WHAT IT IS: A sequel, to my other Trory, What Happens When. Now, I had no intentions at all to do a sequel. However, you're getting one, because of all the Jess/Dean/Rory angst currently on the show—it's stressing me out. So, since I had decided that fluff was probably all I'd get out of a sequel and fluff is what I need right now (it's either fluff or unbearable angst coming out of me right now)—here's a sequel.
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
Luke awoke the next morning at his usual ungodly hour to get to the diner. It was the day after Christmas, and shoppers would be up early to head into Hartford to return things. Just when he thought he had successfully pulled himself away from his wife's grasp without waking her, an arm wrapped itself securely around his waist like a vise. Giving a small groan, he lay back down in defeat.
"I have to get up now," he informed her.
"Nope. Too early."
"Lorelai, that's when the majority of my customers will be in today. It's the day after Christmas."
"So, what are all these people going to be doing today that they have to be up so early?" Lorelai baited him.
"Lorelai, you know they're going to the mall."
"The evil mall? The urban-sprawl contributing money pit, why on earth are all these people going there?"
"To return gifts," he replied, wishing she'd get to the point.
"Return the gifts that their families so lovingly picked out and presented to them only yesterday? You're opening up to these people so they can run off and exchange what was meant to be expressions of love?"
"Damn ingrates. Why should I get out of bed for them?"
"YOU shouldn't! Teach them a lesson! Stay in bed where you belong!" Lorelai rallied with him.
Luke settled back into the bed, looking quite pleased with himself. Lorelai looked even more satisfied with herself, and snuggled onto his chest.
"Hey, how did you do that?" Luke looked down at her, bewildered.
"Do what?" she asked innocently.
"You should use your powers for good, not evil."
"Oh, it's good, alright," she purred as she rolled over on top of him. She kissed him, showing him her true intentions.
"I can open up late just this once," he sighed, before kissing her back.
"If you're sure," she mused.
Meanwhile at the Dragonfly Inn, Tristan woke up to a great pressure over him. He felt like he was wearing lap belt. He opened his eyes to find Rory sitting straddled on him, staring down at him.
"Well, this is new," he commented sleepily, attempting to pull her down by her arms. She shook free of his grasp, and tapped his chest.
"Rory, it's early. It's still sleepy time," he reminded her.
"Tristan, wake up." More tapping.
"Why?"
"We need to talk," she insisted.
Those words were never good. He'd never heard her say them, not to him. He'd dreaded her saying those words when they were long distance dating, thinking she'd give up on him and everything due to the stress of it all. He sat up a bit, and looked at her, with worry creasing his forehead.
"You have my attention."
"You look worried."
"You said 'we need to talk'."
"We do. It's not bad."
He flopped back against the pillows and this time managed to pull her down, not letting her wriggle out of his firm grasp.
"Tristan!"
"If it's good, why can't it wait?"
"Because I'm excited. I want to talk about the house," she explained.
Giving in, knowing she wasn't going to let him rest, he propped himself up on one elbow and looked into her eyes. They were gleaming with excitement, bright and blue.
"What about the house?"
"When can I see it?"
"You've seen it."
"I mean all of it."
"As soon as you want."
"What about today?"
"You want to drive to White Plains today?"
"We don't have anything else to do. The only other plans we have are to go to the club next Friday and the party next Tuesday."
"You're serious."
"Yes."
"Yeah, alright, I'll call the realtor later."
"Call her now."
"Rory, it's 5am. Her office doesn't open until 8am."
"Hmm. Well, we can get ready to go, then. We can call her on the way."
"It's only going to take us an hour or so to get there. What's up with you today?"
"I've just been up for a while."
"Since when?"
"I woke up at 2:30, and haven't been able to fall back asleep since."
"Geez, that sucks. Maybe you should try a nap," he offered.
"I've tried. Believe me."
"What've you been doing all this time?"
