Rory awoke to the door slamming and her mother crying, "Honey, I'm home. Shower than Luke's.," loudly. She groaned and rolled over …and met flesh. Warm, golden, boy flesh. Rory sat up with a start and stared, panic-stricken, at Tristan's unclothed body stretched across the bed. Her bed. The bed in her room in her house, the house her mother had just entered.

"Tristan," Rory hissed while she shoved at the boy's shoulder.

"Rory what the hell-" Tristan was cut off as Rory clamped her hand over his mouth.

"Ssh," She motioned furiously while putting one finger to her lips and giving him a death glare.

Even beneath her hand, Rory could feel Tristan begin to smirk.

Tristan, still heavy with sleep, only noticed how cute Rory looked when she was angry. He fixed her with a sultry glare and jerked his head so that her hand was no longer suffocating him.

"So you want to play rough Gilmore?" Tristan jeered quietly.

Rory's glare bored into his head and she whispered, almost mouthing the words, "my mother is in the house."

Rory was happy to note a twinge of fear entered Tristan's eyes. Even he was wise enough to not want to encounter her mother in his current state.

Tristan mouthed the word, "where?" at Rory. She pointed to the ceiling signaling upstairs and suddenly the color paled from her face.

"What?" Tristan mouthed.

"your car. She has to have seen your car." Rory almost whimpered.

Tristan suddenly felt incredibly lucky.

"I parked down the street."

"what?"

"I didn't park in front of the house. I was going to, well I almost did. But as I was pulling up, I hit something…I hit a garden gnome. Someone had lined them up out there, right by the street, and it was dark. I couldn't see the damn thing. Anyway I didn't know who to tell and I didn't want to be around to talk to the owner so I moved my car way farther down the street," Tristan whispered with a note of elation in his voice.

To his surprise Rory didn't look relieved. In fact a worried frown was marring her face.

"You hit a gnome."

"yeah. It was an accident."

"Tristan," she sighed, "Babette loves those gnomes. They are like her children. You have no idea how hard she will take this."

Tristan let out a breathe of impatience.

"Rory, I think you might be possibly missing the bigger picture here."

"which is, gnome killer?"

"that we are a few minutes from your mother catching me in your bed naked, that if I hadn't hit the gnome your mother would already know that I spent the entire night here-alone with you and she would charge in here, again seeing me in your bed-naked."

"oh. Yeah. TRISTAN, you have to leave now. Now. Now" Rory hustled him out of her bed, the urgency of the situation catching up with her.

Tristan smiled.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about the gnome a little more?"

"You are unbearable."

"you love me for it."

"love is a strong word."

"yeah and some of the other noises you were making last night were pretty strong too."

"Tristan," Rory said, looking down and deeply flushing.

He chuckled at the sight of her, unabashedly naked in front of him and yet blushing at his words.

He slipped on his pants and went to the door to leave, Rory followed behind him.

He crept onto the porch and turned around to her, "so I guess…I'll see you at school."

Rory turned upstairs making sure her mom wasn't near approaching.

"Yeah. And Tristan,"

"Yeah?"

"Break up with Cassidy." Her tone brooked no argument.

Tristan smiled as her benevolently, "we were never together Rory."

Rory quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Really. We were just friends, she knew that from the beginning. I only let you think it because it pissed you off so much."

Rory stopped herself from saying anything else, she knew the younger girl definitely had feelings for Tristan but she certainly wasn't going to argue her case.

"well you better go," Rory whispered casting another furtive glance behind her.

"Yeah," Tristan said and with that he turned and started down the steps.

Rory watched his back with a sense of worry.

"Hey boyfriend," She called out.

Tristan turned around and fixed her with a smile, "yeah?"

She smiled back.

"Nothing, just making sure."