DISCLAIMER: I own neither the show nor the characters of the Gilmore Girls. Just the messed up way in which I am portraying them.

She wasn't quite sure what she expected. The sun had risen just like it did everyday; she made her way to school without incident. She saw Luke when she stopped for coffee with her mother. It was just like every other day. Except Luke had given her this look that made her unsure whether coffee was the best idea. Her stomach went into flips and she felt like her legs might give out. Rory was talking to Jess, and she had to get to her bus, so Luke walked her to the stop before heading to school himself.

By the time she got on the bus, she was sure that she had to talk to Tristan today about the situation—it was no use in putting this off. She went to her locker, getting ready for her day of classes, and deciding where to look for him first. She'd just gotten her books for her first two classes out when she felt a warm object move to graze her side. She turned to the right and looked up to see Tristan leaning over her locker, smiling down at her.

"Hey," he began.

"Oh, hey, Tristan," she smiled back, slowly standing up.

"So, I didn't hear from you this weekend. Big plans?"

She felt blood rush from her head. She leaned against her locker for more support, but that seemed to indicate to him an invitation to put his arm around her. She felt the heat of his body through his Chilton jacket and looked into his eyes.

"Uh, well, not really big plans as much of a family emergency," she told him, hoping he wouldn't ask her for details.

"Is everything okay?" he sounded concerned and she nodded as she pushed herself up off the lockers, inadvertently closer to him. She breathed in and could smell his light cologne.

"Yeah, it's fine now. Just a bit of drama."

"Well, good. Do you think these emergencies will keep themselves at bay this weekend?"

His smile started to melt her, despite her trying to focus on Luke and the way he held her hand as he walked her to the bus stop. She couldn't focus on that or anything anymore, she felt hypnotized by his blue eyes.

"Hey, Lore!" came the voices of some girls as they walked down the hall past the little world Tristan had created by turning his back to the hall and moving his arm around her creating a bubble for them. The girls' voices brought her back to reality to the books in her hands and the need to get to class. She smiled at them from under Tristan's arm and looked back at him.

"Well, I suppose my family can manage without me this weekend. What did you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise. Just be free starting around noon on Saturday?" he looked into her clear blue eyes hopefully.

"Well, sure. But I need to talk to you about something," she started as the bell rang.

"Sure, uh, can it wait 'til lunch? I have a test in Biology, like now," he said, moving further out into the hall to go to class.

"Right, lunch," she smiled, leaning back against the lockers as he walked off. This wasn't going to be as easy as she thought. She stayed there until she heard the second warning bell, which caused her to scurry off to class.

Rory was busying herself, running around the office, moving articles on the layout, asking for better titles—she was working her small staff hard today. She had a burst of energy after her morning coffee ritual and when she was finally satisfied, she moved back to work on the next few days worth of work in her office. She'd told her receptionist to hold all calls, and was surprised when she buzzed in an hour later.

"Ms. Gilmore?"

"Sophia, I told you to hold all my calls," she reminded gently, as she was still trying to get through an article that needed a lot of cutting without losing the essence of the author's main message.

"I know Ms. Gilmore, but you have a visitor."

Rory couldn't imagine who would be visiting her at work, but she told Sophia to show whoever it was in, but told her to stress how busy she was. With much luck, she could get whoever it was on their way in less than two minutes so she could get back to work.

"So, taking no calls, huh?" The smirk spread over his face as he closed her door behind him securely.

"Jess, what are you doing here?" came her incredulous questioning.

"Well, boss, I am here on business," he held out some papers for her as she got up to meet him in the middle of the room. She didn't take them at first, as he continued to come nearer and nearer. Soon he was just a breath away, and she gave into the smile that she could feel welling up from somewhere deep inside her.

"Good, because you can't stay," she tried to sound adamant, but fell short of her goal. She'd been commanding and decisive all morning, but now with him here, the urge to let him hold her and kiss her overcame her.

"That's too bad. I wanted to take you to lunch," he said, leaving feather light kisses on her temple, then both cheeks.

"Lunch?"

"Is that consideration I hear in your voice?" he said, moving his lips at long last to her mouth. She moved against him, taking the papers and tossing them behind her onto her desk. She moved her arms around his neck and let him move them backwards so her legs were against her own desk.

"Maybe," she consented as she leaned her neck over to give him access as he moved down her jaw line with his soft nips from his lips.

