Pairing: Established relationships for L/L and P/J; R/T eventually
Spoilers: May reference any and all episodes from seasons 1 & 2, up to and including Lost and Found.
Rating: PG
Summary: Future fic. Seven years after graduating from Chilton, Rory and Paris are business partners. What happens when they strike up a joint venture with Tristan DuGrey?
Disclaimer: All characters from the television show Gilmore Girls were created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, and are the property of Dororthy Parker Drank Here Production and Hofflund-Pollone. They are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is being made from their use.
A/N: Sorry this part took a little bit longer to get out than the others. I hope it was worth the wait. As promised, there is Trory interaction in this chapter, although it will probably be quite a while before the situation is resolved. The plot that is floating around in my head is rather complex, and I anticipate it turning into a long story. I hope you're all willing to come along for the ride.
Also, for anyone who might actually care, the chapter titles are all quotes from some of my favorite movies. A few of them I have altered slightly to suit my needs.
*"Of all the gin joints" is from Casablanca, which, okay, I've never seen, but it fit the Trory dynamic
*"Someday my Prince will come…" is from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is actually one of my least favorite Disney cartoons, yet I have it on DVD
*"Don't underestimate the power of the Force…" is from Star Wars (duh)
*"You break her heart, I'll break your face…" should actually be "You break his heart, I'll break your face…" from Some Kind of Wonderful
*"And who are you, Jess, the Happiness Guru?" should actually be "And who are you, Jack, the Happiness Guru?" from While You Were Sleeping
*"It was like coming home, only to no home I'd ever known…" is from Sleepless in Seattle (sigh)
Unholy Alliance
by Grace
Part Six: It was like coming home, only to no home I'd ever known…
"Oh, hello, Rory." Tristan's voice was neutral, expressionless.
"So, um, how are you?"
"Fine."
Rory closed her eyes briefly. This was not going well. "Oh. Good. Well, Ryan was telling me that he wasn't sure if you were coming out with us tonight."
On the other end of the line, the normally debonair Tristan DuGrey was struggling to maintain his composure. "Yeah, I'm just not really feeling up to it."
"Oh." He cringed as he heard the disappointment in her voice. "Is there any way I can change your mind?"
"Look, I really don't want to intrude…"
"But you wouldn't be intruding at all! Lane will be there too, and besides…I'd really like to see you."
He didn't respond right away, and she added, "Please, Tristan?"
Damn her. He still couldn't deny her, couldn't resist the plea in her voice. Resigned to his fate, he said, "Okay. I'll be there."
"Yay!" He could hear her clap her hands like a giddy schoolgirl—something, he reflected, she had never actually been. "I'm so glad you're coming! We're going to have so much fun!"
In spite of himself, Tristan couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. "I'm sure we will. I'll see you tonight, Rory."
"Sounds good! 'Bye!"
Hitting the "end" button, he shook his head, marveling at how easily Rory Gilmore could reduce him to an acquiescing moron.
When Rory hung up the phone, Lane grinned at her best friend. "Thank you. I really do appreciate it."
"I know, and you're welcome. Now come on, I want to see the Alice in Wonderland statue!"
"Okay, but then we're heading over to Strawberry Fields."
"Deal."
* * *
Promptly at seven o'clock that night, the phone in Rory and Lane's hotel room rang. Since Lane was in the bathroom, Rory hurried over to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Lorelai? It's Ryan. Tristan and I are in the lobby."
"Oh, good! Lane and I will be down in just a few minutes."
"Great."
Hanging up, Rory called out to her best friend, "Lane, the guys are downstairs!"
"I'll be ready in a minute!" came the muffled reply.
Rory quickly applied a fresh coat of lipstick, slipped on her shoes, and when Lane was ready, the pair headed downstairs.
Standing in the lobby of the opulent hotel, Tristan couldn't help thinking that coming tonight was a mistake. Watching RJ and Rory together was downright masochistic. On top of that, he sensed a matchmaking scheme with this Lane girl. If she was a friend of Rory's, he was certain she was a nice person, but she still wasn't…Rory.
