Title: Touched

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I got pneumonia actually. Unfortunately, there was no hot guy to nurse me back to health. Speaking of things that are unfortunate, I missed the last new episode of Gilmore Girls. In Detroit, they decided to schedule a Piston's game over the show. I was furious! All I know is that Luke and Lorelei get into a fight, and that Rory pulls some kind of prank of Logan. I would really appreciate it if someone could fill me in on what happened. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Hope you enjoy this chapter : )

Rory rolled over in bed and let out a groan. She had been sick for the last three days. She should have seen it coming with all of the sniffling she'd been doing, but with the study group, and the Tristan fiasco, her mind had been elsewhere. Ugh! She couldn't think about him right now. He was so infuriating! Who did he think he was taking all those liberties and embarrassing her so? Sure, at Chilton he had teased her, but not like that! He had never been so aggressive in flirting with her. Did she just say flirting? No he couldn't have been flirting with her, as always he was just trying to get under her skin. And it had worked. This is exactly the reason she had sworn off guys. They just got under her skin and then she wasted good quality time, studying time, analyzing over nothing.

With that last thought Rory gave a confirming nod. She wasn't going to think about Tristan anymore, she needed to get better, especially since she was going to have a ton of make-up work from the past 3 days and she didn't need any distractions. Rory groaned and rolled over again.

Tristan walked out of his European History lecture. Sure, it wasn't over for another 45 minutes but he wasn't going to learn anything he didn't already know. Plus, besides being an ass, the professor was utterly dull and just droned on and on. Tristan was walking around campus, wondering what to do with the rest of his afternoon, when a brilliant idea came to him. He would go visit his favorite little bookworm.

Tristan knocked, but after a minute there was no answer. Slowly opening the door, he called out Rory's name. Still, he was met with silence. With a mischievous grin, he let himself in, let his things drop to the floor, and tiptoed towards Rory's bedroom door. He couldn't help but throw in a twirl for dramatic effect.

"I'm Bond…James Bond." Tristan whispered to himself, with a twinkle in his eye.

Being silly, he pressed his body to the doorframe and brought his joined pointer fingers to his face as if they were a gun. Once he was through the door, he quickly dropped to his knees-out of Rory's eye line. He made his way on his haunches to his sleeping beauty's bed. Once he was crouched down in front of her sleeping form, he brought his mock gun to his lips and blew.

Rory stirred when she felt a stream of air wisp across her forehead. Her blue eyes fluttered open and she screamed bloody murder! Not six inches from her face was a man peering over her. Not until Tristan was rolling on the floor, clutching his stomach in hysteria, did Rory realize who the man was.

"Tristan! What the hell do you think you're doing?! I almost died I was so freaking scared!"

Rory's exclamation just made Tristan's hooting louder.

Rory, who convinced herself she was not amused, crossed her arms over her chest with a grim expression.

"Oh come on Rory you are no fun." Tristan said through chuckles.

"I can be a lot of fun for your information, I'm just not fun with people I don't like." Rory regretted saying, as soon as she heard her harsh words out loud.

The laughter in Tristan's eyes died. "Okay then, I guess I'll be going then." Tristan said as he got up and turned to walk towards the door.

Rory hesitated, surprised by his hurt expression, "Wait Tristan, I didn't mean that. I was just mad about what you did in the library." Rory blushed, 'Why had she just said that? She didn't want to talk about that!'

Tristan held back his returning laughter, as well as other feelings, as he remembered what happened in the library.

"Well I did come over to apologize for that, but now I see just thinking about the library has gotten you all hot" Tristan teased when he noticed Rory's flushed cheeks.

"Don't flatter yourself Tristan, if I'm flushed it's because I'm sick, I was resting before I was so rudely interrupted." Rory teased, and stuck her tongue out.

It was then that Tristan noticed the multiple boxes of tissue, cough syrup, and other medical paraphernalia adorning Rory's shelves and floor. Now that he thought about it, it was weird that Rory would be sleeping at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. She didn't really seem like the type that had time for napping.

"Do you want me to get you a thermometer?" Tristan asked, now very serious.

"What? Oh, no. There's no need for that. It's just a little cold." Rory brushed him off.

"It doesn't look like just a cold. You really don't look very good."

"Oh thanks a lot, if you're really here to apologize you aren't doing a very good job-"

Rory breath caught when Tristan swept a strand of hair from her forehead, and rested his palm against her skin. The way he was looking at her so caringly, and touching her so tenderly, for a moment Rory was sure he was going to kiss her.

