Hello to all who have been reading this story. I know it's been like a month but I just haven't been feeling up to it. I want to finish the story but I just haven't had the motivation or the inspiration lately, until I received the encouragement from the reviewers that is. This is for all of you. I will try my best on the chapter but you have to tell me what you think. Anyway here's chapter 26.

Disclaimer: I still don't own the Gilmore Girls...

-- Recap chapter 25 --

"Rory, I love you." There he had said it. Sure it was written on paper and all but nothing was the same as saying it out loud. He knew that there was a small risk that she wouldn't be able to say it, that she wouldn't be ready to say it but for him the time was now.

As soon as she heard the word she felt like jumping up and down and dancing. It felt so good to finally hear him say those words. So she looked in his eyes and said the only words that she knew would make the moment perfect.

"I love you too Tristan Dugrey."

They kissed and held each other that night. Neither one said a word. They were both too content with each other to ruin the moment with words. Sure there was still a lot they needed to talk about but they would have to wait until morning. This moment would go down in history. It was one of the most important moments of their relationship.

Unfortunately there was one important unanswered question in her mind. What would happen after this? What would happen once his vacation was over and he had to go back?

{}{}{}{Chapter 26}{}{}{}

Tristan had been visiting for the last three days and it was great. They had spent practically every single minute together doing all sorts of things. The only thing they hadn't done was talk about the future. Neither one of them had broached the subject of when he was going back and what would happen to them when he did. She hated the thought that he would eventually have to leave her and she didn't want to think about it so she pushed it as far back into her mind as she could.

They still had the suite to themselves since her roommate was still not back from her trip to Europe so they could do whatever they wanted without worrying about disturbing anyone.

It wasn't like they were having sex but it was still nice to have a place to be alone and get lost in each other. It wasn't that she didn't want to have sex with him but she didn't feel it was the right time. They had just admitted to their feelings to each other and she felt that sex would change things for them. She didn't even know if there would be a 'them' once he'd go back to North Carolina. Sure it was true that they loved each other and that love could conquer all but she knew that long distance relationships rarely worked out in the end. There was a conversation that they had to have, yet another difficult talk that they had to share. She so didn't want to find out that he was leaving soon and that she wouldn't get to see him until Thanksgiving or Christmas. Instead of going up to him and telling him that they had to talk she decided to hold on for a few more days. After all he'd say something if he was planning on leaving in the next 4 days or so right?

So she kept silent and she spent most of her time with him. She decided that the time would come but it wasn't now.

It was now Friday. Classes had started on Monday, which she absolutely loved. She hadn't realized how much she actually liked going to class until they had started again. The first week wasn't as gruelling as the rest of the school year would be. All they did was go to class, get a plan of what they would do that year, the books they would need, the things they would cover and then the classes were dismissed. This gave her more time to spend with Tristan. Her classes had been cancelled on this Friday due to her professor getting sick so they had the whole day to spend together.

Rory was sitting on the sofa reading a book when Tristan walked in. It was mid afternoon and she hadn't seen him all day. She had no idea where he had been all day. He hadn't said anything and hadn't left a note. When she had gotten up that morning he was already gone. It was a little strange but she decided to let it go.

"Hey beautiful. What you doing?" Tristan smiled as he saw her sitting there lost in her book.

"Oh just reading. Where were you all day?" She looked up from her book and smiled at him.

"I just had a few things to do." Tristan replied shortly.

Rory couldn't believe how strangely he was acting. First he had left the dorm without even leaving her a note as to when he'd be back and now he was avoiding her questions. Maybe he had changed his mind about how he felt about her.

"Tris, I think we need to talk." She told him then. It was now or never and if she wanted some answers the time was now.

"What did you want to talk about Mar?" He asked her as he sat on the sofa beside her.

"It's just that we haven't really talked about what we were going to do. I mean, sure we know how we feel about each other and all but my home is here and you still live in North Carolina. What's going to happen to us? When are you going back? Not that I want you to leave or anything but I have to know these things." The words were coming out a mile a minute.

"Actually Ror, I'm going to go take a shower and then we can talk." He got up and walked to the bathroom without another word.

Rory sat there with a look of pure shock on her face. She was hurt and she didn't even understand why. Not only had he not seemed interested in anything she wanted to talk about but he hadn't even said anything on the subject. No she was almost sure that he regretted what he had said. How could she have been so stupid as to believe that Tristan Dugrey had actually changed his ways? Maybe he was still the same commitment phobic he had been back in high school.

