both of them. He wrapped his arms around her, which caused her to turn in towards his torso.
"Rory," he coaxed softly, brushing his lips across her forehead.
"Mmm."
"Rory," a little louder this time.
"Mhmmph."
"Rory, wake up."
One eye half opened and attempted to focus on the source of the noise disrupting the dream she was having. There was definitely a person next to her creating the noise.
"Rory, come on."
Both eyes now open, she yawned and smiled a little at Tristan.
"Good morning," he said, putting his arms around her tighter and moving to kiss her.
"Wait, morning?"
"Uh, yeah."
"What time—oh it's only 9:30!"
"I'm hungry. You promised me BREAKFAST at Luke's."
"On a Sunday that usually means around 1pm."
"Up!"
"No!"
"Come on, Rory!"
"Bad Tristan! Rory need sleep."
"Alright, but you asked for it."
Tristan stood up, which Rory initially seemed happy about as she moved to the center of the bed and snuggled down under the covers. Not a second later, Tristan scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. She was now staring at his back and her ass was up in the air. Her only defense seemed to be yelling as he was holding her tight enough so she couldn't effectively flail her limbs to her advantage.
"PUT. ME. DOWN. NOW!"
"Nope."
"TRISTAN! I SAID NO!"
Tristan had just reached the door to the bathroom when a very groggy looking Lorelai appeared at the opposite end of the hallway.
"Unhand the girl."
Tristan let Rory slide down his torso, attempting to ignore the wonderful sensations from the friction of their bodies being rubbed together, and her caught her eye before she turned around. She definitely wasn't pleased, but she looked more embarrassed than anything.
"This isn't what it looks like," Rory offered.
"I was just trying to get her out of bed."
Lorelai looked at the two people in front of her. She narrowed her eyes at Tristan.
"Honest. I was just hungry."
"Fine. We'll go to Luke's. But if he has a heart attack because we arrive before noon on a Sunday, it's on your head."
Rory gave him 'I told you so' look and the two women stalked off to their respective bathrooms. Sighing, Tristan went into Rory's room to wait.
All three walked into a fairly full diner about twenty minutes later.
"Huh. More reasons to come later," Lorelai muttered.
"What?"
"No seats, we're too early. The early bird crowd is still about."
"What to do?"
"Make loverboy lurk."
"Why me?"
Two sets of blue eyes glared at him simultaneously. Lucky for him, Luke noticed them then.
"What ungodly event got you two in here at this hour?"
Now they pointed at Tristan in unison. He hung his head in mock shame.
"Luke, Tristan. Tristan, Luke," Rory did introductions while yawning. The two men shook hands and Luke pointed at Kirk.
"Go over there. Kirk's been here for hours."
"Ooh, Tristan can help me freak out Kirk. We'll be sitting in seconds."
Rory just smiled as Lorelai grabbed Tristan by the shirtsleeve and dragged him off. Moments later, Kirk ran out of the diner blushing and calling for Taylor. Rory giggled and sat down.
"Very impressive. Your best record yet. What approach did you use?"
"I told him I was carrying this boy's love child and I needed to sit down and eat before I passed out."
"I'm never waking you guys up again."
"Lesson learned. That's all that's important."
"Okay. Let him look at the 'menu'. I'll score some of that free coffee."
"Why did she say menu like that?"
"We don't really order off the menu anymore. It got to be a thing with Mom a few years ago, she'd just order whatever she thought sounded good, and Luke would get mad about how it wasn't served here. So then she would only order things that weren't on the menu."
"So am I supposed to order off the menu?"
"That depends. Would you rather have my mom or Luke on your good side?"
"You guys are so odd. I can't even begin to tell you how very weird your town seems to be."
"You get used to it," she shrugged.
Lorelai walked up to Luke, who had just hung up the phone and was handing off an order to Caesar. "Luke, I need three coffees."
"He drinks coffee?"
"He will now," she smiled evilly.
"Poor guy. Probably doesn't even know what hit him."
"Like you?"
"Yes, like me. Come here, you," he said, pulling her in the storeroom.