He sighed and fought the urge to run his hand through his hair. Every time he did, he ended up looking vaguely like a Cabbage Patch Kid.
All that stopped mattering when the elevator doors slid open and Rory and an attractive Asian girl whom he assumed to be Lane stepped out. The beauty of the surrounding décor paled in comparison to Rory's radiance. He had always known she was beautiful—he just didn't remember her being this beautiful. The dark blue dress she wore seemed to shimmer in the light, and when she moved, it appeared purple. The form-fitting bodice clung to her curves, and the gauzy knee-length skirt floated and swirled around her shapely legs. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant twist, while a few wispy tendrils framed her face. Her face…it really hadn't changed that much since high school. She was wearing a little more make-up than she ever had at Chilton, but it only served to complement her porcelain complexion, the smoky gray eye shadow accentuating the blueness of her eyes. And when she smiled…oh Lord, when she smiled, he was certain he could die a happy man.
Unfortunately, reality came crashing back when the girls reached them, and Rory went straight to RJ and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Drawing on his DuGrey upbringing, he forced his attention over to Lane. "You must be Lane. I'm Tristan."
Holding out her hand, she replied, "It's nice to meet you, Tristan."
He lifted the proffered hand to his lips, and grazed a kiss across her knuckles. "The pleasure is mine."
He watched her eye him appraisingly, in a way akin to what Louise used to do, but somehow less sinister.
"So you're Tristan. I've heard a lot about you."
He smirked. "Oh really? I'm sure none of it was good."
"Well, Rory certainly never mentioned how handsome you are."
He smiled, and smoothly linked his arm through hers. "Well, she never mentioned to me that she has a beautiful best friend. What do you say we find out what else she hasn't been telling us?"
Lane nodded, and the pair meandered towards the entrance of the hotel.
Meanwhile, Rory and Ryan were getting reacquainted.
"I'm so glad you're here," Ryan said softly.
Rory smiled. "So am I. It all seems sort of like a fairy tale, don't you think?"
"Well, that depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you want me to be your Prince Charming."
"I'm here, aren't I?"
"That you are." He leaned down and brushed a light kiss across her lips. Then he took her by the hand, and they began to follow the path Tristan and Lane had taken.
The sight of her best friend looking so cozy with her former sworn enemy gave Rory pause. Ryan immediately noticed her puzzled look. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just a little…strange, seeing the two of them together."
Now it was his turn to be confused. "I thought this was what you wanted?"
"It was! I mean, it is. I'm really happy that they're getting along. It's just…they belonged to two parts of my life that I generally kept separate."
"Then maybe it's time you brought them together."
"You're probably right," Rory conceded. Still, she couldn't quite shake the twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach…
* * *
They went to dinner at the Rainbow Room. Much to Rory's relief, the conversation between the four of them flowed easily.
"…so then, the doctor comes in and informs the woman that her son is not, in fact, going deaf. She, of course, is outraged that he would so easily dismiss her 'diagnosis,' and demands to know what he thinks it is. He calmly explains to her that the reason her three-year-old son can't hear out of his left ear is because there were several peas stuffed into his ear canal. He then suggested that she 'spend more time keeping an eye on her son and less time pretending to be a doctor.'"
By the time Lane finished yet another story about her medical school misadventures, the entire table was laughing.
"So what made you decide to become a doctor?" asked Tristan.
Lane grimaced. "Well, my mother was always telling me how she hoped I would grow up to marry a nice Korean doctor. I thought that maybe if I became a nice Korean doctor, she'd get off my case about who I should marry."
He chuckled. "So has it worked?"
"Of course not. My mother is determined, to put it mildly. Now that I'm on my own, though, there isn't much she can do."
Tristan removed his napkin from his lap and placed it beside his plate. Standing up and holding out his hand, he inquired, "In that case, would you like to dance?"
Smiling, Lane clasped his hand and said, "Of course."
As they walked away from the table and proceeded to twirl effortlessly around the dance floor, Rory turned to Ryan. "Would you like to?"