"Rory! You're burning up!" Tristan exclaimed as he removed his hand.

Rory shook her head. She was so stupid thinking he was going to kiss her. He was just feeling for a temperature. Wait did he say she was burning up?

"Oh, it can't be that bad" she lifted her own hand to her forehead. Rory frowned; she did feel really hot actually.

"Where is your thermometer? I'm going to take your temperature."

"It's in the bathroom, but really I don't think I have a temperature, I just need some rest…" the rest of Rory's useless pleads were unheard as Tristan's lanky frame moved across the room, and into the bathroom.

Tristan re-entered her room, thermometer in hand. "Okay now open up and put this under your tongue, and then I'll check it in five minutes."

"What you aren't going to make that into some kind of sexual innuendo?" Rory quipped; she refused to admit she might be seriously sick.

Tristan just smiled, "Come on, we need to take your temperature."

Rory cooperated by opening her mouth, and Tristan placed the thermometer under her tongue. Tristan tried to ignore the wonderful feeling it created when Rory closed her mouth, accidentally brushing her wet lips against his fingers. Since Rory couldn't talk, they sat silently waiting for the 5 minutes to pass. Tristan had sat down next to Rory on her bed, and now he was beginning to regret it. Something always overcame him when he was in a close proximity to Rory Gilmore. Rory had closed her eyes, so Tristan took the chance to really look her over. She hadn't changed too much since Chilton. Her hair was shorter, but it was still the same silky brown. Her face looked a little thinner, but her skin was still the creamy white he loved. She had a few more freckles scattered over her nose and cheeks, and Tristan wanted to kiss each and every one of them. But what made Rory so beautiful were her eyes, those deep blue eyes, richer than his own sapphire ones. Tristan loved looking into her eyes, he could get lost in them, and that's exactly what he had just done. Tristan shook himself when he realized Rory had opened her eyes, and caught him staring at her so intently. Tristan coughed trying to cover his embarrassment.

"Well, I'm sure it's been five minutes now, I'll go read the thermometer."

Tristan plucked the thermometer from Rory's lips, and quickly made his way to the bathroom. Once in the privacy of the bathroom, Tristan splashed some cold water on his face, looked into the mirror, and told himself to get it together.

Outside of the bathroom, Rory was having her own inner dialogue. She couldn't believe the way she had caught Tristan looking at her moments earlier. She had noticed Tristan staring at her before, but before she had always been able to just write it off as raging teenage-boy hormones. It was different this time; he had looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And he had seemed so concerned about her being sick. Obviously she wasn't sick, she couldn't be sick, but still his concern was really touching. She had never really seen that side of him. Rory shook herself from her thoughts when she heard Tristan emerge from the bathroom.

"This isn't just some cold Rory! You have a temperature of 105!" Tristan came in, his voice sounding anxious.

"I do not! Let me see that. That's impossible. I have to get back to classes tomorrow. I've already missed 3 days!" Rory thought she was talking very fast, but then she couldn't figure out if she was just talking normally and everything else around her was moving very slowly. She realized that the slowly spinning things around her shouldn't be moving at all just as everything faded into black.

Was she moving? She felt like she was moving. She wasn't being jostled, or spun around, but she thought she was moving. Even through closed lids, she detected flashes of light streaking by and she deducted she was moving very fast. But she didn't feel like she was exerting any energy, she knew she couldn't exert any energy. Then she noticed a very soft humming sound she hadn't noticed before. The sound was a motor. She was in a car. Suddenly, Rory was more alert and completely panicked.

"Where am I? Where am I going?!" Rory gasped and pressed her face against the window glass trying to make out some sign. She needed some hint of where she was. She jumped and recoiled when she felt a hand reach out to stroke her hair.

"Rory, Rory you're okay. I'm taking you to the hospital. You fainted or passed out or something in your dorm. But I'm taking care of you okay." Rory recognized Tristan's reassuring voice and turned to see it was his hand that had reached out to comfort her. Rory's heart stopped racing, and Tristan could see her body relax. Rory was gazing intently at Tristan, and Tristan felt his heart flutter when she traced a soft line down his jaw with her finger.

"Thank you, Tristan." Rory whispered before returning to the engulfing blackness.

Tristan let out an uneasy sigh when he saw Rory had blacked out again. He was trying his best to remain calm despite the circumstances. He had been driving for 10 minutes and Rory kept fading in and out. When she was conscious he tried to seem as normal as possible so she wouldn't become scared. But he was a mess when she was unconscious. He felt so stupid for fooling around; he should have realized sooner that Rory was really sick. Tristan anxiously drummed his finger against the steering wheel. It was only a couple more minutes to the hospital. God, he prayed she was okay.

