Claim: I own Bella, Ryan and maybe a few short scene characters…

Sum it up: "I never cared that much," Rory stubbornly retorted, and watched as he sauntered out of her life…again.

Mental notes:

flash backs will be represented in italic

Less dialogue than most of my stories

More happened during Rory's time at Yale

I love Trory )

Warning: Short chapters…

Feedback: would be beautiful

"Rory…"

She froze in place, hoping her feeble mind was playing tricks on her.

But- of course it wasn't…

She stood up, facing the person who whispered her name in such an incredulous tone. "Tristan," she managed, and her little girl hooked an arm around one of her legs.

"Mommy, he's nice," the miniature voice said, smiling up at her.

He was the man that spoke to her at the counter…

"Who is he Mommy?" The little girl asked, her blue eyes narrowing just a bit.

And there he was …

Standing two feet in front of me

With the saddest look on his face

His eyes begging me to tell him that it's not what it looks like

But I can't

Because it is what it looks like

And suddenly his calm and collected manner, doesn't seem so calm and collected

When silence formed between the small space between them- Tristan scratched the back of his neck in the most uncomfortable way, and smiled down at the small girl. "I'm Tristan, an old friend of your mothers." It was almost too hard to say those words as he extended a soft hand to shake the smaller one.

She stepped forward, accepting his big hand in her small one, and beamed. "My name is Isabella, but no one calls me that."

He reached out to touch her soft brown hair- instinctively- and nodded. "What does everyone call you?"

"Bella…or munchkin," she shrugged, "my Daddy calls me sweetie."

Rory stood wordlessly, and listened to the small talk between her daughter and…Tristan. She shivered as a chill ran up her spine, and bit her lip. Yup, fate was really cruel.

Tristan straightened out, "okay, well I'm going to call you peanut, is that okay with you?"

"Yes," the little girl blushed, and smiled, "and I'll call you Tristy!"

Tristan laughed, and managed to gather up the strength to look at Rory…His Mary…

Married and with a child

And suddenly he was wondering if she had only one

He was wondering how many other things he didn't know about her

"Hey," he whispered in the softest of tones.

"Hey," she did the same, averting her eyes to a spot on the floor. "What brings you here so early?"

He shifted, and couldn't hide the hurt in his voice. "We were supposed to meet for coffee…"

"Oh," she reddened at this, embarrassed to have forgotten such a thing, "I'm sorry, I forgot."

"But you're here anyway…" He noted, and fought with his heart, managing a sly smile. "So, we should just act like it was remembered, and join each other for coffee anyway."

"Yeah," she looked up into his eyes, and smiled, "that would be nice."

Bella beamed happily, and made her way to a booth in the back of the café.

As they sat down Tristan to his Danish out of his bag, and set it down on the table.

The little girls' eyes lit up as she tugged on her mothers' shirt. "Mommy, Tristy likes Danishes just like me!"

Rory couldn't help but break at the sound of excitement in her daughters voice, smiling she said, "See, I told you that you weren't alone."

Tristan got up from the table and made his way over to the counter, coming back with two more Danishes in his hand and a coffee for Rory. He handed one of the Danishes to Bella, and laughed as she smiled brightly.

Rory couldn't help but feel freaked out by this turn of events…

Meanwhile…

Lorelai groaned as the phone rang, and ran over to get it.

'Lo?'

'Lorelai…'

'Sweetie, how are you? I was afraid you would never call again.'

'I need to talk…'

She could hear the pain in his voice, and nodded. 'Meet me at Lukes' in a couple hours?'

'Sounds great,' he replied, and hung up the phone.

She sighed, and cradled her four year old in her arms. "You really need to stop being lazy Lori; I think I'm starting to get arthritis."

2 hours later…

"You look amazing," Lorelai greeted Tristan, wrapping her arms around his muscular frame.

He closed his eyes and let her embrace comfort him. "You look even better than you did five years ago."

"What can I say," she said and pulled away from him to look into his eyes, "a Gilmore is just like wine."

He chuckled, and sat down. "So, how's everything?"

"I would say fine," She shrugged, and let a small smile play on her lips, "But fine is a word we use when we don't really want to talk about it…and I do, so I'm okay."

Luke made his way out of the back of the diner and he laughed. "Tristan Dugrey," his voice was warm and happy, "wow!"

Tristan stood up- in order to give the man an honest greeting. Smiling, he shook the older mans hand- and as both men broke out into laughter- Luke pulled him into a manly hug. "It's good to see you."

"I feel the same," Tristan smiled, honest in his reply. For a while Luke was like a second father to him…Shoot- Luke practically was his father. And although at first Luke was a little cautious around him- the two bonded quickly.

Lorelai watched in awe, remembering how close the two were before Tristan left. Her smile turned into a frown at the thought, and she closed her eyes sadly.

"How have you been," Luke slapped him on the shoulder. "You've grown."

"Yeah," Tristan said proudly, "a little."

Before the men could tap into details of their passing years, Kirk walked in the diner, and Luke sighed.

"We could catch up later," Tristan smiled reassuringly, "I'm not going anywhere for a while."

Luke returned the smile and then went over to deal with Kirk, who was sulking.

Tristan sat back down at the table, and took Lorelais' hand in his, "How's Lori?"

Shock clouded her features, and her eyebrows arched, "How do you know about Lori?"

Tristan shrugged, "I kept in touch with Luke here and there over the past years."

Lorelai looked almost hurt, "and no 'Hi- Lorelai!'. No one cares about me."

Tristan took her hand again, "I didn't want Rory to know, and I didn't know you two were having…difficulties."

Lorelai just gave a soft nod, and said, "Lori is so big, I don't know how to put up with the rascal. She's wild, and loud- nothing like Rory when she was a baby. But she looks just like her, and sometimes it hurts."

Tristan sighed, "What happened between you?"

"She chose him," she said simply, tears beginning to fill her eyes and a sad smile forming on her lips. "She grew up."

Tristan shook his head, "I don't understand…It just…"

She placed a finger over his trembling lips. "Do you know about Bella?"

He nodded softly, pain filling his eyes. "She's beautiful."

"Yeah," Lorelai forced the tears back that were begging to fall. "She must be so big."

"She's small," He chuckled softly, "like a peanut, but she's so smart. And she looks so much like you."

She couldn't stop the tears that cascaded down her cheeks, "does she? That's the same thing my mother said a couple years ago."

"Identical," he smiled, and knew he was making her feel a little better, "and she has this confidence that is all you."

She shook her head…

If he only knew

He raised an eyebrow, "well, she didn't get it from Rory."

She laughed, and wanted to hear more. "When did you see her?"

"Early this morning," he whispered, "at a café in Hartford."

"She calls me Tristy," he smiled, "like you called me once upon a time."

Lorelai could hear the tears in his voice.

"You okay?" She asked, gripping his hand tightly.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "No…I don't know."

Lorelai gave an understanding nod

"Bella is just so beautiful, and so full of life," he paused, collecting his thoughts, and let a single tear roll down his cheek; "I look at Rory and don't see that in her anymore."

"They always say that girls take their mother's beauty," Lorelai joked- half heartedly.

"I just can't believe Rory would…"

Suddenly Lorelai was feeling that Tristan didn't deserve being on the outside of things. "She's yours you know…" she cut him off, and he stared at her incredulously.

"Huh?"

"Bella…she's yours."

Done…with the chapter (lol)

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