AN: I know, it's been a while, but I should be back and keeping up now

Brian looked at Rory and saw a look in her eyes that he'd never seen before. She looked like a child who just lost her puppy – she was about to cry but something was holding on. He didn't know what to do about the situation, Rory kissed Tristan and that was all there was to it.

"How could you…"

"I don't know, Brian. I just had this impulse and it happened; Lane said it was the only way I would know how I feel."

"So you've been having feelings for Tristan?"

"I didn't think about it until you said it yesterday, you got me thinking"

"I pushed you into his arms."

"It's not like that."

"Then what?"

Rory had nothing to say, she had no way to defend herself anymore. She wasn't sure if Brian really pushed her into Tristan's arms or if the feeling had always been there. Rory looked at Brian, she was truly sorry, but there was nothing she could do to fix anything. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be with Tristan, but she couldn't lie to Brian about how she felt. Their relationship was going to have to end…again. Rory wanted to be with Brian, but not enough to cover the feelings she was discovering for Tristan.

Brian didn't want to sit there and look at her anymore, so he made the first move to stand up and walk out of the coffee shop. Rory watched him walk away, but knew there was nothing she could do to get him to stop. She wanted him to stay; she wanted him to tell her that everything was going to be fine between them. The truth was nothing was going to be right between them with the new feelings she'd realized that she had for Tristan.

Walking back to her room, Rory called Lorelai to tell her everything. Lorelai didn't know about the kiss with Tristan or about Tristan drunkenly declaring his love for her. Lorelai doesn't know how Rory's love life was falling apart…again.

"Hello daughter of mine," Lorelai answered her cell phone.

"Mom…" Rory said, making her tears obvious.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"My mistake with Dean is going to ruin my life forever."

"What?"

"If I never slept with Dean, Brian and I never would have broken up the first time then I wouldn't have fallen asleep in Tristan's room then when Tristan told me he loved me when he was drunk it wouldn't have affected me and I wouldn't have kissed him therefore losing Brian again," she said so fast only Lorelai could understand.

"You're going to have to elaborate on that, sweetie."

Rory slowly explained how all of the events linked together. She told her mom about falling asleep with Tristan and how he comforted her after the first break up. Then she continued to Tristan's drunken confession and the conversation with Lane leading to the kiss with Tristan. In Rory's head everything was going back to the one mistake that she made with Dean. It was going to haunt her for the rest of her life; everything was leading back to Dean. Lorelai suggested that Rory come home for the weekend so that she could think over what happened with Brian and figure out what she wanted to do about Tristan.

Rory spent the entire week avoiding everyone, including Paris. The two of them would sit in the room in complete silence. On occasion, Paris would attempt to start a conversation but it never went beyond classes. Paris too was upset because she knew that the thinking would end up with Rory in Tristan's arms. It was like high school all over again.

Finally the weekend came and Rory got in her car and headed back to Stars Hollow to spend time with her mother. When she got home, the house was empty – Rory figured that Lorelai was at the Dragonfly and sat down on the couch. Being alone made everything completely set in; she realized that she no longer had Brian and that she was okay with that. Rory thought about Tristan and the past they had. Nothing was good about that past – he was always a jerk; he constantly mocked her and called her Mary. Why was she falling for him? Then she remembered that night they spent talking after the first break up with Brian, Tristan made her feel comfortable and he had an opportunity to take advantage but didn't. Tristan wasn't who he was in Chilton; he had grown up in military school. Rory realized that she was very much attracted to Tristan's ability to banter.

Lorelai arrived home and found Rory on the couch crying. She walked over and comforted her daughter without asking what was wrong. Everything was coming back on Rory and she was finally hit with it all at once. Thinking always led to more crying and Lorelai knew that and just held Rory as she cried. Luke had been upset that Lorelai cancelled on him for that night, but he knew that being with Rory was more important.

"I rented a funny movie," Lorelai volunteered and Rory smiled when she saw American Beauty in her mother's hand.

"That's not supposed to be a comedy."

"It is when we watch it."

Rory smiled and let herself get lost in the world she grew up in. She was just sitting around watching a movie with her mother laughing at parts that aren't supposed to be funny. As the movie neared an ending, Rory was falling asleep on the couch. Lorelai didn't want to disturb her so she left her daughter there and headed up the stairs to bed. Lorelai started thinking about ways to make Saturday a day that Rory wouldn't forget and a day to make Rory feel better about everything.

Paris was lying awake that Friday night coming up with plans of her own. She realized that by the end of the weekend she was going have even less of a chance with Tristan. She really did feel like she was back in high school competing with the same girl for the attention of the same boy. Things were changed though, Rory was her best friend and Tristan was a figure of the past. This was a past that was coming back. Paris's feelings for Tristan never died even through her relationships with both Jamie and Professor Fleming. She knew that he wasn't the same bad boy he was in high school, but they grew up together.