"Well, I went to the bathroom and went downstairs to get a drink."
"Then what? Just laid here for hours?"
"Well, Jess was in the kitchen. I said goodbye to him."
"He's gone?"
"Leaving this morning, he said."
"I was going to say goodbye," Tristan yawned.
"He offered to help us move. I've been thinking about the house ever since."
"Remind me to thank him," Tristan scoffed.
"I'm glad you two got along so well. Actually it was disturbing how well you two got along."
"Well, we have a lot in common."
"Like what?" Rory asked incredulously.
"You know, just stuff. It doesn't matter."
"Is this about the smoking thing?"
"Ahh, that was nice. I hadn't had a smoke in years."
"If you loved it so much, why'd you quit?"
"Because a certain girl I know thinks it's 'icky'," he squeaked the last word. She playfully swatted his chest.
"And there's another thing," he added, "Jess quit because of a girl, too."
"Me?"
"You."
"But he took it right up again, didn't he?"
"Nope. He says he just has one when he absolutely has to. Just like me."
"So you both have oral fixations. Big deal."
Tristan raised his eyebrows at her, and smirked. "How do you know about his oral fixations?"
"You're infuriating."
"It's not so hard to believe that you'd like similar guys."
"You guys are nothing alike."
"Believe what you have to. Anyway, Jess is fine with me. Finally, a family member I would consider hanging out with."
"You married me for my family ties?"
"You learned my secret!"
"Come on, let's get up."
"Seriously. It's five am. Remember the long tedious process it was to break me of getting up this early?"
Rory shuddered, remembering some of his early morning wake-ups when they'd just gotten together. She'd had to resort to violent measures. Many times he had shoes hurled at his head. Luckily for him, she was too tired to open her eyes, so her aim was not so stellar.
"Maybe I will try to take a nap. But we can go?"
"We can go. I do have keys. I just figured since we're going down there, we can get the papers signed."
"Yea!" Rory did a happy dance. Well, as much of a dance as she could muster still sitting up in bed. She moved her torso and arms about, shaking the bed. Tristan watched bemused, finally, pulling her back down next to him. Smiling, she gave in, curling up on his chest and they were soon fast asleep.
Four hours later, Rory's cell phone rang. They were turning off of I-684, off the first exit for White Plains. She looked at her caller id, and smiled.
"Good morning, mother!" she chirped.
"Hey, you're in a good mood. Did you get lucky?"
"Well, yeah, but that's not why I'm so happy."
"Okay, are you going to share with me or is this going to be one of those painful games of twenty questions? You know I'm a master at that game."
"I'll tell you, calm down there, Bucko."
"Bucko?"
"Happy Days?"
"Richie Cunningham? Seriously?"
"Did you call for a purpose or is this solely to annoy me?"
"Hey, missy, be nice to your mother. Or I won't invite you shopping with me today," Lorelai warned.
"Can't."
"Can't? I'm sorry, you're passing on the opportunity to go shoe shopping on one of the biggest sale days of the year? I did call the good daughter, right?"
"We're in White Plains."
"That's why you're so happy! You're at your house!"
"Almost. We just got down here."
"I want to come!"
"Mom, we're here. You can see it when we move. You are going to help, right?"
"Of course! So no shopping. Bummer."
"Sorry. Maybe next year."
"Okay. Well, have fun. And pull a Mothman Prophesies in the closet."
"Mom, we already own the house!"
"So? It's still fun!"
"Bye now!"
"Bye!" Lorelai said in a sing-songy voice.
Rory hung up the phone and glanced at Tristan who was smiling. He had only heard her end of the conversation, but her and her mom's conversations were always amusing to him. He'd never heard anyone banter quite as well as they did.
"So, she wanted to take you shopping?"
"Yeah. But I'm more excited for this."
"Have I told you lately how happy I am that I married you?"
"You're weird."
"That I am. What were you talking about already owning the house for?"
