Disclaimers and summary: See chapter one.

The seventh Stranger
Chapter 5: Walking away like a stranger

Rory sat in her suite in Yale with unsurprisingly, Paris who was still her roommate and another girl who was a freshman but she seemed pretty cool. They were trying to get to know each other even though it was probably a mistake from the administration to room undergraduate students with graduates. Paris however was trying her best to scare the new girl away. It was four in the afternoon and Lorelai was expected to arrive for the continuation of the first day in Yale tradition that started when Rory was a freshman. Paris was still trying her best to intimidate the freshman girl named Felicity when the door opened to reveal Gabrielle. She was taken by surprise by the gathering that was already happening in her suite and double checked the number of the suite before saying, "I'm sorry to intrude but I'm your new suitemate..." She approached the sitting girls and resumed her talking, "...I'm Gabrielle…"

She was cut off by Rory who got up and extended her hand while she exclaimed, "You're the lost girl I'd met in London! I'm Rory, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Gabrielle smiled when she realized Rory was in fact the girl from London but her smile quickly faded as she blenched with recognition, associating the name with the face. Felicity took notice of the new comer's blankness and stood up to help Gabrielle sit down before she asked with eyes full of worry, "Are you feeling alright? You're not going to pass out here, are you?"

Gabrielle switched her gaze from Rory to Felicity before she replied reasoning to 'sherself that there was probably more than one Rory in the world, "I… It's complicated… It's probably nothing… I… I…"

Tristan entered without looking and interrupted Gabrielle's explanation while he carried tons of suitcases, "Gab, you really need to learn how live with less than all the stuff you brought here!" When he didn't hear any answers, he took a moment to look at the four girls sitting together. Gabrielle as white as a ghost, Paris with a smile slowly creeping on her features, an unknown girl doing her best to comfort Gabrielle but watching him with her mouth hanging and finally Rory, slowly losing all the color in her face.

Rory opened her mouth to say something but was cut offby Paris, "Well things are just starting to spice up and it's only the first day. I think, I'll enjoy this year immensely and put aside the macaroni crafting for now! By the way, how's life been treating you Tristan?"

Tristan was at a lost for words and tried to force his brain to focus. Focus on what? On Paris the vixen that also tried to hurt to get her way or on sweet Rory Gilmore that saw him crying like a mad man? What could he say to lessen the damage? He asked the first thing that came to his mind, "So girls, tell me," he dropped the bags leisurely to lean on the door frame, "who played Romeo after I left?"

The tension broke a little bit as Rory told him with a smile, "You don't know how much you owe me for that night! I would have preferred to kiss you any day of the week instead of kissing Paris"

Offended, Paris's face abnormally flushed and she replied, "For your knowledge Gilmore, it was for a grade and I certainly did not take any pleasure in kissing you!"

Tristan smirked and leered at Rory, "I would have."

Rory's eyes met Tristan's intense gaze and she felt her cheeks grow warm, to hide her embarrassment, she walked over to him and hugged him tightly. Instinctively, Tristan held her tightly against him as she whispered in his ear, "I'm glad you feel better than the last time I saw you."

He let go of Rory, and searched her beautiful blue eyes that silently questioned him but Paris broke the moment as she was now standing beside them, taping her foot impatiently on the floor, "Can I have my hug too now?"

Rory took a few steps back to let Paris replace her position inside Tristan's arms and she saw his pleading eyes begging for silence.

&&&

Rory walked inside her room to retrieve a CD that her mother requested. Tristan followed her silently and made her jump as he asked softly, "What was it you really wanted to ask me?"

She turned around to face him and replied uncomfortably as she realized the closeness of his body, "I.. hum… I was wondering… hum…"

Tristan snapped impatiently, "Say it! You've been looking at me weirdly all night and since Gabrielle is in the same suite as you, we're going to see each other a lot. I don't want things to be weirder between the two of you than it has to be. Now, ask me what you wanted to know"

She looked at the floor to hide her embarrassment as her cheek flushed slightly. Rory gathered the strength to ask him what had been bothering her ever since she saw him in London. "Let's say that when you said goodbye, if Dean hadn't been standing looking at us, what would you have done?"

Tristan quirked an eyebrow completely stunned by her question, he had expected her to ask for an explanation of his behavior in London not what would have happened without Dean. He searched Rory's eyes to be certain his hearing was still fully functioning all the while maintaining his mask of coldness. However he saw innocent turquoise eyes questioning him with sincerity and his control flickered as he took a step toward Rory and slide his hands slowly around her waist leaving her plenty of time to back away from him. His hands found a resting place on her lower back, his hypnotizing gaze never leaving her's, he whispered, "This."