She giggled and let him pull her. Coffee could wait a minute. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and took a deep breath as he approached her. He kissed her and she melted into him. She could get used to this. Make-out sessions and coffee, every morning. Hell, whenever she wanted. This was heaven.
"Hey, weren't we supposed to do this out there?"
"I thought you were going to mention it casually to Babette."
"I've had other things on my mind."
"Like what?"
"Like the blonde that showed up at our house last night to see Rory. He slept on our couch."
"Is this kid okay?"
"Yeah, he seems to be, other than the getting up too early on the weekends. This is bad but I freaked out when I got home, 'cause I thought Jess was there."
"Jess?"
"His rental car has New York plates. I jumped to conclusions."
"Jess knows better than to come back here. Trust me."
"I know. I just freaked."
"We should get back out there. It's busy, and people will figure it out anyway if we stay in here much longer."
Lorelai walked out followed by Luke. The diner was quiet, until they both got into view.
"What?" he barked.
Everyone applauded and they both blushed. Lorelai turned to Luke and realized he was wearing some of her lipstick. She wrapped an arm around him and with her other hand she wiped his mouth to rid it of the telltale color. He dipped her and kissed her again, more passionately than before. Everyone started yelling now, and when he brought her back up, she stared at him wide-eyed.
"Why Luke Danes, I didn't know you had that in you," she whispered.
"That's nothing. Just wait 'til our next date," he whispered back.
Now very happy, Lorelai poured three cups of coffee and headed back to her table. The room was now abuzz with conversation again.
"That was quite a show," Rory commented.
"Thank you. So what are you two up to today?"
"Back to school."
"Me too."
"You crazy kids, you. How did the couch treat you?"
"Not too bad. I've slept on a lot worse. Military school beds are designed to make you want to sleep standing up."
"Well, then I'm glad rich people don't send their troubled daughters off to military school," Lorelai commented.
After breakfast was over, Lorelai said her goodbyes Rory and Tristan and told them to go ahead home, as she was going to hang out with Luke for a bit and then needed to meet up with Sookie. They left and went back to get their stuff together.
"So, you're flying out today?"
"Nope. Tomorrow."
"I thought you were going back to school."
"I am. With you."
"Really?"
"Well, for tonight."
"Paris is going to freak."
"She'll live," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
"Tristan, I need to get back soon."
"We have an empty house. It's a rarity. We will have Paris there all evening, no alone time," he reminded.
"Okay. I give you twenty minutes to do your worst. Then we leave."
"Deal."
Once again, Tristan picked up Rory and threw her over his shoulder as he had this morning. She giggled this time at the action and he walked down the hallway and disappeared into her room, shutting the door behind them.
Tristan awoke the following morning around eight. No matter how late he stayed up at night, he only slept until eight at the latest. Most days he was up at five-thirty but seeing as they hadn't gone to bed until four last night, his body allowed him four whole hours. He silently cursed military school for so deeply engraining the early morning routines. Before that time sleeping until noon was always such a luxurious option on the weekends.
Rolling onto his back he wondered how many hours would go by until Rory got up so he could eat. He knew she cherished her sleep. Unfortunately he also knew there was nothing resembling food in that kitchen. Last night he had scrounged around for snacks while they stayed up playing cards and talking, which ended up consisting of marshmallows and some corn nuts. That thought caused his stomach to turn a little and he realized his only real option right now was to go for a run and take a shower. He figured in this house it was probably best to grab a shower first, if he hoped for any hot water at all.
He quietly left the house and headed out around Stars Hollow. He'd been here once before for a school project. He winced at the memory. At the time badgering Rory until she decided to give in to him seemed brilliant. Not that he wanted to agree with his father of all people, but maybe military school had at least instilled some humility in him. Or at least enough to not be a total jackass to Rory.
Just as he jogged back onto Rory's street, his cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Tristan, where in hell are you?"
"Hey, Gramps."
"Where are you?"
"At school," he lied.
"Bullshit."
"What does it matter where I am?"
"I've been trying to reach you all morning. I'm on business in Raleigh and I stopped by to see you."
"Sorry, I didn't know you were coming. Did I?"