"Oh, she instructed me to do something dirty in the closet."
"Well, if you need any help with that, let me know," he smirked, as he turned onto their street. When they pulled into the driveway, he saw the realtor's car already there. He got out and started to walk over to Rory's door to open it, but she had bolted out the car and met him halfway around the vehicle.
They walked up the front walk, and Rory took it all in. It was better than she had imagined it. It was all brick exterior, two stories, with a huge wrap-around porch. She walked into the main room, where the realtor was waiting.
"Tristan! How good to see you again. This must be Rory!" she walked over, shaking their hands. Rory was walking around, checking everything out.
"Can you give us a minute, so she can look around first?"
"Sure, take your time. I'll just be here, making a few calls."
"Thanks."
They got up to the master bedroom and she ran into the huge walk-in closet.
"Look at this! This is the size of my old room at Mom's!"
"Is this your invitation to do something dirty?"
"Tristan, the realtor is downstairs. Besides, we have plenty of time for that," she said as she brushed up against him as she walked back into the bedroom. She was in love with the house. She turned to face him.
"So, what's the verdict?"
"I love it."
"Let's go sign the papers."
Rory smiled and took his hand, as they made their way down to the realtor. Once the paperwork was out of the way, she shook their hands in congratulations and told them to let her know if they needed anything further before she departed.
"How are we going to fill this place up?" Rory inquired, looking around the huge empty house.
"We'll manage."
"I can't believe we own a house."
"I know."
"Did I see four bedrooms?"
"Yep."
"What are we going to do with four bedrooms?"
"I'm sure we'll find some use for them."
"Can one be a library?"
"Won't one have to be a library?"
Rory smiled at him and stuck her tongue out.
"Why do I get the feeling you want to move this minute?"
"'Cause I do."
"We aren't even packed, Miss Organization."
"I know, I know. Careful planning, blah, blah. We own a house!" she squealed, jumping onto him, kissing him with full force. He had just quick enough reflexes to wrap his arms around her, supporting her weight, and kissed her back. She spent the rest of the morning taking pictures with her digital camera to show her mom and Luke. When she was finished, they hopped back into their car and headed back to Stars Hollow.
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
Luke awoke the next morning at his usual ungodly hour to get to the diner. It was the day after Christmas, and shoppers would be up early to head into Hartford to return things. Just when he thought he had successfully pulled himself away from his wife's grasp without waking her, an arm wrapped itself securely around his waist like a vise. Giving a small groan, he lay back down in defeat.
"I have to get up now," he informed her.
"Nope. Too early."
"Lorelai, that's when the majority of my customers will be in today. It's the day after Christmas."
"So, what are all these people going to be doing today that they have to be up so early?" Lorelai baited him.
"Lorelai, you know they're going to the mall."
"The evil mall? The urban-sprawl contributing money pit, why on earth are all these people going there?"
"To return gifts," he replied, wishing she'd get to the point.
"Return the gifts that their families so lovingly picked out and presented to them only yesterday? You're opening up to these people so they can run off and exchange what was meant to be expressions of love?"
"Damn ingrates. Why should I get out of bed for them?"
"YOU shouldn't! Teach them a lesson! Stay in bed where you belong!" Lorelai rallied with him.
Luke settled back into the bed, looking quite pleased with himself. Lorelai looked even more satisfied with herself, and snuggled onto his chest.
"Hey, how did you do that?" Luke looked down at her, bewildered.
"Do what?" she asked innocently.
"You should use your powers for good, not evil."
"Oh, it's good, alright," she purred as she rolled over on top of him. She kissed him, showing him her true intentions.
"I can open up late just this once," he sighed, before kissing her back.
"If you're sure," she mused.
Meanwhile at the Dragonfly Inn, Tristan woke up to a great pressure over him. He felt like he was wearing lap belt. He opened his eyes to find Rory sitting straddled on him, staring down at him.