"Jess," she moaned softly, realizing they were in her office as the hard wood of her desk pressed into the back of her knees. His arms lifted her waist up so he could effortlessly sit her up on the edge of her desk. When her legs separated, he moved fluidly between them, so he was as close as he could get to her.

"Yeah?"

"We really can't do this here. I'm your boss," she whimpered softly into his ear before his lips came crashing back onto hers.

"Rory," he pleaded between kisses.

"If I do this with you, I have to give all the other staffers this treatment," she tried, teasing him.

"Fine," he consented; giving her one more kiss before pulling back away from her. They remained still, her sitting on her desk, hair mussed and legs apart, while he stood staring at her. Both had swollen lips, and her skin of her neck was stained pink where he'd made ministrations down to her collarbone.

"So, lunch?" she said hopefully.

"Yeah, lunch."

"You know, your article wasn't due 'til Wednesday," she reminded him, running a hand through her hair quickly, hoping to minimize the apparent effects of their mini-make out session.

"I know. I read fast," he smiled at her as she checked her neck in the mirror quickly. She grabbed her jacket and purse and locked her office behind her as she followed him out of the building towards their lunch destination.

Back at Chilton, Lorelai had just gotten her lunch when she spotted Tristan. He smiled and walked over to her with his own lunch in hand, bypassing the large table of his friends.

"So, you wanted to talk?"

"Uh, yeah. Let's go outside," she said, moving to the doors to the outside courtyard. She walked over to a bench, placing her lunch down, making sure there was room for him as well. She took a drink of her soda and looked up at him finally.

"So, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she reassured him quickly.

"You're acting really odd," he commented. She was more fidgety than normal, and after about a month of seeing her on an almost daily basis, he knew fidgety wasn't normal. She was one of the most confident, intelligent and at times graceful girls he'd ever met. Today she couldn't keep still, she would lean on things for support, and it was overall just strange behavior for her.

"Sorry. It's just, I need to tell you something," she explained.

"You need to tell me something like you're married or like you failed a biology exam?"

"Why would I fail a biology exam?"

"It was hard," he offered.

"Well, it was hard, but I didn't fail," she countered.

"Lorelai," he warned.

"And I'm not married," she added. "I'm sixteen, and this isn't Kentucky, or one of those foreign countries where you're promised off at age four to marry some other guy that has more goats than your family does."

"So, what's up?" he found her tangents tiring, but he also realized she was stalling. She was stalling and nervous, and that was sort of endearing.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you, I mean, make sure you realized, that since you and I really never talked about being exclusive, you know," she gestured between them with her free hand that wasn't occupied by her soda, "that I've sort of been dating someone else, too."

He was silent for a moment; he just remained still as if he were still listening.

"Tristan?" she looked at his non-movement with a furrowed brow.

"Sorry, so you're dating someone else?"

"Well, yeah," she said, biting her lip. "I mean, I know a while ago, we said we weren't dating anyone else, but we never really said anything about actually being exclusively dating," her attempts to clarify the situation continued, but she wasn't helping in his understanding of what she wanted.

"So, you're ending it with me?" he said in confusion.

"No, not exactly," she shook her head.

"So, what exactly?"

"Well, I just wanted you to know that while we were dating, I was also going to be dating someone else," she explained.

"So, it's no big deal if I date someone else too?" he raised an eyebrow.

She thought a moment, as if that hadn't occurred to her. She hadn't been completely sure of Tristan's ability to be faithful to her from the rumblings she'd heard of his past behavior, but whenever she was with him those thoughts just floated out of her head. He made her feel like the only girl in the world.

"Well, sure, if you want to."

"So, it's just like an open dating relationship," he clarified.

"Right."

"Does this guy know about me?"

"Yes," she nodded.

He smiled and nodded as he leaned back against the bench and bit into an apple. "Okay," he said simply.

"So, you still want to see me?"

"Most definitely," he agreed. "Saturday still works for you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," she said, a little hesitantly. This was too easy. And he seemed way too pleased. Was he already dating someone else? Was he formulating who he was going to ask out for Friday in his head? It wasn't like she could ask him, it wasn't really her business. He hadn't asked who she was going out with other than him. He seemed perfectly cool about it, and since it was her idea, she needed to be as well.

