Disclaimers and summary: See chapter one.

The seventh stranger
Chapter 11: Some days are strange to number

Rory felt like a nervous wreck as she tried to get ready for her date. After she tried on almost every outfit in her closet but hadn't found theoutfit that would make her look like she wanted to she let herself fall on the floor in a sitting position. Her back was resting against her bed, and she growled and screamed, "I need my mommy now! How pathetic can I be? I'm a twenty-two year old girl going on a date and I need my mommy to dress me up! I should proba…"

She was interrupted by a soft knock on the door, followed by a muffled voice from the other side. "Rory, is it safe if I come in?"

Rory sighed, "Come in Gab!"

Upon entering the room, Gabrielle looked shocked and asked as she sat on the floor beside Rory, "I wasn't aware of an earthquake or tornado in the dorm."

Rory glared at Gabrielle, "Ha Ha" then she looked sad and pouted, "I have nothing to wear!"

Gabrielle looked at the amount of clothes on the bed and smiled as she realized what the problem was, "Who's the lucky guy?"

Rory looked at Gabrielle while she raised an eyebrow, "As if your brother didn't tell you, if I ever get dressed!"

Gabrielle smirked and a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes, "Don't worry about getting dressed for my brother, I'm sure he'll like anything you wear. I'm also sure her would prefer nothing at all!"

Rory grabbed a bundle of clothes from the bed and dumped it on Gabrielle's head. "Like I would ever get naked with Tristan! Yeah, right!"

"Come on Rory! You know he wants it and from the way I've seen you kiss him, I know you want it to! What's the harm?"

Rory blushed as she screamed, "But it's only our first date!"

Gabrielle stopped laughing and looked closely at Rory, her burning cheeks, the way her eyes didn't meet with hers. Finally she understood, "You never… you're still… you…"

"No! I did! Just never random or too soon in the relationship. It's just that I need feelings to… you know. Yeah, I know, pathetic! Twenty-two years old, a Yale graduate who needs her mama to dress her for a date, which's never had random sex, and about to go out on a date with a gigolo playboy who must have slept with at least a thousand girls and she somehow fooled herself into thinking she was somehow different than his other prey."

Gabrielle laughed, "But you are different and that's why he's interested in you! By the way, he's not that much of a gigolo as you call him. He always preferred a lot of making out to the actual sex."

Now, it was Rory's turn to laugh, she laughed so hard under Gabrielle's amused grin that tears fell from her eyes, "I'm not going to buy that! Tristan a virgin? Never" Rory almost bit her tongue as she remembered his confidence.

Gabrielle saw the shadow across Rory's face and she whispered, "I didn't say he never did it, I'm just saying that he didn't do it with every girl he kissed."

"Why not?"

"He's always been scared of STD or pierced condom that lead to unwanted pregnancy. Now, let's stop talking about my dear brother's sex life because that is something I never want to have details on, and let's get you dressed. Formal or casual?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask."

"Then, we'll go semi-formal and semi-casual…"

&&&

Tristan parked his Porsche in front of the little bar where Dean worked with the hope that he was working shifts every Saturday night. He entered the little bar; he was disappointed not to see him. He walked to the counter and asked a guy who was whipping the counter, "Excuse-me, is Dean working tonight?"

"Yeah, he's in the back, I'll call him."

The minute Dean opened the backdoor, he saw Tristan sitting at the counter, an anxious look covering his features. Dean walked up to Tristan, "A little early to be drinking, don't you think?"

Tristan raised his eyes and smiled at Dean, "I'm not here to drink tonight."

Dean crossed his arms across his chest, his usually joyous face looked mad, "Then if you came to talk about how great you and Rory are, I don't want to hear about it."

Tristan flinched slightly at the tone in his voice. Defensively, he shook his head from left to right before saying, "I know I used to be a jerk but I'm not cruel you know!" Then thinking over his words, "Well, maybe I was. But it's not why I'm here. I came to ask you something."

Interested, Dean took a more relaxed position and bent a little over the counter, "I don't know what you could possibly want to know but go ahead."

Tristan asked, "Do you have a lawyer?"

To say that Dean was stunned was an understatement. "Why would you care? But to inform you I have one, a really cheap one that drinks a little too much, but a cheap one. Again, tell me why do you care?"