"Well, no. I didn't even know until yesterday. Since when can't a man surprise his only grandson?"
"I'm in Connecticut."
"What for?"
"To see Rory Gilmore. You met her."
"You're at Yale?"
"No, Stars Hollow. At her mom's house."
"Lorelai, I remember her. She was quite a handful."
Tristan laughed, "Still is. They're really close."
"You like this girl." It wasn't so much a question as a statement of understanding.
"Yes, I do."
"Well, I should call Richard. We can all have dinner."
"Just, please, no parents. At least not Dad."
"No, no. It might be fun just the five of us. Though I wish you and your dad would get along, get past whatever this is."
"It's all him."
"Tristan, someday you'll be an old man like me and you'll realize that you've wasted too many years over something trivial. Family is important."
"You don't even know what this is about."
"I know you're young. With time and experience comes wisdom."
"Yes, Yoda."
"I suppose I should let you get back to your lady friend. I'll see you in three weeks."
"I'll be there. So will she."
"Good, good. I would like to get to know her better."
"I'd like that too, Gramps. Bye."
"Goodbye."
After a quick shower Tristan got ready to leave and looked at the time. 9:30am. He pondered the consequences of waking her up until his stomach growled loudly.
'Ah, the hell with it,' he thought as he slowly opened Rory's bedroom door and walked in. She was oblivious to the world around her. The covers were half kicked off of her and he could see that she was only wearing a t-shirt and her panties. Smiling, he reached the bed and slid in next to her, pulling the covers up over both of them. He wrapped his arms around her, which caused her to turn in towards his torso.
"Rory," he coaxed softly, brushing his lips across her forehead.
"Mmm."
"Rory," a little louder this time.
"Mhmmph."
"Rory, wake up."
One eye half opened and attempted to focus on the source of the noise disrupting the dream she was having. There was definitely a person next to her creating the noise.
"Rory, come on."
Both eyes now open, she yawned and smiled a little at Tristan.
"Good morning," he said, putting his arms around her tighter and moving to kiss her.
"Wait, morning?"
"Uh, yeah."
"What time—oh it's only 9:30!"
"I'm hungry. You promised me BREAKFAST at Luke's."
"On a Sunday that usually means around 1pm."
"Up!"
"No!"
"Come on, Rory!"
"Bad Tristan! Rory need sleep."
"Alright, but you asked for it."
Tristan stood up, which Rory initially seemed happy about as she moved to the center of the bed and snuggled down under the covers. Not a second later, Tristan scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. She was now staring at his back and her ass was up in the air. Her only defense seemed to be yelling as he was holding her tight enough so she couldn't effectively flail her limbs to her advantage.
"PUT. ME. DOWN. NOW!"
"Nope."
"TRISTAN! I SAID NO!"
Tristan had just reached the door to the bathroom when a very groggy looking Lorelai appeared at the opposite end of the hallway.
"Unhand the girl."
Tristan let Rory slide down his torso, attempting to ignore the wonderful sensations from the friction of their bodies being rubbed together, and her caught her eye before she turned around. She definitely wasn't pleased, but she looked more embarrassed than anything.
"This isn't what it looks like," Rory offered.
"I was just trying to get her out of bed."
Lorelai looked at the two people in front of her. She narrowed her eyes at Tristan.
"Honest. I was just hungry."
"Fine. We'll go to Luke's. But if he has a heart attack because we arrive before noon on a Sunday, it's on your head."
Rory gave him 'I told you so' look and the two women stalked off to their respective bathrooms. Sighing, Tristan went into Rory's room to wait.
All three walked into a fairly full diner about twenty minutes later.
"Huh. More reasons to come later," Lorelai muttered.
"What?"
"No seats, we're too early. The early bird crowd is still about."
"What to do?"
"Make loverboy lurk."
"Why me?"
Two sets of blue eyes glared at him simultaneously. Lucky for him, Luke noticed them then.
"What ungodly event got you two in here at this hour?"
Now they pointed at Tristan in unison. He hung his head in mock shame.
"Luke, Tristan. Tristan, Luke," Rory did introductions while yawning. The two men shook hands and Luke pointed at Kirk.
