Chapter 23

"If you hurt her…"

"ugggghhhhhhhhhh…"

"I'll track you down, title or not and give you a new title, R.I.P, actually, maybe not even that, I'll send you down to Davey Jones' locker, hope you have the combination for the lock, I hate locks, they never wanted to open for me, all the pleading in the world did nothing! You should be used to lockers by now right? High school, military school, boarding school?" Lorelai's rant to the drugged out and now tied down Tristan was interrupted by a pyjama clad Rory standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"You couldn't wait until he was at least lucid?" Rory commented scandalized.

"He is lucid." Lorelai complained, while hitting Tristan on the arm again causing him to grunt as the movement shifted his leg. He however, remained blissfully asleep due to the wonderful side effects of painkillers.

"ugggggghhhhhhhhhh…" Tristan once again moaned.

"Mom," Rory continued. "Seriously, are you going to do this with every boyfriend?"

"Nope, cause I don't think I'll have to. That's why I'm doing it while he will have no memory." Lorelai waved her hands around imitating mist, "he'll think it was just a terrific dream with a gorgeous leading lady and the warning he must have been expecting."

"Do you really think?" Rory pondered out loud. "It's only been a while and I haven't seen him in ages."

"How long is ages?"

"27, no 28, it's after midnight, days now? He had to finish up some business before he could join me."

"Check and mate."

"No. We're just starting to ease into the relationship, I don't want to scare him away, can you please not talk so loud?" Rory stage whispered.

"Point and match."

"What's with all the game references?" Rory still whispered.

"Fine then. Tristan and Rory sitting in a tree…" sing-song went Lorelai.

"I give up." Rory turned on her heel and sleepily made her way back to her bedroom. "Just remember to untie him when you're done? I don't want to have to explain to Luke or Tristan what your scarves are doing binding Tristan to the couch."

"I won't have to explain to Luke, he'd understand, protecting the purity of his step-daughter and all that. Either that or he realized I couldn't resist my daughter's boyfriend." Taunted Lorelai.

"Ew, gross mom…well then I don't want to have to explain to Tristan." Rory entered the sanctuary of her childhood room. To herself she admitted, "though he probably wouldn't be surprised." Rory filed that information away just like every other idea she ever had and snuggled into the covers. Taking stock of the day as a means of finding sleep, she admitted, "All in all, that turned out better than could be expected. At least Taylor didn't rope Tristan into being the first victim of the newly renovated town stockade." The image of Tristan's hands and head captive in the stocks leaving his bum exposed and presented to the likes of Patty and Babette had Rory chuckling.

The next morning, Rory was awoken by the loud hobbling of a lame man.

Following a large crash in the kitchen, followed by cursing, Rory got up and peeked through the door. "I see you've found the pop tarts." Rory stifled a giggle. "How are you feeling this morning."

"Awful actually, I'm never taking another one of those painkillers again. The side effects were really weird, the dreams I could handle, but it feels like I've been poked and prodded by aliens all night. If I didn't believe in them before, I do now, I've even got sore wrists from being held down." As Tristan evaluated his sore body his lower brain woke up and took control. "Mary, Mary, my dear Mary," the predatory gleam in his eye did not match well with his invalid's hobble. So much so that Rory giggled. "If you wanted to have your naughty way with me, you would have had a very willing participant. You know that right?" As he reached Rory and pulled her into a warm, tight embrace, she was amazed, that she had not noticed before, even when Tristan pulled a suave practiced move on her that he knew should make her swoon, he still tried to reassure her, consciously or not. Rory was brought out of her thoughts when she realized he was still talking. "Next time," Tristan began reproachfully, "I want to be fully lucid and capable of participating." He gave her a once over and brought his eyes back her hers. As he leaned in to kiss her, she suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth leaving him to kiss her fingers, he did so, with raised eyebrows at her actions and proceeded to lick the grooves between her finger. "Come on my sweet," he cajoled. "Let Tristan in."

Rory vehemently shook her head no, blushing a deep red from Tristan's convincing touch. "Morning bread." She mumbled still not releasing her fingers.

"What?" Tristan barely replied, instead occupying and amusing himself by running his hands up and down Rory's arms and back.

Rory thought Tristan was finally distracted enough that he would ignore her mouth and removed her fingers. "Morning brea…" Her words were literally sucked right out of her as Tristan attacked her mouth scorching her in the early morning chill and branding her as his.

As he sauntered off (as best as he could) to put on the coffee pot, he called over his shoulder at his stunned girlfriend. "Oh, about that, I don't care." Leaving Rory kissed senseless in her doorway, her first coherent though being "minty" as she rubbed her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

As the household sat around the table sipping coffee watching Luke expertly flip pancakes from the griddle onto the plate, the uncomfortable feeling Tristan was having grew and grew and grew. Lorelai was looking at him with a smirk that unnerved even himself. Rory was purposely avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room and evidently found her coffee this morning to be fascinating. Luke however was trying to retain a semblance of normal as he continued to attempt to start conversation. That however was nipped in the bud by one word distracted answers, as everyone seemed pretty intent on continuing the standoff.

The doorbell rang and no one moved to answer it. Luke growled as the doorbell continued and continued to ring finally deciding to let the bacon burn and answer the door himself.

"Tristan, its for you." Luke gruffly handed Tristan a thin Fed-Ex envelope. "I signed for you." And with that Luke turned his attention back to his burning bacon.

The arrival of the package was enough to pique Rory's interest enough to tear her eyes away from her coffee mug. Now with a focus subject Tristan talked half to his curious audience and half to himself. "No one really knows your address, I wanted to keep it secret from my PR people and the public. The only one who knows is Walter in case there was a major emergency. But if it was time sensitive, he would have called my cell."

The musical tones of Tristan's cell phone did not sit well with the occupants of the kitchen. Tristan decided to open the package first opting to call the person back later. Without a single care for the package Tristan attacked it ripping open the entire side of the envelope instead of simply slitting the seal. Three different European magazines fell out. Tristan's face blanched at the sight of the front covers showing his tan consisted more of a healthy constitution than the pigmentation of the skin. The look on Rory's face horrified him, he hadn't wanted this to happen. Realistically he knew that eventually she would have to come to terms with it, but not like this, not when the relationship was still new and still volatile.

Rory's horrified voice came out not squeaky and small as he expected, but eerily calm and low. "Why am I on the cover of these magazines?" Rory turned to Tristan, the trust in her eyes evident. For now, she was keeping calm and collected. He would have to make the most of it and explain.

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A/N: Well, I know cliffs are evil, and to leave you hanging horrible. But at least the story is continuing. I had entertained the thought of Tristan simply renouncing his title and living in relative obscurity in Stars Hollow with Rory happily ever after, with a few strange and amusing adventures, but then I realized there is still too much unresolved plot running though my head. I'll try to update in the next few days. Gilmore Girls is on tonight. I really hope Rory and Logan get back together. Since Tristan coming back to the show is almost impossible, Logan is the next best thing…and he's cute too P. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. It really makes my days better.

Till next time Trorylove