"I care because you saved my life last week."

"And there it goes again! I thought you said you weren't cruel, why do you have to rub it in that you now have Rory?"

Calmly, Tristan tried to reason with Dean, "Well, let's set things straight, I don't have Rory as you say it because she's not a possession. Then I'm not even sure that she likes me that way. As for last week, yes, the fact that you called Rory saved my life but not because I got to see her since she's rooming with my sister. You saved me because you listened and called her instead of letting me drive in the shape I was in. If I would have drove, I wasn't even standing straight; surely I would have killed myself or someone else. In the better case I would have gotten arrested and lost my license. This is why I want to help you."

Dean listened carefully, quietly he asked, "Help me with what? Get Rory back? Impossible. Fix my life? Impossible. Now tell me what you want."

"I want to become your lawyer."

"I think I need a beer!" Dean turned and opened the fridge containing the beers. He took one out, closed the door. Then opened the door again, took another beer out and without uncapping them, brought them both with him to the counter, near Tristan. "I couldn't pay you. I'm broke; I went to the cheap lawyers. You're rich; you must work for a big firm. How can I ever repay you without putting my future on a loan?"

Dean uncapped a beer and gave it to Tristan who didn't touch it, and then he uncapped the second one and put it in front of him. Tristan looked at the beers thinking 'Champagne of the poor' then said, "That's the beauty of it, I'm free for you. No charge and you'll get the best representation that there is!"

Dean looked at his beer, and still not touching it, he asked, "How many lawsuits have you won?"

Tristan smirked, "None, but I also haven't lost one. I'm just starting."

Dean pushed his beer a little bit aside, his hopes shattered by ten words. "How can I know you can help me then?"

Tristan held the beer in his hand without drinking it. "I graduated in the top one percent in Princeton's class of 2007. We would help each other, I'll help you get a life back, and you'll help me get a reputation. It's a win-win situation."

Dean brought the beer closer to him but left it alone after thinking a bit, "How can I tell if it's just a way to get in Rory's pants by helping her ex-boyfriend?"

Tristan closed his eyes, when he opened them; Dean could see old pains inside the mirror Tristan's eyes reflected. Tristan whispered, "I'm not doing this for Rory. I'm doing this for me."

Dean held his beer for a second before putting it back on the counter, "What about Rory then?"

Tristan dropped his head on the counter, closed his eyes to whisper, "I want her. That's where we might disagree."

Dean thought about Lindsay and Rory. He looked at Tristan, his head resting on his arms, looking like a lost little boy. Dean's heart broke when he said, "She was never mine, not really, but she was so weird that it attracted me. She was able to read a book while a fight was going on right in front of her and she was oblivious to it all. One day when I was sixteen, I thought, if this amazing creature can see me then I'll be blessed." Tristan raised his head to look at Dean. "But when I saw you at the winter formal, I saw you as a threat and became jealous. I became her boyfriend that night because I was the first boy who ever had the nerve to fight for her. You were the second one and that's why I hated you so damn much."

Tristan took the beer in front of him and raised it, "And I hated you because you had her, and then you let go the most amazing person I had met, for a reason unknown to me. That night, when Rory and I were both broken hearted, I hated you so much because you'd hurt her but at the same time, I thought I had a chance. Boy, was I wrong, because you came to Chilton to get her back, you both killed me when she chose you."

Dean raised his beer, "So what will it be? Us fighting for Rory, or us fighting for my rights?"

Tristan brought his beer close to Dean's without touching it, "I want to help you because that's what I want to do; help people. At the same time, I don't want Rory to become a problem between us but I won't give up on her. For over a year, she was my light, the one girl that didn't want to give me the time of day. But at the same time, she was the one who always witnessed my downfalls and was there to try to ease the pain. If she's willing to give me a chance, I won't be stupid and run away."

Dean knocked his beer with Tristan. They both took a sip of it before Dean said, "Go for it if you have a chance to have her. Just…just don't tell me about it."

Tristan took another sip of his beer before he stood up while he slipped his card to Dean, "I'm expecting you in my office Monday morning at ten. Now, I'll go catch my rainbow."

Tristan got up fully intending to leave when Dean asked, "Why your 'rainbow'?"

A sad smile covered Tristan's face, "The unattainable, and the illusion of perfection that always shimmers away when I get closer."