He saw her eyes cloud with confusion just before his lips met hers in a crushing kiss and brought her closer to him as a little yelp of surprise escaped her lips giving him the opportunity to penetrate her mouth. To his surprise, Rory responded to the kiss with equal fervor while her hands massaged the muscles of his stomach and explored their way up leading to the nape of his neck for her fingers to mingle with his hairs. Neither of them had seen Gabrielle approach the open door to lean on it, watching them with an amused smile. Tristan broke the kiss held her tighter and whispered, "That's what I would have done."

Rory rested her head on his shoulder and sighed, "What about Gabrielle?"

He played with her hair distractedly, "What about her?"

"Well, I saw you crying in London, a couple of days later I met her while she was sight seeing houses, lost. I gave her directions and I don't want to have tension between the two of you because I asked you about something that was on my mind six years ago."

He tensed and stopped his hands from moving, "Let's not talk about London."

She forced him to look at her, "But I saw you, you were like a lost little boy."

Tristan removed his hands from her and pushed her away from him. He took a couple of steps back angry, "I don't want to talk about that night and I mean it."

She felt the loss of heat from his arms and body and said, "I want to help you, isn't that what friends are for?"

Tristan looked into her eyes without saying anything for a couple of minutes while controlling his anger. Finally, his glance as cold as ice, his voice soft but sharp as a knife, he spitted out, "We were never friends, Rory. To be friends you have to at least try to know the other person and you know nothing about me. You never did and I surely don't want your pity like I never wanted to be your friend."

Tears threatened to fall from Rory's eyes as she pleaded, "But we did try to be friends! Plus you don't know any more about me than I do about you."

A half smile acrossed his face, his eyes grey with exemption of emotions and he asked sarcastically, "Then, tell me my dear friend, what do you know about me?"

She fidgeted with her fingernails and bit her lower lip, "That you are rich and spoiled, that every girl wants to be with you because of that and because you're good looking. That something must be wrong for you to do stupid things when you have everything going for you. That you probably don't have a good relationship with your parents…"

Tristan pushed a finger to her lips, "That's rich that's exactly what everyone knows. That is not knowing someone. Knowing someone is knowing what everybody else doesn't know "

He took a couple of steps back to leave but he heard her frustrated yell, "Then what do you know about me?"

Tristan stopped and stood still for a minute before he replied softly, "I know that you're odd and smart, that you have this incredible relationship with your mom and that you don't want to hurt people intentionally even if you do most of the time. I know that you don't care about what other people say or think about you and that keeps you innocent. I know that your town is weird but worships you in their weirdness, that when you love someone you can go to extremes and forget about your whereabouts. I also know that when you despise someone, you will only see the worst in that person. I know that I don't want to be your pity case and that I don't want your friendship" Tristan stormed out of the room, passed by Gabrielle not the least surprised that she was there, not caring that his heart shattered by Rory's cry, not caring for anything in the world.

&&&

Out in the hallway, he was stopped by Gabrielle screaming at him, "Can you be a bigger jerk sometimes Tristan? Why would you hurt someone like that on your own will I don't know but you're such a jerk!" He heard the door of the suite close and saw the empty hallway, he sat down and hid his face between his hands.

&&&

Rory was pouring her heart out on her pillow, not remembering a time when someone had been so harsh to her. She didn't hear the door open nor did she hear it close, but she felt a soft hand stroking her hair tenderly and heard a sweet voice telling her, "He's not usually like that, he had a rough month. I do know everything about you and he didn't mean half of what he said."

Rory whipped her tears away, uncaring of the new ones and asked, "Why aren't you broken hearted? Isn't he your boyfriend after all?"

Gabrielle laughed and couldn't control herself. After she calmed down a bit, she said, "I'm sorry about that but he's right you know, you just know what everybody knows about him." She saw Rory open her mouth about to protest and hurriedly added. "He's not my boyfriend, of course he's the man I care the most about in the whole wide world but that's because he's my big brother."

&&&

Tristan stood up and walked toward his car, walking away from Gabrielle, Rory and Paris without saying goodbye.

&&&

Walking away like a stranger

From rumors in the wake of such a lonely crowd trading in my shelter for danger

&&&

Rory ran across the parking lot and saw a car driving away, she screamed with all her strength, "Tristan! Tristan wait! Let's talk about it!" The silver Porsche sped away.

&&&

I'm changing my name just as the sun goes down in the eyes of the stranger