Disclaimer: They are not mine. I own nothing more than my ideas. If I did…do you think I'd spend my free time entertaining you all?

Sweet Anticipation

An unquantifiable number of dishes, drinks and desserts later, Rory surveyed the damage. She attempted to recall all the exotic dishes she had eaten. For starters they had lovely shrimp croquettes with a mayonnaise dressing, for the meal, a plethora of local delicacies including Nasi Lemak, coconut rice, a mild green curried vegetable stew, a spicy sambal stingray, Tom yam soup with mussles, clams and prawns and steamed clams. For dessert they had a cold sweet soup with a coconut milk base and tapioca balls called sago floating at the top. Just listing off the foods consumed that lunch hour made Rory's head spin and turned her slightly nauseous. Even with Lorelai's strange food consumption training the new spices and combinations were stretching Rory's digestive tract to its limits.

Groaning contentedly the three hailed a cab and headed back to the apartment, desperate for some decent air conditioning in their now sticky state.

"I'm burning from the inside, and I'm sweating on the outside." Alison complained.

"Oh my gosh. My mom would have loved that food. We have Al's Pancake World and occasionally he does a theme month but his Asian/Thai month had nothing on that. That was amazing. The fragrance, the taste, the chili burn down your throat, watery eyes…" Rory started to ramble.

Finn looked on with mock anger. "If I didn't know better. I'd say she was sarcastically making fun of our lunch choices."

This comment was lost on Rory as she continued to rave about the scrumptious lunch.

"And the wee little piggy cried whee whee whee all the way 'ome." Finn mocked Rory in friendship of course.

"Who are you calling a piggy!" Rory cried. "Well maybe if you called me Miss Piggy cause she's cool. She could kick Kermie's butt any day of the week. Refined, well mannered, manipulative and not scared to be a strong character. Is there any other way to go?"

"Congratulations, you have not managed to stop her rant, only redirect it." Alison mock whispered.

Back at the apartment, the afternoon was spent in lazy bliss.

"What better way to spend an afternoon, tanning by a pool, in the tropics…" Rory directed at Alison, reclined on the outdoor deck beside her currently perusing the latest copy of Vogue.

"Well, it's better for you. From what I gather, my brother has a magical night planned for you. Whereas I've got a tub of Hagen-daz to keep me company." Alison groaned.

"That's not true, you've got Finn." Rory cut in with the dutiful good friend statement. Yes, she and Alison somehow were kindred spirits, comfortable with each other and in each other's presences without having to spend a billion years getting to know each other.

"Yea, but you've got my brother. You have no idea do you. I don't want to scare you or interfere, but I think there's a few things you need to know about my brother. For yours and his sakes."

Rory pulled off her sunglasses and squinted in Alison's direction.

"In high school he used to call and email me about his Mary. The girl that would never give him the time of day. And then suddenly one day he had a plan. You were free, he made himself free from his arm candy of the moment and planned this big display of his intentions with you. He racked up a huge phone bill asking me how to ask you to some concert. I think it was PJ Harvey. He even asked if he was cute. PJ Harvey. Poor guy didn't have a CLUE! Anyways it was supposed to start with the concert, then dinner, then a BBQ at the beach, then horseback riding with a picnic, all these things, just to hear him spout off all these romantic things he had planned made me jealous of you. That some guy, especially my brother would plan not just expensive impress you dates, but thoughtful ones that you would probably like. True he still thought it was just to get into your pants, but still, to put that much thought into it. I figured he just needed to wait until his head caught up with his heart maturity wise." Alison looked over to Rory going pale.

"Please don't worry about it, he's a tough man. Just don't doubt his sincerity no matter what. Above all else, I think his feelings for you are sincere. He makes an ass of himself sometimes trying to express it, but hey… if he was perfect, he'd put the Disney princes out of work." Alison laughed.

As Rory was about to respond, there was a giant splash of water…Finn attempted a cannon ball ….at the shallow end of the pool and was currently floating face down in the water.

Alison literally jumped from her spot into the pool and started racing to Finn's location. As she reached to turn him over, he swept her into his arms and kissed her smack on the lips.

Sputtering with not only water but indignation Alison screamed at Finn and started beating his chest with all her strength.

"Don't you dare do such things. You guys think you're so funny faking accidents and making light of death…don't you dare do that!" As Alison realized the depth of caring she was currently exhibiting towards a certain accident prone Aussie she froze and the cool demeanor of a future socialite swept back across her features.

Looking down her nose at Finn, even though he towered a head above her was no easy task. Neither was diverting his gaze away from her white swimsuit that was never meant to be wet. "Pervert, my eyes are up here."

"Funny," Finn chuckled, "but I could have sworn two little ones were winking at me."

"Why you…" once again at a loss as to why Finn could always get the last word with her she swam back close to her towel, hauled herself out and quickly wrapped herself and headed in doors. Completely ignoring the giggling mess that was Rory.

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Once more later on, Walter and Finn were discussing Tristan's chances later that evening.

"You give him credit for too much cleverness." Began Finn. "My impression was that he's just another blundering American."

"We musn't underestimate American blundering. I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918." Walter replied.

"That's good! That's great. Let us see how far we can take it?"

(Slam)

Both Finn and Walter's concentrations were broken by the sound of Tristan entering the room. As they turned towards the front entrance they caught sight of Tristan, briefcase at hand one foot in the air with a cringe on his face.

"Sorry." Tristan apologized to Walter in particular. As he strode into the room, Tristan pulled his tie loose and undid his jacket button. He looked at the two men sitting at the table expectantly.

"Martha's prepared some tea for us in the kitchen. I'm sure they'd be a cup for you too." Walter began with a smile.

"Oh and Alison's mad that I wreaked her new swimsuit." Finn offered with a smothered chuckle.

To this Tristan simply cocked his eyebrows and continued to look not too pleasantly on the two men.

"She's in her room mate. Waiting to hear from you?" Finn offered.

"That's a good man." Tristan threw the words over his shoulder as he was already striding towards Rory's closed door. With a confident stride he threw his briefcase on the couch and kicked off his shoes.

Knocking on Rory's door, he heard a melodious, "come in."

Entering he was knocked out once again with how beautiful Rory really was and she hadn't even put on make up yet. Rory once again had donned the sundress she had planned on wearing earlier and loosely curled her hair which was now held back by two barrettes.

"I just dressed up a tiny bit. I wasn't sure where we were going for dinner. And aren't you early?" questioned Rory.

"You look fine, and you have no idea where we're going for dinner and I am a bit early but that doesn't seem to be a problem now does it?" Tristan replied. "Just give me a bit of time to change and freshen up. We're eating outside, so you don't really need makeup, and its just us. It can get a little chilly at night especially cause it's not as humid so you may want a wrap. If you didn't bring one I'm sure Alison's probably got every type in her closet." At his last statement Tristan rolled his eyes as a big brother should.

Rory with eyes twinkling simply teased him, "sure, says the guy who probably has black Kenneth Cole shoes in every style with every stitching."

At that Tristan laughed heartily and simply replied. "Au contraire my fair lady, they are from Ferragamo."

Rory simply threw a pillow at Tristan retreating form and with a smile went back to prepping for her date.

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A/N: I know I know, life is crazy. Thanks for reading and reviewing. It makes my day.