"Go over there. Kirk's been here for hours."
"Ooh, Tristan can help me freak out Kirk. We'll be sitting in seconds."
Rory just smiled as Lorelai grabbed Tristan by the shirtsleeve and dragged him off. Moments later, Kirk ran out of the diner blushing and calling for Taylor. Rory giggled and sat down.
"Very impressive. Your best record yet. What approach did you use?"
"I told him I was carrying this boy's love child and I needed to sit down and eat before I passed out."
"I'm never waking you guys up again."
"Lesson learned. That's all that's important."
"Okay. Let him look at the 'menu'. I'll score some of that free coffee."
"Why did she say menu like that?"
"We don't really order off the menu anymore. It got to be a thing with Mom a few years ago, she'd just order whatever she thought sounded good, and Luke would get mad about how it wasn't served here. So then she would only order things that weren't on the menu."
"So am I supposed to order off the menu?"
"That depends. Would you rather have my mom or Luke on your good side?"
"You guys are so odd. I can't even begin to tell you how very weird your town seems to be."
"You get used to it," she shrugged.
Lorelai walked up to Luke, who had just hung up the phone and was handing off an order to Caesar. "Luke, I need three coffees."
"He drinks coffee?"
"He will now," she smiled evilly.
"Poor guy. Probably doesn't even know what hit him."
"Like you?"
"Yes, like me. Come here, you," he said, pulling her in the storeroom.
She giggled and let him pull her. Coffee could wait a minute. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and took a deep breath as he approached her. He kissed her and she melted into him. She could get used to this. Make-out sessions and coffee, every morning. Hell, whenever she wanted. This was heaven.
"Hey, weren't we supposed to do this out there?"
"I thought you were going to mention it casually to Babette."
"I've had other things on my mind."
"Like what?"
"Like the blonde that showed up at our house last night to see Rory. He slept on our couch."
"Is this kid okay?"
"Yeah, he seems to be, other than the getting up too early on the weekends. This is bad but I freaked out when I got home, 'cause I thought Jess was there."
"Jess?"
"His rental car has New York plates. I jumped to conclusions."
"Jess knows better than to come back here. Trust me."
"I know. I just freaked."
"We should get back out there. It's busy, and people will figure it out anyway if we stay in here much longer."
Lorelai walked out followed by Luke. The diner was quiet, until they both got into view.
"What?" he barked.
Everyone applauded and they both blushed. Lorelai turned to Luke and realized he was wearing some of her lipstick. She wrapped an arm around him and with her other hand she wiped his mouth to rid it of the telltale color. He dipped her and kissed her again, more passionately than before. Everyone started yelling now, and when he brought her back up, she stared at him wide-eyed.
"Why Luke Danes, I didn't know you had that in you," she whispered.
"That's nothing. Just wait 'til our next date," he whispered back.
Now very happy, Lorelai poured three cups of coffee and headed back to her table. The room was now abuzz with conversation again.
"That was quite a show," Rory commented.
"Thank you. So what are you two up to today?"
"Back to school."
"Me too."
"You crazy kids, you. How did the couch treat you?"
"Not too bad. I've slept on a lot worse. Military school beds are designed to make you want to sleep standing up."
"Well, then I'm glad rich people don't send their troubled daughters off to military school," Lorelai commented.
After breakfast was over, Lorelai said her goodbyes Rory and Tristan and told them to go ahead home, as she was going to hang out with Luke for a bit and then needed to meet up with Sookie. They left and went back to get their stuff together.
"So, you're flying out today?"
"Nope. Tomorrow."
"I thought you were going back to school."
"I am. With you."
"Really?"
"Well, for tonight."
"Paris is going to freak."
"She'll live," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
"Tristan, I need to get back soon."
"We have an empty house. It's a rarity. We will have Paris there all evening, no alone time," he reminded.
"Okay. I give you twenty minutes to do your worst. Then we leave."
"Deal."
Once again, Tristan picked up Rory and threw her over his shoulder as he had this morning. She giggled this time at the action and he walked down the hallway and disappeared into her room, shutting the door behind them.