Later that afternoon, Lorelai came directly home. She had seen Tristan again after school before she made her way to her bus, thanking him for his offer to drive her home, but declining. She didn't want Luke and Tristan in the same vicinity—she feared her head would explode. It'd been bad enough the few times they'd met and she hadn't even been dating Luke yet. All afternoon in classes her mind had flitted from one to the other, wondering how on earth she would make a decision between them. Both boys were amazing, in different respects. She decided to talk to her mom, maybe she could help sort all this out. After all, it had been Rory who suggested she 'play the field'.

"Mom!" she called as she came through the front door.

"Daughter!" came the response from upstairs.

"Living room!"

"Bathroom!"

Lorelai made her way up the stairs, and decided with the events of last night it was better safe than sorry. She had no desire to walk in on any activities that her mother and Jess might engage in.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes," came the exaggerated response.

Lorelai came into the bathroom to see her mother soaking in the tub full of bubbles with a wet washcloth on her forehead. She was using the tub pillow that Lorelai had gotten her last Christmas to rest the back of her head against.

"Are you sick?"

"No, I'm tired."

"Long day at work?"

"You could say that," Rory nodded, opening her eyes to look at her daughter. "You want next crack at this?"

"No thanks, but I do need to ask you something."

"Sit," Rory gestured to the toilet, where Lorelai sat on the closed lid, still in her Chilton uniform.

"Speak," Rory commanded, smiling as she closed her eyes again.

"Well, I took your advice," Lorelai started.

"Good," Rory smiled.

"And now I'm more confused than ever," Lorelai finished.

Rory opened her eyes and frowned. "What happened?"

"Well, I told Luke I was still sort of dating Tristan, and he was okay with it, and I told Tristan that I was dating Luke as well, and he seemed happy about it," she explained, making a displeased face.

"You're kidding!"

"No, they both seem fine. And now I have to choose between them!" Lorelai groaned.

"Why?"

"Why? Are you kidding?"

"No, why do you have to choose? Date both of them," Rory encouraged.

"But I like both of them, a lot," Lorelai urged.

"Oh, I know these things are tough, having two boys like you, but trust me, there will be bigger dilemmas in life," Rory snickered.

"I'm having a crisis and you don't care," Lorelai accused.

"Oh, stop. I care, I just think this will sort itself out naturally."

"So, how's it going with Jess?" Lorelai changed the subject.

Rory smiled and gave a little blush. "I'm sorry about last night. I didn't realize we'd been in that store room so long," she said sheepishly.

"I sort of gathered that much," Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Well, you wanted us to make up," Rory pointed out.

"Yes, in the store room. With words. You're my mother, you aren't supposed to come back here and do dirty things," she made a face.

"Well, we're adults, and went two adults love each other very much," Rory started, teasing her daughter some more.

"Ew. Leaving now," she said, standing up from her porcelain perch.

"Wait, are you sure you're okay with the boy thing?"

"Your boy thing or mine?"

"Both?" Rory asked, moving her arm up out of the hot water and resting on the cool porcelain of the bathtub.

"I'm fine with you and Jess. I'm just afraid that I'll never be able to figure out which guy I like more. I see Luke here around town and I'm sure that I feel stronger about him, then I see Tristan in Hartford, and I just forget everything else," she sighed.

"So, get them together in one room," Rory suggested.

"Oh, no. No way," she shook her head.

"Why? It's not like they haven't met," she reminded.

"I know, but that was different. This time it would be a sick contest of 'who's the bigger man'," Lorelai made a face.

"Well, it would test their maturity," Rory agreed.

"So, yeah, no thanks."

"Maybe if you could find a way to get them in the same place and they didn't know about each other."

"Knowing me I'll slip up and end up on a date with both the same night—what sitcom did that happen on?"

"What sitcom hasn't that happened on?" Rory laughed.

"Right. I'll go order dinner," she said, giving her mom a smile as she exited the bathroom. Rory smiled and closed her eyes as she leaned back against the soft pillow, enjoying the warmth surrounding her and letting her stress melt away.

AN: had some extra time, and thought I'd crank out another chapter. Hopefully life will be settling down into more of a routine again, and I can write and update more. Next chapters will probably be more with Lorelai dealing with her new situation. But we aren't quite done with the Lit yet. Thanks to everyone who reviews, as always. I love hearing your reactions!