-After All These Years-
Chapter 6: This Can't Be Good
-Ivy
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB, as usual. Darn.
Distribution: Just ask first.
A/N: Sorry!!! Sorry!!! I know…again, I am a horrible person. I just had a lot of trouble writing this last chapter, and it's still not like I wanted it to be…but I'm putting it out now anyway. Please forgive me!!!
-Ivy
After All These YearsChapter 6: This Can't Be Good
Tristan walked into his office and immediately started talking, not bothering to look at the representative he was supposed to be doing business with.
"I'm sorry I'm late. An old friend of mine dropped by and time just seemed to fly by. I trust that my secretary, Anne, took care of you?" he asked Jess.
Jess gave a slight grunt in response, not entirely trusting himself with words, and also worried about what would happen when Tristan finally did get a good look at him.
Tristan sat down at his desk and continued, still not bothering to look up as he began to pull various documents out of his file cabinets. "Good, good. I suppose we should get down to business, then." Standing up, Tristan finally looked at Jess. Jess froze, holding his breath and only daring to let it go when he realized that Tristan wasn't showing any signs of recognition towards him. Tristan held out his hand and said, "Tristan DuGrey, attorney for Hunter Carlson".
Reluctantly, Jess held out his own hand and shook Tristan's. How the hell was he supposed to introduce himself? For once, he couldn't get away with lying…there were too many papers to fill out, too many reports to file – all of which would require his real name if he didn't want to run the risk of getting fired. "Um…" he stuttered, "… J. Mariano, representative for Sublimino Tech."
Tristan, who had briefly gone back to shuffling through the papers on top of his desk while Jess was coming up with a way to introduce himself, shot his head up at Jess's introduction, his eyes turning a steely gray. "What did you say your name was?"
Jess froze again, a million thoughts running through his mind, although one in particular stuck out - "Oh, shit…" "J. Mariano" he said again, trying to put some confidence into his voice.
"The 'J' wouldn't happen to stand for Jess would it?" Tristan asked, hoping against hope that he was wrong, that this wasn't the same Jess that had abandoned Rory years earlier.
Jess sighed, knowing that he'd been caught. "Actually, yes, it does."
"That's what I thought" Tristan replied, his voice cold and menacing. Sighing, he turned around and looked out the window that had been behind him. Clenching and re-clenching his fists, he tried to gain a hold on his thoughts, but failing miserably. How were you supposed to handle it when one of your temporary co-workers turns out to be your fiancé's ex-fiancé who ran out on her when she was pregnant?!
However, before he had a chance to do anything, Anne's voice came out over the intercom again. "Mr. DuGrey? I'm sorry to bother you gain, but Ms. Gilmore is here, and would like to speak with you."
Whirling around, Tristan quickly picked up the phone connecting he and Anne so that Jess would not be able to hear their conversation.
"Which one is here, Anne?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Your fiancé," Anne replied. "She says to tell you that she has something she wants to show you and that she's not leaving until you come out."
"Well, tell her that it'll have to wait. I can't come out right now, Anne."
"Tristan, I think she's serious about not leaving - ", outside the office, Rory grabbed the phone away from Anne and said, "That's right, Bible Boy. I'm not leaving. I'll stay here all day if I have to…but then what if I got fired for not showing up at work? Ooo…I bet that you'd feel bad then. And plus, Anne says that you just went in there, so I know that I'm not interrupting anything yet. So please, Bible Boy, please? Let me be the nagging fiancé just once. Pweaasee? I swear it'll only take a second-"
"Hold on" Tristan interrupted. "I'm coming."
"Thanks Bible Boy! I love you!" with that, Rory hung up the phone, a triumphant grin coming over her face.
Tristan laughed and hung up the phone, his laughter quickly cut short when he looked up and was reminded of Jess's continuing presence in the room.
He paused, taking the time to clear his throat…and his thoughts… "If you'll excuse me for a second, Jess, I have to go take care of something."
Jess merely nodded as Tristan gave him a slight glare and then walked stiffly out of the office, making sure to shut the door behind him. Once Tristan was gone and the door shut, Jess let himself relax, and gave a sigh of relief. 'I have to get out of here' he thought.
Tristan walked out of the office and shut the door behind him, not knowing what he should tell Rory. It had taken such a long time for her to get over Jess the first time, and he really didn't want to risk anything happening to their perfect relationship – not when he finally had her. But then again, he couldn't just not tell Rory that the real father of her child was sitting in his office. Luckily, he didn't have much more time to think, as Rory soon came over to him.
"Tristan? Tristan? Hello? …. Earth to Bible Boy!" she said, waving her hands in front of his face in an attempt to bring him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, sorry," Tristan said, shaking his head a little. Then he let one of his trademark smirks slip out as he looked at his beautiful fiancé. He took hold of one of her hands and then leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. "What are you doing here?" he asked, puzzled.
"Well, first of all, thank you for that lovely greeting, AND for taking time to come out and spending a few minutes with your lonely girlfriend-"
"Fiancé" Tristan interjected.
"Right," Rory said smiling. "Man, it's going to take a while to get used to that…but it has a nice ring to it. Fiancé… I like it."
"Me, too." Tristan said, grinning and squeezing her hand.
"Anyway," Rory said, with a smirk that was beginning to rival Tristan's. "I just wanted to show you something" she said, pulling a newspaper out from her bag and handing it to Tristan.
"The Society section of The Hartford Times?" Tristan questioned.
"Look closer Bible Boy." Rory prodded.
Tristan glanced down, "Oh my goodness," he said, sighing. "I can't believe it."
"Well, believe it Bible Boy. It seems that one of the lovely Hartford reporters spotted us on our way out of the bookstore last night."
They both looked down at the headline of the front-page headline, which read, "Society's Perfect Couple Finally Decides to Tie the Knot". Underneath the headline there was a large picture of Tristan and Rory walking out of the bookstore hand-in-hand, both wearing huge smiles and gazing into each other's eyes. In the lower left corner of the picture there was a smaller picture – a blown-up picture of Rory's left hand, which featured a sparkling diamond ring. The caption underneath the picture read "Socialite attorney Tristan DuGrey, son of Richard DuGrey, and Journalist Rory Gilmore, granddaughter of Richard Gilmore, were spotted strolling out of a small bookstore in Boston last night, with a significant new piece of jewelry on Ms. Gilmore's left hand."
Tristan groaned. "This is ridiculous…we haven't even gotten a chance to tell anyone yet."
"I know, but think about it. Isn't it hilarious that they wrote a whole article about us just because we got engaged? Ooh! Imagine the article when we have our first child together. Can't you picture the headline? 'Son Born to the DuGrey Family…The Social Prodigy Continues'." she mimicked, spreading the headline out in the air with her fingers.
Tristan laughed, "Yeah, I can imagine it now, a whole article about the newest DuGrey heartbreaker. Boy or girl."
Rory lightly hit him on the arm, laughing. "I'll have you know that no child of mine will be a womanizer like you Tristan DuGrey."
"Well if they're girls then I should hope not."
"Oh, go back to your meeting." Rory said, laughing. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "I have to go to work anyway. I'll see you at home…"
Tristan smiled as Rory started to walk away towards the elevator, but then remembered who was still sitting in his office. "Rory, wait" he called, walking over to her, "I have to tell you something…"