"Well, this is new," he commented sleepily, attempting to pull her down by her arms. She shook free of his grasp, and tapped his chest.
"Rory, it's early. It's still sleepy time," he reminded her.
"Tristan, wake up." More tapping.
"Why?"
"We need to talk," she insisted.
Those words were never good. He'd never heard her say them, not to him. He'd dreaded her saying those words when they were long distance dating, thinking she'd give up on him and everything due to the stress of it all. He sat up a bit, and looked at her, with worry creasing his forehead.
"You have my attention."
"You look worried."
"You said 'we need to talk'."
"We do. It's not bad."
He flopped back against the pillows and this time managed to pull her down, not letting her wriggle out of his firm grasp.
"Tristan!"
"If it's good, why can't it wait?"
"Because I'm excited. I want to talk about the house," she explained.
Giving in, knowing she wasn't going to let him rest, he propped himself up on one elbow and looked into her eyes. They were gleaming with excitement, bright and blue.
"What about the house?"
"When can I see it?"
"You've seen it."
"I mean all of it."
"As soon as you want."
"What about today?"
"You want to drive to White Plains today?"
"We don't have anything else to do. The only other plans we have are to go to the club next Friday and the party next Tuesday."
"You're serious."
"Yes."
"Yeah, alright, I'll call the realtor later."
"Call her now."
"Rory, it's 5am. Her office doesn't open until 8am."
"Hmm. Well, we can get ready to go, then. We can call her on the way."
"It's only going to take us an hour or so to get there. What's up with you today?"
"I've just been up for a while."
"Since when?"
"I woke up at 2:30, and haven't been able to fall back asleep since."
"Geez, that sucks. Maybe you should try a nap," he offered.
"I've tried. Believe me."
"What've you been doing all this time?"
"Well, I went to the bathroom and went downstairs to get a drink."
"Then what? Just laid here for hours?"
"Well, Jess was in the kitchen. I said goodbye to him."
"He's gone?"
"Leaving this morning, he said."
"I was going to say goodbye," Tristan yawned.
"He offered to help us move. I've been thinking about the house ever since."
"Remind me to thank him," Tristan scoffed.
"I'm glad you two got along so well. Actually it was disturbing how well you two got along."
"Well, we have a lot in common."
"Like what?" Rory asked incredulously.
"You know, just stuff. It doesn't matter."
"Is this about the smoking thing?"
"Ahh, that was nice. I hadn't had a smoke in years."
"If you loved it so much, why'd you quit?"
"Because a certain girl I know thinks it's 'icky'," he squeaked the last word. She playfully swatted his chest.
"And there's another thing," he added, "Jess quit because of a girl, too."
"Me?"
"You."
"But he took it right up again, didn't he?"
"Nope. He says he just has one when he absolutely has to. Just like me."
"So you both have oral fixations. Big deal."
Tristan raised his eyebrows at her, and smirked. "How do you know about his oral fixations?"
"You're infuriating."
"It's not so hard to believe that you'd like similar guys."
"You guys are nothing alike."
"Believe what you have to. Anyway, Jess is fine with me. Finally, a family member I would consider hanging out with."
"You married me for my family ties?"
"You learned my secret!"
"Come on, let's get up."
"Seriously. It's five am. Remember the long tedious process it was to break me of getting up this early?"
Rory shuddered, remembering some of his early morning wake-ups when they'd just gotten together. She'd had to resort to violent measures. Many times he had shoes hurled at his head. Luckily for him, she was too tired to open her eyes, so her aim was not so stellar.
"Maybe I will try to take a nap. But we can go?"
"We can go. I do have keys. I just figured since we're going down there, we can get the papers signed."
"Yea!" Rory did a happy dance. Well, as much of a dance as she could muster still sitting up in bed. She moved her torso and arms about, shaking the bed. Tristan watched bemused, finally, pulling her back down next to him. Smiling, she gave in, curling up on his chest and they were soon fast asleep.