Tristan yelled for help as he pushed through the hospital doors with a limp Rory in his arms. She hadn't re-awoken for a few minutes. A nurse rushed over to Tristan.

"Sir, what happened?"

"I don't know. Rory said she just had a cold, but then I took her temperature and it was 105! Then she fainted." Tristan expressed, obviously very frightened.

"It's not uncommon for someone with such an extreme temperature to faint. Her temperature is obviously way too high and we need to get it down immediately. We're going to have to put her in an icy bath right away. Do you need me to find a wheelchair or can you carry her?"

Tristan looked down at the body he was holding so tightly in his arms, "No, I can carry her."

"Okay, then just follow me. I'll talk while we walk. We need to get her into the cold bath right away then a doctor can check her out after her temperature has gone down. If you're okay with it I would like you to help me because she will probably wake up and I don't want her to be afraid when she finds herself naked, in a strange place, with a strange person. It would help a lot if you could be in the room since you're her boyfriend."

Tristan was just about to correct the nurse when she interrupted him.

"Alright this is the room. Just carry her in here, make sure not to bump her head the doorframe is narrow," the nurse motioned for Tristan to lay Rory down on a bed in the room, "If you could just dab this on her head and neck, I'll fill up the bath." The nurse instructed, handing Tristan a cold towel.

"Okay." Tristan answered. He felt quite overwhelmed. Everything was happening so quickly. Another nurse had entered the room.

"Hi, my name is Jamie. I understand you're the boyfriend. I'm going to start undressing Rory now. If you could just hold her and keep doing what you're doing."

Tristan knew he should correct the nurses about his relation to Rory, but he told himself there were more important things to do right now.

Tristan lifted Rory's arms when the nurse instructed, pulling Rory's sweatshirt up and over her head. Rory's head fell onto his shoulder with the movement, and he could feel her hot breath against the skin of his neck. Tristan swallowed and moved the towel from Rory's forehead to her newly exposed shoulders. Rory was still wearing a tank top, so the nurse instructed Tristan to lift her arms again. Now, the swell of Rory's breasts were exposed, her nipples only slightly concealed through the sheer fabric of her bra.

"Make sure to cool off her neck and chest with the compress too." The first nurse directed as she poured a bag of ice into the tub.

Tristan just nodded mutely, and timidly complied. He ran the cool towel over Rory's neck, causing Rory to stir and unconsciously brush Tristan's ear with her lips. God! If she could make him feel like this asleep he didn't want to know what she could do awake. Tristan realized he shouldn't be having those kinds of thoughts. He didn't want to take advantage of Rory. So he tried very hard not to look when he rubbed the cold compress over Rory's slightly damp chest. Rory stirred again, and this time she murmured Tristan's name. Tristan couldn't believe this was happening to him.

"Okay if you could lean her forward I'll support her while you unfasten her bra." The nurse said nonchalantly.

Tristan's jaw dropped open and the nurse noticed.

"What? I'm sure it's nothing you haven't seen before." The nurse teased as she pulled Rory towards herself.

Tristan gulped as his fingers fumbled with the hook of Rory's bra. He was doing the right thing, right? Rory was seriously sick, and he was just looking out for her well-being.

"Okay, thanks Stud," the nurse winked at Tristan and leaned Rory back into his embrace, "you keep running the towel over her belly and breasts, and I'll remove her pants. Then we can lift her into the tub."

Tristan couldn't believe this! He decided he had to be completely professional about it. So he averted his eyes and picked up the cold compress again, and slowly traced a path between the curve of her breasts, over and around her belly. Tristan was staring ahead at an imaginary point on the wall, mouthing 'don't look don't look' over and over again, until he couldn't help but look when he felt the tightening of Rory's nipple through his cold towel. Tristan's mouth dropped open for a second time as he lost himself in the splendor of all that was Rory, until he realized the nurse was about to unbutton Rory's pants. All of a sudden, Tristan jumped to his feet.

"I-I can't do th-this," Tristan managed to stammer, as he fled from the room,

"and I'm not her boyfriend!" Tristan added just as he spun around the corner, leaving one nurse dumbfounded and the other one chuckling.

A/N: I made the endings of the chapters similar on purpose. I promise the next chapter will have a different kind of ending : )