CHAPTER 19

"Dean's," her mother deadpanned.

"Dean's," Rory confirmed.

"Unless my math's wrong..." Lorelai led on.

"We had sex the night after I came back from Graham's," Rory confessed.

Lorelai wrinkled her forehead. "I thought you were with getting involved with Tristin then?" Lorelai took a moment or two to absorb her daughter's revelation. "Why didn't you tell me? What happened?"

Everything came back to Rory like it just happened yesterday: the fight, the sex, and the escape back to Catskill Mountains.

"Remember when I told you that I called Tristin 'Dean'?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded in confirmation.

"I went to apologize to Tristin and...and," she started stuttering as the tears rolled down her cheek.

"And then what?" Lorelai asked patiently.

"He turned me away, mom. It hurt," she said as the tears started falling faster and harder.

Lorelai came around the bed and hushed her daughter. "Shhh," she rocked Rory like a baby, pushing her hair away from her face. Lorelai was concerned with all the pent up hurt and pain her daughter had gone through alone. Lorelai herself shed a tear. She felt that the absence of their close relationship had put a big stress on their personal lives. How she wished she knew how to handle things then and how to make things better now!

"And then I saw Dean. He just told me that he got his divorce papers. We- we had sex and I left and I was disgusted with myself. So I left to go see Graham," Rory finished her story.

Lorelai closed her eyes as her daughter went through her confession. The day Tristin came to town with flowers was when all this really started. She felt like an idiot for blaming Tristin for something he completely had no fault in whatsoever. Lorelai heaved a sigh. She was not loving Dean at this moment. She was upset that he had caused so much havoc without reaping any of the consequences.

"You know, you could've told me sooner. I could've acted less of a dolt," Lorelai pointed out to her daughter. "I am after all the poster child of irresponsibility according to your grandmother. You- you are the child of lists and stuff."

"I was afraid, mom," Rory confided. "I just found out I was pregnant not even two weeks ago," Rory muttered. Her sobs turning into hiccups.

"Hence the absence of coffee?" Lorelai deduced.

"Hence the absence of coffee," Rory sighed. "I never thought it would be this way. I was going to tell you but I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell Dean about it."

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

Rory hesitated before answering. "Maybe because I was not in love with him anymore when we did it and I would've felt like a total jackass telling him he fathered a child when I was thinking of another guy the moment we had sex."

"Wow," Lorelai said. "Are you referring to Tristin?"

Rory played with the sheet covering her. "If Tristin and I didn't stop when we did, he could've been the father." Rory's thoughts drifted to Tristin. How she wished she could take those words she uttered that night!

"So what's going to happen now?" Lorelai asked.

"I was hoping you can tell me where to go with this," Rory looked up to her mother.

"Would you happen to know what kind of flowers Tristin likes?" Lorelai quipped.

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After the whole debacle between him and Lorelai, Tristin decided to walk home. In his state of distraught and haggardness, he decided to blow off his classes and opt for his bed.

The room was peaceful and quiet when he got back to the dorm. Matt left him a note saying he got him something to eat knowing he won't make it to the dining hall. He also cleaned up Rory's mess in the bathroom. Tristin, for all he cared, would enshrine Matt for being the saint and savior he was when he was falling apart.

Tristin decided to forgo food for some shuteye. He immediately fell into deep sleep with dreams of promise and hope for his relationship with Rory accompanying him. Several hours later, he woke up refreshed. He decided to go back to the hospital and check up on Rory.

He saw his cell phone flashing. He hoped that Rory decided to call him after she got up. Moments later, he regretted listening to the message.

"Son," the voice in his message box reverberated, "got a call from the card company saying you put a dent on your credit card. I'm glad to see you've become proactive before a bastard child of yours could be born. I wish I had your balls when I was your age. Anyway, I'll be in Hartford this Sunday. Let me know if you want to hit the greens with me. Tee off is at nine," his father said.

"Bastard," Tristin swore before heading into the shower.