Title: The ultimate curve ball

Author: Joy

A/N: From the reviews the last paragraph from the last chapter was a huge hit. I am glad you enjoyed it. Its funny only one of you mentioned the OTH reference. Did most of you miss it? If so, go back and read the last chapter again to find it, if you are so inclined.

15. Rory's insecurity

Just then back at the ranch...oh wait this isn't a western...my mistake.

The grand design was shaping up nicely. Of course three major things were still inevitable before the day was done: Rory would freak, Tristan would wait, and Logan would woo. Hopefully in that order. Anything else would be disastrous.

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Right on schedule Rory reacted as she was bound to. She looked at Tristan with a huge question in mind, "Why are you trusting me at all? You have no guarantee I am going to pick you. You have no proof I am going to stick around. You know I have a 'flee' mentality. How do you know I am at all worth it? Why are you still here?" Silently asking, 'When are you going to leave me too?'

Tristan cupped Rory's face with his palm and stroked her cheek, "Most people don't get a second chance at something truly amazing. I'm not gonna pass it up out of fear... You're right. I have no reason to trust you with my heart but that doesn't mean I won't. This is a leap of faith... You're worth the risk."

Rory looked at him for a long time before her eyes start leaking tears. She didn't whimper or sob, she just cried.

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"Did you know my mom was engaged to Mr. Medina?" she asked out of left field.

Tristan looked at her curiously, "Ah...no...I didn't. I knew that they were supposedly dating, but..."

" Mr. Medina... Max...he was great. I loved having him around. He loved my mom and me so much. He was like a real dad...He wanted to be my dad." She paused, "But mom wasn't looking forward to getting married. She didn't make room for him in our lives. The first night he stayed over she came into my room in the middle of the night to sleep. At her bachelorette party instead of calling Max she called my dad, Chris. She tried to play it off as an act of drinking, but it wasn't. Right before the wedding one night she came in my room and told me to pack... that we were going on a road trip. After a little questioning she finally said she wasn't marrying him. It wasn't that she was scared, it was that he wasn't right for her. It wasn't until a few months later she realized why."

Tristan stroked Rory's hair, trying to get her to continue. "Why wasn't it right?" he asked softly.

"Christopher Hayden," she said as if that explained everything.

Rory's big blue tear filled eyes gazed at Tristan, "My father isn't a bad man, just an irresponsible one."

Tristan had no idea where this was going but realized it was important.

"One day he drove out to see Mom and I in Stars Hollow. He had never been there before. I was sixteen and my father had never been to my hometown. I was so excited... but the truth was he was there to try to convince my mom to marry him. He loves me... but mainly as a byproduct of her...That's not true. He loves me...I just never seemed to be important enough to him to really stick around... Anyway he started getting his act together and moved to Boston so I saw him more but he had this serious girlfriend, Sherry, who did not fit him at all. She had awful taste in music...actually so did Mr. Medina."

"Musical taste is a requirement amongst the Gilmore's?"

"Yes...and Hayden's...but I'm not finished yet."

"Fine you can grade my music collection later," Tristan said with a sweet smile.

Rory smiled a moment then sighed, "Dad started wooing Mom from a far again and when Sherry was out of the picture he actively pursued Mom. They were so happy and I was happy for them. Dad asked me about becoming part of our family...I had waited my whole life for my parents to get together and on the day it happened he found out his old girlfriend was pregnant. Suddenly we took a backseat again. He didn't love this woman but he didn't want to miss it again so he went off to be someone else's father. I even said that to him to hurt him... I didn't speak to him for a long while...but once Gigi was born we tried again. Eventually Sherry left Dad with the baby because he was never around. Now can you guess whom he called for help when that happened?" she asked sarcastically.

"Lorelai?" Tristan answered.

Rory's speech became more emotional and slightly less coherent, "That's right, Mom. He and I got in this huge fight about him seeing mom...then his dad died...the grandfather that always hated me for existing...and...later Dad screwed things up for mom and Luke...Luke, the guy who was my surrogate father for the latter part of my life. It just has never failed that my dad would show up for a while and then leave just as suddenly. There was always an excuse but..."

Rory swallowed and looked at Tristan pleading with him to understand, "That is the model of relationships that I have seen...Mom waiting for Dad to get it together only to have him blow it in the last inning each and every game. She finally moves on and Dad is back again to screw it up... I don't know how to trust guys because of it. I don't believe what they say or have a clue how to deal."

"I don't have the greatest track record either. I mean dated Dean but couldn't say I love you so we broke up. Then there was the weirdness that I had with you. Then I hurt you and got back with Dean. Then I hurt you some more to stay with Dean, and you left. Meanwhile Jess shows up to try to woo me away from Dean. I cheated with Jess, then left the state so I didn't have to deal with it. Jess was dating someone else when I got back. Dean got tired of being jerked around and dumped me again. Jess and I started dating within a couple hours, which was not the best idea. The whole relationship was not the best idea. Finally Jess up and left Stars Hollow without saying goodbye. I go to college and don't date because I'm an idiot. Dean marries Lindsay. Jess comes back after almost a year and tells me he loves me but then immediately gets in his car and leaves. Dean and I start hanging out again even though Lindsay asked him not to see me. Eventually Jess comes back a second time to ask me to come to NY with him and I said no...which was the last I heard of him. Then things with Dean head in a more romantic / physical way even though he was married. I let that happen. I believed him when he said things were over, even though he went home to her...she answered his cell phone...After breaking up his marriage we tried to date but that didn't work. And now I am involved with the biggest player on campus in a not exclusive relationship. What the hell does that tell you?" she groaned with tears leaking from her eyes.

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Tristan had never seen Rory broken before. He knew her shyness, her innocence, her frustration, her pain, and her anger, even her embarrassment...but he had never seen this level of desperation in her voice or in her eyes. It finally hit him just what was at stake for her to trust him. To trust him meant to let go of all of these things, all of the fears she voiced. He had known dating Logan was easy because she didn't give him her heart but to love Tristan her heart would very much be on the table. He finally knew for certain that the time he spent becoming the man he wanted to be for her was completely validated. He could be who she needed, he could be the one to prove to her that love mattered, he could be the one to be her safe haven.

Tristan raised his hand to her cheek and stroked it lightly with his thumb. "It tells me that you want and need a guy that isn't gonna screw up in the last inning. It tells me that you want to be loved, but you don't really know how," he whispered to her.

"Right...and now I am sitting here with you and you are saying all the right things and I have the chance at something amazing and I am terrified to reach out and take it," she growled frustrated at her own weakness.
He petted her hair briefly and took her chin in hand, "I can't promise I won't hurt you, because that would be an empty promise. Whenever you are in a relationship you end up hurting the other person...but I can promise that I will be faithful because I know I can do that. I can promise to do my best to with honoring the trust you place in me. And I can promise without a doubt that I am not going to bail on you with things get hard. I have spent years sorting out my feelings for you...carry a torch for you...I don't see that changing anytime soon."
Rory leaned in and kissed Tristan for all he was worth. And with that kiss she took a leap of faith even if she didn't know it. (She would need to see Logan before she could recognize the decision she had made. That confrontation was coming, sooner than later.)

TBC...

Next chapter: Rory sees the stooges.

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