Four hours later, Rory's cell phone rang. They were turning off of I-684, off the first exit for White Plains. She looked at her caller id, and smiled.
"Good morning, mother!" she chirped.
"Hey, you're in a good mood. Did you get lucky?"
"Well, yeah, but that's not why I'm so happy."
"Okay, are you going to share with me or is this going to be one of those painful games of twenty questions? You know I'm a master at that game."
"I'll tell you, calm down there, Bucko."
"Bucko?"
"Happy Days?"
"Richie Cunningham? Seriously?"
"Did you call for a purpose or is this solely to annoy me?"
"Hey, missy, be nice to your mother. Or I won't invite you shopping with me today," Lorelai warned.
"Can't."
"Can't? I'm sorry, you're passing on the opportunity to go shoe shopping on one of the biggest sale days of the year? I did call the good daughter, right?"
"We're in White Plains."
"That's why you're so happy! You're at your house!"
"Almost. We just got down here."
"I want to come!"
"Mom, we're here. You can see it when we move. You are going to help, right?"
"Of course! So no shopping. Bummer."
"Sorry. Maybe next year."
"Okay. Well, have fun. And pull a Mothman Prophesies in the closet."
"Mom, we already own the house!"
"So? It's still fun!"
"Bye now!"
"Bye!" Lorelai said in a sing-songy voice.
Rory hung up the phone and glanced at Tristan who was smiling. He had only heard her end of the conversation, but her and her mom's conversations were always amusing to him. He'd never heard anyone banter quite as well as they did.
"So, she wanted to take you shopping?"
"Yeah. But I'm more excited for this."
"Have I told you lately how happy I am that I married you?"
"You're weird."
"That I am. What were you talking about already owning the house for?"
"Oh, she instructed me to do something dirty in the closet."
"Well, if you need any help with that, let me know," he smirked, as he turned onto their street. When they pulled into the driveway, he saw the realtor's car already there. He got out and started to walk over to Rory's door to open it, but she had bolted out the car and met him halfway around the vehicle.
They walked up the front walk, and Rory took it all in. It was better than she had imagined it. It was all brick exterior, two stories, with a huge wrap-around porch. She walked into the main room, where the realtor was waiting.
"Tristan! How good to see you again. This must be Rory!" she walked over, shaking their hands. Rory was walking around, checking everything out.
"Can you give us a minute, so she can look around first?"
"Sure, take your time. I'll just be here, making a few calls."
"Thanks."
They got up to the master bedroom and she ran into the huge walk-in closet.
"Look at this! This is the size of my old room at Mom's!"
"Is this your invitation to do something dirty?"
"Tristan, the realtor is downstairs. Besides, we have plenty of time for that," she said as she brushed up against him as she walked back into the bedroom. She was in love with the house. She turned to face him.
"So, what's the verdict?"
"I love it."
"Let's go sign the papers."
Rory smiled and took his hand, as they made their way down to the realtor. Once the paperwork was out of the way, she shook their hands in congratulations and told them to let her know if they needed anything further before she departed.
"How are we going to fill this place up?" Rory inquired, looking around the huge empty house.
"We'll manage."
"I can't believe we own a house."
"I know."
"Did I see four bedrooms?"
"Yep."
"What are we going to do with four bedrooms?"
"I'm sure we'll find some use for them."
"Can one be a library?"
"Won't one have to be a library?"
Rory smiled at him and stuck her tongue out.
"Why do I get the feeling you want to move this minute?"
"'Cause I do."
"We aren't even packed, Miss Organization."
"I know, I know. Careful planning, blah, blah. We own a house!" she squealed, jumping onto him, kissing him with full force. He had just quick enough reflexes to wrap his arms around her, supporting her weight, and kissed her back. She spent the rest of the morning taking pictures with her digital camera to show her mom and Luke. When she was finished, they hopped back into their car and headed back to Stars Hollow.