It Was All For Nothing

Disclaimer: I don't own it. I wish Tristan would come back…

A/N: Wow! You love me! I feel so special when I get 14 reviews for something I wrote down cause my muse wouldn't leave me alone. Here you go, as requested, one more chapter. I love my little fiction… thank you all for reading it.

Chapter 2

Rory beat them both to the coffeehouse. By the time they got there, she'd already had at least two cups of coffee. Surprisingly enough, that had actually calmed her down. Tristan and Paris sat down with her, and they started chatting about life over the past five years. Tristan told them about military school, and Paris filled Tristan in on her fling with the professor.

"Ewww…" Tristan made a face.

"I know. That's what I said, too." Rory smiled.

Paris looked between the two of them. She noticed all the tension, like there had been in high school. However, she also noticed the adoring, almost bordering on stalker-ish obsession look in Tristan's eyes. She decided these two needed a push. "Well, if you're going to insult my choice of boyfriends, I'll leave."

She got up and left without giving Rory a chance to offer to walk her back. The table suddenly became very silent. "So… how was military school?"

"It was ok, but it was lonely without my Mary." He smiled across the table at Rory. She blinked, blushed, and tried to write off that comment as just another stupid Tristan thing. However, he sounded completely serious and happy to see her.

"Well, Chilton never recovered from the loss of its king." Rory grinned. "We didn't get a new one."

"Glad to see none of them forgot me. Actually, though, I'm surprised. Those people will suck up to whoever they think is cool."

"This person doesn't," Rory said quietly.

"I didn't mean all of them. But enough about me. How's your life been? Umm… If you don't mind me asking, how's bag… Dean?"

"Dean dumped me when I kissed Jess."

"What happened to Jess?"

"He left. And then Dean got married. And then he tried to seduce me."

Tristan's jaw dropped. "While he was still married?"

"Yeah."

Tristan couldn't believe it. "What kind of a girl did he think you were?" He was furious. At Dean for thinking Rory was some kind of slut and at himself for not being there, as corny as it sounded.

Rory was taken aback by the controlled hatred in his voice. "I don't know. Lindsay divorced him when she found out, and he tried to get me back. I told him to go to hell. And then it turned out that Lindsay was pregnant so they got married again."

"Wow. Bagboy's an idiot." Rory sighed. He'd gone back to calling Dean names. Not that she hadn't called him worse things…

What scared her a little was the complete lack of feeling in Tristan's eyes. It felt like she'd been shut out, like he'd shut a door. It was hard, because she didn't know this Tristan. Nothing about this Tristan made sense. He called her Mary, but he said it with an affectionate, adoring tone. He put down Dean, but seemed mad at him on her behalf. He bought her coffee and drank almost as much himself. He still said suggestive things, but he said them in a completely serious voice. And he had more feelings than he used to, and he had the ability to hide them all at any point. It was confusing, to say the least.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Tristan could see the thoughts rushing behind Rory's eyes. He just wasn't sure what thoughts they were.

"Please," Rory said in a mock-indignant tone. "My thoughts are worth at least three dollars each."

"Well, then, three dollars for your thoughts?" Tristan persisted.

"You've changed." Rory gestured expansively with her hands. "Sure, you've gotten taller and you're in better shape and all," here she blushed at the smirk on Tristan's face, "but you also act differently. You say the same sort of things you said before, but you sound like you mean it now. You call me Mary but it sounds like a pet name. What is up with you?"

"I don't know. I'm not the King of Chilton any more, you know. I'm a kid who spent a long time in military school because I wasn't over a girl."

"You broke into that safe because of Summer?" Rory's eyes got wide and she tilted her head to one side.

Tristan's eyes went flat, like someone had turned out the lights. "Yeah, I wasn't over Summer." He sounded exactly like he had after she'd set him up with Paris. Why didn't she see that he had never actually liked Summer? That the only reason it had bothered him that she broke up with him was that she had done the breaking up? That the only person he'd really cared about at Chilton was her? That she was the only person who had ever seen him as a person and not as the king of Chilton? She was so naïve, so sweet, so… his Mary. Even after all these years, she still didn't get it.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Rory didn't get it. He sounded so depressed. It didn't sound like he was over Summer yet, even after all this time. "Well, at least military school gave you an addiction for coffee. Nice to see that it did something for you."

"Actually, you got me hooked on coffee."

"YAY! I corrupted another one! Wait, how did I addict you to coffee?"

"Well, you loved it so much, and it made you smile and act all happy. I figured it couldn't be that bad."

"Oh. Cool. I never knew that I had that sort of power. Starbucks should hire me. I could go out and get people hooked on coffee, and… I'm babbling. You know, I think I'm only lovable when I'm not being annoying or babbling…"

Tristan laughed. "So for about three minutes a day."

"Hey! It's more like four!" Rory stuck her tongue out at him. "And I've already used it up for the day. So I get to be annoying and ramble for the rest of the time."

Tristan winced. "Please don't."

"Awww, Tristan doesn't like my babbling?"

"No, I love hearing about everything under the sun…" The sarcasm was dripping from his voice. Rory smiled.

"Hey, we just had a civil conversation! Do you know how cool that is?"

"Yes, I do." And he did. Tristan was glad that they'd been able to talk like normal friends. It was a step towards his ultimate goal. He knew he was in love with Rory Gilmore, he just hadn't realized how much until he saw her, sitting there, small, dainty hands wrapped around her coffee cup, cheeks pink, eyes bright, smiling at him like he was a human being. It was nice, considering that at one point she'd told Dean that she'd hated him. Obviously, she was willing to give him a third try, even after he had been such a jerk at Aaron's party. He didn't deserve it, and he was grateful.

"Hey, Tristan?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, you're paying for the coffee."

"How could I forget? Hey, we should do this again. Let's not go five years without chatting, ok?" He stood up, handed her money to pay for her coffee (which she'd paid for when she'd gotten it, so he was reimbursing her), and smiled. "And Rory?" He paused, about to leave.

She looked up from her coffee. "Yeah?"

"If you need any help with lockers that won't open, let me know."

A/N: There. I did it. Well, ok, here's how it's gonna work. I'm going to try to update at least one story a week. I've also been bitten by the plot eagle again, so there might be another chapter story coming. I might write a bunch of it before I post it, though, just so it doesn't interfere. But if I update a story once a month (though I'll really try to do more, I promise. I'm just easily writers-blocked and busy) it'll be the bare minimum. I'm glad you liked this story, I hope you like this chapter as much as the first one. It's a bit longer, but this will be about as long as they are going to get.