The only thing she wanted to do now was cry. And that's exactly what she did. She sat there; on her sofa and let the tears fall from her eyes. Her heart was breaking and she didn't even know why. After all he hadn't really said that he didn't love her. But why hadn't he wanted to talk about their future? She didn't know anymore. Did they even have a future?

When Tristan came out of the shower he found her in the same position. Sitting on the sofa with her face stained with tears. It pained him to see her sad even if he didn't know what was going on. Slowly he approached her and put his arms around her.

"Mar, what's wrong? Please don't cry." He said in a low, soothing voice.

"You...(sniff)...don't...really...love...me..." Came her reply between her sobs.

"What makes you say that Ror?" Bewilderment filled his voice. Where had she gotten such an idea?

"I... just... asked... you... about... our... future... and... you... couldn't... even... answer... me."

"Of course I love you silly. Come on, get dressed, I have a surprise for you." He wrapped his arms around her and gave her the biggest hug in the world as he wiped her tears with his fingers.

Once they were both dressed they headed out towards town on foot. Neither said a word about what had just happened at the dorm. All they did was walk and hold hands. This was a surprise that Tristan knew she would love. He had been working on this ever since she had left North Carolina. He just couldn't wait to show her what it was. Most importantly he couldn't wait to see how she would react to it all.

"Ok Ror, now you're going to close your eyes because we're almost there." He told her as he produced a blindfold from his pocket.

"Tristan Dugrey what is that? You are not going to blindfold me in the middle of town." She said as she looked at him. When he put the blindfold on her eyes she said nothing.

"This better be good Dugrey!"

"You'll love it Mar, I promise."

The couple continued walking. Him leading her and making sure that she didn't fall. It was a great feeling to know that she trusted him enough to let him guide her like that. A few minutes later Tristan came to a stop.

"Ok now Rory, I'm going to remove the blindfold. Ready?"

"Yeah, hurry!! I can't wait to see what my surprise is."

So slowly he removed the blindfold from her eyes and turned her around. At first she had no idea what she was looking for. There was nothing around her that she could make out as being her surprise. All she saw was a restaurant, a movie store, a candy store, a bank and some empty building.

"Tristan, what is my surprise, I don't see it. Wait a minute, are you taking me to buy a life supply of candy?" She asked confused.

"Nope. That's your surprise." He said pointing to the empty building.

"An empty building? Tristan what is this? I thought my surprise was supposed to be great."

"Mar, this is going to be the sight for the new Mary's Bookstore Caféé."

"What? What is Mary's Bookstore Café?'' Rory was still as confused as ever.

"Well, I bought this empty building and it's going to house my second bookstore/café." He started to explain to her.

"Second? Where's the first one?"

"In North Carolina silly. I renamed the store."

"You renamed the bookstore in North Carolina Mary's? But why?" None of this made any sense to her. What was the guy talking about?

"I named it Mary's because of you Ror. Instead of calling it Rory's I called it Mary's. Like that we're the only two who know what it all means. I thought you'd like it."

"I absolutely love it. But why do you need two bookstores? Isn't the one in N.C. enough?"

"You are so blind Ror. I opened this one so that I'd have a good job when I move to New Haven."

"When you what?" Had she just heard him correctly? Did he just say he was moving there?

"I'm moving here Ror. I can't stand to be apart from you. I want to be able to see you every day, to spend nights with you, to go see movies, to take you out. Plus Mark can take care of the bookstore in North Carolina. After all what's a manager for if the owner is always there?"

"I can't believe this. You're really moving here?"

"Yes Ror, I'm really moving here. You should see my new apartment. I found it today and I move in, in two weeks."

"I love you Tris."

"And I love you Ror."

They stood in front of Mary's Bookstore kissing and holding onto each other for what seemed like hours. Both wee too happy to let go of each other. Finally they had figured out what they would do to be together. Fate had been spectacular to them. They had found each other, had fallen in love and now he had found the perfect place to build their future.

The End?
There you have it. To all of you who stuck by this story I thank you. Without all of the reviewers this story would never have been completed. I don't know if it meets what you wanted or what you were hoping for. I'm not even sure if it's a good enough ending. But really, for my first ever writing project it wasn't so bad was it? Now it's time to review. Be as honest as can be. I want to know what you think.