He reddened slightly, and shook his head. "I'm really not much of a dancer. I'm sorry, Lorelai."
Disappointed, she simply murmured, "That's alright."
Attempting to lighten the mood, Ryan commented, "I think they make a cute couple, don't you?"
Rory looked over at the pair. Tristan towered over the diminutive dark-haired girl, but she couldn't help noticing how at ease they seemed with one another. Nonetheless, the strange sensation in her stomach persisted. "Yeah. Just adorable."
Out on the dance floor, Tristan was regaling Lane with tales of the havoc he wreaked in high school and college. When he paused to take a breath, she asked, "So how long have you been in love with Rory?"
He nearly stopped dead in his tracks, recovering just enough to only stumble over his feet slightly. "Excuse me?" he sputtered.
"You can tell me the truth, Tristan. I promise I won't spill your secret."
"What makes you think there's a secret to spill?" he inquired in what he hoped was a casual tone.
She rolled her eyes. "Please. You couldn't stop staring at her during dinner, and don't think I didn't catch the look on your face when you first saw her tonight. And Tristan, you're obviously a very good dancer, but you've spun me around more times than a Tilt-a-Whirl at the county fair. Strangely enough, we always seem to stop spinning when you're facing our table and I'm staring directly at this ninety-year-old couple that has started giving me dirty looks."
He at least had the grace to look sheepish. "You caught that, huh?"
She lifted her hand from her waist and poked him in the stomach. "You're lucky I don't get motion sickness. So, spit it out—how long?"
He sighed. "It started when we were sixteen. Every time I would convince myself that I was over her, I'd see her again, and I'd fall for her one more time."
"I take it you haven't broken that cycle yet."
He snorted. "What, you think it's a coincidence that I managed to avoid her for nine years?"
"That's the part I don't understand. You're an intelligent, attractive, charming man. Some might even say cocky. Why not just ask her out?"
"Trust me, she would have said no. She did say no. I guess I just finally learned my lesson."
"If you had really learned your lesson, you wouldn't be staring at her over the shoulder of the gorgeous young Asian doctor you happen to be dancing with," she commented dryly.
Tristan blushed. "I'm sorry, Lane. Maybe we should go sit down for a while."
"Okay. Just try to refrain from drooling all over that lovely Hermés tie you're wearing."
"I'll do my best."
The song that Lane and Tristan had been dancing to ended as they sat back down, and then the soft strains of "Tenderly" began to fill the room.
"Rory, it's your song!" Lane said excitedly. "You should go dance."
Rory glanced quickly over at Ryan, then shook her head. "No, that's okay."
"Oh, not much of a dancer?" Lane asked sympathetically of Ryan. Not waiting for an answer, she rushed on. "Tristan, you should dance with her!"
He shot her a look that would have killed a lesser woman. How could she do this? It was on the tip of his tongue to decline, but then he noticed the way Rory's eyes had brightened, the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Obviously, the song meant something to her.
Rising from his chair, he reached for her. "It would be my honor."
Within seconds, they were on the dance floor. He nearly groaned at how perfectly they fit together. Her tiny hand was engulfed in his, the creamy skin like silk. In her three-inch heels, the difference in their heights became negligible, and he found himself gazing directly into her sparkling eyes. He inhaled the delicate floral of her perfume, and felt contentment thrum through his veins. Unlike Lane, with whom he had maintained a steady stream of conversation throughout their dance, Rory was completely entranced by the song. He let himself drift deeper into the blue pools of her eyes, and just listened…
The evening breeze
Caressed the trees tenderly
The trembling trees
Embraced the breeze tenderly
Then you and I came wandering by
And lost in a sigh were we
The shore was kissed by sea
And mist tenderly
I can't forget how two hearts
Met breathlessly
Your arms opened wide
And closed me inside
You took my lips
You took my love so tenderly
To be continued…
"Tenderly" written by Walter Gross and Jack Lawrence. Lyrics used without permission. No copyright infringement intended.