The next brilliant idea to pop into Paris's head was to call Tristan and invite him over. That was even if she wasn't going to get the boy of her dreams, at least she would be around him. Luckily, Tristan was around when Paris called and agreed to come over. Of course in the back of his mind he thought Rory might be around, but he didn't let on to Paris about that.

Only a half hour later, Tristan was at the door of Paris and Rory's room and Paris let him in. He started the conversation with the typical "hey, how are you" and waited a little while before asking the question that even Paris knew was on his mind.

"Where's Rory?"

"She went home for the weekend…" Paris started.

"Oh," Tristan responded almost disappointed.

"…to see Dean," she added.

The expression on Tristan's face dropped. He couldn't believe that Rory was going to see Dean after all that went on. They hadn't spoken since the kiss and it was very obvious to Tristan that Rory had been avoiding him. He didn't know what to do – he figured that she was off reconciling with Dean since he heard about her break up with Brian. He was kicking himself for thinking even for a minute that he had something to do with Rory's single status.

Tristan didn't want his entire weekend to be ruined by thoughts of Rory so he allowed Paris to pick something for them to do. She chose a movie and Tristan opted to sit at the desk chair nervous of what Paris would do otherwise. He didn't want to lead her on; in fact he'd made it quite obvious that he wanted to be nothing more than friends with Paris.

The two started talking about the past and Tristan hoped that Paris would realize that they've always been good friends. He told her that once after the only date they'd ever go on. Just friends.

After spending Saturday with Lorelai, Rory was ready to go back to school. She had everything figured out…or so she thought. She was going to tell Tristan that she did have feelings for him and maybe they could start something slowly. She didn't want to rush into another relationship, but she knew that something was going to happen between her and Tristan.

She got back to Yale Saturday night and found Paris in their room getting ready to go out. The two exchanged small talk and Rory realized that she was going to have to talk to Paris sooner or later.

"Brian and I aren't together anymore."

"So I gathered."

"Look, Paris, I don't like this not talking between us."

"I'm sorry, Rory, I'm just preoccupied."

Rory didn't want to bother Paris anymore so she left the room with a mission in mind. She headed across campus to where Tristan was living. It was time to talk to him and let him know what she'd thought about when she was home. She hadn't spoken a word to him since the night they kissed, though she was sure he'd heard about the break up. She knocked at the door and found Tristan alone in his room.

"What do you want?"

"I can't to talk to you, Tristan. I've been doing a lot of thinking…"

"And you're back with Dean."

"What! Tristan…"

"I heard all about it," he didn't let her finish her sentence, "you come over here and kiss me then run back home to bag boy. I thought that maybe there could be something between us, Rory. I thought that I proved to you that I wasn't the immature boy that I was back in high school and that maybe you should give me a chance. Then I find out that right after that kiss you broke up with Brian and I was given this hope until I heard you were home to get back with Dean. I thought he'd hurt you enough, I wanted to prove to you that I wouldn't hurt you like that. I guess I was wrong, maybe you're not my Mary."

He closed the door and fell onto his bed. He had just told off the girl that meant the world to him and didn't bother to hear her side of the story. He didn't want to hear anything; she was going to go back to the guy that broke her heart so many times before and he was going to be left behind as always.

Rory stared at the door for a few minutes before breaking down and crying. She didn't know what had just happened. She thought that something was going to happen between her and Tristan; that was why she came back. She wanted things to go slowly, but she thought at least that would mean she'd get to be with him and maybe things would finally be better. She didn't know where he got that idea that she went home to see Dean not that she went home to figure out all of the thoughts jumbled in her head.

There was only one thing that Rory thought of to do that night…find Paris. Or at least the party that Paris was at. After all she met Brian at a party and she was reacquainted with Tristan because he was at that same party. Rory didn't find the party Paris was at, but she did find one with a few full kegs. After four beers within the first 45 minutes, Rory was pretty toasted. A girl her size with that little drinking experience got drunk pretty quickly. She shuffled through her bag for her cell phone and dialed Tristan's number. After the phone rang a few times she heard a click; he'd picked up and hung up on her.

After that Rory headed over to Tristan's room. She was drunk enough to say everything that she was thinking. Tristan answered the door after Rory's incessant knocking was enough for an RA to see the drunk girl in the hallway.

"Tristan, I like you. I didn't go home to see Dean; I went home because I like you and wanted to think. I guess you don't like me though, but beer does and I will date beer instead of you."

Tristan looked at Rory and took her in his room. She was too drunk to know what she was saying. He carried her into the room and put her on his bed – by the time he closed the door, Rory had passed out. Tristan looked at her and had no idea what was going to happen in the morning.